9/4/08

The spud started college on Tuesday. She gave her first class – Psychology – two thumbs up. So far she seems to be enjoying college – hopefully she won’t have too many problems balancing school and work.

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We’re on the third disc of Heroes Season 2, and I have got to ask – does anything else want to go on a shooting rampage every time Niki comes on the screen? Jesus god in heaven I CANNOT STAND HER. I loathe her as Niki, but she’s tolerable as Jessica. It’s amazing, the difference. I suppose that’s the sign of a good actress.

Also annoying me, Kristen Bell as Elle and the way she PAWS every man she’s near. GOD PLEASE MAKE IT STOP.

Speaking of TV, at someone’s – several someones’, actually – suggestion, I started taping and watching Chelsea Lately. She’s pretty damn funny, and I’ve added her to my regular rotation.

I seem to recall reading a book by her a few years ago – a check on Amazon reminds me that it was My Horizontal Life – and I enjoyed it, so I don’t know why it never occurred to me that I’d enjoy her show, too.

So thanks, y’all who recommended her!

Also speaking of TV, I got almost 3/4 of the way through Season 4 of The L Word, and I suddenly realized that I didn’t give a shit what happened to anyone on the show – didn’t care about Jenny, didn’t give a shit about Max, was bored to fucking death by Marlee Matlin, dreaded sitting down and watching the rest of the show, so I sent the last discs back to Netflix and have decided that I’m done with The L Word.

Unless someone tells me that Season 5 is worth watching, that is.

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My cleaning streak lasted through most of yesterday morning. I pulled down the shower curtains in the downstairs bathroom and tossed them in the washing machine (did you know that you can wash shower curtains? The vinyl ones I mean (or whatever environment-destroying material they’re made out of), not the cloth ones (which are ridiculous, because you get a cloth curtain for your shower, but you still have to buy a liner to go with it, what’s the point?). The shower curtains in the downstairs bathroom (there are two shower curtains, because the rod around the tub is super-long – it covers the side and end of the tub, not just one side) have been there for a year and a half. I wash them every three months or so, use laundry detergent, wash them on warm, use vinegar in the rinse cycle, hang them on the line to dry (so I don’t drip water all the way through the house), and they’re perfectly good as new.)

I cleaned both the downstairs bathrooms, which desperately needed it. I vacuumed the entire house, cleaned all the floors, went around with a wet rag and wiped down all the windowsills, and dusted. I ate lunch and thought about cleaning the inside of all the windows and then wiping down the baseboards, but then I said “Fuck this” and went and watched TV ’til Fred got home.

That’s the problem with feeling the urge to clean. You never know how long it’s going to last!

Last week, after putting it off FOREVER, I finally hauled my ass to Lowe’s and bought some bins so that I could rearrange the big upright freezer in the laundry room. It was stuffed full of vegetables (I did WAY less canning this year than last, preferring to freeze almost everything) and every time I reached in there to pull something out or put something in, piles of frozen vegetables would attempt escape.

Not surprisingly, once I got it organized, there’s a lot more room in there!

(To be honest, I took all the tomatoes and tomato puree out to make room for the pork Fred would be picking up at the processor’s; that freed up a LOT of room. It should be mostly thawed by tomorrow morning, and I’m going to cook it all down to tomato sauce and can it.)

Before:

After:

And because I KNOW you want to know what’s in the freezer. Top shelf: (left bin) Whole, frozen okra. (Right bin) Dehydrated eggplant slices. Second shelf: (Left, behind the blue-topped containers) Summer squash, cut up and boiled and mashed (for making baked squash). In the blue-topped containers: Various leftovers, for Fred to take to work for lunch. (Right) Sliced okra in 1/2 cup servings. Third shelf: Corn on the cob, in both bins. Plus a loaf of bread that’s been in there forever. Fourth shelf: Empty, waiting for pork. First drawer: Diced summer squash, eggplant, and zucchini, waiting to be stir-fried into vegetable medley (with dehydrated cherry tomatoes and sliced okra). Bottom drawer: Nothing but green beans, baby. Well, except for that one pack of cooked and mashed summer squash. On the door, from the top and going down: dehydrated cherry tomatoes, black-eyed peas, shredded zucchini, chopped summer squash and okra.

The pork that we’re keeping (we gave a bunch to Fred’s mom and stepfather, and sold about 70 pounds to someone who buys eggs from us regularly – and who’s buying half of one of our current pigs) actually fits (just barely) on that formerly-empty shelf (I took the “after” freezer pic before the pork arrived on the Fred Express yesterday).

So as to not traumatize any of you delicate folks, if you’d like to see what Big Pig, processed and packaged, looks like you can go check out the pictures in Fred’s entry.

Or you can surf on over to Flickr and see the picture I like to call “The pork and the dork.”

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Previously
2007: I can’t help it if giant forks make me happy.
2006: Does it make me strange that I can handle the thought of field mice in the house, but the idea of ants in the house just REALLY infuriates me?
2005: No entry.
2004: My Gram.
2003: If I had a brain I’d be dangerous.
2002: What I’ve been doing.
2001: I’m wise to your stalker ways, Margaret!
2000: No entry.