Sunday, November 30, 2008

Bah, humbug!

Man, I'm such a grinch. I have no holiday spirit, none. Not a drop. I don't want to decorate, I don't want to listen to Christmas songs, I don't want to be bombarded with Christmas at every turn. Where can someone go to escape this madness? I guess there are countries where Christmas is not observed, but do I have to go sooooo far? Shouldn't someone be ALLOWED the opportunity to live a Christmas free existance?

We had a great Thanksgiving. We went to Colstrip and spent a couple nights with Thad's parents. My mom and dad and little sister came into town to eat with us, and John was with us to and fro. Thad's grandmother (Schelle's mom) passed away last week, so I was in charge of the entire dinner, and I think I hit it out of the park. The bird was good, partly due to the brining that Thad's dad and Thad himself were in charge of. The stuffing was something I saw on Food Network, and it was so intriguing that I just had to try it (see link below for recipe). We also did sweet potatoes, mashed yukon gold potatoes, green bean casserole, and two kinds of pie. The chocolate truffle pie (recipe in previous blog) and Thad's mom made a pecan pie. All in all, a huge success.

Christmas might be trickier. I'll be working, Thad will be on call, so Elora will probably spend Christmas with grandparents this year. Nothing has been completely firmed up yet, but hopefully we'll get to celebrate the holiday a few days after the actual day.

My birthday is Wednesday. I'll be 28. Wow, should 28 feel like the train is about to derail? Just kidding, I really don't feel put out that I'll be getting another year older. It's just surreal to age and see everything changing quickly and know that another year has passed. I'm over thinking it, but I can't help but wonder if this feeling of loss will get any easier the older I get.

Well, I better get to work. Real quick, I'd like to tell Adrienne THANK YOU for the great blog, and for the birthday necklace she got for me. I love it, and you knew I would. Check out her blog here!


HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DENA!!!!! I DON'T MIND GETTING OLDER IF I GET TO BE AS HOT AS YOU WHEN I GROW UP!!!!


Oh, and don't forget, the stuffing recipe I used was this one!

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Easiest dessert ever.... for reals.

So, I stumbled across this recipe in a Kraft Food and Family magazine (Holiday, 2007) last year and tried it. Nothing could be freaking easier, and the decadence of this cake is unparalleled. You will need a glass of milk for even the smallest slice.

Chocolate Truffle Pie
1-1/4 pkg. (10 squares) BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate*
1/2 cup whipping cream
4 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour

*you can sub in different types of chocolate, such as Ghiradelli's

Make It

HEAT oven to 325°F. Microwave chocolate and cream in microwaveable bowl on HIGH 2 min. or until chocolate is almost melted. Stir until completely melted. Cool.


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WHISK in eggs, sugar and flour. Pour into greased 9-inch pie plate.

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Host unlimited photos at slide.com for FREE!

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BAKE 35 min. or until edge of pie is puffed but center is still slightly soft; cool.

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Monday, November 10, 2008

Music in my life

My zune is my favorite belonging. I can see why people become a little protective of their zunes and ipods. It's a place where I can maybe scroll through 50 songs (anyone that has driven with me knows that I don't listen to a lot of songs all the way through) and find the PERFECT song to listen to. It may take 50 songs to find it, but by God I'll scroll to find one that matches my mood at that precise moment.

I love how music plays such a huge roll in my life. There are so many bands, songs, melodies, etc. that accompany memories of different periods of my life, from childhood on through the "dark" ages (the period of time that I was drunk a LOT) up to becoming a mom and dancing in the living room.

Here are a few of the songs and memories that accompany them:

"Tired of Toein' the Line" by Rocky Burnette
It isn't likely that you will find this song on i-tunes, but I found the video below. My mom had this record when I was just a baby, and apparently I would walk along the side of the couch when I was just learning to walk, and bounce up and down to this song. When I came home from my first weekend at college my mom played this record and suffered an emotional breakdown on the couch. I heard it on the radio once and called my mom, got her answering machine, and left this song on the message. I called her back later and made her listen to the message and she cried again. It's kind of my mom's song to me.



"Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" by Mozart
One of the prevalent cars in my family's history was this blue Buick. I remember the smell of this car, and have a lot of fond memories of my family in it. I'll forever associate two things with this car: horeshound candy and Mozart. My dad was something of a renaissance man when it came to music. A lot of what my brother and sister and I like is based on things that we listened to growing up with my dad. I'm grateful for my dad's taste, and I hope that I can instill an appreciation for music in Elora the way he instilled it in me.

Pick-a-song by Sublime
Sublime is a hard band to really focus on for musical memories because they have been the soundtrack to a lot of the funnest times in my life. So many of them from the summers between my years in high school, and then later when I discovered 2 girls (and boys I didn't really know) that shared my love of Bradley and Lou Dog. Adrienne and Krystal had their own little apartment in Sheridan for a brief period of time, but the time spent their has left images like photographs in my mind. Through a haze of smoke we talked about plans for our big, bright futures and wasted many hours distracting ourselves from school and family and jobs. Lounging on secondhand furniture from the Salvation Army, cooking up feasts of meals as though we weren't all living on the barest of shoe string budgets. Trying to impress the boys we hung out with by being able to take a bong rip WITHOUT COUGHING.

Later, Sublime's surviving members formed Long Beach Dub Allstars, and this was just another chapter to our time together. We scraped together enough money for all 3 of us girls, and 3 guys, to go to Boulder, CO and see LBDAS in concert. Levi supplied the joints, and Scott decided to lead us to The Hill in Boulder (the notorious location of illicit drugs) to score some acid. We got to the concert and the Levie and Scott took a hit. It didn't appear to be working, so they thought it might be bunk, resulting in them TAKING THE WHOLE THING. Turns out that shit wasn't bunk, much to our amusement. Krystal and I were dancing when some douche tapped her on the shoulder and bitch-slapped her (I think we'd had to get nasty with him when he tried to push through us earlier). Krystal flew at him, long hair flowing behind her like a superhero's cape, and punched that sucka down. I almost flashed my boobs at Opie, but lost my nerve when he actually did a double take as I was putting my hands up to my tank top.

Here is a great Sublime song, and I dedicate to those crazy girls, and to Steel Magnolia, and Lethal Enforcer. "It's like banana flavored chocolate in pudding form!"



"Little Boxes" by Malvina Reynolds, "Banana Pancakes" by Jack Johnson and "My Little Buttercup" by The Three Amigos
These are the three songs I sang to Elora regularly when she was a baby. I love the repetitiveness of "Little Boxes", and she loved it too. There were times that she'd be screaming and I would sing her that song and as long as I kept singing she would be quiet. "Banana Pancakes" was probably the first song I ever sang to her, and I loved it before I was pregnant because I knew I'd sing it to my baby when I had one. "My Little Buttercup" is one of the sweetest songs, and I love the line "Dear little buttercup, with your eyes so blue" because Elora's eyes are just the most gorgeous blue. Kind of an odd selection of songs, but they're all great.

Banana Pancakes


My Little Buttercup


Little Boxes


"Midnight Special" by CCR
Oh, Currey Currey Currey. How many memories do we have that carry the same soundtrack in our hearts. Whether it was when we wanted to marry Lou Diamond Phillips or playing Nintendo at the trailer we grew up in on Laredo Court. Eating Hamburger Helper at Dad's when our parents were sepereated, and dancing for a video camera with your dorky older sister. This song, among many others, stands out as being the song I'll always hold for you. I danced with you at your wedding to this song, and it makes me smile when I hear it.



That's all for now, but I could do this ALL DAY LONG. I think I've found a new mission in life!