#365Gratitude Day 44:Stack Overflow

No, not that kind

One of the big truisms of working in technology is: You can't know everything by heart.
Another is: Someone, somewhere, has already faced this problem, and solved it.

Hence, one of the most useful sites on the internet for us techie types: Stack Overflow.

I love it.

On Monday, I was looking into populating a modal dialog box with dynamic content, gleaned from a service, called by Ajax.  I wanted to see some other ways it had been done, so I hit the site.

In short order, I had some great guidance, including some dissenting opinions about the best ways to do it.

I saw three different ways, rejected two, settled on one.  

So useful.

#365Gratitude Day 43:I've got cooking in hand

One thing I spent a significant amount of time doing today was cooking.  I got up early this morning to cook the savory filling for my chicken pot hand-pies.  It took me about 40 minutes to do, after which I got the mixture into the refrigerator to cool all day long.

That's because the recipe calls for the insides to be chilled when you roll them inside the pastry filling, before baking.

I don't make my own dough, I use puff pastry sheets.  And I slightly modify the recipe making my own little tweaks here and there.  (For example, I brush my pies with an egg wash before they go in the oven, but only on one side.  I also slightly change the spices and their proportions in my mixture.)

 Here's where I got the original recipe: http://thepioneerwoman.com/food-and-friends/handheld-chicken-pot-pies/

And here's what mine came out looking like tonight:

I love that I know how to cook, and that I can take recipes and make them my own.

#365Gratitude Day 42:Date Night

Missy and I went on a date last night.

We've been married for nine, almost 10 years now.  We've known one another closer to 15 years.  It doesn't matter.  The special magic that got us together is still here, still strong.

We bought movie tickets to go see Fifty Shades Darker.  Missy got her hair cut earlier in the day, super short, in a manner I find adorably cute, really sexy, and kind of toppy looking.  I put on a nice shirt and sweater.  We drove towards the theater, and picked a restaurant at random.  (It was a Brazilian steak place we had never been to before, and it was magnificent.)

As we drove, we talked about our lives.  What we had that we liked, what we want in future.  How we loved one another, how the other relationships we have in our life together make us so happy.

The sweet remains of our actual dessert.

After our fantastic dinner, we headed over to the theater.  The movie was entertaining and really quite filthy in the best way.  We held hands, each of us squeezing the other's hand when something particularly intense or arousing to either of us happened on screen.

It was romantic.  It was wonderful.

I love her.

#365Gratitude Day 41:The power of the flower

I've got this good friend, PowerFlower.  She's sort of miraculous.  She embraced kink later in her life, and jumped in with both feet.  She's a brilliant artist, has a kind heart, and a filthy mouth in the best way.

She loves many of the same things I do, including spanking, philosophy in general, diapers, Alan Watts philosophy specifically, and grabbing life hard with both hands and not ever letting the fuck go of it.

Life has a funny way of getting in between good friendships, and Flower and I lost touch with one another about a year ago.  The other day we reconnected, and shared what we have going on in our lives.  Our friendship opened up, like a sunflower, and as we talked on the phone it was like no time had passed at all.  It felt so damn good to reconnect.

#365Gratitude Day 40:Home and hearth

Thursday was freezing.  We had snow in the wee hours before dawn, and even though it warmed up enough to make it go away, the day was bitter cold and very windy.  It was the sort of day that made me glad to be indoors.

Not my actual house, but it conveys the idea I'm going for here.

On my way home I fought awful traffic, blown about in the wind shear, did some late night grocery shopping, and came home very glad to my house.

It was well lit, warm, and inviting.  I got in, put away the groceries, and felt warm, safe, and sheltered.

You know, that's not a small thing that feeling.  I forget sometimes what a blessing it is.