Kitchen Calamities

/ Carrie L. Carr / 1 Comment

Maybe I should be the star of a new reality series – because the last week in the kitchen has definitely been nerve-wracking! As anyone who follows me on Facebook knows, I enjoy baking as a way of relieving stress. Never did I think that it would be the *cause* of major stress – LOL!

It started out innocently enough – I wanted to make some homemade bread to send to my mother-in-law. We already send her a batch of cookies every month, so when Jan suggested sending her some honey-wheat bread, I thought it was a wonderful idea.

I’ve made this bread several times, and each time it comes out great. I put the ingredients in the bread machine (have to cheat on the kneading – my arthritic hands won’t let me do it any other way),  and in no time had a beautiful batch of dough to work with. Got it all ready for the oven, then FORGOT to set the damned timer.  Yep. Two exceptionally burned loaves.

No worries – I’ll just make up another batch, right?

Wrong.

By the way, I should have stopped while I was behind – I also was attempting to get the laundry done. And proceeded to forget to turn the dryer on. Yep. Should have taken the hint and gone back to bed.

But no, I’m stubborn.

Got the dryer going, and another batch of dough in the bread machine. An hour and a half later, the bread machine dings – yay! Gonna get that stuff cranked out in no time!

BUZZZZ! Wrong answer!

Opened up the bread machine, and noticed the dough almost about to explode. Not good. I stuck my hands into the mess and tried to get the dough out of the container.

**Note to self** Next time you decide to play with bread dough, wear rubber GLOVES!! It took half an hour to get all the goop off my hands and clothes.

Okay, so *that* round didn’t go as planned. I’ll try it one more time, measuring *very* carefully, and proceeding with the utmost caution. After all, I’ve done this same recipe many times, and *never* had a problem before.

Third time’s the charm, right?

Uh-huh. Not even freakin’ close.

The last try, I got sidetracked and left the dough in the bread machine about 10 minutes longer than I should have. Did you know that it will OOZE like a volcano?

The good news: my bread machine has *never* been cleaner. The bad news? I still have to bake bread…even if it kills me.

Stuck

/ Carrie L. Carr / 6 Comments

As I mentioned a few months ago, I’ve been stuck in a HUGE pit of CWS (can’t write shit) for longer than I care to admit. This is the worst block I’ve had since my dad passed away in 2004 – only I have no excuses this time.

I started out with a good Lex & Amanda story – or at least what I thought was one. I’ve tried several times to work on the newest chapter, only to hit a brick wall. I’ve reworked, deleted (well, not *really* deleted – there’s no such thing with me – let’s just call it  “cut and paste”), changed POV a half-dozen times, and even considered scrapping the whole damned thing.

*sigh*

Then, when I do finally get some story “ideas”, they have nothing to do with Lex & Amanda. Ugh!

I suppose this is what I get for posting my unfinished work online. Now, I feel obligated to finish the story – no matter what. (The bruises on my forehead from hitting the desk repeatedly won’t be mentioned…oops. Umm, nevermind.) As a reader myself, I hate starting something that’s not finished – so  not being able to complete something I’ve worked on feverishly for months really burns my biscuits (At least I can still channel Martha <g>).

On the other hand, I know from previous experience that forcing a story forward and slapping on an ending doesn’t necessarily make it a good story – but what is fair to those folks who have read what’s been written so far? Should I slap something together, or remove the story all together until something happens? I’d love some other opinions on it – my schizophrenic mind would love to know.

Who knew?

/ Carrie L. Carr / Leave a comment

I’ve been struggling with writer’s block for the last several months. No matter how hard I try to concentrate, even on a tiny scene, my mind stays blank.

I say blank, but what I mean is…all over the place. I’ll start to type a sentence, when suddenly my brain goes, “Wait! Did you put the sheets in the dryer?” So, I head for the laundry room, see clutter on the kitchen table, and…well, by the time I get back to my desk, I barely remember what I was doing.

*sigh*

So, yesterday I went to my doctor for a double ear infection. The intake nurse was asking the usual questions, and I realized that I had stopped taking one of my medications – SEVERAL months ago.

It just so happens that this medication helps regulate memory, concentration, and about a dozen other things. I had cleaned off my nightstand to paint the bedroom, and I’m guessing the medication had fallen to the back of the drawer. Outta sight, outta mind. No real excuse, but it’s the only one I have 🙂

So, what I’m hoping is that I’ll be back to writing in the next few weeks, once the meds kick in again.

Who to friend?

/ Carrie L. Carr / Leave a comment

A friend of mine mentioned something on her facebook page, and it got me to thinking – should you “friend” people that you don’t really know?

Her dilemma was this: people she knew back in high school were adding her as “friends”, yet she never heard word one from them afterward. They were obviously just wanting to pad their “friend” base, but at what cost?

I’ve been very lucky in that regard. Several people I went to high school with (almost 28 years ago!) have found me online and reached out to say hi. Considering the school we went to was a tiny rural high school in west Texas (less than fifty in our graduating class), I had honestly never thought I’d see or hear from anyone there again, considering who I am today.

I’ve been pleasantly surprised.  I suppose I shouldn’t be – the people who have reconnected with me were good people then, so they really haven’t changed much. And that’s a good thing.

Maybe the reason I was caught off-guard by their decency was that my last trip to my old home town wasn’t the best it could be. I took my partner back to show her where  I came from – after all, the small-town mentality has made me what I am – for the most part. It wasn’t the most welcome of experiences, and we cut our trip short – I haven’t felt that uncomfortable in my own skin in over twenty years.

Were we harassed, picked on, or bashed? No. But at almost every turn, I was given a very stark reminder of why I left. Neither one of us are flag-waving, in-your-face type of lesbians. We’re quite boring and ordinary, but were glared at and given more dirty looks in half a day of sightseeing than I can remember being faced with in a long time.  Even in our suburbia, we never see this kind of behavior. Of course, the suburbs of the D/FW area are quite a bit different from west Texas, but still – you’d think that people would realize this is 2009 – not 1959.

That’s why, when I started getting friend requests from people I haven’t seen or heard from in over 25 years, I was a bit leery. But it’s been very nice to connect with old friends, and I’m glad I took the first step. I hope my friend who’s worried about just this very thing has half as good of friends as I do.

Duvet is French for…

/ Carrie L. Carr / Leave a comment

pain in the ass, at least in my very humble and pissed off opinion.

Okay, so I know that if you pay $25 for something at IKEA, it’s more than likely not top-of-the-heap quality. I understand that you get what you pay for. But, to have a minuscule slit across one end that makes it near impossible to stuff a down comforter through the blasted thing is just evil. Not to mention that their idea of king-sized and mine differ immeasurably. Are beds in Scandinavia that much smaller? Because if two people are trying to share a bed with an alleged king-sized duvet, one of them is gonna freeze their ass off.

*sigh*

And who’s sick idea was it to design a slipcover for a comforter? Hmm? What genius marketed *this* idea? “Yeah, I’ve got a great way to make even more money than ever – we sew two sheets together, leave a tiny slit, and tell people they have to buy an additional down comforter to stuff inside. We’ll make a fortune!”

Sadist bastards.

So, we’re gonna turn over the duvet to the dogs – literally. I think it’ll make a fine dog bed cover – or maybe even a slipcover for the recliner. Anything but what we bought the blasted thing for.  Maybe our Rat Terrier can figure it out.