I was on a forum the other day and there was a discussion of products our mothers bought (or prepared) when we were children that we now despise. I remember my mom used to buy imitation chocolate chips for her cookies. Not only that, but she would double the cookie recipe without doubling the chips! Not just one crime, but two; especially to unwavering chocolate lovers like me. I don't know that they even make those chips anymore or perhaps that my eyes refuse to register them on the shelf.
That wasn't the only bizarre food choice in our household when I was growing up. When my mom was expecting my little sister, she craved sardine sandwiches with mustard. Guess what we had for lunch a lot? A whole lot.
Sometime in the late 70s or early 80s (I think) was when generic foods came into existence. There was a warehouse store that was totally foreign to me. You bought these enormous boxes of food, but all the packaging looked the same; either white or yellow with a checkmark and plain black font. Duh, all the food tasted the same too; like crusty sock fungus or remarkably like the cardboard boxes they were packaged in. I know several store brand foods are quite alright now, but back then, it was social death to have a friend glimpse into your cabinets to see a flash of plain boxed puffed rice insta-dinner.
Now, if I go further back a generation as it related to me, I remember the meals my grandparents made and their attitudes towards food. My maternal grandparents had a large garden each year (and still do though they are both well seasoned in years) and canned many, many vegetables, fruits, jams & jellies. Prize winning cans in fact. My mom has groused on more than one occasion that Nana cooked the vegetables to mush (true a lot of times), but at least Nana knew where they were grown, what they were grown with and what they were grown without. Though her cinnamon squash will go down in infamy (because it most certainly did not go down my gullet), Nana and Papa approached food in the same way they were raised with food.
Surely they've all grown. Nana now buys store bought pies and several convenience foods. My parents are once again growing much of their own food and have farm fresh eggs from their motley crew of chickens.
What am I a product of? Pretty much an unhealthy amalgam of what was first taught to me in school as the 4 food groups. Now it's the food pyramid. And a lot of the food on the shelves in the grocery come with ingredients lists that are longer than the ingredients list on my eye shadow. Now that's freaky. And I can't pronounce the ingredients either.
We've swung back and forth between low-fat/no-fat, sugar free, high fiber, no carbs, good carbs, omega-3s, whatchapeas, etc to the point where frankly I think most of us are more confused than not about healthy eating.
The author Michael Pollan tells us it might help if we shop the aisles of our local grocery and only buy things our great-grandmother would recognize. That would pretty much cut out all the interior aisles. Not to go label crazy, but if my Great Grandma Rae wouldn't buy it, then I should think about leaving it on the shelf myself.
As Richard Dreyfuss tells Bill Murray in "What About Bob", baby steps. What are my baby steps right now?
As Richard Dreyfuss tells Bill Murray in "What About Bob", baby steps. What are my baby steps right now?
Today I picked fresh peppers, cherry tomatoes, my first 'big' tomato (a Cherokee Purple), burgundy okra, basil and Italian flatleaf parsley. I also dug up all the sweet onions.
Oh, and I fed these little girls watermelon rinds which they gobbled right up. Should be weeks though before they are off 'scholarship' and start earning their keep by laying eggs.
The first girl is LaVerne (we have a Shirley too). She's a Silkie bantam which means she's like a miniature poodle prissy poodle chicken. The second girl is Cream Puff who has a lovely feather pattern of a red head cascading into silvery blue tail feathers. She's an Araucana (or Easter Egger), so she'll lay blue or green eggs.
To make the "Beautiful One" word strip, I cut patterned paper down to the width of Dymo label tape and ran it through the Dymo. Then I swiped a fairly dry Old Paper Distress ink pad across the letters to help them show more clearly. I hope they like them! 
Though you can't see it, this one is full of shimmer. I used glimmer mist and in person, it is full on sparkly. I don't know if anyone remembers wayyyyyy back when I glittered an entire package of Basic Grey chipboard & put it all in a bowl for ready-made embellishments? The 'snowflake' is one of those pieces. 
This one also fits right in with the latest challenge from 
Other supplies used were Heidi Swapp flowers, bling, Ranger Distress ink, American Crafts rubons and Bazzill cardstock. 
Lastly, being the holiday freak that I am, my eyes are already turned to Valentine's Day. :) Fortunately, thus far, it's only in the artsy, creative department and not the local grocery holiday candy department (where someone told me that Cadbury Mini Eggs are ALREADY in stores. is there no diet justice?!?). To keep my paws off the candy, I may be making a lot of these little collages. This one is already hanging from the Hoosier cabinet. 
This is truly a hodge podge of different supplies. I've already asked someone to bar the doors should I attempt to enter with any more Valentine's supplies (vintage ones excepted of course!). 
The silver key is actually a Christmas ornament. Being so focused on Christmas, I'm not sure how my brain disengaged from Silver Bells long enough to think "Key To My Heart" valentine, but it did and I kind of like it. It's a jumble. 
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