For Future Garlic Breath...

Saturday Night found me doing such things as this:

I lead a very exciting life full of social activities.

OK...usually I do, but this weekend was a lot more about quality relaxation, and oddly...organization.

It was also about separating and peeling a rather large jar of organic garlic my mother had given me...and then preserving the fresh cloves in olive oil.

So I can have garlic breath this winter.

Garlic breath is very important to a foodie such as myself...and you can bet I munched on several cloves while I was doing all the peeling (I couldn't help it, everything smelled so good and besides, they are a great snack while watching Austin Powers and peeling peeling peeling...who knew?) The entire house, as well as my hands smelled divine...although my thumbs are a little sore (from all the peeling technique and whatnot)

I also found myself craving Italian food...but I'm pretty sure that's to be expected after an adventure such as this one...and by Sunday morning, I had an entirely filled jar of peeled cloves in oil.

Don't worry.
I didn't stay up all night peeling...I put it aside and went to bed and got crackin' on Sunday morning when I woke up.
(there's no rest for the weary...and garlic cracks a mean whip!)

Garlic also acts to me like spinach does to Popeye.

After I got done peeling the mass of cloves and cleaning up the piles of peels that had whisped themselves around the house...I wandered down into the basement to look for something specific and emerged a couple of hours later with a much more organized basement.

I know.
(there may also have been a bit of procrastination due to another ongoing project, but we won't mention that.)

There were many trips up and down the stairs, taking old boxes to the recycle can, as well as piles of things loaded into the car to be taken to Snap Snap and my mother's shops to be sold. I have no idea what precipitated such a thing...only that I've been watching a lot of Clean Sweep lately...but I think it was me stepping over and around boxes and cords that finally made me stand there with my hands on my hips only to say, "This place is a mess!"

It was one time too many of saying such a thing...and really, don't you ever get tired of hearing yourself talk?

So, as we speak, the basement is more organized...camping equipment all easy to get to and in one spot, all the holiday decorations in another spot and in their various color coordinated bins...cozied in next to my fancy china (I figured holidays and entertaining kind of go together) Honey was filled to the brim with a load of goodness to sell...and there's still a pile to donate. It is not done down there, as I still need to go through the tools, the linens, and the Christmas things...and I was thinking rather brazenly, that I would love to sew up some more curtains to hide things behind and make it look more cohesive and like a room down there...

My basement is very cozy after all.

And darned near clean...And looks much bigger than it did.

It's such a great space, I could probably move my studio down there if I had to...Of course, I did kill one black widow and rescue a skink (there was a shriek when I discovered it in a box of stuff...I was also talking to Rich at the time on the phone. He may be deaf.) So, there are a few critters to attend to...but all in all...

The garlic worked it's fragrant magic and makes me wonder what is possible after some pesto and pasta?