A lot of the US is getting the Northern Lights for the first night of Hanukah!

They are even supposed to be visible from VA but I'm not sure we'll be able to see them.

I keep forgetting about the Buffistas cookbook! I need to reference it more often.

Shir, that sounds really hard. Hugs.

Got pulled for a last minute client presentation next Friday, so had to cancel my planned "I have one day of PTO I must burn" vacation day next week. So took this afternoon off to take puppy to the dog park while it was still light (which is hard these days--it's only light out 8-4!)

Also just googled and found out my MacBook gets a free service for the keys being sticky, so made an appointment to drop off my computer for that--the "e" key is annoyingly sticky, so I'm happy I don't have to pay for that to get fixed, I hope!

Annoyingly though, the pet insurance isn't covering a big chunk of the overnight vet stay. But they're covering a bunch, which is more than if I hadn't gotten pet insurance, I guess?

Insent, dcp. Thank you!

Cindy, do you have the Buffistas' cookbook? vw bug's brownie recipe is in there.

I don't. I just sent you an email to your profile address. Thanks!

Also just googled and found out my MacBook gets a free service for the keys being sticky, so made an appointment to drop off my computer for that--the "e" key is annoyingly sticky, so I'm happy I don't have to pay for that to get fixed, I hope!

My keyboard has been a tiny bit off for a long time. I get double letters, skipped letters, but it's so little that it's hard to commit to dropping off the precious.

I just pulled out my Buffistas cookbook this afternoon to see if anybody had contributed a split pea soup recipe (they hadn't) to use the bone from the ridiculously-larger-than-I-needed ham I bought for Thanksgiving (but only got around to cooking this past weekend). I found a likely looking soup recipe on the interwebs, but kept the cookbook down to look through for other recipe ideas.

In vaguely related food news: I made popcorn with chili oil (sesame oil with quite a bit of kick) and it turned out delicious but way spicier than expected. I topped it with nutritional yeast (as usual) so the cats are all over it. Each cat has managed to sneak a couple of kernels. When I caught Nico nomming a kernel I figured he would reap some instant karma....but....I keep waiting for them to react to the spiciness but so far it doesn't seem to faze either of them in the least.

I have a little paperback cookbook of nothing but brownies. Some are good, most I haven't tried. I have made the Raspberry Truffle Brownies - brownies (chocolate, of course) flavored with coffee, a fluffy topping of cream cheese whipped with chocolate, raspberry jam and confectioner's sugar, and a drizzle of chocolate with butter. Uses 12 ounces of chocolate for an 8" x 8" pan.

And last night, in my usually quiet apartment, I heard someone singing/chanting. When I heard children's voices coming in, I realized what night it was, and sent them a mental Happy Hanukkah wish.

I have a Goodhousekeeping book of brownie and bars that has the absolutely best brownie recipes in it.

I just ordered my Buffista holiday cards, and they are the dumbest and dorkiest thing ever and I am cackling over them. They should all go out Monday.

ION, I watched the first trailer for the new Bob Odenkirk white-guy-on-a-vengeance-rampage movie and it hit me hard, sideways, in a way I couldn't possibly have predicted: at about 25 seconds in, he's talking with a friend or neighbor in the friend/neighbor's driveway, and they're standing in front of what looks like a white 1970 Plymouth Barracuda that's a near-perfect twin to the car my dad loved more than any other car he'd ever owned, which my brothers and I sold to a collector in Colorado a couple of months ago.

We'd all neglected that poor car for ages; it was infinitely too high maintenance and too powerful for any of us; there was no conceivable reason to keep it when there was someone else out there who wanted it and would love it and put it to good use; but still, just seeing a couple of seconds of its twin in the background of the trailer for three seconds gutted me. I spent so many drowsy nights in the deep bucket backseats, coming home from one family gathering or another, while my parents murmured in the front seat and the car grumbled all around us, and suddenly out of absolutely nowhere it feels like I betrayed the car and I want to curl up and cry because of a stupid white-dude-vengeance movie trailer.

Grief is unpredictable and DUMB, y'all. Do not recommend.

{{{JZ}}}

Aw, I just got notified that my recent blood donation (which doesn't seem that recent, but time is funny like that right now) was sent to a hospital for someone who needs a transfusion. I love this new feature!