If you do stuff, stuff gets done.......

If you do stuff, stuff gets done.......

Monday, August 16, 2010

Brown bag lunches

Jeff takes a lunch box full of snacks and his lunch everyday to work.  When I worked, I also took snacks or lunch as needed with me.  Debbie  says she packs lunches and she asked me how I do our lunches.   Debbie this might bore you,  Jeff takes almost the same thing everyday.
A travel mug of coffee
a bottle of water to take with him when he is on the road
his entree is either a dish of last nights leftovers or a sandwich.  This lunch was a sandwich and dish of veg soup
2 servings of fruit - he has plums and cantaloupe in this one
1 serving of nuts and 2 string cheese

a bunch of grapes - I bag them into to serving sizes and store them in the fridge like that.
Nuts are one of our favorite things to snack on.  But it is really easy to eat way more one serving without even realizing it.  2 summers ago,  I got a case of 1 ounce portion cups at a yard sale.  The  portion cups are perfect for holding 1 ounce of nuts.  So when I open a new can,  I get out those little cups and divide them.  Then they are ready to put in a lunch box or a snack.
Jeff is a big fan of Del Monte peaches canned in light syrup.  When fresh fruit is not plentiful,  I open a big can of peaches and divide them into little jars for his lunch box. A big can will yield about 14 jars full.
Bananas and cantaloupe waiting to be eaten,
In the fridge,  bagged up grapes, cabbage soup in mugs, watermelon cubes in containers.    Fixing lunches is easy in the morning when things are ready to just pick up.
Jeff's string cheese.  Actually, everyone in our family likes them except me.

His lunch all gets packed into a little Rubbermaid cooler that he has been using for about 10 years or more. 

When I worked,  I liked sandwiches, fruit, nuts or high fiber granola bars. 
My favorite snack was hard boiled eggs with a few celery and carrot sticks and just a dab of ranch dressing for dipping.

for me,  the way to have healthy and easy lunches on the go is to plan and package ahead.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Catfish and a mystery

We are still pretty much dieting at this house but on Saturdays, we eat what we want -with in reason anyway.
Tonight, we are going to have fried catfish with a few hush puppies and a big green salad.
The catfish was caught, cleaned and packaged by my parents, brother and cousins that like to fish. 
They usually go on 2 annual fishing trips in Arkansas, one in the summer and one in the fall. 
 I don't like to fish and don't really like to camp - but I do like to eat fish! 


The mystery is that our sink stopper disappeared.  I am not sure what day I noticed it was missing but I've looked every place I thought it could possibly be and have not found it.  How many places could a stopper be anyway?   I never use mine for anything else except to occasionally run it through the dishwasher. 
Jeff thinks I probably threw it in the trash by mistake.

But whatever,  we will be stopping at Lowes on the next trip to town to get a new one. 


If you are wondering why I did not post much this week - here is why. 
Sweet Elizabeth, 2 months, and Cute Gavin, 18 months, have been spending some of their days with me while their mommas and daddies go to work. 

To Fly Above The Sea



















I have known Joanne as a very good internet friend for more than 10 years.  She has a big love of the sea and is an avid stitcher.  So I was very happy  when she posted that she had completed and published her first book of counted cross stitch,.   If you also love the sea or want to make a gift for s sea-lover,  you should look at her designs. 

Joanne is also an Ebay Seller and right now,  she has some great listings on very nice fat quarters and quil books. 

and one more thing about Joanne,  today is her birthday!  So if you stop by her blog or Ebay shop,  you might want to leave her a birthday greeting. 

Friday, August 6, 2010

Cabbage Soup Diet


Have you noticed I did not have any yummy food posts this week? 

 
Well, we have been eating lots of cabbage soup - it also has onions, bell peppers, carrots, tomatoes, celery and mushrooms. 

 lots of fresh fruit
 lots of green salad
 more fruit
a few baked potatoes with vegetables.

I first heard of this cabbage soup diet after my son Jimmy was born. My mom sent me a xerox copy of it that was going around her office. I remember I ate that soup pretty much for a week and lost most of the baby weight. Well, I came across it again and I think it may of had a few changes over the years.

I made the first batch of soup on Saturday and it is actually really good. It tastes just about like soup-stew I normally make but with no potatoes or meat.


I have been very, very  hungry while on this diet.  But I think that may be a good thing.  It certainly is a vivid feeling and helps to imagine how so many people feel all the time,  and not because they have chosen to go on a weight loss diet. 

I did modify it somewhat.  We ate fruits and vegetables every day. We ate the soup at least once every day, sometimes more.   By Wednesday,  we were "allowed" to add meat.  I did eat a few bites of meat but I've also eaten 2 ounces of nuts Weds. and Thursday. 


and so far I've lost 8 pounds. 

Disclaimer - I don't think doctors would approve of this diet.  I know what I am doing, have NO health problems,  take NO prescription meds,  don't have high blood pressure and have normal blood sugar rates. 
Even the diet says to only do it for 1 week and don't repeat until another month has passed. 

there are many links to the cabbage soup online, so if you are crazy like me,  then you can do  a search and do your own conclusions.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Harvesting seeds

 Here is one more baby step I just took in my hope to be a better gardener. 
I planted some marigold seeds this spring,  I got them as a freebie when I signed up for a sample of a cereal. 
They grew so tall and bloomed but they were really too big for the pots they were planted in. 
Well,  it is very hot here and I think they were about through for the summer.  Many of the old blooms were brown and dry as the desert. 
It occurred to me that there should be a way to save the seeds and replant them next year.  So I did search "how to harvest marigold seeds"  and found out.
 Inside the dry flower are many many seeds,  you just pull off the dry petals and the seeds are under the petals. 
See how many seeds  were in just one flower? 
that is a sandwich bag packed with marigold seeds,  all ready for sharing and for planting next spring.

There are 2 kinds of zinnia in my yard that should harvest just about the same way as marigolds. 
Our portulaca/moss rose has lots of tiny seeds in their dry buds too.  I will harvest them when they get drier.
I looked at the petunias but could not seeds in the dry flowers on them. 

Seed harvesting is very frugal - can you imagine how much that many marigold seeds would cost if you bought them in the little pouches? 

so, do you any of you harvest seeds and have any advice for me? 

and if you want to harvest your own seeds,  you might want to do a search to get more details in case I left out something in this post.