Buy Nothing Day - November 27

Buy Nothing Day 2009
I know it's amazing to hear someone involved in retail saying that she's honoring this day. I have good reason, as I do believe that Black Friday sales and all the craziness of pushing and shoving and buying the latest thing (that will be forgotten with 2 weeks of receipt on Christmas morning) is not good for any of us.

I prefer to support handmade retail. I am all in favor of Handmade Holidays. I buy handmade (or make my own) gifts to give as much as humanly possible - and for those who say, "please do not make me a scarf or hat or anything handmade, I won't wear it and really don't want it," I try to find something very useful that is important to them and gift that.

But I think the most important thing is to set and follow a budget, to not go overboard on purchases. The first responsibility we have is to our own fiscal health. Loving the people you gift to, means that you love yourself first and don't put yourself in financial jeopardy.

That's my main reason for honoring Buy Nothing Day. The other? I can't stand crowds (well, except for craft and cat show crowds, that is...).
:)
Now. With all that said, what did I do today? Well...I'm still all about the Local Food stuff, even if the summer event is over:

I peeled, chopped and roasted one of the CSA butternut squashes and several small onions in reduced sodium chicken broth...

Then pureed it all. Do you see how full that Cuisinart bowl is? Well, there's a reason they say "in small batches" in most recipes - it's because a bowl filled that full, overflows...ask me how I know?
*wink*
I admit I am an amateur chef! So without further ado, here is the finished product:

it's Weight Watchers Curried Butternut Squash Soup (3 points per 3/4 cup serving, but when I input it to E-tools? I got 3.5 points for 1 cup...which is good, because I thought 3/4 cup was way too little). It's an excellent recipe, but because it comes from E-tools, I'll have to forego giving you the complete recipe.

(but there are some good Butternut Squash Soup recipes online...just Google!)

I finished off my meal with cooked spinach, and then a Fiber One Apple Cinnamon muffin and applesauce. More than enough food, and very few points - most everything is also a "Filling Food" on the WW plan.

Today was also all about finishing up orders for holiday gifts, and now I can concentrate on filling my Etsy store for those little "somethings" that might make the perfect Handmade Holidays gift for your special person...