you like me? you really like me!

i have to say, i really appreciate the sweet comments and support from yesterday's post. i especially dug hearing from those of you who de-lurked! it's always fun to hear from people who've been reading about my craziness. i love that you're entertained by my silly stories, even when my posts are less than exciting.

now, some random crap:

opening the mail lately has been super fun. along with the usual junk mail and bills and other equally un-fun stuff, i've been surprised with some unexpected boosts to my wallet!

• for some unknown reason, nordstrom decided to send me $60 in nordstrom notes. if you're unfamiliar, those are basically gift certificates that you can use towards any purchase at nordstrom, in-store or online. you earn them by buying shit using their store credit cards. and y'all know i haven't done any shopping in quite a while, so i'm stoked for these.
• apparently, when we moved into the last house and opened an account with the city for our water, we put down a deposit. i totally don't remember this at all. and when i went in to close the account, the clerk didn't mention it to me. nice. so when i opened an envelope from the water department, i was surprised to find not a closing bill, but a check for $130! so awesome.
• when we started looking for a new place to live, i registered on rent.com to see their list of available properties. the complex we moved into qualified for a bonus in the form of a visa gift card, and so when we moved in, i filled out the online form and then forgot all about it. until this week, when i checked our mailbox (which i rarely do, because we have our mail sent to a box elsewhere) and found a debit card with $100 loaded onto it! yahoo!
• i did a mystery shop job a while ago where i had to go to a ross store, make a purchase, and then go back and return it the same day. i don't care for ross, because i hate rummaging through piles of unorganized shit to find something i probably didn't need to begin with. but the store was close by, and it was good to add to my mystery shopping experience, so i accepted the job. and i got a check in the mail for my efforts - a whopping $8.85. whee! i can take the teen to get a pinkberry. heh.

the latest in my neverending perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe saga: i finally got around to trying out alton brown's "the chewy" recipe yesterday. i picked up that bread flour at the store a couple of days ago, and crossed my fingers that i would love the recipe because i couldn't find anything smaller than five freaking pounds of the stuff.

as i started mixing it up, i noticed the difference immediately. it seemed to be...softer. silky. and not white, like all-purpose flour - it was kind of pale, pale yellow in color. interesting.

the dough had to chill for a while, so i put it in the fridge and went about cleaning the thimble. my cousin seven was coming for a visit and dinner, so i wanted to make sure the place was spic and span. i was done in a jiffy, because after all, it's a freaking thimble, and when we got home from picking up the teen, i turned on the oven and scooped it out onto my baking sheets.

they turned out nicely - luckily, i didn't experience the flat-as-a-pancake results that a lot of folks who've tried this recipe have ended up with.

and they're tasty! i'm still not convinced that this is "it," but the teen says it's pretty damn close. i've got at least one more recipe to try, so the quest continues.

while i made cookies, the bean toddled over and noticed that i'd left the chair in front of the computer. little booger - she was all stealthlike as she clambered up and took hold of the mouse (usually a big no-no, as she broke my last one when she tossed it to the floor in the old house).

when seven arrived, she and the teen sat down and we all chatted and caught up as i made dinner. i'd found a good-looking recipe for three-cheese broccoli calzones, and i decided to pair that with a nice green salad. i mixed up a batch of chili's honey-lime dressing (that baby food machine sure comes in handy for lots of stuff), chopped up some veggies, tossed the salad, and plated the calzone with a side of organic marinara sauce from trader joe's.

the dressing was DIVINE. really, i think it's my new favorite - sweet and tangy and delicious. i've never had it at chili's before, but i'm glad i decided to give it a shot. and the calzone was pretty yummy too - next time, i won't bake them as long (they got kinda crusty, sad) and i'll use less ricotta and more mozzarella, but the recipe's definitely going in the veggie-weeks rotation, since the teen polished off the entire thing. yay for finally finding success! looks like the key was NOT using the fake meat. ha!

we had a great time catching up and giggling with seven, and sent her home with a chocolate moon pie (i'd gotten a big ass box of them at costco last week, yum) and a baggie of cookies. good times. stupidly, i forgot to take pictures of us, but it's okay. we'll see her again soon, i hope.

lastly, i'd like to punch paula abdul in the throat every time she opens her piehole.

that is all.