Maximizing Space

Food storage has been something of a challenge in our house. For some reason, the builders of the house did not think to include a pantry in the kitchen, so we only have cabinets. The entryway closet is the closest thing we have to a pantry. It was apparently meant to be used as a coat closet. It has the bar in it where a person would normally hang coats, but the bar really serves no purpose since there are also shelves built in there. I suspect that these shelves were built by another former resident who had food storage difficulties. We had it all worked out where we had just enough room to store all our kitchen stuff and food between the cabinets in the kitchen and the entryway closet.

Well, we did have it all figured out until I decided to start canning food. Where were we going to put all those jars? My husband came up with a great plan to make more room in the closet/pantry so we could store all the new tasty canned foods I will be making. Here's the closet. Yeah, I buy store brands.

If you notice on the bottom food shelf, I like to keep the baggies of dog treats with the extra peanut butter and the minced garlic. It's a tasty combo. Anyway... These shelves used to be totally filled with food. In order to make more space, my husband did this.

He cut boards to fit along the wall from the front to the back of the closet. Then he cut blocks of wood to screw into the wall as braces. Once he got the braces screwed in he set the new shelves in place and screwed them into the existing shelves. Look how much space was being wasted before! It is so nice to have that extra space in the closet. Isn't my husband a genius?

Our Little Boarders

We have some little rooms out back that we rent out. All we ask in return for providing them with a happy home is to just be able to enjoy having them here. Can you see one of our boarders peeking out?

I think there were two or three babies in there at the time I took these pictures. We could only see one or maybe two little heads peeking out at one time, but I'm pretty sure I heard another little guy cheeping from the inside. The babies would peek out and say "cheep cheep" until their parents showed up with a snack. I happened to have my camera handy when the daddy bird showed up.

When one of the parents would show up with a snack, the babies went crazy with their cheeping! The parents fed them, then headed off to find more snacks. In the meantime, the babies would just stick their heads out of the hole and wait. The day I took this last picture, it was over 100 degrees outside, and I felt so bad for them! They would stick their heads out as far as they could and they had their little beaks hanging open. I'm surprised they didn't cook!

This little family has actually moved out since I took these pictures. They are the third sparrow family we have had so far this summer, and we already have another pair of birds moving twigs and scraps into the other house. I'm sure the behavior and antics of this new family will be the same as the other families we have provided homes for, but I will be no less fascinated by them than the birds who have lived here in the past. They are so simple and I have already spent many hours watching them, but they still never fail to entertain me!

Birthday Weekend - From the Dog's Perspective

My hubby's parents gave him a fun camera for his birthday, and we figured this past weekend we could put it to good use. We were going to celebrate my birthday with hubby's family on Saturday and with my family on Sunday. It's a fun little camera that attaches to the dog's collar and takes pictures at set intervals. You can pick every 1 minute, 5 minutes or 15 minutes. For Saturday, we chose every 15 minutes because the camera only holds 40 pictures and we wanted to make sure it would be able to take pictures the whole time we were there, without running out of memory. Doesn't this look like something fun to wear around your neck?

We put the camera on Zoey's collar and told her "You have a big job tonight. You are going to document this event for us so can always remember what a fun time we had."

Zoey: I don't know about this camera, Mommy, but I'll try. It's not too comfy."

Maybe I should head to the kitchen first. I am a self proclaimed Chief Crumb Cleaner-Upper, and there's been some cooking going on in there. Maybe Mommy and Daddy would like a nice shot of the kitchen floor and the legs of someone the person sitting at the table.

What's this? A stool? A table? It's a mystery to everyone but me. But don't Grandma and Grandpa have a nice light in the kitchen?

After all that wandering, I'm tired. Maybe I should get in the recliner with Daddy to relax. That's not very productive, but I've been working hard!

Me: Zoey! You hardly got any pictures we could use! You'll get a chance to redeem yourself tomorrow, but you better be thinking about your strategy!

ZZZzzz... ZZZzzz... Snore... Snore...

Me: Ok, Zoey, I decided to set the camera to take pictures every 5 minutes, and I brought the laptop so I can upload them if your camera's memory gets full. It's all in vain, though, if you aren't able to get any good pictures. Have you come up with the perfect strategy to get us top notch doggie cam pictures?

Zoey: I have been mulling it over, Mommy, and I'm up to the task. I won't let you down!

I was on a mission to get better pictures of this event, so I decided to try a different approach Sunday. Positioning myself on the soft warm blanket on the couch would put me at a better level to get the kind of shots Mommy and Daddy are looking for. Plus, it meant I got to lay on a blanket. Blankets are the best!

Look, there's Grandma talking with Mommy's cousin! And I suppose I should try to get Mommy in one of the shots, since it's her birthday and all.

Zoey: Hello, Daddy! I'm here to take your picture! I think I should take a picture of Mommy's brother over there in the doorway too!

What's going on outside? IT'S GRANDPA!!!! My favorite person!!! He's the best! I think I should go see him over there. Wait a minute - What's he doing? He's got meat over the fire! He's cooking tasty burgers!

Oh look, there's Mommy's aunt and cousin! I think they have some dolls on the table there. It looks like they're having a good time. I wonder if they're enjoying the dolls as much as Mommy's sister-in-law is enjoying her cake? Mommy said it was a tasty lemon cake, but she didn't share any morsels with me. Mommy never shares morsels of her cake with me. The nerve!

Grandma and Grandpa's yard is a fun place to wander. Hey there's my little friend Ginger's rear end over there, and some people on the driveway!

Me: Good job, Zoey! You took some good pictures today!

Zoey: Mommy, taking top notch doggie cam pictures is alot tougher than I thought it would be. I'm tuckered. I think it's time for a nap.

I Can Has Cookie, Please?

The cookies I made last week are almost gone. Their time with us has been brief, but oh how we have savored them! Here they are, the last of the cookies, soon to be only a cherished memory.

Please, Mommy - My kingdom for a cookie! No more eating junebugs or bird seed. I'll learn to survive without a blanket on the couch and constant belly rubbing. If only I could have a morsel of your delicious cookie! Just a crumb would be divine - Just a taste!

Aww, gee, if only they didn't have chocolate in them. Dangerous chocolate. It's only for your safety, little Zoey. I wouldn't want anything tragic to happen to you because I shared my cookie. I guess I will have to eat them all up myself!

It's Too Hot For This

It's summer, and it's hot. I live in Texas, so the temperatures regularly get around 100 degrees or higher. We do what we can to keep the house a tolerable temperature without letting the electric bill get too high. The thermostat is set at 78, and we keep the ceiling fans going. Drafty areas by the doors are blocked with towels. That doesn't look so nice, but it works. Someday we will get up off our lazy butts and actually fix those drafty places, but in the meantime the towels work well enough. And we wear shorts to keep cool. Shorts are great. Here are a bunch of my shorts.

I like my shorts. They keep me from burning up in the Texas heat. I have a problem with them, though. For some reason, when I went shorts shopping, I was drawn to shorts that have to be ironed. All the shorts in that picture, plus the ones that are in the wash right now, have to be ironed. Besides the fact that ironing is not high up on my list of fun things to do (in fact, I don't think it's on that list at all), it's just too hot to iron! As I do the laundry the pile of clean shorts that need to be ironed piles up until all my shorts are in the pile and all I have left to wear are not-so-presentable boxers that I hijacked from my husband. Unfortunately, this is the situation I am in right now. I have plans this weekend that I would prefer to look presentable for. I guess I better go iron my shorts.

What a Souper Meal!

This is the first post in a new series I'm doing - Dollar Tree Product Reviews. Be on the lookout for more reviews in the future!

Check it out - It's a complete meal in a big cardboard bowl!

I have always been intrigued by this. I know it's really just a big bowl of ramen noodles, but it says right there on the bowl that it's souper! I decided that this was a good candidate for a review, so I picked up a couple. One for me and one for my husband. I thought maybe he would like to have a giant bowl of noodles too. They were only a dollar, so it's not like I was losing a bunch of money. And they're so souper, so really I should be paying more for them, right? I should be grateful they were only a dollar each!

When I opened it up, I saw that there were three packets included.

This was the most intriguing of the three packets - The "Finishing Touch"! This made it all seem so grand. As if I were going to be a fancy chef making a fancy dinner. I could imagine myself saying "It's almost ready now. I just have to add the finishing touch!" My friends and family would be waiting excitedly as I put the finishing touch on this souper meal. I imagined it all being very grand.

And look! It would be ready in only 5 minutes! And I could cook it in the microwave! This really seemed too good to be true. And not only is it chicken noodles, it's chicken "with vegetable medley". At least we would be getting our vegetables. Doesn't that picture on the bowl make it look tasty?

The directions said to put in the vegetable packet and fill it with water up to the line, then pop it in the microwave. I didn't quite fill it all the way up to the line because I wanted to get the full flavor effect of this tantalizing meal. Here's what it looked like after it came out of the microwave. Not as tasty-looking as the picture, but it wasn't quite ready yet.

The next step was to add the flavor packet and stir it up. It wasn't looking quite as tasty as I was hoping, but I was still holding out for a souper meal.

All that was left was the finishing touch! It was going to be magical, I just knew it would! So I tore open the package and drizzled it in.

The anticipation of the souper gourmet meal was, unfortunately, a bit more exciting than the meal itself. Despite its "souper" designation, its vegetable medley, and the oh-so-intriguing finishing touch, it was still a bowl of ramen noodles. It was more of a high-falutin' version of ramen noodles, but still ramen noodles. It wasn't hideous, it really was actually a decent meal, but that is coming from someone who actually likes ramen noodles and keeps them on hand to eat for lunch. If you don't like ramen noodles you may not like it. I don't think I would agree with it really being "souper" (though it was soup), but I will give it this - It was certainly a meal! There are LOTS of noodles in that bowl!

My Blog is Moving!

I have set up a new blog on Wordpress! There are some really neat features over there that I want to take advantage of, so I moved all my posts, comments, etc over there. I am not sure how long I will leave this blog here, but for now, I will use it to post my forwarding address. Here is where you can find me now:

http://chickypez.wordpress.com