We took a day off from the grind and frazzled craziness and visited Miller Park in Milwaukee – all four of us. That’s Amigo, adjusting his armband radio. He listens to Bob Uecker call the game so he doesn’t miss anything, and he enjoys the atmosphere and excitement of the park itself.
Go Brew Crew!
The weather was awesome, the roof was open, and the Brewers beat the Pirates 6-1. Who could ask for anything more?
Since “Unorganizable” isn’t a word recognized by spell check, I used disorganized in the post title. The shelves were not really disorganized, not so much, well maybe a little. The varied sizes and types of containers made it difficult to put things away or take anything out without disturbing the delicate balance and watching several tumble to the floor.
Step one in the organization process: Take a “before” picture.
Top Shelf – before organizing
Step 2, if I’m completely honest with myself, went like this: forget you took before pictures and completely forget that the shelves need organizing. Ahem.
Step 3: remove the small and tiny spice and herb containers.
This helped a lot.
And finally, after sorting and stacking a little more, I could reach into the shelves without (much) fear of an avalanche.
Less chaos! Better access!
The shelves still teeter a little, but they’re much more stable and I can find (almost) anything I need. Ah, the feeling of a practical project well-done.
It seems like yesterday that Chuck was complaining of a stomach ache, refusing to take fiber, and then talking trash about my minivan. Remember this exchange?
“Here, dear, I found a jar of Metamucil for you.”
“I’m not ready.”
“Not ready?”
“I like my Saturn. I don’t want to drive a Buick yet.”
“I took it years ago when I was pregnant with Amigo.”
“And look what you drive now!”My minivan — he’d dissed my minivan! The minivan that took us on more than a few vacations, moved La Petite to and from college, brings big batches of yard waste to the brush dump every summer, took my carpool to graduate classes for two years, and more!
My poor Pontiac Transport finally entered its last days when we discovered the power steering was showing signs of failing. It was a ’98 vehicle, old enough, and we’d put plenty of bucks into repair and routine maintenance. It was time. Vehicle Replacement Procedure led us to a 2012 Dodge Caravan with reasonable mileage.
Owning a new-to-us used vehicle has not been without its own adventures. Amidst a weekend with a few other disasters (a lost wallet at a school reunion, a set of keys lost at a Culver’s restaurant), the minivan suddenly lost power on the highway. It felt and sounded like a transmission problem (enter the famous punctuation series #?*!). We were lucky, though, on a number of counts.
How did it all end? The short version can be summarized in this text message from Chuck to me:
Just got a call re: van. Tranny is ok, but wire from fuse block are damaged, chewed by mice. Need some wires and fuse block replaced. Lots of $$$, but could have been a lot worse. Good thing we’re getting a new garage.
And perhaps the best part of the story: everyone is healthy. No tummy aches in the family, fiber or no fiber, at the moment. I think I’ll bake some nuts and twigs banana bread just to keep things in order. The newly repaired minivan can take me to the store for bananas.
As seen at local store:
Muk Luks, not.
The colors are all wrong, too. This store has a contract with the NFL to use the Green Bay “G”, but the logo on these purple/fuschia/pinkish slippers just looks like an afterthought.
I own a piece of team stock. I own real Mukluks. I don’t need to own these ridiculous slippers.
And I won’t even mention some of the garb available in other nearby departments.
Here’s hoping that all the fireworks around your home are the literal kind – the kind in the sky. Have a great holiday!
Top row: Chuck, Daisy
Front: Amigo, La Petite
Photo, of course, by the professional photographer in the family, La Petite.
Originally posted in July of 2009
Last week you saw this picture of Amigo enjoying a metal sculpture before we wandered into the restaurant for our Fun Day Friday experience.
Performance Art?
Last week we ended up in the Milwaukee suburbs to visit La Petite. She recommend a nearby Mexican restaurant, and look what we found at the entrance.
“Let’s go in, Mom, I’m hungry.”
Inside, we nibbled on the freshest guacamole I’ve ever tasted.
Crock of Guac – amole.
I sense a theme here. We didn’t set out to eat Mexican this summer, but June Fridays happened that way. Now what? I’ll let you know, readers.
I found these at a rummage sale. Naturally, I bought them. Chuck enjoys model trains and finds railroads fascinating, so it was an easy decision.
Chug Chug Chug Chug Chug
Then I made cookie dough. I added a little cocoa so I wouldn’t have to frost them and decorate with all kinds of sprinkles and other delicious but messy garbage.
I baked the cookies.
Cookies! All Aboard for cookies!
And while you Ooh and Aah over the adorable little engine, coal car, and caboose, let me tell the the rest of the story. I usually bake this recipe in winter, most often at Christmas. The next picture will show you why I tend to avoid this recipe in the humid days of summertime.
Oh, dear. Project derailed.
They tasted okay with coffee, at least. Maybe I’ll attempt to make them again in December.
Amigo and I have a tradition that goes back several years. Whenever we’re able, we go out to lunch on Friday. We choose locally owned places whenever we can, and we try restaurants that are new to us as often as possible. Last week we went downtown in our fair city and sampled a Mexican restaurant. Before we went in, we explored a junk-metal sculpture outside on the sidewalk.
Performance Art?
The food and beverages were awesome, too. This one is a winner. I’m sure we’ll be back.
This year’s rain barrel set-up is complicated. First we didn’t have a garage. Then we had a garage with no gutter or downspout. After that, we had a gutter and downspout, but we didn’t have the right support to get the barrels up high enough to be convenient and easy to use.
We now have the cinder blocks and bricks (Thanks, Home Depot and Habitat ReStore). When we can summon the energy, we’ll pile up the cinder blocks and set the rain barrels on top of them. In the meantime, I give you an encore featuring Chuck’s model train layout. Enjoy.
Chuck, dear husband of mine, models trains in HO scale. For the uninitiated, HO translates as small. Tiny. Put-on-your-glasses and look very closely for details. Itty bitty.
The building below is part of a granary in his layout. The rain barrel is about the size of my pinkie fingernail, if not smaller. Yes, dear readers; he made a rain barrel in his train layout in tribute to his wife’s green philosophies.
Now if only I can stop him from buying the shopping bag that says, “I carry this bag because my wife cares about the environment”!
The haul – week one
In case you missed it on Facebook, here’s the counter full of goodies gotten while the gettin’ was good, real good, at the first downtown market of the year.
How’s that for an amazing run-on sentence? I’m almost proud.
I did not buy rhubarb, for obvious reasons. There’s a recipe for rhubarb bread pudding sitting on the table and calling my name. I’ll freeze whatever’s left over.