Weekend Happenings

Saturday was our 17th wedding anniversary and we had planned to go out to dinner to celebrate, but I ended up working all day and I just didn't want to have to go back into town. So instead we had a lovely BBQ of babyback ribs, potato salad and roasted peppers.

While I was away over the day, Husband found a tool hanger which he installed on the side of the hen house. I now have my scraper, shovel and pitchfork all in one place right where I need it!



We love our morning coffee and before I rushed off to work Saturday I noticed the electric drip coffee maker wasn't working. AAAaaagggghhh, nothing frustrates me more than our throw away consumer products! This coffee maker actually lasted for about 2.5 years so I guess I can't be too upset, as usually a coffee maker will last me 6 months. The silly thing is the machine works in the mornings only - its not like we have it on all day. So we decided that is it now; no more automatic drip machines, we would look for an old fashioned perculator. Do you know how hard those are to find??? I remember as a kid everyone had a heavy glass perculator that sat on the stove. I went to Northern Hardware, as they have almost anything you could ever possibly need, and they had one flimsy glass perculator and a metal stovetop one. I took the glass one up to the counter and the salesman convinced me it was not worth purchasing. He suggested the old type of electric perculator - I didn't even know they came in an electric variety. He said he has owned his for 6 years(!) and would never go back. All I had to hear was the 6 years and I was SOLD (even with the $60 price tag).

Here is our new electic perculator. It takes the same length of time to brew coffee as the automatic drip, but in comparison the coffee is really hot and actually stays that way.




Yesterday was cold out and Husband's back was bothering him again. He did some puttering around outside. I did laundry and hung some out to dry, then gave the kitchen a good cleaning.

Last night we candled some of the eggs in the incubator and it appears (to our novice eyes) that something is growing! Yeah!

I ran out of chicken feed yesterday, so this morning I'll have to run into town to pick some up. I hadn't planned on going into the office today (saving me a trip to town), but I guess I have to go now anyway. Today's plan is to clean house and take photos as I have been asked by the girls at Home Sweet Home to do a home tour on their blog. I'll let you know when my guest spot appears.

I spent most of the day yesterday pondering appliances. When we moved we did not take the microwave oven with us, and I have been living for two weeks now without it. Have I missed it? Absolutely not! This prompted me to really consider if I actually need one at the new house.

I have come to the conclusion that the microwave oven is perceived at a 'must have' appliance by everyone - but in actuality how often is it really used? I know of no person that uses it for cooking. I only used mine for defrosting meats and reheating the odd leftover and cups of coffee. Husband really doesn't want a microwave in our new home, as he feels it takes up counter space and isn't needed. I have to agree.... I would rather save the money for something else. I just have to plan a little ahead for my meal planning and baking, so that I take things out to thaw/warm in time. I have even found that reheating leftovers on the stove takes about the same time as it would in the microwave (plus the food doesn't dry out).

My other appliance issue that I have been dealing with is our new oven. We bought a wonderful GE Duel Fuel range/oven - and it cost a lot!

(Ignore the green tape in the photo as the tiles still need to grouted)

For the past two weeks I have not been able to get the oven to heat up, even though the range and warming drawer works fine. Yesterday, we finally had the repairman show up, and.... you guessed it! The oven worked perfectly. The repairman could not find anything wrong with it. Of course, once he left it would not heat up again.

In the mean time I have been using a counter top oven that I received for Christmas from my mother-in-law. Thank goodness that I had one! It works great, I have used it to cook a lamb roast, buns, and yesterday a banana bread.

Banana Bread