Shopping for a cause

A new thrift store has opened in Avondale Estates! If you're local, and you've been to Avondale Estates, you know it has several thrift and consignment stores already. As I love shopping at thrift stores, I was quite happy to have a new one open there, especially since it has a totally awesome goal.

Second Life benefits animals shelters. Local animal shelters, including my absolute favorite, Lifeline Animal Project. I've sung the praises of Lifeline more than one time here on my blog, so I won't bore you with that again. What I will say is that if you need some gently worn brand name clothing, you may want to check out Second Life. If you have some items to donate, they are a not-for-profit, so you can get a receipt for tax deductions.

Stepping off soapbox now.

Yesterday was the first day I'd left the house since last Sunday. I'm not sure, only because who really pays attention, but I may not have left the house since the Friday before that Sunday. I got prepared for being snowed in, truly thinking that we'd be able to get out sometime on Wednesday. Ha! I was very foolish. The snow persisted as did the cold temperatures, and while the DOT cleared the highways (finally), many of the surface streets in our area got some sanding or nothing at all. The major one got sanded (some), while those on residential streets that lead nowhere were SOL.

It really got me to thinking about how dependent on government people are to take care of them. I got outside and cleared the road in front of my house. One of my neighbors came outside and helped. Honestly, I didn't want people sliding in the ice and into our mailbox or cars. I even cleared out part of an area for a neighbor to park. It wasn't that heinous a job, and I got to thinking that if everyone went outside and did a little bit how quickly things could have returned to normal. Apparently, with the exception of the one neighbor, I'm the only one who thinks like that.

Anyway, I got out and ran a couple of errands yesterday. None of them involved going to a grocery store until last night's beer run, but I did drive by a few. Earlier in the day you couldn't pay me enough to join in that madness! The Farmer's Market had a line of cars waiting to get into the parking lot. I think I can wait another day or two to restock!

The one thing I can't wait to get is a new dryer. Ours died several weeks ago, and last Sunday I spent some quality time sitting at a laundromat drying wet clothes. Tomorrow we'll go buy one, and then I'll spend way too much time getting the laundry caught back up. Something about saying all that makes me feel like a 1950's housewife! Heck, it's been way too cold to even think about a clothesline! The clothes would freeze out there.

Snowpocalypse 2011

Yes, that's what our clever newspeople have dubbed this snow and ice event. (Too bad sarcasm doesn't translate well to the written word.)

So, for your amusement at our discomfort, here are some pictures.

The street is on the morning of Day 4 of being iced in.








A close-up of the ice on my butterfly bush.


















The doghouses showing how deep the snow is. Sassy was and has been inside the house with us the whole time. The snow and ice has freaked her out. I had to shovel a path to a mulched area so she could do her business.







The ruler shows the snow depth to be almost 5".












This is a picture from Sunday night when it all started.



We haven't had mail delivery or trash pick up all week. I hear the grocery stores are running low on supplies. This has been a good trial run in preparing for the Zombie Apocalypse!

eta: I keep editting this dang post, and blogger keeps moving my stuff around so the captions don't match the pictures. After 4 attempts to line them up, I'm quitting!

Hello 2011!

This past month zipped by so quickly. Part of that was because I got my annual cold/flu thing and spent part of the month napping, coughing or thinking about napping while the virus worked its magic. As for the other part, I quite honestly don't know where it went. We don't do much for the holidays, so that's not what ate up the time.

Anyway, 2010 was a year full of firsts for me. I started Fiber Charmer. I became a board member of the Atlanta Knitting Guild. I volunteered for both SAFF and SEFAA and had a good time volunteering. I learned how to can and canned a lot of relish from the cucumbers that we great. I learned that I had too many cucumber and tomato plants.

I'm not one for making New Year's Resolutions. It's so easy to think of all those things I want to change and then not do a one of them. I had a bit of madness, perhaps it was last year, and posted some resolutions.

So, these aren't really resolutions. They're tweaks to plans I already have.

I'm going to be a better vegetable gardener. With gas prices predicted to rise to $4 a gallon this year, grocery costs will be rising too. I've been making an effort to buy more locally grown produce, and in conjunction with this effort, I'm planning to be more effective with the foodstuffs that I grow here. Last year our beans died on the vine. The bean plants both mildewed and dried to a crisp with the extreme heat and humidity we had. While I still have some of that packet of seeds, I'll plant them earlier this year and see if I can beat some of those problems. The carrots never did much of anything, nor did the radishes. The cucumbers and tomatoes went totally crazy, growing over anything in their way and producing massive amounts of veggies.

Very soon, after the freak snows and the remaining remnants of the cold go away, I'll double dig another garden bed and get started earlier this year. I've been thinking about what I buy, and if I only grow lettuce, tomatoes, and some squashes, I'll be able to take a decent slice out of our grocery bill. Heck, if the county would let me have 3 chickens I wouldn't have to buy organic eggs anymore either. However, I know that's not going to happen.

Also in 2011 I'm going to learn how to pill a cat by myself. Right now it takes two of us to pill a cat, and I've been thinking that I should be able to handle 10-15 pounds of biting, hissing, angry kitty myself. I guess my plan of attack here is to learn how to quickly roll kitty burritos using groggy snoozy cats, a large towels and massive amounts of cat treats until they decide it's not so bad, at which point I can substitute whatever Rx they need for the treats. I figure I'm already scarred enough that what's one or two more scars, and as long as I don't need stitches, I'll be ok.

I'm sure there are others I need to be thinking about. The usual lose weight, exercise more one. The not letting my roots get so bad that I look like a redheaded skunk with the grey streak. That's one of the many things I'd love to get stem cells for. I want the hair I had as a child back. Thick, wavy and red instead of not as thick and mouse brown/grey with memories of red. OK, yes, I want stem cells to rejuvenate my skin, burn fat, and give me more energy that I could possibly need, but I guess my chances of that happening are about as good as winning one of the $300M+ lotteries!

I see I digress. The first seed catalogs have arrived in today's mail, so I'll be dreaming of fresh baby lettuce while watching the snow this weekend.

Belated Happy New Years!