...3.9...Over the Weekend...

...first breakfast was a vegan croissant...with apple butter...you probably saw that one coming...

...second breakfast was a few gingerbread energy balls...almonds, oats, pumpkin pie spice...they're yummy...

...then we headed out for the weekly shopping...

...I know you're thinking that I couldn't possibly need any more cereal...but they still had the pumpkin spice Cheerios for $1.50 and I couldn't resist getting a couple more boxes...we'll have no trouble using them up before they expire...and then I also got the two boxes of 'Wicked' cereal as our nephew will be visiting this coming weekend and we thought the kiddos might enjoy them...

...I refilled my seed jars...pepitas and sunflower seeds...

...and I'm going to try this Tone's Pasta Perfection...accidentally vegan...the Man is going to try another lentil patty recipe...

...the non-organic apples went straight into a bowl of baking soda water for a little chemical removing soak...

...on the food prep front...

...I got out Nanny's broccoli casserole recipe...

...mixed up the onions and broccoli...

...got out the Ritz crackers...

...and crushed a cups worth...other vegan ingredients...vegan cheese, vegan mayonnaise and the vegan chicken soup that I'd made from Jill McKeever's condensed soup recipe

...mixed everything together...

...topped with the crackers and baked...

...I made a batch of vegan feta in the 'outside' kitchen...

...it's been a while since I made it and it really needs to be a weekly thing...it's so good...

...and a batch of Toby's Tofu dip for the week ahead...of course...

~Wishing you a lovely start to your week!

...3.7...Dinner and a Movie...

...dinner was vegan 'steak' dinner...grilled tofu...a big baked potato slathered in vegan sour cream and topped with fresh chives from the garden...and a salad...A1 is accidentally vegan...

...and the movie was the 1997 Jeremy Irons version of Lolita...it was...of course...a movie about some people...you may be wondering why 'I' chose this one...as it's about as weird/creepy/cringy/uncomfortable as you can imagine...it is beautifully filmed...and I think Irons does a good job of portraying the predator-main-character as the bully and dirty old man that he is...it also has a little bit of focus on the victim's feelings that are not that prominent in the book...so that's why I chose the movie...I just finished reading the book Lolita...after revisiting the 100 Best Books list that I published all those years ago...

...and the book is just as perturbing as the movie...maybe more so...it's told in the first person as a narrative trying to explain his actions to a jury...but he's pretty delusional and only (of course) mentions in a self-serving way what he thinks is romantic...almost completely ignoring the feelings of his victim...so a true sociopath...

...I've read quite a few of the books on the list that I had not read in 2008...so I need to do an updated list...anywhooo... Lolita is on the list...so I read it...my libary only had one copy and there was a wait...I'm also planning on re-reading a few of the books that I read as a teenager...I've put a hold on Animal Farm...1984...and Catch 22...as I read all of those as a 14 year-old and I think I may have a little bit of a different perspective now...haha...

...have you read this controversial book or seen the movie?...

~Have a lovely weekend!

...3.6...Friday Update...

...spring is springing...at least the weeds are...haha...just look at all those weeds...yikes!

...I spent a couple of hours (AGAIN!!!)...pulling up all the weeds from the little rock garden sedum along the driveway...

...and just a week or so after cleaning out all of the dead lily leaves...you can see the green shoots of new ones peeking up through the mulch...

...and the blueberry bushes have blooms...we're hoping for a lot more blueberries this year...

...maybe you remember last fall when we planted a stinzenplanten lawn...the lawn is dotted with the tiny blooms from a hundred or so bulbs out front...

...although the grass around them is still quite dead and brown...

...it's fun to see the little pops of colour...

...and hopefully they're just getting started...

~Have a lovely day!

...3.5...Delicious Vegan Food we ate...almost...

...well...just because they have fresh squash in the grocery store doesn't necessarily mean you should get it...when it's still technically winter...

...because you may be disappointed with the flavor...we were...I cooked it on the Griddler...the usual way...and we served it with tofu marinated in mild Buffalo Wing Sauce, greens, vegetarian baked beans, and fried cabbage...and some lettuce from the winter garden...but it was pretty bland...not that delicious flavor of garden fresh summer squash...oh well...it was certainly a fine meal...just fine...

...what delicious food have you been eating lately?...

~Have a lovely day!

..3.4...W.I.P. Wednesday...

...with St. Patrick's Day right around the corner...I wanted to get a little package of green-ness off to my girlies in Alaska...

...and I thought a little green headband would be a nice thing to have...not sure if children still 'pinch' each other for not wearing green or not...haha...

...so I just crocheted some chains in the two colours of green that I had handy...specifically the green from the Airman's Wife's Minecraft sweater and the green from the grass of her pillow...so a sort of forest green and a sort of sage-y green...and I attached them to a loop of elastic for some sizing flexibility...

...and then I crocheted some little shamrocks...or clovers...

...and attached them to the headband...

...they turned out super cute...and weren't too much trouble for a probably one day wear...

...what's in your workbasket this week?...

~Have a lovely day!

...3.2...Over the Weekend...

...after we left Mom's...we went over to spend the day with the Man's Mom...it's her birthday...

...so we got a fancy bakery cake from a new bakery near us...

...and we put 8 big candles and 3 little candles...because 83 candles would just be too much...haha...

...and then she wanted to go up into the forest for a walk...it's still pretty brown...but there are some green daffodil shoots...

...we just followed the path...

...it meanders along the river...

...I thought I'd show you my sweater...haha...

...the river was beautiful and didn't show too much hurricane damage...

...past the chapel in the woods...

...and they are doing extensive work on the bridge which was damaged during the hurricane...

...established 1936...

...and then we took the Man's Mom for a mexican dinner...I got grilled veg and rice...and it was pretty delicious...

...then Sunday morning we loaded up all our loot and and came home...so I'll show you all of that...

...Mom gave us a box of all different kinds of vegan cereal that she'd gotten on sale for $1.98 (or maybe .99)...what a deal...there's also a jar of her delicious chow-chow in there...

...and we always get a couple of boxes of vegan croissants from the grocery bakery when we're up in the mountains...I've never seen them down here...

...and the Man's mom found this old McDonald's coffee mug and gave it to us...it's so cute...

...the haul from the Farmer's Market...

...onions...Japanese sweet potatoes...yellow eyes...oranges...hot relish...and sorghum syrup...

...and Mom had gotten these vegan goodies on sale too...

...then we didn't need much...but we did have to go shopping Sunday afternoon for a few things for the week ahead...

...absolutely nothing of note...

...oh...and Mom also gave us this 'space bag' kit...

...and it was time to take the electric blanket off the bed and store it for the summer anyway...

...so I removed the cords and stuffed it into a big bag and sealed it up...

...and then used the little handheld reverse pump thing-y to suck out all the air...

...and put the cords in a small box...they might puncture the bag so I didn't want to put them in there...

...and stowed it away on the top shelf of our closet for next winter...

~Wishing you a lovely start to your week!