This and That

1. Jon Stewart is on my list. I'm having trouble, though, deciding which Jon Stewart I like more. This one?

Or this one? Mmmmmmmm.

2. New favorite singer boy: Trent Wagler. I first learned of Trent Wags through Danielle. He and his band, The Steel Wheels, play shows in Harrisonburg (Oh, how I love Harrisonburg. . .) often and she's a big fan. I downloaded what I could of his stuff, and Danielle sent me a few CDs a couple of weeks ago (because she's AWESOME!). They're so fun, and he has such a great voice, and he's cute to boot! Move over, Jon Stewart.

3. Teen Mom is out of control. I can't wait to watch the reunion special. Maybe they'll have social services come in a take little Leah away from Amber for good. My god, I hate that troll.  My eleventh graders may or may not have succeeded in getting me off task today by discussing Teen Mom.  So much to say!

4. Horray for the rescue of the Chilean miners! Between the coverage of the retrieval and the finale of Teen Mom, Tuesday night boasted quite an emotional television lineup.

5. I really, really love reading To Kill a Mockingbird with my students. I mean, saying that you like it is basically like claiming to like The Beatles, since pretty much everyone loves that book, but still. It's so pretty, so perfect. And I have to hold back tears every time during the courtroom scene when the lady tells Scout to stand up because her daddy's passin'. Sigh.

6. I have become a little bit too obsessed with Dear Prudence. Even though I know when her columns will come out, I can't help but to check Slate approximately 789 times per day to check for a bonus column. I pretty much want to be Dear Prudie.

7. Someone's knocked up!

8. It's not me. It's her.

9. Celebrating Cris's birthday tonight. Making pumpkin whoopie pies for the occasion.  Mmmmmmmm.
 
10.  I get to wear jeans to work tomorrow!  Why is it that that's the most exciting thing that's happened to me all week?

Phone Pictures

I'm a cough drop addict. 

So is Mitch.

Any time I am eating a cough drop at home, this is what I see.

Damn spoiled dog. 

Also, because I'm being super productive today (and by super productive, I mean that I slept until 1:00 and ate four pieces of leftover pizza while watching the news and some horrible Jessica-Simpson-Goes-to-Japan-and-Acts-Like-a-Moron show), I decided that it was high time to sort through stuff on my phone.  So, on this very exciting Thursday, I give you a year in phone pictures (mostly of that spoiled dog).

1.  Grandma on her Blackberry.

I love this.  Here's my Grandma on a gorgeous summer day, lounging on her back porch, swinging and watching videos of cats on YouTube on her new Blackberry.  And the dog under the swing?  Why is he so cute?

2.  Fletcher.

Oh, aching uterus!  This was one of our first times meeting Fletcher.  I can't remember if we turned his ears inside out of if that happened while he ran around like a maniac.  It doesn't matter, though, because he has one of the cutest little dog faces.  And he's about ten times bigger than that now.

3.  Back in the Day Bakery meal.

Rosemary chicken salad sandwich and an old-fashioned cupcake.  Mmmmmmmmmm.  This was one day last summer when I decided that Mitch deserved to go downtown and see the sights.  About thirty seconds in, I realized that I'd made a horrible mistake, but was so excited about this food that I suffered through my psychopathic and racist dog harrassing every person who walked by.

4.  Bethy.

I took this picture in Olivier's parents' basement, right after talking to Becky on the phone.  Becky was devastated because she had pneumonia and was not able to go to the wedding.  We called her from the reception, and sent her this picture via text.  That weekend was amazing, but kind of bittersweet because I knew how sad Becky was that she couldn't be there.

5.  Cat at the vet's.

Took Mitch to the vet in December to get a heartworm test.  He's not a big fan of going to the vet, and while we waited for the results of the test in the lobby, Mitch discovered that there was a cat in this cage.  He barked; the cat hissed; I cussed.  It was less than fun.

6.  Maureen and Mitch.

When Maureen and Brian came to Savannah over New Year's, Mitch was not terribly generous with his couch.  But at least he'll let people use him as a pillow.

7.  Papers to grade.

Poetry portfolios?  Apparently I am a masochist. 

8.  Walk to Daffin Park.

Savannah has some beautiful parks, and lucky for us, this one's only a few blocks away from our house.  Mitch loves the long walks, and loves to roll around in the freshly-cut grass (and stain his face green).  I love being able to see fireworks from my living room window on weekends. Daffin Park is also home to the oldest minor leage baseball stadium in the country.  Babe Ruth played there.  That's pretty cool.

9.  Freedom Tickler?

Are you kidding me, gas station bathroom in South Carolina?!  This makes me want to go to Target, and to protest wars, and to eat some French toast.  Crazy ass people and their fake patriotism. 

10.  Cutest thing ever.

Blurry, but ridiculously cute.  I'll give him as many cough drops as he wants.

Homemade Cookbook: Done and Done

I was so pissed at myself the other day after I laminated the homemade cookbook I'd been putting together for Bethy.

I mean, did I really need to make it look like a project from vacation bible school?

And then, last night in the middle of a cupcake-making frenzy, I remembered why I had laminated it in the first place, even if the whole thing did turn into a huge debacle.

This is why.

Yes, I was drunk, and yes, I had three-year olds helping me. But there is a value to having recipes that can be wiped clean. Especially for someone like Beth, who is clumsy and rarely uses eating utensils.

So, although the project is a little more elementary school than I had envisioned, I think it turned out pretty nice. I even used it last night when making pork stew, but don't tell Beth.

I love the binder clips.

Ingredients on one side, directions on the other. Hopefully functional.

And I also love the patterns and colors of the paper.

Hopefully Beth and Olivier will love the recipes, and will get fat as a result. They're too skinny.

Gift Giving Gone Awry

On Tuesday I was supposed to make cupcakes for my friend Cris's birthday. Instead, I stalked Robert Redford and then talked on the phone for hours.

So yesterday, after a lovely (and I'm not even being sarcastic) day at school, I came home and immediately began work on my cupcakes. Cupcakery always makes me happy, and I didn't expect this time to be any different. I had my snowflake goblet of Diet Coke and my new sassy measuring cups, and I got started.

Then began disaster #1.

First, I didn't have whole milk, and the recipe called for a cup of it. Buttermilk, I decided, would be just as good, but I only had half a cup. Hmmph.

So I added an extra egg and some butter. I don't know why this seemed like it would be a good idea. It was not a good idea.

Is that a half stick of butter just sitting on the table? Yes. I wish I could tell you why. My only explanation is that my body and brain are no longer functioning as one.

I'm usually a diligent, clean-as-I-go, organized baker. But not yesterday.

And my results were horrendous. After I poured--literally poured--the remaining cake batter into my mouth, I began to bake the cupcakes. They seemed to fluff up just fine. And then, when they were done, I took them out and watched them deflate.

Matt suggested that I throw them away immediately. I thought I'd let them cool. Perhaps they would taste good, and perhaps their concave shape would be great since it would hold so much icing!

No. They were horrible. They tasted worse than they looked. And they're cemented to the pan. Instead of cupcakes, Cris got a tub of cream cheese icing for her birthday.

Disaster #2

I gave my friend Beth a dutch oven for her wedding, and wanted to make her a little cookbook of some of my favorite dutch oven recipes. I collected recipes from my friends Cassie and Martha, typed them up, got all crafty. And I decided, for some horrible reason, that laminating the recipes would be a good idea.

It was not a good idea.

Because the laminator at school hates me, and this is what happened to all of the recipe cards.

AHHHHH! Not to mention that the lamination made the cookbook look like an elementary school bulletin board had thrown up.

Determined to make it work, I whipped out some parchment paper and an iron.

Fortunately, my remedy was successful. But my nice idea of a homemade cookbook did not turn out nearly the way I would have liked. I'm just going to tell Beth that Matt made it.

Beth and Olivier's Wedding!

After spending approximately 30 hours in a car, drinking approximately 30 gallons of alcohol, reuniting with old friends, consuming our weight in fast food and Cherry Coke Zero, and listening to every podcast known to man--WE'RE HOME!

Horray for home and dogs, comfortable beds and powerful water pressure.

This weekend the Matt and I drove to New Jersey to attend the wedding of our friend Bethy Pooh and her Olivier. This was our first time meeting Olivier; he didn't attend our wedding because he was off doing AIDS relief in Africa. What a terrible excuse! We had a cotton candy machine, didn't he know that??

But I digress. The wedding was a whopping success. It was sincere. It was unique. It had some European flair. (Olivier's family is from Belgium.) In short, it was well worth 30 hours in a car.

Beth's veil was an heirloom from Olivier's family. It was hundreds of years old or something.

And what's a wedding without a pup? Meet Captain, the son of Olivier and Beth.

Beth was gorgeous. Beth's always been a nice lookin' gal, but usually she tries to hide it by wearing rags, looking dissheveled with her hair messed up, and eating food without utensils. (It's not Medieval Times, Beth!)

Glowing, I tell you.

As the night progressed, and so did my drunkenness, I believe I ate some of the peppers off of these centerpieces. I also ate a roll that was sitting on a table and had a bite taken out of it already. That's what mixing your alcohols will do to you!

There was some Belgian human tossing.

The favor was honey from Olivier's family's hives. Yeah, they have their own hives and bees. (I have six bottles of this honey now. Anyone have good honey recipes?)

I like looking at how she's holding him in this one.

I remember when Bethy first met Olivier, and how she called me, frantic, explaining that she thought she'd met her soulmate. And she's not an emotional sapfest girl or anything. They share common quirks and neurosis, they're both scientist doctor-type space cadets, and they're GOOFY. GOOFY GOOFY. More goofy, probably, than anyone you've ever met or will ever meet. Watching them together--dancing, talking, petting the dog--made me believe that she was right. Our Bethy found her soulmate, and his name is Olivier.

Happy marriage!

Belgians dancing below:

Matt: If there was a TV channel called "Belgian People Dancing," I would subscribe to it, even if it was $200 a month.