Merry Merry!

         

Merry Christmas from Vienna!  I hope you all have a wonderful holiday!

A Christmas Favorite #3

Blog-writing brain still not working.  This will have to do. :)  Jimmy Fallon and the Roots doing their Music Room segment.  One of my fave Christmas songs. 

The countdown continues…only 3 more days.  Are you all ready for Christmas?

A Christmas Oldie (and Favorite #2)

Who doesn’t need a good laugh this time of year.

Only 5 days to go!

A Christmas Favorite

Between wrapping up the LAST WEEK of SCHOOL BEFORE BREAK (which is moving at a snail’s pace by the way), practicing our 2nd grade holiday program, and preparing for my trip, blog writing is not coming easy.  I’ve pulled out the lap top a few times, intending on writing a post, but my brain is not working right now unless it’s dealing with of the above, and even that might be overreaching.

Anyhow, this is one of my favorite “Christmas stories”.  David Sedaris is an author/humorist who writes wonderful memoirs.  This story comes from his book Dress Your Family in Denim and Corduroy.  I thought of it this morning while I was getting ready for work and found it on YouTube.  I left the house chuckling this morning. 

It’s a long video.  The Christmas part begins at 3:05, but the part before puts the story in some context.  Enjoy!

I hope holiday preparations are going smoothly.

My Timing is Always Off

After being invited to a cookie exchange party I scoured the internet looking for an easy and tasty cookie recipe.  Since I don’t bake very often, I don’t really have a go-to recipe.  Initially, I was going to find an easy bar cookie or some type of bark candy, both being easy to throw together and then cut/break after finished.  But then I laid my eyes on these Cinnamon Roll Cookies on Picky-Palate’s cooking blog.  Being a fan of anything with cinnamon, I opened the link and quickly scanned to see if it was something a non-baker could handle.  The recipe seemed fairly straight forward, with pictures even.  Sold!  The ingredients were purchased after work on Friday, with plans to make the cookies Saturday evening.

My mom arrived this week and she and I spent most of Saturday downtown at the Renegade Craft Fair.  It was a beautiful (actually on the warmer side in the sun) and leisurely day. 

After some Christmas and personal shopping we headed home late afternoon.  Before starting the cookies I took care of a couple of chores and walked the dog.  The cookie recipe looked very straight forward, 9-11 minutes in the oven, no problem.  So about 6 PM, the cookie baking began.  At that time, I figured after about an hour, maybe two, the they’d be done. 

I underestimated the time by HOURS!  The base of the cookie is a fairly straightforward sugar cookie recipe.  I whipped that up in my stand mixer and divided the dough into two rounds.  Then I moved down to the next step in the recipe where the instructions said to chill the dough for 2 hours.  Ummmmm…I hadn’t noticed that amount of time in my initial scan.  So in the fridge it went, and now running 2 hours behind schedule. 

On the bright side, a friend of mine who works for the CBS lent me an advanced DVD copy of the new movie, Last Vegas.  The two hour delay gave us a chance to watch it, cookie baking free.  It was cute.  I wouldn’t recommend paying $15 to see it at the theater, but it’s definitely a fun at-home rental. 

About 8:30, the dough was ready to work and I was ready to get started, again.  The next step was to divide the dough and roll it into flat ovals.  Then the ovals were smeared with butter, cinnamon, and sugar, rolled into logs, and sliced into the little cookies.  Now, this was not hard in the least, but it was very time consuming.  My initial, “Oh, it’s only 9-11 minutes for each batch,” turned into about 45 minutes from (start to finish) for each batch…and the dough made 6 batches. 

Finally about midnight, the last batch of cookies was slightly cooled and frosted.  I got them stored away for the night and fell into bed.  To my (or the recipe’s) credit, they are delicious cookies, but to be honest, after 6 hours of preparing them the last things I want to do was see another cinnamon roll cookie.
 

They were a hit at today’s cookie party, but seriously, this is why I don’t bake.  While I’m kind of a pro with time management in every other aspect of my life, baking always laughs in the face of my confidence. 

A Windy Reminder

In addition to the cold weather, the winds picked up this week.  Windy, might be an understatement with the 65 mph gusts that arrived on Sunday night.  Personally, I like the wind.  The air quality is so much better.  I also kind of like being cozied up inside the house when it sounds like the rest of the world is blowing away.  However, dealing with 7 year olds in the wind is an entirely different story.

The work week was off to quite a start when I walked out to the playground to pick up my class first thing Monday morning.  After saying good morning a cold gust tore through the yard behind us and, as if right on cue, the entire class toppled forward with gasps and screams.  The wind took hold of jackets, skirts, and scarves yanking the kids around with more screams.  Hats were knocked off as we walked to class through what looked like leaf tornadoes.  Within the first 5 minutes of my week, the kids spent about 3 of them screeching about the wind.  For three consecutive days every time we opened the door, walked outside, heard the wind against the building, I cringed, waiting for someone to fall apart. 

By Tuesday afternoon, most of the staff had had it up to HERE with the wind!  My assistant principal, who visits a few 2nd graders on a daily basis and who noticed how the wind was creating monsters out of said kids, walked past me mumbling to herself about the wind.  “I think it’s a scientific fact that the wind makes them CRAZY.”  I think so too.

When I got home that night, trying to unwind from the insanity, the thought of the kids falling apart in the wind reminded me of this time of year when I was still riding horses.  As much as I like windy weather, when riding, just like when teaching, I don’t care for it.  Thinking back on those days, we dreaded taking the horses out in that weather.  The wind made them so high and extremely skittish.  When a gust of wind would come up behind them they’d tuck in their butt and bolt forward.  To this day, I still have the muscle memory for their (and my) reaction to the wind.  Even worse, these strong winds we get ripping in between the mountains are very noisy – in addition to the gusts themselves the wind knocks things over that aren’t secured and shakes and clatters those things that are.  When the crossbars or standards of a jump would blow down, or a gate would slam loudly, or the wind would rattle through the barn the horses spooked.  It made both them and us nervous wrecks. 

Horses and second graders have a lot in common when it’s windy.

Brrrrrrrr

We have cooled significantly this past week.  While it was almost 80 degrees on Monday, the temperature has droppeed and dropped and dropped some more since then. 

 
I turned off the heat when I left the house this
afternoon because I planned on being gone for the day.  When I returned about 2 hours ago, my house was sooooo cold. 

I also came home to a puppy who found a warm spot to curl up in.

Finally, a Green Bean Casserole Explanation

The family Thanksgiving dinner took place at my cousin’s house this year.  Thankfully, it was a low key affair.  The non-crazies out numbered the crazies this go round which made for a short nice, uneventful Thanksgiving.  The calm nature of the day allowed me to solve a mystery of sorts.

My cousin’s wife Cheryl has made a Thanksgiving green bean casserole for as long as I can remember.  I’ve never been a fan of green bean casserole.  I think it’s the cream of mushroom soup which has a very distinct flavor and kind of takes over anything that it’s in.  Anyhow, I’ve always quietly passed it over when making my plate without making mention of it (and without anyone else making mention of it either). 

Starting about 3 years ago though, each time we met for Thanksgiving, Cheryl started pointing out to me, personally, that she didn’t forget to make the green bean casserole.  I didn’t understand her need to notify me of her meal contribution, but I often don’t understand my family so I always just nodded with a fake smile, said something like, “Oh, ok,” and left it at that.  But then felt guilty passing over the casserole so spooned a small amount onto my plate to choke down.  Last week’s holiday was no exception to this new green bean casserole reminder/guilt eating.

As dinner wound down we reminisced about Thanksgivings past, telling funny stories.  Stories were shared about dropping platters of various parts of the Thanksgiving meal (surprisingly there have been many) and Cheryl shared one…About three years ago, while taking the green bean casserole out of the oven, she dropped it.  After getting it all cleaned up, the meal was served – sans green beans of course.  While we all ate, everyone oooh-ed and ahh-ed about the meal as we usually do.  Then I shockingly chimed in with something sarcastic like, “It’s just too bad there isn’t any green bean casserole.”  Since then, Cheryl has made it her mission to make sure this dish was served because I LIKED IT SO MUCH.

Mystery solved!  And for my penitence I have to eat a spoonful of that darn casserole for the rest of my life. 

How is it Freaking December Already!?!?!

The months keep clicking off the calendar.  It’s hard to believe we are 29 days away from 2014…ugh!

Here’s this month’s calendar for November’s Calendar Challenge at The Kathryn Wheel.  I went outside my usual calendar style, and I’m pleasantly surprised.   Once it was done, filling in the dates was a cinch. 

There wasn’t a lot of time to work in the journal or the sketchbook this month, even with the week off, but I did manage to play around a bit…    

I spent a lot of time making some baby shower invitations for a friend...52 in all!  They turned out cute, and she really likes them, which makes me happy.

 
Happy December!  The countdown to 2014 has begun…

Hanging Around the House and an Old Spice

I’ve spent the last few months taking care of some small projects around the house.  Even though I really want new floors and a new kitchen, these small decorating and organization updates settled down my need to update the house while costing just pennies in comparison.  Well, it didn’t really satisfy my need to redo the house, but I’m telling myself that it does.  After finishing these little projects I realized they all had something to do with hanging stuff on the wall. 

I’ve lived in this house for almost 9 years – 9 years next month actually.  Other than a couple of pictures I brought with me, my walls have been mostly bare.  After a couple of years of contemplating it, I finally pulled it together and utilized the pictures from my travels for the art on the walls.  Shortly after my first trip to Italy, I blew up a photo of Venice onto giclee and hung it in the dining area.  To add to that, I had three giclees printed for the staircase.  They are also of Italy – Venice, Burano, and Manarola. 

 
In January of this year, I got this wild idea.  I found 12 of these great unpainted frames that I sprayed white.  I wanted to put some of my travel pictures in them and hang them in my guest room.  However, after going through the pictures I wanted to put up I had way more picture than frames.  So the project was put on hold until I figured out what to do.  I found the frames again and bought 12 more.  It took me until the summer to get the new ones painted and just as much time figuring out what pictures to put in them.  I had really wanted at least one of each place I’d been, but then some places, like South Africa and Italy, I couldn’t pick just one.  Anyhow, after enlarging some more in giclee, I finally narrowed it down.  BUT, the next obstacle was hanging these frames.  Being decorative there weren’t any straight lines to center and the thought of putting 24 nails into my wall didn’t sound good at all.  Then a miracle happened.  I found this picture hanging tape.  Holy cow! This stuff is brilliant!  So we laid out the frames on the landing, and I placed the pictures in where I wanted them.   

We blocked out a space on the wall and filled it in rather than lining up and centering these frames. 

  I think they turned out great.  There is enough room on either side for another column of pictures so I can add more as I travel.  

The guest bedroom which I had been working on since back in January is finally finished.  I added another giclee above the bed and a collage of Africa alone on one of the side walls. 

Excuse the wonky picture – the panoramic feature on my phone kind of warped the middle of it.

After putting up shelving in the office, my next goal with that room is to get rid of those ugly plastic rolling carts.  One of those carts has 6 drawers and 4 of them were filled with punches that I use for card making.
 The drawers were full so finding what I was looking for when I needed it wasn’t easy.  Ikea makes these metal bars to be used for hanging things up in the kitchen.  Come to find out, they hold paper punches rather well also.  Now they are all in a single file line with easy access.  

For the exact same reason, I headed downstairs to the kitchen. The ingredient side of my pantry had become unruly, and the spices were partly to blame. 

I had put up some little shelves and lazy-Lucy spinning wheels to have more room for the little spice bottles but I found myself frustrated when looking for something.  Half the time I couldn’t find what I needed even though I knew I had it.

I found this on Pinterest, and it said to use a mop holder to hang spices on cabinet doors.  I scoured the stores and the internet to find mop holders that looked like this with no luck.  I took some time off from looking and then about a month ago searched Amazon for door-hanging spice holders and found them!  They’re so cool!  I love that I can see all the spices in one fell swoop, plus it freed up some shelf space.
I found a few spices that I had doubles of – most likely because I couldn’t find the one I had in the cupboard and bought a new one.  However, I also must have inherited some because I found this bottle of ginger. 
Based on the description of use, this spice seems to be old.  Using the term “Oriental” to describe Asian food is quite outdated.  I can’t remember the last time I heard that term.  I guess it’s time to throw out your spices when they’re old enough to contain racial slurs. 

It’s been nice getting things off the floor and shelves and out of drawers.  Making things easily accessible on the wall has been so convenient.  Plus it took my mind of new floors and kitchens while I was working on the projects.  Now that I’m done though, I’m back to obsessing about my floors I’m afraid.

A First Thanksgiving Memory

Once November begins each year, most primary grade classrooms in the country spend some time teaching about Thanksgiving and integrating Thanksgiving related activities into the core curriculum.  Although the amount of time we spend on it has been greatly reduced since the focus has shifted to teaching to the standardized test – Thanksgiving isn’t on the test – it is important that, if anything, our kids understand the reason Thanksgiving is celebrated (well kind of now that Black Friday has seeped into Thursday’s holiday).  Anyhow, while reading a book to my kids about Thanksgiving last week, it reminded me of the time I visited the site of the first Thanksgiving.

When I lived in New England, I spent most Thanksgivings with friends as it was too far to fly home for such a short period of time.  However, my junior year of college, my parents flew east so we could spend Thanksgiving together.  After my last class before the long weekend, we drove south to the Cape. 

Plimoth Plantation was our destination for Thanksgiving that year.  It is a reenactment visitors’ center. 

In addition to the museum, you can’t go to Plymouth without visiting Plymouth Rock.  In fact, that is what I most looked forward to seeing. The rock itself has been moved from its supposed original site numerous times.  It is now housed in a memorial type structure with a viewing area. 

When we leaned over the railing to look at the rock – the rock that is such a famous US symbol – our eyes narrowed and our smiles dropped a little. 
“That’s it?” I asked.  The great rock was not great at all, in fact it was quite small in terms of a rock landing.    Later, we found out that this was just a piece of the rock.  Between moves and tourists chipping away at it, this is what is left for visitors to see. I was glad to learn that, according to past writings, the rock had been rather large – maybe 15 feet in length.  Rarely have I been disappointed after visiting a famous landmark, in this case though the symbol is much more impressive than the real thing.

Happy Thanksgiving! 

A Favorite Day

Today was “Pajama Day” at school.  It is one of my favorite days of the school year because I have an excuse to wear my pajamas outside of the house.  The kids are also pretty cute when they come dressed in their jammies. 

Even my naughtiest boy seemed less naughty today while wearing footy pajamas!

To add to the greatness, it was a minimum school day, on a Friday, before a whole week off for Thanksgiving.  I LOVE pajama day (and minimum days and Fridays and school breaks)!

Goldilocks and the Three Cups

A few weeks back, I noticed that my travel coffee mug was on its last leg.  It is a double-paned/insulated tumbler-like mug and some moisture has found its way in between the two panes of insulation.  I’m worried that there’s a crack or something and this will lead to mold. 

So off I went, hunting for a new mug.  On the first try, I didn’t have to go very far.  I found another mug, very similar to the one I was using, in the back of my cups’ cupboard.  I have no idea where it came from, but it looked to be in good shape.  After the first use however, I knew I didn’t like it.  Between the slide open lever catching all the drips in its edges making it a bear to clean and the coffee only coming out in a slow dribble, I decided it was time for a new one.

The second one I found, looked perfect.  It was plastic, so could be microwaved.  Sometimes at work, I set my coffee down on my desk when I arrive at school and don’t have a chance to pick it up again until the kids go out to recess.  It would be nice to be able to warm it up if needed.  The new cup also had a flip up cap without the edges so it would stay cleaner.  I got it all washed and ready for Monday morning’s coffee.  But it DIDN’T fit under my coffee machine.  Ugh!  After finding the receipt at the bottom of my purse, back it went to the store. 

And then another trip to a different store.There I found a darling cup that I was even more excited about.  It was ceramic, (so could also be microwaved), it had a great top, and it was the right size.  As an added bonus it was such a pretty color.  Sold!  Again, I got it all washed and ready for Monday morning.  It had a couple of stickers on it so I soaked them off as well.  The round sticker on the bottom came off easily enough for me to read the words on the bottom of the cup – Hand wash only, no dishwasher, no microwave.  All good things to know before buying a product…too bad they were all covered up when I bought the cup.  Off I went again to return it.  The store happily took it back even without the stickers.  They didn’t really care that I was duped into buying this cup due to that sticker, but I told them anyways. 

So three weeks (and three cups) later, I am no further along than I was before.  I can’t find a cup that is the right height, with a good top, that can be nuked for the life of me – even online which doesn’t ever fail me.  Argh!

Isn’t it funny how the most mundane things can cause such frustration?!?! While I am thankful that only a small problem is causing me frustration these days, I have spent entirely too much time on a solution… 

Seeeeeeeee, That’s Why I Don’t Talk to People

About a month ago while visiting with my friend Marcie, she told me about her recent trip down to San Diego.  She took the train roundtrip. On the way back home, she struck up a conversation with the man in the seat next to her.  To make a long story short, before detraining she had plans to meet up with him that weekend.  All I could do was shake my head.  The last thing I want to do is talk to a stranger on the train (or plane, or bus, etc.).  In fact, when I travel I bring things – headphones, a book, a hoodie to hide under, anything! – just so I don’t have to talk to the person sitting next to me.  It probably comes across as bitchy, but that’s not it at all.  While I won’t shut up am very social with my friends and family, I’m overwrought with nerves around people I don’t know.  It has mostly nothing to do with them, instead completely my own insecurities. 

Now, since I’m nothing if not introspective, I spent a lot of time after I heard this story thinking about this quality of mine.  Is this something I need to change?  Is being an introvert with people I don’t know making my life less full?  This past weekend, I mentioned this personality trait while chatting with some friends. A couple of us teased that on our next day off we should start taking the Metro back and forth into downtown, just to practice being outgoing with strangers.  While we joked, Elana (who also knows Marcie) chimed in, “But didn’t you hear?  That guy turned out to be a stalker.”  Excuse me? 

I hadn’t seen Marcie since, but apparently after a couple of weeks meeting up for drinks or a meal, he became uncomfortably clingy and started showing up to her house uninvited.  I texted her the next morning…

Now, I can’t say that’s the reason I don’t talk to strangers, but for some reason I still feel a bit better about not doing so.  And thankfully, due to this change in events, the vacation train rides have been canceled. 

About Time

The movie “About Time” recently came out, and since it was a holiday weekend, I had some time to catch it with a friend.  When I first saw the trailer, I wasn't so sure I wanted to see it with its time travel premise.

I’m not really a fan of science fiction, even under the guise of a romantic comedy.  A few years back, I read The Time Traveler’s Wife and was so overly confused I didn’t even bother to see the movie (which funnily enough also starred Rachel McAdams).  However when I found out “About Time” was written and directed by the same person who made “Love, Actually” and “Four Weddings and a Funeral”, two faves, I agreed to give it a try. 

As it turns out, the time travel ended up being just a clever way for the main character, “Tim", to better understand life, love, and his family.  Some of the reviews I’ve read are hard on this aspect of the film citing errors in time travel logistics, but not being a time travel buff I didn’t even notice them. 

Although the story centers around “Tim’s” quest for love, I enjoyed the relationship between time traveling father and son just as much.  Bill Nighy played the off-beat but loving dad who broke the ability-to-time-travel news to his son when he turned 21.  I’ve been missing my dad a lot this past week, so the idea of going back in time to see a loved one after they are gone, just one more time, resonated with me.  Although that caused about 5 minutes of snotty tears where I frantically dug through my purse looking for a tissue.  It was very sweet anyhow. 

It’s been some time since I’ve been to the movies and even longer since I’ve seen a film that I would recommend.  I liked this one.  Other than the minor breakdown about two-thirds of the way through, it had some very funny writing.  I suspect, as with “Love Actually” and “Four Weddings…” it will get funnier after each viewing.  The writing is very fast and witty so catching all the good lines the first time through is difficult.  “About Time” isn’t a blockbuster and probably won’t be nominated during award season, but it is a very nice film.  Everyone walked out of the theater smiling and just in a good mood.  To me, that makes for a successful film. 

The Bubbla

During once-a-month science lab on Tuesday, the science teacher explained the upcoming experiment to my class.  I had a case of deja vu when one of the directions included, “We’ll go to the bubbler…”  “The bubbla?” I interrupted.  “Where are you from?”  You see, being from California which is such a melting pot of the 50 states, regional terms tend to cross pollinate.  For example, a carbonated beverage that comes in a can or bottle has varying names depending on where you live.  Generally, “soda” comes from the East Coast, “pop” from the Mid and North West, “coke” from the South, and “soft drink” from the South-East.  Here in California, I have heard and used all 4 terms equally, and have even combined soda and pop for soda pop. I now use soda almost exclusively, but that wasn’t until living in New England for eight years.  Anyhow, my point being that there aren’t too many terms heard while out and about in California that are terribly new or surprising.  “Bubbla” is one such word. 

Bubbler or bubbla (said with the Boston “r” that sounds like “ah”) is the term used by some for the drinking fountain/water fountain.  I’ve never heard it used except when living across the country, and not even very often there.  I dated a guy from Rhode Island that used it exclusively and then a smattering of others from New England who used it interchangeably with water fountain.  If I had not lived there, I wouldn’t have had a clue as to what she was talking about and therefore had to clarify for the kids that she meant the school drinking fountain. 

The science teacher, who has lived here for about 20 years, and I had a good laugh over the word and enjoyed reminiscing about other words that haven’t yet infiltrated their way into SoCal speak.  Some of my other favorite East Coast terms and their everywhere else equivalents…
highway – freeway
clicker – remote (control)
carriage – cart (grocery)
bureau – dresser
packie (packaged store) – liquor store
cellar – basement
rotary – traffic circle
grinder – sub(marine) sandwich
jimmies – sprinkles (candies for ice cream)
pocketbook – purse/bag
gravy – spaghetti sauce
quahogs – clams

It’s kind of fascinating that in the same country there’s such a diverse use of language for the same words.  In some cases, the words are as if we are speaking a completely different language. 

This Made Me Laugh

Often in 2nd grade, the kids draw pictures at home and bring them to school to give to their teacher.  I get them a couple of times a week.  Usually I get them at the most inopportune times - collecting homework, while meeting with a group, or talking with another student.  If that happens I take the picture, thank the child, and send them on his/her way.  By the end of the day, it ends up being displayed on the bulletin board, along with the others, for a little while. 

When I received a new picture today it was the same old story.  I didn’t have time to look at it right away so sat it on my desk until the end of the day when I picked up the picture to pin it on the board.  That’s when this one caught my eye…

It’s been up there for a couple of weeks, but just today I noticed that, with the kids sitting in desks and our classroom’s room number, that the picture is of me!  I’m racking my brain trying to figure out what I have possibly worn to school that made her draw me as a stripper.  That is one short skirt, and I don’t think I’ve ever worn f&$#-me boots to school before. 

It’s pretty cute anyhow.  It gave me a good laugh, and kind of made my day.

Oops, I Forgot…October’s a Little Late

Another month has FLOWN by.  How is it possibly November already. Before we know it – Thanksgiving, Christmas, and then another new year.  {Sighs}   It all goes so fast.  It seems to go even faster when participating in the Kathryn Wheel’s Calendar Challenge.  Here’s October’s stuff…

Dick Blick was having a sale a few weeks ago and I came home with new set of Derwent’s Inktense pencils.  Ohhhh, they are pretty.  They work like watercolor pencils, only brighter.  
Happy (belated) November!