Susie's Leaning Tower of Chocolate for 2004 November

At work, but not working; I am trying to take a lunch break. My boss returns tomorrow and I am hoping for no comments when she views my timecard from while she was gone.

So many tasks are waiting for me... I'd so rather be working.

This girl came into my office today. I asked if she'd voted and she said "Eh, I'm not a voter." So much for Sumana-esque.

I have a lot to say today, but I am very busy at work. Perhaps later.

My sweet husband bought us tickets to go see Mannheim Steamroller in December. I'm so excited, and spoiled! He also did the dishes, even though I didn't really make dinner, and he planned a great FHE.

I voted for the first real time this morning. (My absentee ballot was extremely late for the last presidential election, and the last time I voted for governor, all candidates were so lame I didn't pick one.) There was hardly anyone there when I went before work, and I got a sticker! You have a right to vote, people; Use it!

I've been working like crazy today, but I seem to have just crashed. Hopefully I'll get a second wind soon, because I have a lot of chores and errands to do tonight. That's about it. We are kind of in a bad mood here, but I won't say why. Work Work Work.

Today my boss gave me, of all things, a PalmPilot.

I am going to a Bunco party tonight with people I work with. I'm excited, it should be fun. We also got our tickets for Mannheim Steamroller. And John got another 100% on a test. He is just too smart!

Tomorrow's Friday!

Genealogy, I am doing it, my genealogy.... I wish I was singing Saturday is a special day, it's the day we get ready for Sunday, but James and Hannah are coming over later, and I don't want to clean beforehand.

I just found Grandma Jessie's dad married to his brother-in-law. The good news is that I found his brother-in-law. But not his mother-in-law. And not the Illinois census.

We are getting a table. Mom is buying a new dining room table and giving her current one to Nathan and Ashley, so we get their kitchen table. We will have to do a little rearranging, but it will be nice for when people come over.

We also bought a Christmas tree. I had just asked if we could have one, then we were at Target and saw a small (fake) one for only $9.99! I was sold when I saw how tiny the box was. We got it, and a small think of gold and silver (not tacky) ornaments, and a lovely mesh star to be our special ornament this year. Don't worry, we aren't going to put it up until after Thanksgiving.

My eclair crust for tomorrow is baking. My last eclair cake was a disaster. I tried to use the non-instant pudding, so the filling was all runny and my crust was funny, all thin and burnt. I know I have the right kind of pudding this time, and my crust looks terrific! I even remembered to pop the bubbles.

We had a nice dinner and game and chat with Kristen and Aaron (and Julie and Joe and Louise). Kristen and Aaron made yummy curry with peppers and coriander. I made the eclair cake, which I'll probably finish for breakfast. Lily is looking so lovely, like a little doll, and let me hold her for quite some time before she got too tired.

I am trying to finish crocheting a baby hat for Julie (my old roommate). I have done almost a row while reading weblogs. I also painted my toenails red for the approaching holiday season, not that anyone will see them. It's still nice to have cute toes.

For some reason, our house looks especially clean to me now. Everything is picked up, and I love when John rearranges things on our bookshelf to make it look nice. Also, the plant clippings Mom gave me are finally flourishing. Except for that branchy thing you gave me from your windowsill- it doesn't look so good. Should I be doing something special?

Éclair Cake
Crust:					Filling:
½ c. margarine				2 small or one large package French vanilla pudding
½ t. salt				1 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened
1 c. water				3 c. milk
1 c. flour					
4 eggs.

Topping:
1 package Cool Whip
Chocolate syrup

Heat water, margarine and salt until boiling. Remove from heat and add flour.  Stir until mixture pulls away from sides. Add eggs, one at a time and beating well between each.  Spread on a greased jelly roll pan and bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes. Poke bubbles with a fork while baking.

Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add pudding and milk.  Beat until blended; mixture may be lumpy.

Spread filling over cooled crust.  Top with Cool Whip and drizzle with chocolate syrup.

John surprised me at work by calling to see if I could get off early to go see The Incredibles. It was a great movie! Afterward, we walked around the Riverwoods, then went to the mall to buy a birthday present. Now I am making Thai Pasta Salad for the ward party tomorrow. We are planning to go to Park City tomorrow to do some Christmas shopping, then go to the party (at Timp Lodge) on the way home.

Tomorrow is our official Benefit's Fair, where employees can sign up for 2005 stuff. Linda is in charge of this, and about a million other things, so today we will be decorating and setting up. It's only 11:00. I have redone a spreadsheet, answered 100 phone calls and received one fax. Oh yeah, and I got the mail.

I will post my wishlist. But only if Sumana does. I would like:

Socks
Slippers
Work clothes
Cookbook
Yarn
I can't think of anything else

Last night at Enrichment, I won the early bird drawing. I got a cute Winter blanket, a book about a perky turkey and a cookbook I haven't had a chance to read yet. I had a long day yesterday. I am excited to go home and do nothing for a bit, and also for the weekend; We have no plans!

I have a dentist appt. this morning. In the meantime I am playing "recruiter". Linda and I are the only ones in the office (and Hugo). It seems quiet and we are getting work done. I'd best be doing the store order.

I have thought of some more things I want:

Body cream (the thick stuff. My skin is so dry, bleh.) I think I'd like vanilla-brown sugary or... I had to go look. Right now I have "Mango Mandarin", something orange like that.

Ink Spots. These are tiny little ink pads, only $1.50 or so. Let me clarify what colors of ink I already have: Black. Red. I have had this red ink pad for approximately 12 years. Still works!

John and I would also like Hildalgo on DVD. There are probably more DVDs we want, but I can't think of any. See Amazon wishlist for CDs I would listen to if you bought for me.

Last night I wrapped presents! for family peeps. Most of it is stuff I bought for stockings but turned out to be too large. I still have quite a pile of stocking stuff. More shopping will occur later today. We are going to Salt Lake, to the Gateway (this fancy new shopping center) and to "The Soup Kitchen", an incredibly yummy, hidden, cheap restaurant I ate at with Susan one time. I had the tomato soup- this is where my obsession with homemade tomato soup began. It will culminate (probably) when I get around to trying Alyson's yumilicous Tomato Fennel Soup Recipe.

Last night, also, John and I spent some time making cards. I complained about not being able to get out and leave out all my scrapbooking junk (hence the excitement about getting a table) and John suggested I just use the desk in our bedroom. There still wasn't quite enough room on the desk. It is very oddly shaped (took us ages to get it out of the Chadwicks' basement) and we keep books on it. Anyway, we had lots of fun. John is so creative at making cards. He made a very very cute one for Jodi's bridal shower earlier this year. It had a bathtub full of presents with a shower curtain on brads. So cute. I mostly copy other cards to make mine; all of my original ideas turn out funny-looking.

We made some Peppermint Bark this afternoon. It turned out yummy, not counting the entire bag of white chips we had to throw out because the chocolate seized when we tried to melt it.

We are headed to CA tomorrow. Susan called and said I-15 was closed and there was a big mess trying to get a hotel room, but I don't anticipate any such problem for us. We're very excited to see the family, and to go to San Francisco.

There, mom, are you happy now? see you soon!

We are having a blast here in San Francisco. Currently, Leonardr is cooking us biscuits and gravy for breakfast. Then the four of us kids are going to walk the Golden Gate Bridge while Mom rests up for the rest of the day. We are planning to go to Fisherman's Wharf and Chinatown, but I won't be driving! I barely made if between Leonards' houses. It doesn't help that Mom's care is making an odd noise.

We had a lovely meal yesterday, the five of us with Leonardw, Jeff, and Jeff's sister, JoEllen. JoEllen was fun, she played a game of Settlers of Catan with us, and sat and chatted, even though she kept talking about how old she was.

Leonardw has a very nice new house: John keeps saying how I told him how scary the staircase was at their old house. I remember being scared of that thing as a five-year-old!

More adventures later.

While at Leonardr's apartment, Mom was examining his old cherry dresser for her brother Robert's name which he had apparently carved into it some time ago. Not only did we find it, we also found a scratch that read "Rachel" which no one remembers her (or a conniving sibling) putting there.

The title is also in reference to our fun evening reading the diverse personals in a San Franciscan newspaper.

We are home safe (barely) after two snow storms and 25 miles of inching along in Southern Utah. Yes, we could have walked faster but we would have frozen to death doing so. We are very lucky that our car was not one of about 20 we saw off the road. As it was, it took us 14 hours to get home.

John is sickie and I am exhausted. It is very hard to drive 5 mph with a manual transmission!!! Tonight we will have fun putting our Christmas tree up, buying food, and being home.

I forgot to mention that while we were at Mom's house she spoiled John like a grandchild. She made him his requested dinner (tacos with guacamole) and bought us some snacks for our trip: baby carrots with little ranch tubs, yogurts, cheese and crackers. Thanks, Mom. That was all we ate yesterday.

We also got to have a nice long visit with Grandma. Garry was also there for a while. Yay for Grandmas!