Christmas 2013

Andrea & Aiden, this post is about the first time I probably really pissed your father off. 
Note, I did say first time. 
Undoubtedly, there will be more to come, but I'll write about those as they happen. . 
And always remember, no matter what squabbles we have, that I'll always love him because he was smart enough to court and marry your mother. 

Now because I live in Atlanta, and in 2013 ya'll were in KC, I didn't get to see you much. 
So, that's why whenever I did see ya'll, I tended to spoil you. Rotten. 

Anyway, back to the subject at hand, Christmas 2013.  
It just so happens that you're 5, about to be 6, Andrea, and Aiden, you've just turned 3. 
I kind of wanted to do something more for your Christmas this year, instead of just a gift card. 
However, I know from conversations with your mother that space at this time is an issue. 
And I know at your ages, getting clothing isn't an option at Christmas. That's when you get toys. 

Thankfully, tablet prices were dropping radically at this time. That's when I got the brilliant idea to get each of you a tablet for Christmas, something that would come in handy for both of you with school, and to help introduce you to technology. Besides, they're cool. 

A little research, and I found something called the Fun Tab 4.3 - it's designed for kids, with parental controls and reporting pre-installed. 
(Yes, that's how Mom & Dad knew you were playing games instead of doing your homework) 

So it turns out that your father is a bit of a Luddite when it comes to ya'll & tech. 
I don't understand it, I completely disagree with it, and that's how I pissed him off. 
I got ya'll kid's tablets for Christmas 2013. 

I don't know when he'll forgive me for this, however he's in the wrong and I forgive him for it. 
Besides, there's still the distance factor.  
Well, that's the story of your first tablets. They were meant as gifts for Christmas 2013.

It's not my fault if your father didn't give them to you until you turned 18. 
  

Pre psuedo Thanksgiving cheesecake mystery

As you know, (or, more accurately, will discover when you come down for a visit)  I cook cheesecakes - they're my "go to" dessert when I need to trot out the culinary skills. 
Now, over the years, I've developed a relatively fool proof basic recipe that I can take from a dozen "mini" cheesecakes to a 14" full size just by multiplying by a factor of 4. 
(1 egg, 1/3 cup sugar, 1 block cream cheese, room temperature, 1 tbs vanilla extract. Cream)

That makes 12 cupcake size cheesecakes. 

Or it did until tonight. 
Tonight, I was making a batch of "Berry Surprise" mini's for an early Thanksgiving dinner at Aunt Sheba's & Uncle Bobbie's. 
I figured I'd double the recipe, so I started working with 2 blocks of a new product, Cream Cheese & Greek Yogurt blend. 
Normally, I'd add some sour cream to make it a New York Style, but I thought "what the hell" when I saw the aforementioned. 
Here's where I also made a serious deviation from my usual. 
Instead of using a hand mixer, I elected to use the food processor. 

Never again. 

It broke the batter down to about half its normal volume. 
Additionally, because I didn't add sour cream, that was another 3 - 5 oz of missed volume. 


 So, instead of 24 "Berry Surprise" mini's, I now only have 12. 

Lesson to be learned? Only experiment when you're dealing with family. 

Fourth Quarter, 2013

Ok, it's November 2013.  
As you know, I work a corporate job. 
This means that I get benefits, one of the better ones besides insurance being paid vacation. 
Because I've been at this company for 18+ years now, (yes, 18+ years as of 2013) I get about 5 weeks of vacation a year at this point. 
Yet, with that much vacation available, in order to take advantage of it, you have to factor in your department, your co-workers, the particular responsibilities you handle, timing, etc. 
Which leads me up to what just happened in October. 
End of year is coming up, and both my co-worker and I have unused vacation time. 
I admit I'd been lax about the holidays, however was planning on using my vacation time at either Thanksgiving or Christmas, depending on what everyone else's plans were. 
Then, the coworker emails me her list of the days she wants off so she can use up her vacation. 
Well, a quick glance at the dates and a check of the calendar has her taking both Thanksgiving and Christmas off. 
Now mind, we're a two person shift. 

Did I mention that she's also on a "special schedule" ? 
Seems that Tuesday - Thursday, she gets to work noon to 8 pm instead of the shift, which is 3 pm to 11 pm. 
Normally, not a problem. Except that there's the little matter of a file transfer to the Federal Reserve Bank that has to be made nightly, Sunday - Thursday. 
And it's the responsibility of a total of 3 people cleared to make the file transfer at 9 pm, two of whom are on my shift. (Yes, myself and coworker) 
That information will factor in shortly. 

Allow me to digress for a moment.....  

Last year, I had plans for celebrating Thanksgiving with Aunt Sheba & Uncle Bobby, and Grandpa Don & Uncle Ian. Had being the operative verb in that sentence. 
Then, an "emergency" (and trust, the quotation marks are justified) came up and co-worker couldn't work Thanksgiving, so I had to. 
And I proceeded to continue to work my ass off, through the rest of the year, ending up setting the departmental record for OT, in this case 48 hours. (That's on a 2 week check, btw) 
I also ended up being unable to use over a week of vacation before the end of the year due to, again, co-worker's scheduling. 
I was allowed to carry it over to January that time, however that was apparently a one-off. 

Back to the subject at hand... so, she's effectively scheduled me to work, without asking me if I had plans or what I was going to do, and taken both prime holidays as well. 
Well, complaints to the supervisor about this went nowhere, she's the one who put coworker on her "special shift"... 
So I'm working both holidays again this year.  
And, trying to figure out a way to burn 4 days of vacation I can't schedule. 

On the bright side, I'm on track to beating that OT record this year.  
But, ya'll will like the gift cards you get from me. 

And for what it's worth, I've already booked my birthday vacation at the ranch.