The Enchanted Garden at Miller Library

I highlighted the inside of the Miller Library a couple of weeks ago.  There is another part of the Miller Library that is worthy of mention - The Enchanted Garden.  This garden is filled with plants that are native to the area, a garden, and is maintained by the Howard County Gardeners.  This garden is located off to the side of the library.  This is one of the two libraries that I frequent in Howard County.  Whenever I stop here, I make a point of stopping here, walking around the garden, and sitting for a while somewhere in the garden, spending some time communing with nature.  Come and join me in a quick stroll through the garden.

The entrance to the Enchanted Garden.

The view under the trellis in the garden.  If you hit this place at the right time, those tables and benches are full of people working on their laptops.

Heron water fountain in the middle. 

The arbor tunnel at the back of the garden.

The stream running through the center of the garden.

The view into the vegetable beds.  You can see the driveway and the street, just outside of the fence.

Check out the covers of the children's books in amongst the flowers.

A closer view of the vegetable gardens.

A pollinator box, surrounded by plants that attract pollinators.

The view from the back corner, by the vegetable boxes towards the library and the front gate.

Progress!!

This weekend was a great weekend for kitchen progress!  We were able to get a new cabinet in under the old countertop without breaking the old counter top!

I can't tell you how happy I am that this worked out so well! After pricing out counter tops at Lowe's and Home Depot on Friday, saving the existing counter top became a priority. 

Before we go any further, let me state that we have a laminate counter top over particle board, which gave the counter some "play" - or an ability to bend without breaking. This never would have worked with a solid surface counter. Even with this thought in mind, we were prepared for the whole counter to break while doing this. 

Husband began the day by measuring out the holes for the pipes, and cutting out the corresponding holes in the bottom of the cabinet. He measured out the interior height under the countertop and then cut the base of the cabinet until it was the correct height. (Power tools are crucial with these steps.)

You remember the mantra measure twice, cut once?  Husband measured 5 or 6 times before he cut anything.  Thankfully, we had no cases of  "cutter's regret!"

He then removed all of the screws holding the counter top to the cabinets, so that there would be some play with the counter - and the ability to lift it up, if need be - while trying to slide the cabinet in.  This is where he got very creative.  He used a car jack on either side of the opening - and a very large board - to push up the front edge of the counter while pushing the cabinet under.  This is the part we weren't certain would actually work!  We were expecting things to break here, so he cranked it up just enough to give him the under counter space he needed.

The jack and board combination.

Here, you can see the very scary bowing of the counter.

Slow & steady, he slid the cabinet in under the sink. The water under the sink has been turned off since we discovered the leak, but the hoses still have water in them, so he hung the hoses out of the kitchen window while sliding the cabinet through, and then he put a plastic trash bag in the bottom of the cabinet & put the hoses inside of a bucket, on top of the trash bag, just in case if there is any water that wants to sneak out. 

Hey presto - one very tense hour later, and the cabinet is in place!  

 Pushing the cabinet in just a little more....

That's all he got done this weekend. Next weekend he's going to install the sink, and then we'll call in the plumber to attach everything in here AND the plumbing in the shower in the hallway bathroom!!  Two birds with one stone!  Can you believe it?  We might actually have a working shower in the hallway bathroom by the end of the summer!!!!

Okay, one teensy problem, that backsplash along the back wall ended up coming loose.  Husband is going to pull it off and reattach it to the wall.  He's waiting for everything to settle down, and he wants the weight of the sink in the counter before he does it, though.

Hey, Property Brothers!  Take a look at what we just did!  We managed to save the kitchen counter and remaining cabinets and cut down on kitchen waste!  Only one cabinet was toasted - the rest is still working, and everything is level now.  BLISS!

So, Johnathan and Drew, the 2 not so young, not so photogenic homeowners could still use a little help with that hallway bathroom.  And then there's the matter of the master bathroom which became an official problem over the weekend..... 

This week didn't involve any expenditure of money - just expenditure of physical labor.

As of right now, we're still under our max budget of $1500.  We've spent $396 to date.

Next up?  Purchasing a sink and a faucet.

Other articles in this series:
Progress of One Kind and Another
It Only Looks Like We're Not Making Progress
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Monday Musings

We had a tornado roam through Howard County this week.  I work in Howard, so when the tornado came through, we were all sent to stand in the stairwell.  About 50 of us squeezed into the stairwell for over an hour.  I ended up sitting on the floor with a group of students, and we played Password with someone's cell phone app.  It was great!  While we had no damage where I work or where I live, there was some significant damage in the Western part of the county.  I drove through there on Friday, and I was surprised at the damage.  Considering that the tornado was an EF-0, I wasn't expecting that much damage.  Lots of homes and barns that lost roofs, and several barns that were destroyed.  Trees were down everywhere, and as of Friday, much of the area was still without power and the library was the distribution point for water.  (That part of the county is all on well, and without power, there's no way to pump the water.)

The British vote to leave the EU has shaken stock markets world wide.  I noticed that AFTER the elections, the top Google searches in Britain were:
1) What does it mean to leave the EU?
2) What is the EU?
3) Which countries are in the EU?
4) What will happen now that we've left the EU?
5) How many countries are in the EU?
(source, NPR: http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/06/24/480949383/britains-google-searches-for-what-is-the-eu-spike-after-brexit-vote)

As of early this morning, there were over 3 million signatures on a petition calling for another vote.  I've got news for you Britain: There are NO do-overs in elections.  You should have paid attention, done your research, and gotten out and voted last week.

There is a life lesson here for us in the United States.  There are no do-overs.  This is a Presidential Election year.  I can not stress it enough: Do your own independent research on the candidates.  Don't believe their social media posts, and don't believe what they say about each other.  Put the time in NOW to research so you will be ready to vote - and then actually get out and vote - come November.

I'm getting moles removed later this week - don't expect a lot of me on Weds. and Thurs.  I expect I'll be a little distracted by other things.  One of the moles is on my neck.  That's going to be a new experience.  I've never had one removed from my neck before.  I'm not really looking forward to it, but I'll be glad to have it gone!

We had this little guy climbing up our window screens this morning.  Up and down every window, he checked them all out. Both cats were inside, but it was enough to drive them insane!  This little guy is very young.  I saw him out with his mom last week, and he would run around for a while and then nurse for a while, and then run around for a while.  Very cute, but I am beginning to think that this one is going to be a problem when he gets a little older.

Enjoy your week!

Interviews

Last year, the a/c was out in my van. I had an afternoon interview after I finished work for the morning. It was noon when I left, and it was already close to 100* with the humidity up close to 90%. I rolled the windows down and headed down the road to the interview, trying to ignore the thoughts of what was happening to my hair. 

I arrived at the interview looking like the Wild Woman of Westeros. I had brought a change of shirt with me, so I slipped into the clean, dry shirt in the bathroom.  I could do nothing about my windswept hair except run a brush through it. Unlike everyone else, when it gets hot and humid, my hair gets flatter and straighter. I pulled the mess up into a barrette. When I took a serious look at my face, I gasped. It was bright red. I ran some cold water over it, but there wasn't much I could do. 

I presented myself to the startled receptionist, and then sat in a chair fanning myself with my folder until called into the interview. 

I faced a very startled looking panel, with a very proper gentleman at the head of the table. I began my introduction with the stock "The air conditioner is out in my car, and it feels like I drive through water to get here."  The proper gentleman struggled to keep a neutral face as we proceeded with the interview. 

Needless to say, I didn't get the job. 

However, one year later, I'm interviewing with the same organization. When HR called to schedule the interview the receptionist who had witnessed the whole fiasco last year asked me "Is your air conditioning fixed yet?"  

I guess I really did make an impression!!

It's a Sub Job. What Can Go Wrong?

I originally published this in 2013.  As I recall, this particular incident happened towards the end of the school year, but I didn't get around to writing it down until the summer of 2013.  Enjoy the look back!

When I sub, I normally only sub in grades K-3.  I'm certified to teach K-3, and when I was teaching, I taught K-3.  It's the group that I am most comfortable with, and am the best at teaching.  However, as the year comes to a close, I stop being so picky and take just about any job I can find.  I think it's that motivation that says "You won't be getting a paycheck in June, July, and August" that makes me be less picky.

One day in late May, I took a job entitled "Supplementary".  These jobs are the grab bag of the substitute world.  You don't know what you're getting into until you walk in the door of the building that morning.  Surprise!!

This particular day, I was assigned to 2nd grade in the morning and 5th grade in the afternoon.  The 2nd grade class was a hoot, and I spent a wonderful time with a great class of kids, and had an awesome set of lesson plans to follow.  I enjoyed myself no end.

The afternoon with 5th grade was particularly memorable.  The teacher had left us with a DVD to watch, and had trained one child how to turn it on and get it to go.  The movie was in her laptop, and it was to be projected from her laptop onto the white board in front of the room.  Her final words to me before she left were "YOU don't touch anything.  Only SHE does."  (Pointing to a child in the class.)  Okie Dokie!

We finished up the lesson she had left, and then SHE attempted to start the movie. Nothing happened.  The girl tried, again, and nothing happened.  The kids became very, very helpful.  (Overly helpful, even.)  Yet still, nothing happened.  I called down to the main office, and they sent an Assistant Principal down to "show us" how to make it work.  He ended up calling the media specialist, who then ended up calling the technology guy from the county who was in the building working on the network. 

So, while all of the great minds were working on getting the DVD to run, what were the kids doing?  We started playing "Simon Says".  Twenty minutes later, the crew of four adults looked at me and said "It's not working."  (Insert evil teacher/mom glare here.)  I asked, "So, what do I do?" 

"Oh," said the Assistant Principal, "You follow the plans she left you."  I handed them the plans that said: "Watch the movie.  The kids know how to turn it on.  YOU don't touch the laptop.  Only the trained student may start the DVD.   Dismissal begins at 3:15."  He gave me a blank stare, and you could see the same panic I was feeling beginning to build behind his eyes.

Thankfully, at that minute, the teacher next door stuck her head around the corner and said "Hey, do you want to join us?  I'm just about to start the movie.  The kids are welcome to come over and sit on the floor!"

At least I didn't touch the laptop!!

Progress of One Kind and Another

Our poor kitchen.  Pity me and my husband.  We've been locked out of the kitchen for close to a month now.  Granted, I'm not the world's best cook, and I don't always enjoy cooking, but when you can't get into your kitchen you really begin to miss it after a while.

We're making significant progress now.  The pace is picking up, and I am so very, very excited to see how fast things are moving along!

The sink has been removed from the counter.  We were both very surprised at the condition of BOTH of the joins underneath the drain in the sink.  Both were corroded.  The left sink bowl hadn't started leaking yet, but I honestly think it was only a matter of time before it started leaking.  The sink itself is only 12 years old, so I don't understand the corrosion and deterioration.  You might want to have a look at the pipes under your own sink and see how they're holding up. 

Wow, isn't it pretty?  We left the lower pipes, and more importantly the "U" bend, or trap intact.  This allows water to remain in pipe and keep sewer gas from coming back up into the house.

The view from the front. FYI - we DID turn the water in the sink OFF before we began taking this apart!  If we hadn't, we'd be dealing with even more water.

The sink and the faucet, out in the carport.   I'm also very concerned by the amount of mold and mildew behind the faucet and behind the drain/vent for the dishwasher.  I'm concerned that there is going to be damage to the drywall.  I guess we'll find out soon!

This week didn't involve any expenditure of money - just expenditure of physical labor.

As of right now, we're still under our max budget of $1500.  We've spent $396 to date.
The crucial moment is now.  The next bit hinges upon our ability to get the counter top out without breaking it....

I've stopped all mention of the Property Brothers around my husband.  He's feeling stress enough about this without my harping on how much faster/better Jonathan and Drew (and their crew of many tradespeople) could get this done.  Right now, it's just one guy with the help of his rather inept wife and overeager sons.


Other Posts in this Series:
It Only Looks Like We're Not Making Progress
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Catoctin Mountain

On Father's Day, daughter and I took husband out for a hike.  We ventured out to Catoctin Mountain in Frederick County.  We weren't planning on things being as crowded as they were.  At times, it seemed as if most of the greater Washington DC area had come out to Catoctin to hike the trails and check out Cunningham Falls!  Husband got an extra special present, too.  He sprained his ankle coming back over the ridge on our way back to the car from the falls. 

We hiked over to the falls from the visitor center.  Let me tell you, that was a pretty impressive hike over the ridge to the falls.  There was a lot of uphill, and the ground was quite rocky - great for turning an unsuspecting ankle.

A not quite so rocky, not quite so steep portion of the hike.

The view up the creek to the falls.  I thought this was prettier than the falls themselves.

A very hot dog cools off in the water.

Gorgeous, isn't it?

Out by the parking lot, that little stream has calmed down a lot!

If you'd like to find out more, visit these sites:

Cunningham Falls State Park

Catoctin Mountain Park

Monday Musings

The most fantastic boss, and a very good friend left my place of employment two weeks ago.   I love him dearly, and in the two weeks since he left, I realize just how much of a force he was in that place. When you have somebody who challenges you and helps you to realize just how much you actually can do - AND that person is your boss - WOW.  Just wow.  What a thrill it was, working for him!  I am going to miss him more than words can say.  I wish him well in the next step in his journey.

I've made more progress than I thought possible on stuff around the house this weekend.  In my continuing quest to get almost 2,000 things out of my house this year, I am in the process of tackling my closet.  I am cleaning and dumping clothes that no longer fit.  It's been a trying process.  I still don't want to admit how much junk I had in my closet, but I'll be hitting a big number when I tally things up at the end of the month.  Even better, I might be able to keep my closet doors closed....

My trainer is moving on to Graduate School at the end of next month.  I've been trying to work without him, at the same intensity level.  While in my head I know I can do it, I'm still having trouble trying to convince my body that I can push myself that hard without him there.  The mental game I'm playing with myself, to be able to do this, is more than I was expecting.  Honestly, the motivation to succeed is high.  I bought a cute little flirty skirt off the rack in the regular size at the store on Friday.  I'm wearing it to work today.  I want to continue to buy those cute little flirty skirts, and maybe even a few in a smaller size, so I will find a way to keep working out, and I'll find a way to step up the intensity level.

I don't know if you can clearly see the "Service Past Due -59 miles" note.

Finally, this picture.  The new car is smarter than I am.  It does a better job of keeping track of service dates than I do.  I had scheduled an oil change and service last week.  When I drove it into the mechanic's lot, this was the annoying message on the dashboard notification system.  Only the mechanic can reset that button.  Just how annoying is that?  I probably need something equally annoying to push me to go schedule my mammogram...

Book Review: Supernotes

image: Amazon

Disclaimer Notice: This post contains Affiliate Links.  

Agent Kasper works in Cambodia with his partner, Clancy.  The two of them own a bar in Phonm Penh named Sharkey's.  People come into Sharkey's to conduct business, and to get a drink and a bite to eat.  However, Sharkey's is not all that it seems.  Both Clancy and Kasper work for foreign governments.  Clancy for the CIA, and Kasper for the Italian Intelligence Agency.  In the course of their work, they have stepped on some powerful toes and have been warned to leave the country, immediately.

Unfortunately, the two do not get out of Cambodia fast enough, and they are captured by the government and then disappear.  Kasper's living nightmare begins with his capture, and he knows that he will never be allowed to leave alive.

Meanwhile, his girlfriend and mother back in Italy hire a very determined lawyer and they work together to find out what happened to Kasper and free  him.  As they dig deeper into the circumstances behind Kasper's disappearance, they find deeper and bigger forces than they ever expected are behind his disappearance, and that they have every intention of keeping Kasper and the information he has uncovered disappeared forever.

This book is a page turning, edge of your seat spy novel set in modern day Cambodia and Italy, with flashbacks to events that lead up to Kasper's situation.  With events ranging all over the globe, and people and events tied to every major government in the world, knowing who you can trust and who you can't is a guessing game.  Trusting the wrong people will leave you dead.

Things Overheard While Shopping

My own kids are now grown, so shopping is a mostly pleasant experience.  I say mostly, because I still have to PAY at the end of the trip.  That's not always quite so pleasant.  Gone are the days when the kids fought their way through the aisles, when I'd end up finding an associate, handing them my cart, telling them my name and asking them to put it somewhere for me until later that day when I could come back without the kids, and then scurrying my screaming brats out to the car.

I thoroughly enjoy the comments that I hear from kids and parents as I roam the aisles of Target, and have almost laughed out loud at some of the comments.

Here's a sampling of just a few I've heard over the past few weeks:

"Mom, Jamie hit me!"
"Jamie, did you hit your brother?"
"Ummmm..."
"Did you hit your brother?"
"It all happened so fast...."


"Dad, Mike called me an idiot"
Sotto voce, from the person in the aisle next to me: "If the shoe fits...."


At the Starbucks counter:

I need to speak to a manager. My drink doesn't sparkle. 

(Question here: how do you get a Frappucino to "sparkle"?)

And one jokester at the gym:  I'd like to complain, I've been a member here for 6mo tha and I haven't list any weight yet. 

Sir, I can set you up with one of our trainers & they can go over your workout plan with you. 

What??? I have to work out, too?  Next thing you know, you'll tell me I have to watch what I eat!

It Only Looks Like We're Not Making Progress

We found a leak that had gone on for far too long under out kitchen sink last month.  Husband pulled out anything that was wet and biodegradable from that area and threw it out.  We put up a big plastic tarp on this side of the kitchen and walled it off from the rest of the house.  We have the dehumidifiers going in here constantly, but for the last week, no water has been in the reservoir. I'm taking that as a good sign.

All the wet wood is gone, gone, gone.

While this part of the kitchen has been drying out, we've pulled out all of our scouting skills, and have been cooking out on the grill and propane camp stove a lot.  It's been a challenge, and not in the way you might think.  Do you like bugs in your spaghetti?  The bugs like spaghetti.  They fly over the pot, get zapped by the hot steamy water and fall into the pot.  We've put a lid on the pot, lifting only to stir the spaghetti, but those little guys are wicked fast!  I keep telling myself it's extra protein....

We are very fortunate that the water damage didn't extend to the sub floor, into the basement, or under the hard tile floor.  (Although I really wouldn't mind getting rid of that tile.... but I am not ready to put out money for that expense at this time!)

We were out looking at cabinets this weekend.  Our biggest concern was that we were going to have to rip out all of the old cabinets and replace them.  I had hopes of pulling out just the damaged cabinet and re-using the existing cabinet doors and faces.

On our scouting expedition to Home Depot and Lowe's, we found an exact match for the cabinet size.  We might end up switching out the doors so that they match the existing cabinets, but the wood on the face is an exact match.  (Thank you to the previous owners (OK, my in-laws) for using stock cabinetry when they remodeled the kitchen!)

Hey look!  It's a new base cabinet!

We are going to replace the sink and faucet when we replace the bottom cabinet.  I have hopes of getting a garbage disposal installed, too.  And a plumber to make sure it's done correctly.   This part of the job will not be a "do it yourself" fix.

The bigger question includes the existing counter top.  We're going to  have to pull it up and out in order to replace that cabinet.  The counter tops themselves are in good shape.  I really don't want to replace them if we don't have to, because we've got a significant amount of counter top space - it's a long "L" shaped piece of counter right there, and then there's a very short "L" shaped piece of counter top on the opposite corner of the kitchen that I don't want to replace - because nothing is wrong with it - but if we replace that counter top on one side, we'll have to replace it on the other side, too.  The counters themselves are 12 years old.  I know they aren't the "hip" thing, but they work.  I guess we're going to have to wait and see if we can successfully remove the existing counter top without damaging it when we go to replace the base cabinet.

Middle child is back at work this week, but he'll be home for a couple of days next week.  He and husband are plotting to fix this on Monday and Tuesday of next week while he's home.  Another week without a kitchen.  Another week of "interesting" meals.  I see more salads in our future.

You know, I don't think the Property Brothers move this slowly.  I watch their shows all the time, and it's less than an hour from start to finish.  Obviously, we're doing something wrong!  I can mention this here, because I'm afraid that if I mention this, even jokingly to husband's face again, he's going to file for divorce....

Here's my Property Brothers moment:
Can the homeowners come in under their $1500 max renovation budget?

Total spent so far:
Lowe's, 6/12/13 $198
New Base Cabinet for under sink.

Home Depot, 5/29/16  $198

doorknob, 2 mold approved face masks, 1 large (10'  x 25') tarp, reusable latex gloves with extra long cuffs, bleach, tarp tape, small sheet of plywood, propane tank for the grill.

Total Spent to Date:  $396


Other Posts in this Series:
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Jonathan and Drew - if you're reading this - 2 not so starry eyed, not so young people looking to fix the house that's been in the same family for 46 years could use some help!

Monday Musings

Thoughts and prayers go to the people in Orlando, and especially to those who have lost loved ones.

Another week without a kitchen.  This is starting to get old!  We've been grilling a lot.  Who knew that it was possible to get this tired of grilled food?  Maybe I'll start working on slow cooker meals this week.  I really want my kitchen back.

A happy bunch of flowers!

The weather has been wonderful for drying clothing outdoors.  We've been drying everything outside (except on days when rain is in the forecast.)  I've been getting clothes in the wash early in the morning, and then getting them out on the line before I leave for work.

Daughter had a post-op infection set in after her wisdom teeth were pulled.  *sigh*.  She went back for her follow up check up, and yep, she was infected.  The doctor gave her a shot of antibiotics, and she passed out.  Yeah, great way to spend an afternoon.   She spent some extra time in the office, and then we got her home.   She's still taking oral antibiotics.  She's goes back to the doctor next week.  You know, she had a pretty massive abscess on the other side of her jaw in January that took three rounds of antibiotics to clear out.  I'm hoping that this infection clears out faster.  The surgeon assured me that the two are not related, but you know how a mother's mind works.  I'm convinced they're related somehow.

Middle son is getting ready to head back to what might very well be his very last year of summer camp.  He's senior staff, and the challenges are many.  He's enjoying the challenges.  He is also planning on spending a lot of time thinking through "what comes next" for him. He graduates next year, and some decisions need to be made between now and then. (Questions like: do I go to graduate school or into the work world?)

I reviewed The Curious Cat Spy Club on my Books for Teens blog.  You can link to my review here.  

The general election is coming up soon.  Have you registered to vote?  You've got time, so now is the time to find out if you are registered, and if you're not to go register.  Find out where your polling location is, and find our where the early voting locations are in your area.  It might seem like your vote doesn't matter, but it truly does.

Shake the Dust off Your Feet

It's been a rough couple of weeks at work.   Half of our staff has quit in the last week.  HALF!!!!

I ran across this on Facebook and it nicely sums up my thoughts.  

Monday Musings

It's been a week.  No kitchen to cook out of, and I've learned many, many things.

Food:
1) I love my slow cooker.  I've cooked a couple of awesome meals in the slow cooker.  One was this recipe for Moroccan Chick Pea Stew that I found in Mother Earth Living Magazine.  I made a huge batch, so not only did we have enough for dinner on the day I made it, we had enough for leftovers the next day.

2) We do have a grill, and we've used that for two very tasty meals this week.  We roasted a bunch of veggies and then served those in corn tortillas one night for dinner.  The second time, we cooked up a bunch of chicken.  We had chicken for dinner one night, and enough left over to turn into Pulled Chicken BBQ a second night.

3) The fire pit in the back has been put into use.  We pulled out our Scouting Skills, and cooked up a pretty fabulous chili one night (with a strawberry rhubarb cobbler for desert), and another night we fried up a shrimp stir fry in the cast iron skillet - we sat it on top of the grate over the coals.  Wow, that was a much better dinner than it is when I make it on the stove.  Maybe the extra hot heat from the fire gave it that really extra special crunch?  I don't know, but it was awesome!

4) I picked up the makings for some awesome salads at the farmer's markets over the last week, so we were able to make several meals of very fresh salads.  I'm so glad it's vegetable season!

So, lessons learned -
Long term, I really don't mind cooking outside.  It has kept the house much cooler this summer, and less strain has been put on our air conditioner as it attempts to cool the house back down after dinner.  An outdoor summer kitchen sounds like a great idea.  You know, families used to do this back before the advent of air conditioning, there was always a stove on the back porch, or a separate kitchen.   Both of my Grandmothers kept wood fired stoves on their back porch for summer use!  I need to revisit this idea!

If your kitchen is going to be out of commission for weeks, make sure you arrange this to happen during the summer months, when cooking outdoors is not going to be as much of a challenge as it would be in the winter.

Washing dishes outside has been a challenge.  We've been using paper plates for eating, but using our regular utensils for eating.  Since we can't get to the kitchen sink, we've washed some of the smaller stuff in the bathroom sink.  The bigger stuff, we're washing outdoors in a bucket with hot, soapy water.  Maybe my outdoor kitchen should include a plan for water of some kind, too.  And a sink.

Keep an emergency savings account, and keep adding to it.  You never know when an emergency is going to hit, and having that cushion brings a wonderful level of comfort to your life! 

Other than the fun of cooking outdoors for a week, life has been pretty quiet around here!  How about you?





 

Blue Hair

 This post originally appeared in my now defunct "Mom's View" blog in 2013.  I moved it to this blog at the request of my kids, who wanted to have all of the various posts that accompanied their high school years in one place. Enjoy!

My 16 year old daughter dyes her hair.  I'm not thrilled with it, but if this is her form of rebellion, I can live with it.  Dyeing her hair is so much better than many other ways she could choose to rebel.  (Drinking, drugs, sex, etc.)

Usually, she dyes that beautiful head of brown hair red.

I came home to a different experience Thursday night.

Her hair was blue.

She had bought a bottle of blue hair dye at the store, and attempted to dye the red/brown mass blue.

Do you remember the story in Anne of Green Gables, where Anne attempted to dye the mass of red hair black, and it turned green?  This story reminds me of Anne's attempt to dye her hair.

Not only is her hair this hideous color of blue-green, so is her scalp.  And her hands.  Her neck.  Her ears.  Her nose.  Her forehead.  Her fingers are really blue, and her cuticles are just freaky.

Of course, she chose to do this on a Thursday night.  Do you see the problem yet?  She still had to go to school yesterday.  The good news is that hand sanitizer does remove some of the dye.  The bad news is, she's still a ghastly shade of blue.

Fortunately, she has a good sense of humor.  She went to school with a scarf around her neck to hide the dye on her neck.  She left her hair down so it would cover her ears.  Her face and hands are still a ghastly shade of blue, though.

When questioned about the blue, (as any normal person would), she told people one of three things:

1) I've been feeling a little blue lately.

2) I'm releasing my inner smurf.

3) I decided to go Avatar.  Didn't  you get the memo?

I honestly can't imagine what her day was like.  I offered the option of staying home, but she decided to go to school.

I'm proud of her.  It's not everyone who can pull off the blue look and hold their head up in school for the entire day!

Book Review: Not Your Mother's Make Ahead and Freeze Cookbook

Disclosure Notice: No Affiliate Links here!  I couldn't figure out how to get through Amazon's new screens to get a good picture.  Ergo, this fun picture that I took with my phone.

I had to laugh when I was reading Jessica's introduction to the book.  She talked about Once A Month Cooking.  (OAM).  Have any of you ever done that hot mess?  It was a big thing back in the 90's.  I would sit down and carefully plan out my meals for a month (or a little longer).  I would vary my recipes between chicken, beef, pork, and vegetarian.  I would then spend a day shopping.  We're talking a huge grocery shop here.  I'd go to BJ's, and I'd spend about $150 on the food.  Come back home and stuff it all in the fridge and freezer.  The next day was cooking day.  I'd chop vegetables, cook meat, saute things, assemble meals, and then freeze them all.  Clean up was hideous.  Every pot pan and bowl in the house was used.  BUT - at the end of the day, I had cooked meals for a month or so.  My kids were all born in the 90's, and I loved having quick meals to pull out and put on the table when they were infants and toddlers.  Not having to do meal prep with hungry toddlers running around.  Not quite bliss, but it was wonderful.  Over the years, I've moved away from OAM meals, but I am still a very big fan of cooking ahead.  I'll assemble meal kits, or crock pot dump meals, or cook two of something and freeze on for later use.  This has saved me more than once when faced with the conundrum of "What's for Dinner?"  I am always on the lookout for recipes that lend themselves well to preparing ahead, but don't leave me with a frozen, soggy mass of limp vegetables and tough, overcooked meat.  I was browsing through my local library last week when I found this gem!  Not Your Mother's Make-Ahead and Freeze Cookbook is going to become a staple in my house.

This is not a collection of dump recipes.  Nor is it a collection of casseroles.  Yes, there are some casseroles.  There are a couple of dump recipes.  But what really sets this book apart for me is that you are assembling meals.  Sauces and spices and meats are frozen together so that when you get ready to prep a meal, items are combined to make a fresh fantastic meal.

 

I've tried two recipes out of here so far.  The Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole is a freezer meal - but not the way you might expect.  The raw chicken was stored in a zip top bag with the marinade, and that bag was stored inside of a larger bag with the rice and seasonings.  The night before, I pulled the materials out to let them thaw in the fridge, and we had an awesome dinner the next night.  I came home, dumped everything in a 13 x 9 inch casserole, put dishes in the dishwasher away, and then looked up in surprise when dinner was ready.  Holy cow, that was good!  (Hint- if you do check this book out and decide to try this recipe, keep an eye on the rice.  It doesn't need a full 2 hours of bake time.  Mine was done in about an hour.)  

I tried the fish tacos over the weekend.  So awesome!  The make ahead version calls for the fish to be stored in a zip top bag, and for the seasonings to be stored in a separate baggie within the bag.  Personally, I'd be tempted to also store the corn tortillas in the same zip top bag.  I like having as many parts together as possible when I pull something out of the freezer.  

For me, with my food allergies, I love the recipes.  Jessica calls for fresh, not processed foods.  No processing means no chance of gluten or dairy.  Even better, it is easy for me to substitute out the foods that I can't eat or don't like.  

If you're looking for some new, fun ideas for freezer cooking, give this book at try!

2016 Resolutions - June Update

Just look at that Oregano grow!  At least something is thriving!

Holy cow, am I glad last month is over.  So far, I feel like I've been hemorrhaging money.  We've hit up our savings account frequently this year, and every time we get it back up to a certain point, something else breaks.  So very, very glad that we have money set aside "just in case" something goes wrong.  We've had a lot of "something else" this year.

So, way back in January, I set this very optimistic set of goals of things that I wanted to accomplish this month.  Funny, funny girl.  With the way life is happening to us this year, I don't thing we're going to make any forward progress on anything else anytime soon.

Anyway, here is my very optimistic look at what I thought I could accomplish this year:

1) Remodel the Hall Bathroom.
Yeah, I thought this was going to happen this year, but then THIS happened this week:  One step forward, two steps back.

2) Improve My Health
Looking beyond the numbers on the scale, I am going after the big picture numbers that add up to an overall look at my body chemistry and how my body is functioning as a system.  This led me to three separate categories:

a) Lose Inches Off My Waist
My goal for this year is 3 inches.  Still not at 3, but I have lost over 2!  HOORAY!

b) Get My Blood Pressure Down into the Normal Range
YES!!  120/60!  No lecture from the doctor this year, instead I got a hearty "Keep up the good work!"
This time last year, my blood pressure was at 140/80.  Danger, Will Robinson, Danger!

c) Go Down at Least One Clothing Size.  
For me, this is pretty phenomenal!

3) Restart my Vegetable Garden
This spring has been so wet, everything that I put into the ground was drowned.  For now, this is just not going to happen.  My herb pot is a success, though!

4) Learn to Pressure Can
SO, we have a glass top stove.  Pressure canners do not work on a glass top stove because they can't consistently keep the temperature up high enough.  This one might very well be a wash.

5) Daughter's Quilt
Oh, yeah, the quilt.  I need to get back to that.

6) Clean Out and Organize the Carport
The kids did this for me when they were all home the weekend after Mother's Day.  Thanks guys!

7) Exercise Consistently
4 or 5 days every week.

8) Clean Out 23 Things a Week
Originally, the goal was to clean out 23 things a month.  Then I changed it to 23 things a week.  For the entire 52 weeks of the year, that would have required me to get rid of 1196 things for the year.  I met that goal in May.  Good thing the house is cleaner!  It means we had room to shift stuff over to other places when we had to tarp off the kitchen!

Items out of the House this month: 47
Items out so far this year: 1320

9) Participate in the NoSpenduary Challenge.
Thank God I did this, both in February and in March.  It has literally saved our asses as things continue to break and fall apart at an alarming rate.  I originally found this challenge on the Frugal, Debt Free Life Blog. Bless your heart, Lydia.  Because of this challenge, we have not yet gone down the rabbit hole of massive credit card debt with the huge expenses we've had in 2016:  1 abscessed tooth requiring a root canal.  1 crown for said tooth.  The van needing huge repairs not once but TWICE, (once for the a/c, once because it just stopped working late at night when husband was on his way home from choir practice.), AND 1 leaking, moldy mess under the kitchen sink. No idea how that much is going to run, but I am really glad that we have construction and rebuilding experience from volunteering with Habitat for Humanity over the years.  That will help cut down on some of our expenses.

10) Visit one Place on My Bucket List
Phase One: Completed  (We know where we're going.)
Phase Two: Finished
 (Everyone will be capable of going.  Vacations have been requested and approved by everyone.)
Phase Three: We were going to make reservations at hotels, but with the way this summer is going, we might very well have to camp....

11) Get at least half of the CEU's I need to keep my teaching  and my library certificate.
 I worked to hard to get those certifications to just let them lapse!  It's never fun to take classes, but it's even LESS fun to have to retake all of the classes for a certificate you let lapse.  (Or worse - to retake a mandatory test.  I'm thinking of the Praxis exams.  I took the NTE's back in the 80's.  I'm not sure how well I'd do on the Praxis exams if I were to have to take them now.  Especially since it's been more years than I want to admit since I've sat in on college classes.)

12) Scrapbooking
I need to catch up.  I know I had years that I didn't do this.  I went through all of the albums and found the years that I have not yet finished.  These are the years I am in search of:
2006
2009
2010
2011
2012
2015

13) Walk or Bike a portion of at least 6 Rail Trails

A Lime Kiln on the NCR Trail.

The challenge has begun!  The first trail has been explored.
 Note to self: take more water next time - twice the amount you'll think you need, carry one bottle with you, keep extra in the car for when you get back.  Those trails are not as shaded as the woodland trails in the State Parks.  

Now that the rain has stopped, we need to get back to this.  I also need to get away from the onslaught of crap that is going on in our house. 

The NCR Trail 

 14) Pay off the big debt and one smaller one-
The big debt is gone.  It's nice to have one monkey off my back!  Before I go to work on the smaller debt, I desperately need to rebuild the emergency savings account.  If you remember, it was depleted over the course of a dental emergency and a car repair.  We had wisdom teeth removed last week, and it was nice to be able to pay for that and still have money left in the emergency savings account.  Seriously people, if you don't have an emergency savings account with at least $1000 put aside, don't wait another day.  Do it NOW.  Just do it.  Don't make excuses.  Doing the NoSpenduary Challenge is a great way to start.  I know it's inconvenient, but it's summer.  Public Libraries are open, with free programming available for children, and there are concerts and free movies in parks and community areas everywhere.  This is a great time to take a break from spending and find out just how creative you can be while keeping your kids entertained.

15) The Recipes Tab
I nicely fixed up the recipe tab so that it is easy to find recipes that I've posted on here before.  For me, this is my online recipe book.  Some of the recipes are my own.  Some, I posted direct links to other sites.  You might or might not choose to use it, but I use it on a pretty regular basis, and I've found out that one of the boys does, too.  He likes the fact that most of what I've listed is food he already loves and that everything is fairly easy to make and budget conscious.  (Hey Kiddo!  Glad you stopped by for a while!)

How are you doing on your resolutions this year?