Busy Sunday

[ksmith]

The outdoor Christmas lights are up. I know. It's kind of early. I was planning on putting them up next
weekend, but the weatherfolks are calling for temps in the 20s/30s for that
time. Today, it's gloomy and a little windy, but temps are in the 50s.

The math spoke to me. It said, Kris, put the lights up today.

I kept it simple. A couple of wreaths on the front of the house. A couple of
strings of lights in the (now leafless) burning bush at the corner of the house. Finally, a
tree of lights and a leaping reindeer way on the opposite end of the yard. I
still need to set the timer and wrap the plugs with protective tape. I'll
save the indoor lights for next week or the week after.

Later this afternoon, it's meatball-making time. I will freeze most of them, but keep a
few for dinner, which will be spaghetti squash and some of the marinara I
made during the summer. I don't believe I've ever had spaghetti squash
before. Looking forward to the new taste sensation.

I ordered my early Christmas present last night. It's a Kitchen-Aide stand mixer. Found a
deal on Big Brazilian River that included free shipping, a $30 rebate, a
magazine subscription, and a cookbook. I ordered the apple green model,
which was priced lower than some of the more popular colors like red, black,
and white. Yes, it's very bright, but it's the color I like so there.

Looking forward to making cookie dough w/o having to wrestle with my
handheld mixer.

Comments

[e-moon60.livejournal.com]

Smart to put the lights up in warmer weather, for sure!

And hurray for the new mixer. I have an old stand mixer (wedding present, so it's now >40 years old, but it still works) and thus no excuse for the Kitchen-Aide I'd really like. Mine's avocado (grump!) and I love both red and cobalt blue, but...I don't *need* it, and the full-size Kitchen-Aide won't fit in my pull-out arrangement (was in this kitchen when we bought the house.)

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

A few folks had already started to put out their lawn displays, and one of the neighbors also hung out all their lights. Either they;re really eager for Christmas to come, or they saw the weather report, too.

I will need to move some cookbooks off the counter to make room for the mixer. Given that I haven't used those cookbooks since I put them on the counter, I don't think I'll miss them.

[difrancis.livejournal.com]

we were at -16 this a.m. I'm hoping it warms up before we have to put lights up. you were thinking far better than we were.

I love my kitchen aide. I've had it for more than 12 years and it's a real workhorse.

Our xmas present for the house was a flat panel tv. You should see football and hockey on it. Wow.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

The coldest we've been so far has been high 20s, I think, and that was at night. I can't imagine -16.

My flat panel is considered smallish at 32-inches, but the detail is amazing. I see freckles and lines on people's faces and nice, sharp images. Bright colors.

[threeoutside.livejournal.com]

Congrats on the mixer, but a word of advice: watch it very carefully for leaking oil. There's something about the more recent models where they've changed motor parts from metal, as in the old models, to plastic, and it can cause leakage of oil. And not necessarily away from the food. (Voice of unhappy experience here.)

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I read the reviews. One of the reviewers wrote that she was told by Kitchen-Aid that the mixer needed to be run regularly--more than once a month--or it would leak. Did you use yours more often?

Even with the info about leaking oil, ratings for the Artisan usually average 4+ stars out of 5. So while it may be an issue, I don't know how often it happens. 1% of mixers? 10%? No clue.

[threeoutside.livejournal.com]

The lack of use might have contributed, too. But the replacing metal parts with plastic? That's just crappy. They had a perfect product there until they let the bean-counters in. Again.