I Like You (by Sandol Stoddard Warburg)

I Like You (by Sandol Stoddard Warburg)

Someone in my family used this poem in their wedding recently and I really liked it so I thought I would share. 

I like you and I know why.
I like you because you are a good person to like.
I like you because when I tell you something special, you know it's special
And you remember it a long, long time.
You say, "Remember when you told me something special?"
And both of us remember

When I think something is important
you think it's important too
We have good ideas
When I say something funny, you laugh
I think I'm funny and you think I'm funny too
Hah-hah!

I like you because you know where I'm ticklish
And you don't tickle me there except just a little tiny bit sometimes
But if you do, then I know where to tickle you too

You know how to be silly
That's why I like you
Boy are you ever silly
I never met anybody sillier than me till I met you
I like you because you know when it's time to stop being silly
Maybe day after tomorrow
Maybe never
Too late, it's a quarter past silly!

Sometimes we don't say a word
We snurkle under fences
We spy secret places
If I am a goofus on the roofus hollering my head off
You are one too
If I pretend I am drowning, you pretend you are saving me
If I am getting ready to pop a paper bag,
then you are getting ready to jump
HOORAY!

That's because you really like me
You really like me, don't you?
And I really like you back
And you like me back and I like you back
And that's the way we keep on going every day

If you go away, then I go away too
or if I stay home, you send me a postcard
You don't just say "Well see you around sometime, bye"
I like you a lot because of that
If I go away, I send you a postcard too
And I like you because if we go away together
And if we are in Grand Central Station
And if I get lost
Then you are the one that is yelling for me

And I like you because when I am feeling sad
You don't always cheer me up right away
Sometimes it is better to be sad
You can't stand the others being so googly and gaggly every single minute
You want to think about things
It takes time
I like you because if I am mad at you
Then you are mad at me too
It's awful when the other person isn't
They are so nice and hoo-hoo you could just about punch them in the nose

I like you because if I think I am going to throw up
then you are really sorry
You don't just pretend you are busy looking at the birdies and all that
You say, maybe it was something you ate
You say, the same thing happened to me one time
And the same thing did

If you find two four-leaf clovers, you give me one
If I find four, I give you two
If we only find three, we keep on looking
Sometimes we have good luck, and sometimes we don't
If I break my arm, and if you break your arm too
Then it's fun to have a broken arm
I tell you about mine, you tell me about yours
We are both sorry
We write our names and draw pictures
We show everybody and they wish they had a broken arm too

I like you because I don't know why but
Everything that happens is nicer with you
I can't remember when I didn't like you
It must have been lonesome then
I like you because because because
I forget why I like you but I do

So many reasons
On the 4th of July I like you because it's the 4th of July
On the fifth of July, I like you too
If you and I had some drums and some horns and some horses
If we had some hats and some flags and some fire engines
We could be a HOLIDAY
We could be a CELEBRATION
We could be a WHOLE PARADE

See what I mean?
Even if it was the 999th of July
Even if it was August
Even if it was way down at the bottom of November
Even if it was no place particular in January
I would go on choosing you
And you would go on choosing me
Over and over again

That's how it would happen every time
I don't know why
I guess I don't know why I really like you
Why do I like you
I guess I just like you
I guess I just like you because I like you.

My Growing Garden

Despite all of my bug and critter issues, my garden is growing! Here are some pictures I took yesterday.

Little tomatoes

YAY, I see canning in my future!

Onions

Potato, I covered him up after the picture!

Brussels sprouts

Peppers

Cucumbers

Halushki Recipe

Halushki is a cabbage and noodle dish. It is very popular in Slavic and Polish cooking. Every family makes it a little differently. This is my Great Grandma Baba’s recipe that was given to me by my Grandmother Mema - that makes this recipe at least 100 years old, maybe more.  It will always remind me of family events and although some people think that fried cabbage smells funny, to me it smells like home.

Prepare Ahead (If you want to, you can make everything the same day)

1 medium head of cabbage, chopped into small pieces. Fry in skillet with 1 stick of butter covered, until transparent. Remove cover and continue frying until cabbage has become slightly brown then put it in your crockpot. (May be done a few days earlier and kept in the refrigerator until needed).

This is a huge cabbage, look at it compared to the bowl behind it!  Because it was so big I only used half.

4 medium potatoes, peeled and diced into cubes. Cooked until done, I boil them until fork tender (this can also be done early and refrigerated until needed). Add those to the crockpot.

Make day you are serving

Prepare 16oz of Kuluski noodles according to package directions then add them to the crockpot. I cheat sometimes and cook the potatoes and noodles together, they seem to do fine and make fewer dirty dishes, YAY.

These are what I used but you can use the ones that come in a bag dried or make your own!

Brown ½ pound of bacon, drain some of the drippings off but leave at least two tablespoons in the pan. Take bacon out of pan and brown 1 medium onion, chopped. After onion is browned, crumble bacon and add back into the pan.

Mix bacon and onion together then dump the whole thing (including the drippings used to brown the onions) into your crock pot.

Mix together well and add 1 cup of chicken broth and salt and pepper to taste. Cook this mixture on low until ready to serve. Cook at least an hour in the crockpot but can be left on low most of the day if needed. If you will be leaving it in the crockpot for a long time you might need to add more chicken broth.

If you do not have a crockpot you can still make this dish, just combine all of the ingredients in a big pot on the stove and cook it on a low temperature until ready to serve.

Baba's Halushki

1 medium head of cabbage

4 medium potatoes

16oz thick noodles

1 medium onion, chopped

1/2 pound bacon

1 stick butter

1-2 cups chicken broth

Salt and pepper to taste

Crockpot

Prepare Ahead

1 medium head cabbage, chopped into small pieces. Fry in skillet with 1 stick of butter covered, until transparent. Remove cover and continue frying until cabbage has become slightly brown then put it in your crockpot. (May be done a few days earlier and kept in the refrigerator until needed).

4 medium potatoes peeled and diced into cubes. Cooked until done, I boil them until fork tender (this can also be done early and refrigerated until needed). Add those to the crockpot.

Prepare 16oz of Kuluski noodles according to package directions then add them to the crockpot.

Brown ½ pound of bacon drain some of the drippings off but leave at least two table spoons in the pan. Take Bacon out of pan and brown 1 medium onion, chopped. After onion is browned, crumble bacon and add back into the pan.

Mix bacon and onion together then dump the whole thing (including the drippings used to brown the onions) into your crockpot.

Mix together well and add 1 cup of chicken broth and salt and pepper to taste. Cook this mixture on low until ready to serve. Cook at least an hour in the crockpot but can be left on low most of the day if needed. If you will be leaving it in the crockpot for a long time you might need to add more chicken broth. 

 Have you ever had Halushki? Do you like it?

Giving Used Coffee Grounds A Second Life

I drink a lot of coffee... iced coffee to be precise. Not the fluffy blended stuff, just ice, coffee, cream and Splenda.

I use a cold brewing method (which I can talk about another day) and this process leaves me with a lot of used coffee grounds. I hated just throwing them out so I started putting them on my compost pile. That is a great use for them but I wanted to know what else they are good for and to my surprise all kinds of stuff! Here are some ways to give your coffee a second life!

• Put coffee grounds in your compost bin. As noted above, they are a valuable source of nitrogen.
• Create a slug and snail barrier. Coffee grounds are both abrasive and acidic, so a barrier of grounds placed near slug-prone plants may just save them from these garden pests. 
• Deodorizer. Dry them out on a cookie sheet and then put them in a bowl in your refrigerator or freezer, or rub them on your hands to get rid of food prep smells.  
• Dye. By steeping grounds in hot water, you can make brown dye for fabric, paper and even Easter eggs.
• Make homemade tattoos (temporary) with henna and coffee grounds.
• Happy worm home. Keep bait worms alive by mixing coffee grounds into the soil before you add worms.
• Mushrooms. Grow mushrooms on old coffee grounds.
• Ant repellent. Sprinkle coffee grounds near cracks to keep ants at bay.
• Squirrel repellent. Keep squirrels from digging in your beds.
• Dust inhibitor. Before you clean out the fireplace, toss wet coffee grounds over the ashes to keep the ash dust under control.
• Flea dip. Follow up Fido’s shampoo with a coffee ground rub down, working them down to his skin. Not only are the fleas suppose to vamoose, but puppy’s hair will feel soft too.
• Kitty repellent. To keep kitty from using the garden as her personal powder room, sprinkle grounds mixed with orange peels around your plants.
• Cleaning product. As they’re slightly abrasive, grounds can be used as a scouring agent for greasy and grimy stain-resistant objects but be careful if they are white.
• Furniture scratch cover-up. Steep grounds and apply a bit of the liquid to furniture scratches with a Q-tip.

The uses I found that were strange but intriguing…

• Cellulite reducer. Mix 1/4 cup warm, used coffee grounds and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. While standing over an old towel or newspaper, apply the mixture to your "problem areas." Next, wrap the areas with shrink wrap and leave on for several minutes. Unwind the wrap, brush loose grounds off your skin and then shower with warm water. For best results, it is recommended to repeat this procedure twice a week. A little weird to be sure, but as high priced cellulite creams have coffee in them, it just might work.

•  Soften and add shine to hair. When washing your hair, rub coffee grounds through wet hair and rinse. For brown hair, coffee grounds add highlights

• Face mask. Mix coffee grounds with egg whites to make a mask for your face. Slather it on and let it dry then rinse it off with water.

• Carpet Cleaner? Sprinkle them on your carpet and then vacuum up to remove funky odors (I'm not so sure about this one…)

Even something for the kids!

Treasure Stone Craft 

By S herri Osborn About.com Guide

Materials Needed:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup used coffee grounds
• 1/2 cup salt
• 1/4 cup sand
• 1 cup water

Instructions:
Mix all dry ingredients together. Slowly add the water to make a stiff dough; you might end up using only half the water - add it slowly or your dough will be too runny!!

Knead on a floured surface until fairly smooth. Break the dough into desired rock sizes. Hide toys and surprises in the center of a ball of dough. Set in a safe place until totally dry. Atleast 3 - 4 days.

Once it is dry, the dough will look and feel like a rock. You can carefully break open the home-made rocks with a hammer to reveal the hidden treasures inside.

  

Hee hee hee!

 

Homemade Pesto

Homemade pesto is super easy and can be a great gift! Here is a link to the blog were I found the recipe I use: giverslog. She also has great label printouts for the jars. I have a lot of basil in my garden and this is a great use for it but you can always buy basil in big bunches at the store. A little goes along way for me so I keep most of what I make in the freezer. It can keep for up to a year. Here is the recipe

Ingredients
4 cups packed basil leaves
5 cloves garlic
½ cup butter
2 cups Parmesan cheese
Olive oil
A handful of pine nuts or walnuts


Put first four ingredients into the food processor in order given: mash as many basil leaves in as you can, just as long as you leave a few inches of space at the top of the bowl, then add garlic (the Trader Joe’s pre-peeled stuff is great), slice up the butter on top, and dump the cheese on top of that. Pulse and gradually add olive oil until mixture is the consistency of thick paste. Taste it at this point and see if it needs more of anything, I will warn you that tasting pesto strait up from the bowl is a bit much for me, so if you think it tastes very strong don't worry it will mellow when you put it in as an ingredient. Add nuts and continue to blend. Once done, spoon into jars and keep in fridge or freezer until ready to enjoy. Yields about two cups.

Four cups of basil

Into the food processor

The finished product - isn't it pretty!

Bathtub Cleaner Proof!

Hello! I hope that your July is going well, ours is going very quickly! I did a post a few weeks ago about a homemade tub cleaner. Well, I had the opportunity to clean a very dirty tub today so I thought I would post some proof that it really does work!

He who shall remain nameless had to replace the brakes on our family car Sunday night, and that resulted in a very very dirty tub that I did not find until the next morning. Well by that time the oil and brake dust had begun to take up permanent residence and I did not have time to face it until today.

So here we go, the cast of characters

 

Here is what the goop looks like mixed with a little water

Now for the tub....

Sad looking isn't it.... and I had already rinsed it once

Look at all that dirt coming off! 

Here it is with one half scrubbed and the other half not!

This stuff really does work. It only took me about 1/2 an hour to clean the whole thing maybe less and I used about half of the goo. Here is the recipe so you don't have to go searching for it. 

Tub and Tile Cleaner

3/4 cup baking soda
1/4 cup powdered milk
1/8 cup liquid castle soap
5 drops lavender essential oil
Water

 - Recipe from "The Naturally Clean Home"

Combine all ingredients in a container and add enough water to make a paste. It did not take much water so go slow.