Ten on Tuesday

10 Favorite Kitchen Gadgets

1. Kitchen Shears- I love my Henckels. I use these things for everything....snipping herbs, cutting up food for the kids, and opening packages. I would love a few more around the house because they have a habit of wandering off.

2. Egg slicer- Still the fastest way to make egg salad.

 3. Orange peeler- so very simple but so very effective.

4. Ceramic slicer- This is fabulous for giving you nice thin garlic. Just watch your fingers. This is responsible for about 90% of my kitchen injuries.

5. Silicon spatula- heat resistant and beyond useful.

 

 6. Cuisineart Ice Cream Maker- mix the ingredients, pour them in and in 30 minutes you have fabulous ice cream. Or frozen yogurt. Or lemon ice...even vodka lemon ice.

7.  Stick blender- This was essential when making I was making my own baby food. I use it for making smoothies, pasta sauce, soup, and applesauce. The whisk attachment is great for pancake batter, boxed cakes and homemade ice cream. The food processor attachment comes in handy for a lot of things, though the one on my older one was much better.

8. Ulu knife and bowl- we bought one of these on our honeymoon to Alaska. I love this thing. Nothing beats it for cutting hot grilled cheese or pb&j. It's great on herbs and nuts too.And it is perfect for chopping up candy bars for ice cream mix ins.

 9. Zyliss corkscrew- my favorite corkscrew. Just put it on and turn. You just keep twisting and it both enters the cork and pulls it out. It also has a nifty little foil cutter to get the wrapper off the top of the bottle without cutting your hand open.

10. Kitchen Aid mixer- a must have. It handles tough mixing jobs as well as ones that require stamina. I love the food grinder attachment as well. The only thing I wish it had was a feature my stepmother's old stand mixer had: a lever that would shift the bowl over a few inches off center. The beaters would get close to the edge and it gave you enough room to add ingedients. The bowl chute just doesn't quite do it. That and I wish I had this limited edition model.

So, what can't you live without in the kitchen?

It's Friday!!!

And the end of my first official week back at work. It hardly seems like it's been a full week. Of course the fact that my co-workers have been in and out and I've been working all over the place may have something to do with it.

 My husband's employees who just had a baby came and got Little Miss's crib and changing table/dresser. Which means tomorrow will be the Big Furniture Switcharoo. Well phase two of it. Phase one involved getting the crib out of her room, moving Little Dude's toddler bed into her room, putting the toddler rail back onto it, and putting the twin mattress in his room. Now that the dresser/changer is gone, I can move the dresser my husband has been using into her room. It was my dresser growing up and part of the bedroom set she will eventually be using. My husband will be using the one I currently have storing art supplies, until we find one we really like on Craigslist. When he and I figure out our bedroom furniture situation, then I can hang the art back up in there.

Meanwhile Little Dude has his mattress on the floor until we (meaning my husband) builds the loft bed or we break down and buy one.

I'm starting to work out some deocration for Little Miss's room as well. I saw this online the other day and knew I had to make her one. It is currently in production. I have the frame (though ours isn't as elaborate) and the panel is drying as I write this. I'll work on the text layout this weekend and paint the letters next week. The line is from William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and very fitting. For both of us. 

She is my little pink princess but has a healthy geek streak in her. She knows Darth Vader on sight and walks around singing "Nananananananana....BATMAN!" at the top of her lungs. After reading the first Fancy Nancy book, she wants to make her room all fancy. Who am I to deny her. I secretly have a fancy girly side. Mine is just less pink and more black/purple/red. But it still has all of the sparkle. Hey, who can resist the power of the shiny?

 And the decoration in Little Dude's room will shortly begin production. I'm just waiting on material to arrive.

Oh and there's a Friday Flashback over on Footprints in the Sky.

Back from the Black Hole

I fell off the face of the earth for a while there. Actually I was sucked into the black hole of theatre. I started back to work a bit sooner than planned with a side job at a small local theatre. It was suppose to be a simple 'come-in-and-paint-what-you-are-told' type of gig. That was until the charge quit. So I was offered the upgrade in position on the show (and possibly for future shows) and all the stress and responsibility that comes with it. Therefore, instead of easing back into working full time I jumped right into the frenzy of it, feet first. And it has been a wild ride.

Despite being brought in at the last minute and dealing with some complicated situations with little preparation, I had a blast. And the set looks beautiful, (more about that to come on Footprints). The people (most of them) were wonderful. Some of these people were ones I had worked with years ago at the same theatre. Some were people I knew somewhat but hadn't really done a lot with. And some were completely new. I brought in the wonderful woman that covered my maternity leave (both times) as my second, and we took the place by storm. And I think I can say honestly without bragging (well, maybe a little bragging) that I impressed the pants off them.

Nevertheless, it took a huge toll on my body. The last two weeks involved a lot of stairs. Just a few steps, but a few steps up and down all day long is still a lot of stairs. And ladders. Lots of ladder time. Going from my reduced physical load to stairs and ladders all day hit me hard. And I think the hardest part is that I am still coming to terms with my limitations. I'm getting better at realizing and accepting that I will never be the way that I was before. I will never be 100% again. And that's hard. And it sucks. And it sucks even more as a woman because we have to fight so much harder, and do so much more to get any respect in this business. But I'm doing it. One way or another, I'm making it work.

And now I'm back to my regular full time gig. It was nice to be back. The staff is coming back in dribs and drabs and we're easing our way into the season. It looks like it will be an interesting season, both artistically and logistically.

Getting back into my routine is nice and I'm tweaking things here and there to leave a little more room for knitting and blogging.

So here's to a happy start to the season (and the new year in my world).

Ten on Tuesday

10 Words to Describe Yourself in an Interview
  The task on this one is no descriptors....just the words.

1. Inventive
2. Resourceful
3. Adaptable
4. Creative
5. Humorous
6. Diligent
7. Dedicated
8. Skilled
9. Initiative
10. BAKES 

Never underestimate the power of baked goods on moral. Just sayin'.