So, sleeping-in this morning didn't happen. I was wide awake at 4:30am....FOR NO REASON!!!
I should have used that extra awake time constructively, but I didn't. I pretty much lazed around until I had to leave for my pedicure appointment. And I bought stuff on Ebay and Amazon. Boredom is dangerous!
It took forever to get home from LA, since I was a dumbass who didn't check the traffic reports.
It will probably be a good idea to run my errands early tomorrow. I'll need a lot of time to clean... the apartment doesn't complete the weekly clean on it's own! Yes, I decided that I was going to clean each week and not just when I felt it needs it. It sucks because I HATE dusting and things like that, especially combined with doing/folding laundry. Ick.
Saturday, September 23, 2017
Friday, September 22, 2017
It's Friday!
I'm definitely looking forward to sleeping in this weekend. I'll probably spend most of the next couple of days close to home. I don't have any definite plans, other than a pedicure. I'm going to lend the gal who does my hair the air fryer I bought, so I'll drop that off while I'm in LA.
The sleeping in part is what I'm really looking forward to though.
Fingers-crossed the weather stays mild. It's supposed to get hot this next week, but I'm hoping this weekend is cool and hopefully breezy.
I'm definitely looking forward to sleeping in this weekend. I'll probably spend most of the next couple of days close to home. I don't have any definite plans, other than a pedicure. I'm going to lend the gal who does my hair the air fryer I bought, so I'll drop that off while I'm in LA.
The sleeping in part is what I'm really looking forward to though.
Fingers-crossed the weather stays mild. It's supposed to get hot this next week, but I'm hoping this weekend is cool and hopefully breezy.
Tuesday, September 12, 2017
I read that Len Wein passed away, which touches my cold, cold heart.
I encountered Mr. Wein a lot over the years. Sometimes it was at conventions with crowds of people and sometimes it was one on one at restaurants in and around Los Angeles or at The Thrilling Adventure Hour. Sadly, I can't think of a single occasion where he remembered we'd met many, MANY times before (even though I saved him places in lines and let him go ahead of me, lol).
When I heard the news, I texted my friend:
"Len Wein died. 🙁 Do you think he remembers all those times he met me now?"
Her response was awesome:
"I'm sure he's looking down from heaven at you right now and saying to himself, "I'm gonna miss her".
Awe, that was a nice thing to say, right?
Rest easy Mr. Wein, this closet comic book fangirl will never forget the many times we met. I count myself fortunate to have been able to chat with you and get to know you a little bit. I'm sure if The Thrilling Adventure Hour was still performing at Largo, you'd get the biggest send-off ever from Sparks, Croach, Ginny, Frank, Sadie, Gummy, Captain Laserbeam, Amelia Earhart, the Algonquin Four and all the rest!!! SNIKT!!!
I encountered Mr. Wein a lot over the years. Sometimes it was at conventions with crowds of people and sometimes it was one on one at restaurants in and around Los Angeles or at The Thrilling Adventure Hour. Sadly, I can't think of a single occasion where he remembered we'd met many, MANY times before (even though I saved him places in lines and let him go ahead of me, lol).
When I heard the news, I texted my friend:
"Len Wein died. 🙁 Do you think he remembers all those times he met me now?"
Her response was awesome:
"I'm sure he's looking down from heaven at you right now and saying to himself, "I'm gonna miss her".
Awe, that was a nice thing to say, right?
Rest easy Mr. Wein, this closet comic book fangirl will never forget the many times we met. I count myself fortunate to have been able to chat with you and get to know you a little bit. I'm sure if The Thrilling Adventure Hour was still performing at Largo, you'd get the biggest send-off ever from Sparks, Croach, Ginny, Frank, Sadie, Gummy, Captain Laserbeam, Amelia Earhart, the Algonquin Four and all the rest!!! SNIKT!!!
Sunday, September 10, 2017
I decided to go to my parents house again this year for the Labor Day weekend holiday. The difference this time is that I decided to bring my uncle along as a surprise for my dad.
Getting ready for the trip was a bit of a challenge. I needed to go into work for a little bit that Friday morning as it was a co-workers birthday. Part of his gift was a batch of gluten-free brownies, plus my redneck co-worker surprised everyone and got married in secret to his gluten-free girlfriend. I decided that, since I was already making GF brownies, I might as well make them a GF cake.
Now, apart from flourless chocolate cake, I've never made gluten-free baked goods. "I can do this! I'm a pretty decent baker, it's just a matter of following recipes!". Thursday afternoon, I went to Trader Joe's after work and spent $100 on everything I thought I'd need. Yes, $100!!!!!! Argh! I decided to make the romantic flourless chocolate cake first for the newlyweds. I don't know if it was the heat and humidity or what, but it didn't turn out right when it came to removing it from the pan. It fell apart.....so did the next TWO I made!!! CRAP!!!! Yes, I made THREE. Unfortunately, one ended-up on the floor, but I salvaged the other two. Ack! PLAN B!!! I'd printed a recipe for a lemon cake that's made with almond meal (I was going to make a vanilla cake, but neglected to buy xantham gum.....where the heck do I get THAT from?).
Time was clicking down and it was getting late and I still needed to finish packing. Looking at the thermostat, I saw that it was 96 in my apartment!!! I wanted to stop baking, but I couldn't. I had to boil the whole lemons and start on the brownies. They both looked kinda gross by the time they were ready to go in the oven (the lemon cake looked like a cake pan full of grainy mustard). While they were baking, I made the lemon icing for the cake. Oddly, the cake seemed to be done 30 minutes early, but I left it in for another 10 minutes to be on the safe side.
When they were both done, I took them out of the oven and decided that, after three cakes falling apart, that I was going to try to keep them in their pans (I took off the spring form ring, but left the bottom tray). Once the cake had cooled a bit, I poked holes all over it (the recipe didn't call for it, but I was afraid it was going to be dry) and drenched it with the lemon icing and put both in the fridge.
An hour later I was packed and pretty much ready to go.
I went to work in the morning and everyone loved their baked goods/presents/surprises. I included a ripped-up flourless chocolate cake for the redneck and his new wife as an extra treat. Later he told me that both cakes were good. The lemon was a little dry, but the icing helped. I guess gluten-free cakes are usually kind of dry though, so they expected it.
I left work at 9am, went home, got the rental car and picked up my uncle about 10:30am. It then took us 45 minutes to get out of Pasadena. WTF??!!?? We had to go a different way than we'd planned as the hwy we were going to use was closed. There were accidents everywhere, so it ended up taking about 11 hours to get there. We were exhausted, but still in good spirits and getting along great, when we finally pulled up to my parents house.
The surprise, as I said, went well, so everyone was happy.
We spent Saturday hanging around the house and barbecuing. On Sunday, my mom had a great idea to get us tickets for a Civil War Reenactment train ride. We made time to go to a berry farm on the way so we could pick up berries and peaches to make jam. The train was a bit of a drive away in Virginia City, but we got there early and toured around.
Unfortunately, the train didn't leave on time, so we got kind of overheated waiting to board. There were folks dressed in period costumes on the train with us. It was nice in theory, but hoop skirts take up A LOT of room and the train seemed overbooked. We FINALLY got going and it was.....kind of boring. We got the warning about loud noises from the guns and canons, so I put in the ear plugs I had in my purse from a recent concert. The train stopped and the battle began!!! Exciting!!! It went on for quite a while, which was cool. Canons, guns, everything! They were right, the explosions were super-loud!
As I was watching the battle, I noticed that a lot of Union soldiers were on the ground and all the Confederate guys were still standing. HUH??!!?? I asked my dad when the battle was going to turn around and he was just as confused as I was. Welllll, on this train, the Confederates won the battle. Yep, the South wins in Virginia City. Now, I know that they won a ton of battles during the war, but I don't go to reenactments to see the South win! It was so fucked-up, especially in the current political climate we're in.
We finally leave and get dinner on the way home. We were going to barbecue again, but everything was so behind schedule and we were so tired, it was easier to go to a restaurant.
We planned on leaving at 6am the next morning, so it was a fairly early night. I ended-up waking at my normal weekday time, so we were actually able to leave about 5:40am (after sitting around for a while). We got gas, then headed out. The drive was fine until I got a speeding ticket, my first since 1991!!!! I was ticketed for going 35 in a 25 and I swear I didn't see the stupid sign that said the speed limit was 25! He said I was actually 50, but was going to be nice and only give me a ticket for going 10 miles over. The slow-moving sheriff officer who gave me the ticket took forever, so leaving early was for nothing, PLUS now I had to watch my speed, which sucked ass.
The next trick will be trying to get them to let me go to NV traffic school online. Researching it, I've found conflicting information and I can't call the courthouse until 2 weeks after my ticket was issued. It's only one pount on my lucense, but stillllll.
We didn't stop for gas until we got to Lone Pine (I think). The lines were crazy! Wevwere behin a huge RV and it turned out that the guy wasn't even pumping gas. He'd walked away and I guess his credit card either maced out or was never approved. After getting gas, we had to get into another line, so the delays kept stacking up. the next delay was when we found that one of the fwys we were taking was going to be closed due to fire. Fuck, we weren't ever going to get home!
Even with everything thrown in our way, we managed to make it home by a little before 2:30pm. I was so glad to stand up and walk around! Driving for that long is rough! I spent about 20 hours behind the wheel over the course of a few days!
My uncle made the trip awesome though! We're very well suited for traveling together.
I was craving almonds before the trip, so as one of the road snacks I picked up was smokehouse almods. OHMYGODTHEYRESOGOOD!!! I'm addicted!!
Getting ready for the trip was a bit of a challenge. I needed to go into work for a little bit that Friday morning as it was a co-workers birthday. Part of his gift was a batch of gluten-free brownies, plus my redneck co-worker surprised everyone and got married in secret to his gluten-free girlfriend. I decided that, since I was already making GF brownies, I might as well make them a GF cake.
Now, apart from flourless chocolate cake, I've never made gluten-free baked goods. "I can do this! I'm a pretty decent baker, it's just a matter of following recipes!". Thursday afternoon, I went to Trader Joe's after work and spent $100 on everything I thought I'd need. Yes, $100!!!!!! Argh! I decided to make the romantic flourless chocolate cake first for the newlyweds. I don't know if it was the heat and humidity or what, but it didn't turn out right when it came to removing it from the pan. It fell apart.....so did the next TWO I made!!! CRAP!!!! Yes, I made THREE. Unfortunately, one ended-up on the floor, but I salvaged the other two. Ack! PLAN B!!! I'd printed a recipe for a lemon cake that's made with almond meal (I was going to make a vanilla cake, but neglected to buy xantham gum.....where the heck do I get THAT from?).
Time was clicking down and it was getting late and I still needed to finish packing. Looking at the thermostat, I saw that it was 96 in my apartment!!! I wanted to stop baking, but I couldn't. I had to boil the whole lemons and start on the brownies. They both looked kinda gross by the time they were ready to go in the oven (the lemon cake looked like a cake pan full of grainy mustard). While they were baking, I made the lemon icing for the cake. Oddly, the cake seemed to be done 30 minutes early, but I left it in for another 10 minutes to be on the safe side.
When they were both done, I took them out of the oven and decided that, after three cakes falling apart, that I was going to try to keep them in their pans (I took off the spring form ring, but left the bottom tray). Once the cake had cooled a bit, I poked holes all over it (the recipe didn't call for it, but I was afraid it was going to be dry) and drenched it with the lemon icing and put both in the fridge.
An hour later I was packed and pretty much ready to go.
I went to work in the morning and everyone loved their baked goods/presents/surprises. I included a ripped-up flourless chocolate cake for the redneck and his new wife as an extra treat. Later he told me that both cakes were good. The lemon was a little dry, but the icing helped. I guess gluten-free cakes are usually kind of dry though, so they expected it.
I left work at 9am, went home, got the rental car and picked up my uncle about 10:30am. It then took us 45 minutes to get out of Pasadena. WTF??!!?? We had to go a different way than we'd planned as the hwy we were going to use was closed. There were accidents everywhere, so it ended up taking about 11 hours to get there. We were exhausted, but still in good spirits and getting along great, when we finally pulled up to my parents house.
The surprise, as I said, went well, so everyone was happy.
We spent Saturday hanging around the house and barbecuing. On Sunday, my mom had a great idea to get us tickets for a Civil War Reenactment train ride. We made time to go to a berry farm on the way so we could pick up berries and peaches to make jam. The train was a bit of a drive away in Virginia City, but we got there early and toured around.
Unfortunately, the train didn't leave on time, so we got kind of overheated waiting to board. There were folks dressed in period costumes on the train with us. It was nice in theory, but hoop skirts take up A LOT of room and the train seemed overbooked. We FINALLY got going and it was.....kind of boring. We got the warning about loud noises from the guns and canons, so I put in the ear plugs I had in my purse from a recent concert. The train stopped and the battle began!!! Exciting!!! It went on for quite a while, which was cool. Canons, guns, everything! They were right, the explosions were super-loud!
As I was watching the battle, I noticed that a lot of Union soldiers were on the ground and all the Confederate guys were still standing. HUH??!!?? I asked my dad when the battle was going to turn around and he was just as confused as I was. Welllll, on this train, the Confederates won the battle. Yep, the South wins in Virginia City. Now, I know that they won a ton of battles during the war, but I don't go to reenactments to see the South win! It was so fucked-up, especially in the current political climate we're in.
We finally leave and get dinner on the way home. We were going to barbecue again, but everything was so behind schedule and we were so tired, it was easier to go to a restaurant.
We planned on leaving at 6am the next morning, so it was a fairly early night. I ended-up waking at my normal weekday time, so we were actually able to leave about 5:40am (after sitting around for a while). We got gas, then headed out. The drive was fine until I got a speeding ticket, my first since 1991!!!! I was ticketed for going 35 in a 25 and I swear I didn't see the stupid sign that said the speed limit was 25! He said I was actually 50, but was going to be nice and only give me a ticket for going 10 miles over. The slow-moving sheriff officer who gave me the ticket took forever, so leaving early was for nothing, PLUS now I had to watch my speed, which sucked ass.
The next trick will be trying to get them to let me go to NV traffic school online. Researching it, I've found conflicting information and I can't call the courthouse until 2 weeks after my ticket was issued. It's only one pount on my lucense, but stillllll.
We didn't stop for gas until we got to Lone Pine (I think). The lines were crazy! Wevwere behin a huge RV and it turned out that the guy wasn't even pumping gas. He'd walked away and I guess his credit card either maced out or was never approved. After getting gas, we had to get into another line, so the delays kept stacking up. the next delay was when we found that one of the fwys we were taking was going to be closed due to fire. Fuck, we weren't ever going to get home!
Even with everything thrown in our way, we managed to make it home by a little before 2:30pm. I was so glad to stand up and walk around! Driving for that long is rough! I spent about 20 hours behind the wheel over the course of a few days!
My uncle made the trip awesome though! We're very well suited for traveling together.
I was craving almonds before the trip, so as one of the road snacks I picked up was smokehouse almods. OHMYGODTHEYRESOGOOD!!! I'm addicted!!
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