I am old!

Thanks to everyone who sent me birthday wishes today!  I appreciate the thoughts.   :)  Be kind, though, if I start forgetting who you are.  It's all downhilll from here, you know.

Harvey's Snow Fun

Harvey was mildly interested in what we were doing out in the snow, and John kept saying that he was an outside cat for a long time, so he wouldn't mind the snow.  I claimed that he was too spoiled now to go outside, so we decided to test the theories.

Step 1- Try to lure him outside.  He had been left alone all weekend and was ready for lovings, but not enough to brave the snow.  I stood out on the back deck and called to him, but Harvey was having none of it.

Step 2 - Physical placement outside.

...3 seconds later..

Harvey says, "No way!"

This was as far as Harvey got outside.  Not even a full body-length out the door.

He then went immediately to the heater vent under the sink in the kitchen and looked disgruntled over being manhandled in such a cruel way.  Silly kitty. He is sooooo spoiled now.

Z is for...

Z is for ZE ZNOW!!  Or, if you re-name it based on how the area reacted to the weather, ZE ZNOWY DEATH!  If you live under a rock, or just don't watch the weather channel / news AT ALL, then let me fill you in:  The East coast just had a butt-load of snow.  There.  That pretty mcuh sums it up.  Lynchburg got over a foot of snowy death, which is the record for snowfall ... ever. 

At around 3:45 on Friday.  The snow had been falling for 15-20min.

Now, John and I had been planning on going to Durham (~3hrs south) on Saturday to see The Phantom of the Opera as a birthday / Christmas present.  With the snowy death coming, though, we decided to leave Friday ASAP and try to beat some of the winter ick.  John snagged us a hotel in Durham, and we just holed up to avoid traveling in the worst of the weather.  It was a good idea, too.  We were going to meet friends, but they called us Saturday morning and said they were not physically able to leave Lynchburg due to the snow.  Go us!

We picked up a truck from work to help us drive in the snow... but the windshield kept icing up.  Solution: turn the heater on "turbo" to melt the ice... but that roasted us to death.  Solution: crack windows to cool off... but that let the sleet bits hit your face.  Solution:  John found a pair of safety glasses to protect himself.  (I might have been laughing a little bit at him wearing the glasses inside a car.)

The show was delighful, and we got to stay in bed and be lazy the rest of the day-- best birthday present ever! We drove back home on Sunday, noticing about 2 dozen abandoned cars on the interstate.  :(  But also noticing, as we got into town, the extent of the snow accumulation.

SNOW HATS FOR EVERYONE!

Our road on the left, my poor forgotten /buried car on the right.

For some reason, John's spot was mostly cleared when we got home.  It was either nice neighbors, or a very direct sun beam all afternoon.  Either way, it made our job a LOT easier.

John was very good at shoveling snow, but one thing I learned it that you cannot hit snow-clumps away from you with a broom.  Trust me, they just explode in your face.  I am being nice and not telling you HOW the snow came flying at me (glares at John pointedly).

My first job was to clear off my car.  VERY DEEP SNOW!  It ate the broom!

Harvey says, "What are you crazy people doing out there?"  (John throws snow at him) "What was that?!"  (John throws snow and hits the door) "OMG! Run away!"

This being our first winter in the new house, we did not have our own snow shovel.  We borrowed a regular shovel from a neighbor and used our mop bucket.  Needless to say, we were slowly creating a bucket army in our front yard as we moved the snow. (John would like you to note the size of that clump of snow he is carting and be impressed)

Left: the corner of our back deck... where there USED to be several gallon-sized pots.  Everything on our deck was completely covered in snow.  Don't beleive me?  On the right is the ruler that I used to test the depth.  We had over a foot of snow.

The kids had already gotten out and had their fun by Sunday afternoon.

Cookies!

I am blatantly using the Christmas luncheon this upcoming week as a reason to make Christmas cookies.  John and I are just two people and cannot eat dozens of cookies by ourselves (without bad consequences!), so I make cookies for pot-luck events and give half of them away.  That way, we can have cookies without getting too fat.  Today I decided to make two of my favorites:  (peanut butter) Kissie cookies and (almond shortbread) Candy Cane cookies.  The Candy Cane dough is chilling in the fridge as we speak, so I will post that recipe at another point in time.

Kissie Cookies (or if you are crazy, "Peanut Butter Blossoms")

1  3/4 cup flour
1 tsp. baking soda
pinch salt
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar (plus extra in small bowl to roll in before baking)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 tbs milk
14 oz  bag Hershey chocolate Kisses (they sell them in 12oz or 19oz - it's trifling to count Kissies to fit the exact number of cookies, but the 19oz bag gives you some extras afterward)

Makes about 5-6 dozen
Preheat at 375

1.  In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, and salt.
2.  In bowl #2, blend together the sugars and the butters until smooth.  Beat in the egg.  Add milk and vanilla.
3.  Add flour mixture in small amounts.
4.  Shape dough into small balls, about the size of a large marble/ smaller than a quarter.  Roll balls in white sugar and place on baking sheet.  Cook at 375 for 7-10 minutes.
5.  As cookies are baking, peel as many Kissies as you have cookies in the oven.  When cookies come out, place a Kiss on each cookie, let sit for a minute and then press deeper into the cookie.  The Kiss should have softened enough to melt into the cookie and seal itself in place.  (We used to challenge ourselves as children, how many "petticoats" you could put on the Kiss before it completely melted.)  If you don't double-press, then the Kiss won't be secured to the cookie well and will tend to fall off in storage /transport.

* Do not eat these fresh out of the oven!  The chocolate becomes molten and VERY HOT!  Partially cooled, however, is DELICIOUS when the chocolate has not fully hardened. 

** Cool cookies COMPLETELY before storing.  As noted twice already, the entire Kiss will soften from the heat of the cookie, and if you place them in a container before they harden again, you will get a BIG MESS!

John is waiting patiently...

Haiku for Today

Detention.  Mouse Hunt.

No paperwork time for me

Playing football now.

Thank you, thank you.  That was my day today.  Kid came in at 8:35 (a whole 5 minutes after the bell rang) and pretty much refused to return to class.  Long story short: he ended up in detention for the day and I had one less kid to deal with for the rest of the day... because I'd already spent a whole hour with him before breakfast!  Bah.  Then came the Great Mouse Hunt of Lunchtime.  We apparently have a new friend in our room.  Coworker #1 and I were trying to catch him for release into the wild, while Coworker #2 stood on her desk and told us to kill it, and Coworker #3 ignored all our craziness.  And I ended my day playing football with two of my boys.  Veeery interesting.  While I cannot say that I am any GOOD at football, I am not as BAD as I thought I would be. (at least compared to 5th graders)  Needless to say, dealing with office referrals, mice, and football, I am still very behind on my daily paperwork!

More haikus to come... maybe?

Shopping... Done!

I feel so productive today: laundry done, electric bill paid, groceries bought, two loads of dishes washed, first batch of Christmas cards assembled, and most of Christmas shopping is now complete!  :) 

Fun things I've learned today:
1) Buy Hallmark Cards.  I've licked four different brands of envelopes today, and they are the only ones that did not make me gag.  In fact, they started to taste like coffee a little... glue poisoning?

2) When you do all your Christmas shopping in one session (thanks, www.theanimalrescuesite.com!), there is a large chance of dying from sticker shock.  But! I tell myself, I have very little else to buy this holiday season, so it all averages out. 

SNOW

SNOW SNOW SNOWING!! SNOW SNOW SNOWING!!  IT'S SNOWING!!

It won't stick, but hush your face and let me do my happy-happy snow dance.

:D

Meanie Poo Poo Head

Just a quick catch-up on my life recently:  I finally got angry at my laziness (and the dues money wasted when I didn't go to the gym all month long) and signed up with a trainer, forcing me to be motivated.  I tacked on my own session after John has his, which is with a different guy because John's old trainer recently moved out of the area.  So, when John started with the new trainer, Fletcher, he told me that he is a power lifter. I was like, "He's a what?" I imagined some beef-cake monster of a guy and was not thrilled with John looking like that.  :(  Well, imagine my surprise when I meet Fletcher to set up my schedule with him and see that he is not huge at all!  He's more like a full-time swimmer's build, maybe a skinny gymnast (I might have drooled a little. Allegedly).  I told John that he has my full permission to look like Fletcher from the collar-bone down.  ;)

So, needless to say, there are some upsides and down-sides to training with a power lifter.  1) He has NO problem increasing the weight on you.  Very often, he sets up the weight, and I am like "HNNNNHG!" ... and nothing happens.  Fletcher laughs/ sighs, lowers the weight and we repeat.  However, 2) He knows what he is talking about, and when the weights go up, the reps go down.  So even when my arms turn to pudding, I only have to do like 3 reps. 

Sad part about when I chose to start working out is that my "sixth workout check-up" was the Monday after Thanksgiving.  :(  Anne is a fatty fatty who likes pie!  But I have been weighing myself since and have lost maybe half of the Thanksgiving weight.  Yay!  Only half a fatty now!  And again, needless to say, for like the last three weeks, I have just been in pain.  Sometimes the pain is localized (like the first day we try a new exercise), but more often, I am just sore.  John says he hurt for about three months when he first started working out before his body got used to it.  sigh...

Y is for ...

Y is for YULETIDE! OK, so I may be a little early with this post, but it's officially after Thanksgiving, and we can now put up decorations / buy Christmas candy / listen to carols / all those things that commercial America has been doing for weeks already.  Call me a traditionalist, I don't care!  Christmas season is not allowed to start until after the Macy's Day Parade.  (Why, yes, I did have a parent grow up in New York-- where it is the "Macy's Day" Parade, not this "Macy's Thanksgiving Day" Parade I hear some people speak of.)

First step towards Christmas: the Bear!  "Just" a silly little advent calendar from childhood that Lara and I fought vicisouly over as kids.  The point is that the bear is looking for Christmas and searches throughout the house as the days go by.

What is it with cats and tree skirts?!?!?? 

Though his second favorite spot is a little weirder... Yes, that's a shoebox lid he's sitting in.

With John's mom's broken ankle, she's put Christmas on hold at their house, so we got to rummage through her extensive decoration collection to use at our house.  Yay! I love Christmas decorations.  Maybe it's because it's MY house finally, but I was ready to go hog-wild.  We did wreaths in the windows/ doors and I put up lights all around the front and back porches.  Haha, those lights were adventures in physics.  I ended up starting a string of lights at each end, then inter-twining them on the middle post so that the wraps were the same and the plugs lined up.

Harvey was VERY excited about my present-wrapping marathon, too.  He really wanted to help out.

But then Demon Kitty showed up and wanted all the presents for himself.... Bad, Demon Kitty!  Those presents are for the family members.

Marshmellow Kitty Fun!

As part of the after-Thanksgiving loot, John and I got half a bag of marhsmellows (from the sweet potatoes, of course!) and he has been excited to eat them all because "they are just puffed air!"  and I cannot put a limit on them, as I do with most desserts.

So, the other day he was snacking on them, and Harvey was all, "Watchya got? Watchya got? Huh? Huh? Can I have some?"  John could not convince the kitty that he did not want any marshmellows, so he lined up his shot and dropped one down on Harvey's up-turned nose.  Rather than freak out and run away (as I was expecting him to do), Harvey said, "Fun toy!" and chased the 'shmellow around the kitchen... before losing it and coming back to John for more.

This continued for several marshmellows and I was just cracking up.  John kept boinking Harvey on his nose with the 'shmellow, and Harvey kept playing with them.  Soon, though, as with everything kitty-related, Harvey inexplicably lost interest and left the room.  :)

Harvey with his "kills"

(And did you all see how goooooooood John looks in a suit?  Yummy!  Hands off, though, he's mine!)

We haz a picture!

Yay!  We have a picture for our Christmas cards now!  I might have commandeered my mother to take a picture of us in front of our new house... then dragged everybody outside three times (allegedly) until I got exactly the facial expressions and angle on the house perfect.  Maybe.  But I am definitely excited.

Boo Government!

Uff! It has taken the IRS 17weeks to tell us that they need more documentation to process our new homebuyer rebate. We were supposed to get the money in 14weeks... Technically, we were first told "8-12 weeks." Then it became "14-16 weeks." Now, at 17 weeks, they realize they don't have everything they need!

Why couldn't they have said in the beginning, "Hey we need this, this, and this form- send it in with your amended tax return." I mean, that was 4 MONTHS AGO! Why did it take the government 4months to realize that they needed an extra form? Seriously?!

Thank God I wasn't waiting for a kidney or surgery or something critical to my life! I'd be dead and they'd come back and ask for some more documentation! Bah!

Harvey is weird

Just what you always wanted: more pictures of my cat!  Hey, I am a self-admitted Crazy Cat Lady, get used to it.  :)

A few weeks ago, I bought a case of bottled Mt Dew and we've been savoring it (have you ever tried Diet Mt Dew?  It's pretty gross compared to the real thing, but we don't want to get any fatter and we drink a lot of soda, so the diet option is kinda what we have to do).

 

So as most foods go, we finished it, and moved the plastic to the side of the kitchen.  It had been there for several days before Harvey finally noticed it... and realized that it's a great kitty-sized cave!  He investigated it while we ate at the table nearby, then promptly lost interest.  Kitties are weird.

Then let's not ignore how Harvey's fluffy toes have no traction on the new wood floors.  I don't understand it: he's fine on the laminate wood floors, fine on the vinyl in the kitchen... but the real wood floors in the living room give him issues.  I keep laughing at him when the friskies hit and he slides everywhere chasing his strings, but then I feel bad for laughing at him.  He never seems to mind the lost traction, but keeps on going after the string.  I finally took video of him, though I did miss a few good barrel rolls.  (sound not necessary, just the "thumpa thumpa" of tiny kitty feet and his sniffling breath)

X is for...

X is for Xtremely Angry!   >:0   Soooo, yesterday we were cleaning like good people who are soon-to-be hosting Thanksgiving, and I happened to drop my phone.  Now, this isn't the first time I've dropped it, but apparently I hit the "sweet spot" this time and cracked the ever-loving stuffings out of the screen.  The phone still works, but there is a big hole in it.   :(

That little piece that has separated from the cracks is UNDER the screen, riding (and hopefully not scratching) directly on the LCD panel.  Yay.

Well, I think to myself (after some choice words uttered in my head), there's a Verizon store just up the road-- maybe they can help us out.  NOPE!  Denied. Verizon apparently does NO repairs in-store, and only will do repairs at all if you are paying extra for an insurance plan.  Way to really go above and beyond on customer service, Verizon, we really appreciate you looking out for us.  I mean, it's a $3 screen for one of the more popular models Verizon carries; how hard is it to stock?

Next thought: there's a Sprint store on the way home, maybe I can hand them a big chunk of money to fix my phone for me even though I am not a Sprint customer.  After waiting over 30min for every clueless person to start an account, I am rejected again.  I ask, what can I do?! Sprint guy answers, "Well you can switch to Sprint..."   Seriously?!  You think that is what I want to hear right now?  Crazy people.  Crazy people who need a punch in the eye. 

I return to the car, either wanting to smash my phone on the ground like a monkey with a coconut OR wanting to burn down a cell phone store... Needless to say I have poor coping skills. 

On the way home, John is trying to keep me emotionally stable (a big job, I know), and I remember that eBay and Amazon sells just a plain screen... but how to fix it ourselves?  John looks up on YouTube instructions for how to take apart a phone.  Though, he is a little too gung-ho about fixing it and begins to crack it open! Wait! We haven't gotten the replacement screen, yet, honey!  ...oops.

Now that my first phase of poor coping skills is complete (desire to destroy the offending object), I have moved on to my second stage: grumpy & pessimistic.  John's about to smack me upside the head because I have now gotten all pouty about slow shipping times and how the screen will NEVER get here, and when it does the LCD will be scratched up anyways.  :(  I told you I got very angry yesterday.

So here I sit today, in a little better mood, but still anxious about preventing further damage to my already busted phone.  :(   Here's to hoping for speedy shipping that will deliver my new screen before Thanksgiving...

W is for ...

W is for World of World of Warcraft!  haha!  John found this video ages ago and it is just too funny!  (About 2min long and yes, you need sound).

'Warcraft' Sequel Lets Gamers Play A Character Playing 'Warcraft'

And if anyone is not familiar with The Onion, it creates spoof news stories that aren't true, but sure sound convincing.  The premise of WoWoW is that gamers can create a character who is not IN the game but is playing the game!  The screen shot is you looking over a guy's shoulder at his computer screen as he plays WoW.  A player in the video says, "It's so realistic: I push a key to make my character push a key to make the Wow character run forward!"

Hahaha.  Silly gamers.

Hell is 45 degrees and rainy and you can't stay curled up under the covers in bed. :( I hate nor'easters.

Happy Halloween!

Yay!  I think I am most excited about Halloween this year because we have our own house to decorate and from which to give out candy.  Am I weird for being excited about giving out candy?  And yes, I got the good stuff, all name brands: Snickers, Three Musketeers, Milky Ways, Twix, M&Ms, Starbursts, Skittles, Hershey Kisses, and Reese's Cups.  No Brach's or sugar-free at our house.  :)  I may have gone crazy, but we are giving out 2 pieces; I don't want to be the stingy house who says only take one.


Raaaaar John has taken over Anne's post while she is giving out candy to the kids.

ANYhoo, Harvey cowers in fear of the doorbell, and does not know what to make of Halloween with all these people coming to his door.  Several of the girls have even admired his "costume" (yes, he is still wearing his jacket for the itching).  We have gotten a few comments about how good our pumpkins are-- mostly from a large bunch of parents who came up to the door.  One mom asked if we did them ourselves, a dad was on the side looking jealous, and his other half's expression said, "You've got to be kidding me, don't even think about it for our house."  And there was another couple out in the road who were lingering and staring at the pumpkins, too.  See? I told you we were awesome.  :)

So the sociologist / nerd in me says that next year we are keeping a survey by the front door as the kids come by to track costume popularity and candy consumption.  :)  But for this year, we are going on my memory in order to determine costume winners.

COSTUME CATEGORIES:
Best Female:  Small-to-mid-sized duckie.  She wins mostly because her costume had "wings" that covered her hands like mittens and rendered her unable to pick up her candy.  John had to select her pieces for her.
Runner-up (though I'm not sure if we should be encouraging her): Slutty Robin.  Yes, pre-teen girl bought a sexy Robin (as in Batman and) costume, complete with cape, mask, mini-skirt and low-cut neckline.  : /

Best Male: TINY boy, maaaaybe in grade school, dressed up as a garden gnome!  He had the pointy red hat, white sideburns and beard, and suspenders over his flannel shirt.  Ahh! I can't stand it!  Too cute!

Best Group:  They came straggling up, so it was a surprise when they all arrived.  Four kids: Leia came first, then same-sized sibling Luke, then older sibling Darth Vader... wait for it... then Mom came pushing baby in stroller who was wearing Yoda ears!!  How awesome!
Runner ups:  Pair of brothers modeling the age-old competition of Pirates vs Ninjas.

Gonna go eat some candy now.  Just yoinked the last Skittles from the bowl for John to have.  I may have gone overboard on the candy, as the night is winding down and we have a good bit leftover.  Oh well!

Gordon Ramsay's Shephed's Pie

Fact:  I love satellite TV now.  One reason is because we get BBC America.  Yay!  That means great shows like Being Human (vampire, werewolf, & ghost live together and trty to be normal), Top Gear (crazy Brits and cars; Hammond is cute!), and Gordon Ramsay's various cooking shows, most favorite is The F Word (mmm... cooking).  Well, Gordon is a good Scot and tries to get his mother's shepherd's pie recipe into every cooking series that he does; so needless to say, we've seen him make shepherd's pie a few times.  John and I were grocery shopping the other week and he saw minced lamb in the meat aisle!  Instantly, he came back to me and sheepishly (no pun) and asked if we could use the rare opportunity to make shepherd's pie.  So a big win for technology came about when I whipped out my phone and Googled Gordon's recipe so we could get all the ingredients.  :) 

End result is very easy and VERY yummy.  Minced meat is rosemarily delicious and makes your house smell great.  Mashed 'tatoes are fluffy and cheesy.  Overall, it's great for packing on a few pounds before winter.  ;)

Fun Fact: you can only make Shepherd's Pie with lamb.  By definition.  If you use any other meat, it's technically a Cottage Pie.

Shepherd's pie

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 500g (1lb) minced lean lamb
• 1 large onion, finely grated
• 1 large carrot, finely grated
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1-2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp tomato puree (tomato paste)
  
• Handful of thyme sprigs, leaves picked
• 1 sprig of rosemary, needles chopped
• 250ml red wine (8 ounces)
  
• 300ml chicken stock (10 ounces)
  
• 1kg (2lbs) Desiree potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
• 50g (3.5 tbsp) butter
• 2 egg yolks
• Parmesan, for grating
• Olive oil
• Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 180˚C (350F) /gas 4 -and get prepped by watching Gordon prepare this shepherd's pie.

2. Heat the oil in a large pan until hot. Season the mince and fry in the oil over moderate to high heat for 2-3 minutes. Stir the onions and carrot into the mince then grate the garlic in as well. Add the Worcestershire sauce, tomato puree and herbs and cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly. Pour in the red wine and reduce until almost completely evaporated. Add the chicken stock, bring to the boil and simmer until the sauce has thickened

3. Meanwhile, cook the potatoes in boiling salted water until tender. Drain then return to the hot pan over low heat to dry out briefly. Pass them through a potato ricer then beat in the egg yolks, followed by about 2 tbsp grated Parmesan. Check for seasoning

4. Spoon the mince into the bottom of a large ovenproof dish. Using a large spoon, layer the mashed potato generously on top of the mince, starting from the outside and working your way into the middle. Grate some extra Parmesan over and season. Fluff up the mash potato with a fork to make rough peaks. Bake in the oven for approximately 20 minutes, until bubbling and golden brown

And as Gordon would say:  "Shepherd's Pie. Done."

Pumpkins part 2

Soooo... John and I learned something this holiday season: pumpkins do not last as long as you think they will.  Haha.  Needless to say, currently, our first pumpkins are quite moldy (and have been removed to the dumpster recently).   And I am quite proud to say that John was the one who first said that we could / should carve new ones when the first set got gross; I was prepared to just toss them and have no jack-o-lanterns for Halloween night.  We waited as long as possible before carving this second set so that they would definitely last through the weekend.

 

I am easing into Halloween decorations slowly, trying not to go crazy (and poor) all at once, but I did decide to get a pumpkin-carving kit the other day and I think it was worth the whole 4.99 that it cost me!  We did use the patterns provided this time, but more importantly, we used to fine little saws included in the kit.  MUCH easier for details than even our smallest kitchen knife. 

I picked the haunted house design, 2 pumpkins out of 4 on difficulty.  John... picked the only 4 /4 most difficult-est design in the kit: the evil scarecrow.  I got some tiny tea lights for illumination.  Awesome, huh?