When you have nothing to say why say anything?

But if you really must know what I’ve been up to as of late.

There’s the not so good…

I have some thoughts to a solution to the Social Security shortfall. Pretty sure it would be unpopular to all of those who are affected, but overall I believe it has the potential to be a huge money saver, job creator, and help us be healthier. I should outline my plan and send it to the President instead of just telling all of my family…

And my disappointment in knowing I was going to be let down, again. I’m not always a good judge of people on first impressions, but it doesn’t take long for me to see them for who they really are. And all in an effort to make me mad is just sad. I’m not mad, just disappointed – in myself!

I want to scream at the financial aide department of my [former] college for screwing up my last day as a student. This does have a profound effect on the interest on my loans. Their stance – my final loan was at the end of November. But my last day as a student was the end of January the following year! Then why do all of the letters (in general, not collections) ask if I am a full time student again? Obviously it’s not about whether or not I took out a new loan. Two months! Grrrr

Don’t even get me started on my brother. We’re not talking. Actually, he’s not talking to anybody, but even if he were, I don’t want to talk to him. Why? I have nothing nice to say. I’m finally listening to my mother.

And there are good things…

My chickens (all 3 of them) are doing much better after their traumatizing night a few weeks ago. Not sure what it was, but whatever it was slaughtered most of my chickens. The only survivors: the small rooster, one hen, and the baby (who is a hen!).

I’ve been fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to review some really cool things lately. Many with giveaways, so you can get in on the fun, too.

I’ve started outlining and drafting a series of short stories geared to children age 6 – 9. Topics will cover the serious, such as death and loss, and the not so serious, such as the change of seasons.

Oh, and let’s not forget I have won a few things in instant win games online this week. The most fun was the 90 My Coke Rewards points I won in the Monopoly game (won 3 times in 1 day). I also won a $10 Amazon GC, a Xeko plushie (stuffed animal of sorts?), Halls cough drops, & a pen.

Just not a lot to add to the value of this blog…

And now I’m off to get ready to take Amanda’s car in for new tires. Maybe there’s a blog post in there somewhere. No? You sure? Yeah, you’re probably right.

What about you? What have you been up to lately?

Reflection: If a Blogger Doesn’t Write a Post and No One is Around to Not Read it, Did it Make a Sound? is a post from: AnneOnLife where life happens quite regularly. If you liked that, you'll love me on and .
© AnneOnLife 2008-2010

Trying to come up with meals to satisfy everyone can be a daunting task all on its own. Trying to come with healthy meals can be downright intimidating. Yet, somehow we manage.

These are just a few ways we make our favorite foods healthier
without losing any of the deliciousness we love:

Ⅰ. Grow a garden.

The best way to make your favorite foods even healthier is to supply your very own homegrown ingredients. This can be a great money saver, too.

Ⅱ. Buy locally grown.

If you can’t grow it yourself find someone who does. The shorter the distance from harvest to door the healthier it is for you. Find your local farmer’s market and u-pick farms and know what real food is supposed to taste like.

Ⅲ. Coconut oil.

Coconut oil is great for so many reasons. It’s perfect for cooking at high temperatures, thus making it a great alternative to other oils for stir fry. It’s great in a fruit smoothie, too. Try it instead of butter the next time you need a little grease in your pan. A little goes a long way.

Ⅳ. Canning and preserving.

Instead of buying jams, jellies, and even nut butters loaded with preservatives why not can your own. After your trip to the u-pick farm you’ll want to make sure all your hard work is not wasted. Jams are easier to make than jellies and are great for sandwiches, danish, and even homemade donuts. Freezing fruits and veggies picked at their peak will enhance your means all winter long.

Ⅴ. Use butter instead of margarine.

Whether baking or sauteing your foods will love you more if you use real butter over artificial substitutes like margarine. Concerned about fat and cholesterol, try using less butter in the recipe or substituting half for margarine and meet the recipe halfway.

Ⅵ. Venizen instead of beef.

Sure, not too many people are interested in eating deer meat, but it is leaner and healthier than beef and makes a great substitute when it comes to stews, steaks, and even hamburger. I mean, really, have you ever seen a chubby deer?

Ⅶ. Leave out the salt.

Yes, sometimes we need to add a little salt to our food. Most times, we don’t. Read the labels on the ingredients you are using. If salt is a main ingredient, then avoid adding more. Try alternative spices like pepper, thyme, rosemary, parsley, and more. There are so many great seasonings available, don’t limit yourself.

Ⅷ. Go meatless.

Make a stir fry of just veggies. Red, yellow, orange, and green peppers, onions, red cabbage, carrots, celery, garlic, bean sprouts, water chestnuts, and more. Add a little wild rice and you have a filling and healthy meal, sans meat.

Ⅸ. Cocoa or dark chocolate.

Cocoa makes a great substitute for regular chocolate in desserts. Dark chocolate has healthy properties and is great for satisfying ones sweet tooth.

Ⅹ. Make it homemade.

We all lead busy lives. yet homemade is not out of our reach. I have a great pizza dough recipe that takes about 10 minutes to make. Make it a fun family night dinner and make individual pizzas for everyone. The dough makes 2 large or 4 small pies.

It’s all good

I always remember ‘everything in moderation’ and use that as my main rule of thumb. So many great foods and so many great ways to prepare them. Don’t limit yourself to just one way or say ‘low fat, salt free doesn’t taste as good’. Just imagine the world of flavor just awaiting you around the corner. Healthy can be tasty and you don’t have to give up your favorite foods to have it all.

Disclaimer: I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms and WeightWatchers SmartOnes blogging program, making me eligible to get a $50 gift card. For more information on how you can participate, click here.

Ten Ways of Making Your Favorite Foods Healthier is a post from: AnneOnLife where life happens quite regularly. If you liked that, you'll love me on and .
© AnneOnLife 2008-2010

There is nothing like a fresh from the garden tomato, potato, green beans, onion, you get the picture. I love eating food just harvested, right out of the ground, dusted off and nothing more. Oh, my mouth waters just thinking about it. But you can’t do that if you are using chemicals.

Why would anyone purposely use chemicals in their very own garden?

Sure, it’s easy. It’s cheap. It’s there. You might as well keep buying your veggies from the grocer with that attitude! No, not me. We practice organic gardening at my house. And I encourage you to take the plunge, too.

Need some help getting started?

Go check out MyOrganicGardeningBlog. No, it’s not mine. Well, actually, it kinda sorta is. It’s yours, too. See, MyOrganicGardningBlog is made up of gardeners from all over. Learn the best way to grow tomatoes from William in Chicago. Thinking about greenhouses? See what Kay from the Southeast has to say. And Deborah in Vermont will tell you why she wants to plant 500 garlic bulbs, but will only plant 50; it’s much more manageable that way. Oh, and don’t forget about composting with Julie in the Midwest. If you are serious about gardening and even more serious about doing it organically this is the place for you. You can follow on Twitter, too.

~ Savings Alert ~

Right now you can save on your organic gardening needs. Use Coupon Code: SBSSMOGB to get 20% off site-wide at http://www.saferbrand.com. You’ll also get free UPS ground shipping on all orders over $49.99 [some restrictions apply].

Grow It Delicious, Grow It Organic is a post from: AnneOnLife where life happens quite regularly. If you liked that, you'll love me on and .
© AnneOnLife 2008-2010

What was my point?

image courtesy of I can't live without a Poni

I am disorganized. There, I said it. I mean it. I sort of accept it.

I try. I bought the whole Franklin Covey system last year – when I still had a job and my [former] boss assured me it would work – and it sits in a pile of other crap gathering dust.  At least I know where it is. I want to use it. But after losing my job I did not see its point. I am rethinking that. I pick it up periodically and write something on one of the note pages. I need new date pages, but don’t want to spend money on something I have yet to really use and I can’t use it until I part with the money to update the date pages. I hate catch-22′s.

I bought Megan a cheaper version at Target this summer. She *loves* it. But Megan is an uber-geek who always has been organized. She most definitely does not get this from me. Maybe my mom. She’s pretty organized.

My dilema

This month [November] will be very busy for me. If I cannot find some sort of organization, then something will fall through the cracks [too late] and be missed. And this could be something important, like dinner. The family hates it when dinner is not made. Not that it does not happen already, but I fear it will be so much worse this coming month.

• Family – need to take care of, feed, do laundry, THANKSGIVING, etc, etc, etc.
• School – need to do homework, participate in discussions, take tests
• Blog[s] – need to post something or my few loyal readers will surely disappear never to be seen or heard from again
• NaNoWriMo – I am determined to do this and writing 50,000 words in a month and it making any sort of sense will take time
• Me – need to make time for me, exercise [laughing], sleep, bathing [important lest I want to alienate everyone in the house], etc, etc, etc.

Guess it is a good thing I do not have a job! See, there is a silver lining to unemployment.

And then there are the CHICKENS! {sigh}

I will make a schedule and work very hard at not deviating too much from it. This means planning dinner so I am not scrambling. This means knowing the sales and going shopping on a specific day. I have my voice recorder for when I am driving and those writing thoughts hit. I can do this and, with a little luck and determination, I will come out of this a little more organized than when I started. Oh, and I will be enjoying that much deserved bread from school come December! Woo Hoo! That means more time to put to revising all that writing I did in November. I am getting excited now! Can’t you tell?

Are you one of those organized, schedule-keeping, everything has its place types of people? is a post from: AnneOnLife where life happens quite regularly. If you liked that, you'll love me on and .
© AnneOnLife 2008-2010

Yes, I Think His Tractor's Sexy is a post from: AnneOnLife where life happens quite regularly. If you liked that, you'll love me on and .
© AnneOnLife 2008-2010

Megan was a member of her school’s FFA organization. That stands for Future Farmers of America. She took Agriculture in 8th grade because she loves the earth and wanted to know more about how to help it grow. Then, in her junior year of high school, she took Horticulture and was the only girl person in the class that was not your typical farmer-type [read: she did not wear jeans and t-shirts every day].

Why did Megan take Horticulture when she is now and had always planned to study education? Music education, no less. She wanted to expand her horizons AND she loves her earth. Yes, she is a [gasp] treehugger. In fact, she recently called a professor a tree killer because he handed out notes, many, many pieces of paper, without using both sides. Go Megan!

We have a small farm

It is our sincere hope that our small farm does expand some, at least enough to support much more of our family’s nutritional needs. Currently we have a small garden, some fruit trees, and 18 chickens [16 hens and 2 roosters]. Next year we plan to expand our garden with the help of our recently restored [got to love a man who is handy] Farmall tractor and have a few cows grazing the property.

One thing I have learned since moving to Virginia is working the land is hard work. Which is why I do not do as much as I should. I do not like getting callouses. Oh, and the brown recluse spiders are all over the place out there. {shivers} But I am so grateful for all the men and women out there working hard to provide all of those things we take for granted: milk, eggs, beef, etc, etc, etc. You did not think these things just magically appeared at your local grocer, did you?

Together We Can Make Good Things Grow

Campbell’s will be preserving 5 barns across the United States based on your votes. That is right, you can help choose which barns will be preserved by heading over to Help Grow Your Soup and voting for your favorite barn out of the 10 nominees. I am voting for the Rollinghills Farm in Staunton, VA. Why? Well, because it is right down the road from me. Not literally, but it is only about 2 hours from where I live. And I want to support a local farm.

It gets even better. For every vote Campbell’s will donate $1 to FFA (up to $250,000). You can vote once each day. Voting started October 1, 2009 and continues through January 5, 2010, so there is plenty of time to cast those votes and help raise $250,000 in support of the FFA. Now doesn’t that give you a warm fuzzy feeling all over?

Great Eco Tips Delivered to Your Inbox

Have you signed up for ideal bite yet? They were the first to alert me to Campbell’s campaign to preserve barns and raise money for the FFA. That is right. They told me before Campbells did. Oh yes they did! Don’t you want to be the first to know about these great happenings? Well, then sign up today and get this and other great eco-friendly tips delivered directly to your inbox! Just click on the image below to get started.

Get back to basics * Support farmers * Support Campbell’s ‘Grow Your Soup’ Barn Revival is a post from: AnneOnLife where life happens quite regularly. If you liked that, you'll love me on and .
© AnneOnLife 2008-2010

Our First Eggs is a post from: AnneOnLife where life happens quite regularly. If you liked that, you'll love me on and .
© AnneOnLife 2008-2010

Okay, this was my first attempt at making pickles and I did make some mistakes. First, I should have cut the cucumbers lengthwise. Second, I should have packed them in the jars much more tightly; those suckers really shrivel or something as there is a lot of space in those jars. The good news, all of my jars sealed! This is great since the alternative would be having to eat 5 jars of pickles within 2 weeks. They will be ready to eat in 24 hours, but we think the longer they sit the better they will be. I cannot wait to try these. If they are good I am definitely going to do this again (and again).

Homemade Pickles is a post from: AnneOnLife where life happens quite regularly. If you liked that, you'll love me on and .
© AnneOnLife 2008-2010

What was I doing while DH did all that work on the “farm”?  Homework, studying, and a final exam for Principles of Corporate Finance.  Whew!  Everything is done and I “A”ced the exam (100% – oh, yeah!).  Five more classes to go and my goal is to get my degree with a 4.0 GPA.

More From the Garden is a post from: AnneOnLife where life happens quite regularly. If you liked that, you'll love me on and .
© AnneOnLife 2008-2010

From the Garden is a post from: AnneOnLife where life happens quite regularly. If you liked that, you'll love me on and .
© AnneOnLife 2008-2010