December 2007 Archives

I had great and grand plans for my crazy 11 days of no work. They weren’t terribly luxurious plans, but I was going to get stuff done. I was going to meet up with friends, and write Christmas cards and get my house organized and play chess with John and all sorts of stuff. Well, here I am on day nine, and I think I’ve accomplished exactly two of the things on my list.

Day one was a total bust, as I ended up working pretty much a full day from home. And that’s on top of putting in a 12+ hour day the day before. Whatever, there were a couple of projects where I had to wrap up my piece and pass them off to someone else before I could put them out of my mind and truly relax. So I got them done.

Days two and three were spent making cookie dough, baking cookies, decorating cookies, and wrapping presents. Oh yes, and let’s not forget making a last minute lasagna.

Day four: Despite my best efforts to ruin Christmas by “doing it all wrong” I managed to save the day with my thoughtful and delicious salad, lasagna and garlic bread. No, we actually had a pretty nice day. The weather was good, and we had a nice visit with John’s dad and then my mom. I cleaned up in the gift department. I now have so many cookbooks we had to rearrange some books to open up a new shelf.

Day five: I woke up exhausted and feeling like crap, and spent most of the day sprawled on the couch, watching TV, whining and feeling out of sorts. I did see The Price is Right for the first time in my life. For those of you just tuning in, my parents had a pretty restrictive TV policy, so there are many, many TV shows that the rest of the world has seen that I have not. I knew who Bob Barker was, and I had seen bits of the show, but I had never watched it start to finish. John tells me Bob Barker made the show more interesting than Drew Carey does. I did start to have fun rooting for people though, particularly this one kid who finally got his shot to go guess the price of something, only to have it turn out to be some lame painted dresser and radio/flashlight/storm kit combo…or so he thought! It turned out there was a car back there too. I was pleased for him when he won. Then it was on to watching Running Scared, which, really America? Did we think that movie was funny in the ‘80’s? Because on Wednesday, it helped me decide that what I really needed was a nap. A nap, followed by more time on the couch, eating way too many cookies, takeout for dinner, and then bed.

Day six: perked up enough to leave the house for a quick trip to Barnes & Noble. Got sucked in to watching part of the Biggest Loser marathon on Bravo. I’m not sure which season it was, but the guy who won lost 214 pounds. 214 pounds! It was pretty darn impressive. Ate leftover lasagna and salad, followed by more cookies.

Day seven: Did some reading, and actually made it out of the house to go running. Wow, did that suck, since I couldn’t breathe half the time. At least they had the gym down to a normal temperature.

Day eight: loaded a bunch of new music on to the iPod, thus accomplishing one of my goals for the week. Went down to my mom’s for her annual Christmas party, which was fun. John and Seamus and I mostly hung out in the basement, watching the Patriots-Giants game, providing score reports for the people upstairs, and eating large amounts of dumplings, spring rolls, empanadas, fried raviolis, crepes and brownies.

Day nine (today!) ran errands and met a friend for brunch. I had orange and vanilla bean French toast with roasted potatoes. Orange and vanilla bean French toast turns out to be very, very good. Even better: Catching up with a friend I hadn't seen in a year. There's something special you have with long time friends that just can't be defined.

That may not be a complete rundown of all of my activities for the last few days, but it covers the high points. Now, I have two days left, and a whole long list of stuff that I haven’t gotten done. Still, I think I’m just going to take it easy, rather than running around trying to cram all that crap in to a very short time frame. Sometimes, you just gotta know when to chillax and embrace your slughood.

Very few people know this, but that title is in fact the original lyric from the AC/DC song Live Wire. In the end though, they decided that "If you're looking for trouble, I'm the man to see" was more in keeping with their image.

Anyway, I've spent the last two days making lots and lots of cookies for my family and loved ones. It may be bragging a little bit, but it's no lie to say that people on my cookie list lucked out this year.

First we have Chocolate Peanut Butter Pinwheels:

Then we have rich and delicious Dutch Cocoa Cookies:

Right behind them are my mom's Honey Cookies.

Note the slightly sinister Gingerbread Men and my Crips vs. Bloods Snowmen. Hey, I'm a good baker, but my decorating skills still need a little work.

And last but not least, the always popular Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Chip.

On top of that, I also ended up making a lasagna (not pictured) at the last minute. It does not pay to throw a Christmas Day timing change at my mom without at least two weeks of build-up time. Should you ever have to change plans on her just 24 hours in advance, be prepared to find yourself making lasagna at 11:00 at night.

Now my feet hurt and I'm tired, so I think I will close with the time honored Merry Christmas to all, and to all a Good night! Hope your Christmas is full of love and fun and perhaps even a cookie or two.

After such a spectacular start, my day didn't really have anywhere to go but up. When I first got to work, I thought I was going to have a crappy day, but then I was pleasantly surprised when both my 10 o'clock and my 11 o'clock meetings went better than expected.

My boss and I exchanged gifts, and she really liked what I got her, which was great. I also really liked what she got me, so it was a nice, even exchange.

My lemon meringue pie was a resounding success. I personally tried Shoofly Pie for the first time, and fell in love. My the Amish have some tasty desserts. First funnel cake, now Shoofly Pie. It's almost enough to make one give barn raising and buggy driving some serious thought.

I did not get nearly enough sleep last night (see baking disasters, below) so I was sure that I was going to be dead on my feet by the time spinning class rolled around. Instead, I got a burst of energy, and had a great class. I suspect the burst may be related to the fact that I only have one more day of work to go until I am off for 11, yes that's e-lev-en days in a row.

And best of all, after spinning class, Becky gave me a present. I wasn't expecting one, so it was a nice surprise, but even better, it is a fabulous present which I love! Check out my new keychain:

He's a bad, bad penguin, but he's trying so very hard to be good :) Isn't he cute?

Thanks again Becky, for an awesome present!

Aargh! The Toffee Squares didn't set right in the fridge last night, and now I am down to one cookie to hand out today. That's not a festive assortment. That's one sad little cookie in a half-empty treat bag.

I think I'm postponing cookie/gift distribution until tomorrow. Except for my boss, who isn't in tomorrow, and who probably doesn't care if she gets cookies or not, seeing as how she's married to an extaordinary cook/baker/all around gourmet.

Hey! As I was typing this, John's dentist called with the estimate for our portion of his current dental adventure. I about had a heart attack. Let's just say that between the two of us, we're keeping the local dental community in luxury cars this year.

I wish I could go back to bed.

Tomorrow we're having Pie Day at my office. They asked me to make a pie, as everyone knows I bake. And I am more than happy to provide a pie for pie day. However, by the time I got the email, (probably late due to being in a meeting) all of the standard pies I usually make were already taken, or just plain unsuitable for a winter pie. Why, yes, I do have a pie reportoire. What of it?

After some pie-related polling, I agreed to make a Lemon Meringue pie. Pie Day was originally supposed to be today, which was great, because I was going to bake a pie last night, and then cookies for my team tonight. But they had to move Pie Day, and I ended up having to do all my baking tonight.

First, I ruined the crust. Knowing that I was going to have a lot to do tonight, I cheated and bought a frozen pie crust. Normally I make my pies from scratch, really I do, but I've been trying to clamp down on my tendencies to take on way more than I can handle in a particular time period. Hence the frozen pie crust. Well, I opened the freezer to take the crust out, and something must have disturbed the balance of power in there because whammo! The package came flying out, aimed straight at my head. I ducked, and it hit the floor and shattered in to a gazillion pieces. I think I may have shouted "Motherfucker!" and meant it right at that moment.

So after a few minutes of debating whether or not it would just be easier to make a damn pie crust myself, I ran back out to the market to get another frozen one.

Then, while I was separating the egg yolks from the egg whites, a huge blorp of yolk got mixed in to the whites at the very last second. All of the cookbooks go on and on about how you can't have any fat in your egg whites to get a good meringue, so I had to throw them out and start over. And before I could do that, I had to warm four more eggs up to room temperature. All of which left me severely behind schedule, and most definitely cranky. I usually do three or four different kinds of cookies for my team, and this year they are getting one cookie and oatmeal toffee chocolate bars. Well, and little presents too. I do try to be a nice boss.

The meringue-making actually went fine (thank you Kitchen Aid Pro Mixer, retaining your title as the best purchase I have ever made), as did the filling. My pie certainly looks like a Lemon Meringue Pie. It had darn well better be delicious, is all I'm saying.

It’s just about time for Cookiepalooza 2007 to begin. Every year I try to add a new cookie to my repertoire, but this year I’m just not feeling inspired. I’m thinking I might try my hand at shortbread, which I’ve never made before.

That doesn’t mean the matter is settled yet though. I still have to find a shortbread recipe that I like. Or…you could nominate your favorite cookie in the comments below. I know I’m making oatmeal cranberry white chocolate, and my mom has requested the always-delicious Dutch Cocoa cookies. What sort of cookie would you add to that list?

I was ridiculously productive this weekend. I did more Christmas shopping (only one present left to go! I think! I may need to get one more present for my mom, too.), bought myself a dress, stocked up on baking supplies for my annual holiday cookie frenzy, helped my mom purchase and set up her Christmas tree, snuggled in front of the fire with my two favorite guys (human and furry), made a delicious taco dinner, and cleaned up the kitchen.

Sadly, I didn't get to check off every item on my weekend list, but I think I stacked the deck against myself by putting too much on it in the first place. I did not get my Christmas cards finished and I did not do laundry. Nor did I get in the good run I was hoping for. They had the heat up way too high at the gym today. I ran one mile and had to quit because I was dying on the treadmill. I happened to notice the thermostat as I left, and it said it was 80 degrees in there. 80 degrees! As I've mentioned before, I overheat pretty easily, so that did not work for me. I also get chilled pretty easily too, so I suppose my body just isn't very good at keeping its temperature regulated. Anyway, I left the gym and worked out to one of my videos at home. It actually occurred to me after I got home that I could have just driven to the other gym and run there, but once I made it home, I could not overcome my house-inertia to get out to the gym a second time. To tell the truth, I was fairly proud of myself for making it down to the basement instead of just going upstairs and taking a nap.

I also really wanted to see the movie I Am Legend, but I'm worried about the story a little bit. Yes, it is the sort of post-Apocalyptic tale that appeals to me, with neat scenes of empty and crumbling Manhattan, and I like Will Smith, but as my friend Becky pointed out, something bad could happen to the dog. In fact, I'm fairly certain something bad does happen to the dog, and I'm not sure I can take it. Leave poor Will Smith alone with his sweet doggie already, stupid vampire/zombie guys! Also, the reason that post-Apocalyptic stories typically interest me, aside from all the "cool" destruction and fish out of water scenarios (deer in the supermarket, having the city/shopping mall/highway all to yourself etc...) is the rebuilding part of the story. You know, the part where there's hope and people forming a new society out of the ashes of the old one. I'm not sure that I'm going to get that with I Am Legend. So we're holding off on it for now.

How was your weekend? Did you see any good movies? Do you think I'm being silly about the dog?

Wondering why I haven't commented on your blog lately? Perhaps a peek at my schedule will help to clear up the mystery. I only wish I was exaggerating or kidding for comedic effect. Instead, this is actually my life.

Get to work at 8:40 because I have a 9 a.m. meeting. I typically get to work between 9:30 and 9:45, coming in a little bit later and staying a little bit later because the traffic is exponentially better for me that way. Because the traffic can be so ridiculously and unpredictably bad, I have to leave the house by 7:30 if I want to ensure that I'm in the office by 9 a.m. Which means I have to get up and out earlier than usual, and as well all know, morning is not my best time.

8:40 to 9:00 Eat oatmeal, read emails that have come in last night and this morning.

9:00 - 12:00 Vendor demo. This meeting ran over by an hour. I also really, really should have tanked up on caffeine ahead of time. Plus for some reason my normally comfortable cotton tights were itchy, and I had to fight the urge to fidget. Due to the meeting running long, I missed my weekly development team meeting from 11:00-12:00. Luckily, the team is pretty self-sufficient, and they figured out that I wasn't coming and went on with their days.

12:00 return to my office. Feel a little overwhelmed when I get a look at all the email that has piled up in my box in just three hours. Deal with the various people who come by my office with questions.

12:40 realize I don't have much time left to eat lunch.

12:45 to 1:00 Microwave lunch, eat lunch. Pop online to see what the stock market is doing.

1:00 Off to a meeting with the VP of IT about some stuff that needs building.

2:07 Realize I'm late for my pub team meeting. Leave programmers debating a solution. Dash over to the conference room and tell them we'll reconvene at 2:30. Run back to the programmers. Make progress! Feel good! But not quite enough progress, so we have to meet again tomorrow!

2:32 Pub team meeting commences in conference room that smells, oddly, of fish and wine. I like meeting with my pub team. They are a good bunch. That is not to cast aspersions on my poor development team who got ditched earlier in the day. They are also a great bunch. I'm lucky enough to really like all of the people I work with right now.

3:00 Run to next meeting. Establish test plan for Monday.

3:20 Oh look! 10 blissfully free minutes until my conference call. Holy crap. How did I get so many emails just since 1 p.m.?

3:30-4:30 Conference call. This is a weekly call that is sometimes a complete disaster. It goes ok today.

4:30 Snack time. Yippee! And now I get to try to start actually getting some work done. Return phone calls. Go through emails. Try to remember all the stuff I promised I'd send to people, follow-up on or write out in my various meetings.

8:10 I could probably work for four more hours, but I decide it is time to give up, pack it in and go home.

8:45 Home! I'm so happy to see Seamus wagging at the door and John smiling at me. I owe John special thanks for walking Seamus this morning (I'm usually on mornings) and for cooking dinner, both of which made my day much easier.

Tomorrow looks very similar, with meetings from 10:00 to 11:00, 11:00 to 12:30, 1:00 to 3:00, 3:00 to 4:00 and 4:00 to 4:30. Wish me luck - I'm going to need it.

I stopped by Target tonight after the gym, thinking that I would just run in, return something, pick up some dog food and ant traps (quick side rant: It snowed here last week. Shouldn't all the ants be dead or dormant or whatever? Why am I dealing with ants now, for crying out loud?) and be on my way.

Is that what happened? No, of course not. Because I got in to Target, returned my wrong-sized plastic bin with no trouble - I've always found Target to be very good about returns - and headed blithely toward the back of the store where they keep the dog food. As I passed the socks section, I remembered that I needed stockings and a couple of new pairs of socks. And then the plastic bin section was next to the toy section, and I started looking at toys for my niece and nephew, which is trickier than you might think. My nephew is just about to turn five. He liked Thomas the Tank Engine a lot last year, but I'm not sure if Thomas is still cool or not. I know he likes dinosaurs, but the majority of the dinosaur toys seem to involve dinos coexisting with humans. And helicopters. Maybe it means I'm humorless and fuddy-duddy, but I just can't bring myself to give a child a toy that is so flagrantly paleologically inaccurate. Perhaps when he's a little older and truly understands the difference between history, fiction and Land of the Lost I'll feel more comfortable with those toys, but not now.

Then there is my older niece, who is two and a half. I don't know if it is just that she's a very girly girl, or if my conservative sister-in-law is unconsciously, or even consciously, I suppose, enforcing gender stereotypes, but all she wants is dolls, which she calls her "babies." This is where my commie pinko liberal tendencies come in to play. If my niece truly loves dolls and that's what she wants to play with, great. But I refuse to go along with potential gender role conditioning. But I also want to get her a present she will enjoy. See? It's hard. I'm thinking perhaps something artsy-ish, like Play-Doh. At least the baby will be easy. Babies aren't all that picky.

In the end, I found myself paralyzed by indecision, and didn't get any toys at all. After fruitlessly wandering the toy aisles, I looked at random potential gifts for other people, followed by blowing a bunch of time standing in line. To be fair, they did open up two registers once they realized people were stacking up in lines, but it still took a while. By the time I left, I realized I'd been in the store for 45 minutes, which explains why I was so darn hungry. Target is its own little universe, and it is all too easy to get trapped inside and lose yourself for a while.

I've been pretty much ready to go back to bed or have a nap since I got up this morning, so expecting me to come up with a clever title is probably setting the bar a little high. I don't know why I'm so sleepy, but I have been tired all weekend. I really shouldn't be. I had Friday off of work as part of my annual use it or lose it vacation time dash. I had big plans to get up early and head to the mall before getting my hair cut at noon, but instead I got up, walked Seamus and went back to bed. I did make it down to the salon for my cut and color, which I desperately needed. Happily, my grey is now all covered up and my ratty ends are history. All was not lost on the gift buying front, as I did make it in to Barnes & Noble where I picked up a calendar for my mom and a present (which must remain vague) for my brother. I came home, talked to said brother on the phone, watched the Top Chef holiday special with John, and was in bed by 10:30. See? Tired.

I did get up and out at a decent hour on Saturday. I hit the mall, ready to shop, and successfully spent a bunch of money...on myself. I was looking for presents for people, honest I was. Somehow I kept finding stuff for myself instead. I did eventually pick up some presents, so I guess I won't look like a complete and total selfish jackass. And then I came home and ordered some stuff online. Now I just have to get presents for my nephew and my nieces, a present for John's dad's wife, and one more thing for my mom. And bake 17 million cookies, of course. I like the cookie baking though, so that's ok. Oh, and a present for Seamus, of course. He gets a new stuffed bear to "kill" every year for Christmas.

Of course I didn't get half the stuff done that I thought I'd get done this weekend. I was supposed to have tomorrow off too, but it turns out that I have to go in to work in the morning for a meeting. Just for a while though, and then I have the afternoon to myself. Perhaps I'll get something more done then.

How are your holiday preparations going? Have you been smugly finished for months? Feeling like you've got it under control? Or perhaps you're starting to feel a little pressed for time?

A completely implausible and not even remotely possible scenario that played out in my head while I was washing my hair this morning:

"If I ever put out an album, I think I'd want Jack White to produce it. He did a great job with that Loretta Lynn record he produced a while ago. Or if he couldn't do it, maybe Mutt Lange or Rick Rubin. Or John (my husband, who I'm positive would be a really good producer if he ever took a shot at it) of course."

The most ridiculous part of this musing of mine is not that I will never meet any of those people, excepting John, naturally. No, the most ridiculous part is that I cannot sing, nor can I play any instruments. I am unlikely to ever record an album. Prior to this morning I had never even given a passing though to recording an album. It would be like giving thought to climbing Mt. Everest or being able to fly. Actually, I've probably spent more time contemplating having the ability to fly, which would be both cool and useful, than I have any hypothetical album recording. I love listening to music and discussing music but I do not create music.

On top of that, I don't really know much about Loretta Lynn beyond having seen a couple of music videos from that album she did with Jack White, and, of course the movie with Sissy Spacek and Tommy Lee Jones. I think I was thinking about her because I've been loading more music on to my new iPod and I asked John to pick some songs for a country section because I don't know much about country. Just to be clear, I don't like crappy, lame, overly sentimental country. The stuff I like tends to fall in to three categories: old-timey stuff from the 20's to the 40's that is practically folk music in some cases, a select few artists like Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and Patsy Cline, and then what is technically alterna-country, like Kasey Chambers, Allison Krauss, Neko Case and Lucinda Williams. John is also responsible for the metal selections, because I am terrible at knowing song names. I generally refer to them with overly complicated descriptions "you know, the song where they whistle like Guns & Roses and talk about Gorky Park. I think it is the Scorpions?" and "that Motorhead one that I like."

At least with John's help I'll be able to identfity them. You know, in case I want to cover one of them on my album.

Seamus is getting older, and while he seems to be enjoying good health, he has gotten much more sensitive to cold weather. We keep finding him huddled on the couch, shivering and looking forlorn. He had his checkup last weekend and the vet said we could get him an electric blanket to lie on, which have done. I'm not sure what he thinks of the blanket, but he seems to like curling up on it from time to time. Yesterday we got him a little sweater to help him stay warm. We were both sure he would hate it and think it was undignified. He is a dog with a very keen sense of what is and is not appropriate. It turns out though, that he likes his sweater. I guess he can tell it is keeping him warmer. Apparently we were just in time too, since the DC area got its first snow storm today. Hello two hours in the car on the way to work and an hour and a half to get home.

I give you my sweet and furry be-sweatered little guy:

Yesterday was also my office's end of year "thank you" celebration lunch. It was definitely the best one they've ever had, and I'm not just saying that because I won my weight in chocolate during the raffle at the end. It was the first holiday luncheon in seven years where I ever really had any fun. The food was delicious (there was this fried cheese-risotto ball appetizer that I MUST learn to duplicate), the people were fun, and then there is the matter of the aforementioned chocolate basket. Behold the glory of my prize:

Can you believe how much chocolate is in that basket?

No post tonight. John and I were very busy decorating our Christmas tree. And hoping the house doesn't blow away. Wow, is it windy here right now! We had one of our special all-appetizer dinners, debated the right way to string the lights, ran out of ornament hangers and obsessed over getting the best photo of the tree. Pretty much the way it always goes, and it was a delightful way to kick off the Christmas season here in the Penguin household.

Here's to quality time with the husband and the hound. Hope your evening was a lovely as ours was!