Domestic Geek

When I upgraded my Expression Engine install to 2.x a while back, my iBlogger app on my phone no longer worked. I was bummed, but not overly concerned as I had fallen off my blogging wagon anyway. Well, I've been itching to blog again, especially when I'm stuck at work waiting for Marcus to finish his work. The last thing I want to do is post to my personal blog from my work computer. Even though I'm on really good terms with the IT guy, I don't want to cross that line. It is bad enough that I surf Ravelry after my shift is over.

I was doing some research one night while I was waiting because I really need to fix some structural things that broke when I upgraded last. I have a new upgrade waiting to install, so I decided now is the time to work on this.

Anyway, I came across a link for an app that is supposed to be EE 2 compatible and I bought it.

Except for a small hiccup because I misread the path where modules need to be installed, it is working so far! I'll read the documentation in more depth tomorrow to see what all I can do, but it is working and I'm feeling quite proud of myself.

On that note, I'm heading off to bed. Now, sleeping might be another story as the construction on I-225 is in full gear again tonight. You would think there would be noise regulations that would prohibit how loud they are being.

I was trying to do some research to find out why we celebrate Thanksgiving a Thursday. I mean, I know why we now we have it on the 4th Thursday of November, but the reasoning I'm finding for why it is on a Thursday at all is lame.

Getting up for work today was a royal pain. I was soooo tired. To make matters worse, there was really nothing to do once I got there. I knew when I left Wednesday that we would have no work, but I couldn't call in or I wouldn't get paid for yesterday. I wandered the building a lot. Most everyone had gone home for the day by the time I got back from lunch. Most of our clients got their work in early so they could have a long holiday weekend, so no new work was to be had. I only managed to drag it out for six hours and then I called it quits. I spent the next 3 hours hanging in a conference room watching television and knitting until Marcus was ready to go.

The good news is that since I actually got to really have a holiday for Thanksgiving, I'm ready for a little Christmas cheer.

Hope everyone out there in American Blogland had a Happy Thanksgiving. For the first time in five years, I didn't have to work on Thanksgiving, so for that I am extremely grateful. Preparing the Thanksgiving meal is one of the highlights of my year. I love to cook, but with just Marcus and I, I rarely get to go all out.

This year's menu included:

• Free range fresh turkey procured from Sunflower Market


• Mashed potatoes and gravy made from this recipe on The Pioneer Woman


• Broccoli/Cauliflower with cheese sauce (the cayenne pepper was a nice addition)


• Shrimp Stuffing (I had to use some stuffing I got at Sunflower since Kellogg's discontinued their stuffing a while back)


• Peas (Marcus always has to have these)


• Buttermilk biscuits


• Corn muffins


• Cranberry Orange dressing


• Pumpkin pie

I had grandiose plans of getting off work this evening and getting a jump on the holiday preparations for tomorrow. *sigh* I should have known better.

I even went in early, made the shopping list of the last few things I needed to pick up on the way home to avoid having to shop anywhere on Friday or Saturday and looked like I was going to be out by 6pm. Then, after everyone in the department had left for the night except me, my supervisor called and told me I needed to work this one job before I left. One of the other operators put it on hold (he shouldn't have, the job is worked the same every danged time it comes in). Of course there was a problem and I needed the supervisor's input and she didn't answer my phone call or email right away. Oh, well.

I was going to bake a cheesecake tonight, but it will have to wait until the weekend.

I read a post in my Facebook feed yesterday by the Colorado House Rabbit Society about approx. 60 white rabbits that had been abandoned by the the roadside down in Colorado Springs. It reminded me of our own rescue of an abandoned white rabbit.

I hope they find the jerk/s that did that. Not only were they left to fend for themselves, but there is probably a lot of inbreeding going on as a result. So not cool.

I wish I could adopt one as my little Flash could probably use a friend, but probably not a good idea.

Here's the story from KKTV in the Springs:

OK, apparently the buttheads at KKTV deleted the video.

OK, as promised, here's a couple of pics of the cheesecake I made this weekend. This was definitely up there as one of the better ones. Weather conditions must've been ideal, as it beat up nice and fluffy and there were absolutely no cracks in the surface. Love it!

Here it is sitting on my friend Tina's counter:



I went to Target on the way to my friend's house to pick up the cherry topping and to see what others were available (in case someone didn't like cherries). I saw the Limited Edition Berry Medley on the shelf and just had to try it. I mixed the two topping together and was it good! For the picture below, I topped a slice off with some of the fresh fruit that was also at the party.

Here is a single slice:



I have a couple of tricks I've picked up over the years to have cheesecakes come out really yummy. Many of the tips are summarized here. First, a water bath is a must. I always put parchment paper in the bottom of the pan. Never open the oven door when a cheesecake is baking. After the allotted time in the recipe, turn off the oven and leave the door closed. After an hour and a half or so, I take the cheesecake out of the bath and put it back in the oven. Once the cake has cooled completely, I'll take the springform side off and put it into the refrigerator over night. Instead of a knife, I use craft wire to slice it.

*sigh* I wish this weekend had been as productive as last weekend. There is just not enough time away from work.

Marcus and I finished up the Thanksgiving shopping this evening. We picked up the natural free-range turkey that we ordered earlier from Sunflower Market. Can't wait to see how that turns out. I spent the earlier part of the day at a knitting gathering at my friend's house down in Castle Rock. I got the body of the amigurumi turkey I'm making finished, as well as several rows of a holiday bag I'm knitting. I brought one of my cheesecakes to share and I was quite happy with how it turned out. I'll post pics tomorrow after I get them off of my camera.

Marcus and I actually relaxed this evening and finally watched Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. He downloaded that from iTunes a couple of weeks ago and we hadn't had a chance to watch it. I'll admit that I missed Orlando Bloom's character just a little.

The olive leaf extract that I wrote about yesterday seems to be doing the trick. I felt so much better today. Still coughing up a little crud out of my lungs, but at least I didn't feel like sleeping all danged day.

OK, I'm off to dig through my stash to find orange yarn for my turkey and then I'm off to bed.

I read somewhere that Olive Leaf Extract was antibacterial and antiviral. I picked up a bottle of the Nature's Way brand today. As I am really sick and tired of being sick and tired, I figured it couldn't hurt. I'll let you all know how it works.

I was at Target today with Dad picking up the Thanksgiving feast and the egg case was totally empty. Hanging from a shelf was a sign that Target had severed ties with its supplier, Sparboe Farms, and they apologized for any inconvenience. People were so upset - you would think that eggs weren't sold any place else. When I got home I searched the news and found a story that both Target and McDonald's had dropped Sparboe Farms after an activist turned over undercover video about the conditions there. While I wished something like this would open people's eyes and change the way food is mass-produced in this country, people will quickly forget. Since Marcus and I have vowed to avoid food produced by the big commercial companies and stick to local and organic when possible, we've found that many people actually feel threatened by our choice. They prefer to not know where their food comes from or how it's produced, as long as it is cheap and easy.