The Start of Something Frugal

Limited choices, and you know something big is happening when it happens here

noreply@blogger.com (swiggett) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 14:00:00 +0000

We have limited options at our in-town grocery and Wal*mart stores. You can find pretty much whatever you want, or at least what you need, but the selection isn't what it is at the larger (or smaller stores) in the town where we work.

It isn't so much the products that we can find (juice, soda, canned goods, frozen stuff, deli, produce, all of that), but rather the types of said products offered. Finding an organic brand of nearly anything at the local grocery is nearly impossible. But there are a few options for "natural" peanut butter. I think there is one barbeque sauce in the whole store that doesn't have high fructose corn syrup. And that says nothing of my poor uncle who has a recently diagnosed soy allergy: out of wall of salad dressing, there were maybe 5 bottles he could eat. One was a spice packet where you add your own oil and vinegar. The others were locally produced brands.

Since I've just started making the leap to baking soda/vinegar for some cleaning needs (certainly not all - yet), this has presented a challenge for us.

What has been exciting as of late, is the emergence of more eco-friendly brands and variants on the shelves, and at prices that are at least comparable to the conventional ones. For example, dishwasher detergent. I picked up one of 2 bottles that declared itself eco-friendly with no phosphates and my husband rolled his eyes. "Are we really that rich that we can... oh, it isn't that expensive." True, a smaller bottle of the store brand was much cheaper, but every other option was within 50 cents of the bottle I picked. Some were even more expensive. Score!

Then, at Wal*Mart (groan if you must) Tom's of Maine is being stocked. I've read a few places (can't remember now, so apologies for no links) that some people are upset as a result of changes since they were bought by a larger company, but I'm still very happy to see 2 different toothpastes (one with and one without flouride), and at least 2 different Tom's deodorants (plus a Crystal liquid roll-on). As we needed toothpaste, we got some. Still using the deodorant I picked up at Trader Joe's in California while on a business trip. (Really, my checked bag on the way back from these trips is hilarious now - shampoo, deodorant, all sorts of organic and natural personal care products I can't find easily in my small town.)

Small victories, I know, but I get a small thrill buying these products at my local grocery and Wal*mart because I know that somewhere in the vastness of information and reporting, another ping is going towards the more eco-conscious shopper.

In an attempt at full disclosure, I initially wrote this in June 2011. I tweaked a few tenses here and there, and it is up-to-date.

Carpets no more

noreply@blogger.com (swiggett) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 20:05:00 +0000

In July, we celebrated our anniversary. Initially, we were planning to take a long weekend trip somewhere, but ultimately decided that new floors would be an even better present to ourselves.

In case you don't know, our house was completely carpeted, save for one closet and the bathrooms, when we bought it. Yes, even the kitchen was carpeted. Thanks to the one closet that was uncarpeted, we were fairly certain hardwood floors were just waiting beneath all that carpet. Refinishing the existing hardwoods worked for everyplace but the kitchen and sunroom. Since we didn't know what was under there, and didn't have the resources to address it if it was damaged or bare subfloor, we left those areas carpeted.

Walking through Lowes one day, we decided to scrap the long weekend-away plans for our anniversary (at that point, it was still months away), and get new floors in the bathroom, kitchen, and sunroom. (linoleum with a few rips, carpet, and carpet, respectively)

By the end of it, we had settled on a darker tile for the bathroom, which will work nicely with the redesign we have in mind; a slate-looking tile for the kitchen, and cork for the sunroom. (seeing other people putting cork in their kitchen sometimes gives me pangs of regret. I thought about it! But was talked out of it. I now live in fear of the day we drop of glass or plate on our pretty tile floor!)

There isn't much frugal to say about the floors themselves. Even though the tile will be freezing in the winter, I'm glad to be rid of the carpet. No carpet means that the vacuum isn't necessary, and that any Minnie-dog accidents can be cleaned up with a paper towel or rag. The steam cleaner may be retired. I also think that the non-carpet will benefit us when we do eventually sell this house. Cause the floors are so pretty!

While we may have been able to install the cork ourselves (it is a floating floor deal), since we were already having the installers come out to do the tile, we opted to let them do what they are paid to do! My husband did do a tiny bit of vertical tile work in the shower before we officially moved in. Learned there that tile layers get paid for a reason. Especially when it is vertical tile!

What we did do to save a bit of money was prep the areas, so all the installers had to do was come in (move the toilet) and lay the floors. This involved ripping up the carpet and carpet pads, removing carpet staples and tack board, removing any quarter round or base boards we wanted gone, and of course, moving furniture and appliances.

Everything was shoved into the dining room. It was an interesting sight.

We did run into a stumbling block, though. Turns out that our kitchen carpet had been laid during a small window of time when "they" used a rubber backing to essentially glue the carpet to the floor. That rubber backing was not fun. We didn't take it up, but the installers said it needed to come up. That stuff did not want to leave the floor! Our installers were awesome, though. They assessed the job, and were able to knock it out pretty quickly, and for less than we were willing to pay not to have to do it!

The lack of access to our kitchen for a few days made the endeavor more expensive than we had initially anticipated, but the floors are awesome. Overall, we are very happy with the new floors. Especially with the fact that they are not wall-to-wall carpeting.

Aloe there!

noreply@blogger.com (swiggett) — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 14:32:00 +0000

It has been a long time, hasn't it. But time passing means I've actually done a few things that could actually warrant a post or two.

Recently, my husband got some local college football tickets for cheap. Someone at his work was trying to get rid of tickets for (now this past) weekend. While watching a football game without the benefits of commercial breaks or other stuff to do isn't usually my idea of a great Saturday, my husband loves college football, and one or two games a season I can handle. At that rate, it can even be a fun day out!

The game itself started out with an exciting rush (a kick off return for a touchdown! against an undefeated team!), but ended on a high-note for the visiting, still undefeated team.

It also ended with the left side of my face and neck a little sun-burnt! I had managed to save my ears from a similar fate by keeping my hair over them (score one for long hair!).

Months ago, my uncle gave us an aloe plant. He had several, and we were fortunate to get a very full pot of aloe. (I still need to split some of the little plants into separate pots!) When we got home, I picked off a leaf, and squeezed. I was there in our living room, slathering aloe-straight-from-the-plant all over my face and neck.

Gotta tell you, it felt great. The aloe was soothing, cooling, and moisturizing. It is working so well that I've been foregoing my jojoba oil as moisturizer after washing my face since Saturday. Pretty sure I'll return to jojoba and vitamin E oil once the sunburn fades; have to preserve the aloe plants!

All in all, it was a great day. Inexpensive tickets (that were in a great location!), overpriced-but-budgeted-for stadium concessions, and a free, as well as natural sunburn remedy.

Small Town Shopping

noreply@blogger.com (swiggett) — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 12:22:00 +0000

We have limited options at our in-town grocery and Wal*mart stores. You can find pretty much whatever you want, or at least what you need, but the selection isn't what it is at the larger (or smaller stores) in the town where we work.

It isn't so much the products that we can find (juice, soda, canned goods, frozen stuff, deli, produce, all of that), but rather the types of said products offered. Finding an organic brand of nearly anything at the local grocery is nearly impossible. But there are a few options for "natural" peanut butter. I think there is one barbeque sauce in the whole store that doesn't have high fructose corn syrup. And that says nothing of my poor uncle who has a recently diagnosed soy allergy: out of wall of salad dressing, there were maybe 5 bottles he could eat. One was a spice packet where you add your own oil and vinegar. The others were locally produced brands.

Since I haven't exactly made the leap to baking soda/vinegar/washing soda and the like for all my cleaning products, this has presented a challenge for us.

What has been exciting as of late, is the emergence of more eco-friendly brands and variants on the shelves, and at prices that are at least comparable to the conventional ones. For example, dishwasher detergent. I picked up one of 2 bottles that declared itself eco-friendly with no phosphates and my husband rolled his eyes. "Are we really that rich that we can... oh, it isn't that expensive." True, a smaller bottle of the store brand was much cheaper, but every other option was within 50 cents of the bottle I picked. Some were even more expensive. Score!

Then, at Wal*Mart (groan if you must) Tom's of Maine is being stocked. I've read a few places (can't remember now, so apologies for no links) that some people are upset as a result of changes since they were bought by a larger company, but I'm still very happy to see 2 different toothpastes (one with and one without flouride), and at least 2 different Tom's deodorants (plus a Crystal liquid roll-on). As we needed toothpaste, we got some. Still using the deodorant I picked up at Trader Joe's in California while on a business trip. (Really, my checked bag on the way back from these trips is hilarious now - shampoo, deodorant, all sorts of organic and natural personal care products I can't find easily in my small town.)

Small victories, I know, but I get a small thrill buying these products at my local grocery and Wal*mart because I know that somewhere in the vastness of information and reporting, another ping is going towards the more eco-conscious shopper

Happy Tax Weekend, USA!

noreply@blogger.com (swiggett) — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 21:40:00 +0000

Happy Tax Weekend, USA! Remember that Tax Day this year is April 18th.

Anyone expecting (or already received) a refund?

Ominous clicking noises and happier endings

noreply@blogger.com (swiggett) — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 16:01:00 +0000

Know what is not awesome? Coming home from work after a day of storms to hear your gas stove clicking. The same clicking noise it generally makes when you've turned the knob to light a burner. Thankfully, no gas was leaking out. Just the incessant clicking. We unplugged the stove, and resigned ourselves to being stoveless for at least a few days.

What is awesome? Having a husband who realized (after consulting the internet) that water may have simply gotten in, and leaving the stove alone and unplugged for a few days may be all that is required. The same day we came home to a clicking stove, there was mysterious water on the plates in the cabinets above the stove, and in the ramekins living next to it.

After two or three days of leaving the stove unplugged to dry, when we plugged it back in, there was no clicking sound. Hurrah! Good thing, too. That first night, knowing I had no stove, all I wanted was to boil water for tea.

I am pleased to report that nearly a week later, and several stove-top heavy meals, all is in tact and still working splendidly.

*Whew! To replace the drop in stove, it would have easily been a few hundred dollars.

Appliance Replacement Poll Post

noreply@blogger.com (swiggett) — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 16:38:00 +0000

Please leave any comments about the poll here. If you selected other, please elaborate here. I'll be adding my answer to the comments

Think Green Blog Hop

noreply@blogger.com (swiggett) — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 20:58:00 +0000

Hello and welcome to the "Think Green Hop Along". Everyone is welcome to link up and make friends here. The concept is to "think green"!!

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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 4/01/11 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!

Sort of a Recipe: Strawberries and cream

noreply@blogger.com (swiggett) — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 18:16:00 +0000

On Friday, I ran out to the store for a few things, and came back with quite a few more. Cabbages were drastically reduced; I assume from an overstock of St Patrick's day heads. I like cabbage, so I picked up a few. Boiled it that night, and stuck it in the refrigerator. I estimate I'll be having cabbage with lunch for the entire week. This does not make me sad in the least.

Strawberries were also on sale for a lower than normal sale price. (A price I have seen before, but still less than the normal 2 for X price.) Buying the strawberries also meant that I had to have cream. I debated between yogurt, sour cream, or heavy whipping cream and settled on the whipping cream purely for taste reasons.

That evening, I rinsed half the berries, put a metal bowl with a tablespoon of sugar in it in the fridge, and proceeded to prepare the strawberries: de-stemming, hulling, and cutting into tiny pieces. Then I sprinkled about 2-3 spoonfuls of sugar over the strawberries, and set them aside.

As the berries and sugar intermingled, I pulled out the chilled bowl and poured a bit of the whipping cream into it. Honestly, I have not idea as to the measurement. If I had to guess, probably 2 tablespoons. Maybe more.

Then I thought for a moment. Stand mixer, hand mixer or by hand? Since I hadn't used the stand mixer bowl, I took the stand mixer out of the running. It has had enough of a work out, considering the amount of cookies I made in the past two weeks. For some reason, I settled on whipping the cream by hand, so out came the whisk.

Several minutes and one tired arm later, I had soft peaks of sweetened whipped cream.

I divided up the strawberries and cream and surprised my husband with a delicious and simple dessert, hopefully ushering spring and summer into our little corner of the Earth.

Blog hop: Think Green Hop Along

noreply@blogger.com (swiggett) — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 18:04:00 +0000

Hello and welcome to the "Think Green Hop Along". Everyone is welcome to link up and make friends here. The concept is to "think green"!!

Make sure to sign up for my giveaways while you're here too, located to your right --->

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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 3/25/11 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!

Update from a sunny March day, the first day of spring

noreply@blogger.com (swiggett) — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 21:44:00 +0000

I am happy to report that the inherited iris bulbs are sprouted and still green, despite the roller-coaster temperatures of the last few weeks.

I am worried that a few of the bulbs in the front planter didn't make it, but a few have green shoots shoving through the soil, and the pots are looking more promising. The onions and inherited mystery bulbs in the front are growing with wild abandon.

The weather outside today has been gorgeous. In fact, it has been nice for several days now. I was able to gallivant with our dog outside barefoot over the weekend. It was so nice to run around barefoot, squishing the grass between my toes. And so nice to see my feet! I've stuck them in socks, fuzzy socks, and layered socks for so long to keep them warm that it was refreshing to leave my feet free.

This past week was Spring Break for the local university (where I work) and the public K-12 schools. Traffic was a breeze, and our hallways were quiet. Also very refreshing.

Our local grocery store had a sale on butter (2 for the price of 1). We went Wednesday night, and they were sold out - not un-expected. Thankfully, they were expecting a truck that night. As I had off for St. Patrick's Day, I went that next morning to pick up the butter before they could sell out, and also got a 10 lb bag of flour.

Yes, a 10 lb bag of flour. I may have mentioned that I really enjoy baking. However, I don't bake as much as I would like. Otherwise, we'd have cookies and bread spilling out of our house, into the streets. The weekend before Spring Break, I made cookies and bagels and pancakes. The cookies were so tasty and quick that I made several more batches throughout the week (also not great for our overall health). The flour cache was rapidly dwindling to nothingness. The Wednesday we couldn't buy butter, I scoped out the flour prices. A 10 lb bag was about $4.50, while a 5 lb bag was $3-4 (this is bleached, enriched, all-purpose flour, not my favorite, but the most affordable and versatile). Considering my baking kick and the price, how could I not get the 10 lb bag?!

Well, this past weekend I made soda bread (wheat and white flour), cookies (of course), and a very crumbly shortbread. I've gone through more flour, butter, and eggs than I care to admit. But there is nothing like the satisfied feeling of having something in the oven.

Do you have a favorite thing to bake or cook?

Weather and gardening update

noreply@blogger.com (swiggett) — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 15:09:00 +0000

I feel bad for being silent for a month, albeit a short month.

We've had some interesting weather round here lately. The snow finally melted, and it warmed up to the 40s and 50s (Fahrenheit). Buds appeared on shrubs and trees, long-forgotten bulbs started to send up little shoots, all signs of spring. Then it snowed again. It melted with 36 hours, but it is indicative of the weather we've had since. Sunny and warm(er) for a day or two, then brisk to downright chilly, or below freezing for a few days.

I hope that the earth was already warmed enough that inherited bulbs don't completely freeze up.

Inherited bulbs? What do I mean by that? I mean bulbs that were here when we bought the house: the irises that line a portion of our back fence, and the mystery bulbs that started sprouting in the brick planter. (A hastily taken camera-phone picture has my mom id-ing them as possible tulips. Awesome!)

In addition to these inherited bulbs, an aunt gifted me some flower bulbs back in the fall, but I didn't manage to get them in the ground before the first snow. They are in the ground now, and I hope that they didn't dry out in our guest room during the winter.

Plus! We had a bag of onions that we didn't finish before some of them started sprouting. Guess what else I'm trying my hand at growing this year now? Onions! Despite the snow, they still seem to be going strong.

Do you have any gardening or weather surprises?

Snow!

noreply@blogger.com (swiggett) — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 17:52:00 +0000

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?

Think Green Blog Hop

noreply@blogger.com (swiggett) — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 22:22:00 +0000

Welcome to the "Think Green Hop Along". Everyone is welcome to link up and make friends here. The concept is to "think green"!!

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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!

More on Shampoo, and yes, I have shampoo

noreply@blogger.com (swiggett) — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 22:36:00 +0000

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?

A quick laundry blitz

noreply@blogger.com (swiggett) — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 16:56:00 +0000

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?

A Play on Recipe Thursday: Pudding

noreply@blogger.com (swiggett) — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 16:54:00 +0000

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.

Blog Hop!

noreply@blogger.com (swiggett) — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 18:37:00 +0000

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:

* 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!

A Belated Thanksgiving Post

noreply@blogger.com (swiggett) — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 16:53:00 +0000

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!)

Blog Hop!

noreply@blogger.com (swiggett) — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 14:34:00 +0000

Welcome to the 21st week of the GREEN BLOG HOP!!

For "Green" Blogs Only - Even if you're just starting out!

The purpose of creating this blog hop was not to create yet another general hop, but to help network bloggers who have taken the initiative to go green for the purpose of education and continuing efforts of saving our planet - one home at a time. We will be monitoring the blogs and will delete those that are not deemed somewhat green.

PLEASE make sure to put the button on your site and make a quick blog entry - otherwise we will not be reaching the most number of people that would be interested in networking!!

* Follow the blogs of the ladies in the top three spots :

Going Green with Noah

Tales of the Wife

And Then There were 4...

* Link your green blog article to the Linky below

* 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.

Please remember to create a blog posting including the button after linking up - Please - It's the best way to get the word out about Going Green!!

*Drip... Drip... Drip... The joys of not being able to call a landlord.

noreply@blogger.com (swiggett) — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 16:31:00 +0000

As I mentioned in my last post, we hosted our first holiday dinner this past Thanksgiving. Since we were out of town for a work conference the weekend beforehand, this meant we were in a flurry of activity during our post-work hours on the weekdays leading up to the main event. Once we had settled down, and the only things left to do could only be done on the day of, I snuggled on the couch to watch TV. And that is when I heard it. A sound that will strike fear into the hearts of homeowners who are no longer able to call a landlord...

Drips. I heard dripping from the kitchen, so I went into investigate, hoping that it was just the faucet. It was not the faucet. Instead, I was greeted by a slow drip coming from a small crack in the ceiling.

I may or may not have mentioned this, but our kitchen is very dated: textured wallpaper, possibly-original-to-the-house stove, and carpeted floors. Lucky for us (?!), the leak was not heavy at that point, so I set down a bowl, and got out the wet vac. Upon discovering how wide the wet spot on the carpet was, I was surprised we had not noticed it when we first got home. The wet spot was probably a 1.5 - 2 ft diameter circle.

My husband and I had two moments of panic: 1) there's a leak in our roof, and it is supposed to rain the entire holiday weekend, and (2) we are supposed to be cooking a lot of food and hosting our first holiday dinner!

From our various improvement projects, we do have a smattering of tools. My husband got the dry wall saw, and started cutting around the wet area, so we could try to get a look at the leak. (This section of the roof area is inaccessible via an attic space. The leak makes me think that when we redo the kitchen, putting in a pull-down-attic-ladder would be a good idea, even if those things give me the heebie-jeebies.)

Wednesday evening ended up being full of cutting and clearing the ceiling, dealing with the spray insulation, and finding the leak! While having a leak in your roof is not a very happy thing, finding said leak within 24-hours is. We are relatively lucky in that the water was coming in directly above where it was leaking through the ceiling. No hunting for the water's path or obscure leak location. Turns out that there was a knot in the roof board. Knot - as in an actual hole. And there was a roofing nail through said knot. Water was just dripping in along the nail.

As it was Thanksgiving Day Eve, we knew that we would not be able to do much other than prevent the carpet from getting soaked. We (my husband, rather) put a bowl on the rafters underneath the leak, and used painter's tape and a bag to cover the hole in our ceiling. Classy, I know. ;)

We did check on the collection bowl regularly, and it seemed to do the trick, at least for the time being. The holiday dinner went well, and no one was drenched by roof water. Friday after Thanksgiving, my husband had to work, and went to a hardware store to see what we could do about the leak until we can replace the entire roof (a project we knew we would have to do in the future - this just brings the project into the more immediate future). Less than $10 for some roofing cement and supplies (plus much more for a ladder we needed anyway), and the leak is patched (and holding up against the recent snow).

Now we get to research our roofing options! Do you have any particular favorites?

Oh, the weather outside is frightful(ly cold).

noreply@blogger.com (swiggett) — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 19:54:00 +0000

All I can say is that at least it hasn't been a full month?

(We recently got about 3-4 inches of accumulated snow when they had predicted 1 inch of accumulation.)

As far as heating our home and staying warm ourselves, this winter season has been interesting. We have nudged the thermostat from 64 Fahrenheit to about 68 Fahrenheit. I fear we may need to go as high as 70. Really, we need to work on improving the insulation of the house, and get some throw rugs. Some good news is that our recent gas bill was not unreasonable. I take that as a sign that we are not overusing the heat and that it will be okay to turn the heat up smidge so my fingers can thaw out.

I need to recognize that this is a process and will take time.

We hosted Thanksgiving dinner for a few family members, and the colder temperatures did not seem to be an issue. I realize, though, that this could be attributed to the fact that we have 4-8 people in our house, as well as many kitchen appliances going. We used the stove, the toaster oven, the counter-top conventional oven, and the counter-top roaster (which actually became the coffee-table-top-oven and hung out in the nebulous foyer/living room area).

Aside from when I mention it here, we have not used our wood burning stove. The previous owners gifted us, whether they knew it or not, a whole slew of fire tending implements, as well as fire starters, long matches, and one 2-hour log. Said log is what we burned earlier. Now, we have no real fire fuel.

Recently, it did dawn on us that junk mail would make excellent tinder or random fire fuel. (We always set it aside to shred, but I have burned out more shredders than I care to admit. Either I am impatient, or we get way too many credit card offers. Probably both are true.) And we do have a lot of junk mail. We frequently get behind on shredding it, so it builds up. I am here admitting that we have moved boxes from one abode to another that are either predominantly junk mail, or contain junk mail as padding/filler. Not only do we have a lot of junk mail, we have old junk mail.

The other night, my husband decided to try out this junk mail as fire fodder business. He was sitting in front of the stove, feeding more credit card offers, and was quite toasty. Unfortunately, the warmth did not really reach back to the couch where I was curled up. So, junk mail may not actually heat our house, but it will raise the temperature of nearby air a bit, as well as help get a fire going. Plus, if we burn it, no dedicated con artist can piece the shredded bits back together.

So, things to do to keep ourselves and the house warm:
- more insulation
- throw rugs
- additional socks
- contained fires
- cook!
- at some point look into updating our HVAC system and thermostat

How are you doing?

Blog Hop!

noreply@blogger.com (swiggett) — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 17:45:00 +0000

Green Blog Hop

Welcome to the 19th week of the GREEN BLOG HOP!!

For "Green" Blogs Only - Even if you're just starting out!

PLEASE make sure to put the button on your site and make a quick blog entry - otherwise we will not be reaching the most number of people that would be interested in networking!!

* Follow the blogs of the ladies in the top three spots :

Going Green with Noah

Tales of the Wife

And Then There were 4...

* Link your green blog article to the Linky below

* 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.

Please remember to create a blog posting including the button after linking up - Please - It's the best way to get the word out about Going Green!!

*Chirp, Chirp

noreply@blogger.com (swiggett) — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 15:16:00 +0000

Do you hear crickets?

As tired a refrain as it may be, the office has been quite busy. We've had recruiting trips, urgent deadlines, grant reporting, and conferences. On top of the regular stuff we do on a regular basis. It does not leave much time for anything else.

We have an upcoming conference soon, and this time, my husband is coming with me. We both have family in the area, and this is a great opportunity for us to visit and have a little time away. Since the visit is because of a conference for work, my travel and room and board are all reimbursable. It will be a crazy and busy schedule for me, but should be fun!

I also went on a recruiting trip a few weeks ago. During my first stop, I stayed at a hotel that had apples in the lobby and a Target across the parking lot. This was wonderful. I ate more apples in that 24 hour period than I thought was possible, but they were delicious. I was also able to stroll through Target for my dinner, instead of paying outrageous amounts for a restaurant meal. Plus, even though I had neglected to bring granola bars, I was able to pick up a box at Target. Apples and granola bars can make an interesting meal.

In other news, the weather has certainly gotten much colder here. Last year, we were able to put off turning on the heat for a good while, and even then, keep the temperature set at about 65 degrees Fahrenheit. We were in an apartment then, and while we only shared a wall/floor with two other units, sharing their heat (we were on the top floor) really helped us keep our own heating costs down.

Now that we are in our own, stand-alone house, heating it is a different story. (Plus, I suspect some major lapses in good insulation. Another project.) We've tried to keep the thermostat set at about 64-65 degrees Fahrenheit, but it is an older model which is difficult to regulate. That and 64 degrees in the house feels tremendously colder than 65 did in the apartment. (I blame my beloved wood floors.)

We do have a wood burning stove in the fireplace. We have tried it once, and it did a nice job of keeping the immediate vicinity (well, the TV viewing area) warmer. We've also purchased a small space heater for the bedroom. Close the door, and after a few minutes, it is positively toasty! (Always follow the instructions, and keep flammable items away from a space heater. Do not leave it unattended!) Of course, we turn it off and unplug it before bed.

In addition, you should see the layers I put on at home. At any given time, I'll have on one or two pairs of socks, maybe leggings and pants, and a shirt plus a sweater. In the morning, when I let our dog out, I am usually toddling about with a hoodie, a sweater, and a coat. But that is because I roll out of bed and let her out. It is the very first thing I do, aside from put on my glasses.

Our electric bill has been slashed though. But, we have gas heat, and are waiting for that bill to spike. It hasn't yet, but we are trying to be prepared.

noreply@blogger.com (swiggett) — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 17:07:00 +0000

As you may recall, we did some work on the floors of our house before moving in. This means we have beautiful hardwood floors, perfect for the odd dance or two and sliding around in your socks. It also means that the vacuum is almost worthless on it (plus, using electricity when it doesn't need to be used!).

Initially, the space looked huge, then furniture was moved in, and it looked less huge. Then I realized that I had to actually sweep the floors. The space grew exponentially at that point. First few times, I just swept with a broom, and it seemed to do a good enough job.

But, you see, we adopted a dog back a while back. And she sheds. Add that to my hair, and the fact that we do most of our living in the living/dining rooms, and it makes for some dusty floors! Floors for which a simple sweeping does not suffice.

I pondered my problem for a bit, and remembered my mom dusting with old cloth diapers. Thought the same principle would apply - a soft cloth on wood. Hmm... don't have any cloth diapers, and running out to buy them as dust clothes seems to defeat the purpose.

Know what I do have, though? A plethora of tshirts. Some that are over 10 years old. Some that are more like 15-20+ years old. A number of these have been worn considerably, and are deliciously soft and comfortable as a result. Some are down right thin, and relegated to "around the house" wear only. Also known as "perfect as a dust rag."

I selected one of the softest, most worn old tshirt, put it on the end of dust-pusher-broom thing (think Swiffer broom, but it isn't), and dusted my floors. It worked well. Would have worked better if I hadn't let the dog's hair build up so much. (Winter's coming! Why is she shedding!?) Finished off my sweeping the pile into a dustpan.

My floors were beautiful. Until I let the dog back in. Sigh, at least she's adorable.