baking

today my kitchen produced snickerdoodle cookies & banana bread. Everyone seems to think cookies are supposed to be huge handfuls of sugar, not little yummy bits of goodness. Anyway, I tried to make them bigger and I think I overcooked 'em. ah practice makes perfect.

seeking solitude by baking. my favorite way.

it won't stop snowing

Every time I watch the weather forecast-and believe them, I wonder why. It's been so cold, yesterday at 9am it was 9 below-before wind chill factors and today it's 10 above and feels warm! It's a heck of a start to our winter. I'm wondering if it's going to keep this up through January which could make for a very long, tiring season.

I did take time to pile another load on the snow fort although I felt guilt for constructing something fun when I've so much work to do.

My largest task right now: I need to find a job. I'm not thrilled with this on my plate and every other day I've no energy to make it happen. My spirit does not understand why so much emphasis is put into materialism and seeking the mighty green dollar. I just hate that side of our reality. And all these Christmas commercials just irritate me further. Getting new stuff has nothing to do with baby Jesus & redemption and most of those fools haven't a clue about the real reason of the season. I'm not putting up a tree nor am I buying presents. I am baking & sharing my cookie wealth. I'm not trying to play scrooge, but I'm not spending money I don't have for stuff people don't need or want. Give of yourself, that's what He wants.

So that silly weatherman predicted snow accumulation of less than an inch. I awoke to about 4" and it's still coming down-quite heavily too I might add. I've shoveled twice today (it's only noon) and am awful grateful my neighbor is polite enough to do my drive. I'm going to have to bake them something special.
Okay that's all the boring crap I have for now. :)

4 more inches

Yippee! Snow is so pretty!

My daughter & I made a huge pile (most of what's fallen in the backyard) & when temps change a little, will be able to dig out it's middle, thus creating this igloo like structure. If you've never laid inside a snow hut, it's warmer than you might think. Snow makes great insulation-add a candle for fire-oh how fun! It's a wonderfully relaxing place to hang. And I've a whole pile of books ready for just such a retreat.

Well I just had to share my afternoon.

ah, to see white again

It's a winter wonderland out in my yard & down the street, in fact I believe across the state would give one the same view. White, chilly, frozen & fresh. I'm sure it's prettier now than I will think in 2 months.

After I wrote last, I got terribly sick & then so did my computer. Turns out it was only ad-ware, but this stuff really clogged my system so I couldn't play online at all. What a racket. Pay this for protection, ooops, now you'll need that too and another check for the guy who's going to fix it when nothing else works. Oh, yeah, this is fun.

Shoveled nice & early this morning so the sidewalks would be dried by mr. sun. My neighbors rewarded me by cleaning the drive & thus saving me valuable time. Mid afternoon my daughter unit & I loaded up the sleds & hit the local sledding hill. It was great, we had the place all to ourselves. It's quite the hill & every time (out of 5) I couldn't help screaming about half way down. The rush of being scared just overwhelmes ya!!! Was great & reminded me of a rollercoaster. I didn't get hurt & all was good. Frozen spray in your face just wakes ya up like nothing else.

Life continues to roll along. I sure wish I had time to visit Arizona. I do miss ya all out there!!!

fall 2005

It's fall here in Iowa. So pretty all the trees turning colors, but alas I have many flowers still in bloom. Inevitable frost will sadden me greatly for eventually our ground will shine white & glisten with the still of winter.

Finally a new post!!! So sorry, I'm a good procrastinator.

When I left off, the new kitchen job was looking like a meal fit for this queen. Okay, so I'm not real good at seeing reality without my rose colored glass mentality. Bottom line: nature is cruel and I don't think I'm meant to cook for a living. Next to bottom line: working with relatives is one of those tasks not everyone is cut out to succeed with. (everyone seemed to already know this except me)

Now that I'm remembering I can type....dinner is done. Meatloaf & home grown potatoes. mmmmm

March 7

I think I’ve got 1 reason figured out why I can’t get this blog updated on a more frequent basis. You see my internet connection is upstairs and my bedroom & office area are downstairs. When I come upstairs, whatever brain waves bring creative writing juices change. And so, I guess that is an explanation, but still isn’t an excuse. I apologize to all my readers for being so slow to share my news. My new plan is to write wherever I am, then do a copy/paste when I’m online. Sounds great in theory….

Regarding my new career : My first week working in a kitchen and I’ve got a band-aid on each hand. Only 1 cut came from work and I was simply cutting plastic protective wrap on a cool whip container. My error came from using a new knife & not paying quite enough attention. It’s a tiny wound, so this time I'm lucky. I’m leery from recent stories about how everyone who works in food service gets sliced sooner or later. After watching me chop, my brother (the master chef) has bets on my thumb…... He says tuck it in under your hand like it is scared of the knife. I like his perspective.

So, right now we are only cooking for a few people, but people are moving in every day (well not really, but it could happen). I’m glad I’ll have some time to catch on before feeding a full house. It’s great to get this chance to learn from my brother. He says we should be able cook anything with what equipment we've got. How fun!!!


Gotta wonder why it is change, even when you want it, even when you need it, is always challenging and sometimes even more than expected!?!

Car hunting is making me grouchy. Anybody have a 94-96 Camry for sale? More lessons in patients. And patient waiting.

Burr cold. Just let the dogs in, local temp=20. It’s been real windy too. The neighbor's walnut tree groaned in a tone I’d never heard before. It was a creaking like an old rocking chair. Must be a branch working it's way to earth.

Can't wait for those warm summer daze!!!!!!!!!! Now I think I'll crank up that electric blanket and catch some zzzzzzzzzzz's. See ya!

white again

This morning I awoke to a beautiful blanket of white. Last week temps rose to above 60 & melted all previous snow so I could finally see my yard & all the mud hidden under winter's frozen skirt. That lasted 1 day & now it's all pretty again, hidden under clean white sparkles. I think the hardest part of my day is first thing in the morning when our 2 dogs are ready to go out. There I stand, blurry eyes, still warm from that electric blanket I got for Christmas & they want me to scurry right out to the frozen tundra which is my back yard. burrrr. Ah, things could be colder. I could live further north, the snow could be deeper, I could have more that just 2 dogs.....


So I'm preparing for a career change. I've decided to learn to cook with my brother who has spent his whole adult life being a chef (or cook, or basically in that field). I love to cook, I love to eat, I love good food & can easily prepare & share it. (cookies being my fav!!! all is good with a fresh warm cookie!!!) It's downright scary to walk into a new world this way. Feels like I'm walking off a cliff. Gosh, I thought this would be an easier move. Anyway, today I'm working on product development. I'm going to try & make those cookies heart shaped, tis the season ya know.

Another experiment: will taking glucosamine make my joints feel better? I'm sure in pain & need that to stop so I can get on with life.

Everyone, have a nice day! One of these days I'm going to get better at posting here regularly.

wintertime is here!

It’s our 1st snow storm of the winter! Let’s see, about a foot covers the ground now & we are expecting totals around 15” by morning. It’s beautiful. Shiny, white, cold. For anyone who hasn’t seen a fresh snow, it sparkles like glitter laid upon white, frosty, cottony crystals. Sometimes it falls like small flecks of ice from the sky & other times it glides towards ground grouped with lots of others floating in almost bundles of snowflakes. Science claims each is unique. From my limited, female perspective, I agree. They all look different. And then on another plain, they all look kind of the same, frozen, wet, but melting (once they hit a car window).
I’m glad we (as humans) figured out how to heat our homes (although I wish I owned a solar unit & could live unattached to our nation’s “power grid”). It’s burr cold out there. I’ve insulated my egress window sill with 2 blankets. I’m sure this was/is a good idea.
Last year at this time, I was getting used to Florida & my new bike. Tonight I moved the bike away from the garage doorway while I was trying to get a larger shovel. Mom says I should wax my shovel with Johnson’s floor wax. Can you believe I don’t have any?
Today I spent more time then I wanted to shoveling this beautiful snow. The dogs, Nikki & Jr. just love it & really don’t understand why I won’t take more time to let them walk around & search for rabbits. (their most important goal) I did walk them twice, which is twice more than they are used to on a daily basis. My daughter (the rightful owner of these dogs) just has other ways to spend her time these days. Ah, kids. Ain’t they great?
And tonight when I came in from this wintery wonderland, I undressed; gloves, coat hat, coat. Stocking cap, two loops of scarf, ear muffs. Boots, snow pants, insulated socks (which even had snow on them under the pants & boots!) Then I put on slippers & carried all wet articles to on top of the fridge which is right in front of a heater vent. Dryer central for removable clothing. It’s a bunch of work living through winter. I do like it, but boy am I looking forward to Florida or Arizona. And I do mean before April.