Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Jesus would use His turn signal.

A saw a bumper sticker on the back of a car that said "Jesus would use His turn signal." The irony - the person driving didn't use theirs. Shame on them.

Food Network here I come!!


Some times things work out for me in the baking arena, other times not so much. Last night, in the somewhat Christmas spirit, I made peanut butter fudge, German chocolate butterscotch chip cookies, and chocolate crinkle cookies with mint truffle kisses. The peanut butter fudge appears to have turned out ok. If I ever meet Alton Brown, I'll be sure to thank him for the easiest recipe in the world. The German chocolate butterscotch chip cookies turned out great! Sooo very yummy! The chocolate crinkle cookies still need some help. Ideally, when pulled out of the oven, the powdered sugar coated ball could be gently smooshed down to cookie shape with a hershey kiss in the middle. My cookies didn't smoosh, they crumbled. On the sheet I did finish last night at 11, I left half unsmooshed. I have cookie balls more or less. They are VERY yummy, even if they don't look as fabulous as they would with kisses on top. The dough is in the fridge, I'm still deciding if I want a batch of cookie balls or if I should attempt to do something else with it. Any suggestions?

Friday, December 19, 2008

Yaaawwwn!

At long last the semester is finally over. I finished grading my last tests this morning at 3 am. It was a little odd though because as I was crawling into bed, Brent was crawling out for an early workday. It was a little strange crossing paths like that. It would be really strange if that's how it happened everyday. Even though I was exhausted I still tossed and turned for about 30 minutes before finally crashing. Why does it always work that way? You're convinced you'll be asleep before your head hits the pillow but you're mind continues to race back and forth between things. Even though I slept in, I think the week as finally got up to me. Hopefully Brinkley Miles will cooperate so that we can sleep in tomorrow!!

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

The Holidays Are Coming

I haven't seen my favorite holiday commercial yet - the Coca Cola trucks winding down the road all lit up with Christmas lights. "The holidays are coming" is the song that plays during the commercial. I haven't seen the Santa slide down the hill on a Gillette razor either. Or the Folgers commercial where the guy comes home early Christmas morning and starts the coffee to wake everyone up and surprise them. Maybe I just need to watch more television. I haven't exactly been watching a lot of television lately so there's a good chance they are playing on one of the hundred channels that I get.

I have been watching the Food Network a lot the last couple of days. It's more listening to than watching but when they mention something yummy then I turn around and watch - multi-tasking is my life! Some of the winter recipes that have been shown look so amazing. I might try my hand at cappuccino cupcakes this weekend.

Speaking of food, I'm back to doing the food journal thing. Back when I first start running I did this and it worked. Basically, I just have to write down everything that I eat and the amount of calories per item. It was eye-opening a few years ago and it's eye-opening now. School has wreaked havoc on my willingness to take care of my body so it's time for drastic measures. I don't want to graduate in May feeling like a defeated slug.

As for beyond graduation, I'm slowing get a handle on things. With the crappy economy I'm not expecting the greatest archive job in the world to suddenly open up in Fort Fun, which is already saturated with people who have Master's degrees in History. I know people that graduated last May that are still search for a grown-up job. It's pathetic what some employers get away with paying in a college town. So, I've decided to diversify my career so to speak. I'm going to multi-task my way through life and ensure that I'm never bored or broke. Once I get the business cards designed and my website upgraded, I'll post them here.

I'm not finished with school, however. So the studying must continue. I have a final tomorrow and then some always entertaining grading!

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

How much more of this?

Late hours and strained eyes must mean the end of the semester is near. I'm procrastinating as usual. I have a comprehensive final on Thursday morning for my U.S. Reading Seminar. Even with the question provided ahead of time, there is still the overwhelming feeling that I'm unprepared. I've crammed for a week straight and am beginning to question my ability to put words together in correct grammatical form. All of my hard work will likely get me by but until it's all over, all I have is cereal to comfort me.

Stress eating = baaaaad thing!

Monday, December 8, 2008

Holiday Fun!

When I was younger I used to love Christmas time. Loved it! My brothers and I would spend hours decorating our bedrooms. We'd wake up in the wee hours of Christmas morning and sneak out to the living room to peruse our stockings and guess what was in each wrapped box. The novelty of it all kind of wore off once I had to start forking over the cash around Christmas time. Nothing sucks the fun out of the holidays like having no money. I've been creative in the gift buying arena so far and think that I'll sneak by without breaking the bank. Although, I'm still pretty certain that I would be perfectly content playing board games with my family all day rather than exchanging gifts.

I'm attempting to be a little less scrooge like this Christmas. I've been a bit more organized. The outdoor lights and tree were up within days after the Turkey was digested. I even beat my Christmas fanatic mom in decorating! I'm focusing on the inexpensive ways to create holiday cheer - like baking yummy winter treats and watching holiday movies. Of course, it helps to have a roommate around to share in the holiday fun!!

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Let it snow, let it snow...

Let it snow! We have flakage! Beautiful white flakage at last! It took its sweet time getting here. I'm not a fan of the cold. I'm sure I've admitted that at some other time, but I do love snow! It makes the cold a little bit warmer having something pretty to look at. I love walking outside at night and having that orange-ish glow to everything. It's not dark because everything is reflecting the amber of the building and street lights. Perfect!

Yes, I realize that this euphoria of the first real snow will go away and I will eventually be swearing at the white flakes and damning winter like no other. But I'm ok with that.