A little political

I usually don't delve into politics here, but this does a little.

I was listening to NPR yesterday and there was someone on there speaking about the healthcare debate. Dr. Atul Gawande equated what needs to happen to healthcare to now what happened with food last century. You can read a transcript or listen to the interview here, so I won't go into it too much.

However, his premise was basically that at the turn of last century, food prices were very high and about 40% of Americans' incomes went to food. As a result, the government tried to lower food costs through various methods and succeeded.

And now we're dealing with healthcare costs on a similar level. He believes the government needs to fix healthcare in the same way, with various small steps rather than one big overhaul. And I'm not necessarily disagreeing with that. My concern is that we don't address really what the change in food production did.

Food can be very cheap in the U.S. now, but is the cheap food really worth the money we pay for it? We changed the way food was produced and got rid of the "inefficient" lower-yield small farmers and eventually went to mega farms reliant on pesticides and fertilizers. Is this really a better way to produce the food for the nation? I don't think so.

Also, is there possibly some correlation between us being able to get cheap food that is less nourishing and more crap-filled (and yes, I'm sure that's a technical term) and our nation being less healthy and having higher healthcare costs? The healthcare and insurance systems are way out of whack, I'm not denying that, but we as a nation are a lot less healthy in general than we were a century ago. We might live longer, but we are much more reliant on meds to keep us going than we were then.

I believe there is a correlation, a big one. I don't have facts and figures to back it up, this is just my opinion. I think this is something that is gravely overlooked and this interview I think really brought it to the forefront, even if inadvertently.

Any thought?

Just Checking In

Wow, I have been CRAZY busy lately. Working way too many hours and I just don't have the energy to blog when I get home! Sorry guys. Things should settle down soon, I hope.

This is an example of what NOT to do.

I hosted Thanksgiving at my house this year for my in-laws. It all went pretty well, but I ran out of room in my fridge! Do NOT go to the store the weekend before and buy all your groceries PLUS a 20lb turkey that needs to thaw and then come home and make 18 pints of chicken stock before you have your mom's pressure canner. Don't do that, it makes life difficult. Thankfully I did fit everything in, just barely!

But we did have so much food leftover that the first night some things lived on the front porch. Thankfully it was nice and cool the whole time :) After having a dinner of leftovers with the neighbors Friday, I managed to get it all in the refrigerator.

Things are going well with the low-carb thing. Some days are harder than others, that's for sure, but overall it's not bad! I've lost about 15 pounds so far, which is great, and feel much, much better.

I haven't shared any recipes like I had promised, but I really don't have anything exciting to share. I've just been eating the some stuff, just without the carbs. I have a few yummy tricks, like whipping cream and a teaspoon of sugar-free chocolate pudding mix whipped together, YUM!

Since I'm past the two-week induction phase, I've started to add a few more carbs in. I'm sticking at 25 for the moment because I've really seemed to slow down in the loss category. I think Dr. Pepper is to blame. I was doing really well with soda, only drinking the occasional glass of diet orange with cream and not 2-3 cans of diet dr. pepper a day like before. But then my mother-in-law brought a case for Thanksgiving and left it hear. It was delicious and wonderful, but got me pretty much hooked again! Not as bad before, but I crave it again. The good news is that I just finished the case off yesterday, so I guess I drank it more slowly than I used to (and I wasn't the only one drinking it on Thanksgiving Day, just after...).

Since upping my carbs to 25, I've been able to add in strawberries and cocoa roast almonds. Even though I'm paying almost $4/quart for strawberries shipped from California, right now I think they're worth it. Here in Ohio, we're all about the root veggies right now and the only remnants of fruit are apples. And of course when I made all of my jam this summer, I was not thinking low-carb at the time, so West Coast berries are my treat now. It's not ideal, but I'll take it!

I did make a yummy pumpkin cheesecake (sugar-free) for Thanksgiving that turned out great, and I've managed a ketchup and bbq sauce. Those recipes should be up when I can get back to blogging regularly. But other than that, I've just been omitting the carbs. Like homemade beef-a-roni, only I used cauliflower instead of macaroni. It works for me!

I am, however, getting a little sick of eggs for breakfast. They're good, but sometimes I just want a really quick prep breakfast, no cooking involved. So, I did end up buying a few Atkins shakes and Atkins bars for when I'm desperate. This morning is only my fifth shake since I've started and I'm half-way through my second box of bars. So I'm in no way reliant on them, but they do come in handy once-in-a-while.

This is a picture of three eggs about to be scrambled.

Can you tell which came from my mom's chickens

(the new ones are laying now, woohoo!)

and which came from the store? Mom's are still a little small,

but the color alone shows you how much better they are!

Lastly, I am starting another new adventure. I can't say much about it yet, but I hope to help other people learn to be frugal (and a little treehuggy too!). My first step is complete, I've made my own shopping bag! I used the Charlie pattern at BurdaStyle.com and I think it turned out pretty well. I don't have a serger, so I used french seams and bias tape. I think I will tweak it a little bit for the future, but overall I like it!

Charlie Bag

And one last thought to leave you with...our first snow!

And no, not all four of those recycle bins are mine, we share pickup with the neighbors :)

Monday blues

It's Monday and I'm not happy about it! I didn't get nearly as much done this past weekend as I had hoped. It was gorgeous all weekend and I really didn't have the opportunity to take advantage of it. Hubby and I did an afternoon's worth of yard work in about 2 hours last night and that's about it.

We still need to finish cleaning out the pond and have to get the net over it for the winter, but just about everything else is done. And I do have lettuce growing, albeit very slowly. It made it through the freeze we had the other night, so I'm hopeful for some fresh lettuce soon!

Here's a pic from some of the canning I did earlier this fall. I got a quite a bit put up. And I'm super excited that I am able to can chicken stock. It's so much easier to use and store out of the freezer. I was running out of room in there.

I am still hoping to get some applesauce made this fall. Hopefully this weekend.

Happy Monday everyone!

Garden Update & New Toys

I got a new toy this past week! This is my new 20" iMac. It's wonderful! 

My ibook was so full it was barely running, not to mention that it's 4 years old. 

So, to be able to complete an upcoming project I have as well as prepare for Hubby to go 

back to school, we decided to do this. The freelance project will cover a good portion 

of the cost of this, as well as a couple other upcoming projects :) I do so enjoy it already!

And along with it, I got a new ipod touch for free. I love this little guy as well! Lots of great apps to make my life easier :)

And just for fun, my breakfast. Kashi 7 grain waffles (I got some GREAT coupons for these :) topped with my homemade strawberry syrup. Unfortunately, all of the critters in my yard have been eating all the strawberries, so these are not my own. But, I did use berries that were too ripe for eating to make the syrup, so I feel pretty good about it. It's yummy!

The gardens are coming along nicely. They're really enjoying the rain we had all weekend paired with the heat of this week.

My potato forest is growing. The big ones are starting to flower! 

Hopefully I can get some more soil around them this week, I'm sure they need it!

And as you can see my rouge pumpkins are all going CRAZY! 

They're bigger than just about anything else in the gardens!

I have baby beans!

Happy Tuesday!

Another long-lost update

The last week has been another busy one! I went on a bit of a spending spree :) I purchased a new computer, a new ipod, new running shoes and new shoes for work. Not the most frugal of times, but some things are necessary. And what's the use in being frugal if it doesn't mean you can buy things you really want every once in a while?

I just got the new computer Tuesday, so I've been busy setting it up. Hopefully it will mean more regular posts now!

Nothing much has gone on in the garden. I put up the strings and tomato supports for the trellis. The beans are beginning to flower and I need to harvest and freeze some spinach. Recently discovered that my Hubby REALLY doesn't like Spinach, so my thought of throwing it in everything haven't turned out well. I'll just freeze it and save it for myself I guess :( I also want to add it to some lunch time salads.

My goals for this weekend are to take stock of my pantry and freezer and get back into menu planning. I haven't been to the grocery for more than $20 of necessities in a few weeks, so taking stock will be helpful. I need to grill up some chicken for lunch next week. And of course I'd like to freeze the Spinach. I'd also love to go to a u-pick farm and get some berry for processing. I don't think that will happen though. We've got a graduation party on Saturday and a baptism on Sunday (on hour away), as well as it being Father's Day.

Lots going on to talk about, hopefully I can get it down on paper! (or keyboard I guess).

Thanks for not giving up on me during these weeks of lean posting!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all of the mother's out there who ready my blog,
especially my own Mom and Grandma, who I know read occasionally.

Happy Mother's Day
Mom-me and Nena!!

As this is another busy weekend, as usual, I probably won't post again until then,
so I wanted to wish you all a wonderful day. (Even those of us that aren't moms too!)

A couple more hair pics

Sorry for those of you who don't really care, but I wanted to share a couple more of the new 'do. I also found one that shows my hair in a long ponytail about a year ago.

before (one year prior to cut)

after, the straightened version. It took 20 minutes, not something I'm going to do every day, that's for sure.

I think the black and white shows it a little better. It's still so weird to see it. It doesn't look like me yet. Oh well.

Happy Monday.