Cameron E. Mitchell

[Filter: RL people]

As if I needed more of a reminder that a). I need the little shit in my life more than I like to admit; b). I should not be making decisions while still in severe pain and drugged to the gills; c). I should not be interacting with humans while still in severe pain and drugged to the gills; d). I am STILL not allowed to self-medicate my own pain levels.

Thought I'd gotten past that. Guess I really, really haven't.

He's been located. I still haven't talked to him, but the person he was supposed to be meeting at 0800 checked in with the building security department, and himself signed through, with escort, at 2130 last night. Said escort is a mutual acquaintance and I can make a reasonable guess as to where himself is at the moment; it does not bode well, but he has at least been quasi-located.

At this point, I'm furious (that meeting he blew off was important, and there is no excuse for him not calling me) but resigned. john, thanks for calling around, and hilarytamar, thanks for checking the Hill for me. Now that I have at least a vague idea of where he is, I can start worrying about why he had to disappear.

hilarytamar, have you heard from himself at all today? He was supposed to call me when his plane landed and he didn't, and his phone's ringing straight through to voicemail. He mentioned something about maybe trying to get together with you for dinner if he wasn't too wiped after travel, so if you're holding him hostage, I ain't paying ransom for anyone rude enough to forget to tell me he landed safe.

Sign you are at the Mitchell family homestead on the morning of Christmas Eve: Everybody keeps creeping stealthily around to see if they can find an available, out-of-the-way spot to block all of the last-minute Christmas knitting and let it dry without its intended recipient noticing it.

(I am fortunate; vtwopointoh wakes up at the asscrack of dawn, so I can just claim his bed.)

And yes, I got it all done. Daddy's gloves were finished on the plane; vtwopointoh spent the whole flight weaving in ends. But it's all done. (All right, I've still got one of my nephew's two bear mittens to finish. But that's almost done, right?)

And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to finish that mitten. And then seam the things that are blocking once they dry. (Seaming does not count as 'not finished knitting'.) And then I get to spend the rest of the day cooking, baking, cleaning, and wrangling children. While being horribly jetlagged. At least the eggnog comes out around lunchtime or so.

Ah, family for the holidays.

(At least we have working internet this time, so I don't have to listen to vtwopointoh bitching.)

Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate it. :)

...And we are now in DC, and yes, the flight was awful, and no, vtwopointoh, I don't want to hear one more time about how we should charter our own aircraft so we don't have to deal with the rest of humanity, and yes, turning around and flying back Tuesday morning is going to be just as nightmarish, but hey, at least the flight gave me a chance to get some useful work done.

Six hundred and twenty-one Christmas cards: written, signed, addressed, assembled, and stamped, on the airplane, on one of those little tray tables (and okay, in first class, so I had a little bit more room than in steerage, but still), and okay, my calligraphy this year was a little shaky thanks to some unexpected turbulence, but BY GOD I DID THEM.

Just nobody tell Momma where I did 'em, and we'll all be good. And I hope nobody notices that we're mailing 'em from DC instead of from home this year.

Had a few spare spoons today, so I took over the kitchen and made up a week or two of meals. (I like to keep more on hand, but with how often Sparky the Wonder Contractor and his Merry Band of Goons knock out our power, we're keeping it simple. The generator only keeps us for so long.)

This one, though, I saved for last & best, because I knew we were going to want to eat it once it was out of the oven instead of freezing for later. Tastes fabulous, looks beautiful, and goes a lot faster than you'd expect.

The meal: Pan-seared flank steak crusted with wasabi peas; herbed roasted potato wedges; vegetable assortment.

( Instructions for any level of kitchen competence within: )

Now, contrary to what some people -- and I'm not naming names, but he might happen to look a lot like vtwopointoh -- think, we do not, in fact, totally ban food from a box from this kitchen. On the contrary, it has its time and it has its place, and that time and place is "when you're feeling lazy and vtwopointoh is bitching about being out of cookies again".

We begin with:

1 box Betty Crocker fudge brownie mix

Instead of using the water the box calls for, we substitute:

1/4 c. Chambord liqueur

We also add:

1 c. walnuts

Instead of the 13x9 pan the box calls for, we put it in:

1 11x7 pan

Instead of the time the box tells us to bake it for, we bake it for:

29-31 minutes

Test with the toothpick method, slap vtwopointoh's hand if he gets anywhere near them until they cool, slice, and be sure you claim some for yourself before himself realizes that you've lifted the embargo on the kitchen.