take the last train to clarksville...

I can no longer say that I'm between jobs. If it had been a few more weeks, I would have been able to say that I've been out of work for years (plural). yikes. I leave the dust bowl of Texas on Friday and head to the promised land of Tennessee. I'm a modern day Tom Joad. I hope my car performs better than the Joad truck.

Here are some statistics to illustrate how great this great recession has been... I estimate that I applied for 600 jobs over the 23 months. I had about 15 phone screens. I had 8 face to face interviews and I got one job offer. The job is in Clarksville, TN which is about 50 miles northwest of Nashville. It's right on the Kentucky border.

The time off hasn't been all bad. I went to pastry school while I was looking for a job. I got a lot of chores done. However.... I'm looking forward to working again.

easy rider.....

In kind of a reverse middle age crisis, I'm selling my motorcycle. sniff. This was my 3rd bike and I have owned this particular bike for over 8 years. It's actually going to my dental work monetary fund. I still don't have anything cosmetic to show for my efforts. All of the prep work is expensive.

Note to self... close the garage door when posing the motorcycle for a picture. No one wants to see my washer and dryer.

as american as apple pie...

I've been in a pie mood since Thanksgiving. A pumpkin pie is baking as I write this. I actually got the apple pie recipe from a running buddy. The fun part is that the apples are mixed with sugar and cinnamon and then soaked in Amaretto. Rather than using an upper crust, the pie is covered in a thick streusel. For the picture of the pie slice, I kept the big glob of whipped cream off. I didn't want to make anyone hungry.

By the way...the crust is made fresh and not from a box. In case you were wondering...

trick or treat...

It was a slow halloween at 1702 Norris Dr this year. I had a huge bowl of candy but we got about 20 visitors during the night. I was giving the candy away by the handful but I only managed to give away half of the bowl.

Halloween trips the alarm which alerts me to start stocking up on canned pumpkin. Pumpkin bread is just around the corner. This is indeed my favorite time of the year.

mini me....

A couple of months, I satisfied a chocolate craving by making a 9" devil's food cake with chocolate ganache and chocolate glaze. I almost hurt myself eating the whole thing.

This weekend, I made the same batter but I made 2 6" cakes. One went straight into the freezer. The other one was split into 2 layers, masked with ganache and glazed (pictured). The 6" version is just as thick as the 9" cake but I'll have an easier time maintaining my girlish figure with the 6" cake.

The happy thought is that I'll be able to thaw the other cake in a few weeks. Whip up a little ganache, glaze it, enjoy. Just like that. Easy. Piece of cake....

it's all in the feet.....

I went to Gatesvillle to see one of Caleb's soccer games a couple of weekends ago. Mooney Plumbers is the corporate sponsor. I think the best part of a soccer match is the post game blueberry flavored ice cone. Yum

There were only 4 players that showed up on Caleb's team so they were outnumbered. This is the lowest age group . The coaches get to run up and down the field to tell instructions. It's fun to watch youth soccer because all of the players group around the ball and chase it.

Even though they were outnumbered two to one, Moody's Plumbing was victorious. We celebrated with a burger and shakes from Burger Boy in downtown Gatesville.

half a decade in the books....

Carrie came to town for Caleb's birthday this past weekend. Wow - 5 years old already. I figured it was high time for him to learn how to ride a bike so that was my present to him. We had a pizza party at a local arcade and then came back for a treasure hunt and cake. He has learned to put his foot up on the bar when posing for a picture. I figure I'll give him a few weeks of riding around with the training wheels and then I'll see how he does without them. I'm scheduled to see a soccer game that he's playing in next weekend. That should be fun.