I found a Pillsbury roll mix (rather old, I admit) and used it to make cinnamon rolls last night. I am in awe of anyone who can make real breads and wish I were not so scared of trying to learn to knead dough properly. I did not have an icing recipe, so I went trolling and then made up one myself: Maple Cream Cheese Icing. I have this super fine maple sugar that I do not really know what to do with it.
I was very pleased with how the icing turned out ... no lingering taste of powdered sugar at all. Instead, the icing is creamy and smooth with just a hint of cream cheese and a touch of maple flavor. Actually, who needs the cinnamon roll when you could just have a spoonful or three of the icing??
Late last night, trying to calm down from my lingering dead bird trauma, I cleaned the main staircase and I vacuumed, Swiffered, steam-mopped, and dusted the entire first floor. I even went so far as to not only dust the Victorian tea table, but to also clean all the demitasse cups. This is only the second time I have tackled this task in the nearly four years I've lived here.
Surely you can understand why that is ... pretty display ... lots of cleaning work.
When I was working, I was very glad and rather confused to finally ... finally ... find the only barrette that I can wear that does not make me ill. It is so lightweight that it does not affect the wonky, broken nerves on the back of my head.
Seriously, why in the world would I have taken this off and set it on the lowest tier of the tea table????
If not for the dead bird (and ensuing dead bird removal trauma), I might not have found this for at least another year or two. Since my vision is poor, I cannot really see the dust on the tea table and demitasse cups. What I cannot see ... does not bother me ... mostly.
After all that hard labor, I slept for twelve hours, with only four wakes to change ice packs (and feed Amos breakfast). The nightmares though ... they were bad. Amos' new tactic for comforting me is to curl as much of himself around my head and rest his on my should. The problem is that he doesn't care for the ice packs I need beneath my head that stick out and make for a cold pillow. I am thankful for his efforts, though.
As for the lingering bits of dead bird on the grass? Well, be careful what you long for. We are currently being inundated with torrential rain here in Fort Wayne. That lots and lots and lots of rain I longed once the dead bird was safely in my trash for fell hours ago. The rain I did not actually need is still falling. And falling.
This is the view of my neighbor's gutters. The gutters she will not repair, though I finally girded my loins and approached her about the problem I am having with all the water being funneled between our two houses. If you watch the video, you will see that the water falls off in sheets and what manages to go down the gutter downspout just comes out the bottom of it because the extension is obviously plugged. The water is deepest at the back edge of her front bed, which is a brick wall. It pools there and then spills across the sidewalk.
The last monsoon, the pressure of all that water blew a hole in my basement wall, about four feet off the ground. Seriously, it looked as if I had a Roman fountain in my wall. Fortunately, the stream fed directly into the basement channel, so the room did not flood at all. However, I have a hole that needs to be filled/repaired. I checked earlier and the fountain had not yet started, but I am worried with all the rain still falling that the water will start once more.
I mentioned that I had Firewood Man extend my own gutter drain pipes from the edge of the front bed to the front side walk. What he actually did was to replace the existing extension pipe, securing it with a proper mounting to my downspout and running it all the way out to the curb. He also put in this catch basin that feeds into that new underground pipe to try and accommodate the extra water burden. Part of the problem is that my neighbor's red mulch floats on the water streaming from her house and blocks the catch basin. Tim has had to clean it out for me twice now.
Such is the joys of homeownership, eh? I honestly do not mind dealing with my own stuff, but I do struggle with having to deal with problems from neglect on a neighboring property. As far as I can discover, I do not have much recourse here. SIGH.
Another serving of the Grilled Asparagus with Bacon and Mustard Vinaigrette is clearly in order. Maybe another cinnamon roll, too??
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