And now for my final thought.

(Haley, this one really is my final 2008 post.)

So, here we are, with New Year's Eve upon us again. We'll sing Auld Lang Syne, some misguided people will stand around in the cold, alcohol will be consumed, friends will gather. (Not necessarily in that order.) We'll make resolutions, soon to be broken (sorry, but that's what the statistics say). We'll stay up too late and sleep in too long. A good time will probably be had by most.

So, I wish you and yours the very best in 2009. Chat about your resolutions in the comments, if you like; I promise not to laugh and may even wander along in a couple of weeks to ask how they are going. For myself, I have several, not yet clarified, so that will have to be tomorrow's post. :)

And now, I'm off to make some queso for our party. Happy New Year!

Nice surprise

So, one day last week, Chad showed up at my work with these. Ordinarily, he is banned from buying me flowers, on the basis that we have enough other things to spend our money on; we don't need to splurge on things that he is allergic to which will die in a couple of days anyway. But I suppose he decided that at Christmas, the rules are relaxed.

So, all my coworkers were in a dither, wanting to know the occasion. (I told them, "There's a flower sale at United.")

Chad actually got away better that he might have; all the ladies in the flower shop at the store were trying to convince him to get this or that, so he finally told them, "If I buy all that stuff, my wife will kill me!"

That's not entirely true. But it's close.

When in doubt, blame Congress.

Not bad for a mantra, eh? You don't have to limit your blaming to Congress, of course; feel free to spread it around to any government official you like.

Why is Congress the current subject of my scorn? First of all, I was already aggravated with them for that little dance with time that they lead us all in twice a year. And now they are messing with my televison.

"Oh, but you can get a converter!" "Order your coupon off the internet!" "Surely you are willing to pay a little to get a better quality TV?" These are the fun little statements that I have been running across on the internet. Obviously, a lot of people are in the tank for the digital conversion.

I'm not, although I admit that the transition offers me some hope. At the beginning of the current TV season, I was all filled with angst at the prospect of giving more of my life to the TV. Now, the government has answered the problem for me: on February 17th, TV watching will no longer be an option.

I have, however, ordered our coupons from the nice people over at dtv2009.gov (after all, I only have until Wednesday to do so!). Once they are mailed, we'll have three months to decide whether we want to watch TV or not. I certainly intend to at least try a TV-free life for a week or two, just to see what it is like.

So in this case I say, Thank you, Congress! You have made it easier for me to not be like everyone else. Well done.

No family members were harmed in the eating of this dessert...

In case you missed in on Christmas day, this is another shot of our 4-layer chocolate monstrosity. We couldn't even finish it on Christmas, it was so chocolatey. Even the chocolate-obsessed people we are couldn't eat it all in one day. I highly unrecommend it to everyone I know, plus any strangers who happen by.

I really do love chocolate, of course, in monumental proportions, and if I were willing to risk spending a day throwing up, I might have tried to eat "just a bit more" yesterday. Fortunately, I have developed some sense and respect for my body in my 30 years.

I was thinking last night about my lifelong relationship with chocolate, and how about 10 years ago, I realised that I would never be able to walk away from chocolate on my own, so I started praying for a chocolate allergy. Instead, the Lord gave me migraines. So now, I have to decide whether a day spent in bed is a worthwhile trade for a large volume of chocolate. If not, then I have to keep my portion small. Funny how God gives us what we need (motivation to exercise my own self-control), rather than what we ask for (complete lack of responsibility in my non-chocolate state). It's almost like he knows best, or something.

The Last One (for 2008)

So, I decided not to bore you with another blow-by-blow account of yet another WTRC race. Instead, I'm just going to give you some highlights of the final race of the year.

1. I passed a Marine! More on this later.
2. This race benefits Toys for Tots, and it was really cool to see the table loaded down with toys. Economic downturn, sparser Christmas that usual, and still we all managed to bring toys for kids who otherwise wouldn't have any. That was cool.
3. And since Toys for Tots is a Marine Corps charity, we had some Marines running with us.
4. The Marines started us of with the whole running-in-formation-while-chanting thing. Fun to watch.
5. I passed a Marine!!
6. Because of the way the course is set up, you have to run across a field away from the finish line at the end, then turn back to the finish line. So you get a good look at all the people who ran faster than you. One of the Marines was trotting along and a little girl (I think she's about 10) sprinted past him, ably cheered on by one of the Marine's buddies (the 1st seargent). Hee! The woman behind them commented to the 1st seargent that he may be looking at a potential recruit.
7. I passed a Marine, and I set a PR!!!
8. Okay, passing the Marine: Actually, I passed two, but one of the ones I passed had stopped for a chat when I passed him, so it's not like I ran him down or anything. And passing the other was kind of like when I win a medal and I'm the only one in my age group; someone mentioned before the race began that some of them were reserves, not on active duty, which meant they were out of practise. And we had some pretty challenging hills on this course, so "out of practise" would have made for an unfun race. Still, I'll take it.

Good news: Only two weeks until our first race of 2009. I know you'll mark your calendar.

I didn't even know I was playing!

And yet, I managed to be tagged anyway. Just like in real life.

1. Post the rules on your blog.
2. Answer the six “4″ items.
3. Let each person know he or she has been tagged by leaving him or her a comment.

4 Things I Did Yesterday:
a. made an incredibly chocolatey dessert
b. cooked a turkey
c. talked to my grandma (and the rest of the family, too)
d. went for a walk

4 Things I Look Forward to:
a. seeing Chad
b. sleep
c. running
d. vacation

4 Things On My Wish List:
a. mp3 player that isn't dead or broken
b. make it to my goal weight and stay there (nobody said they had to be tangible things!)
c. 10 minute per mile pace to be easy
d. calorie-free, fat-free, cholesterol-free, and carb-free Cadbury chocolate (that still tastes like Cadbury!)

4 Restaurants I like:
a. Carino's
b. Chick-fil-A
c. I really don't eat out

4 Favorite TV Shows:
a. The West Wing
b. The Waltons
c. Little House on the Prairie
d. M*A*S*H
(Unless you mean 4 favourite current TV Shows, which are NCIS, Criminal Minds, Life, and Numbers)

4 People I tag: Whatever! Tag yourself if you want to play.

Christmas dessert

Chad is currently not carving the turkey-- the phone rang as he was about to start. No big.

So, the turkey took forever to thaw (read: it didn't completely thaw, even with 2 more days to thaw than all the experts said it should need), but it cooked really quickly. So quickly, in fact, that I didn't trust the pop-up thermometer and left it in even after the red button said it was "done". A still-frozen turkey just shouldn't cook that fast.

Anyway, I'm including this picture of Chad's dessert of choice, which I am going to call "genocide by chocolate" (name stolen from Terry Pratchett). I asked him what dessert he wanted, expecting an answer along the lines of "pumpkin pie" or "chocolate chip cookies". He waited until somewhere around 5 PM on Christmas Eve to come up with this concoction.

Bottom layer: Brownie.

Middle "frosting" layer: Chocolate pudding.

Top layer: Chocolate cake.

Frosting: Chocolate fudge.

If we survive the eating of it, I'll tell you how it was. Those small pies in the background, by the way, are my mince pies. A must-have for my Christmas.

This is Grandpa's tree. My first year as an Aim student, I went home for Thanksgiving to find that Grandpa, distressed because I didn't have a Christmas tree, had dug out the top of their old tree for me. He also made me a stand (a block of wood with a hole in it), and they bought some lights & gave me a couple of their old ornaments (the golden bells are among those original ornaments). The block of wood is long lost, but I still have all the other stuff. We bought the second tree a few years ago because we had acquired too many ornaments for Grandpa's tree, so Grandpa's tree now goes in our bedroom. Which is where it will go for the rest of my life. I'm sure someday the children will all want trees in their bedrooms, too, but that's one of those "cross that bridge when we come to it" kind of things. :)

And this is the living room Christmas tree (also known as "the new one"). The red-and-white striped things at the bottom are the "presents" Grandpa wrapped to go with the original tree. I still put them out, because they are cute. I laughed when I put them out last night, though, because they were quite obviously wrapped by a man. Grandpa was really, really upset about me not having a tree.

It seems that my husband is now off the phone and the turkey is carved, so it's time to run along before he passes out from impatience. Happy Christmas!

Christmas Eve

So, we're putting up the tree, rearranging the furniture, tidying up the house (not necessarily in that order), and in the course of the evening, I take a plant pot full of dirt into the other room to dump into my big plant pot where I keep all currently-unused dirt.

And, the pot slips and dumps dirt all over: 1. The floor. 2. My feet. 3. Some reasonably clean clothes that I hung up very neatly on my bedroom floor.

So, Chad orders me not to move while he fetches the trowel (so I can scoop up as much dirt as possible) and the vacuum cleaner (to get the rest of it).

Merry Christmas, everyone!

(Yes, I have been sadly derelict in my posting lately. Don't worry; I have a couple weeks' worth of anecdotes to share once I run out of other things to do.)

Wild!

So, I've been looking forward to Hugh Laurie on SNL, mainly because I wanted to hear what his real accent sounds like. You know how it sounds? English.

Seriously, it is strange to hear Hugh Laurie's real accent coming out of House's mouth. And I am even more in awe than ever at how well he hits the American accent every week. With an Australian in the room, no less, who is using his own accent.

So, twenty minutes into the show, and I'm already loving it. Especially this bit when he is talking about blood pudding with Bettie & Jodi. Hee!

Hugh Laurie, you rock! Even though it is wild how well you can sound American.

Tis the season

At the strong behest of my husband, I have made potato fudge for his work Christmas party tonight. (Chad says "strong behest" is redundant. You are free to make up your own mind on that.)

And, we're also watching the Trans-Siberian Orchestra on YouTube. (Chad also thinks I can't spell YouTube.) If you haven't been introduced to the TSO's music, skip on over there and check it out. It's hard not to like a group that has electric guitars and violins.

Seriously, their selection of Christmas music is brilliant. Have a look.

Circumstance-free

Chad graduated from the EMT Basic programme yesterday. Fortunately, there was neither pomp nor circumstance involved, although his instructor does appear to be manners-free. Okay, I get that he wants to get new EMTs ready for grouchy patients, but seriously, does he really need to pursue that philosophy with everyone?

I managed to keep myself in check and not respond with my usual snark and charm, because it was the first time I met him, and I do pursue manners from time to time. Besides, I only spent about 95 seconds of my life with the man, so what difference does it make, right?

If I am a normal reader of your blog,

and you strolled on here to see where the heck I've gotten to, please know that I am not ignoring your posts. I will be happily back online and snarking once more as soon as everyone around me decides that the holidays have been sufficiently acknowledged. (Seriously. Everything in Lubbock-- or nearly everything-- that is happening in December was scheduled between the 5th & 15th. Which makes for one crazy week, even for me who hardly does anything.)

So, here's what we have left:

Tomorrow night: We are staying home. Halelujah.
Saturday: Final WTRC race of the year, a wedding, and Chad's work's Christmas party.
Sunday: Bible class Christmas party.

And that's the game. So we're almost done, and starting on Monday (which is also my sister's birthday), I intend to enjoy my holidays in peace. Just how I will do that I don't know yet, but I'm sure something will come to me.

Surprise!

Okay, by popular demand...

My committee bought me tea. Lots of tea. And a mug that says "tea". And a little box of cookies. And a teaspoon. They were in a couple of gift sets. Sooner or later, I will take a picture and post it.

Do you hear those crickets?

Yes, it has been quiet around here for the past week. The final preparations and execution of the Christmas tea kept me busy sending emails, making a peppermint wreath, compiling, copying, and counting cookbooks, sending more emails, and I think there were some chocolate-covered pretzels involved as well.

Anyway! So I thought that I couldn't have had more fun at a Christmas tea than we had last year, but darned if we didn't do it again.

The first speaker talked about entering into God's presence. The second speaker read The Gift of the Magi. The cheer contest was hysterical. The carols were lovely.

And, I came home with a surprise gift. Nice.

Trotting Turkeys

I'm sporting a bright yellow running turkey on an equally bright red shirt. Yes, I wore a race T-shirt to church today. I didn't wear running shorts, though, because it was too cold. Nor did I wear my trainers, but I probably should have done, because I did a lot of running around the building. (Christmas tea is a week away (thank goodness), so I'm doing a lot of strenous exercise at church this week.)

Waddaya know, I managed to get more posts for November than there were days. I would be happy at how much I had to say, but I know that a lot of it was drivel. Thank you, my ever-faithful readers, for sticking with me.

So, I have another race report for you. (Good news-- after this one, there's only one more this year. Then we start over again in January. Ha! Ha!) Thursday morning, we ran the Turkey Trot. Now, I've been taking the longer mileage option at every race this year, partly because it's a better value (same price for either race), and partly since I wanted to get 66 miles worth of racing in. Since I already hit the 66 miles, I wanted to hit a 10:00 per mile pace in a race by the end of the year, and Chad had rotations every day except Thursday this weekend, we opted for the 2 mile race.

I have nothing of note for myself, except to say that I was already hurting at the 1/2 mile point. I really pushed as hard as I could. It was worth it, though.

No, I was impressed by the award ceremony at this race. The womens overall winner is named Brittney. She is a cross-country athlete at Lubbock Christian. I don't actually know her, but I do know of her (and I've seen her in the paper). Traditionally, turkeys are given as prizes at the turkey trot, but when they tried to give her one, she refused it. Why? It is against NAIA rules for her to take prizes for a race. I personally doubt that the NAIA is that worried about a frozen turkey, but what do I know? Anyway, rather than compromise her integrity and potentially lose her scholarship, she left the turkey sitting on the table.

The really great moment came when they handed out the children's awards. All age groups get three medals handed out, but they ordered some extras for this race so that all the kids got one. I was really happy to see that, if only because I like encouraging the kids in this sport. When all the experts and whoever are rightly concerned about inactive children, I say let's do whatever we can to convince them to be active. Anyway, in addition to everyone getting a medal and a round of applause, the first-place boy & girl each got a small savings bond. Wow, how many good habits can we encourage at once? Great job, West Texas Running Club!

So, that was November. Enjoy the last three hours of it.

Straight Classic TV

Classic for me, anyway, being the '80s child that I am. Was. Whatever.

Craftiness

I'm on a quest to see how many attributes I can acquire that begin with "C." And then I'll take my act on the road and audition for a part on Sesame Street. Thus far I have cheekyness, craftiness, clumsiness, and occasional light showers of cleverness. If you see any "C" qualities wandering around without a human to call their own, I'll be here all weekend.

Anyway! So here I have photographic evidence that I have been doing something besides taking in vast quantities of sugar.

Firstly, then, the assembled fruits of my labour. (The basket on the right isn't actually my labour; it's just a backdrop.)

And here we have someone else's idea that I was 100% willing to steal. A patient brought enough of these little angel ornaments into the office last Christmas for everyone to have one, and there were some left over for me to pilfer and bring home. I've hung onto them for a year, planning to make some as take-home favours for the Christmas tea. So, this is my first attempt. I don't think the ribbon is quite long enough to be suitable for your average Christmas tree; at least, not long enough for the angel to hang freely, instead of being squashed up against the branch. So, I've made the ribbon longer for the rest of them.

This is also someone else's idea. I've been the office supplier of hot cocoa during the holidays for the past three years; starting on Monday, I'll keep a jar of cocoa in the kitchen until Christmas for my coworkers to enjoy. A few weeks ago, one of my coworkers asked why I don't sell the cocoa. My thing is, why would anyone buy something they can just make in their kitchen? However, I have been assured that people will, in fact, pay me money to assemble a gift for them so that they don't have to. So, I am now taking orders. (And if you'd like to order one-- or a dozen-- let's talk.) The hot cocoa gift pack comes complete with jar, lid, fabric circle, ribbon, and serving size and nutrition information (not pictured, because I haven't finished it yet). I also have three varieties of fabric; red with stars (on the jar), cream with holly leaves & berries, and a teeny red, blue & green checkerboard pattern with gold lines. (Sorry, the picture doesn't really do it justice, but it was the best I could do.) All this can be yours for only $5 plus shipping. (Price is negotioable if I actually know you, or if you really do want a dozen.)

And my final work of... whatever. This is one of two gift baskets that will be a thank-you gift for one of our Christmas tea speakers. The other is just like it. I got these blue baskets in Hobby Lobby's excellent after-Thanksgiving sale today, and decided they were perfect.

There you have it, then; this is how I spend my spare time when I'm not blogging. Or cooking. Or eating.

I knew it!!

Somebody died during Black Friday at Walmart? Somebody actually died?

I knew Walmart was dangerous, but this is just ridiculous. There is nothing in any store worth trampling someone for. That's the problem with these sales; people lose all touch with reality in their quest for the latest thing-you-can't-live-without.

There has to be a better way to do this.

This post may be hazardous to your health.

I was all set to post pictures of the various crafts I am currently working on, but the camera has dead batteries. So, that post will wait until tomorrow.

Instead, I decided to regale you with tale of the other creative thing I've been doing with my evening. A couple of years ago, I ran across a fudge recipe on the internet and thought, Why not?

Oh. My. Word. My grandma makes the world's second-best fudge. This is better. I'm not joking. And I don't say that lightly; I hold the utmost reverence for my grandmother's cooking and frequently consult her on culinary matters. This stuff is amazing. If the FDA knew about it, they would classify it as a drug.

So, before I share the recipe, I want to warn you: If you are watching calories, fat, cholesterol, sodium, carbs, or sugars, this recipe is not for you. If you have small children in your house, you may want to wait a few years. If you are diabetic, stop reading now.

If you are a chocolate lover with a sizeable sweet tooth, you are going to think this recipe came from heaven. (I'm actually pretty sure that it did.) If that is not the case, or if you weigh yourself regularly, then you will think this recipe came from Satan.

Okay, disclaimer over! If you are still with me, then read on for some of the best fudge the world has ever seen.

POTATO FUDGE

3 T shortening
3 T butter
½ c plus 1 T cocoa
⅓ c mashed potatoes
⅛ t salt
1 t vanilla
1 lb powdered sugar
½ c chopped nuts (optional)

In a microwave safe bowl, melt shortening and butter in the microwave. Stir in cocoa until smooth. Add potatoes, salt and vanilla. Mix well. Blend in powdered sugar, mix and add nuts. Dough will be very lumpy. Knead until smooth. Press into a buttered 8x8 inch pan. Cool in the refrigerator before cutting. Makes 64 pieces.

My suggestions: the first time you try this, make a half batch at most, just to see how you like it. I have cut waaaay back on the sugar because it is just too much; I use just over half a pound per batch. Use an electric mixer unless you are having a "let's have fun getting messy in the kitchen" kind of day. And, I line the pan with waxed paper instead of buttering, because the last thing this recipe needs is more butter.

And, if you want to try before you buy, I currently have a double batch cooling in my refrigerator. Drive down our street and listen for the hysterical laughter.

Christmas No Chaser

So I've been trying to stay awake long enough to watch Kristen Chenoweth on The Late Late Show. Plus, Craig Ferguson is a treat every day. Anyway, Kristen has come and gone, but she is going to sing soon. In the meantime, I've been watching some college students sing (first one is a funny 12 Days of Christmas medley; second one is one of my favourite carols, Carol of the Bells):









Generally, I am opposed to all things IU, but I'll make an exception for these guys. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.