ELEVEN DAYS 'TIL CHRISTMAS???

Sheesh, where did this year GO? I was doing a snow dance when I last posted...I had limited success; we were on a snow schedule the next morning. *L*

The next week brought an unwelcome day off, though. On Monday we received word at the college that one of our students had been the victim of a terrible crime apparently committed by her ex-boyfriend. He'd broken into her home very early on Monday morning, stabbed the girl's father to death, then attacked her mother, her, and her new boyfriend. Because the criminal had made threats on our campus (not only to his ex-girlfriend, but to some other students as well), our campus closed Monday afternoon and was closed all day Tuesday. It was a spooky, troubling time. The fugitive is still on the run with his new girlfriend. I hope they're captured soon.

Because of the closing Tuesday, our annual Christmas concert (which was scheduled for that evening) was postponed until Friday evening. There was an unfortunate lapse in communications that resulted in some folks not getting word of the rescheduling. Some showed up on Tuesday to find the road into the campus closed by law enforcement. Others didn't get the word about the Friday concert and didn't come.

Bottom line was that we did the concert, it's over, and in 100 years no one will know or care that it was a little out of the ordinary. *LOL*

Yesterday I was a little draggy and my throat was scratchy. I was afraid I was taking a cold, but feel fine this morning. A little lazy, maybe, but otherwise well. Yesterday I had a terrible craving for chocolate. The only chocolate I had in the apartment was a box of Hershey's cocoa. Luckily I already had all the other ingredients to make a small batch of brownies. They turned out chocolaty, chewy and utterly delicious. My chocaholic craving has once again been satisfied!

If you need an easy, quick batch of brownies, here's the recipe:

Brownies
Yield: One 8" x 8" pan

Ingredients:
6 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup flour
2 eggs
1 cup toasted pecans (I don't like nuts in my brownies, so I leave this out and it works fine)

Preheat the oven to 325 deg. F and grease and flour an 8" x 8" baking pan.
In a microwavable mixing bowl, melt the butter completely. Stir in the cocoa powder; add the sugar, vanilla, salt, flour, and eggs. Mix well. If you want to add pecans, do that now.

Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan. Bake at 325 for 35 to 40 minutes. The brownies are done when and inserted toothpick come out clean. Cool in the pan until slightly warm, cut into squares and serve.

Enjoy!