Cookies are good. Three cookies before lunch has started not so good. One of the lovely folks I work with is married to a lovely woman who likes to bake. Almost every Monday morning there is a delicious treat waiting us in the kitchen. Today it is Christmas cookies. Yummy sugar cookies with icing and sprinkles. The kind I was going to make on the weekend but didn't get around to making. Thank you for the cookies.

Just realized this morning--there are only 10 more days until my birthday. :)

Feel free to send diamonds.

Just a short update as I get myself ready to head to my bed. Holiday party Friday night was great and the visiting of friends after that great as well. Here's a couple of pics of me in the sari I wore to the party Friday night.

Compliments from friends and co-workers alike--including a few of the women from India who know how to properly wear sari.

Is it just me or is everyone sleeping more lately? I won't say I used to spring out of bed at 6am, but it wasn't far from that. Now I find myself still under the covers at 7am and somedays pushing it until 7:30. I miss my morning time but cuddled under the covers I can't imagine getting out of bed any earlier, even if it does mean reading my favorite blogs and doing the crossword puzzle. Even the cats are sleeping in.

I bought this fabulous toaster oven/rotiserie/toaster/broiler thing in September. I love toaster ovens and am rarely without one. Great when you are cooking for one! The rotiserie (I have no idea how to spell that!) is fantastic and I have successfully cooked a couple of chickens. Yummy. The toaster part however leaves a lot to be desired, so much so that I finally gave up and bought a toaster. Grrr. It's ok. The toaster was the el cheapo only toasts, turn the dial kind of toaster but that isn't the point. I guess maybe the 6 function toaster oven was too much to ask for. The only regret is the lack of counter space in an already counter challenged kitchen. If I ever get to buy/build a house I am going to build 10 more feet of counter than the builder recommends--just cause.

Hump Day! For those of you watching the days and the clock this week we are half way through and the weekend is just starting to peek out from around the corner.

Time certainly fllies when you are busy. And having fun.

I have now officially survived 5 shifts. I learned how to make cotton candy last week. It was easy and fun and smelled so yummy. I haven't had any popcorn yet--by the time break rolls around I'm immune to the smell and don't 'crave' it.

The kids I work with are great. They have energy to burn and you might be surprised that I have no issues taking orders from 17 year olds. They have worked there longer--they are the experts. Apparently I am trainable. The kids are so great about telling me I am catching on fast and doing a great job. The work itself isn't hard. Take orders--give food. Make correct change. It is very busy this week--Harry Potter opened a few nights ago and the hoards are still arriving. They aren't as busy as expected, but there are still lots of people. One minute the line up in front of the counter is HUGE and then suddenly you look up and the lobby is empty. Time to make more popcorn and sweep up the mess.

The hardest part of the whole thing--standing for that long. The sea legs are still coming. I find my back and neck sore at the end of my shift. I'm thinking of gel soles but will wait another week and see if I just need more time to get used to it. My sneakers are pretty comfy.
*******
The girls are zipping around the house at the moment. They are adorable. This morning I was having a major sleep in and they slept in with me. It was great. They have yet to break anything of which I am very thankful. Anything and everything can be a toy you just need imagination and they have it in spades. A straw, the ring off the milk container, a paper napkin, even a shadow on the wall.

I've been so busy lately juggling the two jobs and trying to get to my m&d's to paint I haven't had a chance to blog--or take pictures. My shifts this week should allow for a bit more me time. Once I have another week or two under my belt I will be better at the juggling. It just takes sometime to get used to it all.

Night.

Where I spent Sunday afternoon....

No time this am for an update. Waiting for the fix it man to arrive as apparently my pipes are leaking into the apartment below. The girls are in the closet until after he leaves. They love to run and jump and play with anything that moves and I have a feeling he might not appreciate their help.

Survived my first shift Friday night. It will take a while before I get my 'legs' again. Not used to standing that long anymore. I have another shift tonight and am looking forward to it. Then I have a night off and then another shift on Wednesday--and then I'm fully trained. Debatable but we will see.

I won!!!

This just made my day, my week, my month! I'm so excited.

I bought the telephone table at the ReStore in August. I just knew it needed to come home with me and I knew it needed a make over. I wasn't entirely sure what to do with it or where it was going until one day the light went off inside my head (it doesn't happen all that often) and I knew where it needed to go and what its purpose would be. I have it just inside the outside door and it is where I sit to put on my shoes. :-) It is also where I set my keys when I get home at the end of the day and it makes a great spare chair when hosting friends.

I entered this contest a couple of weeks ago and just saw this morning that I had won. I'm so very excited and can't seem to wipe the smile off my face.

Sigh.

Just putting in some time this morning before I head to the dreaded DMV to get my license, etc changed over to PEI. I will finally be an official PEI resident again by end of day.

The kittens continue to make me smile and I am still in the let me tell you all about my furry friends stage. LOL. I'm like a new mom. No one wants to hear all the stories but they smile and listen politely as I talk about their eating habits, how they like the soft rubber balls better than the cloth, etc. They cause my nerves to scream now and then when I find one of them on top of the counter or trying to eat an important piece of mail that I left on the table but overall we are a happy threesome.

Happy Friday everyone!

Thank you.

I am a cooking machine. A few weeks back I got on this kick about trying out new recipes and it has been working quite well. I have enjoyed some new foods and while a couple things didn't work out there have been more +'s than -'s. I surf a couple of foodie sites on a regular basis and am happy to say Pioneer Woman has been bang on with all her recipes I've tried thus far. Yesterday I saw a recipe for a salted caramel brownie. OMG, how can you go wrong with that? I don't think it is possible.

If you have never had salted caramel before you must try it. I am slow on this wagon and only tried it a few weeks ago at St*rb*cks. It was a salted caramel hot chocolate. Mmmm. So...the brownies. I love brownies. I have been a brownie addict since university. Wednesday night wing night was the night the girls made brownies and the boys went out to drink. Good times. I had a favorite brownie mix--yellow no name and they finally stopped making it a couple of years ago. Sigh. I know I should just learn to make them from scratch but you know somethings just seem like they should be made from a package--its the memories.

Anyway, this recipe calls for me to make the brownie and well that just didn't seem like something I wanted to do. So I made a flourless chocolate cake instead. It is a very moist cakey/brownie/thingy that tastes really good and is really rich. Really rich. I have made three including the one I made tonight. Which goes against my trying new recipes--but in actual fact I used two different recipes between the three of them and no two people except myself have been at each event.

Anyway. The cake. It is lovely.

I have never made caramel before. I thought it would be really tough but it was super easy. Maybe I did something wrong. The caramel is sitting in a jar on my counter cooling. The cake is sitting on top of the stove also cooling. According to the recipe that inspiried my attempt you should put the caramel on a cooled brownie. And honestly that is the only part of that recipe I followed. It was the inspiration but not what I was able to follow in the end. There was something about her recipe for the caramel I didn't like--the gelatin. I was sure that I didn't need gelatin to make caramel and since the internet has yet to let me down I did find a recipe that did not involve gelatin. Sugar, butter and cream. I only had 10% cream and it called for a heavy cream but I am hoping it turned out. I'll let you know.

I also made Shepards pies...again. I made them the other week and it was terrible. Turnip, mashed cauliflower and ground beef. UCK. I loved everything except the turnip--and there was no veggies in it other than that. Turnip is good now and then if cooked properly. My freezer is now partially stocked with lunches again. I realized on Friday that I was out of frozen dinners (not the kind you buy--the kind I make and freeze--and the kind you buy which I try not to buy) and would need to go on a cooking spree over the weekend, which I kinda did. I have the fixing for chicken pot pie but will wait until later in the week because I think I'm going to roast a chicken instead of using up the frozen breasts I have.

The kittens are napping on the couch. They have been very active tonight. The renaming has happened and I am trying desperately to teach them their names. Licorice Feet became Tundra. She gallops when she runs across the floor kind of a tarunt tarunt sound and I just thought Tundra would be a great name--and it reminds me of Nunavut. Witchy Woman became Hudson. After my friend Lindsay who sadly took her own life last year. She was a true animal lover and I want to remember her spirit always. The girls continue to bring me joy just by being themselves. Yep, I'm in love.

I had my orientation today for my new ptime job. I am by far the oldest employee--I don't care. I want a fun, relatively simple job and this is it....plus in a few weeks I get all the free movies I can handle--and I get to bring a friend. :-) I just hope I can keep up with the younger employees. No doubt their energy at end of shift will be much greater than mine. It's all good.

Have a great week.

NOTE: I forgot to mention that parchment paper burns. Quite easily. I have been lining my cake pans with parchment paper everytime I make one of these flourless cakes. Last night when I put it into the oven it burst into flames. The excess paper must have touched the top element of the oven because it isn't supposed to burst into flame and it hasn't happened before. The smoke detector didn't go off though...but when the oven temp hits 400 it does. How annoying is that.

The girls and I are starting to get into a routine and life is good. They have learned that they get fresh moist food in the morning and as soon as my feet hit the floor they are meowing at me and begging me for their treat. It is kind of funny--and too cute.

Busy weeks ahead as the training for the ptime job is this weekend and I am not on the BOD for Habitat here in Charlottetown. YEAH! Totally thrilled about that. And I really can't believe I haven't started my Christmas shopping. In years past it was done by the end of September. It would now seem that the closer I get to my family the closer to Christmas I buy presents. Hmmm.

Halloween was nice. I dressed up as a fortune teller from a carnival. Interesting to note that I wore clothes out of my normal wardrobe and my own jewelery just more of it. Still...what does that say about my taste?
Looking forward to the Christmas party at the end of the month. I'm going to wear my fancy blue sari. It is the dressier of the two I own. But I should take it out and try it on to make sure it still fits. I know the bottom will but the top was custom made in Feb 2008...might need to investigate.

Off to another day at the office!