Month: December 2006

Holiday Swag

Yesterday was Christmas for my family. We had a late lunch of sandwiches and/or salads and Munchies. And then we chatted or read or slept or played Sims (well, just Judi for the Sims). But eventually we couldn’t stand the suspense any longer and at 4:30pm, Amy began passing out presents for opening.

We always do the “take turns” bit of unwrapping in my family. And we went in order of youngest to oldest. So Rachel started, followed by Amy, me, Judi, dad, mom. (The difference in dad & mom’s age is 6 months, but she is the older…) It was lots of fun unwrapping and seeing what folks got and seeing their expressions when they opened your presents. I, for one, had a blast with Amy & Rachel’s gifts. Rachel decided maybe she’d like some ice skates from LL Bean since they look more gym-shoe like and, thus, more comfortable than what she’d had in the past. So I told her that I’ll see about getting her some ice skates. And I did! And with Amy’s gift, I made up a Netflix-style service of my own DVDs. I call it Flicks DOT Net and made up a logo & everything. She got several pre-paid envelopes for the DVDs, and a list of my collection for her to mark up requests. We’re shooting for 5 at a time and we’ll see how it goes.

The surprise gift of the afternoon were these little wind-up flashlights that mom’s cousin got everyone. They’re LED lights and very easy to get lit. We had a blast cranking and shining and I’m happy to note that I’m not the ONLY one who looked into the lights. We took a break about an hour into the unwrapping and wound up finishing just a little before 7pm.

We had supper in mom’s “new” dining room. Chicken casserole, green beans, Brussels sprouts for mom & Amy, cottage cheese, cranberry sauce from the can, and vino. It was an excellent supper and we toasted Christmas and families.

We stayed there til after midnight and finally mooched on home with our swag. And boy did we do well! I have placed my holiday swag under my tree and taken a photo of it.

As you can see, I received many nice things. (The teddy bears are just decoration.) Several items of clothing from the parentals: 4 turtle neck shirts, 2 vests, corduroys and socks (which I picked up today). A Brit’s Pub shirt from A&R (from the English pub near their place). Dad’s toy (that the thing on the left with the nails in it) from this year. A Robopet from the parentals – yay toys! Books, a CD, and DVDs from the folks, elsaf and judiang. Wrap-around hearmuffs from the folks (all of us got a pair). The aforementioned flashlight and a box of gardening tools from mom’s cousin (the box of tools is under the clothes). A lovely photo of A&R in a motherboard-style frame from the girls which is currently on my kitchen counter and thus not in the photo. And some book uprights for when I finally get my bookshelves built (from m&d). The two wrapped presents there are birthday gifts – one from Elsa & one from Judi. I get to open then tomorrow.

Today, Judi and I headed off to Fairborn for my monthly(ish) trek to the Bookery Fantasy and Jeet India. We both got $50+ worth of stuff. And we had Indian Fud at Jeet. Wonderful buffet. We also went to the Evil Puppy Mall where Judi hugged a baby Pomeranian for a bit. At the Walking Place, I bought socks from mom as well as socks from me. (Well, they were buy 3 get 1 free, so I got 2 pair from mom and 2 pair from me). I love Fox River Socks!

For the third time since my holiday began, Judi and I visited Best Buy. This time, I was going in with the intent to get some speakers for my iPod for the kitchen and/or living room. (They’re portable enough for both – or even my bedroom should I desire.) I got a nice set of Logitech speakers for $150. And I’ve tested them out and they are nice. Judi got herself an external soundcard for her laptop.

After a short stop in Meijer for the last of my groceries for tonight and tomorrow, we returned home. Judi immediately plopped onto the sofa for a nap and I worked on getting things ready for tonight’s New Year’s Eve gathering. We’re playing games and eating food and watching movies and stuff.

I hope all of you have a Happy New Year! I certainly intend to do so!

Down & Safe

Yesterday morning, elsaf walked to her local bakery to get us some cinnamon rolls for breakfast. As usual, I was second up and judiang eventually dragged herself out of bed. We had a nice lazy morning after breakfast, just geeking and eventually packing. When it was nearing 1pm, we drove to Panera Bread in 2 cars. We had a relaxing lunch of broccoli cheddar soup in sour dough bread bowls. We knew that when we were finished with lunch, we’d have to part company, so we chatted for as long as we could. Then we left Panera, hugged, and drove off our separate ways. Elsa back to her place, Judi and I down south to my home.

Thanks to the iPod Transpod that Judi had given me for Christmas, we listened to her iPod for the drive home. We only had one stop along the way where we discussed feminine things as you see in commercials. It was quite funny. I also got to pick on Judi’s 23 versions of “O Holy Night” in her playlist. Spread out over 500 songs, it might not have seemed a little excessive. In a playlist of 95 songs, it got a bit, um, repetitive. She also seems to like “The Little Drummer Boy” a lot as well.

When we got to Troy, I stopped at Penn Station to get us supper. I got my usual Philly cheesesteak, got Judi a club with no ham, mom a regular club, and dad the Italian sub. Plus a large fries. Once in town, I got some beverages from the gas station (including blue Gatorade for Judi who had thrown out her shoulder playing some pretty mean Air Piano during one of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra pieces and was having muscle cramps because of it). We arrived at the parentals with food and had a nice supper in their kitchen.

After supper, Judi and I headed to my house (where I’d already been to cuddle my kitties) and I showed off my flatscreen TV by playing Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Ah, some mad David Tennant! What fun! Near the end of the film, mom called to say it was time to pick up Amy & Rachel, so I headed next door and we three rushed off to the airport to pick up the girls.

They arrived on time and we exchanged hugs. Then we waited and waited and waited some more for the luggage to come out. When their baggage carousel began to spin, I predicted to Amy “4th and 12th.” Well, neither of their bags showed up 4th or 12th. Indeed, it was more like 4th from the last and last. As soon as their last piece showed up, the carousel stopped. Heh, what timing…

We returned home for cookies and milk. I dragged Judi over from next door because calling her on my phone did no good. “Trina, you had 2 phone calls just now.” Um, yeah! Silly gurl! 🙂 The cookies, milk, and conversation were all a nice wind up to a busy day for all.

Bedtime for Judi turned out to be Kitten Hell. The kitties had never seen the sofa open out into a bed and spent most of the evening playing under the bed, rolling things back and forth. They did eventually join me in bed to sleep, but they aggravated Judi enough so that she didn’t have the world’s greatest night sleeping. Still, we managed to get over to mom & dad’s shortly after 9am. Dad made everyone Egg McMikey sammiches, which, as always, were very yummy. The girls went back to bed, Judi fell asleep on the sofa, and the parentals headed off to the grocery. So I have returned home for a little waiting for the sleepy heads to return to the land of the living.

Tonight, we have our “traditional” Christmas dinner of chicken casserole and will then open presents. Mmmm, presents! I love presents!

Happy Feet

We had another nice slow start today. (I *love* vacation!) And today, elsaf made us French toast – yay! (I love French toast even more than pancakes, and that’s saying something.) And more sausage to eat with syrup. judiang, as usual. was the last one up.

Much of the afternoon was spent geeking and waiting around to find out when the National Day of Mourning will be. This has no bearing on me or Elsa, but Judi is a Fed and thus it is of great importance to her. And now we know – her day off will be Tuesday. Perhaps she will rant about the irony of that date in her LJ. Perhaps not.

Elsa made us roast beast sammiches for lunch. She and I had earlier walked to her local bakery to get some bread. It was pumpernickle rye, which Judi and I turned down for our sandwiches. What can we say, we’re White Bread Girls. 😉 The sandwich was great, and we had it with Royal Riviera pears from Harry and Davids. It was the best pear I have ever had – so juicy and succulant. Thanks to Elsa’s mum for getting a Harry & David set o’ items for us.

Judi decided that she needed to go to Best Buy again, this time to get stuff for herself. So we stopped there on our way to our Holiday Movie. She picked up two mice, because one mouse just isn’t enough… (Actually, she needed a wired mouse for her laptop and decided to get a wired mouse for her PC for when her wireless one gives her grief and I pick on her to “get a real mouse.”)

Our pick for Holiday Movie was Happy Feet. The only trailer we saw that was anything good was Harry Potter 5. And the movie? So cute! And such a great rythm. I had happy feet while I watched it. Penguins are of the cute! Go penguins!

We finished our fun evening out by having supper at La Shish. We ate at one of the restaurants last year and Judi wanted to go again this year. They make very yummy Middle Eastern food. The girls got the shish combo for two and I got the garlic & almond ghallaba. Judi and I also got smoothies – her a papaya and me a mango. I’d gotten the ghallaba last year and enjoyed it enough to order again this year. Maybe someday I’ll get a shish kabob. 🙂

Our evening was cut short by poor Elsa getting a bloody nose (she got one yesterday at breakfast too, poor dear). She had me drive home and I did so quite safely cuz I’m a good driver. Despite what other people say…

When we got back, we watched The Ruby in the Smoke and ate ice cream. I had Been & Jerry’s chocolate fudge brownie while the girls had B&J’s Cookie Dough ice cream. Good eats and good show. Now we’re watching last week’s Torchwood and I’m writing this.

Tomorrow, our threesome breaks up when Judi and I head on back to Ohio to continue my Christmas celebration. And shortly my birthday celebration. Yay for celebration! Yay for presents!

An English Supper

Today started nice and lazy with me sleeping in until 9 and judiang sleeping in until 10. elsaf, however, had been up since 7-something. She assures us she had a restful sleep, so that was good.

Elsa made us a breakfast of pancakes and sausage. It really hit the spot and did a great job of keeping us sated until suppertime. We decided to do our gift exchange then. The presents were all nicely displayed in front of the TV (for lack of a tree – hey, they both start with T). And we began with Elsa’s birthday present from Judi. (For those of you keeping score at home, you may have realized that Elsa’s birthday is in August. So Judi was a little late…) The gift was an iPod transponder for her car. (Hmmm, looks like something someone would buy at Best Buy!)

Next it was time for the Christmas exchange. It turns out I, too, got an iPod transponder. Cool! She also got me a children’s book by Neil Gaiman. Thanks Judi! Elsa gave me the DVD of Ghost Light (What do you mean “don’t you already have that??? OK, so I hadn’t gotten the Region 1 version yet… But now I have it so YAY!) Thanks Elsa! Elsa liked the 3-tiered spice rack and gift certificate to The Spice House that I got her. Judi was excited for the Complete Peanuts 1959-1962 which I got her. Elsa also received a Southern Living Cookbook and meat pounder from Judi and Judi received 2 Sims 2 Expansion Packs from Elsa. A nice haul for all of us. And Elsa gave me my birthday gift, but I shall wait til Monday to open it. Woot! Thanks in advance, Elsa!

We had a few things we needed to get for supper after a quick stop at Elsa’s parent’s house. And one of the places we stopped was the butcher’s shop near Elsa’s house. Now, I dunno about you, but butcher’s shops are something that we still have around my neck of the woods. And obviously around Elsa’s neighborhood. But Judi was surprised. She thought they were extinct and thus had to take photos when we got in there. Heh, silly girl! Hopefully she’ll post at least one of ’em in her journal tonight.

We cleaned the kitchen when we got back and then Elsa began making the steak & ale pies for supper. She also started on the custard for the trifle she was making as well. Judi and I took it in turns to stir the custard and it thickened just when Tom and Ardath (Elsa’s bro and sis-in-law) arrived with the dogs. (They have 2 dogs, Rosie and Casey, and they’ve been taking care of Ollie while Judi and I were here since he gets exited by visitors. Only Floyd has been with us on our trip thus far.)

Tom had made shepherd’s pie and Ardi had brought some home-made toffee. A Wassail mix finished off the meal and we had a nice English supper of steak & ale pie, shepherd’s pie, wassail, and raspberry trifle. Wonderful meal and my hat off to all the chefs.

After supper, Tom took the dogs for a walk while we fixed the technical difficulties we were having with our viewing of The Runaway Bride (the 2006 Doctor Who Christmas special). By the time Tom was back with the critters, the VCD was done and we watched the special. We laughed and cheered and had fun with the silly story. Quite an entertainment for our group.

To finish off the evening, we all pulled Christmas crackers and read the silly jokes and put on the silly hats. Then Ardi passed around the toffee and we munched. Then she treated the doggies to doggie berry cobbler. (It’s canned stuff that they all simply adored and sat patiently for their turn at the spoon.) Lots of munching going on at that point.

At 10pm, Tom & Ardath and the pooches (all but Floyd) headed on back home. Elsa and Judi are cleaning the kitchen. And I’m sitting here writing all of this. And with a “and that’s that!” from Elsa, I think they’re done.

Yay! What a fun day we’ve had!

And so it begins…

Now that many people are done with their Christmas, I am finally beginning mine. Sure, I’ve been to the extended family gatherings, but since Amy & Rachel weren’t there, they don’t count. However, today I drove Oop North to Detroit and am at elsaf‘s for a few days. We exchange gifts tomorrow and later in the week, Amy & Rachel come to Ohio for our family Christmas. So let’s hear it for Christmases that last all week!

I got the Elsa’s safely and on time this morning. And shortly after, I was sent off to pick up judiang from the Metro airport. Eep! But I drove there & back just fine. And I even remembered to pick up Judi!

We did a short shopping spree at Best Buy where I wasn’t allowed to be where Judi was (and apparently neither was Elsa), but as I had to park the car (somewhere in the vicinity of the store – I think I was only 17 blocks away) I managed to avoid her. While in the store, I noticed I’m getting slack in my DVD collecting. Season 4 of Bewitched and the final seasons of Dangermouse are now on DVD. Looks like I know what I’ll be getting myself after the new year comes!

After a bit of geeking back at the house, we headed off to supper at Sy Thai Shores restaurant. We started with the appetizer sampler – spring rolls, shrimp thingies, and crab rangoon. I had pad thai with tofu (hmmmm, couldn’t think of anything original, eh trina?), Elsa got the drunken noodles, and Judi got the orange duck. For dessert, Judi and I opted for coconut ice cream (yum!) and Elsa got the Thai version of banana cake. Everything was yummy!

To top off our evening, we headed off to the Fisher Theater to see Spamalot. I bought a $20 program magically (well, Judi swears she never saw me buy it) and we found our seats. We had great seats on the mezzenine. Nicely done, Elsa! The show was funny and the songs quite entertaining. And a lucky guy in the audience got to leave with a miniature Holy Grail. Heh.

On our way back, Elsa drove by Lakeshore Drive (Chicago doesn’t have the monopoly on Lakeshore drives) so we could look at the Christmas lights. Some pretty swanky houses out there with even swankier Christmas lights. If we get the gumption, tomorrow we’ll go again and Judi will try to get photos.

Well, now that I’m nicely settled, Judi is insisting that I make her an amaretto sour. Such a taskmaster is our Judi…

Recipes!

As requested by scalderwood, two of the recipes from yesterday’s Baking Day.

Lindy Cookies

(Chocolate Chip-Oatmeal Cookies)


1cup butter or oleo

¾cup brown sugar

¾cup granulated sugar

2eggs

1tsp. hot water

2cups flour

1tsp. soda

1tsp. salt

2cup oatmeal

1tsp. vanilla

12oz. chocolate chips


Mix butter and eggs, add sugars. Cream together. Add hot water and vanilla. Slowly add dry ingredients, then mix in chips.

Bake at 350-375° for 6 or 7 minutes. Don’t over bake!


These cookies have been my favorite since I was a wee little child. It was Kathi Strong, I believe, who first called them Lindy cookies, since they are mom’s recipe. These are much better than store bought chocolate chip cookies and even better than Toll House cookies.

Butterscotch Cookies

(AKA Icebox Cookies)


4cup brown sugar

1cup butter

4eggs

6½cup flour

1Tbsp soda

1tsp cream of tartar


Mix sugar and butter, add eggs. Sift together (or mix with wire whisk)dry ingredients. Add to sugar mixture. Make into 1 or 2 loaves, set overnight in refrigerator. Slice into 70 cookies. Bake at 375°for 10 minutes.


Mom usually reserves the last ½ cup of flour for when she rolls the dough into loaves. These cookies are best served with a cup of coffee.

Straight out of the family cookbook! I love Cut & Paste. 🙂

Baking Day 2006

Mom and I once again locked ourselves in her kitchen all day and baked our little hearts out. Yup, it’s our annual Baking Day! (OK, if you’re picturing us locked into the kitchen with shackles and a taskmaster cracking a whip, it wasn’t quite like that…)

In 2004 and 2005 I reported on those Baking Days. We’ve stuck with most of the usual lot for baked goods. Though we did try one former classic once again – Oatmeal Carmelitas. Think chocolate chip cookie bars with gooey caramel and pecans. Indeed, they came out so gooey that we’re just going to bring them along in their original pan rather than get them out to set with the other cookies.

The list of things we made were as follows:

  • Ice Box Cookies (Butterscotch cookies – a family favorite, great with coffee apparently)

  • Oatmeal Carmelitas

  • Caramel Pecan Dreams (AKA floor sweeping cake – this time with REAL floor sweepings!)

  • Lindy Cookies (mom’s classic oatmeal chocolate chip cookies)

  • Cheesecake Cupcakes (a double batch)

  • Peanut Blossoms (AKA nipple cookies)

  • Candy Buckeyes (using a slightly different recipe and Ghirardelli chocolate chips)

  • Market Day Sugar Cookies (which we haven’t baked yet – we’ll decorate & bake those and the ice box cookies tomorrow)

We’ve tasted most of these and they are YUMMY! Mom and I rock mightily. 🙂 Tomorrow, as I mentioned in the list, mom will be baking the ice box cookies (we made a double batch – that’s 12 cups of flour!!!) and when I get home from work, we’ll decorate and bake some of the sugar cookies. (The elementary school is doing a monthly fundraiser called Market Day where you can buy a number of prepared food items. I decided to try their holiday sugar cookies. And they had cool decorations which I also got.)

Tomorrow evening, we’re off to the Shorts (Aunt Becky et al) for the extended family Christmas. And Saturday evening is the Andersons. It’ll be sad going to the family gatherings without Amy & Rachel, but in a selfish way, it means we don’t have to share them with anyone when they do come. Hee hee! (Well, Aunt Becky is invited to New Year’s Eve – as is Deanna – so they’ll get to share in A&R a little.)

Busy Weekend

This has been a good weekend. I got some stuff done that needed doing and had a nice time with my kitties, which also needs doing. 🙂

Friday we had our staff Xmas lunch. The superintendent had it catered and staff brought in desserts. The shredded chicken was good (as probably was the shredded beef, but I didn’t get that) and the deserts were – wow, let’s just say I had a sugar high that day. That evening, we had a small gathering at BW3s for the first time in ages. I enjoyed the chicken wings and the conversation. Oh, the amaretto sour was good too. 🙂

Saturday, I had a dentist’s appointment which put me in Troy around lunchtime. What better time to check out the new Japanese place? I stopped at Staples on the way to the dentist for some Xmas gift supplies. Was told I had boring teeth by my hygienist (I’ve had her as my hygienist for, like, ever). Had a wonderful sushi meal at the new Japanese place. They have hibachi there was well. Wonder if I can convince the family that we should all go there for lunch one day when the girls are here. 🙂

After a short stop in Walmart for breakfast items, I drove to the Piqua Mall. I needed to get bags for my vacuum cleaner at Sears and thought I’d look through the mall. I was pleased to see there were many folks shopping there. And it was fun looking at the N-scale train they had on display from the Dayton N-scale club. They even had a train’s eye view playing as the train went around the track. I, of course, watched it go the entire distance.

I popped into Home Depot to see if they had the type of wood I want for my bookshelves (Lowe’s ran out last time I got some) and they do, for the same price. I didn’t buy any since I didn’t have dad and his truck to help, but I did buy one of those cardboard tubes used for cement molds. I intend to make a Cat Jungle Gym at some point and needed it for the curved platforms for sitting. Dunno when I’ll make it (most likely with dad’s help) but I will.

The final stop was Meijer where I got the last of my Xmas gifts and some supplies. Then I went home to hang with the kitties. We worked on a Christmas gift for awhile and played and cleaned and stuff. And today, more of the same. I discovered that I have enough underwear to last til Tuesday, so I’ll do laundry then. Heh. I even got to read Linus a book (that I bought when several teachers and I went shopping on Monday). He didn’t look at the pictures, cute though they were, but he did listen. Or maybe he was sleeping? With a cat, who can tell? 🙂

For the most part, I’m done with my holiday shopping. Waiting for a couple of orders to arrive and still have one to finish. However, I won’t be wrapping presents until Christmas morning probably. The closer I get to the actual days of presents opening, the less chance there is for the kitties to unwrap them all.

Picture Time

It has been awhile since I’ve displayed photos of my kittens, so I think I should remedy that.


Lucy sitting pretty.


It’s a little out of season, but here is Lucy with her good friend, pumpkin.


I discovered the kittens have a different meaning for “boxing.” That’s Linus in the box.


Lucy & Linus wait for mommy to come home. (Well, not in this photo, but they have been known to keep watch when I’m away.)


It’s nice of the kittens to help with the household chores, but I don’t think they quite understand the dishwasher yet.


Linus makes sure the Christmas tree tastes right.


The tree is decorated – but they’ve already taken care of the bottom row for me. And if you look close, you can see one of the little ones underneath the tree.