Giant Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have a hankering for chocolate chip cookies, and thought it would be fun to make them giant-sized. So I went looking on the Internet and found Giant Chocolate Chip Cookies from the All Recipes site.

I actually managed to follow the recipe exactly. Except my recipe only made 9 giant cookies, instead of one dozen.

Until next time.

Display Entire Post...

Back to Summary View...

My 9 Month Old Pooch

I shot this picture of him yesterday. He's gotten SOOOO big!! We weighed him a couple of weeks ago, and he weighed 69 pounds. Not an ounce of fat on him, he's pure muscle. He loves playing fetch and is learning to herd the basketball outside. He still rolls around on his back with toys, pawing the air and chomping the toy.

He outgrew his crate several weeks ago; he could still get in and snuggle into a tightly curled ball, but he couldn't stretch out at all and it just didn't feel right to expect him to sleep that way. One night he had an accident in his crate and it was taken outside for cleaning but never got brought back in.

The first few nights, I didn't feel comfortable allowing him to sleep by himself in the livingroom, so I called him to sleep with us in bed. He was so excited to get to sleep with us. Around that time, my asthma started acting up, and I started to wonder if it was because I had a dog sleeping in my bed... after all, I did test positive as being allergic to dogs. Also because he is so big, I was sleeping on the very edge of my side and dh was getting his back scratched every night due to the pooch stretching out.

So we decided to let him sleep in the living room. He is house broken, but I was worried that he might not be able to make it overnight. His being housebroken is such a HUGE thing for dh and I. When I was growing up, I remember when I was 6 years old and we had a dog that we could never get housebroken. Well duh, we were gone many hours a day. We dealt with that problem in later years by having outside only dogs. We used to babysit this one dog, a Golden Retriever named Dukie but he was housebroken by his owners. When dh and I were first married, our first Christmas, he bought me a miniature black poodle. I named her Mistletoe and we called her Missy. We could never get her housebroken. We finally gave her to one of our neighbors that wanted her. Our other dogs were already housebroken since we got them as adults. We couldn't get our sister puppies, Tess and Penny, housebroken. We just didn't know how to do it, duh!! We would let them out by themselves and then call them back in and they would wait until they came back in to potty!!!!

With LJ, I took him outside and stayed with him and told him to "go potty" and praised him when he went. He figured out what we wanted him to do.

Early Thursday morning, around 2am, I heard whining at our bedroom door. I got up because I figured LJ had to go potty. He was so happy to see me, his tail wagging hard but he was also slowly walking toward the front door, where he rang the bell.

We've trained him to not bark in the house, and this works out really wonderfully as he will look up and listen when he's inside, but mostly sleeps through hearing our other dogs barking.

I figured he had to go to the bathroom since he usually sleeps through the night. I stood on the front steps outside the front door, listening to the night sounds. Hannah, our dog pack leader was moving things around by the garden, probably after a lizard or some crawling critter. The moon was shining brightly and I could hear one of our milkers, Miss L. calling questioningly, wondering if it was time for milking yet, and what was going on over there with all that racket? One of our other dogs, Tess, ran over to see LJ. Through all this, he did his business and came running back to come indoors and continue his night's sleep. I have let him stay outside two or three nights and it is so funny because the next day he's exhausted since he's been on high alert all night long. Anyway, that was a huge breakthrough, as to me it says he is fully housetrained and he also respects that this is our territory and not to be soiled.

I was realizing the other day that he never bothers the trash. I mentioned that to dh this morning and he said that LJ did show some interest in the trash a few days ago, but he corrected him and that's that. He is so intelligent.

Oh, the latest thing he's learning is to carry the flashlight. He is so proud and excited about his light. The past week when I leave for work it's dark - that's normal since I leave at 5:30am, but I've been home late every single night and it is also dark once I arrive home (close to 7pm). LJ carries the flashlight proudly every morning and evening. There is a little rope with a ball hanging on the flashlight. Sometimes he carries it by the rope, but sometimes he carries the whole flashlight in his mouth. Backwards. So the light is shining into his throat, LOL!! He is so proud. He prances around happily, with his ears back and shoves the light into the other dogs' faces trying to show them how special he is.

I'm excited about it, because he is learning to carry something, and now he'll understand to carry other things.

He is usually anxious to go outdoors in the early morning and help with chores (cleaning the milk strip cup, mainly), but since it's been colder in the morning he has been staying indoors where it is warm and snuggly. I have a pattern for a dog sweater, I am really tempted to buy one for him from Walmart, they are only ten dollars. But I want to make him one, so I keep crocheting along on the baby sweater.

Tess and he love to play fight.

I practice a lot with him, ordering him to stop when he's very excited about something. For example, I have heard for years that you should never play tug-of-war with your dog. But then I learned that you can play tug, it's just important to follow some rules to make sure you don't end up with any problems. Interestingly enough none of the dogs will play tug with LJ. They must have figured out long ago that he can hold on longer and is stronger, so they don't even bother to play with him. He will pick up a toy to play tug with and shove it into their faces, trying to coax them into playing with him. They won't, so I do. We play tug for a few minutes at a time, then I tell him "DROP!" and he lets go of the toy right away. I have him sit, then tell him "Catch!" and toss the toy directly to him. He is getting better at catching, especially if the tug toy is floppy.

He was so mouthy for the longest time, but he has grown past that stage as well. I worked with him on bite inhibition, so he understands that he must be gentle with hands.

I didn't understand in the beginning when he was biting so much all the time, that he was just being a puppy!! It's a normal part of being a puppy to bite everything all the time! He has absolutely no aggressive behavior with regards to food, even his beloved *bones* that he gets every day. We have been buying him beef back ribs and having the butcher cut them into 4 inch long pieces and he just loves them. I can take him bone right out of his mouth and pretend to nibble on it myself and he just watches me with curiosity.

He's an awesome dog.

Until next time.

Display Entire Post...

Back to Summary View...

Baby Garden Greens

I need to spend more time in my garden! It's time I planted more seeds, and I have more weeding and thinning to do. I decided to take a trip out there earlier this evening, and I was delighted to find that I have lots of mature radishes, just ready for the picking! I am glad I decided to not buy any from the store while we were doing our grocery shopping today. The last ones I bought had a chemical taste to them anyway. I had a thick clump of lettuce growing together, so I transplanted about a dozen of them. I picked a few outer leaves. I also thinned out a few beets, but there are a lot more that need to be thinned and/or transplanted. I weeded out more Malva, but there is still a lot left! The radishes are growing like mad all over and I really need to thin them out as well.

I always order my seeds from Pinetree Seeds. They are my favorite seed company. I've been ordering seeds from them for over a decade. Here is what they say about their company, "While we sell a variety of items for the home gardener, we started out as a vegetable seed company and this remains our primary focus. We spend the majority of our time in our trials evaluating vegetable seed varieties and produce some of them here. Since we deal only with home gardeners, we don't worry about shipping or machine harvesting characteristics. What we do worry about is flavor, space efficiency, beauty, and uniqueness. If you can't find something you are looking for in the regular vegetable section, be sure to check the Vegetable Favorites from Around the World section that directly follows the standard vegetable section."

I love looking at their seed catalog, reading the descriptions and imagining all these lovely veggies growing in my garden. I'm so excited that so far my garden is not being ravaged by any pests! The gophers seem to be stumped by the chicken wire in the bottom of the bed, or maybe they've moved away?

My harvest consisted of: Purple Plum radishes, Oakleaf lettuce, Plato lettuce, Black Seeded Simpson lettuce, Fordhook Swiss chard, and baby beets. I really must take a look again at my catalog and order a few more packages of seeds. I am planning to grow kale for the first time, because it is a favorite of ds2. Pinetree Seeds is located in New Gloucester, Maine so the planting instructions are a bit different for our climate, but that's okay because I know what gets planted at this time of year. I like to order this lettuce mixture: 203. PINETREE LETTUCE MIX (begin harvesting in 40 days) We have been experimenting with various Mesclun Mixes from France and Italy and you will find these in the ethnic vegetable sections. We see a number of advantages to mixing greens: you get a variety of colors, textures, tastes and maturation times from the same planting. This mix has a uniquely American twist, however; they are all leaf lettuces and all sweet varieties. You won't get anything bitter or spicy. The mix will contain all the looseleaf varieties in the catalog and nearly a dozen others. Our reasoning must have struck the right note. This has become our best selling item and we continue to receive hundreds of compliments on it.

This package contains ~500 seeds and costs $0.95. That is a GREAT price!! I try to order seeds at least once or twice a year and shipping is only $1.95 each time when you order only seeds.

This is the list of things that can be planted this month (T = Transplants, S = Seeds, if no symbol assume Seeds):

• Asparagus T
• Beets*
• Bok Choy
• Broccoli TS
• Brussel Sprouts T
• Cabbage TS
• Cabbage, Chinese TS
• Carrots*
• Cauliflower TS
• Chard TS*
• Collard Greens
• Endive
• Kale
• Kohlrabi TS
• Lettuce, Head TS
• Lettuce, Leaf TS*
• Mustard
• Onions, Bulb
• Onions, Green
• Peas
• Radishes*
• Rutabagas
• Spinach
• Turnips

*Items currently in my garden.

Tonight we will have a little salad to go along with our grilled Green Chili and Cheese burgers.

Until next time.

Display Entire Post...

Back to Summary View...

Crocheting On The Way Home

I am sure I've mentioned time and again my lengthy drive home. On the way home on Tuesday evening, I turned my two skeins of yarn into balls, and I got started on the rib for the toque. I learned with the first skein that the yarn would become incredibly tangled if I just pulled the center piece. I ended up having to turn half a skein of tangled yarn into a ball. This was much easier. Took me about 20 minutes per ball.

This yarn -- Bernat Baby Coordinates Sweet Stripes Yarn -- is the worst I've ever used. I am pretty sure the problem lies in the fact that I'm crocheting instead of knitting. The crochet hook manages to hook the little shiny thread that is wrapped around the yarn.

I'll be really glad when I'm done with this little outfit. I can't wait to move onto something to knit. Now on the way home today I got some more rows added to the rib of the toque. Actually I had an opportunity to crochet the rows that are white while I was doing the company banking. I happened to get in line with a new teller, being trained by another gal that I saw for the first time about two weeks ago. I was probably there for fifteen minutes. The training teller asked me what I was knitting. I explained to her that I was crocheting. A few minutes later, she needed "teller assistance" and a young man came over and asked me what I was sewing. ;-)

Then on the way home, I managed to crochet the blue rows.

Have I taken loss of my senses? Driving while crocheting?

No, dear reader. Here is the reason I was able to crochet on my way home on Tuesday evening:

There was apparently a fatality on the only highway that I can get home on. It is only two lanes going both directions. Traffic was held up on both sides for at least an hour.

I considered voting early in the morning (next time I will remember to vote by mail!) since the polling place was 4 miles away from home. But I had such a busy week ahead of me, that I decided to wait until after work. I left work late, and then ran into this huge parking lot on my way home. I had to go home first, (because I forgot my wallet at home!) and of course after sitting and driving for two hours, I had to use the little girl's room. So I got to the polling place at 6:40pm.

Today I don't know what was wrong on the freeway, all I know is it was backed up into a parking lot. So I thought I'd take the alternative route, (this is before I hit the highway which takes me home) which proved to be a lengthy wait, but gave me more time to crochet.

I finally got my asthma attack under control last night. I realized/decided what I was experiencing was an asthma attack. I started back on the Flovent and was taking a homeopathic remedy every thirty minutes which helped a lot. I am still needing to use my inhaler every 4 hours or so. I hope I can get this under control without needing to contact my doctor, who might want me to take prednisone. Although the last time he said I should take it, I told him straight out I wanted nothing to do with it, and he was okay with that. It causes some unearthly cravings and hunger. I am feeling pretty good about my eating and body right now, that's the last thing I need is to be on prednisone.

Until next time.

Display Entire Post...

Back to Summary View...

200th Post

Too bad it's not something more exciting... I am not even going to blog about yesterday evening. I'm actually a bit worried about myself. Ever since the head cold, my breathing has not been right and I've had to use my inhaler much more often than I have for at least a year. I was using it maybe 5-15 times a month, and now suddenly I'm up to 4-5 times daily. It has been very dusty and the air quality has been poor in the city where I work.

Tonight my breathing got much much worse and I felt I needed to use Albuterol barely 1.5 hours after the last dose.

I decided I would start back on Flovent. I just saw my allergy/asthma specialist not two weeks ago and he was surprised that I had done so well during the head cold. He said most people end up having to take prednisone. I only had to start using the Albuterol again. So... he did tell me if I had to start using the Albuterol more than four times a day regularly, that I should go back on the Flovent.

I also dug out my Fenugreek, took some of that, and I have a homeopathic remedy for Asthma which says to take every half hour during the acute phase.

I have been to the emergency room with an asthma attack just a few weeks after I was diagnosed with asthma. They don't find it important at all. I sat wheezing and gasping for 8 hours. They finally put me into a room, gave me a breathing treatment and a shot of prednisone. I'm not going through that again. The physician who saw me said I could use the Albuterol as often as every two hours. I did not know that.

So I don't feel like being at the computer, and have rambled on much longer than I thought I would. I am going to take more of the homeopathic remedy and if I'm still having trouble breathing by 8:30pm I'm going to use my son's breathing machine to get a really good dose. He is prescribed a more pure form of Albuterol, too, so it might help more than mine.

Gasp. I'm actually feeling much less stressed about my breathing.

Maybe I'll take a nice hot bath...

Until next time.

Display Entire Post...

Back to Summary View...

One Thing After Another

And now this! Blogger won't let me post my pictures!

I keep getting a 502 Server Error and "The server encountered a temporary error and could not complete your request. Please try again in 30 seconds."

Thirty seconds, hah! I have tried several times now and I'm not getting anywhere.

Grrrrrr.

I am too tired for this. I will have to wait to blog about today, tomorrow.

Until next time.

Display Entire Post...

Back to Summary View...

Baby Sweater Update II

Alrighty then!! Moving right along!! I had to rip out one completed sleeve but I managed to get it completed yesterday, along with the second sleeve. Now if I didn't have a bunch of other things to do today, I could probably complete the sweater and move on the "Toque". Waaahhhh!!

I have to work from home today, for 2-4 hours. Another little job I do once monthly is due today. And I need to get the mortgage payment ready to mail tomorrow. Lots of little things.

Of course when I have all this work to do, I am struck with a hankering for cooking. So I defrosted 2 pounds of hamburger this morning, used a meatball recipe from NT (only halfway followed it, beginning with the fact that I used beef, instead of lamb). I cooked one dozen eggs this morning with 1 leftover chicken breast, 6 one week old roast beef and cheese enchiladas, 3 sliced and diced slices of my "good for you" soaked flour bread from last weekend, plus 1/2 cup milk. Uh... this was for the DOGGIES. ;-)

Then I scrambled fifteen eggs for breakfast for the people. I made breakfast burritos yesterday and used a dozen eggs and we were running out of filling. So I made them again today, using an extra three eggs. Ds1 hasn't gotten up for breakfast yet. Dh and I ate a good portion of the eggs, then Ds2 got up and finished them off.

This is what went into them:

• 2 thin slices of finely diced onion sauteed in 1 tablespoon butter
• 4 roasted green chilies, diced
• 8 thin slices of ham, diced
• 5 mushrooms, sliced

After the onion sautes for awhile, add the green chilies, ham and mushrooms. Let that cook for a while on medium heat, about 5 minutes. In the meantime, add the eggs to the blender to whir and blend well. Add to the pan and stir constantly to make soft scrambled eggs.

On Sunday morning, I added grated cheese to the top and let it melt. Today I didn't.

I washed several day's worth of eggs -- 45 eggs. That's not even counting yesterday's eggs! I am going to crack them all into ziploc sandwich baggies so we'll have eggs in the freezer when the hens slow down again. I'll put two in some bags, and up to six in others. Dh says the hens are down to about a dozen a day now, from 18 a day last week. We are OVERRUN with eggs!!

We got a killer deal on canning jars from a local grocery. $5.00 for each case of 12. We ended up buying 6 cases. I believe we got two cases of 8 ounce jars, three of 12 ounces and one of 16 ounces. The 8 ounce jars will work great for making individual portions of egg custard. I guess people use them to make candles, too.

Until next time.

Display Entire Post...

Back to Summary View...

Toilet Mystery SOLVED

I've had a closer look at the toilets this morning.

Note to self: Don't measure the distance of the floor to the rim of a toilet while the toilet is lying on its side, in the dark, in the back of a truckbed while using a cloth tape measure.

The toilets are not Right Height.

The toilets are of the Cadet line. The tank is a dead giveaway of that line. I've narrowed those toilets down to 7.

1. Cadet Elongated Pressure Assist Toilet
2. Cadet 3 Elongated Toilet 14" Rough
3. Cadet 3 Elongated Toilet 10" Rough
4. Cadet 14" Elongated Toilet
5. Cadet 10" Elongated Toilet
6. Cadet 3 Elongated Toilet 12" Rough
7. Cadet 12" Elongated Toilet

I'm sure it's not a pressure assisted toilet. I determined it wasn't the "Cadet 3" due to the way the bottom of the toilet looks. The Cadet 3 costs a bit more. Just a bit. For example, two comparable Cadet toilets (both 12" elongated) cost $254-$356 for the Cadet 3, and $240-$334 for the Cadet. Neither one includes the seat. I could get my tank lid replaced in "shell" color, for a mere $57. HAH! I think not!! I only paid TEN DOLLARS for a minimum $240 toilet! Whoooo!!!

I just told dh the toilet was worth $328 and he said, "You're kidding! And it doesn't even flush!"

;-)

I figured out what the 10", 12" and 14" stands for. You measure from the middle of the hole underneath the toilet, to the back of the toilet and add about an inch. My toilets are 12".

So the toilets are Cadet 12" Elongated Toilets. Spec Sheet. BTW, the toilet seat costs from $60 to $72 based on color.

So... my shell colored toilet could be worth $400 brand new, while the white toilet could be worth $300. $700 worth of toilets for $35.

Wheeeeeeeee!!!!

Boy, you learn something new every day, eh? We don't have a new wax ring, and I refuse to drive 22 miles into town for a wax ring. The toilet installation can wait until next weekend. I filled both bowls with water and poured in about a pint of white vinegar in each one. The rough buildup that was in the bowls has completely dissolved.

Now how to break the news to my MIL...

Until next time.

Display Entire Post...

Back to Summary View...

TOILET Mystery

Today we had to butcher some bougainvillea bushes, well just one (you thought I was going to say a goat, didn' t you?) but we have about five more to go. My FIL butchered one for us to see how he wants us to treat the others. He did a horrid job, I wish I'd brought the camera. If I go when the others are done, I'll get some pictures. He made a terrible sticky looking mess out of the poor thing, it is just a mess with suckers sticking up all over, it's just gross looking. I have always looked at poorly trimmed pruned trees and thought how awful that someone didn't know what they were doing.

I used to own a bougainvillea bush a few years ago, and I never butchered it down to nothing. I pruned my lantana down to nothing every fall, but never my bougainvillea. One of my neighbors had two bougainvillea bushes that she kept trimmed with scissors and they were nicely shaped. She also never pruned hers down to nothing.

Anyway... then we had agreed to help my mother move some furniture from a storage unit that belongs to my sister and her boyfriend. But while we were waiting for my mother to arrive, we went to one of my favorite places to buy home improvement type things. Okay, it USED to be my favorite place, because the prices were so amazing cheap. It was a cheapskates paradise!


But now (according to one of the employees) the new manager runs around with a pricing gun, putting astronomical prices on things. For example, I found the Glacier Bay 8 Inch Hi-Arch Two Handle Kitchen Faucet that I almost bought from Home Depot last weekend. Dh and I got into a bit of a tiff since he thought he'd told me it wouldn't work (without modification) since we live in a manufactured home. If he told me, I did not hear him. He found a faucet that *would* work because it had long copper pieces coming from underneath the faucet, which is what we need to hook up to our kitchen sink pipes. But it was a regular height faucet.

Ds2 had been wanting a hi-arch kitchen faucet for some time, and I want one, too!! It is frustrating washing the tall half gallon jars we store our milk in, and the milk pails. I'm also beginning to realize that I don't have to get the cheapest thing there is, just to save money. In the long run, you end up with the product breaking, and having to replace it again.

I digress... the faucet had a sticker on it for $40.00. I asked one of the employees if that was really the price and told him that's almost what it costs from Home Depot. Actually it's $48.00 from HD. First, let me tell you there are signs all over that state changing tags is illegal. So the guy tells me the manager might be up front when he's ringing me up, so he has to be careful about changing tags because the manager might remember what he put on the faucet. He removed the tag, and said he would find a pricing gun and reprice the faucet to $20 or maybe $15. So I hung around for several minutes, and he never came back. Finally I left that area and dh and I looked around a bit more and then finally I suggested we just leave. So. While we are checking out, someone else gets the faucet, the tag of which had been removed by the employee. The man stands there waiting until we are done, then asks the cashier, another employee, how much is this faucet. The man takes a look at it, and says, "Twelve dollars." OH. MY. GOSH. I just about fainted right on the spot. The feelings that went through me, like, "THAT'S MINE!! I HAD IT FIRST! Give it BACK to me!" And "Why does HE get it for twelve? NO FAIR!!!"

I was really, really upset, but finally consoled myself with this: The man was wearing an identification badge, which indicated he worked in a group home. He also had a person with him that was obviously impaired, and probably lived in the group home. I know those places aren't rich, and I guess they were meant to have that faucet. Also, the fact that the price tag was removed, what if the manager had been there with the cashier when I asked for the price? What if I had been accused of removing the tag?

I am sure a better faucet will come along. One last thing about faucets. Dh and I looked around at Lowe's over the weekend, pricing a few things, and among those were kitchen faucets. They had some with price tags OVER $500!! Why?! Are they lined with gold, or maybe diamonds? I can't imagine paying that much for a faucet. It's not like the faucet will last 1000 years longer than any other. No one even lives that long.

Now, on to the toilet mystery.

Some time ago, I decided I wanted new toilets for our home. One for the main (boys) bathroom, and one for my bathroom. I am sick and tired of having to fill a gallon bucket with water, JUST to flush my toilet. I hate it. I hate it. I happened to casually mention this to my MIL on the phone one day. She told me they just got a new toilet from Home Depot and said I deserved new toilets and they are only $50.00. I told her that I didn't want a brand new toilet, which would work just as horribly as mine were working. I told her I was hoping to go to this "second hand" home improvement place and she became quite alarmed saying, "NO! Don't do that. Do not go there for a toilet! You deserve new ones!" I tried to explain my reasoning to her, and she was just not hearing it. A week later, she gave us $115 so we could buy two toilets from Home Depot. I've been hanging onto the money since that time, trying to figure out which toilets to buy. Home Depot's cheapy toilets, the ones she said we should buy, were $44. But CHEAP. I am sure I would have been using my trusty bucket to flush them! And I didn't want that. BTW, MIL's new toilet was not the cheapy toilet. I think she would have been happy with the cheapy toilet, and therefore attempted to push the cheapy toilets onto us. She specifically mentioned her new toilet being extra tall, and she says she feels like a child with her feet not even touching the floor. So I know for sure her new toilet wasn't one of the cheapy ones (her husband is a spendthrift, while she's a cheapskate dumpster diver -- gotta love her for that!!).

So finally today, we got to go to this home improvement place. They are a non-profit that takes donations of things from homes being knocked down, or maybe someone's upgrading, etc. They used to have killer prices. Like gallons of "oops" paint for $2.50. Now the gallons are $5.00. Bummer. I used to go there and buy gallons of colors, just to have paint on hand if I wanted to do a project.

I started checking out the toilets, and I am pretty sure I remember that American Standard is a good toilet, at least when you are shopping at Home Depot.

I found two American Standard toilets. I paid $10 for my toilet. It is "shell" colored, according to the American Standard site. My toilet was missing the tank lid, but dh says he can make me one. That's fine. I hope to cover it with one of those fuzzy things soon anyway. The other toilet was $25 and it is white.

I know these things about the toilets: They are both "Right Height" and they both have elongated bowls.

Those two things right off the bat make the toilets more expensive than a normal cheap $50 toilet. I went to the American Standard site and found that there are 71 toilets to look through. I was able to narrow that list down, by crossing out all the one-piece toilets, round toilets, and regular height toilets. Now there are 19 toilets to look through and figure out which are the ones I bought.

Searching on Home Depot, I found this American Standard toilet, with an elongated bowl, and "Right Height". For the toilet bowl and seat, they want $161.25. The tank costs -- GOOD GRIEF -- the danged tank costs $165.00!!!

Some of the toilets at the AS site are very expensive, for example, the Retrospect Elongated Right Height toilet costs $435. The Champion Right Height Elongated toilet costs $424-$594 based on color.

Now my dear reader, if you have made it this far, you may wonder what all the fuss is about. Well... first off, my dear MIL was so aghast at the thought of my buying a "second hand" toilet, and now it looks as if I may have purchased two very nice quality toilets for a mere $35. We now have enough money left over to buy a brand new hi-arch kitchen sink faucet, if we so choose.

I really wish I could go back and buy the matching bathroom sink. Well, I don't know if it really matches EXACTLY, but there was a bathroom sink that was peach colored, with really nice high quality brass handles. It was $60 though! That is really high priced, in my opinion. I still wish I could have it for my bathroom. I do like to have nice things sometimes.

Back to the fuss... secondly, there are some nice features to the AS toilets, like the Champion Flushing System... or the Cadet Pressure Assisted flushing which run $625-$862 depending on the color.

I've been googling a bit while blogging... and it's starting to look like my toilets might be the Champion line, which features a "flush tower" instead of a standard flapper. According to this site, it's one of the Best Toilets. But now with more research, I see my toilets are not Champions. That means I can eliminate 7 more toilets from my list. That leaves 12 to research. That's much more manageable. I'm sure it will be much easier in the daylight tomorrow. I can take a picture and bring it in to compare with the others for one thing...

I think one of the things that may have horrified my MIL was the thought of picking through grungy, ugly, filthy toilets. These toilets are relatively clean. It won't take much scrubbing to make them look brand new.

Enough about toilets. It's past my bedtime.

Until next time.

Display Entire Post...

Back to Summary View...

Real Men Eat Liver

My newest design over at Herd Queen Productions. Since I live with three men, I ought to know what "real" men can and should do.

I get a lot of opinions from the men I live with, just about how tough and manly they all are.

The story behind today's creativity... I thawed out the chevon liver and prepared to fry it for Monday night. I was supposed to soak it in lemon juice for several hours, to remove impurities and give the meat some texture. Only I never got around to frying the liver that evening. I asked ds2 to fry it for Tuesday's dinner, and for Wednesday's, but because I "didn't remind him" he forgot and I didn't have time.

I finally had time to fry it this morning.

You must know that I hate liver. I have hated it all my life. But according to Nourishing Traditions, organ meats are VERY good for us. So, I am trying to make myself eat it.

Note to self: Don't let chevon liver sit in lemon juice for four days before frying it.

It was not good. It was tolerable with the fried onions, but the taste was still coming through.

I asked dh to try it, and he absolutely refused. (He has tried turkey liver, and was surprised that it was not that bad tasting). He is usually a good sport and will try just about anything I come up with. And absolutely LOVES much of it, kefir for example. He LOVES it, while it makes my lips pucker due to the sourness. Even when it's mild!

Ds2 tried a bite and deemed it THE WORST thing he'd ever put into his mouth. Lucky chap. He didn't have to grow up as one of my siblings and then he'd know WORST from NOT SO BAD.

Liver in my family growing up, was HORRIBLE stuff. My mother would buy the cheapest cut, which was the mature beef liver, not the *baby* beef, which might have been good, properly cooked and served. It was my stepfather's FAVORITE meal and the side dishes were, along with the vein-ridden and dry tasting liver (sans fried onions):

• mustard greens (sans butter)
• cornbread (sans butter)
• black eyed peas (sans butter)

The four most driest foods you could put together on a plate... he was in heaven; the rest of us were choking and gagging down this torturous meal.

Found out some neat news today. My mother was married to the man for fifteen years but since she is currently unmarried, she is eligible for survivor's benefits. At the time of his death (a few weeks ago), he still owed her $25,000 in child support, and so she'll still get some compensation with the survivor's benefits.

I could never have attempted using Cafe Press with slow dialup. That is probably why I never even considered it before. But unfortunately, it feels nearly as slow as dialup with Cafe Press. They were having some site slowness problems, and it seems as if they still are. It takes better than half an hour to upload images for a new section, choosing items to sell, labeling and adding images.

Baby Sweater Update: I discovered yesterday that the 5 inches worth of sleeve I'd crocheted was missing two stitches from the foundation row. So I had to rip it out, and start over again. I'm at 6 inches now. I have to crochet even for 7.5 inches, then one sleeve is done and I'll be on to the next one.

Working with dh tomorrow, so I won't have much computer time. And I brought work home from my "real" job, so that means even less computer time. Waaahhhhhh

I was up at my regular time this morning, and was in bed late last night. I'm tired.

Until next time.

Display Entire Post...

Back to Summary View...

Best Candy Making Book Ever

Ds2 went through a candy making phase and ordered three books on making candy. The best one was The Ultimate Candy Book More Than 700 Quick and Easy, Soft and Chewy, Hard and Crunchy Sweets and Treats by Bruce Weinstein. We only made a few sweet treats before burning out pretty good on candy.

Much better than anything you can buy in the store.

Until next time.

Display Entire Post...

Back to Summary View...

Desserts Using Your Bread Machine

This is an awesome book. I love to just sit and read it. It has so many delicious recipes in it. I have made the donuts before... hmmm... I thought I'd blogged about them when I made them... ahhh, now I see. I made them in November 2005 when I was on blogging hiatus...

Well, here' s a picture of the donuts. They were so delicious. Even better than the famous Krispy Kreme's that everyone drools over. Seriously. They were just like the donuts I remember having as a youngster. KK's are too mushy soft. Anyhoo... here I am blathering on and on about the book and haven't even mentioned it yet.

Desserts From Your Breadmaker Perfect Every Time Cakes,Cookies, Pastries, Doughnuts, Sticky Buns, and Other Recipes You Never Thought You Could Make in a Bread Machine by Lora Brody. ISBN 0-688-13071-2

I have made donuts one other time. This year, I think. Yes, end of March. I made them especially for some of our neighbors who live in Chicago most of the year, but visit here when they can in the spring. They didn't turn out so good. I must remember to use only the freshest ingredients next time I try making them.

One of the other recipes I've been wanting to try from this book: Lemon Poppy Seed Sweet Bread. My job gets food donations from a local foodbank and we're always getting this kind of "bread" which is more like cake, but of course it is made with partially hydrogenated oils, which I try to avoid. I just know a real homemade version would be a hundred times better.

Until next time.

Display Entire Post...

Back to Summary View...

My Hobbit Name

I've never been much of a Hobbit fan, but I ran across this Hobbit Name generator on another blog I visited over the weekend and found my Hobbit name is Ivy Toadfoot.

Until next time.

Display Entire Post...

Back to Summary View...

Garden Update End of October

I finally got a chance to weed some in the garden on Saturday morning.

It didn't take too long, especially since ds2 helped me for a while. The radishes are growing like crazy, and occupy much of the bed. We only found two that were large enough to pick though. There are also carrots, swiss chard, beets, cilantro, lettuce and onions coming up.

Now I need to get another bed ready to go! The way to prevent the weeding, I told ds2 this morning is to get the next bed ready and then water it really good, as if seeds had been planted. Wait about ten days for all the weeds to come up, and then rake and hoe and shovel the bed up again, displacing and burying all the weeds. That way you can eliminate all that weeding!!

Until next time.

Display Entire Post...

Back to Summary View...

Baby Sweater Update

You might want to click on the image to get a better look.

I have the back done, the left front, the right front... what's going on with that right front? Oh. Dear. Me. Something's wrong. I guess I'm going to be redoing that right front for the third fourth time. The sleeve I've barely started on, and it will have to wait until I get that right front correct. Or could it be that the left front is wrong? Apparently THIS is what happens when you ignore the pattern when it tells you to end on the "wrong side" or "right side".

I'm making my fourth trial loaf of soaked flour bread today. I've also thawed out a chevon leg roast and chevon liver, for dinner.

Until next time.

Display Entire Post...

Back to Summary View...

Pretty Young Rooster

Near the first of this month, on a post entitled Thinking and Not Crocheting, I mentioned a pretty young rooster doing something neat and cute.


I finally got a picture of him yesterday morning. He's less than a year old, but anxious to make room for himself in the flock, and especially to make himself attractive to the ladies. The "Big" rooster, our original, guards his girls very closely, and will attack a younger male for straying onto his turf. This guy is the grandson of our first "Pretty Rooster".

So the neat and cute thing I saw him do... I have heard that roosters do this, but have never seen it with my own eyes. Apparently roosters keep their eye out for yummy food and then cluck and call to the hens to come get some. I was emptying the watering buckets and rinsing them out. Bugs are always under the buckets, and as soon as I lift one they scurry for darkness. The young rooster snatched one of the bugs that was scurrying away, holding it securely in his beak he walked a few feet toward a group of hens. He tossed the bug down on the ground in front of them and started clucking to them about this dandy, delicious bug candy he had found. They flocked around him and started pecking at the bug.

It's neat to experience things firsthand that I've previously only read about.

Until next time.

Display Entire Post...

Back to Summary View...

Gift From My Son

I've always been a salt lover. I can remember when I was in the sixth grade after lunch I would take a napkin and shake about a teaspoon's worth of salt into it. Fold the napkin into a little square and carried it out with me onto the playground. I'd dip my finger into the salt and lick the salt off my finger.

I was a boring child.

Anyway... not long after that memory I began to have headaches from eating salt straight, so I stopped.

I have remained a big salt fan. There's this thing at work about me and salt. I usually eat lunch with Coworker 1 or Coworker 2, sometimes the three of us eat together. Coworker 1 rarely uses salt, but Coworker 2 always comments about finding it near me, AGAIN. Sometimes, when Coworker 2 and I eat together, I'll get her a salt shaker of her own, so we can both have our own.

At home, I'm always getting blamed for having the salt shaker with me near my computer and not putting it back in the kitchen for everyone else to use while cooking or after dishing up their plate. The last month or so, I've had my own salt shaker that stays at my desk all the time, and solved that problem!

We don't eat at the table. This is due to my terrible childhood memories of eating around the dinner table with my stepfather. Right now we actually don't even have a table to eat at. We each have a wooden TV tray of our own. When we have a table, it just gets piled up with stuff, so we don't use it anyway.

We do eat at the table occasionally, usually for holidays. Always for Thanksgiving.

Back to salt. I have learned that regular ol' table salt is not good for us. Sea salt, brown and dirty and full of grit, is the best thing for us, because it has minerals in the little boulders particles contained within.

Here's a blurb from Weston A. Price Foundation about salt:
http://www.westonaprice.org/transition/kitchen.html

COMMERCIAL SALT
The salt that you find in table salt and most processed foods is sodium chloride. Salt in this form has been processed at high temperatures, which changes the molecular structure and removes vital minerals from the salt. Table salt also contains additives, anticaking agents, and even sugar. Excess salt consumption is associated with high blood pressure, fluid retention, heart and kidney disease.

Trash It: Dump out your salt shaker and toss out all other packaged or processed foods with a high sodium content. This should be pretty easy for most people.

Stash it: We have been told for years to avoid salt, but following this advice can lead to even more problems. We are all salty on the inside--our blood, sweat, tears, and even our urine--it's all salty. It's important to replenish the salt in our body, using the right salt is what makes all the difference in the world. The best way to put salt back into your body is to use Celtic sea salt. This high quality salt contains over 80 balanced minerals from the sea. Celtic sea salt is essential for maintaining proper fluid balance and utilization in the body. It also normalizes blood pressure, enhances digestion, and nourishes the adrenal glands. Celtic sea salt is available at many natural food stores or can be ordered through The Grain and Salt Society, call 1-800-TOPSALT.

Uh yeah. I knew that. I mean, I really have read that before, and I need to bring my own shaker with sea salt in it to have at work.

Today, ds2 made me a present. This jar holds 48 ounces. Ds2 put brown rice in the jar to keep the salt from clumping due to humidity. [Update: Dh weighed the jar of salt. It weighs FIVE pounds. Every time I use the salt shaker, dh and ds2 snicker at me, because it is so heavy and awkward that I must use two hands to salt my food. Aren't they sweeties? ;-) ]

Until next time.

Display Entire Post...

Back to Summary View...

A.F.5 Rename Your Files Program Review

I appreciate that Windows allows us to change filenames in one fell swoop, but I hate the naming convention. For example, if you want to change the name of ten pictures all in a row, click on (highlight) the first one in line, hold the SHIFT key, and while holding the SHIFT key, click on the last picture in line that you want to rename. All the pictures will be highlighted. Let go of the SHIFT key. While your cursor is hovering over the highlighted pictures, right-click for the shortcut menu. You will see an option to Rename. Click on that, and you will be allowed to rename the first picture in line, and all the others will be the same name, but they'll have a number appended with parentheses around the number. Like this: renamed_photo.jpg, renamed_photo(2).jpg, renamed_photo(3).jpg, etc. I just don't like those parentheses!

So about a year ago, I went looking for a program to rename my files the way I'd like to rename them. I found one I like and have continued to use. It's called A.F.5 Rename Your Files by Alex Fauland. It is a free program, and works quite well. I like to rename the photos that I take, since the camera names them something like 101_2875.jpg. Which isn't very easy to remember, nor very descriptive. ;-)

I'm slowly but surely working through labeling all my posts.

Until next time.

Display Entire Post...

Back to Summary View...

Running Into Family

Yesterday dh and I ran into one of his sisters. She is a mean one. She takes after their father. He passed away about sixteen years ago. He was a scary father in law. I'm sorry to say I'm glad he is no longer with us. He was very verbally abusive. He would say mean things on purpose to people, just to get a rise out of them, and then laugh at them. You could never trust him, because just when you thought he was being nice and really listening to you, he'd say something mean and nasty.

She didn't recognize us at first. I haven't seen her for probably a dozen or more years. But she had seen her brother and our sons less than five years ago. She said she couldn't recognize me because I was wearing a bandanna. Sigh. I know why she couldn't recognize me. I'm fat! Twice the size I ever was when she knew me way back when. She's gained a little weight around her stomach and is a little pudgy.

I know that I shouldn't care, but deep down inside I do.

Oh well. Not really much I can do about it. It's not like I can go on a diet and lose 60 pounds and never see that weight again. Some people can, but I'm not one of them.

Okay, so it's not like we're planning to hang out with her or anything, so I can just forget about it.

That's another thing I was thinking about (yet again). Why is it that I have to be so worried about how and what people think about me?

I'm pretty lucky, I think, because we don't do family get together type things. Neither my family, nor my dh's. It works for us.

Ds2 is outside on the tractor right now, preparing a new campfire pit area. The weather is turning chilly and it will be fun to sit and roast marshmallows and hot dogs. We are hoping to check it out tonight.

In the morning, when I milk, it's getting a lot more chilly. I am still milking under the starry sky and enjoying watching the herd while I milk each doe. This morning it was 48°F and I was not cold... and I was dressed in shorts and a t-shirt. All that extra padding, you know.

One lady called it being "fluffy". I'm not really "fluffy" though. I look like I weigh about 180 or 190 and I'm about 25 pounds heavier than that. I am definitely pretty solid for the most part. Anyway, I think chubby grandmas are much nicer to hug than skinny, bony grandmas.

I have dinner in the crockpot as I type. Five chicken breasts with 2 cups kefir, about 10 cloves garlics crushed and one sliced onion. If you don't have kefir, you could try using sour cream, or yogurt. It is supposed to be really delicious poured over warm rice. It smells good as it is cooking.

Ooooh, I feel tired already. I wish I could take a quick nap, but I have so much to do before this day is over!!

Until next time.

Display Entire Post...

Back to Summary View...

Cod Liver Oil

Our case of, yes, I said CASE of cod liver oil finally arrived. Actually it arrived on Friday evening, but I was fishing for something to blog about tonight and that's what I hit upon. Cod Liver Oil. We ordered our CLO from Green Pasture and each bottle cost $13.90 plus shipping. It's an investment in our health. Ds2 is now taking CLO, so that makes two of us. We liked the cinnamon flavored, and wanted to try the others. We got some orange and some arctic mint. The orange seems to be flavored with orange peel oil. Bitter. The arctic mint is funky. I like the cinnamon the best, so ds2 and I have decided to take the orange bottles first, then work on the arctic mint and save the best for last. We anticipate these twelve bottles to last close to one year. The dose is only 1 teaspoon and you get your 10,000 IUs Vitamin A as recommended by Sally Fallon in Nourishing Traditions. Cod liver oil is one of those things I vowed as a child to NEVER, EVER take as an adult. I did not care if my life depended upon it. The thing is... Green Pastures Blue Ice CLO is deodorized and so there is almost no cod liver oil taste.

I did get to work a little bit on one front panel of the baby sweater today.

I am hoping to get my garden weeded tomorrow. There are millions, if not BILLIONS of baby weeds that must come out.

Until next time.

Display Entire Post...

Back to Summary View...