Sunday, July 23, 2006

Incentives to clean up!

In posting my iced tea recipe (see my previous entry) I realized I had started a rather preliminary rejoicing over the start of our re-siding job. For an update on that, see my Never Alone blog. It has had its bumps and isn't entirely easy to enjoy the process but that's all right, everything will turn out right in the end, at least according to God's own plan.
Having the builders around and also realizing that we have three little Japanese girls coming to stay for a month makes me motivated to clean house like nothing else. I've made huge progress in the basement, which normally is overwhelming to me. I normally ignore the fact that there are toys and games strewn all over and that the floor needs vacuuming and all. It didn't take long to make a huge difference, and there's still another day's work down there when you consider washing windows, getting the bathroom spiffy, cleaning the carpet, setting up a bunk bed (we got one halfway set up yesterday). That's okay, the idea of the Japanese girls being down there is exciting enough to make the whole process fun and a lot easier than normal.
I also cleaned up the garage a great deal though that's another bad story of disorganization. Organization is not my gift (especially when others follow around undoing my work), but at least now I have a future garage sale pretty well organized into a great many boxes all stacked in one area for quick access--even in the record heat of the day yesterday. I came in and looked in the mirror; I looked like a lobster. I think the water must have sizzled a bit on my face when I washed up.
It's a great feeling of accomplishment though it's not done yet, and I love the incentive I have of hosting little Japanese girls. The two we had two years ago were a real treat and I've heard these three are sweet as well. I am convinced that this incentive is a gift from God. I could do the work other times, but there is always something else that can take precedence. God is so good! I will update you later on furthering the process.

For further blog entries that complete the perplexing story of our Japanese girls, see my Never Alone blog at joycomplete.blogspot.com: Global economy: many trips across the ocean, many nationalities involved; There's Value in the Right Kind of Clock; I Made My Family Disappear; A Long Month Comes to an End; and A Stunning Goodbye.

A Really Pleasant Iced Tea Recipe

I don't like Lipton powdered iced tea mix, besides the fact that it solidifies and becomes useless in the jar after a while. In fact, I don't like any commercially made iced teas that I've tasted.
A while back a friend shared an iced tea recipe that our family loves; so do so many who try it that I thought I'd share it with you. Since sun tea has been said to be risky in terms of bacteria, I like to make mine a quick way.
The recipe is Earl Grey (or Lady Grey instead), Raspberry, and Herbal Peach--any brands, at least one bag of each. I get the kettle going, and then fill a pitcher with ice; I put the tea bags in a thermos-type jug and pour the hot water into it to let them steep. When the tea is made, and still hot, I'll pour it over the ice. The pouring process melts the ice and cools the tea. Then I add about 1/4 c. sugar per 3 tea bags, and pour into glasses with ice, or add more ice to the pitcher. It's my favorite iced tea, and pretty cheap per pitcher.

Keep it refrigerated--it tastes best that way and is probably safest besides.
I hope you like it! Good for keeping cool in the hot summer sun.

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Happy Summer Progress!

Now I feel as if our summer projects are progressing--maybe only because the difference is so visible! Yesterday our siding job was started. A man, Jake, came out all by himself to tear off the siding from the front of our house. He got most of it done but will come back tomorrow to finish removing it. It was really more than one person should ever be assigned; if he had fallen from a ladder it might have been a while before he would have been found. A couple of times I heard ominous thumps and went out front to check. He was fine, but I couldn't rest easy. And I could tell by certain mistakes that he was exhausted. He laid the siding on top of some of the downspouts so they got bent; and he pulled our hose reel off the siding before removing the last bolt, so it broke. I might suggest to their company having a policy of more than one person just for the safety factor. Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up. Eccl 4:9.
So I spent the morning clipping back plants and transplanting others to make space for him, when I found that he was coming to work. By lunchtime, I had worked myself into a crazy dither. I ordered some take-and-bake pizzas, and even by the time that they were baked, I couldn't slow down and enjoy the food. Jake the workman and our neighbor Dean had pizza with us (Dean had just fixed Tim's bike--again), and it was the first time Dean had come over for anything to eat even though we'd invited them various times. That was neat except that our house was disheveled for all our projects. They didn't seem to mind.
So now the front of our house is mostly down to the black paper that was underneath the siding, and of course has gathered the attention of various neighbors--most of whom still face having to do this inevitable job to their own houses. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the underlying wood that I could see was in very good condition. It may be different in the back, where the deterioration of our old siding is more obvious. Still, I'm more encouraged that we might not encounter severe repair bills in addition to the siding work.
In addition to the progress on the siding, our vegetable plants are looking great; our tomatoes and squash plants are blooming, and the leaves turned greener after I gave them some iron. They must have had the plant-equivalent of anemia.
The nagging item is that I haven't finished painting the ceiling in the one bathroom or the edges and skylight in the other. It's just been too busy lately! But that will come with time.
We are having some Japanese exchange students later this summer for a month, and we will have to fix up the downstairs too. I might paint the main room down there if I have the opportunity (this room has awful pinkish-red paint we'll have to stain-seal first, and a strip of wallpaper to remove; we also need to assemble the two bunkbeds that are in their room--assembly should only take part of a day. When we mentioned that job, neighbor Dean said with a quirky grin as he ate his pizza, "I think I'm going to be busy that day." Gary is quick to think of asking Dean for help when the job gets challenging.
This progress is one of my favorite things, taking on the harder jobs that don't fit into the usual everyday routine. I don't like to be living in a house that needs improvement when I can't do anything about it. Even though it can be quite a mess while various things are mid-process, at least there's an improved end in view and that's a promising situation.

Saturday, July 01, 2006

How the Jobs do Accumulate!

Yesterday I got started on moving plants (so moving the tree, see previous post, was not the beginning of this)--so that the workmen who replace our siding wouldn't trample my favorite perennials. It's not the best time of year to do so, since it's so hot and they get stressed by the heat if not by the move itself; besides some of them are blooming which is a bad time to transplant; in addition, I don't have a lot of flowerbed with dirt and no plants there yet (whereas strangely enough I have flowerbed area with no dirt and no plants--because we have not yet ordered a second load of dirt to fill an area where we put a landscaping wall to eliminate a slope).
Moving the plants is a big job. I had two wheelbarrow loads that I moved back to the back yard, and transplanted yesterday, and I have plenty more to go.
So today we were talking to Dean (the husband of Stacia, whose blog you may have read), and he started rumbling about how he is wanting to bring a small caterpillar-machine through the yard between our houses to fix some problems in his back yard. Not only will I need to move my perennials at that point, but he's going to rework the rock wall between our properties, where even though it's not our rock wall, it's on our side of his fence and he doesn't generally show interest in it. So I've planted it with flowering plants and weeded it, and it is looking pretty good (though it needs weeding again). Now, in addition to moving all my perennials from the flowerbed in the front of the house because of siding, and at the side of the house because of the caterpillar-machine, I also need to move them from the rock wall. This is a lot to do! Well, not so bad, in a way, because I do love to garden, and I could do it forever, and replanting plants is really what gardeners kind of live to do, and it will all look better in the end, but aaaagh. We have a lot to do. Why am I sitting here blogging instead of transplanting? It's the hot part of the day and I'm still recovering from transplanting our tree this morning. Maybe tonight. Hmm. I think I have the place for some of those things after all, at least temporarily--in the so-far unused portion of our vegetable bed, under the fruit trees, where it's shady. Yes, I think this could be a good thing. Hmm. I think I'm feeling a little more energized. Now where is that shovel?

A Muddy Mess and Mr. Clean

Well, today Gary and I accomplished our one big daily goal--we moved a 7-foot tree from our front yard into our back. We are having our siding replaced (our house is one of those with LP, the kind of siding that rots in the rain...in the state of Washington, it almost makes good compost) and we have to pull plants out of the way so the workmen can do their thing. This tree in question, some type of cypress, was wedged between our front steps and the side of our garage--about a 2-foot square spot. The front area of the roots were free to go into a flower bed and the rest had to go fairly straight down or seep under the concrete of the front steps (which most of them did, alas!).
First we chipped a hole into the rock-hard clay soil in the back yard where we wanted to plant the tree, hoping that the hole was big enough. We filled the hole with water and went out front to move the tree.
We moved the landscaping blocks and a few smaller plants from our flower bed, and dug enough of the dirt from in front of the tree so we could lean it over and try wedging it out from its little cube-shaped home. After a long time of wedging a flat-bladed shovel in behind it, we were able to tip the tree forward and identify the roots that were hanging it up--those that were headed under our concrete steps. I clipped them and Gary and I were able to move the tree into a wheelbarrow and move it into the back yard.
Here's how bad our soil is--after wedging the tree out and moving it into the back yard, we looked at the hole. It was still completely full of water. We moved the tree into the hole, and found that it was not nearly big enough. We dug some more, put the tree in, and after bringing some more dirt by wheelbarrow from the front to the back (it must have been purchased soil; it's much better than the native stuff) we tamped the tree into place and straightened it up. It's not exactly oriented right--the pretty side is sort of cockeyed too much toward the back--but I'm hoping that with time it will look pretty all around. It was so crammed into its spot that many of the back branches had died off.
Afterward I looked at my reflection. I looked almost like I'd done a belly flop into the mud. I looked at Gary. He looked like he'd just put clean clothes on (he hadn't). I knew he'd worked as hard as I had--I guess I just like to get in there and wallow. No wonder housekeeping is hard for me. Tim takes after me, in usually being surrounded by tracks of dirt, and a little cloud of rubble and dust. I wonder what makes the difference. Whatever. At least the tree is moved, I've had my shower (it took Boraxo--Lava soap was too delicate) and now Gary and I are equally clean, but not good for much more work for now. Next I need to go pick out a pain reliever. No need for Pilates today!

Work Out a Little, Laugh till Your Sides Split

Well, if you read before that I was going to try Pilates (see Work a Little Rest a Lot blog entry), now you have an update: I did. Try. I laughed my silly head off, till I cried and halfway flooded the room with tears. Never knew that exercise could be so funny.
It would be nice if they used real human beings for those exercise videos. Everyone knows that a real human being can't put her arms around her bent legs because the legs are too chubby. I happen to be a real human being.
So I tried the exercises, too, and never really did them the way those aliens would have liked me to, but I did them well enough that two days later I still hurt in muscles I didn't know were in my middle somewhere. In a day or two I'll try it again. Laughter is good for your health.
The rolling exercises that you may have read about in
Katie's blog were funny. The aliens could roll back up without any perceived difficulty. I had to tug on my pants legs or put my elbow on the floor to achieve it.
I'm glad they didn't have me put my leg behind my head (that's for you, Barbara) or I would still be down there screaming. And laughing...and the flood would have been in the news.