There may be something cogent in this entry. Or perhaps not.

Dec 19, 2007

Yesterday was extremely rainy. Today, the wind has picked up. I’ve seen the power twitch twice. I’ve got batteries, candles are out, my mini-flashlight is close at hand, and I’m prepared for the lights to go out. Oh, wait…I need to go start up a big pot of coffee to fill up the thermos — just in case. (Does anyone know of any battery-powered heating/cooking things? I don’t want a generator or any gas-powered anything in the apartment.)

There’s another great big meeting today: three hours. I’m not entirely sure what I’ll get out of the meeting, but I was invited. Maybe there will be a pop quiz later or something?

I need a bagel. And a coffee. And a coherent train of thought.

Keywords: | work | weather | Holidailies |
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The sky is so happy that it's drooling. A lot.

Dec 18, 2007

The temperature is going to be in the low 40s every day this week, and there will be precipitation. Every day this week. The yard-area out back is now distinctly swampy, and I am beginning to worry about flooding later in the season because yard-area does not appear to have any drainage.

Welcome to the coastal rainforest.

I'm grumpy because I'm feeling overwhelmed. The rain isn't causing the grumpy — it's just a convenient excuse to bitch and gripe and feel, for half a second, like I'm doing something proactive (because whingeing is so very proactive. Pfaugh.) Normally when I'm grumpy I go out and walk, or sit and read for a while. Problem being: a) it's pissing rain, and likely will be for the next week; and b) I've got too much to do to be able to calmly sit and read.

Dammit.

Here's a partial list of things I've got to do:

• read up on business taxes for this state (do I need to charge sales tax on services? Or only on physical goods? And if so, how much? Yadata-yadata-ya...)
• open a business bank account
• update my online payment processors
• balance my checkbook/bank statement
• activate my new ATM card
• organize my office papers
• shred the stuff that's been accumulating (appropriately enough, in the shredder) since I moved in nearly two months ago
• pay my water bill
• go pick up the cat food that I special-ordered two weeks ago...which finally came in...three days ago
• create the site for the new "umbrella" business
• return the damaged box-shelf set I received late last week
• install the ioncube loaders on my primary server
• create a "test" list for evaulating some billing software (to replace the one that never, ever, fucking ever seems to be feature-complete)
• download, install, and start evaluating said software (hurrah for trial versions...but it's a 15-day free trial, so I want to go about this intelligently. I don't care to put down another coupla-hundred dollars on yet another piece of software that won't do the job)
• change the bedding
• do the laundry
• do the dishes
• figure out why the vacuum cleaner's having a snitfit (and pray that it's easily repairable)

...and I'm absolutely sure I'm forgetting a few (dozen) things. Many of these things, when taken in isolation, are actually quite small and manageable. But a few of them are pretty daunting.

Dammit, I need a drink.

Or, you know, to just get cracking already. Hell, it's mid-morning and despite being “at work” for the past two hours, I'm still in my 'jamas.

Now would be the perfect time for that bumper sticker that reads “I'm awake and I'm at the keyboard, what more do you want?”...but getting one of those would be yet another item to add to The List.

Keywords: | work | whingeing | home | Holidailies |
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Inflicted upon everyone

Dec 17, 2007

Quick and Easy Boiled Cookies

These cookies don't look very pretty...but they taste amazing, and they're relatively simple to prepare.

• 2 cups sugar
• ½ cup milk
• ½ stick butter
• 3 tsp dry cocoa

1. Bring to a full rolling boil and boil for one minute. Remove from heat.
2. Immediately add:
   • ½ cup peanut butter
   • 3 cups oatmeal
   • 1 tsp vanilla
   • ½ cup nuts
3. Mix together
4. Drop by teaspoonfuls on wax paper which has been placed on top of newspaper. Let set up and cool for 2 hours.

Yield: 3 – 4 dozen

Drop Sugar Cookies

• 6 eggs
• 2 cups oil
• 2 ¼ cups sugar
• 2 tbsp vanilla
• 6 cups flour
• 2 tbsp Baking powder
• 1 ½ tsp salt

1. Mix together ingredients.
2. Chill dough for 1 hour.
3. Drop by spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.
4. Flatten the top with a glass greased with butter that has then been dipped in color sugar (or just sprinkle the tops with colored sugar and skip the "flatten" bit)
5. Bake at 400 degrees for 8 – 10 minutes.

Soft Date Cookies

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup shortening (or butter)
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 ½ cup flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ cup milk
• 1 cup raisins or chopped dates (optional)

1. Combine sugars and shortening.
2. Add eggs & vanilla.
3. Add dry ingredients.
4. Add milk.
5. Drop by rounded teaspoons on lightly greased cookie sheets.
6. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 -18 minutes until browned a little.

Eggnog Snickerdoodles

I originally found this recipe last year, over on Leanne's site.

• 1 cup butter softened to room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• ½ tsp nutmeg/cinnamon (or ¼ tsp each)
• 1 cup eggnog
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 4 cups flour

1. Beat butter & sugar until creamy.
2. Add spices, eggnog & baking soda to butter & sugar, blend well.
3. Add flour 2 cups at a time, mix (with mixer) until combined.
4. Spoon onto nonstick cookie sheet, dip a cup in sugar (holiday colored sugar, sugar/cinnamon, sugar/nutmeg, your call), flatten the balled dough a little - but don’t flatten them completely.
5. Bake at 375 for right around 11 minutes, when you can see the bottom edges are golden brown.

Cut-out Cookies

These take more work, but they're excellent for decorating...especially for kids or groups of friends who have odd senses of humour. You can buy frosting, or use the frosting recipe below.

• ½ Cup Crisco
• ½ cup butter
• 1 ½ cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp orange peel
• 1 tsp allspice
• 3 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 4 cups flour
• 1 tbsp milk

1. Cream shortening, butter and sugar until blended. (Don’t over-beat or it will melt the butter.)
2. Add vanilla & egg & beat well.
3. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and add to above mixture, a bit at a time and blend well.
4. Add milk. (Dough will be stiff.)
5. Refrigerate dough for at least 1 hour
6. Get out a pastry cloth and rolling pin stocking. Put about 2 tbsp. flour on it and roll pin over cloth to get flour on stocking and pastry cloth. Roll out about 1/3 of dough at a time to about ¼ inch thick. You may have to add more flour to board between each roll out.
7. Cut out shapes & put on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 – 15 minutes. Cool on cookie sheet about 5 minutes.

Frosting

• 3 cups sifted powdered sugar
• ¾ tsp salt
• ½ tsp mace
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 4 tbsp milk
• food coloring (any color(s) you choose)

Mix all ingredients, then separate the frosting into smaller cups or bowls. Add a few drops of food coloring to each bowl to create different colors of frosting...then frost the cookies above and decorate. The cookie recipe is a double recipe; but only need the regular frosting recipe.

Keywords: | recipes | Holidailies |
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Apparently, I'm unable to learn through others' mistakes. I have to make my own.

Dec 15, 2007

I spent today baking. Well, let me restate that. I spent today teaching myself what not to do while baking. Forgetting ingredients is a big one, followed up by partially chilling sugar cookie dough before mixing in all the ingredients.

Thank goodness the grocery store is as close as it is.

More of the story later…or tomorrow. (Including photos. When documenting your own stumbling ascent up the learning curve, always include photos.) I have the “correct” batch of cookie dough baking, and I want to see if they come out as expected or if they’re merely another intriguing experiment.

Related entry: Kitchen which? part two
Keywords: | Holidailies |
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