I know, I know, I have not been consistent in this whole posting thing. My sister informed yesterday that I may have a mild, yet healthy, form of ADD. No, I am not making fun of people with ADD or ADHD, nor am I making light of the disease. I very easily get distracted by other projects and shiny objects. Like yesterday, I started to instal the new-used microwave and realized that all of the parts were dirty. I loaded them into the dishwasher and cleaned the kitchen and sought out more things to put in the load (e.g. light fixtures, flower pots, etc). While that was running I decided that one of my cupboards needed two pull-out shelves instead of one. I built those then realized that the rollers were, unfortunately installed by the home’s previous owner ( Read: And Finally When to Call a Pro). Because he had built the previous shelf crooked, he just put in the rails crooked. Problem solved! So, I fixed one roller mechanism. Then, I installed the microwave. By the way, instaling an over the stove microwave is one of those times a person should ask for help (Read: When to Pull-Up Your Under-Roos and Do It Yourself). The microwave is installed and one of the roller shelves is firmly in place.
As for the garden, I have completed one section of fence and I finally got the gate installed. Now… about the gate. I like to reuse items that have been cast away. Items that people no longer see any use in. I find many of this items at Pak-It, the local junk store. Half of the time I go to Pak-It to find items I can use around my home the rest of the time I go there just to walk around. The place is like my Dad’s shop and it reminds me of being a kid. Anyway, I had been eyeing this fantastic old bed frame. You know the kind with the mesh that looks like fencing and the small springs around the side that hold it to the steel frame? It is a beautiful color of rust and was just begging to be incorporated into my home. I finally decided that it would be my garden fence. Awesome!
The bed frame itself is a bit wobbly, so I set to work cutting some braces for it out of some scrap lumber that I had laying around. I found some cool little l-brackets that would hole the wood in place. Then came time to put the hinges on. Now I am not an idiot. Sometimes I do idiotic things or say idiotic stuff, but I am not an idiot. So, when I get treated like an idiot my temper flares; but being a girl that spends A LOT of time at hardware stores I get treated like an idiot pretty regularly. I went to a home store whose name I shall not mention. Lets just call them the Depot of Home. Whilst at the Depot of Home I wanted to pick up some drill bits that I could use on metal, more specifically steel. I looked at all of the bits and found the ones that claimed to work on metal and had little pictures of steel beams on them. Still, I like to talk to the hardware guys and find out what they recommend. That was a mistake. Hardware Man #1 Pointed at the little picture of the steel beam and said, “Well, the picture says these will work,” looking at me like I couldn’t possibly be dumber for asking him such a DUMB question. Okee dokee. I bought the ones that Hardware Man #1 recommended. Upon returning home it took me about 3.5 minutes to destroy the bits he sent me home with. (And yes, I was using oil. How dare you doubt me.) So back to the Depot of Home I went, destroyed bits and receipt in hand. After the lovely woman at the return counter helped me I headed back to the drill bits. I again called for assistance and after about 15 minutes of waiting Handy Man #2 arrived. I explained to him that I had gotten Drill Bit Set A, but that I had destroyed them. As he sighed loudly and rolled his eyes he explained that Drill Bit Set A was only coated and the coating easily comes off. Once it comes off the bits are soft and easy to break. “Okay, so what would you recommend?” I say, giving him the opportunity to teach me about drill bits. “Well, Drill Bit Set B is impregnated by blah blah blah. Therefore, it can stand up to your, uh, what did you say you were working on?”
“A steel bed frame,” I said through clenched teeth.
“Ya, these are the bits you want. Oh, and don’t forget to use oil.”
“Got it!” I said as I strolled to the register.
Upon returning home with Drill Bit Set B it took me about 10 minutes to destroy this set, but I was not going back until I had finished putting the hinges on my gate. Even if it meant destroying all of the bits on the set before I returned them. So, that is what I did. The gate is hanging perfectly and looks fantastic.
Look at that Awesome Gate!!!
The next day it snowed and I spent the day in the kitchen moping and cooking. I made pickled strawberries, blueberries and peaches, sriracha and the most amazing lunch ever. I made a salad out of celery, onions, homemade arugula pesto, lemon juice and smoked sardines. I ate it on sweet potato chips and topped with sriracha. OMG it was amazing!
Pickled Strawberries with Cumquats!!!
Making Sriracha
Best Lunch Ever
After the gate fiasco I decided to take a trip. My summer job does not allow me the time to travel and see my family so I decided I should make one last trip to see them. My road trip through Idaho involved finding out that my favorite restaurant/brew pub in Boise was closed for remodel and the new one would open the day after I left. My sister and I finally found a place that had decent beer and some food which was on the top of my list. One little not to restaurants: If your burger (meaning the meat) cannot stand alone and needs the bun and the sauce and the cheese and the bacon and all of the other crap you slather on it in order for it to taste good; then, it is not a good burger. Just like you can’t dip a horse turd in chocolate and make it taste like a truffle (but it is one of the funniest April Fools jokes I have ever heard of). Needles to say, the burger was no bueno. We continued on to Pengille’s and enjoyed some amazing music by Hill Folk Noir. Check them out, they are awesome: http://www.hillfolknoir.com . The next day included watching my 7 year old nephew play an intense game of flag football, running in the Boise foothills, eating half a pizza at Flying Pie and spending over and hour trying-on and testing running shoes at Shu’s Idaho Running Company. (Note to self: do not test running shoes after eating half of a pizza.) Tasha rocked it and got me into a great pair of running shoes that are ugly as sin. At least I know that no one will steal them. I finished off my day with dinner with my Mom and a soak in the hot tub.
I left Boise and traveled on to the Main Salmon to visit my surrogate parents, Mama and Papa D, at my home away from home, Shepp Ranch. While there I napped, ate, hiked and went mushroom hunting.
Look at the size of this mushroom!
I finished my trip with a visit to Grangeville and, as always, left with a truck full of stuff. Mostly metal cans and fencing for my garden. My Dad always makes sure to hook me up.
Now, I’m back home and all of the trees are covered with buds, the hops has emerged and all of my bulbs are in full bloom.
Now my summer begins. This is a bitter-sweet time. The bitter part being that I will not be around much to write for all of you, but the sweet part is that I am hoping to have some contributing writers keep you entertained while I am away rapelling out of helicopters. I will still write when I can and throw you a recipe or sewing pattern or gardening tip every once in a while. I just won’t be able to do it very often.
Do you have any ideas for blog posts? Would you like to contribute? Let me know.
Diaries of a Thrift Whore 