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10月31日

My stint as story lady

I've been meaning to post this for the past few days: this weekend at my church, we hosted a Harvest Party for the kids. At our party we had games, treats, snacks (sugar-Sugar-SUGAR!), and, as a contribution from yours truly, storytelling.

I decided to get creative and tell an original story. Here's what I came up with, based loosely on an Eastern European folk tale, and this verse:

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? –Matthew 6:26-27

Once upon a time there was a poor farm family. There was a Papa Farmer, and a Mama Farmer, and a Brother Farmer, and a Sister Farmer. They were rich in love for each other, but they didn’t have very much money to spend, or food to eat, or, in the year this story takes place, any seeds to plant.

On one early autumn day—much like today, actually-- just as the wind started to blow, Papa Farmer went out to the lean-to to see what was left of their food and supplies. He didn’t see very much!

“What will we do?” he exclaimed to Mama Farmer. “There’s just enough food to last the winter, and there’s no grain to plant in the spring! What will we do?”

“Don’t worry,” soothed Mama Farmer. “Who knows what will happen next? I suspect that all be provided for.”

The cold wind blew throughout that cold fall, and one day Brother Farmer & Sister Farmer watched a family of sparrows build a nest under the eaves of their house.

The cold wind blew harder, and one day, it blew that sparrow’s nest right to the ground. Brother Farmer and Sister Farmer were sad to see that a little baby sparrow had broken its leg and wing in the crash.

“Don’t worry,” said Mama Farmer as she inspected the tiny bird’s leg. “Who knows what will happen next? I suspect that all will be provided for.”

Mama Farmer made a tiny bandage for the baby bird’s leg, and all winter long, she helped it heal. She and her family cared for the bird, and, even though they didn’t have very much food to eat, they fed it food right from their table.

Whatever they were eating, they made sure that the baby bird had some, too. They fed it soup, and vegetables, and its very favorite food of all, mashed pumpkin.

That winter was the coldest one the farmer family could remember. Poor Papa, it was so cold outside that his threadbare coat didn’t really keep him warm enough when he was working outside.

In the spring, things started to thaw, and the baby bird was almost better. Brother Farmer was growing fast, and one night at dinner he said he’d sprung up 3 inches, and that his pants didn’t fit him any more. Sheepishly, Sister Farmer said she’d ripped her skirt recently, too.

“What will we do?” exclaimed Papa. “We don’t have enough money to buy new clothes!”

“I can mend them for now,” Mama said . “And after that—Don’t worry. Who knows what will happen next? I suspect that all will be provided for.”

“And what about our garden? We still don’t have any seeds to plant! What will we eat come next fall?”

“Don’t worry,” Mama said, feeding the baby bird a bit from her plate.. “Who knows what will happen next? I suspect that all will be provided for.”

The very next day, Mama Farmer took the bandage off of the baby sparrow’s leg. Brother Farmer and Sister Farmer were happy that their little friend had healed, and they smiled as they watched it fly out the open window into the blue spring sky.

But then, something funny happened. A few days later, that baby bird came back! And in its beak was a small white pumpkin seed.

Papa Farmer and Mama Farmer were very excited that they finally had something to plant. Right away, they prepared the earth, and they planted that pumpkin seed.

As spring turned into summer, the pumpkin seed began to sprout. First a slender green shoot grew into a vine, The vine sprouted leaves, and the leaves, flowers, and the flowers, fruit!

All summer long they tended to that lone pumpkin plant. They made sure it had enough water, and enough light from the sun, and they made sure that no weeds grew up around it. And when the 4 bright orange pumpkins appeared, they watched them grow bigger, and bigger, and bigger, until…

One early autumn day—much like today, actually-- just as the wind started to blow, Papa Farmer told Mama Farmer, “I think it’s time to harvest a pumpkin. Let’s take one inside and cut it open and cook it.”

So together, Mama Farmer and Papa Farmer heaved a giant pumpkin into their house. They had to lift it together, because it was so heavy. And they had to struggle to make it fit, because it barely would make it through the door!

They set it down by the fire, and got ready to cook it. But as Mama Farmer cut it open, she was surprised to see not just the inside of a pumpkin, but the inside of a pumpkin filled with clothes!

And what a lot of clothes there were! There was a new coat for Papa, and new pants for Brother, and new skirts for sister. There was even a new hat for Mama, even though she didn’t need one. There were more clothes in that pumpkin than the family could wear.

“What will we do with all these clothes?” worried Papa.

“Don’t worry,” soothed Mama. “I know what will happen next. We can use them to help provide for others!”

So each night for the next two weeks, the Farmer family invited their friends over for dinner (finished off with pumpkin pie, of course) and when their friends came over they asked them to pick out new clothes that came out of the pumpkin. At last the whole village had new clothes, and the first giant pumpkin was almost gone.

“I think it’s time to harvest the second pumpkin,” said Papa Farmer. “Let’s take it inside and cook it.”

So together, Mama Farmer and Papa Farmer heaved the second giant pumpkin towards their house. But this one was so big that they couldn’t do it with just the two of them—they had to get Brother Farmer to help.

Once the three of them got it to fit through the front door, they put it down by the fire and got ready to cook it. But as Mama Farmer cut it open, she was surprised to see that this pumpkin was full of…food!

You wouldn’t believe the food that was inside that pumpkin! There were all sorts of yummy and nutritious things! There were vegetables, and main dishes, and dessert. There were mashed potatoes, and a whole cooked turkey, and even a frozen pumpkin pie!

And there was—what’s your favorite food, Rebecca? Pizza? Yes, that was in there…and yours, Kyle? Brownies? Yes, there were brownies, too. And how about you, Mariah? Broccoli? Really? Okay, sure, I guess there was broccoli (I’m still in shock that there’s a six-year-old in this world who cites broccoli as her favorite food. Whatever her mom’s been teaching her, she’s been doing it right!)…

As you might expect, there was more food in that pumpkin than the Farmer family could eat in a year.

“What will we do with all this food?” exclaimed Papa Farmer.

“Don’t worry,” said Mama Farmer. “I know what will happen next. We can use it to help provide for others.

And the Farmer family did just that. They shared the extra food that came out of that pumpkin with the rest of the village.

By now, the Farmer family was pretty curious about those other two pumpkins.

“Let’s take this third pumpkin in the house and cut it open,” said Papa.

So together, Papa Farmer, and Mama Farmer, and Brother Farmer heaved that pumpkin towards the house. But it was even too heavy for the three of them to lift. They had to get Sister Farmer to help out, too.

Together the four of them rolled the pumpkin to rest by the fire. Eagerly they watched as Mama cut it open, and out poured a pile of gleaming gold coins!

“Hooray!” they cried as they jumped up and down around that pile of gold coins. “There is more money here than we could ever need!”

“And we can use it to help provide for others!” said Mama.

“Now we have enough clothes to wear, and food to eat, and money to help take care of our needs and others for many years to come,” said Papa. “What could possibly be inside that fourth pumpkin?”

Eagerly they ran out to the field, and all four of them gathered around to lift it. But they were surprised to find that it weighed almost nothing. Why, it was so light that that baby sparrow—who really wasn’t a baby anymore—could have lifted it all by himself.

So they took it inside and set it down by the fire. Mama cut into it, and inside was…a bunch of small white pumpkin seeds.

“We can use these seeds to plant more pumpkins next spring,” Papa Farmer said.

“And we can share them with our friends,” said Mama.

So this fall, when you see seeds inside a pumpkin as you cut it open with your parents, remember this story of sharing, and remember not to worry, because who knows what will happen next? I suspect that all will be provided for.

14:14 | 添加评论 | 固定链接 | 写入日志 | Vanity blogging

10月24日

My sister makes news

Yesterday evening, I got an ecstatic text from my sister, a senior at Poquoson High and an avid field hockey player. She was pretty pleased that her field hockey team won their district tournament, defeating a team that was seeded above them in the rankings in a very exciting game.

Looks like my sister's not the only one who was excited about the game; today the story is running in the Daily Press, our hometown newspaper

A sixth sense: Sixth-seeded Poquoson opens the BRD field hockey tournament by weathering an expected charge to upset Grafton.

In the last three minutes of the first half, Poquoson thwarted five straight penalty corners... (Goalie) Morneault raved about the defenders who play in front of her.

"I believe in them. I trust them," she said. "Our defense is amazing."

Poquoson coach Debra Bunting said the defense consisted of Meghan Franklin, Evan Bunting and Melanie French alternating with Molly Cox.

Go Melanie! I think you're amazing in defense, and everything else, too!

9月1日

Seattle Seahawks are HUGE!

Yesterday, my team had an offsite meeting at the Bellevue Hyatt.

So, apparently, did the Seattle Seahawks.

The tip-off came from my manager, who stepped out of our meeting room for a few minutes, and then came back saying in an off-hand way, “Matt Hasselbeck is a lot taller than I thought he was.”

Of course, we had to ask.

“Yeah, they’re all out there,” he replied.

The meeting discussion was pretty heated at that point, so we got back on topic quickly and I forgot all about it. Until I found nature calling me about forty minutes later.

Excusing myself from the meeting, I opened the conference room door to find a massive wall of muscle, flesh, and navy jersey larger than the door blocking my way. “Pardon me” I whispered, hoping that it wouldn’t take too long for my puny voice to reach the top of the mountain that was his neck.

He stepped aside and revealed a lobby of giants just like himself.

I crossed meekly—was that tension I sensed in the land of the giants?—and had to again ask to be allowed passage by another mountain blocking the door to the ladies’ room. As he politely stepped aside, I couldn’t help noticing that the 5’4” crown of my head barely came to the top of his elbow. What are they feeding these guys?

For all their height, I guess the off-site helped the Seahawks to victory: in their first pre-season game last night, they beat the Oakland Raiders 30-7. The tension must have been coming from pre-game, pre-season jitter; my sports-fan roommate informed me that after the last night’s game, they’d be making cuts from the team.

No wonder the whole team played so well. A 30-7 pre-season opener is a nice way to follow a Superbowl defeat. It’s also a nice way to follow an offsite at the Bellevue Hyatt. Let’s just hope our team ends up playing so well together, now, too!

PS There's some great post-game video running on the team's homepage this morning: http://www.seahawks.com

3月17日

The rain in Spain falls mainly on...Lisbon

I woke up this morning, all excited about finally having some free time to explore Lisbon and enjoy being in the city, and what did I see out my window? Rain. Lots of rain. I'm not talking Seattle sprinkles, this is like seriously wet weather.

I've been in Europe for five days now, and I haven't spent a single Euro. Not that I'm complaining; it's nice to be part of a big conference where everything is taken care of. But as soon as I polish off a few more work-related tasks here, I think I'm going to step outside (I hear there are some nice pastelarias just outside, and some nice little shops, too) and explore, rain or no rain.

My first purchase here in Lisbon, I beleive, will have to be an umbrella!

3月15日

Sleepless in...Lisbon

It's day three of my conference here in Lisbon, Portugal, and so far things have been pretty busy. Between the pace of activities at the conference (non-stop) and the mass of work-related details weighing on my brain (all of them) it's been a couple of sleepless nights for me. Oh yeah, and then there's jetlag.

The first time I travelled to Europe, as an exchange student in high school, jetlag got the better of me--I was so disoriented that I went to bed early on the evening I arrived, and figured I would wake up when everyone else did. I woke up a couple of times on my own, but it was still dark and quiet, so I figured it was still night time and so I went back to sleep. 18 hrs later, I figured out that my host family had drawn the blind in my bedroom and was tip-toeing around so as not to disturb me, and in the mean-time had called my parents because they thought I was sick! Now I know better, I always make sure there's a window open and a clock in easy view before I go to bed after traveling overseas.

Returning to Europe as a college student, I was determined not to fall victim to jet lag again. I had gotten some advice from an international student at my school who frequently traveled between contentinets; she told me that the secret to beating jet lag is to go to bed when everybody else does, and wake up when they do, too. So, after checking in at the hostel, my traveling buddy & I hung out with the rest of the "happy hostel" guests (we never did figure out what the real name of the place was. The neon sign out front just said "hostel" with a big happy face in the letter O that was glaring right outside our window, so that's the memory that's burned in my brain, and the nick-name stuck with us, too). We went to bed when the rest of the students did, but didn't wake up until well after check-out time. "You were supposed to be gone by now" glowered the kid at the desk who had had been so flirty with us at check-in. This time, jetlag had made me sleepy plus surly. "Oh yeah?" I fired back. "Well, jetlag doesn't like YOU either!"

This time, as a a business traveller, I've been determined not to succumb to jet lag again. Sleeping on my long plane flight helped, and when I arrived here in Lisbon on Monday morning I was just fine. But Monday night, I couldn't sleep. Yesterday, I caffeininated my way through meetings and my two-slide talk (which I'm happy to report went over well, and even happier that I spoke nice and slowly and not at a a caffeinated speed!). Last night, despite my exhaustion, I couldn't sleep again. So I fired up my computer and started working...til all of a sudden it was after 2 am (in PST, that's only like 6 at night, no wonder) and I was still blinking & typing away. Needless to say, I didn't get up early to go to the gym as I had yesterday morning (the gym in this hotel is located on the top floor, and with glass windows from floor-to-ceiling it affords a spectacular view of the city).

Other than the view from the gym, I haven't seen too much of Lisbon. Except for two group dinners, I've barely left the hotel. The dinners were fantistic--in Porguguese, fantistico!--and I really like all the Portuguese seafood dishes. I like the sweet Port wines even better! I've also gotten a big kick out of the bathrooms. Mostly made of marble or tile with doors that close all the way to the top, and bidets!

Of the three photographs I've taken since coming to town, this is the only one that's really interesting:

1月29日

More birthday fun, more casemod fun

Since Tuesday, which was my actual birthday, was kind of a busy day, we celebrated my birthday with the bigger social group today.

We started out with a birthday latte & hang-out time at Cafe Ladro in Bothell. I enjoyed a grande split white medici (that's a white chocolate latte with orange zest) and a carrot cake cupcake. I'm crazy for those cupcakes, cousin! We had a great time talking and hanging out, but the funniest moment was Lael telling a joke about an octopus with a pirate accent. "Arrrgh, matey, there be an octopus on me floor!" wasn't the punch-line, but it's the one we were repeating for the rest of the afternoon.

After coffee, dinner, and then a Twisted Flick (Improve over B-movie "It Came from Beneath the Sea" which was--hilariously--about an octopus!) and then smoothies & snacks at Red Robin.

Then I arrived home to find one last birthday present, this one from myself. The equipment I ordered for my Tablet PC casemod project has finally arrived!

After a lot of consideration, I decided to go with colored gaffer's tape. While I want my Tablet to look unique, I also wanted to be able to remove it quickly if need be. Gaffer's tape seemed to be the right way to go because it applies fairly durably, yet removes with little residue.

For color, I chose hot pink. What else?

For the design, I went for simplicity: two horizontal stripes intersecting with two vertical stripes. I selected the narrowest gaffer's tape available. At 1/2 of an inch, it gives me a nice sleek look, especially on the silver cover of my Toshiba Tecra M4.

To complete the customization, I also created wallpaper to match. I positioned the stripes on the wallpaper so that they appear in the same position on my tablet screen as the stripes on the outside cover when it's open in laptop mode.

I'm pretty pleased with the result.

I'm so pleased, in fact, that I decided to keep going by adding that motif to some of my other gadgets and gadget accessories. I added my hot-pink intersecting stripes to my Tablet power cord & carrying case, cell phone, camera case, and a porfolio I use to carry notes.

Pictures to be posted shortly...

1月27日

More fun with Ringback Tones

Changing out my Ringback for my b-day inspired me to change it again. So now I'm having fun trying to find an updated Ringback Tone for my callers to listen to when they call me, instead of that borring ol' ring-ring-ring. The song I have been using, They Might Be Giants' "Ringing of the Bells" was good to me, but it's time for a change.

Here are some of the candidates (you can hear clips on the Verizon Wireless Rinback site):

Sound of Settling - Death Cab for Cutie. Ba-ba! Ba-Ba! This is the sound of settling--exactly what you wanna hear when someone's not picking up, right?
Seasons of Love - Rent Soundtrack. 525,600 minutes. Hopefully that is not how long you will have to hold while waiting to talk to me! Measure in looooooovvvvve!
Hollaback Girl - Gwen Stefani. In case my callers were wondering how to spell BANANAS.
Don't Cha - Pussycat Dolls. Don't cha wish your girlfriend was fun like me? Don'tcha? Considering how much I use my cell phone for work, maybe this one's not entirely appropriate...
Girls Just Want to Have Fun - Cindy Lauper. The phone rings, in the middle of the night... And girls, they wanna have fun! This one kinda fits me
Did You Get My Message - Jason Mraz. Also seems fitting.
Geek in the Pink - Jason Mraz. Seems even more fitting.

Got a vote? Or another idea? Leave me a comment--

1月25日

Was yesterday the worst day of the year?

And here I thought my birthday was a pretty good day, but on last night's Colbert Report ol' Steve reported on some research from a British psychologist who claims that, according to his scientifically derived formula, January 24th is the most depressing day of the year.

Arnall, who specializes in seasonal disorders at the University of Cardiff, Wales, created a formula that takes into account numerous feelings to devise peoples' lowest point.

The model is: [W + (D-d)] x TQ
M x NA

The equation is broken down into seven variables: (W) weather, (D) debt, (d) monthly salary, (T) time since Christmas, (Q) time since failed quit attempt, (M) low motivational levels and (NA) the need to take action

More commentary from the Seattle PI

By now, Arnall figures, you have abandoned all your New Year's resolutions. You are smoking, drinking and overeating — possibly all at once. Possibly when you should be getting dressed for work. Possibly that is why you were hiding under the covers. That's part of what makes Jan. 24 stink.

I guess one way to look at it was, if yesterday was as bad as it will get, this is going to be one dynamite year!!

1月24日

How I celebrated my birthday

Well in case you didn't guess it from the hint ol' Doug E. gave you on my Ringback, today was my birthday!

And what a birthday it was!

I woke up all excited about facing another year of life. Oddly enough, I had the song "Another Opening, Another Show" from Anything Goes. Hm, I wonder if that is available as a ringback tone?

I told myself I was gonna do a super exercise-session, but then I decided to it would be a better celebration to sleep in, and use the extra time to curl my hair. That turned out to be a good decision--for the short-term, anyway--I've been getting compliments on my curly 'do all day!

At work, I'm re-arranging the way I've got my office set up. Unfortunately, the project is a bit stalled out as I'm waiting for the facilities folks to come and remove an extra table and reposition some heavy things. Every time I walked into my office, I changed my mind about how I'd like to have it set up.

Before the crush of meetings started, a friend went with me to get some coffee. I have a frequent-latte card that I'd filled up recently, and I'd been saving it for just this occasion. I got the friliest, fru-fruest latte I could think of: A venti split white-mocha raspberry latte with whip. Birthday-riffic!

Alas, then I had four solid hours of meetings. Right over lunch-time, too! Unfortunately I had to turn down invitations to lunch from friends.

But the meetings did get out just in time for me to book it over to Cafe 9 (the one that looks like the one in that silly "Anti-trust" movie), where there was an open house to mark the caffeteria remodel. I decided to requisition the party for my own purposes, and invited some friends who sit in neighboring offices to drop by.

In Cafe 9, there were balloons, and a steel drum band, too! I just love steel drum music, so I boldly asked if they'd take requests, and then told them it was my birthday. BEST. BIRTHDAY. SERENADE. EVER!!! As a birthday gift, the lead pan player gave me a CD. I am ripping it now. Great stuff! Wanna check em out? The Toucans.

Meanwhile back at the office, unfortunately I didn't get a whole lot done (not as much as I'd planned, anyway, but then again, I seldom do).

Then it was time to go, hopping the early bus with my cousin so that we could share some birthday pizza before the new women's Bible study that we've just started at my church.

My (speedy) birthday dinner was at Uncle Peteza's, a local pizzeria that we've ordered delivery from, but have never eaten at. A phenominon undoubtedly influenced by the fact that it's really just a carry-out/delivery type place, and there are only three tables, housed in the adjoining ice cream parlor. But the pizza was yummy (we ordered Pete's specialty creamy garlic chicken pizza, with all the chicken piled on one side to accomodate silly vegetarian me). And Pete himself gave us free icecream for dessert! What a nice birthday treat!

Then off to our Bible study, which is our second week of working through Beth More's Living Beyond Yourself: Exploring the Fruit of the Spirit. Good teaching and oood fellowship, too!

Finally, after all this non-stop, I got to come home and listen to a bunch of hearty birthday voicemail!

Oh, and I almost forgot the presents! I got some great presents, which were cool not because of the loot, but because it shows my friends & family are thinking of me, and how well they know and appreciate my quirks! For instance, my parents sent me a beautiful-and-funny flower arrangement that looks like a birthday cake! My cousin Carrie gave me the latest 2 books from the Shopaholic series, my roommate Heidi gave me tix to the Wedding Singer show when it workshops here in town next week, and Necia sent me a way-cool t-shirt which reads "Pirates are way cooler than ninjas!" (hear that, Ninja Food Groups?)

And the fun doesn't stop there. I'm also planning another get-together for the weekend (coffee or maybe brunch). If you don't have an invite and you want to come, e-mail me! :)

Of course, that will be a no-presents type of affair. But if you do want to give me something, I am in the habit of collecting pirate and elephant jokes. Leave me one in a comment if you've got a good one!!

Call my cell!

Well today for me is a day of some significance.

Can you guess?

If you need a hint, call my cell. Doug E. Fresh has a few words that may help spur your memory.

Rockin' the ringback tones. Holla!

1月2日

Back in VA & adding pix from the beach

Had a nice, relaxing time at the beach this last week. I am uploading some new pictures now...

21:09 | 添加评论 | 固定链接 | 写入日志 | Vanity blogging

12月29日

Relaxing at the beach in Outter Banks, NC

I'm having a great time relaxing at the beach here with my family this week.

Internet connectivitity is pretty limited (can't get to e-mail, alas) but that doesn't bother me too much. Instead of being on-line, we've been sight-seeing, eating great food, and playing lots of board games like Rummikub, Scene-It & Soduku.

We also watched the Champs Sports bowl game together the other night, where I was delighted to see my beloved Clemson Tigers beat Colorodo 19-10. Great pix & coverage on ClemsonTigers.com. Go Tigers!

12月26日

Merry day-after-Christmas...headed to the beach

After a few final minutes of last-minute frantic packing, I'm headed out with the fam to the Outter Banks of North Carolina for a relaxing holiday vacation.

I love the beach in winter. I'm looking forward to a peceful week of scenic ocean views, the calming sounds of the surf, and memory-building game nights and quality time with the family.

Yesterday was a great day for building memories, too. It was a happy Christmas (although we missed brother Louis, who is skydiving/visiting the grandparents in Fla this holiday season instead of visiting with us). The day started with a very nice church service, and then was a fun day of singing, hanging out, and opening tons of Christmas presents! I've posted some new pictures from the day to my photo album.

And one extra picture: here's where we'll be staying:

12月24日

Wishing you a Merry Christmas!

Happy Christmas Eve!

We're in between church services at the moment--earlier tonight, my sister played Mary in our family's church Christmas Eve service. In a few minutes, we'll be heading back over there again for the candle-light service, where my sister will be playing handbells in the service.

Then it's to bed--after putting out cookies (& peanut butter fudge) for Santa--and then up to see what's under the tree. Then one more church service, where my dad & bro will be singing with the men's chorus.

That's three church services in 18 hours! Shew!!

12月23日

Happy haircut to me!

Taking a cue from my adorable little sister, today I cut off 10+ inches of my hair to donate to Locks of Love.

My sister cut her hair to donate it a few weeks ago, and I've been eager to do the same ever since. This is about the 3rd time we've grown our hair out and then cut it short to donate to this worthwhile charity that makes hairpieces for children who have experienced medical hair loss.

After our haircuts, we're both sporting super-short (for us) and spunky bobs now.

Here's the process, for both of us:

(More pix posted in the album)

Home for the Holidays

After a fantastic business trip where we got a ton done, and a somewhat dodgy trip home where I got stranded in the Atlanta airport for 6 hours, I'm finally home for Christmas!

It's such a delight to be back under my parents' roof again. I just love the fam, and its so nice to visit with them. Plus, now that I've lived so far away for so long, when I come back, I get treated like royalty! This morning, Mom woke me up with a glass of fresh orange juice, and for breakfast Dad made his famous fluffy scrambled eggs, served with croissants!

We just got back from some next-to-last minute Christmas shopping, but the other big event of note for the day is that I finally got a haircut! My favorite salon has always been Salon de Kitchen de Mom (it sounds much more exotic if you say it out loud with an exaggerated French accent), where the stylist knows my hair like she's been doing it since I the day I was born (because she has. What a Mom!). My sis took a few pix during the process, which I plan to post once the final styling is finished...

12月19日

Nothing says Christmas like synced-circuit lights

Happy Holidays! I'm about to start my holiday travel (with a trip through Chi-town for some business). Airport Shuttle will be arriving brutally early--less than 9 hrs out from now--and I still have a good bit more packing to do!

In the meantime, here are a few videos that some friends sent me to help get in the holiday-packing spirit:

The Light before Christmas

Christmas lights choregraphed to music--impressive!

http://media.putfile.com/WizardsofWinter-SM

and another www.msftlabrat.com/funstuff/jingle.wmv

And yes, according to Snopes, these are real! http://www.snopes.com/photos/arts/xmaslights.asp

12月12日

So much holiday baking!

Glad to be back at work on this Monday morning, so that I can recover from all that holiday baking!

This weekend I was all baking-frenzy, as I whipped up about a half-a-dozen different recipes for gifts, church, and a party I'll be hosting later this week. And shew, am I exhausted!

The heart of this holiday baking was for a gift tray that our household put together with a neighbor to give as gifts. Because I have a hard time doing things in moderation, I ended up testing & baking about a half-a-dozen different goodies for our trays.

Here's what I made:

White peppermint bark: This one ended up being my favorite, and simple, too! Melt a bag of white chocolate chips in the microwave, add a few drops of peppermint, pour out on a big sheet of cellophane, and sprinkle with crushed up candy canes & red+green sugar sprinkles. Tastes like the best part of a peppermint white mocha! I'll be making this again soon!! (the only thing that's stopping me now is that my local grocery store is out of white chips!)
Butterscotch fudge: Also very simple. Just melt a bag of butterscotch chips with a dab of butter, and mix up with a can of condensed milk.
Almond butter cremes: As I told my roommate who loved the sample I gave her, there's nothing good for you in here! A stick of butter and 3 tbsp of cream cheese, beat together with almond flavoring, add 3-4 cups of powdered sugar and roll into balls or logs to slice into disks.
Vanilla butter cremes: same as above, but using vanilla instead of almond flavoring.
Peppermint hard candy: this was the only disaster, and ended up not getting served. I won't even bother with the recipe here.
Peanut butter fudge: My other favorite. I plan to make this for my folks when I am home in a few weeks. Here's the recipe: http://www.dineanywhere.com/free-recipies/about9002.html

As if that wasn't enough, I also did some baking for my church's Christmas program. I baked up two huge & yummy lasagne florinetines (one with extra veggies, making it the thickest lasagne I've ever made), and some oatmeal butterscotch cookies to serve as dessert after the program.

But there's a down-side to all this holiday baking. I went to the gym with a friend yesterday afternoon, and was shocked to see the scale telling me I had put on 3 lbs since my last weekend. Yowza!

Guess I'll have to learn not to sample so much as I bake, because I've still got more baking ahead of me. I'm hosting a small party here tomorrow night, which will entail a bit more baking, plus there are a few more recipes I came across that I'm still eager to try...

As for our church Christmas program, it was just delightful. The little children were precious as they acted out the story of Jesus' birth in Bethlehem. Nicely narrated by my young friend Christopher, all the kids knew their lines (straight from Scipture!) and sang nice and loud.

Of course, my favorite moment from the program was the only hitch: just before going on stage, one of the kindergarten angels had her gold-tinsel halo slip from on top of her head to right over her eyes! She didn't freak out, just made a worried face and gripped the hands of two angels on both sides of her a little harder. Fear not! Her mother came and fixed her up, just in time for her to take the stage right on cue. Peace on Earth!

12月3日

Just posted some new Amazon stuff

One good thing about being sick is that it's finally giving me the time & inclination to do some of the quasi-creative stuff I've been meaning to do.

For instance, I finally got around to posting a couple of lists up on Amazon (Comfort Reads & Movies for Jane Austen Addicts). I also cross-posted a couple of movie reviews from my blog to Amazon,too. I also started playing with Amazon's new tags feature. Fun with folksonomy!

Next up: Scrapbooking. I've been working on a project with last year's Christmas vacation pictures since, well, last Christmas, and I'm thinking it's time to get in gear if I want to have it done in time for this Christmas...

11月25日

My first (and last?) Vegetarian Thanksgiving

When I first got on my vegetarian kick, I didn't think it would last more than a week or two, tops. But here it is, over two months down the line, and I'm still eating & enjoying the veg-thing.

But Thanksgiving, I thought, would be a different story. You gotta have turkey on turkey day, right? But it turns out you don't. When my cousin and I first started planning our Thanksgiving day menu, we knew we'd have just a small gathering, so she suggested cornish game hens. That gave me the out I needed, and I said I'd try to come up with an alternate vegetarian main dish to accompany the hens on the table.

I read a TON of recipes, and talked to a bunch of my veg friends & co-workers (sure are a lot of them!) and the best I advice I got was "don't worry about it, there will be enough good sides, you won't even miss the main dish." But I was determined to come up with something...

So here's what I came up with:

( named by my co-chef & cousin Carrie)

Vegetarian Thanksgiving Hoo-bobbys (Nut-stuffed Squash)

1 large acorn squash

1/8th pound of mixed nuts (I used a blend of almonds, cashews, hazelnuts & brazil nuts)

1/2 medium apple

stalk of celery

1/2 carrot or 3-4 baby carrots

some onion

fresh parsley

vegetable broth (I recommend Bear Creek brand)

nutmeg

brown sugar

and I wish I'd had golden raisins

Cut the acorn squash in half and clean out the inside. Steam both halves in the microwave by putting face-down in a bowl with some water in the bottom, and then nuke for 3-4 minutes. Then allow it to sit in the microwave for about 10 minutes after.

During the steaming, chop up all those other ingredients (nuts, apple, celery, carrots & onion) into dice-size pieces. Mix together and moisten with broth, then season with fresh parsley and nutmeg. Allow to the flavors to blend by letting it sit out for a bit longer while you cook something else.

When the main dish in your oven is about 50 minutes away from being finished, stuff the squash by filling the centers the nut-apple-veggie mixture. Sprinkle the top with a light dusting of brown sugar.

Bake for about 45 mintues at 350, or whatever temperature you're cooking your other entre. You'll know it's done when both squash & veggies are fork-tender.

The "hoo-bobbys" as Carrie called them, turned out great and totally held their own beside the diminuitive little hens. We also served them with a plethora of tasty sides, including mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, bread stuffing, green bean cassarole, green fluff, olives, whole-wheat herb rolls and 2 kinds of cranberry sauce. We topped it off dessert of apple + pumpkin pie with fresh whipped cream. What a feast!