December 29. Thursday Night.

Hi Journey.

Baking's a mystery. I never know where to even look for help, outside the 800 number on the side of a cake box. Or Joni, but it's not quite couth to ring up the person you're baking birthday cookies for.

Yes, I could have phoned Mom or Carmen, but I hate admitting to them that I can't bake, even though they know it well.

Memo to self: Never bake cookies during a short week.

Fortunately, I had picked up three packages of chocolate-chip cookie dough. The first time I set the oven for 475 instead of 375; the second time I slept clean through the timer. The first batch was burned on the bottom; the second batch was incinerated.

I gave up last night and set my alarm for 5:00 this morning. I must still be on East Coast time, because at 3:30 I sat straight up in bed and could swear I heard Cora's giggling coming from underneath the door to my small bedroom. A niece's laughter is always a sweet sound, just not a particularly welcome one in the wee hours. I slapped a hand atop the ‘on' button on my clock radio, got up, and headed straight to the kitchen.

If I'd burned the third batch we would have celebrated with a store-bought round cake. But I set two timers, stuck the cookies in the oven, and sat right there in the kitchen during the whole operation.

We still had a light client load today: just one appointment that I'd set up right before the holidays. Of course, Shelly was still buried after driving in late yesterday from her grandmother's in Denver, and I needed her to run out and get some streamers and a Happy Birthday sign for Joni so that meant I had to drag myself out to the client's alone. I would have grabbed Dana or Viv, but they were on a call over in Rolling Hills at 9:00, and my appointment was at 10:30. No way could they squeeze in both. So I soloed.

Patricia Scutari. She's grandma-old but not Mrs. Olandon old. I liked her right away. She's retired from nursing. Her focus right now is creating a new Family Room for her grandkids. 100% opposite of most of my clients, who are converting their Family Rooms into Great Rooms.

Thank the Lord for life cycles. They drive my business.

Guess I was extra tired, but also in a hurry. Knew I wanted to get back to the shop soon and get Joni's party started. I wanted to send her home a bit early if possible. Plus I was wondering a bit how Cora was doing…she was attention-overloaded when I left Monday afternoon, and I knew Carm was going to tell her about the move this week. My mind was really just half on-task.

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