BRUCIE'S BAKERY

 When we woke to a chilly house yesterday and our maintenance request was met by a report from a backed up heating company that they could probably come by Monday afternoon we panicked a bit.

(It's 21 degrees outside as I am writing this!)

A second call to our rental management company got a visit from the nice lady who handles things with a couple of electric space heaters.

We already had our small fireplace going and the oven was on in the kitchen.

But a short time later a second call from the heating company told us they'd had a cancellation and a guy could be coming by within the hour.

Elation!

He came, he climbed to the roof, he fiddled and tested, he came down and said the circuit board was failing but he had managed to jerry-rig (or jury rig) it and the furnace was once again throwing out heat.

A new circuit board apparently is in our future.

There is still heat this morning so we can wake up smiling.

Now there's an even bigger smile on the face of this story.

I made about 5-1/2 dozen Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies yesterday!

They come from an old recipe found in SWMBO's recipe box, which includes dry oats to give them body, raisins to make them chewy, chocolate chips to give them their name and a combination of brown and white sugars and a slash of vanilla to make them . . well, you know, to make your dentists as happy as you'll be eating them.

SWMBO, who usually prefers a shortbread version of the classic cookie, has declared these the best ever.

And praise from that master of the kitchen is well-received by this rookie.