Two whisks diverged in a wood…

The new house we’re (hopefully) moving to is a lot bigger than our current space. But even though I’m going from a kitchen with 4 WIDE drawers to a kitchen with 12 drawers of all different sizes, I don’t think it makes sense to bring things I don’t use, just because we’ll have room for it. That’s silly.

So! As part of pre-pre-PRE moving preparation, I decided to tackle 1 drawer/shelf/space each day and sort it. Not pack it up or anything. Just sift what I want to keep and what can be sold. (Or repurposed.)

Today I tackled the cooking utensils drawer. Probably 75% of the items stayed in the drawer because we use them all the time, or because they’re so unique that nothing can really replace them. Like the ladle. It’s REALLY hard to find a good substitute for a ladle.

Anywho, I set aside the 25% that I culled so my hubby could take a look at it. He looked at each item carefully, and occasionally even said, “What is this?” and held up a never-before used utensil.

But much to my surprise, we actually disagreed on a few of the “kick” items. o_O And those items were…

1. Pampered Chef Pizza Cutter – Marked for demise because we already have a pizza cutter, and hubby likes the 2nd one better. Marked for saving because we “only”  have one other pizza cutter.
2. Long nylon spoon, Pampered Chef brand – Marked for demise because I haven’t used it in 2 freakin’ years, at least. Marked for saving because… it’s nice.
3. Long nylon slotted spoon, Pampered Chef brand – Marked for demise because I haven’t used it in 2 years either. Marked for saving because it was rainy today.

Oh, if you couldn’t tell, I used to be a Pampered Chef consultant. Those three items are all things we got for free, so it isn’t like we’re out $20 or something.

There really isn’t a need to hang on to them. *Shrugs* I was going to offer them to my MIL, but then I went upstairs to check if any of our cooking utensils had ended up in her kitchen drawer….

(Picture redacted for the sake of the children.)

It’s scary. o_O I may wait and try to help her clean out some kitchen things too. Maybe if she has nicer utensils she’ll ditch the broken ones. *Crosses fingers*

Now, my friends, I need your help on something! I have two whisks and really only need one. (Technically I have a third that’s an attachment to a hand mixer. That one stays!) We have a red Kitchenaid whisk and a long Pampered Chef whisk. Both are pictured below.

 It’s a whisky business! *Audience boos*

They’re both in great condition, dishwasher safe, and have solid handles. Whenever I need a whisk I don’t stop to analyze the curvature of the ribs, I just grab whichever is closest. So really, this won’t affect my long-term cooking. ^_^

I just can’t decide which one to keep! AGH!!!!!!

Which one would you hang on to?

I <3 Cucumber Samiches!!

This year I decided to try container gardening, with veggies. I researched it and ended up planting tomatoes and cucumbers in two recycling bins. (I’ll get pics of them later. Promise!)

To be honest, at first I was more excited about the tomatoes than the cucumbers, but it turns out that I like eating fresh cucumbers a LOT!! Apparently I’m getting old, and the acid in tomatoes isn’t so grand. *Le sigh*

Cucumbers grow fast, so I usually get to pick 1-2 each day to eat. They’re a lot better when they’re still small and uber-crunchy, but they like to hide under the giant cucumber plant leaves. When that happens, I only find them when they’re the standard grocery-store size. Not as tasty for straight up nomming.

But they ARE good for cucumber samiches. ^_^ So yesterday I took one of the giant ninja cucumbers and sliced it up. Then I took some fresh bread that I made last night, sliced it very thinly, added mayo and pepper, and piled on the cucumbers! (And added more pepper!) Such a simple thing, but omg… delicious!!!!

Just looking at this pic makes me want another one. *^_^*

It’s a small plate and they were small samiches, but they were soooooooooo good! This was the first time I’d tried them on my homemade bread, and it was beyond my best expectations. Now I’ll just have to keep bread on hand for cucumber samiches for the rest of the summer.

I can totally do that. XD 

Kitty Antics

Earlier today I was in the kitchen, shaping some loaves of bread, and my hubby started calling me from the next room. I hollered back but he couldn’t hear me. *Facepalm*

Finally he came into the kitchen and said that I should come see the kitties! Spaz and Daisy were sleeping on top of each other in a funny way, and luckily for you he had the foresight to take a picture. ^_^ (Of course they woke up. Dangit!)

“What are you lookin’ at?”

It looks like Spaz got sucked into Daisy’s belly. o_O ALIEN!!!!

Currently In My Brain

Here’s a real quick house update before I jump into what’s wriggling around in my brain. ^_^

The inspection went fine and there were no nasty surprises! (Aka, the house isn’t half-eaten by termites.) We’re still waiting to hear back from the seller about a few things, and then we can start processing the loan. WOOHOOO!!!

Oh, and since we’ll be adding a kitchen to the basement, my MIL and I started searching Craigslist for cabinets. It looks like we’ll be able to get good cabinets for the entire kitchen for about $300-$600!! We also priced some used appliances, and that looks really good too. ^_^ I know she was worried that the kitchen would use up a ton of her money, but it seems we can get it done for about $1500. (My dad will help with installs. (He’s a contractor.))

Now, on to what else is going on in my head!

 

Current Earworm

I started playing Rockband 3 a few days ago, and proceeded to spend a LOT of time working on songs with the keyboard. *^_^* Somewhere along the way I got “The Con,” by Tegan and Sara in my head. I can’t embed the official music video, but you can listen to the live version instead!

I tend to get songs stuck in my head for days at a time, so hopefully I’ll have something new for you later in the week. ^_^

 

Currently Reading

I finished Scar Night and have semi-started Iron Angel. (It’s the 2nd book in the trilogy.) By “semi-started” I mean that it’s in my bathroom, and I’ve read about 10 pages in it so far. *^_^*

Scar Night really picked up the pace and got quite interested, but it started out very slow. Unfortunately, I’m getting that feel from Iron Angel too. And it’s strange because there are SO many neat concepts that are absolutely fascinating! (Soul pearls, warring brother-gods, a skyship hidden in fog, etc.) But I just don’t feel sparked by them. Gah. >_<

It might take me a while, but I’ll make it through!

 

Currently NetFlixing

I’m a little ashamed of this one. *^_^* I read an article on Yahoo! that referenced a girl on Toddlers & Tiaras, and I thought, “You know… I’ve heard a lot about it, but I’ve never actually seen an episode….”

So I put it in my instant queue and settled in to be properly horrified.

The first episode was what I expected, so it didn’t exactly horrify me. The second episode I found really interesting because I had no idea there were different type of pageants! “Glitz” pageants are the ones we’re familiar with. That’s where the fake tans, hair pieces, heavy makeup, and SUPER sequined outfits come in. “Natural” pageants are just the girls as they are. No makeup. No hair pieces. No super-fancy outfits.

Conceptually I like that idea. ^_^ But they only discussed the differences and didn’t show a “natural” pageant. I’d like to see how that actually plays out.

Oh, and one dress for a contestant cost $800. The contestant was a two year old. >_<

That’s more than my entire wardrobe, but I’m kinda cheap. *^_^* I wear my clothes until they start falling apart, and then I wear them for a few more years.

*Innocent whistle*

So that’s what’s going on with me! What are you currently listening to/reading/watching?

First posts always suck.

When faced with writing the first post in a new blog, you basically have two options.

1. The classic intro to explain who and what you are. (Human, btw.)
2. The “F*** you, intro!” where you just leap right into the story of your life and let everyone else catch up as you go along.

I think I’m more a #2 type of person. Though to be honest, I view the “About Me” page as my official intro. ^_^ (Don’t look! It isn’t written yet!)

So here I am, sipping my Dr. Pete while Izzy stares at me. Hubs is sleeping, and I should be too, but it’s 11:26 pm and I don’t usually fall asleep until after the clock flips back to am. And now I just spent an inordinate amount of time debating on whether to write it as “AM,” “a.m.” or “am.”

Anywho, tomorrow I’m heading out with my MIL (mother-in-law) to meet a house inspector. Woohoo!! Hopefully he’ll find nothing wrong with the new place. *Crosses fingers and knocks on wood.* The next huge step is getting the loan processed, and the lender doesn’t think that will be a problem. (Blessed be!!)

It’s hard to believe that soon we’ll be moving out of this basement apartment and into a beautiful, shiny new home! (And this time my in-laws will be the ones in the basement. MWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!)

Welp, Izzy is now chasing a twist-tie around the room. It appears that she’s temporarily lost it and thinks it’s in this shoe….

 She’s not the brightest of all cats.

I get super distracted, so it’s taken me 50 minutes just to write all of this so far. *^_^* Oh, and I guess I took a few minutes to get that pic of Izzy and upload it. I’m not a slacker after all!

Oh yeah, and I also stopped to play Snakes on Muxxu…. and tweeted about writing a first post.. Blast. >_< I guess that means I’m done for now!

And I have “Rolling in the Deep” stuck in my head. I think I’ll leave you with that. ^_^