Why Bob Cooks

Bob is the main cook in our house, but I was willing to help with dinner. 

He asked me to boil potatoes, then squish them.

(Yes, he says, "squish." No mashing potatoes in this house!)

When I got done, the squished spuds looked nearly normal. A bit shiny, but, hey, they were real, live potatoes!

 But when they were put on a plate, they seemed a bit...sticky.

Where did that come from? They just had the traditional addition of milk/butter before I whipped them.

Uh-oh...whip? That wasn't in the instructions.

 Well, with a solid scoop of spuds, it might make sense that they'd hold together somewhat. Wouldn't it?

But when they're THIS stretchy....ahhh! It's more like eating glued potatoes!

So here's my advice...do not use an emulsion blender to squish potatoes.

Get Bob to do it!

Do you like potatoes?

What's your favorite way to eat them?

One Fancy Truck

When I was a mom of young boys, I went to a used car lot with Bob and told him I really wanted to buy an old white van that had been splatter painted with various colors. Bob had to explain that the van, with its marvelous roomy interior, wasn't really in very good shape, regardless of its party-time paint job.

(I admit, that was the main reason I liked it!)

I found another even fancier vehicle in a parking lot. Take a look at this truck that was backed up to a loading door at a home improvement store!

So, was she going to do the remodeling? 

Or did the guy borrow the girl's truck to pick up the supplies?

This is kind of like using all your nice linen and lacy-edged pillowcases instead of saving them for "best occasions." 

Make everyday your best occasion!

Are you a do-it-yourselfer? Or do you hire your home repair projects out to professionals?

How You Know When You Need To Declutter

Anyone who knows me well enough knows that I'm not a "matchy-matchy" type of person. I don't mind if all the silverware has different patterns, if the plates are various sizes, or if drinks are served in jelly jars, cans, or a once-upon-a-time yogurt container. 

Thus, we have an interesting array of cups in our kitchen (and office, and bedroom.) Since Carolyn works at a thrift store and loves pretty things, we actually have more cups than we need, more than we have hooks for, more than we can use for our table when it folds out to comfortably seat 8 regular-sized people or 14 miniature ones.

I didn't realize how much I didn't like how many cups we had until I tried hanging one up, missed the hook, and dropped it on another cup on the counter, breaking both of them.

I was so happy.

Even while cleaning broken glass off the counter, I was happy.

Even while sweeping and wiping the floor to catch any stray glass shards, I was happy! Two fewer cups to deal with.

Yep. It was prime time to declutter.

Is it easy for you to throw stuff away? Or do you prefer to hang onto things?

Animals, Animals!

Carolyn and I had fun at the Scandinavian Festival! The town of Ephraim, Utah, gets so immersed in the Scandinavian culture on Memorial Day weekend that even the dinosaur at the Sinclair station wore a Viking hat.

This Great Dane walking around the booths was a bit too friendly, pushing his nose up into Carolyn's face. She didn't hold it against him, though, and still followed through on the owner's permission to pet the Very Tall Dog.

This monkey logo signaled Carolyn's favorite food...well, one of her favorites. There's always chocolate, but she chose a cool, sweet pineapple float.

Carolyn was very impressed when the owner of this animal identified it as a wolf.

We appreciate that Carolyn is always nice to our pets. I think she might have learned that trait from our father, who was a veterinarian, but it might just be her nature.

How about you? Are you a pet person?