Size Matters

Let me tell you about my new best friend. It’s a mini muffin pan.

Somehow I made it through thirty&%$ years without ever having one. Well, that all changed last week when I picked one up at Walmart.

I have used it at least once a day since then. Cupcakes, quiche, muffins. It just beckons. {Unfortunately so do the cupcakes…}

Now, I also have a jumbo muffin pan. It’s cool. I’ve used it a few times. Of course I have a regular muffin pan. It’s, well, old and crusty. But there is just something about the mini-ness that makes all those ordinary things fun again.

I guess now I see what Goldilocks was talking about-- This one is Just Right.

Dark Chocolate Sensation

I used to think I didn’t like watermelon. Then I realized after moving from Seattle that I just had never been hot enough to make watermelon enjoyable. It’s gotta be hot for it to be refreshing; otherwise it just isn’t.

There is a similar effect with hot cocoa. If it ain’t cold outside, it just ain’t that good. I was under the impression that what was left in this box would have to wait until next year. Luckily {??} today was cold {and snowy and windy} enough to enjoy one more cupful. It's my most recent favorite.



Hopefully it will be my last cup for the season. Oh, except that we are due for *two*more* storms by the end of the week. . . Sheesh. {But I do at least have my coat now.}

Live and Learn and Pass it on

Just thought I would share a few things I have learned. {Not in any particular order.}
Here you go:

Basketballs do not absorb lotion.

Moving does not get easier each time. It gets progressively worse.

Hershey makes better candy bars and Nestle makes better chocolate chips.

Popcorn kernels can be removed from the ear by squirting warm water in with a nasal aspirator. {Yes, apparently they are multifunctional.}

A little mayonnaise goes a long way.

Pepper is useful for removing a cheerio from a nose by way of a sneeze.

If you want it to snow {or rain} just wash your car. Packing up all your sweaters is also effective.

Dirty clothes and blankets covering the floor of your van can actually serve as a convenient removable layer to prevent vomit from getting onto the actual car upholstery.

The government can fix it. Oh—wait…

Because I don't have enough owner's manuals to read right now...

The Professor has been saving his pennies for one of these for a few months. He finally found one on Craigslist.

And now he's acting like a mad scientist throwing stuff in to make smoothies and juices and basically anything he can think of . . .

What am I missing?

OK, so I have never had a "cold storage" room before. But I do know {at least I think I'm right} that it is for storing things, especially food. OK, so I have a bunch of my food stored down there so far. But when I brought my dishwashing detergent upstairs yesterday, nothing would come out. Um, that's right, my dishwashing detergent was frozen. I had to leave it on the counter most of the day until it was soft enough to squirt out.
So, what am I missing here?? Anyone??

That's My Mojo

I just love the stuff you can find at the library. Can you tell what I've been up to ??

And hunting for fabric. Easy seriously hates fabric stores. She said to me the last one we were at, "Mom you need to stop just looking at the fabric and BUY some fabric." Um, ok. It's just hard to choose when there's so much out there.

I was able to come to a conclusion with some {$1.66 a yard} fabric for the family room I got some great fabric for the laundry room window that I originally wanted to use for our bedroom, but The Professor said there's too much pink in it. Whatever. He's so hard to please.

These days my "To Do" list is miles longer than my "Tah-dah" list, but I was able to finish recovering our kitchen chairs. Man were they ever crying out to be recovered. I wish that I could just leave them with the fabric minus the vinyl. Maybe in about twenty years...

Can you tell which one the fabric had to be washed and which didn't??

How about now??

It shrunk a little so it was a little tight getting it stretched back on, but we made it. And it will do for now. I thought I had some extra matching fabric hiding somewhere but I just couldn't wait any longer to get this done. Of course I found it just after I finished screwing all the seats back on. Oh well. I'll just save it for after the berry stains that we all know will make their way onto these puppies won't come out.

The Fat Lady has Sung

We are moving tomorrow.
All of the paperwork was finalized and money was wired this afternoon.

We have bought two houses before and we have adopted two children and I have never been interrogated in quite the same manner as we have been by this mortgage company. I don’t know if someone else would have been easier to deal with or if they are all like this right now but I could not believe how long and ridiculous this process was. I seriously don’t even think that anyone even looked at our bank statements before, but this time we had to document and prove where every single deposit was from, and we had to prove that we filed our taxes.

So I just need to get some ulcer medication from my Dad. . . and then I can work on repressing my memories of the recent days. . .weeks. . . months. . .

As a nice bonus, we gave our notice to move out of the apartment a little while ago because we have to give them 2 months notice, and we also told them that we would be out of the apartment on February 23rd. This way, since the 2 month notice wasn’t until March 16th, if someone wanted the apartment earlier then we would only have to pay rent on it until they moved in. And the good thing is that someone signed up for our apartment and we only have to pay through the 23rd. But we found that out while we were still waiting for more answers from the underwriters. I was trying to see it as a good sign that things were going our way and not as a sign that we would end up in the Residence Inn again. . .

Would you like to know that our interest rate is 4.25%. Fixed.