I'm grillin'!

I went outside last night and fired up the grill. No big deal you say? Well, the grill came with the new house and I didn't know if it would work or not. Not to mention how hot it's been. The grate is all rusty (actually the whole thing is rusty inside) and it will be another $50 or so to replace it, but I cleaned it up and it started right away.

You can imagine my surprise! I cranked it up to high and went back into the house to make my meat skewers and a quickie sauce for them. It involved black bean sauce, vinegar and toasted sesame seed oil. Yum, it was tasty but it kept the meat from getting that seared, grilled outside I like so much. I have NO idea how much propane is in the tank. It has one of those stick-on gauges that you pour hot water over. No, it didn't work. Oh well.

This week I had lunch with my SIL and neice, and we had lots to talk about. Nina hadn't seen them to talk to them in over a year and a half, and it had been a long time for me too. It's good to keep up with family.

Make cake, everybody loves it

So, I don't have the kitchen set up yet, but I had a craving to make a cake. I suck at decorating them, but I love to play in the frosting anyway.

My MO is that a kitchen isn't really mine until I bake in it. I love to bake. So, straight from Duncan Hines, here it is, yellow cake with chocolate frosting. Weird yellow decorations. I took most of the cake to work and it was gone in 2 hours, beating out the 50 cent muffins (for charity purposes, ya know)

One little thing I didn't realize, since I hadn't used jar frosting on a layer cake before is that there isn't enough unless you are doing a smaller cake. I used 9" pans and barely had enough frosting to cover the cake thinly. Oh well next time I'll make the frosting from scratch.

Lemon cake, anyone? Practice makes perfect, anyway.

More photos...

Home at last!

I moved in on June 27 and have been stumbling over boxes ever since. I love my new home, and yes, it is still a work in progress. I wasn't quite ready for the movers, so not all my stuff was packed. So I have been unpacking in the new place, schlepping back to the old place and getting more stuff, and schlepping it back here. Nina helped once when I asked.

Last week the old pink counters were ripped out, and yesterday they put in the granite! Oh wow look at my new kitchen!

It's still a work in progress, but WOW, just WOW.

Now to get all those boxes unpacked....

Painting in progress

I love the new color, and it smells so much better in here.

Hoo-ray! I'm a homeowner again!

Wow, the closing went well, I just had to wait around an hour to let the money from my lender transfer into the right account.

So yesterday I went to Home Depot to get stuff, and some keys (what a goofus nightmare that is) and today I am messing around with the garage door/security gate remotes. I got two of them, but one of them is not working, the gate button sticks in the "on" position.

I talked to 2 painters and yes, I got some sticker shock. But the second painter said something interesting. She said that she's a smoker, and the odor is more like a wood fire than cigarette smoke. You know, she's right, it smells like a campground, not like an ashtray. Either way it is a pretty powerful smell. I cut a bunch of rosemary and also put out some powerful air fresheners. I will see what it smells like when I go back later to test my universal remote control.

Security gates are a real pain in the @ss. Oh, and get this, I can't put a working set of extra keys together. Of the 4 keys I got yesterday, the doorknob keys don't work on the garage doorknownb, but the deadbolt keys work on the garage door. The doorknob keys work on the front door, but not on the garage doorknob. The doorknobs feel chinzy to me too.

Where to start? What to do first?

So, I close on my place next Friday, May 25th. That is the start of the Memorial Day Weekend. Before I can move into the place it needs to be painted, walls and ceiling. And the carpet in the 2 bedrooms need to be replaced.

The other major big project is the kitchen counters, backsplash and sink. I think I can have this done after I move in, if I need to. My lease on the apartment is up on July 25th, so I will pay that for June and July, but I would prefer not to have dual utilities to pay.

And speaking of utilities, I think I can get dual electric accounts, but what should I do about my phone? I need to have a hard-wired phone in the place in order to let people (workmen!) through the gates. Those gates are a pain in the tush. I don't want to put the phone over completely because then I'll be in my apartment without Internet access and Nina will use excessive minutes on her cell phone.

I am the luckiest woman there is to have such dilemmas. I mean really, just 11 months ago I came to the full realization of what a complete jerk I was married to, and now I am getting my own beautiful home and I am officially jerk-free.