Another storm! Ice, snow, sleet, freezing rain, plague of frogs etc will be pelting down from Thursday night until Saturday afternoon. I've already told everyone at work that I'm not going out into that mess on Friday but I get the feeling they're humoring me. People, I mean it, I will never be so committed to my job that I'll risk my neck to reach it (and the buses won't be running anyway.) Right now I'm making an emergency grocery list: salsa, refried beans, hamburger, cheese... I'm having storm tacos before the lights go out. Some food for the cat, too, of course.

Speaking of, Polly's in hell. She makes my dishes rattle when she walks so I've cut her food down. Now she stands by her food bowl and stares off into the distance, with dignity, while she waits for me to do the right thing but I never do. Then she tries to Jedi mind-trick me but my will is too strong. It's annoying to be stared at for hours, though, so I'm going to reintroduce a squirt bottle into our relationship. Her life is so hard.

Anyway, I'm actually looking forward to the snowstorm. It'll be good to have a three day weekend but we'll see what Thursday's forecast says before I get too excited. .

Bad ice storm is hitting us on Sunday OR it's just going to be a bit of chilly rain. Who knows? I've decided to join the herd running to the store anyway. I actually do need bread, milk, and eggs! And maybe a few cans of soup. I always give all my canned supplies away to food drives during the holidays so I need to rebuild. Also, the cold/flu section has become very skimpy since Omicron arrived (luckily I already had what I needed for my miserable cold) so I've ordered huge bottles of meds on Amazon and they arrived yesterday.

I'm ready! Disaster prep is fun and I'm going to enjoy eating snacks and watching the frustrated weather people drive around in STORM TRACKER FIVE looking for disasters.

Speaking of my cold, it's finally starting to release its kung-fu grip. I can breathe! And I can sleep. I slept like a drunken baby log last night and it was wonderful. .

...and all at once! A blast of wind and a drumming downpour hit my skylight this morning and woke me up. I snuggled down into my warm bed and then my alarm went off, O HELL no. I was an hour and a half late for work just drumming up the courage to get up and leave (plus waiting for the floodwaters to recede) and now I have to go home in a snowstorm. Here's hoping it doesn't turn to ice.

And that's it for the holidays, woe. All we have now is winter-but-never-Christmas. Which kinda suits me fine, I hate summer. I REALLY disliked the 70° weather over Christmas and New Years. That just ain't right, even if I am in the deep South. .

Well, it's an old cookie kit bucket from Wilton's that looks like a paint can and the balls are peanut butter cookie dough dipped in chocolate. WOO HOO! Thanks, Fam! .

I tried melting the Nestle chips in the microwave, using careful and short 30 second bursts because I know what I'm farkin' doing, but that didn't work at all. It congealed into a plastic-smelling brick. I dropped a polite note to Nestle telling them to put a disclaimer on their packaging because it simply doesn't melt. I got back a long letter blaming me for everything. Obviously I used the wrong spoon/pot/recipe/technique and they wanted me to provide the name of the store, the receipt, the packaging, a picture of the shelf I took them from, and a blood sample etc... and they don't have any coupons! So don't ask!

I swear to god, the top of my skull came off. I told them I'm never buying Nestle again nor shall my family and friends and I cursed them unto the 7th Generation. They're really gonna lose sleep over that but I did a Google and the chips being un-meltable is starting to snowball into a problem. Good, it's not just me. Seriously, I'm calling on all of ya'll to BOYCOTT NESTLE.

Third time is the charm: I bought some Ghirardelli chips and it was balm to my soul to watch them melt and blend beautifully into the butter, cream, and sugar. Ahhh! Much better. .

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: Nestle has changed the formula for its chocolate chips. They claim they’re ‘smoother’ but what they really are is UNMELTABLE. I tried to make fudge yesterday and the damn things withstood a full pot of boiling sugar. I had to keep the pot on the heat to get them to melt even halfway and the fudge was ruined. Came out lumpy and crumbly. Yuck. I’m going to try again and pre-melt them in the microwave. If the microwave can manage it.

It was a double batch, too, so that's extra money and effort gone. Bah, humbug! .

I was 14 when I found and read The Vampire Lestat, the perfect age for it, and I swallowed it whole while heavy metal ballads wailed on my radio. I was less fond of everything else she wrote, though, God knows, I enjoyed reading it.

I think she went off the rails with her later work, and her general wankiness was annoying, but I'll always wave my lighter in the air for Lestat. .

Every nut in the world called today AND we're still missing too many people for work to run smoothly. Everyone chill out, damn.

Meanwhile, I'm still shopping for Thanksgiving. There better be King's Hawaiian rolls at the store! .

Meaning I'm heavily in denial but onward! I'm making out my Thanksgiving list and I'm good to go. The only 'supply chain' issue I've had is fresh cranberries. Luckily I have half a bag in my freezer left over from last year. Google says they're still good. (You think you'll use 'em in a smoothie but you don't.) I'm getting a long weekend for the holiday and I can't wait. I'm not going to do anything but eat, fart, and relax.

Meanwhile, TGIF! This weekend I'm going to make my signature thick chicken broth. I use it in all my cooking. And if I get sick as a dog I can sip it. .