Keeping Up With The Cohens

Yummy! Peach Ice Cream

Take this:

And this:

Using this recipe, make these:

Chill, then combine in an ice cream maker to make this:

Enjoy!

This is a very easy and delicious recipe with a deep brown-sugar flavor. In the first batch, I found that the peaches got a little lost in the flavor mix, so the next batch, I reduced the milk by a half cup and the brown sugar by a quarter cup. It turned out much peachier!

Dirt Cheap?

Who coined that phrase? I want to know. Because dirt, my friends, is NOT cheap.

One of the joys of home ownership, I've found, is spending money on stuff like dirt. Don't get me wrong, dirt IS exciting. I'm a gardener, after all. We do not have good dirt in our yard. So we have to buy it. We got fleeced last year and bought "dirt" that turned out to be more of the red clay we already have (which is tough to grow in because it's so densely packed), and it was full of weeds to boot. So we are more careful now. And we won't use that vendor again.

It's important to know the difference between fill dirt and topsoil, too. We need topsoil, since we are trying to make our yard and garden healthy and vigorous enough to grow a wide variety of flowers and vegetables.

I just got off the phone with a gentleman who has "gorgeous topsoil" as he says. He's very reasonable ($140/load as opposed to the $300/load we paid last year) and I quizzed him mercilessly about his dirt. "Does it have weeds?" No. "Rocks?" No. "Is it clay?" No. "What does it look like?" Sandy dark brown soil. Used to be a tobacco field.

Sold!

I'm very excited about our dirt delivery. It should get here Friday or Saturday. I will try to take pictures. Meanwhile, here's the link to this guy's ad in Craigslist, in case you are nerdy like me and get all excited about dirt. Now, it's almost time to garden!

Sunny Weekends on the Porch

We have recently moved all our patio furniture from our back porch to our front porch. The front porch is covered and protected from the weather, while the back is not, and more than that, is completely covered in hickory nuts.

This was our front porch Saturday morning:

And this was our front porch on SUNDAY morning:

We LOVE spending time on the front porch in the mornings now. It's chilly, often, but the sun warms us up nicely. We have our coffee out there, and I'll usually knit. We relax and talk and start our weekends.

We love having weekends together. Last year at this time, Bradley was on the road, far away up in North Dakota and Idaho. We just found out that the run he's been doing from TN to VA is ending as of Monday, at least temporarily. Great timing, huh? Merry Christmas. But both the broker Bradley has been working with and his boss, Frankie, are working hard to find him loads, but this might mean him going very far afield, and our wonderful weekends might be over for a while.

As much as I will miss him on the weekends, I am hopeful that Frankie and the broker will be able to find a good run for Bradley. The one he's been on lately, although great in many ways, has run him completely ragged. It's been both a blessing and a curse. So, we will just have to see how it pans out.

Wish us luck.

My New Favorite Thing

Yes, my friends, the hits just keep coming. First the A/C unit (twice!), now the hot water heater. We're hoping the home warranty covers it. They should, but they can be sticklers.

Meanwhile, you don't know how much you rely on hot water coming out of your tap until you have to boil water on the stove to wash with. Sigh.

$669 later, we have hot water. Thank goodness!

No A/C... AGAIN

Our A/C unit has been making noise for about 4 weeks now. Not the compressor, which was fixed about 6 weeks ago. The part making the noise was the unit INSIDE, in the garage. For the first 2 weeks, it wasn't bad, and I let it go because, you know, I was coming off the meds and maybe my sense of hearing was more acute. Or something.

But then Bradley was home and said I wasn't imagining things, so I called the warranty service. This was on Monday. TWO weeks ago.

YESTERDAY (when the A/C actually stopped making noise because it BROKE) we finally got a call from a service provider who said he could come out today.

So, we will not be without A/C for long. At least, I hope not. Although, last night was so nice outside that sleeping with the windows open and the fans going was actually really pleasant. I actually got chilly in the middle of the night! And having the windows wide open to the night, with the sounds of crickets and cicadas, trains and dogs, was downright enjoyable.

The kicker is, that when we had the compressor fixed, the A/C guy told us that the inside unit could go any time. He quoted the warranty service a price to replace the whole thing. It was WAY less expensive than trying to fix it piecemeal. But of course, the warranty service chose to do things the more expensive way. So we are ending up with a brand new A/C unit (in parts), ANYWAY.

Oy.

How Domestic

I started my morning with this:

Actually, I started my morning with breakfast courtesy of my wonderful husband. Bacon and eggs and fresh coffee. Yum! Then I ironed.

I have been meaning to iron the curtains for Patrick's bathroom ever since I washed them last week. Finally got around to it today. I even got inspired and ironed a blouse that's needed ironing for a YEAR. Woo hoo! Ironing the curtains reminded me of my grandmother, who used to let us iron my grandfather's handkerchiefs for practice, when my sisters and I were little. We'd work hard to make sure there were no creases, making each white cotton square as perfect as we could, as if it was the most important task in the world. I remember standing on a stool to reach the ironing board, and Nana making sure we knew to check the water level and not let the iron dry out. We would work for HOURS to make those hankies PERFECT. So much concentration in ones so young! And really, like handkerchiefs need to be ironed! But, like many tasks given to children, meant for instruction. And we learned.

I also wanted to share with you a project I've been working on the last few weeks. We needed a bigger file cabinet in our office. The 2-drawer wasn't cutting it. So I went in search of a used one that I could paint. I had visions of a lime green filing cabinet that I could decorate with decoupage or something like that.  I ended up with a boring but nice color. I like it a lot, and it has a slight hammered texture that hides some of the dents in the used cabinet.  Take a look:

Clearly this is the "before" shot. Not too bad looking, but there were dents and rust spots.

In progress. I used Rust-Oleum's "Hammered" spray paint in "Brown." I know, not a very imaginative name for a color. To me, it looks more like a hammered bronze. Let's go with that, shall we? And you should know that Lowe's did not have any of the cuter colors in that product line. I would have loved to use "Verde Green!"

All finished and in place. Yay! Now I am taking the afternoon to organize the files and to file a whole bunch of paperwork that has been piling up. It will be a load off my mind, let me tell you.

Now, some notes about the process:

• I used a small random orbital sander to make the surface gritty enough to hold the paint. It was fun! Power tools! "Arr-arr-arr" (in Tim Taylor voice).
  
• I used the Homax Aerosol Spray Gun on the paint cans. WHAT A HUGE DIFFERENCE THIS MADE!! I can't stress this enough. I went through two and a half cans of paint. My index fingers would never have survived. Invest in one. (Heck, they're only a few bucks.) I can't find a link for it, but they had it at Lowe's and it was under $5 from what I remember. It was in the same aisle as the spray paint. (And what a surprise that the spray paint in Knoxville is not locked up! It's locked up in cabinets in L.A. because of the graffiti artists.)
• It may actually be cheaper to buy a brand new filing cabinet. Yeah, um, after buying the cabinet, 3 cans of paint, and the spray gun, plus the time I put in... it added up. I'm just saying. But it was fun!

So, that's my Sunday so far. I hope you're having an enjoyable day!

How Did This Happen?

How did today and this weekend turn out to be so mild? We've been sweltering in mid-90s heat with 60-70% humidity. Today is GORGEOUS. And it looks like the weekend will be more of the same.

I am looking forward to relaxing this weekend. This has been a hectic and stressful week, and my anxiety level has been up there. Last weekend I ran like a chicken with my head cut off, and wasn't able to spend any quality time at home. I really want to just chill and detox mentally this weekend.

Bradley will be home (yay!). We plan on working in the yard, but not to the point of exhaustion. We plan on finishing up some projects, and cooking out. We have some extra spice rub and I'm on the hunt for shrimp for our barbie. We plan on watching some TV, waking up late on Sunday morning, making a family breakfast. We plan on playing some Rock Band. We plan some other things, too. I will leave those up to your imagination. This is a family blog!

I have to post all the photos we've taken of the butterfly garden getting built. I want to do them all in one post though, so it might not be until next week, when the soil is supposed to be delivered. But I can tell you that I want to plant these in there:

I bought 50 (actually it turned out to be 58) gladiolus bulbs for $9.99 through American Meadows. If you haven't visited this site, I recommend it. If you sign up for their e-newsletter you will always know about their sales, and their sales are fantastic.

Gladiolus remind me of my grandfather. He always grew some. There's a great picture (somewhere) of him in his overalls, kneeling in front of the gladiolus bed. Mom, I can't find it, so if you come across it, will you scan it for me?

In the butterfly garden area there will be a section for the gladiolus. I also plan on digging up all the bearded iris from our side bed and dividing them to plant here as well. There are a bunch of day lilies I need to divide and add to the bed, too. Above that, I'm going to plant wildflower seeds I got from American Meadows, and some hollyhock seeds I brought from California. I'm also going to look for a butterfly bush, some purple cone flowers, some creeping thyme, and some other cool nectar-producing flowers. A few flat rocks and a bird bath will complete it!

I don't like using an actual hummingbird feeder because no matter what you do, it leaks sugar water and attracts bugs more than it does hummingbirds. I prefer to lure hummingbirds and butterflies to the garden naturally, by creating a welcoming habitat.  It's not the neatest-looking landscape plan in the world, but the rewards of watching "MOTHER NATURE" right outside your back door is amazing. I can't wait to get started! I'm sure the local bunnies and chipmunks will enjoy it as well.

In parting, I leave you with this odd photo I took at a flea market out on I-40 at exit 407. I don't know the name of the flea market, but it's HUGE. And this sign caught my eye. I mean, how many different kinds of products can you sell? And they're all so different! LOL! Have a good weekend!

When Yard Sheep Go Baad

Michael illustrates how we might just end up doing our own yard work, even if we do have "help." Where's Babe when you need him?? "Baa ram ewe!"

Solution for Our Steep Yard

MANY thanks to my great friend Michael and his mad PhotoShop skills, for this PERFECT suggestion for our steep front lawn...

Now if we can just get the homeowners association to let us have sheep!

Thank you, Mikua! You made my day!

Answers to Some Bloggy Questions

1. Japanese Beetles.

Many thanks to everyone who sent me information about getting rid of Japanese beetles. Cathy in Solvang sent me this article about getting rid of them, and it offers several solutions. I opted to spray them using an insecticide since they were in only one part of the garden. Then it rained, so I have to re-apply. I am also going to put out a bowl of BEER. Apparently, it attracts the bugs and they drown in it when they get close. Here's hoping.

2. Lawn Mower.

This is why we do not have a riding lawnmower:

It would be way too dangerous to use a riding lawnmower on this slope. I guesstimate it's about a 45-degree angle. I have to wear hiking boots to get up and down it. Sneakers just don't cut it.

3. Chipmunk.

As for the chipmunk problem, I got some natural repellent (has lots of garlic and egg in it), but Robyn suggested something AWESOME: Having Bradley pee around the area! LOL! He's a male predator and it should scare the critters away. I'll let you know if/when we try that...

I hope y'all had a great Fourth of July!