Here, Have a Little Pre-ssert.

So last year I shared with you my favorite Thanksgiving recipe.  This year, I will share with you another fave.

TANG SALAD!

Tang?  Wait, isn't that the powdery orange stuff that, mixed with water, makes flat orange soda?  The stuff that astronauts drink?  The stuff that is slowly being phased out and is really hard to find in grocery stores? 

Indeed.  That's the stuff.

This recipe is one that I grew up with, and one that my grandma made every year.  It's so good.  Mostly because it's like getting dessert during dinner, or as Shawn calls it, pre-ssert.

This recipe is full of "wholesome" ingredients.  See below:

Ingredients
1 large box orange Jell-o (or two small boxes)
4 tbs. Tang
1 pint orange sherbert
1 or 2 cans mandarin oranges

Directions
Mix Tang with Jell-o and dissolve in 2 cups boiling water.  Let sit until it starts to set.  In the meantime, get the sherbet out and let it start to thaw.  It's easier to mix in when not straight out of the freezer.  Mix in the sherbet with a mixer or a whisk.  It's important that you don't mix the sherbet in while the Jell-o mixture is still liquidy because you'll get a bunch of foam on top.  Once the sherbet is mixed in, gently fold in the mandarin oranges and pour into a mold of your choice.  I use a bundt pan, but any cool mold is fun.  Refrigerate overnight and serve when the turkey is ready to eat!

Mmmm... dessert at the dinner table.  Love me some traditions.

Oh, and here's my thankful list.  It's not as well-written as last year, but maybe next year when I've gotten all mushy with motherhood I'll have some deep things to say.
* Zantac.  Heartburn is a bitch.  Zantac makes it better.  I Love it.
* Not having gestational diabetes.  I passed the test today.  Booyah!
* Shawn.  And Shawn.  And Shawn. 
* Kitties.  Mine especially.
* Bubba.  He's a good dog.
* My house.  My chickens.  My garden.  My couch.
* Family and friends.
* Being healthy.  Having friends and family who are healthy.
* Nature.  It's always there when I need it to provide calm and wonder.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Having a Conscience is Stressful

Note:  I wrote this post a month or two ago and haven't posted it until now for some reason.  But I think I will now.

I'm frustrated.

Let me explain. See, we have this couch. Well, since we're gluttonous Americans, we have two couches. One of them is the new one that we use everyday and spent a bunch of money on recently because we decided we were big kids now and needed a real couch that wasn't purchased off of Craigslist. It's nice.

The other is the one we shunned to the garage because it was replaced by the new one. We tried to take it to Goodwill, but they wouldn't take it because our lovely feline roommates scratched the hell out of the corners. It's been sitting there for a few months as we try to figure out what to do with with it.

As you can see, it collects stuff, like ugly rugs, boxes of random shit, and cat litter. It's time for it to go. But where? The only place I know where it's NOT going is the landfill. It's still a perfectly good couch to sit on. It just has slightly shredded corners and some easily cleanable stains on it. Now, the stains I can clean. The corners, on the other hand, that is going to take a reupholstery job. But who's gonna do that? Not me. I guess we could try putting it in Craigslist for $20 with the tag of: "great couch! Just needs new upholstery!" Yeah, right.

So I went on the intertubes today to see if there were any furniture recycling places. I was looking for someone who would take it off my hands and maybe take it apart to find some use for all the textiles and wood that they can get from it. The closest thing I found was a green junk removal company that will take all the reusable stuff to Goodwill and sell the rest to a company that will burn it for electricity. Is that better than the landfill? Maybe. But seriously, do all end of life couches end up in landfills or getting incinerated? That's messed up.

Our next option would be to slap a couch cover on it and try to take it back to Goodwill. But if they take the cover off and see what's underneath, will they send it to the landfill anyway? 

Why am I letting this get to me so much? Landfills have limited space. That's why. I just feel like things should only go there as a last resort. But it sure does suck to have a conscience.

Being a conscious adult is so hard sometimes.


Now, like I've said above, this post was written by me in a fit of frustration a while ago.  Since then, we have cleaned the couch with with rubbing alcohol.  (Holy shit, that stuff works!)  And have put it up on Freecycle several times.  I've gotten several emails about it from there, but none of them have amounted to any real takers.  Tonight, we had some people come look at it and say they will come back tomorrow with a truck to pick it up.  We're not quite convinced they're coming back, but wouldn't it be sweet if they did?  Keeping our fingers crossed for a new life for our Craigslist couch!

The Shop is OPEN!

Well, I finally did it.  I can cross it off my list.  I have an Etsy shop.  Where people can buy things.  It's scary.  Let me explain.

For the last several weeks, I have been doing some serious cleaning and rearranging of what will be the sort-of baby room.  Since we only have two bedrooms in our house, the baby will get a half-room for now.  (One corner of the room will house stuff like the sewing machine and our office stuff.)  So I've been going through all of my knitting, sewing, and crafting stuff and consolidating into bigger bins that can be stored easier.  I've also thrown away and donated a lot of random junk that we've accumulated over the years.  Going through random boxes unearthed a ton of completed knitting projects that I made over the last 10 years that I made with intent to sell at some point.

Well, that some point is now.  These things are pretty great, but they've got to go.  So thank you baby, for putting my butt into gear and making me take that plunge that I've been afraid to take for so long.

So check it out.  I've listed about 75% of the items that I have.  I don't know if I want to list the dog sweaters that I have since I don't have dog models of all sizes, and they just aren't as quality as the purses, but for now I feel good about what I've got up there.

I am a little nervous though about my own ability to send things out on time and whether people will actually be happy with what I send them.  But I suppose this is a feeling that all first time business owners/stuff sellers might be worried about...?  Also, I suppose I don't have to worry about that unless I actually sell something, so I should start there for now.

Come on internet!  Sell my stuff!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/MabelMakesThings

Here are some of my favorites: