Peak Chocolate?

Okay, things have gone too far. I cannot raise plants in order to have chocolate.  Although we liken the South to a rainforest, it does get too cool for cocoa plants. We might find a substitute for oil or cut back. But, peak chocolate (my term) news is scary.

Your turn
Does this strike terror in your chocolate-loving sweet tooth? Or, can you take or leave chocolate? Shall we start hoarding Hershey's cocoa?

Three Awards for Me

If any of the attributions are incorrect, please let me know, and I will correct it immediately. Lots was going on when I received these. So, for many reasons I am remiss in not posting these sooner. Plus, I just ran out of steam with the awarding and passing along the honors.

Look at the pretty I won from kymber at Framboise Manor. She says I have frugal tips and funny stories.

And another Liebster from Frugal Down Under. She has the cutest little girl. They are both very crafty and frugal. I crack her up.

And, The Most Versatile Blogger Award from Linda at Hello, It's Me.

Below are the rules of the awards:

1. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
2. Link back to the blogger who gave you the award
3. Pick out five favorite blogs with less than 200 followers, and leave a comment on their blog to let them know they have received the award.
4. Hope that the five blogs chosen will keep spreading the love and pass it on to five more blogs.

I will choose my five bloggers. Oh, I can choose ten. Now, I found another award, so that means fifteen bloggers today? Can I still list only 7 things you don't know about me? Oh, 21 things? That's hard.

For the Versatile Blogger Award
1. LindaM at HELLO, IT"S ME is my first choice. She just underwent surgery for cancer, came home today and has the fight of her life, fight for her life ahead of her. Dalai Llama lives with her and did lead her and husband on a country road chase.

2.BLD in MT: Living a Simple Life in this Interconnected World  She and her husband remind me of hippies with all the tie-dye. They are a nice, young, frugal couple  who play board games. Now, they are buying a house.

3, Our 21st Century Guide to the Good Life where Martin and Amy in the UK, a young couple, describe their allotment growing.

4. Jan at Consumne Gal goes to cattle auctions and all sorts of Western events, has chickens...interesting posts.

5. Two Girls One Budget is a blog that has some dandy savings these two manage to pull off due to surveys, gift cards, and sites that help bring in income.

For the  first Leibster Award
1. In Barb's Backyard she is sweltering in Australia, fighting slaters and foxes, trying to raise hens, and grow all their own food.

2. Living Rich While Being Poor is the account of living on food stamps with some really good ideas for everyday living....olive oil lamps, for instance.

3. At Better Me, Better World Dmarie always cooks things that make me drool.

4. Feral Homemaking is a fun site, interesting. Be sure to read her post "Only in the 1950s."

5. Sue at The Little Acre that Could has lots to offer us.

For the second Liebster:

I have no one else, you hear?

Brain is mush.


21 things you don't know about me, 7 for each award since they were not awarded simultaneously. I am just behind:

7 things
1. I don't know my right hand from my left hand. Neither does either of my two sisters or either of my two daughters or my granddaughter.
2. In elementary school my third-grade boyfriend named a turtle after me.  I was just disgusted and humiliated to have a turtle named after me. I just did not know much about males, I suppose.
3. Ants of any kind terrify me since I had Brazilian Fire Ants cover one leg from the top and the other from above the knee and bite me. I was 10-yrs-old and lived in Jackson, MS. My siblings and I were in the woods, picking plums for jelly.
4. Lamps are my weakness but only antique lamps.
5. I love to play board games.
6. I started sewing when I was four-years-old.
7. Gardenia is the most fragrant flower to me, lovely, and beyond my skill to grow.


Another 7 things you don't know about me
1. Our dog bit me when I was two and shook me really hard. Okay, I was pestering him while he slept and Daddy told me to leave the dog alone.
2.  I am the oldest of five children.
3.  I cried during algebra final exam in college. I taught myself algebra and now I can even teach it. No, I bawled and screamed. I only screamed in the bathroom, but I cried in the classroom.
4. I cannot sing or play an instrument.
5. I don't know whether to cross the cursive T or F.. My 7th grade teacher was also my 10th grade teacher in another school and gave me a 99, taking off one point because he remembered I did not know it three years earlier. I still don't know. Please don't give me tips.
6. My typing teacher traumatized me so that when I accidentally poked a finger between the keys on the big, black, manual typewriter, that I just ripped the fingers out, and lost skin on my fingers. I just bled and kept typing.
7. I know how I will die.

Another 7 things
1. I own a reel mower.
2. I have never baked a ham.
3. I learned to swim when I was 21.

5. If I don't find someone to play Backgammon with me, I am going to wither up and die.
6. I studied Latin, Spanish, Greek, and Japanese and can read Middle English.
7. I really want to earn a PhD. 

I have been so long in posting this that I am going to publish the awards now without further ado. My lack of doing this in a timely manner is embarrassing!

What did I get wrong on attributions?

National Pencil Day

Credit: Dixon Ticonderoga

Low tech, cheap, affordable (same thing), not affected by heat, gravity, or dampness--perfect tool for recording anything.

What would life be without pencils? I don't know. As a lifelong learner and an educator, pencils are the mainstay of my being and have been since I have memory. My love for technology has not replaced a love of pencils.

Someone came to my home and after several hours asked why I had so many pencil holders/cups. It was such an astounding question that I was pressed for a coherent answer that would not be insulting to the person. "I write things down." 

I have pencils in four rooms, whole cups of them--beside my chair, in the kitchen, in the sewing room, and in the room beside me that used to be called the computer room. Yes, there are pens, a pair of child's scissors, a retractable mirror, and nail files in the pencil cups, yet they remain pencil cups.

Did you know that when you buy Dixon pencils you are buying the #2 pencil supplied by testers? Did you know I have 300+ new-in-the-pack pencils that I bought for less than a penny each?  I share them with people/children that might need a pack. And, I send them off to my grandchildren who must eat them!

Did you know that Henry David Thoreau's father owned a pencil factory, and that, contrary to common perceptions of his lack of effort, Thoreau worked there? Read about Thoreau's Pencils. If you are into reading or studying Thoreau, you now have a new bit of knowledge to share. I took a course in Thoreau in grad school, but knew this from my own studies.

Despite predictions that technology will wipe out low tech pencils, pencil sales are up. Life's Little Mysteries inspired me to bring you this information.


Your turn
Do you love pencils? Do you have a relationship with pencils? Funny? Sad? Share your story. Here is your chance to tell that weird pencil story that fits in with nothing else in your life. Get stabbed by one?

Picture This: A Smoking Deal

Anyone seen my RED camera in its PINK case?

no pictures

As usual my parsimonious self and my broke self met to get a good deal. Yes, I have had in my purse $2 and change since Tuesday. However, I needed milk and April 1st for my SS check is a long way off in milk days. I remembered I had a milk coupon to print, two in fact. So, I printed off a coupon that had Smart Source on it. "Buy three breakfast items and get one gallon of milk free." I have no idea where I got it. Well, I did print it, but where I found it is still a mystery.

When I saw the coupon, there was no fine print that mentioned a purchase, well, none that I saw. Did you? I had mulled this over in my mind once I found the fine print. The first thing I do when I have an Internet coupon is take it to the manager to "okay." That way, I won't hold up the line while someone comes to take care of all the "suspicious coupons" that I redeem, all printed from the Internet.

I asked him what was deemed breakfast food. After a little banter and determining I had about 10 boxes of cereal, don't need to eat bacon, cannot stand cantaloupe, I suggested banana. He said that was not a breakfast food. I pointed out that I ate most of my bananas sliced into cereal. Plus, I have been known to eat cold pizza or a bowl of field peas and snaps for breakfast. I slipped into the conversation that it really needed to be cheap.

We decided orange, banana, and grapefruit were good enough. And, like he said--it does not specify amounts, "So, get three pieces of fruit for each coupon."  Grapefruits looked like they had led a long, hard life and were $1/each. I skipped those. Oranges were 3/$1, bananas were $0.69/lb. (Paid $.81 for three bananas.) Perrrrfect!

One gallon of milk and three oranges came to $1.39.  Remember, I still had to pay tax on the milk that was $3.59/gal, even though it was free, plus I paid tax on the oranges and bananas. We pay tax on food in this state. The next gallon of milk and three bananas came to $1.18.

That made:
2 gallons of milk
3 bananas
3 oranges = $2.57        ($.68 of the $2.57 total was tax)

When I told exbf on the phone, he was clearly stunned. Charlie was amazed. I am ecstatic. Some of us (me) need to make really good food deals. Okay, all of us need good deals and coupons.

The milk had 4-09-12 for use by date. I am good with that because I drink way too much milk. It won't go stale.

I have plenty of fruit now with the grapes and apples in the crisper, but am waaaay short on fresh vegetables. I have carrots--that's it. Store-bought cans of vegetables are it until next week. All I have are carrot sticks! Grrrr. I hate it. Aha!

Shredded carrots will be chopped shorter for tuna salad. Carrots are great in tuna salad, giving it a crunch and barely changing the taste.

Hurrah for me! Yay Linda! Yes, I am still ecstatic. Just think how good life would be if we all could find deals like that for all our food needs. Of course, some of you have home-canned foods and root cellars from food you have put up, and live in the land of perpetual food in the garden. 

Your Turn
Have you reported any good food deals on your blog? Share them here if you like. Go ahead, put a link here if it pertains to the subject at hand. Have you found good food deals you have not told us about?

Meals in a Jar, Painting Bread

If I were going to buy #10 cans of food, I have found the way I would use them. If you don't know what a #10 can is, think commercial cans of food. Only, the food is dehydrated. Chef Tess combines the dehydrated food in a quart jar in order to have a meal ready to add water and cook. Let's have some willing suspension of disbelief and pretend we will always have plenty of water. Go on over there and have a look at her site.  She puts prepares 52 jars of food, all the same recipe.

Maybe my dehydrated food could be put in a jar, ready to make a pot of soup in the winter, like I mentioned last fall. I would not have dehydrated beef....hmmm.  Plus, I could probably put the vegetables in a pint jar and use canned tomatoes in a quart jar. Make that two quarts of canned tomatoes. Then, very little water would be needed for the final product.

If I learned to can beef, I would be set! So, there's a  project for me. I would have a meal in for jars!

She appears to be affiliated with a freeze-dried food company. However, she has excellent ideas. No, I am not getting any remuneration for saying this.

Also, check out her painted bread. If I could bake bread, I might try bread painting. One skill at a time here folks. Painted bread is the kind of thing I see in magazines and think, "Ooooh, how pretty."

Your turn
Have you ever made meals in a jar? Have you used any #10 cans of food? Have you ever heard of painted bread or made any?

Pain, Dinner, New Blogger

Pain defines me right now. I do have hydrocodone to take, but just refuse to submit to something that strong. So, I am in horrendous pain.

Here is what I think. If the pain medicine stops the pain, I will no longer be capable of standing! Then, I would have to lie down or scrunch down in the chair. The pain will stop on its own if I lie down or scrunch down in the chair! I want to stand and walk. But, pain meds hit me so hard that standing and walking capably are not in my repertoire when properly medicated.

For lunch, which was my breakfast, I had yummy chicken that appeared to be baked, pulled from the bone and served. ??? Then, contrary to the usual menu, we had boxed mashed potatoes and pinto beans with ham chunks, and wHItE bReAd....ack. There is usually a salad and a vegetable--green beans, sweet potato, but never boxed masked potatoes.

This church serves a lovely meal once a month. Police officers, politicians, local shrink, retired professionals, one of our local authors, and all sorts of retired professionals attend. And some welfare cases come. Most people are far from poor and acquaintances or friends for the past thirty years.

Oh, I had red velvet cake...yum.  I did not eat the bread or all the mashed potatoes and did not touch the beans. I also collected about a quart of food for the hens. They got all except half the meat that will be their protein tomorrow. Later, I went out to see what they ate. These silly hens left all the pinto beans. All the beans were neatly piled on one side of the disposable plate I brought from the dinner. How do they do that? Do they remind you of children?

Well, that was lunch for the hens. As it turned out, they had peanuts for dinner. I had some peanuts that somehow tasted funny and had a weird texture. They were not old. So, I sat and shelled peanuts and threw them in the grass for Thelma, Louise, and Pepper. Louise pecked Pepper often to scare her away. Louise decided to sample my toe. Then, she jumped into my lap for a looksee at the world from there and to peer into the overturned bag of peanuts. Now, my fingers hurt from shelling peanuts.

My dinner. Today, I had sat for two hours on hard chairs. For dinner I had pain relievers--dark chocolate chips. Euphoria set in, and either I don't hurt or don't care. Then, feeling a bit more chipper, I had a handful of pecans. Okay, I am strong enough to cook. So, two scrambled eggs with cheese...yum...and a glass of milk.  Finally, feeling like I needed a vegetable and only having fresh onions, I ate a whole can of turnip greens. Oh, I had shredded carrots but did not want those. Later, I will have a delish orange. Everyone needs a five course meal once in while. Right? It seemed like a balance meal....even if it were bizarre.

I just now occurred to me--I only had two meals today, so I suppose I am entitled to one more...work with me here and agree with me or I might cry...seriously, I am so stressed. It may be time for more chocolate chips.  

Tell me all the bad parts of the new Blogger, pleeeease!

Your turn
Have you ever just eaten dinner one food at a time? Can anyone relate to this pain, unrelenting and made worse by doing anything? Do your chickens like peanuts? Just say anything about anything so I will know the blogging world is out there......pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease!

I Wrote to President Obama

AND, I received a response from an agency that might be helpful. It is an avenue I have explored and was told they could not help me. We will see. Either way, I still am trying to get enough money together to hire an attorney and get my lift chair so I can have surgery.

UPDATE: I got the email this morning. AND, just now, I received a call from an agency who will ascertain IF they can help me.