Boy, it sure is nice when the weekend gets here. It is time for cleaning, laundry, cleaning, laundry, cooking, baking, cleaning . . . okay so maybe I want the week back! Hahahaha!
My husband, Bob, and I got up bright and early, only to find we have something new on our plate for the day. Bob opened the fridge before I did and noticed the milk just didn’t seem very cold. Oh, no, not another appliance purchase. I just couldn’t bear the thought of it. I wanted to spend a day at home, a day of relaxation with cleaning, cooking, baking and laundry. I really needed to pray to the appliance gods. In 2009 we had already purchased a new dishwasher in January, dryer in June and water heater in October. In addition my stove was going so my sweet hubby surprised me with a new glass-top, double oven stove a couple days before Xmas. Don’t get me wrong. He didn’t go into that purchase blindfolded. This is a major purchase to get for someone who thinks of the stove as another limb. It has to be just right, it has to fit me and if it doesn’t, it is gone. I guess he was paying attention to the times we were looking at other appliances and I would wander over to the stoves to check them out.
Our fridge, on the other hand, she (yes, she, because she can be quite the drama queen sometimes!) has been informing us for the last 1-2 years that she wanted to take a permanent vacation, so I shouldn’t seem surprised that she was getting cantankerous again. In the past, we would take out the back panel in the freezer, defrost her with the hair dryer and put in a new part. Sort of like botox for the fridge. And she was good to go for another few months. We were hoping today would be the same.
Bob had to go out to the barn to milk cows and informed me to get the freezer cleaned out and he would deal with it when he came in. I pulled stuff out of the freezer and started packing it into a cooler. Hopefully, I would be able to put it back in and not have to take everything out to the big freezers in the garage. Then I put it in the back of my mind for the next couple hours.
As I made my breakfast (consisting of orange juice, skim milk and a ham/cheese omelet sprinkled with peppers and mushrooms and whole wheat toast), I surveyed the goods in the freezer and fridge to figure out what I wanted to put together for lunch. I pulled some chicken breasts from the freezer and decided I would make some stuffed chicken breasts for lunch. So I threw together some stuffing, thawed, split and seasoned the breasts, filled them, skewered them shut with toothpicks and put them in an oblong Pyrex dish with some chicken stock and cream of chicken soup. I positioned the chicken in the center and added frozen mixed vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, carrots) around the outside, seasoned them, covered it with tin foil and stuck them in the oven at 375.
Now, what to do for another side dish. Pasta or potatoes? I was more in the mood of just putting everything in the oven and let it all bake, so potatoes it would be. I took out some golds, peeled, chunked and rinsed them, and put them in a bowl. Next, the sauce. I seasoned the potatoes with salt/pepper, poured a little chicken stock in the bowl, grabbed another can of cream of chicken soup, cut up some Velveeta cheese, added a little horseradish sauce, Dijon mustard, skim milk (got to cut the calories somewhere!!), onion and garlic powder, Parmesan/herb seasoning and mixed it all up. Then poured it into a buttered oblong Pyrex dish (love these dishes), topped it with some paprika, covered it with tin foil and into the oven with its neighbor Mr. Chicken. Now, onto to dessert. I feel the need for one of my favorites – angel food cake; so threw it together in the mixer, beat it and into the angel food tin and the lower oven. Set the timer and away we go. Aaaahhhh, lunch is just a few hours away and it will be a no-muss, no-fuss, pull-it-out-of-the-oven kind of meal. Hurrah! And this is exactly why I wanted and love having a double oven. I’ve got lunch and dessert working at the same time, different temps, different timers. Sometimes – even for just a moment – life is good!
Off to cleaning and laundry. Bob decided to pop into the house before doing chores to get a head start on the fridge – just in case I need to run for a part or, heaven forbid, we need to run for a new fridge. It is not like I haven’t done my homework on refrigerators. I have. I know what want. It is just that age-old thing of money. We didn’t really want to have to do it now, but if you have to bite the bullet, you have to bite the bullet. He called the small town dealer where we bought the fridge 16 years ago. Nope, they didn’t have the part on hand, and they would have to order it; wouldn’t be in until Tuesday at the earliest. Bob tinkered with the fridge, got it defrosted, put it back together and it started up again – but for how long? We are hoping until at least Tuesday. Okay, off he went to do chores. Off I went to, once again, try to get back to my laundry and cleaning. I put in a Rascal Flatts CD and cruised thru the house.
Lunch came and went. Everything turned out great, with the added touches of some warm rolls, a tossed salad and angel food cake for dessert. By late afternoon, tired of cleaning and laundry, I knew I had to check in on things at the nursing home which is a 15-20 minute drive. I cleaned up and headed out. Since I was going to be getting there right at supper time I decided to make a run into Madison first to pick up my niece’s birthday present and return a sports coat I had gotten for Bob. Shopping accomplished, I headed to the nursing home. When I got there, she was sound asleep, so I sat bedside for a half hour, tidied up some of her stuff, then went out and talked to the nurse for a little bit. Nothing more for me to do here, so I went home.
Walked in the door, checked the fridge; good–still running and not hopefully my the antics of my attention-seeking whiner are over for the time being. Grilled ham and Swiss cheese sandwiches for supper once Bob got in from the barn, we were content for the night. We caught a little TV, let the dog out for his evening duties, I did a little reading of Heat Wave and found myself tuckered out. The bed never felt so good.
Hope it’s a better day tomorrow. I could use one that is not sprinkled with the inanimate objects in my house wanting some serious one-on-one interactions.
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