The Friday Five Good Things

 

Five good things that happened this week.

1. The tornado, hail, and fierce thunderstorms, went North and South of us.

2. Quill and I took a nice nap together.

3. We had breakfast for supper. I made myself a fried egg over easy. I haven't had one of those in a long time, and I didn't break the yolk

4. I did a little organizing in the studio.

5. I went to  a birthday lunch with childhood friends to celebrate we're 70

How was your week?

Monet and Me

hate spaghetti. No, not the pasta, but the tangle of electrical and charging cords. Every device (usually) comes with its own charging cord. Many of the devices use the same type cord: USB-A, USB - B, USB-C, Mini-USB, Micro-USB,  Lightning cord. The chances that all of your devices need to be charged at the same time is pretty slim.

Monet and I detangled the mess and kept two of each kind. We went from the picture above to

all the cords fitting into the ark, two by two. Along with a dual  USB-A plug and a light that attaches over the camera of the laptop so you look pretty on a Zoom meeting.

The extra cords will be donated.

The Friday Five Good Things

 Five good things that happened this week

1. I celebrated Towel Day by wearing my 42 tee shirt and keeping my towel close by

2. I washed the outside windows. At least I got the top layer of dirt off

3. The checkout clerk called me Miss. I'm probably old enough to be his grandmother.

4. Haircuts. First ones in the shop and no wait.

5. We have ice. Himself fixed the ice maker in the fridge that went on the fritz when a bitty ice cube got stuck at the back

How was your week?

The Friday Five Good Things

 Five good things that happened this week.

1. Great-Grandpa picked up the baby books and was pleased with the work.

2. An uber productive day. I decluttered some stuff to go to charity, washed the kitchen window and changed the kitchen curtain.

3. A package went missing. The company sent another and the missing package arrived the same day.

4. Enjoyed the free class in how to draw a medieval rabbit

5. Teague gave me some frozen bake and eat chocolate chunk cookies to take home.

How was your week?

The Friday Five Good Things

Five good things that happened this week

1. The hospital let the Eldest stay overnight so she didn't have to drive through the snowstorm

2. The Boat Anchor couldn't handle the heavy, wet snow. Ma-Bo was able to shovel 1/4 of the driveway and the walk and stairs before her back gave out.

3.Another Tuesday play day instead of the usual Thursday due to another storm

4. Stopped at the Post Office to mail a package. S, my favorite clerk was on duty. I haven't seen her for some time so we had a nice chat

5. Cleaned the flat file and put on a new tablecloth

How was your week?

T Stands For After All That Work

 

of cleaning and organizing the pantry, Monet and Me deserve a nice cuppa.

 Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to find out what the rest of the T Stands For gang is up to. If you want to play, include in your Tuesday post a beverage or container for a beverage. Don't forget to link your blog to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's page.

Monet and Me

Before

decided after the success we had organizing the Lazy Susan, it was time to tackle the blivet, otherwise known as the pantry.

In case you don't know, a blivet is a bag that will hold a weight of five pounds, but you proceed to try to stuff the bag with ten pounds.

After

T Stands For After All That Work

 

of cleaning and organizing the Lazy Susan cabinet, Monet and Me deserve a nice cuppa.

 Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to find out what the rest of the T Stands For gang is up to. If you want to play, include in your Tuesday post a beverage or container for a beverage. Don't forget to link your blog to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's page.

Monet and Me

 

finally found silicone, round, Lazy Susan liners. We bought them before Christmas, but forgot where we put them.

Sooner or later, usually later, things turn up. I pulled out all of the cannisters, ran the lids through the dishwasher. Checked for expired items. Scrubbed the shelves, put the liners on. Ta-Da! All nice, neat, and the liners will be easier to clean then the metal shelves.

Monet and Me

 Are getting rid of old kitchen utensils. Out with the old and in with the new. 

The New Stove

 

There was nothing wrong with the old stove. Shown here in 2011 when it was brand-new. It worked well. Baked at an even temperature and the self-clean feature was a gawdsend. But aesthetically it was a nightmare. And the more I looked at it, the more I hated it until I couldn't stand it any longer.

What was the problem, you ask? The glass door front. Specifically the inside layers of glass. Of course, the problem was one of my own making. Somewhere along the line, I got over zealous with cleaning. It doesn't happen often but when the cleaning bug bites, it bites hard. Either I over enthusiastically sprayed the cleaning fluid so that some spurted through the door vents and ran down the inside of the glass leaving a white streak or I slopped or spilled something greasy while cooking. Oh, 🤬 what do do? 

Well, it seemed like a simple solution. But a quick check with YouTube to see if it could be done. Yes, I thought so. See? There are a series of screws holding the glass to the door frame. Take it apart, simple. Clean between the layers and put everything back together again. Easy peasy.

Wrong! The door came apart quite easily. And cleaning between the glass panes was easy, too. The door didn't go back together as easily as the YouTube videos showed. 🤬🤬🤬

I called the repairman and even he had a tough time getting the door put back together again. 🤬 And he yelled at me! In my defense, if the manufacturer didn't want the owner to take the door apart, then the screws should have been hidden! He told me next time, to hang a dish towel on the handle to hide the streak! Next time.

Shortly after, because the door wasn't put back quite like it came from the factory, the screws on the handle would loosen up and I'd have to tighten them before baking or risk grave injury.  And then the damn cleaning fluid or grease or something that  found its way through the door vent, streaked the inside of the glass, again!

Another feature I didn't like was one of the burners was sized for a giant lobster pot. I had a lobster pot once and used it on the first stove we bought in the house in order to cook Mr. Pinchy. After that, if we wanted lobster, we went out to eat it at a restaurant so I gave my lobster pot away. Without the giant pot, the burner was useless.

As I said, I couldn't stand to look at that dirty door any longer. It mocked me and of course, it showed my poor skills as a housekeeper.

So on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. I dragged Himself to the appliance store to look at 3 models I had researched. I was actually looking for a model that didn't have the gaping vents on the oven door. Seems they all came that way. 

Did you know that a lot of the ranges now communicate via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth to your phone? What is is it with all things and appliances that have to be controlled by a phone? Those models were out.

One of the ranges I looked at had 15 different cooking modes. 15!!! I don't want to go to the moon, I just want to bake brownies, loaves of bread, roast beef, and the annual turkey. So that model was out.

The model I bought was an upgrade of the same model I had. It does have bake, convection bake, air fry, broil, and self-clean features. Bake, broil, and self-clean were a must. It doesn't connect to my phone, either. It also has a frozen lasagna and frozen pizza mode. The frozen mode is a bit like having a teat on a bull, if you ask me. And the giant burner is now a dual burner. So you can use a big pan or regular size pots and pans. People must have complained. 

Anyway, here is a picture of the new oven in all its shiny glory right after the delivery guys set it up and tested it.

And I found the best way to keep it pristine, is not to cook.

The Friday Five Good Things

 Five good things that happened this week.

1. The day before she had to leave, the Young One and I took a trip to the mall, lunch at Panera, bubble tea, and Crumbl Cookies to take home

2. After taking the Young One to the airport, we stopped for breakfast at IHOP. Then had a shopping spree at Ocean State Job Lot and the Dollar Store.

3. Took a trip to the cemetery to lay a wreath and then stopping for lunch at J. Anthony's Italian Grill

4. Himself's Yarbo arrived.

5. Cleaning and getting ready to decorate after the new television is delivered.

How was your week?

The Friday Five Good Things

Five good things that happened this week.

1. Another warm day. Probably the last evening in the sunroom

2. Ran out of stick butter so I had to substitute vegetable oil in a cornbread recipe. A slight change in texture and taste, but not noticeable by the rest of the family 

3. Deep cleaned the living room in anticipation of The Young One's  visit.

4. Another sunny and warm day.

5. Another warm day. November weather has been unbelievable. Perfect day to spend with Teague as ladies who lunch and then afternoon in her sunroom. Ice cream was involved, too.

How was your week?

Monet and Me

 

The Young One may be coming home for a visit in November. Monet and I are Fall cleaning the living room and dining room starting with the flat file. First a cup of tea.

The Friday Five Good Things

 Five good things that happened this week

1. I made a few and ate more than a few of the acorn treats

2. Under a pile in the office, I found something I had been looking for

3. My SIL texted me the date of the annual December family gathering.

4. I planted some bleeding heart seeds

5. Play day at Teague's, and we made plans for another runaway trip.

How was your week?

The Friday Five Good Things

 

Five good things that happened this week.

1. I mailed a package of craft stuff to The Young One. The eyes arrived so she could finish a project

2. I did some cleaning and purging and switched the Summer and Winter wardrobe

3. The laundry was caught up for all of five minutes

4. I found a recipe for crockpot lasagna using frozen ravioli

5. A blast from the past, I got an email from a calligraphy classmate.

How was your week?

Monet and Me

decided to give the kitchen a much needed facelift. Monet poses at the kitchen sink showing off the valance from the curtain set that had been in the Young One's bedroom. The valance also had a set of swags, but I didn't like the way they looked in the kitchen window.

The real makeover was changing out the old cabinet and drawer pulls. I found these funky, mismatched, ceramic pulls on Amazon. They didn't have any sort of drawer pull to go with them but the knobs work just as easily for a drawer pull.

Monet and Me

 

We're loving the little dishwasher. There are 6 different modes. Heat, Normal, Speed (shorter time for lightly soiled dishes), Soft (for fragile items), Baby Care/Heavy (for baby bottles or really grimy dishes), Fruit.

We decided to play with the fruit cycle to wash apples. The container to hold the fruit in the dishwasher also doubles as a fruit bowl. Pretty cool.

Monet and Me

 Something new for the blog. I'm mashing Monday with Whatcha Doin on Wednesday for a new Monday theme called Monet and Me.

The kitchen in the Dollhouse is very small. There is no space for an under the counter dishwasher unless I lose one of the cabinets under the sink and 5 small drawers.

Fifteen or so years ago, we had a portable dishwasher that could be rolled from a spot near the microwave cart and hooked up to the kitchen sink. It didn't take long for it to become a pain in the butt to roll the dishwasher from the sink to its spot it in kitchen. The dishwasher soon lived in front of the sink where I sort of lost the cabinets underneath. To get to them, I had to push the dishwasher away.

Then the day came when a pressure gasket on the coupler for the hose to be attached to the dishwasher gave way, and then we couldn't find another adapter. The dishwasher was moved to the end of the driveway where someone took it for use or scrap.

We went back to handwashing dishes.  This became Himself's job as he can sit down in a chair as he washes the dishes. Then the lazies set in. Dishes, days at a time, piled up in the sink, counter, and stovetop. Chaos. I can live in chaos for a bit of time, but then it begins to bother me.

Before leaving for Ogunquit, I began researching portable, countertop dishwashers. I found this model by Novete. It sits on the countertop and can be connected to the faucet or there's a tank that you fill with warm water. It's perfect for a small kitchen, or for single cat ladies or gentlemen (married ones, too).  It will hold  a table service for four: 4 plates, silverware, and cups/glasses. Pots and pans don't fit and have to be washed by hand. 

I ordered the dishwasher the day I got back from Ogunquit and through the magic of 2 day Prime Delivery it was delivered Monday last week.

It's not as portable as it sounds. It took me some maneuvering to get the box into the house, the unit out of the box, and on the counter. All was going well until I went to slide the dishwasher under the cabinets. It's an inch or so too tall. I don't care, I am not sending this back! It was easy to set up by attaching a drain hose which sits in the sink. Filling the tank works well though I have to stand on a stool as I can't reach the top of the dishwasher. The dishwasher does a great job and is pretty quiet. Me and Monet didn't have any trouble loading up the dishwasher.

I began looking for a heavy-duty, kitchen cart with locking wheels. I found one that I think will work, but I haven't ordered it yet. For now, Novete is living on the counter and I'm in love.

Whatcha Doin?

I'm sorting and organizing

birthday cards, note cards, thank you cards, etc. and stray envelopes into this card organizer box I got from Current Catalog.

Whatcha doin?