March Madness

March: it's the new February.  (My apologies to any college basketball fans out there - this one sentence is the only one in this post that uses word "basketball").  It's the end of March, winter is still in full blast here and I'm feeling the effects. I'm back to being most of the Seven Dwarfs all by myself: Sneezy, Grumpy, Sleepy, Dopey, and even Bashful if you take into account how I've been ignoring the telephone and various people I should be calling for various reasons. Now, as a public service for those of you like me, who have to account for all seven of the dwarfs or totally fixate on thinking about them until you do, the others are Doc and Happy.  

But, I don't want this to be a "woe is me/life stinks" post.  After all, April starts in a mere five days. I already have four crocuses growing in the garden (not blooming, mind you, but their shoots are up).  A few daffodils are even pushing their way through the soil.  And I know the ground is thawing because Mobley, our lovable garden-killer (and garden-tiller) is digging again (why, with all the land we have, does he restrict his activities to digging where I planted flowers last year?) So, hopefully it will actually feel like spring  soon and I'll be back on track.

Here's my latest idea for when I am:  I am going to try to make even more food from scratch.  I already do quite a bit but do rely on frozen pancakes for quick breakfasts, cake mixes for quick deserts, and take-out food from the Coop or the local Chinese hole-in-the-wall when I won't be home to cook dinner.  I have three different motivations for this project: health, economy, and the environment.  I've been making my own hummus for a few months now.  It takes less than ten minutes to make using canned chick peas (including the time it takes to wash the blender) but it's fresher and cheaper than store-bought hummus.  Also, when I make it myself, I use one less plastic container that will end up in a land-fill as soon as the hummus is eaten.  So, I'm going to try to (loosely) track how much money I save, and maybe even how much plastic I save as well, from doing my own food preparation.  The health issue is more intangible - but, at least for me, since I'm on a low-sodium diet, anything I can prepare myself, is undeniably healthier. 

So, wish me luck.  Although, I freely admit that no new changes will be made until the temperature outside is consistently above freezing!