My Fridge Smells like Broccoli

I don't like my fridge smelling like broccoli.

I managed to get the dishpan full of beans topped, tailed, and cut-up yesterday evening after taking mom over to my aunt's house in the afternoon for a good scrubbing, but the broccoli surplus from dad's garden is still lurking in the fridge.  I really have to get it cut up, before the ice cream and sherbet in the freezer starts smelling like broccoli too.  Once the broccoli is cut-up the blanching party can begin.  (And I can go grocery shopping and actually manage to fit milk, meat, and eggs into the fridge again.)

Except for a couple of weeks I can thank the cooler summer for limiting the tomato production.  So far I have only made one batch of marinara sauce.  Unless dad's garden really kicks in before the first frost and he shares a lot, there won't be much marinara sauce for the pantry this winter.  But with trying to get mom's place fixed up, it has been a serious juggling act trying to get everything done that needs doing.  And the plumbing and electrical permits for the projects on my house expire again in November - aargh.  The only plus to that situation is that the property tax assessor gets really frustrated because he can't reassess and raise the taxes on our old heap of a house (evil laugh).  Maybe the lack of tomatoes is a blessing in disguise.

Oh, and a home has been found for the pellet stove.  Many thanks to dad for letting me borrow his pickup truck to move it!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Wedding Days

The season of summer weddings has returned.  It started last summer with my cousin's son's wedding.  Saturday was my cousin's daughter's wedding.  The bride's grandma baked and frosted the cakes; the bride's sister and cousins decorated the tiers.  Assembly met with a glitch because one of the platforms was missing.  Four comunion cups came to the rescue by providing a bit more stability than four dowels and the tiers remained upright until it was time to eat the cake later in the evening.

Lending a hand with the cake made us a bit late getting upstairs.

So we had the rear view of the march down the aisle.

 One last hug from her papa before she headed off on her grand adventure as a Missus.

It was a beautiful wedding with a duet sung by the bride's parents.

The Lord's Prayer was sung by the bride's uncle and accompanied by the bride's father on french horn with the bride's mother on the organ.  Can you guess, they're a bit musical?

The reception meal was fantastic, with the wedding party and a few other relatives and friends pitching in to sing We are Not Alone accapella to all the guests.
Here's a performance by another group, because I don't have one from the wedding.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvKPtRWrPJo

(I'm a bit biased, but I think the bride has a stronger solo voice, and the wedding party did a better job at the background singing with a lot fewer people.  The performance on youtube is nice, but it lacks the driving and almost percussive rhythm that the bass section in the wedding party achieved.  Even if I had recorded the performance by the wedding party, it probably would have distorted, because they have a habit of pegging sound meters.)

Later in the evening, all the young folks and a few older ones who didn't know any better danced the night away.  The huge train on the dress was fastened up into a really giant bustle.  It made the twist into a practice in out of sinc harmonic oscillations.  Of course papa and uncle (who are identical twins) were doing their part on the dance floor to make jolly oscillations of their tummies as well.  Think santa doing the boogie.  A grand time was had by all.

This morning we were quite sore and hubby said he would never be able to trade me in for a young trophy wife, because she'd kill him from exhaustion.  Glad to know I have some job security.

Busy Bees

Sorry for the lack of posts.

I've been busy too.

Hubby has today off work, only one day.

So he is making the most of it by resting on the couch watching Chuck DVDs from the library - all day long.

Supper will be some leftover steak for him and some leftover chicken for me.  Fresh zucchini is sauteeing on the stove in Smart Balance & olive oil with seasoned salt, pepper, marjoram, and taragon as seasoning.  The side dish will be less exciting - out of the box mac & cheese; at least lowfat whey powder is good for something.  Dinner at home together, no matter what it is, is a treat.

So Why Was the Harley Driver Going Slower

on the highway than all the other vehicles?

(Even though his bike probably had more horsepower than my car?)

It might have been because his beard hair was blowing over his face

and obstructing his view of the road.

Wonder if his next stop was at a barber shop?

Standard Thread Carrot?

I wonder if they twist in reverse thread pattern in Australia?

Does anybody know?

Thought you could use a laugh.

I sure did when I dug it out yesterday to make room for transplanting some mystery volunteer tomato plants.

It should be an interesting surprise if they manage to produce tomatoes before winter arrrives.

What a Difference a Day Makes - updated

Thanks to all of you out there who prayed!

After a day, the memory of the glorious, deluxe bathtub sales pitch was wiped from stepfather's memory.  The only thing that remained was a contract with a really big bill.  Stepfather decided it was way too expensive after all, and that perhaps it might take a bit longer than a month to get everything ready.  He plans to cancel the contract by mail postmarked today, if he doesn't change his mind again.

Of course the thought of my being over there sorting through all his stuff practically every day, all day for the next month straight might have had an impact on stepfather's decision too.  Hoarders love their stuff after all, all their stuff - whether it makes sense or not.  I spent yesterday sorting, as an object lesson, and because it needed doing.  Dad's pickup truck is great for hauling all sorts of things; you just toss it in the back and away it goes.  The truck bed wasn't quite full yesterday, but it was close.  It is going to be really tricky when we get to the point when all that is left is furniture, stepfather's enormous book collection, and their clothes.  Mom has "grown out of" a lot of things, but stepfather is still slender, which means wrong size cannot be a strong argument for donating most of his clothes.

On the plus side, a friend gave me the names of some good contractors for doing necessary work inside the house, and things are progressing with finding a good tree removal firm to get the enormous trees removed before they smash more cars, the neighbor's boat, the neighbors house, &/or mom & stepfather's house....

Update:  The order was canceled officially by mail, postmarked and sent certified return receipt.  For good measure, stepfather was kind enough to call the salesman and let him know.  Of course, it took a while for stepfather to get a word in edgewise, because the salesman kept interrupting him on the phone.  If the salesman hadn't been so pushy and rude, I might have offered to reimburse him for his gas money, but I don't feel sorry for him anymore.  Oh, and because there was this nasty clause in the contract that if things were canceled "after the order was placed with the manufacturer" but possibly before the three day cancellation deadline there would be a 33% damages fee assessed, stepfather did a stop payment on the deposit check too.  Life isn't perfect, but it is slightly less awful now.