In The Garden

 I've been in the yard for over a week now, working very hard and

for very long hours. Walter keeps me company but also annoys me with 

the continual rock fetish and whine.

Badly neglected for over a year, I knew I had to get out there

and clean it up; not back to it's original glory,

but at least respected once more.

Solar fountains in the planter second from left. Hummers liking so far.

I put this planter together while watching This Is Us.

I moved herbs closer to porch this year, again hoping not to neglect.

I decided to place pots into the beds, or close by, so that

I could run drips to them. I think I got discouraged by the

demise of so many and the cost of losing so many over the years.

I've only begun snapping some photos to send the kids.

Once everything is in bloom, I'll try to remember to get more.

I sliced ( hacked) back the banks roses, filling about 8 huge bags worth of them alone,

so this year will not be the splendid dripping show as usual

but the roses should be healthier.

I look back at the enormous trees and green lawn

that once were and the dozens of blooming flowers I had everywhere,

and think about all the many changes over 29 years in this home.

It's hard sometimes, these changes, but now many are necessary.

Water issues, age issues, ability, and financial issues mandate change

whether I like it or not.

No matter though, as I am so blessed and grateful for 

what I still have.

Nights are still as sweet

For now I am not using my signature Z for 

the connotation is hurtful for some- instead I'll use

How it came to be: via my dear Macky

"SUZAN WITH A Z NOT AN S"

More Organizing- Pour A Cup Of coffee

I've received a bunch of questions about organizing 

so for what it's worth, here is some more of how I do it.

Take whatever you can use from me, as goodness knows,

 there are thousands of fancy ideas out there on how to do it

 while spending lots of money. 

I know this is pretty mundane stuff but maybe it'll spark an 

idea that will work for you, and it really 

answers some questions for some folks.  

The week we moved in I added these two shelves in the wasted 

awkward space next to my dryer. I'm not a fan of having appliances out

on the counter, not even the toaster. Most of them are stored here along with 

misc items.

top shelf -Sheet pans and broiler pan upright far left, 

magic pot, food processor, kitchenaid

2 shelf- hard to see but large electric griddle, toaster, 

bin of tall liquid freezer storage containers 

3rd shelf - bin of different colored drink coolers 

used when kids come, (less dishes) bin of freezer meal containers, 

lidded box of vacuum sealer bags,  

battery storage container on top 

Laundry baskets- (see later)

Same shelves

Note  the pole I added for wet clothing hangers 

You'll see where I hang later

View above those shelves.

ceiling was slanted so perfect spot for wraps storage.

I'm slowly editing these out for reusable as I can afford.

2nd shelf you see with basket holds all the misc oven bakeware,

cake pans, microwave bacon pan, muffin tins and the like.

White basket holds silicon baking mats and dough rolling mat.

Light on small shelf below so that I can see the laundry baskets

on the floor one for kitchen towels, the other for cleaning cloths

Two top baskets - one holds the wood letters for my large message board

and the other my spice grinder, coffee grinder, rice cooker

Middle shelf has crockpot/ air fryer thing and my blender

small shelf below holds vacuum sealer and detergent pods and dryer sheets. 

My son bought me the cute containers they say coffee tea sugar.

I didn't use on counter so I turned them around- win win

Continuing to the left

top shelf -specialty cake pans, misc baking stuff in large basket and my deep fryer pan

tucked in and on raised racks are serving trays, reusable paper towels, pizza peels

electric extra burner, pizza stone, and a favorite dansk pan I don't want scratched

bottom shelf has cooling racks, med - lg nested glass storage containers 

basket of small storage containers

a small bin of food processor discs and blades

2nd basket has padded hangers for wet clothes

On the wall are aprons, a bag of vacuum accessories, 

A pouch for zippered laundry bags for delicates

a pouch for flashlight and ice bag

a pouch for cleaning cloths and a basket for dryer lint so I don't have to 

walk to trash multiple times on laundry days and the kids just put on 

top of machine when they lived here so...

I mostly use this basket as my loads are small

and it's prettier than plastic

There were bifold doors here when we bought, that I removed, as

no one ever closed them, and coming in thru the garage meant 

BANG BANG BANG all dang day.

That metal hanging thing on garage door flips up and holds my 

line dry items perfectly.

One of my favorite very useful tools.

Walter's dog door to the garage, there is another in garage to the outside dog run.

He was trained to use this, but now uses when I'm not available 

to let him out the back door to yard.

Are you still with me? 

Here's the thing, after looking at all this

It may have occurred to you that I organize so stuff doesn't fall over

all the time, is easy to retrieve, and find. 

I cannot tolerate moving things to get to other things. 

When you are busy and that happens, 

it can be days before you return to that mess,

and even more mess has been added since ,especially if you live

 with other folks, 

and kids, well, nothing gets put away.

It's not fancy and photos are lousy and dark

but it was dark when I thought about talking about it.

Nearly every client I ever worked with that had homes out of control,

had horrible storage set ups and habits.

The way things were stored or organized -they were destined to fail.

If you constantly have messes, it is the fault of your system.

I refuse to spend quality time cleaning up after things that 

belong somewhere they are not. If your belongings have value,

then treat them as such.

Of course, purging the unused and unneeded goes a long way,

but that's another topic I've covered many times.

If you have the funds, hire help.

If you have the funds, buy beautiful storage things.

If you are like me, ( I never have extra funds),

use what low cost things you can afford

and make do. All the baskets and shelf helpers 

you see were all bought over time, 

years actually, and with coupons and from discount stores. 

No one run, full car load, to the container store for me.

In fact all those fancy $$ appliances - 

gifts from kids over the years.

Maybe so they have them here to use 

when they cook for the Stoddard gang? lol

Praying for Ukraine

 

Going Back To Normal - Pantry Edition

 Can we please normalize the pantry?

I enjoy IG, I like quite a few folks on it.

I learn a lot on favorite sites.

But when I see over and over these massive walk in pantries

where these young/youngish gals are showing pantries

that are larger than my kids rooms were, and many are

not even part of the main kitchen and all the storage that is already in there.

well.... ahem

My home is not small, nor grand, but four of us were just fine here

with a pantry behind a single door. Not a walk in, or designer

but tidy and well, see...

(Don't go counting the cocoas they came in sets lol)

With a little thought and organization there is far more than a months worth

of food in here. I will eventually repaint in here I think, as I never painted

the extra shelves I added when we moved in, and it would be fun to see some color.

That will be the extent of my redesign after 29 years. 

Because you can afford it, does not necessarily

 mean you should have it, or do it, or buy it.

Wants are not needs.

There is a young couple on IG

redoing an older home on their own and when they showed

their beautiful new double doored pantry cupboard they received numerous DMS 

and snarky comments about

how small it was. Those folks expected they should

 have blown out more walls or added on another room.

Adding on a 2nd bathroom when you have 6 people 

living under one roof ? If you can, yes.

But spending tens of thousands of dollars to be able 

to store a years worth of food, or show off  pretty containers?

I so admire the tiny house movement and if I could park one anywhere in CA 

near the kids that was affordable it would already be done.

If I could have downsized from my current home and afforded a small place here or CA,

it would have been done. But since I sacrificed

 and budgeted like a mad woman and paid off my home in nine years

 it made sense to stay put until I can't any longer. 

Climate, raw material usage, and trash floating islands in our seas?

Threats of dissolution of democracy, if not war; for me, would be a deterrent

to such expense etc. But that's just me I suppose. My age is showing.

Now because I've droned on about that, and because our temps

plummeted - here's a fun quick soup

on constant rotation in my house.

1 roasted chicken  meat removed

( I only had  TJ's meat today so I used that but flavor is better from store/home roasted)

4 cups or two cans of chicken broth

( you see 2 cartons because 1 was already opened)

2 cans cannellini beans

( I drain and rinse)

1 can or 1 3/4 cup water 

1/2 jar of Salsa Verde

Cilantro if desired

Heat it all up and let simmer a bit so 

chicken absorbs some of the other flavors.

I add fresh chopped cilantro to taste at the very end,

but if you hate, forget it.

Now you can add tortilla strips or roasted corn, whatever 

floats your boat. 

Today I did a dollop of sour cream

Z

BTW -Finished up rows on quilt

now to join in stars and make a plan for completion WOOT!

and every night I put away Walter's toys

When I awake, I find 

Remember he goes to sleep under my covers 

before I even fall asleep. 

He is there when I awake. 

Does he sleep walk  play?

About Damn Time

A long while back I had mentioned I was digging

this project up out of the deep well of UFO's.

Well - that didn't happen.

I had all these log cabin squares completed but needed

 to make about another thirty.

I sold long ago the Bernina that these were pieced on,

and try as I might I couldn't reproduce them

to my approval on my Viking and with a different foot. 

Then my Viking went kapoot needing repair and the squares sat some more.

Yesterday I hauled them out and tried to figure

how to enlarge the quilt using these finished squares 

and adding borders or other piecing- whatever.

I remembered these pieced stars from even farther back.

These were made with hand drawn templates for petes sake!

So over twenty years ago. It was for a very ambitious quilt that bit the 

dust went my marriage imploded. 

Luckily my color pallets don't change much with the years,

as look how well this will work!

I did a few calculations and a primitive idea took shape. 

Dug out a new machine that I bought 10 years ago

 and had only used twice.

Took me hours to read the manual and figure how to thread etc,

as this one has many more bells and whistles.

 I have really lost my sewing mojo.

Use it or lose it - is very true. 

A couple hours this evening, and we are on our way.

Two rows are done and the third will be before bed.

Nine rows total, forming the center of quilt. 

There is one problem

This little bugger was not happy that his mama was ignoring him 

for so long. He is spoiled rotten thanks to covid and our isolation. 

There is a very comfy daybed up in the studio, but NOOOOOO

he wants lap time, lots and lots of lap time. 

I'm hoping that stating my quilt intentions

will force me to get this done or be embarrassed by failure.

Hold me to it alright?

Z

 

Move it Move it Move it

For years I leaned over the tub to reach a 4 drawer chest 

that stored some jewelry and bath items.

I couldn't open window or easily clean.

The other night I thought enough of that!

I did not take a pic of the before

but you can imagine.

Where that basket is, the drawers sat.

I added some sienna colored towels to 

bring that color in.

The builder did the navy tile.  I thought for years I would move,

so never redid the baths- now $$ cost prohibits.

Waiting on rod for window so did a quick temporary.

The drawers and that rack that was behind the door,

 moved into the closet.  SO much better.

I have a full length mirror in there already

so I just added two small mirrors I had for close up looks.

I found some jewelry organizers for drawers 

on Amazon that are working out great.

I'll show soon- In fact I may do a 

"things I'm liking" post because I think I've found some great stuff

lately and I always share.

I'll be adding some wicker baskets to replace the vinyl ones,

 shifting some clothes, and getting better lighting,

but I already like it. Now if I just had somewhere to go 

and wear the jewelry.  

As always no filters, no fluffing, just the REAL

 

To Walter

Were you around two years ago to remember

this sweet baby boy?

Two years ago this week I discovered him on a rescue site.

And knew instantly he was my dog. 

This is the photo I saw on the site shortly after it posted.

I will still grieving losing Howie and was still very raw,

but Hannah said mom check out these sites.

It was meant to be. I got to him first.

Three weeks later I brought him home

He perched on my shoulder for almost the entire first year

                                 

He's getting me through the pandemic isolation

and is my love, never more than a few feet away from me.

Sleeps under my bed covers all night every night,

usually pressed up against my back or leg.

He is incredibly smart.

Seems to understand everything I ask him to do.

Waiting under my makeup table chair.

and is still a weirdo

To Walter

such a blessing.

Z

 

Lazy Cook

I was talking to a friend tonight while preparing one of my 

all time staple meals.

Meals that I can eat all week long, cooking just once,

or freezing 2/3 of it and having one meal that night

and lunch the next day out of 1/3 of pan.

She said "oh send me the recipe."

I said "No recipe but I'll add to my blog so you can always find."

She doesn't bookmark or pin or anything like that.

Along with a pkg of tenderloins that I had already 

started to prepare before getting phone.

So I cut the chicken about 2 1/2 lbs into bite size pieces 

and I always remove the sinew part.

Simmer on low-med  the entire box of broth  32 oz along with a generous

helping of SPIKE. It has a pretty high salt content,  

so be forewarned if that is a problem for you.

(I see on line you can get unsalted)

When about halfway done maybe 8-10 minutes?

I add in sun dried tomatoes in oil from jar. These were halves, 

so I cut up into smaller bites- I used maybe 2/3 of jar. 

I just pull from jar with whatever oil sticks to them 

Continue to cook until chicken is correct temp

DO NOT over cook- rubber chicken sucks

Meanwhile have your farfalle going.

 I cook the entire box but don't use it all in this dish. 

I save some for

pasta later in the week. I saved this much. Maybe 1/3 of box?

Undercook slightly barely al dente as it will soak up juices. 

When chicken is done add broccoli to pan.

I usually cut and steam larger broccoli tops.

I already had some small steam in bag broccoli

 

and used that, but it

pretty much fell apart tonight. 

I won't use that again. Fresh is better anyway.

Add your pasta into pan

and lots of parm in the pan or on top of serving- or both.

You're done

I've substituted jarred red peppers if I don't have sundried

and asparagus for broccoli.

I even did a mushroom substitute in veg broth

 with fresh peas and added cream.

Use your own spices instead of spike

Whatever you happen to have.

Cooking for one means I prefer one big dish that 

goes a long way and is easy and cheap.

Tonights pan yielded a large helping with another 2 helpings

for tomorrow. I froze two large freezer containers

and have another large bowl of farfalle for pasta later this weekend. 

20 minutes start to finish

When I made for kids I added a salad and

good toasted artisan bread to sop up juices. 

As you store in fridge the pasta will soak up juices so you can add

a little broth to loosen it all up if needed.

Definitely not cookbook worthy but I like it.

Z