Independence Days- week 14

Another week gone by already!  Where does the time go? It seems like it's been a busy week but I don't really feel like I've accomplished much.  But then, how I feel doesn't always correspond with what I've done.  I really like the Independence Days challenge- it helps me see how much I've accomplished toward my goals. Speaking of goals- I'll have to do a post on my personal goals for the year soon.

1. Plant something- YES!!  I have 8 varieties of tomatoes, 5 varieties of peppers and eggplant down in the basement with heating cables and lights.  My little broccoli seedlings are doing well but don't seem to be growing very fast, and my hot peppers that I started early are hanging in there as well.  Roger keeps asking me if the potato sets have arrived and I keep telling him "No, it's still too early- but soon..."

2. Harvest something- Other than snacking on a few lettuce leaves while I was checking the seeds, NO.

3. Preserve something- nope

4. Store something-  25 lbs of whole wheat flour, 12 lbs of oatmeal, 5 lbs of rolled seven grain blend, half lb packages of sunflower seeds, sesame seeds and pumpkin seeds, 1 lb of wheat germ, craisins and dried apricots from the Amish bulk store.  Can you tell that I had granola bars on the brain while shopping.   Made a double batch of waffles to freeze for this week's breakfasts.

5. Manage reserves- Had a lovely creamy butternut squash soup for lunch from the last of the squash.  It didn't have a spot but was starting to wrinkle a bit at the stem end. Ate mostly from stores all week but did have several big shopping trips this weekend- once to the bulk store and once to the local grocery- there were a lot of things that we were about out of.  

6. Cook something new-  Tried my hand at fondant for K-9's birthday cake which turned out well.  Improvised my own recipe for granola bars.

7. Prep something- Not really.  J14 and I found another candle sale and picked up 2 pillar candles for the sconces in the living room since the ones there are getting low.

8. Reduce waste- The usual, plus I reused a saved gift bag for K's birthday presents.  One of K's presents was from e-bay so wasn't new.

9. Learn a new skill-  Hmmm- I looked at my knitting sitting by the couch- does that count?

10.  Community food security- Donated a bag of canned goods to the local food pantry.  I had picked them up a while ago when there was a good sale at the store and finally remembered to take them along to drop them off.

11. Regenerate what is lost- had lunch with one of the other OTs where I work who lives down the street.  She works in a different division than I do, so I don't get to see her much.

12.  Behavior change-  working to not procrastinate.  Did the mandatory on-line training the day after we got the e-mail about it so I didn't forget.  I'm trying really hard to keep my inbox in line at work and respond promptly to emails.

Yesterday V and I went to look at another property.  It is relatively new on the market with 4.5 acres and a 3 to 4 bedroom house.  They were having an open house and we thought it would be a good opportunity to check it  out.  Let's just say that we nearly drove right on by when we got there.  The house was lovely - almost too much so- it looked like something out of a magazine with lots of busy wallpaper and 'stuff'.  Not our style at all but a nice house.  The problem was the land.  There may be 4.5 acres but the house sits on the only flat part and it appears that the rest of the land encompasses a wooded ravine.  Don't think so.  So we are back to thinking about the first one and trying to decide if it's worth the amount of work that would be required.  I need to push V to make the appointment with the realtor but I don't want to nag him.

I did manage to get lots done this weekend- the usual laundry, cooking and cleaning.  I've got the meals planned for the week but it's going to be a busy one.  We're double booked on Wednesday evening so things could get interesting.

Hope everyone has a great week.