The Weight of Thought and Other Curiosities

Viewed 100 feet from my house:  person rigorously washing their car in the rain.  Pressure hose on giant gas guzzling truck.    Funny thing about rain is that it actually will clean your car for you if you simply leave your car out in it for a few hours.  Here in the Pacific Northwest there are plenty of opportunities to let nature do your work for you.  My next thought was, going by local averages, this same person most likely has 3.5 children and I'm wondering where she thinks drinking water is going to come from for her children and their children?

Why are people so obsessed with having clean cars anyway?  I never admired anyone more for having a clean car.  Sometimes I think that if people spent more time caring for themselves than for their cars we'd all be better off.

The giant pick up trucks in my area, the vast numbers of them; trucks so tall and wide you can't see around them, are a constant insult to all of us and the future of human beings.  They seem to be a testament to our willful blindness and waste.

My mother got me a copy of a little book about making mustard.  This may seem like a colossal non-sequitor but in the way that all thoughts have connections to each other like umbilical cords, it's related completely.  I didn't start off as a mustard fan.  It wasn't until my friend Chelsea taught me to make my own mustard vinaigrette that I began to value its flavor and its gift to food.  I don't like hot mustards though.  I'm not a big Dijon mustard fan.  I like stone-ground brown "spicy" mustard.  I like "Gulden's" to be exact.  I go through a lot of it because not only do I use it in my vinaigrette, I also use it in my mustard lentils, a staple at our house. 

It bothers me that I go through so many bottles of it.  It only comes in small plastic bottles.  I can't even buy it in bulk.  I see the bottles pile up and it makes me crazy that I haven't had the information available to make my own version of it.  When I made mustard before it was way too spicy.

It's amazing what a little reference book can do for you.  I know why it was too spicy now and I'm going to make my own again.  Huge batches of it.  The trick is to let it age on the pantry shelf until it reaches the mildness you desire.  The minute it gets to be exactly how you want it you put it in the fridge to retard the mellowing process.

I don't have the equipment to make the stone ground version but I can at least make a tangy cousin to it from mustard powder which is a combination of brown and yellow mustard seeds.

This will save me a) money and b) keep anywhere from 30 to 50 plastic bottles from entering my house and hitting my recycling bin.   I'm very excited to finally have the necessary information.  There is one other mustard making book out there (it is insane that there are only two) that I want to have on my reference bookshelf.

The other book my mom got me for my birthday is called "jam it, pickle it, cure it" by Karen Solomon.  I collect preserving books.  This one has some good looking recipes in it.  But seeing (again) a recipe for marshmallows,  I have to ask...why are we using corn syrup to make them?

Why not sugar syrup?  I refuse to use corn syrup.  Ever.  Corn syrup is simply a cheap alternative to sugar syrup...aside from that (and the monetary advantage is not shared with consumers buying bottles of corn syrup which is actually more expensive than making sugar syrup for the home cook) why are we using it?  I'm assuming (possibly wrongly) that when marshmallows were originally invented they didn't use corn syrup.  I think I'll have to research this.

Why object so fiercely to a little use of corn syrup?  Many many reasons come to mind but the one that concerns me the most is that it is made with GMO corn.  GMO's are evil.

I do mean that.  You can disagree and I invite you to feed your family nothing but GMO if you are so confident that they are healthy and safe.  I'm not going to back down on this one ever.

Composting toilets are illegal in Oregon.

So are grey-water systems.

This is so twisted and wrong. 

I'm interested in having both at my house.

I am still totally tripped out that I can't buy vodka on Sundays in Oregon.

It seems I only think about making vanilla extract on Sundays.

My kitchen and spice shelves are due for a huge overhaul.  I'd really like to buy two cases of swing top jars (the only kind I've found reliably keep pantry pests out of my dried and stored goods) but since I can't do that, at least I can transfer many things into glass cracker jars that I acquired for the Dustpan Alley store and that are now in my garage being useless. 

I bought an armchair for myself yesterday at the Habitat for Humanity Restore for $30.  We are a family of chair people.  We each need our own chair.  Max stole mine and I need one.  Must have my own chair.  I don't like the color of the one I bought but it's solidly built and in good shape and has a pleasing size and pleasing lines to it.  It's simple.  I talked the lady down from $40.  If you knew how much I dread and desperately avoid any kind of bargaining you would understand what a huge bit of bravery that was for me. 

It was an extravagant expenditure for us right now, but I sold a bag last week to my blog friend (and fabulous photographer) Allison so I feel like I'm covered.

I'm trying to work out my deluxe emergency sewing kit design.  I have all the components but haven't worked out how I'm going to put them together.  This will be for my Etsy shop.  My mom pointed out that you can buy travel/emergency sewing kits for $3, why would I make an expensive one?  I'll tell you why.  The thread in those kits has the tensile strength of drool, the pins are as sharp as wax points, and the snippers are capable of cutting only air.  Every person should have an emergency sewing kit that they can rely on to hold a button on a pair of jeans.  That they can count on to provide them with needles that are sharp enough to go through two layers of prom dress disaster.    I have used those cheap mending kits before and they truly deeply suck.

I am going to make one that will actually be useful.  More expensive, yes.  Perfect for giving as housewarming gifts.  I'm very excited.  Product design always gets my blood pumping.  I'm so excited about the burlap bags it made my whole week!  I've got more in the pipeline.  But I think of all these household items people should have and which should be good quality.  I may not sell much from my Etsy shop* but it is a matter of pride to design and put gorgeous, sturdy, useful things in it.  Things that I, myself, need in my own house!

Other things that I used to think were silly I actually see a reason for now, such as garment covers.  I have some wonderful vintage and homemade garments in my closet that I can't wear (and haven't been able to for a while) and that are collecting dust.  I used to think it was a ridiculous obsessive thing to put garments in bags or put protective covers over their  shoulders, but now I understand why.  If you want to preserve clothes long term, you don't want dust settling into the fibers.   I think that as our country continues to throttle itself into deep poverty we're all going to start insisting that the things we buy last longer and aside from demanding better quality, we will need to relearn the art of taking care of the things we have so that they last a lot longer.

All the things in my shop I hope to translate into diy tutorials for Stitch and Boots.  So that you can all make them for yourselves if you like. 

Life is good.  I'm going to go clean my kitchen and make some breakfast for my mom and I.  Then I will attend to my disastrous messy cupboards and clean it up.  Followed by baking some crackers I hope Max will like.  Oh!  And make my mom a knitting bag...

I better get cracking!  I hope you all have a great Sunday and that your thoughts lead you to 




*Yet every single order that my friends and acquaintances have placed has provided me with comfort and relief during tough moments.  I've been stockpiling payments now as an emergency fund.  So though it's not like I'm making a ton of sales, every single one has been deeply appreciated!  Thank you!