Monthly Archives: October 2014

I am the cook

Posted on by
4

Yep.  That’s me.wine_1

Usually Mr. Aitch and I discuss what’s for dinner.  Just so he knows what wine to select.  But on Sunday I told him what we were having: Stuffed Shells.  He seemed a bit reluctant with that choice as he didn’t quite know what that meant. But I made my decision.  After all, I. Am. The. Cook.

I am the one who does most of the prep work regardless of what we’re having and how it’s cooked.  Mr. Aitch may do the actual grilling when it comes to our summer fare but during the rest of the year, it’s usually me in the kitchen from start to finish.

San Giorgio shells

So on Sunday I made (for the first time ever) cheese stuffed shells using the recipe on the back of the San Giorgio box.

 

I almost doubled the sauce amount (I don’t like dry pasta) and added cooked sweet Italian sausage and ground beef to the sauce as “some people” in my house need meat for dinner.

Mr. Aitch said it was the BEST pasta dish I’ve ever prepared.

This recipe is definitely a keeper.

shells-008

 

Sorry there’s no picture of our meal.

It didn’t last long enough…

 

Birthday Wishes – October 3-9

Posted on by
3

Recap for this week’s Birthday Wishes:

October 3:  Tazo tea and honey stickBirthday-wishes-2014-103

October 4: A beautiful, handmade, green (my favorite color) beaded bracelet with the Miraculous Medal

Birthday-wishes-2014-104

October 5: My favorite Tootsie Pop® flavor – cherry

Birthday-wishes-2014-105

October 6: Not one but two Bic for Her® pens in pink and purple

Birthday-wishes-2014-106

October 7: A DoohicKey™ – I’ve never seen one of these but it has a ruler, wrench, carabiner clip, bottle opener, box cutter, and screwdriver.  So cool and it will fit right on my key ring!  I’ll be ready for anything!

Birthday-wishes-2014-107

October 8: A 14 inch white, invisible zipper.  I do have a project in mind for this…

Birthday-wishes-2014-108

October 9:  A favorite tea of mine – Bigelow® Constant Comment™ plus a honey stick.   When I was younger, my Mom, sister and I used to make a pot of this tea on cold, Saturday afternoons.  The smell of this tea brings back such wonderful memories.Birthday-wishes-2014-109I am enjoying this daily treat of Birthday Wishes so much.  I’ll have another update next week.

 

OCD vs. Perfectionism Part 2

Posted on by
5

I asked Mr. OCD to help me with an office chair I recovered.

Here’s the chair:

Desk-chair-1-before

Yeah.  It looks disgusting.  Someone (not me) spilled coffee on the seat and the stain never came out.

It belongs to the receptionist even though we don’t have a receptionist. Glad we got that cleared up.

Anyway, I found some great upholstery fabric on clearance at Joann Fabrics and decided to take on this project.

I started taking the chair apart but one of the other guys in the office thought he should get in on the act and helped.  Whatever.  It’s a man thing.

Desk-chair-2-before

The original cover from the chair had this cool binding with a cord running through it which was sewn around the edge.  When the cord was pulled, the fabric cinched up around the frame so fewer staples were needed.

Desk-chair-1.2-before

I took the old fabric from the seat and chair back home to use as a pattern for the new cover. I ripped off the binding stuff as it was still good and sewed it on the new fabric to make it easier to fit the frame when I got to that part.  It was a tight fit for sure.  There didn’t seem to be a lot of extra fabric to wrap around the chair back so Mr. OCD and I pulled and pulled and pulled.  And stapled where we thought it needed it.  Only I had the wrong staples for my staple gun.

Mr. OCD said it wasn’t worth it and was ready to chuck the chair into the dumpster.  I wasn’t giving up.

To humor me Mr. OCD brought his staple gun and staples in when he came back from lunch.

I was determined to get this chair recovered.  After more pulling and stapling and hammering and tugging, we finally got the new cover secured and the back panel on.  It didn’t look good.  Some of the staples were showing and I wasn’t satisfied.  Mr. OCD was because that part was done.

But I jumped the gun.  I realized that we had to reattach the arms before we put the back panel on.  Mr. OCD was ready to pitch the chair again.  We wrestled the back panel off and I pulled out the offending staples because they really bothered me.  It just wasn’t right.

I had two pairs of pliers to help grasp the fabric as I tugged as tightly as I could and told Mr. OCD to staple farther into the chair so the staples wouldn’t show this time.  We got the arms bolted on and put the back panel on.  This time all the staples were hidden.

It wasn’t perfect but it was right enough.

The seat cover was a piece of cake.  I got the cover on and he and I both pulled the cord to cinch up the fabric over the chair seat frame.  I had to wiggle and scooch and maneuver the fabric to try to match the pattern from the upper part to the seat as best I could.   Mr. OCD stapled the fabric and cord to the bottom of the seat.

We reattached the base and admired our handiwork.

But not for very long.

The assistant director liked the chair so much more than the one he was using so he procured it for himself.

Desk-chair-3-after

The chair wasn’t perfect but it was right enough.  And worth doing.