A Second Look--March 19, 2014

Spring is officially here tomorrow and if I look at things objectively, it really is spring outside--meaning the plants are putting out new green leaves despite the fact that they keep getting covered up with snow.

Once again, we had a lot of variability in the weather this past week. The weekend saw temperatures in the 60's followed by rain and snow the next couple of days. Although we haven't had another heat wave, the snow is melting.

Here's what a saw this week during a Second Look.

Saturday was windy and warm with temps in the 60's.

Sunday and Monday the snow came.

By Tuesday much of the snow had melted, especially under the trees. Other places still had a few inches.

The snow was deep enough around the area of this fungus that I was glad I had my boots on.

I guess there's a reason they call these snowdrops.

Another crocus. My count is now up to two.

It really is pretty.

Thankful Sunday--March 16, 2014

I am thankful for this cookie jar.

When we moved from Texas years ago, my friends gave me this cookie jar with Texas bluebonnets on it. It has graced our shelves ever since. The only thing it has never done is hold cookies. They never last long enough here to get stored. :)

Food Waste Friday and True Food Confessions-March 14, 2014

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

These oranges were good.

The bag of oranges we got this week came with a rotting one. :( However, I cut the rotten part off and cut the rest up for the critters. The birds and squirrels seemed to enjoy it. Otherwise, we did pretty well.

This Week's True Food Confessions

 We had a good week with cooking and eating our meals. However, we had a bad week with picture taking of our meals. Nevertheless, here are a few pictures from last week.

I Spy

 Can you find...

1. A chicken casserole? This was made to use up extra noodles that were found during a pantry clean up. We also had a chili casserole made from leftover chili. Both were tasty and easy to make.

2. Cucumbers? These cucumbers provided a nice counterpoint to the heavier casseroles. They were also a refreshing snack.

3. Roasted broccoli? We also had roasted brussel sprouts. We had been wanting more of these since we bought some very expensive ones at the grocery store a few weeks ago. Brussel sprouts were on sale, so it seemed like the perfect idea. And it was.

4. Juicy fruit? Besides these oranges, we also enjoyed fresh pineapple and apples. The apples were the Pink variety and were a nice combination of sweetness and tartness. They were pretty good for an out-of-season fruit.

5. Walnuts? Even though the squirrels are snatching food from the bird feeders, they are still enjoying nuts from the walnut trees in the back yard.


 

Today...

Today, I'm going to go with the flow and embrace change. 

Adjusting to change is not always easy for me in both little and big ways. Yesterday, the weather reminded me once again that change can be a good thing. It went from cloudy, to rainy, to a rainbow all in a matter of minutes. Each stage was spectacular to see.

Cloudy

Rainy

Rainbow