Answers to some questions in Comments

I thought I'd try to answer some questions even if I can't get to all of them so... here goes!

Hehehe, I knew it was about time to get another comment about allowing Victoria on the tiny kitchen "island". I get one every few months.  It does get disinfected regularly but I don't cook on that surface, it is used only to hold packages and such... or objects I'm photographing for the blog as it has the best artificial light.

You can't see it in most photos but I moved it there (it was once up against the wall) not only as extra counter space to set items on but to use its' drawer for storage.  On the bottom shelf it holds a lot of the bowls I cook with... kinda' nested together although not perfectly.

I wish it was as easy as keeping the cat off the counters to stay healthy.  In the 1990s I came down with some Mystery Illness that no tests could could put a label on.  We now know that whatever it was caused me to have an auto immune hit that first took out the pancreas causing me to develop Type 1 (Juvenile) diabetes and progressively attacked the thyroid, too.

These past few years I have been on massive amounts of insulin, taking five shots a day with two of those shots requiring two injections at a time because I take more than the insulin pen holds... totaling seven injections.   The health problems I have had the last few years are the long term affects of Type 1 diabetes. I take it one day at a time.  :)

I did once use one of the larger vintage picnic baskets for ummm... picnics.  The kids and I would often have a picnic in nice weather and I tried to keep it filled with items so that I only had to add food, quite often simply cheese, good bread, fruit or cookies, and something to drink.

Usually it was for lunch on a weekday so Hubby rarely came along, he never cared for al fresco dining, anyway.  They basically stopped when Christopher reached high school and we weren't walking any trails at a park or near the Lake.  Stephanie had already moved to New England and as I said... my husband never understood the concept of eating outside except on the deck on patriotic holidays.

Haven't read the book The Egg and I but it is a good movie!   I've been thinking of using Amazon credit to add a few favorite old movies to my collection.  Yes, I do have a very eclectic taste in TV series and movies... from SciFi (like the various Star Trek shows and Babylon 5) to the PBS period pieces... and Finding Bigfoot.)

I don't care for anything that has a lot of immorality or bad language in it, though. 

But my taste in books is much tamer and while I love my Kindle (it gives me so many options I would not have otherwise)... my preference is for the old books that cause one to ponder who owned it long ago and what they were thinking when they read it.  ;)

I do plan to do some more scrapbook journal posts.  But first I must update the garden section of my scrapbook journal!  Once the garden and property has had summer put away and preps for winter finished, that will happen.

I will have to check the new Gooseberry Patch website to see how they are using pictures and such. My two favorite Gooseberry Patch books are among those which have photos.

Yes, although the houses of the Limberlost area near Ft. Wayne remain and have been made into areas visitors can see, I don't think any swamps exist.   At one time it was the thing to drain swamps to make them "usable" land, not realizing the flora and fauna were needed.

I have read that long ago one could take a canoe across parts of the Midwest, including Northern Indiana, because of all the swamps wetlands.

I have not read Keeper of the Bees but I think I may have it on the Kindle.  I found many of hers free at one time.  I've noticed Amazon is not offering as many free classics as they did when I first started downloading them.  But their cost is minimal.

I ended up with many more eggplants from the farm than I could use.  As mentioned in a Pantry Post, I roasted it all and then made baba ghanoush with some of it (freezing the rest).  My husband looked at the bowl containing roasted eggplants and I told him baba ghanoush was one of those things... like sausage... you probably should not see being made.

Thankfully it looks fine when blended with the rest of the ingredients.  If you haven't had it, it is very simple to make and taste something like hummus but the eggplant makes it fairly low carb.  Next time I will use only one garlic clove!

I'll be answering more Pantry Post questions on Saturday.

The term Granny Chic was being tossed around a lot a few years ago.  It was a way to describe decorating a home with vintage items found in thrift shops and flea markets.  People often like to decorate with handmade items, too.

I realized I decorated in a Granny Chic way long before actually becoming a grandmother.  ;

I'm feeling much better with the dizziness only a rare concern so there remains a little problem in the inner ear but not nearly as bad as it was.  I was able to clean my refrigerator yesterday (before it was declared a disaster area by the health department) and got caught up on laundry.

Hubby had a last minute job offer to help a "friend of a friend" move so he was gone all day and very happy (if surprised) to see the frig all nice and clean.   We are always thankful with a little extra income here and there!

Picture:  Good Housekeeping Posters; allposters.com