I was sitting around the house bored to tears. Well almost. Upon seeing me in this state, my sweet hubby decided that he needed to do something for his wife (His words, not mine). So this is what he came up with.
I really don't like to cook. I haven't quite figured out which part is worse: coming up with the idea of what to make for dinner in the first place, standing over a hot stove creating, or digging out all the mixing bowls and pots and pans, only to have to wash all those dishes after this meal is consumed.
Think about that for a moment. 1 hour prep time, 15 minutes for it to disappear, followed by another hour of clean up time.
Trying to improve on the previous nights frozen burrito dinner, last night I decided to make my hubby a nicer dinner. I decided on turkey, mashed taters, gravy, and cranberry sauce. When Hubby calls to say he is on his way home, he gets excited to hear what awaits him for dinner. That makes me happy.
I get out a pan for the potatoes and one for the gravy. I need one mixing bowl and one measuring cup. A two pan dinner, ugh....dishes.
First I start the potatoes, water in the pan...boil...add milk...stir in potato flakes.
Next start the gravy, water in the pan...boil...water in the mixing bowl...add gravy mix...stir...add to boiling water...whisk until thick.
Hubby arrives just in time to open the cans of turkey and cranberry sauce. I don't like opening cans either.
Next I put some bread on the plates. Then scoop some taters into the middle of the plates and cover the bread and the taters with gravy.
Finally, I put a couple of slices of cranberry sauce on the edge of the plate.
Serving the plates, I admire them and think they have a nice presentation. After all, our food should look good if we expect anyone to eat it.
Fifteen minutes later, my son gets up from the table and takes his plate to the sink and says...."What's this can of turkey sitting here for?"
Oooops...I forgot to put the turkey in the gravy. You know what else? We all sat there and ate our food, none of us noticing that there was no meat.
The best part of the meal came later when Hubby and I were recapping the event. I laughed so hard I cried. Another story to be held over my head has been added to the archives, filed right next to the one where I made paste instead of Creamed Tuna on Toast.
Well, I guess I better go do those dishes I didn't do last night.
I am one of those do it yourself people. My way of thinking is that if they can do it, then I can google it and learn how to do it myself. No expensive labor costs that way. I usually do pretty good with this philosophy. Sure it takes me longer and can be quite physically demanding at times, but I save a ton of money. I also believe that since I have a personal stake in the project that it is finished with better quality.
We are putting in flooring in part of the basement. Snap and Click not to intimidating. Whaaat! We have to level our wavy cement floor. Ugh, that stinks! Ok...I can do this.
Did I mention that I was also cheap and impatient.
On Thursday I got the flooring supplies at the store. The floor leveler was almost $30 and the salesman told me I also needed this $7 bottle of primer to make it stick to the existing cement. In my mind I was thinking, "Yeah, sure I do. You are just trying to get me to spend more money." Remembering that Kirk once told me that cement doesn't stick to cement, I grudgingly bought the primer.
Friday, time to level that floor. First, Aaron and I emptied the room. Next, it was time for the primer. I read the directions...easy enough, now all I need is an applicator and some rubber gloves. I put Aaron on the search for the applicator while I looked for gloves. He comes back with a 1 inch paint brush and paint roller...handle only. Thinking that he did a bad job of searching, I went on my own search... I decided to use the 1 inch brush. Aaron offered to go to the store to get a bigger brush, but I didn't want to spend another $5. So I applied latex primer to roughly 180 square feet with a 1" paint brush while wearing plastic bags on my hands. Oh yeah, I didn't have any rubber gloves either and I am allergic to latex.
Next, it was finally time for the floor leveler. As I was applying the primer, Aaron was reading the directions for the leveler. There were only directions for making a complete bag and I didn't want to do that. I wanted him to see if there was an easy water to leveler ratio to use. Well apparently the directions were first written in Chinese and then badly translated to English using the European standard of measurement. So I sent him to "Google It". I could figure it out on my own if he could find a video showing me the consistancy it was suppose to pour at. He was successful.
First, we filled the bucket with a couple inches of water, then slowly added the leveler powder. I used a hand held garden shovel to mix it since I didn't have a drill mixer like the directions said to use. Afterall, they cost money. We continued to add powder. Soon I was elbow deep in cement that wouldn't seem to get thick and my arm was hurtin'. It finally got to the consistancy of gravy and I considered pouring it at that point, but the directions said it should be like thin pancake batter. So I added more leveler powder. Apparently, some people make thin pancake batter thinner then others. It suddenly started getting real warm and thick. UGH!!! Aaron get me some more water! Suddenly, it was more like homemade icecream. He splashed in some water. Have you ever eatten a piece of meat and the more you chewed it the bigger it would get in your mouth? This was like that. It just kept expanding and getting warmer. Panic has set in! I'm yelling at Aaron to add more water, now quick let's put some on the floor. UGH, still too thick. Find something to clean that off there! UGH!!!! Why is this happening!? It's too thin, too thin, then blammo too thick!
This is where Aaron gives me a key piece of information.
After stirring on this stuff for an hour...
"This sets in 5 minutes" says Aaron.
"What!" my reply.
"That's what RS means, I thought I told you that." states Aaron.
For clarification: It didn't set in the first hour I was stirring because it was too thin, like water, but as soon as there was enough leveler power, it thickened right up.
Well, Kirk came home in the middle of the big panic. As soon as the mess was cleaned up, off to the store we went. I suppose the $13 for the mixer is worth it after all.
Anybody need a bucket of cement?
Several years ago Kirk, Aaron and I used to help the Jones' with the bus ministry at church. On Saturday's we would all go door to door inviting kids to church. Then early Sunday morning we would all hop in the bus and Kirk would drive it around to all the homes where the kids lived who wanted to come. At each house, Dan Jones, who had more energy then anyone would think possible could be contained into one man, would bound out of the bus door with a big grin on his face. After each pickup we would all sing songs. Brandi led those songs with such obvious enthusiasm. I did my best to help, but I couldn't manage a fraction of the joy the others had.
My time on the bus soon came to an end. I started to look at the bus ministry as "work". Time that could be better spent doing recreational activities with the family. I began to be filled with resentment. My heart was hardened towards those little lost children. I would soon enter into a period of my life that I call the "Deep Dark Valley". Where we would leave church and I would face many lessons, but untimately teaching me the heart knowledge that it isn't about "works". Works without LOVE leads to resentment. LOVE God with all your heart, Listen to him, and Work because you truly LOVE him.
So today, one of those sweet little bus girls came to church, something like 10 years later. Her and a young man came by themselves. No one went and knocked on their door and no bus picked them up. She came because she remembered the love that those wonderful people on the bus showed her. Those bus workers knew something that it took me those same 10 years to learn. There is no better way to spend your time then working for our Lord.
That little girl and her friend got saved today. They will not have to face the torment of hell, they WILL spend ETERNITY, surrounded by love, in HEAVEN.
I hurt my knee. It was swelling and beginning to hurt to walk. When I tried to straighten it, there was a disturbing noise. Grrrrinnnd and then pop. Although this was kind of on the painful side, I of course had to try it again. After all, maybe the "pop" was the sound of it fixing itself. Grrrrinnnnd, pop. Nope, not fixed.
At this point you must understand that I will do anything to avoid going to the doctor. Not only is it way to expensive but, medicine is not an exact science. Most of the time doctors are only guessing and always in a hurry to get to their next patient so they can keep on schedule. Yes, I will give doctors their due. Their guess is a least an educated one. So anyway, I decide to wait for 24 hours to see if it would get better.
No such luck.
Next morning my knee was more swollen but, everything else was about the same. So my awesome husband took me to the doc.
So the doc pokes here and there asking, "Does it hurt here? How about here?" I had to tell her about the grinding and popping. So she checks it out and then says that I need to go to physical therapy. Then she was gone. I guess she didn't think I would want to know what exactly was the problem.
Of course, I must have answers. And after doing a bunch of research of the internet this is what I came up with:
Symptoms:
So my conclusion is that it is a Medial Cartilage Meniscus Injury. It is a guess but, it is all I have.
As I was eatting my cream of wheat and reading Sunny's blog, Sunshine on a cloudy day, I happened to notice that her link to my blog said that I had a posting named "Fonts". How odd!
I once created a post named fonts. It was only for a brief moment. After seeing on Talia's blog, Millers Moments, the cool font that she was using. I was envious. Yes, I know that it is wrong to envy. I must work on that.
So anyway, I was playing with the fonts that it lists on my blog maker thingy. I made a mock blog to test them out. Turns out that no matter what they name the font, they all look the same. Just a boring typerwriter type. *sigh*
Now I am making this new explanatory blog to delete the "fonts" blog link and....well really for no other reason.
Well, back to my cold cream of wheat.
Last night at church I learned something new. Worry is a sin.
