Cloudy J’s Neighborhood

Well, ok, not mine specifically, but rather some ones on the the web that caught my interest. I plan on attempting version of all of these this holiday season. So here they are with a brief description:

• Rosettes: So many people are talking about these, I just had to find a good descriptive how-to for everyone. These bring back many fond memories as a kid. My mother used to make these and freeze them weeks in advance of Christmas and when she would take them out of the freezer, over half would be gone. <innocent whistling>
• Poofy Sugar Cookies: Yes Virginia, there is a poofy sugar cookie, one that doesn't break a tooth and is still as sweet as the sugar that goes into it. Anyways, yep. Sugar cookies the soft and poofy way.
• Coconut Creme filled Macaroons: Yes, that's correct. Filled macaroons. Actually, it's more like macaroon sandwich cookies. Take two macaroons and glue them together with coconut creme. I actually got this one just for the macaroon recipe. I want to coat the bottoms in Lindt white chocolate/coconut... Oh hell yes.
• Joy and Noel Jam Tiles: This one gets an A+ in my book for creativity, taste and simplicity. They look stunning, make great gift and are neat to layout at the Christmas buffet. Who can resist? These are at the top of my holiday cookie list. I just need to order the letter cookie cutters. Found them on Amazon! Awesome...
• Peanut Butter Cookie: I know, I know. Nothing strange or exotic on this one. But it was the words that Sarah J. Gim wrote in this article that intrigued me.

"Cookies – all of them – are never bad. Even peanut butter. I never grew up with peanut butter, don’t have even a childhood nostalgia for peanut butter, can’t stand the texture of peanut butter, am not particularly fond of the fragrance of peanut butter, cringe at the thought of how fatty fattening peanut butter is.

But a peanut butter cookie is still a cookie.

And I will eat it."

• Gingerbread: Once you scroll down through seventeen pages of pictures of the most magnificent gingerbread houses you have ever laid eyes on, you will find the details and recipe that they use to build these delicious mansions. I have had a detailed gingerbread house bakers die laying around for over ten years adn have yet to utilize it to make one single house. This is the year. I swear by all that is holy, I will at least bake the damn thing before January 1st of 2010 or everyone is invited to my house for a head shaving ceremony, mine.

And for those of you who absolutely adore Food Porn, the site you need to visit is TasteSpotting.com, where these purveyors, um, wait, they don't sell anything so I guess they really aren't purveyors. Free Food Porn! Yeah, I like the sound of that. LOL. Search for ingredients, or recipes or just oogle at the pictures displayed for your gastronomic pleasure. But be warned, it could cause hot flashes from standing in front of the stove later...

• 19:09 Who knew Boys II Men was releasing a new album!? But didn't there used to be 4 of em? Only 3 Guys now... #
• 20:19 @mdcurry you see it all the time, i just shake my head and say ugh.. babies in a bar, what will they grow up to be. #
• 20:37 @CenterdinDenver hey thanks! bought 2/$10 certificates to city grille for $1.60! never been there but ill try it out soon! #

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Actually, I did no such exciting thing as going to Cleveland. There was something in Ohio I wanted to go see, but can't for the life of me recall what it was. Lego Museum or soemthing maybe? Hmmm... Anywyas, where was I... Ah yes. A week has passed and I was goign to do an update on what's been going on. Once again, too much to really detail, but here goes some main points.

• Went to court over the ticket the city gave me. Won and lost. Still had court fees to pay for the ticket the city wrote, because I did have an unlicensed vehicle parked in the driveway. Bastards. Anyways, I won in that I cna park the RV in the driveway with no more trouble from the city. the odd part is, since I parked it in the storage lot, I think I'll leave it there. It's easier to get out and I can get to it 24 hours a day for access. Plus, it's far enough away that I don't have to worry about kids wanting to come visit and stay in it... Just saying. LOL
• Attorney handling the case of the RV Dude sent out the letter for demand of payment and the time for action on his part is up on Monday. Basically the letter states that we want the full amount due by Monday or we file repo paperwork. Might end up in Texas over Christmas to repo the damn thing. Approximate total owed: $12,500.00. Merry Christmas...
• One of my wonderful neighbors sent me a wonderful present of wonderful goodies from down under. I got up the morning after my Birthday a little later than usual and went out to get the mail. there was a package, which I thought was a shipment of Lego bricks at first. Until I noticed the address. Australia! I opened the box to find two bags of the most delicious cheesy snack food know to man... Cheetos Bacon Cheese Balls. Ambrosia to the common man. Only made in Australia. A whole lot of loving in that little box right there. Today at work, I sat in my office and ate them. Explaining the whole story to everyone. It was awesomeness in the First Degree. Thank you Emjay. I am beyond happy now.
• Lessee... I worked Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Wednesday. Holy moses. That's more days than I've worked in a long time. So, the paycheck should be a good one. Paying down more debt... Yahoo!
• Oh, and the big deep freeze arrived. It's sitting in the corner of the Lego room for now. Monday, I get it's space all configured so we can start freezing stuff again. Right now, our fridge's freezer is jammed full of whatever will fit and the overflow is over at the kid's house in our old freezer there. Come on after Christmas food sales!
• Tuesday was a run my butt off day trying to get several things done all at once. I succeeded in most of them. But if anyone has a right front charcoal door trim panel for a 2001 Ford Escape, that would help tremendously. LOL
• Speaking of vehicles, I got the plates on our RV and even managed to take it out on a four hour road trip north of Kansas City. It was good to finally, after over a year of sitting because of the RV Dude not paying, take the thing back on the road. bad part is I had to pay for two year plates and there's only one year left on them. Gah! Damn Gubbermint...
• Did have some bad news. The main bathroom sink has died. Well, is dying. I noticed some water trickling on the floor in there. First glance it appeared to be the toilet. Upon further review, there is somethign corroded under the main sink. Like majorly corroded. So, it too is on the list. I cleaned up under the sink, dried it up with a few old towels, but the whole thing has to go. It's fifty years old, so no luck in finding a replacement. Plus, the plumbing under there is all wonky as well. It's ready to fly apart. So, that will be my big project for after the new year. I just need to baby it along and empty the tote every so often. I'm thinking it would be a good time for new tile as well...
• Maybe I should call Redz... Hmmm... LOL
• I tried out three different recipes for chocolate chip cookies. Fluffy, chewy and crunchy. All were met well and the final decision is in. Fluffy with big chips is the winner. I forgot, I made them with mini and regular chips each too. So, on to the other recipes I want to try, which I will post late. Good stuff.
• And a little side note, I've been looking for a commercial meat slicer, like Hobart or Berkel brands. You know, the big tank sized stainless steel behemoths behind the meat counter at the deli. I found one for sale but the guy had already sold it by the time I called. I want to pursue the dream of sandwich shop. I don't want to just talk about it, I want to go after it. Patiently, slowly, but I want it. So, I'll be getting some equipment to try the stuff at home before I get the physical place. Recipes too. Need to try out all sorts of things. Best part is we can eat the mistakes as well as the successes. Oh! And the bread baking as well. Yes indeed. There will be plenty fo that...
• What else have I got... Um... Oh yeah! Wookie Girl finally, to much fanfare, got her learners permit for driving! Hooray! Now we just need to get her behind the wheel and show her something. LOL. Everyone has been forewarned, Student Driver, beware! LOL. Oh, but there go the insurance rates.

Thanks for reading along!

I've never been a big fan of dance music. It might have something to do with the fact that I can't dance...or that most dance music sucks, or maybe it's a little from column A and a little from column B.

Not only have I never been a big fan of dance music, but there has also never been a time in my life at which I've had less use for it. I was never a big clubber (clubbite) even as a young single fellow. Now that I'm married I can think of approximately 7,000 things I'd rather do than go to a dance club, including #4,506 (staring into middle space) and #5,092 (flicking around a ball of lint).

So it is a little surprising to me that my new favorite artist is kabillion-selling dance-pop sensation Lady Gaga.

It started when I downloaded her ubiquitous hit Poker Face in an effort to make our wedding playlist more relevant to the young folks. Unlike most dance music, which I find gets worse with repeated listening, I found myself coming back to Ms. Gaga's weird ode to whatever it is she's singing about. Lately I've been scouring YouTube for more gaga clips, including my latest favorite, Bad Romance.

Yesterday was a crazy busy day.  Nothing in particular that made it especially crazy, just everything kind of piled up. 

We had our holiday luncheon downtown yesterday.  It was supposed to start at 12.  At 11:45, I got a call from Liz asking me to go pick up brisket because the person who was supposed to bring it couldn't make it.  I said ok, even though I wasn't very excited about it - one thing I still haven't gotten over with driving is going to a new place at the last minute. I am a planner by nature and like to have a lot of time to get comfortable with the directions. I looked up the location on Google Maps and it was pretty easy - should have taken 30-40 minutes tops for this errand. I didn't write anything down and left.

It took time to walk to the hotel where I park Pearl Jr. at (I park about a quarter mile away from the downtown office, just so I don't have to park in the parking garage).  Then unfortunately, in my head I had the wrong direction about which street to turn on because I didn't fucking write anything down, so I had to pull into the busy mall parking lot and call a coworker to ask for directions. Then he was giving me the wrong directions (going in the direction opposite where I was going).  So I turned back out on the highway, and lo and behold, the barbeque place was only two seconds from the place I turned into at the mall. If only I had kept driving instead of being stupid and thinking I'd missed my turn, I would have saved at least 5 minutes.

I ordered 8 pounds of brisket and headed back out to the truck. Then the afternoon of crazy drivers started - I don't know what was in the water yesterday, but EVERYONE was driving insanely.  I had to brake so many times to avoid getting hit or because I was getting cut off (cut off BAD - to the point where if I didn't brake right away, I was getting side-swiped). It was so weird - I mean, yeah, living in a big city, of course drivers aren't perfect. But I can't remember a day where everyone was doing something so stupid like yesterday. It was a little stressful. There was a lot of lunchtime traffic on the way back.  Liz later told me there was another route I should have gone, but I'd taken this one because I thought it was the most direct. Guess not.  Even though I have a general idea of streets and locations, I'm not as familiar with this side of town, as I live on the opposite side of the City.

Anyway, by the time I turned up with the damn brisket, it was 12:45, everyone was starving, and I felt terrible.  At least they had things to munch on. I hadn't had any.  I'm usually not crazy about brisket, but it tasted soooo good, let me tell you.

Then in the afternoon something popped up at work. One of those "oh shit!" moments. I discovered something with the real estate that had been overlooked.  So even though it looked good for me that I caught this error, I was beating myself up because I thought, why didn't I catch it earlier?  It's my job to stay on top of this stuff.  When these kinds of situations happen, I do my best to resolve them before telling Liz, because I don't want to get in trouble. I only go to Liz if I have no idea how to solve the problem, or if there's some underlying implication that I need to consider. So I frantically made a couple of calls and got everything under control. We came up with a solution and it didn't seem like it would be as big of a deal as I'd initially thought it would be.  Indeed, when I somewhat nervously explained the situation to Liz (trying to sound confident about it, of course), she didn't seem to be too concerned. 

I have a lot of work to do this weekend.  I really need to stay on top of my tasks. I'm going to try and wake up early tomorrow to go shopping. I'm trying to stay away from the high-traffic generating areas - what with the crazy drivers yesterday, and the fact that I got into a car accident a year ago around this time (which was NOT MY FAULT), I just want to avoid the craziness.  

I have worms under my Christmas Tree! No, it is not some fresh tree brought in from the forest to brighten our Christmastime upon which a worm or two has hitchhiked a ride in a quest for adventure. It is an artficial tree and there are hundreds of worms. 500 to be exact - unless they are breeding and then there could be more!

We are giving The Boy a worm farm for Christmas. Well, it is a Worm Cafe, actually, to sound more cafe latte society. To go with this trendy Worm Cafe we bought a box of 500 worms.

And being Christmas I have wrapped the said 500 worms in Christmas wrap (it can be part of their Christmas lunch! The worms' lunch, not The Boy's! ) and placed it under our tree. I poked air holes in the wrap, so fear not.

So we have worms, I say worms, under our Christmas tree and The Boy is going to tell everyone after Christmas that his future parents-in-law gave him worms for Christmas.

I don't think anyone will be surprised.

....ladies dancing

The Ninth Day can be a little confusing because there are two quite common versions of the lyrics : nine ladies dancing or nine drummers drumming.

English town watchmen, known as waits, would patrol the town, watching for invaders or thieves, and crying out the time on the hour. Remember  clocks were only for the rich for many centuries! As time went by these watchmen often also became musicians and during Christmas time they were rewarded for their performances.

The drum was introduced to England following the Crusades, so their first introduction to the instrument was to Egyptian and Sumerian drums. Over the centuries they evolved into the drum that we see today, and became connected with marching, and especially marching into battle. The trumpet also developed a relationship with the drum and came to be used to introduce the arrival of courses during a banquet. Of course they are also used to announce the arrival of important people. (Hark, I think I here one now!) A skilled musician was expected to play the pipes and the tabor, a small drum. The pipes and drum were also known as the whittle and the dub (http://england.prm.ox.ac.uk/englishness-whittle-and-dub.html )

I myself, prefer the picture nine ladies dancing, rather than drummer drumming. In Medieval times people would 'carole', that is, link hands in a line or a circle and sing as they danced to provide their own accompaniment.

Nine ladies dancing refers to The nine fruits of the Holy Spirit.

The nine Fruit of the Holy Spirit:

1) Love,

2) Joy,

3) Peace,

4) Patience,

5) Kindness,

6) Goodness,

7) Faithfulness,

8) Gentleness, and

9) Self-control.

Galatians 5:22

Though the nine in the Ninth Day of Christmas has also been described as the nine choirs of angels, so it looks as though the ninth day is a bit of a day of choice : ladies, drummer. Fruit of the Holy Spirit  or choirs of angels.

Milton wrote of fairy ladies dancing upon the hearth at the birth of a child as being indicative of good luck.

“Good luck befriend thee, Son; for at thy birth The fairy ladies danced upon the hearth”.

The Italian court custom of presenting grand costumed balls or 'Masques', which had spread to France and Spain in the 16th century, spread on to England in the 17th century. Thus, in the year 1604 Anne of Denmark celebrated her Christmas in England with an Hampton Court Masque. According to contemporary Samuel Daniel, the Queen and her ladies were dressed as 'Twelve Goddesses':

ü preparing themselves to their dance whichü they began to the music of the viols and lutes, placed on one side of the hall. Which dance being performed with great majesty and Arte, consisting of divers straines, fram'd unto motions circular, square, triangular, with other proportions exceeding rare and full of variety; the Goddesses made a pause, casting themselves into a circle, whilst the Greaces againe sang to the musicke of the Temple, and prepared to take out the lords to dance. With whom, after they had performed certain Measures, Galliards, and Curantos, Iris againe comes and gives notice of their pleasure to depart: whose speech ended, they drew themselves again into another short dance, with some few pleasant changesü

Dance Steps : Twelve Days of Christmas : Progressive circle dance

For more Christmas Dance steps : http://www.earthlydelights.com.au/xmas3.htm#Twelve%20Days%20of%20Christmas

For a week, I have been prepping the cat for the trip home:

• Pulled out his carrier so he could get used to it before I took him to the vet for his checkup
  
• Took him to the vet - and he was unhappy as expected
  
• Bought a new soft carrier for him to travel to Canada on the plane; he did not like it. He even pooped in it this week to show just how much he detested it.
• Drove to Houston and he was mad at me for 2 out of the 3 hour drive, during the last hour, he came out of the carrier and laid on my lap
• This morning, put him in the soft carrier for the flight and he was meowing/complaining on the way to the airport.
• Since I ignored his pleas to take him out, he was mad at me and turned his back to me whenever I tried talking to him

It made me realize that he didn't see the big picture; he complained every step of the way and even got mad at me. What I did was ultimately take him to place that he loves and where is happy and very much loved.

All this frustration, the disappointments, the heart breaks, the failures... they all lead somewhere. I really need to remember that when something doesn't go my way, it's for a reason.  It's all going to work out in the end. I just gotta have faith.

So last night I was planning to have a night in the office... input some data, crunch some numbers and create a few spreadsheets. But the best laid plans and all that...

It started off quite simply... I was at the gym doing my daily workout (sidebar: one of my goals while working here is to get ripped and cut... ooooh yeah... lost about 2cm off the gut already another 3cm and I should have the six pack again... hurrah!) when the F&B manager (thats "food and beverage" to you lay persons got excited about the challenge of a chess game put forward to him by myself a few hours earlier. I wanted to play tonight, but last night he insisted on a challenge.

It was a good game... I had him running then, outta nowhere, he had a 3 move checkmate. *shakes fist at F&B Manaer* If only I had moved the rook up first, but I got excited with my checks and brought up the knight which opened up the file for his queen and end of story. But thats okay I was challenged afterwards by one of the bartenders and I won that game. The I had a rematch with the F&B manager again. The game wasn't going as planned the alcohol consumed was getting to me and I was making dumbass moves. By the end game I only had my queen and a lowly pawn on the rook file. He had his queen, 2 pawns, a rook and a knight in play. There was really no way I could win the game, but I did manage to pull a stalemate out of my ass, which steamed the guy to no end. His score on the island so far is 31-1 but he has to add another 1 at the end because of the draw. So now he is at 31-1-1 (thats 31 wins 1 loss and 1 draw) and my score is at a respectable 1-1-1. He wants a rematch tonight.. but I dunno... I will be getting trashed on Jaeger...

So that concluded the first portion of the evening. The second portion of the evening consisted of most of the staff sitting around a table smoking and chatting. I found out a few things. There are some real douche bags on this island. I mean seriously two guys drunkenly dry humping each other while shouting to the girls sitting on the table whether or not they wanna come and *insert a quite specifically descriptive sexual act here* for 30 minutes straight was so high schoo.... wait... I didn't even do that in high school...

But there are some real good guys as well, Jarhead, Flip, Maxamillion, and Sideburns are all a little more on the mature side (mentally) they're all still in their early 20's but theyre the kind of guys that you can sit in a group of people that includes girls without having to resort to talking about their own genitalia.

While this was transpiring I know I got a few "come hither" looks from 3 separate girls. The Swede (Carolina), Dutch (Erin) and the Chess Watcher (NFI). Now I don't know what this is all about because I heard from Jarhead that the rumour around the island was that I was gay. A fact which I told him not to deny if asked by others, it'll just be easier, I won't be tempted to do anything stupid if everyone thinks I'm batting for the other team. Although there could be trouble if the girls start wanting me to help them put their bikini's on or something... Gah!

Anyways, come hither looks. So I kept getting these looks, which I chose to ignore, I made sure I was sitting on the other end of the table from the Swede and the Chess Watcher and across from Dutch. I tend to get touchy when I'm drunk, so I didn't want any inadvertent flirting to transpire.

Although I hate to admit it, there is one girl who has piqued my curiousity. We'll call her Number One (Erin as well, different from Dutch Erin). But she seemed intelligent, articulate, very pretty, great smile... AND apparently all the douchey ones have crashed and burned with her.

But damnit no... I will be good, I will be good, I will be good...