Posts Tagged ‘daily life’
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.
Pop Around the Clock
Tuesday, December 15th, 2009It takes awhile after you move to a new place before you find what is available in your new area. You find the chain stores right away, but it takes a little time, and usually luck, to find the fun places. I have lived in Indiana for over three years now, and I am finally feeling like I have found the necessary places. You know, the right shoe store (I’m picky), a place to buy used cds and dvds, a good bookstore, etc. Those special places that you like to go to when you are out and about that make your trip fun.
I recently found one of those stores, it is unique to this area, although I’m sure that there are similar places elsewhere. The name of the shop is Pop Around the Clock and it is a popcorn shop in Vincennes, Indiana. They make all sorts of flavored popcorn. Some of my favorite flavors are grape, cherry (and I don’t like cherry), carmel, butter pecan toffee, and cheese. I think my favorite flavor right now is root beer. I know, most of you are not in this area, however, the good news is that they are on line and they will ship anywhere in the country. Their website doesn’t list all of their flavors, but if you give them a call ((812) 882-0882), I’m sure you could get any flavor you want.
Mom and I stop by this shop every time we go to Vincennes now. This last trip we decided to try the Mexican restaurant in the same strip mall. And finally! We found a good Mexican restaurant! As you might suspect, Indiana is not the place you want to go to find Mexican food mecca. We have tried several Mexican restaurants since moving here, and although we have found some okay places, none of them were the kind you can’t wait to go back to. This place, on the other hand, had me planning my next trip to Vincennes before I even left the restaurant. So, I am doubly thankful to Pop Around the Clock, not only for their wonderful popcorn, but for helping me locate some delicious Mexican food.
Among the employed
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009Good news! I am among the employed again. Some of you might know that I was fired from my last job for missing a meeting. Well, as of yesterday, I became one of the oodles of people who have found employment at McDonalds. I decided when I went back on the job hunt that I just wanted a part time job that will let me pay my bills so that I can spend the rest of my time brushing up on my programming skills. I plan on eventually getting some freelance programming jobs on elance, guru, and ifreelance, etc. But in the meantime, I need some way to pay my portion of the bills. Getting this job has really taken a load off of my mind as well as also getting me health/dental/vision benefits which I really need.
Anyway, I hope this note also finds you among those able to pay their bills. Unfortunately, that is not a given these days.