Month: December 2012

Merry Christmas! Happy Tuesday!

Although today is Dec 25, AKA Christmas, I opened no presents. Poor Amy will not be with us until Dec 28, so we’ll open presents after she arrives (Sat morning, if all goes well!)

We also didn’t have a White Christmas today. But that’s OK, because we’re getting a blizzard tomorrow. If the power doesn’t go out, I’m intending to have a lovely day of bread baking, present wrapping, and game playing. Woo! And if it’s not horrible, maybe a walk in the snow. We’ll see!

What mom and I did do today was our annual Baking Day. However, due to me doing Weight Watchers, we didn’t go as overboard on cookies like usual. We did three things from scratch (pecan cookies, Lindy cookies, and ice box cookies) and three things from Market Day (shaped sugar cookies, macadamia nut cookies, and chocolate mint cookies). We watched schmalzy Christmas movies on the Hallmark channel or listened to Christmas music while we baked. It was a good day.

I am now back with the kitties though (and Linus wants some huggings, so I need to get offline shortly for cuddles) and I’m hoping tomorrow will be a good snow-watching day. And I really hope things get cleared up by Friday evening when Amy’s supposed to be flying in!

Hope everyone who celebrated had a wonderful Christmas today!

First Christmas of the season!

Today was our day inside. We started the morning with elsaf making us a breakfast of pancakes & bacon (mmmm, bacon!) and I had whole milk with mine (OMG, whole milk!) Tasty, tasty. Then we didn’t eat at all until supper time, cuz Elsa was making us our Christmas Dinner. (Well, OK, we all had a slice of butter bread from the loaf of bread that Elsa baked.)

I did take a short walk to Jewel (with a stop into Trader Joe’s for grins) to get a few essentials that we needed. Oh, and I took Patty (judiang‘s doggie) out for walkies once. She wanted to get back inside ASAP to watch Elsa cook, so we weren’t out long.

Elsa had e-mailed us last week asking for votes on the dinner. The consensus was rack of lamb, mushroom soup, asparagus, rice pilaf, and lava cakes. She added a red currant & wine sauce, pear salad, and from scratch rolls to that menu.

I think I cleaned the cooking dishes 3 times during the day, it took that much cookware for the meal, but it was worth it when we finally sat down for our meal.

The pear salad was very simple – sliced fresh pears with bleu cheese, walnuts, and a poppy seed dressing (no lettuce). Very tasty. She’s made the mushroom soup (with sherry) before and it was once again very yummy (and I’m not overly fond of mushrooms). The lamb was cooked perfectly and the sauce complimented it well (and was also good on the pilaf). For out-of-season asparagus, they were pretty good. And the lava cakes were spongy and nice, especially with a side of ice cream.

After the meal, we opened presents. I got lots of nifty stuff, including a real surprise – a K’nex roller coaster thingy that Judi got when she was in the studio audience of the Anderson Cooper show. Pretty darn nifty!

I managed to get stuff packed into my bag (and into another bag). I tweeted several photos from the meal tonight, along with a few gift photos. If you visit this lockerz.com page, you should be able to click on the photos that I tweeted tonight.

Tomorrow I fly home for more festivities! Woo!

Entertainment Time!

Today has been a fab day full of entertainment.

We started out (late) to Dim Sum, like usual. Man, I love dim sum. And I was a somewhat responsible eater, keeping WeightWatchers points in mind. And still had lots of yummy things.

On our way back, we stopped off at Bed Bath & Beyond and Best Buy for a few things. I found a Christmas present for the kitties at BB&B, too.

After a spot of resting at judiang‘s, we left for Navy Pier for my surprise of the weekend: Judi had ordered us tickets to see Miriam Margolyes’s one-woman show Dickens’ Women. Woohoo! With Elsa driving, we arrived with plenty of time so mooched about in one of the stores before getting to our balcony seats. It was a small venue and there wasn’t really a bad seat in the house. Miriam was excellent and the show was entertaining. And I realized I have a lot more Dickens to read!

Supper was also at Navy Pier (well, we paid for all day parking, might as well stay longer) and we went to Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville. I had an Angry Orchard crisp apple cider (I do so love those) and a salad with shrimp, crab, and lobster on it. Ate half of the salad and so today I was good for my WW points, I think!

Our final entertainment for the day was another 3D HFR showing of The Hobbit. The first time for elsaf and second time for me. Judi had tickets too, but sadly a sinus headache prevented her from going. So she lent us her phone (which had our tickets on it) and keys (so we could get back into her apartment) and dammit if I didn’t think to send all sorts of tweets & facebook updates about how cool trina is etc. 😉

Now we’re all together (Judi’s feeling better) and ready for another day tomorrow. Woo!

Happy Solstice!

I’m posting this with my cell phone from Chicago. (I mean that my cell & I are in Chicago, not that my phone originated from there!)

Hope y’all had a great solstice! We’re now halfway out of the dark!

Seas and Ships and Ceiling Wax

Wow, December is half over and I’ve not updated once. And many’s the time I’ve thought “I should post that to LJ” and then never did. My round tuits are around here someplace…

First off: The Hobbit. Ever since I saw Peter Jackson’s take on the Lord of the Rings, I wanted him to tackle The Hobbit. And then when he cast Sylvester McCoy in it, I got even more excited. I’m pleased that judiang got into Richard Armitage, because the Armitage Army have been a great source for Hobbit info. 🙂

Anyhoo, for mom’s birthday last year, I got her tickets to my favorite ballet (The Nutcracker). This year, I got her tickets to a movie with my favorite actor in it. 🙂 So yesterday, mom, dad, and I went doon sooth to the only theatre in the area showing the film at 48 frames per second. We got ideal seats and enjoyed the flick immensely. The picture quality is so crisp, and I never got nauseous once (which I always do in 3D movies). The folks enjoyed the flick too, and neither recognized Sylv in his role (though dad had pretty much narrowed it down to Radagast). Woo!

As for Sylv in the flick – wonderful. But then I would say that. Heh. I was pleased by the amount of the movie that he’s in. Hope he shows up in the other two, too!

In other news: After our trip to Ikea in MN, I decided to go the next weekend to my own Ikea (which is even further doon sooth than the theatre where we saw The Hobbit) and get the stuff I’d decided I liked in MN. I measured my trunk and knew that everything would fit – probably. And it did. I got a dining room table (small & square that expands out to a bigger rectangle when needed), 4 dining room chairs with extra seat covers (I have cats, you know), a coffee table (Lack, with a shelf), and some candles. I even planned ahead with Weight Watchers and knew how many points my meal would be. Heh.

WeightWatchers: I am on it again through work. And believe it or not, am losing despite Thanksgiving and the upcoming holidays. I’ll be surprised (though pleasantly so) if I lose over the break.

Holidays: Probably my least decorated yet. Have the tree up, got a real wreath & roping and they’re finally up, and today got out the other things I’ll decorate with. Though not everything is in place yet. Didn’t swap out dishes like usual, though. Amy will be in after Christmas, so before Christmas, I’m doing a short weekend in Chicago to hang with Judi and elsaf. Should be much fun.

Holiday shopping: Mostly done with that. Not yet done with Amy, and there’s a few things to buy locally for mom and another friend. Oh yeah, little cousins… Hmmm.

Last week of school: This week is our last of 2012. If I get all of my grading done, I’ll be very pleased. That’s my goal for the week. One less thing to hang over my holiday. 🙂

Wow, 2012, you’ve gone by so fast. You know, 2013, you can take your time if you want (even though I AM ready to watch the second Hobbit movie. Heh.)