Experimental Cuisine

My cooking doesn't always turn out pretty, but the results usually taste OK. Yesterday I had two big chicken breasts that had to be cooked or frozen, so I split one of them and made cornbread dressing to layer around it. By the time the thermometer said it had cooked long enough, the chicken was dry and tough, but the dressing was delicious. So next time, I'll know not to cook it an hour and a half.
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This is the kind of sofa that I want. Overstock has it on sale for between $400-$500. It looks like a loveseat, but it's enormously long, over 80 inches. I think it would be practically indestructible, cats or not. If they claw up a cushion, you can just re-cover it. Of course, you'd probably have to re-cover all the cushions, but at least it would be possible. If you didn't like the two seat cushions, you could get Tom (upholsterer) to make one big long foam cushion for the seat. The real reason I would like this kind of sofa is that it's mission oak, Arts and Crafts style, which is what I like for this house. As far as matching the other furniture, it is approximately like the TV cabinet and the maple table. You don't want everything "matchy-matchy."

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Jed and I have been looking at Lowe's for a new light fixture to replace the Wal-Mart special in the foyer. I found this antique one online for several thousand bucks, but this style would be great. Maybe someday we'll see one that looks approximately like it.

Friday's book club meeting was good, although most of the members were out due to illnesses, travel, and (in poor Ramey's case) sitting in the dentist's chair with her mouth propped open. And Mable was just "wo' out." So the group consisted of only Nell, Susan, Betty and me. Like last month's meeting, I was reluctant to see this one close. We really tore that author's parents UP! Unfortunately, it was too late. I admired Susan for getting to the meeting, because she was obviously in a lot of discomfort.

This morning I have figured out the first step--just the first step!--in making the Christmas tree ornaments that I started last month. I thought I knew exactly how to go about it, but I'm not always as smart as I think I am. The project turns out to be much simpler than I thought, and now I've wasted boocoos of time and about two dozen clothes pins! But "Man's reach should exceed his grasp, /Or what's a heaven for?" (Robert Browning)

Robert Browning, while we're on the subject of my favorite poet, also said in that same poem that we only go to sleep so that we can wake up. So (almost) every night when I've said my now-I-lay-me-down's, I repeat, "We sleep to wake."