have yourself a merry little christmas

Be safe and have fun!

~ Susie

(P.S. - It's unlikely I'll post anything over the next week as I'll be traveling around the southwest. Just thought I'd save y'all some mouse clicks. But be sure to come back next year!!)

ghost of christmas past?

So last year when I actually decorated the house for Christmas, I decided to take a bunch of pics so I'd have proof for the doubters but mostly so I could practice taking pics in low light. Which I still suck at. They're always blurry, so I guess I need a tripod and maybe a better camera too. Or something. Anyway, when I was going through them, something on one of them caught my eye...

In the picture below, there is a small dark humanoid form in front of the fireplace. What the hell is that???? Now let me say, I took a bunch of pics in a row and it's only on this one, there is no ordinary object inadvertently placed in front of the lens that could be mistaken for whatever this is, and I even showed it to B and some other friends (all skeptics) and none of them could figure out what it is either!


Here I've lightened the exposure and zoomed in, so you can get a better look.

Now I'm not saying I think it IS a shadow person or something like that (uh, that would be bad), but it's been a year and I still can't solve the mystery which is kind of creepy but in a fun way. We've had a handful of other unexplained phenomena happen here over the years, nothing scary just... unexplainable. I'll have to do a post about those things someday. But for now, any idea what this might be? It does appear to reflect light, supernatural beings probably don't do that... right? Can you see it???

cranberry crunch cookies & italian cookies

So our office party was pretty small & quiet this year (we were hoping for better), and there was way more food than hungry people, so my cookies were largely untouched. Which sucks ass because I spent three freaking nights baking them. At least, everyone who ate them seemed to like them, which is cool since I crave that sort of validation. All the cookies are very good, you can't go wrong with any of these, assuming you like what's in them.

The cranberry crunch cookies are chock full of goodies: dried cranberries, toasted almonds, oatmeal, and graham cracker crumbs which gives them a fun, unusual crispy/crunchiness. Yet they're chewy at the same time. Like I said, unusual and fun. I found this one here on Cookie Madness; Anna links to the original recipe on her post. (Which is what I used.) The prep on these is a bit of a pain compared to some cookies, as you have to toast the almonds, grind up the graham crackers, zest the orange. But there's nothing difficult about any of it. Also, these are pretty sweet, so I might skip rolling them in turbinado sugar (though that lends a pleasing sparkle and crunch) OR I might just cut back on the brown sugar some, if I make them again. But they're not cloyingly sweet or anything, I just personally prefer a bit less sweetness.

And I found these Italian cookies here on Noble Pig. Are these the cutest cookies in the universe or what? OK, maybe not, but they are definitely the cutest cookies I've ever made. I have a thing for sprinkles, what can I say. The original recipe calls for anise extract, but um, no I did not want licorice flavored cookies under my sprinkles, so I used lemon extract in both the dough and the glaze. Also, I added the zest of two lemons to the dough. Otherwise I think I followed the recipe exactly. When dipping the cooled cookies into the glaze, I did about 5 at a time, then sprinkled, then repeated. You want to get the sprinkles on there while the glaze is still wet. Oh, and this is my first foray into Crisco usage. It's a super small amount when you spread it over this many cookies, and I wanted to get the texture right, so I figured what the hell. (I am usually a butter purist.) No regrets with that here, though I will stick to butter-based recipes most of the time. Besides being adorable, these taste great, and they make your mouth happy because it thinks it is eating a teeny tiny cake - WITH SPRINKLES!!

happy happy joy joy happy happy joy joy...

quick FYI

Do you ever feel like all those cutie pie animals out there on the internet must be getting smug and uppity with all the adoration? Well, this site takes their adorable fuzzy asses down several pegs, and it is hysterically funny! So I want to give it special mention because I think it's one of the funniest blogs I have ever come across. Really, as far as cute animal blogs go, the only thing that rivals this one, in my opinion, is ICHC. It's called &*#$ You, Penguin and there's a link over there as well --->. (I certainly love the F word, but since I don't know who is looking at this - could be lil' nieces and nephews sometimes - I do limit my use of it on here. So that's why I have the word itself bleeped out. But on the site, there's a copious amount of cussin', fair warning.) Anyway y'all, check it out - it's twisted and hilarious, and we all need more twisted hilarity in our lives!

peppermint bark chocolate cookies

Well, the wedding I was in was a rousing success, I had a nice visit with my folks who came down for the weekend, I got all my shopping done (I think), and I made one out of the three cookie recipes I need to have baked for the potluck on Thursday. I probably should make the second recipe tonight, but it's already 10:00 and it's just not going to happen. I'm still feeling overwhelmed, but it's good to know I have accomplished something.

These cookies are really good. They pretty much taste exactly like you'd expect, in a good way. The recipe can be found here. No surprise that I did the "bark" the lazy way: used a scant half cup of crushed 'soft' peppermint candies* and a heaping half cup of white chocolate chips. (This dough is thick; I think my 20 year old hand-me-down hand mixer was about to overheat! Someday you will be mine, KitchenAid stand mixer... someday.) Keep the dough in the fridge between batches. All my batches were done in 10 minutes, which never happens when I make cookies, so be sure to check these at 10. Oh, and someone in the comments suggested adding a bit of peppermint extract but I did not and I would not in the future. Too much mint is overwhelming, the candy adds plenty of it, trust me. I got about 46 cookies or so. I will wrap these in wax paper and put them in an airtight container, then freeze till Thurs so they stay fresh-tasting. I'll try to post the other cookie recipes later in the week, but no hard and fast promises! G'night.

* Like these. They're hardish but sort of melty when you chew them. I wouldn't even think about using the totally hard kind; these were a pain enough to crush as it was. I unwrapped a bunch, put them in a freezer bag and went after it with a rolling pin. They crush better if you throw your weight into pressing the pin down on them, rather than bashing them.

super long post full of random things

Last night we had a power outage that lasted 3 hours. Something blew up on top of some pole and several blocks went down. Luckily it was back on by 11:30 so we didn't freeze too bad, but never mind all the stuff I was hoping to accomplish. The good thing is, the moon was bright and the stars were shining and I spent a long time gazing at them. Wouldn't have done that otherwise.

I am FREAKING OUT about Christmas. I haven't done a single card or bought a single gift. And I can't do much this weekend because I'm in a wedding. And I have to bake 3 kinds of cookies for my office potluck. At some point. FREAKING OUT. And I didn't even decorate this year. Y'all people with mad skilz in time management - HOW DO YOU DO IT??? Seriously. Please tell me how. (If you're wondering how I have time to write this post, the answer is, by writing it at work, of course! heh)

The foliage around Austin is unbelievably gorgeous these days. I guess drought is good for one thing. I like to commute on prettier roads, and all along Mopac and downtown in the Clarksville area it's a feast for the eyes. So many colors, some trees are just glowing I swear. Please look around if you haven't yet, it won't last much longer!! Here are a few pics I took in Dallas over the holiday weekend, more coming later from here at home. Maybe. (See above plea for help.)

Haagen Dazs has a Limited Edition out right now, which is Peppermint Bark. Holy crap is it good. I ate three-fourths of the pint in one sitting. No, I'm not proud of that.

Why do those "Classmates" and "Reunion" sites keep emailing me that people are searching for me or signing my guest book, but then they won't let me see who's searching or even see my own guestbook without paying for a subscription? Fuck you, classmates and reunion.

I wish I could take pictures of smells. The other morning some guys were chopping down a tree behind my office and the fresh lumber smelled so good, I wished I could capture it and share it somehow. Poor tree though.

Over Thanksgiving, I learned that my brother and I apparently have exceptionally small ears.

It was a good holiday. Everyone got along, there was no real drama (though one nephew did squeeze out a few tears after losing at monopoly), it was downright pleasant all around! Plus I won the pot, twice I think?, in the card game we always play at B's family get-togethers. Suckas.

Also over Thanksgiving, I went to half a bachelorette party and I had a birthday.

37 feels a lot older than 36. (Hence, the attendance of only half a bachelorette party.)

My mom made me my "signature" birthday cake: devilsfood cake with chocolate frosting with M&Ms all over it. YU-HUH-HUMMY!

On the way home from Thanksgiving, we hit terrible traffic. No shock there, but it sucked anyway. B wanted to try a new alternate route, east of 35, so we did do that for a while. It was great, no traffic, just country roads and farms and fields and sky and grass and trees. Really pretty area (east of Hillsboro basically). The dying grass along the highway was sort of glowing greenish white. We had vast unobstructed views of the sky, silverlined clouds heading on towards sunset. (So many times when I'm driving, I see things that would make beautiful photos, and I'm not in a position to take any. This is very disappointing, but I suppose the bright side is it forces me to just enjoy the moment without filtering it through the lens, which can cause a detachment from the situation happening in real life.) I wanted to get back on the highway before dark, so we went back to 35 and the rest of trip was congested and annoying. Except for two things: the atomic sunset and later, our view of the moon's alignment with Venus and Jupiter. That was awesome! (Can you see the smiley face created by this alignment? Pic from Astronomy Pic of the Day. I love that site. As you might can tell, I love the skies.)




How about some more pics from the holiday weekend, even though it was like two weeks ago. This is my parents' dog, Zelda. Isn't she cute? My aunt thinks she looks like Falcor from The Neverending Story. hee hee

Not so much here!

If you can't be with the one you love, hook him up to a webcam. (My nephew was sick this day so he stayed home, but he still got to join us!)

Here's another nephew, preparing for his performace of All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth. He's a method actor.

How many screens can one roomful of people look at? Is this weird?

Internet addiction starts young these days. And it's no wonder considering the environment. ^

B really likes pie. He ate two pieces of leftover pumpkin pie in a row, knowing that we were about to eat my birthday cake. He ate some of that too.

The formatting here on blogger drives me crazy!

Is that all for now? I think so. If any of you actually read the whole thing, I'm impressed. I mean it with those time management tips. I am in desperate need here. (After 37 years of extreme procrastination, though, it might just be too late.)

i can has lazy post?

I promise I won't keep posting ICHC pics instead of writing something. Eh, I can't actually promise that, but I will try not to do it very often. But sometimes one just comes along that is so frickin frackin awesome, I have to share it with my loyal readers. If you're not checking this site every day (link is over there somewhere --->), you are simply missing out on one of life's very real, very simple, daily pleasures.



more animals


Oh yeah, that "real" post is coming soon. And by soon I mean sometime before the apocalypse of 2012. Did you know that there will be an apocalypse on 12-21-2012? * All the other doomsdays and apocalypses I've experienced (Y2k, 6-6-06, etc etc etc) have been perfectly pleasant, so I'm not too worried. Also, by then, all the Harry Potter movies, and The Hobbit movie, will have been released, and maybe even the "other" hobbit movie that's to follow it. (Though that one could be dicey as it has a Dec 2012 release date.) We've seen a black man elected to office (please don't screw up please don't screw up) and we've seen dogs and cats living together. And there won't be any ice caps left to worry about. So basically, I'm cool with it, though I do want to get to Europe one more time before it happens. And I have a lot of books to read and movies to see and wines to taste and restaurants to visit and recipes to make (oh man do I have a lot of recipes to make). So I better get busy living or get busy dying, as a wise movie character once said. 4 years - what will you do with your time?

* Disclaimer 1 - there are all kinds of wild theories about the end of the Mayan calendar indicating the end of the world. I don't actually believe it, I'm being flippant with the above paragraph. Uh, just in case any of you were wondering. (Though "carpe diem" is always a worthy goal.) ** I know as it gets closer crooks and hucksters will prey on people's fears for the purposes of making a buck and/or scaring people into their churches. There's a movie coming out about it, too, for which I saw a teaser the other night before James Bond. *** Apocalypses are big business. Of course if any of these people actually BELIEVED it, they wouldn't give a flip about making money, b/c really, what would be the point? So there you go. And just in case, like me, you want to read a little more about it b/c there is this teeny tiny weensy part of you which you are ashamed to admit exists that feels the tiniest bit of anxiety about it, go ahead and read this article and move on with your life.

** Disclamer 2 - I totally think we could wipe ourselves out at any time, mind you. I just don't think some ancient calendar will have anything to do with it.

*** James Bond is very good. I have fairly neutral feelings regarding the franchise in general but thoroughly enjoyed this movie, and I love the gravitas and all-around badassness that Craig brings to the role.

PS - This turned into a real post, didn't it? Yay!

I AM NOT A FREAK!

Y'all, check out what my friend "Anonymous" just put in the comments on the nostril post. I will copy it here:

Having upper and lower jaw surgery on Monday, I have the answer to this question! My surgeon is about to alter the dimensions of my nose and airways, so, he asked me if I breathe out of one nostril all the time, or if it goes back and forth. Back and forth was my answer, and he said, "good". I always thought that was a problem, too. He said it was normal. He called it 'cycling', and said that if it didn't cycle between nostrils, then one side would get dry as a bone and have problems. I guess one side opens for awhile, then the other side closes via the tissue re-inflaming, thereby prepping it to open back up later, breathe air and warm it, catch particles, etc. So, I guess 'cycling' is good, normal, and not a problem!

That's right - I am totally good and normal and all y'all two-nostril breathers are the freaks!!!! MWAHAHAHAHAHHAAAAA

CD cover meme

I have a vague notion that I will put together a post to sum up my holiday weekend, but in the meantime, here's a fun little meme. Y'all should play, too, and tell me what you get on your blogs or in the comments!

(And if you think it's really too late to be recapping Thanksgiving, consider that I still haven't unpacked yet from that trip. Timely is not my middle name.)

Step 1, click here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The name of the article is the name of your band.

Mine: Okay High School

Step 2: http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four words of the last quote is the name of your album

Mine: Politics is applesauce. (My quote only had three words.)

Step 3: http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/
The third image, from left to right, is your cover art.

Mine: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ingedegroot/3082493790/

I think it all works beautifully together, actually!! This must be how some bands actually name themselves. For would-be evidence, check out this article:

http://new.ca.music.yahoo.com/blogs/mojo/718/whats-the-worst-band-name-like-ever/

Reminds me of the fake band name that B and I came up with years ago - 24 Hour Emergency. Not bad, right? Right??

i know, i know

I need a new blog entry! Even if you were thinking about trying those enchiladas, you are probably so sick of looking at them that you will refuse to do so now. I am going to try to put up something of substance (as much as anything ever is) soon, but for now, I have a question for my loyal readers and the universe at large:

Is it normal to only breathe out of one nostril at a time? Which nostril is clear varies, but I can rarely breathe through both at the same, and that's even when I'm NOT congested. Is this true for everyone, or am I a freak? (Meaning: am I freak in this regard - no need to debate my freakishness at large!)

And because posts are always better with pictures, I will leave you with this:

The cuteness... it burns...