New Arrival and a GIVEAWAY!

We've talked about it for years, since we finally bought our own home. We knew it would happen eventually; it was just a question of timing.

Well, today was the day. Do you know already what we welcomed into our home?

Miss Chef was home for the delivery. We had to coordinate several professionals to assist with the big event. I wish I could have been there to help her, but, in the end, it was her baby.

Her big, bright, shining, stainless steel baby...

Yes, we have finally converted--to cooking with gas! Attentive readers have probably noticed that Miss Chef was creating her culinary wonders on an electric stove; you may even have wondered how such a fabulous professional chef could live that way. Well, the house came with most of the original appliances, which were still very serviceable, and having a new mortgage doesn't tend to free up a lot of extra cash.

However, you may also remember that the bottom element of that 20-year old white stove went out during the Thanksgiving Feast of 2009. We could have just plunked down $40 for a new element...but maybe the dramatic malfunction was a sign. After all, I had been working crazy hours at two jobs, which eventually translated into the long-dreamed-of disposable income. What better reward for all my hard work?

So now we have not just a gas range, but one with five burners and a convection oven. The fifth burner is a long center one with a cast-iron grill. Looking forward to some pancakes or French toast in the morning... And I've never cooked in a convection oven before, but from what Miss Chef tells me, it can make a huge difference in baking. Time to dig up her snickerdoodle recipe!

As for the old stove, it is currently sitting forlornly in the dark at the head of our driveway. But it will soon be taken away to a new home. When the appliance salesman told us the delivery men would remove our old stove and take it to the...DUMP...Miss Chef and I looked at each other and said a silent "uh-uh."

The next morning I posted an announcement on our local Freecycle group, and any minute now a perfect stranger is going to show up and give our old stove a second life. That's what I call a happy ending.

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Flartus' First Giveaway!

Technically, this is my second giveaway, but I wasn't sure if those persimmon seeds were gonna work, so that first one was kinda lame. (Unless Alix ends up with a beautiful fruiting tree, in which case, oh my gosh, that was such an awesome giveaway!)

Ahem.

Anyway, here we are at the end of dreary February, having survived one miserable, cold, gray winter month after another. Many of us are still snow-shocked, and I'm beginning to count the sunny days as if I were back under Cleveland's cloudbank. So I figured it was time to bring somebody out there a little bit of cheer! It could be you receiving a (sort-of) surprise package sent to you from the heart of Flartopia!

To enter my First Fabulous Giveaway, simply write a comment to this post, answering the following two questions:

1) Which Flartopia (or My Two Sense) post have you enjoyed the most, or found the most memorable, and why?

2) What do you think the prize is!?

Entries must be postmarked submitted by midnight Thursday, March 4th. The winner will be randomly selected from all valid responses to #1. Feel free to enter multiple times, if you're so inclined.

And what about question #2? Well, if anyone happens to guess right, the first one is an automatic winner. I might just pop back here in day or two to add a hint, just for fun...