So far, so good...

Monday morning will be the end of Week One for the June Food Stamp Challenge (^), but I'm going to go ahead and total up my receipts because I don't plan to spend anything between now (Saturday night) and then. If I do, I'll recalculate.

At Costco, I purchased:
2 boxes of Fiber One Bars, 30 bars per box
1 very large bag of corn tortilla strips, Kirkland (Costco's house brand
1 34 ounce box Kirkland Spiced Pecan cereal
2 large loaves light wheat bread (45 calories per slice)
4 jars Kirkland brand organic peanut butter. No sugar added, just peanuts and a bit of salt. Two 28 ounce jars for $7.69
1 64 ounce (4 pound) jar Kirkland animal crackers (no HFCS & organic)
2 large jars Nutella (chocolate-hazelnut spread)

We still have all of the tortilla strips and the crackers. We have most of the bread, cereal, peanut butter, bars, and Nutella. Our youngest starts playing ball this week, and we'll be packing the crackers as a snack twice a week. Peanut butter goes into sandwiches, sauces, and baking. Tortilla strips go into salads, soups, and chili, and are the base for nachos. Nutella is our little one's favorite. She eats it with peanut butter on sandwiches, and dips apples in it.

The food total at Costco came to $66.51.

At King Soopers (Kroger nearly everywhere else), I purchased:
3.15 pounds of organic cherries
1 gallon of organic milk
2.57 pounds of bananas
4 pounds of organic gala apples
6.78 pounds of chicken (@ .78 cents a pound)
2 pounds of low-carb pasta (for my husband)
2 packages of gluten-free Ivory Teff wraps
2 packages of Haribo Gummi Bears on sale (for our daughter)

The chicken will be tomorrow night's dinner &; will be part of other meals after that. We have several apples left, along with most of the pasta, bananas, apples and wraps. We still have over half of the milk, but the Gummis are gone gone gone :)

The total at King Soopers Kroger was $44.10.

The total for the first week is $110.61, which is 31.87% of the lowest food stamp + WIC benefit estimate of $347.00. That doesn't tell the whole story, though.

First, as noted, we still have most of the food purchased above. For much of the week, we ate food we purchased previously, including corn,  tortillas, fruit, veggies, cheese, milk, bread, cereal,tomatoes, and so on.

Next week we'll be eating foods purchased this week in addition to some things in the pantry/fridge/freezer. Along with tomorrow night's chicken, we're planning chicken and rice, Musubis (Hawaiian sushi), grilled pronghorn kabobs (thanks to my husband the hunter), sandwiches, bagels, oatmeal, etc. Monday will be "left over" day, when we put together meals made up from  whatever is in the fridge. I'll be baking gluten-free bread and probably some cookies next week, in addition to packing meals for our youngest to eat between ball practices. 

Speaking of bread: While I was at Costco, I noted that the 2 loaves of bread purchased for my husband &; daughter came to $4.29. On the baking aisle, I noted that 25 pounds of wheat flour came to around $5.50. Add in yeast (less than $4.00 for 2 pounds), oil, and so on, and it becomes clear that its much less expensive to bake bread than to buy it. Even factoring in a second-hand bread machine, it wouldn't take long for the savings to outstrip the initial cost.

If I thought I would need to rely on food stamps for any length of time,  I would make a point of purchasing flour and yeast in bulk (and/or  starting a sour dough culture), as well as locating a bread machine. I  own/moderate a recycling list in my city, and see bread machines given  away on a regular basis. I see them at the thrift store for under  $10.00 every time I'm there. An investment of under $20.00  (machine, yeast, flour) would yield huge savings. 

Previously, I baked nearly all of the bread eaten in our house, but that fell by the wayside when I stopped eating wheat. At this point, I bake my own bread (gluten-free bread is ridiculously expensive - often more than $5.00 a loaf), but purchase wheat bread for everyone else.

The Little Red Hen and her bread

It clearly makes solid financial sense to go back to baking all/nearly all of our bread, so in the weeks ahead, we'll be doing just that.

Namaste. 
=^..^=

It Turns Out That Ignorance May Not Be As Blissful As We've Been Previously Led To Believe

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion,  butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance  accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give  orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem,  pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently,  die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. Robert A. Heinlein, The Notebooks of Lazarus Long

After I posted about our family's decision to take part in the June Food Stamp Challenge (^) a couple of days ago, several friends made more or less the same comment, which was "The government should offer classes to food stamp recipients in cooking and shopping". I know what they're saying, and they aren't being snide or uncharitable - they are stating what most of us come to know at some point or another: learning how to be frugal and wise with resources are valuable skills; skills  which can be taught and learned. 

I agree, insofar as I think everyone should take home economics in school.   Everyone.

So... why isn't it mandatory anymore? As far as I know, HomeEc, as it was known back then, is no longer required in most school districts across the United States.At least not in any of the ones I've lived in since then.

When I was in junior high, HomeEc was required in 7th and 8th grade in the school district we lived in in South Carolina. We moved to North Carolina the summer between 8th and 9th grades, and ended up taking it again the next year, too; three entire years of Baked Alaska, Blanc Mange, and hemming skirts.

It shouldn't surprise anyone that I can whip up one heck of a white sauce (^), and have mad apron-making skills.

Back and front view of a woman wearing an apron intended for cooking and  a house cap of the "Dutch bonnet" style. Figure 3 and 4 from "House  Aprons and Caps" by Mary Brooks Picken, published by the Women's  Institute of Domestic Arts & Sciences of Scranton, Pennsylvania,  1922. In the public domain (^)

I'm not sure when, but at some point, it seemed to become much less important to know how to do all the things that allow us to be independent adults. Where once saying you couldn't cook or repair something would have been an admission of fault, it became something of a badge of honor. 

I have more important things to do than cook. 

I can afford to pay someone to fix my car. 

But the truth is, most of us, almost all of us, don't have more important things to do. We won't always have enough money to pay someone to take care of us and being incapable of performing basic tasks quickly becomes paralyzing. 

No one should be ashamed of being a competent, complete individual who want only the best for themselves and their family. It is not demeaning to know how to cook or clean or drive a hammer or change a tire. It should be demeaning to be willfully ignorant. 


Thankfully, the pendulum seems to be swinging back the other way. In the last few years, anyone who has been paying attention can't help but have noticed the renaissance in the "home arts" in the blogosphere and elsewhere. It seems as though everyone is busy knitting, sewing, cooking, canning, and growing stuff. And then writing about it at length. 

This is good, because it turns out that ignorance is a bad thing, not something  to aspire to. Being self-reliant allows us to be strong and independent. Relying  on others for everything weakens us. And it turns out that being unable to perform basic skills hurts the poor and disadvantaged much more than it hurts the wealthy.

Wealthy people can often afford to pay others to mitigate their personal ignorance. The rest of us? Not so much. The less we can afford to pay others, the more important it becomes to learn to do it ourselves.

Which brings us back to classes for food stamp recipients. Yes, I think that people on food stamps should take classes in how to shop and cook.  Everyone should take these classes. Everyone should be afforded the opportunity to be independent as they possibly can be.

Everyone should be able to say that they can care for themselves and their families. We should demand that these skills are taught, or take it upon ourselves to teach them, learning along the way  if need-be. We should refuse to raise another generation who thinks that ignorance of basic skills is somehow preferable to mastery.

I'll leave you with this, a HomeEc film called Buying Food, from around 1950, which teaches the fine art of grocery shopping. It's a bit condescending, but full of helpful information nonetheless. Enjoy.

Namaste.

Food for thought...

I'd love to be able to tell you that I know what we spend on food every month, but I don't, because we don't separate the food portion of receipts out from the total which includes everything from shampoo to dog food to tires for the car. This is about to change, however, because for the entire month of June, we're counting every penny spent on groceries. 

One of my favorite bloggers (and fellow Compactor), Katy Wolk-Stanley at the Non-Consumer Advocate (^), recently announced that she was planning to have a Food Stamp Challenge (^) during the month of June. Participants will try to stay within the budget and guidelines set for the federal food stamp program to feed their families for one month.

Always willing to challenge ourselves, we've decided to give it a try. We started on the 1st and will do our darnedest to make it till the 30th on what we'd be allotted by our state (Colorado) if we used food stamps. Not only are we going to try to stay within the budget, we're going to try to eat as close to "normal" as possible.  

According to what I've read, the amount a family gets in food stamps (officially called SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (^) in government-speak) varies depending on several factors, including the number of people in the family, the amount of money they make outside the home, and possibly other factors. Women who are pregnant or nursing, infants, and children under the age of five would further qualify for WIC (Women Infants Children). WIC covers dietary basics (^) like milk, juice, cereal, dairy items (eggs & cheese), fruits, veggies, beans and peanut butter. From what I've read, WIC would add another $44.00 to our monthly total since we have a child under the age of five.

Now its time for a little math...

The average monthly food stamp benefit per person is $101.00, which would be $303.00 for the month of June, plus $44.00 from WIC, which would bring our total to $347.00. The maximum amount allowed in our state for three people is $526.00. Adding in $44.00 brings that total to $570.00. Our middle daughter will be here in a few weeks (she's back east at the moment), and I'm not sure how to count her, so for the moment, I'm not going to.

So, somewhere between $347.00 - $570.00 is what a 3-person family would expect to spend on food using food stamps and WIC in the United States. We're going to do everything within our power to keep our spending on the lower end of that range.

As noted above, there are things that food stamps don't cover. They don't cover pet food, toiletries (shampoo, razors), vitamins or medicine. They don't cover hot food. So, you can't go out to eat with them, you can't order in Chinese or pizza, and you can't buy a cooked chicken at the grocery. Alcoholic drinks are not covered.

You can shop at most warehouse clubs (Sam's, Costco), and you can shop at farmer's markets. You can purchase plants which grow food with food stamps, which is nice. Sweets (cookies, ice cream, soda) do seem to be covered.

Food is expensive in our area of the country, and since we try very hard to eat healthily, ours may cost a little more from the get-go. We try to avoid high fructose corn syrup, lots of sugar, and trans-fats. We eat organics wherever possible, especially when it comes to the Dirty Dozen (^). We eat as few canned foods as possible, because cans are often contaminated with Bisphenol-A (^), a potentially dangerous additive. If we purchase sandwich meat, its nitrate and nitrite-free. With children in the house, we always have fresh milk, fruits and veggies. Finally, I eat a gluten-free diet, which can be ridiculously expensive without a lot of advanced planning.

To counteract all of that,  we try to make as many dishes as possible from scratch (for example, Sunday night, we made bagels). We have a membership to Costco, and buy in bulk whenever we can. My husband hunts, which gives us an annual supply of organic meat. Hunting isn't free, once you factor in the cost of the license and processing, but it ends up being much less than we'd pay in the grocery store. I make my own laundry and dish washing detergent, and apply the savings to the rest of our household budget.

Our family is very fortunate. My husband has a great career with an excellent company. We don't live beyond our means, and we have everything we need, including our health and each other. We have thoughtful, kind and intelligent children. We consider ourselves blessed beyond words.

With that in mind, I want to note that this is a choice our family is making to see what we can accomplish in a month - to see if it is possible to feed our family on the money allowed by food stamps, and to do so in a healthy way.

For too many parents, food stamps aren't a choice, but are the main way of feeding their families right now, which is something to think about.

Namaste.

d

Remembrance

I can remember, when I was little, my dad wearing a paper poppy on Veterans Day, once called Armistice Day.

Armistice Day commemorates the day World War I ending on the Western Front - November 11th, 1918. The Armistice took place at eleven o'clock in the morning on November 11th, 1918, the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month." The first Armistice Day was November 11th, 1919, memorializing the freedom achieved through the sacrifices of countless millions.

I didn't really understood the symbolism of the poppy until I was a bit older, but now I can't see a red poppy without thinking of the selfless sacrifice made by countless soldiers throughout our nation's history. Brave men and women who have been willing to give everything to further the cause of freedom.

Why poppies? Because of the poem, In Flanders Fields, written by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae. McCrae, a battle surgeon, wrote out the poem in a few minutes the day after he witnessed the death of his friend, Lieutenant Alexis Helmer. It was written by McCrae during a short break in bombing on May 3, 1915.

Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
— Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae

McCrae would never see the Armistice, dying on January 28, 1918 of pneumonia in Boulogne, but his poem lives on to remind us of the ultimate sacrifice.

If you're out on Armistice Day and see veteran's groups selling poppies, please consider buying one. The money goes to veteran's causes, which are historically underfunded in the United States and rely heavily on private donations.

I made a few today just in case. Red felt, black seed beads, black embroidery floss. I didn't use a pattern, instead folding a piece of paper into quarters, then cutting an "almost heart" into the unfolded side of some; a simple 4-petal design in others.

Poppies

Have a blessed Veteran's/Armistice Day. We owe those who serve and have served, especially those who paid the ultimate price, our undying appreciation and deep gratitude for their brave, selfless service. We should all find a way to say "Thank you".

Namaste
=^..^=

This is a test... sort of...

The stuff below is a bit of code to put my blog with my account on Technorati (^). I think it will link to my Technorati profile, which will be mostly empty, because I need to scoot off to bed directly since I have an early morning knitting lesson on tomorrow morning. Yes, you can take knitting lessons.

And because it's late and I'm too tired and sunburned to write, here's a photo of Manitou Springs, Colorado at night that will have to fill in for content till I can provide the real stuff:

From Moon over Manitou

I took this several days ago on the way to get water from Twin Springs on Ruxton Ave. The water comes from the ground cold, and naturally carbonated. It's full of Lithium and has the effect of being dehydrating if you drink too much.

Technorati Profile
inyq2br46w

Plinky Tumblr Twitter

What does that mean?

Are those even words?

First, Plinky

I've been answering the writing prompts from Plinky (^) for the last several days. I've been really busy with (in no particular order): knitting, quilting, polymer clay, felting, friends, family, life, etc.; it's hard to find time to write extensively at the moment, so its been nice to be able to commit to something brief and fun that I can follow through with.

Every day, Plinky asks a question and you answer it on their website, where it is archived with previous answers. Sort of like a guided Twitter stream (my tweets), I guess.

Anyway, here is today's question and my answers:

I've left out so many songs. Like... the entire Ramones catalog :)

Free Bird by Lynyrd Skynyrd

The ultimate Southern Rock song, awesome guitar solo.

Punk Rock Girl by The Dead Milkmen

It's a sweet, happy song that never fails to make me smile.

And the intro is bitchin'

One Saturday I took a walk to Zipperhead

I met a girl there and she almost knocked me dead.

Wild Wild Life by Talking Heads

I'm wearin'

Fur pyjamas...

Could there be a catchier intro?

Plus, the song is featured in one scene in one of my favorite movies (True Stories). The video for Wild Wild Life is essentially an entire scene in the movie..

And because Chris Frantz has nice teeth.

So, that's Plinky. I plan to post my Plinky responses here occasionally.

Tumblr

Tumblr is an aggregator that collects your feeds and puts them (your blog, Plinky, Twitter, etc. all in one continuous timeline. Mine is here (^). You can add other media as well (photos, websites, snippets of text, etc.).

Twitter

Finally, Twitter. Is there anyone who doesn't know what Twitter is? Called microblogging, it asks the question: What are you doing? and requires that you answer it in 140 characters or less. The answers are called Tweets. Mine are here (^).

Namaste.

=^..^=

(Nearly) Wordless Wednesday

Last night, coming home from dinner, we saw...

From Cinco de Mayo Moon

From Cinco de Mayo Moon

From Cinco de Mayo Moon

From Cinco de Mayo Moon

Namaste

=^..^=

Buggy with Joy

I was reading my RSS feed before turning in for the night a few minutes ago, and there, in Craft Gossip's Polymer Clay (^) feed, by Julie Leir-Van Sickle was a photo that included two of my bugs (^)!

How spiffy is that? I'm grinning from ear to ear here.

My bugs were included in a photo along with wonderful bugs by many talented craftspeople, in an article about clay artist Connie Pelkey's (^) Bug Swap, which I am thrilled to have been able to have taken part in.

Click through the photo in the column at Craft Gossip (^) to see the rest of the bugs, and to appreciate so many accomplished and imaginative individuals.

Connie Pelkey's website, which features her own gorgeous creations is here (^), and her Etsy shop can be found here (^).

Namaste

=^..^=

It's a wrap!

This as been a ridiculously busy week so far.

Busy, but for the most part, it was a nice sort of busy, in between Dan being sick (sinus infection), the SuperCat being sick (she's much better now), and coming down with a sinus infection myself (I'm getting there slowly myself).

Last Sunday I joined my knitting group at a local tea shop for tea and knitting. I actually belong to two different groups. Both are full of wonderfully talented, funny, smart women.

After tea and knitting, one of my friends (she's the one who organizes the group) and I went to Jo-Anns to look at yarn.

Quilters, seamstresses and needle workers tend to collect the tools of their crafts - fabric and yarn, mainly. I do all three, and have a ridiculous amount of both.

There is probably enough yarn in my stash to knit for at least a year and never buy a single new skein. I probably have enough fabric to make quilts for all of the beds, too. Still, it's so much fun to go look at yarn and fabric, and chat with a friend.

I brought the fuzzy wrap I've been working on for the last couple of months, knitting and talking, drinking tea. and. It's made with a super bulky yarn in seemingly strange colors, which I found at Hobby Lobby. When I first saw it, I wasn't sure if I liked it or not at first, but I knew who would; silky wisps of riotous orange and turquoise, with shades of green twine around a fat butter yellow core. It was normally almost $10.00 a skein, but was on clearance for a few dollars.

Yarn Bee Soft Illusion Serenade

The wrap didn't have a pattern, really. I cast on 30 stitches with size 15 needles, knit through three skeins of yarn, then bound off using the knit method. And with that, it was done, completed.

Normally, I bind off using the crochet method. Someone at tea asked about binding off, and I said that I use a crochet needle. This is how I've always done it: Knit Tutorial - Crochet Hook Bind Off (^)

Crochet bind off has always seemed easiest to me; it's how I was taught. When I got close to finishing the wrap, I decided to use the knit method, and it was equally simple. I'm not sure which I like better now or why I I was so attached to the way I was taught or why it even matters. Such a small thing, yet interesting - why do we get so attached to the familiar, even the smallest things?

As I mentioned, I finally finished the wrap, and am happy with how it turned out.

The end result is around 18 inches wide and five and a half feet long or so. By the time I was done with it, I had really come to like the colors and textures a lot. So soft and cuddly, the colors vivid and bright. It reminds me of walking home from school as a child in the fall before the grass turns brown, with leaves swirling around. Warm and brisk at the same time. It reminded me of other things, too...

It's going to my oldest daughter. The yarn reminded me of her the first time I saw it & I hope she likes it.

She turned 21 this week; she's an adult now, done with her childhood. I was happy and sad in turns, every time I thought of her this week. In my mind, part of her will always be that darling toddler, wearing black patent shoes, taking her first steps on a sunny late autumn porch in South Carolina, on the sort of day that reminds me of the yarn in her wrap - warm and cool, sunny and crisp.

Part of her will always be that fiercely independent little girl, a blur one moment, soft and calm the next.

And part of her will always be the stunningly beautiful, talented, intelligent, well-reasoned, accomplished adult she is today. I could not be prouder of her. I love her for all that she is, all that she's been, and all that she'll become.

the completed wrap

Happy Birthday, Sweetheart.

Namaste
=^..^=

Curiouser and curiouser...

'Oh my ears and whiskers, how late it's getting!'

The White Rabbit, to himself
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll

I'm late. Really late.
When last I blogged I was planning on writing the next day. Which I did. But for whatever reason (one I can't fully explain), I didn't feel like publishing anything that day. Or the next. Or any other. Right up until today, right now.

Right now, I'm feeling as though I should, though, so I will.

Since the last time I posted, we've cooked quite a bit, practicing several new gluten free dishes. We've made GF bread several times, and Dan seems to have perfected the GF sandwich bread loaf. Occasionally, we'll pick up a loaf of GF bread at Whole Foods, but both of us enjoy baking, and store-bought never really compares to homemade, does it?

Fresh gluten-free French toast made with homemade bread by Dan,
& fresh butter (collaborative).

As you can see above, we made butter, which SuperCat found amazing - she wasn't sure how we were going to get butter from whipped cream, but we did and she loved it, staring into the mixer as it 'churned'. It was incredibly easy, and I'm working on a tutorial to explain the process.

Homemade butter in the KitchenAid mixer

I took a class with the Division of Wildlife, and earned my Hunter Safety Certificate, so that I could apply for a hunting license in my state. I applied for my first license a few weeks ago; pronghorn (aka, "antelope", the ones that play with the deer on the range in the song), but won't know if I get one for several more weeks. Quite a bit of the meat we eat ( which is organic, very low fat, hormone & antibiotic-free) comes from antelope/elk hunted by Dan, so it will be nice to have another try at the tag lottery every year.

I've played endlessly with my favorite three year old, who is beginning to blossom wonderfully when she draws, and who has the most vivid imagination of anyone I've ever seen. Like most afternoons, we listened to her play in her toy kitchen today, making food and drinks for her dolls. She is a joy to listen and talk to.

She's taking swim lessons now, since we joined the YMCA after the first of the year. I'm trying to exercise, but still finding it pretty difficult. I start physical therapy this week, so we'll see if that helps any. Here's to hoping that it will :)

I've sewn and crafted quite a bit. I made seven skirts in one day for the SuperCat. She helped choose the fabric (mostly 1930's repro designs), and she chose all of the notions (thread color, buttons, and ribbon trim). I've discovered that her eye for matching colors and textures is much better than mine is, even at her young age, which is wonderful, since a natural eye for colors and textures is invaluable.

Supercat's new blue skirt made with reproduction 1930's fabric.

Detail of blue skirt made with reproduction 1930's fabric.

I joined a knitting group, and I've all but finished a large fuzzy knit wrap for someone (don't know who yet), plus a scarf I'd been working on forever for our oldest. I started some bright pink amigurumi rabbits (crocheted), which just need to be stitched together and stuffed. I've recently become interested in drop spindle spinning, after seeing a lady at knitting using one, and Dan got the materials this weekend to make one for me (doweling, wooden disk, and a cup hook - easy peasy). He got enough to make more than one, so we'll end up with a low whorl (the disk thingy) and a high whorl. High or low refers to the position of the whorl on the shaft (the dowdle rod). Here's are illustrative photos and a description: Types of Drop Spindles (^)

Last week, I joined a quilting group, and am working on eight squares in the Broken Plate pattern, "cut loose", meaning that they were cut in an imprecise way. It was liberating to make something that is perfect in not being perfect, as all of the quilting I've done in the past has been as straight as I could make it. I learned more in the first quilting class than then sum total of what I previously knew about quilting, mostly due to a very patient friend who is a natural teacher. Like: how to properly use a rotary cutter and mat (there's a right way and a wrong way?!?!?). And: iron on the front of the pieced fabric, not the back (makes a huge difference in how the fabric lays). And so on.

I designed, made, and completed around two dozen butterflies for Connie Pelkey's (^) polymer clay Bug Swap, picked the twelve I liked the best, and mailed them off well before the deadline. Yay!

Simply putting the Bug Swap on my list of activities doesn't really give it the weight it deserves. It has occupied a place front-and-center in my mind from the time the email arrived saying I'd been accepted into the swap, until the morning I put my butterflies in the mail.

One of my butterflies before shipping.
My hands are pink because I'd been working with Pysanky dye the day before.

I'm always nervous about sharing my work, and often feel conflicted over it. I tell myself that I could have done better "if only" (if only there were more time, better planning, different materials, a different design, etc). The swap was a leap of faith; happy I took it.

Another of my swap butterflies.
These are from the first batch.

A learning experience, for sure.

That's it for now. As I finish this, I have no idea what kept me away for so long; I promise it won't be such a long absence next time.

This is the place where I thank John for reminding me several times that I need to write :)
Thank you, John!

'Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop'
The King to the White Rabbit
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll

Namaste
=^..^=

5, 4, 3, 2, 1... Happy New Year!

Tonight, as the audio-animatronic Dick Clark and the even less realistic semi- humanoid Ryan Seacrest ring in the New Year in Times Square, we'll be ringing in the New Year the way we usually do: dinner in, a movie in the player or a game, then cuddling together after everyone else is asleep. We found lobster on sale at Costco for $6.80 a pound, so we'll be having crustaceans, drawn butter, a salad, and baked potatoes for dinner; tea and sparkling cider for drinks, and crème caramel (egg custard) for dessert. And wine for toasting at midnight.

Times Square (NYC) by Michael McDonough(^),
used under Creative Commons License

Tomorrow begins a new year. Last year I made a few resolutions...

• At the end of last year, I resolved to lose weight, and I did - I'm down about 20 pounds. Yay!
• I resolved to exercise, and I did, some. I need to do more. Semi-yay!
  
• I resolved to not chicken out and finally do something about the pain I'd been feeling, and I had minor surgery in February. The surgery went well, and combined with no longer eating wheat, my pain is gone. Yay!
• I resolved to be neater, and made some progress, but probably not as much as I should or could have. I like clean, but don't really mind clutter. I wish it bothered me more, I guess. Another semi-yay!
• Work on crafty things more than the previous year. I did ok on this resolution. Probably could have done more, but did a whole lot more than the previous year, so I think I'm happy.
  
  
  Our dog, if he were green and made from polymer clay.
  
  
• I resolved to get out with friends more. I didn't really do very well with this one at all. Phooey. I will double down and make more of an effort in 2009.
  
• My final resolution, shared with my husband, was to follow the Compact. The Compact is a group of people who resolve not to purchase anything new for a year and to look carefully at their purchases to determine what is truly needed and what is merely wanted. It isn't a matter of debt or anything like that (for us, at least). It was an exercise in discipline and of discovery, of what is really important.
  
  You can read more about the Compact here at Good Magazine(^) or here at the San Francisco Chronicle(^) .

We did very well for a long time, then moderately well for a while, then not so well. We were disappointed that we weren't able to last a whole year, but are resolved to try again, starting tomorrow. We've written up our own guidelines for the coming year, which are:

Follow the basic Compact - no non-necessary spending on new anything unless it is a matter of health job, and/or safety, with the following details:

• Mutually agreed upon educational materials for SuperCat are exempt if we can't find them used or at the library. She's currently learning to read and we may need a book or two.
  
• Memberships may be exempt, as they are services. They would include membership to the Denver Museum of Science and Nature, the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, and possibly to Costco.
  
• Mutually agreed upon materials to finish previously started projects - limited to those items only (i.e., bias tape to finish a previously started sewing project, nails to finish a wood project, etc.) may be exempt, as it is utterly wasteful to abandon a dress, for example, for lack of three buttons.
  
• New clothes for SuperCat if she needs them; only if clothes can't be found elsewhere (hand me downs, sewing, etc.
  
• Remodeling materials, always checking Restore(^) first.
• All gifts & cards should be handmade (I'm already working on Valentines Day ).
  
• Internet connection, computer parts, etc., necessary to keep the computers in good working order. Mutual agreement on new purchases in this area.
  
• Postage as needed.
• Try to move toward more sustainable habits, like: cloth napkins, hanging out more clothes to dry, etc.
  
• Dinner/lunch out no more than 2x week. Week starts on Sunday and ends Saturday night. Eating out is almost certainly more wasteful than eating in.
  
• Freecycle(^)/FreeSharing(^), hand-me-downs, antiquing, thrift, Restore(^), etc., is always preferable to new whenever feasible.
• Food, obviously, is exempt.
  
• Utilities, insurance, etc., to maintain our household are exempt. We have to stay warm.
  
• Medicine, medical care and pharmacy needs are exempt. We have to stay healthy.
  
• Car repairs as needed to maintain safety are exempt. We have to stay safe.
  
• Career-related materials are automatically exempt. Self-explanatory.
  

That's pretty much it. It's not too difficult in some ways, very difficult in others. Consumerism is a habit many of us don't think a lot about, it has become automatic.

My own resolutions this year are:

• Join a local knitting group. I had plans to join in October, but something came up and I couldn't. I have enough yarn to knit the entire year away without fear of running out, and the women in the group seem to be clever and smart and are obviously talented.
  
• Exercise an hour a day. I'm not quite there yet, but getting closer.
  
• Lose weight (who doesn't have this as a resolution?).
  
• Grow my hair out longer than it is now.
  
• Complete projects I've started but haven't finished. They include finishing some knitting, finishing a set of dolls, completing some earrings, a quilt, and some tutus.
  
  
  doughnut earrings on silver wire in need of findings to be finished
  (that's what jewelry parts are called, findings)
  
  
  cupcake earrings which need to be finished
  
• Try to reduce the amount of clutter in every aspect of our lives. To me, clutter isn't only stuff. Clutter is anything that we don't need or want.
  
• Make soap with lye. I'd like to try my hand at making a super-fatted soap to use as a shampoo bar.
  
• Make cheese from scratch. This just sounds like fun, doesn't it?
  
• Edge closer to an all-Linux environment, computer-wise. I'm more than half-way there. My desktop machine is all-Linux, and my laptop dual-boots.
  
  
  Resolved: to spend more time with Tux, the Linux mascot
  
• Make more of our food from scratch. We've made huge strides in this area, and I'd like to continue. Cooking from scratch is rewarding and fun.
  
  
  homemade french onion soup
  
• Make treats instead of buying them. I already regularly make Chex Mix, marshmallow treats, and cupcakes. In the last month or so, we've made double chocolate rocky road fudge (with marshmallows and walnuts), and hard lollipops. Both were easy and fun, and both were so much better than anything we could have bought. Next year we plan to pull taffy and make peanut brittle.
  
• Follow the Compact, and apply it to everything above.

So, how about you? What are your New Years resolutions? Whatever you choose,

Happy New Year!

Namaste.

Current Mood: cool

Thursday Thunks on Friday Night

Always At Least A Day Late is my new motto when it comes to completing writing prompts, but I really couldn't step away from my family on Christmas Day to write, so being late this week was inevitable.

As inevitable as taxes, the passage of time, and not being able to find your keys when you're in a hurry.

That kind of inevitable.

I didn't want to miss a single moment of our lovely Christmas. So I simply didn't.

Christmas Day was a quiet, slow sort of day. We didn't start opening presents till almost noon; later we had a wonderful dinner (turkey, pumpkin and apples, delicious homemade stuffing, cranberries, with a crust-less pumpkin pie for dessert). The in-between time was spent playing with the SuperCat and enjoying each other's company. It took SuperCat hours to open her gifts; she needed to play with each thing extensively before she could consider moving on to the next thing. It was great watching her play, showing us how things worked.

The last several Christmases have been difficult. My Dad's health was going downhill around Christmas of 2003, he died a month and a half after that. Because of that, and for other reasons, Christmas has been difficult to celebrate for a long time; some years I've had to force myself to do anything at all.

This year, for the first time in a long time, mostly in response to the unbridled joy that the SuperCat has brought to us and continues to bring us every single day, I did quite a bit more, felt quite a lot better, and have been pretty happy the whole season.

Life goes on, as they say. So...

From the Thursday Thunks(^).

This week we will answer some crazy questions brought to you by Berleen, the color white and the number 78.

1. Have you ever started your Christmas tree on fire?

No. And how scary is it that that even happens? Can you imagine sitting there, watching the lights twinkle, and all of a sudden, whooosh?

2. How many rings do you wear?

Always the first two, and in various combinations the next three:
* my wedding bands, which started out as two rings, but were connected by the jeweler after our wedding. I'll count those as one.
* a tanzanite and diamond ring given to me by my husband the Christmas after we were married.
* a silver ring with feathers on it that I wear on my thumb.
* a silver poesy ring that my husband gave me.
* a silver ring with a Greek meander (aka key) pattern which looks like this:

3. I say "dog barking", you say _________ ?

He doesn't. My dog almost never barks. He just stands there and looks at you. He growls at people in this really low voice if he doesn't know them at the door, but almost never barks.

4. How many pictures are in the room that you are in.

Two on the wall; old Chinese paintings of birds. Too many to count elsewhere, on shelves, etc.

5. Do you decorate the outside of your house for Christmas?

Some years, yes. Three or four inflatables, lights around the front of the house and in the bushes, a retro plastic Santa...

plus mechanical deer illuminated with white lights, blue and white flowers in the flower boxes, and a winter-themed flag. It's a regular Winter Wonderland.

6. What's your favorite Christmas song?

Carol of the Bells, Mykola Dmytrovych Leontovych, 1916.



7. What do you fill your Christmas stockings with?

I don't. My husband fills mine, and I fill his. Dan grew up in Holland, so I fill his stocking with candy from there like salted licorice (yuck yuck yuck) and marzipan (yummy).

8. How many times a week do you charge your cell phone?

Every night and I usually top it off during the day. I have the G1 Android, and the battery life isn't great, but the phone is beyond spiffy, so it's worth it.

9. Do you own any exercise equipment? What are they?

A treadmill, an elliptical, and those plastic stair stepper thingies used in aerobics class. Plus two of those rubber balance balls, a yoga mat, and some small weights. A bicycle I almost never ride, too, but I'm not sure that counts since (as I said) I almost never ride it.

10. What's your cookie jar look like?

I have 30 or so. Which one would you like to know about?

This is what my favorite cookie jar looks like

Namaste.

currently listening to: Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass, the theme from Casino Royale:

current mood: contemplative

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

The view from our neighborhood

Snow storm on top of Pikes Peak
(there's a hawk in the foreground if you look carefully)


Snow storm on top of Pikes Peak, wide view
14115 feet above sea level

Click on photos for a larger version of each.

Merry Christmas!

Snap! Crackle! Pop! It's Christmas!

According to the SuperCat, the favorite food of pink ponies everywhere is Rice Krispie Treats. And since she has a stable full of pink ponies, she asked me to make some.
You know. For the ponies.

How could anyone say no to that kind of request?

For me, hot dogs and watermelon slices are the Fourth of July. Jiffy Pop popcorn is what we had on the nights we had a babysitter. Caramel corn and orange cream filled chocolates will always be Halloween. And Rice Krispies Treats and Divinity Fudge are Christmas.

Rice Krispies Treats remind me of Christmas at my aunt and uncle's house, where we'd go after we'd visited my grandparents on the other side of the family on Christmas Eve. People don't seem to talk the way they did when I was a kid; I recall my mother, aunts and grandmother sitting in the kitchen during the holidays, smoking, picking at food, and sharing bits of information sotto voce, so the children wouldn't hear. I would often sit quietly and read; if I sat quietly enough, they'd eventually forget I was in the room and you'd hear the good stuff about anyone who happened to not be there at the moment, about people you may not have known, but who seemed to lead scandalous lives. Days of Our Lives had nothing on my family.

I no longer have a large family; I live far, far away from most everyone I knew back then. The family I do have doesn't sit around and chat that way, but I still make certain dishes to remind myself of earlier times and to help create memories for my own children.

Before I stopped eating wheat, if I wanted to make Rice Krispies Treats, I bought a box of Rice Krispies, and followed the directions on the back of the box. Ten minutes or so later, I'd have a pan of hot treats, and the hardest part would be waiting for them to cool.

Now it's not quite so easy. Rice Krispies contain gluten in the form of barley malt, which is a natural flavoring.

So, I go to the health food store and get Erewhon Crispy Brown Rice Cereal(^). It's sort of expensive, but tastes good. It's nutty versus the blander taste of Rice Krispies, but I like it, which is surprising. I'm not really a brown rice sort of person - I can remember eating whole wheat bread for the first time when I was maybe 10 or so and thinking that it was terribly exotic, by which I mean it was terrible, period. I'm still pretty much convinced that a mayonaiise and tomato sandwich on whole wheat may be illegal. It's certainly immoral. I really disliked whole wheat then and even now, whole grains bring to mind the lady that lived next door when I was little. She watched Jack Lalanne(^) every morning, did calisthenics in a black leotard, and earnestly gave the neighborhood kids ice cream served with toasted soy nuts on top in an attempt to make it healthy.

Of course, regardless of my feelings, my own children don't know any better; refined white bread has never been an option in their lives. It's been whole multi-grain bread or bust.

Bu back to the sugary sweets at hand: here is the original recipe for Rice Krispies from Kellogg's website, RiceKrispies.com(^)

Kellogg's Rice Krispies

• 3 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 1 package (10 oz., about 40) regular marshmallows
• - OR -
• 4 cups miniature marshmallows
• 6 cups Rice Krispies®

Click on the website link above for directions.

If you simply substitute the Erewhon for the Kellogg's, it doesn't turn out quite right; it'll be dry and crunchy, not moist and chewy, so I change the recipe a bit. Here's mine:
Brown Rice Marshmallow Treats

• 5 ½ cups of gluten free brown rice cereal (Erewhon is my favorite, but there are others)
• 40 regular-sized marshmallows I have never seen marshmallows that have gluten in them, but anything is possible, so it's always a good idea to check.
  
• 2 tsp vanilla Vanilla is normally gluten-free since the alcohol base is distilled, not brewed.
• 4 tbsp (½ stick) butter I don't use margarine, but if you do, it works just fine. The only thing that doesn't seem to work is the diet margarines and spreads.
  

1. Melt butter over medium-low heat in large skillet.
2. Once melted, add marshmallows and stir occasionally until melted.
3. When the marshmallows have melted, add vanilla.
4. Stir briefly, then add rice cereal.
5. Stir until coated with spatula.
6. Turn out into a buttered pan, or onto a Silpat. If a Silpat is used, use the spatula to mold into desired shape.
   
   
   On the Silpat, a silicon embedded baking mat that pretty much nothing sticks to.
   
   
   
7. Once cool, cut into whatever shape you like, or if you'd prefer, once it is cooled a bit, press into molds using cookie cutters or sushi molds.
   
   
   This is a flower-shaped sushi mold.
   Cookie cutters work fine if you don't have one of these.
   
   After they've been molded.
   
   The completed treats, minus the ones that were eaten when they were still warm and gooey.
8. Enjoy!
   
   He's happy to be a guinea pig for once.
   
   Yummy
   
   The smile makes it all worthwhile (not that marshmallow treats are super difficult or anything).
   

And that's it. Allez Cuisine!

I found this today, from the fine folks at Quick Stop Entertainment(^), and the staggering talents who create The Venture Bros(^)., Henchmen 21 & 24 singing Paul McCartney's Wonderful Christmastime(^). Links to songs from previous years can be found here.

I can hear sleigh bells in the distance, so I'd better close for now and rush my gluten-free cookies and a glass of milk to the hearth for Santa.

Until later, have the Merriest of Christmases!

Namaste.

Current Mood: festive

NORAD Tracks Santa

To the immediate south of Pikes Peak is Cheyenne Mountain.

Photo of Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado
by Fish Cop, released to public domain(^)

There is a wonderful zoo on the side of the mountain, the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo(^), which has a prolific giraffe breeding program (just as cool: you can feed and touch the giraffes). At the foot of Cheyenne Mountain is the 5-star Broadmoor Hotel(^), and at the top you can find the Will Rogers Shrine of the Sun(^).

Photo of the Will Rogers Shrine of the Sun
by Matt Wright(^), permission: Attribution ShareAlike 2.5(^)

Deep inside Cheyenne Mountain you would, if you could, find the Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station buried 2000 feet below the surface of the Earth. Since the cold war, the CMAFS, NORAD (the North American Aerospace Defense Command), and other agencies have monitored (in real time) a worldwide system of satellites and other sensors that protect the United States and her allies.

Inside Cheyenne Mountain, public domain photo(^)

In 1955, the local Sears department store ran an ad for children to call Santa and give him their Christmas wishlist(^). That year, Sears inadvertently gave the phone number for CONAD (Continental Air Defense), the precursor of NORAD in the advertisement and children began calling. Colonel Harry Shoup was on duty that night, and was the first to receive a call from a local child wanting to speak to Santa. Once the colonel figured out what had happened, he instructed his staff to locate Santa for the children who called.

Every year since, on Christmas Eve, the brave men and women who work to protect us every day gear up to track Santa Claus using satellites, radar, and Santa Cam(^) on his journey around the world. Last year NORAD highlighted about two dozen of Santa's stops, including Auckland, Moscow, Egypt, Machu Picchu, and even the Space Shuttle.

When Santa enters North American airspace, Canadian NORAD fighter pilots, meet and welcome Santa to North America, flying CF-18 which are equipped with Santa Cams.

Once Santa reaches the United States, NORAD fighter pilots in either F-15 or F-16s fly alongside Santa and his reindeer, using the Santa Cam to broadcast video of Santa as he crosses the continent bringing gifts to children everywhere.

If you'd like to track Santa along with NORAD this year, you can find their website, NORAD Santa right here(^) starting at:

• 3 a.m. Pacific Standard Time
• 4 a.m. Mountain Standard Time
• 5 a.m. Central Standard Time
• 6 a.m. Eastern Standard Time
• 11 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time

There's even a Google widget to help with tracking (found here^)

Here's hoping that Santa brings you what your heart desires this (and every) year.

Namaste.

Current Mood: hopeful