Instant Pot

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Do you have an Instant Pot??


I bought one a few weeks ago, and it has changed my life.  Since beginning to work full time, dinner has been hit or miss.  I get home from work around 5:30, and dinner has been as late as 8 recently.

Since picking up this most wonderful of appliances, I have been able to put dinner together before I leave for work - or even the night before.  I cover the inner pot with foil and put it in the fridge.  When husband gets home at night, he pulls out the pot, removes the foil and puts it into the pressure cooker.  By the time I get home,  dinner is ready!  Even better, there's left overs for the next night's dinner.  Success!!!!

I really am enjoying this gizmo.  Not only is it a pressure cooker, it's also a slow cooker.  You can also saute your stuff - IN THE POT - before you set it to pressure cook or to slow cook.  And the insert is stainless steel and goes into the dishwasher to clean.  No ceramic insert to wrangle into the sink and hand clean.

My Mom had a pressure cooker that she used frequently when I was growing up.  However, I remember many battles with the rubber gasket and the counter weight on the top.  The "chick-chick-chick" sound that it makes as it reaches it's target temperature and weight is one of those constant memories of my childhood and family dinners.  The Instant Pot doesn't make that "chick-chick" sound, but it does flawlessly and quickly cook just about anything.

Book Review: Horrorstor

Disclosure Notice: This post contains Affiliate Links

Hendrix, Grady.  Horrorstor.  2014.  Quirk Books.  Philadelphia, PA.

Imagine a store that is much like your local Ikea but named Orsk.  Imagine that this store is the same in almost every way except one – every fake door and window is actually a real door and window.  At night, once the lights go down and the people go home, the store becomes part of a different world.

Located atop a former prison known as The Beehive, Orsk is the new nighttime home of the house of horrors located within its walls.  The prisoners come out every night to continue the work they began as penitents so very long ago. 

One fateful night, a group of employees stays behind in the showroom to find out who has been breaking in during the night and trashing the store.  As the store transforms into an unexpected horror, the employees struggle to retain their sanity and escape with their lives. 

If you are looking for a unique horror story wrapped in an appropriately modern package, this is the book for you!

Author’s Website:

http://www.gradyhendrix.com/about/

New Year's Resolutions

Every year, I make a list of resolutions.  I check back on my list monthly, so that I am keeping myself honest about my progress towards my goals!

This year's list was somewhat ambitious.  I know I'm not going to accomplish everything on my list, but I think I'm going to get to a majority of them before the end of the year!

1) Complete 12 Home Improvement Projects

New LED fixture at the bottom of the stairs.

Husband spent much of the weekend on the roof.  He added a fan to the hallway bathroom.  (Evidently, back in the 70's, nobody needed to remove moisture from the air in bathrooms.)  The final step involved him cutting a hole in the roof to vent the fan to the outdoors.  He finished the job yesterday afternoon - leaving a long, thin strip of leg hair on the roof when it got caught in the adhesive he was using around the vent and the shingles.  You know, there are easier ways to remove unwanted hair!
 
The list to date:
Recover the kitchen chairs.
Add the knobs to the cabinet under the kitchen sink.
Fix the sewer line out of the house, through the basement wall.
Replace the baseboard heater in the hall bathroom.
Replace the lighting in the hall bathroom.
Re-enamel the hallway bathroom tile.
Replace the light at the bottom of the basement stairwell.
Paint the cinder block wall in the basement where we replaced the pipe.

2) Lose a few more inches around my waist.
Honestly, I wanted to lose 2-3 inches.  How hard can that be?

Well, I signed up for the dreaded Pilates class.  I am enjoying the class, and I am finally beginning to see progress.  I am down another clothing size.  I'm close now - so very close - to my final goal.

3) Get away with my husband - TWICE - this year.
Done!
The first trip was a long weekend to visit our oldest child at school.  (OK, that's a maybe..)
Second was the long weekend we spent in Princeton - he was up there for business, and I went up there for a long weekend at our own expense at the end of his official business. 

We did get in a third trip - out to Denver for a Memorial Service.  We enjoyed ourselves, and had a great time catching up with family from all over the country.

4) Lenten Cleaning Challenge
 Done!  40 bags in 40 days!  I'm looking forward to doing this one again next year!

5) Post at least 12 book reviews on my Books for Teens Blog
 9 Down!  I need to catch up.  I've done a lot of reading this month, but none of it has been from the Young Adult collection.  I need to see what I can do about that this month.

You can see my blog here:
https://librarynut-booksforteens.blogspot.com/


6) Finish the Hallway Bathroom
9 years after the long nightmare began, we now have 2 working bathrooms in our house!
  
7) Participate in the NoSpenduary Challenge
The moratorium is over!  We still don't wantonly spend money, but our savings account is back up where it should be, tuition has been paid, and we're plotting our big home improvement project for next year.  Hopefully, that one doesn't cascade into a larger project like this year's project did. 




Who am I kidding?  It's a home improvement project on a 40 year old house.  OF COURSE it's going to be more involved than we want it to be.  We need to add an emergency cushion onto the funding for that project when we start planning it out.

8) Learn another language.I have become ridiculously addicted to Telenovelas.  I understand less than 1/3 of what they're saying (colors, names, places), but I manage to pick up on more through context clues. 

9) 100 Things Every Marylander Should Do
Finally got one!

98) Drive Charles Street from Downtown Baltimore to the County Line

It's a beautiful drive, and shows the diversity of the city.  It would be nice to say I had taken this on purpose, but I was lost and saw Charles Street.  "Oh hey!  I've been meaning to take this all the way out!"  And so, I traveled the length of the street AND I found my way to a road I recognized so that I could get home again!


10) Daughter's Quilt
Progress!  I am making big progress!  It won't be finished before the end of 2017, but it will be finished before the end of the school year!


11) Clean Out Closet and Dresser Drawers
done!  And the stuff I no longer need has been sent to Goodwill. 


12) Clean Out the Little Room in the Basement and Make it Usable
No progress this month. 

13) Work on Landscaping the Front Yard
Now that fall has rolled around, I need to look at adding some bushes around the foundation of the house.

14) Take at Least One Class through the ALA 
I finished the class!  I submitted two of the lessons that I wrote, and they have been approved as library programs for this summer!  Hooray!  It's going to be a great summer!  Even better?  I got a few more CEU's to add to the total number of hours I need to renew my teaching certificate.


How are you doing on your resolutions?

Library

Husband and I went to Denver recently for a celebration of life for one of his cousins.  The celebration was everything that you would want - full of life, joy, and laughter.  We laughed a lot while we were remembering his wonderful life, and the undying love that he and his wife shared.  We flew out to Denver early - so we had an opportunity to explore the city.  (All on foot).  If you've followed me for any length of time, you know that one of my first stops in the city was the Public Library.  It is one of the most beautiful libraries I have ever wandered through!  I'd really like to thank the Roving Librarian who greeted us at the door, and gave us a quick tour of the library.  She was amazing!

A view up to the top of the building from the lobby.

The adult reading room.

In the children's section of the library!

The automatic book return/sorter.

The fossils come included in the marble!  #Ammonite

Curious to find out more about the Ammonite? 

Check out this link: https://www.denverlibrary.org/blog/ross/creatures-walls-fossils-central-library

The G-8 Summit was held in this room back during the 90's.  The press sat around the 2nd floor balcony.

The table that was used at the G-8 Summit.

This is the room where they keep the table now... in the conference room on the 3rd floor.

And this is the view from that conference room!

And look at this beautiful artwork outside of the conference room!

Denver Public Library Website: https://www.denverlibrary.org/

Monday Musings

Has fall arrived in your corner of the world?  It has not yet arrived in the Mid-Atlantic.  Our temperatures this week have been hovering around 90.  It's almost October, and we're looking at 90 degree weather.  WHY????

The past couple of weeks have been an interesting couple of weeks.... and not always interesting in a good way.

Daughter and I went to a hand lettering workshop recently.  It was a disappointment.  For my $30, I got to write a quote on a canvas with a Sharpie.  The instruction in hand lettering was minimal.  I've played with handwriting over the years.  I didn't learn anything new.  But I had a great time spending time with my daughter, and we spent a lot of time telling jokes, so all was not lost!

This past weekend, I went to the Baltimore Book Festival.  It was a beautiful weekend on the water, with books and authors everywhere you looked!  We sat in on a few author talks.  Most of them were enjoyable, and most of the authors enjoyed speaking with their fans.

(I'm sure you noticed the use of the word MOST.)

I was reflecting yesterday on how many people we've lost this summer.  Barbara died at the beginning of summer after a 10 year battle with breast cancer.  Joe died after a 7 year battle with ALS.  Two neighborhood kids have died of heroin overdoeses.  Rich died of a massive heart attack last week.  RG, a career army veteran, killed himself. 

I know that's the nature of this crazy life that we live. 

But it just drives home how uncertain our life is.  Hug your loved ones tight, forgive those who need your forgiveness while you still can, and tell everyone that you love them.  You never know what the future holds....

State Fair

I went to the State Fair this weekend.  I hate to admit it, but if you don't have the ability to eat gluten, the enjoyment of fair food is significantly diminished.  I really did enjoy sampling a new fried crap something every year at the fair.  Sadly, that was not an option this year.  I did enjoy myself, however!  I spent some time with the cows, and I was able to spend time in the birthing center, watching new animals come into our world.  It is nothing short of amazing to watch a new life enter the world.  I saw piglets and a new calf enter the world.  I watched as chicks worked they way out of their shells, and stood in awe as exhausted new moms laid down on their sides and fell asleep while their children found the "nozzles" and began to nurse!

Still not steady on her legs, but she's up and moving!

I roamed through the exhibits and saw entries my friends had made and cheered over all of them!  Several of my friends received well deserved ribbons for their work.  I also roamed through the exhibit hall, where I picked up a set of Velcro strips for our EZ pass, and even won a free pair of sunglasses from the Maryland Lottery.

How about you?  Were you able to get to a State Fair this year?  Where did you go?

2017 Resolutions - September Update

Middle child is home and searching for a professional job now.  Until he finds that job, I'm paying him to do odd jobs around the house.  Finally, things are beginning to happen that have need to be done for quite some time now!

1) Complete 12 Home Improvement Projects

New LED fixture at the bottom of the stairs.

This month?  Middle Child repainted the cinder block wall in the basement around the water pipes where we had the big leak over the summer.  Husband went after the very moldy walls in the master bathroom with bleach.  We need to completely tear out that drywall and replace it - but that's a couple of steps down on the repair list from where we are right now.

The list to date:
Recover the kitchen chairs.
Add the knobs to the cabinet under the kitchen sink.
Fix the sewer line out of the house, through the basement wall.
Replace the baseboard heater in the hall bathroom.
Replace the lighting in the hall bathroom.
Re-enamel the hallway bathroom tile.
Replace the light at the bottom of the basement stairwell.

2) Lose a few more inches around my waist.
Honestly, I wanted to lose 2-3 inches.  How hard can that be?  As it turns out, pretty darn hard!
I think I've lost almost an inch.  I'm keeping a record, but I'm quietly ignoring it this month!  My clothes are a little loose on me, so I think that's a good sign!

3) Get away with my husband - TWICE - this year.
Done!
The first trip was a long weekend to visit our oldest child at school.  (OK, that's a maybe..)
Second was the long weekend we spent in Princeton - he was up there for business, and I went up there for a long weekend at our own expense at the end of his official business.  We've got one more week coming up.. sadly, it's to go out to a Memorial Service in Colorado, but we're going to enjoy spending time alone and with family.

4) Lenten Cleaning Challenge

 
5) Post at least 12 book reviews on my Books for Teens Blog
 9 Down!  You can see my blog here:
https://librarynut-booksforteens.blogspot.com/


6) Finish the Hallway Bathroom
9 years after the long nightmare began, we now have 2 working bathrooms in our house!

7) Participate in the NoSpenduary Challenge
The moratorium is over!  End of May, and we can spend money on unnecessary things again.  For now, that means I can pay for some plants for landscaping in the front.  Bigger picture, I am saving again in order to build our emergency savings fund back up to where I like to have it.

8) Learn another language.
So, I've got the CD's in my car, and I've been listening to them.  I'm watching Sesame Street in Spanish.  I don't know if I will ever be fluent, but at least I'm trying.

9) 100 Things Every Marylander Should Do
I was hoping to knock off a few of these this year.  Not all 100, but maybe five more of them?  I really need to get my act together!  Maybe if I ever get more than one day off of work this summer.

10) Daughter's Quilt
Progress!  I am making big progress!

11) Clean Out Closet and Dresser Drawers
I really need to get back to this.  I've been trying to pack up oldest child's stuff and move it down into the basement so that middle child can move into the room - and LIVE in that room - until he saves enough money to move out on his own.

12) Clean Out the Little Room in the Basement and Make it Usable
I've made very little progress on cleaning this out over the past month.  I don't know how much progress I'm going to make on the actual remodeling of it considering how much money we've already spent this year.  I'm going to add cleaning and painting this room to the list of jobs for middle child to do.  (BTW, I am paying him for the work he's doing.) 

13) Work on Landscaping the Front Yard
Sadly, I got a head start on this when the plumber pulled out one of the big bushes in front of the house.  Now, I have only 4 overgrown bushes to take care of in the front yard.  I've got Tiger's Memorial Garden in the back yard, and I'm not planning on doing any more landscaping until Fall.

14) Take at Least One Class through the ALA 
I finished the class!  I submitted two of the lessons that I wrote, and they have been approved as library programs for this summer!  Hooray!  It's going to be a great summer!  Even better?  I got a few more CEU's to add to the total number of hours I need to renew my teaching certificate.