Treasures vs. Junk

As many of you know, my dad passed away February 8, 2011.  My dad was a builder for most of his life.  He built many homes around the Muskegon area and later in life he worked for RHJ Management.  Dad loved to work with tinker in his workshops - he had one in the basement and one in his garage.  The workshops were full of tools - screwdrivers, hammers, saws, wrenches, etc.  Lots of tools.  He also accumulated a collection of nuts, bolts, nails and a bunch of treasures.  I'm pretty sure the "treasures" were things he was saving because they might come in handy some day.

Well, after dad died, mom commenced to clean out the workshops and of course welcomed any help offered.  We (my nephews, son & husband) spent time clearing and hauling.  The final steps were to fill a huge dumpster with objects we deemed not worth keeping.  Then we had a yard sale and basically gave away some of dads tools.  Finally we sorted all the steel (as in nails, screws, lawn mower blades, etc) and loaded them into mom's van.  We hauled all this stuff to the Rag & Metal recycle facility where mom earned a whopping $46.  The last step was a woman purchased the rest of dad's treasures and she cleared out the garage workshop!

Clearing and sorting dad's stuff has been an eyeopener for me.  I have a sewing room, which I call The Cave, full of my treasures.  I spent several hours in there tonight sorting and clearing.  The room is still full of precious material, patterns, tools, thread, etc. that are too important to me to just throw away.  Unfortunately I know that my children do not view my prize accumulations as precious and will probably toss everything into a dumpster when my day comes.

I guess, in the meantime, I should spend a lot of time in the cave creating things such as quilts, clothes, purses, etc that my children might view as heirlooms.....

Hmmmm, I doubt they will but at least I will have fun.

Rest in Peace dad!

Back in the kitchen.....Zucchni Relish

This recipe for Zucchini Relish came from SparkPeople.com

Chef Meg's Zucchini Relish Recipe

4 cups diced zucchini
1 large onion, thinly sliced
2  celery ribs, sliced
2 medium carrots, sliced
1 medium sweet red pepper, sliced
2 tablespoons salt
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
Dash onion salt
dash ground tumeric

In a large bowl, combine the vegetables, sprinkle with walt and cover with cold water.  Let stand 3 hours, rinse and drain.

In a large saucepan, bring the remaining ingredients to a boil.  Stir in zucchini mixture and return to a boil.  Reduce heat; simmer uncovered, for 5 minutes,  Transfer to a large bowl; cool to room temperature.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 days - yields 4 cups

Side Note: I ladled the relish into hot sterilized canning jars, sealed them and put them through a 15 minute hot water bath.  According to comments on the site, this is another option - Ball, the canning people, recommend a pressure canner.  I've never used a pressure canner so I have not comment there.

Back in the kitchen.....Bread and Butter Pickles

I've been absent from the blog lately.  I haven't been absent from the kitchen though.  I need to post several recipes for friends.   First.....

Bread and Butter Pickles (makes 6-7 pints)

In a large bowl, mix together and let soak for three hours:
     25-30 small pickling cucumbers - sliced thin
     8 small onions - sliced thin
     1/2 cup canning salt

shortly before the 3 hours soaking time is up, mix and heat to a full boil the following in a large kettle:
     5 cups sugar
     5 cups white vinegar
     2 T. mustard seed
     1 t. tumeric

After 3 hours, rinse pickles & onion well.
Add rinsed pickles to large kettle, bring back to a boil & simmer for 5 minutes
Place pickles in hot sterilized jars & seal - be sure to leave approximately 1/2" head space
Can using your preferred method.  I use a 15 minute hot water bath which works fine for me.

Brass Monkeys by Terry Caszett

Brass Monkeys by Terry Caszatt

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The beginning of Brass Monkeys was a little slow as the author laid the foundation for the rest of the story.  As I continued to read, I found several times throughout the book where I could not put the book down, waiting for the next event to happen.  I loved how the author intertwined some of the slang from the 60's and 70's into the modern day story. 

Fantasy fiction is not my favorite genre but this book was fun to read.  The ending was a little strange and leaves the reader with a feeling there is more..... does this mean there is a sequel in the future? 



View all my reviews

Guilt By Association by Marcia Clark

Guilt by Association by Marcia Clark

My rating: 4 of 5 stars






View all my reviews

Spring Time is Sick Time

Allergy season is back!

A little over a week ago I started experiencing a mild sore throat.  Last week the sore throat spread to an ear ache, sore throat, light head, dizzyness, 2 ear aches and an overall feeling of the yuckies.  I spent 5 days curled up on the couch doing as little a possible, sleeping and reading books.

Last night I had an extremely vivid dream.  It was so real that upon waking after the dream, I was very disoriented and had trouble remembering where I was.  I dreamed I was a teenager again, living in my parents home.  I had been sick and decided I would go to school tomorrow.  After telling my mom I planned to go to school tomorrow I asked her if I could borrow her car.  She told me I was always welcome to borrow her car but I had a car of my own, why couldn't I drive that.  Oh yes, I remembered, I owned a yellow jeep, never mind, I will drive the yellow jeep.  Then I asked my mom for directions since I had never driven to the high school.  Right after that I woke up.  I have no idea why I remember this dream so clearly, maybe because I laid in bed so long trying to figure out why I didn't know the directions to the high school and also trying to figure out where I was. 

Anyway, I decided I didn't care how I felt in the morning, I was going to get out of bed and go to work.  Enough of this feeling sorry for myself.

Thanks to Revlon, Clinique and Aveeda, I managed to conceal how miserable I actually felt.  I worked in a fog for most of the day, came home and then immediately left again to go to the gym where I tanned for 10 minutes and then walked the treadmill for 40 minutes.  After that the dear hubby took me out for a sandwich.

Here's hoping my dear friends Revlon, Clinique and Aveda help me pull this miracle off again tomorrow.

National Harbor, Home of The Awakening

Several weeks before our Washington DC vacation I signed up for Groupons.  Every day I received an e-mail with discounted offers for restaurants, spas, tours, etc.  One of the offers was a deal for a boat tour up and down the Potomac River to see the cherry blossoms.  I immediately started googling for information on the boat tour.  I found the boat was docked at the National Harbor in Oxon, Maryland and the tour brought us to East Potomac Park and Haines Point.  I was curious as to how we would get to the National Harbor so I searched Google Maps.  The easiest way I saw was to take the subway south and then grab a taxi.  I estimated the distance from subway to harbor was around five miles.  Shouldn't cost much.

I went ahead and booked the tour and I am so glad I did!  My guess for transportation was confirmed by Stu in Congressman Huizenga's office.  During our tour of the capital I asked Stu if he would be able to help me.  After the tour, he checked and sure enough, Blue Line to King Street Station and then cab to National Harbor was the safest way to journey.

Upon our arrival at the National Harbor we located the dock where the Pelican would be waiting for us.  We also found The Awakening - a sculpture that I spent time looking for years ago. 

The last time I saw for the sculpture, I took a cab ride with a cabbie that had no idea where the sculpture was but managed to find it - shortly after it started raining. 

  
When I got out of the cab to take pictures I found out my camera was not working (I accidentally left it running) and I was unable to document finding the sculpture.



I had heard the sculpture had been sold but I thought it was moved to Florida.  Needless to say, I was excited to find the sculpture.  There are several interpretations about the meaning behind the sculpture.  I read somewhere the artist said he created it because it looked good.  I'll leave it up to you to decide on your interpretation.

More on DC

Sorry I haven't posted about our adventures of yesterday - I'll do it later, I promise.

Today was already an adventure.  Linda & I packed a couple of flat rate boxes to send some of our extra stuff home.  I walked a little over a 1/2 mile to bring the boxes to the post office.  This involved crossing three busy streets.  Being from the little city, I am not extremely confident in crossing six lane roads but, with the assistance of a young homeless man, I made it unscathed.

At the post office a man pulled in as I crossed the parking lot.  He almost hit a pole, pulled forward and parked katty-wumpiss.  Then, he just sat in his card.  As I taped our boxes closed, the clerk kept an eye on him and soon determined something was not right.  She went outside to check on him and he said he "felt dizzy."  The clerk came back in and called 911.  As I walked back to the hotel I heard sirens, soon police and ambulance were arriving to help the man.

Anyway, our boxes are now safely in the hands of the postal department.  Unfortunately, my suitcase is still heavy and the wheels pretend like they do not want to roll.

Heading home this afternoon!  Oh, the fun we had

Washington DC - Tuesday, April 5

Last night, a cold front moved into the area bringing wind & rain.  We got a rather "late" start this morning - especially since we were slowed down by problems on the Metro and trains were sharing one track.  We arrived at Union Station and wandered through the Food Court and window shopped through out part of Union Station.  We ate lunch in the middle of Union Station (not the food court).  I enjoyed a platter of crispy pita chips and spinach/artichoke dip.  Delicious.  After lunch we found our way through the Metro toward Capitol Hill.  We found the Longworth Building, went through security and located Congressman Huizenga's office.

Our tour guides from his office were Nate Bult and Stu.  A new visitor's center has been added onto the building since my last visit there.  We were told the visitor center has helped move people through the doors faster.  Since it is spring break, there seems to be an enormous number of people visiting DC this week.  The young aides were very knowledgeable and helpful in many ways. 

 I even got a peek at the Library of Congress.  I'm told it is very helpful to obtain visitor passes for tours way ahead of time from our Congressman. 

I think I asked for passes but, our decision to come to DC was made quite late.  We were extremely lucky to get the reservations for the Supreme Court Lecture and Capitol Tour.  Maybe I'll be able to visit the Library of Congress next time!

We even located the office of a congressman from Texas!  There you go Joyce, that picture is for you!

Changing of the Guard