Pinterest Project 26

I'm probably the only one left on the face of the earth that didn't do this already.

We reuse plastic bags like most people. They line the small trash cans in the bathrooms, offices, bedrooms. I use them for scraps and kitchen trash when preparing food.  They are used to pick up and dispose of pet waste from the yard. And on and on.

For the winter I had been storing these in my picnic bucket. It wasn't being used and I hadn't figured out how I wanted to contain them.  But summer is back and we are using the bucket again to go to friends and bring lunch or other affairs where we bring food. It was time to figure it out.

I also didn't want them taking up as much space as they had been.  So I knew I had "pinned" a link on Pinterest for folding the bags small so they don't take up much room.

There are all kinds of links, several with video instructions. I used one of those but honestly its so easy you don't have to have a video.

I lost a total of 4 bags with holes, otherwise this is the new pile. I found an old popcorn tin in the attic that fits in the space they were before. Much more manageable.  Why did I wait so long to tame this beast? Its so easy!

Kickoff to Summer

Well, the summer did start with a bang. That makes me so happy!

I want to take a minute to say that there is nothing more heart warming and soul satisfying as knowing people that will take you in and make you a part of their family -- especially during holidays.  When Mouse and I are alone, a long holiday weekend is a quiet and lonely event. I don't look forward to them.

This Memorial Day Mouse and I were invited to a friends house for Saturday and Sunday. So were a few of our other friends and their kids. It ended up being a two day celebrations of friends, kids and food. And it was glorious.

Saturday was burgers and goodies and lots of pool time.

I believe we had 15 kids total that day between 6 families.

We had scattered rain storms both days but they had a couple of easy-ups that we could hide under if nothing else.

Sunday was a Crayfish Boil.  I elected to bring hot dogs for mouse and I. What can I say. I'm not very adventurous with my meats. But I did try them (a first) and I did help peel for the kids....which helped me get over it.

What makes it hard is when I was growing up I loved it when my dad would take us to the creek late at night to catch crawdads. See, where I grew up it was bait...not dinner. LOL

The spices were amazing. LOVED the corn and potatoes!  Spicy good!

So it was a wonderful weekend. Not too hot. Lots of laughs. The kids wore themselves out -- and you know it doesn't get any better than that. And it was with some of my favorite people in the whole world.

 A perfect holiday weekend. (At least as perfect as it can be without Hubs with us.)

We all needed Monday as a recovery day!

Hoping all my friends and family were able to spend time with people they love!

What Does Summer Bring

Summer
is a stone's throw away
Its out there
Just beyond reach

What does summer bring
the year after
the greatest summer
you can remember?

On the days we want
to hide from life
We can daydream

Maybe its days
besides a pool
filled with friends
and children

laughter
snacks
misbehaving monsters
and ice cream bribes

Maybe its an escape
to a place
a car ride away
A weekend of laughter
good food
lots of liquids
and maybe even cigars

I can close my eyes
and see the sand
smell the sea
feel the ocean breeze

Maybe its a girls weekend
by a lake
with crowded rooms
and shared kitchen duty
Catching every ray of sun
It cares to cast down

Maybe its dinners
or coffee nights
or houseboats

But hopefully it is more than these things
As they have already been done
And as wonderful as they are
The true adventure
Is in the new

Whatever it is
Its time with friends
That see you
and hear you

and don't make you feel invisible

Its Dark

Its dark again
Another night
of trying to sleep

by myself
alone

There are shadows
but shadows are good
They hide the empty spaces
the empty side
the cold side

I reach a hand over
I can almost pretend
to feel the depression
where you should lay

The spot that should be warm
The skin I should be able to touch
and smell
and taste

I can almost pretend
that your dogs breathing
is really yours
but not really
although you do both snore

but the room is empty
of the presence
that should be there
night after night

new couples anticipate
the nights together
falling asleep in each others arms
feeling the breath of the one they love
on the back of their neck.

The satisfaction that is soul deep
that touches something so deep inside
it cant be explained
it can only be felt

It leaves you empty
when its missing

And they don't even have to be gone.

More Than Mac N Cheese

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Where Are You Today?

If I could meet you.
If I could see you face to face
What would I say?

Because you live with us daily.
In her eyes
In her smile
In the genetic surprises that surface

Mouse has lavished me with love today.
Her momma
She made me little gifts
She wants to take me out
She is excited to celebrate me.

I wonder if she is thinking of you also?
She doesn't say
I could ask
But I let her lead these conversations

I am thinking of you.
So many questions
So many feelings
Where are you today?

Over the years I have wanted to ask so many things
And each year its different
Some years I am angry with you
Some years I am sorry for you

Do you think of her?
Do you wonder where she ended up?
Did you watch from the shadows as she was found?
Or did you run away?

Do you wonder what she looks like?
If she is a good student?
If she is healthy?
If she has siblings?

I wonder.

I wonder why.
I wonder how you deal with the loss daily.
I wonder if you would take it back if you could.
I wonder if she was the only one you abandoned.
Were there more?

We talk about you sometimes.
I expected more grief
More questions
More anger

I am astounded at her need for me
The fierceness of her love for me
The way she panics at the thought of not having me
And her complete faith in me.

She is amazing
She is funny
She is spunky
She is loving
She is beautiful
She is picky
She is spoiled
She swings high
She laughs at inappropriate things
She likes mischief


Some of this is from you
And some of this is from me.

And even though we will never meet
We make a beautiful team.

Autumn Asks: Have You Ever Been A Member of a CSA?

I have tried to join CSA's all over the states over the last decade or so. CSA stands for Community Sponsored Agriculture.  Basically its a local farm that you buy direct from -- like a membership. Most of them raise organic crops so you can eat healthier than the stuff from the grocery store. Many CSA's have a waiting list as they can only support so many people depending on the size of the farm.

I was delighted when we came back to Texas and found that not only was there a CSA available (actually I think there are two), but they had openings.

The Home Grown Farm is a family owned business. Most of your interfacing is with the two brothers. They are also unique in that they have a website that you go to for your order that next week. You can pick growers choice, or you can customize what you get. Most CSA's just give you a box of what they harvested that week with no choices. This is far better than having things your family won't eat.

Unfortunately I do have to drive into Waco to pick up my box. There are many locations you can choose from, but none of them is close to me. This is hard as pickup is on a school night during dinner time. I do have a three hours window to work with, but it does get old driving that far every week.

And that is my only complaint.

You get more than enough food. You can even choose to skip a week if you want. I haven't done that, I've been putting up the extra instead. Extra doesn't usually happen when Hubs is home, but when he is gone there are many nights that I don't cook from scratch.


Extra cabbage has become sauerkraut. Pinterest instructions of course. I did use one jar in a kielbasa crockpot recipe. It was good and it was on the first day you could use it so the rest should get a little stronger. This first jar was really mild. Also one of the jars did not seal well. I cannot describe to you the horrible odor.  LOL.

I dehydrated some of the extra mushrooms for later use- another Pinterest tutorial. This was my first try with this dehydrator which we picked up at a Goodwill for $5. It doesn't have a temperature control for different settings but it works just great. We have used it for jerky a few times.

I have also frozen mushrooms, onions, peppers, turnips, beets and carrots for cooking.  With extra potatoes I made up frozen hash browns.

So I have been working on canning, dehydrating and freezing. I also have a foodsaver that has a jar attachment for sealing and uses the ziplock bags that you can pull the air out of. LOVE IT.

Although a CSA is more expensive that grocery store veggies, I do recommend them if you can afford it. Its organic. You can visit the farm and get to know the farmers. Its supporting your own community.

Anyone else a member of a CSA in your area?

Asparagus Season

One of the really neat things about our place is this fully mature asparagus bed in the side yard. I'm glad the last owner told me what it was because I would have been clueless.

I love asparagus.

This spring has been a real learning experience because I had no idea what to do or how to care for it or anything.  Luckily it seems to be pretty fool proof since it is an established bed.

I did some reading in books and on the internet. Looks like I have a good amount of new roots spreading so I have stuff that I was cutting at first that really should have been left alone to grow this year. They are very small stalks. I caught on after a few weeks and now leave those to grow so they will be bigger next year.

For 4 weeks now I have been cutting asparagus daily. Its awesome. But I am getting a little tired of eating it so I am now trying other things.


This is a Pinterest pin for Spicy pickled asparagus which can be found here.

I made a jar but I have not tried them yet. Like I said...I'm a little tired....

Mine do not look anywhere near as pretty. My stalks are much thinner than the ones on Pinterest. I will have to let you know how they taste when I try them.

Right now sitting on the counter are:

3 glasses. I read somewhere to put them in a glass with some water in the bottom and cover with a plastic bag for humidity and they will store in the refrigerator for 4 days. I was losing them in a day before I found this information. This set I am going to freeze - instructions compliments of Pinterest of course.

I have two bare spots in the bed so I am thinking of getting two new root sets to plant in them. I know you cant eat them the first year (like my little sprouts) but I have plenty I can eat. I'm not sure how long the plants produce for (as in years) so I think it might be a good idea to add more.  Anyone know?

Unfortunately the artichoke plants did not survive the winter so no new learning on that front. Not sure if I will buy more plants or not. Not this year anyways.

So do you have a favorite asparagus recipe? I could use some new ones. Please share!

Pinterest Project #25

One of my friends here celebrated a birthday in the last few months. We all got together to do a dinner to celebrate her.  I think this is probably my favorite thing we do (after the road trips) together -- make a meal and enjoy each other.

So we all bring something to share. Right up to the night before I did not know what to make. So, to Pinterest I went. Seems like a good time to try out something I pinned to try some day.

I picked the Fruit Salsa with Cinnamon Chips recipe. You can find the recipe here.



Oh. My. Goodness.

This stuff was fantastic.  And we ate almost the whole thing.  Everyone wanted to know what was in it and several wanted the recipe.

I made it again when I had company a month later.

I will say that the first time I used raspberries, but the second time I couldn't find any and had to use blueberries. The raspberries were far superior in taste. I also used a raspberry fruit spread and cut the sugar.

After the first batch I also ended up buying a type of cutter to help cut the fruit up like this. The first time I did it I spent over an hour just cutting the fruit in little squares. Too much work.

This guy made it so much easier the second time around. Plus I've used it for some other things now also.

So if you are looking for a fruit recipe to try I would recommend this one.

Work on the Bathrooms

We pretty much finished the bathrooms finally.  Not that we did a whole lot, but with four to handle it seems like we did.

The master bath will not be done until we do the next flooring upgrade in 3-4 years. We will need to tear the carpet out, change out the bathtub and the counter tops. Low priority.  Although we did put in a towel bar and hand towel rings. There weren't any -- just hooks in the closets. The hooks don't allow for good circulation and the towels don't dry well. I guess the last owners just didn't like to see towels out.

Mouses bathroom we reused the same towel bars and stuff. The light fixture was painted but not replaced. She was the only one that got an upgrade on the counter tops this time around.

The guest bath did get all new fixtures. The old ones were nice, but with a gold base. I changed to silver/pewter tones. I found the new stuff on ebay after checking around town and not finding anything I liked. We don't have the greatest selection on things in a city this size. The lights were also upgraded.

This room and bathroom ended up with a sea or coastal theme. The neat thing about that is we had plenty of stuff to use with having lived in Florida and vacationed there so many times.  I had things that we didn't use anymore but I still held onto because of the significance or memories attached. I'm glad I did.

                                Jar of shells we picked up on Tyndall Beach over the years we lived there.

                                                  Jellyfish paper weight picked up on Galveston trip.

Mermaid picture picked up on Mexico Beach Trip. I did have to buy the frame for this one.

The bath off the den didn't need much other than the wallpaper removed.  It is a big space with no storage though.  And it is right next to the hot tub room so I wanted to be able to store the towels in there.  I don't really liked many of the over the toilet storage shelves and also did not want to put shelves on the wall.

I ended up using furniture in the bathroom.

There wasn't anywhere to put the soap for people to wash their hands, or for lotion or anything else. A day spent hitting the local antique shops found a painted and distressed lingerie chest. And it was priced so low I had the cash in my wallet.  Storage and a place for the soap and lotion.

I also pulled the heavy long curtains out of the window and just left the valance. Since I put the privacy stuff on the windows there was no need for all that extra fabric to hand around and get dusty.

I found an old brass tray to sit on top of the chest to catch any water or soap drips. This was next to nothing on ebay as it was very tarnished. I used my new paste on it and it polished up nicely. The fixtures in this bathroom are brass so I thought it tied in nice. I had a round tray on it first but that just didn't look right.

For the hot tub towels I put and old bookcase in the room and just rolled them up. This bookcase was one of the first pieces of furniture we bough as newlyweds. It was a $19 Kmart press board  disposable buy. It also has survived every move we ever made and 27 years later is still going strong. Unbelievable.

Now I just need a nice plant in there.

They might be the smallest rooms in the house, but it sure was nice to have something finished.  Well, finished with what we have. I'm sure there will be some changes over time, but for now we used stuff laying around and a few purchases to flesh it all out.

Done!

(for now)

Jeeves

One disadvantage to buying a place with a large house and a large yard is obviously clean-up.

Since we are really on three lots, Hubs knew he needed a lawn tractor/riding mower for the yard.  Of course he does. Who in the world would want to push mow that much grass in Texas 110 degree heat? I think we are a little too old for that at this point.

After a few months I also began wishing there was such a thing as a house tractor. There is an impressive amount of vacuuming that has to go one in this house. After thinking about it a bit I decided to call my sister and ask her about her iRobot. They have a large house and a dog and two kids also. They are also dueling master degrees that research everything before they buy....so it seemed like the perfect place to get a real opinion.

What I learned from her is yes, the automatic vacuums do work as long as you don't buy bottom of the line. You want a more expensive one for it to be worth the time. This is not an item you skimp on.

Well, I really didn't want to spend a large amount of money so I put it off.

The grass that was coming in from the dogs and people was maddening so  I did some searching online. Much to my dismay, the vacuums I was interested in are not something you can shop around and find better deals on. Seems like the price stays within a couple of dollars no matter who carries it. Darn it.  I went ahead and asked Hubs about getting one. Of course he wanted to know what ELSE it did besides vacuum for that price. Hah! Even though it doesn't do anything else, he did go ahead and give me the green light.

I couldn't do it. It costs alot. For a vacuum.

And I held out for another two months before I caved and ordered one.

Meet Jeeves. I love him.  Yes.  I really, really love him.

I ended up with the newest model as all the improvements had to do with hair pick up and not tangling up the system. With two dogs and my massive shedding on a daily basis, this seemed like something to go ahead and pay the extra money for.

Jeeves is amazing. He goes from carpet to tile to brick to wood with no problem. With so many different types of flooring, I was concerned about how well it would work out. No problem whatsoever. He is also programmable so I can set him to run whenever I want.

He does not do my whole house on one charge. Since he is rather thorough in each room this is not surprising. I have him run on program in the den so I can do the rest of the house on the day I clean.

So, for anyone interested in a robot vacuum, I would highly recommend the iRobot. Its not for everyone obviously due to the high price.  Also, if you have a real small house I don't see how it would be a big help. If you have a larger home, the income to make it feasible, and a busy schedule or work hours...then do it. You will not be sorry.

I am not being paid for this opinion -- I just had to share because I love him so much.

Best house purchase since we moved in. 

Has It Really Been That Long?

Wow. Seems like I'm making a habit of falling off the face of  the earth.

Really its because life is just so.....ordinary.  I spend more time at home than anywhere else, which limits the stories that I get to turn into sarcastic funnies.

Hubs is gone more than home. Last trip we lost a week to him volunteering to cover for a man that wanted to be home for the birth of his baby. Kinda hard to be upset over something like that. And this time there is a week long school he is attending. When all is said and done at the end of the year I bet his time home doesn't add up to a full 5 months.  Makes for a lonely life.

I hired a landscaping company to do an extreme amount of work around the place. They are putting sprinklers in the garden beds and around the house. Not the yard at this point.  We might add that later. Not this year.  Lots of clean up work and pulling some stuff out and replacing with easier care plants.

My sister and the kids came for a visit. It was awesome. And we ended it with a trip to Six Flags. This was the first time Mouse could ride everything. She rode her first roller coasters. It was funny. She was all hunched down in her lap with her head on her knees, screaming. In those photos they take it looks like I'm in the car alone. But she kept going on the next one and the next one.

Mouse is bringing her grades up now in school. She needed time to settle in I guess. It was a little scary at first as she was doing so poorly. But she turned it around and is doing well now.

I'd say the house is pretty much together now. We haven't finished the shop, but most of the house is set up.

As you can see, this is all pretty tame and lame stuff. I'm going to try and write more simply because I like to get it out of my head...which I accomplish by writing.  But I'm just not finding my voice right now so it will  probably be pretty boring until I find it again. Sorry friends!

Pinterest Project #24

I pinned this on Pinterest a couple of years ago.

I thought it looked cool.  I tried to follow thru and see how much it cost but it was a catalog link from overseas and was outdated.

Dead end.

Yet, the bases actually remind me of the brass Alter Candle-holders my mother has.  I remember my dad bringing them to her from Thailand when I was 5.  And I've watched my mother drag them all over the world, polishing them every year around Christmas.

My mother had a lot of brass. She did a lot of polishing.I thought she was crazy. I was never gonna have a bunch of stuff around that took that much work. No silver. No brass.

And for 26 years I meant it.

Until I saw these.  So I start thinking to myself if I can find some of those alter candle-holders, I could leave one as is with a large candle, and take a portion of the other out so its shorter and slap a brass tray on the top and fill it with candles.

Our new house has a great spot for that. And brass on that dark red brick floor....

So I began searching for a pair of them. Not such an easy task. They are over 40 years old. And a search on EB and a few other sites was a shocker.  Over $100 to get my hands on them. Plus shipping.

Hmm. Maybe I will keep looking.

One day I was wandering through an antique place in Central Texas looking for I don't remember what.... and out on the patio I find a pair of them!

In seriously bad shape. As in they have been sitting out in the rain. If you didn't know what they were you might not guess, because they were brown.

They were also $15 for the pair.  Of course I bought them.  I knew it was going to take some serious work to get them looking like they are supposed to.  But I knew their potential.

I could do this.

I also talked to the owners of this mall about brass cleaning products people use when they sell antiques. The lady was telling me all about a product she likes and has seen many people use.  The guy leaned over and said follow me, I will show you the finished product. We went to a booth and he showed me an old spittoon. He pointed out how the polished look was kinda scratchy looking. I didn't like it - and neither does he, which is why he showed me.

He pulled this stuff out of the back and showed me. Said it was the best in his opinion and that I would have to find it online. They didn't even carry it. So I snapped a picture and hit Amazon when I got home. Score! he also said it was expensive, but I disagree with that. The first clean up I used more than I normally would, sure, but otherwise I think its really close to Brasso. Not as bad as I was expecting at all.

I love this stuff. One of the best things about it is that since its not a liquid like Brasso, it doesn't leave the white build up in the etchings. You can get it all off. The build up is one of the things I didn't like about brass. It just doesn't look right.

Four months of work.  That's what it took - off and on - to get the candlesticks cleaned up. I went to bed with some cramped up hands and forearms more than one night.

It was worth it.

Even Hubs noticed right away when he came home and said he liked that.

 Of course I had to have the large candle special made. You can find some alter candles that will fit it in Catholic supply shops, but they are like $80 each. And only come in white. No thanks.  I found someone on the interwebs that made me the size I needed. Much cheaper...although shipping about doubles the price.

And so begins my new love affair with brass.

Never would have seen that one coming.

Whose Doll Is It Anyways??

I know, I know...so much for getting back to writing. I am happy to say that I finally am over being sick. But Hubs was home for a short rotation so it was fast and furious getting things done around here. And now he's gone again.

So this story is actually from two rotations ago.

For Christmas, Mouses big brother gave her an American Girl Store Gift Certificate. Since there is a store in Dallas, which is only about two hours away, and we have family there, Hubs decided he needed to take her so she could spend it.  She was foaming at the mouth and had a list ready.....that she had compiled while perusing the online store.

I can promise you that neither Hubs nor I was thrilled about this. Especially with the child that can spend an hour (not kidding) in Claire's. I have already had the privilege of going to this massively overcrowded and stupidly expensive store, and Hubs has zero interests in dolls.

But off we went.

First, Mouse wanted her new American Girl Doll to have her ears pierced.  Wait...what? Get a dolls ears pierced? And pay money for it??? Both parents are horrified at the thought....but it wasn't our money so we marched upstairs to get in line.

And I do mean line. Like we stood in it for 20 minutes just to get to the front to tell them what we wanted.  See, it was done in the beauty salon. Not a people beauty salon you understand..... a DOLL beauty salon. And the sign informed us that the wait (after you get to the front of the line) was currently at two hours.

No. Way.  We were going to have to wait two hours for this???? Thankfully we found out that all we had to do was make it to the front of the line and they would do ear piercing immediately. No wait beyond that.

There is a God.

As we stand in line for foreverrrrrrrrrrr, we start people watching. Not like there is anything else to do. While waiting to get a DOLL'S ears pierced. There were 5 ladies behind the counter working away. I had to wonder what it was like for this to be your employment. "So, what do you do?"  Not that I'm saying there is anything wrong with this, beats fast food for sure.

There are posters up all over with the prices of the hairstyles. Different dolls had different choices depending on the hair type they have.The ladies clean the hair, trim it back into shape and then style the do you payed for.  And do they pay. This starts at about $20.  I don't pay $20 for Mouses haircuts, so this was a shock to Hubs and my system.  Are you kidding me???

                                                                     Standing in line.

After 10 minutes Hubs began to squirm. You could see that dazed look enter his eye. The trapped animal panic.

So you can imagine the kids around us started doing the same thing. Kids and guys....about the same patience level, right?

A couple of people up we noticed a very nicely dressed mom and her beautiful daughter. The girl looked to be about 4.  Mom was pushing a stroller with all her shopping bags hanging off it (and we were at the Dallas Galleria folks) and it looked like the girl was her only child with her. I wondered if the child still used the stroller...she was kinda too old for that....or whether mom just still used it as a shopping cart. It is handy like that if you are a power shopper and haven't given the stroller away yet.  Or maybe there is a younger sibling somewhere.

Anyway- mom gets to the poster, holding TWO dolls and asks the daughter which hair-do's she wants.

And the child? Not the least bit interested.  She had the trapped animal, bored out of my skull look that Hubs was wearing.  She was being very well behaved about the whole thing while she stood there, but there was no interest. She wouldn't even give mom an answer....just a lazy shrug of the shoulders.

Mom looked a little distressed.  So she turned around and decided what to get.  And I'm watching this whole thing play out and realize they really aren't there for the child.  They are there cause mom is going to spend $40-50 to fix these dolls hair.  And its not like the hair was very bad off to begin with.

That really puzzles me.  Why does a grown woman want to spend that kind of money to fix doll hair.  Why is it important enough to stand in a line for 20 minutes to deposit the dolls, and then wait another two hours for them to be done? Even supposing she has more money than she knows what to do with.  Is she just a crazy adult doll lover? Is it somehow a status thing? Something the moms compare at play dates? I would have liked to know because I find most people have REASONS for what they do, even when it looks crazy to us.

Hubs is really getting antsy now. He starts asking if we are done after this. Nope. Mouse has a list and we already found out what she wanted was out of stock so she was going to have to shop. She admits that there is something else but she doesn't have enough money. Dad volunteers to help her out.

Hah! Note to kids: take dad and make him stand in a line for a long time. Its financially beneficial.

About that time the couple in front of us had issues.  Here we have a family that looks middle class. Dad is in work coveralls that look like a construction worker. Mom is rather over weight and so is daughter. Daughter looks to be 10-11ish. This family is obviously here for the daughter. Mom shows her the poster when we are close and asks which style the girl wants.  She proceeds to pick out a style that does not go with her dolls hair type. Mom points out which section to chose from. The child starts throwing a two year old fit. It was ugly. And they get her settled down in a bit. Not a single word of warning or reprimand.

You have got to be kidding. We would have removed our kid from line and left. Who rewards over the top ugliness in a child that age???? Just wow.

Finally we make it to the head of the line and the ears are pierced in about 2 minutes and we move down stairs to finish up the gift card. Dad is past his limit at this point and just pushing to find something so we can leave. And to make a long story short -- Mouse ends up with about $50 in extra merchandise just so dad can  escape!

Hysterical.

And brilliant.