I might like you better...

What a strange week. First Ed, then Farrah, and now shockingly, Michael.

I hear Cronkite is not well…

I just wanted to say thank you to those of you who sent good thoughts for my mom. Turns out all is well, the “mass” is a gallstone and should be easily remedied.

You all rock!

I know no tmany folks read here, if any. But, I am asking for good vibes be sent out to the universe for my mom, Maurine. The doctors found a mass on her kidney. CT scan tomorrow to determine what it is and what is going on with it. Just send benign thoughts.

Please, let it be benign.

My backyard March 01

I live in Powder Springs, Georgia and it has been snowing ALL DAY.  Son is hoping for no school.  I think he may get his wish…

20+ years gone in an afternoon. Unfortunately, it was long overdue.

Go here, make with the clicky!

I hurt someone today because I was honest with them. They have always known the truth, but suddenly it seems to have taken hold in their brain. It makes me sad.

So, this past weekend I packed up and took a little drive up to Chattanooga, TN for Chattacon 34. It was my second Chatta and I met up with some friends that had never been before. I think it was a bit disappointing for their son, who wanted to get in some serious roleplaying, but it just wasn’t a big gaming con. Now, if you want to party, there was plenty of that to be had.

Saturday night we started checking out the party situation around 10p. We had also gotten lucky and hooked up with some people that had some real beer that they were willing to share. Thanks CMB!!

At some point in the night, I think I was trying to get back to my room, a friend and I and several others were waiting for the elevator. It was probably close to 3am at this point in the night (morning). So we’re standing there, and someone asked this guy(who was dressed head to toe in leather and piercings) something. I couldn’t even tell you the question. However, I heard his answer and it pissed me off in a way that I have no explanation for. He made a derogatory comment that whatever the person had asked them about could be pulled out of his girlfriend’s posterior. Of course, those are not the words that were used.

I. lost. it. I went off on him like I have never gone off on anyone. I told him what I thought of him and how rude, disrespectful, derogatory and demeaning his comment had been. For the record, there was no girl with him and my friend told me that the dude has no girlfriend. Anyway, he didn’t get on the elevator with us, which is probably a good thing. But here is the jacked up part; I started crying about it and I couldn’t stop. I was so angry at this douchebag that I couldn’t get the tears to stop for a few minutes. It was crazy.

Pictures to come as soon as I get the energy to get them off my camera….

Here in the Atlanta area we are getting quite chilly, so  it was a definite weekend to stay in.  Well, except for Saturday evening.  We (son and I) had a dinner invite over to the parental/grandparental units house.  How could I say no to free dinner?  Other than that one venture out, son and I stayed holed up all weekend.  And what better activity to participate in other than….baking?

We had no bread in the house, so I decided that rather than buy bread, I would just bake it myself.  Did I mention I am was terribly intimidated by the whole bread baking process.  My parents have been baking bread for years, but I never participated.  Once my mom got her bread machine, the home baked bread was abundant.  I decided that in order to bake my own bread I would need a bread machine.  So, I bought a bread machine.  I have used it twice, both times with underwhelming results.  That was several years ago.

At Thanksgiving I successfully baked some knotted yeast rolls:

Egg Washed and ready for the oven!

Ready to eat!

So, I was feeling a little less fearful of baking with yeast, but not totally.  Then, the dinner invite and an email with this site led to a few wasted hours, but resulted in my baking these and bringing them to the dinner:

Other than forgetting to egg wash them before I cut them and stuffed them with garlic butter, this is what they looked like right before I remembered the egg wash   then it was into the oven!

And this is what the finished rolls looked like.  I baked 12, son and I ate 2 before we went my parents.  I took the 10 that were left with us and brought home 5.  Sunday we had one left.  They were pretty tasty.  The only thing I would change would be to use salted butter, instead of unsalted in the garlic butter.

Sunday got here and I decided that this was the day to make the bread.  I found a recipe for Honey Whole Wheat bread here which makes 2 loaves.  I did not use the bread maker, I used my KitchenAid stand mixer.  Here are some pics of the process:

This is after rising for one hour.  It was massive, but it did make 2 loaves.

Not the prettiest loaf, but it worked.  I used a clear glass pan for the other loaf, same size.

The final product.  Pretty tasty.  Looking forward to toast!

Have a great week everyone!  And if you are in a cold part of the US, stay warm!!