Cranberry Streusel Muffins

BECAUSE YOU DEMANDED IT!

You will need:

Oiled/ paper-lined or nonstick muffin pan
Bowls
A couple of beers (or coffee, depending)
Wooden spoons
Grim determination

Oh yeah, and the following:

2 Cups Flour (I use whole wheat)
1 Tbsp. Baking Powder
1/4 tsp. Salt
Egg (or Egg substitute)
2/3 Cup Granulated Sugar
1/4 Cup Veg. Oil
1 Cup Milk (or Soy Milk for CL & KG!)
2 Tbsp. Grated Lemon/Orange Peel
1 & 1/2 Cups Fresh or Frozen Cranberries

1/4 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Tsp. Cinnamon

Combine flour, baking powder, salt and put to one side. In another large bowl, beat together egg, granulated sugar, oil, milk & lemon (or orange) peel. Combine flour mixture with egg mixture, then stir in the cranberries.

Scoop batter into 12 large non-stick, oiled or paper-lined muffin cups. Combine brown sugar & cinnamon. Sprinkle over the top of uncooked muffin goo. Bake in pre-heated 400 F (or 200 C) degree oven for 20-25 min.

These babies stick like there's no tomorrow. Be careful easing them out of the muffin pan. The sugar/cinnamon/gooey cranberry juice combines into an almost glue-like substance!

The muffins were so popular that out of a double batch, I only got to eat TWO. John got 3, my friends' children ate a bunch too. Thanks to *Mom* who introduced me to this deeelish recipe.

Bon apetit!

Bbq Season!

We have some truly nice, "loafin'" weather happening in O-Town. 25 C, sunshine, puffy clouds, gentle breezes AND the perfect addition to loafing: friends, drinks, family and nothing to do but relax and enjoy.

Drove out the Baarhaven yesterday afternoon with Clay to see Myra & the Gang From Work for her BBQ. On Monday, half the crew heads off to Hull for a month to do the next part of the PISA project and the rest of us are staying at Tunney's keying and doing whatever it is that we do :-Q It was great seeing Catherine, John, Linda, meeting Sarah & her friend and of course making a super fuss over doggies (Becky & Brody.) I have doggie-envy!!

I brought Cranberry Struesel muffins, pretty much right out of the oven. Everyone loved them! I'd been promising to bring them to work for..months? So, I figured this'd be my last chance to give my buddies cranberry muffins before they left for Hull. [Ed. note: cranberry lemon muffins are the best ones that the Cafeteria at Tunney's makes (IMHO) and they go so quickly that by the time break arrives at 10am, there are none left and we all end up crying and lamenting about it (and eating corn muffins instead.)]

We had to leave early because my folks had invited me for the Richmond Firemen's BBQ Chicken Fundraising dinner thing wayy, way long ago and I'd said "sure!" not knowing that I was going to be triple booked :-O (Yes, Clay's Aunt & Uncle had called like Thurs. to see if we wanted to come out to Kangaroo Lake and have an impromptu bday celebration for Gloria.) Ever wish you could clone yourself?

We got to the Stitts and Mom & Linda had already headed to Richmond to get the chicken, so we caught up with Dad & Bob. The weather was perfect; cedar waxwings whistled and stripped berries from the nanny-berry bush beside the house, the construction next door was quiet cause it was Saturday (although a lone Security dude sat desolately in his car.) Dinner was delicious! I don't know what the "secret" recipe is.. but *man*, it's too bad it only comes around once a year :-P poo!

We got home after 10pm and decompressed *whoooooo*. Today, hopefully more nice weather as we head to Carleton Place and see the ex-Aylmerites and Keith for BBQ! After all this activity, I'm gonna have to go back to work Monday to relax (*BROAD wink*)

Cheers y'all!
Suzanne.

Nathan's Pants

As per my buddy Carol's suggestion, I have entered the contest to win Nathan Wiley's pants. I'm so excited! What could be better than owning someone else's pants?? :-D The contest ends Sept 17th, so that gives me exactly 3 months to lose enough weight to fit into "...Zara pin-striped brown, size 34 waist (77% wool, 21% rayon, 2% spandex; lining: 65% polyester, 35% cotton)" pants!



Ya, ya, here's da link: NATHAN'S PANTS! So you can try yer luck :-) And here's my entry letter.. which is WAY better than anyone else's will be! Nathan is sure to take pity on me and send me his pants. Maybe. Maybe I'll stop talking now...

--------

Dear Nathan,

Carol L told me about the "Pants" contest & I had to enter, as my CD of yours ("High Low") got destroyed yesterday and I was in a terrible state. So, please send me your pants. I know it can't replace the CD, but it might make me feel a little better.

Thanks!

Suzanne Marsden
[personal info deleted]

Superbeautifulmonster RIP

Everyday, After a While, you feel Let Down, you feel the Abandonment. Even though That's Life, you figure that at least your partner, your buddy in crime, Yeah, You..not Henry, would stop singing the old Question Song. You storm in from work, say I Want a drink, this ain't no Ladybug Waltz buddy! It's all bad news from here on out, the Funeral of a Good Grrl. The CD's in pieces Nothing Else Matters and the World Is Over.

*sniff*

(While tidying, Clay managed to accidentally smash my Nathan Wiley "High Low" CD, Star Wars III Sndtrk AND BIF NAKED *arrg*. And I took him out to see X-Men III as a reward. I must be nuts. :-P)

Backwards

How long do you think it took me to realize my shirt was on backwards yesterday? 2 hours! Thankfully, I (hope) no one noticed... Switched it around in the bathroom. Now, before you cart me off to Alzheimers Land, remember that I'm doped up on 12 hour xtra strength Gravol. And I own shirts that have crew necks..so it felt sort've ok. Anyway, enough of that, it's just another sad thing that happened cause I'm not doing as well as I should!

Had my appt. with my new Doc and he (you guessed it) wants to run MORE tests. What is happening here?! So, back to the lab I get to go. The only thing he could see from the last barrage was that there was some protein leakage happening. Weiiiird. Thankfully, my blood sugar seems ok. So, no Diabetes. YAY :-D

But, I'm still dizzy. Which, is aggravating. I can't ride the bus, I can drive to work, if I'm doped up, but it makes it really hard to concentrate (both with the driving and with the key punching.) Well, I supposed I must remember the old Zen adage "This Too Will Pass" and just try and chill. On the way back from the Doc, stopped at the Licensing Bureau and picked up a temporary plate for the Mustang and a Driver's Ed. book for Clay. Yes, Clay is going to study to get his license. I figured it would be a good idea, if the dizzy state continues (or continues to worsen.) SIGH *again*!!

I'm in an ok mood though, all things considered. The RPG campaign I'm currently in is fun (Rifts partial Borg Merc Campaign :-) I'm writing, getting assignments done for the Institute of Children's Literature. I'm drawing like a mad woman, which always cheers me up. The place is looking not too bad; Mom swooped by last week and put on another coat of the salmon peach colour and it is faboo! Hurrah :-)

Now if I could just get over this "condition" grrr....



Oh yes, and Happy Summer Solstice everyone :-)

Muckle Hammer

I'm home today because of that weird dizziness/nausea thing that happens when I travel (mostly by bus.) It ALSO happens when computer images flash in front of my eyes..which is a drag, cause that's pretty much all I do at work :-( I'm waiting for the lab to give me the results of my tests from last week. C'mon lab! The nurse at Stats said it could be Labyrynthinitis (a viral infection in the middle ear) and another friend thought I might have Candida (a kick-ass yeast infection gone Postal.) I should set up a betting area where people can lay down their cash and when we all find out what's going on, we can make some dough too!

So, I was reading email this morning and the usual Spam appeared. The Penis Enlargement (or whatever) part of this particular spam is actually an imbedded image. How odd! But the oddest was the header and the rest of the message. I felt like I was reading some Alien instructions in code for an upcoming invasion :-O

Go figure :-)



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Not summer yet

You can tell it's the weekend.. you know why? It's 10 degrees outside and COLD, rainy and grim. As soon as the new week starts you'll be able to tell it's Monday! You know why?? Because it'll be 35 degrees in the shade with the sun scorching the shadow out from under your feet! Yeargh. What's with that?! Weird weird weird weather. Not that I'm complaining about the coolness (or as my buddy Anders would say: a "Swedish Summer") I like it when the temp doesn't fly over about 23 degrees. Perfect PEI style loafin' weather. But 10 is a bit chilly, dontcha think?

Saw a cool short my buddy Rob put togethergo check it out it's very cool! This is what we do to keep from going bananas & to keep the creative fires nice and lively. It works :-D

The weekend was ok, Friday night went to Keith's after work and had a lovely Margarita. Got settled on the deck with drinks just as the Heavens opened up and drenched everything. But I didn't care; Keith has a nice gazebo/canopy type thing and the drink was fabu. Dinner was bbq'd rubbed meat! (Ok, that sounds gross--it was a pork tenderloin) and a super salad with plenty of herbs and greens in it with a mustard vinagrette. The dude is so talented & he's STILL single! I told him he should open a restaurant & share his skills with the rest of the poor shmucks out there.

We played Palladium RPG (Heroes Unlimited) for the evening & headed back around midnight. It was a little rough driving back. I'm still experiencing that weird disconnected/ vertigo/ faint feeling that hit me last Wednesday. I managed to get us home safely with an audible *whew* and hit the hay.

Sat. slept mostly, then hooked up with Catherine, Alan, John & Clay at the Yang Ming for Dim Sum! William was supposed to join us with his son, but I neglected to check my email before heading out to read that he'd cancelled! *sigh*! :-P We waited half and hour, but our bellies dragged us over to the lines of food, people and delicious smells. We were helpless. Deeelicious. It was great chatting with Alan again & hanging with work buddies in a non-work environment. You can actually talk! For more than 10 minutes :-)

I was supposed to go to a bday celebration Sat. night, but I was beat and not confident behind the wheel as I guided my little Echo homewards. I didn't like the feeling of faintness and weird vertigo that would occasionally sweep into me. I took some Rexall Motion-Sickness medication.. I don't know if they're working or if it's just a placebo or what. But what the heck, it's better than nothing I guess :-P The clinic said that they would have the results of my tests for next week, so I should have some idea about what is going on (I hope!)

Today was fairly relaxing. I was still full from the buffet from yesterday so we took everything light in the food department. Tidied a little, listened to music, got my head together & spent time with the animals & Clay. Got caught up on the phone with my Mah & my buddies Rob, Leah & my belly-dance teacher Lisa-Marie (since I sadly missed my Wed. class :-( There's a super belly-dance extravaganza happening tomorrow night that should be fun to go to! Hopefully I'll be with it enough to attend. I love watching people who know how to really dance, *dance*!

And then of course there's WORK.

Dontcha love Mondays? *sigh*!

Cheers y'all,
Suzanne.