Cleaning Part 2

Maggie 2, Apartment 0

Finished this yesterday, but failed to take pictures until this morning.

And from the other side so you'll know I'm not hiding the clutter:

I'm going to rearrange, but I need to get rid of all the crap first.  And I own waaaay too much stuff.  Look at all that...ugh...

I did the kitchen yesterday too, but then I made a pie so...   There's some additional work that now needs to be done before pictures can be taken. 

Today's project is the bedroom.  Or I might just take a nap.  Too soon to tell.

Cleaning Part 1

Maggie 1, Apartment 0

Bathroom, check!

Proof.  I even vacuumed, organized, discarded, and prioritized the cabinet under the sink.  And for the right price, I could be hired.

Close up of my shower curtain because I knew you were curious.  It's old travel posters.  I LOVE it.  I'm going to be very sad when it dies.  I would love to find fabric like this.

One of Those Things

Ever hear of something (a word, a famous person, etc.) that you've never heard of before and suddenly you notice it everywhere?  This is one of those things.

Last week I read on another blog about this girl who had made a stensil for a tshirt out of freezer paper.  She cut it out, ironed it down, painted the design, and voila!  I thought how cool this was and then last weekend Mom got her Shiva paint sticks and guess what I did...

Pretty excited!  Mom was supposed to heat set it over the week, so it's not completely finished, but I'm still excited.  I wish the paint sticks weren't so expensive because I almost think I need my own set...

When Life Gives You Lemons...

So...the garden...

The help I was promised has never materialized and nothing has been watered so that there's anything still growing in this heat is amazing.  There are lots of melons (really no surprise there given all that we planted) and tomatoes.  The melons aren't quite ready to harvest yet, but the tomatoes are!

I love tomatoes.  They're one of the top ten best things about summer.  (In case you're wondering, #1 best thing about summer is round hay bales, and the #2 best thing is the 4th of July.)

Since I had fresh produce it was pretty much mandatory that I make something with it for lunch.  I just happened to notice there was fresh basil in the window sill and then I found part of a fresh mozzarella ball in the fridge.  Kismet?  Add a little butter and some heat and you get a very yummy. summery sandwich.

**full disclosure**  I burned one side of the sandwich so I scraped off the black and photographed the opposing side.

This is definitely going to be a summer lunch staple.  I don't think it would work as well with store bought tomatoes, aka red cardboard.

Fabric Stash

I've been told that one should never start a fabric stash, and I do not intend to, however, occasionally you see something you just have to own:

Isn't is cute!  I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it.  I was thinking maybe a table cloth with a solid red boarder and maybe some really big rick rack (how do you spell that?) for detail.  If I had a kitchen window it would make fun curtains. 

It was on sale.  I should have bought more.  Darn you Joann's!

Pretend to be Surprised

Goodness Gracious Great Balls of Fire Batman!  That's a lot of jam!

I went and bought jars this morning and a few more peaches because I wasn't sure if we had quite enough.  Turns out the extra peaches were unnecessary...  Three batches of jam later: 

This doesn't include the 6 jars of freezer jam -- pint size jars.

The recipe I read said to put in 8 cups of sugar.  I'm not convinced that I read it correctly.  I did not use that much sugar.  For every 16 cups of peach mush I used slightly less than 3 cups of sugar.  It's really tasty, with just a little bit of tartness in the aftertaste.

YUMMY!  We didn't nibble while we cooked, but it took great restraint.

Tamara was great help and loaned me her kitchen, extra pair of hands, and pots/pans/utensils/etc.  Neither of us had ever canned before (well, not since we were kids anyway) so I had to call Mom to verify some of what we were doing -- thanks Mom!

We didn't add any spices, but you could have added cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, etc.  We also talked about adding chili flakes and doing a chutney kind of jam.  In the end I decided that the first go around should probably be less experimental, but next time...

 
I also ended up buying a waterbath canner and assorted supplies so I'm ready to can any time.  Tamara will be canning most of her garden produce so we're planning on getting together again to do that.

So let's see, cost:
* $15 for peaches on Thursday
* $4 for peaches this morning
* $20 for jars
* $1 for sugar
* $25 for reusable supplies (canner, funnel, hot jar lifter, etc.)

So that's roughly $1.30 per jar of jam.  Not too shabby.

All in all it was a lot of sweaty work, but very satisfying.  Especially hearing the sweet music of the jars sealing -- ping, ping, ping! 

Next time I'm going to bring some facial mud though -- seems like a good idea to put it on while my pores are waaaaay open.

Guess What You're Getting for Christmas...

So Thursday was a weird and wonderful day.  Work was blegh as usual, but after work I went to get my hair cut.  She was running late (as usual) so while I waited I wandered the mall helping people pick out shoes and having conversations with hip old ladies in teal suede boot/sandals over the sale racks (why yes, sale racks ARE dangerous...).

When I got back to the salon she still wasn't ready for me so I watched two other stylists try to talk a woman out of a perm.  They were unsuccessful.  I didn't see the aftermath, but I'm sure it was a bloodbath.  Wailing and gnashing and tearing of sackcloth and all that. 

An hour after my scheduled appointment she was finally ready for me -- come to find out their entire credit/debit card system had gone down and the files were having to be rebuilt.  I knew she hadn't had a smoke break and because I'm nice (and because I didn't want her stressed out AND noccotine deprived with sharp objects near my face) we went out for a smoke break and I really got to know what she thought of things...whoohoo!

So, because I had to wait so long and she couldn't take my money right then anyway she gave me the haircut for free!  Totally worth the wait -- I saved myself $50!  They actually charge more for long hair, which I don't understand since long or short when you're just getting a trim it's the same amount of work.  I digress.

Then when I went to the grocery store the lady in the produce department sold me a whole box of peaches for $15!  It felt a little like a black market deal, "Excuse me, what are you going to do with those peaches?"  "Uh, I'm going to eat them like apples..."  "What if I told you I could sell you these peaches AND a whole mess like them for $15."  "Sold!"  She wasn't wearing a trench coat, but I still felt a little dirty.  And the "whole mess" part IS a direct quote.

So tomorrow I'm going over to Tamara's and we're making jam.  Woohoo!  I gotta get jars and such tomorrow after church.  My apartment smells like peaches -- it's pretty great.  Pictures and details to follow.

It's Hammer Time

Another 1.5 miles down (I make it sound like something to brag about, but other than the fact that I got off my behind it isn't).  Now it's time to hit the showers.  Hammer time -- break it down.  No, really.  I have to (well, really, should) leave for work in half an hour.  Can't touch this.  Dah na na na, na na, na na na na na...

Stop Hammer Time. 

I'm thinking about getting some of that dry shampoo stuff...does it even work?  Would it be an investment in my future?  Is it a driveway cleaner and a dessert topping in one?  Does it know the way to San Jose?  So many burning questions.

Oops, I did it again.

I got up this morning at 6am and went for a 45 minute walk...oh baby baby...?
Oops, you think I'm in love -- that I'm sent from abo-o-o-ve.
I'm not that intelligent...as it turns out.

I feel a little ashamed of what just happened, but I can't promise it won't happen again.

Tag, You're IT!

I just finished walking 1.6 miles.  Then I did some crunches (ow!) and stretches.

Tag, you're it.

Maybe my priorities are misplaced AKA reason #406 why baking soda is your best friend.

Let me preface this by saying that all parties involved are fine.

Okay, so something was on fire in my oven today, I mean LEGIT on fire. 
#1.  My smoke alarm didn't go off, which kind of concerns me.  Does this mean I have a better nose than a smoke detector?
#2.  My first thought upon seeing the flames was, "oh, better put some pants on."  ......................... 

So I put on some pants and broke out the baking soda.  Problem solved.

Moral of the story: Never just stop by my place.  Always call first.

I feel just like Aesop.

A Moment of Clarity

If you're a semi-serious crafter who doesn't have cable (for those of us who don't PBS's Create is about as close as we get) you might ask, "What's the difference between Martha Stuart and Katie Brown?"  Well wonder no longer -- I have the answer.

The main difference, other than a stint in the joint, is "Oh, I could make that" and "Psh, I could make that."  That, and glitter.  Lots of glitter.  The poor man's bling.

Uku-what-ee?

Yes, I bought a ukulele yesterday!  A concert Cordoba.  It's not pedigree so don't worry that I'm going to be snooty about it.  It's already too much fun to be contained in one blog post.  Jamming will have to happen.  You've been warned. 

The only songs I know so far are Alison Krauss and Jack Johnson...and maybe I learned a Journey song...guilty pleasures and all that...  I'm taking song requests now, so get them in while I have the brain space to remember them.

It looks much smaller in person.

It doesn't have a name yet.  Suggestions?

Who feels like chicken tonight, like chicken tonight?

Not me!  Tonight I made stuffed peppers.  And they were kick-you-in-the-teeth good.

Sautee ground turkey with fajita spices.  Cook brown rice per box instructions.  Once the rice is cooked add chopped onions and green chiles and whatever additional spices you want to add.  Add the turkey.  Add enough tomato sauce to make the rice mixture moist.  Bake at 375 degrees until the pepper is cooked through.  Add more tomato sauce on the top if needed.  Put cheese and chili powder on top and broil until cheese is melty and delicious.  I also cooked two more tomatoes and another chili when I baked the peppers. 


It was waaaaaaay yummy!