Crunchy Chicken's Food Reduction Challenge 2010

This month Crunchy Chicken is doing a Food Waste Reduction Challenge. I encourage all of you to at least try and hopefully succeed! Good luck!

Like Milk in my Tea

This morning was snowy and slippery. I'm still a little shaken up about the whole ordeal.
Although it was snowing this morning, I didn't think that the roads would be that bad so I headed off to work. Everything was fine until I had to stop for a bus on a hill. Therefore I couldn't get up it. I backed into someone's driveway and turned around. One way home I went into a ditch. Thankfully I got out of that one. There was only a small hill left. I made it up it fish tailed and went into a deep ditch and was stuck. Not once did someone stop to help. Thankfully it was right next to my hous and was able to walk home and have my mom call the tow truck.
The tow truck didn't make it but two other people with trucks stopped to help.
I was very grateful for their help and wished that I had something to give them to thank them. I felt 'thank you' wasn't enough.

Reading Myself Silly

Yesterday was a aweful day. It rained nearly all day and looked like a child that lost his mother; misrable and lonely. Here, the place looks like it lost winter. It's strange to say that after living here my whole eight-teen almost nine-teen years, I never observed the January thaw. I never noticed it; I was too business with myself to really notice. Now that I do notice, it's all too strange. Where did the snow go? I want my snow back! It's a selfish thought but it's not winter without it.
Again this year, I'm sitting back as the maple sugaring season passes. I want to learn how to do it. I love real maple syrup however, as will everything else I do here, I'm restrained by my parents. It's a miracle that they even let me can. For those they don't know, it's takes a lot of time to condense the maple sape down to maple syrup. We do have an outdoor fireplace that we used for making maple syrup but I don't know if it'll take a heating since it's so old. If not I could probably build something. But then who'll eat it? Me and my dad. My mom hates the stuff.
Well, maybe I'll order supplies and give it a wing. What's the worse that could happen?
Anywho, in the past twenty-four hours I have read well over 150 pages in my novel, Digital Fortress by Dan Brown. I love Dan Brown's books. The led you in circles as you try to figure out who the real villian is. Right now, I'm certian that Sathmore is.

Sell Your Stuff!

So, I'm not one of those people that desperatly needs money but I really don't see why I should just give away things that are worth something, like books.
Books are pretty much the only thing that I bother to sell used because they cost me $7 and up to purchase new. For me it's worth the effort to post everything on Half.com. I've been selling my used unwanted books online for about five months and so far I've made $25.50 not including $5 for a pending sale via Cold Antler Farm Forum. It's not much but it's a lot better than having them take up valuable space on my bookshelf.
Back when I was out of a two years ago, I found that there was money in making small animal hammocks. It was a good year for it. I estimated that I made at least $200 that year until business trickled down to nothing because the forum I advertised on was over flowing with other people making them. Every now and then I'll sew some up but it's very rare.
Currently, I'm working on putting together an Esty shop that will sell market bags, aprons, soap, and maybe jam and homemade cleaning solutions. What can I say? I like being a business woman.

21 Things We're Learning to Live Without

This was the artical that greeted me on my homepage this morning.
21 Things We're Learning to Live Without
I don't know about any of you out there but I find that most of these are not true. My sister for example. Okay, she has switched to homebrews for coffee but she shops until she has no money left. I peeked at her W2 as saw she made almost 20k last year. Where is it all? Okay, she has a kid and lives with her boyfriend but that's still not 20k! It's spent on clothes she gets rid of a few months later, fast food, and other unneeded luxuries.
I admit, I'm not perfect either. I'll go to WaWa to buy coffee every now and then but I tote around my reuseable mug and play around with the coupons that they give on receipts. So at most it cost 79 cents and taste 400 times better than McDonalds.
So, what on this list is true for you? Can make the other items true as well? Is it even possible for you do all of these things?

The Spice of Life: Sweet Saffron Rice

Namaste! Head over to Manjula's Kitchen. Indian food is very intimidating but it's really now that hard. Today I made Manjula's Sweet Saffron Rice and it took me about thirty minutes and wasn't hard at all! Most of the ingredients are cheap. I only used sliced almonds because I could get them easily in a small quantity but I would defiantly get some pistachios and it needs more raisins.

Long grain rice instead of the special rice. Work just a good. Cinnamon sticks can be had for very cheap. I didn't had whole cloves on hand so I substituted them with 1/4 teaspoons if ground cloves. I think it was a little too much so 1/8 teaspoon would do.

The cardamon set be back $2 while the saffron set me back $8 for .5 grams. Eight dollars for saffron is understandable. It's the little threads of the crocus flower so imagine what a pain it is to get them out intact! It was worth it since I bought it at a local dry goods store.Anyway, give it a try. You will like it and having the house smelling like spices isn't bad either. Yum!

Note: The written recipe on the site says 2 tablespoons of milk but she says 1 cup in the video. However, I think 3/4 would be fine

Diet End

Four days in and I broke. I've learned a few things.
1. A yogurt and a glass of orange juice is just enough to get me to noon
2. I HATE beans
3. Eating every three hours in a pain but you're less likely to munch between
4. Never watch the travel channel on a diet (I want a Gyro so bad!)
5. Indian dishes are very appealing

The Diet

I'm starting my diet Monday because I really need to shed some weight. I found out about this diet by watching Rachael Ray. They were talking about detox and the author Ian K.Smith, M.D. was talking about his book on detox. He looked like a promising person so I looked him up and found that he has a book called Extreme Fat Smash Diet. I took the book out of the library and paged through it and figure it's worth a shot.
The book gives you meal plans for three weeks and list of things you can not have during that week. I'm going shopping tomorrow for supplies such as beans, lentils, non-instant brown rice, fruits and veggies. And I'm going to need a blender for the smoothies if wants me eating.
But come on! This diet lets you eat pancakes!

Rug Deodorizer

When it comes to cleaning I have two role models. They're no other than Aggie and Kim, twp British ladies that go to people's houses and show them how filthy they are on How Clean is Your House? It's an inspiring show and you can watch episodes on YouTube. For their British show they tell you how to clean with natural products such as salt, baking soda, and vinegar.

Anyway, I love my bedroom smelling fresh and clean and it's hard to with a smoker in the house. So I stole some tips from them.

I make my own carpet deodorizer which is easy. Buy essential oil (the good stuff, please. Although you might spend up to $8 on it a little goes a long way), and baking soda. Mix them together until you have the strength you want. I have this mixture in a glass container that you might see at restaurants with Parmesan cheese in it. When I need it I sprinkle some on and vacuum it up.

Another thing I like to make is sheet spray which is water and essential oil mix until I like the strength.

Both of these cost pennies and really smell great.

Feeling Horried

This past week has been hell. My monthly cycle has finally past but now I'm sick and miffed. I think it's only a cold so I bought some cold medicine which I never really did until now. Last time it took a few days to get better were as without it would take up to two weeks to be completely over it. I was hoping to start a diet tomorrow but it wont make me feel better so I'm pushing it back to next week.

Just What Grandma Listened To

So for awhile now, I've been hearing about old radio shows like Avenger and other such shows. I was so curious that I looked on the internet and found a boat load that you can listen to for free!

RadioLovers.com+

My advice is to list to Avenger first. It's the show that I heard refenced the most to it must be good. And it is.

Enjoy!

Note: For best results close your eyes while you listen.

The Diva Cup? *Warning! Girly Talk!*

For those who do not know what I am talking about, the Diva cup is the 'green' alternative to tampons and pads. Basically, it's a silicone cup that you place in you and it suctions to your 'walls' and catches the blood. (Sorry, I don't want to sound vulgar but I'm sounding silly in return!) I've done some reading up on this products and similar ones and I'm okay about it. But what if I don't like it? Are they even returnable?

So during this cycles I spent about $10 on 'provisions' (the buy 1 40 count get a 20 count free helped a lot got about $3 off) and am soaking through everything! Is the Diva cup my answer? I'm still a little wary with shedding out $25 on something I don't like and can't return it. Does anyone use these or know someone that does? I really want to make the switch but am so unsure. I talk to my mom about it. her first reaction was a little grossed out about washing the cup until I said it's no different than washing bloody hands from meat.

Right now I'm using tampons with cardboard applicators. Most cringe at them because their uncomfortable. To me there's no different except the price (usually $1 difference) and that their bio degradable.

Garden Plans 2010

My garden's small mostly because my dad didn't extend the fence post past the raised beds. This year I'll be growing beets cucumbers, carrots, cabbage, pumpkins for pie, green peppers, and green beans. At the bottom is a list of things that I will need to do when the weather starts to warm up. The most important is getting that fence up! Weeding and havesting will be a lot easier once the fence is in. I'm thinking about building some cold frames as well but that wont get done until fall. The only kind of cucumbers that I will be growing will be for slicing since I can get decent pickling cucumbers from a local farm.

Critter Introductions- Harley

Harley is not the most loveable cat in the house but he'll get in the mood for some loving. He was a part of a group of cats prowling the Willow Grove Airfoce Base before it closed down. He dad decided to bring him home. The argument was that my dad wanted to take him home on the motor cycle, a Harley Dividson. After arguing with my mom he settled for taking him home in the car.
His favorite things are cat nip, sunning himself, and cuddling up with you in odd places when you sleep. His major dislike is being kissed.

The Local Beverage Company

For a little more than I year I've been drinking something called Steaz. It's all organic and fair trade. To make it even better it is manufactored by a company that is local! How about that for making you feel good about what you are drinking? Yum!

Happy New Year!

I was going to stay up late last night but I got tired while watching The Muppets' Letters to Santa. But I was thinking about all that I want to do in 2010. My list is long so I hope I get to most of it.
This year I want to:
Bring reusable bags to stores. Made easy by a bag that fits nicely into my purse.
Shop more locally. My alpaca socks where the best $20 I ever spent.
Get more canning done. My stock of blackberry jam is nearly depleted so I'd like to do some more jams.
Be a little less ambisious with the garden. Planting only things that we will eat and things that are not ambunant around here.
Visit local farms more often for produce. I learned that getting your produce straight from the farm is the freshest.
Get into more crafts. I would really like to try making soap.
Learn how to do basic maintance stuff such as changing spark plug in a car and changing the oil.
Also, I'd like to read more and be on the computer less.

Happy New Year Everyone!