Friday, December 31, 2004

Tuff Love

How does one move a Tuff shed? This is the question my husband and I are pondering. One of our neighbors sold us an 8x10 tuff shed for a really good price. It will be nice to have somewhere to put our gardening tools because our one car garage is getting pretty crowded. The only catch is we have to get the shed into our yard. The simple answer would be to put it in the side yard, but I would really rather have it behind a fence. This involves taking down our fence, probably some leveling, and somehow getting the already assembled building onto our lot. The man we bought it from can arrange a flatbed truck, but how we'd get it up there I have no idea.

How will it turn out? Stay tuned...

Thursday, December 30, 2004

Out of Range

To start the week off, my 10-year-old Amana oven has been acting up. It just wouldn't heat up consistently. If I set it to 350 it would heat to 325. If I set it to 375, it would heat to 325. If I set it to 400, it would heat to 350 sometimes and 400 other times. After talking to Grandpa (who can fix anything), we figured it was the thermostat (very expensive). So my husband and I decided to enter the modern age and buy a ceramic top range.

Orignally, I was going to go with a Hot Point model from Home Depot, but R.C. Wiley seemed to have a good deal on a Frigedair range, so that is what we got. To try it out, I baked a batch of chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. They cooked in 9 minutes, but were a little more browned than I like. I was worried they would come out crunchy, but fortune favored me. I liked the texture very well. Then I turned on the "Fast bake" feature, major mistake with these cookies. After 6 minutes, the cookies were almost burnt on the outside and raw on the inside. (Fast bake seemed to work ok for a casserol my husband made yesterday.)

According to the cheap oven thermometer I have, the oven is cooking a little hot. At first I was upset about this, basically trading one old malfunctioning oven for a new malfunctioning oven, but after using it a few times, I think it will work out just fine.

As to the ceramic cooktop, I haven't been brave enough to try it out yet. I'm worried I'll break it or scratch it. My husband, a much braver soul than I, has used it to fry an egg and said it worked just fine. I'll try it out tonight when I make rice and beans.

A Random Baby Game

I have a game I played with my daughter that I now play with my son:

We're going to make baby rasin bread today.
First we catch the baby so he can't run away. (lay baby down)
Then we squish him up into a ball. (gently push baby's knees into his chest)
Then we roll him out until he's nice and tall. (roll baby back and forth)
Then we pat him down until he's nice and thin. (pat baby's chest and belly)
Then we poke the rasins in! (tickle baby's belly)

I made this game up when my daughter was little. I had completely forgotten about it until last night when my husband recited it to our son.