Homemade Lobsta Roll!

Lobster is on sale at Market Basket this week for $3.99. I decided I really need to learn to make my own - I do live really close to an amazing array of seafood choices (JT Farnham's lobster roll is EXCEPTIONAL), but I'm also broke.

I kind of just winged it, I boiled the lobster, let it cool, and took out the claw meat. For the tail, I cut off the top 1/4 or so, because I didn't want the nasty green goo in my nice lobster roll (and even with a small new-shell lobster, there's still plenty of meat left). I tore up the meat by hand and added mayo, salt, pepper, and a tiny bit of Old Bay. I would've added lemon, but I didn't have any on hand. Probably would've made it taste AWESOME if I had, though. I let it sit overnight.

Of course, you can't have a lobster roll without a toasted hot dog bun.



It came out pretty decent! In the end, though, $5 worth of lobster and a hell of a lot of work and cleanup was worth it for the experiment, but I'll probably just save up longer and buy one at Farnham's for $15 - they have more meat and they've got the recipe down pat.

Seriously?

I named this blog because in reality, living here isn't always easy. I try to keep a positive outlook, but sometimes it's just frustrating.

Last night the guy across the street (who is apparently pretty notorious around town) and another lady got into a scream fest about whether he drives drunk and also about him throwing beer cans in her yard. I'm not sure who she is, she may live on the street behind ours. But she you know, had a point. So then the lady next door to him mentioned here started screaming at her too, telling her she wasn't anybody and it ended with the drunk guy saying he'd kill her. I wanted to call the cops but the original lady disappeared.

Then today some homeless guy knocked on our door, almost letting our dog out of our fenced yard. He kept asking to buy a bike, and eventually Mike sold him one that worked. He kept leaving to go get money and coming up short, and acting like HE was all put out because Mike wanted $60 for the bike. Like, the hell? You came up to US and begged for a bike. He then said he should get a break on the price because "he could've just stolen one from us but didn't." Thanks? For not being a total jerk? Yeah. He is friends with the people across the street (see vignette above).

This is all in the same week that there was a street fight nearby that ended in the arson of a triple-decker. Insane.

I'm glad that we have some good neighbors who have been here awhile and who are nice and don't cause trouble. It's disheartening when troublemakers move in, but that's to be expected in lower middle class neighborhoods with drug/alcohol issues. It seemed like for awhile that Gloucester could be headed in a positive direction, but the economy seems to have stalled that out. Still, this is where I live now, and that's not changing anytime soon.

Anyway, we'll most likely install a moveable gate across the end of the driveway to keep people from entering our driveway/carport at night (stuff's been stolen before), and also so Nathan can play in the driveway without fear of him running into the street.

TRUCK!

They're tearing up our street to re-do it, and Nathan's in heaven watching the trucks.



TRUCK! is his favorite word. By far.



We had a pavementhenge hanging out in front of our house for a little bit. It's gone now.



Fun with his car! He's still a terrible driver.

Nathan's Big Boy Bed

I remember my brother having this bed growing up. Apparently it originally hails from UMass Lowell (or at that time, Lowell State College). It's utilitarian, but it's also free and it works perfectly as a little boy's bed and matches the dresser I have for him.

Shed Loft

For the last couple of weeks I've envisioned a smallish project where I put a loft/attic over one side of our new shed, for storage on top and bike hanging underneath. I finally grabbed all the stuff from Home Depot this week and today was the day to do it.

I'd measured from side to side, and the shed was 89 inches across - meaning we could hang 7 bikes with hooks 11 inches apart. That also meant I needed to learn how to master a circular saw.

All in all, the parts were cheap. I got 2 2x4s and 4 brackets, but only ended up using one (the other will be re-used to make the same loft on the opposite side), and 2 2footx4foot 1/2inch thick plywood boards. It was about $45 for parts and $20 in gas because I drove all the way to Foxboro and back to borrow my brother's pickup truck.



The loft part came together pretty quickly! Once I mastered the circular saw, anyway. I only had to cut the 2x4 down by 7 inches, and one of the plywood boards down by 7 inches as well. The brackets were easy enough to nail in, and I only smashed my thumb once!



I hadn't bought any hooks but we had bunches lying around - we're still missing one in the middle, but oh well. Two are rated heavier than the other ones, but those work perfectly for the heavier bikes.

I'm proud of myself - I did the whole thing by myself while Mike watched Nathan - even hung the bikes myself. Not bad for 21 weeks pregnant! It came out awesome! Usually my projects end up Homer Simpsonesque.



EXACTLY LIKE THAT.

FWSHSH

That's the sound Nathan is making as he blows bubbles. He's actually managed to figure out the bubble wand, how to stick it into the jar, and he can blow bubbles. I mean, most of the time he's just making a mess and/or ingesting trace amounts of bubble solution, but it's so goddamn cute.



Of course, right after that he spilled the entire bottle on the coffee table and floor. Hey, at least it's just soap!

I Made It Myself!

Right, so I'm broke, but I did get a new netbook on super sale at Target for $199.99. My mom's giving me the money for it since I pay for school myself, so word.

I needed a sleeve for it, since it's main duty will be going back and forth to school with me so I don't have to lug a full size laptop and bag with me. But I'm also cheap, so I decided to make one myself.

It was actually a lot easier than I thought, it only took maybe an hour and a half, and I did most of it while watching TV. I found an old pair of pajama pants and cut the bottoms of the legs off into workable pieces of fabric. I also had some thin foam that had been lying around the house used to protect glassware we sold at the yard sale.



I should have taken more pictures of the process, but alas. I didn't.

So it was two layers of very worn pajama pants material with the insides facing each other, and in the middle was a double layer of the thin foam. I sewed the whole thing up pretty easily, and it works well! I still have to sew velcro across the top, though. Ugh, I'm LAZY.



The bonus part is that it looks so ridiculous that people probably have no idea what it is, and it's less likely to be stolen when I'm looking the other way.

Big Boy Room

OK, so I have a terrible summer cold. Awful. Sinuses feel like there's tiny fire ants breeding inside them. So why when I'm super sick do I want to get redecorating done? I don't know. Probably because I'm crazy.

I've resigned myself to the fact that I'm losing my awesome lavender guest room. It's OK. Nathan's cool big-boy room will be worth it.

Here's the cloth that will be used for the curtains:



And here's the rocking chair that will be in his room:



I'm trying to find a color to replace the purple that will match well with the chair and the fabric. I'm thinking a really light blue or really light khaki - almost white. I've gone the route of having too much color on the wall and regretted it (not in our bedroom though which I STILL LOVE). His current nursery is half baarely blue, half light blue, and it looks great.

Maybe one of these colors:





Or something super super light blueish or green. Who knows. I really like the khaki color with the fabric, but I also have to find him a twin-sized comforter set that would coordinate as well, and I think the best option there is to get something near a burlap color.

I guess this is why I have four more months to figure this out!

Sometimes I Make Cupcakes Just Because.