A great day!

Since I rambled here about how much I despise Sallie Mae, I feel the need to share my experience yesterday with CitiBank.

I have a credit card with Citi and, if you look back to see, I have a balance of over $7,000 on that card. It is one we are working to pay off. And the current interest rate was at 28.99%.

Well, yesterday I got two phone calls from them. I missed the first because I was in the shower, but got the second on my way home from work. The most pleasant person in the world answered the phone the make sure I was aware that I overlooked an extra $13 on my payment and to inform me that I was currently past due. I apologized and said I didn't realize my payment had gone up. We make an automatic payment of $250, so I didn't notice that the amount due had changed to $263. I inquired as to why it changed. He said something about "changes to the agreement" to which I replied, "oh, they upped the interest rate again, great."

He then informed me I could opt out if I wanted to, but I would have to cancel the card at the end of it's current cycle. I didn't have to pay it off, but I could no longer use it. This is a card I got myself and have had for a few years. It has a nice rewards plan and I'd like to keep it after I pay it off for emergencies and things like hotels and online payments, which I told him. I also said it would be nice to keep it without an interest rate of 30%.

To which he promptly said well, if you make your payment today to bring the account current I can give you an APR of 8.49%. WHAT? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Of course! And I made a beeline for the computer as soon as I got home and paid another $50. Plus, today at work we got a $100 safety bonus (before taxes) for going three years without a lost-time injury, so it's paid for too!

I couldn't believe it. I barely even asked to lower it and he did, just like that. Just because I whined a little. There's a lesson here folks, just ask. I was especially surprised when I heard on the news this morning that Citi is being helped out by the government. They're in bad shape and they still slashed my interest rate. Thank you Citi for a very different customer service experience than what I am used to. I thanked the gentleman and explained that I was impressed and really appreciated his helpfulness. What a day.

We also installed a new toilet in our upstairs bathroom. No more pink toilet, now it's just the tub, sink and walls. We went from a 5 gallon ancient beast to a new 1.6 gal Cadet3 from American Standard. With and elongated bowl and 16.5" height, just for Hubby!

The evening wasn't all rosy though. I managed to drop one of the flange bolts down the drain and had to make an emergency run to get a new bolt and a water supply line (we knew that would have to happen but were prepared to wait until today). I can't believe I'm going to say this, but thank God for Walmart. The only place to get plumbing supplies at 10pm. I didn't get a picture, but I will soon. It makes the whole room look better.

Recipe holder

The other day I came across a very nice looking recipe book holder that sits on the counter and immediately thought, "Oh, I need that!" But I don't. I know I don't. I very rarely use a cookbook and when I do, I usually put it on my kitchen table because I don't have a lot of counter space. I also have this ingenious little device that I utilize almost every day. (The paper clip and paper, not the soup cooling on the counter, sorry).


I have paired the trusty clothespin with a box of paper I saved from the garbage heap. About two years ago, we had some things printed at work to be used in the warehouse. They were supposed to be printed on bright yellow paper, but the printing company got mixed up and did it on white. Two big boxes filled with half sheets of printed paper were going to be thrown out. My boss knew I wouldn't like it and asked me if I wanted them to recycle. And of course I did.

First, I paired the pages with a bunch of cereal boxes I had saved up and made some cut notebooks for Christmas gifts. Then I gave one whole box to my mom. She homeschools my sisters (3 at that time I think) and I knew she could use the scrap paper for a lot of different things. I have kept the other box and still have about 3/4 of it.

I recently discovered that these pages were a perfect size for recipes! If I find something I like that isn't in book I own, I write it on one of these pages and when I need it, I just clip it up to the cupboard, easy peasy. When not in use, these bad boys are stored via binder clip in the back of my calendar. This makes them easy to sort through for when I'm planning meals. I also keep blank pages there because you never know when you'll run across something yummy. I have been slowly converting all of my random sheets of paper over to this method and it has been making my life just a little bit easier! I used to use magnets on my fridge to hold the loose pages, but that's on the opposite side of the kitchen from my stove and my spice cupboard.

So, to sum up what ended up a long post. I have found a cheap and easy way to keep my recipes at eye level while also keeping paper out of the landfill! Now I just need to find a use for the rest of it!

Happy Birthday Mom & Pa!

Today is my mother's birthday as well as my grandfather's birthday. Happy birthday to them both!!

Happy Birthday Pa, wish you were here in the cold :)

love,
Miss Ang

A happy new arrival!

They're here!


My seeds arrived last night, and I can't wait. I get to start seeds this weekend :)

And, my adventures in cooking a whole chicken in the crockpot were interesting. It gave a new meaning to falling off the bone. I think the only thing holding it together in the end was the skin! I got a lot of meat from it, but it was a greasy, gross, disgusting process. My husband tried to cut into it and it just collapsed from the inside out!



The meat wasn't that good though. So I think I will save roasting chickens for the weekend so I can roast it in the oven. It takes more to get the meat off the bone, but it tastes much better, in my opinion.

For this roast, I simply cut up some potatoes and carrots, added 1 cup of veggie stock and some onions and celery. I rinsed and patted dry the chicken then sprinkled it with salt, pepper, garlic powder and paprika. I cooked it on high for 1 hour while I got ready in the morning and then on low for 8 hours.

I'll be making a bone broth this evening.

Menu Monday

This morning I managed to make two breakfasts, pack two lunches (one had to be heated up) and put dinner in the crockpot. All between 6:50 and 7:30. And I read some email. Crazy! This week's plan centers around the chicken in my crockpot right now.

Monday - roast chicken with potatoes and carrots
Tuesday - chicken tacos
Wednesday - pork chops and asparagus
Thursday - chicken noodle soup
Friday - something with chicken and broccoli, I don't know what yet. Any suggestions?
Saturday - dinner at my mom's for her Birthday
Sunday - home made pizza

It's a little chicken heavy, I know. I do have a couple of beef roasts in the freezer and my mom just gave me some ground beef she ground herself (yeah mom!), but I'm thinking chicken this week!

More on composting and Freebies

I spent a little more time this morning looking around for info on my new purchase and found a link for it here. Apparently my wonderful $39.99 (or $39.88 or whatever) purchase of the SoilSaver Compost Bin retails for $199.99 on Amazon! Craziness. I'm very excited, and a little part of me wants to go get a second one for ferret poop too. I just hope Kira can get there and get one before they're gone today.

And yesterday, when talking to her about said wonderful purchase, she informed me that we're not supposed to have a compost pile that isn't contained and covered. Oops. We live within the village and we do have some critters roaming around. I know there is a wild cat that lives around here with her kittens as well as a couple raccoons that live in the woods behind my house. We have a couple different kinds of large rodents roaming around as well. (From what I can tell there are moles and a very large woodchuck who has made his home in a giant hole under our garage. We need to get rid of him.) So I guess it makes sense they would require that. I'm just glad no one turned me in before!

On to the freebies.

I subscribe to the daily deals at WiseBread and recently received an email with info on free samples of mineral makeup. I've been looking to convert to mineral makeup for a while now, but just couldn't get myself to shell out the cash. But Everyday Minerals has a wonderful package for people like me. You can get three different foundation colors, a concealer and a blush and all you pay for is shipping. These are sample sizes, and they're kinda small, but will last quite a while and they're free! I also got two eye shadows to try and a brush. The brush is amazing, I love it. The eye colors aren't my favorite though. They're very sparkly and by the end of the day there's a crease on my eye lid. I didn't get anything to tell you about this, so it isn't an advertisement or anything, I just wanted to share. I'm pretty sure I will be buying a full set in the near future though!


Another great thing was the packaging. These samples came stacked and they were wrapped next to the brush in the paper and closed with a sticker. That's it. This was sent in a small padded envelope. The envelope was plastic, but I was still impressed with the packaging. Thank you Everyday Minerals!

Compost!!

While shopping at Sam's Club today, I found a wonderful surprise, this:


A beautiful compost bin! This was on sale for $39.99! I looked it up on a few other websites and it ranges from 65-99.995! Woohoo!

Kira and I put it together tonight in the kitchen...and it almost fit through the outside door :) Oops.

I've been collecting scraps in a pile outside for a while now, and hopefully this will be warmer and it will start to break down a little earlier in the year. For now, I'm just collecting scraps and letting it pile up.

Center Cut Pork Chops with Creamy Dijon Sauce

Pork chops in creamy dijon sauce with asparagus and quinoa.

This is a really good recipe I found here when searching for a good pork chop recipe a while ago. I tried it, and I loved it! I've made it quite a few times, but brought it back last week after quite a few months without it. I almost couldn't find it again! I thought I had it bookmarked, but I guess I didn't, I nearly panicked! But I found it, and now I can share it all with you :)

For this recipe, I used bone-in pork chops this time, and the only problem I found was trying to fit them all in the pan. I ended up cooking in two batches! Also, this time I didn't have any white wine to cook with, which is unlike me, so just didn't use it. I found the sauce wasn't quite as good, but I made my veggie broth with white wine, so that's the broth I used. Like I said, not quite as good as the original, but still good.

Ingredients

24	ounce boneless pork chops
2	T butter
1/4	c diced onion
1	glove garlic, crushed
1/3	c dry white wine
1/2	c chicken stock
1	t dijon mustard
1/2	c cream
2	t sage

Directions

1. Salt and pepper pork loins. Heat pan to medium, melt butter and add chops. it should sizzle, not smoke.
   
   
2. cook 3-4 minutes each side or until brown and cooked through. Remove and set aside.
   
   
3. Add onion and cook 1 minute, scraping pan.
   
   
4. Add garlic and saute another 30 seconds. Turn up heat and add wine. Cook until almost dry. Add stock and reduce by half.
   
   
5. Add cream and mustard and cook until thickened. Stir in herbs and add chops back to the pan to warm.

For the asparagus, I just cut it up and put it in my small skillet with some olive oil and a seasoning blend. I think I've talked about this before. Heat on medium for about 12 minutes, it's perfect. This goes really well with the sauce from the pork chops.

Saving the Earth

By boss left this little book on my desk yesterday. She wants me to go through it and use some of it's wonderful insights to create a green column in our newsletter, which I am currently working on. Great, I'd love to! But does anyone see what's wrong with this picture?


If you guess hypocrisy, you guessed right! The book entitled "100 Ways to Save the Planet Without Leaving Work" comes in an excessive paper envelope. At least its heavy paper and can be recycled. And it's printed in China. Yea, let's save the planet one backwards step at a time folks! Sometimes the world just makes my head hurt.

On a much happier and lighter note, Craigslist provided me with a wonderful gift yesterday. I purchased 3 boxes of various sized canning jars with lids and a canner for $25. Wonderful. Now I can finally store my beans in something and buy them in bulk! I can also start moving away from all my plastic containers. I will still try to pick a bunch up at garage sales, but this should tide me over for now :)

Seeds have been ordered!

I officially ordered seeds yesterday. My planting list is as follows:


Since I am coordinating my efforts with my neighbor, there are items I am growing and she isn't and visa versa. For instance, she is in charge of basil and cucumbers because the ones she planted last year went crazy and I killed my basil :)

I'm reading up now on the best way to plant these. Wish me luck!