We Came, We Saw, We Tackled

Today being Tackle-it Tuesday, I had plans. Big plans. But my oldest son, being the thoughtful kinda guy he is, decided the night before that he was WAY too tired to do the dishes. This is what I woke up to this morning.

Yes folks, that is ONE day's worth of dishes in the Ross household. Not even a day's worth, since the dishwasher from 1974 is 2/3 full. I might add that I also have deep-bowl sinks.

So the first thing I got to tackle this morning, was the kitchen. Forty-five minutes later, I had done all the big dishes by hand and put them away, all but the one cast-iron skillet. Filled the rest of the dishwasher and run it. Cleaned both sinks and the countertop. Filled a sink with soapy water to soak small bits that could wait for the next dishwasher load. Cleaned the burner supports and stove top. It looked like this.

(By the way, yes, my cabinet doors are missing, because I am whitewashing the oak. Ditto the lower cabinets, where I tested only one drawerfront. And the ugly B/W tile countertops are little by little being replaced by stylish travertine tile. Stay tuned.)

Beverly and I made homemade Sour Cream Blueberry Muffins (recipe at end of post). While I was putting the muffins in the oven, she picked up the stirring spatula, licked it, and said, "Mmmm! Dish-us!" Cute.

The next Tackle-it that greeted me was the sight of the rest of the unfolded laundry from yesterday. I might say, most of the laundry from yesterday, since I got a late start on my Monday Laundry Madness. After this pic I actually added 2 more loads to fold, which were out by the dryer.

At some point, I had to stop folding and run after car and motorcycle parts that were ordered last week and finally came in. We also went to a big-box warehouse for olive oil for Richard's soaps and ate a pizza while there. When we got home, Artemas spread a slice of Meat Lover's pizza with marshmallow and Raisinettes, for a snack. Disgusting! What a teenage boy won't eat is a short list, I'll tell ya.

So after dinner and a nice ride in the car, I finished folding the clothes. Once again, relief. Here is Beverly, "helping." Some lot of help too. I do have a load of stored baby clothes to wash for the big yard sale Des and I are going to have the Fri. and Sat. after July 4th weekend. But other than that, no more laundry for the week. Yee-haw!

I have a pic to show. I did a couple new yarns in the last couple days, for my My7kids Recycled Yarns. One of them sold in less than 24 hours, and I have recreated it and relisted it. Here is a B's Eye View of the other one, being reskeined to mix the colors.


One last Tackle-it! I am in a Mini Quilt Swap that is due in a couple weeks. The lady I am assigned to likes wild animal prints and Africana, also traditional quilt patterns and Kaleidoscope. The Kaleidoscope block is rather challenging because of the many pieces that meet in the center. I have cut the pattern down to a 4" finished block. On the left here are my fabric selections this morning.

On the right, are the fabrics tonight, cut into 300 little bitty pieces, which will make a 20" square "field" for the quilt top. The wavy-lined piece will be a little border around the quilt. I haven't decided yet what piece the backing will be, though I have two in the running.

Alright, muffins! These are SO good! And blueberries are in season in most of the USA right now, so take advantage of them!

Recipe makes 12 decent sized standard muffins, or 6-8 Jumbo muffins, or about 18 mini muffins. They freeze well, too, so if you are single or your family is small, make a batch anyway. Freeze them, get one out in the morning for a morning-commute breakfast that will make your fellow mass-transit travelers absolutely jealous! MUCH better than any overpriced thing out of the case at Starbucks... and a great way to economize, too!

Preheat oven to 400 F. Grease muffin pans or use paper cups. Make sure rack is in the top 1/3 of the oven.

Sour Cream Blueberry Muffins

1 Cup Sour Cream (we use Lowfat) (Yogurt would do too)
2 large chicken eggs or 1 duck egg
1/3 cup (5.6 T) butter
1 cup sugar
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2 Cups unbleached flour, divided (1 Cup + 1 Cup)
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
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1 Pint fresh or frozen blueberries or 1/2 cup dried blueberries

Mix all the sloppy moist ingredients and sugar in a large bowl until they are homogenous and pale yellow. Add 1 Cup of the flour, the baking powder and soda, and salt and stir in. Toss the other 1 Cup of flour with the blueberries, add to the batter, and gently stir until barely mixed in. Spoon into prepared muffin cups (2/3 full) and bake 16 minutes for Jumbo, 12 minutes for standard, or 10 minutes for mini muffins. So easy and tasty! Enjoy!