Hummingbirds

I am American...

...And thisis my reality.

 

  Okay.   So I am not the most patriotic person.  BUT,  I do really appreciate America and all the military that fight for America and all of us in it. 

  So I say I am not so patriotic because I have no little flags around, or red white and blue flowers, no grill, & no fireworks.  I think there is a firework show going on as a type, not far away, but I don't feel like going.  Neither do the dogs, that's for sure. 

 

 

I did eat a hot dog for dinner tonight ( because ya gotta eat one at least once a year or when the occasion calls for it), and I had some corn chips that I baked, with some organic french onion dip.  Woops ....french.  That's not very American is it?  in fact that looks so gross now it makes me want to puke.  Just like the little dog did all over the comforter.  Nothin' like wakin ' up to a fresh pile of puke.

  
  I scrounged everything up and didn't have to go to the grocery store.  I did that yesterday ( after purchasing $ 70 little stickers to put on my licence plate) and stumbled around the store like a lost, indecisive soul wondering what I was even shopping for, watching all these people stock up for what looked like a big huge picnic, a.k.a fourth of July weekend, easily racking up like 300 bucks on junk food.  I bought a  18lb watermelon, a bag of chips, 2 mangoes and a pineapple.  I ate half of the watermelon today.  By myself.    Just for the record, I also ate the bag of chips.
  So I had to make more.
  I have an American gut and I'm sitting on my American butt.  In my boy beater, can't get any more all American girl than that.

I love America.

Cooking alone

  I just have to say, if you have never had Amy's organic freezer meals, you are missing out. 
  I eat these meals when I'm eating dinner by myself, which is frequent in the summer.  Mostly due to  the fact that my significant other works like every night,  and it seems all my friends have significant others to eat dinner with.  So here I am, with my two dogs and cat eating previously frozen enchiladas, that are "oh my gosh so good!".  This is so much better than it sounds.  I just got a glimpse of being on freaky eaters, because I sometimes think I could live on Amy's cheese enchiladas and Garden of Eatin's red hot blues tortilla chips. 
  If you are single, you know that cooking for 1 person is a big pain in the butt.  Sometimes I put countless hours into healthy meals and then sit down and hate eating it by myself.  So I have decided it's not worth the effort anymore, if I can't make it in a blender, why bother.
  Then I ate Amy's.  I usually don't eat things out of boxes.  But I decided to try some of her meals when they were on sale at Fred Meyer, and I'm pretty much hooked.  I only buy them when they are on sale though, so there are many more I want to try. 
  Currently at the top of my list is the cheese enchiladas. 

photo from http://www.amys.com/products

 Coming in at a very close second is the gluten free mac and cheese, made with rice pasta. 

photo from http://www.amys.com/products

 Altho I eat the regular dairy one.  It is super tasty!  I totally hold out for the sales at Freddy's.  They always happen eventually, and then ya just gotta stock up.  Because when you have to feed a 140 lb dog , you can't afford to spend $5 on 2 enchiladas and mac n cheese.  But they are so worth it.
  Anyway I'm really bored tonight and don't want to clean my kitchen so I'm blogging about frozen food that no one will ever read anyway. 


http://www.ghassandeeb.com/

   I also made a huckleberry/mint tea mojito with  vodka instead of rum.  It was quite tasty, I made up the recipe.  I'm too lazy to go to the effort of taking a pic of it, so here's one from the internet that was totally fitting.  This one in the picture is called the black and blue mojito and you can go here for the recipe.  http://ghassandeeb.com/cocktail/black-and-blue-mojito

Are you wondering why I would need to clean my kitchen if I'm baking frozen dinners?  That's what I would like to know, when my kitchen got so messy?

Party size bag of chips and garage sales

I had a really busy week.  Father's Day...

My dad hates this dog by the way.  She ...loves him.  Isn't life funny that way?

..................................................

 Having my 12 year old niece for a visit ( burying dead chicks,

                                                                        

Manicures

  jewelery making, farkel, and fireworks.), the start of summer activities, and work. 

 So I feel like I have accomplished alot this week and am glad it is the weekend.   ( Although, it really doesn't matter what day of the week it is to me because I work weekends).   

   I polished off a party size  bag of  chips in 3 days, and went to a garage sale today.   I don't usually make it to garage/yard sales, but I do know that if you snooze you loose.   So I was up and Adam this A.M., on a mission to find a night stand.   I did!  Amongst a few other cool things. 

 including a gong. 

This one is a replica of the gong used by Chao Khao ( Hilltribe) peoples that live in the highlands of Thailand and the Golden Triangle.   It was supposedly purchased in the 1950's by a man in the navy that was stationed in Japan.   It is/was used to call the public to Weddings and things.  HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

 Cool metal plates and a bowl, that will be perfect for picnicking, light weight and unbreakable.  (unless used for target practice.)  We do shoot at things like this here in Idaho.

And this um,  beautiful wood stump with a gold plated bird...I'm calling it a vase.  I really don't know what it is supposed to be technically, but a glass fits inside it perfectly so it makes a really nice vase.

When I saw this night stand,

  I knew I had to have it.  I also instantly saw it's reformation. 

I knew right away that I was going to paint it. And I did, right away.  I painted a thin coat of white.  ' Thin coat' mainly because I don't have a paint brush big enough so i used a sponge.  I used ceramcoat in " Ivory".  Then I put a coat over that with "North Sea".    After that dried I started sanding. 

 The cool thing was that since it started with a dark base I had three colors to work with.  I think it turned out nicely.

I ended up doing a little experiment (marbling...  I didn't have the right paint), on the top that didn't quite work out.  So it is darker than the rest , but I thought it looked okay as it was.  So I didn't fix it.

Junk in my trunk

 I don't know if it's getting older or what it is exactly, but I just feel like I'm not all there some days.  Today was one of those days. 
 
  I have been loaned a really nice mtn. bike.  It just needed some new tires.  So I took it to the bike shop to get it ready for riding this summer.
  
   I'm really excited to get back into mtn. biking, and re-live one of my past passions.  Past, as in about 18 years ago.  I was obsessed with mtn. biking.  I worked at a sporting good store and had an awesome bike.  I lived near lots of trails, and it's just what I did when I was in my late teens and early 20's.  I'd like to say it kept me out of trouble.  Then one day I just quit.  I used the excuse that my bike went out of style.  Once I wasn't working at the store, there were no more super sweet deals.  Being an adult sometimes means not spending more on your mtn. bike than your car.  Nowadays mtn. bikes are full suspension and thousands of dollars.
   SO now that  I have one to use this summer, I am really excited!
I was at the bike shop explaining myself.  I had jammed this mtn. bike into the backseat of my VW Jetta.  A thunderstorm was rolling in while I was trying to remember how to take off the front wheel, because - mind you , it has been like over 15 years now.  I ended up squeezing the front tire off between the brakes, ripping off the brake pad in the process.  So  I rehearsed what my excuse was going to be during the 8 mile drive to the bike shop, so I wouldn't look like such an idiot.
  Well, they got me all taken care of, instructed me on how to take off the front wheel, and got me ready to roll.
  While checking out, the salesperson asked me if I needed help getting the bike back into my car.  I said " Na, I got it."  He then  asked me if my back seat folded down, and if so I could put it in through my trunk.  My response "  yeah, I got too much junk in my trunk".  Then I broke out laughing hysterically.  He didn't.  He just said " I know what you mean".
 

Another rainy day

Little Stinky

The dogs are getting bored.  I don't like them to be out in the rain getting all wet and then smelling  stinking up the house. 

  Summer is supposedly only 4 days away.  I would like it to be here right now.  I'm tired of cold, rainy, windy and cloudy days.   And the cat is eating all my plants.   Wellllll, enough whining for now. 
   Time to make goodies for Father's Day, such as french kale chips, sunflower crunch, and butterscotch popcorn (my dad's favorite).  A picnic is planned, but the way the weather is looking, we'll be picnicking inside, in the midst of my garden and pet hair.  I have iced tea and lemonade made, but I might need to bust out the hot cocoa. 
  This is Idaho in June, or June in Idaho, and I don't know why I'm surprised, it's been happening almost every year for as long as I can remember.  This June seems to be especially cold, but wacky weather seems to be the trend everywhere .  What's going on with the world?

Before and after no beer ,no chips

Before -June 6th 2011

                                               After-June 15th 2011

Okay ,so you can't tell much of a difference.  ( The difference in the 2nd picture is that I'm sucking in, ha ha)    But I'm determined to keep plugging away at it, or should I say chipping?   Speaking of chipping, I still have not eaten any chips.  But I've got some kale in the dehydrator this very moment. 

   Also at this very moment, I pretty much have my entire garden in my living room, because it is supposed to get down to 33 degrees tonight, and that's just to close to 32.  The electric fireplace is going as well.  And there  you have it.