Baking Cookies

I managed to finish grading all the finals, calculate the grades, and turn them in, so the Fall '08 semester is officially over for me. I also managed to get most of the rest of my list of a few posts ago done (including playing with Legos), so today there are only 2 goals: bake cookies so I can make up cookie bags for some friends; and wrap presents. Since it's snowing out yet again, this is a good list of things to do. Anything requiring my car is out of the picture . . . which leads me to the fiasco that was Friday night.

The plan for Friday was to shop at the mall, finish grading, write, go to the gym, go to the gym Christmas party with pbray and Amy, then retire for the night pleasantly drunk and happy.

This did not factor in the snow storm. So here's what REALLY happened:

The storm didn't start as soon as they expected, so I got up, intent on going to the mall and getting home with my sportscar before the snow started. However, my partner suddenly wanted to clean off the rest of the crap from the roof garden from the summer. We've had weeks--nay! months!--to do this, but of course he didn't want to do it then. He waited until a storm was imminent and I had errands. *sigh* Anyway, we trudged up to the roof and got all of the pots and platforms and other crap put away so the snow wouldn't bury it.

But now I needed to shower, because moving pots and urns full of dirt is not light work and I was sweaty. So I showered while he went off to work. Still no snow when I was done, so I headed to the mall, not without some tension and urgency. I shopped. After coming out of the first store, I saw it was snowing. SHIT! I ran through the rest of the mall shopping as quickly as possible, skidded through the slick parking lot to my car, and started heading home.

Which was a disaster. The streets were nasty slick, and my sportscar (not surprisingly) doesn't like it. It's all over the place, possibly because I don't have snow tires on it yet. Plus, everyone else on the road is an idiot, because they apparently don't SEE the snow and are going the usual 80 mph on the backstreets. Those behind me are probably cursing me (but they aren't driving a rather expensive sportscar), but I go slow and manage to make it to my street where I make my first real mistake. I park the car on the street.

But the snow is cool! And now I'm home safe, I run upstairs and happily begin grading the final few exams while watching the snow fall. I take a few breaks to go down and shovel the sidewalk in front of our building. At one point, the neighbor across the street waves and says hi and says the magical words that spell disaster: "I put my car in the ramp before all this started." I smile and say that was a good idea, while inside my head I'm screaming. WHY DIDN'T I PUT MY CAR IN THE RAMP!?!?!?! WHY, WHY, WHY?!?!?!?! It's too late to rectify the problem. There's already 6+ inches of snow on the ground/road. And they aren't very intent on plowing it clear, I notice.

So I go upstairs and finish the grading, calculate grades, input the grades and then sit back content that the semester is over except for the emails I'll be getting from students begging that I up their grade just every so slightly because [insert various reasons here]. (What's interesting about these emails is that they invariable begin, "I know I didn't attend class that often, and failed the first two exams, but I studied really hard for that final [read that as studied for an hour], and tried really hard at the end [the last few hours of the semester], and I deserve the better grade for that [minimal] effort.")

At this point, it's getting close to the gym class I'm supposed to teach and I haven't heard or seen my partner since that morning. He's got the 4-wheel drive truck that I need to get to the gym. I call the cell and get nothing. so I go down to shovel the walk one more time. He drives up and when I open the door, immediately asks, "Why didn't you put your car in the ramp?" I glare at him. He wants to move the car right then, but I point out rather huffily that I can't move it now, I have a gym class to go teach, and where the hell was he now that it's ten minutes to when I have to leave, and BTW the moving of the car is really my problem so stop mentioning it every ten seconds while I scramble getting ready for the gym.

We get to the gym, where 4 people have showed up for class and we learn the Christmas party that evening has been (sensibly) postponed until the next day. (We were hoping no one would show so I could go home.) I teach and feel much better afterwards. No tension anymore. Partner and I eat at a local mexican restaurant, then head home.

Where I tackel the car problem. The plows still haven't made much of an effort to clear the roads, but I shovel my car out, shovel a path to the "good" part of the road (keep in mind I live RIGHT DOWNTOWN and the fact that these roads aren't clear yet just sucks), and try to get the car out. Did I mention I don't have snow tires on the car? Anyway, it doesn't work. I shovel some more. Next attempt, my partner pushes from behind and I make it to the road. Silently cheering while clenching the steering wheel with a death grip, I don't stop and just head down the block to the parking ramp. I make it there, insane people driving the streets around me, and head into the ramp--

When I realize the "entrance" I'm heading into had a giant concrete slab blocking it.

I slam on the brakes, skid and slip through the snow, but stop before hitting the concrete.

However, my car is now solidly stuck. Again. I console myself with the fact that at least I'm not stuck blocking the real entrance to the parking garage. (I also note that I'm not the only one who made the mistake of trying for the blocked entrance. There were multiple tracks up to that entrance in the snow.)

I head back down the block to get the shovel, then dig my car out of the snow. Again. I also think ahead and dig a nice clear path up to the real entrance so that if I do get my car free I can pull into the garage without any problems.

First attempt, I just spin in place. Get out. More digging. Get on hands and knees and scrape snow out from behind the tires with my (gloved) hands. Try again. No good. Partner arrives. He screams at me to rock the car while he pushes, not realizing that the way the stick shift is configured, I can't do that. (At least no easily.) Someone pulled up on the street and thinks I'm blocking the entrance to the parking garage (which I'm not), but decides to help out. With both pushing, we get the car out onto the street and I immediately pull it into the parking garage and park. I head back to thank the guy for helping, but he's already gone and my partner has headed back to shovel out the walk again. I ignore him completely and head up to the loft, where I change into comfy clothes and just curl up on my bed, thinking about nothing, trying to let the stress tension ease in my shoulders. It's only 9pm or so, but my days is over, done, kaput, nothing more for me thanks, BING!, fork me I'm done.

And that was Friday. The entire week was stressful, what with the finals, the threat of snow on various days, and dealing with desperate students who should have realized they were in "heap big trouble" about fourteen weeks ago.

So today . . . I'm baking cookies. I've got dough made for sugar cookies, Rolo cookies, and super dooper cookies (crinkle cookies), and have already made peanut butter blossoms (with dough left over for baking with my mother later this week). Now I'm going to bake the Rolo cookies. After that the super doopers, followed by the more labor intensive sugar cookies (because I have to do cut-outs, none of that round cookie crap for sugars). All made from scratch. I need a professional mixer. I used on hand mixer until it started smoking, then did the same for another counter mixer. I think they're both praying I don't have any more dough to make. They're eyeing me from the counter suspiciously.

What kind of cookies do you guys make for the holidays? Is there a special one that you ONLY get for the holidays? I'm always looking for good recipes, so if you'd like to share, feel free to leave them in the comments. And I can provide recipes for my cookies as well, if you're interested.

A (hopefully humorous) update later today on why I think George R.R. Martin is having problems getting that new (and final?) book written and handed in. I have a theory. (All tongue-in-cheek of course.)