EOW No. 22

Dalton snacks after the storm

It finally rained y’all!  After two months, we got an actual soaking and Bryan got to use the rain gauge that he bought back in April.  About damn time since we were starting to see some movement in our home’s foundation and the squirrels have been risking life and limb to drink water from Bowie’s outside water bowl.  Otherwise, everyone (except for Bryan) has been sick.  My parents were sick a week ahead of me (guess where I got it from) and then I spent a week running a fever off and on.  Luckily, with some help from NyQuil and Mucinex, it’s run its course and we’re all finally on the mend now.

Prior to getting sick, I did make a haircut appointment and chopped off all my hair.  When the stylist was done, it looked like a small animal had died on the floor.  I haven’t had hair this short in… over a decade.  And you know what, it feels great.  No regrets, not a single one.  It’s easier to wash / dry, more fun to style, and fits under my helmet nicely (with assistance from a hairnet).  If any of you are thinking about it, I am pro-going short.

Mae and I are both short hair girls

When you’ve been cooped up in your house for over a week, the smallest things are exciting.  We recently ordered this Shark handheld vacuum, and it may be my 2022 favourite purchase.  Dust / cobwebs / dog hair have a way of accumulating in nooks and crannies around our home and lugging around our heavy floor vacuum to clean it is just about the least appealing thing.  With the cordless handheld vacuum, I can walk around the house and clean up minor messes with ease. 

Oh what, another super adult thing related to cleaning?  I’m clearly middle-aged.  We have a large, wide, single-basin stainless steel kitchen sink with a basin rack, which I love.  We can fit all of our pots / pans into it to wash, and it’s not as precious as a ceramic sink, which would inevitably get chipped.  However, one of my least favourite things is cleaning the damn thing.  The bottom collects food, gets cruddy in the corners, and the basin rack is embarrassingly gross.  We’ve used Bar Keepers Friend, Oven Cleaner, regular bleach and all of them clean “sort of okay” and each have their own issues.  I’ve recently discovered a sink cleaning hack that gets the sink and basin rack sparkling AND is super simple.  First, stop up your sink and fill it with hot water (as high as you’d like).  Next, drop in a dishwasher pod and let it dissolve.  With the soapy clean water in the basin, you can clean countertops, your range, etc, and then use that same water to clean your sink.  Not a ton of elbow grease required.  Voila!  

I saw this recipe for garlic butter crispy potatoes first on social media, and Bryan is a potato fiend so obviously we had to give it a try.  Despite not converting Celsius to Fahrenheit (no naming names on who didn’t do that, it’s an important step!), the potatoes turned out awesome.  How could they not, with an entire stick of butter and an entire clove of garlic?  The skins are crispy / crunchy and the baked garlic is the chef’s kiss on top.  A few tips if you’re to try them yourselves:

• Do the correct conversions (enter eye roll here)
• Use smaller potatoes.  We used red potatoes, which were a bit big.  You’re looking for a higher skin to inside ratio
• Boil the potatoes so they’re soft.  That way you’ll have an easier time smashing them 

Enough adulting for you this week?  Me too.  Have a lovely weekend.