I had my first experience with puff pastry this afternoon.  I dashed home from school to make pesto star appetizers for First Wednesday Club at 6.  I got the pastry rolled out, brushed it with pesto and sprinkled grated parmesan cheese, and then tried cutting it with a star shaped cookie cutter.  Not only did it not cut well, I could see there was going to be a lot of waste--not like cookie dough or biscuit dough that you can smush together and roll out again.  So I used my pizza cutter and did squares.  I must have handled the dough too much or something because only about 1/4 of the squares "puffed".  I still took them, and people ate them.  All the appetizers were wonderful. It was good hanging out with friends and catching up on adventures.  Last night I made apple pie "shots"---you cook down apple cider, apple juice and add sugar & apple pie spices.  After simmering for a few hours, you let it cool. Then add Everclear.  It's quite delicious and could be deadly if you had more than one or two shots.  I shared my shot and it was plenty.  That's the trouble with me and alcohol...I'm easily incapacitated.  

Today was an interesting day at work.  This is my 5th year at RMS, and I took the my first step towards "owning" my space.  My office was poorly designed.  It originally had 2 cots and curtains hanging from the ceiling to isolate/give privacy and that took up have the room.  One of the cots was gone by the time I started working there, but the curtain remained, taking up a lot of room, even though it was pulled back and held out of the way (sort of) by a chair.  Another wall has the sink and built in cabinets.  With a door entrance from the hall, and another from the office, the only place for my computer was in front of a large, single pane, aluminum frame window.  My computer has to have the screen facing away from middle of the room to keep students or parents or teachers from possibly seeing private student information...and also so my back isn't to the doors.  So I freeze during the winter.  Cold air pours thru the window.  Over Thanksgiving break, the curtains were removed and taken away (2 nurses at other schools wanted them).  I hope to get my desk moved to the other side of the room and have the cot & waiting chairs along the windows. My goal is to get this done over Christmas break.  That would be a wonderful Christmas gift.  In the past, nurses have stock-piled seldom used supplies, which I hope to eventually work my way thru.  I'm going to be very careful when I order for next year, and not get more than I actually need for a year supply.  Downsizing, so to speak.  Which could lead to removing one of the big ugly metal cabinets in the room as well.  We shall see.  One baby step at a time. I have the school maintenance people willing to do all the heavy lifting for me, but am getting negative vibes from the tech people who would have to unhook and rehook the computers...and that means running the blue cable across the ceiling and using the outlet on the other side of the room to plug things in.  We shall see how it all turns out.

Tomorrow is St. Nikolaus day.

A "cold" front has moved in and cleared away the clouds.  I had to wear a jacket and my nose & ears got a bit chilly out for the last walk with Lucas. The stars were shining brightly.  I missed them the past several days, with all the clouds and rain.  NOT complaining because we need the rain.  The next couple days will be more like December--30's at night and 50's during the day. That is still probably above normal.  Over the weekend more rain which may turn to snow.  No accumulation.

Brenda & I were "twins" today.  Tomorrow is "Holiday Mania" and jeans day.  So I'm wearing my favorite red holiday sweatshirt with my jeans.  The sweatshirt has a dog, cat & penguin ice skating on a pond--embroidered.  I have several pairs of shoes, but none of them are red...some red sparkly shoes would be the perfect touch to the whole outfit...sigh.  I don't even have an old pair of shoes that I could cover in glitter.  I'm sure I have glue and red glitter somewhere...   The RMS maintenance/cleaning people will be glad I'm not going to leave a trail of red glitter everywhere I go tomorrow.  

I finally made it to a girls basketball game.  They won.  They have a good team this year.  Only 2 seniors, and one of the better players is a freshman.  I took a few lot of photos.  I think the Lady Tigers were ahead most of the game--it was close the first quarter, but they were ahead by 14 at the half.  They lost most of their lead in the 3rd quarter but came back to win by at least 10 points.  I haven't been following the girls closely the past few years; but I'm impressed with what I saw tonight.  They are a team with no stars.  

Today was Pajama Day.  I wore my red pajamas and matching robe.  I was a bit warm...  It was in the 70's again today.  We had a few sprinkles last night and I think more showers are in the forecast tonight.  Tomorrow is Twin Day. Brenda is supposed to be with me. We are wearing black pants with white shirts and our "nurse" scarves.  They actually have nothing to do with nursing, just that they were used as a "uniform" to identify people in charge at a nursing convention last year.  Neither of us went, but we had a nurse who went buy the scarves for us because they were pretty--rainbow-ish and fluffy.  

It's the KISS Potato Head.  He's been living with the Brady's for almost a year now...which means he's getting restless.  Looking for a new home.  He did play a few tunes tonight.He's been thinking about a place with a horse.  Or perhaps someone who likes to travel out west during the winter months.  Decisions, decisions.  

It was very warm today. St. Louis set a record with 75 degrees.  I didn't see how warm it got here, but you didn't even need a jacket this afternoon.  I was busy getting laundry finished and my ducks in a row for work tomorrow.  On Sunday night I'm like a little kid.  I don't want to go to bed because when I wake up, the weekend will be over.

I started the day by sleeping until 7 AM.  The cats woke me up at the usual 5:45 but Lucas and I ignored them...and they eventually went away.  I got a few chores done around the house before 10, when Julie picked me up.  We headed to the Craft Fair at the elementary school.  There are usually 4 or 5 of us, but it just didn't work out this time.  I stocked up on a few more earrings by Barb Bryan.  Found a few gifts.  It was fun.  Julie and I both have one grandson, and we sighed over all the cute bows and headbands for little girls. Not that we don't LOVE our boys; there just aren't as many cute things for them.

Dennis and I had a late lunch at Missouri Hick BBQ.  It was delicious (I had the pulled pork plate & Dennis had ribs) and neither of us wanted supper.  We checked out a couple antique stores before heading home.  It was sunny this morning but cloudy and humid this afternoon. I don't think we got any rain though.  Temperatures in the 50's.  I wore my denim jacket outside and it was enough.

I spent most of the evening engraving. Still not finished, but got over half of it done. I have to order more silver desk holders before I can deliver one order. It's a busy week coming up so I need to get all my ducks in a row.