scentedwoods

This is the time of year where I tackle a lot of little domestic things that need fixing. I reach a threshold where they go from petty annoyances to quite important. So far I have:

- Disassembled my oven door to clean all the glass
- Shimmed my refrigerator so it's finally level
- Deep cleaned the coffee maker
- Scrubbed down the banisters and railings
- Removed a broken handle from my large crockpot and sprayed the whole thing with black grill paint

Currently my dining room is all torn up while I calculate the perfect size and shape for a dining room table. I'm not getting one but that doesn't stop me from wanting. We use El Hubbo's grandmother's antique dining set and while it's lovely, it's not quite the right shape and it's quite a bit too delicate. The chairs are constantly in for repair at $100 a pop. Alas, an heirloom is an heirloom and it's not like we've got a big enough house to just keep extra tables around.

I'm jazzed about cooking Thanksgiving dinner for El Hubbo's family on Sunday. Turkey and all the fixins is one of my favorite meals to make. I'm working on the timeline and I bought myself a new toy.

It wasn't enough to get one new pan. Now I want all new cookware. I'm completely obsessed with the idea of having nesting pans. I have a small house. Always will. My cupboards are never going to magically get bigger. I want all big long handles banished from my kitchen.

And just to torment me further, at lunch I saw that Marshalls had a few of my Corningware Creations baking dishes. When I went online to comparison shop I find that the ones I want are discontinued. I suppose that's why they're at the discount store but it puts a bunch of pressure on me I didn't need.

Alas, I want my baking dishes to match because I'm like that so I guess I'll be making big circling treks to all the Marshalls in the city this week.

My sister posted this morning about what she should be doing with her life. I commented and then decided I wanted to post my comment here.

( Cut for those that already read it. )

1. I made myself a little Christmas To-Dos Pocket Mod and have been using it to organize my gifts. It's really been helpful.
2. By shopping at thrift stores, crafting a bit, and cashing in on credit card rewards I've shaved $181 off my gift list.
3. I have about 3/4 of my gifts decided upon and about half purchased. (This is a good things list otherwise this is where I'd mention that the 1/4 that are left are the hard and expensive ones!)
4. While cleaning out my armoire on Wednesday I finally found the lone CD that was still listed for sale on Amazon and sold. Shipped it out today. Whoops.
5. I have a fun craft project I'm doing for my sister. So silly!
6. I mastered pumpkins in Farmville. I know, silly, but it was pumpkins! I had to!
7. It's Friday already.

1. It's a sunny day.
2. I have tomorrow off due to Veteran's Day. Yay government work!
3. The redesigned site seems to have launched pretty well.
4. I already have a few holiday presents down.
5. We're going out for Thanksgiving dinner! How posh!
6. But I also get to cook it on Sunday for El Hubbo's family. I love making turkey dinner.
7. The waffle blight of 2009 appears to be over.

At 8:45 the housewares clerk snuck (sneaked, I guess people say these days) into the back room and grabbed the Calphalon 12" Everyday Pan and rang it up for me. It was not supposed to be sold -- it's was the bonus gift for buying a 14 piece set. I knew this. The only other place in town I'd seen an everyday pan was Macy's and I already learned the hard way that they wouldn't sell it to me.

I could not bring myself to buy a pan online. It's one of those things I have to touch.

Thank you, clerk with much much much blond hair. I finally have my non-stick, glass lid, everyday pan. Now all I need to find is a 10" pan to match and I will be freed from the plague of giant frying pan handles. Huzzah!

Bad: My car is going to cost about $800 to fix.
Good: My car is going to cost about $800 to fix.

The mechanic thinks that somehow, be it the car or operator error the car slipped into D2. I trust him and I'm willing to entertain operator error, but I did pull off the road, put the car in park and drive again so that seems... unlikely. They can't replicate the behavior. Whatever. I'm glad it's not going to be a new transmission.

However, the car has needed about $350 worth of work since last January, the brakes have been squeaking so I'm opting to spend $250 on that and am also throwing $200 at the transmission to make sure that there's no maintenance I'm neglecting on the car.

So it's the 5th of November and any hope of getting a little green Quicken Online star for living within my means this month is kaput.

To Pollyanna this whole deal, the car should be right as rain for a while. (Fingers crossed, wood knocked, etc.)

Apparently my day wasn't shitty enouugh so my transmission blew.

Today was the kick-off meeting for the second wave of Results-Only-Work-Environment (ROWE). You can read a little bit more about it in this newspaper article or at our consultant's web page. It's quite the buzz around the office since it started in April.

Between 2014 and 2019, 60% of the county's workforce will retire. Gone. In addition to this whole ROWE thing attempting to decrease traffic congestion, it's supposed to position us to be an attractive employer as we try to hire 5000 Gen-XYZ workers to replace our workforce. Eep.

We are the first government agency to try implementing ROWE. If you read the comments on the Strib article you'll see that public opinion of us doing this is rather dismal. To that, the trainer said well, everyone seems to think we never work anyway. Just ignore it.

I've been struggling with how this will work for me but in the spirit of trying, I printed out a weekly appointment page and tried to plot out both home and work to-dos when it would be easiest/best to do them. I also made a list of things I'd like to do to my home to make it a little more conducive to work. It wasn't too bad since both work and home are on a pretty even keel right now. No idea what will happen when that's not the case. (Hello December)

Folks, I have been thrust into an employer mandated work/life balance program.

Some weekends I wake up interested in cooking. This was one of those weekends so I'm trying to take advantage of it and do some things that will make my life easier in the future. I've already minced and frozen the beautiful multi-colored peppers from the CSA before they went bad, and roasted and mashed the dozen heads of garlic I picked up last week at the farmer's market. All the bread cubes I've dried and saved over the past few months are currently baking into a double batch of bread pudding. It's all very waste not want not around here.

I'm hoping to make it to the farmer's market again this morning to stock up on local butternut squash. I'll then bake them and put the flesh in the freezer so I can have amazing squash all winter long. If I'm still feeling ambitious, I bought a bunch of groceries yesterday and can prep some freezer meals.

I'm having some trouble with my FoodSaver not sucking enough. annabelle_blue, any suggestions on fixing that?

I didn't get a single trick-or-treat kid last night. Not even my little neighbor girl in my scout troop. I feel cheated.

I tried to be all eco-cheap and use vinegar as a rinse agent in my dishwasher and it did not work at all. No clue how to get it out of the reservoir so I can actually put real stuff in and get clean dishes. Very frustrating.

You would think that after a week of no posts I'd have something to say.

If you google "teenager selfish" you get 16.5 Million hits.

Squish & Punkin help me block my first knitting project since 1985.

1. A little less hectic. Not a lot, but a little and a little is better than not-at-all.
2. Pumpkins!
3. I think I'm on pace to spend below my income this month. Small victories.
4. Parsnip season
5. My weight held mostly* steady while I was off the Weight Watchers wagon. Makes it less discouraging to hop back on.
6. Tomorrow night is one of my "free" nights.
7. Honeycrisps


* I say mostly. A pair of jeans I bought recently (but a couple of pounds ago) left a bruise on my abdomen yesterday. Oof.

There's a shortage of toaster waffles in the universe right now. Cinnamon Eggo waffles are subject to a recall. It's not the kind I eat but apparently enough people do that they've branched out and decimated the supply of my beloved low-fat NutriGrain. I attempted generic whole wheat Cub ones (bleah! inedible!) and am now trying Roundy's generic organic wheat.

Several years ago, my sister-in-law gifted me this Good Cooks Spatula. It quickly became my most favoritest spatula evah. As is wont to happen with favorite kitchen gadgets, eventually it died. (A terrible, avoidable death by blender blade. I should be locked up.) I've been looking for a replacement for many months with no luck. While at Rainbow with annablume last night we spotted them and bought them out. If I see them again, I'll buy them out again. They're just that good.

I turned my FarmTown farm into a silly little parterre. I love it.

I went to the home improvement expo today with my parents. My mom likes to chat with everyone. Ev-ree-one.

Afterward we stopped at a little grocery/deli on University for lunch. My folks both ordered gyros and I asked for the grilled cheese. Twice they asked me what I wanted, twice I pointed to the menu and said the grilled cheese. Later they asked me what was in a grilled cheese. I tried to explain it and then said I'd just have the gyro. He seemed so relieved. I should be glad. It was a good gyro.

Then my folks took me to Menards. Oh my goodness they love Menards. We were there for four hours. Yes. The hardware store. For four hours. We did not buy anything.

Apparently the door I selected was on sale, of which it is no longer. Now it's $600. Still, if it was on sale once, it's likely to be again.

Did I mention four hours???

Claims process is started. Hopefully it will go quickly and we can get the flapping bumper repaired soon.

I feel the universe does not want Miss M to drive. Who gets in a fender bender as a passenger going to take their written instructional permit test? Only her. Only us.

Finally! A replacement for the Philips IQ Bulb: http://tinyurl.com/yzs3qp3