A Second Look--September 26, 2012

We continue to have beautiful fall weather with cool nights, warm days, and occasional rain. A few of the flowers are still blooming, however I have noticed the insect activity has decreased around them. Before there might have been dozens of bees, butterflies, and ants on the sedum, but now there are only a few bees and an occasional butterfly at any one time.

Once again, in this time between the summer and fall, I am not finding as many photo-worthy things to share with you. However, my Second Look walk was productive from another point of view. There were quite a few branches blown down during the last rain storm and I picked up most of them. It was a good workout which can be as mood lifting as taking time to smell the roses (or do a second look.)

Here's What I Saw This Week.

The blossoms on this hydrangea bush are turning darker red.

I went out yesterday to cut down the dried up and mostly dead coneflowers, but couldn't when I saw this butterfly on one of the last blooms.

I found a balloon flower just opening up which is rare for me. Usually, I see only the bud or the fully opened flower.

Milkweed bugs on milkweed seed pod. I saw the eggs for these earlier in the season.

Single French Marigold

The grass I planted is finally starting to come up.

Most of my time this week was spent picking up sticks.

Assumptions

or I Hope You're Not Thirsty

Ward and I recently went to Brighton Dam. The main purpose of the outing was to enjoy the pleasant fall weather and to explore a new place that we had heard about but hadn't seen. While the trip lived up to all of its expectations and we had a lovely time, something more important came from it. We had a very real reminder that when you make assumptions, many times you can be wrong.

We assumed that there should be no problem with water supply around the dam with 7 billion gallons of water available.

However, we were wrong. The reality (and irony) was that water supply is limited around the dam because it comes from a well, not from the reservoir.

I'd like to wind this post up with some insightful words about irony, assumptions, and not judging until you know all of the facts. However, all I can think of are cliches. You're a smart audience. You can draw your own meaningful conclusions from my experiences. In the meantime, I just have to get these off my mind.

"Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink."

"Don't count your chickens until they've hatched."

"You can't judge a book by its cover," or "You can't judge a park's water supply by its reservoir."

When you make assumptions, you may, "Jump the gun."

The park's water was "Sold down the river."

Okay, I'll stop now. You're welcome. 

A Few of My Favorite Things

or What I Got for a Dollar (or Two)

I love getting a good deal as much as the next person and sometimes I'm in the right place at the time for a deal to just fall into my lap. That's a great feeling. Some how I feel like I've outsmarted the system when I know that all I have actually done is to help the store clear out unwanted merchandise. Still it makes me happy even years later.

What kind of deals have you gotten that you remember long after you made them? Here a few of mine. 

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  My Sun Hat

I got this hat on clearance at the end of the summer season for two dollars and I like to wear it anytime I'm out in the sun. It can be stuffed into a backpack without damage and I've gotten it wet without any problems. The hat shows no signs of wear even though I've had it for several years now.

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Baking Sheet and Spatula 

This baking sheet and spatula also came with a cookie mix, and all of them together only cost me a dollar. It was such a good deal that I got two sets. This was also a clearance item after Christmas. I have used these for maybe ten years now and they still work well. I finally got some heavier baking sheets, but these are still my go to items for every day cooking and baking. 

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Apple Plate

I got this plate at the dollar store for a dollar. It is heavy weight and I like its simple design as I like apples both to eat and as decoration. The best thing is that is handles hot things well and goes through the dishwasher without a problem.

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Fall Decorations

These door decorations were also end of the season clearance items and I think each one of them was under two dollars. These hangings are made of wood and work perfectly between my front door and front storm door. They fit the small space and can withstand the heat because it can get hotter than an oven there (Oh no, I just had a thought of another egg experiment.) I've had these for years and I only wish I had more of them like Miss Landers. She has one for every season.

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Maybe in the future, I will tell you about some "bargins" that didn't turn out so well. Unfortunately, I have some of those too.

Thankful Sunday--September 23, 2012

I am thankful that we have curbside recycling.

Weekly, our county picks up mixed paper, glass, cans, and several kinds of plastic. They will also pick up yard waste that they process into free mulch. We had a lot to put out this week because we forgot to do it last week.

Food Waste Friday and True Food Confessions--Sept. 21, 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.

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

 
 A couple more tomatoes went bad on the counter. This time I can't say that I was surprised by them. I meant to get to them because I knew that they were starting to go bad, but something else always seemed more important.  I eventually did get there and saved several, but not these two.

This Week's True Food Confessions

 We were lucky this week that we got to go to both a cook out and a pig roast. We took cookies and chips to them, so it was an easy weekend. During the week, we had to make some adjustments to our plans, so we had scrambled eggs one night instead of the chicken that we had planned. We had the chicken the next night. But the important part of this story is that we ate at home when the plans changed when it would have been easier to eat out. Score one for us.

But I had the most fun this week making lasagne by working with what was in the house. No ricotta cheese, so I used no-fat cottage cheese and sour cream. Not enough lasagne noodles, so I substituted spaghetti. Also I mixed kale, that we were trying to use up, with spinach and added some ground meat. And I can't remember how many different cheeses I put in using up the end of several packages. The result? It was quite good, if I do say so myself.

We'll see how we do next week, but if we can continue to cook on most days, I will be happy.