Our guest total for Thanksgiving (including my mom, cousin, Josh, and I) is up to 15 adults.
This is what happens when you tell many people "I want everyone to have a place to go, invite whomever.."
I honestly don't mind. I really mean that. I want everyone to have a place to go on the holidays. It doesn't matter if we are strangers.
Luckily, we had planned ahead and even with 15 people I'm thinking we will have too much food. At the moment, I am up early to do prep work. It's only 6:45 AM and I have made three pies. That being said, just a few numbers. For Thanksgiving we will have:
6 smoked turkey breasts
2 fried turkeys
1 ham
3 pecan pies
2 pumpkin pies
1 apple pie
1 cheesecake
That just covers the meat and the dessert. This doesn't go into the side dishes. Oh goodness. What have we gotten ourselves into?
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
A New Form of Chaos
I had said I would save my negative ranting about our house for another day.
Today is another day.
Luckily enough time has passed that I am no longer negative about the subject. Honestly. I am now capable of talking about it without wanting to curse or rage.
To make a short story even shorter, we recently ran out of heat and hot water. AGAIN. At the moment I'm pretty sure my total count is around 7. 7 times in 18 months we have run out of hot water and heat (they are connected). It has either been because we have ran out of oil or because there has been a problem with our house's boiler. Our landlady knows about this (at least about the boiler problems). She seems to just fix the bare minimum of problems. She also seems to do a "bare minimum" fill on the oil as well. Frustrating. Recently we decided to utilize our fireplace to keep the house warm when the heat wasn't working. Which was a great idea until we remembered we didn't have any wood. Our landlady has a mountain of wood (and she's right across the street from us. I stare at her woodpile daily). Josh went across the street to tell her we were going to use the fireplace since we had no heat, and asked her where we could find some wood. She had no suggestions. Hmmm. So we stole some wood. Yeah. I'm not sorry about that.
But. We realized... 7 times in 18 months... really, the joke is on us. To have this happen once or twice, somewhat understandable. To have it happen as frequently as it does... no longer understandable or acceptable. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me 7 times... I think both Josh and I were in a state of denial about our situation. The only real solution is to move, which isn't something we are necessarily thrilled about. Moving is a pain, period. But. Not having heat and hot water is a bigger pain. So. We have begun searching for a new rental. We got the list of available houses from the base housing list and have taken some time to drive around and look at places. Thus far we haven't seen anything which was overwhelmingly exciting, but there are some prospective places, and we have some time. We're hoping to be in a new house either by Christmas, or shortly after the New Year.
Even though we haven't found a place to live yet, we have started to accumulate boxes. Josh even started to do some packing this weekend. It wasn't anything essential - more just starting to sort through things and pack things we know we won't need during Thanksgiving. Which makes our house even more chaotic than it already was. I'm trying to wrap my head around the idea that we are about to have company and host Thanksgiving all while attempting to sort through/de-clutter/pack our belongings. As always, we have the absolute best timing.
However. I am starting to get excited and look forward to the idea of living in a place where I won't necessarily have to worry about not having heat on a regular basis. Or a place where the landlord is more proactive and willing to update/upgrade or simply fix things. That will be a welcome change. I realized I've never actually taken pictures of our house to show people... so maybe with all of this I can take pictures of the wonderful new place to share.
Today is another day.
Luckily enough time has passed that I am no longer negative about the subject. Honestly. I am now capable of talking about it without wanting to curse or rage.
To make a short story even shorter, we recently ran out of heat and hot water. AGAIN. At the moment I'm pretty sure my total count is around 7. 7 times in 18 months we have run out of hot water and heat (they are connected). It has either been because we have ran out of oil or because there has been a problem with our house's boiler. Our landlady knows about this (at least about the boiler problems). She seems to just fix the bare minimum of problems. She also seems to do a "bare minimum" fill on the oil as well. Frustrating. Recently we decided to utilize our fireplace to keep the house warm when the heat wasn't working. Which was a great idea until we remembered we didn't have any wood. Our landlady has a mountain of wood (and she's right across the street from us. I stare at her woodpile daily). Josh went across the street to tell her we were going to use the fireplace since we had no heat, and asked her where we could find some wood. She had no suggestions. Hmmm. So we stole some wood. Yeah. I'm not sorry about that.
But. We realized... 7 times in 18 months... really, the joke is on us. To have this happen once or twice, somewhat understandable. To have it happen as frequently as it does... no longer understandable or acceptable. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me 7 times... I think both Josh and I were in a state of denial about our situation. The only real solution is to move, which isn't something we are necessarily thrilled about. Moving is a pain, period. But. Not having heat and hot water is a bigger pain. So. We have begun searching for a new rental. We got the list of available houses from the base housing list and have taken some time to drive around and look at places. Thus far we haven't seen anything which was overwhelmingly exciting, but there are some prospective places, and we have some time. We're hoping to be in a new house either by Christmas, or shortly after the New Year.
Even though we haven't found a place to live yet, we have started to accumulate boxes. Josh even started to do some packing this weekend. It wasn't anything essential - more just starting to sort through things and pack things we know we won't need during Thanksgiving. Which makes our house even more chaotic than it already was. I'm trying to wrap my head around the idea that we are about to have company and host Thanksgiving all while attempting to sort through/de-clutter/pack our belongings. As always, we have the absolute best timing.
However. I am starting to get excited and look forward to the idea of living in a place where I won't necessarily have to worry about not having heat on a regular basis. Or a place where the landlord is more proactive and willing to update/upgrade or simply fix things. That will be a welcome change. I realized I've never actually taken pictures of our house to show people... so maybe with all of this I can take pictures of the wonderful new place to share.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
A Pink Little Piece of Heaven
Last weekend was our fall bazaar on base. There is a bazaar in the fall and one in the spring. This has been our third bazaar. By now we can see all of the vendors which are always there and what things you can consistently buy. For example there are always lots of wine vendors, Dutch cheese vendors, lots of antiques/handicrafts, ect. I always look forward to the wine vendors, even if the same vendors are there every single time. Now having gone for my third time, some of the handicrafts or other products have lost their unique appeal... or I just don't really care one way or another that they are there.
However.
Josh did find a treasure for me this time around. He volunteered for a shift during the bazaar, and ended up wandering around mopping up the floor as it was raining and the roof leaked. He ended up talking to an Italian vendor for awhile, and she made him a cup of espresso. When we were in Italy Josh loved espresso. I like espresso, but I'm a weeny and need to add water or flavored creamer to it as it's a bit too ka-pow for me. The women used a little stove-top espresso pot (which she was selling). Josh was hooked on the idea of getting one. When he saw they had a hot pink one, well, he decided it was an even better one to get one for me (even though I think he wanted it as much for himself as for me).
I am more than positive you can buy things like this in the states, I just never paid attention before this.
As you can see, the little pot goes right on the stove burner. The black bottom fills with water. On top of the water is wear you add fine coffee grounds (I still need to go get some actual Italian espresso). Turn on the burner - in less than 5 minutes the water boils up into the pink pot and presto-chango you have espresso.
This pot is just a little piece of heaven - even if I do need to add flavored creamer to mine. Such a wonderful addition to a lazy Sunday morning.
However.
Josh did find a treasure for me this time around. He volunteered for a shift during the bazaar, and ended up wandering around mopping up the floor as it was raining and the roof leaked. He ended up talking to an Italian vendor for awhile, and she made him a cup of espresso. When we were in Italy Josh loved espresso. I like espresso, but I'm a weeny and need to add water or flavored creamer to it as it's a bit too ka-pow for me. The women used a little stove-top espresso pot (which she was selling). Josh was hooked on the idea of getting one. When he saw they had a hot pink one, well, he decided it was an even better one to get one for me (even though I think he wanted it as much for himself as for me).
I am more than positive you can buy things like this in the states, I just never paid attention before this.
Bing bang boom, that's how babies are made.
This pot is just a little piece of heaven - even if I do need to add flavored creamer to mine. Such a wonderful addition to a lazy Sunday morning.
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