Sunday, November 29, 2009

Simple pleasures here at Casa Almond

For a late Thanksgiving post, I'm going to offer to the three of you who feel obliged to check this blog a partial list of simple pleasures for which I am grateful. No matter how little disposable income a person has, these are things that make her feel rich.

A tablecloth and cloth napkins. Note the Guilt No More candle -- you could have it too! Just send $7.99.
New curtains, using beautiful fabric that my lovely sister-in-law gave me years ago. Bonus: they actually block out sight, unlike the sheers we'd been limping along with.
A crock pot full of homemade chili using the cheapest of ingredients: dried beans, ground turkey, canned tomatoes, bulk spices. It was good, but even better, it was ready to eat when we needed it, almost no work for me.
Banana muffins. Why bake 12 when you can bake 24?
A happy, healthy, loving family. The richest of riches.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

This is Guilt No more blogging!

No worries -- there's no theme here. Just plain old photos, for your viewing pleasure, if it is that.


Here below, meet the extraordinary lump of dough which ultimately became seven (7) (siete) loaves of bread. It was fun to make. It lasted us about a week.Kewpie and Honeybee, enjoying the bath.

These three good-looking people are in the children's choir at Our Lady of Many Big Families. We went through some difficulties trying to find clothes to suit the daughters.
Truckster is a Cub Scout!
I should have posted this when it happened, but here are Buster and Fifi on the first day of school at O.L.M.B.F. Note that Buster's sweatshirt already had a stain on it.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Be serious

He wants you to know that he's in the Breadwinner Protection Program. Do not attempt to contact him. He is Incognito.

Fruit from our garden



If I had rotated this picture, it would be perfect. Of course, I don't know how to rotate it. So tip your head, and you can see that we actually grew all these things this year! The pumpkin is still on our porch, looking autumnal. The grapes we didn't eat, because the one kitchen tool that I need to de-seed them I no longer own (a food mill, totally necessary item that Target does not stock.). And the pepper and tomato -- yum!

Absurdly proud.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Where have we been?




OK, it's been kind of a while. Sorry. So, to make up for it, here are some All Hallows' Eve pictures.

From the left, St. Gianna Molla, St. Helena (of the True Cross), Pope John Paul II, St. Margaret of Scotland (pictured before she was married to Malcolm, and still an English princess), and St. Juan Diego.

(True to form, Juan Diego chose his own saint but then got irritated by the costume and refused to look happy for the photo. However, there was another Juan Diego at the All Saints' party and he was nowhere as Mexicano as this dude. Although, we were hoping he would let us paint a mustache on him, but he put his foot down. "No way, Jose!" were the words he would have spoken, if he had expressed his displeasure verbally than otherwise.)