I’m not sure what apple butter is supposed to taste like since this is my only experience with it but I have a hard time imagining that this particular brand isn’t extraordinary. I first tasted apple butter upon impulse buying a jar at my local health food store (I had gone in to buy agave nectar) and at the first taste I was hooked. The flavour is so incredibly pure and is the perfect mix of sweet and tart. Imagine my absolute delight when I found it at my local Independent Grocer (a regular chain store) for a whole $1.40 cheaper than the health food store. Cheaper and much more convenient to get to. The only problem is that I have a horrible urge to just grab a spoon and dig in until it’s all gone.

It’s funny: I was noticing a few hours ago as I was pushing my cart through the grocery aisles, that I’m much more conscious of what is going into the cart. It’s only been a week or two but I’m more aware of ingredients and what isn’t necessary to be in my food. I’m finding it almost easy to put stuff back on the shelf. No crackers, no cookies, no chips (not that I bought many of those anyway) but even the sauces and other things are getting put back. Who needs all those unpronounceable ingredients? Give me pure foods with no unnatural preservatives, colours, or flavours or I’ll make my own (or do without entirely). I’m surprised at how easy the transition has been so far. Admittedly, I’m finding it very hard to cook but that is because I need to sit down, as I mentioned yesterday, and come up with a week-long (at minimum) meal plan and go with that because then I’ll know what’s coming up and will have the time to do any necessary preparation like soaking beans or marinating for 24 hours or preparing something that needs to sit for an extended period of time to meld the flavours. It’s all a learning experience but so far, I’m enjoying it and am even still excited by the challenge of it.

I look back at myself a couple of years ago too and chuckle again. In the last couple of years I have made several changes in my daily living:

• cloth toilet paper for pee (took an old flannel sheet, cut small rectangles, folded them in half, and serged them into double-layered toss-’em-in-the-washer wipes)
• mama-made cloth pull-ups for B when he was training (and cloth-diapered him part time for awhile when he was full-time in diapers)
• re-usable grocery bags (and just picked up a tub/bucket for produce on today’s trip)
• recycle everything I can right down to shredding reciepts and other small papers and recycling those too
• use a Diva Cup instead of pads/tampons (I’ve never been a pad girl and so did not go the cloth pads route though I would have if I did use pads); interestingly, and as I’ve also read, the cup has considerably shortened and lightened my flow and eliminated the slight cramps/discomfort I would occasionally get
• when my hair was longer I washed it using baking soda and apple cider vinegar and, incidentally, I need to get back into doing that
• I’ve made my own laundry soap, both liquid and powder (currently using Arm & Hammer though because I got two huge tubs for an incredible sale price)
• I line dry most of my clothes in the summer

There are probably a few other things too but those are the ones that come readily to mind. I also have some things I need to do still, both for the frugality aspect of things and the healthy eating factor, including:

• make almond milk
• make peanut butter to replace the sugar-laden regular variety
• can produce and vegetables from my garden this year
• get in on a CSA farm next year (the "local" ones are full up for this year)
• use my juicer (I’ve only used it once to try it out)
• use my dehydrator to make crackers and preserve fruit
• make yogurt in my new-to-me (vintage Salton found at Value Village) yogurt maker

With this new way of doing things and living in general comes de-cluttering (maybe to make room for the acquisitions of juicer, pasta machine, food mill, etc?). My Seven Things for this week is pretty dismal though. I did not get rid of seven things and it might even be a stretch to count the things that I did get rid of (though technically they are "things").

1. Sunday -  to my sister as I continued to purge my freezer and cupboards - sausage, ground beef, pepperoni, pizza pockets, and pogos
2. Thursday - also to my sister, an ice cream pail of white sugar and a tube of crescent rolls
3. Friday - Safety 1st booster seat for the table (to Freecycle)

Way too early in the morning (or too late at night, as the case actually is) but I’m sitting here in the dark surfing for blog rings. I’ve come across The Seven Things Project via the ring of the same name and am disappointed to find that the project came to an end (at least for the creator of the project/ring) back in July. It would definitely be fitting with my plans for my lifestyle. Which is why I’m going to do it anyway. Even without the ring. I expect it might be somewhat easy for the first few weeks but after that, even with the excess that I have, I know it will become quite difficult but, like the project creator, I plan to blog my seven things on the same day every week and say a little bit about them. Care to join in and commit to your own seven things?