Jim's coal stove.

The flood did some damage to the coal stove this past September.  During the flood, the stove sat in 18 inches of water for three days.  The water rusted the stove and then stained all the brick with the rust from the stove as the water receded. (The stove sits on, what is now, a rusted brick platform...it's as awesome as it sounds). Now I have a hideous rusted coal stove with rusted brick that does not currently heat our house. We are still waiting for the coal stove company to come inspect it and tell us if it can be used.

This is the picture the Alaska Stove company has on their website.



I assure you that no functioning coal stove looks like this, nor is it ever the focal point of a room.  Most coal stoves are hidden away in a part of the basement that no one wants to see. What this pictured coal stove is missing is the buckets in which you have to shovel the ashes into twice a day, the soot and ashes that stain the floor, the shovel, matches, coal starters..... oh and the two or three tons of coal it takes to heat your house for the winter.

It's cheaper to buy the coal in bulk.  It is delivered by a huge dump truck that backs up to the cellar doors and  pours it into the cellar/coal room.   Then you must store it in huge bins, water it to keep the coal dust at bay, then shovel it into buckets (morning and night) to carry it to the stove to shovel into the stove to heat your house.

I have been able to convince Jim that it is not worth the effort to have it in bulk, so we buy it in 50lb bags.  We go through about a bag a day, depending on outside temperatures. Every morning Jim drags out a 50 lb bag of coal into the family room and shovels it into the back of the stove and then removes the ashes from the front of the stove that shares a room with our TV and toys.  It is very messy (I just figured out this year that a shop vac is probably the best way to clean up coal).

Did I mention this is a stove that burns real fire from real coals to heat my house? AND it actually requires electricity to run, it has to be plugged in to run the fan that blows on the coals to keep the fire going,  Jim shovels hot coals into a big bucket and leaves it there until it cools down and then transports it to the trash outside.  As soon as he wakes up, comes home for work, or enters the house the first words out of his mouth are "I need to check the coal."

If not properly maintained the coal will burn out (daily). It is not easy to start the coals on fire, we have to buy special coal starter kits regularly from the hardware store.

However, I must admit that it keeps the house toasty warm.  Our basement is usually an unbearable 80-85 degrees in the winter and the top floor stays around 75 degrees.

Since our coal stove is temporarily out of commission we are using baseboard heaters.  I am very excited for this experiment to see if it coal is actually worth the cost and effort compared to the cost of electricity.

I really hope electricity wins.

To those of you who have central heat and air, kiss your thermostat.  I had central heat and air my entire life and I never had any clue there were other methods to heat or cool your home.  I promise if the day comes where I can have central heat again I will never take it for granted!

Musings about my children

What do you do with a 2 year old boy?  This isn't a philosophical question, I really have no idea how to keep a 2 year old boy interested in anything other than utter destruction.

He has yet to touch the Christmas tree, I am pretty sure the tree scares him.

Lilly hung the first ornament on our tree. It looks like I photo-shopped it on, but I didn't.

Tonight as I cut into the roast chicken I made for dinner, Lilly said: "Where is all the blood?" I said "No, no, don't talk about blood while I am cutting a chicken."  She said "Oh do chickens not have blood?"  Sigh.  "No, they have blood, they just take it all out before we eat it. Enjoy!"

She continued to discuss the anatomy of the chicken and refused to eat the skin and said she would not eat skin.  That girl has me two steps away from being a vegetarian.

Jack ate three plates full of chicken (toddler size plates).  That made me happy, I know we can get at least one more meat eater out of this family (Jim doesn't eat meat, but if you are reading this you probably know that).

My children are growing so fast I can hardly stand it.

Christmas Tree

Our tree is home and ready to decorate.

A Kohl's Tree Farm employee asked to take our picture to be on their facebook page.

I felt honored.

Apparently they ask everyone.

Fear

This morning I ran with my friend along a road that borders some wooded area.  All of a sudden we saw a man in some camo with a bright orange vest running down the hill, with a rifle, coming right towards us. We are very slow runners and had no where to run to, no where to hide (you know you're singing it now).

My friend immediately thought the man was a rapist/murderer coming to kill us.  Don't get me wrong, that is usually my first conclusion as well, especially when a large man is running towards me with a gun.  I, for whatever reason, was very calm, and I told her that a rapist/murderer would not wear a bright orange vest and hat if he wanted to kill us.  I convinced her that he was a hunter and she finally calmed down when he got in his car and drove away.

It was then that I realized my fears are completely misplaced.  I am often afraid of robbers, rapists, murders, etc., coming to get me or my children.  That is clearly not the case here in Danville.  We should obviously worry about bear attacks, floods, flying turkeys coming at our car, and hunters accidentally shooting us.

(Another friend of mine who is a regular runner carries bear mace with her.)

Where do I live??

Thanksgiving and before...

Are you over Thanksgiving? It's already December 2, Christmas mode.  However, I never finished my Thanksgiving post and I kind of gave up on my gratitude lists. You know I'm grateful, right??  Even before Thanksgiving Lilly was sworn in as a Daisy scout and received 10 patches.  I figured out a way to iron on all 10 patches last night only to find that one was not in the correct place.  I am expected to remove it and reapply it in the correct location.  This girl scout thing is ridiculous.

Here are my thoughts from Thanksgiving day...
I commented to Jim that a lot of people online were indicating that thanksgiving was not really about the food. I said that of course it was about the food, what else would it be about? Lilly chimed in that thanksgiving was about having fun and being with your family.  Schooled by a 5 year old.  Here are my lovely children on the big day of eating, and no, I don't believe they ate much.

Family pictures and Secret Sister

We had our family pictures done about a month ago. I am going to intersperse the photos with my ramblings about my secret sister experience to entice you to keep reading.  There is also a connection between the two, doesn't that make you want to read every word??

This year I participated in the 4th annual secret sister gift exchange for my church. You have to spend a minimum of $15, give 12 gifts with gift 4 requirements.  You must give her an advent calendar, her favorite candy, something with her favorite color, and something with her initial, then come up with 8 more gifts.

You are to use any and every skill you have, shop from home, and be creative.  We each had to fill out a 70 question survey to provide information so the gifts could be personal. This year I think we started preparing back in August.  A lot of the women bring their best work. Hand knitted, hand sewn, hand painted, hand made, hand baked gifts.  It is very overwhelming and takes months to prepare.

I agonized for months over the woman I had, I gave her six handmade gifts and six purchased gifts.

Last night was the big reveal party.  We were instructed to bring all the gifts, individually wrapped, in a big black trash bag so it remained a secret.

Then we each opened one present at a time and showed the group what we received.

This year I was absolutely blown away by the gifts I received.  The girl who had me gave me everything based on my survey.  She also happened to be the wife of the photographer who took my family pictures and my last gift of the night was a canvas print of my family along with a DVD of all the pictures from the photo shoot. I screamed and cried, it was a little embarrassing.  This is the picture she had blown up:

I was very spoiled, the gifts were so thoughtful and wonderful.

Indulge me while I list the gifts she gave me:
1.  Advent calendar filled with reese's cups.
2. Nail stickers, nail polish, and manicure set.
3. Banana bread and homemade jam.
4. Six pack of cream soda (my favorite soda) dressed up as reindeer.
5. Monogrammed stationary set with "Pitcavage" labels.
6.  Subscription to my favorite magazine.
7.  Ice cream sundae kit with homemade chocolate sauce, caramel sauce, sprinkles, cherries, etc.
8. A jar of date ideas with a gift certificate for one night of babysitting.
9.  My favorite candle and room spray from bath and body works.
10. Hand made microwaveable rice heating pad.
11. Binder of tried and true recipes.
12. Canvas print of my family photo with DVD of all the pictures from the photo shoot.

I can't tell you how happy this night made me. It was so worth the months of preparation.  What a lovely way to start the Christmas season, it was even motivation for me to participate again next year.  (Each year I declare that I will never do this again, this year it was peer pressure that made me do it.  Next year I will do it because someone was so thoughtful that I have to pay it forward.)

Distracted

I have been distracted with Thanksgiving, Christmas readiness, and life! I am behind on my blog. I am going to try and catch up.

The most exciting news is we have a bear. In our neighborhood. A BEAR.  I found more tracks this morning in my next door neighbors driveway.  Her driveway is 4 feet away from mine.  According to one of the bear experts here and based on the tracks the bear is a 700lb black bear, another bear expert says the bear is probably only 200-300 lbs.  Pennsylvania is home to the largest species of black bear.  Jim's hunting friend says the bear might have escaped the forest beacuse it is hunting season in these parts.

We are all appropriately scared and are keeping our children inside.  The first tracks were seen last weekend and I hoped that the bear had moved on.  However, I found more tracks this morning.