The Squirrels Will Be Twirlin’

Dec 032012
 

Well, nothing got done on the studio this weekend.

No, we weren’t being lazy (much), but we were kind of at a standstill since the lumber for the interior walls didn’t show up and we hadn’t picked out anything for the floor yet.

Actually, it was a nice break for Rick since he spent all day Saturday on a service call and putzed on cleaning up the 4 ton bread slicer Sunday so that it can get put to work and earn it’s keep.

But his break is short-lived, because I picked up the new flooring today.  Yes, you read that right.  I picked it up.  Literally.  Since I had to go to Rice Lake for a dentist appointment, the Menard’s store down there was having a sale on floor tile so I volunteered.

And it wouldn’t have been so bad except do you think that any of the employees milling about would notice a little thing like me humping all that wooden tile into a flat-bed cart and offer to help?  Nooooooooo, notta one.  And that crap was heavy too!  Each container was about 50 pounds and there were 13 of them.  I about kissed the cashier when she asked me if I wanted help loading it into my car!!

Help was the operative word here because I loaded half of them.  And I broke a fingernail.  Down to the skin.  And it hurt.

*sniff*

So to make myself feel better, I bought myself a present.

It’s called a Cobs-A-Twirl and will be my new Winter entertainment since I didn’t get the other squirrel torture device toy made.

Winter just might be bearable now.

 

A Wife Should Know These Things

Nov 292012
 

When Rick asked me what we needed to take to Nichole’s for Thanksgiving dinner, I told him Green Bean Casserole and pie.  I suggested a pumpkin pie at which time he said “How about my favorite, Raisin Pie.”

OK, let me step back here for a moment.  Rick & I have been married 21 years and have spent countless holidays with his family members.  At all of those occasions, there has been “Raisin Pie.”

Now did you even think that I would give this pie any notice?  Nope, I just passed it by, heading straight for something I knew, like pumpkin.

Now you can imagine that after all of these years, I finally find out that this is his favorite pie.  Why wasn’t I told this before?  It should be mandatory that every wife should know her husband’s favorite pie before they are married (yes Georgia, I never asked… smarty pants).

So with my head hung in shame, I sent an email to my dear MIL asking for the recipe.  I was going to redeem myself.

And when I received the recipe back from her, I looked at it and went “Really?  That’s it??”  I was expecting some fancy schmancy 41-ingredient-36 -hour-prep-time recipe.  I should have known better.

Because this recipe is so simple (Betty Crocker I ain’t) I’m going to share it with you!

Ready?  Here we go!

Grandma Fellings’ Sour Cream Raisin Pie

Our cast of characters are:

  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup raisins
  • 1/2 tsp.cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp.cloves
  • 1/2 tsp.nutmeg
  • 3 egg yolks
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

Mix all together really well pour into a 8 or 9 inch unbaked pie shell.  Bake at 325 degrees for one or more hours until a knife inserted into the center of the pie comes out clean.

Just for the fun of it, let’s make this a little more exciting and add some step-by-step instructions and pictures, shall we (because otherwise this will be a really boring post).

Like the directions say, throw it all in a bowl (not in the instructions, but though I’d add for those that are baking illiterate)

And mix together.

Ummm… not very appetizing, eh?  But let’s not judge yet, OK?

Pour into pie shell… check

Bake (sorry, no exciting picture of me throwing it into the oven) at 325 for 1+ hours.

Here is where I diverted a little.  Since I used my convection oven, the pie was done in roughly 45 minutes.  I noticed that the middle was still slightly “jiggly” so I didn’t put the knife in it, but the outside of the pie was in risk of being over cooked and I knew that it would continue to cook after I pulled it out, so I stopped cooking it at that point and prayed to the baking gods that it would turn out OK.

And they answered with a resounding “yes!”

Rick was so happy that I made this that he dug right in that night and had 2 slices.  (I consider myself lucky to be able to even show you one slice!)

Actually, I think I’ll have some Cool Whip on mine.  I’m all about the fancy stuff, ya know.

Now, if you are not a raisin lover, have no fret because SIL Roxy says that you can leave the raisins out (as she does sometimes).

Beware:  this is a very sugary-sweet pie.  Not that that is a bad thing, just thought I would throw it out there.

Try it out and let me know what you think!

 

On Schedule

Nov 282012
 

The week of Thanksgiving gave me a break from work, so I took a little break from posting.  Apparently, so did most of the blogging world (unless they were super organized and wrote stuff weeks in advance and had it already in queue… show-offs).

The progress on my shed studio continued on schedule.

Next on the roster:  Insulation.

Who knew that this process was so complicated?  There are so many steps in order to do it properly.  I made the mistake of asking Rick about it and got the Insulation 101 lecture.

Note to self:  Don’t ask.

Actually, he was quite patient with me and I learned quite a bit.  So now if anyone wants to know about insulating your home, I’m your gal (not!).

It took 2 days (and some help from Willard) to get it completed, and I’ll be roasty toasty in my little building.

While Willard was working on the inside, Rick was hammering away on the steps.

Well, actually one step, because that’s all that was needed.  BUT, he did show his genius and wrapped it around the corner of the deck so there was access from more than one spot.

Up next:  the flooring.  We haven’t decided what to put down yet, and I told Rick to use whatever was cheapest.  This gives him a great opportunity to scour Craigslist for materials.

I’ve already nixed white carpet.  I think he was kidding.

He better have been kidding.

 

Houston, We Have a Problem

Nov 272012
 

On Mondays I like to spend some time in the morning writing out a few blog posts.  This is, of course, if I have something to post, which has been hit or miss lately.

But when I went onto Facebook that morning I noticed that Nichole had left a message saying that the website wasn’t working.  I also noticed that links from previous posts weren’t showing up.  So, I hopped onto my administrative page and… nothing.

Houston, we have a problem.

Now, I’ve had this happen before and sometimes it will correct itself in a few hours, sometimes I need to reinstall WordPress.  So I took the simple approach and re-downloaded the newest version and viola!  I had my admin panel back up.   SCORE!

So I went to look at the website and all that greeted me back was my header.  CRAP!

Well then, let’s see if any of the other internet engines likes me today… Chome?  Yep!  IE?  Nadda… same results as Firefox.  Ok, let’s see what the forums for my Theme have to say (since there was an upgrade a week ago, maybe the problem was just reaching me now… I was grasping here folks).

My little light at the end of the tunnel was provided when I found out that,  yes, people were having the same issues as me.  I’m NOT alone in the world!  However, the solutions had to do with inserting code here and there, and I, for one, was not about to do that.  I never fiddle with that stuff on my site to “snazz” it up (plus I’m not that smart) and I wasn’t going to fart around in that area now.

BUT, I did take one suggestion and de-activated all of my plugins to see if that was the culprit.

Nope, strike 2 (or 3, whatever we’re at now).

So my loving husband, as he was heading out the door to work, suggested that I try the computer wiz’s on the WordPress IRC channel.  Now here’s my problem with that:  I’m no slouch when it comes to computers and I can slap the jargon around with the best of them, but some of these guys scare the bejeezus out of me!  Again, I am not a coder nor do I play one on TV.  When they start getting into the “look in your <g>root/something.wtf file”, my brain turns to liquid and starts oozing out of my head quicker than you can say “I love bacon.”

Luckily Rick was also logged onto the site and when that time came, my Prince gallantly came to my rescue and took over.  Phew!

Turns out that I even had the experts baffled as to what the problem could be.  Eventually, the consensus was that it was not my theme and it was not WordPress.  I’ll save you all the details of what Rick eventually did (because even I don’t know) but it had to do with moving me over to a new server and resetting/tweaking several areas to get all components to talk to each other and play nice.  (There was probably some cussing thrown in there for good measure.  Just guessing.)

So for the next 24 hours my poor husband took precious time out of his workday (and life) to find a way to get me up and running.

And, as you can clearly see since you are reading this fine material (HA! ), he was successful.  The man is a genius!

I have the best tech support in the world.

 

More Holiday Memories

Nov 242012
 

Thanksgiving morning greeted us with sunny skies and balmy temps in the 50s (yes, that is balmy for November 22nd in the Northwoods).  It was perfect weather for our trek south to Nichole’s to celebrate the holiday.

And while the women folk were gabbing and putting the grub together, Grandpa and a couple munchkins took the opportunity to play cards.

Old Maid, to be precise.  Given Rick’s love of cards, he was able to keep his poker face when he had “the card” and squeals of laughter and competition filled the house.

Nichole is a wonderful cook (even though she doesn’t give herself much credit) and I loved watching her get the meal together.  Having to wrangle 5 kids and prepare a Thanksgiving feast is no small feat, but she handled it like a seasoned pro.

Let me just say something about those rolls:  pure nummyness!  If the turkey wasn’t supposed to be the centerpiece of the meal, those would have easily taken it’s place hands down.

When Corey came in from hunting, she quickly made it clear that it was his duty to carve the bird.

This did not set well with him.

I don’t know why because I think he did a great job!  I told him if you can cut up a deer, a turkey should be a cinch!

He may or may not have growled at me.

After we all had wayyyyy to much to eat, it was time to assume the traditional park-yourself-in-front-of-the-TV position and let all that nummy food settle so that it could make room for pie.

The movie Brave was cued up and all the kids (including the biggest one) snuggled into the living room while Nichole & I cleaned up and had some Mother/Daughter time.

Before we knew it, it was time to make the trek back home before the snow hit the Northwoods (which it did precisely 1 hour after we got home).

Another Thanksgiving, another set of memories to add to the book.  I can’t help but think that before long those little kids will be making the meal and Nichole & I can sit on the sidelines and watch.

But then again, that would mean they were older which would make me older.  This thought does not sit well with me at the moment.

I think I want to keep them young and playing with grandpa a little longer.

 

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