Posts Tagged ‘daily life’
Quick Update
Monday, March 29th, 2010Sorry to be so late in posting. This week has been very busy. I was in training most of the week for my new temp job: I am an enumerator for the 2010 census. I only have time to post this quick note.
For those of you who are interested two quick updates. The first is to let anyone who is interested know that the DISH guy finally left – after I went to work. He was apparently here until around 4pm. (I must say, I admire his dedication). The good news is that he did finally get everything working. He was her for nearly 7 hours.
The second update is that I did try the almond fudge. I didn’t like the results as well as the maple walnut. So I decided to make candy out of it by adding almond, carmel and chocolate. I was met with rave reviews. So at least I was able to make something that I think would be loved by most people.
Anyway, I have to go to my second job now. I will try to post again soon.
Waiting for the cable guy
Friday, March 19th, 2010We all know the joys of waiting for the cable guy (or in today’s case the DISH guy) to show up. They give you a block of time when the guy is supposed to show up and you sit around waiting for hours and the guy shows up a few minutes before his time runs out. Or at least that’s how it usually happens. But not today. Today he was supposed to show up at 9am and that’s when he came. Just as I was stepping out of the shower. Lovely! But at least he was here (and on time!). And he’s still here (it’s 12:15pm). Which might explain why he might be late to his next appointment.
Why is it taking him so long? He seems to be a reasonably competent guy, so I don’t think its because of any fault of his. The problem is (we believe) because Mom and I live near the town’s water tower which seems to be interfering with our reception. The guy is currently trying out the third location to put the dish. Hopefully, this will work.
Anyway, this is a new twist on the old problem. Instead of waiting for the guy to arrive, I am waiting for him to leave. Leave it to me to come up with a new difficulty. Especially since I have to go to work in about 30 minutes.
Pet Radar
Friday, March 12th, 2010Sometimes I think my cats have radar for when I would find their presence the biggest nuisance. I know this is not true, it is probably that they are feeling neglected and decide that it is time that they had some attention. For instance, in order to write this post, I had to evict one of my cats from my arms. I was getting ready to start this post (which was going to be on something else) when my cat jumped up on my computer (the tower kind that sits next to my chair) and crawled into my lap. As I write this, the cat that I put down is back up on the computer waiting for me to give in and pick her up again.
One of the things that is most annoying (and upsetting) is my cats’ ability to block my path. I don’t know how many times I have stepped back (something I should know better than to do in this house) and tromped on a cat. And of course there is the ever popular cat move of running a few steps ahead and stopping to look back to make sure you are still headed in the same direction, thereby blocking your path. This move is especially effective (and dangerous) on stairs. Now, admittedly, this is just because they love me and want to be with me, but it is still frustrating.
I’m sure all of you with pets have similar tales. A guess it means that our pets love us.
More Fudge
Friday, March 5th, 2010Sorry for the delay in this post; I was experiencing connectivity issues.
I have been at it again! I have had the fudge making bug. I made peanut butter fudge last week and I made maple walnut fudge this week. Some of you might remember that my last attempt at maple walnut fudge was not to successful. I am happy to report that this time my fudge was perfect. Not only did it have a fabulous flavor, the texture was good, too. My problem last time was that I used a grinder and I did not get the walnuts smooth enough. This time I used a blender and I blended the walnuts until they were fairly smooth. I would liked to have gotten them smoother, but I don’t think I can with the equipment I have. However, my efforts paid off. Last time the fudge turned out grainy, this time the fudge was smooth. I have been having a hard time not eating all of it!
This time, I also experimented with chocolate. I have a mold that makes 16 candies about the size of a Reese’s cup. Since my fudge is so sweet, I decided to try it with dark chocolate. I tried making peanut butter fudge cups and was successful, but I thought it was a time consuming process. After I made the cups, I poured the extra chocolate over the rest of the peanut butter fudge. I decided that since the flavor was the same, next time I would save myself the trouble and just do it that way.
Next up: almond fudge.
You might wonder, what’s with all the fudge? I have been toying around with the idea of selling my fudge to local stores to make a little extra money. I’m not sure if anyone will be interested, but we shall see.
Happy Singles Awareness Day
Thursday, February 11th, 2010I know I am a few days early, but I would like to wish everyone Happy Singles Awareness Day. I know that you who have significant others call it something else, but for me, it’s Singles Awareness Day. It’s the day when those of us who are single go out and buy ourselves our favorite candy, take a long bubble bath, and curl up with our pets and contemplate whether or not we are better off than our encumbered friends.
I was just going to let this Singles Awareness Day go by uncelebrated, when my mother dropped a huge hint: “If you get me anything for [Singles Awareness Day], get me some Lindt chocolate balls.” Since I love Lindt chocolate balls as much as anyone with taste buds, I have of course gone out and procured some. Mom always shares. She doesn’t want to be saddle with all of the calories, so she likes to spread them around. Needless to say, come Sunday I will do my part to make sure that all the calories do not all end up with her. I have also gotten her a less calorie ladened gift: a scented oil warmer. She likes candles and aromatic things, so I think she will like it.
Anyway, however you plan to celebrate your own Singles Awareness Day, I hope that you have a good day.
I’m done!
Thursday, February 4th, 2010I’m so happy! I finished my taxes and sent them in yesterday! I feel so accomplished! I even filed my paperwork.
I’m gloating, I know, and I don’t want to bring anyone down. If you haven’t done your taxes yet, you’re in the majority at this point. I received the last of my W-2s last week, and money is really tight for me. So, I just set out to see if I would be getting money back or paying. Since I found out that I would be getting money back, I decided to go ahead and complete my tax returns and send them in.
And how did I do it? Did I use a tax program or one of the on-line sites? Did I go to a professional? No, as I said, money is tight. I just pulled out last year’s returns (which I completed with the help of TaxCut) and used them as a templates for this year’s returns. I went to the federal and state websites and downloaded the forms and instructions I needed and just followed them. It took several hours but was relatively easy.
You might ask, why would a computer geek like me not use a tax program or a tax website? There are two answers for that: I’m broke and I’m cautious. I didn’t use a tax program because I do not have the money to pay for them. I didn’t use a tax website because even though some of them offer free returns (at least federal), I am wary of entering my personal information, including my social security number, into an online site. I know that at least the one I looked at claimed they would never do anything with the information, but what if they are hacked, have a disgruntled employee, or simply change their mind down the line? I just didn’t want to chance it. Besides, the being broke issue decided things for me, anyway.
I now just have to sit back and wait for the refunds. Since I mailed my returns in, I assume it will take longer than e-filing to get my refunds. I am hoping that since I sent in my returns early that I might get my refunds within a month. We shall see. I could really use them. My car registration and insurance is due soon.
Another fun day
Thursday, January 28th, 2010Yesterday was another fun day here in the land of cats. Even in the dead of winter, with snow on the ground, my cats have managed to keep their fleas no matter how often we call Terminix, put on flea-be-gone, or bath them. So, yesterday, mother and I once again summoned Terminix, put the cats in their carriers, and set out to abandon our place for the requisite 2 to 4 hours acompanied by our very vocal furry companions. We drove to Terre Haute to while away the time amid the chorus of protests from our feline friends.
Once we determined that it was safe, we return to our home, aired it out, brought the heat back up to an acceptable level, and the real fun commenced. Yes, I’m talking about cat bathing. If there is a cat out their who likes to be bathed, I haven’t met it. But I was determined to get rid of our current batch of fleas, so no matter how much they protested or squirmed, my cats got flea baths. Anyone who has bathed a cat can tell you that it is not only a battle of wills, but a musclar work out to keep a cat in a sink with running water while trying to apply flea soap. Even though I outweigh my cats by 20 times, I still have a problem giving them a bath. They may only be 10 to 15 pounds, but almost all of that weight is muscle and bone of an animal that HATES water. Add water and soap to the mix and you have a squirmy, slippery critter who is constantly testing your determination. And to add to the fun, I have 3 of them. Needless to say, mother and I were tired by the end of the day.
Did it work? Have I gotten rid of the fleas? Well, judging by the fact that one of my cats was scratching herself last night, I would say no.
Oh, the joy!
Thursday, January 14th, 2010I know I have been mia lately and some of you might have wondered why. It’s not that I haven’t been working on my computer, it’s just that I have been having the joy of doing a complete reinstall of the operating system on my PC and all that that entails. Needless to say, I have been feeling pretty cranky lately and since my internet access was sporadic at best, I didn’t feel updating my blog was a high priority.
I am back now, and I have moved most of my internet activities to my new Ubuntu machine. We shall see how this works.
I have also been messing with my blog and have added Google ads in my right sidebar. Right now they are all looking like ads for Paris and French hotels. Hopefully in a few days, they will become more relavent. It doesn’t really matter, though. They are just an experiment to prove that I can create Google ads on a blog page.
I hope all is well with everyone out there. My next update should note take as long.
Adventures in fudge
Wednesday, December 30th, 2009For most people who do holiday cooking, the holiday season means that they will be making roast turkey/ham, some favorite side dishes, a pie or two, and maybe some Christmas cookies. For me, it’s fudge season. Specifically peanut butter fudge. I have made four batches of peanut butter fudge so far and I will be making another batch today (Mom has requested a batch for the New Year’s Eve party that she will be attending).
But this year, I decided that I needed to expand my horizons. What inspired me? On a recent trip down to Vincennes, my sister, my mother and I stopped at a roadside fruit stand/gas station that sold homemade fudge. I sampled their maple walnut fudge and was not impressed. My sister sampled their peanut butter fudge and said that it was pitiful, not anywhere near as good as mine (of course). My mother was happy with her chocolate fudge. I was looking over their offerings and got to thinking how I would go about making these fudges myself. And so, I decided to make 3 new kinds of fudge this year: chocolate, maple walnut and pumpkin.
For the chocolate fudge, I decided that the recipe that I use for peanut butter fudge would not be a good start, so I opened up my Betty Crocker Cookbook and used their recipe for chocolate fudge. It was a success, although it was a lot more work than peanut butter fudge. Mom really loved it. I think I had 3 or 4 pieces, I gave 4 pieces away, and Mom ate the rest.
My next experiment was maple walnut fudge. The maple walnut fudge had a great taste, but it turned out a little grainy. I think that is because I used a grinder to grind up the walnuts. I will use a blender next time and make sure I get it to a creamy texture. I will say, the flavor of this fudge was fabulous, so I will definitely do it again. I made it the same way as the peanut butter fudge, but I substituted walnut paste for the peanut butter and used maple flavoring.
The pumpkin fudge wasn’t quite as successful. The flavor was good, but the fudge never set properly. I made it the same way as the peanut butter fudge, but I used a can of pumpkin pie filling in place of peanut butter (I squeezed as much liquid out as I could beforehand by using a clean dish towel – I need to get cheese clothe). I also cooked it 10 degrees higher than I normally do (I had tried to make this fudge before and it did not set then either). It still turned out to be pumpkin sludge, not pumpkin fudge. The good news is, it makes a nice topping for ice cream and tastes great on toast. I am determined to succeed with this recipe, so next time I will cook it even longer. I will not stop until I succeed!
I also made a batch of cookies.
Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas
Thursday, December 24th, 2009I have not sent out Christmas cards this year, so I thought I would at least send out a Christmas greeting on my blog. It has been a very busy week since I have been working, dealing with a hacked email account, a virus infected computer, a new computer to set up and configure, and all the normal holiday preparations.
Christmas came early for me this year. I would like to thank my friend Paul for sending me a new computer. I am loving it. The computer is a Unix Ubuntu machine and I am looking forward to diving back into Unix.
I know most of you received a spam email from my email account, and I would just like to say I am sorry. I have sent a message to yahoo about this. Let’s see if they have any answers. In the meantime, I have changed passwords on a lot of my accounts. I am going to do a complete reinstall on my PC in case that is the root of my problems. But that is going to take a few days, so I will do that next week (or the week after).
As for holiday preparations, presents have been bought and wrapped and fudge and cookies have been made. Mom and I are going to have Christmas Eve dinner with my aunts and then have our own Christmas tomorrow.
However you plan on celebrating Christmas, I hope you have a wonderful holiday.