another weekend in review

Good morning.
It turned out to be a productive weekend, as I did some more Cleaning and re-organizing.   :-)
I'm amazed at how much 'stuff' one accumulates over time. And we've been in this house 28 years.
The biggest project was yesterday, as I spent several hours working on piles of recipes I've printed out over the years, and stuck in a drawer. I went through and sorted out the ones we make fairly regularly, and some more that I think we might make at some point. The rest, which was over 3/4th of what I had in the drawer, went in the trash. We had so many, we didn't want to take the time to look through them to find something to make.
So now, I have them all hole punched, and in a binder, with labeled sections for appetizers, casseroles, vegetables and main dishes. And each section is also alphabetized.
I often go online looking for something to make, so you'd think I wouldn't even need to keep recipes, but there are many recipes we make often, and I want to keep them.
Now Sunday, I did go online to find a dish to use up some left over ham and a head of cabbage we've had for a bit. This is what I found....

It's called a ham and cabbage casserole, and it turned out very tasty. I'll post the recipe on Cooking with Craig when I get a chance.
We also got a new toilet seat for the bathroom, and a new water stop thingy for inside the tank because it wouldn't stop running after it was flushed without playing with the handle. 
And.......thanks to this very long, bitter cold winter, the bottom of my feet have gotten dry and rough, especially my heel and the side of my toe. So....I've gotten up every morning, and while I'm on the puter, slather on my Gold Bond Lotion and rest my feet on waxed paper, so as not to get the lotion all over the carpet.

 This stuff is great for dry skin. I've used it each morning for 2 weeks, and my feet are back to soft and smooth.   :-)
Also this past weekend, we ran the mo-ho, and the mo-ho generator, and backed out his Honda Accord and ran that for a while also.
And that was our weekend. Now time to get back to work. I need to stop and get more sidewalk salt, as more bitter cold and snow is forecast. Will it ever end????

back into the deep freeze

Good morning.
I've just returned from cleaning the Salon.   :-)
 We finished the week very busy, and after work, had an early dinner at Reno's.
On Friday, after work, while Craig was fixing dinner, he saw a Raccoon climbing along our split rail fence.

By the time I got the camera, he was crossing the driveway. He went out across the road and disappeared through the golf course. We were surprised to see one in the middle of winter. I thought they hibernated all winter.
Anyway, our 4 days of mid 30's is over, and we are heading back into the deep freeze.  :-(
On an interesting note......
I was talking to a customer about Craig's  check engine light, and the code it was giving. She had taken her car in to the dealer with the same thing last year. They found nothing wrong, and reset the code. With in a week, it was back on again and back to the dealer she went. Again, nothing was found.
Apparently, for some reason, and they haven't issued a recall yet, but in very cold weather, the air intake sensor triggers. When the weather warms, it goes off. Well, during our brief warm up this week, Craig's check engine light also went off, and has stayed off. We'll see if it comes back on with the return of frigid weather. If so, we'll use the code reader I ordered, and if it's the same code, we'll just ignore it.
So....not much else going on, so this is it for now.

mid-week post

Good morning.
It's been a crazy weather week.
We did manage to get above freezing this week, but not warm enough to melt much snow. The freezing rain forecast for yesterday morning, fortunately didn't happen. Instead, we got another inch of wet snow, followed by all day rain which made everything slushy. It's currently 36 out this morning, so the drive to work should be okay. Temps are forecast to drop through out the day, so our 3 days above freezing is over, and very little snow melt occurred.   :-(
And bitter cold is expected over the weekend and into next week.  :-(
In other news.....
It's been fairly busy at work, and I'm booked today and tomorrow.
Poor Craig has been under the weather all week with a nasty cold.
I've managed to stay healthy.....so far.
Craig's Hyundai has it's check engine light on. But he can't take it to the dealer to have it checked, because the only Hyundai dealer in the Lansing area closed last fall.   :-(
So.. instead of taking it to someone and paying a hundred bucks , we ordered a code reader tool.

 It's suppose to tell us what is causing the check light, and reset the code. Then we'll know what the issue is and then can decide how to deal with it. Take it to a dealer in Grand Rapids, since it's still under warranty, or go to someone here. The light originally came on some time ago, then after some time went off for a while. Now it's back on again.
Anyway, time to get to work.

Well it ever quit

Good morning.
I've just returned from clearing the driveway, yet again.....
We just can't get a break!
It started snowing again yesterday afternoon, and this morning, we have another 6-7 inches on top of the already deep snow.

 The top pics were taken yesterday afternoon during the snow. The bottom this morning after I cleared the driveway. Yes, the snowbanks are now higher than the cars. I believe this is one of the snowiest winter we've had in the 28 years we've lived here.

Our split rail fence is nearly buried.
But, it's been a productive weekend so far.
Sunday, I did a backing up of files on my puter. I know, I'm suppose to do it in January, but I forgot.
I also made another batch of wings.

Italian Parmesan on the left, and pineapple barbecue on the right. Mixing pineapple juice with the barbecue sauce thinned it so it wasn't so thick and gooey, and baked in really nice.
Monday, we picked up a new garbage disposal and I spent the afternoon installing it.
And I'll now tell you why you should ALWAYS read the directions before doing any type of installation. I got the old one off, the new one wired and put in. Hooked back up the plumbing, and plugged it in. Turned on the switch, and it worked. Later, after dinner, I started a load of dishes.
I went out in the kitchen later, and the dishwasher sounded funny. It was in a draining cycle, but I heard no water coming out. I turned off the dishwasher, and tried to figure out what was the matter. I know I hooked the hose back up, so I got out the directions. Sure enough, I didn't even think about it, but I never popped out the plug in the dishwasher drain intake. I forgot, they sell these like this in case you want a garbage disposal that isn't also hooked up to the dishwasher. So... today I get to un-assemble the disposal, pop out the plug, and put it back together again. I just hope I didn't damage the dishwasher running it like that. We'll see. So, because I thought I knew what I was doing and didn't read the directions first, I get to do the whole thing twice.
We also used another Christmas gift card, and had lunch at the Outback.
And as for the warm up this week the weather men promised us last week, of course, that's all changed now. Instead of the near 50's they were telling us, we are only going to reach the upper 30's.  :-(
Better than below 30's, but it won't melt much snow.
Never trust car salesmen or weather men.
And we, like I'm sure a lot of you, have been watching some of the Olympics.  Saw Bode Miller get a Bronze. The oldest person to get a medal, and he's only 36. Enjoyed seeing Meryl Davis and Charlie White win the Ice Dancing Gold, although I thought the Canadian team looked better. Good thing I'm not a judge!  :-)
And that's it for now.

so much ice

Good morning.
I've just returned from cleaning the Salon. It was dicey driving, as we're getting more snow this morning.  :-(
We actually had 4 days this week with no snow, and 3 days of sunshine.   :-)
Our forecast is showing a warm-up next week, as temps may get into the 40's.  :-)   We'll hope they're right.
We are right now experiencing Michigan's 5th coldest winter on record! We've had 3 straight months of below normal temps. The great lakes are closing in on a record also. The most ice coverage. The combined great lakes are 88.4% covered with ice. The record, set in 1979 is 94.7. This bitter cold weekend may push us past that.
The average ice cover is 51.4%, and last year managed only 38.7%.
In other news.....
The work week was steady and uneventful.
While cleaning up after dinner yesterday, the garbage disposal died. So tomorrow, we'll go out and get another one.
And that's all I've got for now.