Frugal Foodie

First, let me say we don't really know Lester Holt.

However, we see him on the NBC news. And it appears this man works seven days a week and does many broadcasts as well as Dateline.

I looked his bio up and it states he's married and has children. I'm not sure when he's with his family because he is often traveling for his broadcasts.

So, I was tickled the other night when DH said, "Hey, it's almost time for our friend, Lester Holt."

Wonder if Lester would be pleased!

All last year we had been saving regularly in our Christmas Club. Since it is the first of November, it was time to get our money. We had over $1600.

Yesterday, we had the opportunity to go to Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg -- bus trip with the credit union where we have the Christmas Club -- $30 each. That is incredibly reasonable for a 170 mile (one way) trip.

DH has been scouring the ads and checking this and that. He knew what he wanted...a new suit for church. He saw one at our Penney's, but not in his size. The great thing was it was marked down a bit yesterday, so he got a suit and a new shirt and I still have quite a bit of money left.

Some friends asked how we could afford to just go and buy something like that and pay cash. I said because we saved all year. In fact, I just wrote a check for next year's Christmas Club tonight. Got to be regular and start saving.

We did some other shopping for other folks and other than a couple of things I need to get closer to Christmas, I think my shopping is done. I usually make baskets with goodies for many of my friends. We are at the point in our lives the last thing we need is more stuff. But food is always a good gift. I have most of the ingredients bought for my Christmas basket food making other than stuff like eggs. I have been finding baskets and found some beautiful napkins to put in them.

Oh, we and splurged! We bought some Godiva chocolates to enjoy in the next few days. Expensive, but rich, and paid for!

Remember the comic strip "Peanuts" where each Halloween Linus awaits the "Great Pumpkin?"

I would say that the person who owns this home must really like Halloween. We saw this in Arthur, Illinois, which is about 28 miles away from us.

It's been a wild week so far at school. Not that it is bad, but I have come home very tired.

Tonight on my short drive home I thought, boy, a nice hot pizza sounds good for supper. Bet DH would go for that!

But, alas, I had already planned and had a chicken and dressing casserole in the fridge waiting to be baked.

Pizza sounded better to my tummy, but the casserole was better for the wallet.

We had the casserole. :-)

Like many of you, I take my lunch to work. Having read so many of the news stories, I attempt to heat my leftovers at school in glass which means my lunch is a little heavier, but I feel safer.

One of the younger teachers has been sitting next to me and comments on my lunch most days. She has been commenting on some of my containers.

Many of my containers are either Corningware or Pyrex containers and if they didn't belong to my grandmother, I bought them used.

Anyway, this teacher said she has been capitivated by my lunches because of the containers...most of the folks bring those freezer read to microwave meals. She has commented on the designs and such and finally the reveal: they remind her of her mom and her cooking and her dishes.

I know some of my cookware was my grandmother's. I often wonder if she would be pleased I'm still using and enjoying these items.

I also wonder if more people would say the same thing if they saw dishes from their childhood and if it would bring back good memories. I know that is my case.

Saturday DH and I had the opportunity to take Amtrak to Chicago for the day. We had a lovely luncheon at the Walnut Room at Macy's and then walked around in some of the stores.

One of the buildings on State Street has escalators that either go to TJ Maxx or down to Burlington Coat Factory. We went to both to look around.

At Burlington there was a Prada purse with the marked down price of $1134.

Not being familiar with Prada, this kind of surprised me. I mean, I know Prada is pricey, but I guess I didn't realize it was that pricey, and that was the marked down price.

Yikes!

I looked at it and it was nice, but I'm not sure it was THAT nice.

At lunch yesterday at school, we were discussing it. One gal we work with is always buying expensive purses. But, the concensus was we couldn't see spending that much money on a purse.

We had a variety of reasons:

1. If we paid that much, we'd have to stuff it with newspaper because we wouldn't have any money left;
2. If we paid that much we'd have to carry it until it wore out and we'd be sick of it;
3. If we paid that much, we'd be sick because we don't like to spend more than $50 (and usually less) on a purse; and
4. Name brands aren't THAT important.

Needless to say I am Pradaless which is just fine.

Dear Abby in her column yesterday had a letter about the home selling parties and how the writer should just say they had other plans! So between the comments made on my previous blog and her column, I feel I have had some validation.

Weather in Central Illinois the past couple of days has been, to say the least, interesting! On Thursday we had a high of 80-82 depending on which weather forecast you listened to. It was warm, whatever the thermometer listed. Yesterday it dropped to the low 40s and we had a little shower of ice pellets. Yikes! Can't say it is boring, anyway.

One of the ladies I work with told me that the people who eat lunch with me always are interested in what I bring for lunch. I kind of laughed and said, "Really?"

She smiled and said it was because I bring such good leftovers. She said the other day I was the envy of the table for my homemade mac and cheese. I'm wondering if this could be a new business for me...making lunches ... after all, Paula Deen started this way! :-)

As if the ongoing drone of political ads aren't bad enough, I'm tired of answering the doorbell.

Let me warn you, this is a rant.

Seems the doorbell has rung 3 times at 7:10 in the past three weeks...twice it was the neighbor kids doing fundraisers for their school. Two different fundraisers, I might add. Then, the mother sends over an invitation to one of those parties where you are guilted into buying their product.

Last week it was another child selling a third type fundraiser for their school district. This one was earlier.

I get it that schools need money. I live in a different district than I work, although I'm only about 4 blocks away. My own school has had a fundraiser. Read this: "a" as in one. Single. This district has had 3 since they started school.

I'm the bad guy. After DH funded all three, I told him that was enough. We've given enough for right now.

Part of me is irked at the neighbor. Two of the three kids were hers. She is always hitting us up for something. Yet to hear her tell it, they are broke and can't buy anything. But, she doesn't think anything about sending her kids over to guilt us into buying stuff. I'm polite and kind to the kids, but when is enough enough?

I think the flyer to the stupid party was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. I like to support local business owners and such, but attending one of these parties isn't my idea of a good time. And for a family that complains they are broke, owning a boat, two cars, the biggest house on the block and having a multitude of Halloween decorations (lights and all) out, isn't exactly broke. She has come over to visit in my yard with booze on her breath. And every Christmas she has the extravaganza of Christmas lights and blow ups and music and stuff. I don't really feel it is my responsibility to finance her lifestyle by attending one of her parties.

I just emailed her a nice response saying I couldn't make the party. I was polite and didn't comment.

As for the doorbell, I hope it doesn't ring for awhile!

Our local humane society had a huge "garage" sale over the weekend. It is in an area called Progress City near our local community college. We thought it would be nice to support the humane society because the funds would go to help those folks pay for neutering if they can't afford it.

One downfall is they did not have the sale place marked clearly. There was another building that said they were having a sale. We got in there and it was basically a disappointment. Three people set up and we realized then this wasn't the humane society sale...it was individuals. But, I did score a retro spice rack that was complete.



We brought it home and I washed it and let it air dry overnight. When I was washing it, I thought it was interesting that the spices listed are not the ones I often use a lot of. We aren't into major spicy, so cayenne pepper isn't at the top of our list. Then there was cloves. In fact, there were cloves in it. Not sure how old they were and the set was pretty dirty, so I wasn't keeping them.

I wonder if cooking has changed since the 50s...that when I think this set came out. I bought it because it was alumnimum, seemed to be complete...except there were two paprika so I'm sure there is something else that should have been there...but are we using many different spices?

I know I use far more than my mom ever did. I always chuckle when I think of the things in her cabinet she had for spices...more than a year old? You betcha. So, I kind of wonder if we got a lot of flavor out of some of them...I think most things were over a decade old...it was too expensive to replace every year if you didn't use much of it.

My set set me back $2 and some elbow grease in washing it. I thought the aluminimum would go well with my stainless appliances.

After using those wonderful apples that were a gift, I thought muffins are a damp, dark, fall evening would be scrumptious. I found a recipe, tweaked it, and we had them tonight. This recipes makes a dozen.

Applesauce muffins

1 1/2 cups instant oatmeal
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg white
1 cup applesauce
1/2 cup milk

brown sugar

Directions
1. Preheat an oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease 12 muffin cups, or line with paper muffin liners. Whisk together 1 1/2 cups oatmeal, the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and 1/8 teaspoon of cinnamon in a mixing bowl; set aside.
2. Whisk 1/2 cup brown sugar, egg white, applesauce, and milk together in a mixing bowl until smooth. Stir in the flour mixture until evenly moistened; it's ok if small, dry lumps remain. Pour the batter into the prepared muffin tin. Sprinkle a little more brown sugar on the top of each muffin.

3. Bake in the preheated oven until golden and the tops spring back when lightly pressed, about 20 minutes. Cool at least 10 minutes before serving.

They were moist and pretty tasty. I like using things we had on hand.

I'm going to brag a little here...our house smells marvelous!

OK, notice, I said our house, not me! :-)

A gal I work with offered me a bag of apples. It came from her mother's tree. She said she was hesitant to ask me because they weren't perfect with spots and bruises here and there, but then she realized I like to cook. The first thing I said was, "I can make applesauce!" She smiled and said exactly.

So, today she wended her way in the building with my much appreciated bag of apples.

As a teacher if you need to make a doctor's appointment during the school day, you have to either take a half a day or a full day off of sick time. I had a doctor's appointment for 1:30 so it meant I had to take a half of a day off. I got home, ate a quick lunch and then remember reading someone's blog that they made applesauce in their Crockpot. So, I washed the apples, cored and peeled them and put them in with a little lemon juice, water, a little sugar, cinnamon, and a dash of nutmeg.

Returning home the opening of the door was such a pleasant experience...it smelled like fall! Rich applesauce barely bubbling. I took out a potato masher and mashed them up and let them cook a little longer. Yowza!

I had put a turkey breast in another Crockpot this morning so with that also going, it almost smelled a little like Thanksgiving.

Ah. Fall Scents. Can't beat 'em.

Today is Sunday and it has been a busy day. We went to church and then returned home. I fixed "brunch" of scrambled eggs, sausage, toast, and sliced tomatoes. I then made ground chicken enchiladas for supper tonight. I also fixed fruit for a salad and cleaned up the kitchen.

This afternoon we walked over to an open house that is listed. The young couple who bought it a couple of years ago really fixed it up. We like looking at homes in our subdivision to try and compare what has been done and what we have done and hopefully get an idea of the real estate market. There seem to be an awful lot of homes for sale in our subdivision.

After our little trek, I have been doing school work. I finished it and can now reward myself with some SA time.

Perusing the paper today, there were two stories next to each other on the same page. One was outlining how so many more folks are having to use the local foodbanks because they can't make their money stretch after paying bills and then how many folks ordered the new iPhone and what a record it was.

Wow...some folks are spending big bucks on technology while others are struggling to eat. Wonder what's in between?

DH has grown quite a few herbs this year. Actually, because of the mild winter, we had a pot of rosemary, a pot of sage, and a pot of oregano that made it through the winter. DH planted basil, thyme, tarragon, and dill in the ground as well as another rosemary.

I have enjoyed using these fresh herbs, but someone asked the other day if I dried them. I tried once before just tying them up, but I didn't like working with them afterwards.

So, I went to that wonderful invention called the Internet and googled drying herbs. I found a couple of sites that explained how one can dry them in the microwave. I really didn't want to put out the money for a dehydrater. So, I've been experimenting and I have a nice little stockpile for the winter.

I decided yesterday since I still have plenty left, I might dry some extra and put in small bags and label them and give them away. I have some friends who enjoy cooking and I thought it might be a nice surprise for them. Plus, I hate to see anything go to waste.

It seems hard to believe the middle of September is here. I feel like all I have done is work both at home and school. Maybe even after a month of being in school, I still don't feel like I've hit a routine.

I did receive some excellent news...a grant I wrote to our local district's foundation was approved and we will be having a storyteller for a three day artist in residence. I have worked with him before and he is excellent and also will manipulate his fees to meet a reasonable budget. So that was a day brightener to say the least.

It goes without saying my dear husband loves a potato! He likes them baked, mashed, roasted, and sometimes fried. Even boiled.

When I tried this recipe he was thrilled.


Creamy potato casserole

7-8 russet potatoes peeled and sliced thin
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 cup cream
3/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon nutmet
1 teaspoons flour
1/2 to 3/4 cup shredded cheese
1 - 2 small green onions chopped (both white and green)
nonstick cooking spray

Mix flour, nutmeg, cream and milk together. Grease casserole dish. Add sliced potatoes and onions and mix together, then pour milk/cream mixture over. Bake at 400 degrees for one hour, covered, or until potatoes are done. Add shredded cheese and green onions and bake 15 minutes uncovered.

This is on our menu tonight; he's pretty excited!

"When life gives you green tomatoes, fry them!"


OK, no sage said that to my knowledge and it is loosely based on the life and lemons quote, but this is our predicament. Our tomatoes have quit ripening. We have lots of small green ones on the vines, but little red in sight.

DH was hungry for a tomato and I suggested that I fix them as fried green tomatoes.

Here's how I fixed them:

Fried Green Tomatoes

Wash and slice the tomatoes and soak in milk

1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup corn meal
1 tsp tumeric
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp ground pepper

Canola oil

I heated up the cast iron skillet and then added the oil. I dipped the milk soaked tomato slices into the flour/cornmeal mixture and cooked on both sides. DH and I do not like spicy stuff, so I'm sure you could add whatever else you wanted if you want them hot.

DH enjoyed them and felt he had his tomato quota.

One of our local grocery stores reopened as a County Market. As a result they had some great specials for "loyal" customers also received a postcard with 6 coupons..white bread for 49 cents, 12 double rolls of tp for $4.99, 4 bourbon marinated pork chops for $2, 4 lbs of sugar for $1.49, Cheerios for 99 cents. Wow, what a fun grocery trip. They also sent out their monthly coupon booklet and had other stuff on special like bananas for 39 cents.

Well, I feel a little like a hoarder because any of the items I could get 2 of, I did. I only used the store special coupons on stuff I normally would get, and I used regular coupons on some of the stuff too, so felt like I saved some money.

It was nice to feel "appreciated" with the extra savings.

Heard on HGTV's Extreme Homes...to solve the problem on the yacht if you need room to dance you can have the table move up to the storage area in the ceiling...I know that this problem of not having room to dance on my yacht has kept me up nights...how about you?

Saturday the group we toured with this summer to the east coast had a get together to view the movie the leader so graciously put together and then to eat some snacks.

One of the ladies asked me why I stopped putting what I was fixing for supper on Facebook. I told her because I was getting verbally abused for it. She laughed and said she missed it.

I had been kind of kidded about it -- I started it as a joke. A couple of the local restaurants that I "liked" on Facebook were putting their daily specials on their walls, so I said I would join in and put mine on my wall. A couple of folks kind of got grouchy about it. Most either said it sounded good or asked when was meal time.

Well, the gal insisted I start, so I did. It's been interesting to see the comments. This gal said she liked seeing it because it gave her ideas on fixing things.

I guess that is sort of like this site -- we blog and post replies and it makes us think. Maybe we think about menus or finances or just get challenged to think about something either we didn't or hadn't broached before.

So, although we often think of menus as associated with food, I think we can also think of our writings as a menu of thoughts.

This week was the first official week for students, although staff started school the Thursday before.

Last weekend I cooked a chicken in the slow cooker and made two casseroles and chicken stew. That took care of three suppers and a few lunches. I also fixed a beef roast one evening -- DH nicely put it in the oven -- and I had sloppy chicks last Sunday so the leftovers were DH's lunch one day. So, with this, I counted I fixed supper 6 out of 7 nights. We met friends last night at a reasonable place and I had salad bar and water so it wasn't super expensive.

I mentioned that I was tired, but kind of pleased that I didn't succumb to eating out and the hubby of the couple looked at DH and said he needed to help out more. I think he was kidding because although DH is a wonderful husband, he simply isn't handy when it comes to cutting, chopping, etc. He can put something in the oven or heat it on the stove or in the microwave.

So then the friend said we needed to eat out more. I guess he just doesn't get it. I cook for two reasons: it is more reasonable and I control what we eat. I know that sounds like I'm an ogre, but at most places, you have no idea what they are putting in their food or on their food. We used to eat at a restaurant that boasted all their pasta was fresh. I guess they thought opening a box was fresh. Not in my book. True fresh pasta is not dried or frozen.

Well, as I'm sitting here, I'm waiting for the pie crust to cool down so I can put the makings of quiche in it for our supper tonight.

Here's the easiest quiche recipe:

1 pie crust (homemade or store bought)
3 eggs
1 cup half and half
1/2 cup shredded cheese

Optional -- browned meat like sausage or bacon
roasted vegetables
herbs

Often if I have leftover roasted vegetables, I will add them to the quiche. Since I'm starting over for the week, I will just serve it with a green salad. But, you can add whatever you want.

Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes until it is solid.

Take out of oven and let it sit for a few minutes before serving.

Depending on the serving size, you can get 3-6 servings.

So, another day of saving a few coins by not eating out!

Life suddenly went into overdrive...I started back to school last week. I don't know if it was stress or the fact I no longer controlled my time, but by Friday I was so exhausted I could barely think straight.

Fortunately the weather cooled off a bit and the buildings were decent temperature wise. But, it is supposed to start warming up as the week goes along.

I have 5 meals planned for the week and most of them will give leftovers for lunches. We had meatloaf last night and there is enough for lunch for both of us one day. We are having sloppy chicks (joes made with ground chicken) for supper tonight so that will give leftovers as well. I cooked a whole chicken in the slower cooker Friday night and made three casseroles and a stew for some week day suppers.

I need to start the grocery list for the end of the week Aldi trip. I've already used a few things that I need to replenish.

Mugs.

No, I'm not talking about one's face. I'm talking about those devices we use to hold coffee, tea, milk, water, etc.

Yesterday, we perused a couple of thrift stores. I noticed that at each one there was a shelf set aside just for mugs.

Poor, abandoned, lonely mugs.

I bet at one time they were either given as gifts or bought with joy of using. Now, they are abandoned, left to their own, to sit on a shelf for folks like me to notice.

I decided to do a mug count at our house. I thought while I was cleaning out the cabinet, I'd take a few photos. Bet you can tell which ones my DH uses. I have to admit not all my mugs are in one cabinet. I have 6 on a mug rack, some in a hutch, and another in another cabinet. I didn't take photos of the ones on the top shelf because I didn't want to get a step ladder.
















After all is said...drum roll please...I counted 51 mugs in our house. That averages out to 25.5 mugs per person (MPP) in our home. This doesn't count the coffee and tea cups.

And yes, I succumbed to the call of the lonely mug yesterday and bought this clear one. I thought it needed a new home.

I am, in effect, a bit ashamed. Yesterday we went shopping at a larger city near us.

I am 51 years old and I did my back to school shopping. We spent a ton! OK, I work in education, so perhaps that is sort of justified.

I can rationalize it to an extent. I have been going to the local stores and thrift shops and have found nothing I liked in my size. I'm overweight and I hate so many of the new patterns that are huge. They are not flattering. And what's with all this sleeveless stuff? Not everyone has the toned arms of Michelle Obama. I wish I did, but as I get older, my upper arms are getting uglier. I don't have huge upper arms, but they still aren't pretty. I have lost enough weight that many of the things I own are very unbecoming -- most are years old because I haven't like many of the things I've seen in clothing the past couple of years.

So, yesterday, I took a plunge and went into a store with more classic looks. My DH is a wonderful clothes shopper, so he's ideal to take along. Bet many of you are jealous already. :-) Anyway, I found quite a few things and his comment was he didn't care how much it cost, I should get them because it is important to look professional. So, after three stores, my purchases included 3 dresses, 3 slacks, 7 blouses and a pair of shoes. Not everything was on sale, but I liked what I bought.

I always get a little upset when I spend this much money. It isn't that it put us into debt -- we have the money. I just don't like spending large sums of money and I hate clothes shopping because I have unfortunately been made ashamed of my body and therefore often think I'm not worth it. DH is wonderful and very encouraging. And as for the money, he doesn't get upset over it.

Hopefully this will help my self image a bit. A friend told me to letter my inner diva out and enjoy it. Her words were, "Let her rip!"

I know we are indeed blessed DH has put in a small garden. I had the opportunity to make another small batch of tomato sauce yesterday. I will use part of it for tonight's meal of sloppy chicks (sloppy joes made with ground chicken) and then the rest will be used for goulash tomorrow night.

A friend of ours told us his wife went to the farm stand and paid $1 each for homegrown tomatoes. DH has moaned that his regular tomatoes aren't as large as they were last year and we think it is due to the drought, but $1 each? Wow.

We stopped at Aldi's Thursday night for our weekly run. Eggs had gone up 40 cents to $1.69 a dozen. Living in Central Illinois is far more economical than other places, but a 40 cent jump...wow. But, I had heard on the news that with the heat chickens aren't laying as much nor are cows giving as much milk. I noticed that butter had gone up considerably as well.

Lucky Robin has been blogging about her harvest and I bet their family saves a ton of money eating what they have grown and picked and preserved.

I wonder if the economy continues to be grim if more folks will be planting gardens next spring. I tease my husband we need to plow up the front yard and put in a really big garden. I doubt if the city would allow it, but I bet during the depression of the 1930s, folks did whatever they could.

I did something today that I hated to do. I threw away some bananas that were overripe. I normally make banana bread. The thing is, neither of us eat that much banana bread. I'm trying to watch my carbs and dh will eat a piece or two, but otherwise it goes to waste. I normally bake it and give it away. I decided that throwing away the bananas was probably more economical than using the eggs, sugar, and flour to give away the bread. I hope that doesn't sound too cheap. I shouldn't have let the bananas get overripe, but they turned on me before I knew it.

Well, I digress. It would have been interesting to have kept a running tally of how many onions, bell peppers, herbs, and tomatoes we have realized from the garden and how much we spent on the garden itself and how much it would have cost us if we had bought them at the grocery. Maybe I'll think to do this next year and see if we are eating economically.

DH loves to garden. He has a very small vegetable garden in our front yard due to the fact our back yard is heavily shaded.

With the drought (sorry, I keeping bringing it up)we weren't sure how well his tomatoes were going to do. We are currently under water restrictions so he can only water three days a week and if we don't get any rain in the next week, that will be cut too.

So, on those three days he waters deeply hoping with the 90+ degree days (they are anticipating 100 or more today), the plants will survive.

We didn't think we would have enough tomatoes for me to make sauce this year. In the past, he plants both cherry tomatoes and then regular tomatoes and when both ripen at the same time, I use the cherry tomatoes to make sauce. In the past, I've been able to freeze some of it for the winter, besides using some of it.

Well, this week we had a bonanza of both tomatoes, so I could make a pot of sauce. My recipes changes based on what I have on hand, but I start out with diced onions and bell peppers and saute them. Then add the tomatoes and cook down and added lots of basil and then some garlic. I then pureed the mixture for a smooth consistency.

It made for a thrifty supper...I cooked some pasta and added some of the tomato sauce for our meal that evening. With the heat, we didn't want a whole lot. With bread and butter and some cottage cheese as a side dish, it was filling. It also made our kitchen smell wonderful.

I had some of the pasta and sauce left over so last night I had a piece of chicken left over so I chunked it and browned it, and cut up vegetables that were in the crisper, and made chicken stew. I had broth in the freezer. I simmered all of this and then added the leftover pasta and tomato sauce. That will make a good meal one evening this week.

It is me, or are there more commercials on television?

Furthermore, do these folks think we are stupid?

DH says I observe too much. For example, some of the processed foods show these fancy kitchens with beautiful cabinets, granite countertops, and perfect appliances and nothing out of place -- the gourmet kitchen to heat up a junk food snack in the microwave. Even the dog and cat food commercials show pretty elaborate kitchens! Really? Do they think most of America has the fancy kitchen of these commercials or is it a subliminal message that if you buy this stuff, you'll be like these folks?

I'm not sure the draw is for these car commercials where they drive in some of these settings like big cities and storm out and go rapidly down these streets. In most big cities, it is usually bumper to bumper during the day. I guess the car companies think we will think we can avoid the traffic and have a blast driving their car. I'll just putter along in mine and hopefully save some gas!

I wonder how many homes look as fancy as the ones in the commercial? I guess they feel it is everyone's dream to have these elaborate, fancy homes with up to date everything. Do we all buy into this? Is it a way to make folks unsatisfied with what they have and buy bigger and better?

Right now on Facebook it seems most of my friends keep putting these photos asking if we remember this and that such as a potato masher or speakers from a drive in theatre. I do have a potato masher and often use it, so I guess I not only remember it...I'm not up to date with whatever the kitchen market industry thinks I should be using. It was my grandmother's and it works just fine.

I remember Charlie Brown and Linus talking about commercialism as well as it being a sticking point in "Miracle on 34th Street." Maybe I'm becoming sick of it as well. Have we become too infected with commercialism?

As I've mentioned before, we are in Illinois and in a severe drought. Our yards are crispy, and things are dry. DH has been watering his garden and a couple of trees that aren't super old.

Today he came in hot under the collar. Seems he found a cigarette butt in the corner of his garden near the front of the house.

Neither of us smoke. The butt wasn't smushed like it had been stubbed out. So, apparently it had been flicked over.

I truly do not understand why some smokers (not all, but some) feel it is someone else's responsibility to pick up their cigarette butts because they are done and throw them wherever. That's bad enough. But, it is dangerous in this situation with the dry grass. If it had hit the dry grass, we could have had a fire in our yard.

We think it came from our neighbor and her kids. They were out in the yard the other day. The reason they were in the yard?

Well, a few months ago she had a fire in her house. Her garage caught fire and did major damage to her garage, her vehicle, and the contents of the garage. Smoke infilterated her home.

The cause of the fire? She put the remnants of her ashtray into the garbage can and apparently they weren't all out. It smoldered all night and when she opened the door between the house and garage it created a backdraft and the place caught fire.

So, she has been out of house for the past 4 months as she fought insurance and got folks to in to fix things and clean up.


We haven't seen any butts in the yard recently because no one has been at the house. But, now that they are helping her move back in, the family is back and in the yard smoking.

One would think after that little experience, everyone involved would be more careful.

We are considered in a drought like most of the Midwest. Our city lake has dropped to such an extent that we are now on mandatory water restrictions. So far, the water restrictions let people water their gardens and lawns on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. If we don't ge some rain and the oppressive heat doesn't subside, that will probably be cut as well. In the meantime, no watering of any kind can be done on any other days, even with a sprinkling can.

DH is worried about his small vegetable garden. Before the restrictions, he was watering his tomatoes, peppers, and herbs each morning. he's been out over 1 1/2 hours today trying to get things thoroughly soaked.

I totally get why we need to restrict water. Drinking water is vital. It just means many of us may lose our gardens which means higher food prices. I see the national news is now predicting higher grocery prices of at least 4%.

That rate hike may mean some folks won't be eating very much.

Let's pray the drought breaks soon.

Perhaps it is the heat or maybe just the frustration...

Watching television is getting my cynical side surfacing.

We usually watch Suze Orman each Saturday night. We have been watching her for years. But, I'm getting tired of her analyzing emotions and trying to act as a therapist. Yes, I believe emotions play a big part in spending, but I want to hear more facts instead of playing the therapist.

During the school year I retire at 9 p.m. so it means I miss out on some shows I'd like to see. One of them is Restaurant Impossible. Well, I'm getting a little cynical about it as well...last week Robert was acting like a therapist and solving the family emotional problems as well as their restaurant problems. That was bad enough, but when the construction crew couldn't get a wall down, super Robert to the rescue with a sledgehammer showing them how it was done. Too bad he wasn't wearing tights and a cape!

On Mondays we normally watch American Pickers. We even ventured to Iowa last spring to see their place. My folks had a used furniture store and later an antique shop and I get you have to buy low to make a profit, but sometimes I think their attitudes are a bit much anymore. No one knows it all, and if they are making as many great deals as they say, they don't need to be on television. They talk about buying some and selling for double or triple the amount...but that might be the value, not what they really got. In retail, one can only hope the demand is there.

Well, we've been watching dvds borrowed from the library...last night we watched a Sherlock Holmes and Watson had a flashlight. What a great flashlight it was...it light up half the room...wonder where we can buy one of those and some of those great candles in the old westerns that you could light one and the whole room was lit.

Well, I guess I'll take my cynical self and go make lunch...unless Robert wants to show me how and Suze can analyze my feelings.