Diary of a Lesbian Housewyfe

Sob, sob….  Sniffle.  A great little store with knowledgeable staff and a good vibe.

We need to all remember that local stores like this one are the stores which build our economy.  We need to support them - even when we’re trying to save every dime.  Each dime we can eke out for these local stores comes back to our community over and over again.  Our local stores support local causes, like the dance concert and the women’s hockey league.

When you go to Cabaret, will you see an ad for Wal-Mart or Land’s End or Amazon?  Don’t count on it.  Purchasing goods from outside the community just sends your dollars away.  Dollars that you earned in this community.  Dollars that were earned to pay you by some poor schmuck cowtowing to the tourists (who are few and far between these days), or by your friend Jon, the lawyer, who spends each day at the courthouse defending local people.  The economy is holistic;  it brings us together through the sharing of our wealth, however meager we feel our part of that wealth.

When we lose one of these stores, we all suffer through the loss of easy access to goods, knowledge and charity.

Okay.  I’m getting off my soapbox now.

I don’t know if anyone else is a Sugarland fan, but their new album has a song on it which I’ve been singing in the car each time it rolls around:

“Now it’s poor me, why me, oh me
Boring
the same old worn out blah blah story
There’s no good explanation for it at all

Ain’t no rhyme or reason
No complicated meaning
Ain’t no need to over think it
Let go laughing
Life don’t go quite like you planned it
We try so hard to understand
Irrefutable, indisputable
The fact is
It happens”

Doesn’t this just sound like me? Especially the “same old worn out blah-blah story” part. So here we go. My same old worn out blah-blah story.

Since we last convened, Steph and I sold SpringSips and almost had our lives back to the point of regular chaos when Steph’s calf started hurting. After three weeks of pain and a final descent into delirium, I managed to get her to the doctor. Staph infection, emergency surgery, release from hospital (on oral antibiotics!), oral antibiotics didn’t work so scheduled surgery, discovery of rare yet lame lung disease (symptoms = shortness of breath during extreme exertion. Is it just me or doesn’t everyone have that?), release from hospital (on IV antibiotics. Boo!), healing, healing, healing, less healing than there should be, learning to be a nurse and dressing her leg twice a day to promote healing of the suture, healing, healing, pain starts in arms and shoulders, change back to oral antibiotics (yay!), chiropractor visits every two days to get the shoulder and arm pain alleviated. And that’s where we are today. We go to see the doctor on Thursday for our next checkup and I’m expecting good news. Woo-hoo!

During all of this, our manager quit at Cellar Liquors and gave me two weeks notice. So I’m learning to run the liquor store on the fly while being a nurse. Luckily, our chef/manager/chief bottle-washer is still around upstairs and she’s been making some fabulous lunches at the cafe.

Meanwhile at my sweet honey bunny’s bedside, I knitted a sweater and a pair of socks, and preserved about a gross of jellies, jams and butters - all for Christmas gifts.  My silver lining?  I’m almost done with my Christmas crafting!

Well, that was August through now. See. Same old worn out blah-blah story. Eventually I’ll learn to stop making plans so God will stop taunting me.

Friday, work started late (4PM) so we could keep the cafe open late. I walked in the door and immediately started making the next batch of oatmeal cookies.

Pecan, Butterscotch, Dried Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies. No chocolate, no raisins.

Yummy! I’m pretty proud because I’ve been known to obsess over recipes for weeks and months. Someday I’ll tell you about the Sourdough Saga.

For now, the recipe:

Pecan, Butterscotch & Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

Beat until creamy. Add:

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Beat well. Combine:

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

pinch nutmeg

Add to butter mixture and mix well. Stir in:

2 1/2 cups oatmeal

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup chopped toasted pecans (I toasted mine for five minutes at 425 degrees and then chopped them roughly)

1/4 cup butterscotch morsels

Form into little cookie burgers (for my 3 oz cookies, they ended up being about 3 inches across and 1/4 inch thick before cooking. For regular sized cookies, I’d just smash down a couple of tablespoons of dough.) and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes. Cool one minute on the sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

I’m thinking that they won’t last too long, if my customers are anything to go by. I haven’t had to throw any away so far.

If you have read my post on Baby Socks, you know that my obsessions can be both mundane and comprehensive (meaning I indulge in thoughts of them all the time.) Now, time for some cookies….

Yep. Here are three of the cookies that I made today. And here are the problems:

To my regular oatmeal cookie recipe, I added dried cranberries and dried blueberries. The combination tastes like… well, raisins. I don’t want these cookies to have raisin flavor.

Now, a lot of people might say, “why not raisins?”

To them, I reply, “I don’t like raisins.”

And they reply, “So what? I don’t like lots of things, but I still cook them for my family/wyfe/colleagues/husbynd.”

During high school, for about a year, this african-american woman cleaned our house once a week. That same day, she would make a dinner for us. I believe this was my mother’s saving grace during this period.

This woman made such good food. I especially remember the green beans with pork. Oh my God. That was a dish worth thanking the good Lord for. If you’ve ever lived or visited the south, you’ve probably eaten these beans. They show up at every potluck and on the holiday table and, for some lucky people, when company shows up. I asked her why her food tasted better than other people’s, hoping for some trick to the recipe.

She replied, “I don’t make anything that I don’t like.”

Well, that just blew my little sixteen year old mind. Not cooking anything that you don’t like? How could I do that?

I finally found the answer: You just don’t cook anything that you don’t like. If you’re cooking something to which you have an aversion, just figure out how to make it so it tastes good to you.

She probably didn’t even have a high school diploma. One of the smartest people I ever met.

They don’t spread like I thought they would.

No biggie. I just pressed them out with the heel of my hand and made big “oatmeal cookie burgers.” Still the right taste.

The cookie is just a good cookie. Not outstanding.

I want a great cookie, and I’m a little obsessed with that idea. Here’s what I’m going to do:

Only one fruit - dried cranberries.

Butterscotch Chips.

Toasted Pecans.

I’ll let you know how that turns out.

The sale went fine, and now I’m just pulling the spiderwebs of my old business off of my arms and legs and brain. I keep finding new ones - but isn’t that just how it is with spiderwebs? You walk through the bush and suddenly, you’re covered.

I need a shower.

Next week, I’m off to visit my mother for her retirement party and then, when I return, I’ll have some time to do some showering. I desperately need to pull records and files with old information and archive them somewhere safe. Then I can reorganize my space and, by the end of June, I look forward to having my space organized and ready for the coming storm of tourist season.

Another thing that we just heard about is that the chamber of commerce and the main street program here have been badmouthing our old business. What the fuck! Basically, they are pissed because they want to use a company to spam their clients and our little ISP used several spam blocking lists which listed that company. Of course, all of this would be resolved if they used an “opt-in” method with instructions on white-listing themselves like every other company in the entire world does.

So, because they want to be the exception to the rule, and they want to use a company which is listed on several known spammer lists, they are now recommending people to use any ISP except our old business.

So our old business is being penalized for doing its job, and doing it well.

Another little tidbit? Our old business is a dues-paying member of both of these organizations. During the entire duration of our ownership of the business, we supported the community by sinking tens of thousands of dollars into sponsoring events from the county fair to neighborhood parties; giving away hosting services to non-profits; and giving our time to assist the chamber of commerce and the economic development council set up the Main Street program. We even gave the Main Street program an entire year of free DSL access. And, when the Chamber of Commerce lost its internet connection? We saved their ass.

And the spamming (oops! I mean mass-emailing!) company? No way! That company takes the checks from our local Chamber of Commerce and the Main Street program and just puts them in their bank in Waltham, Massachusetts.

In case you’re not keeping track? That location is 2093 miles from Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

This just burns my butt. Talk about a lack of loyalty! Publicly burning a loyal client AND helpful vendor AND community supporter in order to accommodate a VENDOR who can’t be bothered to fix the problem.

And that mass-emailing company *can* fix it. All they have to do is put a little time into removing themselves from these lists and practicing best policies in order to avoid being put on the lists again.

What about honor? What about integrity? What about being loyal to those who have been loyal to you? What about supporting the local business community?

Direct quote from the Chamber Website:

“The Steamboat Springs Chamber Resort Association’s mission is:

• To support, encourage and sustain a vibrant, healthy economy in Steamboat Springs and surrounding areas,
• To act as a spokesperson for the business and professional community,
• To support all existing industries and welcome and nurture new industries,
• To preserve our environment and workforce as integral components of our economic well-being. “

What a great job they are doing.

I can’t wait to get out of this cotton-picking town for a while. I don’t even want to breath the same air as these people.

This spring I got a letter from our local arts council asking us for a donation for Cabaret, a performance which skewers the political figures here in our little Steamboat town. Within the text was hidden the line, “…we expect this year to be a complete sellout.”

Yeah, I know.

After laughing out loud and repeating the phrase all over town, I quieted down and wrote the check.

Now, it’s my turn. Our lovely little ISP is now about to go to someone else and I’m going to be free! The change will be good for our current and new clients as this new company will be able to grow SpringSips. My sweet little honey bunny and I know how to start a business, but after a few years boredom sets in and we’re ready to move on. So, good for starting, not so good at maintaining.

My parents sent us a bouquet of flowers which brighten up our office just in time for the clouds to move back in.

They are the best!!!!!

Tomorrow we are off to Fort Collins, Colorado to sign the papers.

I really feel like everything is working out well, and I’m glad to be finishing this project after eleven years.

Woo-hoo!

I mean really. We all whine. I know I’m a whiner. But this is really getting out of hand. I feel like every conversation I have begins and ends with someone whining about something. The classic conversation in Steamboat is about:

1) Affordable Housing

2) Living Wages

3) What Other People Are Doing About The Issues Above

And I’m tired of it! I’ve decided not to engage in these conversations any more. Now I’m not saying I’m not a whiner. I’ve had plenty of these conversations and even started some of them. I have a couple of years of existential angst on my record. After all, I was a theatre major in college. I think that requires some off-stage drama at some point or another.

To get to the point of my story, my friend Joanne wrote her column last week and inspired me! I couldn’t help but go directly over to the Cafe Press site and set up a store for her. So, save the drama for the stage and go over and get yourself a fabulous mug or sticker or something fun that says “Stop the Brutal Whining!”

I think it’s a pretty good message to put out there in the world.

The income tax deadline is almost here and, as I listen to Amy bitch about finishing her boyfriend’s taxes, I’m just basking in my complete lack of things to do.

You see, because we have investors and own the business and all of that doo-dah, I have to get our taxes finished in January.

Yes, you read that right. January.

Makes January quite the horrific month of late nights and waking early, but my April is fun and can be fully dedicated to the celebration of spring.

Today, I’m relishing the fruits of my labor.

Maybe later I’ll go down and look at the line at the post office.

heeheeehee.