cleaning my in-box

i'm home. and i should probably be sleeping, but i don't really want to. actually, i should probably go toss a load of jeans in the washer. hang on.

alright, now my jeans can wash while i don't sleep.

i spent the weekend at my parents' house. it was fabulous. i planned to stay there thursday night to facilitate the friday-morning shopping trip and to come back to my place friday evening. but by the time we got home friday, i was tired & not interested in driving anymore, so i stayed friday night. then after lunch & a card game or two on saturday, it was pretty easy to see that i wasn't going to leave just to come back the next day ... so i stayed saturday night, too. it was fabulous. but then, i already said that, right? :)

i came home to only two of my three newspapers though. and no mail at all. i find those both a little strange.

i'm cleaning out my in-box. there are 65 messages in there, and i like to keep it to 25 or less. so here are some random tidbits for you from the e-mails i'm going through ...

first off, two surveys, but i'll have to make those separate posts.

the bluehighlights.com domain name expires at the end of january. i haven't decided if i'll renew it or not, yet. it's fairly inexpensive ... but not as inexpensive as free.

i got another load of laundry ready to go in after the jeans. i wonder why lane bryant gave me the little hangers with my new bras. does anyone actually hang up their bras? no, that's not in an e-mail ... but it fits with the randomness.

i very much dislike the ads that get larger when you roll over them. they're annoying.

although i've successfully accomplished NaBloPoMo, and am tempted to go radio silent for some time, i'm intrigued at the thought of continuing to blog daily through the month of december. the official NaBloPoMo site has a december theme of "thanks" ... and i find that interesting. my thoughts on thanksgiving were not meant to be jaded or sarcastic. i do believe that we all need to BE gratitude and allow it to exude from our lives. perhaps a list of ten thanks givings daily through the month. i guess i can't throw that e-mail away until i make that decision. of course, it will be a quick decision, as tomorrow is december first.

tomorrow is december first! yowza!

in case you're curious, the suggested theme for november's blogging was "politics", i believe. however, as you know, 'becca doesn't do politics.

lifestyles is having an open house this friday and offering 20% off ornaments during the event. i am currently collecting unique ornaments for display in my living room. perhaps i'll go.

i think i'm going to request off the entire week of Christmas. that way i can spend lots of good quality time with the family, and still be in the office the week of New Year's to tie up loose ends on a couple of events Jan. 1 & 2.

those of you familiar with my graphite hand, might find this article interesting. it's on the artist who designed the hand and the work he's done remodeling his home/workshop in san francisco. actually, even if you have no idea what my graphite hand looks like - you might really enjoy the photos of his home. it's just slightly amazing.

ooo - julie! i'm not ignoring your tree photos. i will look at them tomorrow night, i promise. i'm currently drawn to FavoriteTrees-2.jpg and FavoriteTrees-9.jpg ... but i've only seen the tiny thumbnails. i'll look at 'em full size & get back to you.

oh, wait ... those numbers might not be super helpful, as i think there may be multiple photos with the same name. so ... yeah, i'll let you know when i open 'em full size. :)

i came across an e-mail that i'd sent myself as a possible goal for next year's list. when i think of ideas at work, i e-mail my personal account so i don't forget them. as soon as i opened it, i thought "oh yeah! i also need to write down ... crap! what was it i was going to write down? i've been thinking about it for days!" don't you hate that?

i do wish season tickets to the railcats weren't so expensive. seeing e-mails about said tickets makes me wish it was baseball season again.

i almost forgot to pay my web hosting this month. glad i chose today to clean out my in-box. :)

alright, i successfully got it down to 21 messages. not bad at all, right?

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'becca hopes you all enjoyed hearing/seeing her ramble every day this month.

scattergories

SCATTERGORIES... It's harder than it looks!

Use the first letter of your name to answer each of the following. They have to be real places, names, things, nothing made up!

You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question...


What is your name: rebecca.

Boy's name: ryan.

4-LETTER WORD: riot.

Girls name: ryanne. :)

OCCUPATION: ripper of seams.

A COLOR: red.

SOMETHING YOU WEAR: ring.

BEVERAGE: rc. that's right - it's royal crown, baby!

FOOD: red beans & rice.

SOMETHING FOUND IN THE BATHROOM: razor.

A PLACE: Red Robin.

REASON FOR BEING LATE: really didn't want to get out of bed.

SOMETHING YOU SHOUT: RAWR!

OK, Now it's your turn.

Remember you have to use the first initial of your first name to describe each answer!

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'becca wants to point out that she's officially posted every day for the month of november.

sunday night survey

1. What is your occupation right now? graphic designer.

2. What color are your socks right now? i'm not wearing socks right now. i took them off to see if i had, in fast, chipped off a toe nail when i hit my toes against the bed frame.

3. What are you listening to right now? the washing machine.

4. What was the last thing that you ate? mashed potatoes.

5. Can you drive a stick shift car? no.

6. Last person you spoke to on the phone? kathy. she was calling to see if i was still coming today or if the weather was cause to reschedule.

7. Do you like the person who sent this to you? yes, very much so.

8. How old are you today? 29.

9. What is your favorite sport to watch on TV? cubs baseball.

10. What is your favorite drink? ice water.

11. Have you ever dyed your hair? yes, quite frequently.

12. Favorite food? my mom's taco salad.

13. What is the last movie you watched? spinal tap.

14. Favorite day of the year? Christmas because it's always spent with family.

15. How do you vent anger? quite often i don't vent it. but if i can ramble on to a good friend about it, i usually feel better and gain a healthier perspective.

16. What was your favorite toy as a child? my imagination. (okay, so i have no idea ... but doesn't that sound good?)

17. What is your favorite season? fall.

18. Cherries or Blueberries? cherries - but not maraschino cherries.

19. Do you want your friends to e-mail you back? yes, usually when i e-mail people i like a response.

20. Who is the most likely to respond? erin. :)

21. Who is least likely to respond? jessica, as she sent this to me.

22. Living arrangements? well ... i arrange my clean towels in the hall closet and my dirty towels in the basket on the dryer. my clean plates are arranged in my cabinet and my dirty plates are arranged in the sink. i arrange my bills on my computer desk. i arrange my groceries in the refrigerator and/or cabinets. i arrange my clean clothes in my closet and dresser. and currently i arrange my newspaper right next to the front door.

23. When was the last time you cried? i don't know. that's a good thing. :)

24. What is on the floor of your closet? a bag with two costumes in it, some shoes and a box of things that may interest my niece should she ever need to be entertained here.

25. Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending this to? outside of family, erin.

26. What did you do last night? had dinner with family and played some games.

27. What are you most afraid of? failure.

28. Plain, cheese, or spicy hamburgers? cheese.

29. Favorite dog breed? miniature dachshund. or pug.

30. Favorite day of the week? Sunday.

31. How many states have you lived in? one.

32. Diamonds or pearls? pearls.

33. What is your favorite flower? tulips or daisies or lilies. i like flowers. :)

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'becca is cleaning out her in-box.

friday's shopping trip

we spent about twelve hours shopping on friday. longer than i expected, but it was good. we started at the merrillville michael's, family bookstore and office max. then breakfast at baker's square. after that we headed out to valpo, expecting to hit smaller crowds & completely avoid the mall. i think that was a good move. we went to the bath & body works, fashion bug, target, layne bryant and michael's. we were back home by 1:15. we picked up alicia & headed back out. had lunch, went to the dollar stor and ended at jo-ann's. we all found a few things we wanted, and the excuse to spend the day together was definitely worth it.

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'becca can't believe tomorrow's the last day of november.

thanksgiving

my thanksgiving was fabulous. how was yours?

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'becca likes black friday.

thanksgiving prep

mom decided she was making her pumpkin pie by baking a pie pumpkin instead of buying canned pumpkin. i think they look like large walnut halves.


we scooped seeds out of not only the pie pumpkin, but also the two large pumpkins that had been sitting on the front porch. i roasted the seeds in three sets. one with salt, one with italian seasonings & parmesan cheese and one with seasoned salt.


i found the italian seeds to be especially tasty.


this is the "before" picture of my peach pie. i was a little concerned it would get ruined in the oven ... so this is just to prove it was pretty when it went in. :)


i think it's even prettier now that it's out. doesn't it look yummy? i'm pleased with the lattice strips - my first time & much easier than i expected. i read online that my peach pie shouldn't be runny if, after baking to a golden brown, i let the pie set up in the now-turned-off oven for an hour or two. i tried it, and i'll let you know how it turned out when we slice into it tomorrow.

well, actually, later today. i'm making sure this post dates itself as thursday so i don't feel any pressure to post while i'm with family for thanksgiving. i'll be crashing at my parents' house thursday night to facilitate the early friday morning shopping. yay for doing my part to boost the economy with shopping at ridiculous hours of the morning. :)

should i be talking about the things for which i'm thankful? while i'm certainly not against the idea of setting a day aside to remind ourselves to be thankful, i do find that it makes the thanks giving seem trite at times. today i received an e-mail that read:

"As you gather with friends and loved ones to celebrate and express gratitude for all that you have, remember that gratitude is not just a feeling that you express one day out of the year, but an energy you "live" everyday of your life. A person who is always thankful, attracts things to be thankful for ... ALWAYS! Don't just say the word ... BE the word! Be Gratitude!"

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'becca likes holidays.

flashback

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'becca isn't feeling the work vibes today.

holiday quiz

i should totally be getting ready for work right now. but seeing as erin listed me as her "most likely to respond", who am i to disappoint? :)

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? wrapping paper. i'm one of those people who likes to buy themed gift wrap and make all the presents coordinate under the tree. this year i'm using up the last of my sage green/white wrapper papers, though i may need to go out & buy more ribbon to accent.

2. Real tree or Artificial? i've never had a real tree. this year i'm making my own. it's about 40% done. you'll see pictures when it's complete.

3. When do you put up the tree? i started building it last weekend. in general, i'm against Christmas trees before thanksgiving. but i took the liberty of starting early since it won't be COMPLETE until after thanksgiving & no one's going to see it yet anyway.

4. When do you take the tree down? we'll see. if it turns out as amazing as i picture it in my head, the ornaments may come down but the tree may stay up. think of it as more of an art piece than a decoration.

5. Do you like eggnog? i don't believe i've ever really had eggnog.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? my cabbage patch kids.

7. Hardest person to buy for? my father. but this has been cured by the "handmade Christmas pledge" which involves one gift for each couple i buy for, instead of for each individual.

8. Easiest person to buy for? alicia. aren't kids the best that way? they like everything.

9. Do you have a nativity scene? no, i do not. i think i have an advent candle wreathy thing though ... which isn't the same, but i think it's supposed to look like the little town of bethlehem ...

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? MAIL! e-mail is not an acceptable substitute for Christmas cards. i will appreciate your electronic wishes, yes. but i will feel warm & fuzzy over the ones that my mailman delivers.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? i can't say. the person who gave me said gift may very well read this, and it is the thought that counts. but it always (same type of gift multiple years) made me want to say "you do know i'm not a size 4, right?!"

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? A Christmas Story.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? i haven't really shopped for Christmas for several years, aside from buying the wrapping paper.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? i don't think so.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? cookies. :)

16. Lights on the tree? oh, yes. well, actually, i say that ... but i don't really see lights going on my tree this year. hmmm.

17. Favorite Christmas song? do you hear what i hear?

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? stay home, mostly. wherein "home" is anything within a 30 mile radius.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? yes. can you?

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? we've always had a star. but this, too, is something i don't see happening on my tree this year.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? you know, i'd usually say all the consumer-crazed commercials ... but without a tv, that's really not an issue for me. so, i'll say the crazy-busy stores filled with rude customers. if you're going to buy people gifts for Christmas, must you do it so rudely?

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? this year will mostly be black/white.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? noodles. :) we could skip the meat ... and the veggies ... and just have noodles all day long.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? a marathon of rousing card games with the family.

26. Who is most likely to respond to this? since erin already did it? probably no one.

27.Who is least likely to respond to this? probably everyone. someone surprise me! :)


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'becca is going to go get ready for work now.

shhhh. it's early.

my neighbor's car has a squealing belt. it's loud enough that it wakes me up in the morning. if i had a big book of grievances, this would be logged appropriately.

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'becca is glad that today's her friday.

36 years

my parents are celebrating 36 years of marriage today. 36 years. thirty. six. years. that's amazing.

but then, my parents are married to amazing people. :)

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'becca had ice cream today - yum.

nap?

i stayed home from work today in an attempt to sleep off the sickness i feel looming. i wonder if it's possible to take a nap at 6 p.m. or if i'll just end up wide awake at 3 a.m.

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'becca can't believe november is almost over.

table, before

the managers cleaned out a storage room at work on friday. i salvaged this table from the dumpster. it will be perfect between my sofa & love seat. it will NOT look like this when it's done. :)

in other news - i was insanely productive this morning, but i'm not willing to show in-progress pictures until the project is complete. so why did i bring it up, right? :)

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'becca is heading to her parents' for a lazy sunday.

to sum up today ...

i just want to say that my mother is amazing.

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'becca had a great time today.

and the winner is ...

malissa! i was on the back roads in lowell, wasting some time before my hair appointment. and i'll have you know that i stopped at every one of those stop signs. i'm a very safe driver. most of the time. :)

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'becca has a tree trunk in her living room.

monday drive

given the fact i'm still up & it's now friday ... i'm posting before i crash for the night. ten points to the first person to correctly identify where i'm driving in this video. i think it's too quick to read the street signs, but at one point i'm right around the corner from the home of a parent of one of you.

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'becca has some good ideas for tree building.

productive day

i went to target tonight. the table & chairs i bought last week went on sale this week - so i got about $30 refunded to my debit card. i, of course, then spent that money on more stuff. it only seemed fair. :)

i got really cute flannel sheets. and a snowflakey pump of hand soap. and a winter-themed box of facial tissues. Christmas-themed? i'm not sure. i think it's trees & snow ... that really would just be winter. but there might be decorations on the trees ... that would make it Christmas, i suppose. hmmm. i'm not interested enough to go look, but i'm interested enough to ramble about it here. interesting.

i looked at their Christmas decorations, again. i'm contemplating my Christmas tree. i thought i wanted white or silver. of the two, i decided i wanted white. then today i was looking online and saw some BLACK Christmas trees that look really great. supposedly wal-mart has one in the local stores that's black, 5' tall and only $48. that seems like a good deal. it's a "slim" tree, so it wouldn't take up as much space as a "full" tree ... that could be good. and it's pre-lit, which i like. i don't like going to wal-mart, but i think i'll go check it out. april found me a great 6' pre-lit black tree online at a really good price, too. it's fuller than the wal-mart tree. and it wouldn't require me going to wal-mart. we'll see. i still lean towards making my own tree ... but the amount of work involved seems a bit daunting.

i had an acorn squash start molding on me. doesn't that seem strange? it was in a cool, dark cabinet. no humidity. and it had been purchased less than a month ago. it should've held for quite some time. hmph.

i got my car fixed today. i had myself all prepared to say "shouldn't that have been covered by my warranty?" when they gave me a bill ... but she handed me the keys and said "i'll send the paperwork in the mail once it's been entered in the computer. have a good night!" so i'm gonna guess they're not gonna try & charge me. i could be wrong ... but i'm thinking they wouldn't have let me drive the car off their lot if they thought i owed them money.

i used my pizza stone to re-heat pizza tonight. excellent job. crisp crust, melty cheese. i do love that stone.

i thought about posting a photo or two ... but i think i'll save those for a night when i just don't feel like talking. ten days left in NaBloPoMo, it's bound to happen. :)

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'becca made it a full month without using her credit card!

merry tossmas?

riddle me this: given the cause of his consternation, why does he make references to "us" and "we" and "our holiday" ... but never says the word "Christians"?

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'becca has a pizza in the oven.

yesterday's trees at noontime

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'becca slept under a toasty quilt last night.

todays trees at sunset

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'becca likes the chilly weather.

i can't skip a day

but i don't have to say anything of importance, either. i shot some photos today. i may post one tomorrow.

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'becca is charging her ipod.

goodbye, leaves

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'becca watched spinal tap last night.

still no shoes

the merrillville target has the glittery converse in the store ... but not in my size. *sigh* i'm cheering myself up with a tasty caramel apple cider from spill the beans. good drink, kids. very good drink.

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'becca bought a folding table & chairs today for general gaming purposes.

saturday

i've done a quick clean of the house for bunco tonight. hopefully we'll have enough people to play ...

now for a quick shower & a trip to target. i'm trying the merrillville location for those glittery shoes. and a folding table & chairs.

maybe i'll eat lunch first. i should've done that before i cleaned the kitchen ...

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'becca slept in this morning, and it felt good.

good end to the week

tonight was good. simply good.

we went out for becca's birthday and spent a couple of hours just laughing & swapping stories. i will forever be grateful for birthdays if they continue to be a reason to get together with friends.

i spent some time at Spill the Beans after dinner. saw some friends i haven't seen in awhile. and if i hadn't been recently stuffed with dinner, i would have totally let tommy make me a caramel apple cider. hot. (that's for you, li'l jd, if you're reading this.) the place is adorable. and i will be true to my word & return when there's room for a warm drink.

i'm giving fresh thought to doing the craft show circuit next year. i want to diversify my products, but still focus on just a select few items. last time i was all into beaded jewlery. some of it sold, some of it didn't. now i'm thinking some quirkier items. rapunzel scarves, journals and some bottle-cap jewelry. and some magnets - both marble and bottle cap. those sold well. i'm thinking about it. we'll see what happens.

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'becca smells like a japanese steak house.

friday morning responses

i don't know when i'll get in tonight, so i'm posting early. quite a few questions in the comments recently, so ...

jonathan - i think you're right about indiana wanting me to go to ireland. there's nothing like having the support of your state when wanting to leave the country.

dave - nope, this is my first passport. i talked about it awhile ago - but i got stuck when requesting the birth certificate online. and since i didn't really NEED it then, i just dropped the whole thing.

jody - yup, i requested my certificate online. it's handy, and i'm all for not having to talk to people face-to-face or (shudder) over the phone. :)

lynn - yup, yup. going to ireland in the spring. my friend marlana & i are going together to celebrate our 30th birthdays. yay!

april - nope, didn't get the shoes. the blasted highland location did not have them.

marlana & jody - yup, "the bean" as in the big shiny sculpture in chicago. they're bringing choral groups in every friday from thanksgiving through christmas for caroling. there's a group from work going - and you're welcome to join us if you'd like. :) we're going to be cold, but have fun. and then eat pizza.

erin - i love that fabric, too! i forgot i even had it. and sure, i'll teach you how to quilt. it's basically just cutting & sewing, ya know. :)

dave - after i publish this post, i'll turn on the feed. i don't know why it's off ... so it might as well be on.

laure - no more scraps for me, thanks. i'm trying to get rid of the small pieces. :) i'm not sure if i have any pinks or pink/greens left - but i'll look.

happy friday!

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'becca is sleepy and her hands are cold.

the rapunzel scarf

before.



during.




after. the second one has better color, but the first is a better shot of the braid.

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'becca is getting her hair cut & colored on monday.

certifiable

when i ordered my certified birth certificate monday night, they (the great "they" of vital records) told me it would take 5-10 business to process. understandable. so i was flat out shocked when it was delivered to my desk at work today. 36 hours after i finished the order i had the envelope in my hand. crazy, huh? dare i say ... ridiculous?

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'becca enjoyed driving with her sun roof open today.

ridiculous.

i was so antsy at work today it was ridiculous.

i went to bed early last night. it was 10 p.m., and i was tired. but just in case, i took a couple of tylenol pm caplets to help the sleeping process. did you know tylenol pm is supposed to make you drowsy? it says so right on the box (twice) and again on the bottle. so let's review ... already tired AND took something that should make me drowsy. so i go to bed, and promptly feel wide awake for the next hour. ridiculous.

work today was long. i got some things accomplished, but my focus was way off. part of me wants to analyze it; part of me doesn't care. in the end, i'll be there again tomorrow to work on everything that's still on the to-do list. how is it i can mark things off that list & still feel like i'm just spinning my wheels? ridiculous, i say.

speaking of ridiculous - what if we actually had wheels to spin? i mean, attached-to-our-bodies wheels. wouldn't that be, well, ridiculous?

had a good time at dinner & ice cream with beth tonight. not much ridiculous about that. well, other than a story involving a fast food restaurant and logic that seemed - that's right - ridiculous.

so how was your wednesday?

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'becca is going to work now. ("going to work" as in starting to do something productive, not as in leaving the house & heading to the office. that would be ridiculous.)

ireland prep

i officially requested my state-certified birth certificate tonight. the last time i tried (at least a year ago) i hit an error in the process and sort of forgot about it. now i can't afford to just forget about it ... but it doesn't matter, they verified i'm who i said i am & my request is being processed. the fact they could verify me now (when i'm using two addresses) but not a year ago (when i'd only used one address my entire life) is strange to me. but i'm not questioning it. i'm just glad that step one is done.

perhaps in the next week or two i'll go change over my driver's license so it's correct, too. crazy, i know.

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'becca is going to bed early.

tuesday top ten

in my current quest to try & not lose my sanity in its entirety to my day job, i'm present you a list of ten GOOD things from happened today.

1. e-mail conversations with far-away friends.

2. catching up on life in heaven. if you're not reading it, i totally recommend it. mike's posting it as he's writing it, and so far i'm hooked.

3. plans made for Christmas caroling at the bean in december.

4. walking through target's Christmas section.

5. plans made for dinner friday night.

6. plans made for dinner tomorrow night.

7. e-mail from my mama that made me laugh out loud for an extended period of time.

8. the fresh green beans at meijer were much prettier than i was expecting. generally, i only buy them when they look nice ... but this time i wanted them for a specific recipe. and they're pretty! yay!

9. i finally found some barley. it was in the ethnic foods aisle. apparently barley is polish. really?

10. fabulous new knee socks.

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'becca isn't fighting a cold so much as she's willingly letting it slow her down.

fabric success

i just took my last load of fabric out of the dryer. that's right - every inch of fabric i own is now pre-washed & ready for mixing and matching in quilting goodness.

yes, i pulled some of my favorite pieces to the tops of the piles for the photo.

laure - that stripe on the right is from your quilt. it's yours if you want it. do you want me to mail any pieces i have out to you? or are you okay with getting them while you're here over the holidays?

dave - i've got the blog feed turned off. should i turn it on?

erin - i would love to come to your holiday baking day! maybe we could set up web cams & video-bake together. ;)

mel - we saw The Academy Is ... at the house of blues.

yes, i know i made a couple of those replies in the comments, but how am i supposed to know if you read follow up comments?

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'becca has cold fingers & a warm forehead.

games

i spent a couple of hours today playing bunco with my mom & sister. the local Parents as Teachers group hosted a bunco fundraiser. good times. i like the way they ran it. after dinner we played a few rounds of a card game. i do love games. why don't more people play games? perhaps instead of a tv table, i should fit a game table into my living room ...

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'becca feels like she actually got enough sleep this weekend.

it's official

i prefer cookies baked on stoneware. overall they're softer and smoother. the bottoms don't brown anymore than the tops because of the whole "even heat" thing they rave about at the pampered chef shows, so there's no crusty bottom. i'm not saying a crusty bottom is bad, but i prefer a cookie to be chewy all the way through. i'm not sure what you'd need to do to get a crispy cookie off a stone. keep increasing the bake time, i suppose. but i'm a soft cookie kind of person. so these were fabulous.

i originally thought the ones one the stone stayed puffier, but as they cooled that evened out.

i made four kinds of cookies today: mrs. fields (a chocolate chip, oatmeal goodie), grandma's peanut butter, snicker doodles and gingerbread butterscotch. the only one i'd recommend baking on a metal tray is the peanut butter. the ones from the stone were a little too soft. though i may have been able to fix that with some extra time in the oven.


my "sampler" plate. i mean, i had to try them all to have a real experiment.

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'becca is taking cookies for her family tomorrow.

are you kidding me?

no, no ... you have to keep watching (even if the music is a little annoying after awhile). they actually use a human as a jump rope in the men's group category.

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'becca is preparing for her personal bake-a-thon.

week end welcome

it's about 8 p.m. on friday night ... and i haven't a clue what to do with myself. i've been up pretty late the past couple of nights, and tonight i'm completely tuckered out. i would probably fall asleep if i went to bed, but i don't really want to. i just ate a big pasta dinner and have plans for a serious ice cream sundae later. who wants to go to bed when there's ice cream in the near future?

allow me to work backwards & review the week for you.

today was the brownie tasting at work. i didn't win, but i didn't expect to. my brownies were from a box, but i enjoy them anyway. i had several recipes that i wanted to make from scratch, but the time just wasn't there. ten people made brownies for the event - an impressive amount of participation, really. and i tasted them all. they were quite yummy. work today bordered on feeling successful. did some quick-turnaround work that didn't make me want to pull my hair out. felt like the work was appreciated. all in all, not a bad day.

last night marked both my first ride on the south shore line & my first trip to the house of blues. both were good. the weather downtown was gorgeous - a nice surprise considering it was rainy, windy & cold here as we waited for the train. we missed the entire first band & most of the second. but that was okay, we were interested in the final band and were there in plenty of time to see them. i got home around 2 and proceeded to bake the brownies.

wednesday evening i went to a pampered chef party. i do love pampered chef products. i got home around 12:30 and baked cookies for a co-worker's birthday. i baked them on my pizza stone, which seemed to work well. work on wednesday turned hectic towards the end, but things were accomplished and that's a good thing. it was well-directed chaos, and i'm pretty sure that's the best kind to have.

tuesday was ... well, it was tuesday. i did manage to start & finish an entire project on tuesday. as i told the co-worker who requested the project - that was the most successful i've felt at work in the past three months. he knew what he wanted done; i knew how to do it. there was no week-long proofing process. no one changing their mind four times about the details. he wasn't even concerned about it getting finished by the end of the day. it was good. i came home & cut fabric for quilts. i think i might have a fabric-cutting sickness. i feel no real motivation to sew the pieces back together, but i want to keep cutting.

not much from monday really sticks out in my mind. i found out that one of my "sitting on hold" projects at work has been given to someone else. that should be a good thing, i know. but it just served as a point of irritation, mostly.

tomorrow i plan to do some more baking on the pizza stone. i want to do a set of cookies on the stone and a set on a cookie sheet (with all other variables identical, of course) to really see the difference. i can't decide which type of cookie to try it with however, so i may make several kinds. i'm thinking mrs. fields, snickerdoodles, gingerbread butterscotch & rolled butter. my bananas aren't ripe enough yet for banana oatmeal, but hopefully in a couple of days i can get those made, too.

baking is therapeutic. and it helps people like me. ;)

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'becca wouldn't mind being snowed in for a couple of days.

2 a.m. baking

this morning i'm baking brownies for a tasting event at work. i'm tired. they'd better taste good.

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'becca wants to spend more time in chicago, especially at night.

cookie baking

i'm glad i posted early this morning before work, as i didn't return home until after midnight. that makes for a long day, but it kept me true to my NaBloPoMo commitment. and we all know how much i like committing to fun-sounding words. :)

i'm experimenting with baking cookies on my baking stone. yes, it's 1:45 a.m. and i'm baking cookies. but why not? the first set came out a little under cooked, i think. but it's hard to tell. they were not done when the timer went off, so i gave them an extra two minutes. the centers still look soft ... but they've always set up once they come out of the oven. this set, however, didn't seem to set up the same way. perhaps because the stone retains the heat longer than the metal pan? they did set up enough to move them to a cooling rack, where perhaps the setting up process will complete itself. the second set is in the oven now, and i'm going to add a couple of minutes to see how they work.

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'becca wishes you were here.

happy wednesday

i figure so long as i'm up early, i may as well post early. not that posting is going to help me get to work early ... but let's be honest. if you don't know by now that my motivation at the office has taken a huge nose dive, here i am blatantly telling you that it's true. it's not that i don't care at all. in the end, i do very much care about doing my job well & having the respect of my co-workers/superiors. but just getting myself into the office every day can be tough.

actually, getting myself home from the office hasn't been much fun this week either. they've got detours set up as they do road work, and it's really slowing me down.

if i was choosing a road to get slowed down on today, i think i'd choose this one:


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'becca just ended a post with a photo? how backwards of her.

autumn leaves

without a doubt the best part of today was the drive in to work.

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'becca parked by the pretty tree at work today so her car could enjoy the colors.

blueberry pie necklace

ellie made me this adorable little blueberry pie, and i thought the best way to show it off would be to make it a necklace. isn't it too cute for words? thank you so much, ellie!

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'becca needs a plan.

responses

laure: excuse me? you don't like tootsie pops? huh. weird.

dave: i was at my parents' house today, and my mom bought good candy knowing they would have left overs ... yeah, so i ate a lot of that today. :)

erin: does that mean you don't want the blue raspberry ones?

mel: so i've gotten on this saturday morning pancake kick. they all start with the box mix (the "complete" box mix that just requires water to be added), but then i generally add something to kick 'em up a notch. this time i added about 1/2 cup of oats, half an apple (sliced thin) and a few sprinkles of cinnamon. they were really thick ... and SO delicious! i mean, they were no crunch cakes, but yumm-o.

dave: we fly out march 19, in the evening, and land in the morning on march 20. we'll be back in chicago on march 26, late afternoon. i am so excited, it's a little ridiculous.

erin: did you try the squash soup? what'd you think?

laure: how's that birthday list coming? :)

april: any chance you'll start NaBloPoMo late? the blogging world misses you ...

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'becca found another big bag of fabric to wash.

halloween photos

i don't think i've shown my halloween candle holders yet. they're a partylite thing - a tealight sits in a little metal holder atop a glass you can fill with whatever. well, it's halloween, so my "whatever" was some skulls & chicken bones. note the order of those so no one gets confused. they were not chicken skulls. that would've been a little too creepy, even for me.


the full-body costume shot. unfortunately i got to work & realized i didn't have my spider webs for the dress. i actually have no idea where they are. but imagine some black netting with silver spiderwebs coming down the front of the skirt.


just about every one who dressed up at the office. that's april as raggedy ann, ryan as popeye, andrea as snow white and jeff as jackie moon from the movie 'semi pro'.


chillin' at my desk, showing off my witchy sneakers. i do a lot of running around at work - a witch can wear practical shoes. :)


i had more candy than i needed. i had about 60 trick-or-treaters at the house & a couple dozen maybe at the office. so if anyone gets a hankerin' for a tootsie pop, let me know.

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'becca finished the friend series tonight. again.

saturday's list

my to-do list for today doesn't include a single stitch of sewing. weird, huh? especially since i think i could start & finish the Christmas quilt top in one day if i just sat down & did it. regardless, today's list includes ...

- roasting pumpkin seeds.
- making vegetable soup.
- going to the bank.
- mowing at front lawn.
- raking leaves.
- getting the stack of recycling out of the kitchen.
- sweeping the kitchen & bathroom.
- vacuuming the living room & office (sewing does leave a lot of li'l strings everywhere.)
- writing out bills.
- coming up with a sketchy menu for the week.
- going to the grocery store.
- making my blueberry pie into a necklace. more info on this later.
- painting a couple of metal picture frames.
- laundry.
- returning my faulty clothing to fashion bug. (this would have been done, but i forget the clothing when i went to the bank & meijer.)
- remove the halloween webs from the front porch.
- e-mail my street address to jes.
- e-mail halloween photos to april.

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'becca made oatmeal apple cinnamon pancakes for breakfast this morning.

today's schedule

6:15a - get up, wishing i was still sleeping.

8:15a - get to work in full costume.

12:15p - go to lunch in full costume. realize my hat sticks out of the sun roof quite nicely.

1:00p - buy candy for office & home.

4:30p - get home from work & become a little agitated that the lady bugs have chosen today to swarm the front of my house.

4:45p - first trick-or-treater, my niece alicia. adorable, of course.

5:00p - trick-or-treating officially starts.

5:20p - first of the neighborhood kids comes to the door. i'm pretty sure she's the one who said "but mom, there are beetles in the cobwebs!" she was right, of course. what did the lady bugs think would happen to them when they landed in the halloween decorations?

5:40p - i think i hear a group of kids leaving my porch, saying i must not be home. i realize the note saying "knock! door bell broken" is less effective when the people at my door can't read. too bad for them.

5:55p - kid pokes at the bugs in the webs on his way off my porch, gets disgusted because the webbing sticks to him & his costume.

6:03p - i take a break to twirl around in my kitchen, enjoying the full skirt of my costume.

6:08p - a boy comes to the door by himself, far too old to be trick-or-treating, but with a better costume than most of the other kids.

6:21p - a young girl accepts her candy with her eyes closed. i'm not sure if she was scared of the webs and/or witch who answered the door ... or just being silly.

6:30p - start handing double candy out to the kids, as i'm now well aware that i'll have plenty left over. i don't really want left over candy.

6:37p - neighbor kids come by and the little girl is completely enthralled with getting to look inside my house. i really think she may have been more interested in that than in getting the candy.

6:50p - a mother & grandmother come by with two little girls ... possibly aged 6 months & 18 months. they were way too young to be trick-or-treating, but the group did look like they were having a fun time. and both girls had the most adorable curly hair.

8:30p - last trick-or-treaters of the night freak me out a little by coming so late, but peak my curiosity by being smart enough to knock loudly & yell "trick or treat!" (this is apparently not something kids do anymore? most barely whispered ... and then only at the prodding of their parents.) these trick-or-treaters, however, were bringing me pizza casserole, squash, cookies, pumpkin seeds, and more. my parents do love me. :)

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'becca has officially posted for the first day of NaBloPoMo!