Happy, Little, Time Waster

 

Timepiece

Happy.Little, Time Waster

 

Typography from Ronnie Bruce on Vimeo.

Free Time

 

No play day with Teague today so I have some unexpected free time. What will I do? Will I find some hole to clean? Catch up on projects?

Nah, knowing me, I'll probably fritter the time away.

Lost Part de Deux

 

When we last left our intrepid heroine she had returned home from a shopping expedition where she had lost her wristwatch. She did a quick retrace of her steps, but the watch was nowhere to be found in the house. It was lost. Somewhere between the parking lots, Target, and Kohls.

With a deep sigh and a forlorn look, she removed her jacket and went to the front closet to hang it up

In the closet is a 3 drawer plastic unit. The top drawer where gloves are store was open. As she removed a hanger, something shiny in the drawer caught her attention.

It was her watch! Once lost and now found! Oh, joy! Oh, rapture! She thought the clasp must have been loose, but the bracelet had broken. 

So much for her theory of being able to hear the substantial watch make a thud. Looks like her next errand will be to make an appointment with the audiologist.

Lost

 

I've worn a wristwatch since I was 7 years old. I feel naked without a watch on my wrist when I go out and about. I've had several watches. A few I stopped. Yup, I can stop time. I stopped time on two, brand new, less than a month old, moon phase watches. And the jeweler couldn't understand why because the battery was perfectly good when he tested tested them. Apparently, I have some sort of weird electromagnetic force, and I can stop time on my wristwatches. Himself won't buy me watches anymore because of it.

So I  bought my own watches, and had to keep replacing batteries. Which was annoyingly expensive. Until several years ago, I heard about Citizens Watch and their Eco-Drive system. Sunlight, ambient light recharges the watch's battery. The battery never needs to be replaced. And I haven't stopped this watch.

So, Wednesday, before I left the house to go shopping, I put on my wristwatch. I don't look at my phone to check the time. I look at my watch. As I was finishing up at Target, I looked at my watch to see how long I had been out. No watch! I'd been all over Kohl's and Target. I walked across both parking lots because I always park in Nebraska (i.e. not close to the front door) whenever I go out, and I'm driving. 

If I did lose it in the parking lot or the store, I should have felt it. Heard it as it's a pretty substantial watch. I must have thought I put it on before I left the house. Yes, that's it. It must've been at home. Only when I got home, the watch was not there. It was lost.

To be continued.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Not many pictures of the garden as there was too much going on so I didn't get outside to take photos

I did mange

Sunset taken at 6:02 pm and

Sunrise taken at 6:57 am

A reminder that it's the time of the year  that the sun sets earlier and rises later. In the U.S. changing the clocks to Standard Time will happen on 6. November 2022 at 2 AM local time.

10 Crockpot Freezer Meals

Ingredients at the ready. Recipes on the tablet.

Just before Christmas, I stumbled upon a StockpilingMoms blog for making 20 crockpot freezer meals in 4 hours. Simply add raw meat, vegetables and other stuff to a gallon size freezer bag and stick in the freezer. When ready to use thaw overnight in the refrigerator, pop in the crockpot and 6 or 8 hours later dinner is ready.

The time saving appealed to me. Also we're all on different schedules so cooking once and having enough for people to heat and eat when they are ready works out well. Cooking a large quantity of 6 to 8 servings makes it convenient to have portions for people to take lunch/dinner to work or just lunch/dinner leftovers.

Though the refrigerator is large, the freezer isn't big enough to hold 20 freezer bags plus sundry meats and frozen veg.  Fortunately, the blog also had recipes and shopping lists for 10 crockpot freezer meals in 2 hours.  (There were recipes for 8 meals too, but I figured what's 2 more) After the holidays, there was sufficient room in the freezer to give this method a try.

I sent Himself off with the shopping list provided. The method is label freezer storage bags with recipe title, cook time, and other ingredients or instructions that need to be added later or just before serving. It took me an hour or so longer to chop vegetables, assemble ingredients, and fill the bags for all the meals. Rather than chop all vegetable at the same time, I went through the recipes one by one. I found that I had printed an incomplete grocery list and some items, mostly canned corn and black beans were missing. Not crucial, as those items could be added at the time of cooking (if someone remembers to add missing items to the next shopping list. Note to self) One other item I would add to the grocery list, would be to get some slow cooker liners. These are special plastic liners that you put inside your crockpot and dump your ingredients in when ready to cook. The liners make clean up a breeze. I never use my crockpot without them.

Dinner ready and waiting

Don't Blink

While doing some work at the writing desk, I realized I needed a clock. Stopping to wake up the cellphone to see the time just wasn't going to do. I didn't want to buy a small clock. What to do? Then I remembered a clock given to us as a wedding gift. Because of the digital, alarm clock that charges the iPad, the poor old clock was just gathering dust. Not anymore.

Fits perfectly in the corner. Just don't blink. (-;

The Friday Five Good Things

Five good things that happened this week.

1. I finished a project 2 weeks before the deadline.

2. An appointment was cancelled so I gained some time.

3. Found out I've been scheduled to teach during the Spring (April/May) session

4. Another teaching opportunity is in the works

5. Classes began this week, and I just have to say I love my job.

How was your week?

Wordless Wednesday

Time Change

Man, this time change really got to me. Was ok yesterday, but today I'm draggin'. Is it naptime, yet?

Spring Ahead

Did you remember to set your clock ahead an hour?

Don't Forget

If you live in the U.S.A, don't forget this is the weekend we jump to Daylight Savings Time. So before you go to bed, set your clocks an hour ahead. Unless you live in Arizona or Hawaii which don't observe DST. Or, if you have a smart clock that is synched to an atomic clock, then you don't have to worry.

The Experiment

I'll let you know how it turns out.

Only Ten Minutes

Some cook top cleaner had spurted through the grate on the oven door and left a white trail on the inside of the glass. The streak had been there for quite a while, but it bothered me. Himself was on Spring Break, and it seemed like such a little project. Remove the 6 screws from the oven door so I could clean the inside of the glass.

Himself took the door apart without too much fuss, and I was able to clean the inside of the glass. Putting the door back together was another matter. Screw holes and door parts wouldn't line up. The oven glass wouldn't fit in the proper grooves.  A 10 minute job turned into a lot of horses' patoots. The phrase Himself utters in frustration when the girlies and I are around. He also said through gritted teeth, "I'm not going to take this door apart ever again!" There might have been two or three more exclamation points. I was too busy making myself invisible to really know.

Some two hours later, the oven door was back in place. Sort of. One of the plastic side trim pieces cracked and broke in two. I made a repair appointment on line with Sears.

Don't Forget

Spring Ahead. Daylight Savings Time Begins. Set your clocks ahead an hour before you go to bed tonight.

Numbers

During the day, I'm apt to catch sight of certain numbers. It started with Himself telling me he sees 11:11 on digital clock faces. My number is 8:18 which happens to be our anniversary (and Robert Redford's birthday). Now, I see both his number and mine.

Are these significant numbers? Messages from the Universe or just coincidence?

Happy Standard Time

Don't forget. Fall back to Standard Time. If you are in the USA, set your clocks back one hour before you go to bed tonight. (Unless you live in Arizona, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam and America Samoa. These states and protectorates do not observe daylight savings time and remain on Standard Time all year round)

Spring Forward

Daylight savings time begins. Don't forget. Spring forward. Turn your clocks ahead one hour before you go to bed tonight, unless you have "smart" clocks which sync to an atomic clock, then you don't have to worry.