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Everything and the Kitchen Sink

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About this blog

Assorted ramblings and such. Topics include cooking, baking, home improvement projects, crafts, and pets.

Entries in this blog

Anchor bolts are the language of love....

Until recently, I foolishly assumed that since the laundry area shelves and brackets were 1.5 inch thick solid wood, that they had been properly anchored to the wall by the previous owners. Long story short, they weren't!   They are now, and I'm extremely grateful that no one was hurt when one of the brackets holding up a fully loaded shelf pulled itself out of the wall.   Everyone, please check to make sure your shelves are secure! 

Cartmann99

Cartmann99

Cranberry-Orange-Pecan Muffins

I had an idea last month for a new muffin recipe that incorporates some of the flavors of the holidays. I took my recipe for tart cherry pecan muffins with vanilla butter, and started tweaking. Here's what I came up with: Gather up the following: 2 large eggs 1 cup sour cream 2/3 cup granulated sugar 8 Tablespoons (1/4 pound) melted butter 1 tsp vanilla extract 2 oranges, zested and juiced  1/2 tsp baking soda 1 Tablespoon baking powder 1/2

Cartmann99

Cartmann99

Back In The Home Improvement Saddle Again....

I managed to pull myself away from the never ending drama of the presidential election long enough to finish the decoupage floor in our new bedroom. Circus Act is pretending to be a professional kitty model for y'all.  I wanted the look of reclaimed wood, but the real deal was more than I wanted to spend at this time.   You can tell it's not a real wood floor when the light hits it the right way, but a real wood floor for this room will have to wait for now.  A

Cartmann99

Cartmann99

Time Marches on...

When my mother was alive, she had a big calendar where she kept track of all the birthdays and anniversaries of her family and friends. Some people only got a card, but the ones closest to her got a card and a phone call on their special day. One of my relatives is having a birthday today, the first one without a card and a phone call from my mother. I texted my relative this morning to wish them a Happy Birthday and said that I hoped they had something fun planned for today. My relative texted

Cartmann99

Cartmann99

Orneriness and my Middle Aged Brain

I was reading @HerNameIsBuffy's latest blog entry about the process of leaving a job and showing your soon-to-be former coworkers how to get along okay once you're gone. This brought back a memory of when I was in Buffy's shoes. My husband had finished graduate school and had a job lined up, so we had to pack up everything we owned and move halfway across the country. I kept my employer informed during this entire process, so that she knew exactly how much longer I would be with her. She d

Cartmann99

Cartmann99

The End of an Era

We had some bad storms roll through here last night, so I went over to the website for the local paper to see if they had any reports of storm damage. Looks like our area lucked out for the most part. There's some wind and hail damage, but there doesn't appear to be any loss of life.  Anyway, after reading the article about the storms, I decided to go see if there were any interesting letters in the "Letters to the Editor" section.  I hadn't done this in a while, so I ended up reading some

Cartmann99

Cartmann99

Family Recipe Box: Mother's Tacos

When I tell people that Mother learned to make tacos in Germany, they look at me a bit funny. The story is that my Father got drafted a few months after they were married and the Army sent him to Germany. Mother went with him, and while they were there, they became friends with some of the other soldiers and their wives. One of the soldiers they were friends had married a woman whose family was from Mexico, and she taught Mother how to make tacos the way her family did. When my parents returned

Cartmann99

Cartmann99

I'm not 100%, but I'm here.

A few of you may have noticed that I fell off the face of the earth in mid-January. I had planned on cutting back on my FJ time to try and get some home improvement projects finished before a mid-May deadline, but not to go away completely. I was planning out what projects were most important to have finished, and then all Hell broke loose. My Mother unexpectedly died, and I'm one of those who needs something physical to do while I grieve, so I've been busy cooking, baking, and working on o

Cartmann99

Cartmann99

Sour Cream Chocolate Cake Will Set You Free!!!!!1111!!!!

When I heard the news from @Peas n carrots that XGay Greg and Dede had been found in Washington state, I knew that I needed a cake to celebrate their return. Originally, I had planned on making a jelly roll cake and filling it with orange curd. As Donald Trump would say, I currently have oranges coming out of my whatever.  So, I pulled out the oranges, butter, and the double boiler, and then realized that I didn't have enough eggs to make the cake and the orange curd. Bummer.  Dammit, we mus

Cartmann99

Cartmann99

15 amps and two Heaters

One of the fun things about a house built in the 1950s being inhabited by 21st century residents is the electrical system. Nobody thought twice back then about having three bedrooms sharing one 15 amp circuit. A few lamps, three clocks, and a couple of radios or record players could all be safely run at the same time . Even if you used one of the bedrooms for a home office, an electric typewriter wouldn't trip the breaker.  Some of you know that we spent a good amount of our savings last Au

Cartmann99

Cartmann99

A Slightly Belated Thanksgiving Dinner

I suck. I've got containers of homemade brock in my freezer, and I'm just now finishing this series on Thanksgiving.   For those wondering what in the world is brock, it's kind of a cross between broth and stock that I make from the turkey carcass. In other words, it's a dessert topping and a floor wax! I can't get the video to embed right now, so we'll have to do it the old school way. Here's the transcript for my readers who are unable to watch the video or are hearing impaired.

Cartmann99

Cartmann99

Day 3 of Thanksgiving Prep

Okay, we're up to day three of Thanksgiving prep. Let's make some cornbread for the dressing. I was losing the light and couldn't get a good shot of the batter, so here it is in the oven: You'll have to wait till the next post to see it transformed into cornbread dressing.  Okay, next up is some French bread rolls: Please note that my container for wheat gluten is an old yogurt container. Fancy!  Since we are working with wheat, here's a shot of the wheatberries before they took a spin

Cartmann99

Cartmann99

Thanksgiving Prep Day 2

Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans.... Here it is a week after Thanksgiving and I still haven't finished blogging about it. While doing my preps for Thanksgiving, I heard a story on the radio about Kim Kardashian wanting Kanye West to buy her a very expensive diamond choker as a push present. I chuckled to myself and found myself feeling extremely grateful that I was not born into her family. I would either be the black sheep that no one talks about, or they'd hold numerous

Cartmann99

Cartmann99

Thanksgiving Prep Day 1

One of the things I've learned, is the importance of starting my Thanksgiving preparations early. My preparation actually begins on the Sunday night before Thanksgiving when I pull the turkey and any other needed items out of the freezer, but the real work starts on the following Monday. We are not having guests this year, so I will be making the scaled down version of my Thanksgiving dinner. That means that some dishes will be absent as we only have so much room in the refrigerator to work with

Cartmann99

Cartmann99

Potato Pancakes

Growing up, we ate a LOT of mashed potatoes. It was one of the few vegetables my Mother could get everyone to eat. We occasionally had some left over and Mother would do what her Mother taught her to do with them and make us some potato pancakes. My Mother was born during the Great Depression, and her Mother did not believe in wasting food. Potato pancakes are simple, cheap, use up leftover food, and don't take long to prepare. I discovered this week that some people, grew up in homes where chee

Cartmann99

Cartmann99

The Arrival of FallWinSpri and Carrot Leaf Pesto

Here in West Texas, the seasons here are a bit different than in some other parts of the United States. Since we have had seven days in a row where the highs were 80F or less, I have declared that FallWinSpri has arrived. FallWinSpri is my favorite season. Where I live, FallWinSpri usually starts sometime between mid-October and November 1st, and usually ends sometime between the end of February and mid-March. As the name implies, FallWinSpri is my term for the seasons of Fall, Winter, and Sprin

Cartmann99

Cartmann99

Crown Mouldings

Back to the misadventures of Cartmann99 and the fixer-upper house that she and Mr. Cartmann99 bought... It's obvious that at some point in the past, this house had owners who loved it and tried to make improvements that would increase its value. For instance, someone put in a water softener system, a sprinkler system for the yard, a decorative rock area with drought resistant plants, and several raised plant beds. We also have six trees in our yard including two beautiful crepe myrtles and two

Cartmann99

Cartmann99

Being Married to a Gardener has its Perks...

When I'm not scraping, sanding, staining, or painting something, I'm usually in the kitchen. Sadly, all the home improvement projects have currently taken precedence over cooking. Thankfully, my husband is an awesome gardener and brings me wonderful tomatoes that don't need anything to be mouthwatering. A few minutes work and you have this... Some toasted bread, mayonnaise, sliced garden fresh tomatoes, lemon basil, and a little salt. I know the first freeze is coming and I want to enjoy t

Cartmann99

Cartmann99

If These Walls Could Talk...

Some of the people that used to own my house had very different taste than I do. As I work on the house, I've found evidence of some of the walls being painted lime green, dark purple,  and orange. At one time, someone even painted some of the baseboards orange.  While we are on the subject of baseboards, I understand that painting them and not getting that color on the walls or on the floor requires work and it can be highly frustrating. I also know that removing them to make them easier to pa

Cartmann99

Cartmann99



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      47of74

      If I had the scratch this would make a good party bus....

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      Kiki03910

      Penumbral eclipse!
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      Kiki03910

      It's almost MLB Opening Day! WOO FUCKING HOO!
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      D'oh!

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      47of74

      Went here tonight for dinner

      They have a kind of Juicy Lucy called the Blucy - which is a type of Juicy Lucy with blu cheese.  When my mom, sister, brother in law, and niece were up last weekend we went to the 42nd street location in Minneapolis.  Tonight I went to the Como Ave location instead.  Yeah, it hit the spot.
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