Weekend Off? Not Hardly!

This weekend was the first weekend the store was closed for our "winter hours" and we were actually home.   Greg had to work at County Market all weekend, so we weren't "all" off.  BUT, we still managed to get a LOT of work done.

We FINALLY took our Christmas tree down.  Thank goodness!   I didn't have time to put up any other Christmas decorations, and the tree was done by the kids, so the kids were the ones to take it down, as well.  

When the tree was down, I decided to "spring clean" the living room, so had all the furniture moved to vacuum above and below it, dusted everything, cleaned all the glass in the entertainment centers, got rid of all the cobwebs, etc.  The dining room is "attached" to the living room, so we did that room as well.  

The kids had a bunch of other work to do, as well, including each of them cleaning a room downstairs.   Erica had our office, Abby had the family room and Aaron had the kids' computer room.  Each of those rooms were straightened up, everything put in it's place, vacuumed and dusted.  

Greg took on the hazardous duty of cleaning out the refrigerator!      Not a fun job by any stretch of the imagination!  If you've seen the commercial where the couple put on lab coats, gas masks and gloves, that's almost what one wants to do  when cleaning out our fridge!   Some things in there could have started a great batch of penicillin!     We also cleaned out and organized my pantry in the kitchen.  Kids seem to just put anything, anywhere they want, rather than where it goes.    

The rest of the weekend, I spent typing up Dutch oven recipes for our new sister site:  http://www.dutchovenuniversity.com.  The site's not up yet, but I'm preparing for when my webmaster is ready for me to upload my stuff.

Anyone that has a Dutch oven recipe they'd like to share, feel free to e-mail it to me for inclusion in the new cookbook!!  

You may remember that my printer died the other day.  Well, I had to go to Pamida (a very cheap K-mart type store that managed to raise their prices on everything last month, just in time for Christmas!) to pick up a new one.  Pamida is the kind of store that is ONLY located in the "middle of nowhere."  As one friend said to me . . . "You have a 'Pamida'!"  Wow, you must REALLY be in the sticks!"   Yes we are!  As it's the only "department" store in Abbotsford, I had no choice but to run there (they're in the same mall we are) to grab a new printer to tide me over until I could buy a "real" printer that would actually be useful for the store.  Well, 50 bucks later, I had a printer that had already used up all it's ink in three days.  OK, so this is NOT going to work for long term, in any way, shape or form. . . . but in a pinch, what can you do?  

I happened to be talking to my sister the day after picking up the printer from Pamida.  Last year, her company sent me two cases of paper to help us out.  She wanted me to let her know what printer I was looking at as their office manager always manages to find smoking deals on office products.   I e-mailed her a link to the printer I wanted and her office manager managed to get it for me for $50 less and I will have it on Tuesday!  How cool is that!  I'm so excited.  I can't wait to have a "REAL" printer again!  The printer I just bought will be stored as a "backup" for the store in case the worst happens.  Eventually, I'll probably have to get a laser printer, but for now a good laserjet will work just fine.  

That's about it for now!   Tomorrow is shaping up to be a "normal" Monday, so I'll be busy . . . . but that's a GOOD thing!  

Hope all's well with everyone!

Julie