Today was a beautiful day, not too cold, clear and pretty - unusual for mid-December. My family woke to find a pan of porridge on the back of the Aga, and their excitement was definitely disproportionate to the 5 minutes it took for me to make it last night! Bri taught the girls how to cook toast on the top, and off they went, well fed, happy, and ready to enjoy Saturday! We got the woodstores filled, the driveway cleaned, the girls rode their bikes, we baked bread, did a spot of cleaning, and then this afternoon Becca and I made muffins.
Dinner was roast chicken, with rice and roasted onions/peppers/carrots - Rebecca liked the peppers best, Caity liked the carrots, Brian and I were just so glad to be eating out of the Aga. The fruit is soaking in brandy, ready to bake the Christmas cake tomorrow, and it has been a lovely day, in the kitchen and out!
Everyone is in bed now, except me, it's that late-at-night quiet time that I so love. I have tv (an old David Jason series on Netflix), tea, knitting, and the blog. Who could ask for more?
Saturday, December 17, 2011
and finally...
... the Aga in the kitchen is working! She came to life at about 4.30pm PST and she is now up to temperature and ready to rock and roll. Well, truthfully, she is more likely to just gently stroll along, but I am ready to rock and roll!
I have so much to do before Christmas, and only a week to get it all done, and I'm excited! First stop, roasting a chicken, I have been craving good roast chicken and the combi oven just isn't up to the job, unfortunately! Then cranberry sauce, stollen, Christmas cake, Christmas puddings, mince pies, fudge - all the things!
We are so excited, it feels so nice in the kitchen to have that gentle glow of warmth coming from her side of the room. We have named her Constance, because she is always ready to feed us, and everything else feels like it's going to be okay now that we have this beautiful, dependable friend sharing our home. Welcome, Constance, we are thankful for you and we will be spending a LOT of time with you!
I have so much to do before Christmas, and only a week to get it all done, and I'm excited! First stop, roasting a chicken, I have been craving good roast chicken and the combi oven just isn't up to the job, unfortunately! Then cranberry sauce, stollen, Christmas cake, Christmas puddings, mince pies, fudge - all the things!
We are so excited, it feels so nice in the kitchen to have that gentle glow of warmth coming from her side of the room. We have named her Constance, because she is always ready to feed us, and everything else feels like it's going to be okay now that we have this beautiful, dependable friend sharing our home. Welcome, Constance, we are thankful for you and we will be spending a LOT of time with you!
Friday, December 16, 2011
Seriously?
The gas man called, 15 minutes ago, to tell us he was on his way...
Brian left work and drove home, because the gas man said that Brian HAD to be here, his name is the one on the county permit, after all.
The gas man knocked on the door and said that he can't do the work now because he has to go on 'a mergency' - he told us this about 6 times, and then he went and got in his van.
Then a second van arrived... and the two drivers sat on our driveway, talking about their 'mergency.
Seriously.
They could have used that time to turn the gas on and it would all be done by now, it's a 30 second job!
Sigh!
Brian left work and drove home, because the gas man said that Brian HAD to be here, his name is the one on the county permit, after all.
The gas man knocked on the door and said that he can't do the work now because he has to go on 'a mergency' - he told us this about 6 times, and then he went and got in his van.
Then a second van arrived... and the two drivers sat on our driveway, talking about their 'mergency.
Seriously.
They could have used that time to turn the gas on and it would all be done by now, it's a 30 second job!
Sigh!
So Close We Can Taste It...
It's been a busy couple of weeks here, Becca has had her very first finals, and we have had a lot of work to do on the house, to try to get it cleaned up for the insurance company, who wanted ALL the things mended at once before theyw ould insure us for another year! We now have a new roof, a new garage door that doesn't scream like a banshee very time we open it, and 2 large woodstores stocked to the rafters with cut wood. My dear husbands jeans are falling down, he has, literally, worked his butt off cleaning up 30 years of debris and hoarding from around the yard!
Last weekend we lost patience with the Aga company, who have made no effort whatsoever to send us the parts we ordered, and we spent Sunday evening on our computers (all 4 of us) searching HVAC and commercial cooking suppliers for the 2 small pieces we needed. They arrived today.
YIPPEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This evening Brian rebuilt the burner, with the new natural gas compatible parts, and it's installed and ready to go. Tomorrow morning he will call the gas company and ask them to come out and turn on the gas supply and light the pilot light, and then we will be ready to go. It takes about 2 days to get the Aga up to full cooking temperature but, at this point, it is still possible that we will have proper cooking facilities for Christmas!
In other excellent news - for those of you who are sick of winter already, do not despair - spring is on the way, it said so in Safeway...
I feel quite disoriented this evening - today was such a strange day. Caity got up, ate breakfast, didn't feel well, and went off to sleep in my bed til 11am! Becca didn't even show up until 1.30pm - after several very late nights working on last minute exam prep, she really needed some sleep! I was up late last night, and woke at 7 this morning, so by mid-afternoon I was napping on the couch, and Bri has just gone to bed after a 90-minute long snooze by the fire - we really need to get some 'normal' sleeping going on!
The fire is so inviting though, it's hard to leave it and go to a chilly bed, far nicer to snuggle up here and doze off...maybe I'll stay just a little longer...
 |
| New roof, new gutter, new garage door. I can't wait to wash the shingles and get them cleaned up a little, too! |
Last weekend we lost patience with the Aga company, who have made no effort whatsoever to send us the parts we ordered, and we spent Sunday evening on our computers (all 4 of us) searching HVAC and commercial cooking suppliers for the 2 small pieces we needed. They arrived today.
 |
| Tiny aren't they? Amazing how much trouble little things can be! |
YIPPEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This evening Brian rebuilt the burner, with the new natural gas compatible parts, and it's installed and ready to go. Tomorrow morning he will call the gas company and ask them to come out and turn on the gas supply and light the pilot light, and then we will be ready to go. It takes about 2 days to get the Aga up to full cooking temperature but, at this point, it is still possible that we will have proper cooking facilities for Christmas!
In other excellent news - for those of you who are sick of winter already, do not despair - spring is on the way, it said so in Safeway...
 |
| Oddly enough, this display was only present that one time, and it has now been hidden away til after Christmas! |
I feel quite disoriented this evening - today was such a strange day. Caity got up, ate breakfast, didn't feel well, and went off to sleep in my bed til 11am! Becca didn't even show up until 1.30pm - after several very late nights working on last minute exam prep, she really needed some sleep! I was up late last night, and woke at 7 this morning, so by mid-afternoon I was napping on the couch, and Bri has just gone to bed after a 90-minute long snooze by the fire - we really need to get some 'normal' sleeping going on!
The fire is so inviting though, it's hard to leave it and go to a chilly bed, far nicer to snuggle up here and doze off...maybe I'll stay just a little longer...
Saturday, December 3, 2011
It Just Gets Better and Better...
I've finished uploading today's post, and sat back to drink my tea...
'what's that noise?' I wondered, aloud...
Darling husband said 'I can hear the bread machine kneading the bread upstairs in the kitchen, the woodstove clicking, the fan is running to move the heat around the house...'
'Yes', I said, 'and I can hear a vehicle'.
I ran upstairs to find that time management is also an issue for our talented roofer - the dumpster is being hauled away as I type, even though the job is not finished!!!
Oopsie, looks like the rest of the cleanup is going to have to be hauled away in trash cans then, doesn't it?
'what's that noise?' I wondered, aloud...
Darling husband said 'I can hear the bread machine kneading the bread upstairs in the kitchen, the woodstove clicking, the fan is running to move the heat around the house...'
'Yes', I said, 'and I can hear a vehicle'.
I ran upstairs to find that time management is also an issue for our talented roofer - the dumpster is being hauled away as I type, even though the job is not finished!!!
Oopsie, looks like the rest of the cleanup is going to have to be hauled away in trash cans then, doesn't it?
In Which We Are Reminded Of Why We Usually Opt To DO IT OURSELVES!!!!
A veritable catalogue of disasters this week, but I refuse to be stressed out. Our roofer has committed many crimes, most of them against grade school mathematics, at which he cannot be said to excel!
It all started when he posted a 30% off coupon on his website, and then tried to deduct $300 from my $10,000 bill (using simple numbers here for those who are percentage impaired, his numbers were both bigger and more complicated, but he did have a calculator!), which he called 'honoring the coupon'! When I pointed out his error, he looked at me horrified, and said 'I can't do THAT, I'd lose money'!
So he wrote up a 3% discount instead. Then he went home, and edited his website, and is now offering a 5% coupon - which is clearly worth MORE than the 3% he gave me - we're still waiting to have THAT conversation!
Now at this point you are probably wondering why we did not simply select a different builder. Well, the fact is that, even without the 30% coupon, this guy came in several thousand dollars under the next lowest quote and, as we don't have money to burn, it seemed impractical to spend 25% more on the same product just by buying it in a different store.
Yesterday, I got home, after dark, to find that the roofers had gone away. This was a little worrying, since there was still a mess of dropped shingles all over the floor - they hadn't cleaned up! A walk outside with a flashlight revealed that they hadn't finished the roof either - they have no more shingles!!!! A full 1/6th of the roof is not done, but the shingles are all gone! So now the truck will have to come out and deliver another batch, and the roofers will have to come back for the 4th day of a 2 day job.
I guess now that 1/6th of the roof is not completed, we can see how his quote was so much lower than everyone elses - not only are we dealing with the percentage impaired, but it seems that 'area' isn't too sound of a concept either...
This would not be so bad but for 2 things - the dumpster is supposed to be leaving today. This is because at 11am Monday the garage door is being delivered and installed! I see a conflict arising...
It all started when he posted a 30% off coupon on his website, and then tried to deduct $300 from my $10,000 bill (using simple numbers here for those who are percentage impaired, his numbers were both bigger and more complicated, but he did have a calculator!), which he called 'honoring the coupon'! When I pointed out his error, he looked at me horrified, and said 'I can't do THAT, I'd lose money'!
So he wrote up a 3% discount instead. Then he went home, and edited his website, and is now offering a 5% coupon - which is clearly worth MORE than the 3% he gave me - we're still waiting to have THAT conversation!
Now at this point you are probably wondering why we did not simply select a different builder. Well, the fact is that, even without the 30% coupon, this guy came in several thousand dollars under the next lowest quote and, as we don't have money to burn, it seemed impractical to spend 25% more on the same product just by buying it in a different store.
Yesterday, I got home, after dark, to find that the roofers had gone away. This was a little worrying, since there was still a mess of dropped shingles all over the floor - they hadn't cleaned up! A walk outside with a flashlight revealed that they hadn't finished the roof either - they have no more shingles!!!! A full 1/6th of the roof is not done, but the shingles are all gone! So now the truck will have to come out and deliver another batch, and the roofers will have to come back for the 4th day of a 2 day job.
I guess now that 1/6th of the roof is not completed, we can see how his quote was so much lower than everyone elses - not only are we dealing with the percentage impaired, but it seems that 'area' isn't too sound of a concept either...
This would not be so bad but for 2 things - the dumpster is supposed to be leaving today. This is because at 11am Monday the garage door is being delivered and installed! I see a conflict arising...
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Thankful!
Today, we are finding it easy to be thankful.
Many things have happened this year that have made us question our choices, our life path, our decisions. There have been times when we have felt financial pressure, career insecurity, anxiety about our geography. But today, as we get ready to enjoy our Thanksgiving meal, it is easy to see how very lucky we are, how many things have come together in such a perfect way to get us to this place in our lives, and how many people we have to think of as we sit at our table this evening.
Dinner is coming along nicely - pioneer style...
We had planned to be making Thanksgiving Dinner in the new Aga but, alas, the little gas nozzle and the teeny tiny screw-thing are still in transit, so her ovens are cold and empty.
Instead we had this...
I bought this combination oven when we were living in Indiana, as a luxury item, really, and I am so thankful now for that opportunity! It has really saved the day today! The turkey went in this morning, and the turkey legs went in the stock pot for soup. The soup broth was ready by about 2, so we chilled that for another day and put everything but the turkey breast meat into the stock pot with most of the juices from the cooked bird, and finished that up on the woodstove, with the sliced turkey breast resting in gravy to keep it moist and juicy. The sausage pies, which you can see in the picture, are standard fare in our house for the holidays, and when it got to 4pm and there was no pastry made yet, Becca started to ask a few polite questions...
So we made the pastry and the stuffing, and baked them quick before we put the potatoes in to roast.
It was a good dinner, not the best, not by a long way, but it worked, and we managed pretty creatively with the meagre cooking facilities we have available, and managed to get the cooking done in between the numerous naps that seemed to punctuate the day for some people!
At the table, as we ate, and chatted, we thought of our friends in England who are not celebrating today, but we are still thankful for. We talked about our lovely friends on the east coast that we have had the good luck to share many meals with over the years, those who still live there, and those who have moved back to England or off to Canada on their furthering adventures. We made a plate for our dear friend Russ in Indiana, who asked me to fax him a meal, and we laughed about the silliness of it as we took pictures to share with him. We remembered fun days when our families were together, and talked about Thanksgiving's past when we were welcomed into many Indiana homes with open arms and happy hearts. And we toasted our friends here in Washington, too.
It's worked out well that we shared our thanksgiving with all of you 'virtually' this year, because everyone feels a little flat today, we've been busy since September and now that we've stopped, it's all caught up with us. Becca and Bri have sore throats, Becca has been dizzy and pale, Cait has a '40 a day' cough, and every now and then her cheeks flush cherry red. It's better than last year - last year Becca had laryngitis and she and I slept for no more than 2 hours at a time for about 4 days. She was in such pain, and nothing much helped, poor child, it was pretty awful. At least this year it's just a bit of a cold-type-thing.
I'm off to clean down the kitchen, by myself, which almost never happens - just shows how exhausted they all are that they can't even bring themselves to help, usually they are all available to work. Hopefully everyone will sleep soundly tonight, with their tummies full of yummy food, and we'll all feel a little more energetic tomorrow.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone, I hope that your eyes and hearts were able to appreciate the wonderful good fortune that is at work in your life. xx
Many things have happened this year that have made us question our choices, our life path, our decisions. There have been times when we have felt financial pressure, career insecurity, anxiety about our geography. But today, as we get ready to enjoy our Thanksgiving meal, it is easy to see how very lucky we are, how many things have come together in such a perfect way to get us to this place in our lives, and how many people we have to think of as we sit at our table this evening.
Dinner is coming along nicely - pioneer style...
 |
| Turkey finishing off on the left, gravy and soup bones in the big stock pot, potatoes waiting for the oven in the back. |
Instead we had this...
I bought this combination oven when we were living in Indiana, as a luxury item, really, and I am so thankful now for that opportunity! It has really saved the day today! The turkey went in this morning, and the turkey legs went in the stock pot for soup. The soup broth was ready by about 2, so we chilled that for another day and put everything but the turkey breast meat into the stock pot with most of the juices from the cooked bird, and finished that up on the woodstove, with the sliced turkey breast resting in gravy to keep it moist and juicy. The sausage pies, which you can see in the picture, are standard fare in our house for the holidays, and when it got to 4pm and there was no pastry made yet, Becca started to ask a few polite questions...
So we made the pastry and the stuffing, and baked them quick before we put the potatoes in to roast.
It was a good dinner, not the best, not by a long way, but it worked, and we managed pretty creatively with the meagre cooking facilities we have available, and managed to get the cooking done in between the numerous naps that seemed to punctuate the day for some people!
 |
| Feel free to pull up a chair, everyone is welcome! |
At the table, as we ate, and chatted, we thought of our friends in England who are not celebrating today, but we are still thankful for. We talked about our lovely friends on the east coast that we have had the good luck to share many meals with over the years, those who still live there, and those who have moved back to England or off to Canada on their furthering adventures. We made a plate for our dear friend Russ in Indiana, who asked me to fax him a meal, and we laughed about the silliness of it as we took pictures to share with him. We remembered fun days when our families were together, and talked about Thanksgiving's past when we were welcomed into many Indiana homes with open arms and happy hearts. And we toasted our friends here in Washington, too.
It's worked out well that we shared our thanksgiving with all of you 'virtually' this year, because everyone feels a little flat today, we've been busy since September and now that we've stopped, it's all caught up with us. Becca and Bri have sore throats, Becca has been dizzy and pale, Cait has a '40 a day' cough, and every now and then her cheeks flush cherry red. It's better than last year - last year Becca had laryngitis and she and I slept for no more than 2 hours at a time for about 4 days. She was in such pain, and nothing much helped, poor child, it was pretty awful. At least this year it's just a bit of a cold-type-thing.
I'm off to clean down the kitchen, by myself, which almost never happens - just shows how exhausted they all are that they can't even bring themselves to help, usually they are all available to work. Hopefully everyone will sleep soundly tonight, with their tummies full of yummy food, and we'll all feel a little more energetic tomorrow.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone, I hope that your eyes and hearts were able to appreciate the wonderful good fortune that is at work in your life. xx
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