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

How ya doin’ this year? It’s not too cold up there at the North Pole is it? You didn’t send some of that cold air down here, did you? LOL How’s Rudolph and the rest of the reindeer? How are the Reindeer Games going this year? I heard they added curling for this years Games. I heard that the elves have an advantage there.

I thought I’d get you my Christmas Wish List a little early this year. I’m giving you a bunch of options to choose from. I don’t want you to think I’m greedy and want everything on the list. I’ll be happy with just one or two of ‘em. I just wanted to give you options. Well … let’s get down to business … here’s my list:

• candles (I really like this fragrance)
• MicroSD card for my cell phone (so I can have music on my phone)
• card reader to read that MicroSD card
• a cowboy
• iPod Shuffle (it’s kinda neat … and I could listen to it at work)
• Rubbermaid containers (mine are all pitted up and need to be replaced)
• memory for my computer (it’s gettin’ frickin’ S.L.O.W)
• a laptop … no specific brand … whatever is good
• gift cards for clothes … I don’t know what I want so I don’t expect to you figure it out … LOL. JCPenny is good or anywhere else too.
• a cowboy
• Cars DVD
• Talladega Nights DVD
• anything Dale Jr related
• anything Martin Truex related
• anything Paul Menard related
• cute cow figurines or small stuffed ones
• NASCAR DVD game
• a cowboy
• any of the CSI seasons on DVD
• Rachel Ray 30 Minute Meals cookbooks
• digital thermometer
• digital weather station
• NOAA weather radio
• have I mentioned a cowboy?
• Gone with the Wind DVD
• anything techy
• a makeover (I have NO idea how to apply makeup to make me look pretty …
• a membership to a fitness center (then maybe I’d work out)
• I don’t think I mentioned that I want a cowboy.

That’s about it. I think you should be able to find something on that list to bring me.

Mood: silly   Grey’s Anatomy / GH

One week ago at this exact time, I was loading up my car to head home for Mom and Dad’s for Thanksgiving, and I wasn’t wearing a coat. There’s no way in hell I would go out without a coat today. It’s 8° out with a windchill of -11°. What a difference a week makes … especially in North Dakota.

But I guess I shouldn’t complain too much. We still don’t have any snow on the ground. And I’m fine with that.

Mood: hungry   30 Minute Meals

I’ve been meaning to post about my newest toy since I got it, but I’ve been being lazy. I was taking a bit of a break from the computer this weekend. I was on it a little bit while playing with my phone, but that’s about it. But, I’m back now.

I was going to get a MicroSD card and reader to use with my phone, but now I’m not sure I’m going to. The main reason I wanted to get it was so I could get my own wallpapers and ringtones on the phone. But I can do that without the card. Since my new phone is a camera phone, I can get both text and picture messages. So … I’ve been using Verizon’s PIX Place to send myself pictures for wallpapers and MyxerTones to send myself ringtones. I really like MyxerTones … I can upload songs that I already have on my computer and create ringtones from them. All for FREE!!! I said I was a cheapskate …

Right now I’ve got a Dale Jr pic as the main wallpaper and a picture of my Dale Jr flag as wallpaper on the front. I can handle opening up my phone and looking at a hot guy.

I only really have one gripe about the phone. The front display isn’t on all the time. It’s only on for up to 30 seconds max after the phone has been shut. That means I actually have to open up the phone (or push one of the buttons on the side) to see what time it is or to see if anyone sent me any text messages or called while I was at work. When I go out to the bar, I use my phone as a clock since I don’t wear a watch any more. Now I won’t just be able to look at it to see what time it is. That’s gonna suck.

But overall, I really like the phone. I might eventually get a MicroSD card and reader or a USB cable so I can put music on my phone. But for right now, I’m not going to do that. I got a phone to be a phone … not an mp3 player.

Mood: blah   CSI: Miami

My phone is finally here. Actually, they tried to deliver it just before noon, but I wasn’t here. I was still at Mom and Dad’s. But I got back to town about 5pm. Grabbed the ticket they put down on the door, called FedEx, and then went to pick up my phone. I came home and looked through the stuff that came with the phone and FINALLY opened up the box with the phone. It’s charging right now. I’m gonna wait ’til tomorrow morning to activate it. I want to make sure that the battery is fully charged before I do that. I’ll have all weekend to play with it.

I’m gonna call Verizon tomorrow too. I got a letter in the mail on Wednesday that said something about 1500 bonus anytime minutes when you renew or upgrade your plan. Well … I just renewed mine. I want those extra 1500 minutes (not that I’ll ever use them … LOL). I also want to check on my text message plan. I think the one I had with my current plan carried over to the new one, but I’m not sure. And I need to check to see if that includes picture messaging or not. I don’t know that I’ll be doing a lot of picture messaging, but I might do something with that … at least to get the pics off of the phone (until I get that MicroSD card).

Well … I’d better go finish unpacking and putting my crap away. I haven’t done any of that yet. I’ve been all about the phone … LOL. And I’m starting to get hungry again. Lisa made a pizza about 3pm before I left. I ate 3 big pieces of that, so I wasn’t hungry. But I’m starting to get a little hungry. Maybe I’ll have a piece of pumpkin gooey butter cake. I left a bunch of it at home with Mom, but I’ve got some left for me too.

The sooner I get my stuff put away, the sooner I can get back to the phone … I’ll probably go thru the user guide tonite. I really wanna start playing with the phone now, but gotta let that battery charge up. I hope there is some indication on the phone when it’s fully charged. My current phone has a charger cradle that has a light on it to let me know when it’s done. This new one just has a cord. I’m sure it will beep or something. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.

Mood: okay

It’s finally on it’s way. And it’s scheduled for delivery this Friday. I guess I know when I’ll be coming home from Mom and Dad’s. I hope Mom doesn’t get upset about that. But I wanna play with my phone over the weekend.

I had to call this morning to get my tracking number. They say they send out a confirmation email when things are shipped. Bull. I haven’t gotten one, and it was shipped yesterday.

But who cares now. I’ve got my tracking number. I know when I’m scheduled to get it. Now I just have to wait.

Off to work. Thank goodness it’s a 4-day weekend.

Mood: awake   Today