Lazy and Gluttonous (a.k.a. No-Grocery November )

I've done it before and it is time to do it again.

Fact is, I've gotten lazy and gluttonous.  (As opposed to glutenous, though that would also apply)

This month I have challenged myself to not buy any food for the whole month.

November is a perfect month to challenge myself to a No-Grocery challenge.  The cupboards are full.  The freezers are full.  I still have lingering garden produce (though it is fast diminishing!).  I have bushels of apples and winter squash hanging out everywhere.  The cow is milking.  Time is needed to devote to h'learning-not running uptown for shopping.  The month is short.  And we need to eek all the extra cash we can from the hidden corners of the budget for the upcoming expenses of too-much-to-think-about.

  Our freezers are jam packed with food that just keeps being stored, month after month.  Cupboards have random, weird cans and boxes gathering dust because what do you do with expired mushroom broth and that lone can of pickled artichoke hearts?  Not exactly inspiring.  Food is cluttering my life!  I haven't been budgeting as well as I ought and so wind up splurging on foods that we don't need (and shouldn't eat anyway.)   I don't utilize the resources we have available to us as much as I ought.  We have a milk cow and I often buy dairy products like butter, for goodness' sake. I have even gotten lazy about doing cost-saving things I have always done; I don't wash and reuse Ziploc bags as fervently as I used to, for example.

I figure it's a good time to shake things up.  I am trying to get myself out of those same-old meal ruts that I get into, time to re-invigorate my cooking with creativity and time to use good old ingenuity and hard work to make things happen.  It's time to be a better steward of the riches we've been given.

Thanksgiving is a perfect time to reflect on the abundance that is all around us.  And frankly, it is a perfect time to reflect on the lack of certain provisions that will no doubt happen by the end of the month.  After all, the Pilgrims showed gratitude that first Thanksgiving even as many of them were struggling with sickness, hunger, exhaustion and still mourning the losses of those they loved.  That is just as important a lesson to learn.  Maybe even more important. 

The Lord provides. And all it, should be received in gratitude. So abundantly, in fact, that we have lost sight of the fact that mustard is a gift.  Cheese and bananas are totally unnecessary for our survival.  We are not promised cookies- and yet we often have them!

This month I am going to work hard to be grateful for both the abundance of provisions in our lives and, as it happens, even the lack of those things I am used to having.

Wish me luck!

Still a Baby

Huh.  A few weeks before birth and a few weeks after birth...and he is still a baby!   Looks like a few more weeks never did make Moses more human.   Abortion is murder.  And I live next to a state that says that the baby in the ultrasound can get murdered, legally. 

A tiny human is still a human.  And humans bear the image of God.   Just like people stood up and protected the lives of slaves- but took too long to get it done!- we should have been ON THIS forty years ago.

We must work to protect innocent humans, no matter their size.  OR location.

Crafty Halloween and a Yarn Along

Halloween this year was a wash-out.  We made it out to ONE place, the Grandparents' church, before heading home, sopped and shivering.  

When you live in the country, though, that just won't cut it for the neighbors.  So the next day, after schoolwork was done, we dressed up again to go a-visiting all the neighbors who request we come every year.

And now you can see the crafting that took place last week:

Halloween night we got to have a good-natured Beekeeper with us.  Good thing, too, that bumble bee of his looked ready to sting us at any moment.

(We borrowed the beekeeping garb from a beekeeping neighbor.  I paid him in cinnamon rolls.)

I used the free Bitty Bumble Bee pattern and some stash yarn to whip up Moses' costume.  The yellow yarn was the perfect color but a weird, fibery type of yarn that I think was pretty itchy.  He didn't love wearing the hat. 

I joked that when wearing the hat, he wasn't a bumble bee but a Grumble bee.  It worked well enough for a one night costume.  And it was FREE!

The perk about trick or treating twice is- daylight photos of costumes the next day!



Judah was a Roman soldier.  I originally was going to crochet him up this hat but time got away from me and cardboard had to do.  (I hope to revisit the crochet version soon.)  I used stash yarn for the red feathery thing on top though!  I *almost* got rid of that yarn SO many times because I thought- "WHEN AM I EVER GOING TO USE THIS STUFF?!"

Man, am I so glad I ignore those inklings right around costume-making time.

Same with the red fabric for the cape.  There was a piece big enough to make scarves for the girls and Judah's cape.  That fabric was a makeshift Christmas tree skirt for Matt's and my very first Christmas!

Andrew was Indiana Jones.  His was the easiest costume ever to put together!    Especially when I found that leather jacket at Salvation Army for $6.00 the day before Halloween.  Lucky us!  We had practically everything else he needed already on hand.

I told Andrew to have an authentic Indiana Jones pose:

Apparently, Indiana Jones is a bit of goof.

That five-o-clock shadow though... now THAT'S authentic!

Matroyshka (or...Russian Nesting) Dolls.  It was my idea to be Matryoshka dolls with my stair step girls.  Some girls went along with it with enthusiasm. 

And SOME I had to coerce (cough cough, CORYNN, cough cough).

I guess she thinks warrior elf princesses are more fun costumes. WHATEVER.

(More fabric from the stash used for apron sewing.  This stuff was given to me by a friend.  I wonder if you think I am a hoarder by now?)

The littlest Matroyshka, in all her glory.

(Makeup!  She got to wear MAKEUP!  If you don't know this about her- she has an affinity for such things.)

And look what I found on the tablet:

It seems, from the looks of these selfies, that Corynn had a better time being a Matroyshka than she originally thought she would!

I attribute it to the dollar store eyelashes.  ;-)

And that was last weeks crafting  Another Halloween, in the rearview.

Now I can resume my regular reading and knitting schedule:

A horribly lit photo, but fitting, since it's the horribly lit truth of when I can actually sit down to knit. 

crafting along and knitting along

October Things

 

Soups.  Breads.  Candles at suppertime.  Hayrides. Sweaters and hats, inside and out.  Homemade cider.  The last of the flowers and the last of the baby that fits in a dishpan at bathtime.  A bazillion socks to wash after a summer of bare feet.  Reading and schoolwork.  October things.

Take special note of the donuts.  These photos weren't taken all on the same day.  Oh NO.  I have made three double or triple batches of donuts since Moses has been born.

SINCE MOSES HAS BEEN BORN.  The boy is just two months old!

Hmmm....  I wonder why the baby weight isn't coming off as quickly now...)

In fairness-  neighbors have been happy recipients of donut plates too. 

(My love handles don't care about that fact though.)