Salad

I had a fresh spinach salad with cucumbers, tomatoes and strawberries with Catalina dressing for lunch. I had vanilla yogurt with granola and blackberries for breakfast. I think more fresh fruit is on the menu for dinner. One of the wonderful things about summer!

Yes, I live in the woods

The Ol' Man's sister and her family came down to visit. Luckily, a bear just happened to be meandering through the neighborhood, so they all got to see a "bear in the wild"...which was the first time they had that experience. Today, we were walking the Hound of the Baskervilles (HoB), and we came upon a snake...dead, but a snake nevertheless. A nice 3+ foot Pennsylvania rattle snake! The Ol' Man showed the neighbor and she almost had a coronary. Being a "country boy", the Ol' Man wants to show the boys, so, into the freezer the snake went, awaiting next week when the boys come up. They'll be thrilled, I'm sure! That, and we get to go visit the HoB's trainer = his dog had puppies and the boys can't wait. Neither can I, to tell you the truth. Who can resist puppies!

Fresh Fruit

Ah, the simple joys of summer...namely, Fresh Fruit! We've got the boys - the summer vacation week on/week off has started, and we're pumping them full of good eats. I love the summer when fresh fruit is plentiful...blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries (the youngest is a STRAWBERRY KID!), melons, peaches, plums, bananas...it don't get much better than that. One of my favorite breakfasts/snack is to cut up fruits (all kinds), then, I buy the big vanilla yogurt containers (it's cheaper than the individual cups) and mix the fruit and yogurt together..yum! Sometimes I find granola cereal on sale and throw a half a cup of that in the mix. I'm a big fan of buying stuff on sale. Coupons are a plus too. The Ol' Man thinks I'm cheap, but I like to think of myself a "frugal". I make a Hurculean attempt to live within our means, save money and not fall into the consumerism trap. If we can't eat it, or it hasn't worn out, we don't buy it. I patch the kids jeans, I hang the clothes outside to dry, and I reuse zip lock bags. If we had enough land, I'd grow my own fruit!