Bountiful Baskets, updated

Above is the Bountiful Basket contents from Saturday, February 4th. Caroline and I went to Volunteer in the early morning (she had a sleepover at our house the night before). We received:
1 head of Romaine lettuce, 3 celery bunches, 4 huge tomatoes, 3 stalks of large broccoli, 3 red bell peppers, 2 very nice bunches of asparagus, a 5 lb bag of potatoes, 1 bunch of large radishes, 6 apples, one lovely pineapple, 3 Japanese pears, a box of strawberries. All for $16.50. Plus 2 hours of hard work this week, but that is optional. For volunteering, Caroline selected an extra box of strawberries and I selected an additional pineapple. I also took home some tomatoes that were not good enough to put in the baskets of others. They had bad spots on them. But the bad spots can be cut off and I'm going to make them into soup! In addition, I have an extra apple and pear than most baskets--but two less onions. They sometimes make substitutions if things don't pan out quite exactly to cover all the baskets, so a few of us volunteered the onions in our baskets to be put in the baskets that were short. I didn't know they were going to compensate me for them, so that was a nice surprise.

Have I blogged before about how much I love Bountiful Baskets? I think not.

I just adore Bountiful Baskets. They have a website at Bountifulbaskets.org. Go check it out.

When we're not eating our own produce from the garden, this has been SUCH a great thing for me. It's a food co-op, it is available in many states, and I just really enjoy it! We've been trying to eat healthier, and this helps so much. It's half fruit, half veggies, the price is right, it saves me going to the store. For a while, I felt guilty NOT going to the store and giving them (our local businesses) my money. But you know, they get plenty of our money!

I've volunteered at the co-op a couple of times and enjoyed that, too. I should volunteer more. The pickup for our area is Saturday morning, and I think it's a great way to start the day. Well, except that it's really cold in the winter! ha. I love having variety of fruits and vegetables around. I love that I don't have to go to a store and pick it out--they just give it to me and there's no choices. I like surprises. Of course, it's not really free, but the cost is so reasonable! And since it's paid for on-line previously in the week, it kind of feels like it's practically free. I haven't had a bad experience yet with the stuff I've received.

Our Sunday dinner today was mostly vegetables. Not EVERYthing was from Bountiful Baskets, but most was. We had

Parsley New Potatoes
Stuffed Acorn Squash
Green Salad with everything in it
Brussel Sprouts
(Chocolate cake for dessert--doesn't that cancel out all the good stuff??!!)

I get to grab a couple of pieces of fruit almost daily to take to work with me. I can have salad most days if I choose to take the time to make it.

LAST Sunday, we had soups in bread bowls. And green salad. I made a great creamy vegetable soup that day, and we also had pumpkin soup and some chicken noodle soup that were left-overs from earlier in the week. Yummy stuff.

Now, when we go to the store, it's just to pick up a gallon or two of milk and some eggs, a few specials, etc. It's a liberating feeling. Be ambitious and become a site coordinator in your area so you can have one, too, if you don't already. If you DO have one in your area (check the website for locations), then I urge you to take advantage of it.

Here's to healthy eating!

Oops!

One slightly scorched rooster

Remember the burner covers I got for Christmas? And remember how I said, just wait til January? Well, true to form, I've burned the first burner cover during the first month of having them. Sorry, Mom. It never fails. And, frequently I'll not burn another of the set! 'Tis uncanny how it always seems to happen in January.

Feed The Birds

Remember all those strands of popcorn that were on our Christmas tree? Well, Eric and I UNdecorated the tree and he took them all

outside to hang over the back fence. We really thought that the birds would LOVE it.
They don't. It's still there, virtually untouched. He hung them up over a week ago. Oh, well. It was a nice thought, I suppose.

THANK YOU, Donna!

This post (and this mornings' events) owe thanks to my sister, Donna. (Like anyone else ever sees this blog besides those of us who know Donna, right? -ha! OK, so maybe one or two of you).

Donna has been on a de-cluttering theme lately. She's been doing really well. Me, not so much. But that wasn't MY goal, it was hers. However, I did share with Mom in an email about how Mike had done some pretty major cleaning up in our carport and that we'd almost be able to park 2 cars in there--it wouldn't be very functional since I wouldn't be able to squeeze my BIKE out, but they'd be IN and not parked on the driveway (with a carport full of clutter). Well, when Donna heard that, and she's seen our carport, etc., her response was NO WAY. Of course, that inspired Mike and he finished his straightening of the carport and squeezed in his truck AND the car. Not only that, but there is room to get OUT of the vehicles!! That was a total shock to me. I thought Mike would have to drive the truck in, climb out, drive in the car, then I'd have to go out the FRONT door of the house to take the picture, then he'd have to drive out of the carport before being able to get out of the car. But they fit. And we can get in an out. Handy in snowy weather, but Mike will probably keep his fluid-leaking truck out on the drive most of the time since there are usually projects going on in the carport itself. And he needs access to tools and stuff that are stashed on the shelving in there.

So, here are a couple of "Before" pictures.

And here are some "After" photos:

They are way under the eves, so snow and ice are not a worry in the early a.m. :-) The truck is kind of poking out just a tad beyond where a door should be some day, but there's also a 2 1/2 foot wide table behind the truck that doesn't belong there, too. Someday it will be folded up and put away. maybe.

Yes, it's still very cluttered. Yes, it very much needs a door to HIDE all the clutter. But at least if there WAS a door on the garage, the cars would both fit inside with some final adjustments. The nice thing? They didn't just chuck it all in the backyard to make room! Yay for the guys this morning!!

Thanks for the inspiration, Donna-Poo!

"Ooooh! That's so CUTE!"

That was 2-year-old Jonathan's comment on Christmas day when he saw the colorful Christmas Cottage that was on the living room windowsill. It's part of my Christmas decorations, and of course he didn't remember it from last year (or the year before!), so he was absolutely ENTHRALLED with it this year and just stood there looking and looking and exclaiming about how CUTE it was (Gail said that everything is cute these days to him). He probably did a little touching here and there, too, but it's just plastic, and right at his eye level, so just perfect in a 2 1/2 year olds' eyes.

So what do you think? Is it cute or what? Or is Jonathan just cute for exclaiming over it so?

Happy New Year!

I've always wanted to go up to Brian Head ski resort to see their new year's celebration. They have a torchlight parade down the side of the ski slopes AND fireworks. The only time in years past, the snow fall was so heavy, I couldn't even make it up the canyon. But THIS year--clear skies!! So we headed up Parowan Canyon to Brian Head. The roads were clear and there were big crowds. It's quite the party atmosphere, but we just wanted to see the torchlight ski run and the fireworks. I think it was worth the drive for this one time.






And, below...a charming and creative Christmas gift from Gail. Word Nerds forever!! this is hanging on my kitchen wall.