Monday, October 31, 2011

Halloween 2011

It's Halloween Night and what is the treat for the Trick or Treaters at the Rock House: Kettle Corn!

















It's not just any Kettle Corn, its "All Natural," because only the best can be given to my little Goblins, Ghosties, Witches, Fairies, and Spidermen! 




Poor Henry had to go to bed early, though. His favorite trick is to bark and scare all the Trick or Treaters away!

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Chilly Weather...Chili Weather?

The weather here in Texas is getting quite chilly lately. It is late October, so for the rest of the world, temperatures in the 40s and 50s are not unusual. They kind of are here in Texas, though! Thursday night, while trying to avoid the crazy up down run score of the Rangers World Series game (which they lost, then lost the Series on Friday...), Mom and I decided that it was time for the first fire of the season. To the left is that fire (very bad cell phone photo, but still looks cozy!).
I am going to admit something that someone who has had a fireplace for 10 years should never admit: every year my first fire totally smokes up my house. I usually smell like I've been barbecued when it is all over with. Thursday was no exception! One log was just a little too large, so the fireplace did not get hot enough and the smoke began billowing out. Oh well. It was still nice and warm, even if we couldn't breathe!
Today, while avoiding a trip back home after having lunch with my cousin and his family, Mom and I decided to stop off at the farmers market (not really one that has local products, but it's not too bad). I looked over towards the bell peppers and had an epiphany: tomatillos= Green Chili! It was the only item for the wonderful New Mexican Green Chili recipe sent by step-mom Sharon that I didn't have. I purchased 16 of them (sounds like a lot, but they are tiny little suckers) and will be making a big pot in a few hours. I will even be using up some pork loin that I cooked last year and stuck in the freezer (I hope it's still good!?!). If it works out, I'll post pictures and recipe tomorrow!

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Well, time does fly when you're not blogging!

It has been well over a year since I posted my last blog entry. I've been keeping up with my green things, though, and have even added a few more.

I still:
Recycle, use my drying racks as often as possible, garden (finally did a fall veggie garden this year--more on that later!), use as many natural products as possible, use reusable female products during "that time," and try to cook at home for as many meals as I can.

I did start something new last summer and have had great success with it. I now use reusable coffee filters. At first it was kind of a pain. You have to empty the filter, let it dry, empty any grounds holding on, then soak as much of the coffee out as possible. Then, every few uses, you have to boil a pot of water, add baking soda to it, and sterilize the heck out of them. You then find out that you did not get as much coffee out of them as you thought (the water turns a horrible shade of brown...much like coffee!). I originally purchases 3 of these filters, so every 3 days I had to really work at cleaning them out. I'm not sure how much money I've saved...the initial cost was $4.49 each, plus $6.99 for shipping (total= $20.46). I know a whole heck of a lot of paper filters can be bought for that much. I've been saving paper, though!

Today, in honor of my first entry in 2011, I purchased 4 more. This time it was like I didn't even spend any money at all, though. I used points earned from one of my credit cards to purchase them on Amazon. Love those points!

And...here is a photo of what I'm talking about: