The Before Post

Hide your kids, hide your wife, it's about to get messy here. Garage messy. One car garage messy. In an effort to expedite my garage organization I am posting photos of my garage. Knowing these awful, awful photographs are on the internet will encourage me to clean that business up so I can post the "after" pictures and redeem myself to humanity. That's the hypothesis anyway; I've never tried publicly shaming myself into cleaning so I can't predict how well it will work.

Surprisingly enough I came to the conclusion to take care of my garage without watching a single episode of Hoarders, which is what typically precipitates my cleaning binges (note that when I say "binge" I really mean "sitting in one place for 2 days compulsively organizing cupcake liners or stickers). I'd gotten the garage into decent working order, then I decided to empty a storage unit I'd been keeping for a few years. It had a lot of my work stuff in it, as well as things that were randomly placed there when I moved into my current apartment a year and a half ago. There were also lots of things I'd planned on donating or otherwise getting rid of when I moved. Curious as to what that combo looks like in an already not-so-neat garage?

Is it everything you'd hoped for and more? It certainly is for me so I am going to get busy going through those boxes and bags until the garage reaches museum-like organization. Which museum exactly remains to be discovered, but here's to hoping it's more like the tea set display at the Smithsonian than the children's section of an art museum.

It's Getting Hot in Herre*

*Yes I do know how to spell, I am simply bringing back some Nelly circa 2002

Perhaps this forecast is from last year when it was over 100 degrees for more than 400 days (plus or minus a few days), but believe me it's still plenty hot now. From what I hear, the rest of the country is also being gifted with the high 90s and low 100s that are usually reserved for much further south.

So what is a rabbit lady to do when the temperatures soar into the triple digits and them some? Make popsicles, of course! In my popsicle making research I've discovered they are actually "ice pops" because Popsicle is a brand name. Like how Kleenex is a brand, and all others are tissues. The only difference is that when you type "tissue" the computer believes you that it's a real word, whereas when you type "popsicle" the computer says, no! You must capitalize this word and until you do, I am holding it hostage with my red line of doom!

There are lots of great popsicle molds out there for the buyin'. These are the three I purchased. Yes, two adults need three sets of popsicle molds. Especially when it's 108 degrees.

These images are from Amazon, which has a great selection of molds. The brand of both is Tovolo which I like because they are BPA free and freeze each popsicle individually so you don't have to hold the entire contraption in the sink every time you want just one. I got both mine at Bed, Bath, and Beyond where I was able to use a coupon I got in the mail to cheapen them up a bit.


Here's my other set of molds, which is even more unnecessary than the first two. My only defense is that I found them at Ross for super cheap. That and the fact that they are super awesome. There were actually two sets of them at Ross, so you should really be congratulating me for only buying one.

Making popsicles is probably yields the highest enjoyment to the lowest effort of anything I've ever done in the kitchen. It's very simple, very fast, and the only hard part is waiting for them to freeze. To offset the waiting period for impatient babies like myself, I find it is best to make them at night. This way I wake up in the morning to ready-for-consumption treats. (And yes, I may eat them with my breakfast. On occassion.)

I have a fairly extensive board of popsicle, pardon, ice pop, recipes on Pinterest for interested parties.  I also have a fairly extensive board of most other things, too. My favorite ice pops are the type with a yogurt base because they are creamy and you can easily use honey as a sweetener. It should come as no surprise that my husband enjoys the exact opposite- the pure fruit juice and simple syrup kind, since these are much more similar to his beloved Pepsi than a yogurt and fruit pop could ever hope to be.

Popsicles (ice pops) are of course only one way to "enjoy" the heat. There's always taking pictures of the thermometer in your car and texting it to your friends with a hilarious reference to hell or the devil, compulsively checking the 5 day forecast, and whining about the weather. I've tried all of these methods and my favorite by far are the frozen treats.

But don't worry family and friends, you'll still be receiving those great screen shots of the temperature at my house or in my car.