There's no rest for the wicked and all that. Taph headed off yesterday leaving me with a laundry tub full of soaking apricots. Her last words after assuring me they'd last at least 48 hours were "don't take them out of the water or they'll rot faster!
So there they stayed. After work today I googled apricot chutney recipes, pulled out the large pot she'd left me, and set out to make some pickles all by my little lonesome (plus some more stewed apricots for the freezer)
It was a bit scary, really. Chutney doesn't smell half as good as jam. Which sent me into a frenzy of uncertainty. Does my flat smell like shit because a) the apricots are dead and rotten and should be chucked out or b) because vinegar and sugar and stuff just smells like that?
Oh well, I've made and frozen eight containers of stewed fruit and nine jars of chutney (two different sorts). I'll let the expert make the final decision.
I finally read the back of the packet that my labels come in today. Bugger. I obviously should have bought the other "Full of jam" pack when I was at Officeworks...
(Remind me next time I see a tree full of fruit to RUN AWAY!!!!)
... so I cheated yesterday and pretended to be engrossed in the book that arrived from Making Good Use in the morning's mail.
Also in the parcel were some beautiful vintage trims (black and white, of course!), all wrapped in a piece of groovy retro cow print fabric.
A lovely parcel from a great frugal blogger. Thank you!
Way back in October 2007 I made Princess B a pear doorstop. I took it up to Sydney only partly stuffed, planning to buy some nice heavy stones at the hardware store across the road from her place to fill it. But we got sidetracked and it didn't happen and Princess B said she'd sort it out herself.And every time I've visited since then I've seen the poor unfinished doorstop lurking behind the door in her study. Finally, on this trip just past, I kidnapped the wee beastie and smuggled it home to finish off. Which I finally did this morning:
There's just one little problem. I turned my back for a moment during the photo shoot and turned back to find this...
Now please excuse me, I must return to the rest of my long list of Projects I'd like to have finished before the end of the year...
I was tempted to follow Taph's lead when I saw my figures this morning and declare a Jubilee Week. But although Taph definitely deserves one (69 weeks and a net 4799 Outs: that, folks is an average of almost 70 items out per week over a period of more than a year!) I really don't deserve one. As I'm (still) struggling to make my figures each week I guess that's the best reason to keep going...In:
* 1 book, 1 DVD set, 1 tin, 1 row counter (Trash & Treasure)
* 6 pairs socks (on special at the supermarket so I stocked up)
* 6 pairs knitting needles (Vinnies Queanbeyan: couldn't resist...)* 1 Lundby Letter magazine (subscription)
* 1 book, 1 tea towel, 2 napkins, set of 5 vintage kitchen containers, 3 books (gifts)
Total In this week: 29
Out:
* 1 pair lounge socks, 2 washcloths: gifts
* 1 dead sock, 1 dead T shirt, 3 pairs dead trousers, 1 dead shirt, 1 dead vest, 1 dead cardigan: bin * 1 cat mask from a New Year's Day party too long ago to remember clearly, 1 crown and 1 sceptre from a long-ago trip: op shop * 2 books: donated to Cycling S* 2 old and manky tea towels (replaced by beautiful new tea towels given to me for Christmas): bin
Total Out this week: 18
Shake-it-all-about:
* Nothing. Which made quite a change, actually...
Net items out so far during Seven Things Spring/ Summer 2008: 120
I started my new job today. (Job #3 which is actually Job #2 because Job #1 no longer exists. But if I call this new job Job #2 then I have to rename Job #2 to Job #1 and it all gets more confusing than it sounds here)
I spent the day counting. I felt like I was on Sesame Street.White folder. Plain wood pencil. Silver and black counting thingy. I was happy.
Wonder if if they'd notice if one of their counting thingies went missing and reappeared in my knitting toolkit? Alas, I'm sure they would...
I made a fruit salad yesterday with the plethora of fruit which seems to have erupted in my kitchen.
As I ate it I realised it's my friendly fruit salad:
* Pineapple from a tin given to me by Tania in her pantry clearout of forbidden food.
* Apple and banana courtesy of J&M's pre Christmas holiday fruit bowl cleanout.
* Apricots from the tree in the front yard of a colleague's house. When I dropped her home on Christmas Eve and exclaimed "an apricot tree!" she offered me as much fruit as I wanted. I'm not sure she really expected me to say I could clear the lot for her later in the break with my jam-making mates (plus the other tree she admitted was in the back yard) but she seemed pretty cool about the whole thing and pleased they'll be used.
* Nectarines and oranges from Cycling S's fruitbowl. She tried to convince me there wasn't room in there for the apricots I offered plus her existing fruit when I visited Christmas Eve...
The only thing I purchased was cherries from Choku Bai Jo.That's about all the excitement round here at the moment. My life is full of pottering and reading. Just as it should be at this time of the year...
I picked up stashes of my two all time favorite Christmas cards from the free Avant card stands many years ago and thought it was about time I shared them with you. I originally planned to only show one and save the other for next Christmas but I found it impossible to chose between the Judy Horacek one:
and the Rude Olf one:
So you get to see both. Now I'm off to open the peach sparkling wine I only drink at Christmas time and contemplate which of the boxes of Lindt chocolate in the fridge I plan to eat for breakfast tomorrow morning...
Here's hoping tomorrow brings you a lot of what you need, and the just the right amount of what you want (whatever that may be!)
Beautiful set of four Crazy Daisy Pyrex nesting mixing bowls: $18 the lot. Damned shame I don't do green, huh?
(Still trying to decide if these are heading for resale on eBay next year or are the first of the presents bought for Christmas 2009...)