Hubs, the Patient Plumber

So last week I did something really dumb.  

I was cleaning up after breakfast and poured out the contents of a skillet 

in which I had cooked sausage.

Big mistake.

It took a day but the drained clogged up, but good!

After trying to plunge away the clog by myself I had to fess up to the hubs that 

I needed his help.

Dang it.

We worked on getting the clog to push on through for a while and then he decided to 

take apart the drain and see where the clog was.

And there he found it...

A wad of sausage grease sitting in the p-trap.

Ugh.

I have to hand it to my hubs.

He never got angry or fussed at me.  

He just cleared the clog and got it all back together for me.

Reason #89534 why I love my hubs.

He can unclog a sink without getting angry or feeling the need to lecture.

Thanks sweetie.

Cheese Quest, Chapter 2

This is not what Mozzarella cheese is supposed to look like. 

But this is what you can make from a failed batch of cheese.  

I bought another gallon of milk that said that is wasn't ultra-pasteurized 

but it certainly acted that way.  

I took a closer look at the label and it is made in Dallas, just like the last gallon.  

I wonder if it is processed at the same mega processor plant 

and a different label got slapped onto the jug.

I will be avoiding milk processed in Dallas.

Instead of pouring the whole mess out I strained out the whey and mixed in 

some fresh made pesto, a little salt and made a pretty decent cheese spread.  

Cheese Quest, Chapter 1

I have wanted to make cheese for years now.  

I know that the aged cheeses take some specialized equipment and time to make 

but there are several fresh cheeses that I have wanted to make. 

Mozzarella in particular.  

I read several cheese sources on the internet.

Ordered the few non-milk ingredients that I would need.

Bought 2% homogenized, pasteurized milk.

Allison and I were all set to make our first batch of 30-minute Mozzarella cheese.

It all started wonderfully.

We gently heated the milk, added the correct potions to the pot at the correct time.

We waited the appropriate amount of time.  

It was looking just like the pictures on the recipe.

And then it started to go all pear-shaped.

My lovely soft curds started to fall apart!

What should have been a custard consistency turned into tiny little shred-like curds!

Dang it!

I looked at the trouble shooting section of the cheese-making website and discovered our problem.

It said that if the curds fell apart that our homogenized milk was probably closer 

to ultra-homogenized milk which will not make curds.  

Dang it. Dang it!

So tomorrow starts the quest to find a milk that will work.

Two steps forward, one step backward.

How Does This Happen?

How is it that I can't seem to keep the bar in my kitchen clean?

It seems to go from fairly neat to a big 'ol mess in no time flat.

Where are the cleaning fairies when you need them?

Sweet Slobs

The kids are out of town this week. 

I took advantage of having free reign of their room and decided surprise them 

with clean rooms with fresh sheets and towels.  

Sounds lovely, right?

Holy Cow!  What a mess.  Eight hours and lots of sweat later this is what I culled from their rooms.

I filled three and a half bags of trash and removed a ton of clothes.

Three medium loads of clothes and a mountain-sized load of towels and linens.

Please tell me that kids eventually get neater. 

*Sorry the pictures are a little dark.  I am still trying to figure out how to get my new computer to talk to my newer version of Photoshop Elements.

Pre-rinse

Continuing on a theme...

Peaches, in self-less service to our family, takes it upon herself to make sure that our dishes

are truly rinsed and ready for the dishwasher.

With a tongue like hers she can practically lick both sides of a spatula at once.

She loves her job.

Thank You Maranatha!

Reason #46 that I am glad that Ben has been junior staff at Maranatha.

At camp he puts in a lot of time doing "grunt" jobs like kitchen cleaning, mopping, sweeping,

cleaning bathrooms, in addition to the more glamorous jobs like lifeguarding.

After dinner tonight he helped to clear the dishes from the table, as per usual.

Bruce and the kids generally will put the dishes in the sink

or into the dishwasher and clear the table.

Tonight Ben stayed in the kitchen until all of the hand wash items were washed and left

to air dry and wiped down the countertops. 

He put soap into the dishwasher and started it.

Um, wow. 

A mom could get used to this.

Training 'Em Right

Ben thinks that this is just another chore that I am making him do.

He doesn't realize that this is part of his life-skill training that as a parent I am required to do.

That, and I ran out of tea and asked him to make some more.

But mostly it is life skills training.

Yep, let's go with that.

Cornice Board Project

I have been on a quest to collect wine bottle labels for about three years.  I have helped to empty a few bottles, I have asked friends to save bottles, I have even asked to take home an empty bottle from restaurants if it has a label that I haven't already collected.  I have gotten such a reputation that I have had friends who will leave boxes of bottles on my driveway.  Some people take home leftovers from parties, I take a bag of empty bottles. 

I started the quest when I got the idea to make a cornice board and cover it with the labels for my kitchen window.  Since I have a double window in the kitchen I was going to need gobs of labels to cover that much real estate. 

I really love the variety of artwork that is found on labels.  I also love the clever, snarky, or downright funny names of some wines.  If you stand and stare at my cornice long enough you are going to see the full gammit of labels here.  From a label from a bottle of Dom Perignon champagne that we received as a wedding gift and drank with our parents the night we brought our first baby home to some low brow labels from some tacky, classless friends. (You know who you are!)

 I am still collecting them (feel free to leave boxes of bottles on my driveway) and have also started collecting different tea labels and chocolate labels.  I am thinking that I might just make cornices for a couple other windows.  A girl needs a hobby, right?

Plant Slayer!

Over the holidays I received two very lovely poinsettia plants as hostess gifts.  Little did my well-meaning friends know that they had commited a travesty in the plant world.  They were sentencing these innocent, colorful specimens to certain death.  I am known far and wide as a plant slayer.  Nothing escapes my cholorophyl-strangling grasp. 

Well, that was until these lovelies came along.  These things just won't die!  They love the filtered light and cooler temps in my laundry room.  They don't mind sharing the space with our dog and all of our coats and shoes. 

At this rate I think I am going to have to start calling them my Valentine's poinsettias. 

Bruce!

In my opinion there isn't too much that is sexier than my husband loading the dishwasher. 

Just saying...

Mount Laundrymore Conquered!

Ok, for the record, I tried to post this last night but I was having technical difficulties with Blogger.

Although I have been slowed down a bit since the foot surgery, I managed to conquer the mountain range of laundry from the night before.  And as evidence of said action, here 'tis:

Time To Come Clean

I had everyone bring their dirty laundry to the laundry room and by the time I finished sorting it looked like a mountain range (and yes, the washer and dryer are both full at the time of this picture).  You would think that I hadn't done laundry in a month, but this is just over a week's worth people!  Although they are smaller, my kids make so much more dirty laundry than Bruce and I.  Not sure how that happens.  So, if you need me, I will be at home, folding clothes.