frugal fashionable farmer: Two Cents Tuesday!

Exactly a week ago I turned 38 years young. I had a pretty good year last year. Some ups, some downs, but overall for the most part, it was good!

Going into the next year of my life, I wanted to make a list of some things to focus on.... new things to try, new ways to think, new steps to take in order to grow healthier and happier, and new ways to be creative and feed my artistic appetite!

One of my New Years goals was to write letters and send cards via snail mail. That has NOT happened yet... YET. I have realized that I am not very good at letter writing, so I am going to take baby steps towards that and start sending out "Thank You" notes from here on out when I feel the need to say thanks. A little help from the web on articulating such notes is needed and I found this article helpful if you are like me and don't have a clue where to begin..... I have always started out with "I am just writing to say..." which is a no-no... Want to learn to be successful at 'Thank You" notes, check out THIS LINK.

Comfort food..... This is something I love to experiment with - mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, pasta dishes, rice, etc. I haven't really eaten a lot of cauliflower in my life, and I am going to try making a few dishes substituting this white broccoli type veggie and see if it is really worth all the hype it has gotten over the past couple of years..... THIS LINK has a ton of tasty looking variations for cooking with this veggie!

Christian and I have been trying really hard to be as aware as possible about what we buy, put into (and onto) our bodies, etc. I have done REALLY good with all the things on this list except nail polish. I usually don't wear it, but sometimes I do love having some color on my nails and there doesn't really seem to be a healthy alternative out there....yet. THIS<----- (active link) is a good article on a few things you should try to avoid.... and THIS <----- (active link) article kind of goes hand in hand with the other if you want to take a look....