Challenges

Some time ago, Molly over at A Foothill Home Companion wrote a post about the Remains of the Day. She wrote about how their scraps and peelings go into her compost pile and she found a fascination with the composition of the leftovers and took some lovely pictures. She also challenged us to take photos of our own "remains of the day" and share them.

I had taken this picture long before Molly ever issued her challenge but felt a bit self-conscious about posting a picture of my scraps and thought maybe my readers would think I had a screw loose (or two). For as long as I have had a compost bin, I have always arranged my cantaloupe skins in a bowl like this, to sort of build up the sides of the bowl a little and still have the center to add more scraps into. It always struck me as flower-like and I took a picture. Thanks, Molly, for the courage to share this photo and not feel silly.

I've also been issued another challenge, by two of my favorite bloggers: Dj Kirkby and Darth Sardonic. I'm to write a 6-word memoir. I am also supposed to tag others, but seeing as how this has made the rounds lately, I won't do any tagging and instead, will leave it up to you if you want to do this. I had been thinking about this for some time, since Darth tagged me back in March, and this one immediately comes to mind:

If you're gonna eat, eat good.

I know that we all must eat to live, and not live to eat, as the saying goes. The way I look at it is this: instead of eating some flavor-less health-food concoction, eat something good that's good for you! Like say, cantaloupe! Make a fruit smoothie! Make rhubarb pie! Beef stew! Homemade bread still warm with fresh butter! As long as you balance your diet, I see nothing wrong with eating good.

One more challenge has been issued to me by Todos La Vie to share with you some facts about myself. Feel free to do this one also, if it strikes you.

• What was I doing 10 years ago? (1998) I was planning my upcoming May wedding and frantically looking for a wedding dress. I didn't go to any wedding dress store because our budget didn't allow for an expensive dress that I would likely wear only once, so I took advantage of Prom season and looked at white dresses in all the department stores. I found my dress and had it altered and paid only $75 for it.
• 5 snacks I enjoy: homemade banana bread, bagels and cream cheese, strawberry "soup", rhubarb pie, and banana/strawberry/yogurt smoothies
• Things I would do if I were a billionaire: Good grief! This has endless possibilities, and most of the things I would do would be for the betterment of our communities; like encouraging green lifestyles and farming, and setting up a much-needed recycling program in our area. Some of the selfish things I would do for myself would be to help out family with their money woes, set up trust funds for all the little ones, and I would love to build a little family neighborhood of homes with a shared pool, garden and clubhouse.
• Jobs I have had: Cashier at a jewelry/gift shop at the beach, mailhandler at the post office, sign language teacher to pre-schoolers, food prep at Wendy's.
• 3 habits: daily morning check on the computer, daily pre-natal vitamin with dinner, saying "I love you" to Hubby and the girls
• 5 places I have lived: Born in Illinois, lived in Louisiana, moved to Virginia, shared an apartment in Alexandria, Va with Hubby, bought this house in West Virginia 3 years ago.

If you decide to do any of these challenges, please let me know and I'll come right over and check it out! :o)