Earlier this week, we had two days of mild temperatures, so I decided to harvest all the carrots ahead of the deep freeze that was coming and in which we are stuck right now.

I hadn’t done any gardening in quite a while, and it was pleasant to be back out there. I snipped all the garlic shoots and covered them with a thick layer of leaves. The shoots (“scapes” is the correct term, I think) are in my fridge; you can use them as you would garlic. I picked some cilantro to use with dinner that night. And I dug up all the carrots and sat on the back steps with the tuxedo cat snipping the greens off. Having been in the ground through some light frosts, the carrots are quite tasty now. I have them stored in the garage; technically I’m supposed to store them in sand for the long haul.

I haven’t managed to get anyone to help me move my strawberry plants into the garage, so they might be toast 😦

This week was pretty busy with PTA stuff and dealing with some illnesses. Aidan has to take Augmentin for an ear infection and the only way he will eat is mixed in chocolate pudding. So I have to go buy yet more pudding in a little bit. Sunday night, I made chicken fajitas and they were the bomb. So good! We had spaghetti and meatballs Monday night, with gravy from the freezer. Tuesday was leftover fajitas, Wednesday was pizza (I had a town forum meeting on the backyard chicken question), and last night the kids had chicken soup while I made stir-fry with the last of the shrimp from the freezer, green beans, and garden carrots. Not sure about tonight. We need to get our tree decorated!

I also made zucchini bread on Sunday, with frozen zucchini and yellow squash from the summer, and whole-wheat pastry flour.

I’ve been doing more online shopping than real shopping this week. Got a Robux gift card for Aidan and a used dress-up costume for Gemma off eBay. Actually, I did go out the one day and get some real toys including Legos. Still some more left to do. Also been busy setting up the health care plan for next year.

When we got our tree Saturday night, there was a giant pile of branches by the tree-wrapping area, and the tree guy said I could help myself. Woo hoo! More free greenery for the house.

Sigh… guess I need to paint over those blue test swatches…

I bought a second, smaller tree for the living room, too, but it looks more like a shrub than a tree and I’m annoyed with myself for spending the money.

I have been reading a lot of news articles and opinion pieces lately, on all different topics, but this one, on conditions in clothing factories in Bangladesh, shops that make clothes for Gap and many other brand names, is really sticking with me, and may be the topic of my next letter to the editor. Give it a read if you have the time. Nice work Slate. Cheap clothes can have a terrible cost.