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Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Wow! It's been awhile since I've posted. Lots of stuff going on the last few days...I was sick over the weekend, and it just took awhile for me to get back in the swing of things.
But, I did have the opportunity to do some online snooping today after getting caught up on work and housework, and I found out something interesting: nothing in the resident handbook says we can't plant vegetables.
The last time we lived in base housing, we were told it was against the rules to plant vegetables. So I assumed it was the same this go round. However, I got curious today, and looked at the handbook...and nowhere does it say, "Thou shalt not have vegetables in your backyard." So guess who's gonna be planting up a storm next summer? This girl! Although, I think I will play it safe and use containers.
Now I feel like a kid in a candy shop...so many different types of veggies....where should I start? Lettuces and salad greens are a must have, and tomatoes. Bush beans will be nice, and I can use trellises for peas and squash. Definitely need to plant some bell peppers, too. But what else? I think carrots? There are a bunch of nice compact ones that are suitable for containers...which reminds me; I found this great site that sells seeds especially for container gardening. Try www.containerseeds.com...great little site. they even have a blue sweet corn designed for containers that only grows 3-4 feet high...gotta get some of THAT!!!!
This is going to be fun. I'm itching to see how productive I can make my little 15x25 backyard next year!
MandaMac
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
So, I've been gone for a couple days. Stupid internet. Sorry about that. BUT...the enforced time away from the interwebs did allow me to get a lot of stuff done that I'd been putting off for awhile, so it wasn't that bad. Missed my blog, though. I did think about something while the net was gone-the fact that I LOVE my gray hairs!
Monday, July 12, 2010
I recently ran across a very intersting blog post about the carbon footprints of blogs...yep, your blog has a carbon footprint. Who'd have thunk it? "Making Your Blog Carbon Neutral For Free" on Green-Eyed View has some pretty interesting facts and figures on how much carbon dioxide is emitted by the average blog every visit. I know my little corner of the blogosphere isn't anywhere near average, but I was nevertheless shocked at the thought of my blogging causing carbon emissions, although when I stop and think about it, I do get it.
The answer? Plant a tree. One tree will neutralize the carbon footprint of your blog 100%. sounds pretty cool, but I bet you're thinking about the cost of a tree, care and maintenance, etc., right? Or if you live in an apartment, you're thinking about the fact that you can't plant a tree at all. But there IS good news: if you go to the post listed above, there are steps you can follow to have a tree planted FOR YOU....just by passing this bit of news onward in your blog. Pretty cool deal, if you ask me.
I would urge all of you bloggers to consider this option...anything we can do to green the planet will benefit us all!
MandaMac
Saturday, July 10, 2010
One in the Eye for all my Early Risers from a Night Owl up too late
0 comments Posted by MandaMac at 2:16 AMOk, I ran across this post and I had to share it...because I feel vindicated:
"Night Owls vs. Early Birds: Who Will Win? Morning or Night People?" from Looking For My Life.
See? See? There is scientific data backing me up! Hah! No more cracks about making marmalade at midnight, please. My DNA has given a statement and says it will take full responsibility for my vampiric sleeping habits; thank you DNA.
I can't help it if I sleep until 11am most days and stay up until 3am...it's just the way I am. The thought of getting up at 7am nauseates me. I have breakfast at noon. It's great...try it sometime.
so for all the Early Birds out there in my world who have ragged me about my sleep habits, and you KNOW who you are...you can rest easy in the fact that my nocturnal nature is one less thing you have in life to worry about.
MandaMac
Friday, July 9, 2010
Well, yesterday certainly was a productive day in terms of canning- I made cherry preserves, more plum jam, and lemon marmalade. everything was an unqualified success, except for one thing: the preserves. Of course, the cherries floated to the top, but a weird thing happened.Everything BELOW the cherries jelled, but the layer with the cherries in it didn't. Does anyone know why this might be?
Another question for you canners out there: has anyone used the Tattler reusable canning lids? I was wondering how well they worked...I'm not inclined to pay money for them if they're not effective. If you're not familiar with them, you can check them out at the link above.
Here are the results of yesterday's venture:
Juicing the lemons, something I normally HATE doing. Just didn't feel that lemon juice from concentrate was what I wanted for this experiment though. I added zest from a couple lemons to the mix, too. Side note: that juicer in the picture there is the most durable thing. My MOM got that as a wedding present...35 years ago. And it's still running like a charm. Let me tell you, for doing a reasonable amount of this type of citrus juicing, this thing can't be beat. It took me less than 3 minutes to juice all two dozen of my lemons.
Simmering the lemon juice and peels. I have to say, by far the most tedious part of marmalade is slicing up all those little pieces of lemon rind. You have to peel out the leftover pulp and the inner membrane and as much of the bitter white part as possible and cut it into thin strips. My hands were really hurting by the time I was done! But anyway, here it is on the stove, simmering away after all the prep was done. I simmered it for about 30 minutes to let the rinds soften up some and release as much essential oil into the juice as possible. That way you get maximum flavor, and nice, tender rinds that won't feel like little bits of leather in the jelly. I had some homemade marmalade once where they didn't simmer it, and it was nasty!
Stirring in the pectin. I used 1 packet of regular Sure-jell, and after I heated the juice up to a boil, I added the pectin and stirred thoroughly until I was sure it was dissolved. You have to work quickly at this stage, because once you have added the pectin, you're on a time clock. Pectin can't cook too long, or it will loose it's effectiveness and won't jell properly. I was really doing a balancing act trying to get pictures and stir at the same time...without dropping the camera into the juice. I'm not sure Dale would have appreciated that!
I thought I would include this picture, too, because I like it. I was still stirring the pectin, and somehow I came out with this great swirly shot of the juice and rinds. Ok, so I thought it looked cool...I guess it's the photographer in me that gets caught by this sort of silliness. Amazing I got something neat like that from a cheap point-and-shoot. A Lemon Whirlpool! Anywho, what were we talking about? Oh yeah, instructions for making marmalade.
So after stirring in the pectin, I added the sugar. About 7 cups, allowing for the tartness of the lemons. Normally for this quantity of liquid(about 6 cups) I would use around 5 cups of sugar, but I figured since I was using lemons I would need to counter the sourness of the lemons with some extra. Here you can see the syrup is almost at a full boil. Boil it at a full rolling boil for ONE minute, then immediately remove the pan from the heat to stop cooking (remember about not overcooking the pectin?). What you DON'T see here is me dealing with the results of a boil over, LOL.
And here is the marmalade after being ladled into hot jars...yeah, I use a ladle. Funnels are for sissies. Make sure to wipe off the rims with a clean paper towel though before you put the lids on so you get a good seal. Then it was off to the water bath for ten minutes(I wish I could have a long hot bath...jelly is so lucky). All went well, and they all sealed immediately after being pulled out of the water. All done. Now I just have to figure out what went wrong with those darn cherries...you know, it's really been driving me nuts the whole time I've been writing this. I'm going to have to get more and figure it out. And a cherry pitter, but that's a whole n'other story...Wednesday, July 7, 2010
It's me...again. I had hoped to get to my preserves today, but real life and work have intruded once again...darn it! LOL Had to give both the dogs a bath, which is always an adventure. So I have included a step by step manual on how to wash my boxer, if you ever find yourself in the position. Many of these steps and principles can also be applied to your own dog as well.
Step 1: Call Macey outside
Step 2: Chase her around the kitchen island and into the living room
Step 3: Get the bright idea to yell the word "BATH!!!"
Step 4: Get out of the way, making sure you don't trip over the coffee table, or husband's combat boots in the middle of the floor.
Step 5: Head for the back door. Dodge Macey again when she comes looking for you.
Step 6: Shut the door. This step is critical so as to avoid step 17.
Step 7: Turn on hose. Get run over by Macey as she charges around the yard.
Step 8: Make a diving leap for Mace as she passes you. Fall on your face. Get stepped on by dog.
Step 9:Snag dog by the collar on the next pass around the yard. Maintain a death grip.
Step 10: Pick up the hose. Turn on the spray nozzle.
Step 11: Start spraying down dog. Lose your hold over collar as Macey tries to eat spray.
Step 13: Retreat to restrategize. Decide to lure the dog in with...spray, yummy spray.
Step 14: Start randomly spraying around the yard, luring the dog in until she's close enough to grab.
Step 15: Finish spraying dog. Avoid spray eating if at all possible.
Step 16: Grab shampoo. Accidentally let go of sopping wet dog.
Step17: Chase wet dog around the yard and onto the porch. Realize too late that back door is not fully closed.
Step 17: Frantically try to stop sopping wet dog from getting in house. Fail miserably. Arrive in house just in time to see Mace vigorously shaking herself dry all over brand new furniture.
Step 18: drag dog back outside. Make sure door is securely shut.
Repeat Steps 7-15.
Step 19: Lather up the dog. Stop dog from trying to eat flea shampoo. Try not to get it in your eyes.
Step 21: Rinse dog. Lose your grip when she shakes water in your face.
Step 22: Chase soapy dog around the yard before giving up and chasing her around the yard with the sprayer. Repeat this step until dog seems to be soap free.
Step 23: Contemplate what a good job you did...until Macey rolls in the dirt.
This, my friends, is how we wash a boxer. You should try it sometime. If you'd like to practice on mine, please email me, you are welcome any time.
MandaMac
Need a few more good laughs? Try "The 90s, back when we were cheesy and depressed" on Artistically Nuts, "Fairy Murdered Over Baby Tooth/Baby Laugh Drug War" on The Modern Sophist, and "Crimson Wanderers Gathering" on Dave Ingram's Natural History Blog. Pretty funny stuff...Have a laugh and a good night!
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
All New Cleaning Tips...maybe I should take some of this advice...
3 comments Posted by MandaMac at 9:05 PMHey all, just another quick post from moi. After spending the afternoon cleaning, I thought I would share some interesting ideas from a couple blogs:
"Ode To My Clothesline" from the Instead of the Dishes blog has some great ideas and thoughts about why hanging your clothes out to dry is preferable to running them in the dryer...something I would do if we were allowed to have clotheslines. "Natural Spring Cleaning" from Natural Mom, Healthy Child contains several really good recipes for natural cleaning products, something I use a lot due to chemical sensitivities AND a desire to find better ways of keeping toxins out of the ground. "Homemade Laundry Soap and Detergents" from Christian Homekeeper Network has another good recipe for homemade laundry products, although it has Fel-Naptha soap in it, which if I remember correctly, isn't exactly a natural cleaner, but worth a go for those who are interested in homemade cleaners. And finally, "Going Paperless-Paper Towel Edition" from The Diet Coke Diet has some good tips for reducing the amount of paper towels you use in your household.
So check them out, chicas, and have a good night!
MandaMac
Ah, hot July summer. Yesterday I was reading a post on Flour On My Face about blackberry picking, and it reminded me of my own childhood experiences picking blackberries in Tennessee.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Sorry I haven't been around to post: it's been a busy few days! Good things and not so good ones. BUT, it's another Monday, so back to the grind. I'm excited, because I start school in just about a week and a half....finally! Enjoy my last relatively free days before things heat up. Whoa...it's been....14 years since the last time I was in school, so this should be interesting, to say the least. I'll confess I'm a bit nervous, but I'm sure I'll be fine. And with Dale doing the same classes, I have a nice study buddy.
I haven't started on my preserves yet, since Dale is still home on leave. It's hard to get down to business when the man is so darn distracting! A boy and his dog: they spend most of the day wrestling on the floor, and the house is full of the sounds of toenails on wood, man yells and boxer snorts. Gotta love it. We don't need kids; we have Macey. Not sure if the hubby would be able to devote the necessary attention needed to raise a child for spoiling his girl.
On another note; my nephew Jonas graduated preschool recently, and I have awesome pics that I, as the proud Auntie I am, feel the need to share with all of you:
The cutest little man in the world! Thanks to Jonas' OTHER Aunt Amanda for letting me copy the photos.
Hope everyone had a great Fourth, and I'll catch you all later,
MandaMac
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Well, yesterday was a bum day for blogging. My cable and internet went out at 10:00am and didn't come back on until 11:30pm. So no interwebs for me. I think I might have started having withdrawal symptoms. The upside was the fact that it was pay day, which meant I got to go get a bunch of goodies. I ran up to Lowe's Foods in Cape Carteret to do my grocery shopping; it was my first time going there, and I really liked it. They had an awesome produce section...think all the variety of Fresh Market or Whole Foods, but the size of Super Walmart's. And prices nicely in between. I mean, around here it's rare to find such tasties as fennel bulbs, celeriac, broccolini, leeks, radicchio, fresh brussels sprouts and wonderful, huge, fresh organic portobello caps. I had fun just in the produce section! And the meat section...I can't remember the last time I've seen such a huge selection of grass-fed beef and free range chicken. Seriously. I think I've found heaven. Quality, healthy, good selection, and prices right between Wally-world and Fresh Market. LOL, I was just happy the had Gardenburgers on sale 2 for $5.00. We stocked the freezer. Manda's a happy girl right now.
We just had dinner; my husband made the mistake of letting me know he knows how to cook! Let me show you this awesome spicy mango grilled chicken and baby greens salad with feta cheese and a rosemary-garlic vinagrette:
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