Life 2.1

**UPDATE** In a shocking turn of events the weather has changed again. You can imagine my surprise when, after seeing bright sunshine out of my window, I was greeted with ridiculously cold air and 40-degree temps upon leaving the house this morning. No fake bundling for me.

No Charlie Brown tree here

While my western counterparts have been freezing their keisters off (sidenote: “keisters” is a word not used nearly enough as far as I’m concerned, and I’m bringing it back thanks to the movie Home Alone which I watched the other night and recalled how much I still enjoy the scene in which Kevin tells the pizza delivery kid to ‘keep the change ya filthy animal’.)

I, on the other hand, have been alternating between the air conditioner and the heater. And that’s considered normal according to the good-looking weather man on my local NBC station. Last weekend was frigid and we all got hyped up about potential flurries (they ended up hitting the north shore but not south of the lake, where I am) but this week has been all over.

After a torrential downpour and a classic southern storm that made it impossible for me to sleep until 3:30am on Monday night/Tuesday morning due to insane thunder, I woke up and chose to wear a scarf and boots in order to deal with lake-sized puddles that had formed in the night, only to find myself overheating halfway through the dang day.

At any rate, it hasn’t exactly felt like Christmas around here since it was about 70 Wednesday afternoon. I say this not to rub it in, since I know that it happened to be approximately 22 degrees when Joe drove to work in Napa the other morning, but mostly because I’m actually kinda bummed by it. Don’t get me wrong, I think we all know how I hate cold weather but I can deal with a cold December to get me in the spirit. Regardless of how mother nature was not complying with my request, I set aside last night as my baking night and I also took a few moments to take a few pictures of my (albeit sparse) Christmas decor, as I promised my mother:

Greenery might be in order

Now Mom, I know what you are going to say. You are going to tell me that what I should do is add some garland to my stocking hanger thing (a safe distance from the flames of the candles, of course) or perhaps frame my mantle with some instead? And while I’m at it, adorn them with some red and white checkered bows? Yes, I thought so, but this brings me back to another issue I have with no cold weather in December.

Part of the holiday experience is traipsing into a store after having battled the elements to get there. Friday night, I attempted to buy some sort of Christmas tree stand which would hold my little Colleen-sized tree and as I was walking into TJ Maxx (be proud, Mother) there was a lady coming out in shorts. Shorts. In December. And it wasn’t even odd. But this does not lend itself to holiday shopping in which I get to “shake off the cold” as I walk inside a store.

Sigh.

I forged ahead with my holiday baking and played Christmas tunes while giving thanks for my KitchenAid mixer Joe and Ted got me for Christmas a couple years ago. And while I had to turn the A/C on to cool down the house after using the oven, I did make delicious treats which I will be taking to the warehouse in order to bribe the guys into pulling my orders first on Christmas Eve because, according to Pillsbury, nothing says lovin’ like somethin’ from the oven. I was also inspired to dig up my spritz cookie gun and get to work on some mini green Christmas tree cookies. That might happen this weekend.

I opted for a new recipe last night and while it wasn’t exactly Christmas-y, it did come from my Better Homes and Gardens special edition magazine on Christmas baking so I say it counts. The recipe was for toffee crunch cookies and I was really hoping it would turn out like the cookies at a sandwich shop I go to sometimes called Heavenly Ham. They have the best heath bar cookies ever. Ever. So my task was large.

I’m not 100% satisfied with the results, but I also wouldn’t turn them down either, but I will be adjusting the recipe to use a little less flour in the next batch and then I will decide whether or not it’s a recipe worthy of posting. Here’s how they turned out anyway:

They may not look like much but I would not say no to them

The evening did, however, put me in the Christmas spirit for a little while anyway, and I’ll work on the rest this weekend. Maybe I will bundle up and go shopping Sunday in which the high temperature is supposed to be 71 and fake like it’s 53 degrees just to get into the spirit. It’s not like that would be weird or anything.

2 Comments | In: Social Adventures | tags: baking, Christmas, Christmas tree, holiday. | #

In other news tonight, I felt like a glass of apple juice and as I went to the cabinet to get a glass, an almost-full bottle of Jose Cuervo came falling onto my counter -no joke- promptly scaring the crap out of me. Despite selling wine, I do drink vodka but definitely not tequila so I’m fairly certain of the fact that it’s not my bottle.

I have only lived in this place for about 2 months but, after this revelation of tequila, I’m also fairly certain that whoever lived here before me was maybe an alcoholic. Or someone not 21 whose parents came around often and felt the need to conceal a bottle of booze. The thing is, this bottle was hidden. Not just hidden in the back of the cabinet, it was hidden in the intersection of the cabinets, where there is no door to access it. That part of the cabinets is a facade since it would be weird to leave out the cabinet material at the 90-degree angle where the cabinets meet.

Yet the bottom panel gave way tonight and out came a bottle of tequila. The only way to get the bottle in that space would be to stand on a chair and drop it in from above.

I’m slightly alarmed at the trouble one must have gone to in order to hide that bottle. And they didn’t even have the decency to hide good Cuervo.

[shaking my head in disgust] Seriously, person-who-lived-here-before-me. Seriously.

3 Comments | In: Social Adventures | tags: Jose Cuervo, tequila. | #

I had been waiting all dang week for the Oregon-Oregon State “Civil War” football game. Not because it was going to determine who was going to the Rose Bowl but because it meant that I finally got to watch an Oregon football game on tv, aka watch Johnny B play. I was so excited for the local product, who is practically like another brother to me, and I just wanted to watch a couple games this season. It didn’t seem like I was asking a lot. Almost every week I get my hopes up that they will show the game as promised only to find out it was an “either/or” game–as in, I will either get to see Oregon vs their opponent OR [insert two teams I probably don't care about here]. The latter teams are always teams that I suppose have “regional” interest (I’m rolling my eyes at you, Georgia and Kentucky) and inevitably, my hopes to see the Ducks play are always dashed….until last night.

Last night, I made it clear that my Thursday would be spent watching the Oregon-Oregon State game on ESPN. I got home and made dinner quickly and took a shower early so I wouldn’t have to wake up early and do it since I knew I would be up late watching the West Coast game….I had a serious plan, people.

Naturally, as soon as kick off occurred my phone started blowing up and I received multiple calls and texts that were not game-related. Sigh. It figures.

All that doesn’t change the fact that it was awesome! The Ducks won (for those of you living under a rock) and are now going to the Rose Bowl. The Rose Bowl, people. The.Rose.Bowl. I don’t know if you know, but it’s kind of a big deal. AND, John had a TEAM-HIGH 11 tackles, two of which were solo…he happens to be the Ducks’ leading tackler to date.

I also found this rad picture on life.com. You know….LIFE…Like the big-time magazine? Perhaps you’ve heard of it?

Here’s the rest of the Oregon/John Boyett gallery, if you care to glance.

I always thought it was kinda cheesy when Gordon Bombay made his Mighty Ducks quack, but maybe now I will have a better appreciation for Disney’s “inspirational” scene.

Quack on, Ducks fans, quack all the way down to SoCal on New Year’s Day.

1 Comment | In: Sports, because, have you met me?, Uncategorized | tags: college football, Ducks, John Boyett, Oregon, Rose Bowl. | #

• The Rose Bowl…and that I get to watch Johnny B in the aforementioned Bowl game on January 1. (Go Ducks!)
• My “spice” scented candle on my mantle. It smells like Christmas Eve and when I blow it out at night, it reminds me of the post-Christmas Eve party smell of the warm house, putting away all the leftover food.

No Comments | In: Get Meaningful Fridays | tags: Get Meaningful Fridays. | #