The best of times, the worst of times...

Thanksgiving has come and gone. Family time was really fun! No stress, just laughs and crazy family frivolity. My cousin Kelly tells some of it here.
Now the days before Christmas are fast upon us. Time to decorate and get ready for the blessed holiday!
But first i do have to get some not so happy stuff out of the way.
My car is dying... or is dead? It depends on if my dad wants to fix it or not, or can?... My old crappy Subaru that i actually really do love is coming to an end. boo hoo.
and
My beloved cat Marius is on his last legs, literally... since he is having trouble walking. I've had Mr. Marius now for 16 years and I'm already mourning the loss. But I think it might be time to say goodbye, his body just can't carry him around and his kidneys just don't function the same.
I know he is just a cat, but I do love him a lot. And I'm sad to eventually let him go. (cue the water works)

On the brighter side... Because of the car fiasco I've been able to spend a bit more time with my family and I am just thankful that they are there to help me when I need it. I am more blessed then I want to admit, because sometimes I just don't feel worthy of all the good things i currently have in my life. My life is cake compared to what so many people have to endure.

Has anyone thought about their New Years resolutions? Me neither... because I think they are silly. I just want to set some goals and stick to them. One being that I am going to start running again. I used to run, which means I used to be a runner (gasp)!
After a bad let down at a marathon involving a stress fracture and not being able to finish a race, I put running on the back burner. My goal is a 10k some time this spring. Wish me luck! The last time i ran a race was 6 years ago! eeeeeeeeeeeek!

Giving of Thanks

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them."
— John Fitzgerald Kennedy

For The Beauty Of The Earth Hymn

For the beauty of the earth,

For the beauty of the skies,

For the love which from our birth

Over and around us lies,

Lord of all, to thee we raise

This our grateful hymn of praise.

For the beauty of each hour

Of the day and of the night,

Hill and vale, and tree and flower,

Sun and moon and stars of light,

Lord of all, to thee we raise

This our grateful hymn of praise.

For the joy of human love,

Brother, sister, parent, child,

Friends on earth, and friends above,

Pleasures pure and undefiled,

Lord of all, to thee we raise

This our grateful hymn of praise.

For each perfect gift of thine,

To our race so freely given,

Graces human and divine,

Flowers of earth and buds of heaven,

Lord of all, to thee we raise

This our grateful hymn of praise.

For thy Church which evermore

Lifteth holy hands above,

Offering up on every shore

Her pure sacrifice of love,

Lord of all, to thee we raise

This our grateful hymn of praise

Happy Thanksgiving!

TWD~Twofer Thanksgiving Pie

I am just going to be totally honest and say... sorry Charlie, not making this one.
I have my reasons, I'm really not trying to be a stick in the mud.
I could make it for my work pot-luck, but i decided to make something i could share a little easier, like chocolate chip pumpkin bars and pinwheels.
I could make this for Thanksgiving but my family just wants plain pumpkin pie. Elitists!
Hey what do you get when you put a Libertarian, a Socialist, A few Democrats and a couple of right wing Republicans in a room?
My family.
What, were you expecting something funnier?
And finally, I don't like pumpkin pie, and I don't like pecan pie, the thought of the two together scare me... So why would I, two weeks in a row, make something I don't like? Life is too short. Enjoy what you make and make what you enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving my fellow TWD pals! Have a beautiful and thanks filled day of blessings, mirth and good food!!!

Nature Chic

This is a special interruption: I just saw a preview for my mostest favorite show: LOST!!! It's back!! January 21st... 4 days after my birthday! Best Birthday Present EVAH!!!! Kate! WE HAVE TO GO BACK!!! (giddy! I am giddy with glee and mirth!)

Soooo....I spent the day today at my parent's house. I thought I was going to go out there to help them decorate for Christmas. But I realized that once I was there that I would be decorating the outside of their house. Which was just fine because it was a nice balmy 40 degrees. So sad that 40 is considered "nice" weather this time of year. But we Minne-soh-tans take anything we can get.
My mission was to take nature and create something winter magical. My folks live in the country in the middle of nowhere surrounded by nature and woods.
While out gathering near the woods... I kept thinking, Oh Edward when are you going to come and sweep me away and make me into a Vampire so I can be with you forever. (oh puke)

But instead all I stumbled upon was my friend Sterling

and then later Cinder... whose poor tongue is too big to fit in her mouth.

So back to magic the gathering of twigs and branches... I said, I can out do anything that Country Living, Cottage Living and Martha Stewart can throw at me!

My mom said, Wow, I like it! What do you call it? I didn't have to think twice:

Nature Chic

Twilight, The Epidemic

Last night I was forced so happy to go see Twilight with Kelly and Kyle, Heather of the EO and Mackenzie. I had not read the book. I was on the fence about reading the book. But heck, why not go see the movie. WOAH.

All I can say that this was the most insane movie experience of my life. Imagine about 75, pre-teen girls, SCREAMING! every time Edward would appear on screen, Or Jacob, or James... you name it, they would SCREAM!! It was so amusing and surreal that it made up for one of the lamest movies i had ever seen. Sorry if you liked it, i was not impressed. This did however make me want to read the book, so i could compare the two. I think I might like the book better. Maybe.

So onto bigger and better things, like Christmas and decorating and my Rosanna Inc.'s 12 Days of Christmas Plates! I am so excited because this year I have a real live dining room in my real live house, that i really bought all by myself! Anyway, I am not much of a collector, but I have fallen in love with the Rosanna Bowles, a tableware designer who makes the CUTEST dishes, plates, cups, bowls, etc., that you could sink your little chic teeth into. (twilight pun)

A few years ago I was able to get my hands on the 12 Days of Christmas Plates, at Macy's for 75% off!!!

And thus, this year I will proudly be displaying my plates for all to see and marvel and drool over.

Nosey Friday

Over at one of my favorite baking sites Chocolatechic, who by the way is not only a phenomenal cook but an amazing photographer, she posted a question:

If you had a house fire and all your loved ones and pets were out of the house, what 3 things would you then save?

My three things would be the following:

1. My journals... 11 years worth of memories, boyfriends, moves, job changes, heart joys, heart breaks, celebrations and pity parties. I would be so sad to lose these memories. Because if someday I am blessed with a daughter I would give her these journals and say, Its okay to be imperfect and question life, and take risks and love and be loved and make mistakes...

2. My photos... years and years worth of memories that are irreplaceable.

3. My purse... I've had my purse stolen 2x now and it is a pain in the you know what to try and cancel credit cards and get a new driver's licence and replace all 500 tubes of lip gloss that litter my purse. Plus i always carry my camera in my purse and cell phone. So its like two for one gone mad!

Now, do tell me what 3 things you would save?

I still like Jason Mraz...

I just wrote up this whole thing about the Jason Mraz concert... and then decided to chuck it.

The important thing is that I got to see MR. A-Z live, I went with my posse that I love, and we had fun! I won't complain about all the bad stuff. (Jason was great, the venue was HORRIBLE!) Or maybe I'm just getting too old for this?

Anyway, let's just say, We Sang, We Danced and We Stole Things...

Pound Cake

Today at work, I pleaded, I begged, you do not have to eat the rice pudding!!! Don't even do it to be nice. And if you do eat it, if you think it is barf-o-rama, I won't be offended.

They liked it. They devoured both flavors! I even heard over someone's walkie-talkie, Please bring your bowl back so we can give it back to Sabrina.

Weird. I guess my pudding made the rounds?

My cousin Kelly was so repulsed by the rice pudding that she wouldn't even comment.

I even spared you guys the really gross picture of the chocolate rice pudding.

Until now...

But you don't think I would be so heartless as to leave you with that nasty picture? What kind of freak-azoid do you think I am? Nope, I am way too nice for that. After the Rice Pudding Hoopla, there was a request for Pound Cake! Now there is something I can really sink my teeth into unlike Twilight, (pun intended), that Cousin K is making me go see with her this Friday, along with Heather of the EO. I'm only going because it would be fun to hang out with them on a Friday. But the thing is, I haven't even read the book! I don't know if I will. Is that bad? I just had to be honest. I'm too busy reading about dragons and computer hackers. Which are both way cooler than vampires! Right?

Back to Pound Cake. I used a Dorie recipe, it turned out lovely.

I wish I could eat it, but it's not for me. But you know what is better than Pound Cake?

Going to see Jason Mraz Wednesday night!!!!!!! YEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

TWD~Arborio Rice Pudding

disclaimer****There is not really a good way to photog rice pudding... it just looks kinda gross.

I had no intentions of making this recipe. First of all I do not like rice in liquid, and especially not in pudding (ick) and second of all it is a lot harder to bring rice pudding into work than it is to bring oh lets say, Cupcakes.

But when I told my taste testers that I would be taking a break this week they had a complete cow man! bart simpson. moo.

They said, But we will eat anything you make.

Oh really? Fine then you can get icky rice pudding.

I read on the TWD website today where Ms. Dorie Greenspan herself! said, The recipe is wrong! Cook the pudding for 55 minutes not 30 like the book says.

I completely ignored her and followed the recipe in the book. She said it would look soupy, mine looked soupy. So i put in the fridge that way. Left for the evening. When I got home and I said, This still looks like disgusting rice soup! So i dumped it back into the pot and then it thickened rightup. And I realized that I should've listened to Internet Dorie. Not Cookbook Dorie.

Now the rice pudding is resting in the fridge all nice and thick.

I made 2 flavors too.

The first one is with vanilla, raisins and a few cinnamon chips.

The second batch is Chocolate and vanilla.

I doubt I will try them.

I will save eating Arborio Rice when it's in some delicious Risotto!

Tiny Dancer

1. Put your iPod or other Mp3 player on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!



IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY? I'm Yours (Jason Mraz)

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY? Christmas Time is Here (Sarah McLachlan) so true!

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL? Everloving (Moby)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE? A Lack of Color (Death Cab for Cutie)

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO? Redemption (Switchfoot) amen!

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU? Tangled Up In Blue (Indigo Girls)

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN? Lost Ones (Lauryn Hill) woah..deep.

SERIOUSLY!!!WHAT IS 2+2? Ocean Breathes Salty (Modest Mouse)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND? Lilac Wine (Jeff Buckley)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE? Jackson (Johnny Cash)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY? Expectations (Belle & Sebastion) if you only knew...

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP? The Scientist (Coldplay) ugh no!

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE? Bus Driver (Caedmon's Call) take me away...

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU? Hey There Delilah (Plain Whote Ts) they never could remember my name!

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING? White Trash Wedding!!! (Dixie Chicks) I swear that was the song that came up! how fitting!!!!

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?t Teenage Dirtbag (Wheatus) So perfect!!!!

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST? Natural Anthem (The Postal Service)

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET? Which Will (Nick Drake)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS? Trading My Sorrows ...awwww

WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN? The Quiet Wonder (Waterdeep)

HOW WILL YOU DIE? Rocket Man (Elton John) Brilliant!!!!

WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?Pull up the People (M.I.A.)

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH? Everyday Down (Joan Jones)

WHAT MAKES YOU CRY? When Can I See You (Babyface) that song does make me sad!

WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED? A Lifetime (Better than Ezra) what does that mean???

WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST? The Holly and the Ivy (George Winston) nightmares!

DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU? White Ladder (David Gray)

IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE? Anyone else but you (Juno soundtrack) truth hurts.

WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW? Try a Little Tenderness (Otis Redding) yes, please do.

WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS? Tiny Dancer! (Elton John)

Old Spinster Stew

I made real, homemade, beef stew today. Not the kind in the can, not the kind in plastic packaging that has fake meat, but the whole sha-bang meaty beefy stew.

I also made peanut butter chocolate chip cookies.

And did dishes

and laundry.

Just call me domesticated. I'm practicing. Because according to Mary and her comments on her blog today, women that are librarians are naturally old spinsters. Hello, It's a Wonderful Life is my favorite movie of all time. I know what happens if George was never born, no one was there to save Mary from being an old spinster.

So in spite of the fact that I am one who works in a library, I'm practicing my domestic skills so I do not end up an old spinster.

Then again, I do just fine on my own. Thank you very much. Actually, now that I come to think of it, Old Spinsters are bringing sexy back. I think that is what J.T. was singing about. Yes! I think it was!

Shabby Chic for the Bathroom

If you don't know it by now I am Ms. Shabby Chic... third after Joolee, who is second after Rachel Ashwell.

I found these framed prints that i oh so badly want for my bathroom... So when you are doing your bizzness you can read this:

These can be found here at the Shabby Chic store. Where I can afford nothing.

Yippy! Skippy! Christmas Movies!

Shannon Someone said to me, "Last night I went home and listened to Christmas music." What! Christmas is light years away. Until it hit me... By Golly its almost a month away! Hurray!
It's the most wonderful time of the year. Actually July is because:

a) It's finally HOT in Minnesota
b) I get the whole month off from work



But I do like Christmas time for realizies. One of my FAVORITE Sabro holiday traditions is watching a Christmas themed movie every weekend starting the weekend after Thanksgiving, all the way up until the night before Christmas....

So here is my Christmas movie countdown list:



Family Stone (SJP is uptight hot tranny mess, family is dysfunctional! love love love the feel of it all)

ELF (Could Zooey Deschanel get any cuter as Jovie! What a voice too! Will Ferrel is hilarious. Love that his name is Buddy, just like by Bro Buddy!)

Miracle of 34th Street (Santa+Macy's+crabby Maureen O'Hara+Natalie Woods+Christmas Spirit=I BELIEVE!

White Christmas (The singing, the dancing, the costumes, vermont, the General, Danny Kaye, Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, the other lady who was way too thin, plus snow snow snow, marvelous!)

It's a Wonderful Life (where do i begin~ball my eyes out every time! Jimmy Stewart THE BEST! Donna Reed, gorgeous! friends and angels and bells and happy endings!)



Runners up:

Love Actually and Little Women (Winona Ryder version) it's not really a Christmas movie is it? well kinda.



What are your favorite Christmas movies?

Twilight

Overheard in the Media Center today between a girl and boy:

G: Have you read Twilight?
B: No.
G: But its such a good book!
B: It's not a book, its an epidemic.


so true. so very very true.

TWD~Kugelhopf

I have a love hate relationship with yeast! It all started when I worked in a kitchen at a crisis care facility in the mountains of New Hampshire. Almost everyday at one point in the day I had to make some sort of dinner rolls, and they all used yeast. Some days the yeast would rise beautifully. Other days it just fell flat. My friend Rachel always seemed to have the worst time with yeast. Go Pull Bread! Anyway, once i got the hang of using yeast, I could make just about any kind of dinner rolls and they were scrumpdilicious! That was over 10 years ago. Once i didn't have to make dinner rolls everyday, I stopped using yeast.

So here I am faced with the challenge of making Kugelhopf and I seem to be failing miserably. My dough is not rising. UGH!!!!! I lost my magic touch.

The one thing that got my undies in a bunch was that the recipe didn't call for me to proof the yeast first. That is all I've ever done and now, no proofing. I feel strange inside.
I do not own a Kugelhopf pan. I am using a bundt pan. I did not put raisins in the mix. I put dried currants and cinnamon chips. I'm still sitting here waiting for my dough to rise. I am going to go watch Gossip Girl. I'll be back. Gosh I hope i didn't just sound like the Terminator. But I do sometimes have an Austrian accent. And I love to Govern my kitchen.

So while I was watching GG I got inspired. To take pictures of myself artfully pretend sleeping and my cute pink shoes. And I broke one of my favorite pepper shakers. What is that they say, A broken bird in the hand is... well it's just that... a broken bird in the hand.

All while my Kugelhopf was doing this:

And then when that was done it looked like this:




And tasted like this:

Oh well, I tried. No more Kugelhopf for me.
I take that back, it didn't taste like cardboard. It was buttery and brioche-y. I just was expecting it to be sweeter. Like me, on a really good day.

Rock Stars, Wiiing & Birthday Partying

This all started Wednesday night when I made 8 dozen chocolate chip cookies for my co-workers housewarming party that would be taking place on Friday. But before I could get to Friday, Thursday night was spent at a china buffet with soon to be less wise Shannon. Shannon had her wisdom teeth out Friday and I elected to spend the day with her while she recovered. Um okay not fair... total rock star! I was in pain for weeks, puffy and bruised and oozing for a month. But oh no! Ms. Shannon has perfect recovery. I was so impressed.

Friday night I went to co-worker TST's housewarming party. For the first time in my life i played the magical Nintendo Wii... Boxing, bowling, baseball, tennis, riding cows. Super duper fun. Hooked and addicted I now want my own. Party was rad. House was nice. Co-workers are crazy.

Saturday night was a former co-worker's birthday party. Ms. Janine had a dinner party. Her amazing husband Jason cooked up one heck of a meal. Goat cheese and mushroom bruchetta appetizers, Beet salad, and pork with curry sauce... Then fondue with chocolate and fruit. The best part was just sitting around for hours, laughing, talking and no topics were off limits; Religion, Politics, That's What She Said.

Now it's time to host my own dinner party. It's been awhile. And i have yet to have one in my new house. The question is: Who will make the guest list????

A sigh of relief...

I am really happy all this election stuff is over. Really. I am happy about many of the outcomes of this election. And I know that everyone is talking about the new president. And that is great. BUT the big talk at my school today was that our referendum passed!!! This is HUGE! Most of the people I talked to today were saying that they were glad for the new president, but what they were really holding their breath for was the final tally on the referendum. This means a lot of great things for our school district. More teachers, smaller classes, art\music\sports programs continuing and most importantly my colleagues get to keep their jobs!

I believe that change begins at home. The president is one person. And I know Obama will do a good job, but education is the key. These students deserve the best education with the best teachers. I am proud of the teachers\administrators\staff I work with. They work tirelessly to help these kids be the best students they can be. It is not an easy job. I know this may sound dorky but the future is not Obama, the future is the kids.

Cue my favorite Whitney Houston song: No not I Want to Dance with Somebody, not I Will Always Love You... But this little number...

"I believe the children are our future, teach them well and let them lead the way, show them all the beauty they posses inside..."

(you're singing it now aren't you? Gotcha!)

School District 281 represent!

TWD~Rugelach

Rugelach? What is Rugelach? It is simply a Jewish pastry filled with all sorts of goodies. I really liked making this recipe the bestest so far. It is pretty simple to make, but easiest if you use a food processor to combine the dough. I made two different flavors of Rugelach. One with Black Berry Preserves and mini-chocolate chips. And the other ones have Currant preserves, walnuts and dried currants. They both came out tasting pretty spiffy. Officially I will find out tomorrow morning if they are any good when I pass them out to the lovely ladies in the front office. Not to be confused with the "lovely ladies" of Les Miserables the musical. I work at a school for goodness sakes!

Speaking of working at a school, this was overheard today in the Media Center:

boy student: Ms. Pam! Ms. Pam!

me: are you talking to me?

b.s.: yes, can you help me?

me: did you call me Ms. Pam because I remind you of Pam from the show The Office?!?!

b.s.: no, I thought your name was Pam!

me: Oh. No my name is Sabrina

b.s.: Well, can I still call you Ms. Pam?

me: You sure can!

Flame Fatale meets Phyllis Diller

Halloween, that spooky time of year when children and grown-ups alike can put on costumes and act crazy. In September, Shannon coerced me into having a Halloween party. I like parties. I like Halloween. Viola. But alas, up until Tuesday this week I had no idea what my costume was going to be... until I saw the Flame Fatale make-up kit at my local Walgreens. I was going to be fire... like sexy fire. Well I might have got the fire part down, but cousins Kelly & Kyle, aka K and\or K said I looked like Phyllis Diller meets Cruella Deville meets Liza Minnelli. UGH.
So you be the judge...

Superfluous Before:

Superfluous After:

...at least my eyelashes were amazing! And the food wasn't bad either...

Everyone that came was very festive... including Disco Diva Shannon (and me where I don't look like Phyllis Diller, but more like Niki Sixx from Motley Crue circa 1985)

Kelly and Kyle as The white trash shot gun wedding bride and Sarah Palin a Footnote on History.


Love the hickeys!


Here you will find female K of K and\or K, Heather of the EO (as Halloween Spirit) and Superfluous! Blogger Maniacs United!

Sarah as Olive the Other Reindeer:

Shannon Disco Diva and Ellen Mary Christmas (and my paint swatches)

Teri, Mr. Saturday Night Fever

Well that is all I'm going to say, I'm not going to mention anything about my new cool fogger\bubble machine and how I had the funnerest party of them all. I won't mention how i dressed my cat up as water because PETA wouldn't like that too much. And plus, let's just all agree that people who dress their pets up are weird. Who does that!?!

Happy Halloween!