I am wearing an apron! I just finished mixing a batch of Nestle Tollhouse cookies and a batch of Chocolate Kringles. Right now they are in the refridgerator and in about an hour I will roll them into tiny balls and place them in the oven. I feel so domestic!

Chocolate Kringles
INGREDIENTS:
1 (18.25 ounce) package Devil’s Food Cake cake mix
1/2 cup butter
1T water
2 eggs
Confectioner’s sugar

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease cookie sheets.
Pour in the first 4 ingredients into a large bowl and stir until well blended. Roll dough into balls and coat in confectioner’s sugar. Place balls onto the prepared cookie sheets.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove from pan to cool on wire racks.

Thought this might be fun to try. Let me know what you think.

Is this an improvement? Or a step backwards? I’ve been yearning for something new. I like the way it looks on a higher resolution screen. At 800X600 it is somewhat lacking but then again I don’t get too many people at that resolution so should I really care?
Well, we can try it out for a few days and if it is determined it’s no good, the old version is easy to restore.

Peeps just sent me a Holiday Magic Recipe via email. I think this is by far my most favorite recipe EVER!
Ingredients:

• MARSHMALLOW PEEPS® Holiday Shapes
• Your favorite hot chocolate recipe/mix
• Cinnamon Sticks, trimmed to approximately 5 inches

Directions:

• Make your favorite hot chocolate
• Insert cinnamon stick approximately 1/3 into the bottom end of the MARSHMALLOW PEEPS® Holiday shape.
• Gently place the exposed end of the cinnmon stick in the hot chocolate, so that the MARSHMALLOW PEEPS® shape rests on the side of the cup. In the absence of cinnamon sticks, simply place a MARSHMALLOW PEEPS® shape on top of the hot chocolate for an instant melt-away.

CHEERS!

The plane landed in Philly. My luggage greeted me at the carousel. My dream was just a dream and not a psychic vision of events to come.

I can’t tell you how nice it is coming back to a clean room and bathroom. I really hope I can keep this up. Considering I am home for quite awhile, it shouldn’t be hard for the short term.

Yesterday, the consultant brought in Italian cookies for my group. They were so good! I then bought pizzas for lunch. I couldn’t let him one-up me could I? The pizzas weren’t very good. Definitely not Delorenzo-quality.

In the plane last night I overheard this conversation:
“So you love to eat, huh?”
“OH YEAH! It’s one of my 2 favorite things in the whole world: eat, talk, and sell.”

As I was leaving the office, I said goodbye to everyone. The one fellow who has made my life very difficult got up out of his chair and gave me a hug. At first I thought, how nice! But then the hug WOULD NOT END. He had me in a vise-grip! After the 3-second count that most hugs last, I released the tension in my body as a sign to let me go. BUT HE DIDN’T. He held me there in this weird hug for at least 5-10 mississippis. Finally he let me go and wished me Merry Christmas. I tried to remain nonchalant about the hug as I semi-runned away.

That makes 4, I think.

Tonight I fly home. I didn’t get around to going to that Christmas Market. It’s just so cold and being alone, I can’t muster up enough motivation by myself. Gluhwein would taste so good right now.

I had a dream last night I was in a plane and it started to nosedive. The pilot was able to gain control and he landed it in an abandoned train depot. Although I was happy to be alive, I was sad that I most likely lost my luggage especially because it contained my favorite pair of black leather (extra extra wide) shoes.

I received 3 emails alerting me that Dawn Eden described me as a young Paula Prentiss! I guess my unending love for Paula has not gone unnoticed! When I read what Dawn wrote, it made me feel all effervescent inside. Sometimes it’s something just that simple that can make your day, month, or in this case, lifetime. 🙂

This afternoon I wrote out my Christmas Cards. In years past, I made a real effort to personalize the greeting and say something special. This year I simply wrote: Merry Christmas, Love Donna & Lisa. The cards were written and envelopes addressed and stamped within a half hour! Me like curt and impersonal!

You will never believe this but I accomplished every item on my to do list! I changed my hotel reservations, bought plane tickets, sent emails, submitted my expense report, wrote out my Christmas cards and called my credit card company to make sure Windsor Pilates reversed that one charge. To top all that off, my room is NEAT! Everything is in place! YOU CAN SEE THE FLOOR! I am beginning to wonder what happened to me? How long is this going to last? I guess until I feel overwhelmed and anxious which should be in about 20 minutes.

Last night, Audra, Lisa, Glenn, and I braved the weather and traveled to New York City to attend Pop Gear! Everything was against us: the weather, dinner, train schedules, basic directions… but we made it.

We caught the very last bit of Dawn Eden’s set. As soon as she saw me, she put on the Monkees’ song Valerie! Dawn is exactly how I imagined! She is beautful, smart, and funny. It seemed once we arrived, the joint started jumping. Everyone was frugging, jerking, shaking and doing the watusi. Audra and I joined the crowd and for the first time I FIT IN ON THE DANCEFLOOR! My Judy Carne/Ann-Margret/Candy Johnson moves were NOT out of place– everyone danced like me! Believe it or not, I felt as if I belonged!

“Audra, these are OUR kind of people!” I said.

After about an hour of some serious dancing, Dawn asked us to join her for coffee! We went to a little coffeehouse down the street where we ordered coffee and dessert. Dawn is just as interesting as she is on her Web site! I was a bit embarassed because I was worried I was gushing just a little too much! In fact, I wanted to have a much more intelligent conversation but I was a bit overwhelmed by the fabulous night! The evening ended and we walked with Dawn for a little while before she sauntered off into the night. What a wonderful evening! THANKS, DAWN!

Lisa, me, Glenn, Audra, and Dawn Eden.

What a day I had yesterday. My 2nd boss in two weeks was fired or resigned. The person they said I would be reporting to is not someone I respect. I just have no clue what is happening. After next week I am taking two weeks off. Hopefully when I come back everything will be back under control.

Tonight Glen, Lisa, Audra and I MAY go to Pop Gear in NYC. I’ve been wanting to go ever since I first read about it on the DawnPatrol. It should be very fun! I can’t wait to meet Dawn Eden!

My package from WebUndies arrived yesterday. I never thought that 1. I would ever be 30 years old and 2. That I would continue to wear Wonder Woman Underoos. I like to think of it as my security blanket.

My mother and father went upstate yesterday and brought back my Grandfather’s old organ for me. It had been living with a cousin the past ten years or so. He recently moved and instead of throwing it, he gave it back to us. Now I have an organ sitting in my parlor.

Gosh I am hungry. I wonder if Lisa would be up to driving 40 minutes to Ikea so we can have a .99 breakfast? I got on the scale this morning. The first weight was wrong so I picked up the scale and took it to another room. That weight was more like it but I thought I would do 2 out of 3 so I moved it to the powder room and that weight was also not acceptable. I don’t understand how I weigh different amounts in different rooms. Maybe the Donna villa has some strange gravitational force field? Or my scale is a piece of crap.

eHarmony sent me a match. HE LOOKS LIKE BILL CLINTON! It is uncanny! Looking at the picture, I expected him to bite his lower lip and give the thumbs up sign! Gosh I wish I wasn’t so ethical, otherwise I would post his picture for everyone to see.

This morning the hem on my trousers came undone. Should I staple it? Paper clip it? Finally I grabbed some packing tape and taped it in place.

I am still at work. All I want is to go home. The plane lands at 10 but I won’t get in until much later.