Somebody's gonna get this "not new" hardwood floor at an unbelievable price, but it won't be me. :-(

Saw this on craigslist. 500' of recycled solid oak hardwood flooring for $300. It is very narrow, but I like that classic look. Umfortunately, I don't feel I have the skill set to install solid hardwood and the husband won't spring to hire anyone. I'm glad someone has gone to the bother to recycle this floor. It will be worth the effort.

Regrowning carrots from carrot tops...

can't be done. Well, it can, but it will take two years. The first year, I'm supposed to get an attractive flowering carrot plant from which I'll get seeds. The second year, I'll get carrots from the seeds. Or, at least, that's the info I found on the web. A lot of time and trouble for some "not new" carrot seeds, but the seeds being free and the plant supposedly attractive, I'm willing to give it a try. Hopefully, once this thing roots, it will be warm enough to plant it outside. Hopefully.

Should you eat a carrot bigger than your head?

Someone suggested that readers would be interested in the picture of the biggest purple carrot I harvested this past Fall. Again, most were normal size, but a few (in the same area), must have really liked the spot. I'm guessing that the carrot split open when I released it from the pressure of the soil while digging it up, since the crack was fresh looking and not dirty. I could be wrong. In any event, this carrot weighed several pounds and took many days to eat.

And now for something completely different: purple carrots

Cooked the last veggie from my garden that was still in its original state (have a bit of homegrown stuff in various soups in the freezer, but this was still in its carrot form until today). It is a purple carrot, but orange on the inside. This year, I hope to grow a variety that is purple inside and out. From what I've read, orange carrots became popular for some political celebration in Europe, but before being bred for that purpose, most carrots were not orange and the not-orange carrots tend to be more nutritious. Haven't done a side-by-side taste test, but these taste the same, if not better.

Homegrown veggies allow me to have some "not new" food...as in, I didn't buy it new (though, in this case, the seeds were new). Plus, you get the freshest, healthiest veggies and they never have to take up room in the fridge. I had a couple exceptionally huge carrots from this batch, but most were normal carrot size. I scrubbed this really good so I didn't have to peel it since they say most of the nutrition is in the skin. (If I were eating it raw, I'd peel it, I'm not that brave a pioneer woman.) This went into chicken vegetable soup. You can see it sauteeing in the skillet...I like to sautee my soup veggies. The offspring ate three bowls, so I can feel I did my motherly duty in getting some veggies into him.

Soup is a really economical dish. I used to be even more economical, buying a whole chicken and cutting it up, but in my "old age," I've taken to buying rotisserie chicken, then saving the leftovers for soup (three chickens for three days' dinners gives me plenty for making stock and having a meaty chicken soup). Since it's getting close to Spring (in theory, at least) and this carrot was just starting to send up shoots, I cut off the top to try to regrow carrot(s) from it. Don't know if it will work, but that will be the ultimate "not new."

Saved by the Scrabble game (from the Internet auction).

This is not what I was saved from. I'm hoping to purchase this lighting fixture later this week for $90. That's not cheap, but I think it is a very good deal as it will fit the style of my room and would likely cost at least 3 times that much new (I consider 60% off as my "base savings target" for a decent second-hand deal on most items). Do I NEED this fixture? No. I have another where it will go, but I don't like that fixture. I'm hoping I can sell it for what this one costs and consider it a wash (plus a lot of footwork and trouble, but I'll be happy).

Do I need the stuff I just didn't get at the online auction? Some yes, some no. There was a sturdy looking metal tool chest for under $10 that I really could use for the garage. But, as long as I was getting that, I probably would have gotten the really cool looking metal chairs for under $10 and a couple end tables which may or may not have worked out. I keep telling myself something just as good will come to me much closer (the items were 40 minutes away and there was only a 4 hour window on Saturday to pick everything up, so it would have been a bit of a pain). Still, I feel loss over that durn tool chest and those chairs. Sigh.

The good news is, instead of watching the close of that auction online, I was playing Scrabble with the offspring and hubby. Difficult to get quality family time with the 20-year-old son, so I definitely made the right choice.

Robertson: Worth it to Pray Away Demons on Clothes, Inanimate Objects

Pat Robertson: There could be demons attached to your thrift store finds

Pat Robertson: There could be demons attached to your thrift store finds  According to Pat Roberston:  ”Can demonic spirits attach themselves to inanimate objects? The answer is yes. But I don’t think every sweater you get from Goodwill has demons in it. In a sense your mother is just being super cautious, so hey — it isn’t gonna hurt you any to rebuke any spirits that might attach themselves to those clothes.”



I'm not worried, but I thought I'd better warn ya so you don't go putting hexes on me if a deal I directed you to is possessed.

The video didn't post so I put it in its own post (next).