My Hack was featured

My shower corner rack was featured today on Ikea Hacker!

Neat Garden Gifts

At times I think they see me coming... I was looking at Clean Air Gardening site, hoping to find something different to give as a wedding present this June, and of course instead of buying said present I bought myself something--- A Tomato Grow Bucket and a Window Garden set.
The Tomato Grow Bucket
Here is what Clean Air says about it:

"Tomatoes are one of the easiest plants to grow, and they yield massive amounts of fruit. The Beefsteak is one of the biggest tomatoes out there - it's a juicy variety that you rarely find at the supermarket because factory farms prefer smaller, tougher skinned fruit. That's a shame, because beefsteak tomatoes are great salad or hamburger toppers, with big, thick, juicy slices the size and color of a steak. If you want a Southern Style BLT, you need Beefsteak tomatoes for the full taste.

The kit includes Beefsteak Tomato seeds, a galvanized steel bucket, row marker, soil, shovel, and a rake."

And here is what they say about the Window Garden Kit

"Now you can have your own self contained organic window garden with these fun window gardening kits. They make window gardening easy, because everything is included that you need to get started growing. All you have to do is add water.

Each set includes four window garden cans. You can choose one of each, or four of the same product, or however you'd like. The herb mix is a blend of Basil, Dill, and Parsley.

If you leave it blank, we will send you one of each product.

Everything is included in this exclusive garden kit, including seeds, enriched growing mix & nutrients and this leak-proof growing container. Just add water and sunlight to enjoy."

Now of course, I know what y'all are thinking. He is going to give it to his mom. I ain't buying that old woman nuthin'! Not garden related anyway. No. These are for me!!! I am hoping to find out if they are easily made- in other words Steal Clean Air's idea!!! I am always in the market for a knock off!

Easy Shrimp Po' Boys

I just love Shrimp Po' Boys, I would eat them daily if I could. Out here they are available at the Tin Room Bar- If only they were easier to make. Well now they are! I adapted one of Rachel Ray's Recipes for a simpler, "semi-Homemade" version of a Shrimp Po' Boy. The end result is it tastes great and is easier to make!

Shrimp Po' Boy Sandwich
This is an easy take on the Shrimp Po' Boy. One of my favorite sandwiches.
What you need:
1 Package frozen breaded shrimp (optional)
1 tomato, sliced
1/2 head of lettuce shredded
2 Hoagy Rolls
1 tablespoon of Mustard
1 tablespoon mayonaisse
1 tablespoon of honey or agave nectar

The reason the breaded shrimp is optional is some prefer to do all that work themselves. There is a recipe for that here. Otherwise hush up about it and follow along...
Prepare the breaded shrimp per the instructions (I prefer Trader Joe's Breaded Shrimp simply because there are no tails; that and it cooks up nice in the oven, otherwise I use Gorton's Popcorn shrimp). Slice the tomato, shred the lettuce. Prepare the dressing- mix the Mustard, mayo and the honey/agave nectar. Now assemble the sandwich as follows- A layer of tomato, a layer of lettuce, a layer of shrimp, and dabble on the dressing. Eat and enjoy!

Lucky Bamboo

I was at Ikea and discovered these lucky bamboo plants. I have seen these at import stores in Seattle's International district, and the Great Wall Shopping Center near work. After reading up on them and discovering they are actually a Lily (botanical name: Dracaena) and they grow in the dark, tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia and Africa, do not like direct sun making them perfect in my new studio_ which only has a north facing window. I took a square shaped vase I had around here and filled it with "craft rocks" that I had bought for another project. Then just filled the pot with water. So simple and easy.
I only party down with the best at:

Recycling Christmas Lights

I was perusing the internet and found one of my own groups has a thing about recycling christmas lights! (I really need to make the meetings more often!) This is great for those old light strings
From the Sustainable Burien website:

"You can easily recycle burned out Christmas lights. Flemings Holiday Lighting is running a program to collect strings of Christmas lights and have the copper salvaged. Last year they collected over 8,000 pounds of lights and donated over $5,000 to the Moyer Foundation and Project Kids Art. Check their web site [page down to the section on Recycling Christmas Lights] for locations to drop off lights.

For 2010 we have the ambitious goal to collect 20,000+ pounds of lighting strands. With additional site locations, extended collection periods, and increased media coverage we are anticipating an even more successful endeavor for the 2010 event. Pass the word to family and friends to save those unusable or unwanted lights and donate to our “Recycle Lights for Charity” drive."

Checking out the Fleming's Holiday Lighting page, they are a local business here in the Seattle/Puget Sound area that actually does holiday lighting displays, and they have come up with a unique recycling opportunity for charity.

Potato Condo News

I'm not the crazed veggie gardener y'all think I am. I couple of years ago I built my first potato condo, on an idea from the shiba guyz. So really it is their idea, not mine. Any way, I just received my Irish Eyes seed catalog, and on page 17, there was my potato condo. It is also online with great instructions as how to make your own. The only difference I can see between mine and theirs is they use a soaker hose coiled up in the condo/planter, and I never saw the need as it doesn't get scorching hot here. But it is something I will try in mine this year. P.S. My potato condo has a new resident, I am growing rhubarb in it now, but will make a new condo!

No End to What they try to shove in me!

That title says it all. I am going to have to go under two medical procedures in the next two months... A tooth implant and a colonoscopy. There are no ends to the amount of things they are going to try to insert into my body. The tooth implant is to replace a missing tooth, that I lost while eating a hot dog. Damn hot dogs. The will have to first insert a threaded cylinder that will act as root for my "bionic" tooth. That sounds like so much fun.


Then in early March I am going to have a colonoscopy. The send what I call a "sea-snake" up my rectum, just short of Bellingham. And the doctor doesn't even take me out to dinner first. In fact he wrote me a prescription to give me violent diarrhea the night before. And my pre-op instructions state I can only have a clear diet of broth and jello- except no red jello (WTF? the only good flavors of Jello are Red ones) Sounds like a real nice two days. Any-hoo, If some of my future posts seem a little hard to follow, (more than usual)that is because I am on drugs. Trying to heal my sore gum and my sore butthole.