Let's Try Venting...It Beats Counting Sheep

It's late and I know I should be in bed but...I have a million things on my mind! Perhaps if I vent and blog a little I will feel better...
 That damn boat,long story short it has a broken cylinder. Nice. We leave for fishing in 4 days and that friggin boat decides to start malfunctioning!?  So poor Vern was at it again,tearing apart the motor and calling for parts. $300 later the part will be here Monday at 10am and we are leaving around 4pm.I hope it works! It's been one expensive thing after another since we brought it home and we haven't even gotten fishing licenses yet!Plus (yes I'm almost done..) we can't tow out our fancy camper(that we haven't gotten to use much this year) to stay in (then everyone would have their own trailer) because we have to tow the boat out!Ugh!

My new definition of "recreational vehicle"-an object you pay for 12 months a year while feeling guilt because you only use that object 5 times a year while it breaks 10 times a year.Usually justified by the fun times had while enjoying such object at first and then slowly becomes overcome by a feeling of burden over time.

 Tomorrow starts early,a 9 am appointment to do hair on my day off and make some side cash. I have an appointment with the highly recommended "Jimmy" for a nail fill and pedicure at noon. I can't remember the last time I had a pedicure and I don't think I have ever had a fill and pedi at the same time! The pedicure will be done by someone else but I am hoping Jimmy will work some magic on the bad nails I got 2 weeks ago. Oh happy girly pamper time! 1/2 a Xanax and a gossip magazine,does it get any better than that?LOL! I am going to relax and enjoy every minute because I know it will be the last quiet moment to myself for a few days.

After my precious "Me" time I will be off to the races! Shopping for supplies and running errands then rushing home to greet my parents as they arrive. Off to the airport Saturday morning to get my brother and then more shopping,packing,cooking and prepping. Work Sunday and Monday and then off to Sekiu Monday night. Whew! I have so much to do...in only 2 days off! Hopefully I will be drinking coffee on the beach Tuesday morning before I know it :)

I feel better,thanks for listening! I am finally tired enough to go to bed...
I can't promise much blogging before I leave ....but  I can promise that the pictures I will bring home will be worth the wait ;)

A Year of Slow Cooking: Slow Cooker Creamy Turkey Dinner Recipe

A Year of Slow Cooking: Slow Cooker Creamy Turkey Dinner Recipe

Wordless Wednesday-The Random Cara Archives

Tuesday's This &That

I spent the weekend away from the computer and enjoyed a few days off with Vern. We hadn't had a day off together in almost a month because my hard working man was working 7 days a week. I was happy to see him get some R&R! So here are a few updates on things that happen around here..

• Harvey passed the night I brought him home, RIP Harvey 0:)

•   There is one last beer sign hanging in my kitchen. Heineken. The rest have all been moved up to Del's new "bar" area upstairs.The kitchen walls are looking empty and begging for some new paint. New paint is coming as soon as I have the time and money...October would be wishful thinking.

• The first batch of agates made it through the rock tumbler! They look great! I will have to get better at capturing their beauty with my camera though.The pictures don't begin to show the color and clarity of these "new" gems!

I'm sure you can now understand why I am so anxious to go back to the beach and drag home all  sorts of cool rocks! I am also collecting shells to harvest little succulents (Hens and Chicks) in for my garden and to donate to the Garden Club plant sale next summer. Oh and the driftwood,the piles and piles of the coolest twisted and worn driftwood you have ever seen...the craft projects are spinning in my head! (as I stop blogging for a moment to add "big buckets for beach stuff" to my "Stuff To Remember" list)

• That dang boat. Vern and I set out for a date on the lake Friday evening and it was spoiled by bad gas in the boat. Apparently 3 year old gas (that my Dad left in there) lacks the octane to make an engine run properly. So at 5 mph we circled back to the dock and went home. Vern spent the rest of his weekend draining the bad gas and replacing it with new and some new spark plugs. Seems like it's running great but we'd have to get it in the water again to really tell. We are glad it happen before we pulled it out to Sekiu next week but we are a little worried about the lack of time to test it again before we do..

• I think my parents will be here Friday and my brother flies in Saturday or Sunday. We are all leaving for Sekiu together Monday night when I get off work. I am so excited that my brother is able to join us this year! I hope my sister and her family can make it out too,camp would be the fullest I have ever seen it!

• I spent today de-cluttering and cleaning our house. I also started packing for vacation and I am 80% done! Yes, it is very premature but the weekend will be too busy! I have grocery shopping,cooking,entertaining and a few days of work to finish before we can go! I should be in bed...haha

• I made one of my favorite dishes tonight and I thought I'd share for those of you having fun with my food blogging. My Mom always made this casserole of leftovers the day after a holiday and it is always amazing to see how quickly it disappears!

Get our your favorite casserole dish and start your layers with mashed potatoes.( I insert little bits of butter into them before adding the next layer)
The next layer can be almost any veggie like green beans,broccoli,corn etc. Remember to smooth each layer evenly so each bite is full of goodness :)
The last layer is stuffing.Spread evenly and heat  uncovered in a 350 degree oven for 30 min to an hour depending on size of casserole.
Tonight I made mine with instant potatoes,broccoli, Stove Top stuffing and bacon bits. I cooked,assembled and baked it to comfort food perfection. I served it with turkey tenderloins,brown gravy and crispy Parmesan baguette slices. Here it is before it went in the oven.

 I call it Holiday Leftover Casserole. So simple. So yummy.Bye bye leftovers!

Harvey

 While outside on a break from work today I noticed a tiny baby mouse on the sidewalk. Tiny,eyes still shut and scared for it's life this poor little thing was barely crawling across the ground looking for help. I admit that at first I walked away,went back to work and tried to go on with my day. I kept checking on him out the window while people,bikes and shopping carts wizzed by barely missing him...it broke my heart. So on a later break I retrieved an old tupperware container out of my van,lined it with paper towels and grabbed a plastic shower cap to put over the top..just in case he was more mobile than he appeared. I scooped him up in the container and hoped that would do until I figured out my next move. On my lunch break I confessed to Vern what I was up to as I gathered bits of food from our fridge.  He was afraid I was signing up for a pet mouse..no no no. I'm not a Mama mouse and there's only so much I can do until I have to accept the inevitable.Nature will take it's course.
I decided to at least give him a name and say a prayer for him. So I said a prayer for Harvey and returned to work while he waited in my van. He slept so hard that he squeeked when I woke him after work. I assume it had been a long day! Honestly I was surprised he was still alive. I knew the best thing to do is to take him out to a safe little spot in the woods tomorrow morning and drop him off. Hope for the best. Satisfied I did what I could...
I went about my evening as normal but I couldn't stop thinking about Harvey out in my van and all alone. So out of curiosity I googled how to care for a baby mouse. Feedings every 2 hours,stimulate bowel movements etc etc etc...oh goodness.Survival rate very low..something about kitten milk...yadda yadda.No way-too much for me! Or is it? After much debate with myself,I decided I would feel better about "nature taking it's course" if I did what I could for now. I went out to the van with some warm, watered down, milk in a shot glass and a washcloth.He didn't move much,I thought I was already too late...then he began to wiggle,I think he was asleep again. I snuggled him in the cloth and turned him on his back so I could drop milk into his mouth with a toothpick.The website had said a drop or two is enough and I had to improvise with real milk and a toothpick but....it worked pretty good!Gosh he was so cute! He drank a few drops,his eyes still unopen he stretched his head out to eat. I loosely wrapped him into the washcloth and put him back in the container. I found one of those instant  hand warmers in my van console and put it under the container for some extra warmth. It was a sweet little moment for me,feeding this helpless little baby and admiring his tiny little feet and face.I felt better knowing that if he passes tonight,he won't be alone,hungry and cold. None of God's creatures deserve that,not even Harvey.
So I am promising myself that I will do what I said I would tomorrow. Drop him off somewhere where he can go back to being part of the circle of life..but I won't lie...it's going to be hard. That tiny creature reminded me that we are all important, no matter how insignificant or broken we may seem to the majority of passers by..
and I pray that the bits of goodness I am able to share with the world makes a difference.I wish I could do as much for Harvey as he has done for me.
Thanks Harvey :)

Food Spoilage Guide, A Guide For The Rest Of Us!

Food Spoilage Guide, A Guide For The Rest Of Us!
 

Finally, a way to know what to pitch and what to save!

THE GAG TEST
Anything that makes you gag is spoiled (except for leftovers from what you cooked for yourself last night).

EGGS
When something starts pecking its way out of the shell, the egg is probably past its prime.

DAIRY PRODUCTS
Milk is spoiled when it starts to look like yogurt. Yogurt is spoiled when it starts to look like cottage cheese. Cottage cheese is spoiled when it starts to look like regular cheese. Regular cheese is nothing but spoiled milk anyway and can't get any more spoiled than it is already. Cheddar cheese is spoiled when you think it is blue cheese but you realize you've never purchased that kind.

MAYONNAISE
If it makes you violently ill after you eat it, the mayonnaise is spoiled.

FROZEN FOODS
Frozen foods that have become an integral part of the defrosting problem in your freezer compartment will probably be spoiled - (or wrecked anyway) by the time you pry them out with a kitchen knife.

EXPIRATION DATES
This is NOT a marketing ploy to encourage you to throw away perfectly good food so that you'll spend more on groceries. Perhaps you'd benefit by having a calender in your kitchen.

MEAT
If opening the refrigerator door causes stray animals from a three-block radius to congregate outside your house, the meat is spoiled.

BREAD
Sesame seeds and Poppy seeds are the only officially acceptable "spots" that should be seen on the surface of any loaf of bread. Fuzzy and hairy looking white or green growth areas are a good indication that your bread has turned into a pharmaceutical laboratory experiment.

FLOUR
Flour is spoiled when it wiggles.

SALT
It never spoils.

CEREAL
It is generally a good rule of thumb that cereal should be discarded when it is two years or longer beyond the expiration date.
 
LETTUCE
Bibb lettuce is spoiled when you can't get it off the bottom of the vegetable crisper without Comet. Romaine lettuce is spoiled when it turns liquid.

CANNED GOODS
Any canned goods that have become the size or shape of a softball should be disposed of. Carefully.

POTATOES
Fresh potatoes do not have roots, branches, or dense, leafy undergrowth.

CHIP DIP
If you can take it out of its container and bounce it on the floor, it has gone bad.

EMPTY CONTAINERS
Putting empty containers back into the refrigerator is an old trick, but it only works if you live with someone or have a maid.

UNMARKED ITEMS
You know it is well beyond prime when you're tempted to discard the Tupperware along with the food. Generally speaking, Tupperware containers should not burp when you open them.

GENERAL RULE OF THUMB
Most food cannot be kept longer than the average life span of a hamster. Keep a hamster in or nearby your refrigerator to gauge this.

SEPTEMBER?!?!

How is it that tomorrow is September 1st? Where was summer? I was waiting for it to show up..it stopped by,said it would be back and....it never did  :(  Now fall is creeping in! I finally (but ever so reluctantly) put on my big fuzzy socks today,I'm craving comfort food and I am plotting Christmas..what the heck! SO I turn my thoughts to my fast approaching vacation. 7 days off ,6 of them in Sekiu with friends,family and fishing.. 6 whole days in paradise disconnected from the whole world. No running water and no flushy toilet yet for some strange reason...I love every minute of it!
Here's the campers we stay in,we stay in the one on the left-

Here's the toilet-

And here's the kitchen-

Here is the "busy " little fishing town full of anxious fishermen-

I love the sunsets in Sekiu,especially from out on the Straits Of Juan de Fuca.

A good morning fishing!I love this pic of my Dad,Vern and Lloyd. 3 very awesome guys and die-hard fishermen!

Oh now I am getting excited! Now I am also realizing I have A LOT to do in the next two weeks!Meal planning and precooking heart healthy meals my Dad will eat but that also taste good.He is very strict about his diet...and I want him around for as long as possible soo..turkey and chicken it is!haha
As for me,I sit here and think of all my favorite things I like to do while I am there..
I want to-
*wake up,make coffee and head directly to the beach. No checking the time or brushing your hair. Just barefoot in a cozy sweatshirt,waking up and having coffee with the tide and the sparkly rocks it scattered on the beach.

*skip the personal maintenance routine.Although I find a way to shower almost everyday, I love that for a whole week I have no use for make up,a blow drier or wearing fashionable matching outfits. Instead it's bandannas,sunglasses and a few layers of the most functional clothing I own..including rubber boots and rain gear if needed.

*have quality time with Vern without all the daily interruptions of our regular life. I love getting away with him and  relaxing and having fun with no cell phones,computers or schedules.

*fill the memory card on my camera. 1,100 pics is a fair challenge.

*sit on the beach,maybe even nap. When we are on the beach we are always moving. This time,I am going to bring a few good magazines,blankets and snacks and just go sit an hang out in a private little beach spot.If I am lucky enough to have a sunny day and a low,calm tide..I just might nap :)

*admit that I enjoy playing "house" at camp. Washing dishes with a hose,cooking over an open fire and keeping the camper somewhat organized. It's fun to change up the ol' routine!

So I change my opinion..HURRY UP SEPTEMBER! I want to go on vacation!
:)