Raspberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake; Want Not: 'Bug Out Kit'

Eat The Food: Raspberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake. Broke into the last of my bargain bin almond paste for this recipe. Froze the half not used for another day. That stuff is soo expensive, I can only hope to find it on bargain again.

Plant Something: Hubby's many planted somethings are starting to get a bit spindly. He's never started this big a variety of seeds before, so he went out and bought him a rack just for this purpose! Sure do wish him luck...I think he's having fun with it so far.

Want Not: My in-progress Bug Out Kit. When our loved one suffered a medical emergency a couple of weeks ago, we packed and loaded up PDQ. The incident did make me realize the value of having a quick-grab kit that'd always be ready to go at a moment's notice. Still adding to this work in progress. As we're campers, I'm including things like matches/magnesium fire starter. Hope to toss in a mini-fishing kit, but I understand that in a pinch a safety pin will do for a hook. Also hope to find a mini-sewing kit to add. I'm sure makeup and conditioner wouldn't fit Hubby's idea of emergency preparedness! :)

I'm still having great fun with the Independence Challenge. Anyone else have a Bug Out Kit? Any suggestions for what I might include in mine?

Pie and cupcake eateries delight the eyes, if not the palate

I know, I know, eating at local joints has been my focus, but occasionally a chain restaurant catches my eye, as The Grand Traverse Pie Company we visited in Evansville certainly did. I mean, what's not to love about pie cases like these!

While good, Hubby's Chicken Pot Pie was not worth a return visit to the Pie Company, and the Mediterranean Veggie sandwich I ate was nothing to brag about either. Nonetheless, eating it did give me the idea to try to do better at home...hopefully soon! And I can't complain about getting to see those pie cases, even if the meal did disappoint.

Certainly, the sight of these cupcake cases at Gigi's Cupcakes did not disappoint. (You didn't think I would SKIP dessert, did you?) Thought my eyes were going to pop out of my head when I gazed on these babies--each and every one calling my name!

I could say it was a tough choice, but honestly, wedding cake is my all time fav, so a Wedding Cake cupcake pictured in the first case was my pick.

Hubby enjoyed his German Chocolate Cupcake but couldn't help wondering if they'd have given him a discount if he'd asked them to take off half the icing. Never thought I'd say this, but there was too much icing for me too. And I'm a "save me a corner piece" kinda gal!

Did pretty well on the Independence Challenge on my first day yesterday! In the interest of celebrating the good stuff, I included my successes in my bedtime accounting when I quickly wrote my top three things to be grateful for on Sunday. (Thanks, Meg, and Blessings, for reminding me of the importance of gratitude!)

• Plant something: Started soaking some alfalfa seeds.
• Harvest something:
• Preserve something:
• Waste not: Bought 2 more motion-activated nite lites (aka night lights *wink*), to save having to turn on overhead lights at night. 
• Want Not: Added a 2.5 gallon container of drinking water to my emergency provisions.
• Eat the Food: Cut up a cucumber into a pasta salad and a crab salad, using it up while still fresh.
• Build community food systems:
• Skill up: Mended my knitted gloves.

How's it going with any challenges you've taken on? Hope the usual challenge of MONDAY goes smoothly for you!

A mish mash of Preparedness; American Indian indigenous recipes; Homemade yard cart

This yard cart made from repurposed materials sure impressed the judges at the Kentucky State Fair!

A word of warning as we slide into another Saturday, Hurricane Irene offers a lesson to us all to play it safe in terms of disaster preparedness. Sadly, we're learning that disasters are becoming the NORM, not the exception, so the wisdom of the ages applies more than ever: better SAFE than sorry!

• Red Cross Preparedness Fast Facts to download
• Red Cross Power Outage Checklist to download
• University of Florida Disaster Cookbook to download
• Ready America: Prepare. Plan. Stay Informed. (with translations)
• FEMA: Are You Ready?
• University of Idaho: General Family Preparedness (quick lists!)

Whether it's all systems go or batten down the hatches, I'm forever nostalgic for times gone by and the can-do spirit of those who have gone before us, so I was tickled pink to probe into the authentic recipes at the American Indian Health and Diet Project website: Traditional Indigenous Recipes.
   I figure if I learn enough of the old ways, I'll be like a good scout, prepared for anything. Unlike a young scout though, I'm lacking in supervision and motivation--no badges offered when I accomplish something! But the threat of an impending disaster (anywhere in the world) is enough to jack up my preparedness efforts!

The creator was kind enough to tape these instructions to his award-winning repurposed cart.

   My heart goes out to everyone in Irene's path! Are any of you or yours living in the danger zone?? Anyone have any preparedness tips to offer?

P.S. An excellent article in Yes! Magazine entitled Small Steps for Growing a No-Impact Family led me to the blog Plant My Garden and a challenge to use these "seed words" in my writing today: learning, warning, supervision, safe, ages, systems, probe, play, slide. If you take up the challenge, please leave a link so we can see in which direction the seed words take you!

What frugality, peak oil and preparedness have in common

Besides water, food and shelter, written in gold way up on the list of our most important basic needs are health and physical fitness. But in this cushy era, a time when everything needed sits on a grocery shelf or at a take-out window, we are hard pressed to find reasons to work toward our ultimate potential for fitness, both mental and physical.
   I mean, who besides a Navy Seal faces general requirements to meet certain standards in the 500-yard swim, 2-minute timed push-ups, 2-minute timed curl-ups, pull-ups and a 1.5 mile run. Still, considering that exercise boosts job performance, trains our brains, lowers health care costs and slows the progress of many diseases, as well as builds psychological resilience, you'd think we'd all get moving. Why, according to Money Magazine, buying running shoes is one of the 50 Smartest Things to Do with Your Money! Since there are myriad reasons to whip ourselves into shape, it doesn't take too much of a stretch to imagine the impact of fitness on these scenarios:

• A catastrophic event wipes out all resources for water, food and electricity for 48 hours at the least, THAT'S THE DAY we're gonna wish we had exercised regularly.
• Peak oil ends the era of cheap gas and we're required to get everywhere under our own power, THAT'S THE DAY we're gonna wish we had exercised regularly.
• All the credit cards are maxed out, bankruptcy sounds like a good idea, words like "downsizing" start being thrown around and that dream job is in jeopardy, or the doc throws down the "change or die" ultimatum, THAT'S THE DAY we're gonna wish we had exercised regularly.
• The realization sinks in that a sweet little baby--a precocious child who looks up to us for everything that's important--silently watches and intuitively learns from our every move, daily developing skills that will see him/her through to the future, THAT'S THE DAY we're gonna wish we had exercised regularly.  

   We have a loved one in the hospital. Nothing like spending a few days/nights visiting at the hospital to remind me of the importance of staying healthy. Fortunately, this close-to-home scenario is destined for the best possible outcome. THIS IS THE DAY you'll find me smiling as I take the stairs on my way in and out of the hospital.

Not buying it: Tomato Sauce - paste easily converts to sauce

Paste to sauce: 6 ounces of paste, 12 ounces of water, 1/2 teaspoon sugar.

No longer buying cans of tomato sauce! Took a look at the ingredients in a can of tomato sauce...found water and tomato paste. Now I just buy paste and add my own water. Why pay for the added water?
   And if you're into preparedness, the little cans of paste save on storage space when compared with sauce.
   Though I do recycle all cans (first removing & tossing the labels in with the magazine recyclables), it takes less energy to recycle smaller cans. Yet another little way to lighten my impact on this lovely earth. For more ways to lessen our carbon footprint, visit Carbon Footprint.
   Came across a great article by Colin Beaven, No Impact Man: "42 Ways to Not Make Trash." No Impact Man's year spent trying to reduce his carbon footprint to zero sure made a BIG impact on me.
   The fact that going green almost always saves $greenbacks$ is icing on the cake! Speaking of cake, I hope to make one either today or tomorrow. Please leave a link if you've got a great cake post!!

Boil water advisory would catch me unprepared!

International news last night featured a story on how Japan is dealing with water shortages in the aftermath of the quake and tsunami...then I caught the local news about a neighboring town that is currently under a boil water order.
   The newscaster related that a Boil Water Advisory meant that all drinking water must be boiled 5 minutes before use. If washing dishes in unboiled water, 1/8th teaspoon of regular, unscented bleach should be added per gallon of water; the bleach water should then be allowed to stand 30 minutes prior to using. Found some good additional info at this San Diego.gov site.
   Of course, these news stories caused me to think about our own situation and just how unprepared we are. According to Fema, people should keep on hand enough water to last for THREE days, with one GALLON per person per day.
   We have only 2 1/2 gallons of water in the form of ice in the freezer. (Right in there with 20 lbs. sugar, a container of rice flour and several pkgs. of wild turkey breast.)
   We do wash the containers prior to freezing, so this ice could be thawed and BOILED and used for drinking, if need be. According to Fema, containers that once housed juice or milk are not suitable for storing drinking water, as they cannot be cleaned well enough to ensure against bacterial growth.
   I rarely use bleach and found that my container has only about a tablespoon left it it! So, my grocery list now has 2 new entries: 6 gallons of "commercially bottled water" and 1 gallon bleach. (And if the DD will let me, I'll be buying more of the same for her household.)
   Thing is, years ago I had this house stocked with such things...but I'd grown complacent & didn't replace the bottled water when it expired. Hope you are better prepared for a water crisis than we are??!