Worth Dying For?

Black Friday.
Neither hubby nor I went shopping.
I'm doing a no buy Christmas for the most part & hubby is well - he gets into shopping in a frugally morbid type way. I'll explain later lets just say he torments the gift recipient for weeks.
DD#2 rode her bike out to a strip mall with a coupon for 20% off and bought new sneakers with her own money. Pretty proud of her except for the fact that it was snowing, icy, & bitterly cold. Oh yeah and peeps were out acting like fools and there she was on her bike.
Couldn't wait until I could hook her up with a ride. So from now to the day these 'neakers bite the dust they will be known as to die for.
Speaking of to die for here's a clip from channel WIVB 4 Buffalo on a stampede @ Target. It's funny now because as far as has been reported no one was seriously injured. The one guy who has pain written all over his face managed to drag himself over to electronics to find a relative, then go to the ER where they T&R'd.
Yeah it's all fun & games til some one's crushed in the door way of a national discount chain.
No word on if he scored a t.v.

Cyber Monday - hope to score a deal on long johns for myself & the girls, along with a pair of Winter boots for me. Would also like to score a great deal on a Berkly Water Filter.

On a more important note - we were able to spend a very nice Thanksgiving @ my in laws. Brought my Mom who enjoyed meeting her favorite son in law's parents fro the first time. A nice touch was my MIL bought a few plantain bananas which she asked my mother to cook for us. Mom was more than happy to show off cooking up some platanos.

~~ pelenaka ~~

Multi tasking G.A. Way

Prior to our home having a wood stove we dried cloths just like everyone in the hood who didn't have a clothes drier, that is to say we used a ghetto clothes drier a.k.a. a heating duct vent or a radiator. Now we do it the Amish way.
Yeah I know but before everyone get's their stopenfloppers in a knot I'm sitting a few feet away multitasking so to speak to the power of 5. Besides laundry there's dough raising in the bread bucket under the huge cast iron skillet which has tarragon dehydrating. Cooking on the stove as well as on a high trivet on the right side of the hearth  is dinner. Me blogging is the final task.
Big push to finish routine chores since tomorrow is pie baking. Also need to install one of my last 3 replacement windows. I can not freakin believe that after 10 years and 12 windows later I will be done!
With windows that is. When I'm actually done with the final room of this house word is that family will box me then stick a couple saw horses under the casket and call it a wake. All the while sipping rum and admiring the wonderfully refinished wood work. 
An added bonus is that I should be getting mullah back from National Grid who is sponsoring an energy incentive program. 30 smackeroos in my back pocket err under the bed. Plus there is still the Energy Tax Credit for 2010.

Catch up - on sabbatical again my home care cased ended. Total roof fund was just over 3 grand before the gods realized I had dead presidents up under my bed. DD#2 needed a few hundred for a XC meet in NYC. She fund raised the majority, is a solid B/C student, & volunteers hours @ church so I splurged. Then the car needed work. And on it went until the fund shrunk by a grand & a quarter.
Past 3 weeks been battling a dental infection which has kept me from gutting the final 3 walls of the living room. Really should have purchased the extended warranty years ago before I started breaking down.
Today we went & rented a storage space ($50) to hold a slightly (installed then returned the next day) used carpet that we scored for $35. I foolishly thought that I could wrap it up in plastic & work around it. Well that & the church pew, coffee table bought from scratch & dent for $70 along with a few other odds and ends. Hard to see the paper trail of where that $1500 went huh.
Storage deal is until January 1st.
Time is wasting anyone seen Norm & the gang from TOH ?
I'm making pie!

~~ pelenaka ~~
who has a clean dry and oh so warm stoppenflopper

hacked ash shovel

This perforated ash shovel isn't an necessity but it is a nice hearth tool to have. After lusting for one last heating season hubby made me one out of our old ash shovel. He would have made it sooner but I wanted to wait until I could replace it with a new ash shovel so I could have both one with holes & one without to clean out the stove. Shopped both tag sales & retail stores - ended up buying new in early Summer when hearth accessories are clearanced, for $2.99 about a dollar more than the used ash shovel we bought @ a flea market.

The perforated ash shovel is nice to have when we have the wood stove fired up 24/7. Before our method of picking out the large embers was to put all the ash in the ash bucket then use old kitchen tongs to pick out the large embers throwing them back into the firebox to start a new fire. The tongs got hot quickly. Not to mention that all that handling of hot embers was a safety issue. And the CO2 detector enviably would alarm.

Thank you my husband.


~~ pelenaka ~~

Solar Martha

Our enclosed porch has a ceiling light with a pull chain dead center, which means the from either the outside door or the original front door you have to take a few steps in. Sometimes taking those steps can be a like a land mine littered with shoes, cleats, softball gear, kindling, and winter gear.  To solve this I had placed a few garden solar lights around on the floor but it was pretty much ineffective when digging through the shoe cubby under the window bench.

Thanks to a tip posted on Homesteadingtoday problem solved. Thanks W.A.

 Solar panel to charge my new & very stylish porch lighting system.

White Christmas lights in an icicle pattern for under $20 from Target. Fall swag from local YWCA tag sale last week for $3. Lace curtain was actually a tablecloth from Aunt Sally's for $2.
I'm really liking how well this repurpose worked out. So much so I think my kitchen needs a bit of solar lighting. Would hate for anyone to trip during a midnight fridge raids.

These are a few of my almost 9 year old garden lights. The one on the right still works despite it being having a more opaque solar panel than the other. Took an old toothbrush to them with a dab of cleanser. Seemed to help light output with the one that originally worked. New batteries installed in both.

All wiring seems to be intact with no rust noted.

Any suggestions ?

I just can't seem to let go especially since these were pretty pricey in the day.

~~ pelenaka ~~

3Rs - Reusing/Recycling/Repurposed

K, here's my plan sss (short, simple, & sweet) - instead of the usual houseplants that don't put food on the table I'm gonna go with vegetables such as this hybrid patio tomato plant. Not the most flavorful but come December when we're craving a fresh tomato it will do.
I also have a very large planter filled with a 3 y.o. Rosemary bush, Basil, Oregano, Parsley, & Thyme, but I don't count it since it's just herbs.
The planter is a re purposed vacuum canister from a broken shop vac. Hubby drilled a few tiny holes in the bottom for water drainage.  So consider this also a post about reusing/recycling/repurposed (3Rs)
Note to self - remember NOT to shove it behind a stack of dry wall.

Anyone else had success with indoor gardening of veggies?


Back to stripping wood work.

~~ pelenaka ~~

Urban Orchard Part 4

This is the 4 in 1 Antique Apple Tree that we planted in April of 2008. Just an itty bitty stem compared to what it is now.

A bit out of control to say the least. DH has yet to train it into an Espaliers form. It is going on two years dear. As you can see the Strawberries that we transplanted from another bed filled in very well. It's a real pleasure to walk out the back door of the house and pick berries for breakfast in my robe. This was the only one of 3 Apple Trees that we planted that has fruited yet.

.

Out of 5 Golden Russets only 1 was brusied. Eatten with some of Yancy's Fancy Champange cheese. 

3 more Apples and it would be enough for a pie. It's a start.

~~ pelenaka ~~