The weatherman told us it would be colder here in the RGV today and he was telling the truth. Now, granted it is not as cold as it as home and for that we are thankful. But the wind is blowing very, very hard and it's in the 30's. That information is enough for me to know I will not be going outside today.
It's really overcast and grey looking outside. The wind is out of the north this morning - and the flags are hardly moving the wind is blowing them so straight. I wish I would have taken a picture of this, as it was the exact opposite of Monday when the wind was out of the south. The wind picked up so much throughout the day that our Heartland friends with flagpoles on their rigs took them down.
Since it is so cold and I've already determined I won't be going outside, I decided today would be a great day to get caught up on some things. I made a reservation for the Heartland Regional Rally in Branson for May and a reservaton for our May Casual Campout near Branson. They are back to back, so we'll just move from the KOA to Old 86 - less than 22 miles from each other. Two great groups of people that we love spending time with.
I noticed I had an email with Explanation of Benefit notices for health claims from Cigna. I was startled to see I'm going to have over $500 in invoices coming my way soon. One for our new physician - that first visit is always high; and the other was for the ophthalmologist for the field vision test. I'm thankful I have insurance but with a $1500 annual deductible (that I have almost met again for the second time in 2 years) it hurts the old wallet. I'm also very thankful we set up a Health Savings Account shortly after I retired and we were able to build it up before we were hit with all of these medical bills the past year. God is good and always seems to know our needs before we do. I'm thankful he takes care of us.
I also caught up on all the RV blogs I follow and cleaned up both of my email accounts. The cleaning really needed to be done.
For Christmas our son Jarred and wife Andrea gave me an Amazon gift card that included a little extra for my birthday. I finally got on line today and placed an order for a few things I was wanting for my Instapot and my RV kitchen. I purchased a springform pan so I could make cheesecake, two silicone muffin pans (6 muffins each), a 5 qt. mixing bowl and a bundt pan. I can use both the springform and bundt pans in the Instapot - as well as the propane or convection ovens. I look forward to making use of them all in the next few weeks. Cheri's Bakery will be open!! Lol!
Gabriel, the technician who is going to replace our gate valves for our waste water and one of the grey water valves called today. Evidently I gave him the wrong number to contact for our extended warranty company as he received a message the number was disconnected. Oops - I sure hope not!!! I took a look and fortunately I found the right one and it wasn't too long when Gabriel called us back to let us know they had approved the repair work. He advised we would need to pay him and the warranty company would reimburse us. I've never had that occur before but we've mostly dealt with our dealer, so I decided to call and check to make sure he had understood correctly since the cost altogether with our deductible figured in is almost $644. The agent I spoke with assured me the company would reimburse us, less the deductible, if we pay the technician but it may take 30/60 days to receive the payment. He explained I needed to submit a written explanation of what the problem was, that we were on the road when it occurred, and repairs were needed. I should also include a copy of the final invoice with the explanation. We are to send it to the attention of the mechanical claims department. Our final cost for this will be our $100 deductible. Our extended warranty is with Wholesale Warranties. We've only used them 3 or 4 times in the past 3 years - all have been small claims but they have added up and we are glad we decided to purchase the warranty. They have been wonderful to work with. They've never given us any flack about paying - any problem we've had has always been approved. I'm thankful for that. When you have a problem in your RV, it's just like at home, you want it fixed as soon as possible. With the cold weather we are experiencing, we do not expect Gabriel to be here before Thursday. The valves have gotten even worse since we've been here. The last time Dean went out to empty the tanks, he could not get the cable pulled out to open the waste valve at all and had to crawl under the rig and push the cable through in order to empty the tanks. He will be very happy he will no thave to worry with this anymore.
Yesterday another Heartland friend moved into the space behind us where Phil and Cec pulled out of a couple days ago. Jay and Stella are the South Central Region Leaders (covering Arkansas, Missouri, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and 3 Texas {South, North & West} Chapters). Man, I felt sorry for them, it was so cold when they arrived and it started snowing while they were setting up. Brrrrr!. I know they must have been glad to get inside, get the rig warmed up and relax.
Our friend Pam texted me this afternoon asking if we wanted to go eat lunch tomorrow at Dirty Al's - a local seafood restaurant. Since we do not expect anyone to show up to work on the rig tomorrow with the weather like it is, we said yes. One long day inside and Dean is ready to get out. If I would have gone with him somewhere today, he would have found something to do, but it was just too cold to get out as far as I was concerned. Pam told me we would be making a stop at the Bread Store first - that sounds interesting! I've not done a very good job of taking pictures lately but I will try to do better tomorrow!
Peg and I were discussing bread pudding at our potluck meal night before last, so I might get some bread and make some to share with our friends. It sounds really good, doesn't it?
A little before 9, Dean went outside to turn on our second propane tank, just in case it needed to switch over in the night. He discovered our steps were very slick! I sent a text message to Nancy and asked her to let the others know to be aware when going out. I would hate for anyone to slip, fall and hurt themselves.
I tried a new Instapot recipe tonight - meatloaf and buttered carrots. It was not a fail but I did have to cook it twice. I used my new pot in a pot pans. Since it was the first time I've tried cooking in them it's possible I didn't do something right. I'll have to do a little more study on this before I try it again. I put the meatloaf in the bottom pot. I put the carrots and butter in the second pot that will sit on top of the meatloaf, and then placed the lid on the carrots. I then locked the two pots in the cradle that came with the pans. I put two cups of water in the Instapot inner pan and set it on manual for 20 minutes. When it was done I released the steam. Neither the meatloaf or the carrots were done, so I reset it for another 12 minutes. The meatloaf was done but the carrots were still only about half done. I finished cooking them in the microwave. All in all, the food was still done in half the time or less compared to cooking in the oven. The food was still good - we just ate a little later than originally planned. See my pot in a pot below:
After thinking about this a bit, I wonder if I put too much meatloaf in the pan. Maybe I should have cooked half of it and froze the other half for a second meal later. With less volume in the pan, the carrots probably would have cooked better as well. I might try doing this next time with the original time frames. If anyone else uses the Instapot and has tried something similar let me know what you think?
It's really overcast and grey looking outside. The wind is out of the north this morning - and the flags are hardly moving the wind is blowing them so straight. I wish I would have taken a picture of this, as it was the exact opposite of Monday when the wind was out of the south. The wind picked up so much throughout the day that our Heartland friends with flagpoles on their rigs took them down.
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| Monday when the wind was out of the south. |
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| Today - no flags at all! |
Since it is so cold and I've already determined I won't be going outside, I decided today would be a great day to get caught up on some things. I made a reservation for the Heartland Regional Rally in Branson for May and a reservaton for our May Casual Campout near Branson. They are back to back, so we'll just move from the KOA to Old 86 - less than 22 miles from each other. Two great groups of people that we love spending time with.
I noticed I had an email with Explanation of Benefit notices for health claims from Cigna. I was startled to see I'm going to have over $500 in invoices coming my way soon. One for our new physician - that first visit is always high; and the other was for the ophthalmologist for the field vision test. I'm thankful I have insurance but with a $1500 annual deductible (that I have almost met again for the second time in 2 years) it hurts the old wallet. I'm also very thankful we set up a Health Savings Account shortly after I retired and we were able to build it up before we were hit with all of these medical bills the past year. God is good and always seems to know our needs before we do. I'm thankful he takes care of us.
I also caught up on all the RV blogs I follow and cleaned up both of my email accounts. The cleaning really needed to be done.
For Christmas our son Jarred and wife Andrea gave me an Amazon gift card that included a little extra for my birthday. I finally got on line today and placed an order for a few things I was wanting for my Instapot and my RV kitchen. I purchased a springform pan so I could make cheesecake, two silicone muffin pans (6 muffins each), a 5 qt. mixing bowl and a bundt pan. I can use both the springform and bundt pans in the Instapot - as well as the propane or convection ovens. I look forward to making use of them all in the next few weeks. Cheri's Bakery will be open!! Lol!
Gabriel, the technician who is going to replace our gate valves for our waste water and one of the grey water valves called today. Evidently I gave him the wrong number to contact for our extended warranty company as he received a message the number was disconnected. Oops - I sure hope not!!! I took a look and fortunately I found the right one and it wasn't too long when Gabriel called us back to let us know they had approved the repair work. He advised we would need to pay him and the warranty company would reimburse us. I've never had that occur before but we've mostly dealt with our dealer, so I decided to call and check to make sure he had understood correctly since the cost altogether with our deductible figured in is almost $644. The agent I spoke with assured me the company would reimburse us, less the deductible, if we pay the technician but it may take 30/60 days to receive the payment. He explained I needed to submit a written explanation of what the problem was, that we were on the road when it occurred, and repairs were needed. I should also include a copy of the final invoice with the explanation. We are to send it to the attention of the mechanical claims department. Our final cost for this will be our $100 deductible. Our extended warranty is with Wholesale Warranties. We've only used them 3 or 4 times in the past 3 years - all have been small claims but they have added up and we are glad we decided to purchase the warranty. They have been wonderful to work with. They've never given us any flack about paying - any problem we've had has always been approved. I'm thankful for that. When you have a problem in your RV, it's just like at home, you want it fixed as soon as possible. With the cold weather we are experiencing, we do not expect Gabriel to be here before Thursday. The valves have gotten even worse since we've been here. The last time Dean went out to empty the tanks, he could not get the cable pulled out to open the waste valve at all and had to crawl under the rig and push the cable through in order to empty the tanks. He will be very happy he will no thave to worry with this anymore.
Yesterday another Heartland friend moved into the space behind us where Phil and Cec pulled out of a couple days ago. Jay and Stella are the South Central Region Leaders (covering Arkansas, Missouri, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and 3 Texas {South, North & West} Chapters). Man, I felt sorry for them, it was so cold when they arrived and it started snowing while they were setting up. Brrrrr!. I know they must have been glad to get inside, get the rig warmed up and relax.
 |
| You can see where the snow has hit our back window and melted while Jay is getting set up - on the right. Brrrr! |
Our friend Pam texted me this afternoon asking if we wanted to go eat lunch tomorrow at Dirty Al's - a local seafood restaurant. Since we do not expect anyone to show up to work on the rig tomorrow with the weather like it is, we said yes. One long day inside and Dean is ready to get out. If I would have gone with him somewhere today, he would have found something to do, but it was just too cold to get out as far as I was concerned. Pam told me we would be making a stop at the Bread Store first - that sounds interesting! I've not done a very good job of taking pictures lately but I will try to do better tomorrow!
Peg and I were discussing bread pudding at our potluck meal night before last, so I might get some bread and make some to share with our friends. It sounds really good, doesn't it?
A little before 9, Dean went outside to turn on our second propane tank, just in case it needed to switch over in the night. He discovered our steps were very slick! I sent a text message to Nancy and asked her to let the others know to be aware when going out. I would hate for anyone to slip, fall and hurt themselves.
I tried a new Instapot recipe tonight - meatloaf and buttered carrots. It was not a fail but I did have to cook it twice. I used my new pot in a pot pans. Since it was the first time I've tried cooking in them it's possible I didn't do something right. I'll have to do a little more study on this before I try it again. I put the meatloaf in the bottom pot. I put the carrots and butter in the second pot that will sit on top of the meatloaf, and then placed the lid on the carrots. I then locked the two pots in the cradle that came with the pans. I put two cups of water in the Instapot inner pan and set it on manual for 20 minutes. When it was done I released the steam. Neither the meatloaf or the carrots were done, so I reset it for another 12 minutes. The meatloaf was done but the carrots were still only about half done. I finished cooking them in the microwave. All in all, the food was still done in half the time or less compared to cooking in the oven. The food was still good - we just ate a little later than originally planned. See my pot in a pot below:
After thinking about this a bit, I wonder if I put too much meatloaf in the pan. Maybe I should have cooked half of it and froze the other half for a second meal later. With less volume in the pan, the carrots probably would have cooked better as well. I might try doing this next time with the original time frames. If anyone else uses the Instapot and has tried something similar let me know what you think?
I made meatloaf a while back. I made an aluminum "boat" for it. The flavor was very good but Keith thought it looked "pale" so next time I will put it in the oven for a while. Carrots take little time to cook so I would cook them after the meat. The meat should rest anyway before cutting. Or you could cook the carrots first, take them out then put the meat in to cook.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to try that next time. It was all good in the end but the timing of it all being done at the same time could have been much better. Lol!
DeleteIt sounds like it WAS a rather bleak day. ;-) Glad Dean didn't slip on the steps and break something! I'm hearing more and more about Instapots... But since I have yet to even try a crockpot it's doubtful one will enter the kitchen.. Cooking for one is just not that much fun. Good luck in your next attempt, honey! Sunny and the snow is melting around Oswego. Woo hoo!
ReplyDeleteI imagine cooking for one isn't much fun. I enjoyed my crockpot a lot but the instapot is really nice. If you forget to put something on in the crockpot it can catch you without something for dinner - but the instapot is so quick you can through something together and still have dinner without it being too late.
Delete