Sealing the Cracks

Ever notice that when you’re driving down the highway in middle-of-nowhere America, the only fast foot restaurant making a reliable appearance is McDonald’s? I try to hold off for something more compelling. Subway gets redundant, but it’s better. Occasionally there’s a brief sun ray of hope with a Panera Bread or a Chipotle. But if you’re super hungry, and you’re between cities, it’s probably McDonald’s or gas station food.

This is where I admit to a surprising discovery: there are a few menu items at McDonald’s worth purchasing!

First, the fruit and yogurt parfait. The chunks of fruit are huge. The yogurt is delicious. There’s real granola to sprinkle on top. It costs $1. Where has this been my whole life? Take a look here.

Second, the McCafe line is quite decent. (You won’t find me saying “quite good” or anything. This is, after all, fast food coffee.) But hey, there’s real whip cream and chocolate syrup on the mochas. And it’s cheap. And the lattes are passable. And it’s cheap.

Shoot, way to stay relevant, Micky D’s.

Have any fast food surprises to share?

Back in high school, my friend and I once drove 30 miles each way for an Orange Julius. Our little hometown mall didn’t have a stand (hardly had a food court, in fact, and now it just has a lame vending machine). (And as I typed that, I wondered, “Do Orange Julius stands ever stand alone, or are they always in malls?” Let me know.) 

Anyway, I still find them absolutely delicious. Our nearest mall today, a mere two miles away, happens to have an Orange Julius stand at the front of the joint. (And at this juncture, I wonder why I’m writing “stand”. Is it really a “stand” if it’s connected to a Taco Bell on one side and a Dairy Queen on the other?) So I went out to have one the other day. Not so shocking when considering the price of all fancy drinks these days, but my large Orange Julius rang up at $4.34. Ouch. That’s like four cartons of store-brand OJ. So I wondered, “Couldn’t I whip this up at home?” I was especially hopeful about the matter now that I have an offspring unit and want the convenience.

Internet research led me down many paths, including one recipe that claimed you needed “25+ ice cubes per serving.” Hello, that’d be quite a drink, no? After a few trials in the kitchen, the following recipe won me over:

Ingredients: 

Instructions:

Blend (of course)

So the banana is optional, but it’s really not. Bananas are delicious, and you should definitely add one in.

It’s rather satisfying to whip up a “restaurant” concoction at home. Do you have any recipes that taste like a signature drink or dish?

So I use my cell phone to check the time. Call it an updated “pocket watch”. I’m sure a lot of you do, too. I like to keep my wrists free for hair ties and the occasional bracelet. But a lot of your peers are very passionate about watches, which they of course refer to as “timepieces”. Here’s a quote by writer Joe Wertz that speaks to this passion:

“A good watch should long outlive its wearer. The great ones are still handmade today by skilled craftsmen who tame metal into precision tools that rival the most complicated machinery in the world.”

I respect this need for something special, something painstakingly created. A watch, like any common commercial product, can range in price from a few dollars to a few million once you start adding gold and gems and famed designers to the mix (a side note: the annual “fantasy gifts” from Neiman Marcus are the “cheapest” in a decade, thanks to the recession). 

Here’s something for you to think about. Often hailed as “the most complicated watch ever made”, the Tour de l’Ile from Vacheron Constantin has 834 individual parts inside. The face lists two time zones, gives the sunset time, has a perpetual calendar, and an astronomical indicator of the night sky. It took over 10,000 hours with a team of engineers and watchmakers to just design the piece. Given the intricate nature and expense, plus the fact that there isn’t a huge demand for pricey watches, they stopped production at seven. 

Now, you’re a reasonable person, and thus you wouldn’t expect to find the Tour de l’Ile on sale for $99 this Black Friday. And while I too am a reasonable person, allow me to air that its price tag of $1.5 million doesn’t seem all that absurd given everything that went into the watch. Plus, it was a special project to commemorate the watchmaker’s 250th anniversary. That’s a long time perfecting a product. So it’s very expensive, yes, and not a purchase I’ll ever make, but not really absurd, especially when we consider this watch.

This is the 201-carat by Chopard. Besides the incredible impracticality of it (can you even squint enough to make-out the time?), it just looks ridiculous. Again, you can really just pile gems onto anything. This piece, with no real design skill needed, and certainly not years of design and production time, will cost you a cool $25 million. 

Personally, I find it ugly.

And so, I ask you. What do you think about watches? Are they a necessity? An accessory? Heirlooms, meant to be passed down? Or perhaps, like me, you don’t even wear one…

I recently learned that fair trade coffee isn’t so fair. There are quite a few articles about this topic splashed across on the Internets, so take your pick of reading material. It’s very troubling to me, a woman who makes a huge deal out of finding a blend that is superior to other blends, and loves finding “ethical” roasters who make her feel hopeful.

Here are the facts (and my commentary, since this is a blog and all). 

So, while fair trade coffee is more lucrative for farmers than hitting the open market, it’s still not enough to live humanely from. While it’s sad that Starbucks (whom, I must admit, makes the best pumpkin spice latte around) feels justified in their pricing scale, if Starbucks wasn’t in the fair trade circle, there wouldn’t be much of a circle as Starbucks is by far the largest purchaser of fair trade beans. It’s a “Darn you, but… at least you’re still helping” scenario. Supporting your local fair trade coffeehouse is always nice, but only locally - the farmers will still average 50c per pound at the end of the day regardless of your source.

Thoughts?

Well, refinishing a deck really blows. If you recall, I was merely staining a deck, but sometimes plans change after you finish powerwashing. So, six weeks after I started, I’m done.

Before:

After:

I realize this isn’t the best picture, and that there are fall leaves in the shot. I honestly swept the deck before taking this picture, but a big gust of wind blew more leaves off the roof when I went in the house for the camera. But, I think you can see that what was once gray is now red and dark red. I’m not pleased with how weathering looks under stain, so we’ll probably just paint it red eventually (painting providing more coverage than staining, but it doesn’t allow the wood to show through).

Home improvement projects never, ever end. But at least the deck repels water now, and beautifully so! I’ll feel better about watching the snow pile up this year…

It’s time to debut life after rootball 2.0! It feels so great to wrap up a project - not because I usually don’t wrap up projects, but because I have so many going on at once that everything takes a bit longer than it should. It’s just how I roll.

To remind you, here’s what life looked like with the ugly shrub attached to rootball 2.0.

Here’s life afterwards, with a bird bath, red pygmy shrubs (they’ll get bigger), and mums (because the fall season is upon us).

So what do we think? A lot better? A little better? No better at all? Leave a comment and let me know!

There were a lot of things in need of repair when we bought this house. That’s one of the reasons why we bought it: the potential to upgrade to our liking and turn a buck at the same time. We’re currently in the midst of a real buck turner: the deck.

It’s old. It’s weathered. It hasn’t been treated in years. The wood is still solid, however, and there’s potential. And we love potential. Now, we can’t give it a LIKE NEW look since the damage of neglect has been done, but we can certainly give it a THAT’S WAY BETTER look. Which we like to do.

First, the sucker had to be pressure washed. Turns out pressure washing is slippery business, as it’s easy to remove dirt, and old paint, and also… a layer of wood in some spots Oops. But again, we realize any improvement is still an improvement, and we’re confident a big improvement is in store in a week or so.

So here you go. Photos of the first phase of the project. Please note that our cat Holly has once again assumed the supervisor role, as she does for all our home projects. She keeps us honest and signs our timesheets.

And here comes my long, but very satisfying job: staining the wood! I’m exempt from any difficult manual labor through the end of the year, and if you don’t know why, you’ll learn in future bloggings when you see another project we’ve got going on inside the house. Anyway, the deck is a tricky endeavor to work on, since it’s been raining every other day. The weather report is always amusing to see, with a scary thunderstorm cloud on day one, followed by a happy sun on day two, repeat, repeat, repeat. Anyway, the end result should be decent, judging by the work so far…

Perhaps you remember rootball 1.0 that my hubby dug up last summer? Turns out rootball 2.0 was more fierce than its predecessor. But we were both tired of Ugly Shrub Syndrome. Lawn space is valuable. No need for ugliness.

Here’s are your customary before, during, and after shots.

I am most definitely looking for suggestions to refill the space in a kind, pleasing manner. Please comment with your suggested shurb/plant names and/or photos for inspiration. Right now I’m learning toward two tiny colored shrubs (is that description exact enough for a greenhouse employee?) and an antique bird bath. But really, I’d like to hear from you.

Answers to common questions:

1) How much did rootball 2.0 weigh?

A: About 60 pounds. The husband is thin, but capable.

2) What is that… inkblot?… thing on your husband’s shirt?

A: That’s the U.P. of Michigan!

3) Did you unearth a random brick in that third photo?

A: Yes. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if houses came with a document of their full history?

Since living under my rock of home improvements and neighborhood on-goings, I apparently missed the fact that local currency is making a resurgence. I know it was popular during the depression, but didn’t realize how widespread it is today, and that Wisconsin has some local currency in circulation, too. Small business owners dig local currency because it has to stay local (more sales for them), and shoppers dig local currency because they feel good knowing their “buck” is staying close to home.

The government rules for local currency are pretty simple: it has to be printed on paper (no coins), it can’t resemble federal money, and local currency income must be taxed. 

So now I must know: have you used local currency? Have you even seen local currency? Here’s a sample of local currency called “BerkShares” from Great Barrington, MA. 

One of my favorite activities is opening up all the blinds in the morning. It’s so nice to greet the sun and survey the yard. And now, we finally have curtains over the windows! It took a lot of fussing, since there are the custom blinds and finding the right curtain and the right hardware to fit over such a setup was no fun at all. I’m sure the Customer Service desk was thrilled about our numerous exchanges. 

Here’s the set we have over three windows downstairs. A nice maroon with a mix of fabrics. We added brown curtains in the den. 

Finally!