Domestic Geek

There's this girl at work who loves to forward emails. Drives me crazy. The most recent was this one with all sorts of cookie recipes in it. I noticed all the the URLs when to the same site, so I checked it out. The site is NorthPole.com and it's actually a kid-friendly Christmas site with lots of stuff. The cookie recipes are part of Mrs. Claus' Kitchen where there are lots of recipes and stories. I'm going to waste a lot of time on that site, I can tell already.

It's looking like the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert is already sold out. Damn it! If it was on a weekend, I could probably get him to take me to the show down in Colorado Springs, but unfortunately it falls during the week. I wish someone around here would give away tickets to the TSO show! I also see that Mannheim Steamroller is coming December 17th to do a Christmas show. I don't think I could get Marcus to go to that one (if there are tickets left - haven't checked yet).

A little bit ago I was getting myself ready to go to bed since I'm exhausted and I need to get up early to go Thanksgiving shopping with Dad in the morning. It dawned on me that I hadn't made my shopping list yet. D'oh! Fortunately, since I have a Standing Shopping List, it didn't take too long to get it ready, but that could've been a big problem come tomorrow morning if I hadn't gotten it printed out.

With all of the OT I've been putting in this last week and a half, I figured out this afternoon that it's totaled almost a whole extra week's salary. Cool. I decided that because of that it was ok to splurge on the cutest scarecrow decoration I saw at Hobby Lobby today. They had just marked down all their fall decorations to 80% off today, so this item that was priced at $99.99 only cost me $20. It is three stuffed scarecrows with a wheelbarrow. It is absolutely adorable! I'll take a picture tomorrow to share when I have better light. When I got to the register with it, the clerk scolded me for buying it and even joked that she refused to allow me to purchase it. I guess she wanted it and had hidden it behind others so that she could get it after her shift. Well, it was out in the open when I saw it, so someone else must've been looking at it as well.

I just watched a program that I tape every Saturday on PBS called Knit and Crochet Today. There's a style called Tunisian Crochet that I'm interested in trying. Note to self to find out more about it. It takes a special hook and stitches stay on the hook in one pass much like knitting. The pattern the stitches make is more sturdy than crochet, much like knitting.

Yep, that's me...a glutton. I've put in a lot of extra work this week and I'm going in tomorrow, as well (I haven't had time this week to perform much of my archiving duties). Depending on how much of a tax hit I take, I'm hoping the extra in this check I get next Friday will cover most (if not all) of my holiday shopping. I'm really wanting to get all my shopping done online and finished the first week of December. Last year I was one of the fools out shopping on Christmas Eve. I hated it. There was even point where I started bawling in a store because last year's money situation sucked so bad.

I'm really starting to get the hang of being a prepress operator. Fortunately, there are plenty of people with whom I work that are willing to share their knowledge if I ask the right questions. My supervisor today told me he is thrilled at how quickly I'm picking this up and proud and appreciative of the work I'm doing. It's really nice when a supervisor will take the time to praise someone he feels is doing a good job.

My knee popped today when I walking to my car after work. Joy. I sure hope it feels better in the morning. Unfortunately, I need to stand and walk around when I work in the archive room — there's not much I can do back there sitting on my butt.

Note to self: Something is up with my moblogging module. Must look into it.

D'oh! It's helpful when you make a post to show up on Halloween that you actually make it public.

Halloween was uneventful here. I thought about getting candy to pass out, but $2.79 for a bag with about 12 fun-size candy bars in it? No freaking way. Remember when bags of candy were actually full? I've only given out candy once since we lived in this park (the first year we moved in), and I think I only got 5 Trick or Treaters. Good thing I decided against the candy, because not one single person knocked on my door this year. The last thing I need to waste my money on is a bunch of candy that I don't need sitting around going stale, or worse, being eaten by me.

I carved my pumpkins and only cut myself once. Nothing to match my cool Jobs-O-Lantern from last year, but hey, I wasn't working full time last year, either. I made a Linux Tux one that unfortunately won't last long due to some wrong cuts I made and an extremely stringy pumpkin. I'll post a link to pictures later this evening. Here's a link to photos of this year's Jack-O-Lanterns.


I never got my cookies made. The milk for the frosting was bad and I didn't feel like going back out to get some. I might make them this evening, though, and take them in for a Friday treat at work. I'm roasting my seeds tonight, too.

Hope everyone out there reading had a fun and safe Halloween!

OK, I can understand someone's enthusiasm about the upcoming Christmas holiday, but seriously...who the hell puts their outdoor decorations up the day before Halloween? My neighbor, that's who. Snowmen, reindeer and fake trees is what greeted me when I turned off the main street into our park today. Not cool, people.

I did go to the U-Pick-Um pumpkin farm yesterday after work at Rock Creek Farm. It's up at Hwy 287 and the Northwest Parkway up in Brighton. It was quite the drive up there during rush hour, but I really enjoyed the drive to the field once on the property and roaming through the fields. I took Northwest Parkway/E-470 home, so it actually wasn't too bad on the trek home. There is another one close to that same spot that I'd like to check out next year called Pumpkins and More Farms. Marcus promised me that next year we could go through a corn maze or something. I've always wanted to do that. In addition to some pumpkins that I got to make Jack-o-lanterns out of, I got three small pie pumpkins to make fresh pies for Thanksgiving. They even threw in a spice pack and a recipe.

For future reference, there is a great site I came across called Pumpkin Patches and More! that listed pumpkin patches, corn mazes and other Halloween-related activities by state. There is also information about finding produce, Christmas trees and all sorts of stuff. That's a great resource (it's where I found the two places I mentioned above, plus a tutorial on making fresh pumpkin pies)! Wish I had thought if it.

OK, I'm off the make some pumpkin cookies to take to work tomorrow. I found the recipe online and if they come out yummy, I'll post a link to it. Otherwise, I'm going to forget they exist! I also am going to clean out my pumpkins so they'll be ready to carve after work tomorrow and get the seeds soaking so I can roast them. Roasted pumpkin seeds is my most favorite fall food. Mmmmm...yummy!