Yeah, thanks for that, people who told me wow you're not even that tan! when I got back from vacation.
I mean, yes, I take the sunscreen pretty seriously and did have something of a girly hissy when my legs raised a pinkish hue after a morning of paddling despite my SPF 45 (Neutrogena - you are no match for the Pacific), but I don't really want to come home from a Hawaiian vacay to be told that it doesn't look like I've left my living room in a week.
Makes a girl feel a touch sad, you know?
Not that I am sad, mind you, because I didn't sit in my living room all week. Unless you consider this patio my living room, and based on the amount of time I spent sitting there with a stack of books and a bottomless G&T, I suppose it could be.
Anyway, Maui was grand, as you might imagine, and I won't bore you with the expected vacation recounting minutia beyond the following:
Beach
Swimming in the sea
Kayaking
Drinking
Killing coconuts
Cooking
*censored*
Riding inanimate objects during moments of questionable sobriety
Eating
Hangover at the airport
Birthday
There you have it.
Though I will expand briefly on that last point if only to show you one of the awesome birthday gifts bestowed upon me by my beloved:
What? You can't determine from this photo the birthday gift to which I refer?
Well, it's not the obviously awesome potting bench repurposed from our discarded kitchen cabinets, because that was a birthday present a few years ago.
And it's not the also awesome gardening organizer hanging over the potting bench because that was a gift from Donk for a previous holiday. (Thanks, Donk! I love it!)
And you know it's not the breaker box because, you know, that makes no sense.
HINT: It's the chest freezer.
YES!
Yes. And I'll admit that this was a pre-agreed upon item so don't get all oh my god Bubba is so busted right now for giving a gift only acceptable in the '50s because I was and am all about this thing.
This thing that will let me store every last tomato that comes off the plants that went HOG FUCKING WILD while we were out of town. And the split-half of beef we have coming from the local ranch. And the gallons (yes. gallons.) of blackberries I haul home from my parents' every time we go up there. And holiday baked goods. And and and...
Well, I've wanted a chest freezer for some time. Ever since Bubba quietly mentioned that it might be a possibility and then definitely after I visited my sister and saw hers and just knew I needed one, too.
We're like that in our family - all derivative in the ways of household appliances.
And also it's more fun to pack bags of tomatoes into a freezer during the sweaty hot months of August and September than it is to stand over, say, a giant boiling pot of water for an entire day while watching the boob sweat expand to cover my entire body.
Not that I'll stop canning - oh no, I still have plans for a pressure canner for all those peppers - but now I can bring my stress level down a notch and maybe fend of the end of season Psycho Wife Shitstorm that occurs when I realize I have exactly 1 free hour on the weekend during which I need to can many tens of pounds of tomatoes.
It is not pretty, is what I'm saying, and I'm sure our lives would be better off without it. Poor Bubba, he hides.
So - Yay for the chest freezer! And also for the other fabulous gift Bubba gave me which I'm sure I'll bitch about right here for you all to see as soon as I can figure out how to get it working.
And by it I mean this Garmin GPS watch.
I plan to take it out for a test drive during tomorrow's run, so you know, tomorrow's Craft: along post might be interrupted with my cries for help and/or my farewells as I transport myself into a parallel universe by touching the bezel in an unapproved manner.
All told though - great birthday, awesome vacation, no sunburn.
Peppers freeze well. I freeze a peck every fall when I can get lots of seconds for cheap.
ReplyDeleteWell, they freeze well for cooking with--they'll never be as crisp as a fresh pepper after they've thawed, obviously, but then, neither are canned ones.
Yay sis on the freezer! I just stocked mine with bright orange peach slices we picked from trees at a peach farm in Oregon! Freezing is the best. And a birthday gift that just keeps on giving. xoxo--
ReplyDeleteI'm in the market for a freezer. What kind did you get? And why chest instead of upright?
ReplyDeleteI'm so freakin' jealous of your chest freezer I just went and dropped une petit hint in Hubband's ear. Not like we have one square inch to put the bitch and we live in AZ so the back porch isn't an option. But congrats and know every time you open it that the sound of the seal being broken is me saying, "I covet this appliance"
ReplyDeleteKris - You know, I froze some last year and they turned out fine. So, maybe I'll have to revert to that again this year. It is, like, way easier and everything.
ReplyDeleteTravel Monkey - Totally a gift that keeps on giving! Until I fill it, of course. I came home tonight and moved all the blackberries over with a huge bag of green beans, frozen pumpkin from last season and all kinds of crap. Still - SO much more room. I love it!
Knittah - It's a Kenmore 7 cu. ft. deal. Nothing fancy. I think it was about $200 at Sears. I don't know why chest instead of upright - I guess it's just what I thought made most sense for the space.
Gregarious - You bet your ass I'll be thinking that. I had a nice convo with it tonight when I moved the ice cream maker bucket out there. Sweet mother that thing is a pain in my ass in the freezer inside, but makes not a dent in the chestie. Too awesome. Make a louder hint. You know it's worth it.
FABULOUS! Now you have a freezer to go hog wild on anything! Things from the garden. Stuff on sale. Discards from other people when they have too much. It's wonderful!
ReplyDeleteGirl, I am with you all the way on that chest freezer. We have one in the basement that we call The Bat Freezer (it's black - who knew that appliances were cheaper in black?). We just took out all the shit we've been squirreling in it all summer and, gulp, inventoried it (nerd alert) so that we will remember to eat it all up by next year. So flippin' easy, the freezing...
ReplyDeleteSounds like you had a great time on vacation. And, great planning with a birthday vacation.
ReplyDeleteOne year Joe bought me a freezer for Christmas. I didn't complain, because I wanted/needed one then. But I need a bigger one now. At the time I only had three kids. And it's kind of too small for us now. (And I want an upright. I have bad images of kids falling into chest freezers and getting trapped. That was a warning from my mother during my childhood.)
And the Garmin? Jealous. I want one. I have been slightly petitioning for one for a few months now. My 40th is coming up soon and I'd love one then. :-) But, I'll try not to get my hopes up too much.
Happy birthday! Your vacation (and no sunburn) and gifts are awesome. The freezer will come in handy for all your gardening and kitchen goodies, and the GPS watch will be super helpful on your runs. Now I have to pop over and read about the watch as I've been thinking about one myself, not for running but for my hikes.
ReplyDeleteoh man, sea kayaking, drinking, eating and birthdays? BEST WEEK EVER.
ReplyDeleteLove the freezer. You are going to officially have to rename your home the homestead.
That all sounds so very good: excellent vacation, just the right amount of tan (barest trace), and a fabulous gift! I've been lobbying for a freezer for one year; I'm *this* close now. Oh, the baking I could do, if only I had somewhere to store it. You lucky woman!
ReplyDeleteI adore our extra freezer, though it's an upright, not a chest.
ReplyDeleteI will not, unfortunately, be freezing any tomatoes because our plants have produced exactly 5 all season.
I guess I need to head over to your produce tracker and live vicariously.
Happy Belated! Looks like you had a fantastic vacation!
ReplyDeletePlease give hints on how you freeze the tomatoes and green beans!!! I froze some green beans and broccoli before I went on vacation and they definitely don't have the same taste/texture as when they were fresh. Is there a secret that I don't know???? I spread them out on a cookie sheet in the freezer and then dumped them into ziplock bag. Maybe I should have thawed them before steaming? And since I plan on *lot's* of tomatoes next year......
Yay, you are back! I was getting sad without my regular Finny reading material...
ReplyDeleteThat Bubba's an awesome guy! Nothing better than practical gifts I say. You're going to love that freezer. Happy Belated Birthday Ms. Finny!!!
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to hate you for your vacationS (yes that S was capitalized!) when you get excited about appliances like I do.
ReplyDeleteSo I may not have gone further than a 3-day trip to CT, but I have the EXACT SAME freezer as you so there's that.
Happy birthday Finny!
ReplyDeleteHow is your corn? Will it go into your awesome freezer too? I thought of it when we drove from Monterey to SF recently . . is that weird?
Someday, I too, would love me a freezer. And I think chest instead of upright. With a lock or something so no children or cats fall in.
Glad you had such a good vacation.
o.k. (venting).. I agree... I was on holidays for two weeks in June, and ppl said to me when I got back "you don't look that tanned".... wtf?? ppl should never speak those words haha. ANYWAYS! now that I got that out... Glad you had a great trip :) and happy belated birthday, my dear!
ReplyDelete