29 October, 2008

Heat, Halloween, Useful UFOs, and Cabbage


The Month of No Heating continues, although  I did dial it up once again this week for a little guest. Lily had a playdate and I didn't want them shivering all afternoon.   I've got the thermostat at 10C [as low as it can be set], which is approximately 52F.  I consider that as close to "off" as we can afford to be, given that evenings are now freezing.  Given my commitment to cool, I was flabbergasted a moment ago, when I walked in from the laundry house, to notice that the kitchen radiator was warming up.  Apparently the house is/was colder than 52F.  Who knew?  I'm not going to turn off the furnace, but I think we're definitely saving some money!!

Today was a down day here at Casa KnitFarm. The kids are on half-term break: Monday we headed to an indoor playplace to meet with a couple of friends, Tuesday we had another buddy over and then had family movie night (we give Night at the Museum two thumbs up, by the way), and today I planned to head to Castle Acre for some craft activities.

Instead, when I woke up this AM, I decided to have a lazy day. It was lovely, and still is, actually. We did carve pumpkins, though.  Designs by kids, carving by mom. Lily's is a classic jack-o-lantern with a bat beauty mark on the cheek. David's is a haunted house backlit by a full moon.  The results are pretty darn good - pictures tomorrow perhaps.

Costumes are being prepped for tomorrow's party and Friday's party.  D's got a vampire cloak, white shirt, and fangs. He needs face paint, but is otherwise set. Lily is going to be Rapunzel.  Easy peasy, as we have the perfect princess dress and a tall pointy hat.  I discovered a great use for a UFO, too - a half-finished yellow mohair scarf is easily converted into a long lush braid for Rapunzel, with some strategic wraparounds to bunch it in, like a plait.  I'll attach it to the inside of the tall princess hat and we'll be good to go.

On to cabbage....I made Frugal Upstate's cabbage roll casserole last night, almost exactly as she posted. I didn't have fresh onion, so subbed a hefty tablespoon of granulated onion; I also used more cabbage, about 6 cups total, I'd say. I used tomato soup, as suggested. Didn't add any sour cream garnish.  WOW, was this tasty!  I am  kind of abashed at just how fast this casserole is disappearing, especially since Lily refused to eat any, and David ate only a small amount.  So very yummy. I will definitely be making this again when DH is back, so we can have three of four here to consume it.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Halloween costumes sound great. Have a happy Trick-or-Treats day!

Toni said...

Ha! Ha! I almost turned our heat back off after the snow melted, but finally resorted to just setting it really, really low. The poor cats haven't actually grown their winter coats yet (it was 70 yesterday and in the 40s overnight, so our weather is just insane), so I'm finding them curled up as tight as they can under blankets and buried in yarn or material. Poor kitties! We have a programmable thermostat, which helps. I installed one at my old house & my heating bill dropped significantly.

Susie J. said...

Liking the halloween costumes! We're doing some costume recycling here. Spongebob for Ray (remember when that was Mary's costume?), a bee for Annie, and Belle for Mary. Laura created her own idea... she's going to be scrambled eggs. We have a set of bedsheets that is a sort of gold color, which she wraps herself up in and claims to be scrambled eggs. :)