Friday, getting 'er done!

Friday was the second (and last) day of the warm up (I hesitate to call this a true January thaw) with a predicted high of 36 degrees. We go back in the deepfreeze Friday night. Our predicted "low" at midnight (16 degrees F.) will be our "high" tomorrow. They predict that it will be 6 degrees F. (or -14 degrees C.) at 3:00 PM on Saturday.

I stopped at Westborn and Office Depot on the way home at lunch. I want to make my Saturday morning errand list a little smaller (too damn cold to be out too long!) Once home, I put a lot of salt on the garage apron

When I got home after work (banging that drum!), the first thing I did was to use my broom to get the standing water out of the garage. Then I used my snow shovel to get as much ice and snow off the porch and garage apron as possible. Finally, I salted the remaining iced spots and the strip where the garage door comes down at. I neglected this the last time I swept out the water. The rubber on the garage door froze to the floor overnight, and when I went to work, opening the garage door nearly caused it to come off the track!

Once inside and having treated the cats, I noticed that the suet cage was lying on the ground (damn squirrels) and the bird feeder was low. So, I pulled on my boots (cursing under my breath), put my coat back on and went out back, fixed the suet cage and put another suet cake in it, then refilled the bird feeder.

Since it was still pretty warm and the wind was blowing, it was the perfect time to paint the towel rack in the bathroom. [what is he even talking about? That doesn't make sense!] Sorry, I was having a Jim Gaffigan moment. Let me explain...

The towel rack is made of some very coarse-grained wood. When I painted it with primer, it looked bad. So, I decided I needed to use spray paint to get a nice smooth finish. With the current weather conditions, I can open the bathroom window when I am spraying and the wind will take the fumes away. And, it's not so cold that the paint will be affected.

So I masked the wall with tape and some packaging paper I have. I cracked the window and gave it the first of four coats (I learned long ago that several light coats work best with spray paint). I took some photos for the Blog and then cleaned up.

Next came making this weekend's coleslaw. I had picked up a two-pound head of green cabbage at Westborn today. This was not easy to find, BTW, as most heads of cabbage weigh 4-5 pounds! So, I quartered the cabbage and removed the core. Then I thinly sliced it (of course I could have used the mandoline, but I need the knife practice). Next I shredded three medium carrots (unpeeled) on the box grater.

In my big bowl I whisked together 1/2 cup of mayonnaise, 1/4 cup of sour cream, two tablespoons of cider vinegar, 3/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper. When they were combined well, I threw in the cabbage and carrots and tossed everything. I let that set, uncovered, for about an hour, tossing occasionally until the cabbage wilted (about 30 minutes). I tasted it (needed a bit more salt), then covered it and put it in the fridge for tomorrow's dinner.

Speaking of dinner, I reheated a pasty in the microwave for mine. I watched a little TV, but went to bed early. Before I did, though, I used Jake's suggestion (one of the comments this week) and turned on the self-cleaning oven. It needed to be done and will help heat the house overnight!