"Road Junk" (Guest Blog by Himself)

Hey...

Notice the title...   My words while driving along 60 miles an hour and trying to get home without stopping…

Teri's next words were, "Not junk, but FLOTSAM!"

('Flotsam' is an acronym for 'finding-lots-of-trash-sitting-along-[road] median.)  (I just made that up, but it IS.  I just know it...)

We were driving home from Christmas visiting two days ago when Teri, who is generally quite alert, became MORE alert all of a sudden.  Sat straight up in her seat.    Uh oh...    Why?  Because she 'spotted something' alongside the road.   How, I don't know, because it flashed by so fast.   (I could be driving 100 miles per hour and she still can spot something with a look of, "Hmmm...")

She then turns to me...

I might as well give up at that point because when the One-You-Love looks at you 'that way' she is wanting an affirmative 'yes' to whatever request she is about to make.  (Every married guy knows what look I'm talking about.)  To be fair, Teri is reasonable.  If we go to the effort of turning around and finding our way back to it, if it truly isn't salvageable, we leave it and drive on.

So back we go...

Turns out it was a wooden step-stool used by service trucks.  From the looks of it, it wasn't from a 'professional' service truck because those type of guys 'just order another' when something they use starts to show a little wear-and-tear.   No, this looked like the kind used by 'Ole-Joe-down-the-road' who had been using this comfortable looking stepstool for years.  Something he wouldn't want to part with.

(He should have tied it down better...) 

After we stopped and Teri was looking it over, I knew that I was sunk when I heard one word come out of her mouth – “Sweet...”   To Old Joe down the road somewhere it was now a goner.  To us?  Well, I'm glad Old Joe didn't hear some of her final words about it as we continued down the road.   After going on about it a bit I finally tuned her out when I heard the words...

            "...and I will paint it a cute color, and....."

I let my mind drift elsewhere.

 

~ Himself ~

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Peanut Butter FAIL

We’re working on eating healthier out here at The Sticks.  So when I saw Peter Pan was making a ‘100% Natural’ peanut butter, it got my attention.

 

 

Particularly this notation on the label!  Sounded good…

 

 

…but it didn’t look so good when I opened the jar…

 

 

…and it only got worse as I tried to make a sandwich.  It literally FLOWED off my knife.  Bleh!  Stirring it made is even more liquid in texture and it settled into a paste.  An oily paste.

 

 

So I decided to pour off the oil.

 

 

In a very short amount of time, I had over a tablespoon in my measuring cup.  And as it sat, more oil started forming on the surface.

 

I was so disgusted I threw the whole thing in the trash!  I’m not sure what the company’s idea of ‘no need to stir’ is but I don’t want peanut butter that can be eaten thru a straw!!

 

Definite product FAIL!

Emergency Preparedness: Selecting the Place

As I mentioned yesterday, we are working on becoming prepared for emergencies.  I am NOT talking “the BIG ONE” survivor type stuff.  I’m preparing for realistic emergencies such as an ice storm that takes out power lines (been there, done that – 9 days without electricity!) or needing to take shelter from a storm or one of those barges on the river springs a leak and we have to bug-out.

 

The safest place in our home to ride out a storm is under the stairs.  This will be our ‘safe place’ and storage area for storm supplies.

 

First order of business… empty it out!  Then we got it cleaned up.  There were a zillion nails to pull and it needed a good scrubbing.

 

 

And that is as far as we got!  Now we can take measurements to build a reinforced area with storage space. 

 

More to come after a trip to Lowes!

 

 

 

 

 

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My Artful Friday - 4 Jan 13

January is my “Be Creative Every Day” month and I’m having a good time with it. 

 

 

At Pixel Dust Art there was a challenge to illustrate our ‘word for 2013’.   I’m not limiting my ‘creative’ the making of arts and crafts, but spreading it thru all areas of my life.  I have created some fine meals this week, I’m creating organization in my studio makeover, and I’ve created a few nice photos too.

 

 

As my studio comes together I’m looking forward to being able to do more creative projects.  One artsy thing I have created with this drawing.  An art challenge at ‘Three Muses’ was to use circles.  This is my interpretation of a Navaho squash blossom necklace.

Studio Makeover: Organizing the Office Section

I’ve decided in putting together my ‘studio’ that I am going to start with function over beauty… that is, I’m going to get everything in place and useable – THEN I will go back and ‘beautify’ everything (refinish furniture, cover/decorate storage containers, etc).  Doing it this way means I will be able to use my studio a lot sooner!

The first area I’m going to put together in my studio is the scrapbook/mixed media section.  And I want to use an old dresser turned hutch to hold some of the supplies. 

However… that dresser/hutch was holding my office supplies in its drawers and my equestrian models on its shelves.  So everything had to come out of it and be put in its new location.  I want to backtrack as little as possible (I’ve done enough of that already and frankly I’m getting tired of having to go over the same area time and again!). 

So Himself and I headed out to the shed and dragged in the desk and 4-drawer chest that will make up my new ‘office’ portion on the studio.  Even tho I’m not working on that section of the room at this time, I’m going ahead with moving things from the dresser/hutch as tho that were exactly what I had in mind to begin with.

Everything was sorted into like-piles and culled down to a reasonable amount.

One of the first things I had to decide was “how much is enough”?  Such as, how many ink pens and pencils do two people need?  It’s hard to cull them because they work… but no one wants slightly used ink pens or any other office supplies!  And I hated to just throw them away. 

Finally down to what we kept!  The desk has 4 drawers and has a specific purpose.

1. (large center drawer) – This will hold my oversized graphing paper… when I find it…

 

2. (small side drawer) – storage of pens, pencils, and things I need often.

3. (small side drawer) – storage of other ‘officey’ things.  With lots of space left to store other things as I find them.

4. (large, deep side drawer) – files and folders.

And in the dresser I have put…

In the small drawers… #1 – Notepads, index cards, etc and in 2 – labels of all sorts.

1.  Notebooks and loose-leaf notebook paper.

2.  Mailing center.  More envelopes than a Hallmark store… and a ton of odd stamps. 

3. Electronics bits and pieces; each item’s accessories will be stored in a labeled zip bag.  Plus a container of ‘office things’ like staplers, pencil sharpener, etc.). 

4.  Computer ‘stuff’.  Every time we’ve gotten a new computer, it comes with all sorts of extra cables and do-dads that aren’t needed.  But every computer person we ask says “Oh… that’s good stuff.  You’ll want to keep that ‘just in case’.”  I did manage to unload TWO grocery bags full on the last person out here working on Himself’s computer.  He was happy…I was happier!

And now that this office section is done, I can start on my scrapbook/mixed media area!

http://organizeyourstuffnow.com/wordpress/years-organizing-revolution-week-1

Ready...Set...Go! It's 2013!!!

Happy New Year!!

No resolutions for me this year… I’m halfway into my Fabulous 50^th Year so my goals date back 6 months! 

This New Year Himself is home with me instead of out on the Bering Sea.  It’s time for him to be home for a while.  Tomorrow his ship will be sailing without him and we will toast the Indy as she leaves… from our cozy living room in TN!

We’ve already started our January projects.  Himself is working on the old family photos… lots of sorting and scanning will be happening.  His using part of my downstairs ‘studio’ space to do this. 

And while he is working, I will be working on the workshop area of my studio!  Yes, it’s finally happening. 

 

 In December we pulled out a section of carpet and painted the concrete floor (ignore the sloppy on the baseboards - they, along with the walls, will soon be painted too).  Eventually I’ll put vinyl tiles down but for now it will stay concrete since I’m going to be doing a LOT of painting (walls, shelves, furniture, and accessories).  No drop clothes needed since I’ll be covering it up when I’m done!

Another project I’ll be working on down there is to set up a storm shelter/emergency preparedness area under the stairs.  I’m doing this as part of a series over at “A Bowl Full of Lemons”  http://www.abowlfulloflemons.net/category/emergency-preparedness  .  I’m out of sync with the series as it started right before Christmas and I just couldn’t start then.  So I’ll work it at my own pace and it will all work out in the end!

Also landing at a wrong time for me was the “Art Every Day” challenge at “Creative Every Day”   http://creativeeveryday.com/ .  That came up in November… I was doing well the first 2 weeks.  But by mid-month too much other stuff needed my attention (prepping my Operation Christmas Child boxes, Thanksgiving, getting ready for Christmas)… I was sunk!  January is so much better for creating.  I’ll be posting my projects on the “My Artful Friday” posts. 

So that is what my first month of 2013 looks like.  What plans do you have for this January? 

Winter Favorite - Black Beans and Rice

Sunday is our laid back day.  We go to church then come home and relax.  Dinner (lunch) is something simple… an easy recipe or something made the day before.  This last Sunday we had one of my “go to” kitchen staple recipes:  Black Beans and Rice.  Everything is in the pantry, so it is something you can keep for unexpected guests too.

 

 

 

Black Beans and Rice

1 cup uncooked brown rice

1 can diced tomatoes, drained into measuring cup

1 can Rotel tomatoes (whatever heat level you like), drained into measuring cup

1 can black beans, rinsed

Salt and pepper to taste.

 

Drain the two cans of tomatoes into a measuring cup, then add enough water to make the amount needed to cook the rice.

Add rice, tomatoes and rinsed beans to the tomato water; cook covered 45 to 50 minutes or until rice is tender and water is absorbed. 

A few times towards the end of cooking, stir deeply from the bottom of the pot.

 

 

 

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