I feel like the worst friend in the world. Robin wanted to go out tonite, but I didn’t want to. And she was gonna be the DD. She still went out … with her brother and his roommate … but I feel like a heel not going out with her. I’m sure she’ll still have fun. She knows people at the bar and she’s the type who’ll go up and talk to other people. But I still feel like a bad friend for not going with her.

I’m just not in the mood. It’s not just because of the drama that was there last time. I just feel like I wouldn’t have had fun. I haven’t the last few (dozen) times I’ve gone out … no matter who I’m with. I think I forgot to how to have fun … if I ever knew how. And I know I would have felt like crap when midnite rolled around and I watched everyone kissing everyone else. Aren’t I the optimistic one … LOL.

I just feel like if I had gone out, I would have ruined Robin’s nite. So … she’ll have more fun in the long run with me staying home. Hopefully she understands and isn’t mad at me.

Mood: indescribable   CSI marathon

A huge mess … that’s what!! I think Mother Nature is drunk or stoned or something. Doesn’t she know that it’s not supposed to rain when there’s snow on the ground? In December?

We had a brown Christmas. The first that I remember. Yeah … it was strange, but I wasn’t that upset. One week later … all hells broke loose. I can deal with snow. This is ND and this is December … almost January. But I don’t like this shit that we’ve got this weekend. We’re in a winter storm warning until Sunday nite (at midnite). It’s 34° out right now and raining. It was raining a little when I went to the grocery store. And then when I went to Walmart the skies opened up. There are large puddles all over. And the streets are a slushy mess where there aren’t puddles. I sure the hell don’t want to be out driving after the temps drop below freezing. It’s gonna be one icy mess. I’m glad I took Tuesday off of work now. Hopefully the mess will be cleaned up by then.

And New Year’s Eve should be fun. Drunk people driving in the slushy, possibly icy, mess. That’s a recipe for disaster. Hopefully people will be smart.

I’m not sure yet if I’m going out. I didn’t really want to … don’t want to deal with the drama and shit at the bar I usually go to (I won’t get into it, but it’s all very much like junior high … LOL). But Robin mentioned that she wanted to go out. I was gonna give her a call tonite to see if she still wanted to. I wouldn’t be heartbroke if she said no. It’s not like I’m gonna have anyone to kiss at midnite … But … Avalanche is playing and I always have fun with Robin. I’ll just have to wait and see.

Mood: blah   Ultimate Tornado

I FINALLY bought some memory for my computer. Right now, my system only as 448MB. I know … I know … what the hell was I thinking taking so long to upgrade. It’s called “lack of moola” … LOL.

I decided to use part of my Christmas bonus to upgrade to more memory. I bought a 512 MB stick of Kingston ValueRAM from NewEgg. This will double the amount of memory I have installed … bringing it up to 896MB (if my calculations are correct … after replacing the 64MB stick with this new one). I was able to get it for just under $66, including shipping. They say it’ll take 1 to 2 business days to process my order. And then the shipping is guaranteed within 3 days. Things will be delayed some with the New Year’s holiday, but still … I should *HOPEFULLY* have my new memory by next week Thursday or Friday. Hopefully it’ll get here sooner rather than later … LOL. I just hope I don’t smash my system before then.

And this will still leave me with money left over from my Christmas bonus. I really want to get an mp3 player. I’ll be researching to find a good one for around $60. I don’t need a spendy iPod. Just something I can put my music on and listen to at work. And if I find one I like that is a little more expensive, I’ll just wait ’til my next paycheck … I don’t have to make a full car payment (it’ll be my last one and will be around $200 or so). I just have to be patient … if that’s possible …

Mood: okay   CSI

I always say … I’d be happy if we didn’t have snow ’til Christmas Eve and then it can melt on Dec. 26th. Yeah … we already had some snow, but it’s all gone. The temps have been pretty nice lately. I believe it got up to 41° or 42° today. And it was close to that yesterday. Christmas is only 5 days away, and we don’t have any measurable snow on the ground.

The forecast has a chance of snow on Friday, but it doesn’t appear to be much. I can’t remember there being a Christmas that wasn’t white. I’m not gonna complain though. We could get a blizzard and be buried in a couple feet of snow at any moment … this is North Dakota after all.

I’ll keep ya posted if we have snow or not (not that you probably care … but I’m gonna tell ya anyways).

Mood: drained   Christmas Do-Over

I got Lisa’s Christmas present on Saturday and bought some baking supplies. I made a batch of spritz cookies on Sunday. I’ll probably make at least one more batch. I got about 6 1/2 dozen from the batch I made. But if I do make another batch, I’ll be adding extra almond extract. Just not enough of it in there for me.

I made a batch of peanut butter blossoms tonite. I used Hershey’s Kisses (Dark Chocolate … ) instead of chocolate stars. I got 4 dozen plus 1 out of the batch. I WILL definitely be making more batches of those. And I’m so proud of myself … I’ve only eaten 1. But I have a feeling that I’ll be eating 1 more when I pack them up (after the chocolate sets up). I ate around 6 or so of the spritz yesterday. I couldn’t help myself. They’re small … and I had to eat the ones that didn’t turn out very well.

And I got my Christmas cards written up tonite. All I have left to do is seal the envelopes and put on the stamps. I am going to have to get more stamps in order to send ‘em all out.

I think I’ll be making some pecan tassies tomorrow nite … probably a double-batch. Not sure yet.

Mood: blah   GH

It’s hard to believe it’s December with the temps out right now.

I went to the grocery store a little bit ago and wore my leather jacket. I didn’t even button it up when I walked from the store back to my car. I came home and opened up my balcony window. It’s nice to get some fresh air in here.

This mild weather means that the streets are melting too. I just wish the sun would hit in front of my garage to get rid of that thin sheet of ice. I still need to get a decent shovel, so I can’t chip away at it. One of these mornings, I’m gonna go crashing down ‘cuz I’m not paying attention.

I did some Christmas shopping this morning. I was actually at Walmart before 10am. This is the 3rd weekend in a row that I’ve been there by 10am. I wanted to get there before the mass of people go too large. And I’ll probably be out there again next Saturday to do some more Christmas shopping since I get paid next Friday.

I bought some of my baking supplies too. Between what I got at Walmart and what I got at the grocery store, I think I’m ready to go. I’m only worried about running out of a couple of things … brown sugar and petit four cups (for my peanut butter cups) and maybe cream cheese (depends on how many batches of tassies I end up making). I’ll probably run out of butter too. I got 2 pounds. I shoulda got 3. The unsalted stuff is cheaper at Walmart than at the grocery store.

My Christmas tree is now complete as well. I put it up after I got home from Mom and Dad’s after Thanksgiving … so it’s been up a while. But it’s just now complete. I bought a box of candy canes to put on it.

Click for a larger image

I think I’m gonna wait ’til tomorrow to start my baking. I need to clean up the apartment some and I just don’t feel like standing around the kitchen when it’s so damn nice out. And I could use a nap too … LOL. Whatever happened to me being able to sleep until noon on the weekends. Ah … the good ol’ days.

Mood: okay   Froggy 99.9FM

I believe I have my Christmas baking list all ready to go. This year, I plan on making:

• pecan tassies
• peanut butter blossoms
• peanut butter cups
• peanut brittle
• spritz cookies

That’s basically what my list is every year. But this year I decided to make the spritz instead of my butter cookies. I want something different. And that butter cookie recipe (uses a cake mix) makes a ton (around 7 dozen if I remember). And I’m hoping the spritz cookies will make my cookie press happier. The pressure builds up quite a bit with other ones. But I’m assuming I’ll have the same issue with these.

I might also make some hopscotch (haystack) cookies as well (they use chow mien noodles). I kinda wanna do something different.

Do you bake any goodies at Christmas-time? Are you willing to share? As I said, I’m looking for something new to make this year. Something fun and nummy. I’ll share my recipes in return if you’re interested in any of ‘em.

Mood: cold   America’s Next Top Model

Hey Santa … I thought of a couple more things that I missed on my list that I forgot. Nothing extravagant, just a few things I forgot …

• a car charger for my cell phone (LG VX8300)
• any mp3 player (I had mentioned an iPod Shuffle, but any cheaper one would work too)
• a stereo
• charm bracelet
• a cowboy

See … it wasn’t a whole lot more. Just a few more options that I thought of.

Mood: dorky   NASCAR Awards Banquet

I guess I should have expected it. It is December 1st. This is North Dakota. Winter had to come at some point.

There was some snow on the ground when I left for work this morning. Not a lot, but enough to be noticed. And on my home tonite (after getting my oil changed), the snow started coming down again, and at a pretty good pace. When I was eating supper, it was coming down and blowing around a lot. And it’s snowing a little again now.

I know I should be used to it. But I don’t think I ever will. If I didn’t have something to complain about … I just wouldn’t be happy … LOL.

Mood: blah   NASCAR Awards Banquet