Monday

Not a good night, I tried sleeping with my feet facing the fan to avoid the stiff shoulder in the morning, yet still have mozzies blown away ... useless! Those mozzies are so fat already, the fan doesn't seem to affect them. Throughout the night, my one arm felt like sand paper, never mind bubble wrap! It was absolutely covered in bites, from the shoulder all the way to the fingers! Seriously! I just don't know what to do anymore ...

I overslept, even though the Mewlarm went off at full volume even before the alarm went off! I still made my coffee, scooped the litter box and went through my morning routine as usual. Just didn't drink much of the coffee - oh, and I forgot the USB stick at home. I keep the game documents on there, so I can update those at work - time permitting.

I'm struggling with moods at the moment. Part of the fun of many paws, methinks. Hot flashes are clearly not enough to get me down, so let's add another level of fun! Well, it could be worse, of course, but knowing that doesn't make it any easier.

I'm at odds with everything today. Pretty much like yesterday, too. Everything feels like such a drag, just draining energy for no reason. Even my mind isn't able to focus on anything much, it just whirls around like a butterfly caught in a storm. Nothing interests me, I just want to couch-potato the day away ...

Which isn't a problem at work, at least. Monday-Wednesday the store is pretty quiet, everyone just hangs around in the factory, some doing production ... and then Friday after noon they start bringing in their finished goods for me to check, pack and capture for delivery. Last minute, as always. Nothing changes.

I've looked around a bit about my baking issues and learned that, for cookies, I should get a light-coloured baking sheet (we used to call them trays, but now they're called 'sheets' apparenly), since the light colour disperses the heat evenly. Dark coloured trays (yeah, I'm going back to what I know) absorb a lot of the heat which then goes into the base of whatever is on top of the tray. Hence the burnt cookies and also why my bread is always burnt (or close to burnt) at the bottom. And that's also why a roasting pan should be dark. I've shopped around and decided to save my money.

I'm going to try and experiment with foil first. See, when I put the bread on a tray, then put that tray into the oven - all the heat goes into the tray, none is circulated to the top to give it any kind of crust, or even to bake it evenly from all sides. It just bakes from the bottom up, through the tray. The tray sort of works like a cooking pot on an electric stove - first you heat the plate, then the plate has to heat the pot and then, finally does the heat reach your food. So, the oven is warm to hot under the tray, and relatively cool above the tray. So, I thought to myself: why not create my own 'tray' made of foil? It would have to be several layers (folded) to hold it's shape on the grid - but if I do it right, I should be able to re-use the foil. And bread dough isn't like cookie batter - it's not as liquid and holds its shape to some extent. And then, just for fun, I'll add a cup of water to the oven, to provide the moisture which a gas oven lacks - and give the bread some sort of crust!

Hmm ... I could always just wrap foil around cardboard? That should be stiff, and use much less foil? And since the cardboard is enclosed, there should be no risk of fire?

And then I stumbled across 'how to shape bread loaves perfectly'! Turns out, it's very simply done in a proofing basket! When it's risen for the last time, you just turn it upside down and plop the dough onto the baking tray! Since the basket should be lined with flour, that puts the finishing touch of flour on top of the perfectly shaped loaf of bread! I had been wondering how they get that swirly pattern onto the loaves - and it's so simple!

Again: I can make that myself very simply! After all, it's just round sticks glued into a swirly shape - just like my paper baskets! I just have to use thicker sticks! And, of course, use a lining, but that's just like the rattan proving (or proofing) baskets. I can get another bread bag and use that material!

Of course, first, I should finish the belt I'm still busy making! Ha Ha! I showed mippies the scratcher I made for them - they showed no interest. None! I sprinkled it with catnip, which got them interested ... in licking it! Sigh. I need to add more layers to make it more solid.

Ach, I'm just in no mood for anything today, and I don't know how to get myself out of this mood! Maybe when my chocolates arrive tomorrow, that will lift my spirits? Anyway, it's almost time to go home ... yay!