In years past I have found myself awake as early as 3AM, sneaking out of the door to the car to wait in line. The weeks leading up to Black Friday were me going through ads, listening to the news about door buster deals.
This year was different with the weeks and days leading up to Black Friday. I had it all planned out, I had been reading websites, articles, checking paper ads, you name it I had found the deals. Yet, something this year didn't seem right. Part of me truly didn't want to slink out of bed at 2AM, to stand in line at Toys r us so I might save $15 on the latest toy my son has been asking for since it debuted on TV. I didn't want to risk waging war with the rest of the deal seekers. Part of me felt as though like the rest of America was desperate to save money on this all consumer holiday that is Christmas. That something bad would happen.
Some how I knew deep inside that I would be sitting out this Black Friday. Friday morning I rose out of bed at around 9AM, soon to be greeted by my son. We had a family friend asleep on our couch and I started the morning coffee. I was stretched in two directions, I was thinking I could get in the car now and grab those last minute deals before 11AM, the other part of me was thinking...WTF for! It wasn't long before I logged on line to see that someone had been trampled to death at Wal Mart, and later in the day I read people had been shot at a Toys R Us. Now honestly I was relieved because if hoards of crazies were out that morning in other parts of country, they were certainly out in about in my area.
So alas. I stayed home, and I didn't even shop online for the anything.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Sunday, November 16, 2008
The Great Pumpkin Experiment
Like all great Domestic Engineers, life would be boring and uneventful if it weren't for those times we decided to experiment. In the past I have experimented with baking bread, cooking vegan meals, sewing clothes. Many of these experiments usually are an unguided processes that leaves A HUGE mess in its wake. It also Never fails that we decided on said experiments on a day when the calendar is full already.
Friday morning started out as an average day. My step son and DP went of to school and work. My son and I stayed behind to watch TV, surf the net, work on house hold chores, for myself aim to get out of the House by 6:30PM for a greatly anticipated Mom's Night Out. At around 10AM my DS come to me for an activity. I decide now is the time cut open a Jack O lantern sized pumpkin. In my mind it will be fun, we'll gut a pumpkin, toast the seeds and chop up the rest and boil it. It seemed simple enough. My DS was beaming with excitement. This pumpkin had been given to him by a family friend. We had intended to carve it for Halloween but instead used some parts that were similar to Mr. Potato Head to decorate the pumpkin. It sat on the porch for nearly an entire month decorated on each side with a face from the horror classics.
We cut open the top of the pumpkin and I reached my hand inside, grabbed a handful of pumpkin guts and my DS followed. We put the guts on the news paper the pumpkin was sitting upon. At that point I was thinking, how much the pumpkin stinks, and what a mess we were making. Just as the pumpkins guts were all laying on the table for all the world to see the door bell rings. My land lord was there to tell me to turn on the water as it was time to Chlorinate the drinking water pipes. (Long story short we had some well problems and in order to fix the problems we now use UV light disinfection.) Lucky me he didn't want to come in the house or he was repulsed by the smell of pumpkin, either way he kept his distance. We gather up the guts and put them in a collinear as I had intended on toasting the seeds.
So next came a step I will admit I HAD NOT clue what I was doing. At first I was going to simply slice a bit of the pumpkin, and then peel the slices. WORNG! Pumpkins are tough, good luck getting a half dull carving knife to cut slices of pumpkin and you'll need even more luck to peel the slice once its cut away from the pumpkin. After nearly slicing my finger with a knife I brought out the meat cleaver. My DS was very entertained by me hacking away at this Giant pumpkin on the table. We never use the meat clever for anything. Occasionally, a piece of pumpkin would shoot across the room.
After about 20 minutes of hacking a way the pumpkin I put it all in a large bowl. I then washed it. This turned out to be more complicated as we HAD TONS of pumpkin of chunks to be washed. Not all of it would fit in the large bowl. It spent another 10 or 15 minutes simply trying to wash the pumpkin chunks and finally getting them in their pots. Now that also turned out to be a challenge as I needed two pots and they both end up being very full. I almost brought out a third pot, but I'll get to why I didn't in a minute.
So finally, the next step was to simply boil the pumpkin until it was soft. Sounds easy enough, just turn the pots on high, bring to a boil, and turn down to med/low until pumpkin is cooked. I put my small pot on the front large burner and the Large stock pot on the back burner. Every thing was going well, except the back burner was smoking. I attributed the smoking burner to the fact I never use that burner and it was burning off the built up grease. The smoke got worse after a few minutes and I had to check it. I moved this giant two gallon pot from the burner, and at that moment the contents underneath burner decides to ignite. WONDERFUL! Part of me is thinking ,"Great! How do I explain me burning down my house while trying to cook a giant pumpkin." My DS was in the kitchen and at some moment I switched to "TEACHER MOM." Calmly I told my DS, "first we have to turn off the burner, then we have to cut the air off from the fire." In the moment this little lesson went by in under 20 seconds. I could clearly see the fire wasn't out, so I told him that we needed something that would not allow any air on the fire, so I brought out the baking soda. In one hit with the soda the fire was out, the only problem now the back burner was now covered in baking soda and I had TWO large pots of pumpkin that needed to be cooked. I had to switch the pots around, the smaller pot went to the small front burner, with the larger pot went on the large front burner. The simplest and easiest part came next, I cleaned up the mess left behind. NO big deal and I knew I had a while before I had to do anything with the pumpkin as it had to cook and cool.
After cleaning, I brought out my sewing. My DP and a co worker came to the house for lunch. This part of pumpkin process was so far becoming the easiest part. My son happily told DP's co worker that Mr. Baking Soda put out a fire. That comment led me into talking about the fire and why it wasn't that big of a deal. I also took the moment to get on to my DS for simply ignoring the fact I was the one who brought out Mr. Baking Soda.
Not long after DP left for work DS wanted my attention and I also realized the pumpkin was done cooking. I turned off the heat, and played with DS for a little while. I knew there was no possible way for me to process hot pumpkin and get to the school on time to pick up my Step son. I shoved the pumpkin in the fridge, picked my step son up from school and came home. Only to find what awaited me, I had NOT put away my sewing and it looked like a colored lamb had puked all over the dinning room. If it weren't enough my son was tired and didn't want to take a nap. He was roving the house in a tired way looking for trouble. In the back of mind I am thinking "I have to get the pumpkin out of the fridge and do something with it...but what!" I had no intentions of cooking dinner on that evening, as I was breaking free for mom's night out, but I couldn't just leave the fridge full of pumpkin. So I tell the kids to get a long, I have something that MUST be done. I break out the pumpkin with little idea as to how I might get the peeling separated from the edible part. I did know that it could be done, as with other types of squash, the peeling stays intact while the rest of the vegetable turns into mush. At first I bring out a collinear, thinking I would simply mash the pumpkin through the holes. That didn't work, in fact I made a huge mess and some of the peeling popped through the holes. At some point, it may have been at this one, where I was wondering if I should in fact get on the Internet and read about processing pumpkin, however I did not. My next idea was to simply separate the peeling from the edible part by hand. This worked out wonderfully, only the four hour Chlorination was complete and I had to turn on the all of the faucets in the house until I could no longer smell chlorine. I went about the house turning on every possible fixture including the ones that were outside. My DS found this especially fun and stayed out side to "watch" the water come out of the spigot. This was a mistake on my part as I was finally finishing up making pumpkin puree I realized that NOW I had to turn off all of the faucets. When I got outside I realized DS had put the water hose on the spigot and was hosing down the steps and the inside of the side door, it wasn't shut. Its nearly 5PM and time is short as in about an hour and half I want to leave and even sooner DP will be home from work. The side entrance is flooded, my DS is soaking wet, the kitchen looks as though a pumpkin puked all over the counters and I have yet to figure out just what I am going to do with the vast amount of pureed pumpkin.
My next thoughts were to throw in the towel, I simply wasn't going to be able to leave the house in any reasonable amount of time. Over whelmed my DP might actually tell me he cannot stay home with three kids and pumpkin goo all over the kitchen. So I do the only thing a good Domestic Engineer knows to do, a mad stash and Dash. I start with the pumpkin peels as those have to go in the compost heap, I allow DS to run the house naked. With all of the frantic cleaning I managed to not only get the kitchen cleaned, I mopped! That's a chore I avoid with a passion.
In the end I was able to put away enough pumpkin for six pumpkin pies. I made it to an awesome Mom's Night out, and my DS was waiting for me when I got home at nearly midnight. My DP also found some chunks of pumpkin in the dining room during Breakfast.
At just after 5PM, I throw in the towel, I will ultimately be late to Mom's night out, my DP will come home and see his house destroyed and I will still be cleaning pumpkin and mopping at 7PM.
Friday morning started out as an average day. My step son and DP went of to school and work. My son and I stayed behind to watch TV, surf the net, work on house hold chores, for myself aim to get out of the House by 6:30PM for a greatly anticipated Mom's Night Out. At around 10AM my DS come to me for an activity. I decide now is the time cut open a Jack O lantern sized pumpkin. In my mind it will be fun, we'll gut a pumpkin, toast the seeds and chop up the rest and boil it. It seemed simple enough. My DS was beaming with excitement. This pumpkin had been given to him by a family friend. We had intended to carve it for Halloween but instead used some parts that were similar to Mr. Potato Head to decorate the pumpkin. It sat on the porch for nearly an entire month decorated on each side with a face from the horror classics.
We cut open the top of the pumpkin and I reached my hand inside, grabbed a handful of pumpkin guts and my DS followed. We put the guts on the news paper the pumpkin was sitting upon. At that point I was thinking, how much the pumpkin stinks, and what a mess we were making. Just as the pumpkins guts were all laying on the table for all the world to see the door bell rings. My land lord was there to tell me to turn on the water as it was time to Chlorinate the drinking water pipes. (Long story short we had some well problems and in order to fix the problems we now use UV light disinfection.) Lucky me he didn't want to come in the house or he was repulsed by the smell of pumpkin, either way he kept his distance. We gather up the guts and put them in a collinear as I had intended on toasting the seeds.
So next came a step I will admit I HAD NOT clue what I was doing. At first I was going to simply slice a bit of the pumpkin, and then peel the slices. WORNG! Pumpkins are tough, good luck getting a half dull carving knife to cut slices of pumpkin and you'll need even more luck to peel the slice once its cut away from the pumpkin. After nearly slicing my finger with a knife I brought out the meat cleaver. My DS was very entertained by me hacking away at this Giant pumpkin on the table. We never use the meat clever for anything. Occasionally, a piece of pumpkin would shoot across the room.
After about 20 minutes of hacking a way the pumpkin I put it all in a large bowl. I then washed it. This turned out to be more complicated as we HAD TONS of pumpkin of chunks to be washed. Not all of it would fit in the large bowl. It spent another 10 or 15 minutes simply trying to wash the pumpkin chunks and finally getting them in their pots. Now that also turned out to be a challenge as I needed two pots and they both end up being very full. I almost brought out a third pot, but I'll get to why I didn't in a minute.
So finally, the next step was to simply boil the pumpkin until it was soft. Sounds easy enough, just turn the pots on high, bring to a boil, and turn down to med/low until pumpkin is cooked. I put my small pot on the front large burner and the Large stock pot on the back burner. Every thing was going well, except the back burner was smoking. I attributed the smoking burner to the fact I never use that burner and it was burning off the built up grease. The smoke got worse after a few minutes and I had to check it. I moved this giant two gallon pot from the burner, and at that moment the contents underneath burner decides to ignite. WONDERFUL! Part of me is thinking ,"Great! How do I explain me burning down my house while trying to cook a giant pumpkin." My DS was in the kitchen and at some moment I switched to "TEACHER MOM." Calmly I told my DS, "first we have to turn off the burner, then we have to cut the air off from the fire." In the moment this little lesson went by in under 20 seconds. I could clearly see the fire wasn't out, so I told him that we needed something that would not allow any air on the fire, so I brought out the baking soda. In one hit with the soda the fire was out, the only problem now the back burner was now covered in baking soda and I had TWO large pots of pumpkin that needed to be cooked. I had to switch the pots around, the smaller pot went to the small front burner, with the larger pot went on the large front burner. The simplest and easiest part came next, I cleaned up the mess left behind. NO big deal and I knew I had a while before I had to do anything with the pumpkin as it had to cook and cool.
After cleaning, I brought out my sewing. My DP and a co worker came to the house for lunch. This part of pumpkin process was so far becoming the easiest part. My son happily told DP's co worker that Mr. Baking Soda put out a fire. That comment led me into talking about the fire and why it wasn't that big of a deal. I also took the moment to get on to my DS for simply ignoring the fact I was the one who brought out Mr. Baking Soda.
Not long after DP left for work DS wanted my attention and I also realized the pumpkin was done cooking. I turned off the heat, and played with DS for a little while. I knew there was no possible way for me to process hot pumpkin and get to the school on time to pick up my Step son. I shoved the pumpkin in the fridge, picked my step son up from school and came home. Only to find what awaited me, I had NOT put away my sewing and it looked like a colored lamb had puked all over the dinning room. If it weren't enough my son was tired and didn't want to take a nap. He was roving the house in a tired way looking for trouble. In the back of mind I am thinking "I have to get the pumpkin out of the fridge and do something with it...but what!" I had no intentions of cooking dinner on that evening, as I was breaking free for mom's night out, but I couldn't just leave the fridge full of pumpkin. So I tell the kids to get a long, I have something that MUST be done. I break out the pumpkin with little idea as to how I might get the peeling separated from the edible part. I did know that it could be done, as with other types of squash, the peeling stays intact while the rest of the vegetable turns into mush. At first I bring out a collinear, thinking I would simply mash the pumpkin through the holes. That didn't work, in fact I made a huge mess and some of the peeling popped through the holes. At some point, it may have been at this one, where I was wondering if I should in fact get on the Internet and read about processing pumpkin, however I did not. My next idea was to simply separate the peeling from the edible part by hand. This worked out wonderfully, only the four hour Chlorination was complete and I had to turn on the all of the faucets in the house until I could no longer smell chlorine. I went about the house turning on every possible fixture including the ones that were outside. My DS found this especially fun and stayed out side to "watch" the water come out of the spigot. This was a mistake on my part as I was finally finishing up making pumpkin puree I realized that NOW I had to turn off all of the faucets. When I got outside I realized DS had put the water hose on the spigot and was hosing down the steps and the inside of the side door, it wasn't shut. Its nearly 5PM and time is short as in about an hour and half I want to leave and even sooner DP will be home from work. The side entrance is flooded, my DS is soaking wet, the kitchen looks as though a pumpkin puked all over the counters and I have yet to figure out just what I am going to do with the vast amount of pureed pumpkin.
My next thoughts were to throw in the towel, I simply wasn't going to be able to leave the house in any reasonable amount of time. Over whelmed my DP might actually tell me he cannot stay home with three kids and pumpkin goo all over the kitchen. So I do the only thing a good Domestic Engineer knows to do, a mad stash and Dash. I start with the pumpkin peels as those have to go in the compost heap, I allow DS to run the house naked. With all of the frantic cleaning I managed to not only get the kitchen cleaned, I mopped! That's a chore I avoid with a passion.
In the end I was able to put away enough pumpkin for six pumpkin pies. I made it to an awesome Mom's Night out, and my DS was waiting for me when I got home at nearly midnight. My DP also found some chunks of pumpkin in the dining room during Breakfast.
At just after 5PM, I throw in the towel, I will ultimately be late to Mom's night out, my DP will come home and see his house destroyed and I will still be cleaning pumpkin and mopping at 7PM.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Casserole Dish: A Domestic Engineer's Canvas
IF you are Domestic Engineer like me (middle class American) you are feeling the hit of our countries financial crisis. The days of eating out, making expensive boxed meals, and making elaborate dinners are over for now. I have been reigning in our food budget. Every left over in the house is game for lunches, and dinners the next day. I have been making casseroles just like my Grandmother and mother did when things got tight. Casseroles are quick and easy and truly inexpensive.
In my mind the Casserole dish is a blank canvas awaiting the artists touch. My fellow domestic engineers its now time to learn the art of making casseroles. Its time to realize your family is just as worthy of your Casserole creations as your Church. For those of you wondering just how does one make a casserole this is the first installment in casserole making. There are no hard set recipes, more or less some rules that need to be followed in order for it be a casserole.
Last night was casserole night. This casserole was made using a condensed soup, finely chopped veggies, rice and meat.
Below is the recipe for the Casserole I served my family last night.
1 cup of cooked chicken,
1 cup of uncooked rice,
1 can of Cream of Mushroom soup,
1 cup of finely chopped broccoli,
1 clove of finely minced garlic
2 stalks of chopped celery
1/2 medium onion.
1/2 cup cheese (Can be any Mozzarella, Cheddar, Swiss)
1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese
Cook the rice according to the directions. Meanwhile chop all veggies. Ten minutes before rice is done, put all veggies in the rice pot and replace the lid. When the rice is finished cooking put the contents of the pot into the casserole dish. Mix in the Chicken and Condensed soup. Top the entire dish with Cheeses and bake at 350 degrees until bubbly.
In the case of this recipe nearly everything can be substituted or are staples that a domestic engineer has on hand already. I always keep Frozen vegetables on hand like Broccoli, Peas, Carrots. It just happens at this time of the week I only have Broccoli. Celery and Onions are always in my kitchen. These are musts for cooking and seasoning food without much salt. Parm and other cheese are always in my kitchen. The chicken, was left over from dinner the night before. Rice is also a major staple in my house. Now for the basic Rules to take with you.
Rule #1: You must have a casserole dish
Rule #2: A well stocked Kitchen is at the corner stone of casserole making.
Good luck this week.
In my mind the Casserole dish is a blank canvas awaiting the artists touch. My fellow domestic engineers its now time to learn the art of making casseroles. Its time to realize your family is just as worthy of your Casserole creations as your Church. For those of you wondering just how does one make a casserole this is the first installment in casserole making. There are no hard set recipes, more or less some rules that need to be followed in order for it be a casserole.
Last night was casserole night. This casserole was made using a condensed soup, finely chopped veggies, rice and meat.
Below is the recipe for the Casserole I served my family last night.
1 cup of cooked chicken,
1 cup of uncooked rice,
1 can of Cream of Mushroom soup,
1 cup of finely chopped broccoli,
1 clove of finely minced garlic
2 stalks of chopped celery
1/2 medium onion.
1/2 cup cheese (Can be any Mozzarella, Cheddar, Swiss)
1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese
Cook the rice according to the directions. Meanwhile chop all veggies. Ten minutes before rice is done, put all veggies in the rice pot and replace the lid. When the rice is finished cooking put the contents of the pot into the casserole dish. Mix in the Chicken and Condensed soup. Top the entire dish with Cheeses and bake at 350 degrees until bubbly.
In the case of this recipe nearly everything can be substituted or are staples that a domestic engineer has on hand already. I always keep Frozen vegetables on hand like Broccoli, Peas, Carrots. It just happens at this time of the week I only have Broccoli. Celery and Onions are always in my kitchen. These are musts for cooking and seasoning food without much salt. Parm and other cheese are always in my kitchen. The chicken, was left over from dinner the night before. Rice is also a major staple in my house. Now for the basic Rules to take with you.
Rule #1: You must have a casserole dish
Rule #2: A well stocked Kitchen is at the corner stone of casserole making.
Good luck this week.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Doing more than being Mommy.
It has taken me a while, but I am back to blogging just today. Until today I hadn't read any one Else's blog for weeks and I hadn't written in my own blog and here I am.
Where I have been and what happened in the life of this Domestic Engineer is difficult to talk about. I will however share what is happening right now that personally effects me.
About a month ago I ultimately decided to start my own business. It is something I have always aspired to. When I was little I always wanted to sell things to other people. I really wanted to be a craft vendor at local craft fairs. However, my passion for sales wasn't limited to crafts, although I didn't like Girl Scouts, I LOVED selling cookies. In high school I was notorious for selling the most of any item in fund raisers.
Lately I have been turning my dinning area into a studio of sorts, making everything from sewing projects, home made paper, painting, sketching ideas, writing a business plan. Part of me thinks I must be INSANE for even thinking of such a venture when the economy is in the toilet, but I see it as in opportunity. I remind myself of the woman in the movie Chocolate who opened her chocolate store in the midst of Lent. She knew what she wanted to do, and and she did it. So what if things are not "ideal", now is the time for me to do this particular venture. I have practiced making products for years and now I am ready to make it a full reality.
My short term plans are to just get enough products made to list them on http://www.etsy.com/, and come up with the funds to start doing a weekend flea market table. My profits will go to build the business in terms of more products and vending at local craft fairs. Any extra money will go to pay for activities for my son's to attend such as Ice skating or swimming lessons.
I am still in the process of writing the full plan, and still testing products for the market. I am in the early stages of something that could satisfy an intense personal need to be something other than "MOM".
The other thing I am desperately trying to achieve is being readmitted to "the university" for the spring term. Like many young domestic Engineers I have a degree in waiting. I took time off while my life was moved across the state and then back again. I should know my fate for the spring term as early as Friday. I am excited about the possibility of finally finishing a degree I started on three years before my son's arrived. I also wonder what getting that degree really means for my family. Sure I could get right to work, my degree is job security and financial security its also a burden of obligation. The burden of actually using my degree for its intended purpose is perhaps the one thing that hangs over my head. Having a degree can be a powerful asset to anyone that has one, but what does that really mean for a woman who truly wants to be at home and run a household? I have yet to answer that question for my personal situation. I can speculate on the "what should be's" but they don't really satisfy what it means for me.
Anyways I am back, and will be back posting on a daily basis about life, whats happening.
Where I have been and what happened in the life of this Domestic Engineer is difficult to talk about. I will however share what is happening right now that personally effects me.
About a month ago I ultimately decided to start my own business. It is something I have always aspired to. When I was little I always wanted to sell things to other people. I really wanted to be a craft vendor at local craft fairs. However, my passion for sales wasn't limited to crafts, although I didn't like Girl Scouts, I LOVED selling cookies. In high school I was notorious for selling the most of any item in fund raisers.
Lately I have been turning my dinning area into a studio of sorts, making everything from sewing projects, home made paper, painting, sketching ideas, writing a business plan. Part of me thinks I must be INSANE for even thinking of such a venture when the economy is in the toilet, but I see it as in opportunity. I remind myself of the woman in the movie Chocolate who opened her chocolate store in the midst of Lent. She knew what she wanted to do, and and she did it. So what if things are not "ideal", now is the time for me to do this particular venture. I have practiced making products for years and now I am ready to make it a full reality.
My short term plans are to just get enough products made to list them on http://www.etsy.com/, and come up with the funds to start doing a weekend flea market table. My profits will go to build the business in terms of more products and vending at local craft fairs. Any extra money will go to pay for activities for my son's to attend such as Ice skating or swimming lessons.
I am still in the process of writing the full plan, and still testing products for the market. I am in the early stages of something that could satisfy an intense personal need to be something other than "MOM".
The other thing I am desperately trying to achieve is being readmitted to "the university" for the spring term. Like many young domestic Engineers I have a degree in waiting. I took time off while my life was moved across the state and then back again. I should know my fate for the spring term as early as Friday. I am excited about the possibility of finally finishing a degree I started on three years before my son's arrived. I also wonder what getting that degree really means for my family. Sure I could get right to work, my degree is job security and financial security its also a burden of obligation. The burden of actually using my degree for its intended purpose is perhaps the one thing that hangs over my head. Having a degree can be a powerful asset to anyone that has one, but what does that really mean for a woman who truly wants to be at home and run a household? I have yet to answer that question for my personal situation. I can speculate on the "what should be's" but they don't really satisfy what it means for me.
Anyways I am back, and will be back posting on a daily basis about life, whats happening.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)