JUNE!!!!!

June!  It's June!  June! June! June!

For the record, I despise summer with a vehemence that only the fair complected and heat intolerant can truly appreciate or accomplish.  I burn in five minutes flat and start to get tunnel vision if I'm outdoors very long.

But this year, June is the best month EVER!  I can count on one hand the number of weeks it will be before I can see B again!  I'm so excited!!  (As if the superfluous use of exclamation points didn't give that away at all?)

But I'm starting to feel the time crunch.

Where I currently stand:

The table top has been sanded and stained.  The black walnut combined with the original dark blonde of the wood to make a really gorgeous combination.  I sanded down and stained the pedestal, repainted the platform that the table top sits on, drilled pilot holes for the new supports, and sanded down two of the four chairs, and repainted one before I ran out of paint.  When I went to actually screw the screws through the new supports and into the bottom of the table top, for some reason the screws don't want to go through the wood of the table.  I've started stripping the head, but making no downward progress.  That might end up being something B has to finish for me.  Maybe I just don't have enough downward pressure.  But, I've bought more paint, so I can move forward with that project again once I have another free day.

Yesterday, I didn't make as much progress on anything as I intended.  I mixed up the dough for my Hero Cookies, but my ambitions were greater than the time I had.  I mixed up approximately 7 quarts of cookie dough.  It took *ages*, because I started to burn out the second hand mixer I've bought since January.  My friend Terri suggested that, if I can squirrel enough away while I'm still working, I should invest in a stand mixer.  I've always wanted one, and I know they're very versatile and a huge time and effort saver, but I've always been put off by the huge price tags on the brands with the best consumer ratings.  She assures me that it is worth every penny, though, so I am going to start shopping around to see what type of price ranges I can find for both durability and power.  When I finally got the flour completely incorporated into the butter/peanut butter mixture, it was already nearly 10 pm, so I rolled the dough into logs, wrapped them in waxed paper, and froze it for later.

Today, I went to the river with my best friend and her dog.  It was hot, but the water was wonderful, and if you could find a nice spot to anchor your feet and lay back into the current in the shallow water, it felt like one of those aqua-massage tables.  Only the river is free *grins*.  When I got home, I went down to the shop and put away the table/chair project and straightened up some of my clutter.  I won't be able to work on it tomorrow or the next few days, because I have a dentist appointment in the nearest large town (about 50 miles one way), so that is going to me most of the day shot right there.  And, my sister-in-law contacted me today to tell me that she's sending me two transcripts tonight, and one almost every day for the next five days!  That is going to be excellent.  I usually end up with a tension headache from the typing, but it means some extra income to sock away in preparation for my upcoming unemployment.

After I'd straightened up some, I pulled out one of the containers of dough logs to bake for B's homecoming.

The cookies have defied physics!  There were about 6 qts of both butter batter and flour.  Slowly, carefully and time consumingly, I incorporated all the flour into the butter batter, then even managed to add chocolate chips.  That took hours.  But, I finally managed it, lol.  

Today, when I thawed out the dough, I cut it into chunks.  

 They baked up great. 

After I finished  baking them, I wrapped them in waxed paper, put them in baggies, and tied each baggie with a red, white, or blue ribbon :-)

They're currently in air tight storage bins double-sealed with saran wrap and tucked back in the freezer.  They'll be as fresh as they were today when he finally gets here.

I can't wait!