Summer House Guests

We’re having house guests  a lot this summer (one of the “benefits” of living in a tourist town).    So I’m trying to get things organized so that I can move between house guests easily (we have a couple of weekends where someone leaves and someone comes on the same day!)

I’m getting a spare house key cut.  I don’t want to be tethered to a guest’s schedule.  It will be easier for everyone if folks can come and go as they like.

I’m getting one more set of sheets for the guest bed.  One of mine are getting threadbare, and I really want to have 2 sets.  One for the bed, and one for the wash.  That way no scrambling to get the bedding washed and back on the bed quickly.   I also need to pick up a second set for the air mattress.  Several of our guests are coming with children who will be sleeping on our famous air mattress – I don’t want to have a scramble with those sheets either. 

I need to sort out the linen closet on the towel shelf too.  We have two sets of towels that are a different color that were originally set up as guest towels.  Somehow they’ve gotten mixed in with our towel sets and rotated into daily use.  I want to make sure that we have enough towels (nothing missing or damaged) for guests to be comfortable.

And last of all, I need to clear out the top two drawers of the dresser in the guest room.  We try to keep them empty for guests to use, but you know how it is --- junk happens.  And then we tuck it into empty drawers to hide the clutter. 

Lavender Cookies

The lavender is still blooming strong.  So I thought I’d make some lavender cookeies. These turned out extra good and they traveled well (picnics, you know)

Lavender Cookies

1 stick butter softened

1 ½ tsp lavender leaves chopped finely

½ cup sugar

1 egg yolk

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup flour

¼ tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350

Cream together the butter, sugar and lavender – Add the egg yolk and vanilla

Combine the flour and salt in a separate small bowl.  Add it to the creamed butter mixture

Beat together until the dough forms

Roll the dough to make a log (Use a lightly floured surface, so it won’t stick)

Chill for an hour or more (I forgot about mine for the afternoon)

Slice the log into rounds and bake 10-12 minutes (they’ll brown a little bit around the edges when they’re done)

Lavender Bread

We are completely in love with our lavender bed.  I purchased a large number of plants at a flea market.  We planted – and we learned. 

Where we live, the winters are cold and harsh.  Lavender does not like cold.  It does not like harsh.  It dies in cold harsh winters. 

Two varieties of lavender are a little less prissy than the rest of the bunch.  Munstead and Hidcote are varieties that have a fighting chance against the cold and snow.  (We’ve had far better luck with Munstead, but we have friends up the road who swear by Hidcote --- go figure)  I still lose young, small-ish plants every winter, but I have 5 strong healthy (getting larger) plants that keep coming back year after year.

Our lavender bed is right beside the driveway – its not the optimal location in terms of babying the plants through the winter (they get snow piled on them every time we shovel) – but when your pant leg or your skirt brushes the lavender as you get out of the car ---- aaahhhhh…..

So – one of the rites of summer is lavender bread --- we make it every summer.  We’ve become “famous” for it among family and friends (people ask for it!)  Its lovely toasted with berry jam in the morning for breakfast.  It also makes the very best BLT for lunch. 

Lavender Bread

½ cup water

1 cup buttermilk

¼ cup olive oil

4 cups bread flour

3 TBS lavender leaves finely chopped

1 ½ tsp lavender flowers finely chopped

1 TBS gluten

2 tsp salt

2 ¾ tsp yeast

Mix all of the ingredients in your bread machine pan.  Bake according to the bread machine directions --- yum.

The 3/50 Project

I found a flyer in a local store this week for the 3/50 project.  I love it!  It’s a plan to save the local economy – three stores at a time. 

Here’s how it works:

Think about 3 local businesses (not the big box branches – real local businesses) that you would really miss if they closed up shop.  Stop into those businesses and just say “hello”.  Make a small purchase (just a token). 

Remember that if half of us in the US spent a mere $50 a month in a local business, we would generat $42.6 billion in revenue (that was billion with a “B”) Holy mackerel!

Then take note:  for every $100 spent in a local business, $68 returns to the community through taxes, employees wages, and other local spending by that business.  On the other hand --- when you spend $100 at a big box chain, only about $43 stays in the local economy.  Big difference!

So --- to participate in the 3/50 project:

Pick your 3 local businesses

Spend $50 (or whatever you can manage in your budget)

Save your local economy. 

In other words;  don’t complain about Walmart if you’re not doing something about it.

Lazy Susan for Snacks

I found a terrific plastic lazy susan server at the grocery store this week.  I’m setting up snack central in it: 

Here’s what it looks like ---

And here’s what it will hold:

·      Cut up vegetables – baby carrots, broccoli stalks, celery

·      Small fruit – grapes, strawberries,

·      Cheese sticks (the pre-packaged kind for easy keeping in the fridge)

·      Little containers of cottage cheese

In the pantry I’ll also putting a second “Snack Central” with

·      Granola bars

·      Crackers

·      Pita wedges and/or pita chips

·      Pretzels

Can you tell I’m determined to snack healthy this summer?

Personal Best Monogram Shoppe

We took a trip over to Washington Depot --- a tiny little town in northwestern Connecticut.  What a wonderful shop we found!  Personal Best Monogram Shop sells custom and stock monograms (the stock ones were lovely!) and will embroider that monogram onto pretty much anything you want. 

We noticed bathrobes, napkins, mens shirts, towels, and all kinds of fabrics.  But they also do stationery.  Some people have even had their monogram done on wallpaper (I’d love to see that room --- its either classy beyond words, or tacky beyond words – can’t decide which)

These were beautiful monograms, not the simple ones I’m used to finding everywhere.   Don’t bother looking for a website --- there isn’t one.  But a day trip over to Washington Depot will yield a ton of fun --- they’re on Green Hill Road right in Washington Depot  or give them a call 860-868-9966

GeoCaching

One of my goals for the summer is to try geo-caching.  It sounds fun --- we’ll get outdoors, get some exercise – the dog can go with us – and best of all, its free. 

Geo-caching is a sort of “sport”.  Its like an outdoor treasure hunt.  People set up “caches”  --- small weather-proof containers with a log and sometimes a “treasure” in them.  Participants (that would be ME) use GPS to try to locate the containers.  When you find one, you add your name and information to the log – and get the thrill of finding a treasure.  Best of all (for me) it works with the IPhone because its GPS enabled.  No equipment to purchase. 

I went to www.geocaching.com to get some information.  I set up a free account (just needed an email address basically) and started looking at possible caches to find.  There were about 25 within 5 miles of my house!!  Including along some of our favorite hiking trails.  We can’t wait to get started.

Speed Cleaning My Bathroom

Speed cleaning is always up my alley.  (No cleaning would be up my alley too, if it didn’t result in living in a pig sty).  I’ve picked up a couple of tricks recently that are making the bathroom part of cleaning a bit speedier. 

First off, I replaced the toilet brush holder.  You know, the one that sits on the floor beside the toilet and holds the brush you use to clean the toilet.  I replaced the holder with a ceramic one that is all one piece.  No seams.  Why?? Because the FlyLady taught me the best trick.  Fill that beautiful ceramic cylinder with a generic cleaning fluid (I’m loving Lysol Lavender scented all-purpose cleaner) and put the toilet brush back in the holder.  Voila – always ready, no fussing around finding the cleaner, putting it away afterward etc.  How silly did I feel that I never, ever though of that??  Better question:  How great do I think it is now? 

My next great aha:  Clorox wipes.  Yeah, I know – the rest of you have loved them for a long time.  And I’ll confess, I’ve loved them in the kitchen and at work.  But I hadn’t thought about them in the bathroom all that much.  They are the cat’s meow for wiping down the sink and the top of the toilet as often as I notice it (which is way more often than when I had to drag out all of that cleaning stuff.)  I did give the Scrubbing bubbles wipes a try – but I like the Clorox and Lysol all-purpose wipes better.  Plus they kill germs like crazy.  And you can do the mirror with them without streaking it like mad. 

Just a couple of tricks, but boy do they make my life a lot easier.  

Budget Nagging

Hmmmm this is something worth thinking about.  Mint.com will track all of your spending from credit card and debit card information.  It even sorts your spending into categories for you:  gas, groceries, clothing --- It keeps running totals on your spending in each category.  But the best part?? It lets you set up budget amounts for each category and it sends you a text message if you go over the amount you’ve set to spend.  WOW --- nothing like having your own personal nag to help you stay on budget.   I love it.

Fonzie the Philosopher

I stumbled across this quote from Fonzie (yep, the leather jacket wearing, motorcycle riding, hip dude from Happy Days --- remember him?)  “Cool is knowing the difference between right and wrong and doing with is right with guts”.  Wow – Fonzie the philosopher --- who knew. 

I’m thinking about getting that quote done with vinyl letters and putting it on the wall of my classroom.  The only problem is:  I’d spend eternity explaining to the kiddos “Who’s Fonzie”? 

Still – what a great thought.

Happy Birthday on a Budget

Its someone’s birthday today.  No, not mine.  But someone I think the world of.  Someone for whom all of the below “gifts” apply.  Seriously, at a certain point in your life you start getting birthday gifts from your Uncle Sam.  How great is that?

Happy 65^th --- at age 65 you automatically qualify for Medicare.  All you have to do is fill our the forms – and you can do that ahead of your birthday, so you really do get the birthday gift on your birthday (thoughtful, that Uncle Sam)

Happy 62^nd --- You can start collecting Social Security if you need or want to.  But if you’re like this fellow, don’t do it.  It makes your payments much lower than they would be if you waited until 65 or 67 to start collecting.  All the same, good to know you can collect if you need or want to.

Happy 60^th  This is the point in time where you can make withdrawals from your IRA and other personally funded retirement accounts.  Again, don’t do it if you don’t have to.  But good to know you can --- freeing, sort of.

Happy 50^th  Wow – just as all of the kids are independent and your income is as high as its ever going to be (okay, that was a depressing moment there, wasn’t it?) Uncle Sam increases the limits for your contributions to your retirement accounts.  Use the next 15 year to sock away $6,000 a year in your IRA and $22,000 in your 401k.  Even with the short investment span and the historically tragic interest rates right now, that could add up to a lot of spare change.  What a great birthday present!

(And yes, you who’s birthday we’re celebrating around here, I DID get you a real present – the presents from Uncle Sam are just bonuses)

Gardening Thoughts

Since I’m starting to think about the garden and the outdoors again.  I thought I’d do some planning for a potting/gardening area off of our patio.   I don’t want to spend a ton of money on a fancy potting shed or even a potting table.  But I do want an organized workspace for all of the tools, buckets of soil, seeds, packaging, and other stuff that seems to go with working in the yard and the garden. 

Here’s what I’m thinking will work:

Ø  Put a small table from the flea market or yard sales up against the side of the area.

Ø  Add a set of plastic stackable bins (I’m thinking Kmart or Christmas Tree Shop) underneath.  I’m not going to stack them --- I just want the uniform set of bins --- they’ll need to stack in the shed for the winter though.   These can hold extra pots etc

Ø  A straight board to set across the stackable bins – this will make place for holding those things that won’t fit inside the bins – as long as they’re not too heavy. 

Ø  A couple of large buckets (the kind you can get at HD – but I really don’t want orange buckets.)  In the past, I’ve had good luck with a local donut shop.  The filling for the donuts comes in these large white buckets (no handles) and they’ll give them to me for a song.  The buckets can hold the potting soil, fertilizer etc.