1. One of the fun things about moving to a new town is that you get to discover new shops – new grocery stores, new gifty stores, new eye-candy stores. And in those new stores, you might discover a new love. Like Noosa Yoghurt. My latest obsession. (I like it even though they say “yoghurt” instead of yogurt.) Wish it wasn’t so pricey. Do you have Noosa near you?
2. There is an elementary school about 4 blocks away, and we can hear the school bells. I should follow them and break for lunch and recess every day, don’t you think?
3. Our mail doesn’t come until 5 pm on weekdays. I’m not a fan of that. And I think the mail lady hates me because I get packages from Loopy and she has get out of her mail truck to walk them to the door.
4. The Aspens are absolutely beautiful right now. Can you pop in the car and come see them in person this weekend? Because you ought to. WH took this up near Breckenridge this week. If you click on it, it almost makes you dizzy. I was going to use it as my screensaver, but I think I’d feel like I was being sucked in. (As if I didn’t already feel like that with computers from time to time.) I’ll share a couple more of his fall photos next week.
5. I made this soup and it was a big hit. Perfect for a chilly fall evening. And it does not taste at all low fat, which I like. 🙂 I should have photo-ed it in a colored bowl so it would show up better. Although I don’t have colored bowls. I might need to go shopping.
Creamy, Low Fat Potato Soup (from Monica at The Yummy Life)
4 baking potatoes (2.5 lbs.) OR 4 cups leftover mashed potatoes
2/3 cup flour
6 cups 2% milk
1 cup low-fat extra sharp cheddar cheese (divided)
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 cup low-fat sour cream
3/4 cup chopped green onions (divided)
6 bacon slices, cooked and crumbled
If you are using baking potatoes, bake them (400 degrees for 1 hour in the oven, or microwave them). Don’t forget to poke them with a fork before baking. Peel and mash. OR use leftover mashed potatoes.
Add flour to a large pot or Dutch oven. Whisk in the milk and stir until blended. Cook over medium heat until it starts to thicken (about 8-10 minutes).
Add in the mashed potatoes, 3/4 cup of cheese, salt and pepper. Stir until the cheese is completely melted. Stir in sour cream and 1/2 cup green onions.
At this point, I used an immersion blender to thicken it up a bit. (Love that blender. Also good for smoothies.)
Serve in individual bowls and garnish with green onions, shredded cheese, and bacon.
You might want to serve this with Monica’s Cheesy Jalapeño Cornbread – also yummy.
6. I will be working on a Cladonia Shawl and the little Hexapuffs this weekend. Speaking of the little puffs, thanks to ALL of you who entered to win a free Mini Skein kit in last week’s blog contest! The random number generator picked Iris in NY for a free Lorna’s Laces Mini Kit. We’ll let you know as soon as the kits are in stock and ready for everyone.
So back to the mail-which-comes-too-late – what time does your mail come? And does your mail person hate you, too? I think I need to bake her some cookies and do some brown-nosing. Or stop ordering yarn. (Yeah. Like that’s going to happen.)
Sheri hopingyouallhaveawonderfulweekend.
Andthatyourmailcomesearly.
I live in the greater Cleveland area and over the past several months, our mail gets delivered between 5:00 and 6:00 pm on approximately 5 out of 6 days. I guess they are short staffed. I rarely get packages though. 😉
It seems every place i have lived i am on the route that does not have a regular mail carrier. We have the person that finished their route first and gets punished into doing our area of town. So it’s weird, some days our mail comes at 11, somedays at 2, it has even arrived at 6! Not something you can count on timewise… which i find really difficult as my mom delivered our mail and the five surrounding towns growing up and was very punctual! 🙂
Hmmm. seems to me that your mail lady might not like to get out of her car, but she can’t hate you–you ordering packages is her job security!
The potato soup sounds FABULOUS! Mmm… 😀
My mail usually comes around one-ish. Sometimes it comes around 12 (never before) and sometimes it comes as late as 3 or 3:30. Depends if there was a holiday on Monday–then it’s late. It’s usually early on Tuesday–seems like Tuesday is a very low mail day. But generally it comes around one.
I found Noosa in my local grocery this past Spring (I live in Iowa). I absolutely LOVE it! I think it might be my favorite yogurt of all time.
I had to laugh re your mail comments. Ours seems to arrive whenever the postie feels like coming. Sometimes, the parcel dood arrives on Sat am — this is weird because there is no delivery of mail on Sat in Australia. We often have our mail delivered to our house number, but the wrong street, so the neighbor now delivers our mail! You are so right – 5pm is, well, ridiculous. Sending good postie karma to you.
My mailman likes me because I give him homemade whole wheat bread and homemade fudge with pecans and walnuts at Christmas and some homemade cookies once in a while throughout the year. He is always careful with my packages from Loopy and brings them to the door. He comes about noon most days.
My mail comes between 3 pm and 5 pm. I’m usually home at that time and if I see that my mail carrier doesn’t stop right at the mail box, I know that she has a package to carry up, so I go out to meet her. She doesn’t even have to get out of the truck. We chat and I know all about her and her family and she knows mine. She’s really top notch and I would hate to lose her. (I’ve lived places with horrid mail service/carriers. One even that kept returning our mail to sender saying we moved, when we hadn’t. They denied doing it until I started bringing in the envelopes with their yellow sticker on it. Ugh!)
Your mail carrier really shouldn’t hate the packages though. They are job security which seems to be seriously lacking these days!
My mail also comes late. My mailman probably hates me because he has to get out of his truck for packages and my driveway is almost a vertical drop. He has left packages sitting on top of a snowbank up at the street.
You can never tell when the mail comes in my neighborhood. Some days it’s late–even as late at 6 pm–and some days it’s around lunch time. It’s never soon enough if I’m waiting for Loopyness to come! 🙂
My mail comes as late as yours and I HATE it! Especially today – according to USPS tracking, my Loopy Ewe box is due to arrive. The soup looks great – gotta try that soon.
I love your blog and I can’t wait to try this recipe – Although, now I have to go back to Macy’s and buy the immersion blender I skipped out on yesterday thinking I wouldn’t need it. Apparently I do! All this talk about Colorado makes me want to come out and visit!
Hmmm, there is another local yogurt in your area of Colorado-Mountain High. It’s really good.
Unless a miracle happens I won;t be in Colorado this weekend, despite months of planning. Husband’s job is swamped busy and I don’t feel like 15 hours of driving on my own. I hate missing the aspens. Maybe November…
Our mail comes whenever-once our good carrier retired, it has been a mystery when it will come. The carrier changes so often these days they never stay long enough to be upset with the boxes that regularly arrive. The UPS man LOVES me, since I buy a lot online. He told me once “UPS survives on prompt home delivery”.
Oh, as for adding color to your dinnerware: here’s a suggestion. We had white/cream Pfalzgraff forever. When we wore it out and could not get more, I bought JUST small Fiestaware bowls in every color I liked. We used them and decided we enjoyed multicolor dishes. Not a huge money investment in the beginning. You can see if multicolor is ok and which colors you like and dislike. Red chili is pretty in green, lemongrass, and deep blue. Turquoise (the lighter one) makes almost every food look nicer.
I am SO making that soup, maybe tonight? I think the bacon is in the freezer though…
Sheri, Offer to teach how to knit or crochet, then she won’t hate the Loopy packages so much!
I think you should knit the mail carrier some socks so the “trek” to your door will be cosy. 🙂 As far as yogurt, we are hooked on Chobani here. And, thanks for the recipe!
Maybe you just need to knit her a cowl or some fingerless mitts and then she will be happy to deliver Loopy boxes to you. Our mail usually comes in the morning and he parks the van (which I can see when I am at the computer or knitting in DH’s recliner) in front of our neighbor’s house. Sometimes I go out to meet him crossing the yards (so he doesn’t have to carry the box so far – lol) … stalking now … website tells me that the traveling scarf from spring fling is on the van & “out for delivery” …
I have a big mailbox at the end of my driveway and mail gets delivered to it about noontime. I would hate late afternoon deliveries! Sometimes when I need to go to the P.O. to send international packages they just hand my mail to me over the counter (esp. packages). It’s a tiny town (and P.O.)!
Love potato soup – may have to try this this weekend. Would love to visit you and see the aspens (and knit!).
Our mail comes between 1 and 2 p.m. at least on the days I’ve been home to notice it. Because I don’t work from home, it doesn’t really matter if it comes at noon or 6 p.m.
I love potato soup, so I’ll have to try this one sans the bacon.
Sheri, My mail comes betweem 6 and 8:30 PM. So I usually do’t get to the mailbox until the next day. Once I am in my house and changed out of work clothes, I don’t go to get the mail.
At this rate, I don’t see the postal service being able to stay in business long.
Have a great weekend.
I remember how lovely the aspen were when fall came to that area as I went to college for a couple of years in the Denver area, so golden.
Our mail comes around noon to 1 pm. We have a central mail box for the whole neighborhood but if the package, usually yarn, does not fit into the package boxes or our little sliver of a slot then she has to come over and hand deliver. I warned her that I do frequently get yarn in big boxes sometimes so she and I actually are on a first name basis now so it has sort of worked out well.
Will Loopy be carrying the yarn for the new KAL for Skacel? Waiting anxiously for my Wollmeise from Camp Loopy, had to warn the mail lady I was getting several yarn packages in the next couple of weeks….
My mailman comes around 1:00 when I’m at work. I’m sure he wonders what in the world one person could possibly be doing with all that yarn! Maybe I should make him some socks and leave them in the box? I’m so glad you got to move to Colorado, Sheri. I lived in Denver for a year and was so very, very sad when we had to move to Spokane. Now I’m in Billings, not so terribly far from Colorado. We are 100 miles from Yellowstone, so that’s nice.
Teach the mail carrier to knit and give her a yarn gift certificate for Christmas 🙂
My mail does not come until late afternoon. I have had some mail deliveries after 7 pm! My UPS man also does not come until between 7 and 8 pm, but he never knocks on the door, so if I don’t track my packages, they sometimes stay on the porch overnight. And yes, my mailman hates me. I live on a walking route anyway and I don’t think he likes delivering all those packages. I used to have a great mailman who would neatly put the packages inside my storm door. the new mailman just throws them on the porch.
Very pretty picture of the Aspen trees. Our mail comes anywhere between 11:30am-1:30pm. I’m not sure if our mail lady likes us, but I don’t think she does. They used to come up our driveway to deliver packages that don’t fit into the mail box. Now, she just leaves a note and doesn’t even try. My husband isn’t happy when he has to pick up the packages for me. Luckily, Loopy packages fit into our new, bigger mail box. 🙂
Ours comes at anytime. I don’t think we have a regular carrier any more. Usually the mail has arrived when I get home from work so it’s not a big deal. Except for the weekends when 9 times out of 10 when my Loopy packages come. I must do a lot of ordering on Wednesdays or Thursdays.
Mail at home is usually there by 3:00. We had a carrier for a while that would put packages in a grocery sack and hand them on the flag! I nearly had a heart attack. A visit to the postal sub-station fixed that.
Our mail at work used to be here by Noon most days and now doesn’t show up until mid to late afternoon. I don’t like the new schedule at all.
Most days my mail is here around 3-4 pm and I pick it up around 6 on my way to work. Other times–I haven’t figured out a pattern yet–it gets here at 8am and yet others I get zero mail at all, not even junk mail, which I’ve never experienced anywhere else.
I love Noosa!! And speaking of little local shops, have you checked out White Balcony in Old Town yet? Oh, baby, it’s a sweet little place! And our mail comes late, too. Around 4:00pm.
I brown nose the mail folk all the time. (We have a regular, and a couple of regular alternates.) Salty Dog hates them. (He thinks they are EBIL!!!) We give them all kinds of treats and stuff. It usually works, and they are all kinds of creative about where to leave the mail so it’s clear of the weather and they don’t have to stick their hand through the mail slot into the jaws of Da Great Protector Dog. 😛 I get packages from Loopy, and I order tea on line, and then there’s the delivery of 4 bags of cat litter every other month….. Yea. They could hate me if I didn’t work it right. As for when it comes, usually around noon, though it could be as early as 9:30 or as late as 6 or 7, depending.
After 2pm each day, can be as late at 4pm.
I think we are on good terms. May knit some unisex knucks… Maybe USPS on the knuckles? Or just MAIL. 🙂
My mail comes early afternoon, not that I’m there for it to matter, though. I think all mail persons are a bit grumpy these days considering the overall state of the postal service. I think they’re all a bit worried about their jobs. My mail person is good about leaving packages for me by the door in the carport. It’s protected and out of the public eye…
Our mail comes between 11 AM and 2 PM. Depends on day, I guess. My mail carrier loves it when I get packages. She says she really enjoys the names of the places I get parcels from. especially TLE. They come right to my door and she always has a big smile. We are lucky when it comes to mail carriers. One we used to have was a good friend. She knew how to get into the house, even when we weren’t home. She would use our house as a pit stop and would grab a diet coke for the rest of the route on the way out. When she did this, our mail was always on the kitchen table when we got home. It is good to live in a small town.
With the anticipated rotten wet weather here in Ohio this weekend, I will be giiving this recipe a try. Potato soup is one of our favorites, along with red or white chili. Have a great weekend of knitting.
It seems like our letter carriers last about a year and then move on. Most of them have been wonderful. I do, ummm, a *certain amount* of online shopping, so there are packages on a weekly basis. The current letter carrier was a bit grumpy at first, but after a couple of weeks of getting a smile and cheerful greeting from me, he has warmed up. Now I get a smile and a joke from him whenever he has a package to bring to the door. Maybe your mail lady can be cheered up too?
We have those banks of mailboxes in our neighborhood, where you put outgoing mail into a slot and then can’t change your mind. Last Christmas when my mom was visiting, she “helpfully” picked up envelopes from my kitchen table, walked down the street to the mailboxes, and put them in. Problem was, ONE was mail to go out, and the other was a substantial, endorsed check in an ATM deposit envelope.
We called the post office and begged our carrier to retrieve the ATM envelope and put it in my box the next day, so I wouldn’t have to get the check re-issued. And she did it, which is a level of service we don’t usually get with mailboxes of our type. I made sure to leave her a Starbucks gift card in thanks. 🙂
My mail carrier hates me and the feeling is mutual. It was actually a Loopy package that started the “war”. Packages were always left on our doorstep (single family home on a cul-de-sac, covered porch…no threat of theft unless a deer or squirrel nabs a box), then one day, I didn’t get my much-anticipated TLE package and got a dreaded orange slip instead. TLE does not require signatures, so I left an inquiry online with the USPS, wondering about the practice and if the carrier was just being lazy, thinking we’d go to the post office to pick up the box instead. That was over a year ago. Since then every package is NOT delivered and we automatically get that darn orange slip. Every time, I go online and request re-delivery. (That’s the war part–leave a slip and I will request redelivery just to get the lazy carrier out of his truck, even if I can pick up the package. I drive past the post office to get home from work.)
There have been times when I’ve been home and see the mail truck drive off without even attempting to deliver. When called out on it, the woman (not a lady, just a female human) defended the carrier saying “the carrier knows his clients and knows nobody is home.” Except that I was home. “Well, most people aren’t home during the day, so he assumed you weren’t.”
I support the USPS by still buying stamps and mailing my bills rather than paying online. But I was kind of hoping our post office was on the list of possible closures.
I have no idea when the mail person comes as I am at work during the day. As for anything that does not fit in the mail box (living in an appartment) I just get a nice note that they can not deliver it and I need to go pick it up myself at the local postal outlet. That means most of my yarn shipments I have to go pick up as the mail box is very very small.
My mail now comes late in the day too, which is a depature from previously. Have to asy though, I loooooove the post office and my mail people. Did you know they are now required by Congress to fund 75 years into the future of retiree health funds in just 10 years and are being threatened with extinction as we now know the post office??? If you love and use the post office, show them some love now and make it known we want mail no matter where we live and we get it for a bargain. I’m just thinking how morose we’d be if anything happened to them.
In addition to my (almost weekly) packages from TLE, I order a lot of other things online (clothes, cosmetics, detergent). My mailman also dislikes me, but does not get his (lazy) self out of his truck. Instead, if they do not fit in the box, he balances them on top of the box. Thus, we frequently find Loopy boxes on the ground.
His sub, brings all of the mail AND the packages to the door with a big smile. I want the sub to be permanent!
I agree, 5:00 pm is too late for mail. Glad you’re enjoying your new home, Sheri!
Who doesn’t love potato soup on a chilly autumn day? Your recipe sounds scrumptious! My mail USED to come around 9-10 AM. Not bad right? Then for some weird reason, things changed about 2 months ago and now it doesn’t come in until 4PM at the earliest! I’m not a fan. I hope your mail person learns to enjoy her little walks to your door, because I don’t anticipate you changing your yarny habits just for her!
You should ask if your mail lady knows how to knit, and if she doesn’t you could offer to teach her! haha I bet if she knew all the yarnie goodness that comes packed in those boxes she might be more inclined to be friendlier to you! She may even start to look forward to delivering to your door, or at least one could hope! 🙂
Potato soup is my favorite, so thank you for the recipe…it looks delicious!
our mail comes between noon and three. also, despite the credo, our mailman (it IS a man) doesn’t deliver in inclement weather, despite being in a usps vehicle.
i live in maine, so i bet our foliage is at least as nice as the aspens in colorado…..
My postal lady is wonderful! She always has a great attitude, and always puts my TLE packages between the door and storm door to protect ’em. She used to come every day between 11:45 and 12:15. I could tell if it was her day off by when the mail came. She told me a few months ago that the PO is shuffling routes and consolidating to save money and her route is now significantly bigger. She actually apologized that she won’t be quite so ‘clock-like’. I still love her.
Yummy looking soup 🙂 I’ll have to try that one!
My usual mail carrier is awesome, he leaves packages under the covered area of the back porch, out of the wind, and puts a note on the door and in the mailbox letting me know there’s a package waiting for me. Usually our mail is here between noon and 1:00 pm, unless there’s a sub on the route, and then it comes whenever.
First of all – isnt t a given that we are programmed to respond to school bells? So OF COURSE you should break for recess (at the very least) and lunch…..I have always sworn that we are on a training route for mail delivery. It is rare to have a long term person. And so many times, I swear the person delivery mail could not read. But the one we have now is awesome – very aware of what is going on in the neighborhood which I think is pretty good. Our mail comes mid afternoon except during school time and days cause there is no place for him to park…..when we have subs, it can come up to 9 or 10 Pm at night!
I think you should knit here a scarf or mittens or something as a thank you for delivering all those packages – especailly once winter sets in!
depends on which carrier brings it…some days 2 and some 4. Since I usually stalk my packages, I’m at the box waiting so they don’t have to get out of truck. When I’m not here, they’re on their own. I really meet them because Debit D Dog doesn’t like strange folks at her door and she barks at the UPS or FedEx truck if it stops within 2 blocks. I’m having a pajama day tomorrow and Sunday will be going to Rising Meadow Farm for Farm Fest. It’s a small fiber fest at my friends’ sheep farm. I’ll be demonstrating rigid heddle weaving,
My mailman has taken to calling me by my first name. He brings the packages to the house if a signature is required or if unfortunately I have to pay Canadian taxes and duty on them. The mail itself goes to a group box and is filled about 10:30 am Mon – Fri (no Sat delivery here)
I live in Huntsville (the rocket city) and we get noosa. Love the strawberry/rhubarb. This hails from my home state and where you live now. Rhubarb is hard to come by in our area and I miss that and the sour cherries from my grandfathers garden that he brought with him at Christmas time. As far as mail, we have 3 who share our house as we fall on different routes depending on the day. So mail either comes around 10, 2 or 4:30 depending on which route we are on. I know this only because I have every other Friday off otherwise I don’t get home before 6 so it doesn’t matter. We live on a steep hill but they always say hi and wave when they see me out walking. the UPS guy is also friendly with us and I give him more challenging packages then our USPS mailmen.
my mail used to get here by 10:30, now sometimes it is 4 or later. UPS is late afternoon, FedEx comes early.
Potato Soup: wow. When I made it the first time as a young married, my dad wouldn’t eat any. “You eat Potato Soup when you are poor.” I convinced him finally to try it and try to enjoy it b/c it tasted so good, and I won him over. The Depression must have been really hard to go through! Thanks for a nice Dad Memory.
We live in a semi-rural area. Our mail is usually delivered in the early afternoon, and we have the best mail lady ever. She has become a friend, and I think she enjoys coming to the door with packages because it gives her a chance to chat for a few minutes. She knows all of the folks on her route by name (of course, she looks at our names often enough!), and always waves if we pass her on the road. We share plants and produce from the garden with her.