Angela Law

animal lover, gardener, knitter, and gourmet cook
 
finances, movies

mission: impossible – ghost protocol

Two impossible missions were accomplished yesterday. The most important one is that we made our final mortgage payment. Yay! That feels good. Still, I would like to move to the country someday, so we’ll probably have another mortgage in our future. But for now, we are mortgage-free and I shall revel in that for at least a few years.

To celebrate this, the three of us had a little party. Each one of us picked something to make to eat (Brian did potstickers; Jake made cocktail meatballs; and I made spicy cheese straws). We enjoyed our snacks while sipping on sparkling wine (Jake had sparkling grape juice) and watching a movie. The movie was just as good as any other mindless action flick and perfect for the evening.

books

mister slaughter

It has been well-documented in the past that I enjoy Robert McCammon’s Matthew Corbett series. This book was no exception–it was just as good as the previous books. I’m already looking forward to the next one. Unfortunately, I haven’t purchased it yet–I need to remedy this soon.

weather

global warming

It seems the global warming trend has hit Johnstown. I know it’s too early to call this winter a mild one (technically it’s still fall), but, whatever it is, I’ll take it. I thought the weather we had last winter was just a fluke, but the way this winter is going so far, I’m starting to wonder.

Brian took advantage of today’s decent weather and installed a tonneau cover on the new truck, so it’s all ready for the winter (whenever it decides to arrive).

food & drink

unstuffed pork chops

I came up with a brilliant idea and I finally tried it out tonight. I call it “Unstuffed Pork Chops”. First, you mix up your favorite stuffing recipe (mine can be found here). Next, you pan sear a couple of pork chops (seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder and sage) and then put them on top of the stuffing. Cook the combo according to the stuffing recipe instructions. Eat. Wonder why you haven’t tried this before.

auto

3rd one’s a charm

I previously documented big purchases #1 and #2, but this week had the biggest purchase of them all–a new truck.

My Highlander was at the garage last week for its inspection. It needed a bunch of work. We were planning on either selling it or trading it in next spring, anyway, so we decided to move that timeline up a few months rather than putting a bunch of money into it that we weren’t ever going to see again.
We were looking to replace Brian’s truck (which we also traded in) and decided on a Chevy Silverado. I’ve been scouring the internet for used truck deals and found a good one at Blue Knob Auto. Besides the fact that they had exactly what we were looking for, I was impressed with the information provided on their website. We ended up getting a 2012 truck with less than 20,000 miles. With the remainder of the factory warranty intact, I don’t really have any worries about our purchase. And, I couldn’t have been happier with the car-buying process–no haggle prices are definitely the way to go.