Demise of the sweater. Hunger.

I finished the sweater-thing.

And my face of awesomeness and joy quickly faded as I realized that it did not fit me, and absolutely would not fit Jon.

The sleeves were too long.  It was too tight.  It was shedding like crazy.  I must have known all along that it wasn't going to work, but I was just too stubborn to admit it and so I made myself finish it.  Jon was really nice about the whole thing.  He told me stories about how he had to take apart art pieces, and nothing is forever.  I threw it down on the living room floor and stared at it for a while before stashing it in the basement for the night.

Yesterday, I unraveled the whole thing.

It took me nearly an hour just to pull all of that yarn out.

It is done.  My mistake was not paying attention to common sense, and gauge.  Now I am knitting Jon a pair of convertible mittens.  They are quite nice.  Jon made a couple of maple wood buttons for them.  The good news is that I now have enough of this yarn to make a bajillion pairs of mittens!

In other news, it snowed.  AGAIN.  I love snow.  I do not love how it keeps pushing back Jon's work season.  And keeps our funds extremely low.  Here is another Day of Food, reflecting our situation (Jon needed extra because he is working).

Breakfast:

Bacon- 1 pack of bacon can last all week for protein needs!

Jon also had French toast

Lunch:

Jon had leftover chicken soup

I had a free sample organic protein drink mix

Dinner:

Leftover chicken soup, stretched out with beans

Homemade bread

I'm soaking some chick peas to make hummus tomorrow, too.  Some days, you're just hungry.  Is it really better to eat a little food well, or eat more junk food?

Things will get better.  It is hard when translating payments come 45-60 days after invoice and it just keeps snowing.

My tomato seeds started to germinate.  Spring is coming.

Gluten-free challenge, Day 1

My cookie ideas are going to be an extra challenge now.  I have decided that I will go gluten-free for two months.

This decision comes from a lot of thinking and a tip from my cousin- that going gluten-free might greatly assist  my dreams of having children.  As far as I know, I am not gluten intolerant.  But I have seen studies that may show that not eating gluten can greatly increase fertility.  I don't know what will happen.  I do know that there is a bigger plan out there, and maybe this is my way of being guided.  At the very least, I will have a chance to do lots of experiments with new recipes, ingredients, tastes, and who knows what will happen!

I will be going to the co-op today to get some ingredients in bulk form, and hopefully they have what I 'think' that I need.  There are so many strange flours and starches in gluten-free recipes.  I have no idea of cost or if the store will even have them.  I may end up coming home with a bag of Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Flour Mix!

Also, from my last post, here is how to make one chicken last for many, many meals:
Day 1: Roast large whole chicken with tons of root veggies for dinner
Day 2: Slices of chicken with leftover veggies for lunch, chicken marsala pizza for dinner
Day 3: Leftover pizza for lunch, buffalo chicken pizza for dinner
Day 4: Leftover pizza for lunch, chicken soup for dinner (made with boiling the carcass in water, straining broth out, then adding the rest of the meat back in with veggies)
Day 5: Leftover soup for lunch, stretch out soup with more veggies and black beans
Day 6: Leftover soup for lunch.  Leftover soup for dinner.
Day 7: Leftover soup for lunch.  Leftover soup for dinner with extra side dishes (didn't I say black beans are amazing?!)
Day 8: Leftover soup for lunch.  Just over a week with one chicken!

And that is how we keep grocery bills down!