Hey, look! Here’s one way to use those 30+ English muffins I found in the freezer the other day! I like that you can make a batch and then freeze them so that when you’re having a hankering for a breakfast pizza, all you have to do is pop one in the microwave.
How are your fruit trees coming along?
The citrus trees seem to be doing really well. We’re not really sure when we need to harvest the fruit from those trees, but Fred suggested that when the oranges are ready to be picked, we should pick the key limes as well. (I did not know until I saw a bag of them at the grocery store that key limes are tiny.) I’m hoping to make key lime curd this winter!
Here’s an interesting note: the leaves of the key lime tree? SMELL LIKE LIME. How cool is that?
Fred got a small bowl full of tiny peaches last month. According to him, they were really good. I don’t think we got any plums, and only a handful of apples and a couple of pears. Seriously, our “orchard” is letting us down. I guess it takes a few years for the trees to get established and start bearing fruit for real. Hopefully some day I’ll be able to make peach-habanero jam from our own peaches!
I LOVE Hoarders (A & E). Will watch “Hoarding: Buried Alive” (TLC) in a pinch–the pacing is just Not Right on that show. We tend to fast forward through Hoarding, while watching every cat shit-laden minute of Hoarders. We even sat through two straight hours last week, including Sir What’s His Name (who was really sweet, and reminded me of something out of “Arsenic & Old Lace” or “Harvey.”). Also, “Hoarding” makes me feel like jumping up & cleaning afterwards, while “Hoarding: Buried Alive,” not so much. And I love the guy on Hoarders who shows up with the Got Junk crew and gets very, very cranky after awhile…
(If you don’t toss those English muffins, they may send the other Robin out to “counsel” you–my husband calls her “The Hair.”)
(In the interests of accuracy, I should report that we watched the second Hoarders last night, & I realized I was wrong. He calls her “Dr. Hair.”)
I agree that the pacing on Hoarding: Buried Alive isn’t right (and how dumb am I that I didn’t realize ’til I read your comment that they’re on different stations? DUH.). Buried Alive seems to be kind of “Let us meet some hoarders and see how they deal with their hoarding lifestyle!”, whereas Hoarders is more “Let us meet some hoarders and give them tools to figure out their shit.”
LOVE LOVE LOVE the guy who shows up with the Got Junk crew (Matt? I’m thinking that’s his name), and I LOVE the fact that he gets cranky and he doesn’t bother to hide it.
Dr. Robin Zasio (I always yell “ZAZZZZZZZZIOOOOOOOO!” when she comes on the screen.) has got herself some crazy, twirling eyes, doesn’t she? I love it when the cleaning-out process starts, and the hoarder is going all gangbusters, and then they run across some scrap of paper from 1978 that stops them dead cold, and Dr. Zasio starts gently trying to coax them into talking about how they’re feeling, but you can just SEE from her eyes that she’s dying to haul off and start throwing everything into the dumpster.
The shows that get me the most are the ones where peoples’ homes are chock-full of garbage. I cannot stand the thought of how their homes must SMELL. Too much stuff? I get that. Garbage rotting on the floor and animal feces everywhere? I do not. Homes with nonfunctioning bathrooms and NO running water? GAH. The lady with the used adult diapers everywhere? NIGHTMARES.
The creepiest episode (we saw several) featured a family of four: Abusive father, hoarding mother, and two middle-aged kids who never moved out or got lives outside the filthy, dysfunctional house. What made me really mad is that the county gave them their cats back (after discovering the cats living in horrible conditions).
YES. And didn’t they say that the house was structurally unsound and they were going to have to condemn it, and the father was super-pissed and blaming everyone else?
What KIND of english muffins?
Thomas english muffins, of course! Is there any other kind?
I wouldn’t dither over a rotten cantaloupe, but just yesterday I pulled the sticker off one of those round cup-like containers of gum after we chewed the last piece of gum, because “I could wash it out and use it to… store things in.” I don’t know what things, mind you, I just know that at some point, soon, I’m going to think to myself, “I wish I had a container about *yea* big and *so* round to put these ____ into – if only I hadn’t thrown away that empty gum container!”
I’m sitting on the top of the hoarder slide, holding onto the sides, looking down and yelling about being scared, but the kids coming up the ladder behind me are getting impatient so I’m going to push off any moment now…
Oh god, the “This container seems like it would be REALLY useful!” disease! I totally have that. At one point, I had something like 40 baby food jars, because don’t those TOTALLY seem they would be useful for….something? Cottage cheese containers! I had almost 30 of them because they seem like they would be SO HANDY. I finally recycled all but 5 of them (because if I need to take a kitty poo sample to the vet, that is the PERFECT size), but every time I rinse one out, I clutch it to my bosom frantically and think “You would be SO USEFUL!” before I recycle it. The buckets that Fresh Step used to come in! I have a pile of them – but in my defense, they really DO get used.
You are not alone, Elayne. I know we’re not the only ones who look at a container and think “Oh, that looks SO handy! I can’t possibly toss it!”
The rest of you, fess up. What containers are you hoarding in the back of your cupboards because you absolutely KNOW they’ll come in handy some day?
There’s liquid bandage you can buy too for paper cuts etc. Works the same as super glue, but is perhaps less toxic?
Yeah, we have a bottle of that stuff around here somewhere. I couldn’t find it, though, so I had to resort to super glue! How toxic is the super glue, anyway? Am I going to develop super powers?
Oh. And I don’t know what it’s called when you remove the corn, but the tool we have to do it, I call a “corner” and crack myself up. I = easily amused.
I am also easily amused – I cackled when I read this!
*snort* I’m a geek, but when you were talking about the chickens with the ? over their heads, I could not help think of this: http://warcraftpets.com/guides/images/chicken/prairie_chicken.jpg. It’s a quest in World of Warcraft called Cluck! You go to a farm where there are some chickens running around, and you buy a bag of chicken feed from the farmer. Then you go up to one of the chickens and proceed to “cluck” at it while waggling your arms like wings. You do that a couple dozen times and then the chicken gives you this quest, and gets the ? over it’s head, you give it the feed. When you’ve completed the quest, the chicken lays an egg, which you pick up and open to receive a tiny pet chicken 🙂
You will not sucker me in to playing WOW, Aimee. Will NOT! 😛
I’ve never heard of cob jelly. What is this stuff? 😉
Jelly made from corn cobs, of course!
I saw the recipe over at Suzanne McMinn’s site, and I thought “Hmm. I have lots of corn on the cob!” and decided to give it a try. What really made me interested was that she said it tastes like honey.
So I made it, I tasted it, and I don’t know that it tastes like honey, but it’s not bad. Fred doesn’t like it, because he says it tastes like corn. It does NOT, but I don’t know how quickly I’ll end up using the three half-pints of jelly I ended up with. Was interesting to make, but I doubt I’ll do it again.
Growing up, we always called sweet cornbread “city” cornbread. So you’re not a Yankee, you’re just high falutin’ cityfied.
I always suspected I was born to be high falutin’. 🙂
“Every morning for the past three days, he picks up the skunk – which somehow ends up upstairs every evening – and he carries it from my bedroom upstairs, down the hallway, down the stairs, down the downstairs hallway, through the dining room, and into the kitchen. The entire length of his journey, he keens at the top of his lungs as though he’s caught and killed a real skunk, and he’s coming to show me his “kill”.”
I was wondering if any of your cats do this! We have an extra large furry mouse (which is in very bad shape, no tail and gobby fur) and Buddy will actually carry it upstairs and then come back down meowing at the top of his lungs, wander through the first floor, and arrive in the living room caterwauling the whole way. Drop toy, jump on lap, fall asleep as if nothing happened.
It’s kind of funny except he drowns out the TV when he does it, and he’s also been known to come into the bedroom 2 or 3 times in the wee hours in spite of “Buddah shaddap I’m tryna sleep!”
This is fairly new behavior on Jake’s part – but Miz Poo has done it for years. She loves to do it in the middle of the night, and she ALWAYS starts at the farthest point possible and ends up in my bedroom. I’m pretty sure I yell “MIZ! POO! SHUT! UP!” in my sleep when she does it these days. She also doesn’t drop it and go on with her day once she’s arrived at her destination. She drops it, and then she makes these little chirpy noises like “Did you see what I caught? You see what I got, there? I caught that my own self! I am such the good hunter! Go, me!”
Yaaaay!!! Bitchypoo appeared in my rss feed this morning. The link’s been broken for weeks, and I’ve had to come to your site manually (HORRORS!!!!).
Whatever you did, thank you!
While I’d like to take credit, I don’t think it was anything I did. Maybe someone kicked a tire and the internet fixed itself.
Just rename your Strawberry-habanero jam, Strawberry-habanero syrup and sell it that way. 😉 Some people might like hot syrup for their pancakes.
I very well may have to end up doing that! I processed it a second time yesterday (it was as runny as water when I dumped it from the jars into the pot) and it’s slightly thicker now, but still not at the point where I’d call it jam. I’m going to give it a few days to gel, and if it doesn’t, I’m going to give up and call it syrup!
Can one hoard cats? Just askin’!
I don’t get where you’re going with this completely out of the blue question. What are you implying?
(Shaddup, you.)
My million dollar idea is a reality show called “I Will Throw All Your Shit Away.” I will let you be on the show with me – we’ll throw everyone’s shit away!
DREAM JOB! I accept your job offer and will pack my bags post-haste.
I adore this picture. Martin is clearly thinking “WTF?”
I was outside picking cherry tomatoes, and Maxi came over to see what I was doing. On the other side of the fence (in the back yard), Corbett did the same. Maxi apparently felt that Corby was in her space, and did some hissing and smacking.
What cracked me up is that Maxi didn’t even stick her paw through the fence to smack Corby, and he still fell over like she’d made contact. I guess he knows who’s in charge around these parts.
Previously
2009: “In a world where human babies are abandoned and allowed to die on the street because they were born female, I’m having a hard time mustering up too much sympathy for male chickens.”
2008: The Godfather Catmother
2007: I don’t know what you do to surprise your husband – lingerie, or a gift from the local “adult” store, perhaps – but I know the direct way to Fred’s heart, and mowing the lawn so he was free to come home and work on his shed instead of having to mow the lawn made him one happy man.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.
2004: How’d you like to wake up in the dark and see the Baldwin noggin coming toward you? I bet your life would flash in front of your eyes.
2003: “Freakass freak” is two words.
2002: As I pointed out to Fred this afternoon, it makes me uncomfortable when Dr. Phil is nice.
2001: No entry.
2000: No entry.
I just watched the Hoarders show this week where the water wasn’t working in the house and the people had started pooping in bags and throwing them in the corner. In my mind I’m sort of chanting to myself, *shit in a bag, shit in a bag, eeeewww.* The idea was just so nasty! Then the guy Matt (with the truck) said he couldn’t shovel it out because the bags would break so he had to pick it all up by hand! DO NOT try to eat lunch while watching this show. . .
OMG, I just watched that one too! I was actually thinking, “Wow, that Matt has got some kind of cast-iron stomach, because I would be HURLING,” and then I felt like I might be sick anyway, just watching it on television in my blissfully shit-free home.
Robyn, I would really like to be part of “I Will Throw All Your Shit Away.” I had some kind of hoarding tendencies when I was younger and scared the hell out of myself. Now I’m a merciless junk-tosser. (That sounds like some kind of euphemism.) And while I don’t necessarily condone mocking the mentally ill in a public forum like reality TV, the psychotic meltdowns these people would have as we threw their shit away would be the real draw. I think this show would be a huge hit. It’d also be completely cruel. I look forward to viewing and hope I can guest-star one day! 😀
“Thomas english muffins, of course! Is there any other kind?”
Well, BAYS english muffins are infinitely superior…according to dad. He ate one bite of the Thomas muffin and said, “This isn’t Bays, is it.” Not a question, an accusation. Ha.
Confession:
coffee ‘cans’ (the plastic ones)
the plastic Talenti gelato containers
jelly/baby food jars
we used to save the FreshStep containers and still would…sniff, sniff
We DVR Hoarders and I watched the Sir Patrick episode this week. He was more of a charming eccentric than hoarder. Too bad about his “collection” but he cleaned up well. The family featured on the same show? After a few minutes of watching, the term “inbred” came to mind. Creepy! Especially the dad. He reminded me vaguely of Dick Cheney with that sneer and those eyes…
I don’t really have the space to hoard containers or I would. Sometimes I will wash one and have it “live” on the counter for a couple of days before I get annoyed and take it out to the recycling can. I have a few small jars for samples etc. I also have s couple of fresh step containers I keep extra pet supplies in. I used to save coffee cans for my husband too but we mostly get coffee in bags these days.
I don’t watch the hoarding shows too much because they make me squirm. There is definetly a bit of a horading gene on my father’s side of the family. It’s not in a gross way with smelly garbage or anything like that just a tendency to have too much unnecessary stuff. The men are particularly bad and cleanig out thier “stuff” is a real chore when someome passes away. Did you ever watch American Pickers? That’s is what the prpoerties, garages, basements etc. end up looking like. I have too much stuff myself and I am gearing up to tackle our two spare bedrooms which have become junk rooms. I need to store some stuff in the smaller one because we are in a small ranch with no basement. We have a detached garage but that is my husband’s car domain. The snow blower and tools live there. I want him to clear me one spot so we can put an upright freezer out there. My one bedroom was a guest room at one time.I got rid of the bed because my in-laws insisted on visiting every August which did not work for me at all. It was the busies time of the year at my job-time off forbidden- and my allergies are at their worst then too. My mother-in-law who was always cold constantly turned down the a/c and opened windows letting in “fresh air” (pollen!). I was hella tired and bitchy and he didn’t have the stones to say no. So I sneakily convinced him to get rid of the bed one winter and it never got replaced. Unfortunately “stuff” moved in. Now that the in-laws are gone I need to reclaim the room because my friends are reasonable guests and I’d love to have a place for them to stay. You asked for a confession! We lapsed catholics can really go overboard on that kind of thing! LOL!
When I worked for a vet back in the dark ages, he used to use regular super glue for all sorts of stuff. Now they have it dedicated for medical use (and is it purple now?) but I think it’s the same stuff. I use it on cuts too, when I can remember and/or find a tube. I don’t think it will hurt anything.
Oh, and I’m a Hoarders addict too. I have to watch it DVRed, so I can pause it, get up and throw out some invisibly-hoarded item (I’m very much not a hoarder anyway, but this show REALLY makes me want to declutter) and watch some more. My house is usually quite clean by the time we’re done, since I’ve learned that if I want to watch the whole show, I’d best have the dishes done first. My husband’s started watching it too, and I’ve seen definite progress on his shop.
I like to tell myself that I’m NOT a hoarder, but being raised by a Depression-era mentality mum and a Scottish father, I find I’m always wanting to hang on to stuff I just know I’ll use later. Recently I found I had saved something like 25 jars and about the same number of random plastic containers, which took up 50% of my cupboard space (I have a tiny flat)!
well, I painted the lids black on 3 jars and used them in the bathroom (for Q-tips and cotton balls and bath salts), and I have 5 in my spice rack holding the different sugars and baking soda/powder (all with the new coordinated labels made, go me). The tiny jars (like baby food sized) I used in the toolbox to separate out screws, nails, etc. I also reused 4 of my empty International Coffee tins which I covered and labeled and now store assorted teas in.
I got all puffy proud of myself for doing the above, but then it was over TWO YEARS of storing that stuff and only because I’m unemployed have I finally gotten around to actually using those things I’d saved “just in case”.
Just reading all these episode descriptions has given me the willies enough to finish the clean out. ((shudder))
But won’t you just forget about the 30 frozen breakfast pizzas? (I shouldn’t talk, i have one regular fridge/freezer and recently discovered a turkey breast never cooked I bought for last Thanksgiving…sigh..)
“What containers are you hoarding in the back of your cupboards because you absolutely KNOW they’ll come in handy some day?”
Oh, Robyn, you got me here. After spending the last week or so tossing out clutter, I won’t part with my VAST collection of yogurt containers. I have many, many four and eight cup yogurt containers and lids in two big boxes in the garage. I use them for paint and for throwing out smelly stuff that can’t go right into the trash (bacon grease, etc).
My first step is to stop saving them (duh). Then…maybe…I’ll consider tossing some of the huge collection out there. Really, it’s idiotic that I have so many of them.
I love how Martin is observing the camera so intently while the other kitties are completely oblivious.
BTW, the kitty room looks so CLEAN. It always does, but I especially noticed now since we’ve been discussing the Hoarders and their filth around here lately. You run a tight ship, obviously.
Dammit. Now I’m going to have to save some yogurt containers for watercolor water! Thanks, devil…
I would like to apply to work on “I Will Throw All Your Shit Away.” When my g-ma died last year at her assisted living home, we needed to get her stuff out fast, as we didn’t want to pay for an empty room. I instructed my mom to bring trash bags, & if I do say so myself, I did a great job. My mom kept wanting to keep stuff, like broken pencils & almost-empty aspirin bottle, but I kept her on task, & we left with a minimum of things. Thank you for your consideration.
“What containers are you hoarding in the back of your cupboards because you absolutely KNOW they’ll come in handy some day?”
Cool Whip plastic bowls – excellent size for touch-up painting when I don’t want to use paint tray.
Coffee cans to throw away food items that would stink up the trash can. (Such as fat from trimming meat before cooking or bones)
I should go out to the garage and take a picture of the cupboard I have FILLED with empty…
wait for it…
dozens of French’s Barbeque Potato Sticks (7-oz) cans.
BUT THERE’S A REASON.
I have a recessive “crafting” gene, and those foil-interiored cardboard cans are a wonderful outlet for it.
–Clean out the can, but don’t soak it because it’s cardboard and will fall apart.
–Using an X-Acto knife or Dremel tool, carefully cut an arch-like opening into the side of the can, starting at the very bottom. You want it to be about 4 inches tall, and about half the diameter of the can.
–Decorate the outside of the can – if you spray-paint it, stuff some newspaper into the tube-part so the foil lining doesn’t get sprayed. If you use hot-glue and fabric (or wrapping paper), make sure to wrap the edges up into the arch-shaped entryway so it doesn’t peel away.
–Using sturdy (but not too stiff) wire, make a “cradle” to hang from the top. The base of the cradle should come to about an inch above the top of the arch, so it is close to the opening, but not visible from the outside. This is going to hold a tea-light candle, so make sure it’s good and flat on the bottom (no wax drips), well-secured at the top (no falling down and setting things on fire), and well-centered in the tube (no getting too close to the edges and setting things on fire).
–In the bottom of the can, use whatever you want/can find to create a nativity scene, a winter-forest scene, Santa leaving presents, whatever. Stick some cotton or angel snow (whatever that fluffy white stuff is called) to the bottom with hot-glue, spray a little glitter if you want.
–Let it all dry REALLY WELL. Then drop the tealight candle into the holder, and use a fireplace match to light it.
–The light from the candle reflects erratically on the foil interior of the can, and picks up on any glitter you might have sprayed, creating a “firelight” effect to enliven your little nativity/winter-wonderland/whatever* scene.
If you’re thinking it sounds hopelessly tacky and ridiculous, YOU ARE RIGHT, and yet I made a batch of these about ten years ago and sold them at a craft show for $25 EACH. My materials were almost all things that were lying around, so it was almost pure profit, and people went NUTS over them. I was ashamed to even show them to anyone at first because they were so kitsch, but the people I worked with were gaga over them. I thought they were just being nice, but then they started asking for MORE, for relatives, friends, neighbors – so for Christmas the next year, I made a batch of about 40 or so, signed up for a slot at a craft show, and made slightly less than a thousand dollars. So every time I think about throwing all those old cans away, part of me flinches and yells, “In just a few hours you could turn those into MONEY!”
Sigh. I’m not only a crazy cat lady, not only an almost-hoarder, but I’m… *sob* I’m a recovering CRAFTER too!!
*(The first time I saw one of these, it was in a Pringle’s can/tube, but the French’s cans are roomier and easier to work with.)
Um, Elayne…pics or it didn’t happen.
Seriously, we’re gonna need to see these. Of course, we’ll all probably love them and squee over them which will encourage you to start making them again and opening an Etsy store. Then you’ll spend all of your waking hours divided between making the stuff and sitting in front of the computer waiting for orders. Life over.
Also, these sold for $25 apiece ten years ago? That’s awesome because it was before the credit boom hit (2003) and people were spending money (that they didn’t have) like drunken shopaholics. You’d better get crackin’ for the holiday season, woman!
Christmas is just around the corner, folks. 🙂
LOL You’re the third person who’s asked for pics. All my crafting stuff is boxed up, and I don’t think I have any completed ones left, unless they’re the early efforts/rough drafts that look too ugly to be believed…
I have a fuckload of shit on my plate right now, but I will see what I can do – I can guarantee it won’t be any time real soon though.
I thought for a while, back then, about quitting my job and trying to make a go of crafting by itself. I do decorated eggshells (blow out the inside of the egg, paint the shell, decorate with tiny lace/satin flowers, beads, sequins, ribbons) that sell really well at Christmas and Easter time (oh, sometimes at Easter I would paint the eggs yellow or pink, glue on felt-and-pipe-cleaner feet and beaks, googly eyes, and wee straw hats, and sit the little chicken-eggs on a bowl of jellybeans. Kids especially love those), and have a few cross-stitch/embroidery patterns that are comparatively quick to do but are large and look very elaborate. One is the Lord’s Prayer, and another is a personalized anniversary sampler, which both sell really well, and I did most of my own blocking and framing, so they were really inexpensive in terms of materials. But the truth of the matter is, except for the cross-stitch, which started killing my hands, I was never happy enough with any of my stuff… people’d buy them and ask for custom made stuff, but all I could see when I looked at them was that spot where the hot-glue dripped, or the beads weren’t lined up properly, or the edge of the lace was frayed. I was afraid that I’d sell a certain amount, and then everyone else would see what I saw, and that’d be the end of that, and jobs are easier to keep than to find. Also, although I live in an area in which kitsch really, REALLY sells, as you pointed out when the economy takes a hit, that kind of stuff is always the first spending to get cut.
Once I get some other stuff under control, though, I’ll go through my crafting room and pull out the best of what’s left, then figure out how to get my damn camera synched with the laptop, and post a link. And if you get me started on that stuff again, I’ll come after you… LOL
Martin is clearly thinking “WTF?”
And right he SHOULD be thinking that! Did you notice his back legs/feet? Makes the picture, and him, that much more endearing!
Have you ever considered tryinga jalapeno-apple jam? I’m currently enjoying some of your Chunky Caramel Apple jam but must say the peach is my favorite!
I have been in a person’s apartment that could easily be featured on one of these hoarding shows and oh yes it does smell. I felt fortunate that it was during good weather and the window as always open, heaven knows what it would smell like otherwise, I’d have probably needed a gas mask.
elayne – I am dying to see a picture of this candle holder you make out of chip containers, Robyn make her send in a picture!
I am completely the other way, I recycle or toss practically everything. I had a plumber here awhile back wanting an old container for something and I couldn’t find anything, I had to give him a plastic mixing bowl that was from the dollar store so it was no big loss.
whoops, fourth request for pics. lol
I’ll do my best, but it’ll be a bit. Fortunately “Cleaning out the craft room” IS on my list of things to do, so perhaps your-all’s requests for pics will inspire me to actually DO it.
I don’t have a special high-falutin’ utensil to remove corn from the cob. I call what I use a “knife.” A “corner” IS really funny though…reminds me of The Corn Baller on Arrested Development! 😀