Thankful Sunday--November 4, 2012

I am thankful for fuzzy socks.

These are my favorite lounging socks in the evening especially now that the weather is colder.

Food Waste Friday and True Food Confessions--Nov. 2, 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.

This week I found some shriveled and rotting carrots in the bottom of our vegetable drawer. I don't think we have been snacking on as many carrots recently and these show it. Either this is telling me that my family is tired of carrots or they don't look in the bottom of the vegetable drawer to find snacks. Maybe I should find out which one it is before we have more waste like this in a couple of weeks.

This Week's True Food Confessions

A week of Hurricane Sandy eating.

This week we ate mostly with Hurricane Sandy in mind. While preparing for her arrival, we ate out of the refrigerator and freezer to reduce our perishable food in case we lost electricity (luckily we didn't). For the couple of days that she lingered, we ate easy food that didn't require much cooking so we wouldn't be in the middle of cooking in case the power went out. We continued our easy eating after the storm with scrambled eggs and sloppy joes. During this unusual week, the highlights were the three pizzas from the freezer we had on Monday before the storm, and the Halloween candy we had after the storm. It may not have been the most nutritious week, but we ate at home and we had some yummy food.

Ponderings of Theodore

or How to Blow Up a Balloon Carefully

A Second Look--October 31, 2012

or Okay after Sandy

As everyone knows, this has been the week of Frankenstorm Sandy. I was able to get out and explore a few days before she came, and I went out today in her remnants of cold rain to access the damage. We were very lucky that the only real effects we had from the storm were a few downed branches. My thoughts are with those who were not so fortunate.

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

These mums were covered with flies and bees*. However, the flies were too fast for me to get a picture.

This Virginia Creeper added some welcome color to this tangle of briars and vines.

Hydrangea

Ward surveying one of downed branches from Sandy.

Of course the storm brought down lots of leaves.

These are pictures of the same mushrooms taken several days apart. The blue one appeared after the storm.

* Please forgive me if this is a wasp. I know that wasps and bees are not the same thing, I just don't know how to tell them apart.

Sandy

or Anticipation

Noon, October 29, 2012

The water and food are secured. The generator has been tested and the flashlights have fresh batteries. The lawn chairs have been put away and the firewood is in the garage. The laundry and dishes are washed and we have extra bread and toilet paper. And now we wait.

Even though the rain has started and winds have picked up, they are nothing to write home about. But the "best" is yet to come. Or so they say. I hope "they" are wrong.