Week 2 Round Up

Successes:

The farmer we get our eggs from is finally past the winter slump of molting and non-production. We should have eggs through September or October. I counted, and we bought 10 dozen eggs from the store while the hens were taking their rest. We generally buy 2-3 dozen eggs a week, so our store egg consumption was less than 10% of our annual total. Already we're looking ahead to the coming fall/winter and devising ways to go without eggs when the local flock isn't producing.

Papa and T-Guy biked to pick up our CSA box. Local gouda was on sale, which is great because we would have bought it anyway.

We held a successful, simple birthday party for T-Guy. We had lunch out, but packed beverages and snacks. We managed without party favors or a pinata, and focused on having fun together.

I finally got a treadle machine. Granted, it needs a belt, a manual, and needles, but it has the bobbin case and lots of attachments. I'll have to clean and lubricate it, the the wheel turns by hand the the treadle mechanism isn't frozen by rust.

The down side:

We drive just about everyday. Little bits here and there. Yesterday afternoon I was making pot roast and realized we were out of red wine. Since I don't drink it, I don't pay attention. Papa drove to get me some, since I needed it in 10 minutes. He did go ahead and get a case to make driving worth it, but the reality is that we had driven to that store Friday, and could have gotten it then.

T-Guy's birthday party was held in San Diego, a 200 mile round trip for us. Papa was going down to operate trains, and my dad brought the 3 cousins. So we had 2 cars for 8 people, which isn't terrible. It really was a toss up; we could have had all of the family drive to us, or have the small party in San Diego. I think fewer miles were driven overall this way.

Meals out: Papa was out 4 weekdays last week, and one evening. There wasn't much we could do about it; his boss was in town from Maine and they had training sessions and meetings all week. The only good thing about it was that they were all working lunches (the evening thing was a going away party for another co-worker), so the time was billable.