New Oven

Now... one of the reasons I bought this house was that it has a gas stove.  I love having gas burners for my stove top work.  One of the disadvantages is that the oven itself is huge and heats up the whole house every time you turn it on. (okay, that might be an advantage come winter)  So, when mom was here, we stopped at Costco and I found a convection toaster oven.  It's large enough to fit a frozen pizza, so I shouldn't have to turn my oven on unless I'm cooking a turkey or some other huge meal.

Today, I used my toaster oven for the first time.

As you can see, one didn't make it to the photo shoot.  These are Jesh's famous peanut butter cookies.  One of my co-workers is gluten free and no one ever remembers to bring stuff she can eat when we do work events.  I figured with a brand new oven there is no chance of cross contamination, so I'd make her cookies.

They don't taste quite the same as Jesh's.  I don't know if it's because I didn't get them as flat as she does, if I ate it while it was too warm or if I added too much sugar.  Either way, they're still yummy.

Thanks for the recipe Jesh!

Why I don't see more movies

$17... that's what it cost for me to go to the movie (and I caught an early price one), get a medium popcorn and a medium drink.  That's insane.

But... I wanted to see Star Trek before it left the theater.  As someone who spent most of high school and college deeply involved in the Star Trek fan world, I just had to see it.  I had heard that it broke canon (and boy did it.. but they managed to do it with an explanation) and I wasn't sure I'd like it.  Well... I did enjoy it.  It's not one I'd go see twice in the theater but it was worth the $17 afternoon.

Here's my question... are they setting us up for something?  Now that they've basically changed the whole universe is this going to end up being a series of movies or even a TV show?  Anyone know?

On the kindness of strangers

As a single woman, I'm always leery about placing or answering an ad on craigslist.  Granted, having a loaded 9mm helps a bit.

Today, I placed an ad for free carpeting, hoping to get rid of the carpet that I had pulled up when I moved into the house.  I couldn't get it down to the basement by myself, so it's been sitting in the kitchen.

I got ten replies in about two minutes.  I picked the one that sounded the most normal, left a phone number and could be here quickly.  He got here as quickly as he promised, but we discovered a flaw in my plan... I had over estimated the size of the piece and it wouldn't work for him.  Now... not only didn't he get upset, but he helped me carry both pieces down to the basement and wouldn't take anything in return but a soda.

It's nice to know there are still good, kind people out there.

For mom

who has yet to join facebook so she can see what I'm doing there, my life in a nutshell.

I moved into the house on Saturday.  Packing the cats took longer than packing up the car.  They knew something was up and were hiding under the bed.  No amount of treats could get them out.  Oddly enough, it was sitting on the bed watching TV that did it.  They are so eager for attention that once I normalized the situation, out they came looking for love.

I had an unexpected trip to the apple store because the case on my laptop cracked.  Thankfully, I have applecare on this thing, or that would have been a $180 repair.

I could live at Lowe's... except for the crummy selection of strawberry plants.  I got a few bird feeders, a hose and some stuff to kill the wasp nest in the window.  I also scored a half price aerogarden, so I'm going to have lettuce or tomatoes all winter... I haven't decided which one yet.  I may just go back for a second one.

I mowed my front lawn for the first time yesterday.  It started raining before I could do the back.

I slept in the house last night, on the floor.  Why I didn't pack my hiking pad is beyond me.  Today, I go to Ikea and buy a new mattress.  I'll probably use the setup that is currently in NJ for the upstairs.

I still need to buy a washing machine.  I also just signed up for internet access, so that will take at least a week.  I've decided against cable for now.  Most of the shows I like are online, so I signed up for the highest speed they offer.  It will probably be cheaper for me to buy itunes versions of the shows I like than to have cable for the year.

I will not be getting a landline, so my phone number will stay the same.  I also have a cell from work, so if anyone out there wants an Ohio number to get a hold of me, let me know.

My life in a nutshell

As of Thursday at 1:30pm, I will be a home owner!  I'm very excited, but totally scared at the same time.  For some reason, they left it till today (who expects people to get stuff done and call you back on a Friday) to tell me they need more info.  To top it all off, I've changed the source I'm using for my downpayment (rolling over old retirement accounts is NOT a quick event) so I'm not sure how/if that will change things.  I'll be spending next weekend pulling up carpeting and praying the hardwood floors are in decent shape.

I love my job, but I really wish I could do it already.  On the plus side, I have a LOT of time to learn the hospital, unit, patient population, etc.... on the minus side, I'm getting antsy.  The nurses on the unit (most of my patients are all on one floor), in clinic and in the transplant office are great.  They've been really good about including me and making sure my orientation is very thorough, but I'm ready to play more on the medical side.

Knitting wise... well, I finally gave in and started a Branching Out.  It will be my gift to my preceptor (I'm pretty sure she doesn't know about this site).  My socks are languishing in "I don't wanna finish" land and the baby sweater needs a sleeve but I'm not a fan of cotton (even if it's a cotton blend and not painful on my hands).

This weekend, I'll head up north to a fiber festival, so I don't go through total withdrawal before Rhinebeck this fall.  Of course, Brooks Farm won't be there... so I'm not sure how well this plan will work.  Anyone want to send me some from MD?  Mas Acero, two skeins... the one skein I had didn't make a very large shawl (I actually turned it into a short sleeve shrug).

Button Collecting

Some people collect campaign buttons... I collect thrift shop buttons.  I've been treating myself to a weekly trip to the thrift shop.. usually on Monday when everything is on sale.  So far, I've built up quite a new button collection.

The neutrals... though the round blue ones could be considered boy.

His... I never realized how hard it is to find buttons that aren't floral.

Oh yeah... flowers.  I hope the gals at work are having girls.  For some reason, a lot of the sweaters here only had four buttons, so I guess I'm making a lot of slippers.

More her's.  The ones in the back are shiny red hearts, the ones in the middle are brass colored hearts with a flower design on them.

On the house front.  I'm meeting the home inspector tomorrow to take a more in depth tour of the house.  Cross your fingers it all goes well.

On the job front.  My license is now pending, so I figure it should be a week or two till I'm officially an Advance Practice Nurse in Ohio.  

Weekly update

Housing:  I went to look at three places on Friday... none of which really worked for me.  One was this HORRID pinky/purple color throughout the whole lower level.  Now I know that's fixable.. but it also had a wet basement and vinyl on most of the floors... not to mention that the kitchen was one of those where you can stand in one spot and reach EVERYTHING.  I'm going to look at 10 more on Monday and we'll see how that goes.

Job:  Love, Love, Love... not much else to say except that the state of Ohio still hasn't processed my license application.

Knitting: I really thought my stash would have joined me by now... but it hasn't.  So in desperation, I placed a knitpicks order.  I got 4 skeins of Shine Sport in Green Apple to make a baby sweater with and 9 skeins of WotA bulky to make a Warm Woolies sweater with.  Once again... knitpicks is very generous with their needle size recommendation.  I'm using a 3 and getting 6 stitches/inch.  I do like how it's knitting up and the seed stitch part looks rather nice. I'll try to take pics when there's more to see besides a collar and the sun comes out.