Before the hurricane, I moved everything from the cedar closet in the basement upstairs. A majority of it is piled on the dining room table (still!), waiting for us to replace the soaked fiber board.
Guess who now thinks it’s his personal bed?
We’ve caught Kali up there too… but Rocky seems to be particularly fold of that spot. He’s not going to be a happy kitty when we get things back to normal!
I loved the Harry Potter books, so when J.K. Rowling announced Pottermore a few months ago, I was pretty excited. It was being billed as an interactive online experience with the books, your friends and new Potter content.
Shortly after Pottermore was announced, they did a treasure hunt-type thing to fill beta tester spots – a million of them. I was lucky enough to get one of them and have been patiently impatiently waiting to check out the site.
My owl finally came today!
I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who wants to experience it themselves, but so far it’s brilliant – a real chance to “live” the story so many of us have grown up loving.
The highlights so far, of course, were getting my wand:
And being sorted into a house:
The only downside I’ve seen is that everyone else in the world wants to be on the site too, so it’s not the easiest to get onto but they’re still in beta testing so I suppose that’s to be expected.
If anyone else is on, or will be joining when it opens to everyone in October, feel free to add me as a friend!
The Renaissance Faire was on my to-do list for the year. We bought tickets over the winter and, of course, waited until the last weekend to go.
If you’ve never been to a Renaissance faire before it’s part carnival, part historical re-enactment. My sister, Laura, and our friends Kristen, Cliff, Doug and Tara came with us.
Laura was the only one of us to dress up. She still has her costume from her marching band days and it worked perfectly – she fit right in. I have a costume, too, but didn’t wear it for fear I’d be dragging the long, heavy skirt through the mud all day. I promised her I’d wear it next time we go. (You see that, Boo? It’s in writing. You can hold me to it.)
I tried my hand at archery. I’ve only done it once, a long time ago. I was pretty awful.
Cliff got called up on stage as part of the Ded Bob Show.
It was pretty funny, but I must say my favorite of the shows we saw was Hey Nunnie Nunnie. They were hilarious!
It was a fun way to start fall/say goodbye to summer. As it was the last summer-related thing I wanted to do, I’m finally ready to move onto fall stuff, like apple picking and Halloween. Now, if we could get rid of this crazy humidity, maybe it would start feeling like fall too.
We officially said “uncle” to the challenge yesterday.
Breakfast and lunch went fine – and the we went out for dinner. It was glorious. And officially put us 50% over budget.
Realistically, we could have finished the challenge. We could do pasta with sauce one night and calzone with chicken and mozzarella another night. It would have been fine.
I don’t think not finishing detracts from the lessons learned, though.
The ultimate question was, can you eat on a food stamp budget?
The answer is yes. You can absolutely fill your belly on that budget. Variety is not much of an option, though, and it’s hard to make a lot of healthy choices without much wiggle room.
We lacked in the fruit and veggie department by quite a bit. I was also low on protein most days. There was no room to change my mind or make something fun – and since cooking is one of my biggest hobbies this was the most difficult thing for me.
Since we blew it last night, we’re not going to try and continue today. Instead, we’ll be grocery shopping to really restock the place and I’ll be making the recipes I was dying to try all week. We’ll also be counting our blessing that we’re food secure – and making donations to help those who aren’t.
Eating the same thing every day is really getting old. I swiped some of Mark’s Frosted Flakes for breakfast this morning. Lunch was more onion soup.
This afternoon I did a second shopping trip to pick up pizza dough and more milk – we’re officially at budget for the week now. I still can’t get over how fast we went through the last gallon of milk. Growing up the family used to drink a gallon a day… but it’s been a long time since I was used to that.
Dinner tonight was grilled pizza. Simple, and SO GOOD.
It was also the last dinner that I had planned, so to speak. I thought we’d do leftovers tomorrow night, but we both dipped into them for lunches so it’s not much of an option. I still have the pasta, sauce and some chicken and mozzarella. Maybe a version of chicken parmesan tomorrow night? Baked potatoes are also an option, though there’s nothing much to top them with.
I guess we’ll see…
Breakfast was the same as usual. Lunch was bubble & squeak leftovers – which was a nice change from the onion soup.
For dinner, I made kung pao chicken. I’d picked up the seasoning packet free with a coupon and stir-fried it with chicken, cabbage and baby carrots. Rice was free with a coupon, too.
Cookies and milk finished off the night.
I really wanted to bake this afternoon so I ended up making up some cranberry orange scones. They’re clearly not in the budget so I won’t be eating them – they’ll be in the freezer until the week is over. Quite sad.
Breakfast, lunch and our evening cookies and milk were all standard today.
Dinner tonight was pierogies, kielbasa and onions on the grill. It’s a meal we’ve done before and liked so we were fine repeating it.
So far, we’re still not hungry. I’m dying to bake, though. I was feeling restless without my kitchen last week and this week I’d love to just be futzing around trying recipes but they’re just not in the budget.
Instead, I’ve been occupying my time reading. I finished one book Sunday night and another tonight. I guess I’ll be getting a lot of reading done this week.
As I mentioned yesterday, breakfast and lunch aren’t going to have any variety this week. So far, so good but I suspect by the end of the week I’ll be a bit bored with it.
Tonight’s dinner was bubble & squeak and cornbread. I made half the recipe I usually do and used coleslaw mix instead of chopping a head of cabbage myself (it was cheaper).
Cookies and milk are the evening snack, again.
One thing that’s surprising so far is how fast we’re whipping through milk. We’ve got through nearly a half gallon in two days. I imagine it’s mostly because the other choices are limited – we usually have juice or lemonade (or wine) to choose from too.
If this keeps up, I’ll be buying another gallon before the week is out.
We’re a week behind the rest of the world and started our Hunger Challenge today. (You can see what everyone else did last week here.) We were travelling so we postponed to this week.
I actually think doing it this week was a good idea – we came back to an empty fridge and pantry so we’re really starting from scratch. We went to the grocery store today with our $66.08 budget ($4.72 per person, per day) and stocked up for the week.
In the past, I’ve calculated meals down to the penny. I decided not to do that this time. It’s partially out of laziness – all that math is a lot of work – and also an effort to try to make the challenge a little more realistic. Other years I’d “buy” a teaspoon of cinnamon out of the pantry for a few cents without counting in the whole cost of the bottle. While my meals were all technically in budget, it’s unlikely someone struggling with food insecurity has the pantry available.
So, we walked into the grocery store, spent less than $66 and everything’s fair game for the week. We got:
-Cantaloupe
-Apples (1.5 lbs.)
-Potatoes (5 lbs.)
-Yellow onions (5 lbs.)
-Cole Slaw Mix
-Baby Carrots (2.5 lbs.)
-Boneless, skinless chicken breast (3 lbs.)
-Smoked Sausage (1.5 lbs.)
-Italian bread
-Rolls
-Ham
-Salami
-Provolone
-Mozzarella
-Frosted Flakes
-Planters Nut Bars
-Instant Oatmeal
-Raisins
-Pretzel sticks
-Keebler Chips Deluxe
-Brownie Mix
-Cornbread Mix
-Black Beans
-Apple Cider Vinegar
-Pasta
-Pasta Sauce
-Rice
-Stir fry sauce mix
-Rosemary spice mix
-Frozen pierogies
-Orange Juice (x2)
-Gallon of Milk
It all came in at $60.16. I know of at least one thing I forgot to pick up so I’ll be doing it during the week, but I imagine we’ll be safely under budget for the week.
Breakfasts and lunches are going to be the same all week. For me, oatmeal with raisins for breakfast and onion soup for lunch. For Mark, cereal for breakfast and sandwiches for lunch. I’m sure we’ll supplement with the pretzels, cookies and fruit too.
Dinners for each night will be different, hopefully. Tonight I did a chicken and veggie bake – chicken, potatoes, baby carrots and onions tossed the the rosemary spice mix and roasted. It was fantastic.
We’re off to a good start.
Mark and I spent the last week on vacation – relaxing and having some time to ourselves. It felt appropriate since he’s planning to start studying for CFA round two soon and our fun time will be more limited. On our way home yesterday, we scooped up the kitties from their sitter – Mark’s brother – and had a quiet night at home.
Today, we had family time of a different sort – a party at my Grandma’s house. My cousin, Cord, took a five-month job in Antarctica and he ships out in a few weeks so it was a get-together so everyone could say some sort of proper goodbyes. It was fun to see Cord – he lives in VA and doesn’t make it up all too often – and it was interesting to hear about what he’ll be doing and what life is like down there. I can’t wait to hear his reports from the field. Going to Antarctica is something I don’t think I would ever do, but I’m completely fascinated by the idea.
The other star of the party was Arlo. At 3 months, he’s the newest cousin and completely adorable. We always missed his previous visits so it was great to finally get to snuggle with him. He was happily passed between family members all afternoon.
It’s been a lot of family time and I’ve loved all of it. I’m not really looking forward to going back to reality.
It’s been a while since I devoted a post to kitty pictures. I’m overdue.
For you viewing pleasure – our cuddly Kali.
Don’t you just want to snuggle her?
As we prepped for Irene, I made a trip through the grocery store to pick up canned fruit, bottled water, protein bars and a few other snacks. As I was standing in line to pay, I started wondering about what those who rely on food stamps would be doing. Would they have the means to get supplies? Would it mean wracking up credit card debt?
And in the days following the storm, it was evident that people who never had to worry about food security before were struggling. No power, flooded homes – they needed to be fed too.
For a lot of people, disaster-relief organizations like the Red Cross became hunger-relief organizations too.
I know the point of the Hunger Challenge this week is to show the difficulties people who deal with hunger insecurity have to tackle everyday – but I think it’s worth remembering the challenge of temporary hunger insecurity too, and the organizations that step in in big ways to help out.
Every year, the San Francisco Food Bank hosts a Hunger Challenge. The jist of it is that you try to live on a food stamp budget for the week – currently $4.72 per person per day.
It’s an enormous challenge.
We’ll be officially doing the challenge next week but lots of bloggers will be tackling it this week. A list of bloggers and twitter users participating can be found on the Hunger Challenge blog. It’s really interesting to see what everyone cooks up for the week.
It’s also Hunger Action Month. Lots of events will be going on all over the country to raise money and awareness for hunger issues. You can use that link to find your local food bank and find out what they have going on to mark this month.
I’ve heard a lot of people say the media is spending too much time dwelling on the 9/11 attacks. I respectfully disagree.
I’ve been devouring the media coverage – so much of it is so well done. My particular favorites are the stories that catch up with people that were caught in the media spotlight of the days that followed. I think it’s healing for everyone to see them healing and going on with their lives.
Probably my favorite bit of coverage is from Story Corp. They’ve made it a project to record a story honoring each person who died on 9/11. The stories come from friends, loved ones and colleagues – in their own voices.
They’re beautiful.
You can find them here.
The whole Borders closing thing makes me sad. I wasn’t really an avid customer – most of my books come from the library – but I loved it as part of the community. I loved going to book signings there. I loved being able to stop in and browse and chat with the staff about new books. I loved picking out books as gifts.
For me, B&N just isn’t the same.
I’ve been frequenting the closing sale since they announced in – stopping in about once a week. At first, it was just to keep an eye on inventory. Once the sales got really good, I picked up some things I’d been meaning to get. Last week, I used the sales to start my Christmas shopping. Now, they’re down to their final days.
This evening, post-haircut, the traffic heading home was awful so I decided to delay the inevitable and poke around Borders for a bit. Everything is picked over and condensed down into one small section of the store – and I still found plenty I want to read.
It is, most likely, the last time I’ll shop there. I’m fully expecting the store to close while we’re away. It will be really weird to come home and just have it not be there.
But tonight, I came home with five more books. Five more souvenirs of a store I’ll miss. Five more stories to get lost in. And that makes me happy.
I’ve spent the better part of the last two days working on fantasy football drafts. It’s been amazing.
Monday night was the draft for the league Mark’s high school friends do. They let me play back when we were first dating and I won the league so they never kicked me out after. We had a few of the guys over, made junk food and did a live draft.
Tuesday after work I had a draft for my Nestie bestie league and Mark had one for a work league. As he was on his way home from the work draft, I logged in as him to another draft. I relayed picks to him until he got home to take over.
As you can imagine, there’s been a lot of football talk going on in this house. I freaking love it. And I’m pretty happy with my draft results too.
Team 1 is a 2 QB league:
Drew Brees – QB
Ben Roethlisberger – QB
Larry Fitzgerald – WR
Reggie Wayne – WR
Jeremy Maclin – WR
Shonn Greene – RB
Mark Ingram – RB
Vernon Davis – TE
Sebastian Janikowski – K
Philadelphia – DEF
On the bench – Matt Hasselbeck – QB, Santana Moss – WR, Marshawn Lynch – RB, Braylon Edwards – WR, Visanthe Shiancoe – TE, Dexter McCluster – WR/RB
Team 2 is a standard league:
Matt Schaub – QB
Hakeem Nicks – WR
Anquan Boldin – WR
Pierre Garcon – WR
Chris Johnson – RB
Mike Tolbert – RB
Dallas Clark – TE
Lawrence Tynes – K
Seattle – DEF
On the bench: Kevin Kolb – QB, Ryan Grant – RB, Pierre Thomas – RB, Robert Meachem – WR, Steve Breaston – WR, Chris Cooley – TE
Now, I feel like I need to explain Seattle as a defense. Several of the girls in that league felt the need to draft two defenses (and two kickers) starting in the third round. Not a strategy I wanted to employ so I was stuck with what’s left.
Both teams seem like they’ve got potential, though. (Mike Tolbert, you best live up to your potential!!) I’m excited for the season to officially kick off.
The countdown is on.
I’m having trouble accepting that it’s September already! Where did my summer go?!
Dry Ice – The premise of this book involves a rouge weather manipulation station based on the South Pole. The book was just okay – I felt it really droned in spots and got repetitive (another weather disaster! oh no!) but the story’s really stuck with me. An earthquake and a hurricane in one week? Are you sure this is fiction?
Bel Canto – I really liked the last book I read by Patchett but this one kind of bored me. I know it’s “inspired by real events” but most of the actions seemed ridiculous and overly convenient. I think I would have rather read a non-fiction account of the inspiring incident.
Delirium – This was very similar to Matched, which I read last month, in tons of ways. I did like the story and found it to be very well written, but I’ve got to start getting away from all of this YA dystopian. The stories are all starting to blend together.
Across the Universe – More YA dystopian. This one takes place on a giant spaceship, though, so the setting was different enough to make it stand out. Of all the dystopian I’ve read recently, this was one of my least favorites. I had a hard time accepting the choices that people made.
One Fine Potion: The Literary Magic of Harry Potter – Literary criticism of the Harry Potter series. It was an interesting perspective on the books. I read them so fast the first time through that I didn’t catch or consider a lot of what was brought up. I think I’ll be doing a re-read soon.
What did you read in August?
Since I saw the pictures of how flooded my route to work was, I’ve been hesitant to go down to the office. I knew by now that the water would have receded but I was nervous about detours from damaged bridges or trees down.
I asked Mark if we could do a test run this weekend, knowing how ridiculous it sounded. He was completely agreeable and suggested we include a stop at our favorite farm as part of the trip – perfect!
We first went to Terhune Orchards during college and we fairly regularly when we were living down in that area. We haven’t made it down there since we’ve moved so it was nice to go back. It’s really the best farm we’ve been to. Everyone is so nice and it really feels more like visiting friends than going to a business.
Mark’s a big raspberry fan and fall raspberries were picking, so that’s what we spent most of our time doing. He got a load for himself and I picked some up to put in a berry crumble.
Blackberries were also picking, although there weren’t as many to choose from. I got a handful for breakfast tomorrow!
After picking, we visited with all the animals (Mark’s especially fond of the farm cat that hangs around) and hit up the farm store. I could smell their cider doughnuts as soon as we got out of the car so I had to get some. We also picked up some farm-made cider and a beautiful loaf of bread.
Since the last time we were there, they’ve also expanded into the winery business. They were sampling their two new wines – peach and blueberry – this weekend and we both really liked the peach so we picked up a bottle of that. We also got a bottle of apple wine made with the farm’s apples. It sounded perfect for Thanksgiving so we’ll be saving it for that.
I think some time doing something quiet like that was just what I needed. After the craziness of the week it was so nice to just spend some time focusing on picking berries and munching on doughnuts.
And, for the record, my route to work is just fine. It looks like Tuesday I’ll be back in my routine whether I like it or not!
