We just had our first French press coffee [View all]

The grandkids got me a Williams Sonoma gift card for Xmas. So, what the hell.

I'll have to find a way to tactfully request something else next year. The last time they gave me one, I went to the local store and got dissed big time. Apparently, I don't dress to Galleria standards. Ok, I never do, but it was the coldest day of the year and I was doing errands. All old clothes. They behaved as if I'd just come off the streets to get warm and would go back to the encampment later. I finally had to buttonhole somebody to wait on me. Gee, sorry for the commission, honey. I didn't want to go back there ever and still don't. But, gift card, so I went online. It took a lot of looking, but I finally got the coffeemaker and a good knife sharpener and only spent 8 dollars more.

The coffee's pretty good. We're not going to have it every day, but for special breakfasts it would be great with croissants or something. DH said that once he got used to it, it was really good but more like a meal than just a drink. Very strong, but not bitter.

Before that, I spent some of the day defrosting the chest freezer. Winter's a good time for that because I can just keep the food out on the back porch, knowing it won't thaw. When it was finally done, washed, dried and back in place, it refused to start up. I had a quiet nervous breakdown because A) we can't afford to lose that much food and B) no way can we afford a new freezer. After a half hour, it finally consented to start working. Whew!!!

However, it's about as full as it's going to get, even after I itemized, organized, and shifted things around between the refrigerator freezer and the chest. I'm going to have to can just about everything from now on.

I have to go now - the kitten's trying to pull a full laundry basket down on herself. She hasn't yet learned that the classic cat gravity tests are best done with the cat at the top, not on the bottom.