How a Plumber made me realize Just How Lucky I Am

Ever ask for a plumber when in need?  Well I recently did and believe me, plumbers come with a lower reputation than lawyers.  Every response included how expensive they were.  I had several people tell me they knew plumbers but they didn’t like them.  I narrowed down my search to two possibilities.  The first one I called had just received stitches in his hand the day before so he was out.  Onto plumber number two which came highly recommended, was very detailed, loved to talk, pricey but good.  Never having to hire a plumber, I had no idea what I was getting into but took the leap. At least I knew the situation going into this one.

We had a cracked pipe behind our dishwasher and had no kitchen sink for over a week so I was anxious to get this taken care of.  It’s crazy how a lack of a kitchen sink can change your life but it does.  You cook differently, you eat off of paper plates and you hope not to accumulate too many dishes that need to be washed via tubs in the bathtub where the hot water is plentiful.

 

The plumber arrived and like promised he was detailed and personable.  While he was there I had him work on a toilet I have not been able to get right for over 6 months but had been working properly for a few years prior.  I grew up in a home where my father fixed or thought he knew how to fix anything.  Some of those genes passed on to me.  I have done my share of home repairs over the years having some of that “I can fix anything” blood in me.  As promised, the plumber made some kind of remark about my prior plumbing fixes, talked my ear off, was very likeable and very expensive.  I bit my cheek, wrote out the check and thanked him for helping me.  Later on that night, I realized just how grateful I was to have a kitchen sink that was fully functioning without dumping water into the walls and out our foundation.  In addition, I had a toilet that flushed the first time instead of deciding if it was going to work properly or not.  It was the kind of toilet that a family could live with but we would cringe at the thought of company having issues when they visited.  Those worries are now over.
 

Pricey yes.  Did it put a dent in our pocketbook?  Yes, but after thinking about it a long time, I realized how resourceful I can be and all the money I have been able to save over the 21 years of home ownership.  In a way, that was what made the bill a bit harder to swallow.  Looking back, I realized that I am worth my weight in gold for all the times I chose to figure out how to fix something instead of calling an electrician, a plumber or a carpenter.

This job was one that needed to be done and done right.  After all, the pipe is inside the wall and it’s not pleasant to have to open up and close walls to fix things.  In a few days, the wall will be dried completely, I will have weather proofed the wall and replenished the wet collapsed insulation.  The wall will be restored and the dishwasher back (with the help of a family member). 

I choose to look at this experience as one that gives me an appreciation for people who know their expertise and fix things right for years and years to come.  I have total confidence that I will not have a cracked pipe again anytime soon.  I realize I am price sensitive to the plumber charges because I am out of touch with having to use someone outside of myself and a few close relatives to get various home repairs done.  What I do know is that I am very proud to say that even though it may take me a bit longer than an expert to get something fixed, I am more appreciative of my upbringing and the skills I learned as a child growing up and not having to be so quick to be dependent on others.  So instead of looking back on this time when my check balance is less than I would like, I will look at it as a reminder of how valuable I am to our family and the pride that comes along with it.

  

Can Type A people really Grow a Garden?

Now that I am into my gardening project, I can see perhaps why I have never been successful in the past.  I want results and I want them now!  I planted in March only to discover that my plants are so tiny and not exactly the size I thought they would be by the middle of May.   I let my doubts get the best of me and I bought a tomato plant, some broccoli, a cucumber and a cantaloupe plant for insurance in the event my garden fails. 

I’ve built my raised bed, made several trips to the composting place to obtain some great garden soil and put up a critter screen that has worked thus far.  I have planted my tiny plants along with the store bought ones and have been more than frustrated to find out that I most likely do not have enough room for them all.  It takes a lot of room to garden.   I still need to plant the cucumbers and cantaloupe in the ground with some more of my broccoli.  I think my radishes perished somewhere along the line. 

Who wouldn't be motivated with a crop like this?

My lettuce that I planted in a barrel is stellar.  In fact, I am more than proud that I accomplished such a task.  I will however tell you that I am learning so much from my experience.  In an effort not to eat all of it in 4 days, I held off harvesting it.  Now I am finding that the large size leaves are getting bitter.  I am waiting to see if any of the cut lettuce grows back.  I am also planting some new lettuce in various spots (space is limited).  Upon reading up on lettuce, I discovered that if you eat a lot of lettuce you should plant 3 sq. ft. of lettuce for every person in your house.  Wow, do I have a lot to learn!  I have decided to build another bed this summer to devote to lettuce, spinach, chard and kale that I will hopefully plant in the fall.  Stay tuned for another post next year!  I think I’ll plant in rows and alternate planting dates.  I think that is the only way to go.  As with anything, I will have to learn by doing.

The plants you see are store bought. 

If you look extra hard you may be able to see my home grown tomato plants.   I wonder how long it will take for them to look a respectable size.  

Too many leek seeds planted.  

Thinning out leek plants doesn't give me the feeling that they will survive.

 When thinking about the slow growth in my garden, my gut reaction is that I just need Miracle Grow and a strict feeding schedule.  After reflecting on it and being told that my soil is top notch and doesn’t need any additives, I was forced to evaluate what is actually holding my garden back.  The answer…….ME!  Being a little over zealous and planting several seeds in one pod was insurance that something would eventually grow.  Well it did but when I transferred the germinated seeds to the box garden, I failed to thin out the seedlings and transfer them to the new soil.  I just put the pods with 4 – 8 sprouts into the ground and started watering them.  This week, I began to soak the ground, dig up the seedlings, separate them and replant them in my nutrient rich garden soil.  It’s only May and with time and attention, these plants will surely grow.  I may have too many tomato plants but I do have a plan to transfer some to another bed as they get bigger.  Being Type A, I of course have overplanted but I at least have a plan! I’m sure I’ll be donating these plants to a worthy home within the next month.  For now, I think they are ok.  I’ll just keep the more stellar plants. 

On left is the broccoli from seed.  On the right, from the store.

My neighbor has just finished planting his garden for the summer.  All his plants are super hardy, several months old and his has the look of a serious gardener.  In reality, his garden is so much more in line with my expectations of my own garden at this time.  Mine looks more like a mud box. My Type A personality is trying to squash my efforts but I have vowed to put on my blinders and enjoy the process that I started. Common sense tells me I will get results if I am patient.  What I have discovered is that I really do like working outdoors planning, planting and creating. I love envisioning the end result and I am willing to take the time this year discover and embrace the process no matter what the outcome.  I plan to grow my knowledge of gardening instead of just trying to get fast results.  If all goes well, I will be the envy of all vegetable gardeners in a few years.  For now, I need to keep it small and doable.  The thrill of the bumper lettuce crop is all I need to reflect on when in need of validation that I can truly succeed if I put my mind to it.  I believe that a Type A person can be successful in gardening and learn so much about life at the same time.  The frustration I have experienced from wanting everything right and picture perfect has really been a blessing in disguise.  My garden, although very young is humbling and teaching me to cultivate, grow and harvest in ways beyond words.  

Variety is the Spice of Life

My project this week is to look at my spice cabinet.  What a mess!  Purest say that you should clean out your spice cabinet just like you would a refrigerator.  Check, evaluate, and out with the old.  Spices are said to lose their flavor over time.  I'll be honest.  Some of my spices I have had longer than I would like to admit and I do use them, however, having old spices really is a symptom of a lack of awareness. I don't know about yours but my spice cabinet shouts chaos to the point that something must be done.  I spend more time trying to locate a spice than I would like.   

This spice cabinet just screams for help and recognition.  I vow to do my best to remedy the situation.

Is variety really the spice of my life?  What exactly are my spices saying to me?  Am I missing out in the taste bud lottery?  I decided to line up my spices and take inventory.  How long have I've had it?  Do I use the spice often?  For what?  Was it for a recipe I needed 1/4 tsp and then never used it again?  Why?  Was it a gift?  Did I buy it during an inspirational trip to the spice shop?  If the label is faded, I probably should throw it away.

What on Earth......

As many of you know we recently celebrated Earth Day.  I have no idea why this special day always sneaks up on me but it does.  What's so strange about it is that it's one of my favorite days and yet I would be hard pressed to tell you it is in April.


My mind wants to blend it with Arbor Day but these two days are actually separate.  Arbor Day, as you may recall is all about planting.  In grade school we always received a tree to plant.  Earth Day, however, encompasses so much more.


The greatest thing about Earth Day is it brings out the best in people.  It's a day to recognize how each human being has an imprint and a huge impact on the Earth. (positive or negative)  My city hosted the most comprehensive recycling program and festival for Earth Day that I have ever seen.  In a matter of 24 hours I was able to fill up our car with an amazing amount of recyclables.  In one respect, I was amazed that I could come up with a car load in such a small amount of time.  Our family already recycles weekly on trash pickup days.


The vendors at this event were so much more encompassing than the weekly recycling bin will allow.  I managed to part with all of the following at one location:

Menu Planning and Goals Made Simple

Over the years I have tried various ways to menu plan.  I have scheduled a month, two weeks or a week at a time.  Finally, I came up with a system that is quick and doable.  In addition, I have included main goals on my menu plan to keep them up front and center in my mind. 

Sundays are the days I fill this plan out.  I look at our families activities for the week and enter them on my menu.  This gives me a birds eye view of how much time I’ll have to cook, for who, and if we will have time to dine together.  I love this system.  The menu is posted each week on the fridge and everyone has a clear understanding of what food is available if we have conflicting schedules. 

I work off a list daily, however, adding important goals for the week on my menu plan encourages me not to forget to do items I may put off until last or perhaps not find time for at all.  In my case, exercise goals.  My husband like the idea so much he asked to have his goals added to the weekly plan as well.  (Priceless)

How I move food out of my Freezer with Ease

Recently, I ran into a neighbor who mentioned he must have thrown out $100 worth of meat away that was tucked into his freezer.  Believe it or not, some of it was from 2009!  I’m certain there is a large part of the population that can relate to losing items in the depths of their freezer never to be seen again. 

When we have the storage, it is a natural human tendency to fill it up.  We chase after bargains, stock our freezer for a rainy day and continue this cycle over and over.  Life gets busy and we become out of touch with what we have while we continue chasing the current bargains of the day.  I have found three ways of preventing this from happening.

1.  I inventory my freezers about four times a year.  Yes, I have two of them, although, both are very small.  I make a list of items on hand and menu plan.  I also know what meats I need to refrain from buying unless they are giving it away. 

2.  Most importantly, when I buy meat in bulk, I always put it in the freezer with a purpose.  I cut meat prior to freezing it for stir fry, shish ka bobs, soup or whatever and I label it.  I put together meat loafs and label ground beef for hamburgers, tacos or chili.  It seems daunting at first but it really helps me cycle the food out of the depths of the freezer and onto our table.  I find that I have less of a block of “what to make” when packages are labeled with ideas in mind.  This is especially helpful if I have spotted a new recipe that looks great but I don’t have time to make it.  I keep the recipe in a binder to be made at the appropriate time.  I do have a few packages of meat unlabeled other than the contents and weight.  I also pack various sizes of meat to accommodate when we are cooking for a smaller bunch.  

3.  About twice a year, I move meat out of the freezer by taking a day and smoking the meat on hand.  Long ago, a good friend gifted me with a meat smoker.  I am able to smoke 20 – 40 pounds of meat in a day. It makes a great gift, freezes well and is always a favorite meal.  Smoked meat at home is out of the ordinary for most.  We always feel like we are fine dining when we pull out a smoked chicken to eat a few months after we prepared it. 

The key to having a freezer and filling it is to have a plan.  Hopefully this will inspire you to never experience the unpleasant discovery of “freezer burn” and trashing once valuable meat gone bad.

The Time is Right, The Time is Now

Every year I vow I’m going to start a vegetable garden.  If the truth be known, my past victories have been quite limited.  My large pots on the porch seem to flourish with herbs and flowers, however, anything I have planted in the ground never seems to do very well.   You see, to have a successful garden I have discovered it takes planning. Of course I always come to this discovery when my neighbors are harvesting various vegetables on a daily basis and I can barely produce 5 or 6 a year!   This year I’m determined to change history.  It’s March, and my future flourishing garden is in progress. 

I’m on top of cloud nine because this year I have actually started plants on my windowsill to transplant into my garden when the time is optimal according to the seed packets and I am envisioning a garden that Martha Stewart would be proud of.   I have already learned that I probably should have planted the seeds at staggered times so I can enjoy my harvest on an ongoing basis instead of all at one time.  No one wants to 8 heads of broccoli on the same day.  If I hadn’t started the seeds, I probably wouldn’t have figured this out.  The good news is I still have plenty of time to implement this new discovery.   

People who have vegetable gardens make it seem so easy.  I on the other hand realize there is more to it than meets the eye.

It's All How You Look at It

When I started weaning myself away from convenience foods, I spent a whole lot of time cooking and planning meals.  It seemed that I never had exactly the right ingredients for a dish.  Last minute grocery store trips were quite common.  In my quest to eat fresh, I was actually paralyzing myself. 

Cooking is an art.  People who don’t cook a lot will tell you a recipe is critical when preparing anything.  Following it religiously is the key to a successful dish.  After searching the web for recipes it dawned on me that I was making cooking much harder and time consuming than it really is.  Thanks to the comment section of the various recipes on line, I learned how others thought outside the box and created success after success preparing new dishes. 

Myth #1 – Everything needs to be fresh.

Mythbuster – minced garlic in a jar.  I couldn’t live without it.  It saves me oodles of time, tastes great and encourages me to cook more often.  Sure I use fresh garlic sometimes but the jar allows me to throw things together quickly.

Myth #2 – I’m out of an ingredient.  I need to run to the store.

Mythbuster –Out of Cajun spice.  Google it.  You probably have all the spices to make it.  Out of dry mustard.  Google the substitute.  Recipe calls for cans of northern beans?  Substitute any can of white beans or used dried beans in its place.

Myth #3 – My recipe won’t turn out if I don’t follow it exactly as written.

Mythbuster – Be open to making it without an ingredient and see what happens.  You may not even notice!

Myth #4 – My recipe requires heavy cream to be successful.

Mythbuster – I make plenty of soups and dishes without heavy cream. Try a dairy creamer substitute or half in half.  Experiment with other choices than heavy cream.   Fewer calories, less costly and super yummy.  It may not fit the bill 100% of the time but do try substituting this ingredient on many recipes and I’ll bet you’ll be surprised. 

Lessons learned:

•  It’s ok to substitute canned tomatoes for fresh and visa versa in many recipes.  

• Don’t get hung up on labels.  True there is a difference between potatoes if you are a purest but if not, feel free to substitute.  In general, a potato is a potato and the flavor will be there.  If you want to learn about the differences and which variety is best in certain situations, check this book out from your library.  The Great Potato Cookbook: 250 sensational recipes for the worlds favorite vegetable. 

• It’s possible to use ½ egg if you need to when cutting down recipes.  Beat up one and use half! 

Once I learned to be creative when cooking, it was much easier to deal with cooking fresh.  I have become a lot more adventurous when throwing my meals together and have evolved into a family that eats so much better with a lot less worry about the end result.  Please feel free to share any of your previous myths and mythbusters with me.  I’m all ears. 

The Results of the Challenge

In general, because of my instinct to always plan ahead, perhaps this challenge wasn’t exactly that challenging.  Our biggest issue was bread.  I found that the family adapted by either buying lunch out, using tortillas or took items for lunch that did not require bread.  I did uncover some wheat sandwich thins in the basement freezer but discovered that no one really likes them which is why they were forgotten in the freezer to begin with. 

I managed to bake some specialty breads with items on hand.  I found that my beer bread was used for turkey sandwiches one day and quickly forgotten.  My greek bread is to die for, however, due to the lack of preservatives, it had a very short shelf life.  (5 days).  I suppose I need to keep it in the fridge next time. 

The biggest inconvenience was to our son who regularly packs PBJ’s when he has to eat on the run due to his sports schedule.  Many times during the week he put off eating until he came home which was quite late. 

The things we missed at the end of the week were bananas.  We normally go through 3 bunches a week and ran out.  We did have fresh apples, grapes and oranges though. I managed to get through the week with only buying a gallon of milk for us but had to break down and buy snacks as our contribution to a Super Bowl party and some items to donate during a wrestling tournament.  Not too bad. I would have loved this challenge to continue however, an unexpected trip out of town occurred and it was unrealistic to think that my family would embrace this challenge during my absence. 

Life happens.  The downside of continuing this challenge is that it takes a lot of planning and creativity to pull it off. 

Victories were:

•  Rice Krispie Treats
• Puppy Chow
• Jello (didn’t know we had)
• 3 gooey butter cakes for a wrestling tournament
• Turkey tetrazzini.

Where I broke down and needed to shop.

• Providing Super Bowl Snacks
• Providing cups, sugar, creamer, coffee for the wrestling tournament

What I learned.

• Everyone was a good sport about the week.
• I had to shred cheese slices for the pizza but we had enough. 
• Pizza doesn’t need a lot of sauce to be good! 

Meals this week included:

• Shrimp Alfredo
• New Bride Chicken
• Turkey Tetrazzini
• Homemade Pizza
• Taco’s
• Salad
• Fresh Fruit

The Challenge is On!

The topic of weeding out and getting rid of clutter has come up quite often since the year began.  In a conversation with a sibling yesterday, Peter Walsh was mentioned.  Peter Walsh writes books to address mental clutter, physical clutter and the psychology behind it.  The comment was that this kind of clutter could probably be applied to food as well. 

As you may have imagined, I went to the internet to look up Peter Walsh and watched a few videos.  In one, he addresses clutter you hold onto because you might need it one day.  He calls this kind of clutter, things you hold onto for your imagined future.  If you saw my kitchen cabinets, my freezer and my basement stash, you could probably put me in this category.  I am always scouring through cookbooks and looking for new and interesting recipes to try, I buy in bulk and I buy ahead but somehow I am always grocery shopping.

Later on that night, I caught myself thinking about going to the store to buy chard for a recipe I had my eye on earlier in the week.  I thought for another moment and then waltzed over to my fridge where our weekly menu is hanging.  Sausage Lentil Stew is the new creation preplanned and posted.  I found the recipe and quickly realized that this was not the one needing chard but I had indeed bought escarole for this recipe which is sitting in my refrigerator just waiting to be used.  The shopping trip was nixed and I found myself being very satisfied that I didn’t waste time shopping for something that I really didn’t have time for or need and would probably go bad before I actually found that recipe again.

Lessons from My Sock Drawer

My dedicated sock drawer is always brimming but I can’t find what I want.  We all do it.  We all have our prized possessions, our favorites.  In the case of socks, I have found that more is not better.  Evaluating the drawer, I find socks that are too big, too small, rough or lifeless with no stretch left in sight.  Socks with holes, faded socks and socks pretending they are white and it would be criminal to fail to mention socks without mates. 

Before - I can never find socks that fit or I like.

How did I get into this overpopulated, overrated sock situation?  The answer my friends is simply a lack of awareness, a lack of planning and if I have to be truthful, it's the result of trying to get the best deals when buying.  (aka – cheap)

As I sort through the socks I start to think.  What is it I like about these socks?  How do I feel when I wear them?  Do I ever wear these?  Are they mine?  Do others think they’re mine?  (aka – they passed them on for better things and emptied their drawers into mine?)

I find that my favorite socks have these qualities.  They are soft, have massaging qualities, tended not to be bought in bulk, are the right color, fit the season – longer style for the winter and hiking, and shorter no show for summer.  Most importantly, they are the right size.