animals, Food, holidays, home, Mysteries, pets, Uncategorized

More Than I Bargained For

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I have often been accused of “biting off more than I can chew”.   I have always liked a challenge.  I suppose the most memorable experience with this is getting  purebred Welsh Terriers,  who proved, despite their smaller size, to be far more dog than I had ever anticipated.

My latest experience with this occurred last week. I treated myself to a new Springerle rolling pin for Christmas.  That is a rolling pin with intricate carvings used to make Springerle or Speculaas cookies.  I had been eyeing one in the King Arthur Baking Company for several years. The pin arrived last week. It is much bigger than it looked in the catalogue,  and it weighs 5 lbs. It is the classic blunt instrument.  Husband says it should be in an Agatha Christie mystery.  You can get an idea of its size  in the header photo with the 12 inch ruler in comparison.   It has really lovely, deep, carvings.  It is too big to store in the drawer with the other rolling pins, so we keep it in the entryway closet wrapped in bubble wrap in its box so that the carvings don’t chip. I never imagined I would have a rolling pin that requires such special care.  I guess should have been prepared for this since it is called The Showstopper Springerle Pin. I sort of overlooked that hint.

When have you got more than you bargained for? When have you bitten off more than you could chew?

37 thoughts on “More Than I Bargained For”

    3. I could have done better:
      “Observe, mes amis, the perfect floral-shaped contusions on the victim”, murmured Poirot. “The marks of a springerle pin…a showstopper, if I am not mistaken.”

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  2. Rise and Shine, Baboons,

    Renee, you must post pictures of the cookies when done. That is an impressive rolling pin. 5 pounds?

    Monday we met with our kitchen contractor. I officially began to feel in over my head since that meeting began. This morning when I awoke at 4 am, I was mentally packing the kitchen and stacking the boxed-up belongings on the porch, realizing how much we have packed into a small space.

    Then there are the building materials to select. Shopping is not ever something I enjoy, and now I must shop.

    I need a life preserver.

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  4. Holy cow, Renee – you’ll be able to count that in your exercise routine!

    Any time I try new computer technology, or just new “tricks” on the computer we’ve had for… (uh-oh) 6-or-so years, I feel like I’ve bit off too much. With the iPad I was able to take it into the local Computer Dock, but it’s harder with the desktop one. I need a “rent-a-teen.”

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  5. You said “in the drawer with the other rolling pins”. Hello?? The “other rolling pins”??
    Ha– We have one, and it’s in the bedroom next to the cedar chest because I use it to roll my knees.

    I have bitten off more than I could chew several times. A few years ago, about this time of year, I had the fancy new lighting console at the college and I rented some extra lights and I got it all hung up and working and then the amount of data kind of overwhelmed me. Oh. My. I kept thinking I had created a monster.
    Just gotta break it down into manageable chunks.

    And this theater remodeling… several times I’ve felt over my head.

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  6. I often feel like I’ve bitten off more than I can chew, and it’s usually at its worst right before my issue resolves itself. Last this past summer YA and I replaced a fence post in the back. I had looked up all kinds of stuff online and everybody made it look so simple. OK – digging out a post and the concrete at the bottom of it is not simple, no matter what anybody says on YouTube. So a job that we were expecting would take two hours ended up taking about five hours on one day and then I spent an additional three hours on it the next day. The post is in and it’s sturdy but I did hire a professional to do the remaining two. He did two posts and a new gate in 2 1/2 hours. I told him he was just trying to make me look bad.

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  7. I plan to make krum kakor, speculaas, and Springerle this weekend. The new rolling pin is so big I may need to double the recipes so that the dough will fit the pin.

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  8. I once decided to get rid of a metal pipe sticking up out of the ground in the back yard. After hours of frustration I went to a tool rental office to get a huge Stilson wrench. The pipe didn’t budge. I went back to get a bigger Stilson (as long as my leg). The pipe won that round, too. The tool rental center then sent me out with a huge reciprocating saw. By now I was attracting awe at the tool place as the guy with the pipe from hell.

    When I returned the reciprocating saw, I attracted a crowd of muscular tool groupies. The biggest guy said, “I want to see this pipe.” After work, two huge guys from the tool shop came to visit my pipe. My 6′ 2″ neighbor was already at work on the pipe, and he was the smallest one there. Those guys went after the pipe, which was set in an underground ball of concrete almost big enough to hide the corpse of Jimmy Hoffa. They finally got it, although the concrete ball was so big we had to leave it in place.

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      1. We had a little pipe party in the backyard. I felt this was one of the few times I’ve been respected by tool guys. Of course, it wasn’t me they were impressed with but my pipe.

        I later learned the pipe was the base for a HUGE martin birdhouse. The guy who set it up didn’t believe in half measures.

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  9. During the remodeling this summer we had to cut out some concrete in the floor in order to move the sinks. I figured sure, why not. The videos all made it look easy. I rented a concrete saw and a jack hammer.
    The hole got bigger… the cement was deeper. No one mentioned the wire that would be in there. Or the electric line I cut. Or the water pipe I BARELY missed.
    And in the middle of all that I realized at some point, cement would need to be put BACK in the hole! I think I groaned outwardly at that realization.

    Thankfully, when I returned the jackhammer and saw, there was a pick up at the rental place of a concrete guy. I waited outside for him. And hired HIM to put the concrete back in place.

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  10. Bite off more than you can chew, then chew it.

    Plan more than you can do, then do it.

    Point your arrow at a star,

    Take your aim and there you are.

    Arrange more time than you can spare, then spare it.

    Take on more than you can bear, then bear it.

    Plan your castle in the air,

    Then build a ship to take you there.

    – Author unknown

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