A Second Look--October 26, 2011

The leaves are really starting to fall. I guess we need to find the rake.

The Present is the Present

I am lucky that I get to spend some Sunday mornings with my friend, Sarah, a special needs teenager. I buddy with her during Sunday School as we visit different programs that she enjoys. Two things you need to know about Sarah (other than how sweet she is) is that she loves nature and can be quite determined.

She was exhibiting these two traits one day last fall as we were walking from one building to another on the church campus to go to a singing activity. I was trying to hurry her along only half listening as she showed me a bug or a leaf that she found interesting along our path. When we were almost to our destination, she said she was not going any further and sat down under a maple tree. After a brief moment of frustration, I stopped and remembered that there was no agenda for the morning except for Sarah and me to enjoy ourselves. It was okay if we skipped singing this time.

Sarah then told me to come and that we were going to play a game to see if the falling leaves would touch us as they fell from the tree. We sat still and felt the warm air of the morning and watched the leaves float around us in a gentle breeze. Up until this point, I hadn't even noticed what a beautiful morning it was.

You have probably heard the saying, “The present is the present.” Never has this been more evident than it was that morning with Sarah.

Sarah and her favorite church maple tree.

(In case anyone is wondering who won the game—she did. Sarah had a total of three leaves fall on her and I had two.)

Food Waste Friday--October 21, 2011

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.

Here it goes for this week. 

 

We had another week of no current waste, so I tackled two more shelves in my pantry. Pantry clean up is very hard for me because it's full of things with long shelf lives--forever in my mind. However, I used the same rule as last week and got rid of anything that was at least a year past its expiration date. Here's what I'm saying good-bye to this week from youngest to oldest.
 

Bisquick- expired 1 year ago

Pancake mix- expired 1 ½ years ago. It seems that we prefer French toast to pancakes.

Tapioca-expired 2 years ago. I'm not even sure what tapioca is and why I have it. Some recipe must have called for it.

Karo syrup-- really old. I don't remember buying this and it is so old that they weren't putting dates on things at that time. This one was really hard to get rid of because I wondered, “Does syrup really ever go bad?” But I figure that if I haven't used it by now, it's time for it to go. It's just another thing for other food to hide behind and maybe get wasted. 

By-the-way: In the US, the only food that is required by law to have an expiration date on it is infant formula. For a good explanation about food dates, visit the USDA site.

 

Second Look--October 19, 2011

This week during a Second Look, I focused on the few flowers that are still blooming. Most of these kinds you've seen before; however, you are going to see a few of the late bloomers among them. Also, even though big pots of mums have been in the stores for weeks, this is the first week of them blooming in my yard.  I also found the pleasant surprise of a few violets peaking through the grass and leaves. They bloom primarily in the spring.

Here's what I saw.

Balloon flowers, Platycodon

Zinnia

Mum

Fleabane

Violet

The ever faithful marigold.

Sedum, Autumn Joy

Blanket Flower, Gaillardia

Mushroom

Ponderings from Theodore--The Early Years

Theodore has always been a thinker--meaning long after I have moved on from a subject, he is still pondering it. Occasionally, we are going to visit some of his questions and observations from his earlier years. Some are serious and others are humorous.

 

Policies 

Theodore approached me one evening, when he was eight, 

with the following idea.

“I think we should have a family goal for each month. For this month, I think it would be good for us to have no more electronic entertainment such as TV, computer, and video games.” 

He then went to the next room, turned on the TV, and started watching cartoons. I came into the room and asked what happened to his new plan. He looked at me and said, “Well, you know, it's not policy until it's in writing.