Found Food - 2

I got so excited to see Jen post about "found food" because this is one of the ways I have started saving money as well.  I have a freezer full of "bits and scraps" that are actually very useful.  I think this might be a continuous topic as we continue to find food.  My husband sometimes looks in the freezer with exasperation..."Seriously?  Broccoli STEMS?  Where is the pizza?"

Three days to a better house.

We did a blitz on the house this weekend. It was a mess. Two years without a big spring cleaning and purge had caught up with us. (Coincidentally, my Personal Assistant showed up about two years ago. Weird.)

Weed Killer!

This entry will be brief and to the point.  I have weeds.  I hate them.  I kill them.

BUT!

I do not want to kill my child with Roundup.

Potato Kale Curry

We used to live in Minneapolis.  We adored the place.  It was far from family but it was alive, it was busy.  It was full of people and colors and ideas that were exciting to two corn fed hicks like my husband and I.  Let's not forget the people...we made our family of choice there.  We quickly became used to our limitless choices.  For us, it was a virtual Eden of entertainment, and delicious food.  Unfortunately, five years ago we had to leave everything and move to a rural New England town for my husband's job.  We went from:

 To:

Gardening in dry shade.

I have a confession to make. I am, by trade, a Landscape Architect. When people discover this, I get a lot of questions. And that's cool. No really, I don't mind. But I can't tell you what to plant in your back yard at a cocktail party, because I am at a cocktail party and not in your back yard. I need to experience a space to know what it needs. And while I try to always maintain a professional attitude when the plant questions start, when you tell me that you can't have a garden because you have shade, or horror of horrors, dry shade, you might need to give me a minute because I am mentally rolling my eyes and picturing this:

That's my shade garden. My dry shade garden. Smashed between our cement walk and the neighbor's. Under a giant hemlock on the west end and a giant cedar on the east end (that's right, acidic dry shade). My house and porch almost completely block the southern exposure. My neighbor's side gets sun between oh, noon and 1 pm. My side gets almost no direct light. And I never water it. Isn't it lovely?

Yeti Support Group

When I came down stairs Saturday morning with my hair down The Personal Assistant said "No Mommy! Brush your hair! Put your hair up! Go be right back!" And backed up to hide behind the Hubster. Apparently he does not like my hair down. Not. One. Bit.

Weekend Project - Face wash

I think I'm going to complain a little first and then I'll get to the face wash.  This describes the past two weeks: