Value Village Idiot strikes again!

I got a very good deal on a Sunbeam Coffeemaster C30C yesterday (might sell it or not) -- plus another cushion for my front-porch chairs.

And I did a Shaker box-making class at Lee Valley's Toronto downtown store -- I can't think of much in recent years that was more satisfying. I just love both my accomplishment and the idea of these products.

"The Lazy Person's Iron"

That's the subject line of a post I put on a listserv I belong to. I was asking if anyone had used a hand steamer for clothes. The post triggered a number of threads (no, no one used one) that mainly got responses (mostly from men, but some women) like "Good gawd, what do want to iron clothes for?? You should wear wash-and-wear and permapress. And who spends money on clothes that have to be dry cleaned?" And "Yes, I iron when I need to relax. I don't like wearing wrinkled cotton." "I save up a pile of ironing and catch up on my TV shows." "My mother irons pillow cases and dish towels." "My brother irons his briefs."

The members of this list tend to be a bit older (my age, say), and of the tweed-corduroy-wash-and-wear-comfortable shoes type (and yes, I've met many of them), often because of preference for a low-cost and low-maintenance wardrobe, and sometimes because of budget. But I like nice fabrics (wool, cashmere, silk, linen) and while I don't shop at retail stores that sell these at full price, I can hunt out a bargain at the local off-price store (Winners), and I've scored big time at the Value Village near my house. (And I should put in a plug for St. John's Thrift Store on Danforth, east of Woodbine, where I got my nice black wool beret and cashmere scarf for $2.00.)

Lauren, Karan, Diesel, Linda Allard-Ellen Tracy, Kenneth Cole...WonderBra. None of these items cost more than $10.00. The Donna Karan cashmere sweater was $6, the silk blouses average $5-7. And I don't buy them if they look icky or have stains in the armpits. Mostly I hand wash stuff, and periodically take things to the dry cleaner for a nice finish, especially if the stuff is really good, or at the end of the season. I like to wear clothes of nice fabrics that are well made (and along with my two yoga college credits I have two full credits in Sewing and Tailoring from an actual Canadian university).

Mom taught me to sew when I was about 11 years old, and the parents got me a sewing machine for Christmas when I was in my late teens. I learned a lot about fabric and construction over the years (but not what looked good on me until lately), so I have an idea what to buy.

So sue me. I like nice clothes. But I don't like to iron.

Watching paint and mushrooms dry

I used to think it was interesting watching paint dry, but tonight I am attempting vegetable dehydration for the first time and the experiences don't compare...

(Second day of walking 30 minutes per day according to the RealAge(tm) workout. Fasting BG 11.2/201 would have been better if I hadn't had a bowl of bran cereal before bed.)

I spent 3.99 CAD on a food dehydrator (at Value Village) and 2.00 CAD (at No Frills) on fresh white mushrooms, and, without benefit of an instruction manual, am attempting to add to my pantry (food storage) by dehydrating veggies for soups and such. I'm a pretty good online researcher, but the world wide interweb doesn't throw up much in the way of instructions on dehydrating. Lots of advice, yes ("Don't dry celery or you'll end up with celery dust") but no suggestions on how to use my particular model -- which has no brand, model, year, or anything to hint at what it is or how to use it. Or how long to dry any particular vegetation or how to cut it to dry optimally. Or any information on how to use a basic 5-layer warm-air/no fan dehydrator. So I am winging it. If it doesn't work I can easily return it to Value Village.

January 10/08 update: I got about 1 cup of leathery (i.e., perfect) dried mushrooms, but wasn't sure about storing them so I put them in a freezer bag and put them in the freezer.

For the first year that I lived in T-dot I made my own bread, for something to do and to save money (that was still when I ate a lot of bread on a regular basis. Now I just binge on it). When people asked me what kind of bread machine I used I just held up my hands.

I also make yogurt once in a while, but last summer I changed to a probiotic-low cholesterol plain yogurt, in hopes that my endo or GP wouldn't want to add at least a statin something-or-other to my already choking level of pills (mostly supplements).