After various failures on Ebay and much research, I finally have a website up and am filling it with my crafts. I have even sold two items there so I am super excited. Right now I am spending all my time taking photos and adding items. I am also newly inspired to start creating some new crafts that I will try to get done and listed over the next month.
If you are looking for handmade bath products, lotions, towel crafts, kitchen gifts and more, check it out. Also don't miss the Yard Sale section with gently used clothing and lots of old books at yard sale prices.
http://villagecraftsmith.ecrater.com/
Friday, December 21, 2007
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Skewered by the Rotisserie
Originally published Dec 06 in Rant and Rave
A few weeks ago I bought a countertop oven because my stove in the new place doesn't work. I use the oven a lot in rebatching soap, melting candles and baking my clay creations so I went ahead and bought the top of the line model. I had thawed a nice fat hen last night and decided today would be the day I finally pulled out my shiny new oven. I have been drooling over a rotisserie chicken since I bought the thing. I hadn't eaten all day because I was planning on making a meal of it and have been too busy to stop until about an hour ago.
Sadly the book gave only minimal instruction and grainy little illustrations that showed almost nothing. Even the cheapo $20 model had lots more recipes and the $50 oven had complete conversion charts and estimated cooking times for their convection and rotisserie funtions plus lots of recipes. Oh, but this one had two racks, could hold two pizzas (for one?) plus convection and rotisserie features. Eighty dollars for this beast and the stinking directions said to preheat the oven then turn it off and put the rotisserie in with a fancy holder. (There were plenty of illustrations of this useless piece of equipment.) I did as instructed but they failed to mention the spit had to go in a certain way and that, with no light in this black behemoth, you cannot see this, or figure it out, until you have pulled, tugged and burned the top of your hand several times then finally lit a match and explored the inner workings like a spelunking expedition in the bowels of Hell.
By now I had sent the chicken skittering across the countertop where it bounced a few times before landing in the sink. By the way, the chicken had to have the legs and wings tied down. Of course, the ball of twine I spotted on the chef's rack every day for 2 months had now moved to a new home and failed to leave a forwarding address. I became creative and used some floral wire to truss up the bird. It was a very nice job, if I do say so. The sailing junket caused all of that work to come undone.
I had had enough. Wet, greasy, slippery hands trying to twist that wire and hold onto the slippery bird was a cardio workout. Enough! Not going through that again. Julia Child I ain't. So I tossed the rack into the oven and the chicken behind it and am now waiting for it to bake. There will be no rotisserie chicken tonight, mighty Linda has struck out.
I will be writing a scathing little note to the manufacturer in the morning but right now it is almost 1230am and I am tired and need to lay down or at least cool down. I set it to "timer cooking" for 90 minutes so if I fall asleep I can get up and nuke it, which I should have done in the first place. Tomorrow I will go back to cooking in the microwave. In the future the oven will be used properly - - for making batches of soap and tea light candles.
Nite Nite
Linda B:)
A few weeks ago I bought a countertop oven because my stove in the new place doesn't work. I use the oven a lot in rebatching soap, melting candles and baking my clay creations so I went ahead and bought the top of the line model. I had thawed a nice fat hen last night and decided today would be the day I finally pulled out my shiny new oven. I have been drooling over a rotisserie chicken since I bought the thing. I hadn't eaten all day because I was planning on making a meal of it and have been too busy to stop until about an hour ago.
Sadly the book gave only minimal instruction and grainy little illustrations that showed almost nothing. Even the cheapo $20 model had lots more recipes and the $50 oven had complete conversion charts and estimated cooking times for their convection and rotisserie funtions plus lots of recipes. Oh, but this one had two racks, could hold two pizzas (for one?) plus convection and rotisserie features. Eighty dollars for this beast and the stinking directions said to preheat the oven then turn it off and put the rotisserie in with a fancy holder. (There were plenty of illustrations of this useless piece of equipment.) I did as instructed but they failed to mention the spit had to go in a certain way and that, with no light in this black behemoth, you cannot see this, or figure it out, until you have pulled, tugged and burned the top of your hand several times then finally lit a match and explored the inner workings like a spelunking expedition in the bowels of Hell.
By now I had sent the chicken skittering across the countertop where it bounced a few times before landing in the sink. By the way, the chicken had to have the legs and wings tied down. Of course, the ball of twine I spotted on the chef's rack every day for 2 months had now moved to a new home and failed to leave a forwarding address. I became creative and used some floral wire to truss up the bird. It was a very nice job, if I do say so. The sailing junket caused all of that work to come undone.
I had had enough. Wet, greasy, slippery hands trying to twist that wire and hold onto the slippery bird was a cardio workout. Enough! Not going through that again. Julia Child I ain't. So I tossed the rack into the oven and the chicken behind it and am now waiting for it to bake. There will be no rotisserie chicken tonight, mighty Linda has struck out.
I will be writing a scathing little note to the manufacturer in the morning but right now it is almost 1230am and I am tired and need to lay down or at least cool down. I set it to "timer cooking" for 90 minutes so if I fall asleep I can get up and nuke it, which I should have done in the first place. Tomorrow I will go back to cooking in the microwave. In the future the oven will be used properly - - for making batches of soap and tea light candles.
Nite Nite
Linda B:)
Rantings on Moving
Originally published Oct 05 on Rant & Rave
Well you would think I have hired the Three Stooges or a pack of monkeys as movers. We picked up the rental truck yesterday morning at 9am and the craziness started there.
I had ordered a 16 ft truck and they had it set up as a 25 ft. There was nothing else available so I took it. Yikes, just driving the 4 miles to the house on winding narrow mountain roads nearly killed my arthritic shoulders. I could barely turn the wheels!!!!! I was on 9-1-1 speed dial with God all the way home as I terrorized small animals, trees, hanging limbs and the stray car daring to pass by.
Barreling along at 20MPH I decided the only way I could drive this monster was with a couple of packs of Depends and a supply of heart pills handy. My son used to work for 2 Men & a Truck moving company so he will drive but we will have to wait until this morning to get him signed onto the insurance policy.
When we got home there was no place to park the truck, even though I had asked my son to move our cars up to the field above the house Sat night. He chose to visit friends and play video games so we spent 2 hours hunting for the keys to the old Ventura he is restoring. (This is the rusted out piece of junk that is only aesthetically pleasing if you enjoy the artful design of the rust patterns adorning it and who's only function for the past 4 years is storage and annoying the landlady.)
Just as he got the truck in place around 1230p, his four friends showed up to "help". This of course meant they all had to sit and gab for another hour to plan out how they would attack the problem.They are of the new school that says nothing can be done without a meeting or conference *eyes rolling*.
Moving is simple, stack the heavy stuff 4-5 ft high and then put lightweight stuff on top of that, heaviest at the wall by the cab, then finish off with the bulky & light furniture angled in to brace it all. I had stacked all the heavy boxes about 4-5 ft high ready to go on the dolly and be stacked in first. I'm paying $15 for a dolly but they were grabbing boxes by hand (strong young'uns) and mixing the sizes up, putting the stacks 6 inches apart, packing heavy stuff over their heads and just making a general mess of it.
After an hour, hunger set in. I offered to cook some hot dogs and sausage dogs but Greasy Mac's was the general consensus. Of course, it took 3 people to go and pick up the food (one to order, one to tote and one to handle the finances????) The other two stood hovering, watching me pack and waiting since it is a rule you can only work in groups now. Split up the pack and all work ceases. After dinner and another conference, it was decided to load the furniture because the helpers had to leave by 4pm. Within half an hour the furniture was on (in the middle where it doesn't belong) so now it was time for a beer break (don't even get me started). A few more minutes of putting odd boxes on and everyone was gone.
Darling son decided he need to pack his car even though he could have done it this evening. Finally at 830p he went to a friend's store and picked up more boxes because we had run out around 5pm. Of course his car was so full now he could only pick up a few and they had to be broken down. *sigh* This means I will be waving the tape gun again and will prob have several more bald patches on my body by morning.
The truck is over 2/3 full and I have a crafting room full of metal bookcases and lightweight boxes to pack and there will be nothing to brace them so they will probably be spilled all over the place when we get there. The good news, it will be a mess but most of it is nonbreakable so I am just going to close my eyes and toss it on.
Right now it is 4 am. I scrounged some painkillers from the next door neighbor last night. One helped with a good night's sleep on my nice inflatable single bed which the cat and dog think they should be sharing. I am waiting for more drugs to kick in and then I have to finish up loading the truck so we can head out at 2pm when James gets here. After we unload it all and return the truck I still have to work tonight so it may be a few days before I can start the cleaning or actually bend or move any essential body parts. Oh well, back to work :)
hugs from Moron Land
Well you would think I have hired the Three Stooges or a pack of monkeys as movers. We picked up the rental truck yesterday morning at 9am and the craziness started there.
I had ordered a 16 ft truck and they had it set up as a 25 ft. There was nothing else available so I took it. Yikes, just driving the 4 miles to the house on winding narrow mountain roads nearly killed my arthritic shoulders. I could barely turn the wheels!!!!! I was on 9-1-1 speed dial with God all the way home as I terrorized small animals, trees, hanging limbs and the stray car daring to pass by.
Barreling along at 20MPH I decided the only way I could drive this monster was with a couple of packs of Depends and a supply of heart pills handy. My son used to work for 2 Men & a Truck moving company so he will drive but we will have to wait until this morning to get him signed onto the insurance policy.
When we got home there was no place to park the truck, even though I had asked my son to move our cars up to the field above the house Sat night. He chose to visit friends and play video games so we spent 2 hours hunting for the keys to the old Ventura he is restoring. (This is the rusted out piece of junk that is only aesthetically pleasing if you enjoy the artful design of the rust patterns adorning it and who's only function for the past 4 years is storage and annoying the landlady.)
Just as he got the truck in place around 1230p, his four friends showed up to "help". This of course meant they all had to sit and gab for another hour to plan out how they would attack the problem.They are of the new school that says nothing can be done without a meeting or conference *eyes rolling*.
Moving is simple, stack the heavy stuff 4-5 ft high and then put lightweight stuff on top of that, heaviest at the wall by the cab, then finish off with the bulky & light furniture angled in to brace it all. I had stacked all the heavy boxes about 4-5 ft high ready to go on the dolly and be stacked in first. I'm paying $15 for a dolly but they were grabbing boxes by hand (strong young'uns) and mixing the sizes up, putting the stacks 6 inches apart, packing heavy stuff over their heads and just making a general mess of it.
After an hour, hunger set in. I offered to cook some hot dogs and sausage dogs but Greasy Mac's was the general consensus. Of course, it took 3 people to go and pick up the food (one to order, one to tote and one to handle the finances????) The other two stood hovering, watching me pack and waiting since it is a rule you can only work in groups now. Split up the pack and all work ceases. After dinner and another conference, it was decided to load the furniture because the helpers had to leave by 4pm. Within half an hour the furniture was on (in the middle where it doesn't belong) so now it was time for a beer break (don't even get me started). A few more minutes of putting odd boxes on and everyone was gone.
Darling son decided he need to pack his car even though he could have done it this evening. Finally at 830p he went to a friend's store and picked up more boxes because we had run out around 5pm. Of course his car was so full now he could only pick up a few and they had to be broken down. *sigh* This means I will be waving the tape gun again and will prob have several more bald patches on my body by morning.
The truck is over 2/3 full and I have a crafting room full of metal bookcases and lightweight boxes to pack and there will be nothing to brace them so they will probably be spilled all over the place when we get there. The good news, it will be a mess but most of it is nonbreakable so I am just going to close my eyes and toss it on.
Right now it is 4 am. I scrounged some painkillers from the next door neighbor last night. One helped with a good night's sleep on my nice inflatable single bed which the cat and dog think they should be sharing. I am waiting for more drugs to kick in and then I have to finish up loading the truck so we can head out at 2pm when James gets here. After we unload it all and return the truck I still have to work tonight so it may be a few days before I can start the cleaning or actually bend or move any essential body parts. Oh well, back to work :)
hugs from Moron Land
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Oh My, Can We Say "Forgetful"?
I set this up last spring and completely forgot about it. I was just hunting for a different link and thought "what in the world is that?".
Well here I am :) I haven't decided if I am going to keep this going or set up a Yahoo or Google group. I need a place to post pictures and think a group would be easier. May just use it to ramble on a bit or may give slip away.
Well here I am :) I haven't decided if I am going to keep this going or set up a Yahoo or Google group. I need a place to post pictures and think a group would be easier. May just use it to ramble on a bit or may give slip away.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)