More of the same

The word around here is snow. It just keeps coming. I have shoveled more in the past week than I really wanted to and I don't mind it but when it's every day and multiple times a day - enough!

Oh, it's pretty...

But still.

I have shoveled twice tonight and the morning will be one more time to get ready for the neighbor to come with his tractor and add to the "snow mountain". The grandkiddo's are supposed to be out tomorrow so they will love it and I will love watching them play.

I did another "upgrade" this week. I tried it out this morning and it works just slick as a whistle. AND it was on clearance to boot - go me!

When the girls were young I used an old waffle baker that was my Grandma's. It was old, it wasn't "nonstick" and it had a broken leg so you had to prop it up with whatever was laying around. I loved that iron but this is just perfect for the hubby and I. Angie got one of these and told me about it and I figured if it worked for her it would work for me.

P.S. We tied

Out with the New, In with the Old.

I have fought the drip coffeemaker market for long enough. I have spent more time and had more frustration than it's worth. It's time to go back to the tried and true, the simple and basic.

I loved the idea of this coffee machine and while it worked it was flat awesome! I like making those froo froo coffee's. It worked out well for that but nothing I can't reproduce manually.

First it wanted to be cleaned. I get it, we don't use softened water in it but then even after cleaning it had the annoying "clean me" light flashing. Then it would brew only what it felt like. It could be a full carafe, half carafe or a cup. After several attempts we had a full pot. Well, we are heavy coffee drinkers. The time it took it was a no brainer to just go back to the old method.

And here she is, in all of her glory. No moving parts, no vinegar rinses, no hard water issues. We've come full circle folks. Now it does take time, about a half hour start to finish but, hey, I'll take it!

This weekend was all about snow. Here's the first round, starting Saturday afternoon and finishing up Sunday late morning. 

Got all plowed out Sunday by noon and it was wash, rinse, and repeat Sunday afternoon until this morning. I think we ended up with about 8 inches in the 2 times. And who doesn't love all that snow with wind to make it a complete blizzard? 

Gotta love Minnesota, Mother Nature sure has a sense of humor that's for sure.

Tired of winter

We were really looking forward to a nice weekend so we could get out and go snoop at some thrift stores. Well, temperature wise it's nice but we have gale force winds so we will be staying in, at least for today. We had the nice day earlier in the week so it was melting and glorious but now...

The driveway is a rink and the vehicles are covered in salt. Good thing mine is made of some kind of plastic but the underside is not so it's probably rusting as I type.

Frank made a "creation" for me the other morning. I call it a deconstructed omelet. It was tasty though.

The hounds are having "cabin fever" issues as well. This was one of their better days. Cooper will growl at Elke when she lays on him usually. He has bad hips though so I get it. We're all getting older.

Card night was a bust - They won! (mutter mutter)

Happy Valentine's Day

I'm a little late getting this in - nothing too exciting around here. We did have a nice dinner, Lobster Tail, Shrimp, and Crab Cakes. We ate too much but it was good. We ate in. We don't really go all out for V Day but we were here, together, and we decided we would be each other's valentine. What more can you ask for?

Well, you could ask for good weather I suppose. And we had that too, it was a whopping 44 degrees above the donut today! We were ready for that after a couple three weeks of highs that amounted to a few degrees above the donut. I'm officially sick of winter.

That's about it.

February Footwear

Got my new monthly fun sock delivery from Crystal yesterday. They are perfect, can't wait to try them out!

I always see people knitting socks and I have made the attempt a couple of times but, apparently, it's not my time to do it yet. I have some other WIP's but haven't really done a lot of knitting this winter. Still working on the declutter and just spending time with Frank. Winters are especially hard for him and this one has been the worst by far. We've had so much COLD. I'm talking below the donut MOST nights and barely above during the day. This coming week is supposed to be a "heatwave" in the 20's - I am looking forward to that.

Not much else happening here this weekend. Cleaning, blah blah blah.

P.S. We won!!

Household upgrades

I have been getting sick and tired of washing our big comforter and waiting through 3 dryer cycles to dry it. With hounddogs the comforter get's dirty quickly. Sometimes we just don't let them in the bedroom but every now and again they do come in and deposit copious amounts of hair, dander, and dirt. So, my other solution was a comforter (down alternative since it was a test) and a duvet cover. After wrangling and wrestling with it for a time I finally got it put together. The hubby has been mumbling about how our big fluffy comforter (now retired) was so much nicer and warmer than it's replacement so - now we have a king size, fluffy, easily washable comforter.

I won't say it's easier to put together but I think I can get better at it, this being my first time and all.

Next up, potholders. I am a messy cook and am forever getting food on my potholders and washing them ends up making them lumpy and they have hot spots. Well, no more!

I was skeptical but I was wrong! They can handle hot cast iron from the oven without burning me and I can swish them through the dish water to clean up whatever I get on them. How sweet is that? And, yes, I use a big 'ol horseshoe for a trivet. It works well but, who knows? I may upgrade that as well some day (probably not).

Card night tonight. I had a idea to take my normal cake recipe that I would use for pineapple upside down cake and make caramel apple upside down cake. It turned out pretty good if I do say so myself. The recipe I use is for a deep dark chocolate cake but I just adjust the flour and take out the cocoa and it works out swell. Hopefully tonight will be better than the last couple weeks - uffda!