simba relishes a romp

The rain FINALLY took a break for a few hours on Friday. It felt like a miracle! There's so much moisture in the ground, you can see the mist in the right side of this picture. The sky was beautiful, as you can see in the picture below, taken at a different exposure. I drove by the park as I was coming home, raced home, grabbed Simba and the camera, and raced back to this little roadside park to see if I could capture it at all.

The Fridge

Every now and again, we find some inexpensive little gizmo that we just love, and we forget to tell others about it. A couple of years ago, I found the Fridge. When my brother-in-law was visiting, he couldn't believe how well it keeps a drink cool without sweating all over the place. If you love your drinks cold, The Fridge is the best beverage cooler going. Keep a couple in the freezer, pull one out when you're heading out on the deck to shoot the breeze, and put your standard-sized can or bottled drink in it. You'll have a cold drink for longer than you'll want to take to drink it!

The Fridge has a thick layer of blue freezer gel in the walls, and a removable, flexible top insert to allow for containers up to 2-3/4", plenty big enough for standard canned or bottled drinks. Other gel-based cooling options, like the plastic "glasses" with two walls and gel between, don't hold a candle to these guys.

They keep drinks cold for a long time. I've even put a slightly warm drink in a Fridge fresh from the freezer, left it for ten minutes, come back and found it had cooled down to fridge temp! And there's very little "sweating" on the outside of The Fridge.

I love these things, and the price is right.

Find them at AJ Prindle

P.S. I'm not getting a thing for promoting this product. Just wanting to share a good thing with a few close friends!

another great barbecue recipe

For a great barbecue party:

1. Start with a rustic home right on a lake.
2. Set a very longgg table with plastic tablecloths and lots of napkins.
3. Plop some pretty peonies into whatever vase is at hand.
4. Invite lots of friends and family.
   
5. Have one of them stop by Big Fatty's for lots of ribs and chicken.
6. Dig in!
7. Work it off with a paddle and a canoe.
8. Relax and listen to the haunting calls of the loons on the lake.
   

.. and what we can do ..

So, in the midst of cleaning up the kitchen after priming the backsplash, I was looking down into those corner cabinets so wide open and accessible as they await their new countertops. It was a real pain to put down shelf paper in those cabinets when I had to get into the corner the hard way: through the little hinged corner door.

And then I had what might un-genteelly be called a wild hair: why not replace the paper (turquoise, with dancing Snoopies, believe it or not) with this gorgeous, heavy German paper I picked up for a song at a going-out-of-business sale at one of my beloved home stores? (... anyone remember Homescapes? I loved that place!) So, not an hour later I had lined the top shelf of one corner cabinet, and this is what it looked like. And I did another cabinet, and the top silverware drawer before I realized that I can do the drawers any time, easily, so don't need to rush to get them done before the countertops are installed. Duh!

Then this evening, after yet another takeout dinner, the Huz and I moved the fridge and stove back into place. At last, we can walk through the kitchen! It was such a big relief that he said, "It's nice to have our kitchen back" and then we looked at each other and burst out laughing. It's going to be a long, long time before we have our kitchen back, but now we have our kitchen floor back at least!

we do what we can ...

No faucet yet, so no appointment for templating and no useable kitchen. But there are a few things we can do even without those guys, so today I primed the backsplash and was just thrilled with what a difference that little bit of white made in the brightness of the kitchen!

I'm also planning to move stuff back into the bottom shelves of the cabinets, getting rid of things that I never use. The top shelves are open to the countertop so I'm not sure it's a good idea to move them back in until after the countertop is back on.

I'm sure getting itchy to do some cooking! The Huz and I are leaving tomorrow for 3 days for the holiday and our 15th anniversary (yep, fireworks on the anniversary every year!) There's a Wyndham Hotel right on Lake Champlain in Burlington. We've reserved a top-floor room facing the lake, and intend to view the gorgeous fireworks sans bugs and crowds. Probably with a pint of Ben & Jerry's and two spoons. How heavenly is that?

As long as we don't fight over the last bite ...

captions roundup #4

What's he up to?

Sheesh! I forgot to do the roundup for the captions given to this picture. I was waiting for a few more captions to roll in, but they never did, and then my middle-aged brain forgot to follow up! Sorry 'bout that! If a caption occurs to you as you look at this, feel free to add yours and I'll just update this post.

The lovelier and lovelier Lynne ventriloquizes:

I've got the golden color, I've got the flowing mane, now all I have to do is work on the roar and word will spread quickly through rodentville, "Beware of the Lion!"

Barbara joins in the lion riff:

I am SIMBA! Hear me roar!

Paz projects illusions of grandeur:

I'm King of the worlddddd!

Margaret shifts from roar to yukkin' it up:

Ha, ha, ha, ha, did you see the look on that squirrel's face when he turned around and saw me? It was SOOOO funny!!!

And I just had to join the laugher:

Stop, stop, you guys are killing me! No, wait, let me tell you this one, did you hear the one about the chipmunk that slipped on the banana peel? Hoo, boy, gotta wipe my eyes a minute, haven't laughed so hard since the cat belly-flopped in the swimming pool! Har, har, har! ...

Not you, too, John!!

Got this forwarded to me today. Geesh, now who am I going to vote for??

Dear ________,

Your senator, John Sununu, was the deciding vote AGAINST Internet freedom during a key vote this week in the Senate Commerce Committee.

The committee voted 11 to 11 on the Snowe/Dorgan proposal to preserve Net Neutrality-one vote shy of passage. Your senator voted to let companies like AT&T put tollbooths on the Internet and gain more control over what you see and do online. The fight to preserve the free and open Internet now moves to the full Senate.

Please call Sen. Sununu today and say "shame on you" for opposing the Snowe-Dorgan Internet freedom proposal. Tell him to oppose any bill in the full Senate that doesn't protect Net Neutrality. Here is the number:

Senator John Sununu
Phone: 202-224-2841

After you call your senator's Washington, D.C. office, you can also call your local district office by clicking the above link. If you get voicemail, you can leave a message-they will get it.

Senator Sununu took $45,552 in contributions this election cycle from
big telecommunications companies, according to www.opensecrets.org, and then sided with
them in yesterday's vote.

Senators who voted yesterday had a clear choice between siding with big money or siding with their constitutents. While 1 million everyday people petitioned Congress to save Net Neutrality, big
telecommunications companies like AT&T gave nearly 1 million dollars in campaign contributions to members of the Senate Commerce Committee this election cycle. Politicians need to be held accountable for making the wrong choice.

updated directions to big fatty's in hartford, vermont

I've been getting quite a few hits on this blog from people who evidently are searching for a website for Big Fatty's. The next time I'm in there, I'll have to see if we can work out a deal: I'll make them a website if they'll guarantee me a steady supply of ribs! In the meantime, here's what I recall about how to find them:

UPDATE! Sheesh, I've been giving wrong directions. Big Fatty's is on Maple Street in Hartford, which is also known as Route 14. Best to use the link Big Fatty supplied (below), as I am obviously ALL WET when it comes to directions! (But the Huz could've told you that!)

Big FattyHimself has left a link to a Mapquest map. Here's how to get there ... now do it!

And the lovely Ilsa commented that if you know how to find the Elk's Club, you've found Big Fatty's, because they're right next door.

There. I hope I've made up for all the misdirection! Sorry, folks!

my performance at dance rehearsal today:

Still stinky, but a little less so ...
Only 7 more rehearsals till the first live performance! Aiyiyiyiyiiiiieeee!

train stuck in the station

So, we were steaming along nicely with the kitchen project. Contractors miraculously became available, the sink came right on time, I found the faucet on Ebay for an amazing price, the soap dispenser was here on time, I got an appointment with the templater for Wednesday, it all looked really good, full steam ahead! And then someone pulled the hydraulic brakes, and wham! It all jerked to a stop.

Did you notice the flaw in the previous paragraph?

Yep. The faucet never arrived. The templater came and went without templating, because the faucet never arrived. I've been in repeated, sometimes heated discussions with my Ebay seller about the fact that there's a $100 penalty for rescheduling the templater, and since it's two weeks after the sale and the item hasn't even shipped yet, shouldn't s/he perhaps think about doing something for me on the price of the faucet? But even that discussion was premature, because as far as I can tell, despite what I believe are his/her good intentions, the faucet still hasn't shipped!

So why did I not notice this and cancel the templater before the penalty period, you might ask? It's all a big mixup. I got notified that something was arriving here by FedEx on Saturday, but it didn't come till Tuesday night. I thought it was going to be the faucet, but it turned out the package contained the custom grids for the sink. Nice to have, but not needed for the templater!

I'm going to name names here. The seller's nom de seller is COMKARAASLAN. I don't care what his/her feedback score is --- 100% before I came along! --- do not buy from this person!

I've finally purchased the faucet from another wonderful seller, Homeclick.com, who answers his phone and has done his darnedest to get that faucet shipped out tonight via FedEx expedited service. I could have it tomorrow. If not, because of the holidays, I won't have it till Wednesday. And the templater won't even set another appointment with me till I tell him it's in hand.

So, bottom line ... about two more weeks without a workable kitchen. And even then, it will be only a slapped-together temporary kitchen, waiting three more weeks until the countertops can be installed and the kitchen goes back to normal!

I guess I should have known it was all too good to be true. Dreams die hard, though.

Sigh.

wordless wednesday

Sunday night, we can expect to see lots more canine hijinks over at Weekend Dog Blogging at Sweetnick's place. Head on over for head shots, tummy shots, jump shots and what nots!

hello? hello? anybody there?

You know, I don't have big ambitions for this blog. I don't think of myself as a writer, and I don't expect it will ever become one of the blogs that are read by thousands of people every day, like Farm Girl's and Sweetnicks'. I write it as a way to keep my far-flung family and friends apprised of some of the things going on in my life, and sometimes to just keep track of my life for myself. (I can't believe I've been blogging for a year now! Those garden entries last year really helped me this year!)

Sitemeter says about 20 people a day look at the blog, not the same people every day, and I think that's really neat! Some of you even leave comments, so here's a big "Thanks!" to Barbara, Lynne, Eva, Ilsa, Margaret, Brian, and Paz. You guys are my regular encouragers, and it is an encouragement, indeed, to get the occasional comment that says, "I'm paying attention!"

I'm really curious about the rest of you ... I wonder who you are. I see France, Henniker, Massachusetts, Virginia, Texas, California, Winnipeg, Singapore, Delhi, North Carolina, and more. Some of those are from folks who just followed a search link to one of my posts, and I expect many of them won't hang around to read more than that. But ... if you're someone who checks in regularly or now & again, won't you leave me a short comment to "scratch" my curiosity "itch"?

smiles from simba

No, I didn't photoshop this to make him look smiley, he did it all himself!

Sunday night, we can expect to see lots more canine hijinks over at Weekend Dog Blogging at Sweetnick's place. Head on over for head shots, tummy shots, jump shots and what nots!

progress masquerades as chaos

The theatuh
Oh, vey! Rehearsal was 3 hours on my feet last night, some of it in heels, which my Dansko-pampered feet aren't at all used to. After a night's sleep, they still don't feel right! But the good news is I'm beginning to have the teensiest glimmer of hope that I might just be able to get through all this tap dancing without being a noticeable disgrace. Woo hoo!

Contractor wrap-up
The contractor finished up yesterday, hanging and mudding the drywall (it's green because it's a special moisture-resistant type) and helping me think about a variety of decisions yet to be made. Rich showed me what's left to be done with mudding, caulking and painting, and advised me where to buy the paint and whose advice to take about the best mold and moisture resistant products for a kitchen wall. The electrical subcontractor came in and put in the wiring for the undercabinet lights. And then off they went, after first tearing down the plastic "wall" they'd hung to keep the mess out of the rest of the house, sweeping up, and removing the paper taped to the wooden floor leading outdoors. These Peachtree Builders guys are great, and I told them I would say so on my blog, so this one's for you, Rich!

Sink
So, here's the new sink! It's an undermount, so the granite will cover everything that looks like a rim in the picture. We liked it because it's a heavy gauge stainless steel (less prone to denting), and I love the grill inserts, which will provide a strong, flat surface for pots to sit on. One of the stopper baskets is extra-deep so when I'm cooking away, cleaning lots of veggies and other more disgusting stuff, I won't have to stop often to dump it out of the basket. And we got the brushed finish so it won't need to be wiped out after every use and the inevitable scratches just don't matter as much as they would have if we'd gotten the mirror polish finish. And that's about all you can say about a sink, I think!

Faucet
The faucet, on the other hand, is worth rhapsodizing about. We've never had a good quality faucet, and this one from Grohe (left) is just off the scale. The features that led us to choose it are the hands-free handle that can be operated easily with just a touch of the wrist (no more cleaning off chicken fat from the faucet handles!) and the pull-out sprayer. The salesperson demonstrated how some pull-out sprayers are positioned in such a way that you tend to pull them out from the top and then turn them toward the sink. The one at right might be an example of that. The one we purchased is just naturally grasped in the spraying position. And it has two settings, one for spray and one for stream. And, as you can see, it's really tall! I decided I wanted a shiny one, so we have a satin finish in the sink and all shiny hardware. I think it's going to look wonderful.

A dilemma
But here's a dilemma for you. We went to a local kitchen & bath place to investigate fixtures, and the salesperson was very helpful, convincing us that you skimp on other things, but not on your kitchen faucet. She had this exact model installed in her kitchen, and she demonstrated why. But the price they were selling it for was actually above MSRP! We saved, believe it or not, $420 by buying it in an Ebay auction. So, it feels a little like we used her ... but honestly, how can you justify buying anything at those prices? I don't feel great about it, but I don't know what else we could have done. It's easy to say, "They need to lower their prices," but they have this beautiful showroom that we could walk around in and try things, and they pay salespeople who are knowledgeable and take time to talk with you (unlike their competitors), so obviously they can't compete on price. But I don't have hundreds of dollars to toss around willy-nilly. It's an uncomfortable position to be in. What do you think?

With a kitchen like this, it's going to be a long while before I can participate in Sweetnicks' ARF Tuesday. Why don't you substitute for me? What is it, you say? Well, let's let Cate speak for herself:

"Simple. Just my little way of keeping healthier eating in check. Every Tuesday, food bloggers who made a recipe that includes an ARF (Antioxidant Rich Food), fruit, veggie or any combination of the three can be included in my ARF/5-A-Day Tuesday evening round-up. The recipe doesn't have to have been made that day. Just e-mail me your permalink by 8 pm EST on Tuesday to be included, and post a link to my site in your post on your site, so your readers can get a chance to check out the round-up as well. All designed to keep us eating healthy and inspire us with new recipes and ideas."

no looking back

No more eulogies for old tile! I think my housecleaners are excited as I am to get rid of that hard-to-clean counter with its crumbling grout.

The process we've chosen
You may notice we have those same tiles on the floor. Nope, we're not keepin' em! Those will be going, too, but we're taking things a step at a time on this little remodel. First the counters, backsplash, and undercabinet lighting. Live with that for a couple of weeks, then replace the floor. Live with that for a couple of weeks, and then ... do we need to lighten up those cabinets with a coat of paint or some pickling? I really hope not; what a big job that would be!

Yesterday was consumed with details of the kitchen. Our wonderful contractors, Peachtree Builders, came in the morning, talked over options, and went right to work removing the old countertops and tile. They were surprised to see that the original builder put the wall tiles on plywood. Usually it goes on drywall. The plywood was still in good shape, so we've decided to put 3/8" drywall over the plywood rather than ripping it out and framing for the drywall. There were a few places where some decisions had to be made because of this change, but overall it seems like the best approach. One bonus idea that came out of this brainstorming is the notion of painting the wood that surrounds the windowframe. Since I've been wanting to brighten up this cave of a kitchen, I am really liking that!

Running around
I bought a Whitehaus Dolphin undercounter soap dispenser ... what a nice luxury for not very much money! No more soap rings on my counter, and we plan to position it so any drips land in the sink. I must commend Blodgett's Sash & Door, of all the places I visited, they were the only ones who offered to order a dispenser and have it for me within 1 day. I should have my dispenser by tomorrow! And by the way, if you're looking for cabinet knobs, you have to stop by there. They have an immense selection, so I had some fun looking at all of them while waiting for a salesperson.

I also visited Illuminations, a small full-service lighting store in West Lebanon, NH. The salesperson was most helpful, and sent me home with a spec sheet (which I promptly lost) so I could talk with the electrician about the options. We're going with a low-profile xenon strip lighting, perhaps this one. Xenon lights are warm-colored like incandescents, but take much less electricity and throw less heat. We'll have it on a dimmer switch, and I think it will make the kitchen look really nice!

Respite with friends
The most normal part of my day was meeting some dear friends for lunch. We couldn't hang out and talk as much as we'd have liked to, but it was an oasis of pleasantry in the midst of my currently crazy life. Afterward, I joined friend R to look at a small office she wants to rent for her business. We had to wait for the realtor in front of a pet shop, so of course we went in and ogled the puppies. There was a sweet-spirited miniature poodle whose eyes and manner reminded me so much of Simba, I wanted to bring her home on the spot! It's a good thing we couldn't hang out in there indefinitely!

More running around
A quick trip to BJ's yielded some needed items and a chat with another acquaintance, Marie, who does dog rescue and currently has four big dogs in her huge home with large acreage (I just mention that so you don't envision a passle of labs in a tiny apartment). When I told her about the visit to the pet store, she told me that the dogs in there often have health problems because they buy them from puppy mills. She assured me that if I ever decide to have another dog, she will help me find a small sweet rescue dog. Wasn't it good that I ran into her just then!?

Tomorrow I'll post about the new sink & to-die-for faucet; now it's time for a little lunch and a little more running around before heading off to another 3-hour rehearsal tonight. It's a crazed-busy time, but it's all good stuff!