Five things Friday: Home remodeling is harder than wedding planning. There, I said it!

Five Things Friday is a post where I share five things that either made my week, what I am thinking about, or would like to share with all of you!

👍 My first attempt at making pretzel buns is a success!

My sourdough starter is still alive. I still set aside the discard to make other things like pasta, pikelets, and crackers. I came across a soft pretzel recipe I’ve been eyeballing to try. At first I wanted to create a traditional pretzel twist, but we were making sliders and needed buns. So I changed them to pretzel buns.

😴 More napping this week

I am not sure if it is the shorter days or the warmer food.

🍟 Brining potatoes to make fries

Thank you Epicurious for this video on making fries! Brining the potatoes for a few days is worth the wait. After the brine you do a first fry followed by a second shorter fry to completely cook it. You also have the option to freeze the fries after the first get and do the second fry later when you want to eat it. I usually do the latter.

We’ll never have neglected, rotten potatoes ever again. I highly recommend this recipe for busy people because each of these steps are short. You pretty much set it and forget it (until you want to eat fries).

🚪Our door has finally arrived!

The door was the final piece of the remodel project. Doing a home remodel makes planning a wedding a complete cakewalk…Well…Maybe that was an unfair comparison. I organize events for a living. For a home remodel there are a lot of disparate working parts. They don’t exactly work in synchrony no matter how much you push for expediency.

📷 This picture

I’ve attempted to create a “Season’s Greeting” card to send to friends and family, but I never found the time to do so. The year we were suppose to create one was the time we got into a car accident.

Sigh…

So I guess this picture my husband took and adding a “Merry Christmas” sticker did the trick.

Five Things Friday: Baby Yoda fever is real

Five Things Friday is a post where I share five things that either made my week, what I am thinking about, or would like to share with all of you!

1. Finding our door vendor

In the beginning of November, we ordered a door from Home Depot because their turnaround time was the quickest out of all the vendors we’ve asked. We wanted our new front entry door to arrive by Thanksgiving. Then Thanksgiving past and the door never arrived. My husband followed up with Home Depot on the status of the door and it turned out Home Depot lost our door. Home Depot wanted us to reorder the door but it would arrive either late December or early January. We did not want to take our chances with Home Depot for a second time to have the order again lost in transit. So we decided to find a different vendor.

How did Home Depot lose a door in transit? I’ve heard our door was likely sold to someone else. That’s absolutely unacceptable.

After a little bit of research and going in person to visit different vendors, we have found our vendor. Plus the turnaround time with this vendor was much quicker, plus one of the components of our door was readily available.

2. Waking up at 5:30 AM

My goal for this week was to go to the gym three times which required waking up at 5:30 AM. This week I have succeeded. Let’s hope I keep this up and maybe even increase the frequency of going to the gym before work.

3. Celebrating the holidays at work all month long

I am loving the creativity!

4. Free time

Since I finished my Master’s I have more free time! I can occupy it with loads of house projects like refinishing my dining table and bookshelf.

5. Baby Yoda fever is real

People are calling my Pomeranian, Koda, “baby Yoda.” We don’t have a Disney Plus subscription, so I have not seen “The Mandalorian.”

Five Things Friday

#1 The Jungle Prince of Delhi

This series from The New York Times was so good and incredibly twisted that I don’t want to spoil one bit…unless you know the background. I listened to it during my much-needed Thanksgiving break.

#2

For years, when I told people I was tired, some peopled retorted, “tired? You don’t have kids!” As I have gotten older and still do not have kids, I have grown increasingly irritated by this pushback. People like me do not need to have kids to be tired. We have other occupations that tire us out, like our jobs, hobbies, social circles, home projects, self-improvement, etc.

This is somewhat off-topic, but people with kids don’t need to shop at Costco and other big box stores.

#3 – Homemade Pasta

My first attempt at homemade pasta: pressed by a rolling pin, cut by hand. Eventually, I’ll invest in a pasta maker.

Will I ever go back to store-bought pasta? Probably not. I’ve got all the ingredients I need. Plus, they make great gifts considering we are on a super tight budget this month and for the next few months.

Background: In the last few weeks, we remodeled our home, which is, obviously, incredibly expensive. We are still going through the process, but our “new” house is liveable!

#4 – Decluttering

Since moving back home after being away, I’ve been doing a lot of decluttering. I donated old clothes, unused craft products, and other accessories. I know a lot of people declutter just to make room for new stuff like my sister-in-law, who offered give us her old mattress, so she justifies buying a new mattress (spoiler alert: we declined her offer). I would prefer to have fewer better things. Since I started my job, I am required to come into work a little dressier. Unfortunately, I do not have the funds to buy newer, dressier clothes to build a wardrobe, so I rent pieces from Le Tote.
#5 – Scratch Map

Since settling in, I am making a wall dedicated to all our travels. One of those items on our wall is this scratch map where we scratch places where we’ve traveled.

Five Things Friday is a post where I share five things that either made my week, what I am thinking about, or would like to share with all of you!