Eat Cake

So far, so good with the bundled DirecTV from our phone company…in a way.  I had to call the phone company yesterday because when the installer had Bob call to verify the install, they upsold him to the next package and didn’t ask for the bundle info.  But after one pleasant phone call, we are back on track and all set with the plain old non-fancy package.  However, when I got home last night, the main TV in our living room was not getting a signal from the satellite.  Our little 13 inch TV in the office was working fine, but our main TV was out of commission.  I resigned myself to call the DirecTV customer service line.  After wading through a ginormously large phone tree/menu, I finally got to a customer service rep.  She was pleasant enough but she asked me the 27 questions I had just waded through to get to her and the answers had not changed.  So she had to forward me to another customer service rep that could help me.  After asking me the same 27 questions, the new service rep determined that a tech would have to come out because we were only getting half a signal on the main TV.  This customer service rep was friendly, professional, and even somewhat chatty.  Hopefully this will be resolved between 1-5 on Thursday afternoon.  In the meantime, Bob and I are enjoying sharing the 13 inch TV in the office.

Speaking of technical issues, I am still waiting for the packaging for my laptop to arrive.  I kind of thought it would be there yesterday.  My poor laptop is just sitting useless on my desk.  I wish the shipping stuff would get here so I wouldn’t have to look at my useless computer day after day.  Needless to say I am getting a lot more reading done.  My current read is a novel called Eat Cake by Jeanne Ray.  Though Ray is from Tennessee, her novel takes place in Minneapolis and I have to say she has the Minnesota Nice vibe down pat. Plus it features some recipes for amazing cakes.  There is always room for cake.  Book Description Taken from Amazon.com:  Ruth loves to bake cakes. When she is alone, she dreams up variations on recipes. When she meditates, she imagines herself in the warm, comforting center of a gigantic bundt cake. If there is a crisis, she bakes a cake; if there is a reason to celebrate, she bakes a cake. Ruth sees it as an outward manifestation of an inner need to nurture her family—which is a good thing, because all of a sudden that family is rapidly expanding. First, her mother moves in after robbers kick in her front door in broad daylight. Then Ruth’s father, a lounge singer, who she’s seen only occasionally throughout her life, shatters both wrists and, having nowhere else to go, moves in, too. Her mother and father just happen to hate each other with a deep and poisonous emotion reserved only for life-long enemies. Oh, yes indeed!  Add to this mix two teenagers, a gainfully employed husband who is suddenly without a job, and a physical therapist with the instincts of a Cheryl Richardson and you’ve got a delightful and amusing concoction that comes with its own delicious icing.  One of Jeanne Ray’s specialties is giving us believable, totally likable characters, engaged in the large and small dramas and amusements of life. Eat Cake is whimsical, warm, and satisfying. Eat Cake is Jeanne Ray at her best. Pull up a chair and eat cake!  About the Author Jeanne Ray works as a registered nurse at the First Clinic in Nashville, Tennessee. She is married and has two daughters. Together, she and her husband have ten grandchildren. Jeanne is the bestselling author of Julie and Romeo and Step-Ball-Change.

I am going to visit my grandma tonight after work.  She was moved from the hospital to a residential care facility on Sunday.  The care facility is just a mile or so down the road from us so is handy in that way.  I haven’t seen her since Friday so I hope she is doing OK.  My poor little Grandma. 

So, Halloween.  We were geared up and prepared for dozens of trick-or-treaters.  We got 10 and all of them are kids we have known all along.  Where were all the kids we see playing in the courtyard that are unfamiliar to us?  Many more families moved into our building over the past year but they either don’t allow trick-or-treating or they go somewhere else.  So now we have this giant bowl of candy left over, not that it will go to waste or anything.  If you are looking for ways to use up your left over Halloween candy, a good way to use it up is to bake it into brownies.  Kevyn Burger from FM107 spoke of this last week.  Just take any left over mini or bite-sized chocolate candy bars (excluding the ones featuring cookies or wafers) and mix them into a regular brownie mix.  Bake as directed and each bite will feature a little chocolate candy surprise. I have not tried it yet but think the Milky Way Midnights would be heavenly in a batch of brownies.

As part of my effort to embrace technology and all things new, I am now listening to yahoo radio, Today’s Big Hits on my work computer.  It’s not bad.  I now know, though, that I am not a fan of Urban, Hip/Hop, or R&B.  I do like Weird Al’s parody of Riding Dirty, some Jay Z stuff, and I like Justin Timberlake’s stuff…but that’s about it.  I am not a fan of the Pussycatdolls, Rihanna, Beyonce, Chamillionaire, Mary J. Blige, etc.  I guess I tend towards more rock/pop/alternative music.  I don’t like the Mariah Carey female R&B overproduced stuff either. Blech.  (Speaking of Weird Al…have you seen his video for White and Nerdy?  Oh.  My. Word.  Get yourself over to YouTube and watch it right now.  The best part is Donny Osmond dancing crazily in the background.  Check it.)