A morning in the life ~or~ The reason I avoid caffeine...and other stuff

It is 5:18 am. Yesterday, I had two cups of (excellent, btw) coffee made from beans Gretchen brought from NYC. Enjoyed the coffee, but wow, the caffeine! Didn't notice it so much during the day, but when I went to bed? First, stayed up later than usual because the normal tiredness didn't kick in. Went to bed, and forgot to take my glasses off until I'd been there about 10 minutes. After about 30-40 minutes or so, I realized my feet were twitching. When I finally made them stop, my ankles hurt. Eventually made it to dreamland, which was a very bizarre place. I was hiding in an office and trying to download David Bowie albums. A noise startled me, and made me turn off the laptop screen to make the room entirely dark, although finally I woke enough to realize that the sound was like Zuzu moving her plate around. Mike was snoring.

Anyway, I felt like a breakfast failure yesterday, since we don't have many breakfast foods in the house, so time to make cinnamon rolls. And apple pies, because my apples are going to go bad if they don't get used. Gretchen likes apple pie - I mailed one to her once.

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6:12 am. Cinnamon roll dough is rising. Debating going to the store, but as the guest room is not far from the garage door, that might wake Gretchen. Oh! My sister is online... Chat chat chat chat chat... Piecrust!

6:45 am. Piecrust is chilling. No wonder I haven't tried using butter instead of crisco - it would take 3.5 sticks! Nearly one pound of butter in two piecrusts. Maybe after I find a job. Oh, and my pastry blender could probably be used as a weapon, in case you were wondering. Time to peel and chop the apples! Or give Zuzu some attention, since that is what she wants.

7:26 am. Pie is in the oven. Took longer than expected to find the apple destruction device, and when I found it the apples didn't want to die, so I had to skin and chop them by hand. Nutmeg exploded a bit, so the pie may be a bit too nutmeggy, but hey, worst case we make another pie later. Which we will, as I still have a few apples left. Gretch is awake and practicing knitting. I should catch up on the VLT. Or at least try.

8:13 am. Pie is out of the oven, and cinnamon rolls are shaped and on their second rise. Cream cheese and butter is on the counter, softening, for the cream cheese frosting. Moving pictures from camera memory stick to computer.

8:48 am. Gretchen says the pie tastes like Christmas. Cinnamon rolls are in the oven, getting started on the cream cheese frosting. Also thinking about getting dressed for the day. Nowhere near the end of the VLT.

9:05 am. cinnamon rolls just about done; time to eat one and run off to the art museum!

Sorry, too tired to really post

Happy New Year! Yes, again I have procrastinated and not posted for quite a while. So what has happened over the past months? I am going to make you wait for a while to find out!

As usual, I got distracted and wrote a long, rambling email message instead of drafting a long, rambling blog post. Anyway, I want to clear my list of books read in 2008 so that I can start on the 2009 list, as I read a book this afternoon. Perhaps I will even add links tomorrow, but I am sleepy now, and thus too lazy to do that.

Books read in 2008, with most recently finished at top:
yeah, maybe I'll add numbers...

73 Uncle John's Triumphant 20th Anniversary Bathroom Reader, by the Bathroom Reader Institute
72 Anathem, Neal Stephenson
71 To the Nines, Janet Evanovich
70 Hard Eight, Janet Evanovich
69 Territory, Emma Bull
68 War for the Oaks, Emma Bull
67 We'll Always Have Parrots, Donna Andrews
66 Bimbos of the Death Sun, Sharyn McCrumb
65 Cryptonomicon, Neal Stephenson
64 The Other Boleyn Girl, Philippa Gregory
63 Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
62 We Bought A Zoo, Benjamin Mee
61 Prelude to Foundation, Isaac Asimov
60 Hoot, Carl Hiaasen
59 Foundation and Earth, Isaac Asimov
58 Foundation's Edge, Isaac Asimov
57 "It Itches.", Franklin Habit
56 Seven Up, Janet Evanovich
55 Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World, Vicki Myron with Bret Witter
54 Hot Six, Janet Evanovich
53 Visions of Sugar Plums, Janet Evanovich
52 The Dead Travel Fast: Stalking Vampires from Nosferatu to Count Chocula, Eric Nuzum
51 Plum Lucky, Janet Evanovich
50 Plum Lovin', Janet Evanovich
49 Nation, Terry Pratchett
48 Naked Brunch, Sparkle Hayter
47 High Five, Janet Evanovich
46 Four to Score, Janet Evanovich
45 Three to Get Deadly, Janet Evanovich
44 Two for the Dough, Janet Evanovich
43 Second Foundation, Isaac Asimov
42 Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex, Mary Roach
41 One for the Money, Janet Evanovich
40 The Day of the Triffids, John Wyndham
39 Foundation and Empire, Isaac Asimov
38 Foundation, Isaac Asimov
37 No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting, Anne L. MacDonald
36 The Return of the Solar Cat Book, Jim Augustyn
35 Tipping the Velvet, Sarah Waters
34 Affinity, Sarah Waters
33 Fingersmith, Sarah Waters
32 Douglas Adams's Starship Titanic, Terry Jones
31 Ya-Yas In Bloom, Rebecca Wells
30 The Fiery Cross, Diana Gabaldon
29 Dave Gorman's Googlewhack! Adventure, Dave Gorman (obviously!)
28 Drums of Autumn, Diana Gabaldon
27 Voyager, Diana Gabaldon
26 Black Postcards, Dean Wareham
25 A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson
24 Dragonfly in Amber, Diana Gabaldon
23 Outlander, Diana Gabaldon
22 Back on Blossom Street, Debbie Macomber
21 A Good Yarn, Debbie Macomber
20 Daddy's Little Girl, Mary Higgins Clark
19 The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove, Christopher Moore
18 Slapshot!, Stan Fishler
17 Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present, Harriet Washington
16 Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia, Elizabeth Gilbert
15 What's a Girl Gotta Do?, Sparkle Hayter
14 Petal Pusher: A Rock and Roll Cinderella Story, Laurie Lindeen
13 Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen
12 Johnny and the Bomb, Terry Pratchett
11 The Best of World Cafe: Great Conversations from NPR's Most Popular Contemporary Music Show, David Dye
10 The Onion Girl, Charles de Lint
9 Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, Jared Diamond
8 Even Vampires Get the Blues, Katie MacAlister
7 Wicked, Gregory Maguire
6 Wit and Wisdom of Discworld, Terry Pratchett
5 Cross Bones, Kathy Reichs
4 Small Gods, Terry Pratchett
3 The Light Fantastic, Terry Pratchett
2 The Color of Magic, Terry Pratchet
1 The Margarets, Sheri S. Tepper

Not quite a book and a half a week. I guess I can live with that. Anyway, off to start the list for 2009! And hopefully post tomorrow, well, maybe Monday, as Gretchen is visiting for the weekend, and we all know that means I'll be forced to live more in the real world than the virtual one. Which is probably good for a change.

Oh, but did I share Zuzu's LOL with you? We miss seeing Alejandro around, although we have woodpeckers and other birds to stalk now.

Happy New Year!


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