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Cue tumbleweeds
So yeah, it’s been pretty quiet around here…between the craziness of before Christmas, during Christmas, post-Christmas traveling and getting back to school, there just hasn’t been a lot of free time. And what little I’ve had, I’ve mostly spent vegging out on the couch.
I’m starting to settle back into my daily routine here…although it hasn’t been easy…and one of these days I’ll sit down to tell some tales of our travels. (I don’t know what my problem is, but I can’t seem to focus for long enough to write a proper blog entry these days. As it is, I’ve already revisited this post three times, not even two paragraphs in. Sigh.)
I’m very happy to see the weekend looming on the horizon. I’m realizing that it’s been a while since we had a full week of school, and today just dragged. The kids are goofy, and I’m exhausted.
In other news, I stepped on a scale over Christmas break, and I was appropriately horrified. I am the heaviest I’ve ever been. So this Monday, I joined up with my school’s “Biggest Loser” contest…not because I have any delusions about winning, but because it will keep me honest. I have to weigh in every Monday, and if I gain, I have to pay. I’ve been trying to be better about what and how much I’m eating and drinking this week. Next step–exercise. I want to feel like I need to join a gym, because I will never, ever exercise outside in the winter. (in addition to hating being cold and wet, I’m mildly asthmatic. Breathing the cold air=wheezing.) And when I’m at home, well, it’s way too easy to get sucked into other stuff. I dread this. There’s a BAC for Women close by, which is probably my best option…but I hate them for their hard selling and relentless phone calls. Also, I hate that I can’t go to their website and find out how much a membership is. I have to go there and listen to a sales person yammer at me, and I don’t want to do it. There is also a Planet Fitness nearby which has the advantages of being very reasonably priced and gives me the ability to sign up online. However, Planet Fitness is equipment-only…no classes. I like classes. So, what to do? (Suggestions welcome)
And that’s it for me. (ooh, goody! a whole post completed!) Happy-almost-weekend!
Books read in 2008
Again, I’m not 100% sure this list is complete. I’m going to bold some of the things that were my favorites this…er, last…year:
1. Love, Stargirl–Jerry Spinelli
2. Abadazad: The Road to Inconceivable–JM DeMatteis
3. Neptune Noir–edited by Rob Thomas
4. Blood Price–Tanya Huff
5. Looking for Alaska–John Green
6. Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom–Cory Doctorow
7. Young Avengers–Allan Heinberg
8. The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born–Peter David and Jae Lee
9. Kimmie66–Aaron Alexovich
10. Blood Trail–Tanya Huff
11. Undisclosed unpublished manuscript–a friend
12. Living Lost–J. Wood
13. Boy Proof–Cecil Castellucci
14. First Among Sequels–Jasper Fforde
15. I’d Tell You I Love You But then I’d Have to Kill You–Ally Carter
16. Size 14 is Not Fat Either–Meg Cabot
17. Buffy Omnibus, vol. 2
18. Gifts–Ursula LeGuin
19. Duma Key–Stephen King
20. Pirates of the Retail Wasteland–Adam Selzer
21. The House on Mango Street–Sandra Cisneros
22. Daniel’s Story–Carol Matas
23. Queen of Babble in the Big City–Meg Cabot
24. Big Boned–Meg Cabot
25. Ready or Not–Meg Cabot
26. Someone Like You–Sarah Dessen
27. Lily Dale: Awakening–Wendy Corsi Staub
28. When You Are Engulfed in Flames–David Sedaris (didn’t finish)
29. Ultimates–Mark Millar
30. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian–Sherman Alexie
31. Story of a Girl–Sara Zarr
32. Queen of Babble Gets Hitched–Meg Cabot
33. Janes in Love–Cecil Castellucci
34. American Born Chinese–Gene Yang
35. Of Mice and Men–John Steinbeck
36. A Raisin in the Sun–Lorraine Hansberry
37. Teaching Outside the Box–LouAnne Johnson
38. Little Brother–Cory Doctorow
39. Teaching with Love and Logic–Jim Fay & David Funk
40. Creating Classrooms where Teachers Love to Teach and Students Love to Learn–Bob Sornson Ph.D.
41. Another undisclosed, unpublished manuscript
42. Night–Elie Wiesel
43. The New York Four–Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly
44. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns–Frank Miller
45. Y The Last Man–Brian K. Vaughn
46. Dead Until Dark–Charlaine Harris
*The unpublished manuscripts that I read are also among my favorites. I cannot wait until my friend has a book out on the shelves (which will be soon! whee!) and I can talk more about her. 🙂
Merry Christmas!
Strike a pose, there’s nothing to it
Jen tagged me. I was at work when I saw the post. I took this with my phone.
Rules
- Take a picture of yourself.. riiiiiight.. NOW!
- DO NOT change your clothes. DO NOT fix your hair.. Just take a picture.
- Post that picture with NO editing.
- Post these instructions with your picture.
- Tag 10 people to do this!
Ten? Really?
Hrm…
Okay. Jessica, Nicole, Linda, Caoimhe, Kelly, Julie Anne and, oh heck, whoever wants to play. Just leave me a comment if you do. 🙂
Holiday baking begins
Thursday night, I decided to make a cheesecake to bring in to work. It was the holiday luncheon day, and people were bringing in desserts to pass.
This is the recipe that my mom has used for my entire life. It has a sour cream topping, and it is most decidedly not New York style. It’s meant to be made in a store-bought graham cracker crust. I have adapted the recipe to make in a springform pan, but as I don’t currently have one (and didn’t feel like going and getting one), I just made the regular recipe.
Instructions:
Beat–
- 8 oz. cream cheese
- 1/2 c. sugar
- 1 T lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- dash salt
- 2 eggs (add one at a time)
Pour into crust. Bake 25-30 minutes at 350
Mix topping–
- 1 c. sour cream
- 2 T sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
Pour and spread over cheesecake. Bake an additional 10 minutes. Let cool two hours and chill.
I find this recipe to be tasty on its own, but it’s also very good topped with fruit. (raspberries are my choice)
Since we had a snow day, I sent the cheesecake in with Rand…they got sent home at 10, but at least one person got a slice! I had a piece today, and I’m happy with the way it turned out. Rand had some too, but he prefers NY style cheesecake.
Here’s the half of the cheesecake that remains. Someone appears to have carved their name into it with a fork…not sure what that’s about!
I just mixed up the dough for the best ginger cookies evah, so I’ll be baking those later (will post photos, and recipe). I’ve got lots of plans…let’s see how it goes. 😉
Snow day
I’m going back to bed. I wish I’d known this before I showered…
These brownies are delicious
Sadly, I did not take any photos…
Rand’s office Christmas party was this week, and I wanted to send along a treat. I decided to try out the brownie edge pan (which was a fabulous wedding gift from Jen!) and a new recipe.
Here’s the recipe:
Dense Fudge Brownies
Ingredients
1 cup Unsalted Butter, room temperature
7 oz Unsweetened Chocolate, chopped
5 ea Eggs
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
3 1⁄4 cups Sugar
1 2/3 cups All Purpose Flour
1⁄4 tsp Salt
6 oz. Semisweet Chocolate, chopped
1 cup Pecans, chopped (optional)Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 425. Lightly spray the pan with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Place the 7 oz. unsweetened chocolate and butter in a bowl over a pot of lightly simmering water. The water should not touch the bottom of the bowl. Stir frequently until chocolate and butter are completely melted. Set bowl aside.
3. In an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the eggs, vanilla and sugar on high for 10 minutes. Reduce speed to low, add melted chocolate/butter mixture, and beat until combined. Scrape the bowl well. Next add the salt and flour and beat on low until combined. Do not over beat. Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold in the 6 oz of semisweet chocolate pieces and pecans.
4. Pour the batter into the pan and spread evenly.
5. Bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with moist crumbs. Cool brownies completely in the pan.
They got a good review from Rand’s coworkers, and I sampled the leftovers. Mmmmmm. This is the first recipe that’s convinced me it’s worth making brownies from scratch. (Unless they’re something special, like Eden’s peanut butter swirl brownies, I’ve always preferred box brownies. Specifically Duncan Hines chewy fudge brownies.)
Recipe and pan can both be found at Baker’s Edge.
I’ll take pictures next time!
Photos posted
So, I finally got around to uploading some photos that have been hanging out on my camera for, oh, a month or so (as well as some recent ones). Will get to titles and descriptions soon. 😉
Movie meme
The movie quote meme, which I saw first at So Anyway…
1. Pick 15 of your favorite movies.
2. Go to IMDb and find a quote from each movie.
3. Post them here for everyone to guess.
4. Strike it out when someone guesses correctly, and put who guessed it and the movie.
5. NO GOOGLING/using IMDb search or other search functions.
Looks like we’ve got ’em all, folks…thanks for playing! 🙂
1. I got a question. If you guys know so much about women, how come you’re here at like the Gas ‘n’ Sip on a Saturday night completely alone drinking beers with no women anywhere? (Say Anything, Emma)
2. There’s a shortage of perfect breasts in this world. It would be a pity to damage yours. (The Princess Bride, Adam Selzer, Eden)
3. That’s it? Some faceless guy rips off all your clothes, and THAT’S the sex fantasy you’ve been having since you were twelve? (When Harry Met Sally, Emma, Eden)
4. I’ve loved two women in my life. I lost one to cancer, and I lost the other ’cause I was so busy keeping my job I forgot to do my job. (The American President, Emma, Adam Selzer)
5. I mean, Led Zeppelin didn’t write tunes everybody liked. They left that to the Bee Gees. (Wayne’s World, Eden)
6. Strange things are afoot at the Circle-K. (Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Adam Selzer, Eden)
7. I’ll trade with anyone who has a Jacuzzi. (The Muppets Take Manhattan, Lyanne)
8. I believe in two things: discipline and the Bible. Here you’ll receive both. Put your trust in the Lord; your ass belongs to me. (The Shawshank Redemption, Amanda/pafuts)
9. This is the captain. We have a little problem with our entry sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and then – explode. (Serenity, voiceofkiki)
10. I got it! You daughter’s not your daughter, and the cash that used to be the jewels is now your underwear! (Oscar, guessed correctly by mom! Yay, mom!)
11. Oh, Joel Miller, you’ve just found the marble in the oatmeal. You’re a lucky, lucky, lucky little boy. ‘Cause you know why? You get to drink from the fire hose! (UHF, Adam Selzer)
12. In fact, I think most Scottish cuisine is based on a dare. (So I Married an Axe Murderer, Eden, Jenn)
13. It’s not right for a woman to read. Soon she starts getting *ideas*, and *thinking*… (Beauty and the Beast, Eden, Deoris)
14. Son, if I’d only gotten to be a doctor for five minutes… now that would have been a tragedy. (Field of Dreams, Adam Selzer)
15. Please get out of my Van Halen t-shirt before you jinx the band and they break up. The Wedding Singer, Adam Selzer