After turkey day.....

We went to Lowe's on "Black Friday" (I hate that phrase).... to buy a new refrigerator for the pantry. The previous owners left a stand-up freezer in there, which was fine while it lasted, but I never had it filled up more than one-third of its capacity. Wasted space inside that freezer, but we used it till it died. And it took its last gasp a couple of days before Thanksgiving. (Why do appliances always die before a holiday or just before a party?)

My husband was surprised that I didn't want to buy another big freezer. What I really wanted was just a regular fridge, with a freezer on top. That's all the extra freezer space we need, plus (and better!) we'd have more refrigerator space. All those years at the old house, I wished we had more space in the laundry room..... with all the parties we had in that house, an extra fridge would have been terrific to have in there.

I was happy that old freezer took its last breath.... so we went to Lowe's and picked out another Whirlpool, freezer on top, fridge on the bottom. No ice-maker, so we're not losing room in the freezer part, and the shelves in the fridge part are wide and deep..... plenty of room to put large bowls and trays when we're having company here. Perfect, perfect. My husband can't understand how I can be so happy about having an extra fridge in that pantry.


Our friends K & B came here for lunch today...... they drove in from Houston and spent the afternoon. I made salmon cakes and zucchini pie... they brought a huge bowl of salad and a carrot cake. The salmon cakes were a big hit..... sort of like the salmon burgers that I've been making, except these were coated with crushed pecans and baked. K & B originally wanted to go into town and have lunch at one of the little cafes, but I told K over the phone that we'd have a better meal right here in our dining room. With all the delicious ethnic restaurants in their Houston neighborhood, we knew that the restaurants here just wouldn't be a good choice.

Usually, K & B are out of town for most of the month of December, so I had their Christmas gifts wrapped and ready for them today. When we realized that they would be in town, and we could see them for Christmas, I told them both to just ignore the wrapped packages. Santa will save them for next month when it's really Christmas-time. I guess we're just so used to them being away for the holiday, and we've always exchanged holiday gifts during Thanksgiving week.... (Santa just can't keep up with their changing schedules.)

Beautiful day today.... sunny and fairly warm. The cold snap has snapped itself out, and tomorrow morning my husband will re-connect the outside hoses again. "No frozen pipes on my watch," is what he's been saying every time he listens to the local weather reports.

Frozen pipes. That was this past January's headache. Been there, done that.