HennyPenny's random thoughts. New set of goals!

[hennypenny9]

Free- I use an instant hot water kettle for tea and such. It boils water in a minute or two. It's stainless steel, and keeps the water hot for a very long time. It was left by my old roommate. Actually, her mom bought it for her. I looked it up, and it's this one. http://www.amazon.com/Chefs-Choice-...r_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=kitchen&qid=1245128823&sr=1-5 I certainly didn't spend $50, lol!

2dream- So you use the oven to heat everything? Would a toaster oven make sense for smaller portions. Like if I was just heating enough for one person.

 

[Blackbird]

We have both a toaster oven and a microwave. The mic is much faster obviously, but dries things out more. Our microwave is actually about 20 years old... I can't imagine how much radon its leaking.

I think I remember reading that you can put a jar of dry yeast by it for 24 hours to see if theres a lot of radon or whatnot.. anybody heard of this or am I just making things up in my head?

 

[2dream]

2dream- So you use the oven to heat everything? Would a toaster oven make sense for smaller portions. Like if I was just heating enough for one person.

Oh no. I heat a lot of things on top of the stove. I use a toaster oven for most everything else. My oven is gas and heats up the house something awful. So we use a toaster oven to bake bisquits, cornbread, cassaroles etc. I got the toaster oven at Walmart for 59 bucks several years ago. It even has a rotisserie (sp) that I can use to cook a whole chicken. I just dispise microwaved food. It always tasted rubbery to me. Plus, my microwave is probably the smallest one ever made, is about 12 years old and its so small you can't put a plate in it without turning it almost completely sideways. LOL People are always asking me why don't you get a new one. And I am like why. I don't use the one I have.

I love the canning jar storage instead of plastic. Gonna have to use that.

 

[Farmfresh]

I vote toaster oven as well.

We bought a cheapy at Walmart. I am thinking it was only around $20.00 for the lake.

It is great for cooking for one or two. Since it worked so well at the lake I bought one for home. Hubby even uses it a lot. He likes to use it to roast fresh hot peppers!

Definitely the ONLY oven used in the summer around here (I am a chronic microwaver however) - why pay to heat the food and then pay more to cool the house?

We have also used a "hot pot" for water at school. I like it GREAT! Very fast. The one we had was just a cheapy. SS on the inside and plastic outside. We had to keep it on LOW or the water actually got TOO hot! At home we have a one/two serving coffee maker (hubby is the only one who drinks and occasional cup) the kind that makes coffee straight into the cup. I use that to heat my hot tea water when needed.

Hot water is usually never a problem in other ways - we have a tankless hot water heater that keeps us in hot water VERY well indeed!

 

[hennypenny9]

Maybe I'll have to look into toaster ovens more. Hm.

Anyone remember a while ago when Amazon sent me six My K-Cups and I sent back five of them? Well for some reason they credited me the amount for one... So lets be clear. I payed for one. I received six. I sent back the five I did not pay for. I receive credit for one. So... I basically got it for free because they processed it as a return? You know what... They messed up twice. I'm keeping that $16.00. Does that make me horrible?

Urg, my mom is coming up tomorrow (maybe...) and I wanted us to watch a funny show. Netflix was going to send it today and suddenly it says "short wait" and they sent the next one on the list. Well, I don't want the next one, I wanted the one I had first on my queue! Gah. It's called Due South, it's about a Canadian Mountie who comes to Chicago on the trail of the killers of his father. It's a comedy, and it has very little bad language or anything like that. It's hysterical. But too bad, we can't watch it 'cause Netflix decided to hate me.

 

[hennypenny9]

Called my mom to complain about Netflix and she was like "Due South?? We bought that whole series about six months ago..." Soooooooooo I guess I AM MY MOTHER.

Woke up to wet ground! We must have gotten a sprinkle overnight! Yay! Not supposed to get more until Sunday, but I'll take what I can get.

Hopefully my mom will sort through some of the boxes she left up here. If the house ever sells I'd rather not have a nervous breakdown trying to pack. And honestly, this place is so full of furniture I don't know what we're going to do with it. And a lot of it has sentimental value. The couches that were my great-aunt's, the big table that was my grandparent's, the end-tables that were my parent's... I don't need a lot of space, but I don't want to get rid of these items, either. My mom sent them up here, and replaced them with furniture that's more size appropriate for a 900 sq ft cabin. I must say that the couches are NOT comfortable. So I have these old couches that my roommate left. Gah. Ideally someone else in the family would want them. But I haven't talked to anyone on that side of the family for a few years.

And I want to know how so many of you SS families have found rentals that allow you to have chickens?? I've been perusing online property management services, and no renter seems to want to risk even a dog over 30 pounds. Either that, or they don't allow any pets at all! I couldn't live there, because I would never give up Charlie. But anyway, it seems unlikely that I'll find anywhere that would say yes to some feathered friends. My only hope is to save to buy property. I only have about $1,600 in my savings account. I'd like to be able to outright buy a piece of land. I don't like this whole mortgage thing. I mean, that's why we have to sell this place. Can't afford the payments. I know, I know, I'd have to save forever. OR, put ever spare penny into savings. Right now I just have that automatic savings thing were it transfers $25 from checking to savings each month. But I should try to see how much money I have left over each month and throw that into savings instead of spending it. Unless the banks fail, and then I'm screwed.

Off to bake bread! It probably wont turn out, as it's cold and dreary, but oh well!

 

[2dream]

I remember your Amazon fiasco. Keep the money for your time and trouble. No it does not make you horrible. Just getting paid for their mess up that cost you in time. Remember - time is money.

I love my netflix. I suspended my account for a few months and really miss being able to watch online movies. I never have time to sit down and watch a full movie so I will watch about a third of it online one day and a couple of days later watch some more. It usually takes me 3 times to finally finish a movie.

I think the rentals that allow animals depend on the part of the country you are in. Here in the Southern states its fairly common for house rentals to allow animals but not apartment rentals.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

Lucky you! No rain here. Well, we had a teaser last night with a handful of sprinkles. I could count them on the car windshield, and that was it. SIGH!

You might be able to find someone who owns property and wants to rent out an extra living space, someone who actually has chickens and gardens already and would like having someone around to help and/or let you keep your own. My guess is that it would be hard to find that kind of situation, but I do think those opportunities are out there. I have a friend who rented out someone's MIL house on Vashon and she was allowed to put in her own veggie garden and keep her cat there. I think you just have to find the right people.

 

[OkieAnnie]

Most places by property management companies here do not allow much as far as pets go, but places that are offered for rental in the paper, when I called and asked most of them were willing to allow pets, even chickens and other farm animals. I will say that most of those were outside of city limits, as that is where city laws allow farm critters. I hope that helps. Glad you got a sprinkle. Some rain has to be better than no rain at this point! Good luck with the furniture.

 

[hennypenny9]

OkieAnnie- Good point, I should look in the news paper. If it's just a homeowner trying to make ends meat, and they give me a chance I'm sure I could show them how awesome chickens are! And fresh eggs might help too...

2dream- I love Netflix also, it was just so maddening because I'd never had a DVD go from "available now" to "short wait" in a couple hours, and during those hours they received my other DVD, and they moved down the list. Btw, the DVD I wanted now is available now. I only get local channels on tv now!