How To Organize a Chest Freezer

If you are expecting a grand tutorial on how to organize a chest freezer, well...



not.



My title should have read How to Organize a Chest Freezer?????????

Please know that I am so grateful that I have a freezer, albeit a chest freezer.
I know that they are supposed to be more energy efficient and all that stuff.
But gosh, cleaning out my chest freezer should be on the list of


Most Dreaded Jobs.



Well, I girded up my loins this last week and decided to tackle:


The pit of despair.


I took out all the baskets I had filled with chunks of frozen stuff.
I bought these baskets thinking that they were going to be an awesome way to organize everything.

The problem is that they are so heavy, it is difficult to lift them when I need something or want to put things away, and when I am in a hurry, well naturally stuff just gets thrown in there willy nilly....

So then I hacked away at the frozen tundra of ice on the sides and replaced my baskets.

Take a good look....

Because that's as good as it will ever get. Tomorrow...back to the

Pit of Despair.

Anybody out there got any better ideas?

Chillaxin'

I've always wanted to say that word.

Chillax......

(Mom-it's a combination of the words chillin' and relaxin')

But you know that if a woman of my certain age says that word,

Well,

It might just interrupt the time space continuum.
Because people my age don't say those words.
We are allowed to say words like,

Cool.

Because people of my generation sort of made up that word...

But I just couldn't resist.

I am barely allowed to say the words-
Lame or lame-ish or
Awesome.

But that's really stretching the limits.

So actually in real life, while you are reading this post, I am actually off "chillaxin" somewhere other than the comfort of my home.
Fooled ya' huh?
Because there are really "awesome" tools like "post options" on Blogger so I can fool everybody so that they think I am slaving away on my blog every day.

Whilst I "chillax" somewhere else.

Cool.

It's All About the Flowers, Baby

This time of year, that is. Our spring/summer garden is in full swing. Unlike my fall/winter garden, flowers are a GOOD thing in the summer because their appearance means the production of the much anticipated vegies (or I guess technically they are fruits since they contain seeds).

Strawberry blossoms, underneath their netting..

Cucumber blossoms:

Lavender green bean blossoms:

The potatoes are blooming!

Summer squash blossoms:

Tomato plants flowering:

Pepper blossoms proliferating:

Marvelous marigolds (volunteers!)

And two flowers that LOVE the summer heat:

Lantana and

Verbena

I have to have something to keep me happy when it's 110 in the shade!

You've Had a Birthday-Shout Hooray!

Guess Who????


I still don't know how she got up there to this day!



Happy Birthday to my Lazy Boy Recliner Baby.....

Have a happy Day!

Green Smoothies

All my kids know that I am pretty much obsessed with green smoothies. I learned about the value of fresh greens, so full of vitamins and minerals, so I decided to throw a handful of spinach in one of my smoothies one day and it was mighty good! (I've even thrown kale into the mix and nobody knew-ha ha)

The trick to green smoothies is:

60% fruit to 40% greens.

That way you can't taste the green stuff. So here's a couple of my favorites:

The pina colada.....

Orange juice
Fresh/canned pineapple

Banana

Coconut milk (buy this at Asian markets-it's cheaper)

BIG handful of spinach

The berry green smoothie:

Apple juice

Banana

Various berries-whatever you have

Strawberries, frozen mixed berries from Costco

BIG handful of spinach

I usually use fruit juice because so many of the recipes I have seen have added sugar or honey, so when I use juice (non-sweetened kind) I don't add the extra sugar.

That being said, for family night last night I had two of these......

So much for my healthy diet.........

My Husband is a Genius

Look what he designed for me and Steve put most of it together!

It's a frame made out of PVC to which we will drape bird netting over to keep the pesky birds away from my grapes and strawberries!

We will win the birdie war!

P.S. The poundage count for my garden thus far is:

March= 10 pounds

April= 8 pounds.

(I just barely got a scale in March to keep track of my yields)

Please Don't Hate Me Because of My Beets

I have a confession.

I love beets.

I really do.

Regular cooked beets and pickled beets.

Every time I go to a salad buffet, I load up on pickled beets.

(I wonder if I have a deficiency?)

So....in my little garden world last fall,

I decided to grow my own beets.

For just me.

Because frankly, everyone else in my family hates beets.

I have been told they taste like dirt.

(I wonder if I have a deficiency?)

I really haven't shared too much about my little patch of beets.

I guess I was afraid of the ridicule and scorn of the world,

That I actually have a patch of beets growing in my garden.

(and that I'm excited about it)

See, here are a couple of little beet sprouts hiding amongst the lettuce last fall.

(are they ashamed of the ridicule of the world too?)

So....this week I decided it was time to harvest my beet patch.

Not a great yield, but it was my first venture into beet growing.

And I decided it was time to make my very own supply of pickled beets!

So off went the beet tops and into the pot they went, to cook up and put into little jars with some vinegar and sugar and spices.

And voila....the final product.....my very own supply of pickled beets!

Now, to analyze my little project....

Did it cost me less money to grow them and pickle them myself?

Probably not.

Would it have been easier to go to the store and buy a jar of pickled beets?

Probably.

But gosh darnit-it was sure fun to grow my own beets and then pickle them myself!

Take that, you swine flu......I'm prepared! I have pickled beets in my pantry!