Merchandise Exchange Fall 2007 -- Part II

Alright, before we launch into Part II, a quick update to Part I: The sewing machine I found last week --
1.) It does have a power cord and pedal -- they were hiding up inside the cover. Silly me.
2.) It has a timing problem that will cost about $175 to fix. So, it's dead. I will be taking it apart because I think that sounds fun, and I think I should know more about how sewing machines are put together. Then I will put all the pieces in the dumpster. Oh well. I tried.

On the other hand, this forced me to visit the Singer Sewing Room for the first time. It's a lovely place, and the man there was kind enough to look at the machine and give me an estimate for free. He also sent me away with a promotional 2008 wall calendar that came with stickers!

Okay, on with the exchanging. Things we retrieved this last Friday:

--about 15 white 6"x6" tiles. I smell trivets.
--length of pegboard with some "pegs". I think I will cut it down into small 9"x12"-ish pieces and use them for craft show displays.
--textbooks -- some of which I'm keeping, some of which I'm selling, and some of which have already been given away.

--various and sundry craft supplies

--a Clue game, some Bingo cards, and a bunch of comic books

--stacking build-a-crate type shelving (unfortunately, only Norman and the passengers of two other cars saw the rather amusing sight of me running across Jenkins carrying this thing)

--some really pretty necklaces (the silver star is from 1928 [the company, not the year])

--a bunch of chess sets -- only one was complete. It's way cool -- glass chess/checkers board on top, backgammon inside, and room inside for all the glass pieces. The wood set is incomplete. I'll probably drill holes in the pieces or something -- they're just gorgeous.

--more tomato cages. That's right, I now own 11 tomato cages. Luckily, they stack.

And, as always, check out the COMMODE! count. We're up to 6 for this month. I'm gunning for 10 -- that would break our previous record.

Garden Update - Oct 13 (or "Nananabooboo, Minnesota!")

Yes, I'm still growing tomatoes. I got started kind of late. I didn't start the seedlings inside like the seed packet told me to. I just planted the seeds outside in April. Remember what the tomato plants looked like at the beginning of June? And at the end of June? Well, here is one of them now, in the middle of October:


That's the one I planted in the ground on a whim because there were too many plants in one pot. Yeah. At last count it had about 70 tomatoes growing on it.
Here's one now!:



It weighs 9.5 oz. Now I know that's not exactly breaking any records, but I'm pretty proud of it. I think I'm making spaghetti tonight.

Oh, and a new venture -- lettuce! Planted about 3 or 4 weeks ago:

Wintertime Craft Fairs

This morning, as I was running my errands, I stopped by the Cleveland County Fairgrounds (Fairground, really... It's pretty tiny) and signed up for two craft fairs. I'm all paid up and official. It's very exciting. I'm expecting much better crowds than last time. So come out and see me!

23-24 Nov, 2007 (Friday and Saturday)
9am-5pm

8 Dec, 2007 (Saturday)
9am-5pm

Cleveland County Fairgrounds


I'd better get to craftin'!

Blog Mentions!

Yours truly is being talked up on the Etsy Trashion Street Team blog:

Interview about me and my shop

Two of my items in the latest "Trashion Outfitter" outfit

Merchandise Exchange Fall 2007 -- Part I

That's right, it's that time again! Call it what you will (I've become partial to "curb shopping"), it's time to troll the streets of Norman in search of stuff that used to belong to crazy people (in my book, throwing away useful things = crazy). Two weekends ago was the first of the season. That resulted in:

--about 30 lbs of upholstery fabric (some of which is currently for sale in my Etsy shop)
--a desk chair (I'd been using a dining room chair -- ick)

--3 tomato cages

And nary a commode in sight. But I was not discouraged, because I know that the first weekend is never the best. Those people love their yards too much to set trash on them overnight.

This last weekend, however, was better. We got up early Saturday morning, and though the McIntyres had beaten us to everything good that went out Friday night, we prevailed. The haul:

--4 COMMODES!!!

--box of about 80 Cliff's Notes and other type study guides (soon to go on eBay in a lot)

--2 more tomato cages

--Singer sewing machine with case, without power cord or pedal. It's going to the Singer Shop in town tomorrow for a check-up to see if it can be fixed.
--random textbooks that are now for sale on half.com

--20 or so manila envelopes (score!)

--And last, but not least, George:


His is an exciting story, and very emotional.

We pulled up to him, and I fell in love. Norman said, "We don't have anywhere to put it." I said, "I know," as I stared longingly at him. We pulled away, and I saw the trash truck coming down the street towards us. We turned, making to leave the neighborhood, and all I could think was, "They're going to put it in the truck, smash it up, and take it to the dump." And, much like a little girl leaving the pound who has just learned what happens to the dogs who stay there too long, I started crying. I couldn't help it. It wasn't that I couldn't have him; it was that he wasn't trash. Someone could still use him.

Norman pulled over to ask what was wrong, and I told him what I was thinking. He paused for several seconds, then turned the car around and sped back to the curb where we'd seen him. The truck was already there. The workers has already loaded the other things into the truck. I jumped out of the car just before it stopped and said, "We'll take that one!" They were very happy to hear this. I soon realized why -- George is very heavy. Norman and I loaded him into the trunk and went home to unload him before continuing with the rest of our route.

We figured we'd have to give him to someone we know or sell him. But I was already attached and trying to figure out a way to keep him. I soon decided to trade him out for the shelf that was already in the office/craft room closet. He sat outside in the rain for a day before this could be accomplished (I have a lot of crap) .

Upon cleaning him and drying him off, I decided he was a George. He fits perfectly in the closet and looks right at home.



Anyone need a shelf?

Raw Milk Products

So we're trying to get back on the raw milk wagon, and hang on this time. We bought our first raw milk in a long time last Monday. And since I'd been reading this book, I decided to go crazy and try to make whey and cream cheese. This involves something that most people will have a hard time wrapping their heads around: you put some raw milk in a mason jar, screw on the lid, and let it sit out at room temperature. For four days. Yeah. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the milk sitting in the jar separating, but it was bizarre and fun to watch. Once again, the magic gets stolen from our lives everyday by the modern food industry. Well, I separated the whey and the cream cheese today. Here is the whey:



And here is the cream cheese:



And here is the corn relish I made with the whey, and stuff from the farm market and my back yard. It also gets to sit out at room temperature for several days. I expect it will be exceedingly delicious:



Anybody else got any crazy hippie ideas for me to try? I'm on a roll!

To-mah-toes

I stepped outside this rather soggy morning to find that I have tomatoes! Well, kind of. They're not anywhere near eating yet, but they're so cute!


See it peaking out there? It's not quite the size of a dime.



Bug's eye view


Also -- cucumbers! These have been growing for some time now. They're lopsided, but I hear that's because the flowers weren't pollinated. Oh well.

Beans and Stirfry (and Fish Biscuits)

This was a couple weeks ago, but oh well. Here is my first major bean crop.




I added three more to that, and then Norman made this:



It seems that one of Norman's favorite things to do is make stirfry. He's very particular about it. I'm particular about a lot of things, but cooking is not one of them. Mostly I figure we have to eat, and I want to spend as little time as possible on cooking and still make tasty food. Norman takes his time and makes everything just right. This is a good thing. Otherwise we'd never have anything even approaching gourmet food in the house. So, needless to say, this stirfry was awesome. The vegetables were still crisp, which apparently is the way they're supposed to be (who knew?).

While we were eating the stirfry, I was struck by how magical food really is. I mean, 2 months ago, those green beans were just seeds. And all I did was stick them in some potting soil, water them, and wait. And now they're crazy-delicious, sweet, crispy, nutritious green beans! (Can you tell this is my first gardening experience?)

I was talking with Kelly Mac at church about kombucha and kefir and all sorts of other magical things. We determined that modern nutrition just takes all the magic out of life. It's quite sad, actually.

Oh yeah, and these aren't magical, but they were pretty fun to make:



That's right, those are Lost fish biscuits. Fortunately they taste like citrus sugar cookies, not fish or dog or bear biscuits, or whatever they were supposed to be on the show. I got the idea and the recipe here.

Flowers and a Bean!

Pumpkin flower (it's a lot oranger than it looks in the picture):
Cucumber flowers (I actually had no idea that vegetable plants would be useful and attractive):

Firstfruits (should I be giving it to the church?):

Garden Update

I went outside this morning, and my plants just looked so cute, and I'm just so proud of them that I had to take pictures and share them with the world. (Can you imagine how obnoxious I'll be when I have kids?)

Pumpkin (doing that viney shoot thing):

Green bell peppers (chuggin' along):

Cucumbers:

Sunflowers (the white stuff around the bottom is DE -- the ants were going to town!):

Herbs (clockwise from top: cilantro, mint, mint, sage, basil, basil):
Tomatoes (were getting eaten, but I got some neem oil pesticide -- I think we're good now):

Green bean flowers!!!