Monday, April 16

Crisis Mode

It always seems to happen when I am suddenly struck with a seemingly insurmountable amount of work.

First - I get that tight pit of my stomach feeling: "Oh, crap - for real?"
Second - Panic: "What the hell, there is no way."
Third - Fear: "I'm going to get fired/People are going to see my messy house"
Fourth - Hopelessness: "Akjgaskjgnkajn ::crying::"
Fifth - Resignation: "Oh well, this job sucks anyway, guess I'll do what I can/Oh well, if it's messy, its not filthy."
Sixth - Crazy productive. Thank goodness it's been ending up this way.

Of course this means I don't get much rest. Or relaxation.

On of my best friends from high school and her girlfriend are coming to visit me in 2 days. And I honestly do not feel my house is acceptable for them to stay in for a week. Almost, but not really. The Boy got a bunch of new equipment for his lair (AKA: his battle station/desk [I should totally post a picture of it. It's breathtaking.]) and my boxes from work shipping me equipment are taking OVER. I did manage to get new towels, keep my kitchen in a manageable order, and go grocery shopping for this week. But I also did work about 12 hours too. No exercise. :o/

I'm so so so excited to see them, but super worried because of the amount of work I have/deadlines to meet, I won't be able to relax and enjoy spending time with them. It's my goal to get caught up enough to spend all weekend with them.

Oh yeah, I'm also taking the California Lead Certification exam the day I'm picking my friends. Which cost the company $212 bucks. If I fail, I have to pay it all again, and they don't offer it in my area again for another 3 months. Joy.

So, I am making lists and drinking tea and depending on the comfort of these tasks to keep me on track. It will all work out. It will all work out. It will all work out.

Sunday, April 1

Coffee cake!

Last night I made a coffee cake. I LOVE coffee cake. My grandmother used to make a coffee cake she called "Merk's." I have no idea who or what Merk's was, but the coffee cake was a sour cream batter with nuts and brown sugar layered between the batter. Never failed to get me up in the morning when I smelled it out of the oven.

So, following that memory, when I saw Shutterbean's post on her mothers traditional coffee cake, I needed to make it. I went out and bought sour cream specifically for the purpose. Of course, seeing as it is only me and the boy in our house, there was no way I needed 12-16 servings sitting around taunting me while I work from home. Plus, I don't have a bundt pan. So I halved the recipe and improvised:

It's a smaller pan - I believe it's the 7-8" range and I stuck a greased metal prep cup in the middle. I should have weighted it because as the cake rose, it pushed the cup out with it. So the hole doesn't go all the way though.....it's just an indent. No worries though! It still worked! It was also about 10 pm, so rather than trying to document something that would have dingy images, I just instagrammed it. (Yep. That's a word).

And I had a bit left over batter, (and I knew that waiting 20 minutes for the cake to cool wasn't going to fly with our impatience for sweets) I made a tiny one for the boy and I to share:

I made a bit of the maple glaze to go over it, but really, it's sweet and moist enough without it. And of course, we had some leftover for our breakfast this morning.....


Though, right now we are attempting to finish the champagne with Mimosa's. Everyone knows you can't keep champagne, right?! Hehe. Happy Sunday!!