Oh so shiny

Y'all know I am obsessed with kitchen stuff.

Well my overpriced cookware  (Zwilling J.A. Henkels) bit the dust. All that money and only a 2 year warranty. BAH!!  Never again will I spend so much money on cookware. So I decided to go with stainless steel. No teflon, no ceramic coating, just going back to basic (not including my cast iron) cookware. 

BEHOLD!!

Shiny new cookware....aaahhhh, it makes me so happy!

Not only is it shiny, I scored a FANTABULOUS deal!  (Much MUCH cheaper than my other set)

Oh yeah, look at the retail price, now

If I were paying retail it would be $208.13, holy sticker shock!  I saved 75% (including tax).  I bought my new cookware at Macy's (hello magic plastic, haha). Sale + a 25% off coupon.  Woot!

What good deals have you scored recently?

WHAT'S HAPPENING HOTSTUFF?

Still one of my favorite movies, even though it makes me feel sooo old!  How has everyone been?  I am hanging in there. Coming out of my funk now that the weather is warming up. This past week we hit the high 70's,  yet 2 weeks ago we had snow. Crazy Ohio weather!

Spring is my 2nd favorite season.  All the tweety little birds, the air smells so fresh and the budding greenery is the promise of good things to come. I have sown lettuce, spinach and green onion seeds in the portable earth box planter.

 Sweet Williams and Morning Glory have been sown in my rolling planter pot with trellis. But nothing has germinated yet. (no photo)

I also pick up a 72 cell seed starter. My handy, dandy composition notebook allows me to track of what I have sown. I can keep track of germination rate and later when I transplant everything I make note of how the plants performed.

The big garden plot has been rototilled. But I am not planting anything until I can figure out a way to deter the deer (who wrecked my garden last year) and not have a repeat. ugh!

I have already transplanted the winter squash, zucchini and straight cucumbers. I sowed a variety of  Marigolds for transplanting to naturally deter some insects. I also started the seeds for my sugar baby pumpkins. All the seedlings have been moved from the laundry room to the portable cold frame. The hubbs stapled a thick mil plastic since both panels were shattered from a storm last year. I have it on the porch since the concrete warms and retains heat. We shouldn't experience any temps lower than the mid 40"s now.

None of the peppers have germinated yet but I think they just aren't warm enough. I am going to be sad if all those heirlooms seeds are duds. I am going to work on separating and transplanting the tomatoes. I had a very high germination rate, so there are lots and lots of seedling! (lower right hand corner--those are all tomatoes!)

How about y'all? What does everyone have planned for their growing season?

Temporarily Interrupted

Hey y'all. Sorry I fell off the blogosphere...again. There has been some upheaval in my life. The hubbs had some unexpected oral surgery, I had a minor back injury, my laptop went wacky (it randomly began typing rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr's--hundreds of them), the new keyboard on the laptop isn't working properly and I have been working on trying to set up a home office (which involved my kid setting up an old beast of tower--windows XP-y'all!-- as I transition to work from home 3 days a week. 

The hubbs is completely recovered from his ordeal. He had a cracked tooth that abscessed below the gum line near the nasal cavity. It could have been a very dangerous situation. A little nudge from the universe (well actually a big head butt from the dog) exacerbated  it and he went to the dentist. A good thing too! A friendly reminder that oral health is very important, so don't skip cleanings or regular check ups!

My minor back injury involved some pulled and spastic muscles.But it has resolved. It was quite the pain (literally) every time I had to walk, push the clutch in or tried to move. I have doing some stretching exercises and also i frequently get up and stretch from being seated while working.  Since my job is mostly sedentary (and according to the experts, sitting is the new smoking) I am considering one of those convertible sit/ stand desks. (Some of the brands are Ergotron and Varidesk). Not exactly cheap but it is an investment in my health.

Fingers crossed I can work through my technological issues.  I love working from home, even if it is on a beast of an old computer. All I need is a a fast connection and secure portal for the VPN.  My productivity has increased between 35-50% on the day(s) I work from home. And I am not lonely because my "coworkers" like to hang out with me...they aren't very motivated.

I am still working on my food pantry challenge. Hopefully I can finish backing up all my files (photos, etc) and  write an update.We had a few days teaser of Spring weather but it was back to snow this morning. I sure am looking forward to the warmer weather. I am ready to garden!

I hope y'all are doing okay and thanks for hanging in there with me!