Sunshine, Sprouting and Some Shifting of Habits

I LOVE the sun! See those three sinkholes on the left of the photo? Yeah, that was me lol...at this time of year the snow is still really deep but not solid enough to keep me from plunging down. I'm taking full advantage of the sun today because the forecast is now 5 inches of snow tomorrow overnight to Saturday. I'm going to spend the weekend mostly reading, speaking of that...

I downloaded these two books this morning. Thanks to Yarrow and Sam I Am for the suggestion. I've been having such a hard time this winter and I think reading these books on making life cozy at home will do me some good! One of my goals in life is comfort and making our lifestyle as cozy as possible - especially while renting because we can't do anything we want with our rental, but I can make it cozy and peaceful to be in. I'm looking forward to reading through these, although they are digital version, which I usually don't like, I'll make the effort!

You guys are going to think that all Alex and I eat is pizza lol...It's true we do love the stuff! We had one of the frozen bacon and cheese pizzas for lunch yesterday, delicious! (Sorry for the ooey gooey cheese photos again Kymber) 😋

This is Mr. Snowy, he's my winter porch decoration. He's smiling because he's thrilled that it's going to snow tomorrow...I had to burst his bubble. It's time for him to retire for the season! I made him last November from some pallets that our lumber yard gave us. He is now housed in the storage room in the basement, I hope he's still smiling! :)

This morning I re-painted my Tweety Bird and Sir Dusty Buttons - buttons dusty no more! At least for now!! They needed a tuneup. Tomorrow I'll put a gloss paint over them so they'll be all ready to guard my new garden when the weather gets better! For now, they're keeping an eye out on the basil growing on the window sill. :)

With all of the lousy products out there, Alex and I have decided that we are going to slowly make a shift in our habits with regards to buying products; by that I mean, we are going to invest rather than buy for the best price. See these nice flannel sheets? We bought these at a reputable store, The Linen Chest. They were regular price $90 for the set and we saw them on sale 60% off so we took advantage and bought 3 sets of them...I can't believe they sell these for $90 to begin with because we got these at the end of January and already two of the pillow cases are torn and one of the sheets...it's so terrible. 

Anyway, we weren't always in a position to buy based on quality vs. price, and I know how hard it is to get by, a lot of folks just don't have that choice. We still live paycheck to paycheck what with paying back debt, saving for a down payment and just living the lifestyle we enjoy. For our first few years together, we had major car, pet and moving expenses and basically we were broke. 

Here's one example, all we could afford were dollar-store cutting boards. I don't know what you're experience is, but our experience is that they last a month - if that. Alex even tried sanding and curing them, but the knife marks go right through them and you can really smell the leftover onion and garlic on them, despite using baking soda and lemon to clean them. And the splinters...okay, I could go on and on, it's just one example. This photo is from a local craftsman's workshop. He makes all of these breadboards and pizza peels from cherry and maple wood. He guarantees them for 20 years if you follow his instructions on care. We're going to go to his workshop next week and invest some big bucks in buying a large and a small cutting board. I think from now on, we're going to keep this philosophy whenever we can afford it. I used to cringe at the words "locally made" and "locally grown" simply because I just didn't have the money...now we will opt for these things as we can afford them, and do without until that time because I'm sick of wasting money on crap. What about you all out there? What are your experiences? Are they as discouraging as mine? What's your philosophy on product purchasing? We both wish we had better skills to make more of our own things.

Do you sprout?  My fellow Canadian friend Dianna suggested a company called Mumm's to me a few days back as her go-to seed sprouting supply store. I've never sprouted before, but have been getting more and more interested as the quality of the lettuce in winter declines. I'd love to hear about every and any experience with home sprouting because I unfortunately fell upon an alarmist news article about the frequency of salmonella in sprout seeds...anyway, since I don't know much about it, I'd like to hear the good and the bad from people who actually have done or do sprout now! If you've written a post(s) about sprouting, please include the link(s) for me, I need to be more educated (and please never even think of a lengthy comment as being too long, I love them long!). I don't want to have a pre-judgment based on one article, but it does linger in my mind unfortunately. Anxiety anyone? Lol...okay, I'm still working on it!

And last but not least, a no-shame photo of Oscar suntanning, using Jack as his foot rest!