OOOOPS!

I forgot to post today as you can tell.

I finished the cherry leather I started, and made raw cookies made of quinoa, raisins, almonds, honey, and cinnamon. They're not as great as the last time I made them because I didn't have enough almonds this time. And my blender died right after I ground the almonds, but oh well. They will be a good snack for when I want one.

I have to go now because we are going to Pro's Ranch Market to buy produce because on the 1st, I'm going mostly raw vegetarian as I can be without a blender.

I guess no smoothies, or zucchini wraps like I wanted to make. Not till I get a blender.

I promise a normal post tomorrow.

See you later!
Trisha.

We had a busy day yesterday

I made quince jelly:

 looks like applesauce with a pear consistency, but has it's own taste.

 The befores of the master closet:

 this is where we will make a mini cupboard for linen, closing off 1/2 of this area, and then hanging a coat rack in front.

 the middle looking in

 Here is the before of the cool bookshelf we have and are going to cut down to go into the closet the backing is already off:

 1/2 way done:

 And of course "Mr. stand under the "rain" of sawdust and blink" was there.

 I took many pictures trying to capture his light dusting:

 He's a dork.

Meanwhile, I was still dehydrating my potatoes:

 We took a trip to Home Depot, and Ta Da!

 a spot for long things, and shirts and skirts, and pants

I now have a closet that's almost done!
The mini cupboard needs to be built into it, and a rack needs to be added for jackets, then painted, and then it will be finished!

So now today starts work. 5 days and then maybe the rest will be finished and I can put clothes in.
I'm getting excited!
Have a good day!
Trisha.

Happy Potato Day

Dehydrating potatoes is fun. It only took me an hour this time! Last time took 2 hours. So I must be even more efficient now.

Here's how I Dehydrate them:

1. Dump the potatoes out.
2. Peel over their bags.
3. Drop into a bowl of water to rinse the dirt off.
4. Cut into squares.
5. Drop into water.

6. Bring a pot of water to boil, strain the potatoes from bowl, and put into the water.
7. Set the timer for 5 minutes, and bring back to a boil. They should be done when the timer sounds.

 (lovely how the water turns rusty instead of the potatoes)



8. Strain the water off. (The starch makes it look soapy.)

9. The incredible cooling system.

 10. Take all the trays out of the dehydrator. Line with 1 paraflexx sheet to catch drips/bits of potato.

 11. Set them on the counter by the cooling potatoes.

 12. Start filling the dehydrator trays and put them in the dehydrator.

 13. When it's full, turn it on.

14. Now wait and smell potatoes all day.

Have a potato fun day!
Trisha.

Sunday's Weird Pictures

First off, (this isn't weird)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

I'll come see you today!

And starting the weirdness,

I have to look in here for my sewing table and machine; this is my garage where all our treasures and junk are stored: The black hole.

And then clean out my sewing room and put it in here: (hopefully it can be painted first)

Can you tell I'm getting antsy pantsy now that I have new fabric?

The first 2 decorations above the desk on the shelf. These are 2 decorations that are special to me. I was sick of them being in my kitchen drawer. Call me weird if you want, but yes, that's where I stored them because I didn't want them to break during all this construction. And I am aware they don't match.

First, the bear I made in ceramics class in high school. I had never seen a bear before, and tried to make him look like he had fattened up for the winter. (he is dirty and dusty.)

Second, the bird my sister bought me when she was in Finland. It's so pretty purple.

 Bluuuuurrr! My zinnias in the garden keep on blooming! I think they're so pretty! just pops of color! like a color explosion!

 And to make it seem more like spring to me, weeds are growing from all the rain we've had recently!

 And flowers are popping up everywhere! and it's all still vibrantly green!

I ate the last of Thanksgiving today for breakfast. Sweet potatoes. This year I only had the leftovers of a couple bites of green bean casserole, about 5 pieces sweet potatoes, and some orange jello. All delicious!

Now I get to get ready for today. Have a happy Sunday!
Trisha

New things

I went to Jo Ann's Fabrics yesterday morning and caught their HUGE Black Friday sale. I am so proud of my purchases! I finally got a 100% cotton batting for the quilt I'm making, and a bunch of fabric (in the bag)! All for the best price I have ever thought possible! I got so much fabric and the batting for the same price as the full price I was expecting to pay for the batting but was shockingly 50% when I got to the register! I was so shocked that I didn't have to pay full price on the batting that I was walking on clouds the whole way out to the car!

I came home from work, and my husband had bought a fire pit!

Upon further inspection of my dehydrated blackened potatoes, I was grossed out thinking of eating them, so I threw them out. I saved the other ones in the sealed jars though. And I'm thinking tomorrow or Monday I'll dehydrate the new potatoes I had bought. I'm a bit tired today from all the craziness lately!

My wonderful sour dough starter was over taken by the bigger fruit flies within the last few days (those ones that are orange-red in color and bigger and rounder than the usual typical little black ones) and it started to smell different so I threw it out. PU! I'll have to restart.

Our Thanksgiving Dog Barricade:

 We have to block the dog from the doors now anytime we leave or he tries to chew his way in. He still got through, but managed to hold himself back for the worst of it this time. Just a few scratches. This was the aftermath of the barricade after we opened it up. This is what it looks like this morning. chairs still upside down one on top of the other, and I don't know when it will be deconstructed.

But I am still so excited about these oranges!

 The grass is still green, and the oranges add even more color! It seems like spring to me right now! It's not to cold or hot, just perfect!

I need to go finish cleaning my kitchen and house and then I'll have to get ready for work.

So have a good day!
Trisha.

Midnight shopping

We went to Target at 11:40PM. We stood in line out side, and then rubbed elbows with greedy people grabbing up flat screen TVs and other things like greedy ants. We waited in line to buy.

We left at 1 AM.

We bought 1 item.

It was fun.

My husband said never again.

Guess what we bought last night?

For once, I have a comforter on my bed. We have been using a thin quilt meant for a twin bed and it either doesn't cover your feet, or it only covers part of you. And if one of us turns over, they remove it from the other person. I slept well last night. We had a choice of 4 different style covers. white, weird green stripes, weird polka dotted flowers, or black. I figured black or white, because we both didn't like their other styles, and I made my husband choose. Black it is. So now I have to figure out how that will match things in the room. It's quite manly now... I'll have to come up with an accent color.

I planned to go to another store this morning, but surprises will encourage me not to unless they will honor their black Friday coupon I don't have which they only sent out in the newspaper which I didn't get of course. I read it at my in laws only to discover it doesn't come in our regular mailings... I guess I'll have to call them... then I won't waste my morning there for nothing.

So what have you planned for today?? I have work. I had great plans to buy some other things at Target, but they didn't have them. Maybe I'll go there. I haven't quite made my decision yet.

Have a happy Black Friday!

Trisha.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Have a very

Happy Thanksgiving,

And don't forget to be thankful today!

Dehydrated Potatoes

3 pictures of the exact same thing! 15 lbs of potatoes:

 clockwise starting upper left: potato cubes, shredded potatoes I cooked, shredded potatoes I didn't cook, and potato cubes I didn't cook very long.

 Guess which ones look more appetizing? I still need to sort out a few: But these are done!

 And ta da! I bought 11-lbs more. Can't beat the price $0.59 per 5 lb bag! We'll try again the way their supposed to be done! (I only know it's 11-lbs because I weighed the bags. 5 1/2 lbs each! what a deal!

I won't waste the ones I already made. I'll make some sort of meal with them. I just haven't decided how.

I'll probably walk you through the process not today, or tomorrow, but probably Friday or Saturday.

I have work tomorrow morning, and it's Thanksgiving, so that day's out. Today will be spent cleaning my disaster zone of  a kitchen that smells like a bunch of musty potatoes. The dehydrated ones don't smell. It's the pots and pans and bowls I prepared them in.

Yup, that's my life. Monday I make something, Get invited to eat at some one's house, when home, need to hop into bed if I'm to get any sleep before work, get up 2 times during the night to stir potatoes around, and then
Tuesday I had work from 6:30AM- 7PM. I stop at the store for the last few things I need for Thanksgiving, I came home with a headache. I was so tired I went to bed after falling asleep on the couch reading. Now
Today, no headache, just scents wafting from my kitchen. Cleaning here I come! Then work, then home, then making Thanksgiving food for Thursday, then sleep, then work in the morning, then to my in-laws house. Whew! Then potatoes.

BUSY BUSY BUSY I'll be the next few days! Then I absolutely must get my Christmas shopping complete! And Christmas cards! See you around!
Trisha.

Early to bed, Early to rise...

Makes a lady healthy?, tired, and not wise. (Just slurs in speech, blinking, and stumbling)

I have work early today. I need to be there 6:30 AM because my lead server can hardly walk because of their back sprain.

Ya*wn.. Weird having to get up early...

Especially when you set the alarm twice during the night to stir around drying potatoes... My eyes are tired and the sun is not up...
-I haven't had to get up this early in who knows how long.

Yesterday I dehydrated 15 lbs of potatoes into shredded potatoes, potato chips, and potato cubes all for soups, or whatever. I had to giggle when my husband sampled 2 "chips." It only was 2. I guess they aren't for eating raw that way.

I also found out after I had them dehydrating for a while that they turn blackish unless you cook them all the way through first. I only steamed them 4 minutes. Oh well. I'll have to just serve up black and white potato stew or something.

I soaked the raw shredded potatoes about 7-8 hours. I sample dehydrated a few, and they didn't turn color, so I dehydrated 1/2 cooked, and 1/2 raw. You can totally tell the difference between the 2. While not black, the raw turned grey and pull away from each other while the cooked are white but stick together. So I haven't decided which I like better yet. Guess the true test comes with cooking.

I did fry up some last night I seasoned, and they were very good. Of course they weren't dehydrated yet. And of course they were healthy. (Aren't all fried things?)

So, I'll have more to write tomorrow with pictures of potatoes when I don't have work.

Have an awakeful day!

Trisha.

Another large harvest

I pulled all this from the garden yesterday!

 And this too.

Oh dear! I still have 2 pumpkins, and I also bought 2- 5.lb bags of potatoes from the store yesterday that were 59 cents each! I plan on dehydrating them. We'll see how that turns out!

Today is going to be a day of drying potatoes, and cleaning.

Some day my house will be done too, but for now, I guess new projects start. You probably can't see it too well, but there are pencil lines drawn all over my newer painted wall.

 and it extends over to the other wall.

"What is going on" you may be wondering. Well, my husband has decided that right now is the best time to start a new project. We'll soon have a new bookshelf/bench/window seat/storage compartment for papers structure. Construction mess again here we go!

Still while I have an unfinished closet, laundry room, bathroom, holes in the walls of 2 bedrooms, and unfinished doors.

Another project.

This is most definitely still the ultimate total house project and continuation of HOPELESSNESS ON LIBBY

-not to worry that the blog is finished or anything.

It will continue till I die.

Have a happy day!

Trisha.

The Incredible Dehydrator!

This thing is marvelous! I ate the last few apple bits last night that my husband left me when I got home. I forgot to take a picture. They were good.

This morning, I made 3 trays apple leather, and 2 trays apple bits. Now I have to wait for them to finish drying. If I had more apples, I would have filled the entire machine! This leather I think is too thick, but oh well.

 And I even did the dishes!

I tried to use my kitchen aid attachment to slice them, and I tried 2 different blades. That's why I have fruit leather. The first one made mostly mush, so I just threw it in the blender and made puree. I'm sure they will taste good. It sure made the best tasting applesauce I have ever tasted! I could have ate the whole 2 blenders worth, but then I'd not have any for leather...

Have a Happy Sunday!
Trisha.

It's Here at last!

My Excalibur 3900 with it's 5 paraflexx ultra sheets, and a jerky seasoning bag they threw in for free.

I came home to this last night: This box is huge!

 I opened it, and Ta Da! check out them sides I'll have to dust!

 and here's the front: the door just hangs over a lip.

The free jerky seasoning:

 And check out the cool dial on this thing!

 My super expensive heavy duty paraflexx ultra sheets that have no Teflon in them, just silicone:

 My first batch of apples. we'll see how they are when I get home from work because I won't be able to flip them halfway. Aren't you jealous of my talent at even slicing? I think I need to work on that skill...

 AND THE DOG DIDN'T CARE:

 HE JUST LAY THERE AND LOOKED BORED.

I guess he can't eat it, so I guess he doesn't have to be interested. But just you wait Cruizer! I'll be cookin jerky in that thar thing. Then you may show just the teansiest amount of curiosity then huh?

I gotta go get ready for work. I have to be a little early to get ready for one of the resident's family's early Thanksgiving meal! Their parent is unable to leave the building so I want to make sure it's special for them. (And be ever so thankful they chose today and not the actual holiday! We already have 19 extra people just on Thanksgiving.)

I'll talk to you more tomorrow about my new Excalibur! -and how my apples turned out!
Have an exciting day!
Trisha