Tag: around the house (Page 26 of 27)

What I Do With Old Magazines

January 1, 2010 / Lindsey / 0 Comments

What I Do With Old Magazines

I’m sure other people do this too, but the way I like to recycle the magazines I’m done reading is to take them with me to a doctor or dentist appointment, and leave them in the waiting room. Luckily, I rarely have appointments like this, so I just save up a pile of magazines until I do. (If my name & address are printed on the cover, I just cut that part out.)

I know how much I appreciate having choices other than Golf Digest and Sports Illustrated when I’m in a waiting room, and at the same time, my magazines get an extended life…rather than just ending up in the recycle bin.

There’s my earth-friendly tip for the day!

I hope everyone has had a peaceful New Year’s Day! Our day was quiet and relaxing, which was perfect after an extremely stressful week at work. I rung in the new year last night by going to bed early.

And now it’s a new year and a new decade (!) so that feels like a nice fresh start. 😀

Happy 2010!

An Old-Fashioned Christmas

December 29, 2009 / Lindsey / 4 Comments

Old Fasioned Christmas, (c) The Herbangardener

Did you have a nice Christmas? I sure did. I love how Christmas doesn’t have to be about the money. Indeed, the best things about Christmas (to me) are free/priceless: baking, putting up decorations, sitting in front of the glowing Christmas tree, relaxing with a cup of tea and listening to Christmas music, watching the snow fall outside, hanging out with family, and visiting neighbors and friends.

Coincidentally, two of my main decorations this year happened to be free (and definitely priceless!). The were both dumpster-dived, in fact. The beautiful evergreen centerpiece in the photo above was on a table at work for about a week. I admired it each time I walked down the hall to the kitchen. One day, it was gone. When I got to the kitchen, I spotted it in the trash. Who would throw this away?! I plucked it right out and carted the little darling home. It’s certainly getting much more enjoyment at my house!

The other free decoration was the Christmas tree!! I went over to a tree lot a couple days before Christmas, only to find them closed up, having sold all their trees. I noticed a few branches sticking out of a dumpster in the far corner of the parking lot, though, so I walked over to have a look. There inside the dumpster was my lonely little tree, obviously waiting for me. 🙂

Isn’t it sweet? I just love it.

Old Fashioned Christmas, (c) The Herbangardener

And for another old-fashioned Christmas activity, my mom and I got together and made gingerbread houses. What a blast!

Gingerbread House, (c) The Herbangardener

What are your favorite commercialism-free ways to enjoy the Christmas season?? I would love to know!!

Happy New Year!

How to Make Snow Ice Cream

December 2, 2009 / Lindsey / 10 Comments

Having been born and raised here in Colorado, I’ve had lots of wonderful experiences in the snow over the years. I love the snow! Sledding, shoveling the sidewalk, cross country skiing, building snowmen, and getting excited when the really big storms hit. And…making snow ice cream! That’s a sweet memory from all the way back to early childhood. It’s awfully easy, and the main ingredient is free! But it’s also a special treat that can only be made when it snows enough! This is how my mom and I have always made it:

Snow Ice Cream

Fresh, clean snow

Milk (Whatever you have. Whole milk is nice, and some cream is even nicer.)

Maple syrup (or sugar)

Vanilla extract

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First, set out your ingredients. You’ll want to work fast once you bring the snow inside.

Once it has snowed at least a couple inches, go outside with a large bowl or pan. Scoop up the cleanest snow you can find, being careful to not scrape along the grass…and avoiding dog pee, if applicable!

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Now, there aren’t any measurements for this recipe. You just sort of eye it, mix it up, taste it, and adjust. Into the snow, pour some milk, add some sugar (any sugar will work, though I especially like maple syrup for making snow ice cream), and then add a little vanilla.

Mix it together with a spoon and taste. Add more snow, milk, sugar, or vanilla if needed, until it tastes good to you. You’ll get a feel for the ingredient amounts once you make it.

Serve it up and enjoy immediately before it melts. It doesn’t really hold up in the freezer since it will pretty much freeze solid. Enjoy this ephemeral, wintertime treat!

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The December “Frost Moon”

December 1, 2009 / Lindsey / 0 Comments

December Full Cold Moon

Did you see the moon last night at dusk? This year’s Frost Moon is on December 2nd, so there are a couple more nights to enjoy it. I just love seeing the black, leafless tree tops silhouetted against a rising moon in a dusky sky. It was a special treat last night on my bike ride home from work!

We Survived H1N1!

November 20, 2009 / Lindsey / 4 Comments

I think I'd be a good poster child for the H1N1 Swine Flu Pandemic.

We got the Swine Flu. Well, we’re pretty sure it was Swine Flu. The hubby brought it home from work, though didn’t even know he was sick at first! Totally unfair. I got it much worse than he did. It came on extremely fast with almost no warning, and will go down as possibly the biggest, baddest flu I’ve ever had. Definitely the sickest I’ve been in a long, long time. It was all the usual stuff — fever, chills, body aches, painful skin, sneezing, coughing, headache, stuffy nose, nausea, dehydration — but much worse and longer lasting than usual. It was the first time my fever’s ever reached nearly 104*!

So, to chronicle my participation in the Great Swine Flu Pandemic of 2009, hubby took a photo of what might look like a crime scene on our kitchen floor, but was actually me just not quite able to make it back to bed. Yep, that’s real…no posing, no acting.

And so I’m finally up out of bed this afternoon. Yes it feels great. And I did discover during my feverish week in bed that the small cluster of bleach spots on the bed sheets near my head bears a striking resemblance to the continents of the world. A little hint, perhaps, that the world will be united not by love or peace, but by Swine Flu. 😉