So I'm back from Boston after 10 days. It was an alright visit. I spent time with friends and family, although sometimes too much with family and not enough with friends. But it's all good. Gifts were given and received, and overall a good time was had, with good food to boot.
The diet was definitely off for the visit. I had lots of cake and pie and chocolate and stuffed myself silly. I did some shopping for presents, but got myself some too since there's no tax on clothes in Mass. I also continued my knitting lesson from last year, and hope to actually keep it up this year.
The trip home was the biggest adventure! I arrived late because waking at 4 was not quite early enough, and even though I had checked in online, I couldn't get to a machine in time. Some lady who didn't know what to do was just standing in front of a machine like a dope and held several of us up until we weren't allowed to check in on the machines anymore. Then I had to go over to special services where there was also a line, which was moving incredibly slowly. Fifteen minutes before my flight was to take off I finally got my bag checked. I ran to security, pulling off my coat and boots, seriously breaking a nail way under the nail line while pulling my laptop out of my bag. Bleeding, I had to then take off my belt before going through. Then my purse had to be put through again. Sigh. Finally, carrying my clothes and my belt and all my stuff I ran to the gate and just barely made it on plane. And thankfully my bag actually made it on the plane too. the travel fairies were watching over me it seems.
So I'm back home. I did have some ants find some chocolate, so I've been busy killing them and gaining back the sleep I lost by waking at 4. Now I have to start straightening out my apartment so that it doesn't look like I just moved in. But I'm glad to be back, and enjoying the L&O:CSI marathon on TV.
Summarizing my year in 24 words: http://meish.org/projects/mayfly/
Moved into new apartment. Bought new laptop. Pierced eyebrow which was later lost. Played with puppy Emma. Raised charity money. Finished MLIS. Still single.
So last night I got my baking done. Chocolate mint sticks were made. And while it didn't go quite as well as I'd hoped, it was still alright. The baking part was fine. Just standard brownies actually. What makes the item special comes after the baking part is done. But I had to use just egg whites for the brownies instead of eggs because that's all I had, and I had no idea how that effects brownies. I just compensated by using more so they'd be moist.
Continuing on the "that's all I had" note, the toppings for these brownies required margarine and butter, but all I had was Smart Balance. "That should be fine!" I said to myself. But no, not really. Granted it tastes just fine, and my coworkers feel like they can have more because it's made with egg whites and Smart Balance (it's practically health food, right!?), but the mint layer was thin when it should have been thick and the chocolate layer was thick when it should have been thin. And the mint layer just wouldn't firm up like it's supposed to. So it's messy. Much messier than usual. But my coworkers don't seem to mind at all.
Chocolatey-minty goodness triumphs in the end. Yay!
but I think it will have to wait until tomorrow night. This weekend was busy, but fun, and now I'm enjoying just hanging out. I got to spend it doing lots of dancing and spending time with family and friends. Good stuff. And I meant to bake for a coworkers birthday, but I just don't have it in me. I think she'll understand.
Sometimes I feel like a crabby old lady. I don't know if my reasons for feeling crabby and irritated are legitimate or if I'm being too sensitive, or if I'm just being crabby. I like to think of myself as pretty open, in terms of tolerance and accepting constructive criticism (I was an art major after all, which entails constant critiquing that is both tough and helpful, but always true), but lately I'm not sure. Maybe I'm not sure that the criticism I'm now feeling is helpful or true. But whether it's me or not, I'm just not enjoying certain things as much as I used to. Could be that I'm just feeling crabby.
