Mean time between awesome

I had a good friend. John. He died a long time ago but back when he was alive, we had a rating scale. It worked for people watching, places watching, touristing, really everything. It was Mean Time Between Awesome. A low score was equal to fabulous - we took two trips to New Zealand - they both tied for lowest score. A high score was a yawn - the Department of Motor vehicles.

I drove around this morning and made what felt like a cajillion stops. Two drug stores, a grocery store, Krispy Kreme, the Amazon Hub, Costco - all within about 15 minutes of my house where I have lived now for 30 years. I was struck again by the low score that Seattle gets, even in a cruddy part of town. Of course, the snow capped Mount Rainier didn't hurt the score, but still. I love this town.

Anyway. I got a whole lot done and I have a very clean house. I even did good at Costco. I got real meals which I rarely do. Oh and I got my flu shot. And most of the groceries are all put away. I feel pretty darned accomplished.

The baseball game starts in an hour and a half. That will be my afternoon. And then I'll go back to watching the series on Netflix that I started yesterday. Click Bait. It's pretty excellent TV.

So all day yesterday I wondered if Biggie's sleeping in my bed was a one time thing. He usually goes to bed early. 6ish. He disappears to the closet or under the bed or the sewing room. Last night, he went to bed at his usual time. About 8:30, I turned off the game in the living room and turned it on in the bedroom (via Alexa) and got my ice water and went on into the bedroom.

There he was in the center of the bed near the pillow. It cracked me up. He did not look at his watch but his expression was clearly 'so where have you been????'. Seriously, that cat just really makes me laugh. He did not even leave at day break. He did not get up until I was on the treadmill.

I still don't know if or why it's tied to the air conditioner but we might find out. Today. It's warming up in here.

winner winner chicken dinner!

Most of the meals I got at Costco today are stuff I've had before. But I took a flyer on one...



I just had it for lunch. It's has now earned a spot in the rotation. It's frozen. There are three packages with 2 each. I freed them all from the packaging and put 5 in a plastic bag in the freezer. I cooked one at 350 degrees for 35 mins (I'm not sure what the directions say.) And it was delicious!! I had it with some fried okra but it will also be good with nearly any kind of potatoes or even a side o' rice. I'm not jazzed that I have 5 more in the freezer!

Cookie testus

Yesterday, I rolled, cutout and baked half the cookie dough.

Today I rolled out the second half and am trying out stuff.

1. Yesterday I rolled after an hour of chilling. 24 hours is WAY better.
2. I made them uniformly thicker.
3. I iced some.

Yesterday, after they cooled, I put them in an air tight container. They turned to limp like yesterday's lettuce in about an hour. I put them all back in the oven for 4 more minutes It helped. But, yikes.

So today, I'm testing storage. And icing. This is a dirt simple icing. Powdered sugar with a small hit of milk, smaller hit of vanilla and, blue. I was too lazy do anything but brush the icing on, not carefully. But the point was the tests.

The shamrocks were first roll. The rainbows were from the left over dough after the shamrocks - balled back up and re-rolled. I'm going to store a sampling of each:

1. in air tight glass
2. in air tight hard plastic
3. on a plate in the air



I'm getting better and, more importantly to me, I'm getting tidier. My messes are way smaller and easier to clean up. Plus, COOKIES!!

I might do a cake tomorrow.