Hello Lost Fans.

If you don't watch Lost, don't click here.

So Charles Widmore used to be a member of the others, hummm????

Desmond named his baby Charlie. Awwww....

When did the U.S. Military show up, once again, somewhere they are not wanted?

Sawyer needs to take that ratty shirt off. I was wrong before.

I sort of missed the Oceanic Six this week.

Okay, Let's play who is your favorite lost hunk?

I'll start, anybody but Ben.

Look Who Thinks I Worked All Day Just For Her

 

The Domestication of Debbi

Tuesday is one of my days off. It is cold and wet. We should begin getting freezing rain and sleet in the next few hours. Needless to say, I stayed in the house and off the roads today.

I have five quilting projects to complete during the next few months. My sewing corner was a disorganized mess. I spent most of the day straightening it up and creating a quilt project storage system. A couple of years ago, I straightened out my craft closet. I sorted my larger scrap fabrics by color, ironed and folded them and used four plastic baskets to hold the fabrics. They are stacked two deep on one of the shelves in the crafts closet. This has stayed organized for two years. For me, this is a minor miracle. I am housekeeping challenged.

 

I have several boxes that were holding random sewing ingredients sort of like my seed basket. I separated everything out and put each project in its own box and then made a special box for templates an stamps. The fabric that was left over from other projects was ironed, folded and stored in the crafts closet. Hopefully, this new system will keep me organized. Now I just need to find my thimble.

 

Here is the quilt I need to finish first. It is for baby Clare who is due to arrive in this world on February 7. I better get on with it. We believe these nine patch quilt squares were pieced by a paternal great grandmother. I am going to finish the top and quilt it for the baby.

 

We had homemade chicken noodle soup and wheat bread for dinner tonight.

Chicken Noodle Soup
4 Chicken thighs
6 Cups water (to begin with)
1/2 Large onion chopped
1 Stalk celery chopped
1/4 Fresh, finely chopped herbs including parsley, thyme and rosemary
3 Chicken bouillon cubes
8 Ounces wide egg noodles
Ground pepper to taste

Boil the chicken thighs until completely done. Stop before the meat falls off the bone. Remove the chicken from the pot and set aside to cool. Add all of the other ingredients to the chicken stock and simmer all day if you like. Remove the skin and bones from the chicken and discard. Chop the chicken meat and return to the pot. Ten minutes before serving, bring the stock to a rolling boil and add noodles. Serve with homemade wheat bread if you've got it.

Stay warm and cozy.

Dear Weedwacker

Dear Weedwacker,

There is no easy way to say this. It is over. Cutting off the daffodils at ground level was the last straw. They were just getting ready to bloom. We have had this problem for years, and I just can't take it anymore. Remember the double purple moon flower. You chewed it to bits.

Also, I know it was an accident, but the time your string hit my leg, it hurt. I never really learned to trust you after that. Every time we are together I worry it will happen again. This is no way to have a relationship.

I will always admire your handiness. You have given me clean lines along my pathways and quickly trimmed edges. We had many good gardening days together and I will miss you.

Please don't cry. You will find a gardener who is better for you. Out there somewhere is a gardener who does not grow delicate flowers. You need someone with better spatial awareness. You should look for someone who just mows the lawn and will use you to trim up along the fence. Wouldn't that be better than trying to live with a fussy flower gardener? This is best for both of us.

With a heavy heart,

Debbi

Cease The Grease

If you happen to be driving through Dallas, you will see billboards with a turkey, a water pipe, and the words "Cease the Grease." Do not have any idea what the turkey is all about. Maybe they went up close to Thanksgiving. Anyway, this advertising campaign is meant to educate people against pouring cooking oil and grease down the drain where it clogs the pipes. We had this happen to us, not pretty. I have been composting our cooking oil with nary a problem. Still, most composting information advises against this. So I thought, what else can someone do with grease and oil if they are afraid to compost it. The Internet revealed a few very good ideas.

1. Mix left over animal fat (say from hamburgers or Crisco) with any combination of seeds, uncooked oatmeal, corn meal, and flour. Pour the mixture into a container and place it in the freezer until it firms up. You have made homemade suet for the birds.

2. Use old cooking oil instead of lighter fluid. I think this is an awesome idea. Just poor it over your wood or charcoal and light. Problem oil solved and food doesn't taste like lighter fluid.

3. Wet a newspaper or used paper towel with cooking oil and use this to help start the fire in your fireplace.

4. Find a local restaurant and see if they will let you add your oil and grease to their old oil and grease, which is then recycled into other products like makeup and sometimes bio fuels.

5. My dad pours it over the dog food. Oil gone in a flash. Before you light up my comments to tell me this is bad, I know it can be bad. If your animal is overweight, DO NOT DO THIS. Our animals are kept at a healthy weight and food scraps and occasional oil on food does no harm. Dear Ole Dad is a veterinarian, I trust him. The dog food companies would have you believe that only dog food is healthy for dogs. They are just trying to sell you dog food. Dogs eat anything, they always have.

Any other suggestions for the "green" disposal of oil and grease?

Sorting Seeds

This was my seed storing method. Nice, right?

I buy seeds, and save seeds. My friends give me seeds. There are seeds everywhere. I usually put them in that basket, but they are stashed other places as well. They are in the truck, on the window sill, in a cabinet above the drier, on my dresser, in my desk, and between the pages of books. I need a better seed sorting and storage system.

 

I removed all of the seeds and cleaned out the bottom of the basket. It was full of garlic papers, hum? New seed packages were made by tracing the pattern on old construction paper recycled from Monkey school work then cutting, folding, and glueing them into seed packages. I used these little paper envelopes to replace the big baggies.

 

I bought some tab dividers at the office supply store and cut them to fit inside of the basked. I decided to sort my seeds by month. I simply filed the seed packets according to the month the seeds should be planted.

 

Now, Doesn't that look better?

Crazy Weather

It was a very pretty day today, but I think the plants are confused. My minnow daffodil is beginning to bloom. All of the roses are putting out new leaves. The weather is supposed to turn cold again and all the plants will be shocked back into winter behavior.

 

Mom did something interesting. She saves food scraps for my worm bin. She puts the scraps in plastic grocery bags and freezes them until I can come pick them up. When she went to take them out of the freezer this afternoon, they had frozen into the shape of the freezer bin and were stuck. We had to pound on them with a big heavy ladle until they came loose.

 

Here for your enjoyment, another broccoli flower. I'm telling you, our weather is messed up. This thing should not even try to bloom until late February.