I just e-filed my taxes tonight. I might not have procrastinated so damn much had I known that I'd be getting $$ back on state & fed. I can't remember the last time that happened. That fact gets a big "Say whaaa??" outta people, especially those who have an idea of just how piddly my annual income is. I think the faux pas was claiming 1 when I was at TDC. When I started up at the VNA I made sure to put a 0 on the W4 and it seems to have made all the difference. I'm not getting a GINORMO refund, but a nice li'l nugget. Maybe I should finally spring for that laptop I've been wanting.

Anybody game for making a carrot cake?? I made this one for Easter dinner this past weekend (except I chose to omit pecans entirely). It was really damned tasty, but the frosting was kind of a catastrophe. It tasted good, but it was not the proper consistency one needs to cement a 3 layer cake together. Come to think of it, I still owe my dad a dollar (betting on a holy holiday!!) 'cause I thought for sure that the top layer or top 2 layers would slide off the base while in transport in the trunk of the car. It didn't fall over as I'd predicted, but still the frosting was a runny mess. I sort of didn't let anybody look at the cake before I dissected & served it. The slices were presentable enough, and overall the cake got raaaaaave reviews. I just am not sure where I went astray on the frosting preparation. Ok, well I did make one glaring substitution... since the frosting was wicked unhealthy I thought I'd make it a smidge less sinful by doing 14 tablespoons Olivio margarine & 2 tbsp butter (instead of the 16 tbsp butter the recipe called for) Tell me, kitchen wiz kids out there--would that have made the difference? I think you should do this recipe (and do the original mega fatty version of the frosting) to find out. Don't you think we'll bond if we both bake the same recipes within a week or so of each other? C'mon!!

I had been reading a novel called Beautiful Children ,--it was my lunch break book...a lunch hour read is an absolute must, because nothing is more detrimental to good digestion then having to make horrid small talk with coworkers. Honestly, I wasn't enjoying it all that much, but I do try to be conscientious about finishing what novels I start. So I'm maaad frustrated that, 2 thin chapters away from the end, I have lost the book. I was holding off getting a replacement read for my lunch break 'cause I thought I might stumble across it somewhere or another, but it's been a week with no trace of Beautiful Children. So I caved and last night went to Encore! Books. I bought this Nancy Mitford compendium: The Pursuit of Love + Love in a Cold Climate and also The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov. One of the characters in the latter is "the large, fast-talking, vodka-drinking black tom cat Behemoth" (so sez the jacket copy). Oh, Bulgakov...you had me at vodka-drinking cat!! So, obviously, I'm most compelled to read Master.. but I think I'll read it in between the 2 Mitford works (by means of a sort of palette cleansing).
I'll be sure to let y'all know if any of 'em are worth your while...
Ciao for now, daaahlings!