Congratulations are in Order!

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Heads up to my fellow crafters - Scrappily Ever After is having another 30% off sale until midnight tonight. I just placed my biggest order ever - 17 new punches and a "professional" power punch. Yeah, but I saved over $60 on my order!

I bought a cheap plastic - I think it was $6 - punch helper thing from this place a couple of years ago, figuring if it didn't work that well I haven't lost much money. That thing is worth it's weight in gold. I actually clicked on the tool page this morning, thinking I'd buy another one - I like to have back-ups of the important tools I own. I'd forgotten about this baby shown above. There's also a personal model, but heck, I'm a professional!

The punches are listed in millimeters so in the past I've sort of measured my punches on the fly as I placed an order. This morning I decided to get organized and punch all the circles and squares I own to keep as reference. I pretty much ordered all the sizes I don't have. Uh-oh. I just realized, I'm going to have to reorganize my storage. I have room to grow, might just have to switch around some drawers. No problem.

See that scalloped circle at the top with the flat edge? It was after I placed the order that I wished I'd thought to order a replacement for that one. It punches cleanly if I lean on it just right.

The majority of punches I ordered are circles, scalloped circles and squares that I don't have, with a couple of replacements thrown in for good measure. (I also get free shipping for orders over $100 after discount.) I think the only new shape punch I ordered is a dove, which will be good for Christmas.

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The congratulations I refer to in the title of this entry, are not for me for placing a big, fat punch order - but for my favorite sister, Gretchen! She ran her first marathon Sunday - the Marine Corps Marathon. She wrote about running their half marathon last year here. I can't wait to hear and read about the full marathon. Our whole extended Stahlman family was tracking her on the website, watching her yellow dot make it's way around the twisty course.

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So work yesterday didn't suck. How's that for a glowing endorsement? The downsized employee came in and reviewed some stuff with me. It was announced at the Monday Morning Meeting without much reaction but several people within the office told me they wished they'd had a chance to say good-bye. And a couple of friends from other offices emailed me their shocked reactions.

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I've lost my touch with Birthday Brownies. I sure hope it's not a permanent condition. Another co-worker's birthday was Sunday so I intended to bake brownies for Monday. For people in our department I bake the traditional Birthday Brownies and a special treat of their choosing for a small departmental get-together in the afternoon. I totally forgot to bake anything! I think I was so relieved, after last week, to put work out of my mind for the weekend, that I did too good of a job of it. Since I get up so early, I thought about baking them in the AM but decided against it. I told the woman what I'd done and could I please have a do-over for today, Tuesday. She was fine with it, of course. It was her 60th birthday so that kind of made me feel like more of a heel but she really was okay about it. She even invited me to join her with our manager and the CEO for her birthday lunch. (I've mentioned before, he takes every employee in our building out to lunch for their birthday.)

I got home from a craft show meeting last night around 8:30 and as I walked into the kitchen to mix up the brownies, I remembered we are out of canola oil. I had some oil in a pour spout bottle, which measured out to exactly what I needed. Wow - what luck! Then I tasted the batter and it tasted funny. At first I thought maybe it was olive oil in the pour spout bottle instead. I baked them anyway, hoping the funny taste would magically go away.

It didn't. I tasted them this morning and I was wishing I had some caster oil or something equally as hideous (I've heard) to gargle with to get that horrid taste out of my mouth. I think the oil was rancid. Is that what happens to "old" oil? I have no idea how long that was in there, which surely isn't a good sign. I had baked two pans of brownies because one was the standard Birthday Brownies and the other was to serve as the afternoon treat - with ice cream for Brownie Sundaes.

I put it all down the garbage disposal.

I'll be stopping at Wegmans for brownies this morning since I have to stop for ice cream anyway. It's the thought that counts, right?

Woe is me. I hope this is a temporary set-back. I'm not ready to give up being the Birthday Brownie Fairy just yet.

Our Lady of Mercy High School
4th Annual Art Show and Craft Sale
1437 Blossom Road, Rochester, NY
November 1, 2008, 10:00-4:00

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