Happy New Year

It has been a while since I've posted here..I know it..so shoot me. I hope everyone had a grand Thanksgiving, Yule and New Year!  Ours has been pretty good so far. Pretty normal actually..not too many changes in life, and sometimes that's a good thing I guess. I mean..who want's tons of changes coming at ya at once anyway?

Just like everyone else in the world, I'm currently looking for a job. I've applied at a few places and hope to hear something this month from at least one. I don't want to go back to work, but right now, I find it's an important thing to do, at least till the end of the year.

It is unfortunate though that when I go to work, gardens are usually out the window. Neither of us (hubs) or myself will have time for them. I may try to just do the small box garden this year and nothing more. Sad really. I guess this is the same dilemma that many in two income household face. Lack of time.

I plan on doing some 'stocking up' this year. Dry products and things that have no real expiration date so to speak. Flour, sugar, rice, oatmeal, honey. Basics. The money from me working will help out in this way a lot. So there is a plus to everything I guess.

I've been doing some cleaning and clearing out in all those places we sometimes forget about or ignore for the longest time. Like, drawers, and cabinets and under sinks. This week, I get to tackle the kitchen drawers. Empty them, clean them, root through the stuff, toss what's not needed and re-organize the drawers. This is a good thing, really. I did under the kitchen sink last week. It looks fab under there now. Clean and organized.

It's funny how sometimes the smallest of accomplishments will give you the greatest amounts of pleasure and satisfaction. I like it. :)

Well, there it is, my first post to Sagewood for the new year of 2012. Just a small update to tell you where I am in life. Same spot really. Just plugging along, as most are doing. :)

Have a great week!!

Till next time

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

They say things come in three's

And now, I'm waiting for the 'other shoe to drop'.

There are times in life that a little sweet tooth is a good thing!
Yesterday for example.
As chilly as it is, I was in the mood for some icecream that I knew was in the deep freeze..just a regular vanilla icecream with the hard chocolate coating, comes on a stick..I know you know the type right?

So..off I go to the deep freeze and pull out said icecream. I open it from the bottom so I can grab the stick..and when I pulled out the stick there was no icecream on it.
The icecream was still in the package. HUH?
So I stuck the stick back in and ...uhhoohh.
I wiggled the stick...uhoooh..
I gave the icecream a little squeeze and I got a 'squish'........ohhh noooo!
Quickly I run back to the freezer and sure enough, some of the 'boxed' and bagged items on the top were on the 'soft' side. Bread, icecream, pizza, that type of stuff. Just the stuff directly on top.
I knelt down beside the freezer and checked the settings. Still the same.
I turned it up and I heard it..the whine of a compressor trying to kick in but failing miserably to do so.

OH DAMN! no no no..tell me it's not so. I shut the freezer down..waiting about 10 minutes and tried again. This time, there wasn't even a whine.

With heavy head I rose from the floor and dialed the hubs at work. It was just at his lunch break. I told him the bad news. We had no choice but to buy another freezer. There was nearly a years worth of food in this freezer. I couldn't even 'can' it all in time to save it all.
The real kicker...we had just paid the credit card off and now......egads, we were gonna have to use it.

Onto the 'net' I went to seek out the best deal I could find. Hubs would pick one up on his way to work (if I found one in that area). Looking through all the 'big guys appliances' I found Sears carried the best deal unless I ordered it online through Home Depot. Then it wouldn't arrive for a week.
Uhmm no.
Just so happens our local Sears outlet (small store) had the one we wanted on the floor. Hubs got home and out we went. Purchased said freezer, got it home and inside to plug up.
You have to plug them up and let them get cold for about 12 hours before you can load them up ya know.

Luckily, I am fully aware of the kind of power outages we have here, so the bottom of my freezer is loaded with a layer of frozen milk jugs filled with water. As long as I don't open it much, the things in the freezer will stay frozen and cold. This is a good thing.

See many many moons ago..We collected milk jug after milk jug, cleaned them and filled them all with water. We emptied the freezer to give it a cleaning and when we went to refill it, the jugs went in first. Then I put a sheet of plexiglass on top of them to act as a 'bottom' shelf, then refilled our freezer.
This does two things. A full freezer takes less energy then a 1/2 full one, and the frozen jugs in the bottom would keep things frozen for a much longer period of time, should there be an extended electrical outage. Besides all that, once the water started to thaw, you can use it for drinking and cooking.

Today..I am thankful I did that.

As we are loading up the freezer hubs says to me "So tell me, is this number one or number two..please tell me it's number two."
I asked him what he was talking about..cuz he was making no sense!
He replied, "You know as well as I do, things come in three's ..so tell me this is number two."

I giggled..but had to inform him.."Nope..this is number one"..

He hung his head, mumbled something incoherent under his breath and walked away.

I have my fingers crossed. Although, I'll have to uncross them today as I transfer all the food over from one freezer to the next. It's cold finger day...no crossing possible.

See ya next time..down on the farm!