Of baking, spring, and a very good day....

Recipe from my new cookbook ~ peanut butter sandwich cookies....

A few weeks ago I was crusin through Williams-Sonoma and came across this really cool cook book... 

The first recipe I flipped to was for a pink grapefruit sorbet, and I just had to have it.  I reviewed the cake recipe that is pictured on the front...it's a pancake cake.  I've never even heard of this, and might try it sometime.  Looks interesting.  For breakfast, lol.

Two weeks ago I made my Outrageous Coconut Cake and took it to work, and of course heard some grumbling from the men...."it's for work, isn't it?".  So I made the peanut butter cookies pictured above.  Which are fabulous.  And peanutty.  I used an entire jar of peanut butter in the cookies and the filling, so they have a great peanut flavor.  My previous peanut butter cookie recipe barely had any peanut flavor, so I have ditched it and have adopted this new one.  

Friday, which began my four day weekend (I think I mentioned my new work schedule is a bit odd, but enjoyable), and I got so much stuff done, I amazed myself.  It was a good day.  If you're feeling a little blue, make a list and go for it.  Aside from excersize (which is usually good for boosting your mood) getting a lot of stuff done sure gave me a high.  The only black spot is the fact that I didn't work on my research paper at all.  I feel only a little guilty.  As I've mentioned, the looming deadline is a great motivator for me, and my brain squirts out some creative solutions that I don't normally come up with otherwise.  I hope my brain starts squirting soon.....

Spring has definitely arrived here in New Mexico.  Most of the trees are donning their leaves.  It's great to see after months of nothing but brown (well, except for the pines and junipers).  My wisteria is putting out flower buds, so soon I should have some color in the backyard ~ which is still a wasteland of doggy destruction.  We plan to plant a tree, and hope that said doggy will leave it alone! There is the possibility that she will think that we planted it for her to chew on.........

One other thing.......I feel happy.  And that's huge.

Love, 365

*&%#^&*()*^%$#@ research paper......

Credit

Well, I'm not writing an essay, but you get the general idea.  

It's not that I'm not interested in writing the paper.......no, really!

My professor is a really sweet, very knowledgeable guy.  I told him I've never written a research paper before, and have no freaking clue how to do it.  So, he begins by suggesting that I don't get caught up in a lot of details, but to zone in on the information I need to write it.  Ok, good advice.  Then he proceeds to give me more advice, and I fill up 3 pages in my notebook.  

3 frickin pages.

So, I am now overwhelmed again.  I am seriously thinking of e-mailing him that I'm sick and can't make it to class on Monday, and all because I can't find information on the internet that he implied should be easy-peasy.  Nope.  Damned if I can find any information on it at all on Google (! I know, right?).   My next plan of attack is to look for a peer reviewed paper that contains it.  Here is what I'm looking for ~ the percentage of corn in the diet of the Chacoan people (otherwise known as the Anasazi).  For different time periods.  Easy?  It might be for some people, but not for me.  I have found that I'm Google challenged.

I suppose it's the way I word things.  Someone else got to the right page right away, I have to play with it for half an hour ~ then I give up, if I haven't found it.  

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Otherwise, all is well.  Spring is springing up, and so far we haven't had 30-50 mile an hour winds.  Yet.  I hate wind.  And most of my Albuquerqueian acquaintances/friends/strangers you talk to in the line at the grocery store, all agree that wind sucks the big one.  

It's the kind of wind, that if you forget to put down the yard umbrella, it'll end up 3 block away on someone's roof.  Lawn chairs can appear out of nowhere.  Hopefully your dog weighs enough not to get blown out of the yard.  And if you wear contacts, it like the Earth is trying to throw rocks into your eye.  Wind sucks the big one.

At the same time, we all happily leave our jackets/coats/gloves behind and do our thang with shorts, tee shirts and flip flops.  By this time, we're all sick of our winter clothes, eh?  Shuck it, I say.  Put it in the seasonal plastic box that you store under the bed, and bring out the capri's, and the tank tops.  Because summer is just around the corner.

Love, 365

Oh, God, I'm exhausted.......

Mum's flowers...

Zzzzzz...snort.....huh?  wha?  Sorry, I was zoning out.  I am so tired.  It's just still a bit of an adjustment of the time change (stupid, stupid....either eliminate it or let's just do it all the time, but enough of the twice a year change, damit!) and acclimating to my new job. 

Why I love my new job:

1)  The staff is so nice.  I've seen a few almost heated discussions, but they weren't hateful or back stabbing, or accusatory.  At first I was freaking out, but soon calmed down when I noticed no one else was concerned.  

2)  We have really great coffee, which given the time change, I really need.  Otherwise, I feel like a zombie...

credit

3)  I can contribute!  Isn't this what we all really want?  To make a difference?

There are a few more reasons, but I am so tired, I can't concentrate.  I need to sleep...and tomorrow is Friday, so I can really work on my research paper.  (waaaah)

Love, 365  

The happy life of a procrastinator.....

Google images....

I have been at my new job for 3 weeks now.....and I have to say, it's the best thing that's happened to me in a long time.  Everyone is so helpful, patient and kind.  It took me about 2 weeks to acclimate.  I wasn't used to "nice".  It's-------wonderful!

On the college front, I am panicking about this research paper I have to write.  I will have one on one time with the Prof. this Monday, where I plan to bear my soul and let him know I've never written a paper like this and I have no idea how to start.

Today is the last day I can submit my receipts to the FSA people for reimbursement for 2014.  I am ready, finally.

Now for the stupid part.  I keep the keys to our locked mailbox in my otherwise unused ashtray (yeah, I have a 12 year old suv).  When I went to the carwash, I thought I should take them out to prevent the possibility of theft.  We had a new mailbox and new keys to go with, because last summer someone used a crowbar to pry open the box to get to everyone's mail.  There are probably 20 mailboxes in the unit, so we all had to go to the post office for about 3 weeks for mail until they replaced the broken unit ~ hopefully with one that would be much more difficult to crowbar open, I hope.  Not to mention checking credit cards and bank statements to see if they were lucky enough to get mail with checks, etc.  So, anyway, by Tuesday I went to check the mail, only to realize I had put the keys somewhere.....I cleaned out all the cubbies, emptied my purse, looked through the glove box (I had locked it).  Nothing.  I looked everywhere.  I had finally decided that after racquetball I would go to the post office to request new keys, and hopefully quick access to my mail.  Oh.  The racquetball bag!  I finally found them, but felt rather foolish.  These are the kind of things that make me nuts.  How about you?

Enjoy the weekend!

Love, 365

Daylight "savings"...right.

(Google images)

I love my new workplace....the staff and Dr's are wonderful.  But the coffee.....oh, man, I really love the coffee.  My first day, my coworker announced it was time for coffee (yay!) and had me pick out a pod for the keurig machine.  My first cup had me hooked.....even the powdered creamer didn't take anything away from the flavor.   The jolt of caffeine didn't hurt either!  It will be a godsend this coming Monday....the first day of daylight "saving" time.  

Don't get me wrong, I love the fact it will be light longer when I get home (especially now that my workday ends at 5pm instead of 4pm at my previous job).  But adjusting to getting up an hour earlier than the day before takes about 2 weeks before I don't feel like the living dead until 9am or so.

Did you know that Germany was the first country to implement daylight savings time?  And here you thought it was the U.S., huh?  Congress enacted the Uniform Time Act in 1966, which simply made everything the same unless the state decided not to participate (like Arizona).  

(Google images)

 I have lost this excuse because I use my cell phone for my alarm, and it annoyingly always has the correct time.....

Riiiight.....

Finally found one that expresses my sentiments.......

Enjoy your 47 hour weekend!

Love, 365