Thursday, December 29, 2005

Candies, Cookies, & More!

This post is actually about the Friday before Christmas...I'm just very delayed in writing it.

I didn't wake up quite early...but when I did awake, I realized very quickly that Mom had already started the preparations for making divinity. She had told me the day before that she would need help making it because we don't have a mixer that spins the bowl automatically (that's another story for another time about how the motor burnt on the one that we had). So, she needed me to use the handmixer and spin the bowl with my hand while she poured the candy mix. Thus, I began to help Mom making Christmas candies, cookies, fudge, etc.

We had a wonderful time! We listened to Christmas music, and were dancing all over the kitchen. Really. Table of Stone can back me up. She joined us later in the day to make the cookies that I traditionally have made. But, I wanted to try something different this year, so I made candy cane cookies. They weren't too bad, but instead of almond extract, I want to try peppermint extract next year.

Besides having great fun with my mom and my sister, I also got to learn how to make all this good stuff. (Because we made, all in all, divinity, candy cane cookies, datenut balls, peanut butter balls, fudge...and Mom made some other stuff later - Chex mix, chow mein candy, and perhaps one or two others. The cookies Table of Stone made are called $250 Chocolate Chip Cookies. Very, very good.)

So, I learned how to tell the difference, when making candy, in "soft ball", "hard ball", and "hard crack". Yes, yes, you can use a candy thermometer that will tell you all of these. But, if you don't have a thermometer, Mom learned from a childhood neighbor, that at the "soft ball" stage, the candy will "spin threads." :-) Who have I lost? And, if you drip it in water, it will harden like a "soft ball." When you drip "hard crack" in, it is very, very, hard.

I look forward to baking every Christmas. My mom, my sister, and I are all in the kitchen together. We make a great big mess together, but we have so much fun. It was a wonderful, wonderful day.

Friday, December 23, 2005

Just Can't do it

" Let's play Halo!" is heard in our churchhouse/ house just about every wednesday and sunday and sometimes on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. But for about two years now I have said, no I'm just not interested and this was true I can assure you. Just never been interested in blowing people up and then getting yelled at for doing so. ( ex. Brian that was cheap. or Derrick I can't believe you just did that) However last night i broke down. Brian wanted to play 8 players, 4 on 4. I was necessary for this to work. So I couldn't disappoint the boys. They rarely ask me to play. We played for an hour, not too much I suppose. But in that hour I got 2 kills and about 29 deaths if not more, maybe I quit counting. To say the least, I spent more time dead than alive. I could not for the life of me figure out the two joystick thing. People would start shooting at me and I couldn't find them and if I did I couldn't aim long enough to kill them. Anyways, it was basically an all around bad experience and I tried to be positive about it. I'm just not a Halo..er. I don't know if that will be my last time to play but it definitely didn't change my mind about the game at all. Good try boys, good try.
By the way, I say it was a bad experience but nothing is too bad of an experience when you are with good friends who love you whether you like Halo or not : )

Monday, December 19, 2005

Birthday Surprise!

Yesterday was a strange series of events...but it finally all made sense about 7:00 last night. 1)It began after lunch at the church, when Morgan was conversing with Mom about the vegetable tray - trying to figure out how Mom could take it home since we were going to the nursing homes to give out cards and sing. I thought, "Why do we need a vegetable tray?" But...I figured Mom had her reasons. Didn't ask any questions. 2)Then, after visiting the nursing homes, Mom needed to go by Winn-Dixie. When she brought the bags to the van, they contained Milo's sweet tea, two two-liter cokes, and chili making stuff. I looked at the drinks and thought, "What event does Mom need Milo's sweet tea for? And the cokes, too?" Because, we never buy tea - we make it. And we never buy liter cokes - we get the cans. But, once again, I figured Mom had her reasons. I may have pointed out these things, but I don't think I got a response. 3)As we were getting ready to leave home and go to the night church service, I asked Mom, "why did you make chili?" (Because Sunday night is Perico's night.) She didn't answer. I thought, well maybe it's for later, or maybe she just wanted us home tonight.

Basically, I was clueless. Until, they announced my surprise birthday party/get-together at the end of services! Ding-ding!! Now it all made sense. It was quite lovely. Delicious chili, yummy strawberry cake, and cheesecake that I haven't tasted yet! I was surrounded by friends and family, truly blessed. Thanks ya'll. It was one of my best birthdays.


*Just to note, though: My birthday is the 22nd, not the 18th. :-)

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Books, books, and books!

On the first Saturday of the month I went to the Friends of the Library Bookstore. On the first Saturday of each month, one can "stuff a sack" for $8.00. As many books as you can fit in the large brown paper bag. I managed 17, plus a few for Mr. Rogers that he couldn't fit in his own sack. I got the following:

-Amy Vanderbilt's Complete Book of Etiquette (1958)
-The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom
-Sonnets from the Portuguese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
-Decline and Fall by Gibbon
-Third Girl by Agatha Christie
-And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
-Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
-What Maisie Knew by Henry James
-All Quiet on the Western Front by Remarque
-Patton: Ordeal and Triumph by Farago
-Hitler's Guard by Weingartner
-Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
-Outland by Foster
-Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
-The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe
-A Man in Full by Tom Wolfe
-Clear and Present Danger by Tom Clancy

I plan on beginning And Then There Were None this Friday! I have wanted to read it for a long time!

Friday, December 09, 2005

Emerging from the books...

I break from my studies to play the seven game. Here we go...

Seven things I want to do before I die:

-Go to Europe
-Buy a motorcycle
-Have a nice collection of books, many of which I've read
-Fall "head over feet" in love and get married
-Finish "The Lord of the Rings"
-Hike the Appalachian Trail
-Simply put, become a better person and child of God

Seven things I cannot do:

-Dance
-Run (trust me, I've tried...Don't laugh dearest sis... :-) )
-Throw away my Chicago shirt
-Make machine gun noises
-Go to bed early (like, before 12:00)
-Not be very detail-oriented
-Stay warm - I'm always cold.

(And, I thought of this later...smoke)

Seven things that attracted me to my spouse (yadda, yadda...if I had one)

-His love of God and the PB church
-Can carry an intelligent conversation
-His kindness and thoughtfulness
-He is wise, and someone I respect
-I can be myself around him, and he is my best friend
-Holds a decent job that will support a family
-He loves my family and is dashingly handsome

(I agree with the Table...only seven??)

Seven things I say most often:

-That's interesting.
-Wow...
-Well...I mean...
-Umm...
-(Something, something) I think.
-What's up?
-Hmm...

Seven books I love:

-The King James Bible
-The Chronicles of Narnia / Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
-The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom
-Matilda by Roald Dahl
-Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
-The Primitive Baptist Hymnal
-The Adventure of Tom Sawyer / Treasure Island (Can I squeeze 2 into 1?)

Seven movies I could watch over and over:

-Conspiracy Theory
-McClintock
-Casablanca
-How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (I'm with ya Life's Better in the South)
-Star Wars
-Notting Hill
-Sense and Sensibility

Others: Armageddon, and (Table of Stone you'll get this) The Dirty Dozen, Indiana Jones.

Seven to Tag (although I think they have been by now...what can I say...I've had it lying around ready to post...but...studying...it's so overated.):

-Marjoniqua
-Life is Better in the South
-Toesthattwinkle
-Booty Mellicious
-Queen Shenaynay
-umm...others?
-anyone else?

I love you peoples, and I can't wait to see you all soon, Lord willing.
-

I'm it

Seven things...

to do before I die:

-run a marathon
-create a drug that cures cancer
-live in New York and run a bookstore
-have a house in Cades Cove
-drive a motorcycle
-open a five star hotel somewhere cool
-surf

I cannot do:

-stay up ALL night
-get rejected from pharmacy school (nope cannot do it)
-be a Bama fan
-take a serious picture
-be something i'm not
-swing my chair on the top of a ferris wheel
-draw in 3D

that attracted me to my spouse (assuming I had one)

-his inward and outward passion for Christ
-his maturity(encompasses alot more)
-he likes to play
-his love for my family
-his compassion for others
-he has goals for himself and for us
-his love for kids
(I only get seven..man)

i say most often:

-HOLLA!
-Let's be honest...
-It's true.
-WHATEVER!
-Punk
-Pansy (you stole it from me :)
-What?

seven books i love:
-The Holy Bible (KJV-just a plug in)
-The Hiding Place
-The Chosen
-Polar Express
-my Chemistry textbook
-A Time Traveler's Wife
-Pride and prejudice
( there we go a variety)

seven movies i could watch over and over:
-Finding Neverland
-Sense and Sensibility
-A League of their Own
-Surf Ninjas
-Buttercream Gang
-Back to the Future I II and III
-October Sky

people i want to tag
-whoevers reading this and feels left out