Busy, somewhat productive, Day!

For several days I have been going back and forth with a donor from FREECYCLE for a blue wingback chair and ottoman.  Finally this morning I was able to pick it up in Hanover, where she kindly agreed to bring it...rather than making me drive to Grafton, NH where she lived.  It is just exactly what I love in a chair with the added bonus of the ottoman.

Chair in place near the fire.  Needs a very big bath, though.  Also there are supports under the chair which are missing.  Maybe Jonathan can help me make new ones.

After the chair pickup I went to the hospital blood lab for bloodwork prior to Friday's annual physical.  Two sticks finally got as much as they needed for the tubes.  They told me the problems were because my hands were too cold. I had taken the bus from Lot 9 then walked into the north entrance.  Glad that is over.  There is only a smallish area of bruising this time.

Next was a trip to Lavalley's to share the dimensions of the kitchen counter and get an estimate of the cost of same.Way more than I was expecting, and I failed to ask about clearance for the dishwasher.  Once we place the order it will be about ten days for the  construction of the custom-made counter topping.  Sadly, because of our corner sink, we cannot use the preformed material which has the lovely rounded edges.  We will have a square edge on both the counter-topping and the back-splash.  It will be fine, even though it will not be beautiful.

When I finally arrived home I discovered that we were not going visiting teaching as our sister had forgotten our visit and was doing something else.  Today that was good news!  I pulled the soft pretzel dough out of the bucket and made 6 of them.  When I finally finished the process I discovered how ugly they were.  Oh, well.  They were nice and chewy.  Since it was a pain to go through all the process of making them (mixing, rising, chilling, forming, rising, boiling, draining, egg washing, cooking)  I formed the rest of the dough into one oblong loaf and egg-washed it and applied sesame seeds.  The loaf looks wonderful.  It feels a little heavy.  Tomorrow we will slice it and see how it came out.  The recipe came from "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day".  Again!  I love that book. 

"Bagel: bread on parchment paper, baked on pizza pan, not pizza stone

Before the pretzel/bread project, I helped Bob put the cover back on the pickup bed since tomorrow we are expecting our first really big snowstorm of the season--4-19 inches,  depending on who you listen to.  I also picked up several tarps, folded/balled up, and put into the car port and moved seven wheel/tires into the carport BEHIND the snow blower instead of in front of the snow blower.  Next I chipped out another very large cart of firewood and, after a very great effort, got it up onto the ramp and in place outside the back door on the "loading dock'.  As we were eating supper, Bob asked what I did with the small blue tarp which he had folded up when we were working on the truck project.  I had mentioned that I never sewed the cover I wanted to make for wood cart, which brought up the subject. I went out with my headlamp and found the tarp just where it had been, though more or less nicely folded. I brought it to the loading dock and covered the wood in case we really do have snow tonight.

While working on the bread project I moved the plastic table which Bob and Owen had been using for sheetrock/tiling project tools upstairs and which Bob had brought downstairs and scrubbed up.  I took it over for a better temporary kitchen in the addition.  This is kind of clutter-y and in the way but much more convenient.  If you think the water in the 'rinse bucket' looks dirty, it really is dirty. I had just put in a mug that had held hot chocolate earlier this afternoon when I was trying to get warm from the inside out.  Didn't work this time.

This is MUCH better than the most recent "kitchen", though that one caused miles of walking back and forth to the living room 'coffee table'.

There was more to the day but that is enough to write.  Tomorrow I look forward to babysitting the little ones, or at least Leah.  I picked up some fruit-flavored candy canes for a quarter at Walgreens today.  Yes, I am trying to buy her off, or at least keep her mind of the fact that Mom is gone for a few hours.