HennyPenny's random thoughts. New set of goals!

[hennypenny9]

It's funny that I consider today to be a good day for these three reasons: I did not get any bad news. I did not spend any money. I made things.

I made kettle corn. I should make this every day. Twice a day. Love kettle corn. (approx 1/4c oil, 1/4c+ sugar, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/2c unpopped corn)

I made lemonade. I'm trying to coax the weather into spring. It seems to be working, as it's sunny right now!

I saved the lemon peels, combined them with some orange peels I saved, put them in an empty glass pickle jar, and filled it with vinegar. It will eventually be citrus vinegar, I'll strain it, dilute it by about half, put in a spray bottle, and use it for cleaning.

My mom's visiting on Sunday to help with the open house. We're going to have a laundry detergent making party!

Oh, and I got paid. About half of the money is going to be used just for the natural gas bill. Depressing, yes. But on the bright side, my mom will help with groceries when she gets here. She'll also bring fresh eggs!


Here are some pictures from last summer around my house. To remind me of summer. We're supposed to get record lows here in Washington state.

 

[Farmfresh]

Beautiful! Just Beautiful!

For the kettle corn - Do you just combine the ingredients in the popping pan or what?

I NEED to know.

 

[hennypenny9]

FarmFresh- I heat the oil with three corn kernels. When they all pop I add the salt, sugar, and corn. I stir a bit, then put the lid on. I wear oven mitts so the pot doesn't burn me (I'm prone to getting burns, so maybe this isn't necessary.) and once some start popping, SHAKE. I count to three, then take off heat and SHAKE. If you don't it will burn!

Anyway, that's how I do it. I actually add about 1/3 c sugar, but my taste is extra sweet, lol. It's not a perfect replica of kettle corn from the Fair, but it's pretty darn close.

 

[Farmfresh]

Yippee!

 

[hennypenny9]

After some searching, I think this is where I originally found the recipe. I like allrecipe.com. But it doesn't add about the three kernels, which I think it important.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Kettle-Corn/Detail.aspx

 

[TanksHill]

Yummy sounding corn!! thanks for the pictures they are just beautiful.

 

[hennypenny9]

Okay, this is driving me insane! Lots of activity at the for sale house next door! None at ours! Now it's hard for me to tell if it's the owner coming to check on the house, or a potential buyer or what! I think it's a buyer, and that makes me sad, because the owners AREN'T EVEN TRYING.

They never have any fliers for people to take, we always do.

They always have all the blinds down, so the house is dark.

They left the pressure washing hose blocking the walkway to their front door for over a week!

They leave on their garage lights on 24/7, and it looks horrible because one of the two is burnt out.

I hate that someone likes their house more. I know I know, I can't MAKE someone like mine. But at least I try. Both houses were built the same year, and are only 50 sq ft different in sizes. They have one more garage bay, though. We reduced our price now, so that we're a bit lower. But my parents CAN'T go lower or else they'll owe a lot on their mortgage. It's such a beautiful day, and now I'm all irritated.

Oh, and my mom called and talked about doing something so that we wouldn't sell, but I'd have to get TWO roommates. I really don't want to stay here now. I have my heart set on some dump in the middle of the woods, and a garden and chickens.

'Kay, now that I made myself sound like a 16 year old, I'll shut up.

 

[Farmfresh]

Sometimes it has to do with computer searches. A client will ask the real estate agent to search properties for sale and give them certain perimeters - example "three bedrooms two car garage and at least two bathrooms!"

When the agent searches just those things he often misses a great little house - even a better buy! When I was an agent I would search the "given perimeters" then search again with a "wider field" - maybe drop off the garage. It gave my buyers a lot more choice homes to look at.

I am just telling you all this to help you understand how it all works sometimes. I know it is frustrating. By and by your buyer will come.

 

[hennypenny9]

So my mom visited! She bought groceries, and I paid for a furnace check-up. It's fine, and he showed us a bunch of useful stuff. Got a couple of energy efficient light bulbs, and put them in the lamp I use the most. Got 10 pounds of flour for $2.50, would regularly have been $5.99. Got butter for $1.33 each. Got a Spearmint start, and Peppermint seeds. Love mint. Oh, got a Rosemary start. Also got French Lavender, which is good in pots indoors. I'm growing English Lavender to eventually put in the ground once I move. As you can see, I'm slightly obsessed with plants right now. I'm going to go try to bake bread soon.

I posted this over on the Easy Garden, but I need all the help I can get. I got this mint starter yesterday and today some leaves are turning black!

 

[hennypenny9]

Someone came to see the house yesterday, and another one today. The Realtor says one lady really liked it. I don't know what to think. Even if someone makes an offer, it's going to be really low, the way this market is. And my poor parents just can't afford to go too low, because then they have to pay off the mortgage all at once. And we didn't buy it that long ago. So we could end up owing money. As in, losing money. This was an investment house, by the way. Ha, flipping, ha. Kinda irritated at the economy about now.

But sales for houses in our price range stayed stable in our county. Small blessings.

So even if we got an offer, what if we came out owing $10,000? How would we come up with it? ARG.

EDIT: Finally got the feedback from the open house. Four showings, all people liked it. Liked the large yard, sunny, open floor plan. I have gotten absolutely no feedback on anything I could change. Nadda. Realtor says the county wide open house will be a big weekend! People argued over who could be at my house because of it's great location. It's a great house, someone buy it. Really really hoping the house next door doesn't drop their price because we CAN'T afford to drop ours any more. They've owned it for maybe 10 years, so they could afford to. Omg, I need to distract myself.