Warm

I have a weather center. I am addicted to knowing what the weather is doing and is going to do. So I got this at Christmas - and look at it everyday! The "guy" in the middle is Oscar. He dresses according to the weather. Coat, scarf, hat, long sleeves, short sleeves. Stuff like that. Well, since I got it in the middle of the cold weather, I've really only seen him in pants - very well covered. The other day, it got up to 82 degrees. And here at 79 degrees, I was surprised to find him in basically - NOTHING. So here's my question: if he's basically in a Speedo at 80 degrees, what is he going to be wearing when it gets up to 90 degrees?


So this week, for my "try new things" - I mowed the grass (well, weeds) with the riding lawn mower! I haven't been on one in a LONG time. So it was basically new. And I've never mowed the whole yard before on one. It was so fun! And I didn't get hurt. Well, I did cut my finger a little, but that was on the gasoline can. Oops.

I can't believe that less than a week before mowing the grass in really warm weather, there was about 3 inches of snow on the ground!


New venture: I want to make a good low fat donuts. Or something that resembles the flavor of a donut. They are my weakness. I love them. And since I really favor cake or sour cream donuts, this should be a little easier to find a recipe that works. My first attempt at perfecting a recipe went pretty well. I ended up making more of donut mini muffins - kind of donut hole size. But they were very tasty! I even coated some with powdered sugar and they were even better! And I made notes, so that I could alter it – and know what I did the last time when I try again.



I recently got a Big City Slider maker. [Big City Slider - a mini burger "press" that cooks on the stovetop - advertised by Billy Mayes on TV]. I was looking forward to trying it out. The first few times it was used, it was AWESOME. Kind of a pain to clean - ok, really a pain to clean - but the burgers were very good! And cooked very fast.
But about the fifth time I used it, I noticed that one of them had silver streaks on it. It looked like someone had spray painted in between the grill marks. The "nonstick" surface had come off from the top (the press thing) onto the burger. I hadn't scrubbed it with anything rough or abrasive - nor did I use metal on it at all. And it was the TOP that seems to melt onto the burger. And the top really was easy to clean, so I never really had to scrub that at all. I was so disappointed. I hadn't expected absolute greatness when I got it. I figured it would be ok with the cooking and a little hard to clean.
But it made GREAT little burgers. And it was nearly impossible to clean. It was just so easy and fast to cook with. So I'm trying to remind myself, while I am disappointed that the maker "broke", that the cleanup maybe was just a little too much for something so simple. If it hadn't impressed me at first, then I don't think I would be as disappointed now.