Today is Judy’s 30th birthday. I never thought I’d see the day. I’ve know her for what seems like forever (but has “only” been 8 years) and she’s had the nerve to be in her 20s the whole time. Not any more. Today, she has joined the ranks of the 30-something crowd. We’re glad to have her.
further proof that i should’ve lived in the dark ages
Recently, my grandmother decided to get rid of her sewing machine. I decided to take it because I figured that I could use it for upholstering the furniture Brian makes. It turns out that her sewing machine is this kick-ass black cast iron number from the 1950’s. It’s so cool. I haven’t sewn anything since 7th grade home economics. Doing the math, that was 23 years ago, so I thought it might be a good idea to buy a book on the subject. The book has a few cool plans in it that I’ll probably attempt for practice before trying anything major. And, if anything happens to come out, they’ll probably be doled out as gifts this Christmas.
I was leafing through a Pottery Barn catalog the other day and saw a sideboard in there with a runner on it. That sounds like a good idea for a first project. Not only did it look great, but it will also help protect the top of my sideboard from the “claw of the doberman”. So now I’ll probably make myself a runner for my sideboard if I can find material that I like.
Then, damn that Pottery Barn catalog–I found some drapes that I really liked. They would be perfect for our living room and dining room. Unfortunately. they don’t come in the sizes that we’d need. I happened to be leafing through my sewing book to check out the runner plans and lo and behold, they also have plans on how to make drapes. So, that’s another thing on my “to do” list. I doubt I’ll get to any of this till fall, though. I’m just too busy in the summer with the garden and “exterior home maintenance” and whatnot.
Over the 4th of July I mixed up this concoction called “Lemon Drop Liqueur”. I had to buy some canning jars in order to make this. This got me to thinking about canning vegetables from my garden. Brian would love if I’d can tomatoes. Then, he could have pasta with fresh tomato sauce “all winter long” or so he says. I’m still on the fence about this concept. It seems like freezing stuff is an easier route to take. But, it does have some merit for certain items, I suppose. To add to the madness, I was telling Steve about this yesterday and he was highly encouraging the activity as well. So, this might be another thing for me to try. I’ll admit, a bunch of canned vegetables sure look a lot nicer than a bunch of bags of frozen, blanched vegetables. And, they’d be easier to store as my freezer tends to overflow at certain times of the year. I probably won’t try it this year. But, if I end up with a bumper crop of tomatoes, who knows? More likely, though, I will research this over the winter and plan on it for next year.
murphy in action
Yesterday, Brian’s good friend and co-worker, Steve, came over for a cookout. If anything could’ve gone wrong with the preparation, it did.
First of all, the previous weekend, I looked for a small leg of lamb roast while we were grocery shopping. The store didn’t have one. I figured maybe they’d get some in by the next week. No such luck. So, I sent Brian on a mission to two more grocery stores Friday night, with a contingency plan to buy a defrosted turkey breast with a bone in it if his mission should fail. So, he comes home with boneless turkey tenderloins, of course. I was concerned that these might dry out on the grill, so I didn’t want to make them for company. He did say that the one store had a boneless leg of lamb that was larger than I wanted, so I decided to go with that. (I just cut it in two pieces and froze the extra part for another meal).
With that done, Friday night, I was making the dessert. I turned the stove on and it took 30 minutes to preheat (it usually takes 7). I’m not sure if the dessert came out right or not (as it was the first time I tried this particular recipe), but it seemed to be ok. Then I was making bread yesterday. This time the stove took 45 minutes to preheat and it wouldn’t heat to the required temperature. Due to the lower temperature, the bread didn’t brown properly, but it still tasted quite good. I guess I’ll be calling someone tomorrow to service my stove. Just what I need–another expense. Good thing it is the summer and I don’t rely on it much for cooking.
The weather was thundery all afternoon, but it only ended up raining for a few minutes so we were still able to have dinner outside. Brian and I figured the storm had to be pounding someone somewhere. Evidently, that ‘somewhere’ was Richland.
Steve is a big gardener. So, when Brian started band practice, that gave us a chance to swap gardening tips for a bit. I don’t know many people who are into gardening even more than I am, so it’s always nice to have someone like that to talk to.
In the end, everything turned out ok, so I guess that’s all that matters. All in all, a very enjoyable evening.
end table
Brian designed and built an end table for our living room (and to think some people actually buy furniture). I did the finish work last weekend and the piece made its way to our living room this week. You can read about it on his site. He built it from a load of cherry he scored at an auction last October. Building this one piece of furniture has practically made the lumber pay for itself. Of course, he needs to make some more stuff if he plans on storing his motorcycle in the shed this winter. Don’t worry–I’ve got a few things lined up for him.