Hockey!

Tonight is Frugal Fan Friday at Wings Stadium!  What does that mean to you?  You get a hot dog, a beer, for only a $1!

The K Wings will be playing the Cincinnati Cyclones.  Game starts at 730.

We're going out to support the K Wings, and to support our local Middle School's 6th grade camp program.  A portion of pre game ticket sales went to the program, but I'm in it for the hockey.  Or maybe the cheap beer.

Don't worry, if you want to catch a great game, eat cheap hot dogs, and still support the Middle School, it's not too late!  Come to the game and make sure to buy Pucks for the Chuck-A-Puck!!

Money from the sale of pucks goes to the school and then YOU get to chuck the pucks out on the ice for a chance to win cash.

Hope to see you there.

A 5 minute home improvement

I take a lot of photos of the sink area.  It's my favorite spot in the house.

Look!  Dirty dishes in the sink.

 Honestly a cozy spot in the living room, bundled up under a pile of blankets is my actual favorite spot in the house.  But I do spend a lot of time time standing in this area, so I try to make it pleasant and well organized.

I've been plotting the building of a new, fully operational (death star) kitchen since May 2011 . We've made a lot of updates and it's only a matter of time now until we get a new oven.  I want my new oven to stay pretty, and nice, and not catch on fire, and for the door to fully shut.  I also don't want it to end up like this...

 Yes, on top of the door not fully shutting, it's also rusting out. Plus, this lovely Kenmore model was involved in a lawsuit in 2008.  I don't believe anything ever came of it because the oven was never taken away in handcuffs.

How does an oven rust out in front?  Ogre sized hands, dripping Ogre sized amounts of water onto a human sized hand towel, hanging from the oven door handle.

What's a girl to do?

,
I bought a Rev-A-Shelf Towel bar.  The plan was to hang it to the right of the sink, on the cupboards, at Ogre hand level.  As it turns out, Ogre hand level is my eye level.  Which does explain why he keeps handing stuff to my head.

The instructions made the installation sound easy, three tools, 5 minutes.

For me, this turned into a much more time consuming event.  It took 5 minutes to find the step stool, another 5 minutes to set up the camera. 

Check the smile!  I'm ready to install an oven saving towel rack!

Not the most flattering photo, but really, how the hell do you get up on the counter?  Once here though, I know I can traverse across the kitchen without touching the floor.  Haha lava!  I've defeated you!

Here's were the trouble starts, or continues.  Standing on the counter, using tools, dropping screws was not especially fun.  Things may have been better if say, I had washed and put away the dishes first.  Or, perhaps, I wasn't trying to do home improvement in my slippers.

I was already over the five minute installation time, so I took a snack break. 

I would like to suggest to Rev-A-Shelf that they add snack break to the installation instructions.  Or for the instructions to say 5 minute installation if you have all of your items together, a long screwdriver with a magnetic tip to help with the infuriating process of screwing in screws, and you don't take a snack break to recover from the high level of annoyance brought on by installing our lovely chrome, sliding, two pronged shelf.

In the end I did manage to hang the towel rack.  Please don't hang on it, or look at it harshly. I gave up after putting in only 2 of the 4 screws.

Kitchen=Done! Sweater=Normal

The painting is done!

before...

after!!!

The photo makes it look like I just put up new curtains and moved the plants around, but it's done.  Sure, the cleaning, organizing and finding things that got neglected in the process, are still on going.
 But I'm sure I could blast Alderaan and make a loaf of bread at this point.

On the knitting front, I'm working on a Knitting Pure and Simple Neck Down Pullover as part of the Zombie Prom Date Knitters Knit A Long. Look, a lovely brown lump of sweater.

Due to my normal mode of doing things, I underestimated a crucial point in the sweater making.  It's easier just to show you...

Look!  No tummy!

The brown yarn was purchased when FatCatCrochet came to visit.  I was so excited to finally use it.  I had 6 skeins out of the original 10 left.  The perfect amount to make this sweater!  Then I realized, I'd made a baby sweater, and a hat, and, and now I've only got 4 skeins of brown.  2 are already in the sweater.  The rest, is variegated green.  In the dark storage box in the basement, they all looked brown.

"Hey Pig 1, why does your Mom always wear that ugly green and brown sweater?"

"She made it."

"That somehow doesn't make it any better."

The moral of this story to anyone else would be:

Always check your lot numbers before starting a project.

For me, it's don't let Knit with Snot offer to make you a sweater.

Home Improvement...Or something close

I wanted to share the glory of my repainted kitchen when it was a completely done and fully operational Death Star.

Before...and it's not much better yet.

Probably due to the large amount of paint fumes I've been inhaling, it's been slow going.  Ok, it also may be due to the large amount of people that are still living in the house and attempting to use the kitchen.

Another before. Still no after.

Or, as with many of my projects, I work under the false impression that it's only going to take a short time to complete.  Three days ago the plan was to not caulk, spackle holes, and tape trim.  After calling Pam and Dan I was schooled in the idea that caulking is not evil, but pretty easy and hides a number of 1/4 inch sins. (For you in educated metric locales, that's about 6 mm.)

My short time allotted to pre painting tasks turned into a full day gig.  I will admit, I went a little crazy with the caulk.  There are now no 1/4 cracks between the counter top and wall in the kitchen, or any other place in the house.

It's been said that I buy orange items because no one else will and I feel bad for them.  This may be true, but I will add that green is also on sale a lot.

I honestly don't try to dress like this.  It's what I have.

This is my painting outfit.  It's also the outfit I wore while I visited nearly every business in Vicksburg.  Why did I leave the house?  I stuck out like a Margarita in a snow storm!    People thought I was directing post accident traffic.

After I taped, and caulked and spackled, I was finally ready to paint the trim.  Although I was prepared to paint, I had no paint brush.  I actually do have a paint brush, a favorite paint brush, but I'll be damned if I can find it.

A simple trip to the hardware store turns into...I should stop at the library!  Oooh, I really could be nice to the Ogre and pick up that prescription for him!  Hark!  The grocery store!  My battle of the books team needs snacks!

After all that, not much time was left for painting.  No fully operational Death Star, no kitchen inspired by the Night Circus. Just this...

Snowy Days are perfect for...Robotics

Saturday, in the middle of snow madness, we left our warm cozy home, and traveled to Holland.  Yes, you read that correctly, left the home.  Got into the little car and drove north and toward the lake.  The great lake of Michigan.

What amazing adventure would lead me so far from my warm bed?

FIRST Tech Challenge!

Robotics event..

Bowled Over explanation and rules video

 What is FIRST Tech Competition? Well, will.i.am is involved which makes it awesome. Wait, it was awesome before because it involves robots. Sometimes I can't even make this stuff up.  For once here is the truth:

Pig 1 is involved with the Vicksburg Middle School robotics team the Control Freaks.

Green shirts with Orange writing?  OMG! I swear, I had nothing to do with that!

The team has been working since the beginning of the school year on their robot.

They built it, programed it and then battled it.  Ok, not with chainsaw arms, but with programing and strategy.  

We attended the West Michigan Championship in Holland.  I was not prepared for the awesome of this event.  It was all ac/dc back in black rock and roll during registration.  I'm serious, there was a dj.

They had two battle rings, and battles going non stop.  There was so much going on they had a big screen and two large tvs to cover all the action.  It was like a celebrity party, minus the booze.

 Plus, the robots!  The teams all get the same kit, and have regulations for size etc, but the variations from team to team were amazing!  I wish I'd gotten more photos, but I was so wound up in the battles I mostly sat, watched and cheered on.

That's another cool thing about robotics, the teams compete, but there is also a co operative component.  2 teams join an alliance and try to maneuver the course and get points versus another 2 team alliance.  So an opponent one round may very well be your ally the next.

It was really inspiring watching the kids plot and scheme, and then change allies without throwing fits or being crappy to each other.  Each team had something different to offer as an ally. 

Yes, there still were idiotic parents yelling idiotic things.  Like "get the ball!" which sounds aggressive even in baseball, but here people were yelling "GET THE BOWLING BALL!" so it was all the more ridiculous.  

Team Control Freaks did not get 1st, or third, or in the top 10.  But, the robot worked, it's programing allowed them to automatically get 10 points in the autonomous portion, and they learned a lot about how a team gets penalties, er, compete in the Bowled Over event.

Interested?  Want to see what it's all about?  Well, check out your local area.  If you are near Kalamazoo, our High School Team will be competing March 3rd at Gull Lake High School.  

If you want to help the Vicksburg Middle School team...consider being a sponsor!  I have already asked the team how much I need to donate to get Knit with Snot on the back of their shirts. 

I'd definitely recommend attending a robotics event, or supporting a team.  These kids are the ones who will be building skynet.  It's probably to our benefit to be on their side. 

Snow Madness, it's finally here!

We had a two day lead on this snow storm.  It was supposed to give us 8-14 inches of snow in a 36 hour period.  Were we worried?  NO!  Because knowing ahead of time meant we could prepare to be snow bound.

How does one prepare to be snowbound?  Well, it depends.  If we are snowbound and without power, personally I want to be able to eat a bowl of cereal and be able to take a dump, wipe and flush. So, I want to make sure I have:

Milk
toilet paper
fill jugs with water to flush with

Then I get to thinking, well, if we are really snowed in, I'm going to want some hooch. I mean, you are aware of what happened at the Overlook Hotel?  Stark, raving, murderous rage, filled with actual axe murder.  I'm not going to say the alcohol was a factor, I'm saying without the alcohol, Jack would have gone batshit crazy sooner.

So,
Milk
toilet paper
fill jugs with water to flush with
alcohol

Sadly, we had a two day warning about the storm and I drank the emergency bottle of wine.

On the eve of the storm, the Ogre was set to pick up
diet soda
sour cream
the snowthrower

I was going to get

Energy drinks
paint for the kitchen
cleaning supplies
rum

Now for the day of the snow event, we were ready.  Sadly, it only snowed about 4 inches.  But school was still cancelled.  Luckily I also had waiting for a day just like this,Halo Reach, and a xbox rapid battery charger.

While the Pigs destroyed robots, I went out and cleared the drive with the newly operational toro snow thrower. (I try so hard to call it a thrower and not a blower, because, well, I hear blower is pretty dirty.)  The toro, although having spent some time at the shop, runs rather quirky.  So, I made a deal with it.  If it could stay running long enough to clear the drive, I would be neighborly and clear the drive of the family with 2 little kids.  A selfless deed.

It worked!  I got my whole drive cleared.  I took my toro and went across the street.  On my way I slide on the ice. As I fell, I realized why school was closed.  It's slippery as hell out there.

Did I give up? No, like the ass that I am, I started the toro up and attempted to be a good neighbor.  The toro stalled.  I fell again.  But did I take this as a sign to stop?  No!  No, I tried again.  I also fell again.  The toro stalled. I finally took the hint that it was time for some well earned emergency supplies, and that the toro is a selfish bitch.

Artisan Bread...Even here, it can happen

The Artisan Bread book finally arrived!  Of course the first thing I did was not read any of it and jump to the recipe on page 25.  Turns out, there are a lot of good details about bread baking in 5 minutes a day leading up to the master recipe.  But, skipping ahead is part of my charm.

The box of candy is not being eaten, it's a book mark

I was really excited because these are the only dishes I dirtied while preparing my bread dough.

Ok, I guess you have to count this giant 6 liter bucket also.  It's the keeper of the dough.

Oh, I also dirtied this crazy contraption.  It's a dough stirrer, and totally worth whatever the Ogre paid for it.

Yes, I am wearing my all purpose Maleficent pjs.  If you see me wearing these in public, please send me home though

See, it's like Magic!  It stirred the dough, hardly stuck at all and was easy to clean.

.

The next step was to let the dough rise for an hour and a half at room temperature.  Since the only room in our house that can be considered room temp is the living room, the dough had to go there.

Pig 3 asked what I had.  I told him it was his new baby brother.

Look!  It did what is was supposed to!  I truly believe that the crocheted blanket helped to keep it company, which enhanced the rising.  It's like happy chickens lay better eggs.  

Can you believe I can follow directions?  I actually weighed out the 1 lb of dough.

The one part of the directions that could have been a bit clearer involved adding water to the hot oven.  Yes, I know I was making steam for my bread, but the actual getting the water in, not getting burned and then shutting the oven door was a lot  more of an aerobic activity than I was expecting.

I added the water and did sort of a slam, drop and run maneuver. Here is the collateral damage.  Look!  No burns!!  But the photographic evidence lead me to wonder...

Was I drunk when I put this magnet here?

It all turned out ok though...Behold!  I made bread! 

I didn't know if it would be poison or not, so I tested it on the Pigs.  They seemed to like it.

Oh, the dough holding buckets also double as a barf bowl.  Show up at the local hospital er with an Ogre and a 6 liter barf bucket, you get excellent service.