Bye, Bye, Miss American Pie. The Day the Blender Died.

Reminder about my Pinterest page. I now have almost 9,300 images on there that you won't see on here for a long time. Also, a reminder about the giveaway I'm going to have. It'll be on 6/12 so be sure and be here to check it out.
*

This is a long post so be prepared.

Some people who read my laundry post emailed me with a homemade detergent recipe. I had read blogs extolling its frugality and effectiveness, but I'm lazy and didn't want to make it. Not all that stuff works well for some of us. Plus I have a year's supply of Tide. But, hey, I'm game to try it out if so many of you see results. So onto the shopping list went Fels Naptha, Washing Soda and 20 Mule Team borax. Hubs wondered why in the world it was on our shopping list and I told him and he remembered his mother using Fels Naptha and I remembered the same about my grandmother slicing it up into her round ringer washer and me helping her with it, so he was game for it. (Any conversation of this sort fondly recalls memories from his childhood and I have to listen to—get the pleasure of hearing him tell me the stories. That should have been my first clue. ;-)

So on one of our twice weekly visits to Wal Mart the items were purchased. I also read the instructions from one particular blogger that said it works really great and it was cheap. Cheap never enters into my shopping decisions. I've been thwarted more than a few times; no, make that more than a lot of times. I simply don't care if something is cheap or not if I want it. I know some of you understand that. Of course, I always watch the circular that a store here in town sends us for Pepsi so I can get 4 cases for the price of 3 cases. Other than that I don't care.

So I pulled out my blender to use as I don't use it much at all anymore. In fact, it's in a closet in our 4th bedroom. I use a food processor now for all things I have to make/cook. This is in lieu of eating out, which I prefer above all. Need I say more? No!

I cut the chunks into small pieces after setting the blender up. I took off the cap in the lid to drop small chunks in. Well, it went flying all over the kitchen. I immediately stopped. If you look very closely at the buttons, between the last white button on the left and the 14 Speed Blender on the right side, you'll still see bits of Fels Naptha. It was a mess, so I had to stop and clean up a bit.

At that point, I'd stop the blender when I dropped a new chunk in, put the cap back on and blended again. We're talking soap here so it was a bit waxy/clingy. That's when the blender started smoking—big time. I thought my kitchen was going up in flames. That brought about the ambivalent feeling of "do I let it happen and eat out for weeks" or "should I try to put out the fire and cook for the rest of my life." I had to stop and think about that one. Saving my house and the embarrassment of explaining to the firemen was the biggest consideration. (I've already had the police here with our security alarm going off and me not remembering the code or contact person. The policeman told me that's one and I only get 3 of these alerts before they start charging me for trips to my home. Sigh. But that's another story that I've probably posted about before on here and can't remember at this point.)

I then poured the 2 cups of the other 2 products into a bowl and emptied the blender stuff into it. I'd forgotten the smell of Fels Naptha from my youth. It isn't bad; it just isn't Tide's smell. I could get used to it I suppose. But it didn't blend as well as the instructions said it would. If I ever do this again—and that's pretty iffy at this point—I'll grate it with my grater that I was afraid I'd thrown out but found later in the day. (Due to the availability of cole slaw already chopped at the stores now, I refuse to grate another cabbage! In fact, most times I'll even buy the salad greens already chopped in their neat little bags. I'm all for someone else doing it for me.)

I'll let you know after a few times of washing how it does. I guess putting in the fabric softener will dull the smell a bit. The nice blogger said she'd gotten used to the smell. I doubt I could because I'm such a fanatic about good smells, especially in my home.
*

Now, onto the second item of business here.

When we moved into this new house, there was a large mirror over our double sinks in our bathroom. I thought we needed more shelving over our sinks before we needed a huge mirror. So we took it down, gave it away and put in 2 medicine, or in my case, makeup chests instead. It worked fine but now I thought we needed more shelves in there as my counter was becoming crowded. I then saw this photo on the internet and asked him to make me one. That was a marriage-killer right there, let me tell you.

  My hubby has to get it perfect or try. It is NOT perfect but you'll see the photo down among the flowers below here. He drove me nuts. I wanted 4 shelves but he said he couldn't do it with our ceiling height and the light bar over our sinks. Fine. Adjust it. Then he had to go shopping for special lumber. Heaven forbid, he doesn't have we'll-use-this-sometime-in-the-future-lumber out in the garage or his shed. But off to Home Depot he went.

I wanted bars across it to hold items better. I didn't get them as he said it wasn't high enough between shelves to lift a bottle up and get it out. Then he wanted to spray paint it after he assembled it. I told him it would be easier to paint before assembling but he's his own man and did it his way. Is it perfect? No. But it's definitely better than having 3 mismatched shelves in that space, plus there's more surface to put things on.

I wanted them done in a timely manner. Riiiight. That'll never happen around here as he's involved in too many things. So my makeup and few random items sat on the countertop for several days before I made a deal with him. I offered to do a task for him one night while he installed the shelving. I have to say it's not what I expected but it'll do fine. He's such a good husband that I don't want to burst his bubble. And he is going to do a perfume shelf for me in our bedroom. That will have the cross-bar to keep my plethora of perfumes from falling. I've just about destroyed my dresser top from spilling perfumes and oils on top of it. I'd redo it but I just don't have the energy and it would take a lot to haul it outside to refinish and that's not going to happen—due to the energy problem, mine, not our natural resources.

This is the blender sitting on a small freezer in our garage. I put it there so the garbage can wouldn't catch fire as it was still smoking. He just happened to be walking in as I was taking the blender out to the garage. I told him what happened. He didn't even flinch. He knows me too well.

*

This is the first peony of the season. Hubs sure can grow beautiful flowers.

One of our rose bushes. Sorry, he hasn't had time to weed them yet.

Another gorgeous rose. I usually only buy David Austin roses. They're very fragrant smelling and have performed magnificently for us in this hot summer desert.

It's very hard to have a favorite but this one is at the top of the list. Perhaps that's because I love pink and yellow above all other color combinations.

This is the shelf hubs made. Sigh. It actually looks pretty good there between the 2 medicine chests. We could only go so far in the width but lower than the 3 mismatched shelves we had there before. Plus the shelves are deeper so that worked out even better. You can see the birdcage I have hanging over our garden tub also.

Another peony, different day.

This is the little tin that I put the washing detergent in. I'll be sure and let you know how it works after several wash loads.

I'm rather chatty today, but this gorgeous blue in this hydrangea reminds me of a color of Jantzen sweaters that was called French Blue back in the late 50s and early 60s. I longed for a Jantzen sweater that other classmates had before I got mine. I didn't wish for much and rarely bared my feeling to my parents. I don't know why I didn't get one for a long time but when I did, it was a double-breasted cardigan in this color. It was gorgeous. I loved it. When I think about those lustings back in my teenage years, I have to chuckle. I am rarely envious of anything anymore that someone else has. Oh, I see the beauty in some things but I'm just glad I'm this old and alive, have beautiful kids, grandkids and gorgeous great granddaughters. I am truly blessed in this life.

I think this is a gorgeous home. I don't lust for it but I doubt I'd have turned it down when I was younger. Now? Too much yard and too many levels.

A delightful kitchen in aqua and white.

A shop somewhere that I'd love to go visit. I see a couple of things that tweak my interest.

Same with this shop. Notice the beautiful French doors to the entrance and the molding on that doorway. I could probably spend a long while in this shop.

A cheery dining room with a vintage table, chairs and red roses on the curtains. I like this room a lot.

Oooooh, I don't know where to begin on this porch. I want mine to be this pretty and relaxing. I say every year I'm going to do something with ours but I haven't so far. Maybe this will be the year I succumb to those desires and get my bum off the sofa and do something with our large porch. :-)

*

Tidbit:
 I've always been interested in English since an early age. I loved English and majored in it in college. But I'm always seeking out the abuses of our language. That's why I find these little tidbits to pass on to you. I'm forever correcting someone's English and grammar, whether written or verbal. Sigh. It's a tough job but someone has to do it. Right, Claudia? ;-)

Just Deserts:
The phrase has its origins in the obsolete word 'desert', meaning that which one deserves. In use since at least the 1300s, it is commonly seen in print as just desserts, as in the sweet final course of a meal. It is pronounced this way, but the spelling is incorrect.
~*~ 
Linking up with Pink Saturday, NMH
and SSS.