kitty companiona

kitty companiona

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Crazed Spending

Many of you know if you've been reading my blog for a while, that my kitchen stove is an early 1940's gas stove that my Mom purchased used when she and Dad rented their first house.  That was in 1947 or '48 about a year after I was born.  When they moved to Chambersburg when I was 13, they gave the stove to my uncle, who stored it in his basement till about 15 years ago when he gave it to me.  I've been using it ever since, hooked up to a small grill tank that's located in our back pantry.  This stove is amazingly gass-efficient.  The only problem is that the oven temperature control no longer works.  I've gotten used to it's quirks, but every once in a while, there's things I'd like to bake that take vey specific low temperatures that just aren't possible.

Lately, I've been researching countertop convection ovens as a second, more reliable, baking alternative.  Two weeks ago Zip and I went to the Kitchen Shoppe in Carlisle to 'just look'.  I had in mind the Breville convection oven that I had seen on TV.  They didn't have that model so I was ready to wait until it came back in stock.  Zip's thinking bigger and better (typical man  LOL!). We found the Waring Pro.  Zip has the 'why wait' mentality.  Probably because he doesn't want another shopping trip looming in his future!

This is it.  I love it!!!

So I thought, OK, there goes the new computer.  I guess I can struggle along with the old one for a while yet.

Over the next few days it just kept getting slower and slower until it was almost at a standstill.  The error messages were popping up constantly.  I eliminated every unnecessary program and file that was possible, cleaned up and defragged, and still the darn thing wouldn't run right.

Yesterday I had finally had enough of struggling with faulty technology and started checking out 'reasonably' priced laptops.  Staples was particularly unhelpful.  Apparently that 'EASY' button was out of order.  We went to Best Buy in Hagerstown.  And had lunch at Pizzaria Uno.  Oh, I love their pizza, so much that I forgot to take pictures.



Anyhow, the new puter is up and running with some of my necessary stuff installed.  I still have to hook up the wireless router so I can take it to the kitchen and check out and use recipes right there where I do the cooking.  No more printing of dozens of recipes.  Saves on trees, ya know!

Enough playing for one morning.  It's time to get to work.

The weather is beautiful.  The grass is sooo green!
Get out there and enjoy!

Friday, March 16, 2012

Spring??? Maybe!


We can Hope!.  The weather has been WONDERFUL!  Zip rototilled a section of the garden and we planted snap peas and swiss chard.  No the violets aren't blooming....yet!  But I've seen daffodils.

I will keep this short because my computer is going down fast.

First I want to wish a Happy Birthday to my two dear friends in the UK.

Happy Birthday,  Angie at Shozzy's Place!

And Happy Birthday, Briony at Crafty-Cats-Corner!

Ladies, we might be a year older, but we're just getting BETTER!!!  Like fine wine.  Happy next year and many more!

Several weeks ago I decided to rearrange my work and sewing area by putting in another nice long table for cutting fabric.  The computer was turned off for a few days while I moved the furniture around.  I wanted the computer on a table where Deiter and I would both fit (LOL) without him having to be laying on the keyboard and sitting in front of the screen.

The computer is now in the corner of the room with a window on either side and plenty of cat room.  It's working out well except for....  the puter is wonky!  I keep getting all kinds of error messages and frequently it won't let me click on my internet connection.  It seems to have lost it's mind.

So I will be shopping for another used one that will hopefully last for ten years like this one did.  Maybe a laptop would be good.

I'll have to start disengaging from this one over the next week and setting up a new one.  So it may be a while before I get back here.


Take care, everyone, till then.
We'll be back!