Less than 24 hours are left until I will offically start NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) which will provide you with at least one post for each day of November! And I promise to try to make every one of them a REAL post…Not just a link.
I hope you will check in frequently and comment voraciously this month! I have a feeling I will need a little motivation (particularly on Saturdays and Sundays, my usual non-blog days!).
Here we go!
Categories: NaBloPoMo
This past weekend, I decided I needed to make cupcakes. I never make cupcakes. I don’t even own a mixer! But persistance prevailed and I borrowed my mother’s mixer. The ancient Hamilton Beach that shakes when it mixes and won’t go into the OFF position. It’s fabulous, let me tell ya!
But the mixer does mix, and with a little white cake mix I was able to make some sutible cupcakes. The part I was really looking foward to though was the decorating. I wanted to make spikey cupcakes. I discovered that a Wilton #16 icing tip would give me the look I wanted when combined with a Ziplock bag and orange and black dyed icing. It was actually incredibly simple. I think it took a tiny bit longer than icing a cupcake the regular way, but it was worth the time. You simple make peak after peak across the cupcake, and voila! Spikes!
Next, I wanted to add a little extra zing. When I was little, my mother and I used to make chocolates together. Since I knew that would be easy and add a lot of flare, I found a ghost chocolate mold, some white chocolate made for melting, and some milk chocolate made for melting. I poured the oversized chips into another Ziplock bag and melted them in the microwave. Then I cut a tiny bit off one corner of the chocolate bag and used that to fill in the eyes and mouth of mold. Traditionally, I would have used a paint brush for this part, and I think that would have been a little neater, but I wanted to try this new technique.
Then I cut a larger hole into the corner of the white chocolate bag, and squeezed white chocolate into each mold. I put the mold tray into the freezer, and about 10 minutes later, they popped right out. And onto the cupcakes they went!
I think the final outcome was pretty good. Especially for a first try! This technique was so easy, I could see doing something similar for other holidays. Who knows…maybe there is a baker in me after all!
Categories: food
Halloween party this weekend:
The End.
Categories: drunken stupor · parties
Last November, as some of you might remember, I participated in NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month. I wrote a 50,000 word book in a month. I loved doing it. It was stressful, intense, exhilarating and had me throughly insconced in the world of Pumpkin Spice Lattes. At the end, I had not only written a book which I hope to one day publish, but I had also closed a long chapter in my life by writing the story (albeit completely twisted and fictionalized) down on paper.
I contemplated doing NaNoWriMo again this year, but it had me completely cut off from my friends for 30 days, and I don’t think now is the right time to do that as they have not been happy with me for some time. If I disappeared for another 30 days, I might very well lose some friends. So in lou of doing NanoWriMo, another challenge has been proposed. NaBloPoMo, or National Blog Posting Month is beginning on November 1st, and I am going to take part. It is no where near as time consuming or ultimately fulfilling as writing a book in a month, but it is a small goal to work towards, and may be as enjoyable for you, my readers, as it is for me. The goal of NaBloPoMo is to post something to my blog every single day in the Month of November. Even Saturdays and Sundays!!
Now here is where I ask you all to delurk (which means, “stop just reading, and start commenting” to those of you who are non-bloggers). I would love to hear what you all think I should write about. I have some ideas of my own, but I want to know what you all like reading from me. Posts about my life? My cats? Reviews or rants about products? Politics? Maybe more detail about the photographs I take? I have a million recipes…I could post those…Or something I haven’t listed here? What do you want to read for the next 30 posts? I want to make sure you are here a lot in the next few weeks, so I had better know what material will get you here! Leave your ideas in the comments, please, and wish me luck!
Edited to add: Or I could post party planning tips or project how-to’s…those are things I don’t post but would probably be pretty good at explaining…
Categories: NaBloPoMo
If you like being crafty, this blog is for you. Not Martha is awesome…she can make just about anything, and gives handy dandy little tutorials. Her latest creation may be my favorite though. These are friggin’ AWESOME! I don’t even LIKE snack cakes and I want to make these!
Categories: Linkity Dinkity · food · parties · tidbits
Saturday I went to the Texas State Fair for the first time. I have been before to watch The Texas/OU game but we never gave more than a cursory look at the fair because we had football to watch, and quite honestly, football will always beat a fried Snickers bar on a stick!
But Saturday I went with The Architect. We had a blast! I tried the Fried Mac and Cheese (which was actually pretty decent) and The Architect FINALLY found a Corny Dog for himself (they were in seriously short supply for a fair!!) and we rode rides and looked at crafts (which have suspiciously been taken over by Asian importers hocking cheap sunglasses and tacky purses) and wandered through the car show (which had far too few concept cars!!)
The architect even indulged my inner photographer and let me snap away. I posted the best pics on flickr…Take a look by clicking on the picture below (and try to view them in their larger forms…many of them are much better that way). P.S. To view them in order, view the State Fair Set instead of just my photo stream…
Categories: photography
Stacy did this non-meme (it’s not really a meme but it looks like one) over at Outwit, Outblog, Outsnark, and I realized I watch plenty of TV to join in…I haven’t been watching much TV as it happens lately, because I’m not home much during the week, but I will sit down and watch a 4 hour chunk of DVR at once on a Saturday or Sunday morning, So here goes…
Shows I Love
Grey’s Anatomy
Lost
Prison Break
How I Met Your Mother
The Amazing Race
Criminal Minds
Jericho
Shows I Like (but may not watch every week)
ER
Law and Order
L&O: SVU
L&O: Criminal Intent
Numb3rs
Close to Home
Two and a Half Men
The New Adventures of Old Christine
Shows that have been on but I just started watching and they’re pretty decent
I just got into The Amazing Race about 2 years ago, does that count?
Survivor
Shows that have either jumped the shark or suck, yet I still watch
ER
Sometimes I think Lost…
New shows that I really like
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
Men In Trees
Jericho
New shows that I kind of like and am still “trying out”
The Nine
Heroes
Ugly Betty
The Class
30 Rock
New shows that I tried but didn’t like
Six Degrees
Smith
Happy Hour
Kidnapped
New shows that I liked but have already been canceled
Nothing yet, but I heard nasty rumors about Men in Trees…
And I am adding another category:
Shows I USED to like but stopped watching
Medium
CSI
CSI: Miami
Cold Case
Crossing Jordan
What About Brian
Categories: Meme · TV · daily activities no one cares about
My parents’ party was something I had wanted to do for them for several years now. I wanted to celebrate what they had together and remind them of both how special and how rare it was. It was truly something I was doing for them without expecting anything in return (except maybe a brownie point or two to be put in the coffer…good daughter points!). I never expected to get the praise or compliments I got. They were overwhelming and greedily devoured and stored in my Compliments Vault. The general gist of the compliments were one of three things:
A.) “You did such a great job with this party!!” (Said by almost everyone. God Bless them.)
B.) “I am so proud of you!” (This particular compliment was given repeatedly by my friend, Lindsay. Her face lit up every time she told me, and it made me grin in bashful acceptance again and again. It was also proffered by several friends who had patiently waited for this party to be over so they could have their friend back, but there was something in the way Lindsay said it that just made my day that day.)
C.) “This is the best lasagna I have ever had!” (That was such a wonderful compliment. I was so worried about cooking it ahead of time and freezing it, but I figured if Monica could do it on Friends for her mother’s party, then I could do it too!! Several people told me it was good, and I noticed as we rinsed the dishes for the dishwasher that almost everyone cleaned their plate!)
Those compliments combined with parents who were exhausted until Tuesday from the excitement and elation made everything worth it. All the secrecy, all the work, all the money, possibly even all the friends who were about to kill the stressed out Me–it was all worth it.
Along with the loving praise, were several great conversations.
One was between my parents’ neighbor Betsy, a thin, beautiful woman of about 55–a Southern Bell type, but slightly Texa-fied–and me.
Betsy: What’s for dinner? (her loud southern drawl both grating and beautiful at the same time)
Me: Lasagna, peas with pearl onions, salad and garlic bread!
Betsy: Did you cook all that??
Me: Yup! Made four lasagnas last Sunday and froze them.
Betsy: Ty! Haven’t you ever heard of Stoffer’s?? They sell big lasagnas at Sam’s! No one would know!
Me: Well, I thought I could make them and they’d taste better. But let me know what you think when you eat.
Betsy: You’re right, let me taste them!
Overheard two hours later, after she had cleaned her plate:
Betsy: And here I was tellin’ her to buy the lasagna at Sam’s! I should have known! This lasagna may be the best lasagna I’ve ever had!
Overheard compliments are the best aren’t they?
On the other side of the party was the son of some of my family friends. He is 2 and a half or so, and has suddenly come out of his shell. He was always excrutiatingly shy but suddenly he is the life of the party! He walks in with his parents, stands in the foyer, and yells “Hello everyone!”
Later, as we watched the slideshow, he found a seat right in the middle, in front of everyone, and as a picture of my Grandmother Anita around my age played, he beams, “Miss Tyyy, that’s YOU!!” pointing to the screen, with his little blue eyes wide in excitement. I explained that no, that was my grandmother, and he let out a long, “ohhh…”
Some time after that, he and his father went outside for a little walk. About thirty minutes after their walk, he comes up to me, his little matchbox truck in one hand, and we have this conversation:
Connor: Miss Ty? Do you own a Nissan??
Me: {trying not to smile} Why yes Connor. Why do you ask?
Connor: Is it yellow?
Me: {looking away to avoid laughing, composing myself, and turning back to this tiny car salesman} Yes it is.
Connor: {this is said with a nod of his head and furrow of his tiny brow that say he approves of my vehicular choices} Mmm. It’s a nice car.
Me: Well, thank you Connor. {with this he walks off to find other people to discuss cars with}
I asked his dad what in the world that was about, and he explained that they had been looking at the cars outside on their walk and he had wanted to know who owned each car. Apparently, Connor is officially obsessed with cars. He LOVES them. In preschool, he will walk up a parent, and ask things like, “Miss Tracy, how is your Maxima doing?” With all the seriousness of a doctor.
He is truly adorable, and made my evening just a joy.
Categories: Linkity Dinkity · pets · tidbits · video
This would be cool to do at the Halloween party I’m going to this year…no? I might give it a shot…
Philippe Halsman’s Jump Shots
Categories: Linkity Dinkity · parties · tidbits
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