Thankful Sunday--September 29, 2013

I am thankful that Annie has learned to sit behind the monitor and not in front of it.

I moved my computer into a new spot and all of the cats have come to investigate. After a look around, they seem to want to sleep in front of the monitor. I am thankful that Annie has decided that she likes hanging out behind the monitor. That makes everything a lot easier.

Food Waste Friday and True Food Confessions--Sept. 27, 2013

It's time for Food Waste Friday, when the Frugalgirl encourages us to post pictures from the previous week of wasted food from our household. This accountability hopefully will help us to be more careful with our food and maybe save some money. Also, I am using this public forum to encourage us to eat out less which includes better meal planning. You can follow how we are doing in this endeavor by reading True Food Confessions.

This Week's Food Waste

None!  

Hip, Hip Hooray!

After last week's unfortunate steak incident, I am happy to report that we had no food waste this week. However I have been shopping, and the fridge is bulging with fruits and vegetables. It's gonna take a lot of work to have the same report next week. 

This Week's True Food Confessions

Some of the things we had to eat at home this week.

  
We had a very busy weekend, so except for one thing, it was a blur. The exception was the buffet that Wally took us to. It had over 100 items that ranged from prime rib to frog legs, cantaloupe to bean curd, and green beans to turnips. A good time and good food was had by all. 

During the week we did do some cooking. We fixed pasta with spinach, tomato, and meat sauce one night. Another night in the slow cooker, we cooked pork with sauerkraut, apples, and potatoes. We also had pasta salad with fresh greens, and pizza another time. The great thing was that we didn't have to cook much more than that because leftovers serviced us well the rest of the time. I had my book club over last night and my family is looking forward to munching on the leftovers from it.  I think the brownies will be the first to go.

I didn't try a new recipe this week, but I did treat myself to something new from Aldi's. I tried their chicken salad with cranberries and almonds and it was quite good. I will be buying this again in the future when I want a treat.

Until next time...

A Second Look--September 24, 2013

Monday fall was officially here and I went looking for signs of it this week during a Second Look. Here's what I found.

A few of the leaves have started to change, but the trees are still largely green. Notice that these sweet gum leaves first start changing with little dots across them. A new observation for me.

Squirrels build a nest every year in this oak tree. They will be using it during the winter to keep warm.

The poke berries are starting to ripen. They will be enjoyed by a variety of birds and critters this fall and winter.

The walnuts are falling and the squirrels are starting to bury them. A squirrel ran by the other day with one in its mouth and gave the cats a show.

The abelia blossoms are small but they continue to bloom through the fall.

The dogwood berries have ripened and the leaves are starting to change. These berries will also be a treat for many birds and mammals.

And a reminder from this Gerber daisy that summer still wants to linger even though fall is officially here.

Flying

I love to watch birds fly as they soar into the heights or gently land on a limb. I love to watch them ride air currents and fly in formation.  It's beautiful sight.

I would like to say that I would love to fly also. But despite the beauty and romance of it,  I'm afraid of the whole process. Somehow, the gravity thing just keeps popping into my head. I use airplanes for transportation whenever needed and even though I understand the physics of the process, it just doesn't seem right that the big, heavy plane can stay up. It's the gravity thing again. (I know, I'm picking and choosing which physics principles I want to accept.)

Theo however has liked flying since he was little. I remember when he was four, one day he came into the house limping. When I asked what was wrong, he replied, "If only I had had a few more bags, I think I would have made it." He had tied several plastic grocery bags together to use as a parachute and jumped off the top of his tree house. As you can guess, the experiment didn't work as well as he had hoped. I think maybe Theo took after his grandfather who played tree tag in his youth. He and his brothers would go into the woods and play tag by leaping from tree to tree. If you touched the ground, you were out. Maybe the whole leaping from high places skips a generation. I certainly have had no desire to leap from any high place.

I think the most telling thing about my aversion to flying is that I have never had a dream about it. Flying dreams are one of the most common, and they are one of the dreams that people like the best. Apparently, dreamers enjoy looking at things from above and like the free sensation that flying gives them. Sounds good in theory, but the whole gravity thing even invades my sleep.

So I guess flying is just one of those areas where I will stay grounded in both my imagination and dreams. And that's okay with me. It's the whole gravity thing again. :)

Do you ever dream about flying?

Thankful Sunday--Sept. 22, 2013

I am thankful for fresh mulch.

It is recommended that mulching be done in both spring and fall, and that's what we try to do. Our front bed got mulched last spring and this bed got mulched this fall. That's how we keep up with mulching two times a year. : )