A slightly disgusting hack

We have a big, giant trash bin provided by our city. I mean, that bin is huge and while that's nice, it's also plastic which means it absorbs odor. Since we scoop the litter boxes daily, we've put seven bags of grossness into a big, giant plastic bin every single week since late January when we moved in. No big deal . . . until the weather started heating up a couple of weeks ago and I'm here to tell you it's a smelly situation now. The entire garage just reeks.

So last weekend I had an idea about how to solve the smell -- the poop pot.

We got a super cheap stock pot with a well-fitting lid and put down a layer of charcoal briquettes in the bottom of the pot. The daily bags of grossness go into the poop pot until Monday morning, when they get tossed into the big, giant plastic bin. Once the layer of briquettes no longer help with the odor, we'll toss them too. While the contents of the poop pot are still quite smelly, our garage no longer stinks to high, high heaven.

Did a bad, bad thing

OK not bad exactly, but silly and perhaps a little foolish.

I bought the cats a special pet bed. Actually it's a dog bed but don't tell them that. The reason it's silly and foolish is that cats sleep where they want to sleep. Forget your special bed, they like cardboard flat on the ground, a folded blanket, a piece of paper, any small, contained space -- well you get the picture.

But all three have cycled through this dog cat bed and seem to like it. I will say it's incredibly soft, and also machine washable which is a huge bonus in this house. That's partly how we control the fur, by washing and drying pretty much everything.

Don't be fooled by that open eye.
He's totally down for the count.

You say potato

Normally, I'd put a post like this on my son's food blog but he's got strict rules about including a picture of the food plated and ready to eat. We neglected to take that picture so instead, I'll just post about this recipe here.

When we were in Honolulu, we had dinner at Morimoto's (which I am only just now realizing I never wrote about). I had some salt-roasted fingerling potatoes that were incredibly tender and flavorful and had zero fat.

I love potatoes but tend to drown them in butter so I was intrigued by these salt-roasted potatoes. A quick Google search turned up several recipes so I got some boxes of kosher salt, a bag of fingerling potatoes and Tuesday evening, Kent made a batch.

He used an entire box of salt to cover the potatoes in this baking dish, and sprinkled water on top and stirred the salt until it made a gritty paste. He baked them at 400F for about 30 minutes and let them cool while I did the salmon.

I wish I'd taken a picture of him getting the potatoes out of the pan because the salt was a solid block and had picked up some of the purple color of the two purple potatoes in the mix. I'll do that next time maybe.

Our version of the potatoes were as good as those I'd had in Honolulu. We've found a lot of other salt roasting recipes so I am pretty sure we aren't done buying lots of boxes of salt. 

So many bags

I have been on a sewing tear lately, but not clothing. Instead I've been making bags and most of them are gifts for others.

First up is a bag for Fiona and family. She's pregnant with their first child, a boy, so I made her a bag that can be used as a diaper bag but doesn't really look like one. Kent was invaluable in making this bag because how the pattern pieces got placed on the fabric really made everything come together well. I left that in his very capable hands. I also made some bibs, burp clothes and a terrycloth towel/blanket.

Outside fabric is all from the same piece of cloth

The green in these items does go with the green in the bag;
you just can't tell that very well from this photo

Next, I made a bag for my manager, who is leaving by the end of June (and sooner if her replacement can be found). She's been an amazing manager, the best in my entire career and I will miss her dreadfully. This picture doesn't really do the bag justice because in real life, this is probably the cutest bag I've ever made.

 And finally, I made this one just because I had enough of both materials and felt like it. The interior material is actually remnants from cloth Kent is using to make a shirt. What can I say, the man loves large, one-way plaids. While I love the look of the fabric on the inside, getting that huge one-way plaid to match about made my head explode.

The top is tucked down so you can see the lining fabric

A new rug

We broke down and got a rug for our dining room last week. We wanted just a bit more color and texture in the room and this looks to do the trick:

Now it's clear I need to recover
or dye the seat cushions

A neat trick

If you work out and wear so-called technical gear (you know, wicking fabric that's generally entirely made made fibers but it does pull the sweat off your body), then you've probably also picked up a bit of an odor in those items of clothing. While I hardly sweat, even when I'm at my fittest, I will still get a spot directly under my arms that smells less than pleasant. Drives me crazy because other than the whiff of yuck, the clothes are fine. So what's a girl to do?

Well I don't know about you, but I consulted the internet after reading a tip from a fashion blog about using vodka to get out odors. Since I've tried vinegar in my wash and also regularly use Borax powder, I was out of options so I gave it a try.

I put a bit of vodka in a wider, flatter bowl and made sure the offending areas were covered. I didn't so much let the shirt sit as just get the rest of the laundry load ready to go, tossed in the vodka shirt and started the wash.

The verdict is in: it works. I'm so pleased because this particular shirt is one of my favorites and I've only had it a year. And apparently you can use vodka for lots of other chores as well.

So much to say

Think of a blend between the Dave Mathews Band song and the Minute Waltz . . .

• My eyes are on the (slow) mend after a full week on steroids. I was the hit of the doctor's office on Wednesday as the staff ooh'd and ahh'd over how red my inner lids and the interior corners (all four directions) were.
• I briefly mentioned eating at the Iron Chef's restaurant in Waikiki a couple of weeks ago -- amazing food. But we just had Kent's birthday dinner at a 2013 Food  & Wine award winner's restaurant today and it was unbelievably good plus about 1/3 less in cost. We'll definitely be going back to Story.
• I've sewn two bags in the last couple of weeks and I'm working on another one (which may be beyond my skills, we'll see). Pictures later.
• We got a new rug for the dining room; pictures later . . . 

Later!