Somnolent Saturday

It's definitely been a lazy day today. I pretty much spent the morning on the computer trying to catch up with emails and other stuff. I've watched a little TV, (pre-recorded stuff since there never seems to be anything good on regular TV), and snuggled with Taz and Cally for a while. Thursday night there was apparently a water mane break across the street from the building, and they've been working like crazy to get it fixed. Our water supply was interrupted briefly yesterday but so far it's been holding steady since. The down side to this is that I was awakened at 6:50 this morning to the sound of a jackhammer and other loud obnoxious noises. One of the few days I have where I can actually sleep in and I can't. That didn't exactly make me happy.

I listened to an audio file that talks about the features of the new Book Port. I don't have the link in front of me at the moment, but if people want to hear it I'll go search for the link. And, Tuesday night is the night on ACB Radio's Main Menu when we'll hopefully find out more new stuff. I just hope it's released by the time the ACB convention happens because this is going to be my one big purchase of the year. I know, call me a nerd, especially since my current Book Port isn't even a full year old yet, (Next month I will have had it for a full year though), and it's working just fine. But, having extra features is what I'm all about.

I've got hamburger thawing out for tonight's supper. Since I never seem to have time anymore to fix a real meal, I wanted to do something different tonight. I'll be making spaghetti, and then a friend and I found a biscuit mix made by Bisquik at the grocery store the other day. It's for garlic cheese biscuits, and if you've ever had the ones from Red Lobster, you might be extremely interested in these because they're pretty much the same thing. I made a package the other day and I'll be making the last pack tonight. I'm going to have to find more of these things! And, they're so easy to make. Just in case anyone finds them and wants to give it a try, all you have to do is preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Mix the contents of the package with 1/2 cup of water and stir until it forms a dough. Grease a pan and divide the dough into 6 or 8 pieces and bake for 10-13 minutes. It honestly can't get much simpler than that. SMILE! kl1964, I know you're always up for new food ideas.

One other thing I wanted to mention. If you're a member of the Blind People Community you've all ready seen this, but if you're not this might be new. Apparently there's an organization that's trying to produce braille and large print labels for different products, and they want to offer the labels free of charge. If you want to read more, fill out their survey, or request a pack of free labels, go to the Labels for Literacy site and see what they have to offer. I thought it was pretty neat.

Well, I think that's about it for now. I need to go check on the meat and see how it's doing and then see if I can figure out what I want to read from my CF card in my Book Port. Later everyone!

Burn Baby Burn!!!!!

I had to post one more entry tonight. I just finished eating and now I'm sitting down to let everything settle. I'm absolutely stuffed, but there's enough for at least one more meal for the two of us so that's good.

Something kind of strange happened though just before I was ready to serve the food. I had the sauce on my favorite burner, (front right), the pasta in the strainer in the sink, and the timer had just gone off for the biscuits. I turned off the oven and reached in to get the pan with the biscuits. As I pulled them out, for only about the second time since we moved in here almost four and a half years ago, the smoke alarm went off. The weird thing is that there wasn't any smoke that we could smell. It was kind of odd. Everything tasted good though, and nothing was burned. So the reason for the smoke alarm is a total mystery. At least it was nice enough today that we had a couple of windows open and we put on the ceiling fans and things to get rid of whatever the problem was.

This incident reminds me of a story that I just have to tell, so sorry guys. I had literally just turned nineteen, and was living in my first apartment. It was a total dive, but it was mine. It was one of those efficiency apartments with a bedroom/living room, a kitchen, and a bathroom. I also had the added benefit of a very large unheated storage area that doubled as an additional freezer that winter. My oven was gas, (which in itself sort of scared me at first but now I absolutely love gas), and in between the two sets of burners was a built-in griddle. I was absolutely dying to try it because I thought it would be really neat. So, on a January morning, only about two months after I'd moved in, I was in my pajamas in front of the stove with a bowl of pancake batter, and a friend sleeping in the next room. My plan was to wake her up with the smell of fresh pancakes. Well, things didn't quite go the way I'd hoped they'd go. I discovered that flipping pancakes wasn't as easy as it sounded. As I fought with the partially cooked batter, trying to flip it, I started to lose track of what I was doing, and where the stuff was that I was supposed to be flipping. I was bound and determined though that I was going to make pancakes. Just as I was getting ready to try flipping things again, the sound of my smoke alarm scared the crap out of me. I completely freaked out. I turned off the griddle and asked my friend, (now wide awake), how to turn the stupid thing off. She had no clue. So, in my stocking feet and pajamas, (I did at least have the sense to grab a jacket I think), I ran down the stairs, out into a very cold January morning in Wisconsin with snow and ice and into the business that was below me and asked them how I was supposed to turn off my smoke alarm. I can only imagine how much I drove those poor ladies crazy in the few months that I lived there, but they were great to have around. They just calmly told me to wave a dish towel under the alarm and it would stop. So, I ran back upstairs where the alarm was still shrieking and grabbed the only thing I had; an extra-long oven mitt. It worked, and the alarm finally shut off. Then the realization of the situation hit me, and the embarrassment came full force. I'd walked into a public place of business with my pajamas on, no bra, and, well, it was just really embarrassing. Over the next few months before I ended up moving out because my landlord was a total jerk I had many other experiences, but none were anything close to that one. I learned a lot from that first apartment though, and I wouldn't trade the experience for anything.

Eleven years later I'd like to think that my culinary skills have improved, along with my ability to cope with the situations that come up when there is a problem. Now, when I look back on that morning in 1996 I can laugh at myself. It was just one of those things, but I'll never forget it either.

So, that's my little ramble for today. I just happened to think about it and thought I'd share. In other news, I keep forgetting to tell everyone that my tax returns are in, and safely stashed away for this summer. I'll be able to sit back and laugh at all the people who are frantically trying to get their taxes in on April 15th as the clock ticks closer and closer to midnight, and I'll be happy knowing that I've all ready been a good citizen for paying my taxes early. SMILE! Later, everyone!