Caution: Larry Wrote This Post!

A few days ago Marcia wrote a blog post about mustaches, etc.  She read it to me and at the end she had tears in her eyes.   So I thought perhaps it brought back some memories that made her tear up.   So I said, "Why are you crying?"   She said, "You're not a writer."  And I said,"Thank you for that endorsement."  So proceed with caution---you have been warned.   If you came here today expecting the same eloquent prose that you're used to reading on this blog, STOP reading now.   For you will be sadly disappointed.  

I spent the day doing a couple of projects I have been dragging my feet on.   I made a Camper Ramp to assist in replacing the camper tires.    If you want to know what this is, you can google the term "Trailer Aid" and find examples.  But mine is home made.  I may not be a writer but I do have some handyman skills.  (On edit:   Marcia says she is grateful for that!)  

Two pictures below will give you an idea of how this ramp works.    I am going to put it in action next week and will report back with pictures and let you know how well it worked or not.  

Trailer Ramp for Changing Tires

End View of Ramp



Another project I needed to do and have been putting off was the wheels needed to be painted on my truck.  They were rusted and pitted.   So I got the sandpaper out, sanded the rims, cleaned them, primed them and repainted.   Below are pix that show the process.   

Cleaned and Sanded

Primed

Completed Tire with New Paint



The upside of all this activity was I got two projects out of the way that needed to be done.   However, the downside is I got a sunburn and I missed my afternoon nap.  

Will report on the ramp after I put it into action next week.   If you got this far, thanks for reading.  

Hasta la Vista, Baby!
Larry

Mustaches, Mismatched Socks, Sequins and Penny Loafers

Larry and I just got back from walking at the mall.   Yes, we have joined the ranks of the other geezers in town and have gone for a daily walk three times this week.    I say "geezers" because the only people doing the walking are folks of our age and some quite a bit older than us.   And if you think I am being snarky to call them geezers, think again.    Many of those making their rounds were going a lot faster than us and had more pep in their step than many people half their age.    Quite the contrary, I admire those gray haired high steppers who are faithfully making their way through the tiled path at the local mall.  

The primary reason for our new found desire to walk the mall is the realization that we're too sedentary, too out of shape and just too lacking in energy to be healthy.    We have places to go, people to see and it's hard to do those things when you're "too pooped to pop" as Lucy Ricardo once said.    So after acknowledging that walking out in the fresh air along a nice, paved path down the street from our house is totally impractical when the humidity is 97 % and the mosquitoes have been known to carry off small dogs in our area, it dawned on us that there is a reason the mall opens 2 hours early for people to stroll along its empty hallways.      Climate controlled.    Safe.    Flat (except for a few ramps/steps).   Display windows with the latest fashions to entertain us.  Water fountains and bathrooms conveniently placed---just in case.   What more could anyone want?

So today as we meandered along looking at sequined tops, one shouldered sun dresses, Little Mismatch Socks, sparkly sandals and neon tennis shoes,  I suddenly knew why some of my younger relatives dress the way they do.   At family gatherings and celebrations, I have often marveled at their fashions but since I haven't darkened the doors of a mall until recently, I had no idea what the styles of the day had become.     This morning's outing certainly gave me an epiphany.   

There were a few things we saw that I attempted to explain to Larry since he is clueless when it comes to fashion.    His philosophy about clothing is that if it's clean, covers his nakedness and is not a white shirt, he is happy.   So as we were passing the Claire's I pointed out the mustache display that had a sign above it saying "Mustache Mania".    I mentioned to him that mustaches seem to be all the rage these days.   For girls.   That was as far as I got with the explanation because, frankly, I have NO idea how I know this nor do I know WHY it is a fad.    Maybe one of my readers could  leave a comment and fill me in on the details of this mysterious "must have".  

As I was pointing out the sequined, animal print tops in another display I felt a slight twinge as a memory stored somewhere deep within the folds of my cerebellum sprang to life.     It was 1963 and my family had just moved to Ft. Worth, Texas from Jackson, Mississippi.    I had just finished 9th grade and was anticipating going to high school for the first time the next fall.    Naturally a girl of that age starts noticing what the other girls are wearing.    I was involved in my church youth group shortly after we moved to Texas so among the first things I noticed was that every girl had some cut off jeans, a pair of penny loafers and white Levis.     It became obvious to me that if I didn't have those things I would stick out like a sore thumb among my peers.     I set up a howl like you would not believe until I got a few of the necessary items to make me fit in with the new school mates I would soon be meeting.   

Once I got those things, I thought I had arrived.    There is a photograph of me somewhere (hopefully it's lost to the ages) when we had just come back home after a 3 week trip through Mexico.   I am standing by our 1960 station wagon, posing like I was a model for Seventeen Magazine---my fashion Bible at the time.    I have on wrap around sunglasses, cut off shorts and penny loafers with crew socks.   I think I might even have my wrist slightly bent, casually showing my disdain for the whole affair.    Oh, yeah, I was cool and I knew it.   

And that memory popped into my head this morning when I saw all the latest fashions and realized why my nieces and granddaughter want to dress the way they do.    It is no different for them than it was for me all those years ago.    When you're young it is all about finding out who you are, how to fit in and be confident in yourself.    It is a process that evolves over time until one day you do develop your own style, your comfort zone, your own way to be.    But it's does not stop.   The process keeps on going in our lives.

Ask me how I know this?   It's because along with the sudden realization of why the young ones do what they do, I came to understand that Larry and I are still evolving in who we are.    Retirement brings abrupt and dramatic changes to your life.    Suddenly you're not in the familiar routine any more.    There are no alarms clocks to roust you out of bed every day.     No wardrobe worries.    No traffic to navigate.    It's just you and 12 - 18 hours of freedom every day.   As I told someone shortly after we retired, "Every day is Saturday when you retire."   

We are still figuring out who we are now that we don't do the jobs we used to do.  My old life involved lots of paperwork, employee issues, conference calls and dealing with state bureaucracy over our funding.   Larry's life involved a lot of physical labor, along with a hefty dose of electronic record keeping and making sure everything he did was done by the rules and within his own exacting standards.    Neither of us has to worry about any of that any more.     So where do we go from here?     Am I a writer, an artist?  A better cook?    Is he a carpenter?   A story teller and entertainer to his grandchildren?    Just who we are and what we'll be is developing as we go along.    The trick is to get comfortable with the process and figure out what it is that will signal we have arrived at our new persona.    I don't think I'll be wearing wrap around shades any time soon, but I sure do hope I meet back up with that girl who thought she had it all posing in her cut-offs and penny loafers.   

Granny 's Apron Reminds Me of Her Life and Love

The fabric is simple cotton with a pattern from a by-gone era.    The craftsmanship won't win any ribbons at the County Fair.    Just a quick glance tells me that this apron is more about function and utility.   There is a nod at frivolousness, however, because of the red rick rack sewn around the edges and on the pocket.    I know the rick rack was added for fun more than fashion and it was probably what she had on hand, definitely not purchased to match what she was making.  




I am describing an apron that belonged to one of my Grandmothers.    No one ever told me exactly which one, but if I were to guess I'd say it belonged to Granny Bessie, my mother's mother.    Both of my Grannies wore aprons---and neither would have dared enter their kitchen without one.    But for some reason, when I see this one, I think of Granny Bessie.  



Granny's apron











Rick Rack added for fun and a little decoration



Bessie Pearl Gardner Caruthers:  born in 1892, died in 1965.    She was a part of my life and I have memories of her but many of the stories told to me by my mother occurred long before I was born but are forever etched in my mind.     Granny Bessie was, by all accounts, a saint of a woman.    She was trained to play classical piano and used her talents in her church, as well as at the local theater when silent movies were all the rage and the only musical accompaniment was proved by the lady hired to do that---my Granny.  She could pound out a tune on her old upright piano that had everyone singing and bringing down the house in the name of old time religion, too.   

 Her life was filled with trials and tribulations that I can hardly  imagine enduring and she did it all with a smile and an unimaginable humility.    She had six children and lost two of them when they were still very young children.    My mother's twin sister died at the age of three from complications due to pneumonia and probably whooping cough.    Later a son, Richard, died when he was six or seven from burns received when he was playing cowboys and Indians around a small campfire and accidentally caught his chaps on fire.   He lived a short while, but in those days a burn could take away life in a few hours and that is what happened to Richard.    

In a freak accident that happened when Granny rocked off the porch while holding her infant son, Freddie, he sustained a massive head injury that impaired his ability to learn, control his temper and later brought on serious grand mal seizures that lasted throughout most of his 45 years of life.     Granny, of course, blamed herself for that and had to live with the after effects until her life came to an end in 1965.    That is a lot of years to suffer and grieve for something that just "happened".    She was no more to blame for it than any other horrendous thing that occurs in a life, but blame and shame are not easy to put behind you.    So she suffered, mostly in silence because of  this great tragedy that was probably the centerpiece of her life story.     

If having these terrible things happen to your children were not enough for one woman to endure, she also had to care for Grandpa after he had a tragic accidental electrocution in 1919 while working for the phone company and was knocked off of a pole, breaking nearly every bone in his body.     To say his life was never the same is probably an understatement of epic proportions.     He never walked or acted the same again.  He used a variety of methods to deal with his pain, not all of which were helpful or good for him.    The hospital where he was kept for 180 or more days didn't help in this matter by giving him morphine for a very long time to help control his horrendous pain.     But they knew a whole lot less about addiction in those days than they do now, I guess.    

So my Granny Bessie had a life filled with sorrow and pain and still managed to remain a God fearing woman who held fast to her faith and never once asked anyone to pity her.    And seeing that apron reminded me of the things I remember best about her.

Granny's favorite spot in the house would have to be her kitchen.   It was a big room with a worn, linoleum floor, massive white stove and a big square table that sat in the middle of the room.     It was painted a kind of sage green that I suspect could be credited to something Grandpa did in an attempt to spruce the thing up.    It had huge legs on it and tiny wheels so you could move it around pretty easily.    I don't remember accurately, but I imagine that all the chairs that sat around it were not from the same set.     Granny had shabby chic long before it became fashionable!   

The sink in her kitchen was a big, white porcelain sink, that would hold a lot of dishes, pots and pans, which was handy when company came to her house.     Granny often spent hours in the kitchen preparing food when we came to visit and the kitchen would be filled with a variety of smells to entice even the most finicky eater.    She had a large Nesco Roaster where she cooked hams, stuffing for a turkey and sometimes humongous vats of spaghetti.     One speciality that she made and taught my mother how to make was her famous ravioli.     The pasta was made from scratch with flour, eggs and a little water.   She rolled the dough out on that big, green table and would cut tiny squares that were filled with her own homemade filling. Granny never knew anything about Ragu, Prego or Classico sauces but made a most delicious and rich meat sauce that simmered on the stove top and filled the whole house with the most delightful smells of tomatoes, garlic and spices.   The ravioli filling "secret" ingredient was actually calf brains, but you could seldom get her to admit that.   The only reason I know this is because my mother finally told me after I was an adult and was curious how to make the famous family recipe for ravioli.    She wisely kept it from me when I was a kid and a finicky eater, too.   

I guess if I had have one memory that stands out about Granny's cooking was one of the simplest and least heralded thing she made and that was hominy grits.     Breakfast at her house always meant a huge pot of grits bubbling and splattering on the back burner of her stove.    Even if she prepared other things for breakfast, a pot of the long cooking variety of grits was mandatory.   She woke up before the rest of us to start the grits so they would be done by the time we woke up.   She used a type of grits product seldom found these days unless you go way out in the country and find someone who will grind the corn and leave it pretty coarse and---well, gritty.     It is meant to be cooked for no less than 45 minutes and is even better if you let it simmer for an hour or more.    Oh, and a generous amount of butter and salt turns this often maligned cereal into something fit for the gods.     Granny's grits, to me, meant love and unconditional acceptance and were the ultimate comfort food.   

So when I see that apron, all those memories come flooding back to me.     I seldom saw her without an apron to protect whatever she happened to be wearing.     In fact, I dare say, she wore an apron every day of her life, except perhaps when she was going to church or to ride the train to come see us.     

Somewhere along the line, aprons more or less fell out of fashion and we no longer felt the need to make them out of scraps in our sewing basket.   Who has one of those any more?  I made a red checked gingham apron in the 7th grade, but probably never wore it more than a few times to show it off.   So aprons are not exactly required equipment in the kitchen these days.   Well, at least until recently when my seven year old grand daughter, Luci, began showing an interest in learning how to cook.     A couple of years ago she was watching her mom prepare a meal and decided she needed to learn how to cut, chop and stir all those wonderful ingredients that ultimately made their way to the dining room table.    And her mom wisely has allowed her to get involved in the kitchen and is giving her lessons in the proper way to use a knife, safety around the hot stove and what things go together to make a tasty meal or snack.     To her credit, April has also included her sons in these lessons so that one day when they are on their own, they, too, will have a clue how to boil water and make a meal without picking up the phone.   

I recently washed Granny's apron and hung it to dry.    I will carefully fold it and put it somewhere safe so that when Luci is old enough I can give it to her.     I will tell her about her (Great-great) Granny Bessie and what an amazing lady she was and how her life was so difficult but somehow she endured and left a legacy for the ones who followed her.     She loved her family and showed us all how glad she was that we were there with every spoonful of spaghetti or grits, lovingly placed upon those plates at each and every meal we shared with her.     I hope that the spirit that kept her going and gave her the strength to endure with dignity and grace was passed along to me and to little Luci, too.

Happy Trails,

Marcia

What We've Been Doing Since I Last Posted

A lot of time has passed since my last post.    I guess time flies by when you're having fun....or even when you're not having any fun.    In March we spent a fabulous week in Navarre Beach with family at a beach house and were so lucky to have near perfect weather, good company, more than a little bit of great food and plenty of time to make memories and strengthen our bonds as a family.    Then early in April, we spent a long weekend in Hurley, Mississippi with Larry's family.    His three sisters were there, his Mom and Jack, nephews Charles and Sam and Carlie, Charles' five year old daughter.    We played Phase 10, cooked huge vats of food and were grateful for the chance to see each other again.    Larry and Jack took off for a quick camping/fishing trip to Waynesboro, Mississippi.   They slept in Jack's van and pretended to be men of the backwoods for a while!  It was fun and even though they didn't catch a mess of fish, still thought it was worth the time and trouble.  

Larry and I had dental check ups a couple of weeks ago and I got a clean bill of oral health, but poor Larry had to go back for a filling or two and to get his new "crown" installed.    Don't you love it when those little health issues somehow snowball into an expensive and time consuming solution?   It started with a broken tooth while we were at Navarre Beach and ended with the placement of a porcelain cap pushed onto the remains of his poor broken tooth.   Thank goodness for dental insurance that reduced our obligation from $1500 to about $500!   

At some point during this time frame I came across an idea on Pinterest that I thought sounded pretty neat.    If you have not discovered Pinterest, please beware that it's pure evil and will suck you into a black vortex from which you may find it hard to emerge.   Well, maybe it's not THAT bad, but it's pretty close.   People have been known to click on Pinterest intending to search for a new way to cook chicken for supper and only escaped its clutches with the aid of several family members holding on to all four limbs pulling with all their might.     It's a powerful addiction!     But I digress......

I was looking for something to cook for dinner and, like most people who enter its domain, got quickly distracted by a pretty picture or interesting idea.  This particular thing is so simple, so stunningly easy, I guess that's why I never thought of it and never saw it anywhere else.   It is the crazy idea of taking the leftovers of a stalk of celery, placing it in a shallow bowl of water for a few days to sprout and grow roots before placing the whole thing in a pot of dirt to grow another whole celery plant.      It just so happened that I had two almost used up celery stalks and figured,
 "What the heck?   What have I got to lose?"    

So I took a knife and cut the remaining stalks off of the whole thing, making it straight across the top, leaving about an inch and a half or 2 inches of the stalk below.    I found a small, shallow dish and put the celery in it, placed the whole thing on a shelf over my kitchen sink and stood back waiting for  the action to start.    Believe it or not, within a couple of days, I saw some tiny shoots growing out of the middle of the celery.   Within 4 or 5 five days, there were whole leaves nudging their way upward and out of the center of the plant!   Imagine my surprise when the leaves appeared to grow overnight by 1/4 to 1/2 inch.   

Two celery plants with sprouts and tiny roots,
ready to be planted in a pot outside.


So that's where things are now.   Larry plans to put the plants into a flower pot today or tomorrow and I'll give an update on their progress.     I was stunned to see how much those leaves grew in one week.    And saying this is easy is an understatement for this simple way to get more plants into your garden at almost no extra cost and very little effort.    The main difference between this idea is that before I read about growing celery this way,  I would have tossed the remains of that celery into the garbage or the compost pile.   Really, all I did was find a way to give them a drink of water for a few days and stand back in amazement when they actually started growing!   

And that has been the story of our lives for the past few weeks.    I promise to do a real blog entry on our week at Navarre Beach.    We had so much fun and took a zillion and one photos to document every golden moment.    I'll post some of those, too.   Greg took amazing pictures of us at sunset that gave all of us a lovely, rosy glow.    We're so lucky to have his professional skills (and high end camera) to capture our images at the most flattering time of day.      

As we slide our way toward summer and enjoy the above average temperatures of spring, we will be planning a camping trip with the kids, painting the living room---right after I make up my mind what color to use----and I will be meandering around on Pinterest some more.    Even today I will be making three things that I found there.....Dr. Pepper Chicken, Kale with Pine Nuts and Raisins plus Tomatoes with Feta and Basil Oil.    Reports on all of these things will be forthcoming, I promise!  Comments on what you think about all of this are welcome.   :))

Happy Trails,

Marcia

Upcycling and Repurposing: It's a Sign of the Times

Just a little while ago I heard the unmistakable whine and squeal of Larry's Skil saw.    He just returned from a shopping trip to Lowe's for supplies he needs to make some planting boxes.   He has some pallets but needed more wood and additional items to turn that pile of stuff into useful boxes for growing flowers and veggies.   He is in design mode right now and promised I could take pictures after he has made one or two and worked out any design issues.   If they get to that stage, I'll post instructions and pictures of his project in a few days.  

Recently while meandering around on Pinterest, I came across multiple references to things you can make from pallets.    I wrote about that a few days ago when I described Larry's use of the pallets to make cheap shelving for his small outdoor shed.     Pallets can be made into so many things that it's hard to keep up these days with all the projects and ideas being posted on Pinterest and more than a few blogs.   In other words, if you haven't made something from pallets, you are definitely not with it.   You're falling behind the times.   

So that made me start thinking about a lot of terms we are hearing now and quite frankly, I find it a little confusing since so many of them mean almost the same thing.    The operative word here is "almost".    I would be willing to bet that someone out there can explain the difference between these terms but I am going to attempt to give a snapshot definition and please don't flame me if I mess this up. 

Upcycle:    This is one of the new hot-shot words.   Well, not exactly new, but gaining popularity.   Upcycling is akin to recycling, like many of the terms, but it implies taking something old and making it into something even better or more useful.    If you take  used pallets and make them into furniture, that would be an upcycled project.    The internet is full of people who upcycle their entire house, yard and garden and are more than happy to tell you how they did it. 

Repurpose:    Well, that one is not a mystery to me.   If you take your entertainment center and gut it, put in shelves and make it into a craft container, you've repurposed it.    If you take an old door, put on chains and toss on some pillows and a quilt, you have repurposed the door to become an outdoor swing/bed.    I have seen pictures of these, by the way, and am now in the process of convincing Larry we NEED one of these.    I would be willing to sacrifice a closet door for this.  

So all this talk about upcycling and repurposing made me start thinking that a lot of this is nothing new.    At least the concepts are not that new.    I can recall in my lifetime, I think it was in the 1970s, that crafting was really coming into its own.    My sister, Ginny, and I made stuff and even sold it at flea markets.  I think I saw one idea in Woman's Day magazine or Family Circle for reusing your old spice tins to hold dried flower arrangements.     I went through my cabinets and found boxes of black pepper from A & P,  tin boxes for all manner of unused or outdated cinnamon, turmeric, sage, dried mustard and other spices I never used, but thought I had to have in my kitchen.   

Ginny and I drove down to the local T,G & Y and bought our supplies.     Some of you have been around long enough to know about TG & Y and probably even shopped there, too.   They were the "Wal-Mart" of their time and carried a little bit of everything from toiletries to household goods.  [Around 1962 I bought my first tube of lipstick at TG & Y and recall that it was a mysterious product that when you applied it, it looked kind of pinkish at first but magically reacted to your body chemistry to become your ideal color whether that was pink, red or orange. Or so they said.]   My older sister, Charlotte, and I started calling T,G & Y "Tiggy" (rhymes with piggy) and the name stuck.   Years later a co-worker and I were talking about T,G & Y and she said her family called it Toys, Guns and YoYos, which, come to think of it, was a pretty good name, too.   

So back to my story---Ginny and I made our Tiggy run and came back with ribbon, dried flowers, including  baby's breath, corn flowers and of course, you couldn't make ANY flower arrangement back in those days without eucalyptus.     We washed the spice tins and spent a happy afternoon crafting small flower arrangements in the tins.  As was our habit, there was a lot of laughter and fantasizing how we were going to spend all the money we were bound to make selling our lovely creations.    One thing you could always count on if you did anything with my younger sister, it was plenty of laughter.   No, we didn't make a fortune selling our creations, only a few dollars.   The value of the memories I have from spending those afternoons with my sister, however, is priceless.   

Since then there have been many other crafting projects made from new and upcycled materials.    Not too long ago I made several purses out of old blue jeans.    In fact, I am willing to bet that in at least one bin in our garage you'll find a dozen pair of blue jeans (purchased for $1.00 each at Goodwill) that were made into and still could be made into some cute purses or tote bags.   Crafting is one of those things that gets into your blood and you just can't stop yourself from seeing things through those crafting eyes.    I suppose that is one reason why upcycling and repurposing are a crafter's dream.     

If you are seeing the utility in crafting, upcycling or repurposing, you should get to know some of your local thrift stores.    They are a veritable fantasy-land for those who long to make stuff out of other stuff and not break the bank in the process.     Every town has its thrift stores usually associated with a mission or church related project.    We have Waterfront Mission Thrift stores here, Loaves and Fishes and New Beginnings.    If you think of thrift stores being like chain stores (Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Sears) then you know about Goodwill and Salvation Army.   You can find furniture, household goods, clothing and some even have cars, boats and RVs.   

If you're looking to repurpose, then a good place to look is your local Habitat for Humanity ReStore which specializes in selling furniture, shelving, cabinets and hardware.    I've seen paint, lighting fixtures, nails and all kinds of cabinets carefully removed so that they ended up at the Restore place full intact and ready to be used by you for your special project.   

And finally, we must not forget this time honored method of finding things:  roadside shopping.    I have a friend who lives in North Carolina and she has recounted a few projects she and her daughter have worked on to repurpose or salvage a perfectly good (but no longer wanted) piece of furniture found on the street.    You almost certainly have to rescue these items before they get wet from rain and you need to keep a sharp eye for these treasures since they go fast.     She told me not too long ago about an entertainment center they found that mainly needed some new doors and perhaps some scratch remover applied.    That was about it.     Not only did it solve a need for them but I think it is a source of pride for her to report her resourcefulness and I have to agree!    We're pretty inclined to wastefulness in our society so why shouldn't she benefit from what someone else no longer wants or needs and save another item from the landfill at the same time!

When you get an itch to do some crafting or you need something for your home or garden, think about upcycling and repurposing.     You will give your brain cells a workout as you figure out what you want to do, where to get your raw materials and finally, to work out the bugs in the project.    That's where Larry is now---working out the bugs.    When he gets those planter boxes finished, I'll tell you how he did it and show you how they turned out.  

In the meantime, do you upcycle or repurpose?    If so, why not share your secrets of what you did and what places you "shop" to get the supplies you need.  Any former T,G & Y shoppers out there?? 

Happy Trails (and crafting, upcycling and repurposing),
Marcia

Saving Parsley From the Compost Bin!

I like using fresh parsley when I cook.   It is so bright and colorful and much prettier and more flavorful than using the dried kind.    I will use dried parsley and often have some in my pantry but I much prefer using fresh.   What I don't like is what happens to parsley when you buy it in a bundle, put it in the fridge and before you know it, you have a yucky, greenish pile of something more akin to pond scum than a useful herb for your spaghetti.    It just isn't pretty if you forget about it and it starts to decompose and it wastes money, which these days is a big NO NO!

Now none of us intends to forget the parsley or anything else we buy at the grocery store.   But let's face it--- parsley can get buried in a vegetable crisper or stuffed into the back of the box even if you clearly label it and put in a fresh keeper bag and all those tricks to keep it alive until you use it up.   So one day when I brought the fresh bundle of parsley into the house straight from the grocery store, it occurred to me that I might be able to keep it easy to use, "fresh" and ready whenever I needed to add some color and flavor to my soup or meatloaf.   

I have done this two ways:  prep the parsley and put it in a freezer safe Rubbermaid container or prep it and put it into a freezer Ziploc bag.  I think I like using the bags the best because they can be pressed flat and don't take up much space in the freezer. But you can do whichever method works best for you and your kitchen!  Let me put in a small plug here for using the brand name of those handy plastic bags.    I have used other brands and generic bags and have found after trial and error, the genuine S.C. Johnson brand of Ziploc bags just work better and don't let me down with zips that fail to lock.   By using the freezer type bags, they are heavy enough not to rip and tear.    And if you really hate using new bags each time, you can rinse them out and dry them and they are good to go for many more times.  

So first I get out my materials:   Gallon or quart size Ziploc bags, scissors I keep in the kitchen for chores like this, paper towels or clean dish towel and a Sharpie marker.    I take the whole bunch of parsley and rinse it under cold water and then shake it lightly to get off excess water and put it on a paper towel or two.    I take off the tie wrap the store has on it to hold the bundle together.    Then I use the scissors to snip just the top part of the parsley to separate it from the stem.     Most of us won't use the stems anyhow, so they can be tossed or put in the compost bin. (If you are a juicer, you can put the stems in your morning smoothie.)   Soon I have a nice pile of mostly parsley leaves.   I feel through the pile and search for any stems that are still sticking out.   I use the scissors to snip them off and I don't obsess over this part.   I just try to make sure it's mostly leaves and not stems.    It is not the world's biggest tragedy if you end up with a stem or two.  You can snip those off later when you use the parsley. 



A freshly prepped pile of parsley--stems cut off.



Then I roll up the parsley pile in the paper towel or dish towel, squeezing out the water that remains.   I use the Sharpie to label the bag with what's in it and the date.    I find that a Sharpie works best on the bag and doesn't smear or come off.    A fine tip one makes it easier to write in a way that is legible later on!  I start putting the parsley into the bag a little at a time until all of the parsley is neatly tucked inside the bag.    I partially close the bag and mash the bag on the counter top to remove air.    I close the bag a little more and press again to remove more air.   Then I close the bag and I push it one more time to see if it's puffy anywhere, indicating it still has some air in it.    If I find air, I slightly open the bag and squeeze it one more time and then close up the bag.    It should be nearly flat and is ready to put in your freezer.  This is not rocket science so if a little air remains, you can relax---it's probably OK and won't make a big difference in the long run!

  

One gallon size Ziploc bag of parsley ready to freeze.

When you're ready to add parsley take the bag out of the freezer, open and break off a hunk of the parsley.   How much you break off depends on how much you intend to use.  Then I take a pair of kitchen scissors and snip up the frozen parsley directly into the pot or bowl. Reseal the bag and put back in your freezer until you need it again! The color is still bright green, flavor is fine and best of all I have not allowed a perfectly nice bunch of parsley go belly up and wasted because I forgot about it!    

This is a quick and easy thing to do.   It only takes a few minutes to get parsley prepped and into the bag.   You could even do this if you grow your own parsley (like I will have growing in my backyard this summer).  Then in the winter, you will have your parsley frozen and ready to use just as nice as it was in July.    

Do you have little tricks that you do in your kitchen to save time or make your purchases last longer?    Share on the comments because we're all in this search for the good life together.   Let's help our fellow travelers out along the way.   :))

Happy Trails,


Marcia 

George Carlin Was Right About.....Our "Stuff"

A long time ago the late comedian/satirist/truth-teller, George Carlin, had a very funny routine he did on our insatiable need for "stuff'.   Well, truthfully, I am pretty sure he used another ---shall we say---more colorful word for it.    The gist of the whole routine (which nearly everyone in modern society can relate to) is that we ALL have stuff and that can lead to all kinds of problems.    Like where to put our stuff.  Or storing stuff.   Or hiding stuff (valuables).    Oh, and one other thing is that it leads to containers for our stuff.    You know what I'm talking about, I am sure.  

If there is one thing we have plenty of in this country (USA), it's an abundance of containers for our stuff.   Big ones, tiny ones, rented spaces, crammed places and whole stores that cater to one audience: People in search of the perfect thing to contain their stuff.   

So it should come as no surprise that one day while browsing on Craig's List, Larry came across an irresistible listing.    It was a used (but still perfectly functional) Rubbermaid storage building.  They sell them at Lowe's, Home Depot and Wal-Mart to name only a few of the places that carry these storage buildings.    He had looked at them numerous times at Sam's Club where they had the MOTHER of all snap-together, molded plastic storage buildings that was big enough to live in if you had the good sense to get rid of some of your stuff.    It actually had windows, a sky light, places to put shelves, faux flower boxes on the outside and a rather realistic looking "barn door".    I wouldn't have been surprised to find out that it had instructions for installing electricity, running water, a toilet, draft beer on tap, and a satellite dish.   I guess if they had marketed that thing as the ultimate "man cave", they would have sold out the first day they had them.   

Needless to say, he was not charmed by the rather large price tag that went along with that building so he sighed heavily and continued his search.    He needed a small outside shed because most of his yard tools were in the garage or leaned rakishly against the end of the house, where they were exposed to sunlight, rain, hail or to tempt the passing would-be thief.    (Yea, like someone is going to steal your rusted, bent up rake!  But I digress......)  

So when he came across the one for sale on Craig's List, his eyes lit up.    The price was right, it snaps apart so bringing it home would not be a huge issue and the pile in the garage and end of the house had grown intolerable.   He called the guy selling it and before you know it, he had it home and re-snapped back into a functional storage shed.    Problem solved----sort of.  

 



Those of you who have sheds know what I am going to say next.    A short time after he got the shed we had one of our famous hurricane warning things that we get usually once or twice a summer.   Sometimes they materialize into the real deal (Ivan, 2004).   Sometimes we just get a lot of rain and not much else.  No matter which kind it turns out to be, we still have to go through the drill of putting all the yard art, lawn chairs, loose anything into a suitable place until things literally blow over.    So he ran around like all the rest of the people in town, throwing things at the Rubbermaid bin willy, nilly and trying to strip our yard of anything that can be turned into a projectile in a 100+ mph wind.    We've seen what perfectly innocent things can do when they go flying about the yard and cartwheeling within inches of our bay window.     You do not need to tell us twice that loose things must be tied down or put in a closed container when a storm approaches.   

Well, that was several years ago and while the storm we were preparing for never materialized, we somehow forgot about all that stuff in the Rubbermaid building.    I think he might have retrieved one or two flower pots but the vast majority of the things in it basically served as a home for the tiny tree frogs that came to inhabit and LOVE the little storage shed.   

Now that we've retired from our "day jobs", Larry has a lot more time to ponder things that he can do to improve the old homestead.     And so it was that he happened to go by the shed the other day and he casually opened the doors and took a peek inside.    It was pretty much crammed to it's green, plastic fake rafters with all that stuff he put in there a while back.   Neither of us could remember when it was so suffice it to say, it was several summers ago.    And it hit him that the stuff he had squeezed into the back of the shed was impossibly trapped behind bags of potting soil, mystery boxes, lumber, rakes, flower pots of all kind, yard art and a rather large family of tree frogs, staring at him with bulging eyes wondering what he intended to do next.  

He had only one choice----well, maybe two choices.    He could-----gasp----get rid of all that stuff!   Or he could organize it a tiny bit better!    And that is the choice he decided to make.    Among the piles of stuff he had in the garage was a haphazard stack of pallets---The kind that many stores use to hold their merchandise in a warehouse.   When deliveries are made, often a forklift will pick up the whole pallet and move the entire thing to the warehouse.  They are made of cheap wood and nailed or stapled together quickly and without a lot of thought to design, other than functionality.    He had asked a friend to save some for him since his friend happens to work in a place that gets these pallets so much that they have to dispose of them.    A fresh supply arrives almost daily.   

Now it so happens that using pallets for "re-purposing" is all the rage.    You can look on Pinterest, do a search for "pallet furniture" and you'll find that there are a lot of creative souls out there who have found new and interesting ways to use these pallets to make coffee tables, wall art, shelving and almost anything you can think of that involves wood and nails or screws.    They take the pallets apart, cut them up into useful boards and without too much expense have some pretty cute and almost indestructible furniture.   

Larry had been collecting the pallets for some time as a free source of wood for just such a project as improving his little shed.    And after I sent him several links to projects made using pallets as the raw materials, he got inspired to make some shelves for his shed. 

First, he had to cut the wood down into some usable sizes.    He set up a cutting area outside of the garage and got out his Skil Saw.     He also kept a crowbar handy since the nail -brad thingies they use and the methods they employ to put those pallets together make them really sturdy.   




Keep a crowbar handy for prying

A Skil Saw will save time and work

After he got the pallet torn apart into usable parts, he used wood screws and some carpenter's glue and some other odd pieces of wood that were taking up space in the garage and fashionedthem into a serviceable set of shelves.    The estimated investment for the entire project was $5.00 and his time.  



No, they aren't for House & Garden but they work just fine!

Then he reloaded the shed with all the stuff that had come out of it.   Before the shelves were added, in order to get to things in the back, he had to practically unload the entire shed.   Now, with shelving at the back and a few thing neatly piled up toward the front, he can actually step inside, greet the frogs and get to anything on the back shelves.     He might have to move an item or two, but the things stored there are much more accessible and less frustrating to pull out.   

Potting Soil, Coolers, Screen House and assorted stuff

Flower Pots and yard art

                                                  

Rubbermaid Storage Bin reloaded. (The tree frogs are in hiding!)

So yes, what George Carlin said is definitely true about humans and their stuff.    From what I have seen with my grandchildren, we start at an early age acquiring stuff and the quest apparently continues until we finally get enough of it and start downsizing.    We have not quite reached that stage in our lives, although we have given away, donated or tossed a large amount of things from our house since retirement last year.    Until we arrive at that time in our lives when we start divesting ourselves of stuff instead of investing in it, we need to figure out smarter, more efficient ways to store all of our good stuff.   

I'll bet you have some things that could be stored better, too.     We all do, or so it seems.    If you have a brilliant, cheap or innovative idea about how to store stuff, please share on the comment section.     I am sure George would approve from wherever he is now.     ;)

Happy Trails,

Marcia