(e:paul) wanted brownies the other day but we didn't have any baking chocolate. So I found a recipe that just uses unsweetened cocoa powder and a metric ton of butter to make up for the lack of cocoa butter.

Mom blog recipe here

They turned out really gooey and delicious especially when salted. The pictures of them came out looking a little shitty (hah) but they're still good. lately I feel so rushed I don't even care if the pictures come out alright.

We got completely greenwashed at the coop. We bought this sponge in a rush at the coop and somehow thought it was made of natural material. I remember talking about it in the aisle with (e:paul) wondering what it could have been made of. It turns out it's just a regular sponge, just with "Nature" on the package.


The "Natural Value" scrubbers are made of "tough fibers and abrasives" which I take means plastic since they point out the sponges are cellulose (so are 3Ms, so I assume they're all from the same factories).

I can't believe I fell for it. I really hate all greenwashed marketing, especially for packaged stuff like this. It isn't even good at it. Usually it'd be a regular plastic brillo pad wrapped in brown paper to give it an "earthy" feel, called "Bob's Sea Sponge" , with maybe a GMO and Gluten free label on it. On the back would be a folksy story about how Bob's Natural Sponges loves his artisian sponges, and how he feels about urban farming or kale or something. I really think I could be a marketer.

So (e:paul) really wants to make jewelry. We stopped up to get some investment/supplies at the metal broker up in Kenmore. It's in the big giant mansion at Kenmore and Delaware built by the founder of Kenmore, Eberhardt. It used to have a twin for his brother next door but it was demolished in 1977.



I always thought it would be super crazy on the inside but the part we were in was just a normal office.

On the way back from the store the power steering on the car broke. We even bought power steering because we thought it might have been the fluid, but it turns out it's completely electric and doesn't take any fluid. Miraculously it started working again. I hate cars.





We stopped to visit Tony on the way back so Paul could fix his computer. He was suprised (e:paul) had just eaten lamb because it was Friday. I feel like those Lent rules used to run my life when I was little and I don't even think about them now.

Paul's supplies and investment

(e:paul) and I got to go out to see the Excision show at Town Ballroom tonight while (e:terry) hopefully relaxed a little from tax time. Like the Datsik show it was a packed house and out of control.


The opener was kind of boring and lame but Excision had to be the most ridiculous sound I have ever witnessed. It reminds me I need to seriously get some real earplugs. Instead immediately stuffed some napkins in my ear so I wouldn't go deaf. It worked well enough because I don't have tinnitus like I usually do after the Town Ballroom.

The bass vibrated your whole body - skin, eyes, hands, everything was shaking. The pressure of the sound in the opening to his set was almost too much. His projections were pretty amazing too on the big robot speaker set they had set up.


There were also a ton of cute sweaty beardy bros there. Even though they make me feel old already it's fun to dance with them. I'd like to mosh too but I can't promise that I or someone else isn't going to end up really punching somebody.

Lisa was there going crazy per the usual, and invited us to her birthday at Lift this Friday. We haven't gone there but that could be fun. I have to think it's probably the same crowd of that goes to this type of EDM.










The snowbanks have become so high its redonk. Paul and I decided to document them.

We went down to East Aurora and Hunter's creek to snowshoe with Mark, (e:paul)'s uncle and (e:czarkasm)'s dad. All of the little valleys, creeks and cliffs were completely filled with snow, and we would only about a foot in.
I wonder what Little Rock City is like now - i bet you can fall right off some of the rocks without breaking your arm.

It was tons of fun. Despite the fact the snowshoes have spikes climbing the hill was mostly scrambling on hands and knees. Going down hills I had to just sort of run and home I didn't slide down on my ass.

I definitely want to go again - if we ever try again I'd like to try bigger shoes since I was using Erica's mother's old pair.

Afterwards we ate amazing homemade bread, veggie chili, and brownies from Erica's mom. It was the perfect way to fill up after.