Monday, March 4, 2013

To Bake or Not to Bake

Yes, that was the question this weekend. After successfully making Crockpot Apple Butter I had the notion that home made English Muffin Bread would be the perfect companion for it. But I also had to finish moving the tumbled brick in the backyard to make room for our new vegetable "farm". I say that tongue in cheek because it is by far the biggest vegetable garden I have ever undertaken. When I got up Saturday morning I still had the same rosy outlook about getting out there and doing some hard labor like I did last weekend. It was a beautiful warm sunny day and I was going to get out there in my shorts and t-shirt in an attempt to get some color on my vampire white legs and arms. Which meant I had to shave my legs. Or more truthfully, mow them. This is not a particularly fun experience in my little 36" x 36" shower so I decided to take a bath. And, it just so happened I had come across a recipe for "Soft, Silky Legs in a Bottle" by Jillee (www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com). I am extremely addicted to "Herbs and Oils World" on Facebook and find some of the greatest links to DIY recipes there for body products or cold and flu remedies, even insect repellent. Besides, who can resist a title like "Soft, Silky Legs in a Bottle"? It required a whopping three ingredients to whip up and I happened to have them all on hand. I substituted coconut oil for the olive oil mostly because I have more coconut oil available than olive oil. Anyway, you mix up all the ingredients, soak in the tub then essentially give yourself a spa experience. Now, after the second application you can either use a mild soap to remove the oil or leave it on as a moisturizer. I opted to leave it on. I emerged for my rock hauling with shiny, moisturized, oil sheened skin. Hmmm, hindsight. It's always 20/20...

As I stuck my shovel in the first pile of rocks I realized my back was already protesting. Maybe it was the relaxing bath I had just recently emerged from. It couldn't be that I wasn't used to hard labor (snigger). I don't do exercise. Not willingly anyway. I know, I know, shame on me. My big fat excuse is I work all day, come home, take care of the kids, the cats, the dog and the house. I don't want to gear up and raise my heart rate before bed. My boyfriend was so sweet to point out that I was probably suffering from a build up of lactic acid in my muscles because I don't work out very often. He's a really good, smart man. He added the "very often" at the end of his statement so I didn't feel a complete and total fool. He knows I don't work out - at all. Sadly, I really couldn't whine about it because he was right. He suggested I drink lots of water to help get the lactic acid out of my system. Note - it really helped!

I've digressed. Back to my shoveling rocks. These lovely rocks have been part of the border pathway in my backyard for almost three years. They have weedcloth under them, and dirt settled between them. Remember my lovely shiny, moisturized, oil sheened skin that was going to get sun kissed? Fuggadaboutit. I was now a dirt magnet. Shovel up some rocks, toss them in the wheelbarrow, ensuing dust cloud comes back at me and sticks - to - my - legs. Now I am not only miserable because I am full of lactic acid and feeling pain, but also because I can give PigPen a run for his money. Oh yeah, and because I have to pee. Alot. Because I'm drinking water to flush out the lactic acid.

Fast forward to Sunday afternoon. I persevered and got the rocks moved, cleaned the dirt off, and managed to plant the start of our Spring garden.






English Muffin Bread is just gonna have to wait. If I'm lucky, I'll have some awesome vegetable stew to soak it in.

1 comment:

  1. Oh boy.. The minute you mentioned the oil bath I thought about you in the dirt afterwards.. only because I have done nearly the same thing (: Garden is looking great! Good job!

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