happy valentine's to me

So, the cookware around the ol' homestead is looking might rough. Charlie and I started talking about it a couple of months ago, before Christmas, but other things took precedence. Don't get me wrong, my old cookware was bought as a wedding present and was nice. But it was painted on the outside, and my dishwasher doesn't like that. And one of my pans got scratched on the inside by a doggie who was trying to help me get it clean. I know, some of you might think that's gross.

But, behold:

My new cookware. Calphalon Hard-Anodized cookware set.

Now, it isn't the fancy, fancy calphalon stuff. I can't afford that, and I don't like stainless steel cookware, cause I'm just not that talented. I like me some teflon! I know that even though I aspire to culinary greatness, I just can't get into cooking on stainless steel. Just not for me, but if you're cooking on it, I give you many compliments.

This particular cookware set came with a free bonus gift of another pan as well, shaped a little like a flatter wok with a lid. And I love glass lids!! Yes. Smart cookware designers gave me glass lids and one that fits on the large saute pan. Awesome.

Can you tell I'm gushing? I love my present! Or, I will when it arrives tomorrow.

I looked around a little at cookware.com and found this set. I sent it to Charlie because I wanted him to see the style I was looking for since we were going to go look around here in town. I thought we might be able to get a few pieces at our local TJ Maxx, since they normally carry such great stuff. I didn't think I'd be able to get a whole set, or at least, not all at once. So I sent it to his email and then last night he tells me he went ahead and ordered it!!!!!!!!!

I started jumping around. He was so casual about it, and I was so thrilled. Completely and totally thrilled and surprised that he would go ahead and get it. YAY!

So, Valentine's Day will consist of something home cooked, in my new pans! I'd invite you, but it's not really romantic to have a whole group. So, sorry.

New pans, new pans, new pans, new pans, new pans. Ahhh, the long hours until they arrive tomorrow. New pans, new pans, new pans.

New pans. Sigh. I'm in love. With them, and my husband.

photo card outtakes

When Charlie and I ventured out to take our Christmas card picture, it was actually quite fun. We went to our local Target shopping center that was decorated for the holidays.

I put my scarf around Charlie's neck, claiming him for myself. He didn't like it.

Here was another pose we tried, but I didn't really want everyone to see my butt sticking out. I know that Christmas cards often end up on refrigerators and such, and I really didn't need my butt all over refrigerators everywhere.

Charlie was getting the tripod set and practiced on me.

This was right after I tried a sexy pose. This was my silly pose. I know, I'm adorable.


Wouldn't you have loved to have this one? I mean, come on, isn't it wonderful? It certainly is me, though.

girls in green

Meet my mom (Ellen), Charlie's mom (Judy), Charlie's cousin (Gabby) and Charlie's sister (Jessica.) This was Christmas day and they were all dressed in such lovely shades of green.

We had a great time on Christmas Day, with all the family together. Judy did a great job with the meal considering they just remodeled their kitchen and didn't have countertops or a sink!

snowed in...

So when the weatherman calls for snow and you live in North Carolina, you do one of two things: ignore him or run out and buy bread and milk. It's funny here in the middle, where winter really isn't too bad and in the summer you can actually be outside. But when we do get that random winter storm, there's a panicked mentality. Suddenly, the local Harris Teeter has no milk left and the TV runs a constant bar across the bottom telling you all the things that are closed.

I managed to get this shot of the reindeer in our front yard. There are 14 others that are blurry, but this one's not bad!

The Thursday forecast called for the snow to start Friday at noon. This was our last day of school before break and our principal was determined to get us through it. We did not want a day to make up, and in reality, when the weather people say it will start at noon, that really means three. Or not at all. They don't have the best track record with snow. Anyway, the principal decided we would go half day and get everyone out around one. Okay.

But get this: it actually started at noon. The fluffy flakes were coming down, down, down and parents started showing up to get their kids. By one when we were dismissing, half the school was already gone and I was packing up all the gifts I had received to lug to my car. I called home and sure enough, the husband said we needed to get to the store! Normally, my drive home takes about 1o minutes, but everything was dismissing early, so the roads were gridlocked. When I finally arrived, we jumped in the car and went to the store to get supplies for the weekend and next week.

It kept snowing. And snowing. All in all, I think it must have been something like six inches by 9 that evening when we put in a movie. We rented a movies (Tom Hanks in Angels & Demons) and were snuggled up on the couch enjoying our night. In the movie, Tom and his female co-star are pounding on the door of some Vatican office and someone pounds on our front door! To say that we jumped is an understatement. It was our neighbor telling us that everyone was out in the street sledding and we should come out.

I jumped up and put on a pair of pajama pants, a sweatshirt and my coat, boots and gloves. Charlie laughed at my pants, but I don't have a pair of snow pants, and I didn't want to wear jeans. Jeans get wet and stay wet. I ran outside and found the group of people trying to sled. I say trying, because you can't sled on a newly fallen snow. It has to get packed down first. I knew this, but went outside anyway. I had a good little laugh at this, because as a good Alaska girl I know all about sledding. Sleds with rails aren't good unless you have ice. What is really needed is a piece of hard plastic that will slide over the snow. Which we didn't have. The best thing someone had was a boogie board, and I wasn't offered a ride on that. Plus, turns out our neighbor was drunk. She kept shouting that she was glad I came outside.

All this went on and Charlie was still inside putting on clothes. I popped back in and told him what was going on, so we just took a walk around the block in the snow, looking at the Christmas lights before making it back inside to finish our movie. It's a really good movie, by the way. Much better than the DaVinci Code.

So, we braved going to Kohl's yesterday and did some shopping, but our street is really icy and we can't get up our driveway. It'll melt soon enough, but for now we're just enjoying our movie collection and football. The dogs love the snow and so they have had fun, too. It's just funny how here in the middle there is such a panic over the weather. You have to know that somewhere in Canada there are people laughing at us.

Yup. They're laughing.

peppermint candles are yummy...

So, one of my favorite finds this year has been the Twisted Peppermint candle from Bath and Body Works. Last year, they made Twisted Peppermint foaming hand soap, which was my favorite thing ever. This year, THEY DID NOT MAKE IT! I was so upset, when I went on Black Friday, that they did not have it. They made the TP bubble bath for kids, but not the hand soap.

But the candle is amazing. And not just pretty. The smell is fantastic and wonderful and spreads through the entire house. According to the label it has some fancy kind of scent that is intensified and smells up the house quickly. I don't have to burn it for very long before I'm feeling Christmasy and wishing for a candy cane.

So, although they are a little pricey for candles (reg price $19.99) but I caught them on sale for two for $20. They would make a great gift for someone who likes their house to smell very holiday-y. Yes, that's a real word.

On another note, two more school days left until VACATION! Yes.

freezing cold field trip...

Okay, today Charlie and I took a field trip to our local Target center to take some Christmas card photos. He was tired of all the in-house photos we had taken in year's past, and thought one out and about would be more fun this year. I have to agree that after seeing them, I really liked his idea.

It was, however, very cold. We took our tripod and set it up and we were only out there for a few minutes, but my hands were like ice when we finally got back in the car. I was wearing my cute coat for the picture, but my gloves are really in my carpool coat that I wear so I won't freeze at school.

So, for all of you who I don't know in real life, and don't have your address or know your last name, here is my internet card to you. Merry Christmas to all of you! Yes, I know it's two weeks early, and maybe I should save this for later, but here it is. I did manage to order my cards online today, and will hopefully get them in a timely manner to get them mailed out. Although, I don't think anyone will mind if the cards get there a little bit late. Does anyone really care if the card arrives on the 27th or the 22nd? Do people keep tabs on that sort of thing?

If you do, don't tell me...

hark...the real news from this girl

Hark...it's not a re-post. It's not just a brief update, with a lost promise for more. It is, however, a combination post, where I attempt to conquer two tasks in one: to update you on my recent life and to share some of my favorite Christmas tree ornaments.

The ornament challenge was presented by my illustrious high school friend, Alison, who was just down for a visit on black Friday. She posted about her favorite ornaments and her eclectic taste for ornaments. I have the same eclectic taste, and often buy what I think looks pretty and unique. When decorating my tree, I combine two kinds of ornaments: traditional round glass ornaments in different colors and one-of-a kind ornaments.

This glass angel is one of my faves. She is covered in blue iridescent glitter and when the light hits her she shines and sparkles.


These stars are fantastic, wonderful, special and inexpensive. Michael's has carried them for three years now and I buy more each time I see them. They are plastic iridescent stars, and they catch the light, but don't take up to much visual room. They don't make the tree look overloaded with ornaments, but they add interest and catch the colored lights.

Yes, I use colored lights. Alison pointed out that only uptight anal retentive people use white lights, or at least I think that's what she admitted. I have been a staunch supporter of the colored lights in my own house, but I do appreciate when people put their white light trees in the front windows. I think those look better than the colored light ones in the windows, but I still put colored lights on my tree. At night I will turn off the lights in the room and stare at my tree. It glows and I love the magic of it.

Have I lost you yet? Okay, so here's the skinny on my life right now. I did post a couple of weeks ago that my job will be phased out at the end of the school year. It was a bummer when I first found out, but now has become kind of like a treasure hunt to find something else. I talked to a couple of people, one of which was a friend at church who is an HR rep for her company. She let me send her my resume, so she could help me retool it, but it turns out they had an opening and I went in last week for an interview with her and her boss.

The interview wasn't intense at all, but laid back and conversational. There was a test I had to take, which I am still thinking about to this day, but it wasn't too bad. They told me I did well on it, so I was glad to know that. I won't know anything about the job for awhile, and I do know they were interviewing other people. However it turns out, I feel good getting back in there and starting down the road to finding a new job.


Okay, another ornament. This one was a gift from a student last year, and I love it. It's a little piece of pop culture. I was so excited to receive it, and went immediately home and hung it on my tree. Another teacher at school also got one, but didn't realize it what it was. I told her it was a shopping bag from Bloomingdales! She didn't really know about Bloomingdales, so I can understand why she didn't think it was as wonderful as I did. It totally adds to my collection since we don't have a Bloomingdales here and the family bought it in Chicago for us! I felt really special.

In other updates, our adoption agency is now working with three birthmothers, so there is a good possibility we could hear something soon. Prayers for that, please.

The kids at school are crazy these last couple of weeks before Christmas. I would say that 95% of our students at school celebrate Christmas, but we have had several parents in this week giving talks about Hanukkah. Either way, everyone is antsy to get to the winter break. Me included. I have major book revisions to do, and can't seem to work on it at the end of the day when my brain is fried. Vacation will help.

Oh, this Friday my sweetie of a husband is taking me away to a bed and breakfast for a night away. What a man!

And, if you need a good read, check out Pioneer Woman's Black Heels to Tractor Wheels series. It is the love story between her and he studly husband, Marlboro Man. What a story! I am still thinking about it. It is in the confessions section of her website.

Charlie is currently working on installing an exhaust fan in our master bathroom. Evidently in 1961 when our house was built it was not code to install fans in bathrooms if they had a window. Ours has a window. But I am certainly not going to be opening it while I am showering in December and we were having a moisture issue in there. Hence, the fan. Charlie is doing a great job, but my bathroom is torn apart, because he also is putting in a new light over the sink. So we have been using the smaller guest bath to shower and get ready. It's tight. And I keep having to go back and forth to the bedroom to get things. That part is annoying, but soon it will be over and I can get back in my bathroom and I will have a fan!

Enough? Do you feel like we've caught up? Hope so. If you have questions, leave a comment!

fudge truffle cheesecake

Here's something I'm thankful for:

Doesn't that look scrumptious? It was. This was one of the best birthday presents I received. It is so rich and creamy that I could only eat small pieces, and drink a glass of milk. Then, because of all the pies I am about to make, I froze the rest. I will eat it piece by small piece. Yum.

Have a thankful, wonderful, delicious, turkey-filled, restful thanksgiving. I wish you all the best.