A Mish-Mash

I've planned my post several times in my head, but then some gets added, some subtracted. Like my brain, it's going to be a mish-mash today.

Here's some MASH - I made some homemade Pesto last night in my Magic Bullet. The Pesto I made with crisp, fresh basil leaves (from my dear friend Amalia's garden), pine nuts and extra virgin olive oil and a single clove of fresh garlic - and pepper (I'm a pepper-a-holic) I will add parmesan cheese onto whatever dish I make so won't add it into this mixture. As you can see, making it at home lends a deep, rich colour and texture. This stuff keeps VERY well in the fridge!

The Magic Bullet was a gift from my Mother in Law. I'd put a bug in her ear a while back that I'd love to find one. She's my buyer for all things for the household as she has a lot more yard-sale potential than I do. She lives in a city, I a smaller community. She found one in almost new condition for $10. Woo-hoo, loving it! She also found me a hand mixer for $2 as my old one had burnt out.

So, I've been whipping up iced coffees and smoothies in my Bullet. Have YOU a bullet? What are your favorite recipes? Unfortunately mine was missing the official recipe book. And drying apricots as we've been given a batch of very ripe ones.

And dealing with the smoke in the area. There are fires burning all over British Columbia. The nearest to us currently burning is about about 1 - 2 hours north.

I took this photo yesterday at the viewpoint just outside Penticton (1 hour north of us) If you lived here you would know that what we SHOULD be seeing is the blue blue lake and the airport at the end! The Snowbird airplanes (famous Canadian Air Team) are supposed to be performing today and tomorrow but I'm wondering if they will be able to in this smoke! Please pray for all the people who are being evacuated due to the fires, and the firefighters who put their lives on the line to keep us all safe! You can learn more about the fires in our area by visiting www.chbc.com

Well, I have a TON more I could write about but I will draw a line here so I can get attack some chores on my to-do list and also save some content for my upcoming posts.

One of these chores today was cleaning the bathroom. I'll share a time-saver with you. If you are experiencing a heat-wave as we are, when you come out of the bath... DON'T dry off! Grab a clean dry rag and wipe down all the faucets and tub. Give your bathroom a good once over with the dry cloth for most things works great. The mirrors come shiny without any detergent! You can use cleaners on the areas that require it (toilet) if you feel inclined to do so. Set the waste basket outside the bathroom for emptying. Give a quick wipe to the floors with your cloth after rinsing on the way out. By the time YOU dry off (naturally) your bathroom will be sparkling and you won't have to set aside a time in your week to do this. Children can be trained to wipe the faucets and mirrors at least - thus your bathroom will be mostly clean when you have company drop in unexpectedly, plus it teaches them to clean up after theirselves - skills they need to learn when they go to live on their own and don't have a mom picking up after them.

And now, a word for a few friend's who have "happnin's" on their blogs:

JanMary has a contest going on and besides enjoying her always interesting blog content, you might win a prize. I won't do a 'spoiler' here - you g'wan over and check it for yourself! Just click on JanMary's blog image:

AmyW has some wonderful new products for sale - and a FREE sweet add on for downloa as well. Click on her blog image to visit!

And KimB has been celebrating again - sheesh, I'm too old for that sort of entertaining - LOL! She's also featuring loads of new product - CU items which are a must have! Also with links to some FREE QP'S and a download of her own as well. Click the graphic to go!

And last - but certainly not least, my own little gift for you. I made these sheep a while ago and I THINK I have not posted them before. At any rate here they are again, for your personal use. They measure about 6 inches - 300 dpi in png format. Click the preview to download.