Archive for October, 2006

October 27th, 2006 - ‘I Could Write a Book’

‘I Could Write a Book’ by Roy Reiman. Reiman is the publisher of the Country magazines I picked up on my stay-at-home-Mom weekend. This is his autobiography. I love the magazine even more. Something I hadn’t really noticed while reading them is that they have NO ads (other than for a few of their own products like books and other magazines). (This may be because I try to ignore advertising in magazines.) His story is about a company bucking the trend and doing what, even after publishing for 15 years, everyone said was impossible. (Reader’s Digest also used to be ad free. Sadly, they quit that a while back. Interestingly, they bought the Reiman company a couple years ago.)

With a very successful model, Reiman became richer and richer, but that’s definitely not seen in the story, except for the occasional note about things I would never be able to do like charter a jet one morning and run off to see someone. Anyway, he had humble beginnings, never seemed to forget that, and used a lot of simple/frugal ideas to run his company. His magazines are written primarly by the readers. I’m not sure how they remain successful in the Internet age, but when he began them, there were few ways for folks across the country to communicate with each other and share ideas, recipes, pictures, etc, with strangers.

I might know the answer because I loved the magazine so much I’m thinking about a subscription! Sure, I can find similar things online but I don’t take the time to seek them out. And, possibly more important to making my decision to get it, Country is a magazine I can give to Maggie and never worry once about disturbing pictures. There won’t be dead people with blood (like say our Newsweek) or armed militias (ditto plus Smithsonian) or articles about drugs (like Sports Illustrated). She still looks at the pictures in the one I gave her 3 weeks ago. I was going to Freecycle the others, but I’m thinking about keeping them around for her. I love having her look at pictures of farm animals, snow capped mountains, rolling fields, etc! And, since there are SO many pictures in the magazine, it’s a lot more fun to look at with her since we can talk about the pictures. Isn’t quite the same with Smithsonian, which we “read” last night and were finished quite quickly! Plus, there aren’t any ads!

Okay, I just talked myself into the subscription. Unfortunately, they have at least two other magazines that also sound good! I’m surprised, after reading the company story, that they never developed a magazine about frugality/simply living. It would fit right in.

One last note: They are located in Greendale, WI, on the south side of Milwaukee. I’d heard of this town recently, too: It was a planned community during the Depression and has some very interesting features. (See the link for more info.) I can’t wait to take a tour of it! Sounds like parents’ kind of place, too. The magazines publish a lot of recipes–oh, if you’ve heard of Taste of Home that’s this place–and have a test kitchen there. If you’re lucky, you get to sample dishes. In addition, the winner of a national cookie contest is only sold there. And it’s called mmmMinnesota Crunchers. I have the cookbook on ILL and every other recipe sounds so good I think I’m going to buy it. I HAVE to try the winner of this contest if the non-winners are this good! (13000+ entries, 250 best in the book.)

Let’s just finish by saying that this book was very inspiring and captivating. I didn’t want to put it down. It was a very fun read, as well.

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October 27th, 2006 - A Place in the Country

A Place in the Country by Peter H. Matson isn’t what I expected it to be. For starters, it’s a book about building a house rather than living in the country. For enders, the writing style was so …I don’t know what to call it… that I quit after only part of the first chapter. I had absolutely no interest in this guy’s story after the first page but I kept trying. It wasn’t worth it. Thumbing through now to write this, I notice that there aren’t any quotation marks. Maybe that’s what it is–I feel like I’m reading the guy’s mind and it’s boring and too single-person. Someone else might like it, I won’t go so far as I did with the other one I hated recently (second book), but it just wasn’t for me.

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October 27th, 2006 - A Small Farm in Maine

David recommended this book and I immediately checked it out (ILL rocks!) A Small Farm in Maine by Terry Silber. He was right–I did love it! Unlike most of the back to the landers, Terry and her husband Mark took things slowly and carefully and with a lot of education. In all fairness, this is more a book about building a small business (the farm and what it leads to) than going back to the land.

Education: When they didn’t know something or simply got interested in something, they learned all they could about. Books, friends, strangers, store owners, etc. In so many other stories, folks just did something, and when they didn’t know enough, it often turned to disaster. Terry and Mark, for the most part at least with the bigger issues, took the smarter route. This helped them become very successful!

Slowly: Terry owned the house and land before she met Mark (if I recall correctly). It was a vacation spot for a while, then a weekend spot, then a weekend farm, then a long weekend farm. Only after a few years of success with farmer’s markets did they move full time.

The book both inspired me (made we think again about growing enough of some things to sell at the farmer’s market) and made me realize that I’ll never do that (or at least, no time soon). I really am not interested in all it would entail and am content to grow what we’ll eat and a bit that I can give away!

Overall, an excellent book and I would strongly recommend it to folks looking to start their own small homebased business, back to the landers, and simple living folks.

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October 25th, 2006 - The worms died!

We’re down to 1004 pets. One of my worm bin is devoid of worms! A couple weeks ago, the worms were trying to make a run for it. My book had no advice on this matter. I wondered if perhaps it was too wet, even though there are drainage holes in that one. So I added some additional paper on top. It’s in a “dormant” phase when I’m not adding new food but there was plenty to eat. Last week, there were fewer escaping and my hypothesis was that they had overbred and the extra worms were dying back.

But today when I checked, I could find no live worms! I did find a couple dead ones. They looked exactly like the ones that died when I tried the kitty litter–thin and stretched out. Not sure what that means…. I know worms can die in anaerobic conditions, but usually that’s along with a stench from the decaying matter. It doesn’t smell lovely, but the smell is only mild. There’s still plenty of uneaten (but decaying) food in the bin. It was fairly compacted, however so I wonder if that’s an issue. I had added new paper bedding with each addition last time so should have avoided that at least at the top. And the compaction also could have been more that the food was mushy and together instead of in solid pieces. It’s not like it was solid-hard. My notes don’t indicate any strange foods being added either.

I don’t know what to do to fix it. I’m really glad I got those extra worms by accident now! But I want to be sure they remain alive…..

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October 25th, 2006 - Changing the seasons

With the garden this year, I feel much more in touch with the change of seasons. My primary change–after putting Maggie to bed, I change into my PJs and cuddle up with a book or TiVO for the evening. In the summer, I almost always went outside to work or did a project indoors!

Over the weekend, I planted my garlic and yesterday afternoon I finished the rest of the outdoor chores. (At least, until enough leaves drift over from the neighbors and I have to rake.) I dug up the cannas (not cold-hardy), brought in the remaining tomato cages, put away Maggie’s play table, and straighted up a few things in the garage.

Have been planning next year’s garden in my head and need to start sketching it out. Had to think a bit to figure out where to plant the garlic then changed my mind as soon as I got to the garden. Hope I chose the right spot! Also planning on putting the cannas in a different spot next year–at the back of my new bulb garden which has been empty. Then, perhaps, I’ll plant lingonberries where the cannas had been!

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October 23rd, 2006 - CFLs

One of my frugal things to consider doing one week was to replace all our lightbulbs with compact flourescents (CFLs). Lucky me–this weekend, Menard’s had Sylvania CFLs 25% off plus WI utilities are offering $2 back per bulb (limit of $24)! Woohoo! It’s taken two trips so far and probably one more to completely outfit the house. The biggest sticking point has been our three 3-way bulb lamps. They do now make 3-way CFLs, but Menard’s only carries 30/70/100s, which are lower than our originals (50/100/150) AND the bulb is too large to fit under the harp. We’ve tried a number of different bulbs and think we’ll go with a 100 daylight (not in the rebate, but we bought so many bulbs, we’re over the limit anyway). Need to return to get two more now.

We also had to go back for different sizes for the upstairs lights. They have hanging fixtures and it turns out the larger (regular, higher light output) bulbs are too big. We think the smaller ones are bright enough, so no big deal.

The lights I didn’t expect to replace are the 7 bathroom globe lights (clear round lights like in a theatre dressing room). It drives me nuts that to use the bathroom, I have to turn on five lights (it’s one light fixture with 5 bulbs). We’ve tried leaving out bulbs that have burned out and the light level is okay. But it looks tacky. To my great delight, they make globe CFLs! They aren’t clear, of course, but that’s not an issue. However, when we first put them in, we were disappointed. It was pretty dim. But Eric and I paused to chat about something and suddenly he said, “Hey! Is it getting brighter?” “No, it couldn’t be. We must be getting used to it.” Then we looked around and agreed that indeed it HAD brightened. We also noticed this in our bedroom. We probably hadn’t noticed it in the other rooms because we were doing this in the middle of the morning–and only these two rooms had the shades pulled down. Turns out the lights all take a short time (30s-1m) to warm up to their full brightness.

NOTE: The last time I bought CFLs, a few years ago, 3-ways and globes didn’t exist so I was delighted. We also found a number of “natural” or “daylight” bulbs that we really like. If you haven’t looked at CFLs lately, I encourage you to do so. There are a lot more varieties than I’d imagined.

Shortly, someone else will benefit from our change as well. I’m Freecycling our old bulbs! Part of me says, “But why encourage someone else to use these bulbs?” Well, someone accepting them would probably go and buy new regular bulbs anyway. So why not let these get used up? Same thing with the cleaning supplies I donated a couple years ago–why pour them down the drain whn someone else would use them up?

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October 20th, 2006 - One local Autumn

Wednesday night, Maggie and I ate locally, without even intending too. I had an idea of having roasted potatoes and decided to add in carrots and dragon beans as well. As I gathered the spices, I discovered that (except for slt and pepper), the ones I had were all from my garden! There was one more, but I didn’t have it in the cupboard at all. I was thrilled to realize I had a fall VERY local meal!

Eric enjoyed the veggies as well (but he had another main meal). We all agreed that we’d spice it differently. I don’t think I like the oregano I planted, and in general, the spices could have been stronger.

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October 18th, 2006 - Halloween party

Last night, Maggie and I went to a Halloween party with a playgroup I just joined. A number of children had costumes such as Thomas the Tank Engine, Piglet, and Mickey Mouse. There’s an off chance Maggie would get Piglet, as she has some Winnie the Pooh items, but it was Disney Piglet and hers are almost all Classic Pooh. Other children her age recognized and spoke of the other characters. Maggie had absolutely no clue who these were.

We all brought treats for the kids to take home. I wasn’t sure how this would work, so I just brought my cookies in a container. Everyone else had either purchased treats or had wrapped theirs up. Well, I did save wrapping (and I had thought about this issue and couldn’t figure out how to wrap cookies in plastic wrap and had nothing else. I wasn’t about to buy sandwich bags just for 20 treats!), and there was another benefit: As the only unwrapped treat, it was easy for kids and adults to snag one during the party! (There wasn’t any food provided as this was just one hour right after dinner.)

PS. I was feeling just a wee bit smug about having made Maggie’s costume, seeing no one else had. Until the two airplanes showed up. They were fantastic! And it made me remind myself that I should *not* feel smug about the way I choose to live my life. There, just wanted to be honest on here that I’m not perfect! LOL I was, on the other hand, thrilled to hear another Mom (who lives just up the street from me) comment that she had planned to make her son’s costume, but she found a Humpty Dumpty costume for only $3 at a yard sale. Another Mom chimed in about yard saling as well. Someone else said she had seen costumes at GoodWill or had bought her child’s there. Another reminder that there are different paths to frugality. Well, and actually, Maggie’s costume was purchased at garage sales, too.

Maggie was a ninja, after Daddy’s nickname for her, Midget Ninja Assassin. She already had black pants (gift from last year?) and I found black boots and a black turtleneck at sales. Since it was chilly, she wore her black sleeved Eagles shirt underneath. Since she only has white socks, I loosely wrapped black electrical tape around them so that they wouldn’t be noticed. I also picked up a knit shirt and a black cape out of which a ninja mask could be formed. In trying to figure it out earlier in the afternoon, Maggie screamed bloody murder at having something on her head/face so I wasn’t going to bother. But Eric suggested a headband. The knit shirt had exactly the right shape for this! It made the outfit, as otherwise she just kind of looked like a cat burglar. At the party, she ignored it and it stayed on the entire time–which was lucky as a child dressed in black with dark brown hair is NOT easy to spot after 6pm in Wisconsin in a dimly lit backyard! Over the last three days, I also made three throwing stars for her. This was the longest, most involved part of the costume! I cut them out of a white milk jug. Then I colored them with a silver sharpie (only 2 because it ran out) and a black permanent marker (wish I’d started with black, it was much, much faster!). But the inks didn’t stay very well. They wouldn’t easily rub off, but would scratch off. Not a good idea for a little kid. Even I scratched off a good bit working with them. So I coated them with clear nail polish (around the house for fixing scratches on the backsplash in the kitchen and, formerly, repairing nylon runs). That took a very long time. But they held up wonderfully and will probably be put in the dress up box for the future.

Maybe I’ll post pictures later on. I did manage to get a couple quick ones before the party. Maggie stayed in character for the group photos at the party. She stood in front of the other kids looking at them. An assassin, after all, can’t be having their picture taken!

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October 18th, 2006 - Virent APR Virtual Tour

A local (Madison–that would probably be regional rather than local, although it is less than 100 miles away) company has developed a system that produces fuel from sugar! You can learn more at Virent APR Virtual Tour (on the right, you can launch a photo tour or select links on the left for other areas, or go the homepage for audio clips).

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October 17th, 2006 - Bison: Another reason to eat at local restaurants

I believe I’ve mentioned before that while not a vegetarian, I will only eat organic meat which pretty much means I’m a vegetarian in practice especially when eating out. When my parents were visiting, they took us out to eat. Eric hoped for The Red Robin, a new chain in town that has fantastic burgers. Every one is offered with a Gardenburger or a Boca burger, too (for an additional charge). My parents have one in their neck of the woods and weren’t really interested. So I suggested a local restaurant that they’ve taken us to a couple times, which also has good burgers.

To my delight, they also offer a bison burger from a local farm!!! I’m not sure if it’s the one I see on the highway, but generally speaking, bison have to be raised on a pasture so I felt comfortable eating this one. I wish I could remember the farm name so I could look it up and see if it is organic or not. But at least it was *local* meat.

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October 16th, 2006 - 4 things about me

I never do these, but it’s about time because I don’t even have an “about me page.”

Four jobs I’ve had:
* Instructional Technology Developer
* Teaching Assistant
* office assistant for my parents
* math lab tutor

Four movies I can watch over and over:
* The Goonies (when it came out on video, I watched it something like 5 times in a weekend)
*
* The Princess Bride
*

Four places I have lived:
* Oshkosh, WI
* Madison, SD
* Lancaster, KY
* St. Joseph, MN

Four television shows I love to watch:
* The Amazing Race
* Heroes, but it’s a little gory so Eric is going to watch it first
* Numb3rs
* Survivor

Four places I have been on vacation:
* Sea Isle City, NJ
* Isle of Skye, Scotland
* Budapest, Hungary
* Moscow and Tomsk, Russia (does that count?)

Four of my favorite dishes:
* Sourdough bread (which I can’t ever seem to make)
* Pesto pasta
* Fazoli’s four cheese and tomato panini (the submarino version was better)
* homemade pizza

Four websites I visit daily:
* Bloglines the way to read TONS of blogs easily
* Dork Tower a gamer comic
* Wally and Osborne a comic about a polar bear and a pengiun in Antarctica
* TV Tattle to get news about my favorite tv shows (which aren’t that many, actually)

Four places I would rather be right now:
* At home
* The Isle of Skye (I visited in October and it’s awful rainy weather but it was gorgeous)
* Alaska
* Antarctica (and a prof here went there this weekend. I’m so jealous!!!!)

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October 16th, 2006 - Simple weekend

My “simple” weekend was filled to the brim with things to do. But only a couple of them cost any money at all.

* Cleared out the garden. On Saturday, when it was cold and windy, I dug potatoes and carrots, tore out beans and cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, beans, cilantro, squash, and peppers. On Sunday, when it was bright and beautiful, I tore out the corn, front flowers, and tomatoes. The tomatoes wore me out. The roots were very difficult to pull, particularly without full use of my left hand. So afterwards, I took my neighbor up on his offer of picked apples and got a bucketful. Hardle made a dent in his tree! These will be a nice addition to the cider/sauce I make this weekend. Maggie joined me outside when I was finishing with the corn and so I forgot to put away the tomato cages. I had to tie them down earlier after the summer storms sent them leaning. So it’s not as simple as “stack up the cages.” I have to try to take off the ropes so that I can reuse them next year. Maggie and I also cleaned up some sticks and tried to get all the water out of the remaining hose. The dogs were delighted with this as they lapped up the water!
* Made chili again. Eric liked this batch, with his own additions to spice it up more. I included a cup of my Cherokee Trail of Tears beans, which were hardly noticable since I had 4 or 5 different kinds. But it was cool to know they came from my garden. This was made with tomatoes that have ripened in the basement!
* Dried more cherry tomatoes. I did a batch last weekend, too. They are ripening in large batches that I couldn’t possibly eat at once. Maggie ate about 6 halves, to my great surprise, since she can’t stand fresh tomatoes. Hope she continues this!
* Got buttercup squash and Winesap apples at the farmer’s market. The Winesaps are Eric’s favorite apple, not that we need any more apples around here! Also picked up 6 egg rolls; 5 pork for Eric and 1 vegetable for Maggie and me. Again to our surprise, Maggie loved it! She usually is VERY hesitant about new foods.
* Hemmed two pairs of pants for Eric. We bought these last spring, but they were too long. As I tried to hem them with my sewing machine, it acted up and needed repairs. So I hemmed a couple pairs by hand. Then the machine came back. Then we got into the “let’s buy a house” affair. So the last two have sat with the hand sewing materials on a shelf in the kitchen ALL SUMMER LONG. It took me less than an hour to finish them up. Why didn’t I do this before? Eric’s delighted since it’s now cold enough to stop wearing shorts! Also fixed a pair of Maggie’s pants that had torn in the crotch. Not sure if she can wear them again, however, as they are pretty lightweight. I forgot about them when the machine was out, so did them by hand in about 15 minutes. It was the perfect chore as I came in from outdoors 20 minutes before her nap was done.
* Made pumpkin cookies for a Halloween party. Discovered that I don’t have as much frozen pumpkin as I’d imagined. So I may actually buy some this month for freezing. Maybe…maybe not. I do have a good amount of dried pumpkin still. Not sure if it will last till next October and we do love our pumpkin bread. I really like these cookies as well and they are fairly healthy.

And we all have colds. Maggie has it the worst, and unfortunately can’t blow her own nose yet. Eric and I have mild cases involved scratchy throats, mild headaches, and post-nasal drip. Thankful it’s not worse since I had so much to do this weekend!

Posted in General, Garden, Food | 1 Comment »

October 13th, 2006 - Grameen bank wins Nobel Peace Prize

Bankers for poor win peace Nobel - CNN.com. Wow is all I can say. This is fantastic!

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October 13th, 2006 - Multiple books to review

In preparation for my days off, I checked out a bunch of frugal books. I did get through some, but not all after finding those Country magazines. Here are the ones I did get to.

The Big Book of Preserving the Harvest by Carol W. Costenbader. What I like about this cookbook is that many recipes are for small batches. It’s not about making 20 pints of jam but 2 or 3. It’s the wrong time of year for most of the recipes, but I did copy a half dozen to try out. I may get it again next summer when fruit is ripe and try a few jams. There are recipes for drying, canning, freezing, and refrigerating.

Wilderness Wife by Bradford and Vena Angier. I didn’t finish reading this. I only kept on after the first chapter in hopes there would be something good. Yesterday, I decided it just wasn’t worth it when I had so many other good books awaiting my attention! Some of the bad parts: The story picks up after they have already lived in the woods for 4 years, returned to the city, then came back. In the first chapter, they go out on a hike seeking edibles. In such a situation, would any two people actually have a conversation about such things as how good X is because of the vitamin B12 it has? Or how to find the beloved plant that they had obviously eaten before? No! For heavens sake, these would be conversations (and in a more realisitic way) they would have had four years prior when the unfamiliar person was being told about the wonders of plant X. Interesting parts of their story are completely skipped–such as those first four years and how they built a new cabin 4 months into the new story. That story skipped from hauling in the wood to moving in. Hello???? We want to know how in the world you managed to build this house in the middle of nowhere. Anyway, not worth reading.

Living Well on a Shoestring and Vinegar, Duct Tape, Milk Jugs, and More are two compilations from Yankee Magazine. I didn’t read much of these either. They might work well for newcomers or for sitting on your shelf to be read a page or tip at a time. They quickly became very boring. They are also repeats of all the other compilations of tips. Not what I was hoping for. I like novels and stories better.

Arctic Homestead by Norma Cobb and Charles W. Sasser. Norma Cobb was the last woman in Alaska to file a homestead claim (in 1974ish) and this is her story. It’s a WONDERFUL account of their “survival and courage in the Alaskan wilds” (as the cover announces). The Cobbs (two adults and 5 kids) start off with very little money but big dreams. Simply getting to Alaska takes a few years and we get to follow it all. Their homesteading itself is most of the book and gets right to the nitty gritty, from a gun accident in the wilderness to runins with neighbors to trying to grow a garden to hunting and trapping. They are far from perfect, far from knowing what they are getting into, but end up coming out on top. (As opposed to most of the other 115 people to homestead during the last year. Only 2 completed their claims.) A thrilling tale that made me want to homestead while at the same time helping me understand why we could never ever accomplish it! I would definitely recommend this one and will probably read it again some day.

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October 12th, 2006 - Haven’t had our first frost yet….

but it snowed last night!!!! It only accumulated on rooftops, tables, and a few leaves. No evidence of frost, so I don’t know if it counts as the first frost or not.

And last weekend, it was in the 70s. And this weekend, it will be in the 60s.

Knowing it was coming, I had fun in the garden after dinner. That’s said quite ironically, because it was freezing cold already, very windy, and wet from earlier rain. I harvested the last of the beans (probably won’t dry, but can be used as green beans) and a few green tomatoes. I wanted to get more, but my fingers were already numb and I had a few other tasks to complete so I stopped. Brought in my sprinkler and drained its hose. Brought the potatoes and apples in from the back garage; the potatoes are stored in the basement but I left the apples in the back entry. That’s probably colder than the basement right now. (These are the apples for cider and sauce so not terribly worried about them anyway.)

I was nervous about the carrots since their shoulders stick above ground. I covered them with a blanket held down with rocks and squash/tomato vines. Probably wasn’t necessary but I felt better doing it. Forgot to take it off this morning; I was distracted taking the garbage out. (Oh, heck, did I latch the gate behind me???? I hope I did….. During the summer, I take the garbage out before breakfast, so doing it as I left for work was non-routine. Since I go back in the house usually, I don’t handle the gate right away. So I may have just walked on down the driveway and never looked back. Well, Eric will let me know if I did since the dogs will leave after breakfast…..)

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October 12th, 2006 - Being a stay at home Mom

While Eric went on vacation (back home to see friends and family), I got to me a stay at home Mom for 5.5 days. I LOVED IT!!!! I did not want to come back to work on Wednesday.

Some of the things we did

* joined a new-to-us playgroup for a visit to a firestation
* went for two walks on the WIOWASH trail, a rail-to-trail
* went to garage sales
* went to the natural foods store
* tried an earlier bedtime which worked very nicely
* took one (me) or two (Maggie) naps a day

Some of the things I did

* made crockpot sloppy joes (did not work and I burned it. The compost pile is happy.)
* made unleavened bread, which Maggie adores as much as I do. It’s a family recipe that Mom would make for Holy days.
* made cornbread, replacing half the sugar with honey (only because that’s how much was left in the particular jar and I didn’t want to bother with another jar for just 2 Tbs). It’s delicious.
* brought upstairs tomatoes that are ripening in the basement
* dried cherry tomatoes that had ripened there
* made fruit leather, strawberry-banana and banana-pear. Had intended these as treats for a H’ween party, but they didn’t turn out very good once again. They are so much thinner than I expect. But they taste wonderful! The treats are for taking home–if they were for eating at the party, it would probably work out.
* froze my dried beans to be sure any bugs were killed
* made granola in the crockpot. It, too, burned, and there were still 2-3 hours left! The recipe claimed that it was easier than using the oven. HAH! It took just as much stirried, and since I only checked it once an hour, when it was done I didn’t know and so have 3/4 of a gallon of partly-burned granola to eat. :( I’m going back to the oven, where it’s done in 1h15m instead! (With the oven, I stir every 15 minutes. With the cp, I had to stir 3 times in the first 1h30m, then once an hour for 4- hours, except that it burned after 2 more hours.) I’ve mostly rescued it with dried fruit, which sweetens it up and hides most of the burn.
* read ~20 magazines I picked up at a garage sale ($3/bag sale). And it was so worth the $3! It’s called Country and is simply a feel-good magazine with no ad sales. If you’ve ever heard of Taste of Home (a recipe mag), this is the same company. I’m considering a subscription!

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October 5th, 2006 - CNN.com - Scientists teleport two different objects - Oct 4, 2006

Contrart to my efforts in simplicity, I’m utterly fascinated by the exceedingly complex quantum theory. So I was compelled to share the most recent breaking news: CNN.com - Scientists teleport two different objects.

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October 4th, 2006 - Lehman’s PB mixer

Lehman’s natural peanut butter mixer may be a future “incentive” for goals. I would prefer to eat natural PB, but the last time I tried it, I couldn’t get the oil mixed back in. the jar is still in my fridge. Once it’s cold, I had even less of a chance of mixing it!

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October 3rd, 2006 - Reimbursement accounts

I have an employee medical reimbursement account. This is the type where a certain amount is removed pretax from your paycheck each month. As you have medical expenses, you can request reimbursement of the money. If there’s money left at the end of the year, you lose it (although “end” is now April 15th of the following year).

I’ve always struggled to take care of my reimbursement requests. One year, I did most of it near the deadline. At the time, we were putting around $1000 into the account. And the benefit company was benefitting from my delayed requests since they keep the interest!

This year, I resolved to be more on the ball. I’ve done three main things to help me out

A) I photocopied the form after filling in all my info. Since I fax it in, it doesn’t have to be an original each time. The hassle of filling it out always made me procrastinate. Now, all I have to do is fill out the medical info and sign/date it.
B) I fill out a request, most of the time, for just one or two items. Before, I’d think “it’s not worth the hassle for just one Rx” and then they’d pile up. So what if the form is requesting only $10? That’s money that’ll be back in my bank account sooner.
C) I keep all the forms at work instead of at home. Now, all I have to remember is the receipt and I fill it all out and submit here. Before, I’d have it all at home and would end up bringing the receipts but not the form or just the opposite. I also keep the sent form in the folder so that I am reminded to check for the money to be deposited. Once it is, they’ll go back home for filing.

Total savings is probably less than $5 in interest over the entire year, but the stress and work involved in the process is greatly reduced. AND, I won’t be worrying at the end of the year whether I have more money to use up because I’ll have kept current on all reimbursements and will know with a quick glance at the last statement whether we’re okay or not.

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October 3rd, 2006 - Moving Up Country

Moving Up Country: A Yankee Way of Knowledge by Don Mitchell did not meet my expections. It’s a series of magazine columns by a former city dweller who moves with his wife to Vermont. It starts with the typical back to the land, not knowing anything, idealism of many books I’ve enjoyed. But I didn’t care for his attitude for most of what he does–quite often he abandons the idealism very quickly when things get tough. He also doesn’t do his homework (a journalist who doesn’t research???) and quite often does things in foolish, stupid, expensive, harder ways. The books is supposedly “hilarious” but I rarely found him funny.

There’s no mention of how and where they have to money to do what they do. Most back-to-the-landers deal with the issue, whether it’s that they are scraping by, have an inheritance, or hold a full time job. I have no idea how they could afford what they did.

Posted in Book reviews | 2 Comments »

My Adventures in Simple Living

Archive for October, 2006

October 27th, 2006 - ‘I Could Write a Book’

October 27th, 2006 - A Place in the Country

October 27th, 2006 - A Small Farm in Maine

October 25th, 2006 - The worms died!

October 25th, 2006 - Changing the seasons

October 23rd, 2006 - CFLs

October 20th, 2006 - One local Autumn

October 18th, 2006 - Halloween party

October 18th, 2006 - Virent APR Virtual Tour

October 17th, 2006 - Bison: Another reason to eat at local restaurants

October 16th, 2006 - 4 things about me

October 16th, 2006 - Simple weekend

October 13th, 2006 - Grameen bank wins Nobel Peace Prize

October 13th, 2006 - Multiple books to review

October 12th, 2006 - Haven’t had our first frost yet….

October 12th, 2006 - Being a stay at home Mom

October 5th, 2006 - CNN.com - Scientists teleport two different objects - Oct 4, 2006

October 4th, 2006 - Lehman’s PB mixer

October 3rd, 2006 - Reimbursement accounts

October 3rd, 2006 - Moving Up Country

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