3 Word Sunday

A Good Day

It's week two of school and things are falling into place. Last week was just hectic. Besides all the normal back to school stuff, I had a few other things to deal with. We switched from trimesters to semesters, so we went from five 75 minute classes to seven 50 minute classes. At least once a day last week, I found myself running out of time in class. Adjusting to 25 fewer minutes was harder than I thought. We also have a new software program for attendance and grades. It's not difficult, but it's one more new thing.

Today, we got out of the house on time. I was ready for all my classes. I timed everything correctly today. We came home to a clean house. While I was in the kitchen cleaning shrimp and making dinner, shrimp creole & spinach salad, Sera was in her kitchen making "cupcakes". I could watch her from the pass-thru in my kitchen. I loved it when she told me that she was cooking in her kitchen just like mommy cooks in her kitchen. Dinner was on time and on the table instead of trays in front of the television. After dinner, Jim put away the leftovers and cleaned the kitchen. Sera was so tired that she's already in bed and willingly.

Can it get better? I don't think so.

3 Word Sunday

Some of you might remember when I wrote about the demise of my stoneware baking pan. One person who did was a friend from 30 years ago - from high school. Since I've linked my blog to my Facebook account, I've found that I get fewer comments here, but that people I hadn't seen in years have now reconnected.

Pat was a friend in high school. I remember her as being outgoing and crazy and just really envying her confidence and ease in dealing with people. I always felt shy and awkward and like I didn't really fit into the high school scene. I had my group of friends that I was comfortable with, but there were so many circumstances back then that made me just want to crawl under the nearest furniture and hide.

Because of Facebook, I've learned that Pat was enrolled in culinary school (she recently graduated!) and is following her dream of working in the food world. I've shared with her my experiences in that world, too. When she read about my pan, she immediately contacted me as she had one that she'd never used and wanted to send it to me. It arrived this weekend. I love it and can't wait to use it.

Thank you, Pat, for the pan and the friendship!

Back To School

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3 Word Sunday

Who Doesn't Want Free Stuff?

I can't imagine anyone who doesn't like to win something. 5 Minutes for Mom is doing their back to school giveaway. Good luck!

Future Librarian?

Sera loves to go to the play area at the mall. While she does enjoy playing, her favorite thing to do is gather up the abandoned books and reshelve them. I'd say she has a future in library or a bookstore.
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Sadness

Can you see it? That thin hairline fracture? That's the death knell for my favorite pan; it's my 13"x 9" Pampered Chef Stoneware pan. We received this as a wedding present over nine years ago. I've made countless meals in it. Pampered Chef does have a lifetime warranty on their products, but you have to have the receipt. Even if I had bought it myself, I can guarantee I would not be able to find the receipt. Since it was a gift, I never even had one.

I used it yesterday to roast a turkey breast. While washing it this morning, I heard the crack. I'm using it right now to hold cobs of corn as I blanch them prior to cutting off the kernals and freezing them. It's the last of the corn and the last hurrah for my pan.

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Indiana Means Corn

It's corn time! This year I thought I'd buy some to put up in the freezer. We eat a lot of corn, and end up buying a lot of canned corn. Even though we buy the low-sodium versions, I still think we can do better (and it will taste better) if we freeze our own.

One of the things I've really enjoyed this summer is going to the Farmer's Market on Tuesday mornings. Less than half of the Saturday vendors set up, but the ones I usually patronize are usually there. Our Farmer's Market is only open on Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday. Fridays actually have fewer vendors open than Tuesday, and Saturday is insanely busy.

This morning, I headed out there to buy some corn. Since I've never actually bought it in bulk and frozen it, I wasn't sure how much I would need to make this a worthwhile project. My usual produce vendor didn't have corn today, but the stand next to it did. Their sign read 3 for $1.00. As I stood there pondering, the young (20ish) man asked if he could help. I told him I was trying to decide how much to buy since I wanted to freeze it. He waited patiently, but didn't offer any suggestions as to how much it would yield. It would have been helpful, but I wasn't surprised. Finally, I just said to give me $20.00 worth. He pulled out his cardboard sign and looked it over for a few minutes. He then called across the aisle to an older gentleman and asked him how much for 20. The man replied that 21 would be $7.00, so around $6.70. I interrupted to say not 20 ears of corn, $20.00 worth. Out came the cardboard sign again. I mentioned that since it was 3 for $1.00 and I was buying $20.00, then it would be 60 ears of corn.

Around the corner came a 40ish woman who asked the young man what he was doing, he explained that I wanted to purchase $20.00 worth of corn. She went right to her calculator. I said nothing because I was thinking there must be some kind of quantity discount and they were trying to figure out exactly how much corn to give me. After a few minutes of her playing with the calculator and the man, who had now pulled out a pencil, doing the math by hand on his piece of cardboard, I heard the woman tell him that it would be 30 ears of corn. Once again, I interrupted to say that if it was 3 for $1.00 and I wanted $20.00 worth wouldn't that be 60 ears of corn? She looked at me for a minute. Tapped some more numbers in her calculator and agreed with me.

I stood there in disbelief. They had actually spent all this time trying to do such basic math, not trying to calculate some kind of discount like I had assumed. As a teacher, you can imagine how disappointing it was to see. Not being able to handle this level of math is the equivalent of math illiteracy. We're not talking Algebra or Calculus or Geometry. We are talking basic multiplication.

I shared this story with Jim so he can pass it on to his students. They don't want to be either party in this scenario. They don't want to be the retailer who tried to charge me double, nor would they want to be the customer who would pay double. You lose in both cases.

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3 Word Sunday

Performance Anxiety

Apparently my oven has it.

A little history. We moved into our house exactly nine years ago this month. Brand new house, brand new appliances. Within the first year, we had an issue with the oven. It just stopped working. I called the company who makes our oven and arranged for a repairman. A simple swap of a part that was apparently causing issues with many customers' ovens and we were back in business. At least for a few months until it happened again. Replaced the same part, and no more trouble for years.

Until Thanksgiving 2008, when the oven stopped working as I was roasting our Thanksgiving turkey. Of course, my father and stepmother were visiting us for the first time at our home. The oven would just stop working. I would restart it, and it would start back up and work for a bit before stopping again. That turkey took forever to finally get done. We figured we'd wait until the holiday weekend was over before calling a repairman, but the oven worked just fine after that day. It didn't happen again.

Until this week. This time it was a chicken I was roasting and our guest is our niece, Theresa. The chicken went in the oven at 5 and should have been finished by 6:30. It was 9 by the time it was finally cooked. We'd already given up and eaten Li'l Ceasar's $5 pizza by the time it was finished. It made a fine dinner the next night though.

Now what do I do? Call the repairman to have him come out and the oven works just fine? Or wait until it is well and truly dead?

A Touching Story

If John Hughes death plunged you into a vat of memories from the 80s, I think you will enjoy this post from his penpal.

I Dare You To Watch This & Not Cry

Isn't it wonderful?

Build Families, Not Barriers

Build Families, Not Barriers

3 Word Sunday

3 Word Sunday is back, and I'm thrilled. Thanks, PugMama, for hosting!