A Lot Like Christmas

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas all around the house!

After much hemming and hawing and I don't wannas, I got out Sunday afternoon and put the hooks into my eaves and got my outside lights up. It wasn't really that hard, and once I got going, I finished fairly quickly.

I was only able to get half the house done, though. You see, the roof over my porch and carport extends out further, so the eave is lower.  This other half of the house, well, I couldn't reach it.  I thought I'd either have to get a taller ladder or grow about 6 more inches.

Yesterday at work, I was just a working away, when I had an idea. See, the previous owner left several skids out behind the back fence. They aren't the wooden kind, but seem to be made of a heavy duty PVC or something similar. I thought maybe I could put my ladder on top of one of those, and it would boost me just enough to be able to get those last few hooks in the eaves.

I'd already gotten two of the skids and put them into my shop, so I could get my stuff up off the floor until I can find and fix wherever the water is getting inside when it rains. There were still three more behind the fence. As soon as I got home, I ran out there and pried them up. It wasn't easy, as they'd gotten all clogged with dirt and were half buried. By the time I got them out of the ground, the clouds were dark and the wind had picked up. Storms were moving in.

I thought maybe if the rain had moved off, I could get the rest of my lights up this afternoon, but it was still chilly and damp. Maybe tomorrow.

But look, I was excited about this. I thought I would have to run an extension cord from this outlet under my window across my porch and up the side of my house to plug my lights in.

I'd gone and bought a 20 foot extension chord just for that purpose. For some unknown reason, I just happened to look and discovered this.

There is an outlet in my porch light fixture!  I wouldn't have to run that cord across my porch!  And I could use my shorter extension cord.  I've got a 10 foot up there now, but could probably make do with a 6 foot.  That's where my luck ran out.  All the 6 foot extension cords I have, and none of them are rated for outdoor use.  Oh well, can't win them all.  But the good news is, I can turn my Christmas lights on and off from the switch inside my house!  There is a manual switch on the porch light, so I can turn the bulb off. 

I spent some more time over the weekend bricking.  I think I've about got the method down.  Spray the bricks with Easy Off.  Let it set an hour or two.  Use a wire brush to loosen the paint, then rinse it with water.  Tedious, time consuming, and a bit messy, but it is working.

Sunday evening, I decided to go ahead and pry the bit of molding off the side so I could thoroughly clean the edges of the bricks.  If I'd had sense, I'd have cut the paint with a utility knife right there where the molding met the wall, but I didn't.  Have sense, that is.  Or cut the paint.  When the molding came loose, it pulled great sheets of thick, rubbery paint with it.

But look what I found underneath.

Isn't that pretty?  Why on earth would you want to cover that up with that hideous yellow?  I'm not a big fan of yellow, in case you haven't figured that out.  I thought if I were really careful, I could peel the paint off and leave that wallpaper, but some bits of it tore.  I'll just have to paint over it with my choice of colors.  That'll be the next project, after I get the bricks repainted, the mantle put back up, and the living room painted.

Every once in a while, I buy these little icicles.

We always had them on our tree when I was a kid, and I get them from time to time, even though they're a pain in the patooty.  They add a nice little shimmer, and a bit of nostalgia, to my tree.

Finally, I was at work today, thinking about how I was going to cook my pork chop on my George Foreman knockoff grill when I said, "By golly, I'm not going to let a kitchen appliance beat me! I'm smarter than a glorified crock pot!"  I was determined to cook that pork chop in the Instant Pot come hell or high water. 

 Since I still hadn't found an actual recipe, I decided to just wing it. I knew you had to have liquid in there to make the steam, so I adapted my favorite marinade recipe --which is basically soy sauce, brown sugar, vegetable oil, and some spices -- and added just a bit more water to make sure it would steam enough.  I tossed the chop in there and set it for 8 minutes.

Now, in a lot of those videos I watched, the person would say, "I set it for [however many] minutes, but I think I'll use less time because it came out falling off the bone tender."  Um, is it just me, or isn't that how you want your meat to be?

Mine came out pretty good, but next time, I think I'll use the quick release depressurize thing instead of letting it depressurize naturally.  Either that, or cut the cooking time back, because it was just a little overcooked.  It was still tender, though, and tasted good.

Tomorrow, I'm going to try cooking rice, which I've never managed to get quite right.  If it does a good job on the rice, the Instant Pot can stay.

Appliances

They didn't tell me I didn't have to be at work at 5:00 this morning.  Group Leader said, "I thought you knew."  Um, why would you think I knew if you didn't tell me?  But you would have been proud of me.  I kept my mouth shut.  All I said was, "I was wondering, but nobody told me to stop, so I came on in at 5:00."

Saturday evening, I got into a funk.  I don't know if maybe I was just really tired, but I decided I didn't want my Instant Pot.  I boxed it all up, and got ready to send it back.  Somebody asked me why I was sending it back.  Did I think it was too hard?

Ummm, no.  You've no doubt heard of the Island Of Misfit Toys.  Let me introduce you to the Shelf Of Neglected Appliances.

Let's start with this one.

It isn't an appliance.  It's a very large stock pot.  I bought it back when the plant was giving us 20 lb turkeydactyls every Thanksgiving.  I needed something large enough to boil down the carcass to make broth for soup.  Since the HR guy who felt we needed to feed an army retired, they've gone back to giving us 12 lb birds.  I haven't used this pot since.

Next up, this crock pot that I received as a wedding gift back in 1993.  It comes complete with dust bunny and wee little spider living underneath it.

I can probably count on one hand the number of times I've used it.

Here we have my coffee grinder.

It was included with the coffee pot I got from work for my 20th anniversary gift.  I bought and ground one bag of whole bean coffee.  One.  I haven't used it since.

This is the food processor that I just had to have.  I haven't used it in so long that I completely forgot it has a lid.

I had to go find said lid and take another picture.

My Kitchen Kettle that I was so excited to get I even wrote a post about it.  In the three years I've had it, I've used it exactly twice.

I used to use this breadmaker a lot, but now, it sits so far back in the corner that I didn't even try to dig it out to take a picture.

Same with the ice cream freezer.

I hadn't used it in so long, I gave it to Beverly and James.  They gave it back.  Now it sits behind an unused power strip and a spare piece of drywall.

I think this slow cooker was also a wedding gift, but I don't rightly remember.  I use it maybe once every 2-3 years, but haven't since everyone moved away.

Same with this little crock pot.  I use it maybe once every two or three years -- but haven't since everyone moved away. 

Now, lest you think I just collect appliances to collect dust, there are a few I actually do use.  On the left we have my Fry Daddy.  I use it quite a bit.  On the right is my vacuum sealer.  I probably use it the most of all my appliances.

And finally, my George Foreman knock off grill.   

Out of all those appliances, there are three that I use regularly. 

It took me four days just to take the Instant Pot out of the box.  I got it all put together and set up, and spent a few minutes looking around at some YouTube videos -- recipes and such.  It all just seemed so complicated and time consuming.  I mean, why should I spend 30 minutes Instant Potting oatmeal when I can zap it in the microwave for one?  There's nothing instant about that. 

It seemed the Instant Pot would soon find its place upon the Shelf Of Neglected Appliances. 

Once I'd gotten a good night's sleep, I relented and took the pot back out of the box.  I did the water test, then when I got home from work, I started searching for a quick and easy pork chop recipe.  Just a simple pork chop with a little bit of seasoning.  No vegetables, no sauces, no gravy, no rice.  Just a pork chop.

OK, forget the recipe.  Just tell me how long to cook the stupid thing!  

After fruitlessly searching for an hour, I shoved the Instant Pot back into the corner and ate microwaved pasta. 

I'll cook the pork chop tomorrow -- on the George Foreman knock off grill.