Sunday we were tootling along working in the yard, mowing, raking, painting, scrubbing, etc. It was hot, and then I said, in a wishful sort of way, “Man, I’d love a tall, ice cold Pepsi right now,” and then someone — it may have been me, or someone who looked just like me — said “Mmmmmm, Taco Bell,” and the others jumped aboard the train and….there I was driving across town to order Taco Bell for four of us. It set me back $25. Fast food is not part of the FS budget because you can’t buy it with FS — but it does come out of our real budget. 25 bucks! Yeesh.…

When you’re hungry and struggling with finances or single-parenting or illness or trying to get/keep a job, the thing you need most, perhaps, is a day of real rest. I’m going to try to make today restful — but the reality is that there is food prep for the week, if I’m going to stay on budget and keep the wheels turning. Sunday Stuff I’m already thinking about my menu of meals for the coming week. I have half a bag of dry garbanzo beans ($1 for a pound, bought last week) soaking on the stove*.  Beans go on salads, into soups or omelets, and I’m going to try to make hummus…

I finished the pillows Monday (I think it was Monday), and here they are. They are reversible, or at least have a front and a back. They are 3-D! I kind of like the back of the right-hand pillow better than the pieced front. The left-hand pillow is fine either way (doesn’t show the back because it’s a plain muslin/floral, very “white” in the photos). Anyhoo. Happy days. Pillows, side A. Side B. Well, on the red chair. Fifi and I are enjoying spring sunshine. Me like.

Remember how we used to have a pretty blue door? The same shade as the edge of the planter box and the tile? Well, we used to but the property management came and painted all our doors white again. They said the Navy said that colored doors are not historically accurate or appropriate for these houses (apparently sagging foundations and termites and crappy roofs and rampant mildew are just fine, however…but I digress). So we have a white door (talk about zero personality). It has been my task to add some pop to the porch, some fizz to the front entrance. I moved some things around, potted up a slew…

I promised. Here are pix… Living room not rearranged, but lightened and feminized. All the pillows were black or brown before. Adding in more wicker, recovering pillows with paler tones in the salmon/pink range, and covering the vast darkness of the sofa with a lighter afghan did the trick. Next is the coffee table. It is black and sits on a dark rug. I took out the dark books from the shelf and made a still life of antique needles, sampler and balls of crochet thread instead. Close-up of the still life arrangement. The Jane Austen sampler is a kit I purchased in London at Liberty (elegant fabric and furnishings store for the well-to-do)…