Keeping it alive

Since we still have not opened our presents, things here are weird. As much as we'd all like to admit that presents are NOT the reason for Christmas....when you don't do it, something feels like it's missing. Maybe it's the HUGE mess that presents entail, what with wrapping and unwrapping  I wish sometimes we had a maid (I actually wish that quite often, so that was a lame analogy. )

(moving on...)

So I've been keeping the Christmas spirit alive, by listening to music, lighting smelly candles and wearing tights and such. I wrapped my first present of the season....on the 29th.

 Yeah, this is just kinda awkward.

(something happened to my gif too.... things are getting more awkward by the minute.)

Ginger Snaps!

Okay, these are not really ginger SNAPS. They're technically called Gingerbread Softies. But the snotty 11 year old in me was pretty sure that's the most retarded name for a cookie....so they're ginger snaps.

 Gingerbread Softies
These cookies flatten and crack as they cool. The secret in keeping them soft is to remove them from the oven as soon as they are set but before they start to brown.
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cup shortening*
2 eggs
1/2 cup molasses
4 cups flour
4 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. ginger
l/2 tsp. cloves
l/2 tsp. salt
Cream together the sugar and shortening. Add eggs and beat until thick. Add the molasses and stir until combined.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and salt. Add to creamed mixture and stir just until blended. If the dough is very soft (hot day? warm kitchen?), wrap it in plastic wrap and chill in the freezer for 30 minutes.

Shape into 1” balls and roll in granulated sugar. Place on greased cookie sheets. Bake at 350º for 7 – 10 minutes or just until set but before they start to brown.

And I kinda meant for this to go up before Christmas. But I kinda (no I REALLY) had the flu so, plans change!

xoxo! Hope your Christmas was a merry one!

The Day after...

I'm not the only one who thinks the day after Christmas is the worst right? I mean, we get all worked up for ONE STIKIN' day and then after that - POOF! All the excitement and joy goes out with a huge WHOOSH.

(Please excuse all the capsy-jiberish.)

I have to say though, our day after Christmas was ANYTHING but rotten. We adventured all around our suburbia. And since we couldn't make it to Hawaii to mourn our day after sadness, an abandon riverfront property had to do.

 Aahhh yes, me hugging (or really, awkwardly touching) a mailbox. We trying to be all discreet but then our bikes broke right in front of that house. Not like anyone is looking as we hug your festive mailbox....nope. No one.

How was your Christmas? Hope it was amazing!
XOXO,
Mailbox-hugger.

Happy Day

From the Sophster and I,

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

_______________________________________________________

This is Christmas: not the tinsel, not the giving and receiving, not even the carols, but the humble heart that receives anew the wondrous gift, the Christ. - Frank McKibben 

______________________________________________________

Hope you all have an amazing day. See ya in a few!

XOXO, Elfity Elf.

Good News and Bad.

Good news or bad news first? I know, you're probably smart, so we'll go with the bad news first.

The bad news is, today is Christmas Eve and I have not bought one gift.

The good news is we are not opening our presents until New Years.

The question is, is that really good news at all?

xoxo.

PS: Flowers! I love them! My parents got these for me while I was sick, so sweet of them!

Be Cheery

Hey guys, I'm having a party over here, and you should come! WOOT WOOT! Don't worry, I've got enough juice boxes and cheese-it's to last a lifetime, so what are you waiting for!??!?

In other words,  thanks to all your help the other day, I am now able to upload photos. It's a pain, but whatever. The entire week I've been lamenting about this, so I guess it was about time to get my rear in gear and get it over with.

I'm good at doing that.
Uh, not.

Christmas Cheer has come to our home in the form of Christmas Tree's, lots of lights and the flu. How nice! For once, I'm not sick. (Ya hear that?!) but I'm sure I will be right on Christmas (when our bestest cousins come.) None of this has anything to do with the fact that I'm kind of a Grinch around Christmas...right?

Love,
Grinchity Grinch....
(dorkity dork)

Graffiti by Yours Truly

I could go ahead and re-name this blog "I HAVE TEN THOUSAND JOURNALS" and for once I really wouldn't be exaggerating that much. As you read here, I have a lot of journals. And recently I added 3 more to the mix.

(Kinda like a real life version of my tumblr)

This one is my art journal. It was supposed to be for school, but if there's one thing mom has learned after homeschooling me for 10 plus years is that I have a way of hijacking things. If I've got a good pen, all surrounding books and papers are subject to graffiti. Although, what graffiti artist writes "I LOVE CUPCAKES" all over everything?

Anyway, my new journal. Filled with quotes and random goodness.

Do you have a journal like this?


PS: Anyone hit their limit with blog photo space? I AM ANNOYED. Sorry. It's okay to rant on ones own blog...right? Just say yes. And while you are talking, please tell me how to fix the problem.

We photobomb

I'm not sure what I was taking pictures of, but whatever it was, Soph thought she was WAY more important. She photobombs all the time...

Speaking of photobombing, while we were ice skating, I did some myself. Sorry proud parents, yes, Jill and Joe are amazing at ice skating, but who's that dork doing pirouettes in the background? Just think of all the coffee table photo albums I'll be gracing. I'm famous!

Homemade mints.

I don't know about you, but this REALLY bugs me.

Not having mints at restaurants.

I mean, there could be worse problems. Like maybe the food being cold or terrible service. But really, not having mints STINKS.

(Plus mints and chicken fingers really go nicely together. You should try it! Oh wait, you don't order off the kids menu...never mind!)

Okay, so you can make your own mints. And by mints, these are really not mints at all. They're meringues. OHHHHH......What is that? Some fluffy, crunchy delicious things that taste JUST like mints.

Peppermint Meringues
recipe adapted from Martha Stewart

• 3 large egg whites
• 3/4 cup sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon pure peppermint extract
• Red gel-paste food coloring

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper; secure corners with masking tape. Fit a pastry bag with a small open-star tip (such as Ateco #22). Set aside.
2. Make meringues: Put egg whites and sugar in the heatproof bowl of an electric mixer. Set bowl over a pan of simmering water, and stir gently until sugar has dissolved and mixture is warm to the touch, 2 to 3 minutes.
3. Transfer bowl to an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form. Mix in peppermint extract.
4. Using a new small paintbrush, paint 2 or 3 stripes of red food coloring inside the pastry bag. Fill bag with 1 to 2 cups meringue. Pipe small (3/4-inch-high) star shapes onto prepared baking sheets. Refill bag as necessary, adding food coloring each time.
5. Bake cookies until crisp but not brown, about 1 hour 40 minutes. Let cool completely on sheets on wire racks.

And so that's the no mint solution. Sneak 'em in your purse. Don't worry, no one will notice. And if they do, they'll just be jealous.

---

I WAS GOING TO POST BUT LIFE GOT IN THE WAY

I've been meaning to post for, I don't know...FOREVER? We'll just skip all the "I'M SO SORRY!" gab (which I must have a thing for) and move onto the fact that Christmas is WAY to close and I'm terrified. In a good, bad and happy way.

Some things I've been up to of late....

-Curling my hair like crazy. I may be in love with our curling iron. It certainly was not love at first sight, but we got through it and now we're madly in love. Some people fall in love with boys....and some with their curling irons.

-pouring apple juice up my nose. (um....)

- having and impromptu Christmas concert with this girl for her neighbors, and getting applause. (you have no idea how awkward we sound when we sing.)

- Telling mom, "I'm having an obsession with antlers!!"

- Listening to music....a lot. (someone help me.)

-our family came to town and I was mute. Literally. It was almost like last year.

- Ice skating at my dads work. It's certainly not the way to get introduced to your dads co-workers. "Hey, nice to meet you. Excuse my while I fall flat on my face."

-hearing someone say something really funny and spending the next 10 minuets planning how I can use it in upcoming conversations.

I don't think I'll be making December goals, because I keep planning ones for 2013. And so now you must tell me, what have you done in my absence? Anything fun?

Apparently, I felt like chattering with you all. Hey, good thing we are friends!

XOXO,
Chatterbox forever.

PS: Thank you all for your sweet birthday wishes!! You all are the bomb.com. And I mean it.

15 AND SUCH

I turned 15 last week. I know, 15, I'm still practically a baby! Sheesh! I thought I was grown up, apparently not.

I refrained from writing about it (After all, we celebrate birthday week! It's okay, you're allowed to be jealous.) because I was thinking maybe I would be hit with a deep, wise thought about being 15 and such.

Nope.

Unfortunately, finally 15, I come to you announcing I am no wiser, no smarter than I was 4 days ago. I can't think of anything deep to say about my birthday other than we went to the Nutcracker and I'm scared of men ballerinas.

okay, that's about as deep as I get. Go enjoy your theology, I'll be painting my nails if you need me.

And this was our Thanksgiving

The love of family and the admiration of friends

 is much more important than 

wealth and privilege.  

-Charles Kuralt

It wasn't very normal, but it was ours.

Happy Thursday to you! xoxo

Things that say a lot about people.

"things that say a lot about people:
the way in which they treat the waiter/waitress
how they feel about the weather
whether they dog ear pages or highlight in books
fingernails
and hands in general
their preferred creative outlet
how much they dread/enjoy talking on the phone
whether or not they drink coffee
if they ever forget to eat
how honest they are with themselves (and others)
if they correct your grammar
and whether or not they get nervous before haircuts."
by this person

1. I'm usually fairly friendly, but not BFF-y I'm not really at a restaurant to make friends. I just like ladies to wait on me. Please, gimme the girls.fact.

2. Weather does not really affect me. I love sunny days and cloudy days and cold days and (for the most part) hot ones. Rain makes me want cocoa, and that's a fact of life, friends.

3. I only underline/highlighting in my bible.....mainly because I don't read books very often (at all.) I think the last book I read was maybe 4 months ago. I personally see no point in underlining in a novel or something.

4. Simple. I like pink nail polish occasionally. I don't bite mine, but I ALWAYS trim them to short because....ahem, I like trimming my nails. I always wish I had more fingers and toes because I think it's FUN. This is weird, I know.

5. I'll admit, when it comes to the phone, pretty much the Apocalypse would have to happen before I'd call someone.  I think because in general conversation, I talk about what's around me or something. I don't know. The bottom line is I'm a wuss and before I turn 80 I should probably get over it.

6. Working with my hands is the best. Writing letters, making things, baking. I don't know. It's all so cliche, but it's what I love. (and I don't really mean WORKING, Dad. I mean more sitting around and doing dainty crafty things. Of course.) Oh, and I LOVE HANDS. You should see me shopping, Everything in that store is gonna have my fingerprints ALL over it.

7. Umm.............I do not drink coffee............for good reasons.........it's icky. I once did and I almost spit it up on a french man. FRESH FROM FRANCE. It was not a good day.

8. I think I'm pretty honest. Maybe blunt? Never! I'm usually the person to say what everyone is thinking (but NOT saying, I always wonder why.)

9. I don't correct grammar, because mine stinks. I say "boughten" all the time and I don't pronounce half the dictionary right. I'm pretty sure it adds to the whole "cute factor". Cute as in, did you just dye your hair blonde?

10. Not really, I get nervous AFTER haircut. Here it goes: Days leading up to haircut, excited. Day of hair cut, really excited. Day after haircut, complete hatred for hairdressers. 2 weeks after haircut, "I LOVE MY HAIR!!" Every time, without fail. As you can see, they're few and far between. Mostly because my family doesn't like how upset I get over it.

And now you must tell me, what did you learn about me? Nothing scary right? Good, I'm so glad I'm normal.

and an awkward photo of me....

Really, I have no shame.

THANKFUL 2012

What, another dog picture AND a hash tag!?!? Seriously guys, I wasn't joking when I said I had problems. But admitting it, that's the first step to recovery...RIGHT?

Well for one thing, I know I'm not super serious here on de blog. I'm not really a serious type person, so well, I don't get serious too often. But anyway, here's for a change! (kinda sorta.)

#THANKFUL 2012

FAMILY - Wow, this is SOOO cliche. But they are kind of awesome so, duh. They put up with my whining and boo hoo-ing and failed jokes and still buy me chocolate milk....WHAT?! I'm keeping these people, FOREVER. (frem, you're in here too)

*PUPPIES- Okays, so MAYBE I just got finished watching the dog show, but I would have brought it up anyway. These puppies (CLEARLY) are my favorite. Without them, I would take zero pictures, not have a snuggle buddy (I sound really cool now, I'm sure.) and basically my bff. Dff? yes.

EXPERIENCES- I've moved a ton, sometimes didn't see my dad for months at a time, and my mom has been sick ever since I was born. But honestly, these things have shaped me into who I am today. It's fun to look back and see how God worked, even when we had NO IDEA what was going on. He's just like that. We're at a point now where we can see the good that came from it. I'm truly grateful for that.

HEALTH - Our family has been going through some health problems recently this year, and I'm thankful that I'm healthy (clearly, not at the moment, but for the most part.) I mean, I have a cold. Not  cancer or a broken arm or sickle cell anemia. I can handle a cold.

BIBLE STUDY- Before we moved, I was involved in a REALLY awesome bible study (girls, if you are reading this, I love you!) I didn't realize HOW MUCH I missed it until I started going to one here, it's amazing. I love the studies and have absolutely learned so much. It's amazing.

HANDWRITING- This is going to sound weird, I LOVE my handwriting. It's not fancy or really even that nice. I just kind of love how it's mine and unique to me. No really, I'm not a stingy person. (um....what?)

ENJOY LIFE- I have this mini project I've been doing for the past few months. It has been so fun. And by fun, I mean eye opening and literally amazing. Maybe I'll show you sometime, it's so different than what I blog here.

AMERICA- It's changed so much, even since I've been alive. It almost makes me sad to talk about it, but I just LOVE IT. I was writing something for my project about it on election day, and I was bawling (not that that's unusual or anything.) This is my country, I'm an American, and I am SO PROUD of it.

That's it, at least for this list anyway. Now it's your turn, what would you put on your #THANKFUL 2012 list? I'm all ears!

(and all cheese.)

*Sophie ran away today, but thankfully we caught her. If we hadn't, she would have seriously messed up this list.

#HAPPILY ABSENT

A few things....

Thing ONE: I have a small problem with hash tags. Meaning, I love them. I'm obsessed with them. I put them on #literally everything. I have a huge problem on my hands.

A huge, STUPID problem. Funny how I always find myself in this situation.

Thing TWO: Hash tags remind me of hash browns. #ilovefood.

Thing THREE: Happily absent, due to VACATION and sickness. Which by the way, it's a really lame combo. You can tell I'm sick because I'm misspelling EVERYTHING and using caps a TON.

Oh wait, that proves nothing.

Carry on with your normal life. I think I'll just tweet P-dub because, what else is a girl who's sick on Thanksgiving break to do??

#tweetingforever.
#amen.

just we, ourselves and us.

Picture this: the walls are black, the seats are red. The floor is covered in popping corn. Your feet might just be on the seat and your eyes are glued to the screen?

Yeah that place.

Ever been in there, by yourself?!?

Saturday afternoon, mom and I had nothing to do. Nothing as in tons of cleaning and stuff. General nothingness. So the movies it was, watch super hero's save the world and fall in love. Naturally.

So we got our popcorn and drinks, headed in. And we found ourselves, by ourselves!

It was joyous!

It's totally weird. At any point and time you can chat and laugh or leave for popcorn. I ran down to the screen and jumped around. Mostly cause I'm awesome sauce. Partly cause I'm weird.

I would just like to inform you, that sometime you need to find a 4 leaf clover, or get lucky, and find yourself alone in a movie theater.

Because it's seriously cool.
Majorly.

ps: and while we are on the subject of movies.....

We did the cha cha

Mom and dad were gone yesterday. And if your parents have ever left you at home alone, you know what means....

PARTY TIME!!!

First on the agenda was the cha cha slide. For the record, Sophie's not very good at it. I'm sweet and usually overlook her few imperfections. I mean seriously, WHO doesn't do the cha cha slide?!?

Wait, everyone?

Okay so never mind. One thing we DIDN'T do was the cha cha slide. Instead we did yoga to Beethoven. I hear that's all the rage.

And by the way, Sophie's way better at yoga that the cha cha slide. Just saying.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies

 I was having problems getting on board with Fall until, really, it was Fall. Now that we've had some chilly days, I'm practically the conductor of the train.

Did that make any sense? I don't think so.

BASICALLY, I'm here to inform you that I once again have fallen head over heels for pumpkin because it's bananas. Well, not really. I'm probably going to be putting pumpkin in EVERYTHING I eat, which means I'll be chowing on pumpkin grilled cheese and pumpkin perogies because that's how exciting my diet is.

Now, about these cookies. Like I mentioned, they're banana's. It's basically pumpkin bread. BUUUUT, the only thing better than pumpkin bread is pumpkin bread with chocolate chips and in cookie form. It's basically magic. And don't be surprised if you see a few unicorns in your kitchen...Never mind.

Pumpkin Cookies
Ingredients:
½ c. sugar               2 ¾ c. flour
½ c. brown sugar            2 tsp. soda
½ c. Butter          1 tsp. ginger
2 eggs                    1 tsp. salt          2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla                1 tsp. baking powder
1 ½ c. pumpkin            1 c. chocolate chips


Directions: Blend sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla. Add flour, salt, soda, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon. Add pumpkin and chocolate chips. Drop onto cookie sheet (greased if needed) by large spoonfuls. Bake at 375 for 10 min. Makes 5 dozen delicious cookies.

 GO! BAKE!

Caps is seriously the only way to express important-ness.

Green Jeans

On a normal schools day, do your pants look like
A.) regular jeans
B.) half sized (shorts or course)
C.) vegetables

Naturally, C should be your answer. That is, only if you are wearing colored denim.

Seriously, I wore green jeans the other day, and I felt invincible.  Like a very nice invincible green bean. It was major happiness. And my legs were wrapped in it. Happiness on you legs, who knew? And if pants had facial expressions, those babies would always be showing their pearly whites.

Basically, your life may or may not be complete unless you invest in colored denim. I invested $11 dollars and it seemed to do the trick.

Invincible green bean, that's what I am.

Blog(ing) Free

My intent for this week was to not read blogs, but apparently it morphed into not posting here, but whatever, I'm okay with. Apparently not reading blogs seriously reduces your gusto for posting on your own.

So yes, I didn't read one blog, didn't eat one dessert and didn't do any online shopping for one week. And let me tell you, today was like Christmas morning. Although, and just like Christmas morning, it was a tiny bit disappointing. "only TEN new outfit posts? Sheesh!" you'd think I'd only been 20 seconds, but no really, it felt like 20 centuries.

If you feel like you read blogs too much, you should totally try going blog free. My only suggestion would be to make yourself a few rules before you start. And you might eat to warn your family on your first day back....

You may or may not look like a zombie after staring at the computer for 8 hours. After all, you deserve it.

Right?

Dear November

I'll spare you from all the"It's November already?" and "WHERE has the time gone" talk, but really, it's true! So I guess I have nothing to say? Well, except maybe that I look TERRIBLY weird in that picture. Halloween a day late? You bet.

Read the Bible every night
Read through 1st Kings
Walk the puppies 5 times
Make some fall foods (hello lots of pumpkin!)
Plan Christmas gifts
Go dessert free for one week (yes really)
go blog free for one week
practice my clarinet 3 times per week
write in my prayer journal 3 times per week
draft Christmas card
work on HTML/CSS
Prep December Birthday Cards
Go Online shopping free for one week
Finish one math book
Organize fonts
Finish both dresses
Write I5 letters


Okay, I'm a little optimistic? How unusual.

Goodybe October

October was kinda...eh. I think cause maybe everyone else is like "OH MY GOSH, IT'S FALL!" and then they go dance in the leaves and wear scarfs and we here are still sweating like pigs.

Let's just cherish that beautiful thought for a moment.

(actually, please don't)

I Didn't get all my goals, but I'm still okay with it. Because if I got mad over goals I made FOR FUN, that would be pretty stupid right? Among other things I do.

Read the Bible every night
Read through 2nd Samuel
Try 5 new ethnic foods
Make fall foods
Walk the puppies 3 new places
Write 15 letters
write in my prayer journal 3 times a week
Work on HTML
enjoy volleyball
read 2 books
watch a good movie 

 It's funny, I managed to watch a movie (a good one at that!) but I didn't get to read books?

Logical error. Good thing I'm taking Logic this semester!

Camping Forever

I don't know about you, but camping messes with me.  It seems like you leave and you feel like you've been gone forever and when you get back, you realize its been like what? One day?

My body clock has gone haywire...AGAIN.

I'm just so happy to be home and that it's chilly and I get to do my things and get stuff done and that I have a real live piano now.  And wear scarfs. Because people, it's 70 here so we're breaking out our winter wear like its -20 and snowing. It's just what we do.

(anyone with me on the whole camping deal?)