I was going to post a couple of different entries this week. I wanted to talk about the recent two parter on Doctor Who. I wanted to talk about getting our new bed and getting it set up and how comfy it is. I wanted to talk about the fact that I'm theoretically going to Dragon Con this year, and I would love to do cosplay, but figuring out a cosplay for a plus sized woman is nearly impossible (and I think I'm still going to talk about that one.) I'm not doing any of those things right now. Really it all comes down to being tired.

I'm one of two cashiers at work, and the other cashier was out last Friday and this Monday. To put it politely, doing the job of two people by yourself sucks. It wasn't the cashiering part that wore me down, it was all prep work and cleaning that we do every day. With two people that know what they're doing the job is a cinch. On my own? I'm still tired from Monday.

I have a busy day tomorrow. Work starts at 6am, when I get out at 2pm I'm meeting my mom for a 3:30pm showing of Iron Man 2, then I'm running up to Prattville for game night at a friend's house. I was going to bake cookies to take with me tonight, but the thought of cleaning the mixer and getting everything mixed, and portioned, and baked just makes me want to go to bed early. I'll probably just send Daniel to the store, or see if I can't get him to make them tomorrow! That'd be hilarious. He can make brownies, but I don't think he's ever made cookies before.

Speaking of Daniel, he's off recording In Game Chat the podcast he sometimes participates in. Sort of. As far as I can tell when he's up there he mostly doesn't talk much. He enjoys it though. He's still looking for a job, and money wise we're still sort of limping along. The bed mentioned above was a necessity, our box springs were broken and springs were starting to poke through the mattress, and the movie tomorrow is both a matinée and my mom's mother's day gift. She likes her some RDJ.

I'm going to crawl into my old comfy recliner and either kill stuff in FFXIII or zone out to the tv. I might even attempt to fold some of Mt. Washmore that's currently sitting on top of the dresser in the bedroom. Either way, tonight is for resting. And this weekend? Heaven help anyone that wants me to wake up early or actually do anything on Saturday.

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As of yesterday Daniel and I have been officially married for two years. It's almost funny how much of a non-thing it occasionally feels like. Don't get me wrong, we celebrated, but for me the more important date is still January 7th, when we actually met and started dating. Our wedding didn't get to be a Wedding, with Dress and Flowers and Cake. It was very nice, particularly for being a courthouse wedding and for being thrown together in less than a week. We had already lived together for three years at that point though, and had pretty much made the important promises between ourselves ages ago.

It's still a good reason to celebrate though. Two years of being married hasn't felt any different than the three years we lived together before we were married. (Aside from some paperwork and my last name suddenly being very long.) I wouldn't have it any other way. Our day to day life is comfortable, and blessedly mostly free of drama.

Daniel had matinees at the Capri this weekend, so we didn't have much time, but we made good use of what free time we did have. We got to sleep in Sunday morning, which was wonderful. After his matinee and before the evening show we went to Outback and had an awesome dinner that left us both pleasantly stuffed. I gifted him a Left 4 Dead 2 t-shirt and this afternoon he gave me an awesome Kingdom Hearts 2 t-shirt and a keyblade keychain. I only just realized while typing this that we've been married for two years and gave each other shirts of games that were a "2." Cute. A video game t-shirt may not seem like much, but it's so perfectly us, and it fits the traditional anniversary gift of cotton. I think we've subconsciously decided to do an "us" version of the traditional gifts for as long as we can. It's fun to try to think outside the box.

In other news on the homefront we both have shiny new cell phones (toys!). Our contract was up for renewal and we managed to snag two free Nokia Nurons (touch screen smart phone, but a bit below a Droid or iPhone). The plan that we changed to with the renewal has unlimited internet usage and is the same price we were already paying. Not a bad deal at all. So far my favorite parts are being able to IM from wherever I want to and, as Daniel called it, Twittering my Facebook. We haven't even had the phones for a week yet. I'm still trying to figure them out, and I'm also convinced that they're smarter than me.

We also ordered a new bed. We haven't owned a new bed in the entire time we've been living together. Our current bed is our second bed and it's on its last legs. The frame is fine, but the box springs are busted on one side and the mattress itself has springs poking through. We didn't have much of a choice. Money is very tight with Daniel still out of work, but we had an insurance check from when a deer hit our car that we'd been sitting on. Basically we bought the bed with that money and are going to pay it back to ourselves in payments to get the car fixed. It was either that or open a new line of credit which might not have even been possible with our current financial situation. This option was easier and involves less interest. I'm very excited about this bed. It should be here Wednesday or so. My sore back and I can't wait to try it.

I have some other things in the works, including finally starting the set up for a public blog for crochet/cooking/whatever purposes. I have a few crochet projects up my sleeves as well. If you're reading this, Happy Anniversary Daniel! I love you!

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Through the power of new, living yeast and a tweaked recipe I have had bread success! I baked a loaf of Challah last night that turned out absolutely perfectly. The crumb was soft and dense, the bread was slightly sweet and the crust was a gorgeous golden brown. I'm not ashamed to say that Daniel and I stood in the kitchen and ate almost half of the loaf while it was hot straight out of the oven. We've nibbled on it all day today, and I took a few slices to my mom at work (to brag) and now we're down to less than a quarter of a loaf left. That's not a problem. There's another batch rising in the kitchen as I type. I foresee a lot of bread making in my future.

I need some new bread making paraphernalia though. I have big items like a Kitchen Aid stand mixer, and a digital scale, but I'm lacking on the little things you take for granted like a basting brush for the egg wash and an actual loaf pan. I saw some that I liked at Target today though, they are on my shopping list for sure. I'm also planning on buying the giant block of yeast next time I'm at Sam's club. It's much more affordable than the little packets are.

The hardest part of making bread is waiting. Waiting for the dough to rise, waiting for it to cook, waiting for the bread to cool down before you cut it so you don't cause the whole loaf to get gummy from cutting too early... Bread making also appears to be habit forming. I've been unashamedly trolling through the bread tag on Food Gawker since last night, squirreling away bookmarks for later. The next projects I plan to try are yeast donuts (YUM) and a German sourdough rye bread that my Omi usually has to drive to Atlanta to get. Personally I don't like that bread at all, but it's the only bread she eats, and I'd gladly make it for her regularly to make her happy.

Aside from the bread making it's been a nice long weekend. I had today off due to Confederal Memoriate Day (a mispronunciation that Daniel will never let me live down). It's a State holiday, and I work in a State building, so ta-da, long weekend. It's back to work tomorrow though. At least I'll have fresh bed to come home to, if Daniel doesn't eat it all first...

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Thunder has been rumbling outside all day, and I've honestly been afraid that the power would go out any minute, but it's still on and we've just finished watching the newest episode of Doctor Who. There's a lot of stuff to talk about from this episode but most of it is spoilers really, so under the cut we go.

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Dear Matt Smith and Stephen Moffat; I'm sorry I ever doubted you, even though I wasn't one of the loud ones saying I could never love again after Ten/David Tennant. Thank you for giving me one of my favorite shows back. I still can't get over how much fun it is to be excited about Doctor Who again.

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It didn't rise. I don't know if something's off in the recipe I was using, or my technique or the yeast or what. Bread's finicky. I emailed my cousin Jamie, who happens to be a chef working in a bakery, and he's going to send me a formula for Challah. Lucky for me I have a kitchen scale (which it relies on).

All that's left now is to walk off into the sunset, covered in flour, with an unfulfilled bread craving. Until we meet again bread.

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For some insane reason I tend to do most of my baking at night. I've never been much of a morning person, and Daniel works evenings on the weekends when I actually feel like doing something, so I guess baking at night makes sense in my strange world. Last week I found myself baking a huge batch of chocolate chip cookies at nearly midnight on Friday. This week it's a bit earlier, and for some inexplicable reason I've been gripped by the need, the urge, to make bread.

To me bread is one of the highest achievements in baking. Getting a few simple ingredients, (flour, water, butter and eggs in this case) to turn into something that makes your home smell divine and tastes even better is like alchemy to me. I've attempted to make bread a couple of times before. My results have been... hit or miss would be kind. The first two loaves I tried were very simple, and I'm sure it wasn't the recipes' fault, but they turned out inedible. The next time I tried was with some simple yeast rolls at Thanksgiving. They were amazing. Soft, and brown, and so so so good. In tonight's grip of insanity I'm attempting Challah.

I always knew that Challah was good, even though I hadn't really had it. Then one day my friend Shannon took me to Temple with her and gave me a plate of freshly baked Challah with some sea salt to dredge it through. I ate so much of that wonderful bread that I was almost sick by the time we left. Forget fancy crossaints and brioches. I want to make Challah. So tonight I'm trying to.

The first batch I tried was a failure. I'm not taking it personally, or blaming the recipe. The yeast was expired. I let it proof and it bubbled well enough, but the dough didn't rise at all. I baked it anyway, mainly to see if I could actually braid the stuff (and I can, but only in a three strand braid). I found some more, unexpired, yeast in my cabinet and decided to try again. It's rising as I type. Or, I hope it's rising. I think I'll have better luck with this batch though. By the time I settled the dough in to an oiled bowl to rise it already felt springier than the last batch.

Daniel has no idea what I'm doing. The poor guy is going to come home to a flour covered wife. Hopefully he'll also come home to a fresh, hot loaf of bread.

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Hey kid, I've got a ride for you.
They say, your brain is a comic book tattoo...
-Tori Amos, Flying Dutchman

My brain really does have a bit of a comic book tattoo. I grew up reading them voraciously. I still love them and if I could afford to I'd be buying several titles a month. My company of choice was Marvel and my books of choice usually had an X somewhere in the title. Blame my dad, he grew up reading X-Men and passed it on to me. When I got started he recommended certain issues that were his favorites, never mind that they were several years old at the time. While the rest of the world was snickering over the 90's comics with giant guns and skimpy clothes I was diving headfirst in the comics of the 80's (and very early 90's). My favorite? Kitty Pryde, but I'm sure by now most of you know this.

I think my personal canon for Kitty kind of shorted out and rewrote itself somewhere towards the end of her time in Excalibur. I adore her with Pete Wisdom, and in my delusional little head that's roughly where they stayed. Blame it on the fanfiction I read at Idylls of the Cat. I still keep up with what's going on with the current comic book canon though. Mostly it involves seeing who's still alive (or not).

Joss Whedon did a pretty good run on Astonishing X-Men that ended with Kitty phased inside a giant bullet aimed for Earth. Yeah, I know. And then they just left her there. Left her. Didn't try to find a way to get her back at all. In a way I was pleased. You can't mess up a character very much if they're not there. But I'm talking about comic books, and no one stays dead in comic books. Daniel and I browsed Books a Million for a little while tonight and I found myself picking up the latest X issues to see what was going on, and lo and behold, they've brought Kitty back. And it was Magneto that did it. Of course it was. Why didn't anyone think of that earlier?

It's normal in comics that no one stays dead or gone, but it's a weirder feeling when it's my favorite character, the one that was/is my portal into that world. Kitty's come back, and apparently she can't talk and is stuck in a permanently phased state (no wonder, she's only been that way for what, a year now?). They've got her in a chamber again, and who knows how it will play out. I'm sure there'll be some tie in with the crossover of the year. It just made me feel a little nostalgic and a little excited to see her there again.

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