Recipes & Housekeeping Tips

Does anyone have a terrific, tried 'n' true pickled herring recipe they'd be willing to share? Tom's going fishing again this weekend, and I'd like to try to pickle some of this terrific northern (pike) he's been pulling in!


As for my housekeeping tip: I've found that a good, easy way to (try to!) keep up on house tidiness is to, every time you leave a room, grab one item from that space that does not belong there but instead belongs in the room towards which you are heading! For example, I was just in the dining room where a packing envelope was sitting on the table, waiting to be re-used. And, where does it belong? Why, in the 'packing envelopes box' I have here in my office, of course!

Maybe you already do this as a habit, but it's a new one to me! ;)

Doing Hours

I know I've talked about this before, but you're going to get a bit more detail today.

I've come up with a splendid little psychological trick to use on myself when EVERYTHING in the house is screaming at me to be done at the same time, and I simply find myself overwhelmed. It's that whole thing of "there's too much to do - WHERE do I start?!" Enter The Hours. I decided to make it fun (by using the luck of the draw) and limited. Each task only last 60 minutes (although two different tasks last 2 and 3 hours, respectively). So, if your "luck of the draw" is something you REALLY don't wanna do . . . but HAS to be done . . . you (I) only have to work at it for 1 hour. And, we all know that, in this day and age, 60 minutes seem to be gone in the snap of a finger!

That said, these are MY "hours", in no particular order:

Eggs. How can "eggs" fill up an entire hour, you ask? Well, imagine that I want to deliver 5 dozen eggs tomorrow. That doesn't seem like a big deal, does it? Well, 5 dozen eggs = 60 individual eggs that each need to be collected from the chicken house, brought inside and scrubbed spotless,and then packed into self-stamped containers. Finally, the invoices need to be made for each customer and attached to their dated carton of eggs. And there you have it: "eggs".

Update Blog: Pretty self-explanatory. ;) But, something that gets done infrequently enough that I need to MAKE time for it.

Library: Clean the room which we call the library.

Dishes: I ALWAYS seem to have dirty dishes piled up next to the sink. And, if I don't, I can parlay the "dishes" task into cleaning out the refrig . . . which does what? Produces dishes that need to be washed! (And, remember, dishes are done BY HAND when you live on alternative energy. No dishwasher here - other than me - thank you very much.)

Folk School: Tom is on the Board of Directors of our local folk school and also on many sub-committees there. I don't know how I got wrangled into it, but the Powers That Be discovered that I am going at organization / throwing parties. So, it's been my annual volunteer duty to organize and host the Instructors' Gathering / Dinner the Saturday night of the big spring/summer blow-out. When I draw this one out of the proverbial hat (I use a vase), it means I get to spend time on organizing the menu / caterers / venue, etc.

Wellspring Therapy: This is the massage therapy business that I am the Office Manager for (I'm able to do it from home - the business number is OUR phone number). There's ALWAYS work to be done! I do all of the business laundry and the owner's personal laundry, too.

Office - Main: This is an opportunity to work on cleaning up the DISASTER that is my office. Seriously, only few dare enter. (But it's a family curse handed down thru the generations on my dad's side.)

Bathrooms: We have two. Bathrooms always need cleaning, don't they? We'll have a bathroom in the upstairs apartment above the garage and next to the pub, but it's nothing but stud walls right now. We're thinking of hooking up the waste assembly of that toilet this summer, though, so Tom and I have somewhere to go (no pun intended) when we're outside working . . . rather than tromping into the house, having to take off boots, etc. Since the water isn't hooked up in that area of the building yet (and can't be until we insulate), we'll just flush with buckets of water we've hauled up from the battery room downstairs.

Sun Room: We were calling this the Four Season Porch for a while, but it's the western "bump-out" of the house. It, as any room in the house, can always stand a good cleaning.

Food Prep: I take the time to prepare a really good meal for later that day or to go in the freezer. Or, if I have cottage cheese or yogurt to make I'll take this block of time to get that going.

Chicken Mama Originals (2 Hours): If I only allowed one hour (at a time) to work on my photographic notecard business, I'd hardly get started before I had to stop. So, this is one of the two tasks that I allow myself more than 60 minutes for.

Foyer / Sitting Area: Again, self-explanatory cleaning.

Outside: This could mean anything from mowing the little grass we have on our gravel hilltop to working in my raised beds to trimming the front yard trees and shrubs from the winter-burn they received, etc. (Incidentally, ALL those things need to be done right now!)

Deskwork: Self-explanatory. Bills, budgeting. All the background office work that running a home entails.

Lake View Natural Dairy: There's a local dairy (the only one large enough to sell to the public up here in our neck of the woods), and I'm trying to help them really get off the ground. I've become their dairy deliver(wo)man one day a week to the market one of my girlfriends opened out here. When I'm in town nannying each week . . . and I'm going right by the market on my way home . . . there's no reason for them to have to make a special trip with gas prices the way they are. Especially when I'm already going up to them on that day - my town day - anyway, to get my own milk! So, we've got a good you scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours deal going. The reason it's currently in The Hours is because I said I'd work on some advertising for them (and I haven't gotten it done - or even started! - yet.)

Bills: This is usually included in deskwork, but I had to make a separate category for it just to make sure it got done. I've been so busy and behind that I didn't even get our property taxes done . . . which were due May 15th! Ooooops!

C's Card & Present: This was another recent addition - just to make sure I got it done. A little boy we know and love turned 5 on May 20th. And, while I GOT his little giftie at the end of April, I still haven't sent it! (Kinda like some Christmas presents still sitting here in my office . . . all wrapped and waiting to be packaged up!)

Ironing: Is there EVER no ironing to do??????????? (No.)

Okay, those were the hours that I'd put into TODAY'S bowl. Hmm . . . 18 hours worth of tasks to be done today. Think I'll get to it all? (Hint, it's already 1:30, and I'm only on Hour #2 of the day.)

If I'm somewhat caught up with life (ha!) I'll draw from ALL The Hours. If there is stuff that HAS to be done ASAP I'll put those in a separate drawing bowl. Hence the 18 Hours listed above. Mind you, not everything is in there . . . such as the 35 invites for my girlfreind's baby shower that I'm printing out as I do other things. Those things that just HAVE, HAVE, HAVE to be done don't even get the luxury of being "drawn". They just get DONE - before I start The Hours. And, again, that's why it's 1:30, and I'm only on Hour #2 of the day. The beginning of the day was stuffed with MUST DO IMMEDIATELY things. Wheeeeere does the time go??????????

But, it's great to intersperse the more un-fun projects (cleaning the bathroom - although it does feel GREAT to have it done!) with fun ones - like this, updating the blog. I think that's the key to the draw - you don't know if you'll get an easier / more fun one or a yucky job. "Luck of the Draw" and all that rot!

So, 18 Hours down, a few more to go. Onto The Hours waiting in the BIG jar (that I don't have the luxury of picking out of today):

Return E-mails: Self-Explanatory. I currently have 975 e-mails in my In Box that need attention. Sure, the oldest one is from June 27, 2002 . . . but I still haven't responded to it yet!!!

Dining Room: Self-Explanatory. Besides, I drew it a couple of days ago and got a good handle on it . . . although the dust bunnies that I didn't have a chance to vacuum are beginning to reproduce like . . . bunnies.

Letter Writing: Letter writing - HAND writing - is lost. (And we need to bring it back.) I still have a few folks with whom I correspond the old-fashioned way.

Living Room: I drew this yesterday and finally had the opportunity to put down the new area rug that we'd bought back in December (which had been lying - still in its wrapping - in the foyer since then!).

Utility Room: Self-explanatory, and I drew this yesterday, too.

Swamp River Ridge House Work (3 Hours): This is the other task that requires more time. 'Cause, if I choose to paint or sand some paneling . . . I really need this amount of time to work on it - otherwise you spend all the time just setting up and taking down.

Bedroom: Self-explanatory.

Kitchen: Self-explanatory.

Walk-In Closet: I currently call this our walk-ON closet 'cause there are no hampers or cubicals on the walls . . . so all the dirty clothes get thrown on the floor. I need to re-do the closet rods in there as well as TRY to get a handle on all those dirty clothes!

Chickens: The chickens (the house / coop, mostly) ALWAYS can stand work - cleaning, organizing, refilling feeders, etc.

Upstairs Hallway Area: Again, just refers to cleaning / organization in that part of the house.

Battery Maintenance: Yuck. Maybe my least-favorite task, but an important one. The batteries need to be equalized and the water level always needs to be checked.

And, last but not least, Guest Bedroom: Cleaning / organizing.

So, WHEW, that's it! 31 possible draws for The Hours. But, truly, I really LOVE doing it this way! I know it's a total game that I play with my mind, but, if it works, who cares?!

And, with 11 seconds left on THIS draw, wanna know what the next one's gonna be? Hang on . . . drum roll, please . . . LAKE VIEW NATURAL DAIRY! (Good, that one's been weighing on me!!!)

2008: The Year Winter Never Ended

Not that we're complaining, mind you . . . . Any precipitation is good given the drought we were in the past three years. BUT, considering that the bugs will be out within a month, the late winter hasn't allowed us much springtime during which to get those myriad of springtime projects done!

Anyway, nighttime temperatures have still been in the teens, and, while the sun FINALLY popped through yesterday, the daytime temps have still only been hovering around the freezing mark. So, point being, the 8+ inches we got on Friday aren't goin' anywhere very quickly. It's still winter at Swamp River Ridge! And, while our surroundings will, undoubtedly, change a huge amount within the next month, there remains some doubt whether the inland lakes will be open for fishing opener!

You've seen the video I took Friday morning of the snow. I also took one while I was plowing that morning. You got to go on a "ride-along" with me! :) Click here to view it. I'm sorry the coloring in all of them has been so dark so far, but that's been reflective of the weather . . . .

Other than the weather, it just doesn't seem like I have much to post about this past week.

We missed three more birthdays . . . two on Friday and one yesterday. Yesterday's was Tom's niece's big day. And, Friday brought the birthday celebrations of our dear friends J and P. J is the mama to the peanut for whom I used to nanny. In lieu of posting a picture of her mother (which I don't have!), I'll post a recent picture of the peanut in question . . . who I babysat a week or two ago. (Now, granted, I'm a little biased, but isn't she a natural beauty? [So's her mom!]) Then, dear British P (wife of our Best Man) got to celebrate on Friday, too. They were our dear friends when we lived in Minneapolis. Now, we've all relocated - us to here and them to the Southwest. Busyness and distance have prevented reunions, although Tom did get out to visit them (combined with a business trip) last year at this time.



Here are two pictures of the snow yesterday morning. They're kinda goofy 'cause I had to take them through the door screen, but you get the gist. It's snowy!

The house is such a disaster right now that you wouldn't even believe it. So, instead of getting overwhelmed with one task, I've divided them up (by room or task, such as 'food prep') and thrown them all into a jar. I'll draw a job and work on it for one hour, then repeat . . . until the day is through. That way, none of the icky (but must-do) jobs will seem too horrible if there's a time restriction to them. So far, I have 19 rooms / tasks on the list. Hmm, 19 jobs = 19 hours = . . . ! Hey, I know it's a psychological game that I'm playing on myself, but - if it works!

Two Days from Spring

While most people in the country (state?) are thinking SPRING, we are still very much in winter. We're still in the single digits to teens at night . . . although the days are getting up to the low 30s. And, that sun is so warm that there are melting drips even when the mercury stays below freezing. We've been getting a little snow yesterday, last night, and this morning - everything's coated and very wintery looking.

The loggers cleared out of their site across from the end of our driveway yesterday and moved just a mile or two down the road to their new cut. On their way home, they snuck in and left the pie plate in Tom's workshop. "The pie plate," you ask? You betcha! I made the dear, sweet loggers an apple pie last week and left it for them because . . . .

Tom was in Orlando for a Microsoft convention/meeting/thingie last week. But, with him gone and me still not supposed to lift anything heavy, how was the wood furnace going to get filled? (I was planning on doing it myself, anyway, thank you very much!) Well, much to my chagrin, Tom asked the loggers if they would mind doing it each morning. He would pay them, of course. And, of course, they, in turn, refused the very suggestion of payment! So, the upshot is that my "wood elves" (okay, I'm sure loggers wouldn't appreciate being referred to as elves, but you get the idea) tiptoed in under the cover of dark each morning (remember, they rise-and-shine at 3:15 AM!) . . . parking up on the driveway and walking down so as not to wake the dogs and then, in turn, me with the sound of their truck engine . . . and STOKED the fire. I mean, they put so much wood in there I didn't even need to feed it in the evenings! What sweet, wonderful men. And, hence the apple pie, paper plates, and plastic forks I left out in the garage for them one night to find in the AM. It was - quite literally - the LEAST I could do!

Road restrictions go into effect on Thursday . . . meaning that the loggers (or anyone with heavy loads) can't drive on the roads for a minimum of 8 weeks during spring thaw. When the ban is removed, it's usually road by road with the more major (relatively speaking!) ones first. So, it's at this time of year that all the logs cut during the winter are hauled to the ends of the roads that the bans will remain on longest . . . like our little 4-mile road leading out to the main road. I took this photo last week (each log is 8' long), and there is even more wood now. The end of our road definitely looks like a massive lumber staging area (which, I guess, it has become)!

For those of you wondering, I think I'm finally starting to make some forward progress in the post-surgery recovery department. I felt like last Thursday was my "turn-around" day (last Friday was 4 weeks). And, until Sunday afternoon, I hadn't had to take a pain pill in 4 days (and I haven't had to take one since) - a major coup! Although, even though I feel like I'm somewhat getting back to a "normal" schedule, it's still one step forward and 2 steps back in the sense that I get pooped out and my tummy gets sore and swollen VERY easily. But, it's still progress!

Now, absolutely no segue here, but . . . .

Do you remember "Heloise's Hints" in Good Housekeeping? (Or am I dating myself?) Anyway, here is my version of that: Chicken Mama's 'Tips from a Modern-Day Old-Fashioned Housewife'. I discovered this wonderful "trick" this winter. If there's a (fairly quiet) job that you particularly dislike or that takes a long, boring time (think doing the dishes or ironing), get thee to the library and check out a book on tape/CD! It's AMAZING how a good book turns those jobs into something you LOOK FORWARD TO! As I was ripping through the Harry Potter books-on-tape this winter, I would try to actually arrange my day around doing the dishes . . . just so I could listen! It's great for when you're holed up in the kitchen making dinner, too . . . as long as the mixer or sautéing veggies don't drown out the sound! :)

After just barely 6 months of cohabitation, Miss Kitty and Annie Blue have f-i-n-a-l-l-y gotten to the point of "play fighting". Mind you, Annie Blue's been attempting this for ages, but she was always - and very quickly - "shut down" by the Madam of the House. But now, just in this last week or two, we've seen them batting each other and APPEARING to have fun . . . although I did have to admonish Miss Kitty to "be careful of Annie Blue's eyes!" one day as the claws did seem rather precisely poised for a blow. ;)

Speaking of cats, Tom saw our first "big cat" on his way to work yesterday morning . . . just down on the main road after he turned onto it. It was too far away to tell if it was a bobcat or lynx. But, either way . . . pretty cool!

Here are a couple of cute Annie Blue pictures. In the first, we had some bedding & padding stacked by the front door ready to go out to the trapper cabin, and Annie Blue thought the rolled padding made the most PURRFECT hideout! Then, now that the house has been warming and the half-dead flies have been waking up (ugh!), one of her new favorite spots is atop the file folders on my desk . . . avidly watching as they drunkenly buzz around the light of my desk lamp.