The title: Buddy likes to talk, but has favorite words. They are "Hi" and "Yeah." He came in while I was showering, jerked the shower curtain back, told me "Hi. Yeah." and wandered off again. What do you say to that?
(I know.
The pictures. I should make with more pictures. But there's this gigantic belly of mine hindering me from doing normally easy things like finding a camera charger, bending over to plug it in, and thus enabling my camera to take pictures. I swear I didn't get this big with Miss Boo until I was at least seven months along... but I might have selective memory. Or maybe this baby is babies, and the initial ultrasound was wrong. Whatev.
((Give us a picture, Breanna! We want to see that camera-inhibiting belly! Well, fine. I might get The Husband to take a candid shot this weekend. He likes pictures of me pregnant... me, not so much.))
The kids are as cute as ever, and I'll get some more pictures up soon. We find out, by the by, the day after Labor Day, whether the new child will be of the XX or XY persuasion.)
It's been hot here, so hot that it's hard to take the kids outside to play because I carry my own insulation around with me. Consequently, Miss Boo and Buddy have been squaring off lately like the Koreas (Buddy is North Korea, not because he's got the cool dictator hair--he still has very little hair-- but because he likes to kick his sister and then pretend she was the agressor), and I've been trying desperately to bribe them with The Backyardigans long enough to have a catnap in a recliner. It's exhausting to be pregnant and overheated, in case you didn't know.
In other news, we've been watching the economic situation with the same bemused disbelief as the rest of the country, I believe. I read an article on MSN of all places this morning that came out and said the "D" word, as in "Depression - we're in one". Not "Great Recession", not "this isn't a depression because..." but arguing whether it was a straight-up "Depression" or a "Contained Depression.". Apparently the difference is that a Contained Depression will avoid hyperinflation. Because it's contained, see.
(Hyperinflation is loss of faith in the currency, like when the Soviets would have to go around just whacking zeros off the ends of prices, and wages.)
I don't know much about Wall Street and whatnot. All I know is that four houses in my neighborhood are for sale, and that nobody can move them or make as much on them as they owe. Them's pretty rotten apples, according to THIS girl reporter.
Also, eggs are more expensive than I've ever seen (though still cheaper than boxed breakfast cereal). Even before the whole salmonella thing. (Are any of you people still eating soft boiled eggs or raw cookie dough? Remember all the times I've told you not to? Well now you know why. We don't worry about salmonella in my house--we cook our eggs. So stop it with the cookie dough, ok? It's gross, like steak tartare.)
In an ironic companion to the worsening Dep/Recession, our garden failed this year, from a combination of very hot days, bizarrely cool nights, and a few weeks when we couldn't keep after it and so the weeds took over. We'll till it all under and mulch the heck out of it this fall and hope that does the trick. So far about all we're getting out of the garden is carrots and green beans. (Well, and lettuce and herbs and currants and a couple of tomatoes, but I mean, even my zucchini died.) So I shall be in the same situation as all ya'll when it comes to stocking my pantry this fall.
I'm old fashioned and I like to have all my stuff neatly tucked into my pantry before snow flies, because shopping in the winter in a foot of snow is already tricky and then becomes exponentially more difficult when you add two toddlers and pregnancy balance issues into the mix.
But how are you supposed to get a pantry stocked in the midst of a recession, you ask? How, when you're starting off with a bare shelf and nothing on it but a thing of mustard and half a can of Tang? Why, I'm glad you said something. Here's a list I found. There's more of them on the sidebars over to the left, there.
Don't let the survialist-y feel of the website put you off. It'll cost more than $20 per week, because prices are 10 years old, but not much more if you look around and wait for sales. Also you may want to go less heavy on the canned-ham/canned-soup/paper plates areas than she does, which will save you some money. (Personally I think I'd rather eat a lot of chili before I go the Vienna sausages route.) Take the list--any list--as a starting point; go through and replace with the stuff you want to store--you'd rather have brisling sardines instead of spam? Put them on your list. Only buy what you'll eat, yo.
The point is to, every week as you do your normal grocery shopping, throw a few bags of rice/beans/cans of pumpkin/jelly/peanut butter/boxes of UHT milk/etc. in your cart along with what you're getting anyway. Having a pantry is an easy way to insulate your family against the Re/Depression, since food prices have been getting higher and are probably not going to quit for a bit.
I'm not telling you to put together a Y2K pantry (for instance, you probably shouldn't get that grow light recommended on the list I've linked--a jar and some sprouting seed for salads/sandwiches might be better investments), because we're probably not going to have that kind of problem. I'm telling you to do as well as FEMA and homeland security want you to do anyway, and have 3-4 weeks of food in the house. Actually more would be great, but let's start somewhere.
Incidentally this will save you money, help you eat healthier, and make it so you're not compelled to eat out as much. It will also mean you can have company for dinner without having to run to the grocery store.
Along with the pictures, I'll try to get a list of what I'm storing up for you soon.
Ciao,
Breanna
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