it's very snowy in PA. I've been a little obsessed with origami lately. I made a classic butterfly yesterday.

the last two cupcakes.... Glad we saved them from the horde.

Chocolate cupcake recipe from the 1989 edition of the Good Housekeeping cookbook, which has great instructional sections for beginning cooks. I made two kinds of icing: fireball whisky cream cheese, and traditional butter cream.

had a wonderful time last night, thanks, guys. Happy New Year!

I have defeated the ice machine! I made ice last for 24 hours!! The trick is to freeze fairly big blocks of ice - I used some ~20oz plastic food containers. The ice slips out with just a quick run under water. Then I filled the rest of the machine with some smaller blocks made from little soda cans and regular ice cubes. I don't recommend the little soda cans - the edges were too sharp after I cut off the top. The bottoms of half gallon milk jugs would probably work well but I like being able to close and stack the tupperwares.

(e:Dianne) is recovering well from surgery for the most part. She's able to make her own coffee already!

I am so grateful to Tanya, (e:bluevelvetjack), Mykal, (e:Terry) and (e:Yesthatcasey) for their visits and hostess gifts of ice, beer and mayonnaise.

Pho Dollar, 322 W. Ferry at Grant is really yum. They have a vegetarian menu but you have to ask for it. I had the tofu with ginger and veggie spring rolls. It's currently cash-only. Pho Dollar - a real upgrade from Pho 99 on Bailey?

(Buffalo Rising article )

I got a better night's sleep last night and I'm not so whiny. D's in a LOT of pain - she just weeps from it. She did one set of exercises yesterday, but she overdid it and tried to achieve what she's supposed to do by next Friday. Today, I wouldn't let her time the exercises, I made her listen to her body to determine what is "too much". She did two sets today. (e:bluevelvetjack) hung out with her today while I went to the office for a while.