November 12, 2007 - Mild Weekend. Oy, the Upcoming Week!

Thankfully, after the past few weekends being crazy and the events of last Thursday, this weekend was pretty low key, which was tremendously nice. Of course, that does not lead to exciting blogging, because I simply do not think you will share in my heady exuberance over only being 52 cents over what I budgeted at the grocery store (thank god for coupons!).

After the weekend lull, this week is shaping up to be pretty busy.

• Work (M-Th): Finishing up the monthly reporting. While I complain a lot, the monthly grind isn't so bad. It is those months where I have quarterly and annual reports that really send me into a homicidal rage.
• Wednesday Night: Dinner with friends
• Thursday Night: Baking! After not having really made anything since my father's birthday in September, I have to bake two cakes, a pie, marshmallows, and brownies on Thursday night. Yes, I am weird and make my own marshmallows. One of the cakes is for a pitch in at work on Friday that I am organizing, and the other cake and pie is for Thanksgiving, which my family is celebrating on Sunday. To simplify things as much as possible, I am making two of the same cake, which is a new variation on an old standby, the Bailey's Irish Cream Cake. For those of you who have never tasted it, it is a fantastic cake, but it is also one of the most obnoxiously easy recipes in my repertoire. To put a Thanksgiving twist on it, I am putting pumpkin in it, which I am hoping makes for a very nice spice cake effect. The pie is a mushroom pie for Thanksgiving dinner. I made it last year, and it turned out pretty well, even though I forgot to add the cream cheese. So, this year I want to make it correctly. The crust is surprisingly easy to make, and I even did a lattice top for it.
  
• Friday Work: Pitch-in, which usually takes up most of my morning to get ready, and then I am leaning towards leaving after lunch to go workout and pick-up Romeo from work at 4 so he can help with:
  
• Friday Night: Bootlegging! For Saturday (more on that in a minute), I have promised to bring some of my potent jello shots, which are definitely not your typical "replace water with alcohol" recipes. I actually have a cook book devoted to complicated jello shot making, and while Blanche usually takes over these duties, I will be making three varieties on Friday Night. Synchronicity is a three layered jello shot with the middle layer being a teaspoon of tequila. Bruletta is made with vanilla pudding with brown sugar on the bottom. Cosmo is pretty self-explanatory. All of these have high levels of vodka in them, and Bruletta has the added flavor of Bailey's Irish Cream (see how my mind works with overlapping ingredients). Speaking of vodka (and rum), I am also going to need to start my infusions on Friday for my post-Thanksgiving party a week from this coming Saturday, but I'll talk about those more in another blog.
  
• Saturday: Tailgating! Romeo, Blanche, HR, and I are going to the Old Oaken Bucket, which is the annual football game between interstate rivals Indiana University and Purdue University. We're not planning on actually going to the game, we're just going to get drunk in the parking lot with Liberty, Stella and Stan, Stripper Mom and Sport Authority, Venus, and Accounting Spice - plus about 20 other people. It should be a blast. I had a good time last year, even though it was a bit cold and rainy. Depending on our condition, we may also venture out to Illusions again to see Adessah Reed, who is one of Romeo and Blanche's coworkers. We'll see if we even make it!
• Sunday: Thanksgiving!

So ya see, I have a busy week, and next week, I have to get ready for party prep for my Family Detox, Public Intox gathering. I will have more on that next week. At least next week is a short work week!

I'm going to need more coffee....