Diary of a Mad Potter

Y'know...it's no wonder this "fluffy" chick has been this way all her life. Well-meaning friends and co-workers. A co-worker brought a dozen chocolate cupcakes to work today.

Yeah, right...willpower. Willpower this pal! I had a cupcake for breakfast desert (after a nice bowl of oatmeal at home) and am about to have a cupcake for lunch desert. I might as well just stick it to my stomach (most would say "ass," but not me...'cause I don't have one). Then again, it has to go through that gaping hole in my face, as that's where my tastebuds are.

So, I hope the crappy weather due for tonight holds off long enough for me to work off a half of a cupcake at the gym tonight.

Ok, I'm all over that last entry now. Just a mild residue of an annoyance that people are never happy no matter what the season.

It's about to get really hairy here soon. Lots of crazy work stuff a-commin and friends that I'm trying to work with drivin me nuts. Geez dude...you have an Internet business, d'ya think you could check your email at least ,once a day? Sorry, I don't do stress well, as we all know

Hopefully, my latest mini-projects will be ready at the pottery studio tonight. I may have to buy more clay as the stuff I have is kinda unthrowable...all used and lumpy. Needs to be re-wedged a lot and I usually make a mess of that. So, I think fresh clay is the answer tonight. I need some therapy and I'll only get that on the wheel.

I'm hoping some of the new glazes they have there work out better than what I've been dealing with. I'm finally getting some nice pieces come out of bisque firing, only to have the glazing go straight to Hell in a handbasket. I'm soooo cliche'd.

Oops...lunch is over. Back to work...feh.

Living in the Bible Belt can drive one insane, especially around dates of religious significance, or times when something religious hits the headlines. This Christmas is a prime example of that.

There was a story on the local news about how some of the religious right are all up in arms and wanting to re-claim Christmas for Christ. First of all, I don't think anyone has stolen Christmas. I honestly think that Jesus would be happy that his...sorry His birthday is considered a season of brotherhood, joy, generousity, and happiness. I really don't think he'd mind if someone stole the concept of a Chrismas Tree and turned it into a Holiday Tree. This is discounting the fact that anyone looks at a Christmas tree would never identify it as anything but a symbol of Christmas...so It doesn't matter what you call it...it's a Christmas Tree.

The big news was that a whole lotta people were offended that the employees at the local Wal-Mart were saying "Happy Holidays" rather than "Merry Christmas." They're re-claiming Christmas for Christ, y'see. Well, I really don't think Jesus would approve of acting so negatively on His birthday. Someone is saying something friendly, happy, and nice to you and you're going to argue semantics?

I'll expand on this later (lunch at work is over), but remember that nobody can steal your religion from you.

Well, today was Christmas Cookie Day. I had one floating holiday left at work and had to take it before the end of the year...so it was a good day for cookies. However, it was a bad day for Donna's judgement about what to bake on Christmas Cookie Day....

I got myself a cookbook where the recipes limit refined ingredients and include NO sugar. Sweetened with fruit juice and such. Am I nuts? YOU BETCHA!! The majority of these puppies suck. Why do I try crap like this? The applesauce current cookies taste like week old sawdust and I don't know why I even bothered to bake the whole batch. The almond shortbread was worse, if that's possible. That one is in the trash. Didn't bake the second batch of those.

On the bright side, the chocolate-chip pecan cookies aren't bad. And the linzer cookies and almond gems are almost yummy. I still have to dunk the barley cookies in chocolate (they're pretty tastless and dry now) but the truffle cream filled stars are decent. The mini-fruitcakes may even pass muster.

Of course, none of these cookies are as good as the full-sugar/white flour/artificial gunk cookies I usually make. I'm gonna try the macaroons with turbano sugar and may make a couple of batches of my usuals, but mix in some whole-wheat flour and turbano sugar. Not super-healthy, but not as bad as they usually are.

I'm beat...so I will put off the rant I've been planning. Stay tuned, there's a group out there ruining the Holidays for me and I'll letcha know ALL about it.

For those of you who care...I am hoping to start on the X-mas site and send out my annual postcards as well. Gotta get some film developed first. Later 'gators!!