Monday, January 11, 2010

This weekend ...

1. We finally took down our Christmas decorations. I hate the "after" part of chores -- folding laundry, unloading the dishwasher, matching every snowglobe to the right box -- the front end of chores is so much more gratifying. Our tree was dead as a doornail and I'm going to be finding pine needles around the house until March.

2. The undecorating came not a moment too soon as our house was shown for the first time since Thanksgiving (sadly, that's not an exaggeration). I threw out the geraniums that had been languishing, dead and frozen, on our front stoop since summer, but now the entrance looks empty and boring and I don't know what to put there. I want something that is alive and will stay alive until spring without maintenance. Any ideas? Does such a thing exist?

3. We gave Claire her first solid food -- pureed squash. Yum. Inspired by Amanda, I spent some time on wholesomebabyfood.com and cooked, blended and froze the squash (and some sweet potatoes) for her pureed enjoyment. I'm going to stock up on store-bought baby food when I can find it at a good price (this week at Harris Teeter 4-ounce jars of BeechNut were $.11 each after VIC and coupons), but a lot of foods are simple and dirt-cheap to make yourself. The sweet potatoes, for example, worked out to less than 3 cents per ounce. Squash is not quite that cheap, but any way you look at it, homemade baby food does not add up to the $.25 per ounce that it's easy to pay in the store.

4. I was very excited to learn that Betsy has started a blog! So from now on her name will be underlined when I mention her. :) Meg, you're up.

3 comments:

Brooke and Johnathan said...

Pansies do pretty well in the winter.. mine are still blooming!

Ken Loyd said...

I was about to mention pansies, too, though we don't have any. Granny uses them, plus she might recommend something. I think a couple of Christmas ferns are weather-hardy and some people keep them on their front entrances in winter. When I got to your Item #3, I thought I was reading Amanda's blog for a moment (that's a compliment when it comes to cost-saving measures, you know. And last but not least, there's a world of difference between "Pure Joy" and "Pureed Joy." : )

Barbee said...

Hey Jennifer...I read your blog from time to time (from the link from Loretta's.

I made all of Ethan's baby food too...and I got a lot of my ideas from the same website you mentioned.

I know you have Amanda, but if you ever have any questions, feel free to email or give me a call. I loved making it and knowing it was healthy and I plan to do it with the new baby!

Barbee Decker