Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Christmas Predux

My spell check is telling me that predux isn't a work, but it should be, so I'm using it. These next few days are going to be busy- biizzzzeee (that's how I say it). Tomorrow we are going to see the Legendary Santa, and since he's the real Santa, lines are usually 2+ hours. This is the same Santa Claus I used to visit, well not the exact same, since the REAL Santa died a few weeks ago, this one is his son, so it's almost the same.

We are lucky that Spencer's Mimi is getting there at 7am to start waiting in line (some crazies get there at 5am) and we'll join her around 9am. By about 10:30am we (she) should be on Santa's lap- hopefully! After that we're going to spend the day with the PGP's and do gifts with them before heading to my parent's house to spend the night with them. I have to watch Home Alone and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation before going to sleep- it's just my thing I do every year.

On Christmas morning we'll do gifts and everything and then my aunt will come over for lunch/dinner. And then everyone will pass out around 7pm from sheer exhaustion. Then the saddest day of the year will be here, December 26. It's just such a sad day, isn't it? So that's my Christmas predux, be prepared for the redux that will be sure to follow.

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Monday, December 21, 2009

4.0


Yep! All my whining and complaining and stressing out and I have a 4.0. I really am proud of myself, in a way that I haven't felt in awhile. And now I can focus on having Christmas! As soon as I take an extended nap...

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Thursday, December 17, 2009

Crying Over Spilled Orange Juice

I am alive. This is my week of finals. Spencer spilled her orange juice on my laptop. It had my completed 15 page paper and all the research I'd done on it. Psych final is tonight, but I'm not worried. It's the 500 question anatomy final that has me going crazy. If you are the praying kind, I sure could use them!
Regular blogging will resume when my sanity returns.

Friday, December 11, 2009

Show Us Your Life - Christmas Cookies


This week on Show Us How You Live over at Kelly's Korner, we're showing off our Christmas cookies. My grandma was the baker in our family and every Christmas she'd spend an entire weekend doing nothing but making cookies. These are cookies that I liked the best from her smorgasbord
Chocolate Coconut Macaroons

Makes 24


Ingredients
  • 4 - 14 oz bags sweetened coconut flakes
  • 2 - 14 oz cans sweetened condensed milk
  • 1/4 cup sour cream
  • 2 tbsp heavy cream
  • 2 tbsp vanilla extract (not imitation)
The Chocolate Ganache
  • 4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped
  • 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream


Directions

Pour 3 bags of coconut flakes into your mixer and then pour the condensed milk, sour cream, cream and vanilla on top of the coconut flakes.
Turn the mixer to a slow speed.
With the mixer running, slowly add the fourth bag of coconut flakes.
Mix for about 10-15 seconds until combined then stop.
Scrape the paddle with a spatula and give the the batter a few turns to make sure all the ingredients are well distributed.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F and cover your sheet pans with parchment paper.
Using a large ice cream scoop, scoop out the macaroons and slightly press together. They need to be able to keep their shape once they're on the cookie sheet. Then place the cookie sheet into the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes. The bottom of the macaroon should be lightly caramelized. Then let cool.
The Chocolate Ganache

Place the chopped chocolate in a medium sized stainless steel bowl. Set aside. Heat the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring just to a boil.

Immediately pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and allow to stand for 5 minutes. Stir with a whisk or spoon until smooth. Let cool to room temperature before dipping in your already cooled macaroons.
Dip in chocolate to taste and then put all of the macaroons into the refrigerator. It helps the chocolate dry nice, shiny and smooth. Once the chocolate ganache has completely hardened, they are ready to eat!



Pressed Butter Cookies




Ingredients




  • 1lb butter
  • 1 full cup sugar
  • 4 cups flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla



Directions



Preheat oven to 350 degrees.


Cream the butter and sugar together



Mix in egg and vanilla


Add flour, baking powder, and sugar and mix until well blended.

Using a cookie press, in the shape of your choice (mine is my grandma's old star press), press out your cookies onto a chilled, ungreased cookie sheet. Try and not make them too small, or they'll burn. Bake 10-12 minutes, removing at the first hint of brown around the edge.

Decorate them how ever you like- I prefer a less is more approach, because I want to taste the cookie more than anything else. (P.S This is my dad's favorite cookie and he likes them plain, not one things added to it.)
And those are the cookies I make every year. I hope ya'll enjoy them as much as I do.




**More Show You How I Live Posts**





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Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Santa Claus at Our House

When Santa visits our house on Christmas Eve, he (she) will be leaving a few presents for Spencer. She doesn't know about these gifts yet, of course, but I am itching to give them to her! Her current stage has left us with very few toys that she now finds entertaining or challenging -she grows bored of them very quickly. So even though these are presents for Spencer, in a way, they're also presents for me- haha!

Since both of these toys are what I consider to be "big" this is all she'll be getting from me, besides some of the accessories that go with the presents, her stocking gifts and annual Christmas Ornament. The first one is the darling red kitchen set. The next door neighbors have a kitchen for their granddaughter and Spencer LOVES it. Whenever we go over to their house, she immediately heads right to the kitchen and starts playing until I have to make her stop so that we can leave.


It's made of wood, which really makes me happy and it's just so darn cute!

I hadn't exactly planned on this being one of her presents, but the other day when we were at Toys That Teach, she saw this house and was so enthralled by it. No other toy in the store held a candle to it, she only had eyes for this doll house. It's the Calico Critters and Sylvanian Families and when I was little I had one almost just like it. It was called Maple Town in my generation, circa 1987, but they're practically identical. There's just something I really like about the idea of Spencer playing with a toy that I also played with as well.


Here's a look at the inside of the house. And the best part- it comes already assembled! It doesn't get much better than that folks! I bought her one family and few items for the house. I'm actually really looking forward to making it a "real home" and decorating it with her over the next couple of years.

And that is what I have ordered from Mr. Claus. What gifts are ya'll giving your kids this year?


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Tuesday, December 8, 2009

I Just Had to Have ...

In my old life I used to have the longest, epic length, Christmas lists, always ready and finished by Thanksgiving. I never expected to receive everything I wrote down I wanted, but that didn't stop me from creating the most outrageous lists you've ever seen. My mindset was ask and ye shall receive, which meant that if I didn't ask then I couldn't receive. I also didn't like forgetting that I wanted something, so my Christmas lists would morph into year round reminders of something I just had to have. I always hated when someone would ask me what I wanted for my birthday and my mind would draw a blank. I knew there were a gazillion things I just had to have, but I could never think of anything when asked on the spot. This probably should have been a big flashing light that I didn't need anything and already had way more than any one person should ever have- but it didn't. Wanting a certain bauble, etc., meant I had something to look forward to, or to work towards having. Things were my reward to myself. (oh, that sounds so sad, I can't believe I wrote it)

And while I'm now embarrassed about those long greedy lists, it turned out that all the stuff I'd been acquiring, and had no real use for, would became a huge part of mine and Spencer's income. Every time we needed money I would sell something that I just had to have three of four Christmases ago, but then never opened or forget I even owned. Now that Spencer is here, I started making two massive lists, one for me and one for her. At least I did. Until this year.

Up until yesterday I hadn't written down one thing that Spencer or I wanted for Christmas! I'd already bought my two big gifts for Spence, and just haven't had the time to really want anything for myself. There were some generic thoughts I had, like some new books and dvds, but nothing specific. My mom emailed me yesterday and said she needed my Christmas list. Well that has never happened, never ever, not once. Usually it's me hounding her, did you get my list, did you get my list? Do you like it? (my mom has not, and will not, buy me anything that she doesn't like or thinks is inappropriate (wine glasses, any kind of undergarments that are more fun than functional, anything that has to do with vampires, the occult, atheism, or demons- yes she refused to buy me Twilight), so her approval was/is a large part of the process). When I read her email, I saw the date and time stamp- December 7, 2009- 10am. My eyes bulged out of my head as I put two and two together- it was December 7 and not only had I yet to make a Christmas list, but I had no idea what I wanted. (Besides my camera, but I'm buying that for myself, I don't want anyone to give it to me)

Who are you and what have you have done with Katie? was racing through my mind. It's not that I particularly liked my old(er) overly materialistic ways, but I get scared when I see how I'm losing more and more of the old me. Even though it wasn't a wonderful characteristic trait, it was still me. And it's not that I don't like me now, but it's a very confining time in my life. I'm a single mother who goes to school and that's it - I don't have time for anything else. I never go out, I see my friends a few times a year, and I can go multiple days without having one adult conversation. And I wouldn't change a thing, I'm grateful to be able to stay home with Spencer and be back in school. But there are some days when I catch a glimpse of myself doing something I never would've done before- and I don't recognize myself, I don't see me- I see a stranger.

That's how I felt when I realized it had been almost two weeks since Thanksgiving and I hadn't even thought twice about Christmas actually being right around the corner. In the grand scheme of my evolution, these lists and all they represent aren't all that significant. But when you combine a few insignificant changes, all of a sudden there's a very significant difference- it just sneaks up on you before you realize what's happened.

Of course it never takes me too long to find loads of things I just have to have, ha! I did some searching and was able to make a respectable list, but there wasn't that thrill I used to have when crafting my outrageous requests, looking for the perfect must-haves. I'm not going to tell you how many things I decided I just had to have this year, or in years gone by, but I did some figure calculations and arrived with this tidbit: I asked for 451% less this year than I did last year and 553% less than the year before that. (I keep all my lists online, that's how I know how many items were on each list)

Four HUNDRED and fifty one percent less than last year.

And let me restate, I did NOT get everything I asked for, not even close. And I knew when I was making my lists I wouldn't be receiving even 20%, but it was fun for me to dream about. Maybe this is me finally growing up and becoming a more mature, not so pie-in-the-sky, life-is-not-a-tv-show, more realistic person. Or maybe I'm finally seeing just how crazy I was about acquiring stuff, how I over indulged my inner Material Girl way too much. Either way, I'm definitely in uncharted waters.

So here are some of my favorite items on my new, much much shorter, much less expensive list. And to emphasize this frugality of mine, ha ha, the most expensive thing on here is only $38! If you are so inclined, click on the pictures and they will take you to the site.


Canon Deluxe 200 Tripod - $33


Solden Scarf in Red from Anthropologie - $38


Tra La La French Holiday Girls Hat - $19 (This one is for Spencer!)




100% Natural Angora Gloves, Handmade, $12 and all the proceeds go to charity


Quilted Damask Train/Cosmetic Case - $22



Smashbox - Wish For the Perfect Pout - a $96 valued set for only $29




The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment , by A.J. Jacobs - $16.50


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Site Problems

If anyone is having a hard time getting onto my site, please email me at punkiepie1022@gmail.com . And please let me know your operating system as well as your browser.

If you aren't having a problem, then would you leave a comment a let me know that it's working fine on your end? I'm trying to get a grasp on the problem and the size of it. Thank you so much!
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Monday, December 7, 2009

Tacky Tour



Friday night we went to see a few houses on Richmond's Tacky Tour. Spencer had such a great time and loved all the lights. She kept saying "oh, wowww!" Here we are at one of the houses, she's not exactly looking at the camera, but I still think it's a pretty cute picture.
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Thursday, December 3, 2009

Alaska


Last night, when I couldn't sleep and my mind was in overdrive, I watched Alaska State Troopers on the National Geographic Channel. It was the first time I'd ever seen it and now I LOVE the show! Not only was it filled with beautiful natural scenery, but every single police officer was good looking! There wasn't an unattractive one. Maybe it's because Alaska has more men than women, so the chances of their being more handsome men increases? Maybe I need to move to Alaska? haha! Just joking... kinda...

Watch the show if you get a chance and let me know what you think!

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Wednesday, December 2, 2009

It's Raining, It's Pouring

And the hits just keep on comin'! Yesterday morning my TV died. It was kinda old, but I really loved her. It was a SONY Wega, flat screened, but not a flat screened or even a LCD screen. It was the TV I got when I started law school many moons ago. I turned her on and she was all red, and would only stay on for a minute or two before turning off again. After some googling and a call to a repairman, I found out it was something to do with a capcitator. Since it was an old TV that they don't make anymore, it was going to make things much more difficult and more expensive. Of course!

Spencer was very upset because in the morning she watches Elmo (Sesame Street). It was an interesting day- we read a lot of books and went to a sing a long at Barnes & Noble. I got nothing accomplished. As much as I'd like to fancy myself as one of those mothers who can entertain her child all day long without any help and no TV- I'm not. I need at least an hour a day to get "stuff" done in the house and keep things running. So this morning I dipped into my "New Camera Fund" and bought a new TV. Normally I'd be happy about something like this, but not today. I didn't want a new television, I was perfectly happy with my old one. It was also not in my budget- not at all. I got a good deal on Samsung, it's smaller than my last one, but oh, well. We don't need a huge TV, just one that works.

Unfortunately, it means it's going to be even longer before I can buy a new camera. Yesterday I just got so frustrated thinking about finances and I started to cry. Spencer came up to me and put her hands on my cheeks and said "Don't cry Mommy, don't cry." It kinda melted my heart.

I'm really trying hard to think positive thoughts...

On that note, I only have one more week of classes left! It's followed by two weeks of finals, but at least the end is near!

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Friday, November 27, 2009

It's Christmastime!

We had a lovely, albeit stressful, time at my aunt's house yesterday. The food was delicious and we watched Home Alone on repeat the whole day. Spencer didn't take a nap yesterday and she fell asleep on the way home at 7pm and slept the whole night through! I went to sleep almost as soon as we got home, too, and I'm feeling a tad more rejuvenated.

I'm really excited for Christmas! We watched the parade yesterday and Spencer really seemed into Santa Claus- not wailing and turning unworldly shades of red while hiding her face. So I'm taking that as a positive thing :) I've started a little of my decorating outside, a few Christmas trees and such. It takes such a long time to run all the extension cords and make sure everything is safe and secure. Once all that is done, the outdoors setup is pretty easy.

Tomorrow we're going to the PGPs for Thanksgiving with them. Hopefully I'll be able to catch up on some of my school work that MUST get done this week! I'm in full on avoidance, Scarlett O'Hara, mode where that's concerned right now- I'll think about it tomorrow.

I hope everyone had a lovely Holiday and you have a great weekend.
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Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Lazy Hazy Days of Summer

Life is anything but lazy, hazy, or summery right now. I have a ton of school work, Spencer is a wild woman, and it's cold and rainy. Technically I'm on Thanksgiving break right now, but it doesn't mean much in the real world. I'm also EXHAUSTED, bone weary kinda tired. We spent Sunday night with PGPs and I fell asleep at 8:30pm!

Tomorrow night we're going home to my parents house and spending the night with them. Thursday is Thanksgiving dinner at my aunt's followed by a long nap- hopefully. I don't participate in Black Friday- do ya'll? So that's what's new with me, not much.
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Friday, November 20, 2009

I Need an Interview Subjectee

I have a favor to ask you bloggy friends. For my developmental psych class I've been assigned to do an interview of my grandparents or an age/generation equivalent. Well, as bad luck would have it, I don't have any grandparents left on Earth to interview and I don't know anyone that age, or around there, anymore.

So if any of you bloggers are 65+ and wouldn't mind me asking you a few questions, please let me know! Or if you know of anyone that might be interested or willing to help, that would be great, too. I'll just email you the 15 questions and you can fill your answers in there and send it back to me. My topic is on the evolving perception and role of the mother.

Thank you SO much :)

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Thursday, November 19, 2009

Show Us Your Life - The Pets


This week's Show Us How You Live blog hop is about our pets. Technically, I'm the current owner of two dogs, but in reality, it's just one. But I consider all of my parents pets as mine too, because they were all there when I was growing up and were our family dogs. (I think leaving them was the one of the hardest parts about leaving home, ha!) But I am the owner of my old gal Josie, I rescued her when I was 16.




It's still a bone of contention with everyone in my family, because they don't believe my story of how I found Josie, but it's the truth! I was driving my friend home from cheerleading practice, I pulled into her driveway and she got out. She stood there for a moment with car door open, and all of a sudden this little bundle of fur jumped in and started licking my face. She had no collar and was so sweet, so sweet.

I took her home and my parents were like, Nope, No WAY, NOT Going To Happen! You see, just a few months before I found a crate of puppies someone dropped off on the side of the ride and I brought all them, too. And it took a few weeks to find homes for all eight of them. So they were not looking to take in another stray dog. We hung up signs all around the neighborhood and posted an ad on the public access channel, but no one knew anything about her. Which turns out to be a good thing, since after we took her to the vet a week later, he told us that she's been abused. Two of her ribs were broken by someone kicking her and she'd pee on the floor whenever a man would walk by her. My parents felt so bad after hearing that, and they we'd could keep her.

I love my Josie, but she has some quirks to her! She can't stand feet, probably because of being kicked, and if you put your feet near her she runs away. Josie also doesn't know how to play. The vet said if a dog isn't exposed to playing activity when they are young, they often don't understand it when they're older. Every time we'd try and play with Josie, she'd look at as like we were torturing her. Later, when more dogs came along, she'd watch them play and try to mimic them, but we could tell she had no clue why she was shaking a stuffed animal or bringing us back a ball.



Josie is now about 13 years old and very set in her ways. I would have loved to bring her with me, but my dad grew especially attached to her when I was in college and Josie got very used to the other dogs. Whenever one of them as to leave the house for grooming or a vet appointment, they sit at the door and cry for them until they come home. So I knew I couldn't take Josie with me, it just wouldn't have been fair to her. Thankfully, we only live about about three miles away, so I get to see her all time. But it's not the same, and I miss her.
The other members of Josie's dog pack of which she is the Queen Bee:




Shadow the Scottie, and

Gus, the dog we inherited when my Mema died. Gus is six and Shadow is eight.

Spencer and I now have a Great Dane named Vivian Leigh. I've been delinquent in taking her photo recently, so I only have pictures of her from when she was smaller.


She's now 9 months old and 120 llbs, she's a very big, very sweet girl!






And those are "my" pets!



**More Show You How I Live Posts**


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Better Late Than Never


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Monday, November 16, 2009

My Favorite Books

This week's theme on the Mcklinky Blog Hop is our favorite book. I have a few favoritess- there's the intellectual snooty one, the predictable one, the classic one, the fun one, the motivational one, and the mysterious one. I've read them many times over and have multiple copies of each- in my opinion, a book can't really be your favorite unless it never goes out of style with you.

My Favorite Book


To Kill a Mockingbird

It's my all time favorite book and I can read it over and over again. I've also never seen the movie because, to me, the book is perfect just as it is. My dad gave me his first edition copy when I was in the 6th grade. I started reading it that night and every spare minute I had went to finishing it. This was the book that first made me want to be a lawyer, specifically a pro bono civil rights lawyer; before that I was going to be a doctor just like my father. I know it's technically a book for younger students, but I don't care- I love it, and it really changed the direction of my life.

And the Rest of My Favorites

The rest of these are in no particular order, but see if you can match them to the above descriptors!



Pride and Prejudice

Some of my favorite quotes are from this book.


"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."

"Stupid men are the only ones worth knowing after all."

"I cannot fix on the hour, or the look, or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun."


Savannah Blues

It was the book that made me fall in love with all things old that have a story behind them. It also has the most wonderful take on Southern women and the rules we're supposed to follow.



Gone With the Wind

I first saw the movie when I was in the fourth grade and I made my mom take me to the book store that night so I (she) could but it for me. It took me six months to finish it- not because it was a slow read or anything, it's just that Gone With the Wind has 1037 pages and I was only 10 years old. I've read it many times since then and I still keep hoping that when I get the last pages that the ending will be different...



The Red Tent

I thought I was going to hate The Red Tent when it was assigned to me in my Discovering the Goddess class during my Senior year at WM, but I was so wrong! I couldn't put the book down and I was profoundly sad when I finished reading it, because it was over, and I just didn't want the book to ever end. I've also listened to it a few times on CD and the lady reading the story has the most wonderful, soothing voice.


The Know-It-All

This book will make you smarter while also forcing you to realize that you really don't know anything at all when compared to the amount of information that's out there. The guy that wrote this, also wrote the book The Year of Living Biblically, where he spent an entire year following every single rule in the Bible, including the arcane ones like stoning adulterers, not wearing mixed fiber clothing, and not shaving his facial hair!


And that's a wrap on my favorite books, but I'd love to hear which books are ya'll's favorites. I', always looking for new books to read and finding new things to learn.
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