What Sounds do Baby Chicks Make?

Cheap, cheap, cheap!

Check out this awesome washer dryer set we scored for less than the normal price of just one piece.

We always walk the scratch and dent aisle at places like Lowe's and Home Depot when we are in those stores.  When I came across this matching set of Samsung HE front load washers and dryers, I had to have them.  The washer which is on the left had a dent under the door, and a very slight scratch on one of the corners.  We have been unable to find anything wrong with the dryer.  They were both a little dirty, and the dryer had foam stickers on the top where they had apparently stacked the set.  A little bit of all purpose cleaner, and some goo gone on the foam, and we were in business.  We ended up saving about 60% percent after all was said and done on this set.  The washer was marked down to $300, and the dryer was marked down to $660.  I negotiated an additional 10% off with the appliance manager, making our total before taxes $864.  I know people think that you can't negotiate at big box stores, but trust me if you know what you are doing, you definitely can!!

I have to admit that it is RARE to find a matching set so deeply discounted.  But, if you are in the market for a washer and dryer set, you could either go with an unmatched set, or buy one piece on scratch and dent and the other at regular retail, and still save yourself a bundle of money.

The Start of Something Awesome

When you start out with these ingredients, you know that something awesome is yet to come!

In to the stockpot went one small chicken (less than 4 pounds) a handful of baby carrots, a palmful of black peppercorns, a scant palmful of kosher salt, a medium onion (skin, roots and all) cut into quarters, two ribs of celery cut in to large hunks, and enough water to just cover the ingredients.  This is not my normal set of ingredients for making stock, but it was what was on hand.  I like to use whole celery, and full size carrots, a collection of herbs, and I usually just use chicken bones to make stock, and not a whole chicken.

So what did I end up making (and forgetting to take a picture of)?  Just some simple chicken soup.

Once the stock had simmered on low for about two hours, I removed the chicken, and ran the rest of it through a sieve to remove the solids.

I picked all the chicken off the bones, and tossed it back in to the soup pot, which had been rinsed and was now holding the stock.  I added about 1/2 cup of pasta stars (I do have a 5 year old in the house after all) and a large can of home-style veg-all that had been drained and rinsed.  No, I do not think that Ina would not approve of this ingredient, but we are still getting moved in and I had a hungry kid on my hands who could not wait for "real" veggies to cook.  It was delicious.

Bonus, there were 2 quarts leftover that have found a home in the freezer, plus Hubby was able to take soup for lunch the next day!

Home Sweet Mess

Well, we are in the new house, but boy, oh boy do we have a mess on our hands.  So many boxes and so much paper!

When we arrived at the house, one of the windows was filled with little bugs and it really grossed me out.  Does anyone know what these are?  It gave me flashbacks of a rental house in Mississippi that had roaches the size of small children.  I think we could have saddled them and rode off in to the sunset.  Thankfully, a spray of rosemary oil mixed with spearmint oil was all it took to get rid of them.

There is a lot of cabinet space and a large pantry (just like Ina's) in the kitchen. I obviously have my priorities straight, because one of the very first boxes I unpacked in to that pantry was the one marked booze!  In fact it was one of the first boxes I unpacked at all.  The real irony there is that I have not had an adult beverage since we got here!

I am having a hard time figuring out where to put things in the kitchen.  The cabinets are really tall; I think taller than 42 inches.  My six-foot-four husband is having a hard time reaching the top shelf, so a step stool will be on my list of must gets.

I have a lot of furnishings that are going to need to be bought for this place.  It is much larger than any other house we have ever lived in.  You can expect future posts about my adventures in thrift-tiquing as well as yard saling.

There is still a TON of unpacking left to be done, and I have a deadline looming (Dinner Party scheduled for early November).  So, I will try to post a blog every day, but I still may be spotty until I get all the packing undone…errr unpacking done.