The Fluffbucket Diaries

A frozen Friday.

🥶

Watching “Over the Garden Wall,” an old Cartoon Network miniseries, and I’m still not quite sure what I’m watching.

Once I decided to postpone my annual holiday shipments of fudge and candied nuts until after Christmas (and bring batches to colleagues on the East Coast when I join them on a work retreat in February), my stress levels subsided considerably. Maybe I’ll do this every year.

Several hours after ingesting a peppermint mocha, I’m actually ready to call it a night and dream of impending blizzards. So much for working late.

Five TV shows to get to know me:

• Northern Exposure
• Ted Lasso
• No Reservations
• Aggretsuko
• Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!

Interesting point from Tim Miller of The Bulwark, a married gay man with a family: “For me, gay rights meant my rights, not forcing some weirdo to make me a website or bake me a damn cake. There are lots of web designers and lots of cake bakers out there; can’t we show the ones who aren’t down with Heartstopper a little grace? Or if not, just give them a one-star review on Yelp and move on with our lives?”

TIL that Mastodon is not immune to mansplaining. 😬

So, after that glorious bowl of ramen this afternoon, I fell suddenly ill – dizzy, feverish, nauseous. We got home just in time for me to rush to the bathroom, only to find myself fainted on the floor outside it.

Time in the bathroom and a short nap later, I was fine. Then I got out to run a holiday errand and stock up on Korean instant coffee and K94 masks.

I suspect there was an unfortunate convergence of dehydration, forgetting my meds, and no caffeine – along with probably the largest bowl of carbs I’ve ingested in a long time – that led to my brief illness. That, along with my jeans feeling a bit tighter around the waist, tells me maybe I need to get serious about my weight loss habits again.

Took another PTO day to catch up further on Christmas stuff. Still not fully caught up, but made a lot of progress.

Now thinking my earlier dizzy spell was partly forgetting my meds and part having no caffeine. Now on my second Korean instant coffee packet, which means I’ll be up a while. 😐

Not a bad thing, as the teenager’s high school choir concert is tonight. And I still have packing and baking to do. And I know, having caffeine at 6 p.m. probably isn’t the wisest decision I’ve ever made.

Finally made it to H Mart. Guess you could say I like this stuff.

Flurries and gray skies require new manga and spicy udon ramen with extra pork.

Spent my PTO morning today back-and-forthing on Mastodon about the Padres' $280 million/11-year deal with Xander Bogaerts. It was downright lovely to fangirl about baseball with nice people and without feeling like a halfwit, like I do with my Facebook friends who know Way Too Much about the game.

Winding down a last-minute PTO day to catch up on holiday tasks. Got apple butter simmering in the slow cooker all day, then made 2 pounds of candied almonds and three batches of fudge (walnut and ube, with and without coconut).

Need to get more almonds to glaze because C and I taste-tested too many. And I still have to can the apple butter, make numerous other fudge batches, and bake several varieties of cookies.

Decided to curb most of my mail shipments of treats this year; I may be traveling to the East Coast for work in a couple of months, so I can bring treats with me then to share with far-flung coworkers. That decision alone allowed me to relax a little about my annual holiday frenzy.

Even though I enjoy this yearly ritual, it also can induce anxiety and exhaust me. Limiting distribution to a handful of colleagues, family, local friends, and the annual parish bake sale (plus whoever F wants to gift at school) is a lot more of a relief than it sounds.

Hoping for another PTO day next week to run errands and package treats. Devoting the weekend and early next week to more fudge (i.e., mint, snickerdoodle, Mexican coffee, milk chocolate), cookies (shortbread bites, Biscoff butter with cinnamon chips, oatmeal raisin, magic bars), and possibly toffee and/or caramel.

It’s not as crazy at it sounds, I swear. A lot of last-minute editing of the treat agenda happens, thank goodness.

Aaron Judge stays in pinstripes. As a Padres fan, I’m relieved that San Francisco didn’t sign him. But as much as I generally dislike the Yankees, he seems meant to be one, in the best sense.

Just found this ad in my Insta feed. I don’t think I want to buy a candle that smells like stale Old Style and tear-stained Bryzzo T-shirts.

What would a scented candle from your favorite ballpark smell like? ⚾

Maybe it’s just me, but Alexi Lalas is what I imagine a younger, more lucid Bill Walton would be. ⚽

I respect the whole vegan thing, but this seems like a bit much.

Long work week with several late nights of working into the wee hours. Now bracing for a late night of prepping for Sunday’s CCD class.

Meanwhile, I’m getting enough of a late start on Christmas fudge and baking that I’m starting to worry that I’ll need to scale back on that this year. Fingers crossed that I won’t need to do that.

Posting this here so Mastodon can actually verify me.

It hasn’t even been 2 weeks since I joined. and I already want a break from the old Mastodon machine.

NYT Spelling Bee enthusiasts: Should people post their “Queen Bee” status if they make it clear that they used a cheat resource for it? I’m seeing a few folks doing that on Mastodon, and it’s kinda bugging me (and not because our household has yet to achieve that level).

I hate that it’s too cold to wear shorts IN THE HOUSE.

(And yes, we have central heating. Still feels too damn cold.)

Down to my last couple of Korean instant coffee packets. Hoping to squeeze in an H Mart visit this week to replenish my stockpile.

Now I know why they sell these things in boxes of 100.

Our first attempt at kolacky looks like a murder scene – and then we put powdered sugar on them.

F: “Now it looks like a murder scene in winter.”