Mar4

When Last We Left,

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When Last We Left,

Alison was baking like mad. Heh.

The concert on Thursday was excellent. These kids are very talented young musicians, and we were treated to a real variety of music. The jazz band played some excellent numbers and gave several kids opportunities to show their improvisational skills. They broke out the handbells for a few pieces, and there was a woodwind choir and a saxophone quartet before the Concert Band finished the show. My parents really enjoyed it, the kids had a good time playing, and I was so proud of them! I realized that knowing the students made me enjoy listening to their music even more.

I was all over the place on Friday, and totally beat by the time I got home. We had pizza for dinner, and I was really happy that I’d done my baking for Saturday in advance.

There were a ton of things to do on Saturday in addition to playing taxicab driver, but I managed to get to the band dinner on time. At first, I was afraid that I might peter out before it was time to clean up (I’d volunteered to help with that. . .) but then I was dragged onto the dance floor. I had forgotten how much fun I had dancing – it had been so long. Audrey, however, refused to let herself be embarrassed by her mom, even when I pulled out some old belly dancing moves when the DJ played “Hips Don’t Lie”. Heh.

In addition to forgetting how much fun dancing was, I also forgot how much those unused muscles could hurt the next day. Yow! Totally worth it, though. I creaked around the house cleaning up the kitten mess (Look! Pots full of dirt to play in! Plants to chew up!) and getting materials together for Polymer Clay Guild. We had a workshop with Ellen Marshall on surface design, and it was incredible fun. I have a couple of pieces that I’m going to turn into something pretty.

Yesterday was completely lost. The incoming warm front gave me a killer headache all day that nothing would help. A pot of coffee in the afternoon helped me make it through Bingo night. It didn’t help me to fall asleep after Bingo, but I feel pretty well-rested today despite it. I’m off to the sewing room after this to do something to create order out of chaos. Wish me luck.

Mar4

More Kittehs!

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More Kittehs!

So these two pretty babies came to me needing some one-on-one because they were so skittish still. I can’t take a lot of cats, because the rest of the household would strongly object, but a couple at a time works out fine. Get ready. . .

aura-and-zizi.jpg

AWWW!

They are going to their new home on Friday – my parents came to visit and fell in love with them, so I’ll get to see them lots more. We’ve been calling them by their new names – Mandy for the tabby, Xena for the calico. Xena took a lot more effort than Mandy did, but they’re going into a home with no other pets and two doting adults, so there’s no question that they’ll be spoiled rotten and demanding laps and petting in no time at all.

Feb26

Baking, Baking, Baking. . .

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Baking, Baking, Baking. . .

I won’t go into details, but I can’t really leave the house today. Tomorrow was going to be a baking day, because we have a band concert and a marching band event coming up this week that I promised baked goods for (yes, I know that was bad sentence construction. . .). Well, since I’m going to have to put off ’til tomorrow what I can’t do today, I’m baking.

I’m almost done with the white chocolate chip macadamia cookies, and the regular chocolate chip cookies will follow. I was going to just bring those to both functions, but then it occurred to me. . .Saturday is a Saint Patrick’s Day dinner, and I have a killer Irish Soda Bread recipe!

I’ll have to make it either later tonight, or tomorrow depending on whether I can leave the house later, because two double batches of cookies have put a serious dent in my supply of flour, butter, and sugar. It’s OK, though. I can also pick up aluminum pans and bake several soda breads at once. Both cookies and breads freeze well, which is a good thing since I won’t be able to do anything Thursday, Friday, or Saturday morning.

Now, I just want to squeeze this one little thing in. . .I love baking in an electric oven. I never thought I’d feel that way, but after all the years of throwing burned things away when I had gas ovens, it’s wonderful to know that there’ll be almost no difference between the stuff baked on the top rack and the stuff baked on the bottom one. I think I’d still rather have a gas stove, but only for cooking, not cleaning. I have one of those ceramic cooktops, and I had to get all new pots and pans that would work with it. It’s more consistent than an electric coil, but it takes a long time to cool down. Ah, but cleaning it. . .whenever I get irritated about it being electric, I just try to remember having to disassemble a gas stove to clean it, and the hours it took to get all the gunk out because I was the first one to think about what might be under there. . .

You know what else I love? Cookie scoops. I have five or six different sizes, and I use them for cookies, muffins, cupcakes, even ravioli and samosa fillings. And my KitchenAid stand mixer, I’ve loved that for years, even when I have to hammer the hinge pin back in. And commercial bakeware that doesn’t have that stupid nonstick surface that sticks to the food but not the metal. Yeah, I need more of that stuff.