Draft 2021

Wow. What a difference a little perspective makes. We haven't been on "Spring break" this whole time, only the first week. We had a great little vacation in Arkansas, visiting my mom and Hot Springs. While away, I realized that I had, again, sunk into a depressive funk. Not a bad one, mind you. But I was definitely taking a cloudy outlook on life. I started on antidepressants (SSRIs were my salvation) and completed a solid round of therapy about 10 years ago. One of the most difficult aspects of treatment to accept was that I was not "cured" but "in treatment." Depression is no longer my constant companion, but instead is more of a guerrilla, ever ready to launch a sneak attack. When this happens, I go into a slow, but steady, decline. I find myself with less energy, sleeping more, doing less around the house, feeling down, down, down. But it always takes a few months to recognize this downhill slide. Our getaway provided me with the perspectiv

As Michael and I have been putting our financial house in order, we've had to make some tough decisions. Our van died late last fall, leaving us with two small cars, one of which is our son's. Most of the time, with the boys away at college, our small cars work just fine. But when we all, or even 5 of the 6 of us, want to go somewhere together, we run into problems. We're planning a trip to Arkansas for spring break to visit my mom and to spend a couple of days in Hot Springs. We set aside money for the trip, knowing we'd have to rent a van. Our big mistake was not checking van rental prices earlier. The best deal we could get, from Hotwire.com, was for an SUV at a whopping $500 for the 9 days. Yikes! We anticipated spending more like $300, so it was a bit of shock. Fortunately, we resisted the temptation to buy a van, though it was great. We don't want to take on any new debt until all our credit card debt is gone. We'll be sure to do more thorough res

I seem to have rediscovered the joy of scones this winter. I had forgotten how quick and easy they are to make, and how deliciously tender is a scone straight from the oven. Cheese scones were the perfect accompaniment to this week's local meal. I started out planning to make potato soup. But as I added ingredients to the crock pot, a little sliced ham, carrots and onions, the soup evolved into something more like potage, otherwise known as a thick stew. Everything in the potage was local, either from CSA delivery or the farmer's market, and stored in my freezer. A little salt and a dash or two of pepper and we had an incredibly tasty, completely local main course. Not pictured are the two pies we had for dessert, apple and southern chess, favorite kind of pecan pie. The apples were gleaned from a nearby tree last fall and the pecans were purchased on a trip through Missouri. Butter and eggs, milk and flour, all were from local sources.

A funny thing happened on the way to the kitchen. It was one of those light bulb over the head moments. A full 150 watt incandescent-bulb type of realizations hit me. My dog is smarter than I am. You see, for the past month or so, when Ivy's been out-of-control-naughty, which is pretty much whenever Michael isn't home and she isn't asleep, I've gone to the kitchen to get a bone or a treat to distract her. Last week I noticed that every time I stood up to correct her behavior (ever tried wrestling a St. Bernard off the couch?), she high-tailed it to the kitchen. Do you seeing where I'm going with this? Yup. That's right. My dog had me trained to reward her with a treat every time she was crazy naughty. Sigh. Now it's Monday morning and I've been interrupted half a dozen times while trying to write this post as Ivy rampages through the house. Michael is at work, Sarah is at school, Melissa and Wally are dozing peacefully, the cats are hiding out upstairs,

About a year ago, Melissa was sick with a mysterious virus. Her white blood cell count was high and her cbc results were wacky. She couldn't eat, had no energy, and spent her days lying on the couch. Not at all typical Melissa. Needless to say, we were quite worried, imagining all the terrible illnesses she might have. Dehydration was a real worry, and I knew I had to think of something to keep her out of the hospital. That's when I discovered the amazing power of smoothies. Finally, she could eat something with a little substance to it, and after nearly a month of being quite ill, she began to regain her strength. Since then, fruit smoothies have become something of a family favorite, seeing my second son through his wisdom tooth extraction and mono, soothing sore throats, and simply tasting great! Melissa had a hankering for some smoothie goodness the other day and I wrote down a recipe so Michael could make one for her. (I was resting my broken foot) This makes enough for t

Found this on Mama P's blog and thought it sounded like fun! The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me (!) The restrictions and limitations: *I will make no guarantees that you will like what I make. *What I create will be just for you. *You will have no clue what it will be *The catch is that you have to post this as well, if you expect me to do something for you. *I have to be able to afford the postage, if you live out of country. :) Please link to your blog, if I don't know you, in case we are new friends.

I first learned the meaning of the word "austerity" when I was in 7th grade. My school district on Long Island in New York was operating under an "austerity budget." What did that mean, exactly? Well, I remember we were asked to bring in paper, chalk, and other basics to our classrooms. I also think there was a cap placed on the number dittos each teacher could make. Wow, who out there remembers dittos? Anyway, my introduction to the meaning of austerity was laden with a sense of deprivation, scarcity, and frankly, unfairness. These days, however, I'm seeing austerity in a whole new light. I'm choosing to see such strict economy as a gift, of sorts. With the world economy in shambles, loss of more than 100K in our 401K, credit card balances, a car loan, and kids to put through college, our own austerity budget is actually giving me a sense of control. Control over our money, yes, but mostly control and discipline over myself. So far, since January, we've

This week's meal was inspired by a trip to our freezer. Michael has been taking care of me since he got home from Chile on Friday. My broken foot got some much needed rest, the dogs got exercise, and the girls and I are enjoying home-cooked meals again! Michael inventoried our freezer and discovered we easily have a couple month's worth of food still in storage. Our plan is to shop and eat from our freezer the entire month of March, buying only perishables, such as milk, cheese, and maybe, fresh fruit. We have quarts and quarts of various types of homemade pasta sauces just waiting to be thawed. Above is the mysteriously named "Basil Sauce," dh pulled out of the chest freezer. It may be from a cookbook or it may be an original, but one thing is certain: the ingredients are all from our garden and CSA last year. The sauce was served over soft polenta. I love the creaminess of soft polenta. When paired with the sauce, polenta is a nourishing, inexpensive,