Impersonating CNN Anchors...Etc...

Something that Annetta and I like to do occasionally is gang up on Jessica. We dragged Hosanna into this plot at the last moment, but they both did well, I thought. Those of you familiar with CNN, and have a weird sense of humor (like as weird as mine) should appreciate this. When Jessica gets into more important politics, it'll be fun to pull this out, won't it, Annetta?

(At second 32, that is not a UFO in the background...it is a car.)

(Background music courtesy of Jessica [unbeknown to her])

Yes, Jessica is a great sister.

My Latest Kitchen Project

Other possible title: My Latest Culinary Explosion Disaster Experiment.

A.K. Daniels posted a recipe for a 5-Minute Chocolate Mug Cake. I thought it would be fun to make several, and post my results. You can find the original recipe and her results at her blog. Since we don't have a microwave, I experimented with baking it in the oven.

Because the recipe is 1 serving size, I multiplied it by 9. Because I'm not good at guessing exactly how much 8 cups of anything is, I ended up having to change bowls in the middle :P




So I made it in a bowl, instead of the individual cups, since it seemed faster. I did the dry stuff first.








This is the stirring of the dry ingredients.




Milk, if you couldn't tell...

Pay no mind to the bit that worked its way onto my thumbnail...I'm not exactly the neatest or most precise when it comes to the kitchen. "It all tastes the same" is my motto concerning spills.

If the recipe calls for chocolate chips, put 'em in!!

Oops...I almost forgot the vanilla. I would have put it in with the rest of the wet stuff; that makes for easier stirring. Yes, the dough gets quite stiff.

Like I said, not the neatest, and the stuff sticking up did burn a little bit, but I think I also baked it too long, which would contribute to the turning black problem. They rose amazingly well.

In summary, next time I make it, I will:

1. Not cut down so much on the sugar. I thought 4 cups was a lot, so I nearly halved it, but it shouldn't have been cut back so much, even though nobody mentioned it.

2. I won't bake it so long. It was hard with no established baking time, and because of the melty chocolate chips, it was hard to use the knife test for doneness. But I think it was overdone some.

3. I would also cut back on the eggs, and consider adding some leavening of some sort.

4. I won't fill the cups as full, so that I can just pour my milk in with my cake and eat it right like that (okay, tell me I'm not weird...does anyone else always put milk on their cake?)

Okay...now go make cake (and eat it too...sorry, couldn't resist!)

Wishful Thinking

I want some. Actually, a lot. Like, a yard full. Green. With dandelions. (I am starting to drool here.) You will understand my obsession with grass right now if you will cast your eyes over these snapshots taken around the farm here. The snow goes up to/past my knees, just so you know.

See? No grass. None. Buried. Gone. Frozen. Dead. (*sniff*)

Another thing to note is that you're not just flitting through light, fluffy snow. This is the real stuff which weighs (loosely speaking) a ton.

Yes, it's pretty. And cold. Really cold.

Here you can see the snow goes up to the second story.

(Or was that a hill? I can't remember...it's been too long since I saw the ground...)

What is your winter like where you live?

Braces Update

(click to enlarge)

Yup. Got 'em. It was a horrifically traumatic experience that I'd tell you all about, but I don't think my shattered nerves could stand thinking about it :) Actually, it was okay, seeing as how I'm still alive.

This just in...

I just found this linky to an article about Wreaths Across America 2008, in NY Wing.


If you desire to read it, go HERE to read the article, and then I'll tell you the story of the whole morning. Sound cool? Good.

Okay, you back? Here we go. I got up early that morning. Early as in, before seven. AM. I ate my breakfast and grabbed a bag containing my dress blues and several layers to go underneath said dress blues (yeah, did you notice the snow on the ground? Yeah). Then I hopped in the car and Daddy drove me to the Jamestown Airport. Despite the promise of blue sky from weather.com, the sky was cloudy. Depressingly cloudy. It depressed me, but I nevertheless went in to "my" airport (you know you're in the Civil Air Patrol when you have referred to the local airport as "home" before) and had my flight simulator lesson. Flight sims are fun. You fly without getting sick, and you can wreck the plane or fly really horribly and it doesn't matter.

After my flight sim lesson, I strolled past the airport doors, glanced out and saw blue sky. Cheerful blue sky. Can I say "happy" applies here? More like "elated!" Then, while my cadet commander had her flight sim lesson, I read my history book (you know you're in the CAP if you have ever done schoolwork at your local airport) and talked with another cadet. Then, while he had his flight sim lesson, my cadet commander and I changed into our dress blues. Now, because we were on color guard, we couldn't wear our coats over the top (unless they were the specific dress blues coats, which we don't have). So we dressed in Layers. Major Layers. As in, 6 shirts-Layers (wow, say that 10 times fast...). But I was still cold.

At 1100 hours, we loaded up and drove to the Lakeview Cemetery. There, we met the rest of the cadets and senior members, practiced our color guard routine, and had BDU-clad cadets shovel a path to the Soldiers Circle. When the big clock struck 1200, we filed out. Our MC led the ceremony, which was kept short because of the cold. They laid wreaths down, had Taps, and the veterans' color guard fired their guns, three times. When it was over, we filed out. We put our color guard paraphernalia away until next time, and then went to our nice warm houses.

I have a proposition for you, reader: Next December, find out if any CAP unit near you is doing a Wreaths Across America Ceremony, and then show up for it. I know it may be inconvenient, but the veterans you will be honoring had to do much more inconvenient thing. More inconvenient than getting up at 6:51 AM, even. Who knows, you may even get your picture in the paper!

Mil Ball

So anyhow, last night was our Civil Air Patrol group's ball. (Note to those of you who don't know what a group is: Each state [called a "wing" in proper CAP terminology] is further broken down into groups, which is basically like a county. The group is comprised of several squadrons in the area.) It was my very first occasion of its type, with the prom-style dresses and the makeup and the fancy-dancy room and food and the music and dancing, etc. And I enjoyed it, which you should be able to tell by the end of this lengthy post.

I rode up there with my cadet commander, whose parents drove us up because the weather was nasty. We got there fairly early and found our room. Our squadron had 3 tables assigned to it, so we found them and picked our spots. Then we mingled until the dinner and ceremony started at 7, or in proper CAP terminology, 1900. There were some opening things (presenting the colors, an invocation, and introductions of just who in the world was sitting at the head table which I couldn't actually see) before they let us eat. It was a buffet-style meal, and it was good. After the dinner, the real stuff began: sitting through hours of endless, wandering speeches, wondering when it would end and wishing the speaker would just get to the point and quit lying about how he isn't going to take too long as he drones on and on..wait! No, actually, I was impressed (in a very good way, and I say this with all respect) with how short-winded the speakers were. It made me happy that they were able to say what needed to be said quickly and concisely. Go NYWG!

Okay, then it was time for the real, real stuff to happen: cadet awards. One sentence, folks: Jamestown Composite rocked the show. Not to sound proud or anything, but there were 4 squadrons containing cadets (i.e. not just senior member squadrons) there, 7 cadet awards, and we took 4. Our squadron commander also got an award. And a promotion. And then: Group Squadron of the Year was (drumroll, please): Jamestown Composite Squadron!! We all started clapping and screaming because we were so proud of us. I think everyone else clapped too, but I was too excited to notice.

The rest of the evening was picture-taking and dancing/mingling. I took pictures and mingled. So, of course I have to share my pictures with all of you!

This is the room we had. I would estimate there being around 150 people there.

These are the attendees, listening intently (or otherwise; I didn't actually ask them) to whatever the person at the head table is saying.

Yes, the dancing. Motion blur is cool, is it not?

And this is me with my squadron. I'm on the left, right in front of the aforementioned cadet commander, who on this evening was awarded Cadet of the Year and her Earhart Award. (I put that in there to embarrass her, because she just found my blog and I imagine she'll be back.) (But hopefully next time she comes she'll leave us a comment. (Right, Captain?)

Wow!

Did you know that December 28 was our blog's first birthday? I have been thinking that it was around here sometime, but I thought it was still coming up. Now, it has been my experience that when other blogs have birthdays, their masters/mistresses force the readers of said blog to comment, and generally the comment itself involves revealing a humiliating fact about yourself (such as shoe size, or color of toothbrush). In matters of blogging, I really must admit that I know very little about the appropriate way to celebrate a blog birthday, and so must follow the status quo. Therefore...

Whereas, I now doth announce and celebrate the one-year birthday of my blog (which was a couple days ago, but who careth?), and

Whereas, Other blogs request readers to comment on blog birthdays, and

Whereas, I would like more comments Whereas, I think it soundeth like a good idea; Therefore,

Resolved, That all who read this must comment, and also must tell me which half of the grapefruit they like the best.

So there.

Erika

Because she's always on the other side of the camera, you almost never see pictures of her! So, as her conniving loving older sister, I've decided to embarrass surprise her by posting some lovely pictures I took of her at the restaurant last Wednesday.

So, this is [drum roll, please] the many faces of Erika:

"Wait, I wasn't ready!"

"Give me back my camera!!!"

Jessica's 18 Birthday

December 28 marked that historic day in which Jessica turned 18 years of age. She was embarrassed twice: once in church where it was announced to the assembled congregation, and once at Bob Evan's where we ran into (figuratively speaking, I assure you) an elderly acquaintance who guessed Jessica's age at 16. In fact, the title of this post could also be called "Our Lunch On December 31 At Bob Evan's Celebrating Jessica's Eighteenth Birthday" but that is rather long, I think. (The elf that lives inside the computer whose sole job it is to write blog titles assured me that is was indeed rather long.)

We took Grandpa and loaded up and headed down town. We had called ahead (with a party of 11, it is a always a good idea, you know), so they were expecting us and pushed together 3 or 4 tables so we could all be cozy while we wolfed down our meal. The longest part of any going out to eat occasion is the preparation and arrival of the food, but the second longest is the choosing of said food.



My food finally came, and I alternated between taking pictures and actually eating.



Jessica: "You are not getting any pictures of me...are you?" (Said in the same tone of voice one would use to say "You're not going to walk into that rapidly revolving airplane propeller, are you?" Or to a small child "You're not going to pitch a fit here, are you?" [while brandishing a pitchfork or similar item.]

Katrina loved her food. She gets excited or upset over very small things, such as small pink plastic turtles named Harvey (different story).


We all enjoyed our food,

and the service was good. Waitresses (and I say this with all respect) have this almost-psychic ability to ask you if everything's fine when everything is and you don't want an interruption, and then to manage to vanish if, for example, your entire Smiley Sundae has just landed head-first on the carpet. Not that happened; just using that particular example as, well, an example.

After our Pecan Pie, we paid our bill, left a gigantic tip (seriously, next time we walk in, all the waitresses are going to want us) and left.