Archive for January, 2006

January 31st, 2006 - Lottie and Minnie have come home!

Lottie and Minnie, the first two of 8 elephants coming in the next week to The Elephant Sanctuary, have made it home! I got to watch it on streaming video and it made me so joyful!

The rest of them will be coming two by two over the next week. More info and their schedule is available. Watch the ele-cam.

For those who haven’t been reading for the past year, The Elephant Sanctuary is my favorite charity. The have spent the last few years struggling to bring 12 elephants home to Tennesee from a company that got in trouble with the USDA for their treatment of the herd. Two elephants came a year ago; one died this fall. Another one died just before New Year’s. The rest are coming home! TES is a true sanctuary. It accepts only female elephants. No breeding is done. The elephants are not viewable by the public (except via the webcams).

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January 30th, 2006 - Currants

Jen wondered if I could make my currants more palatable, and pointed out how many recipes she found at Epicurious….. It’s a good idea, but unfortunately, the vast majority of “currant” recipes call for dried currants. Which aren’t currants at all! They are dried grapes! [Silly English. Why can’t we use the same word for the same thing??? grumble grumble grumble] I did print out a bunch of non-dried currant recipes once, but they are all desserts, like pies. And we never eat pie. So it just wasn’t worth making something with them.

I did, however, get through a box last week. I sugared them up (actually, used Stevia) and used a small 4-oz container to make up a serving. It was so much easier to eat 1/2c rather than staring at the entire box each time. I also knew that it would take me only 4-6 servings to get through at that rate. They would be much better if I made them much sweeter. But I don’t think the added calories of sugar is worth it. (And I find the Stevia has an odd taste if I go heavy enough to be sweet enough.)

I am going to dry currants this coming summer, but I’m not sure how good they will be. Currants have one big seed in them, kind of like a grape seed but the currant is far smaller than a grape. I’m afraid the seed will still be large after drying. But we’ll see. If they were dry, I’d easily use them in trail mix (GORP) and fruit breads. And scones.

Speaking of which, I made them again this weekend. Cut back again on the sugar and the butter and Eric still liked them. Whoohoo! I also made some cheese crackers for Maggie and me. I liked only one of the two recipes, but Maggie likes them both. Later in the evening, I got the wonderful idea of adding dried veggies to them. Now I’m looking forward to the next time. The only problem is that the recipes were drastically too dry to come together. I had to add water and oil to both. And it still wasn’t enough on the good one. They were supposed to be sliced very thin and that was just impossible. As it was, they were falling apart sliced just under 1/4″ which is pretty thick for a cracker! Both recipes are from Super Baby Food, so maybe I should go look for others and compare…..

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January 26th, 2006 - Motto/theme for 2006

I thought this was kind of cheesy when I read it, but I haven’t been able to get it out of my mind. Cheryl Miller (who produced the No Junk Food Snacks challenge I participated in) encourages us to choose a theme for 2006. I’m thinking of going with “Eat Healthy, Be Healthy.” I’ve been thinking a lot about food lately, and have been making some changes. And for the last year, I’ve been concerned about making sure Maggie eats healthily.

Some specific things to focus on for the year:

* I gained 10 pounds after Maggie came home. I know, most women lose weight after their babies come home, but I went from walking a lot (12000 steps a day including 1.5 miles walking commute) to sitting around the house. I had plenty of access to snacks whenever I wanted them. Combined, in three months I gained 10 pounds which haven’t come off. I want them gone this year.
* Eating the produce that’s in our freezer and our garden (when the time comes). This morning, due to this resolve, I got out a package of currants. I find them difficult to eat, but they are free food. My goal is to eat a package (or drink a package of juice) every 2 weeks. Eric hates them and Maggie’s too young (choking hazard), so it’s all up to me to eat them.
* Making my breads, etc., healthier with whole wheat flour and other changes. Already implementing this quite nicely! I just have to buy ww flour in advance–I was all out for two weeks! This weekend I finally used it in a pumpkin bread and Eric didn’t notice the difference (neither did I, but I’m more willing to put up with a different taste or texture than he is).
* Remembering that it’s okay to spend more money to eat healthier. WW flour is more expensive than white. Products for the garden will cost money, but will save money in the future with produce (this is a direct cost savings because otherwise I spend money at the farmer’s market for what would have grown in the garden).
* We managed, over the past year, to not get sick at all (excepting Eric’s chronic illness) except for Eric’s thing right when Maggie came home (a cold?) and my pluerisy a month later (due to stress, they think). In 2005, none of us had a cold, stomach flu, sprained ankles or wrists (I’ve had 4 sprained wrists in the 6 years we lived here), etc. I believe eating an even healthier diet will continue this record. Or at least help us avoid some illnesses, as I don’t truly believe we can keep that up!

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January 26th, 2006 - My personal savings

Also back in March, I wrote about saving half of my personal spending money (with an update a few days later). I decided to save the money and see if I decded on somethhing later in the year. I never did, although I have come up with a dozen things to spend it on, most of which required waiting until the end of the year or even two years to have enough money for it.

I’m proud to say that I saved all of the money, plus at least half of the money I got from test proctoring, except once. At the end of the year, I had $585. One month, I miscalcuated some other personal spending, so I used the month’s savings amount to cover that in order to not be indebted to the house. However, as already noted, I also put in half the money from proctoring, something I wasn’t initially requiring myself to do, which made up for the lapse. (This month, I also spent the money on a discounted outdoor fire pit, something I’d been eyeing for a while. Seeing them on year-end discount, I picked one up. One of my ideas is patio furniture, which I didn’t end up buying because we got two outdoor captain’s chairs and have a card table from the CR-V. The fire pit is a nice addition to this setup.) Actually, that amount doesn’t sound right, I’m missing another month–perhaps I didn’t send December’s portion off to the savings account.

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January 26th, 2006 - Pickle jar, part II

Last March, I wrote about my pickle jar savings. By Christmas, the jar wasn’t only about 2/3rds full but was so heavy I worried about it causing stress on the table where it sits. (Michael: It’s the old bedside table/cupboard from childhood. Yes, I’ve had the exact same bedside table all of my life except when I lived at college and in KY. I love it!) So I decided to count the money (something else I’ve loved since childhood. It was always a treat when Dad got out his small change box and I got to count and roll the coins with him!) and put it in a safer place (a giant plastic Eagles coin container that sits on the floor).

Before finding back the first post about the jar, I thought I’d had since before Maggie, but apparently we started it in January, about a year ago. (Initial funding, however, was from a small blue bottle that had been collecting for a while, probably less than $20). Into the jar has gone

* change (from household spending, my personal spending money, and occasionally from Eric)
* rebates (ranging from 99cents to tax filing rebates of $20 or so)
* Discover cash back ($20 about every 6 weeks)
* interest from savings accounts
* change found on the ground
* budget roundings (this one’s hard to explain–I track my budget in Quicken then transfer the amount over/under for the month into a spreadsheet. For the spreadsheet, I round everything. So if we had $42.55 left in an area, it’s written as $42. If we were over $42.55, I wrote down -$43. This small amounts of rounding add up to about $100 each year.)

We had over $800 in the pickle jar!!!!! Since that was all in just one year, we really could save up for an Alaska trip in 10 years! woohoo!!!!

Financial experts say that this method of saving is a bad idea, because you should be discplined and have savings as part of your budget. Depending on the person, however, I believe it can be a good idea. For us it works because I budget every dollar I can. If we didn’t put this money in the pickle jar, it would be budgeted monthly into other categories. I know because (except for the change) we used to budget it. The money went towards the DRiP accounts, the mortgage or other stuff. We simply wouldn’t consciously save $800/year towards a trip to Alaska; it’s too frivolous. But we can save penny by penny by unexpected amount.

Posted in Money | 3 Comments »

January 24th, 2006 - I love vinegar!

Once again, I’m singing the praises of Annie Berthold Bond’s Better Basics for the Home. This time, one of the carpet cleaning recipes, 50/50 vinegar and water. Put it in a spray bottle. Spritz the area (I made it pretty wet) and wait 10 minutes. Blot up the liquid with a clean cloth or sponge. Repeat if necessary. (I did 2-3 applications.)

Our dogs sometimes don’t eat their food. When they don’t, they are overly hungry before the next meal. And they end up throwing up the bile in the tummies, an icky nasty yellow/green liquid. Even if we wipe it up immediately and use the enzyme cleaner (specifically for pet issues), a yellow stain remains. I have some Resolve carpet cleaner that I’ve used, but it has some problems. First, I don’t want to use it when Maggie is around or will be around (they throw up in the living room, where she spends her time playing). So I try to only use it after she goes to bed, so there’s a good 13 hours before she’ll be in the area. The only problem is that the yellow can only be seen in sunlight! As we discovered last week when I was all ready to clean the stains. The lights in the LR didn’t work, nor did a flashlight. But come morning, they they are again. Sicne it’s winter, our daylight hours are limited to 8am - 5pm, which leaves little opportunity for cleaning it up (since I work and Maggie’s around all day).

The other problem is that the Resolve cleans so well that it leaves a white patch on the carpet. It might be bleaching the area. I did use it on one stain in the middle of the room. The white patch can still be seen a week later. :( AND, the Resolve did not get rid of the entire stain, so there’s a dark spot in the middle of the white.

So this weekend, I remembered Annie’s book and looked up carpet cleaning. We had four stains, two of them a couple weeks old. To be honest, I wasn’t sure any of her recipes would work on these tough stains. But I was ready to try every one she had with the hope I wouldn’t have to use more Resolve. It worked! It worked! It worked! The stains are gone! I was so delighted, I decided to try it out on a really old soda stain (it’s more than a year old, possibly two). NO MORE SODA STAIN EITHER!!!! I’d forgotten about some more stains in the den, and they will be attacked this weekend.

And the best part is that Maggie could be around during the cleaning process. I kept her away, since playing in vinegar really isn’t recommended. But I had no fears that she would find it while it was soaking and stick chemicals in her mouth. Same with the pets. I didn’t have to put guards around it while drying, either. Woohoo!!!!!

I purchased this book about a year ago (link to blog post), after reading it from the library. If I had to choose just one frugal/simple/organic living book to own, this would be it. (Indeed, the only other one I have is The Complete Tightwad Gazette. Which I also highly recommend!)

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January 23rd, 2006 - Update on the cooking

The donuts were only good right out of the oven. As leftovers, they tasted like bland, slightly sweet, whole wheat bread (untoasted and w/o butter!). I’m going to have to get some tips from Katie on getting them to rise. I think that would have made all the difference.

Michael: I think you’d like the lentil roast. The problem for us is that it’s hard to please 3 different palates, so I don’t feel like playing with the flavoring. It’s certianly an inexpensive recipe! Tips–I didn’t use red lentils, I used what I had on hand. I also made only half a recipe, which fit nicely in a square pan (9″, I think). I would add more garlic and other seasonings, but then, I don’t like ketchup and it was too much of that flavor for me. I’d also recommend reading Katie’s blog in general–she has recipes all the time! If you run into flax seed meal, that’s a substitute for eggs. You can use eggs instead. Or, if you are interested in trying it, I bought a package and could send some along with your birthday gift. Just let me know! She has a recipe for tomato (pasta) sauce that includes TVP, which made me thing of you. I’m going to try it later this week or next, as I bought some TVP Saturday.

I made a double batch of the scones yesterday. They are delicious. I thought they were pretty healthy, until I noticed the nutritional content notes at the bottom of the page: 270 calories per scone! Well, I did substitute half whole wheat flour. I also decreased the sugar (both in it and on the topping). I also halved the butter on the top. Not enough to reduce the calories significantly. I will also try gradually reducing the butter in it. I’m sure the butter and sugar is why Eric likes them so much, so I must move with care. They are still more healthy than junk food or fast food, even if high in calories. I’ll also try putting in more whole wheat flour. At some point, I’ll have to add gluten, I’m just not sure at what point that is.

I also made French fries yesterday. They didn’t turn out quite as lovely as the last time I did them. But, they were made with potatoes from our garden which makes them absolutely yummy! Due to Katie, I made some out of a sweet potato, too. (I believe she used all sorts of root veggies in hers, but this is all we had.) Maggie didn’t like the baked sweet potato I made earlier, but she ate a SPFF! She only got one because Ruth stopped by to visit during lunch and I forgot to get more fries for Maggie. We’ll see again tonight with leftovers. I also froze some for another day.

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January 21st, 2006 - Inspired cooking/baking day

Today, inspired by reading Frugal Veggie Mama, I cooked and baked.

No Fry Doughnuts: Used Katie’s recipe, except I used eggs instead of the substitute. They barely rose, so I thought it would be a disaster and taste like heavy bread. Instead, I love them! Sure, they could have risen more, but they do taste good even this way. I used nutmeg, however (as the recipe calls for), so Eric did not like them. Will try again next weekend w/o it. I also remembered something else from Katie’s blog and made 1/2 a recipe (I got only 9 donuts out of it, too).
Scones: I was going to use Katie’s scone recipe, which is based on the Tightwad Gazette’s. Thankfully, I checked that recipe first. I’ve tried it before and my notes included “tasteless.” But, still inspired, I opened up the quick breads cookbook I got at the library a couple weeks ago. They had a recipe that included sugar, unlike K’s and TWG’s. However, I did take a note from K and used 1/2 white flour and 1/2 whole wheat. K would use 100% whole wheat, but I’m going slowly on that, to not take too many leaps! Eric adores them and I think there’s only one (of 8 ) left. I will make more tomorrow. These are the first scones he’s liked!
Barbeque Lentil Roast: Katie’s recipe again. A big hit with Maggie. And okay dinner for me. And Eric couldn’t stand it even with hot sauce and barbeque sauce on top. So we won’t make that again. Maggie and I have leftovers for a few more meals, however.
Pumpkin Bisquits: Inspired by Katie, I wanted something to go with the lentils, although I thought of it with 30 minutes to go–and bisquits take 20 minutes to cook! I was washing the bread pan to make another loaf of pumpkin bread when I thought of bisquits instead. I couldn’t find, at first, the recipe I knew I had printed, but I found a sweet potato bisquit recipe that looked like I could substitute in. I found the printed recipe, but it included maple syrup and melted butter, so I went with the SPB instead. It called for sour cream, and I substituted yogurt (homemade!) instead. They were lovely as well. Maggie agreed. (Eric hasn’t tried them.)
Pumpkin Bread: My typical recipe in the bread machine, although I used half the pumpkin (1/2 c). They’ve been coming out heavy and wet lately, which just isn’t fun. This turned out quite nice finally. Although not as healthy w/ half the veggie. I remember to use half whole wheat flour, but I forgot to add in powdered milk as planned. Haven’t done that addition before, but it sounds like a good idea (I used it in my white breads).

I wish I lived near Katie. For starters, I could taste a few of the lovely recipes she talks about and see if I like them without having to actually cook them myself. ;-) She’s also be able to help when the donuts didn’t seem right! And it would just be nice to have a friend who was frugal, cooked and baked, gardened, etc. She only knows me from a comment or two on her blog. But since I recently read all her entries, I feel like I know her!

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January 20th, 2006 - Kellogg and Viacom to Face Suit Over Ads for Children - New York Times

Kellogg and Viacom to Face Suit Over Ads for Children - New York Times. YES!

Of course, I think a partial answer to the problem is also “Don’t let your little kids watch TV.” If they didn’t have SpongeBob as a favorite character, they wouldn’t care what foods he was hawking. But the reality is that kids watch TV, so I’m all for the lawsuit.

Sadly, Maggie has started to become more interested in TV. She’ll watch it for up to a minute now. We can easily distract her…but we’re going to have to be more and more careful about waht we watch with her around. She’s a big fan of John Stewart, which isn’t a bad thing. ;-)

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January 20th, 2006 - Become aware of the use of pesticides in your neighborhood

My state (WI) offers a Landscape Pesticide Advance Notice Registry. Sign up, and whenever a commercial landscaper (etc.) applies pesticides in your neck of the woods, they will notify you in advance! Check your state’s department of ag to see if you have one, too. (It’s under “landscape registry” here.)

I haven’t decided yet if there’s any benefit to me knowing that pesticides are in my neighborhood…but I guess I’ll see how I feel.

I wish I could be notified when it’s happening at work. One day last summer, the wind was blowing and as I walked back from lunch I got a FACE FULL of pesticides. How disgusting.

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January 19th, 2006 - Sahadi: 5 signs you have too much money - Jan. 17, 2006

I was going to say “Some people have to much money” but I realized the real problem is some people just don’t know how to spend their money appropriately. I know, definitions of appropriate vary. But surely spending $38 on a bottle of water is not appropriate. And imagine the good you could do for [insert your favorite charitable organization] with $47,000 instead of a posh bed for a little kid?

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January 17th, 2006 - Frugal/natural experiment

This week, as I’m nearing the end of my last purchased bottle of hair gel, I’m trying homemade hair gel. A few months ago, I found the recipe online (1/2-1 tsp vegetable gelatin, 1 cup hot water, store in fridge). I use gel on a daily basis, but only a small amount about the size of a dime. It helps my hair be less-frizzy and, when it’s longer (like now), keep it’s curl throughout the day.

I’m not sure if homemade will save much money. I use so little gel, that my $8 fancy bottle has lasted at least 1.5 years, I believe it may be more than 3 (my hairdresser moved 1.5 years ago, so I know it’s older than that). The homemade version has cost me nothing so far. I bought a package of gelatin year(s?) ago at the discount food store for less than $1. So far, I’ve used at most 1/4 of a one packet (of 4) to make 1/4 cup of gel. I do use a bit more and it isn’t as solid as the store-bought gel.

The jury’s still out on whether it will hold as well. It’s a little more hassle to use, since I get my hair ready upstairs but can’t use the gel until I get downstairs and let the dogs out. On the other hand, it’s less of a mess and isn’t as icky-sticky on my hands (in fact, I haven’t bothered washing my hands the last two times). But that might mean it won’t hold my hair as well, either. On the other hand, there are no funny chemicals being used!!! I will put up with the hassle and with it not holding quite as well for the last one. It has to have a decent holding power, however. I do not like it when my hair is twice as big as usual.

I’ve resolved to use it for the entire week, to give a fair trial. So I’ll let you know next Monday what the verdict is!

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January 12th, 2006 - Hot cereal

Rebecca, just ask and you shall receive! Most recently, she wondered why I don’t eat hot cereal. When I was a kid, we ate hot cereal about 5 times a week–oatmeal, cream of wheat, Malt-o-Meal, 7-grain, etc. I hated them. Hated them all. Mom usually put nuts or raisins in them and we could put as much sugar in as we wanted. I sort of like Malt o Meal, but not really all that much. We had to eat them, of course, but I didn’t like them. When I’d go home from university in the winter, Mom continued to make hot cereal for the family and I continued to eat it. Until one day in grad school, when I realized, “Wait a minute! I’m an adult. I do NOT have to eat what my Mom makes anymore.” I threw it down the drain and haven’t had hot cereal since.

I firmly believe that hot cereal can be an inexpensive and wholesome meal. Maggie has it every single day and I hope she grows to love it. Her Dad also loves oatmeal. (Maggie gets an assortment of grains in her cereals.) I just have absolutely no desire to eat it myself. Interestingly, I appreciate whole grains in other formats–oatmeal cookies are my favorite, I enjoy fried rice, etc. Just not as hot cereal for breakfast. (And grits? Heavens, no. I tried them as a teenager and they are just nasty. But Eric likes them and got some for Christmas!)

Michael, remember the time two or three of us added salt since the other people always forget? YEEEUK! We loaded that batch with sugar and it still wasn’t good enough to choke down.

I much prefered the breakfasts of cereal or toast, our staples during the summer. And which I continue to eat now. Mostly it’s toast or fruit bread, with the rare bowl of cereal (typically homemade granola).

Posted in Childhood, Food | 2 Comments »

January 11th, 2006 - Method to help get rid of clothes

On my Motley Fool message boards, someone just shared a suggestion for helping yourself pare down your clothing collection:

And on a personal note, about 6 months ago I followed the concept of get rid of anything that doesn’t look good on you - and ended up with practically nothing left, lol. I set up the video camera and took a video of myself “parading” down the stairs in all my clothes, and after watching that video it was EASY to get rid of all that stuff.

I haven’t heard this one before, but it makes a lot of sense. A lot easier to see what you look like compared to looking in a mirror, too.

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January 11th, 2006 - The Family General Store

Like Merchant Ships has a great idea for a family general store, a place where her son can “buy” treats and toys. By stocking her closet with toys she’d like him to have, she knows that his money will go towards things she will approve. Without having to haggle and hassle and argue at the store. AND, she can find things cheap at thrift stores and garage sales–saving her son his money as well!

I have to remember this in 2 years….

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January 10th, 2006 - Apple Snackle Recipe

Rebecca said she was interested in making this, so here’s the recipe:

1 1/2 c dried apples, chopped (recipe had 1 c and 1/2 later on. I think it called for a different dried fruit I don’t like so I didn’t write it down; my apples are crunchy dry, so I broke them into pieces rather than chopping)
1/2 c walnuts broken in pieces (I used pecans)
1/2 c brown sugar (I’d use no more than 1/4c)
1 tsp cinnamon

Also suggests using dried pears and using nutmeg instead of cinnamon. I mixed it into my yogurt for lunch yesterday and it was YUMMY! Definitely could be used as a topping for hot cereal (which I don’t eat anymore), ice cream, etc.

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January 9th, 2006 - Homemade snacks

Yesterday, I made some snacks. Not a single one turned out “right.”

Parched corn: I dried some corn last summer (and my brother also gave me some for Christmas) and found a recipe for parched corn. You fry the dried corn until it turns brown and beings to pop. Said to take 1-5 minutes. It took at *least* 10 minutes and neither batch ever popped. It got pretty brown however so I stopped. It’s…weird. (It’s also what I’ve seen folks eating on Survivor when they get dried corn to feed chickens….) It’s sweet, like sweet corn, but it’s dry so it doesn’t feel like sweet corn. I think it would be interesting with some spices. I didn’t want to play with it the first time around. I’m only eating it because it’s not horrible (I’m snacking on it as I write). But it’s not very exciting.

Peanut-banana somethings: I love peanut butter and I’ve been trying out various recipes for peanut butter snacks. This one included dried bananas. I believe the recipe was wrong. It called for 1.5 cups of butter, to 1.25 cups of peanut butter and 3 cups of oats. For starters, you toast the oats. Said to take 15-20 minutes at 250 until lightly brown. I cooked mine over 30 minutes and they never got even the slightest bit brown! Then, the butter–you melt the butter, pb, and honey, then pout in the bananas and oats. Then drop by spoonfuls onto waxed paper. I added nearly 2x as much pb and anouther 2 cups or so of oats. There’s no way you drop it by spoonfuls onto anything. It was still liquid. I ended up spreading it on a cookie sheet to make bars instead. Unfortunately, you have to store it in the fridge (or freezer) because they melt. (Aw shucks. I forgot to get the ones I wanted to begin to work for lunch out of the fridge!)

Apple Snackle: dried bananas, raisins, nuts, brown sugar, and cinnamon. I should have halved the brown sugar. This doesn’t work as a finger food because of the large amount of sugar. I’ve used up my dried apples, however, so I can’t add more. I’ve shaken the sugar down, will eat some of it, then refill with additional dried fruit. Maybe I’ll buy some cheap apples at the store to dry. (My other dried apples were from farmer’s markets and my neighbors.)

Everythings eatable, it just didn’t turn out the way the recipe said it would or the way I’d like them. Oh well! They are all homemade, inexpensive, and nutrious (except, maybe, all that butter, but you can’t stand to eat a very large piece at once anyway!).

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January 6th, 2006 - 10 Reasons to Eat Local Food

Life Begins at 30 has a handy dandy little guide to 10 Reasons to Eat Local Food. (There’s even a PDF version you can print to post or share. And I just realized this is the perfect replacement for my Buy Nothing Christmas posters I just took down from my office door.)

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January 5th, 2006 - Taking life slowly

World’s longest concert sounds second chord. I read about this project every few years, when the next note or chord is sounded. Maybe we’ll hear about some of the releases now, too, since the first is scheduled to happen later this year.

Now this project is an example of taking your time and living life slowly!

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My Adventures in Simple Living

Archive for January, 2006

January 31st, 2006 - Lottie and Minnie have come home!

January 30th, 2006 - Currants

January 26th, 2006 - Motto/theme for 2006

January 26th, 2006 - My personal savings

January 26th, 2006 - Pickle jar, part II

January 24th, 2006 - I love vinegar!

January 23rd, 2006 - Update on the cooking

January 21st, 2006 - Inspired cooking/baking day

January 20th, 2006 - Kellogg and Viacom to Face Suit Over Ads for Children - New York Times

January 20th, 2006 - Become aware of the use of pesticides in your neighborhood

January 19th, 2006 - Sahadi: 5 signs you have too much money - Jan. 17, 2006

January 17th, 2006 - Frugal/natural experiment

January 12th, 2006 - Hot cereal

January 11th, 2006 - Method to help get rid of clothes

January 11th, 2006 - The Family General Store

January 10th, 2006 - Apple Snackle Recipe

January 9th, 2006 - Homemade snacks

January 6th, 2006 - 10 Reasons to Eat Local Food

January 5th, 2006 - Taking life slowly

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