Ponderings of Theodore--The early years

Theodore could always get right to the point, especially when he was little. Here's a good example. 

 
He was playing outside with his friend, Kelsey, when it started to thunder. 

"Theo, I'm afraid of thunder. I'm going inside."

"Kelsey, you don't need to be afraid of thunder. It's just sound. It's the lightning that will strike you dead!" 

Color-Red

What's your favorite color? 

Red?

A Penny Saved...

A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned

Or More Fittingly, 

A Nickle Saved is a Nickle Earned,

A Dime Saved is a Dime Earned, and

  A Quarter Saved is a Quarter Earned.

When we were kids, my sisters and I all had Benjamin Franklin banks. These banks gave us a running total of the amount of money we had by pulling a lever after inserting each coin. When we reached ten dollars, the door opened at the bottom and our money could be retrieved. However, the banks only accepted nickles dimes, and quarters. You could break them if you put a penny in. 

The banks were very special and were kept in our parent's bedroom. Also, it seemed as if it took forever to save ten dollars and when we did, the money was put aside for our college fund. A very wise thing, but not much fun when I was little. So I was excited when my mother recently gave me my bank. I decided that I had a second chance. I would use it to save my pocket change and buy something I wanted. However, a funny thing happened on the way to my purchase. I found that I was having as much fun saving the money as I was spending it. I really liked pulling the lever and watching the money add up. (Sometimes it's the simple things.)

So, I am having fun while saving money and having fun while spending it. That's what I call a win-win situation. It's nice when things work out like that.
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But wait there's more: You may wonder, what do I do with my pennies? There is a slot on the side of the bank where you can put pennies. They don't get counted, they just get stored. If you put them in the front slot, it will jam.

It's really HOT!

It's been really hot around here recently. Hot enough that we are breaking all kinds of records. I don't know exactly how hot it's been except the temperatures and heat indexes are always over 100°F. Much over 95°F and it all seems the same to me.

Consequently, I've spent more time indoors than I like. However, yesterday I had a great idea of a fun way to spend time outside.  Ever heard of the expression, It was so hot out that you could fry an egg on the sidewalk? What better time to test this idea than yesterday afternoon when the sun was blazing and the air temperature was high. I rallied Ward and Theodore to help me. They weren't as excited with my idea as I was, but they humored me.

We didn't do much planning for the experiment except decide that we would use the black driveway for maximum heat potential. Theodore cracked an egg onto the driveway and we watched it sit. No sizzle, no turning white, just a broken egg on the driveway. We thought that it may take a little time because it had just come out of the fridge and was cold. So we gave it some time. Fifteen minutes, half hour, an hour. Not much change. Theodore said the driveway wasn't very hot and demonstrated that fact by standing on it with bare feet. I used the more scientific method of using a thermometer to see how hot it was. The temperature maxed out at 116°F. Too hot for feet, I thought, but not hot enough to cook an egg. The egg never cooked, so as they say on MythBusters, this myth is busted.

Once back inside the nice cool house, I did a little research on frying an egg on the sidewalk. Apparently you need the aid of foil and a magnifying glass or mirror to get the temperature high enough (158°F) to do it. I want to try again with the foil and magnifying glass, but I'm on my own. Theodore and Ward enjoy the cool house more than they enjoy watching an egg go splat.

The Egg Cooking Experiment

Theodore cracked the egg onto the driveway.

The temperature maxed out at 116°F. Apparently this was not hot enough to burn Theo's feet or cook the egg.

The egg never cooked. It just dried out.

Food Waste Friday--July 6, 2012

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.   

This week there was a serving of salad that went bad. I'd like to say that it got hidden in the back of the fridge and got away from me. But it didn't. I just decided that I had had enough of it and let it sit in there until the cucumbers turned slimy. That's all. No attempt for a save. I think nine days of 100 degree temperatures are getting to me.