Furlough: 59 of 365

(This is blender pumpkin pie. I followed this recipe except that I used pumpkin and squash that I roasted and/or boiled and froze last fall, I upped the pumpkin to 1.5 cups to replace the oil and liquid in the agave syrup, changed said syrup to 3/4 c sugar, used regular salt, grabbed 1/2 c of whatever gluten free flour we had, and in place of pie spice used 1/2 t. cinnamon, 1/4 t. ginger, and 1/8 t. cloves. I did still use 2 eggs, 2 tsp of vanilla, and 1 c milk though. So I guess I alluded to the recipe. But I did make it in a blender and only had to wash a blender. And it did taste fantastic and make its own crust. I figure as long as I have the right spices and some type of pumpkin/squash/gourd, I can make this stuff anywhere.)


In anticipation of a possible furlough, pay cuts, etc., we're cleaning out the freezer to save a little more. The possibility of losing paychecks was driving me nuts but now I have decided to just go with it and do the best we can. I know lots of Americans have lost jobs or taken pay cuts and found a way to make it through. We can do the same. We've done the underemployment thing before so it's not like it would be a new thing.

I am kind of tired of FSOs being vilified right and left though. I think the way to cut the budget should be "Hey, every agency cut 10% (or whatever %). Give us your numbers by Monday or your funding is gone." That, however, would make too much sense and be way too easy. And that is the end of the political part of my discussion here. I don't talk politics on this blog for one reason, I care WAY too much about it, pay way too much attention to it (overseas and domestically), and would bore everyone.  Okay that's three reasons. Besides lots of people address this kind of stuff much better on their blogs.

Since we're headed out soon, we needed to clean out the freezer and cupboards anyway. We try to keep about 3 months food on hand for emergencies and so we've been slowly eating it up as our time draws to a close. If we only eat what we still have stored, we've probably got 3-4 weeks worth of stuff. So it's an interesting adventure anyway. Always have to find a way to make life fun right?

This week's focus is on pumpkin. Pumpkin pudding, pumpkin custard, pumpkin pie, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin muffins (that don't really taste pumpkiny which was a nice change). A savory pumpkin dish would be nice but every savory pumpkin dish I have tried in the past has been shot down. And my family will eat just about anything. I think next week will probably highlight beans. We have lots of dried beans to use. Now if I can just figure out a way to use beans and pumpkin together, and get everyone to like it.


FS Kids: My kids are probably some of the world's least picky eaters. Which I totally don't deserve since I was a terror growing up. It's a good thing though. Between moving all the time, allergies, lock downs, living in hotels, power outages (meaning you have to eat whatever will spoil), and other such fun, feeding them is already a bit of an adventure. Bless them for their lack of pickyness.