The city has closed all non-emergency services at noon today, due to current icy conditions, and fore-casted ice. I'll be leaving early today, and carefully making my way home.
Upon hearing this, I immediately thought:
We have gas to cook, if needed. We have the wood burning stove for heat and possibly for cooking, if needed. We have enough dry/shelf stable food to keep us for a day or two. But, if the water lines freeze/stop working, well, then we don't have a back up supply of water to keep us hydrated. Hoping to remedy that on the way home, but I am sure most water will be bought up.
Guess I'll fish a few juice bottles from the bin and fill them up while I can.
Are storms a major factor in how you plan out your life? Or your pantry? Do you feel prepared to be homebound for a few days, due to unforeseen circumstances?
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
Think Green Blog Hop
Welcome to the "Think Green Hop Along". Everyone is welcome to link up and make friends here. The concept is to "think green"!!
Here are the rules to this link up:
Copy and Paste Code
Here are the rules to this link up:
- Follow the hostess, Tips 4 Green, of the Green Hop Along (in the first position).
- Grab the Hop Along Button and put it on your blog somewhere, make a post about it, if you would to try to get the word out!!
- Follow as many other blogs as you like, it is common courtesy to follow whoever follows you! Please follow at least two or three other blogs in this link up.
- Leave a comment on the blog of whoever you are following so that they can follow you back.
- HAVE FUN AND THINK GREEN!!
This hop along will close on 1/28/11 at midnight and will reopen again on each Friday. I hope to continue this link up for every Friday! Please leave me any comments or questions below or in an email to tips4green@gmail.com. Thanks!
Thursday, January 27, 2011
More on Shampoo, and yes, I have shampoo
If you've stuck with me for a while, then you may remember my whole shampoo issue from last year. The latest installment being here. The TL;DR version is that waaay back in April, I noticed I was running low on shampoo, and decided to share my semi-neurotic decision making process with all of you. Just deal, and spend our meager funds on other necessities? Go ahead and try the product I had wanted to for a while, knowing that it would last me for good amount of time? Break open all those hotel shampoos I had hoarded up?
As you know from the above linked post, moving, a broken water heater, and shake-up of my routine all contributed to a reduction in my normal shampooing, drastically reducing my need for shampoo. Or at least the amount of shampoo which I need. At this point, I'm shampooing about 2, up to 3, times a week. The third time is usually if I manage to get off my behind and actually go to the gym or do my TV yoga (that could be a fun post, huh?).
Currently, I'm using an Aubrey Organics shampoo, no conditioner. The ingredient list is a little long, but certainly not the worst I've seen, and I like what ingredients are listed. It is on the upper threshold of pricey for me, but considering I don't even remember when I bought this bottle... August or July, maybe... and I'm still using it, I think it is ok.
In general and in theory, I did like the JR Liggett's bar shampoo. However, I don't know if I did not give myself enough of a transition time, or if my hair simply didn't care for it. The reality of my hair with the shampoo bar was less nice than it has been with my current, liquid shampoo. Not terrible, just lackluster. I still hold out hope of finding a shampoo bar that my hair and scalp like.
Aren't you thrilled to be kept apprised of my shampoo adventures? What methods of cleaning your scalp do you use?
As you know from the above linked post, moving, a broken water heater, and shake-up of my routine all contributed to a reduction in my normal shampooing, drastically reducing my need for shampoo. Or at least the amount of shampoo which I need. At this point, I'm shampooing about 2, up to 3, times a week. The third time is usually if I manage to get off my behind and actually go to the gym or do my TV yoga (that could be a fun post, huh?).
Currently, I'm using an Aubrey Organics shampoo, no conditioner. The ingredient list is a little long, but certainly not the worst I've seen, and I like what ingredients are listed. It is on the upper threshold of pricey for me, but considering I don't even remember when I bought this bottle... August or July, maybe... and I'm still using it, I think it is ok.
In general and in theory, I did like the JR Liggett's bar shampoo. However, I don't know if I did not give myself enough of a transition time, or if my hair simply didn't care for it. The reality of my hair with the shampoo bar was less nice than it has been with my current, liquid shampoo. Not terrible, just lackluster. I still hold out hope of finding a shampoo bar that my hair and scalp like.
Aren't you thrilled to be kept apprised of my shampoo adventures? What methods of cleaning your scalp do you use?
Saturday, January 15, 2011
A quick laundry blitz
When it comes to laundry, I am lazy. At any given time, we will have a basket of clean clothes, yet to be folded and/or at least one basket of dirty clothes. (Realistically, it is all of the above.)
Sure, laundry is a chore. And even with my machines, I find ways to be even lazier about it. I wash everything in cold water on the delicate cycle. Occasionally, if I have a load of just towels and/or bed linens, I'll switch to a warmer wash cycle. This is partly because the cold wash saves money, but also saves me from having to separate the laundry, and then expending precious brain cells to re-set the controls on the machine. I also dry everything on low-heat, taking care to remove the "dry flat" items before starting the washer.
We were walking around a home improvement store the other weekend, and came across their dented/damaged/opened box appliances. Saw an eco-friendly (labelled as such on the unit) steam dryer, super fancy, marked down from about $1000 to $300. With our holiday gift cards burning a hole in our pocket, we stopped in our tracks. We didn't have enough to cover the dryer, but enough to make it an even better deal.
This dryer was seducing me. We looked at it, saw a few scratches that were cosmetic, and walked away to give ourselves time to think. By the time we had made it back to the dryer, we'd more or less decided that while yes, this was a great price... it wasn't a good deal for us. I hardly use the features on my current dryer, which works fine, by the way. So, that is two strikes against super-fancy-new-dryer. The other reasons for not buying it? Didn't have the cash available to make the difference between gift cards and price. And, steam dryers need water in and a water out connections. We didn't know if our set up had the capability, or if we had the ability to install it. All in all, this added up to a great price that wasn't a good deal for us.
That trip, we had fun walking around, and discussing plans, but ended up not buying anything. Just ideas. I don't regret not buying the dryer in the least.
Do you have any good "walked away from it" purchase stories?
Sure, laundry is a chore. And even with my machines, I find ways to be even lazier about it. I wash everything in cold water on the delicate cycle. Occasionally, if I have a load of just towels and/or bed linens, I'll switch to a warmer wash cycle. This is partly because the cold wash saves money, but also saves me from having to separate the laundry, and then expending precious brain cells to re-set the controls on the machine. I also dry everything on low-heat, taking care to remove the "dry flat" items before starting the washer.
We were walking around a home improvement store the other weekend, and came across their dented/damaged/opened box appliances. Saw an eco-friendly (labelled as such on the unit) steam dryer, super fancy, marked down from about $1000 to $300. With our holiday gift cards burning a hole in our pocket, we stopped in our tracks. We didn't have enough to cover the dryer, but enough to make it an even better deal.
This dryer was seducing me. We looked at it, saw a few scratches that were cosmetic, and walked away to give ourselves time to think. By the time we had made it back to the dryer, we'd more or less decided that while yes, this was a great price... it wasn't a good deal for us. I hardly use the features on my current dryer, which works fine, by the way. So, that is two strikes against super-fancy-new-dryer. The other reasons for not buying it? Didn't have the cash available to make the difference between gift cards and price. And, steam dryers need water in and a water out connections. We didn't know if our set up had the capability, or if we had the ability to install it. All in all, this added up to a great price that wasn't a good deal for us.
That trip, we had fun walking around, and discussing plans, but ended up not buying anything. Just ideas. I don't regret not buying the dryer in the least.
Do you have any good "walked away from it" purchase stories?
Thursday, January 13, 2011
A Play on Recipe Thursday: Pudding
Earlier this week, we caved to grocery store pressure and bought a pudding mix. Organic butterscotch. It was delicious, so much so that my husband steeled down to the kitchen unbeknownst to me to finish it off. I was sad.
The next night, we mourned the early demise of said pudding (I glared at my husband a bit) and also the lack of eggs in the house. (Since no eggs usually means no tasty baked goods. We also don't have applesauce on hand.) We were almost certain that our collective sweet tooth would go unquenched. But then, I cracked open my More With Less cookbook. (If you don't already know about this cook book, I strongly suggest you find a copy to borrow. It is amazing. It is a go-to resource for recipes when you are short an ingredient or two, and substitutions. My mom gifted me an updated version because I used her so much!)
In this gem of a cooking reference, I found a very simple chocolate pudding recipe. It called for sugar, corn starch, cocoa, milk, vanilla, and margarine. I had everything in my kitchen already. (Well, I had butter, not margarine.) My husband was a bit surprised to learn we had corn starch in our cupboards, but I wasn't! (I did buy it, after all.)
One feature of the More With Less book is that they include hints, additions, and variations that other cooks have used with success. For this pudding recipe, one suggestion was to replace the few tablespoons of margarine with a quarter cup of peanut butter. Usually, I like to make a recipe at least once by the 'book' before I start in with the alterations, but we could not pass up the chocolate and peanut butter combination.
The pudding thickened up beautifully. I almost didn't want to add the vanilla and peanut butter, but I did. And I should have used a whisk to blend in the peanut butter and not just my wooden spoon. Or added it a bit sooner. The peanut butter didn't incorporate a smoothly as it could have, so the pudding was a bit lumpy, but still quite tasty. Neither my husband nor I had any complaints.
The recipe yield was four servings, so we halved it, putting half in the fridge. With our track record, if we hadn't put half away immediately, we could have demolished the whole batch in one go.
A bit of an aside, to explain how much I love More With Less, I'd say this: If I could only have one cookbook for the rest of my life, it would be a toss up between More with Less and my older version of Joy of Cooking. I'd probably try to find book binder to combine the two into one, super cooking resource.
The next night, we mourned the early demise of said pudding (I glared at my husband a bit) and also the lack of eggs in the house. (Since no eggs usually means no tasty baked goods. We also don't have applesauce on hand.) We were almost certain that our collective sweet tooth would go unquenched. But then, I cracked open my More With Less cookbook. (If you don't already know about this cook book, I strongly suggest you find a copy to borrow. It is amazing. It is a go-to resource for recipes when you are short an ingredient or two, and substitutions. My mom gifted me an updated version because I used her so much!)
In this gem of a cooking reference, I found a very simple chocolate pudding recipe. It called for sugar, corn starch, cocoa, milk, vanilla, and margarine. I had everything in my kitchen already. (Well, I had butter, not margarine.) My husband was a bit surprised to learn we had corn starch in our cupboards, but I wasn't! (I did buy it, after all.)
One feature of the More With Less book is that they include hints, additions, and variations that other cooks have used with success. For this pudding recipe, one suggestion was to replace the few tablespoons of margarine with a quarter cup of peanut butter. Usually, I like to make a recipe at least once by the 'book' before I start in with the alterations, but we could not pass up the chocolate and peanut butter combination.
The pudding thickened up beautifully. I almost didn't want to add the vanilla and peanut butter, but I did. And I should have used a whisk to blend in the peanut butter and not just my wooden spoon. Or added it a bit sooner. The peanut butter didn't incorporate a smoothly as it could have, so the pudding was a bit lumpy, but still quite tasty. Neither my husband nor I had any complaints.
The recipe yield was four servings, so we halved it, putting half in the fridge. With our track record, if we hadn't put half away immediately, we could have demolished the whole batch in one go.
A bit of an aside, to explain how much I love More With Less, I'd say this: If I could only have one cookbook for the rest of my life, it would be a toss up between More with Less and my older version of Joy of Cooking. I'd probably try to find book binder to combine the two into one, super cooking resource.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Blog Hop!
Welcome! Join us as we connect with green bloggers and discover new ways to live a more eco-friendly, sustainable lifestyle.
A few changes as we switch hands: the McLinky will remain open all week for entries.
Thank you for taking the time to visit us!
Here's How to Hop Along:
A few changes as we switch hands: the McLinky will remain open all week for entries.
Thank you for taking the time to visit us!
Here's How to Hop Along:
* Create a new Green Blog Hop blog post on your blog and include the Green Blog Hop button by copying and pasting the code above.
* Follow Tales of the Wife and And Then There were 4, the hostesses of the blog hop. Grab our buttons if you get a chance.
* Add your blog name to the MckLinky below.
* Try to follow at least three additional blogs. This is not mandatory, but it will help ensure that everyone who signs up gets a few new followers!
* Follow as many other blogs as you want. The more you follow, the more that will follow you back! If someone follows you, it is common courtesy to follow back.
* The weekly Green Blog Hop MckLinky opens every Tuesday night and will be open to add your blog link until Wednesday night. You then have all week long to visit blogs and return follows!
* There is a new list every week. The link you enter one week will not carry over to the next week. Please link up again each week to join in the fun and to find new Green blogs.
Please remember this is a hop for blogs with GREEN content. Please create a blog post including the button after linking up. It's the best way to get the word out!
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
A Belated Thanksgiving Post
This was not the first year we made a turkey around Thanksgiving, but it was the first year that we held the main event at our residence. When we were first married, I was in grad school and we lived too far from family to drive home on short breaks. These were the years when we happily accepted invitations to join friends and their families and/or friends for a holiday celebration. A lot of these get-togethers were pot-luck style, and we contributed a dish or two to the meal. One or two dishes that can be serves warm or cold is nothing compared to providing the main event yourself.
Forces combined against us timing things perfectly. I should have expected that, though, since I can't time a regular meal to be ready all at once (unless it is a one-pot-dinner). Despite loving to sleep in, the necessity of rising early on a regular basis caused both my husband and me to get up rather early, considering it was not a work day. Add in a delayed guest (weather increased travel time by about an hour), and my anxiousness to start cooking, for fear of not finishing in time. All that equals mashed potatoes chilling on the stove an hour early, corn pudding resting for an hour or so, and the turkey being allowed to rest for about an hour, instead of 15 minutes, before being carved.
Granted, I did intentionally start the turkey early to ensure it would have enough time to reach the proper temperature. You may be wondering how we were able to cook a turkey, sans oven. The countertop oven, which probably would not have fit the size bird we had, was used for things like rolls and corn pudding. But we did have another trick up our appliance sleeve: countertop roaster. (This looks similar to the one we have.)
Years ago, when we were contributing one or two dishes to someone else's celebration, our host had a countertop roaster that they used frequently. For holiday meals, it was especially handy for them because it kept the oven free for all the myriad of side dishes that they had. It also works very nicely for those who are ovenless.
When I did a search for these countertop ovens so I could show you a picture, I noticed that most returns were quite fancy, and pricey. We got ours about 3 years ago, as part of a deal at the grocery store during the holidays. It was either buy the turkey, get the roaster, or vice versa. Either way, it was a decent deal, even if I have thus far only pulled it out a few times a year.
When using a roaster like this, one should keep in mind that things will not brown like they do in a traditional oven, and cooking times are often reduced. The instructions that came with mine say a 14-16 lb bird will be done in 2-2.5 hours. Ours took closer to 3-3.5 hours, but that was because some of the organs were hiding from me, and stayed in the bird throughout the cooking process. Oops.
Aside from checking the internal temperature of the bird, this was a relatively hands off way to cook the turkey. There was no need to baste, since any steam kept inside the roaster. Overall, despite human error, I am quite happy with the roaster, and the moist turkey it produced.
Certainly helped our first time hosting Thanksgiving be a good one!
(It was wonderful to be able to use my grandparents' dining suite to entertain!)
Forces combined against us timing things perfectly. I should have expected that, though, since I can't time a regular meal to be ready all at once (unless it is a one-pot-dinner). Despite loving to sleep in, the necessity of rising early on a regular basis caused both my husband and me to get up rather early, considering it was not a work day. Add in a delayed guest (weather increased travel time by about an hour), and my anxiousness to start cooking, for fear of not finishing in time. All that equals mashed potatoes chilling on the stove an hour early, corn pudding resting for an hour or so, and the turkey being allowed to rest for about an hour, instead of 15 minutes, before being carved.
Granted, I did intentionally start the turkey early to ensure it would have enough time to reach the proper temperature. You may be wondering how we were able to cook a turkey, sans oven. The countertop oven, which probably would not have fit the size bird we had, was used for things like rolls and corn pudding. But we did have another trick up our appliance sleeve: countertop roaster. (This looks similar to the one we have.)
Years ago, when we were contributing one or two dishes to someone else's celebration, our host had a countertop roaster that they used frequently. For holiday meals, it was especially handy for them because it kept the oven free for all the myriad of side dishes that they had. It also works very nicely for those who are ovenless.
When I did a search for these countertop ovens so I could show you a picture, I noticed that most returns were quite fancy, and pricey. We got ours about 3 years ago, as part of a deal at the grocery store during the holidays. It was either buy the turkey, get the roaster, or vice versa. Either way, it was a decent deal, even if I have thus far only pulled it out a few times a year.
When using a roaster like this, one should keep in mind that things will not brown like they do in a traditional oven, and cooking times are often reduced. The instructions that came with mine say a 14-16 lb bird will be done in 2-2.5 hours. Ours took closer to 3-3.5 hours, but that was because some of the organs were hiding from me, and stayed in the bird throughout the cooking process. Oops.
Aside from checking the internal temperature of the bird, this was a relatively hands off way to cook the turkey. There was no need to baste, since any steam kept inside the roaster. Overall, despite human error, I am quite happy with the roaster, and the moist turkey it produced.
Certainly helped our first time hosting Thanksgiving be a good one!
(It was wonderful to be able to use my grandparents' dining suite to entertain!)
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