I made a couple of New Year’s resolutions. As I’ve said before, I take New Year’s resolutions very seriously. They went into effect January 1st…but they’re feeling quite real now.

1. Regain a sense of peace in my life. (…missing since 1989)
2. Have a strong body.
3. Keep a journal.

Well, I’ve been a little frustrated at my slow progress at bootmaking. It was a lot easier in Coleman Texas. Here I have all my usual distractions…and now and then some unusual ones. I read a magazine article a little while ago, that said “successful resolutions should seem like a gift to yourself”, not a prescription or prison sentence. I’ve felt overwhelmed the last six months; that doesn’t leave much room for trying new things or for bursts of creativity. My 2001 resolutions seem like good ones. They’ll take some work though…like I’m limiting myself to working on my web page no more than 5 hours a week. (This is drastic. I did what the article told me to do…pick a number then cut it half…ouch.) And I’m back to lifting weights twice a week…and I made blogger.com my internet start-up page.

So far, so good…I think it’s all working. Last night I worked on a new page feature. It took me longer than I thought…so now I’m done until Monday. Today I walked to the flea market. Checked-in with the tool guy. He says he hardly ever gets shoe repair tools, but he’ll keep his eyes open. The only other thing I was looking for was a small secondhand cooking pot to keep in my camper. No luck. I’m not paying $6…get real. Anyway, on my walk back, I stopped at the garage sale across the street. I met a woman named “Snow”. She’s got a bag of scrap leather lost somewhere in her garage, but MORE IMPORTANTLY…I find she’s going to school to be a machinist. She suggested we team up…she gets interesting class projects to work on…and I get hard-to-find-yet-affordable-custom-made boot tools. Today’s reward for turning off my html editor.

I’m in a good mood. I’ve caught my second wind, and I’m working on my next page update. I walked two doors down to the little market and bought myself a pint of ice cream…it’s called Phish Food, it’s wacky…marshmellow, carmel, little chocolate fish??? The the weirdest flavors show up in these mom & pop stores….whatever…it’s tasty. I’ve got Lyle Lovett’s Step Into This House blaring on the stereo. (A while back I noticed that Lee & Carrlyn Miller are mentioned in the linear notes. One of the photos accompanying the album was taken at the bootshop.) I’ve got some web graphics to make, and maybe some cgi script to tinker with.

Well, I’m back from Arizona. It was beautiful. I even got to see that snow-globe-kinda-snow one day… you know, the kind of snow that swirls around, but you can’t ever see it hit the ground.

I’m back to thinking about boots. I just called the Lucchese corporate headquarters to find out what happen to that online version of Sam Lucchese’s “A Lifetime with Boots”. Everyone is on vacation right now, but I’ll remind myself to pester them first thing next year.

My pal at work, Eloine.com gave me a swell present. It’s a Christmas tree ornament…it looks just like my Singer 31-20. It’s even got the slide on the front of it, so you can adjust the length of your stitches! It’s hysterical…and in keeping with the original, it weighs a ton! I love it.

Here’s a special reward for all of you who’ve been following my weblog. I can’t believe I’m doing this…but here it is, my TOP SECRET Peanut Brittle recipe. It’s TOP SECRET ‘cuz I’ve only met one person who became more impressed with the yummy stuff when they found out it was made in the microwave. It is very easy…completely foolproof…tasty…crunchy…not the ‘jaw-breakin’-homemade variety you may have previously encountered. Your friends and family will be utterly amazed.

(Microwave on high.)

In a 1 ½ quart casserole dish stir 1 cup sugar and ½ cup white corn syrup. Microwave 4 minutes. Then stir in 1cup of roasted salted peanuts. Microwave 3-5 minutes (until light brown.) Add 1 teaspoon butter and 1 teaspoon vanilla, blending well. Microwave 1-2 minutes more. (Peanuts will be lightly browned and syrup will be very hot!) Add 1 teaspoon baking soda and gently stir until light and foamy. Pour mixture onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. Let cool ½ to 1 hour, and then break into pieces. Store in an airtight container.

Safety Warning: Never make more than 3 consecutive batches…the dish gets to hot to handle easily , or your wrist gets tired from stirring/pouring…disaster always strikes on the 4th batch. Take care.

Oh…and never stir with a plastic spatula. It will turn into a giant peanut covered Q-tip. (Don’t ask me how I know these things.)