So, here's what you missed on the rest of our Christmas celebrations so far... After leaving some time for our fondue dinner to settle, Michael and I made a wonderful milk/dark chocolate fondue for our desert. It turned out wonderful!! I tried a recipe a few weeks ago that didn't work out well at all, so I tried something different for our Christmas Eve dinner, and it was great!!! We watched Jim Carry's "The Grinch" and ate our fondue. It was a perfect evening! :)
On Christmas morning I woke up about 6:30, but Michael wasn't ready to get up yet, so we slept till about 8 or 8:30, then got up and made ourselves beautiful to begin opening our presents from each other, Santa, and Harlee. :) Harlee got several new toys, including a new rope. A circular rope with a penguin on it (Which has since, already broke) a thinking toy where she has to work to het treats out, and a couple new rawhides. She was quite content while we opened the rest of our presents. Some of the stuff I got was stackable coffee cups, the Owl City CD, the newest Green Day CD, some new mint chocolate flavored coffee, the Rocky Horror Glee CD, season 1 of Glee, new slippers with rubber bottoms so I can wear them outside without tearing them up, and lots of socks!! There's lots more, those are just some of the highlights! Michael got some new shirts and ties as he will be entering the working world soon. He also got some new pajama pants, because I am always stealing his. He also got a whole slew of left-handed things to make his life in the right-handed world a little easier. It was a wonderful morning!! After we got all of our presents opened we packed things up to head to Topeka for the next few days. :)
We decided to go spend Christmas day in Topeka since we spent Thanksgiving day in Wichita. It was nice to see all of Michael's family there. Maggie even joined us!! (Maggie is Michael's older brother Nick's fiancé) We all got there and began opening even more presents! Harlee did well again there in Topeka! She got about 4 new bags of treats as well as a new toy duck that's really tough, so hopefully it will take a while before she has it open and the stuffing out everywhere. I got my iPod speakers that I've been so excited about, a chalkboard cloth, the game Would You Rather, the game Pit, some lottery scratch tickets (I won $1 and 2 free tickets in 10 attempts, just a yearly reminder that I should not gamble), a cookie press, and Mulan. Once again, just highlights, I got lots more!! Michael got lots of fin stuff too! He got the show "The Pacific" which is like "Band of Brothers", a remote control helicopter, a game called Dominion, the Settlers of Catan 5-6 player expansion pack, and wii sports resort (which turns out you need the wii motion plus to play... So Michael got those for his birthday) :) We had a wonderful Christmas. We spent the next few days just hanging out with the family, playing with our new toys and games. We went through food poisoning (Michael) and chocolate eating (Harlee), so that evening I was concerned about both my babies. I ended up letting Harlee sleep with us that night because I wanted to keep an eye on her, didn't get much sleep that night. But both of them are ok now. :)
Last night I met up with my friends Cara and Michelle, both of whom I've known since Kindergarten. We had some spaghetti for dinner, ate some cake truffles (I'll share the recipe at the end of this post), drank some wine, did mud mask facials, watched The Hills, chatted it up, and played some wii Mario Cart. :) It was a great girls night with two of my oldest friends. It was really nice to catch up with them.
Then this morning I was woken up by my handsome hubby who brought me scram led eggs and toast and coffee in bed. It was the perfect start to the day, in fact, I haven't got out of bed yet. ;) I'm looking forward to a quiet day of quality time with Michael before we're back on the road again. Off to Wichita tomorrow! Stay tuned for more of our Christmas adventures!
Cake Truffles
1 cake mix
1 jar of frosting
1 package of baking chocolate for dipping
Sprinkles (optional)
Make cake mix per directions on box. Bake cake. Allow cake to cool some before crumbling. Crumble baked cake into a large mixing bowl. Mix in jar of frosting into cake. The mixture should stick together. Form into balls and place on a cookie sheet covered in wax paper. Put cake balls into the fridge for 15 to 20 minutes to become more solid. In the meantime, melt your chocolate (I suggest on the stovetop at a low heat) Do not let chocolate COOK, simply melt it. When chocolate is melted, take cake balls and dip them one at a time intothe chocolate, then return them to the wax paper. 2 forks work well for removing the cake balls. When you have dipped all the cake balls, return them to the fridge to harden up. Add sprinkles when wet if you prefer. And you're done!! Enjoy!!
This can be done with any flavor of cake mix, frosting, or baking chocolate. :)
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Friday, December 24, 2010
Fondue Christmas Eve Dinner! (So Far...)
Our fondue dinner was a success!! We finally got to use our Christmas dishes!
Michael's place setting is the Nikko Christmas Tree. I bought it last year for our first Christmas. My place setting is the St. Nicholas Square Snowmen. I bought them this year for our 2nd Christmas together. Obviously in this picture I hadn't got the fondue started yet.
We started with the cheese fondue. This was supposed to just be our appetizer, but it could have easily been our meal. The things on my plate there to dip are (top left to bottom right) cauliflower, green apples, broccoli, and carrots. In the bowl next to the fondue pot you'll also notice a lot of bread that we also dipped.
Michael's favorite part of the meal is the cheese. My cheese fondue is made from 1 cup Sauvignon Blanc white wine, 1/2 lb Gruyere cheese, and 1/2 lb Jarlsburg cheese (both are types of Swiss).
I bought a cheap bottle of sparkling strawberry wine to go with our dinner. We broke out the fancy wine glasses and everything! Michael got me these beautiful wine glasses for my birthday this year. Sadly, we are down to 3 instead of 4 in the set. They are very fragile, and when we were washing one of them it broke. I still love the 3 I have left. :)
The next part of our meal was the vegetable broth with meat and various dips. The broth boils and you place the raw meats into it for a few minutes to cook each piece. You can see in this picture that I have shrimp, steak, and chicken on my plate. Michael has steak and chicken. The dips we have are teriyaki, sweet and sour, sour cream/dill, and a cottage cheese dip (all homemade). Ranch and barbecue sauce are also on the plate. The broth is made of vegetable stock, green onion, and mushrooms. Yum!!
That's all we have so far! We were so full after the cheese and the broth parts of the meal we couldn't fit the chocolate in. Don't worry! We're still going to make it tonight! Our tummies just need a little break. :)
I know you wanted to know what Harlee was doing through all of this... So here's a picture of our spoiled baby. This is her new way of begging. She lays on the floor right next to the table because she knows that she gets in trouble when she jumps up on the table. So she stares at us while we eat. We prefer her to do that, so we reward her. So throughout dinner she had about a half dozen pieces of bread. I decided she needed to eat her vegetables as well, so I gave her a piece of broccoli. She was not impressed. Michael tried giving her a piece of carrot. She didn't care for that either. So I got a brilliant idea to trick her into eating her veggies. I covered a piece of broccoli in the cheese and gave it to her. My stinker of a dog, ate off all the cheese and left the broccoli. She's a smart cookie! ;)
Well, that's all I have for now... Chocolate to come soon! Talk to you again soon! Merry Christmas!!!
Michael's favorite part of the meal is the cheese. My cheese fondue is made from 1 cup Sauvignon Blanc white wine, 1/2 lb Gruyere cheese, and 1/2 lb Jarlsburg cheese (both are types of Swiss).
I bought a cheap bottle of sparkling strawberry wine to go with our dinner. We broke out the fancy wine glasses and everything! Michael got me these beautiful wine glasses for my birthday this year. Sadly, we are down to 3 instead of 4 in the set. They are very fragile, and when we were washing one of them it broke. I still love the 3 I have left. :)
That's all we have so far! We were so full after the cheese and the broth parts of the meal we couldn't fit the chocolate in. Don't worry! We're still going to make it tonight! Our tummies just need a little break. :)
Well, that's all I have for now... Chocolate to come soon! Talk to you again soon! Merry Christmas!!!
By Michael (Not Basketball!)
Life is going well for me. I managed to survive my class load with passing grades and only have one more semester to graduate! I am still looking for a job so if anyone out there knows of a Mechanical Engineering Job opening, I would love to apply.
Anyway, I am only taking 9 hours in the spring. I realize I would not be a full time student, but I have yet to come up with a reason that I need to be. We don't need it for insurance. Well, It should be an easy semester, which will be a nice way of completing School. I have been in school now for 19.5 years. It has been my entire life. It will be interesting to see what life is like outside of school!
Jen and I are in the Christmas spirit (It's hard to not be when you're around Jen!). We are done shopping and are spending a nice quiet day at home with Harlee. Jen has an amazing fondue dinner planned which I will let her tell you all about. We plan to go to my parents house tomorrow, but for the past few days it has been lazy, cozy days. I tried to get a job over the break, but every lead fell through. That's ok. It's not like we need money! :P It is nice though just to be spending time together at home.
Well, I will get on after break and let you know what all I got for Christmas! Should be fun!
Anyway, I am only taking 9 hours in the spring. I realize I would not be a full time student, but I have yet to come up with a reason that I need to be. We don't need it for insurance. Well, It should be an easy semester, which will be a nice way of completing School. I have been in school now for 19.5 years. It has been my entire life. It will be interesting to see what life is like outside of school!
Jen and I are in the Christmas spirit (It's hard to not be when you're around Jen!). We are done shopping and are spending a nice quiet day at home with Harlee. Jen has an amazing fondue dinner planned which I will let her tell you all about. We plan to go to my parents house tomorrow, but for the past few days it has been lazy, cozy days. I tried to get a job over the break, but every lead fell through. That's ok. It's not like we need money! :P It is nice though just to be spending time together at home.
Well, I will get on after break and let you know what all I got for Christmas! Should be fun!
After 2 loses and a win...
Hello all, I know you all have been eagerly awaiting my next basketball blog! :P
Actually I realized that most of you don't want an in depth analysis of the KSU basketball team so I laid off for a while, but I really feel that I need to come back ever so often so here you go.
I believe last posted right before the Florida game. Ok, I realize I can't make predictions for games that are already done, but if you ask Jen, she'll tell you I had them decided before the games! Ok, I decided that we would lose to Florida and win against UNLV. As most of you know we lost both games. I will explain why here soon.
- Florida Game -
I was very disappointed after the end of this game. I will always be disappointed by a loss, but it was the way we lost. We got blown out by an unranked team. We made terrible shots and went 18 minutes with only one field goal. There is just no reason that should happen. Some underlying problems were no motion on offense, not passing, and just not caring about being there. We jumped ahead somewhere like 20 to 8 and then waited until it was 23 to 25 until we decided to do anything. Later on I realized many were simply waiting for Jacob Poo-len to get open and weren't taking shots on their own. Will was ice cold on offense which you simply cannot have in your point guard. It was like 4 on 5 on offense.
- UNLV -
Right before the UNLV game, we learned that Curtis Kelly and Jacob Pullen were out indefinitely. This is a big deal because they are our two seniors and account for 40% of our scoring!! Apparently the team knew about this a few days before the game, but it wasn't released to the media until about an hour before the game. We later learned that they received clothing from Dillards at a large discount. Jake will be out 3 games for getting a little over $100 in clothes. It still hasn't been decided how long Curtis will be out for. I think like 6 to 9 games.
Well the game was a good game despite losing. If Curtis and Jake would have been there, I believe we would have won by like 8 instead of losing by 4. We scored very little with 6 minutes and less left which hurt us in the end. With some senior leadership, I think it would have allowed the team to keep their composure at the end of the game. Free throws are still terrible. It might have lost us this game.
- UMKC -
Ok, I will preface this game by saying I know UMKC isn't a great team, but I liked what I saw from the team last night. It was less about the score and how we played. First off, I want to congratulate Rodney McGruder for hitting 7 3-point shots last night. He had a new career high at 24 points (I think it was 24...). The thing I loved was how we played like a team. They passed the ball, they moved around on offense, and they played like they cared and wanted to play. I think many of the guards simply waiting around for Jake to get open and then passed it to him. The problem was that Jake could get open less often because he could be double teamed because our guards refused to shoot. Without Jake, they were expected to score. Jamar did not score well, but he often kicked out to Rodney which, as you all know, had a great night.
- Final Thoughts -
Anyway, I am not happy with 2 loses, and playing without Jake and Curtis, but out team is finally playing like a team, and I think losing Jake and Curtis short term will help out team in the long run. Most of our players simply need more confidence. These games where our sophomores and freshmen are our main players, it will help build confidence.
Without Curtis and Jake, there are 4 juniors, but 2 are walk-ons and another is a transfer. Jamar is the only upperclassman that knows how to be in Franks system. We are playing mostly sophomores in Rodney, Irving, Roberts, Russell, and Judge, and playing a Freshman at point guard in Will Spradling. There is a great upside, but with a young team comes inconsistency. Without any leadership to show the sophomores and freshmen how to practice, prepare, and play, it may be a rocky year.
Well that's all for now, Thanks for reading! I'd appreciate your thoughts in the comment section!
Actually I realized that most of you don't want an in depth analysis of the KSU basketball team so I laid off for a while, but I really feel that I need to come back ever so often so here you go.
I believe last posted right before the Florida game. Ok, I realize I can't make predictions for games that are already done, but if you ask Jen, she'll tell you I had them decided before the games! Ok, I decided that we would lose to Florida and win against UNLV. As most of you know we lost both games. I will explain why here soon.
- Florida Game -
I was very disappointed after the end of this game. I will always be disappointed by a loss, but it was the way we lost. We got blown out by an unranked team. We made terrible shots and went 18 minutes with only one field goal. There is just no reason that should happen. Some underlying problems were no motion on offense, not passing, and just not caring about being there. We jumped ahead somewhere like 20 to 8 and then waited until it was 23 to 25 until we decided to do anything. Later on I realized many were simply waiting for Jacob Poo-len to get open and weren't taking shots on their own. Will was ice cold on offense which you simply cannot have in your point guard. It was like 4 on 5 on offense.
- UNLV -
Right before the UNLV game, we learned that Curtis Kelly and Jacob Pullen were out indefinitely. This is a big deal because they are our two seniors and account for 40% of our scoring!! Apparently the team knew about this a few days before the game, but it wasn't released to the media until about an hour before the game. We later learned that they received clothing from Dillards at a large discount. Jake will be out 3 games for getting a little over $100 in clothes. It still hasn't been decided how long Curtis will be out for. I think like 6 to 9 games.
Well the game was a good game despite losing. If Curtis and Jake would have been there, I believe we would have won by like 8 instead of losing by 4. We scored very little with 6 minutes and less left which hurt us in the end. With some senior leadership, I think it would have allowed the team to keep their composure at the end of the game. Free throws are still terrible. It might have lost us this game.
- UMKC -
Ok, I will preface this game by saying I know UMKC isn't a great team, but I liked what I saw from the team last night. It was less about the score and how we played. First off, I want to congratulate Rodney McGruder for hitting 7 3-point shots last night. He had a new career high at 24 points (I think it was 24...). The thing I loved was how we played like a team. They passed the ball, they moved around on offense, and they played like they cared and wanted to play. I think many of the guards simply waiting around for Jake to get open and then passed it to him. The problem was that Jake could get open less often because he could be double teamed because our guards refused to shoot. Without Jake, they were expected to score. Jamar did not score well, but he often kicked out to Rodney which, as you all know, had a great night.
- Final Thoughts -
Anyway, I am not happy with 2 loses, and playing without Jake and Curtis, but out team is finally playing like a team, and I think losing Jake and Curtis short term will help out team in the long run. Most of our players simply need more confidence. These games where our sophomores and freshmen are our main players, it will help build confidence.
Without Curtis and Jake, there are 4 juniors, but 2 are walk-ons and another is a transfer. Jamar is the only upperclassman that knows how to be in Franks system. We are playing mostly sophomores in Rodney, Irving, Roberts, Russell, and Judge, and playing a Freshman at point guard in Will Spradling. There is a great upside, but with a young team comes inconsistency. Without any leadership to show the sophomores and freshmen how to practice, prepare, and play, it may be a rocky year.
Well that's all for now, Thanks for reading! I'd appreciate your thoughts in the comment section!
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Last Day of School!!!
Today is my last day of school before Christmas break!!
Michael was done on Friday, although his finals week nearly killed him. He's happily enjoying sleeping in and bumming around the apartment for the next month. :) I think he mentioned something about Zelda also... I'm glad he's got a break! He deserves it. He's had a long and tough semester.
As for me, I put off my grading and grade cards until the last minute. Luckily, today is the "Winter Fun Day" here at school, so I have lots of plan time! I'm almost done with grades, but still have a few more... They'll be done by the end of the day.
I wish I had Winter Fun Day when I was a kid. My students have had different centers, making Christmas cards, hearing Christmas stories, playing Christmas Carol bingo. They'll come back to my room in about 20 minutes and we'll work on Elf Glyphs (I'll try to get some pictures). Then we'll read How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Then they are off to lunch! Not much for me to do during the first half of the day but grading. In the afternoon they'll watch a movie and have a party. Pretty good day if you ask me!
I'm looking forward to the next few days when Michael and I will both have off and can enjoy some time together. Christmas Eve will be especially fun! We're going to have Fondue and use our fancy new Christmas dishes! Pictures will be up shortly after Christmas.
Merry Christmas! Have a safe and happy holiday!! Love you all!!
Michael was done on Friday, although his finals week nearly killed him. He's happily enjoying sleeping in and bumming around the apartment for the next month. :) I think he mentioned something about Zelda also... I'm glad he's got a break! He deserves it. He's had a long and tough semester.
As for me, I put off my grading and grade cards until the last minute. Luckily, today is the "Winter Fun Day" here at school, so I have lots of plan time! I'm almost done with grades, but still have a few more... They'll be done by the end of the day.
I wish I had Winter Fun Day when I was a kid. My students have had different centers, making Christmas cards, hearing Christmas stories, playing Christmas Carol bingo. They'll come back to my room in about 20 minutes and we'll work on Elf Glyphs (I'll try to get some pictures). Then we'll read How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Then they are off to lunch! Not much for me to do during the first half of the day but grading. In the afternoon they'll watch a movie and have a party. Pretty good day if you ask me!
I'm looking forward to the next few days when Michael and I will both have off and can enjoy some time together. Christmas Eve will be especially fun! We're going to have Fondue and use our fancy new Christmas dishes! Pictures will be up shortly after Christmas.
Merry Christmas! Have a safe and happy holiday!! Love you all!!
Monday, December 13, 2010
Life Updates
Hey Friends!
Sorry it's been a while since we've posted on the blog! It's been a little busy around here! As you all know, I'm a teacher, and the semester is quickly winding down. The kids are getting anxious for the break, and so are the teachers! I have a lot of grading and things to get ready before the end of the semester. Grade cards won't go out until after Christmas break, but I'd still like to have them done in plenty of time. So I'm at school an hour before school starts working on things, and I stay late finishing things up. It's a busy time of year.
Michael and I have been working hard on our Christmas shopping! We're almost done! We still need to pick up a few things for Nick, Maggie, and Harlee. Otherwise, we're set! I spent a lot of the day working on gifts and wrapping them yesterday. Michael spent some time wrapping some of my gifts. While I was growing up, as soon as we had presents bought and wrapped, they went under the tree (not Santa's gifts, they didn't show up till Christmas morning), but everything else was out in plenty of time. This allowed lots of time for snooping, which I'm sure my family really appreciated. Michael's family did things a little differently. All of their presents stayed hidden until Christmas morning for him. While I understand the need to keep all those presents hidden from 3 little boys, it's something Michael and I have had to talk about. I have all his presents wrapped and under the tree, and all of the presents he bought for me are hidden away, not wrapped or under the tree. Finally, I had to tell Michael that it was sad not having any presents under the tree, and that he needed to wrap some of mine and get them under there. He understood and wrapped them, so now I have presents under the tree too!
We still haven't got any more of our Christmas decorations out other than our tree. :P We took the lights out yesterday and talked about putting them up, but never got around to it. We still don't have stockings up either. We're basically Christmas slackers, but at least we have most of our gifts bought. When we get a chance to slow down and just be at home together (I've been at work a lot lately, and Michael is finishing up the semester projects and getting ready for finals) we just want to cuddle and be together, not worry about decorating. Maybe sometime this week or weekend.
Saturday was a very nice day! While the weather stunk, the day overall was good. Michael and I went to Panera for lunch and played some cards. We saw Cara, one of my best friends since kindergarten, who works at Panera. Cara always hooks us up with free stuff when she can, so we had a special treat of a couple of chocolate mint cookies! They were delicious!! It was nice to get out of the apartment and spend some time together. Then we did a little birthday shopping for Nick, then went back home for the K-State game. I'm sure Michael has lots of things he needs to update you all on about basketball, so I'll let him do that in his next blog.
That's been our life lately. Hope you all are staying warm. Can't wait to see everyone over the Christmas holiday! Here's our schedule:
Dec. 24 - Christmas Eve together in Manhattan
Dec. 25 - Christmas morning in Manhattan, then to Topeka
Dec. 26-27 - More family time in Topeka
Dec. 31 - Head to Wichita, Christmas w/ Grandma Heorman and family
Jan. 1 - Afternoon Christmas with Grandma Counterman, Evening dinner @ Sals w/ Sis and Adam
Jan. 2 - Christmas in Towanda with Mama
Sorry we won't be in town any more than that. Michael is trying to work over break. Love you all! Can't wait to see you soon! Only 7 more school days till Christmas!! WOOHOO!! :)
Sorry it's been a while since we've posted on the blog! It's been a little busy around here! As you all know, I'm a teacher, and the semester is quickly winding down. The kids are getting anxious for the break, and so are the teachers! I have a lot of grading and things to get ready before the end of the semester. Grade cards won't go out until after Christmas break, but I'd still like to have them done in plenty of time. So I'm at school an hour before school starts working on things, and I stay late finishing things up. It's a busy time of year.
Michael and I have been working hard on our Christmas shopping! We're almost done! We still need to pick up a few things for Nick, Maggie, and Harlee. Otherwise, we're set! I spent a lot of the day working on gifts and wrapping them yesterday. Michael spent some time wrapping some of my gifts. While I was growing up, as soon as we had presents bought and wrapped, they went under the tree (not Santa's gifts, they didn't show up till Christmas morning), but everything else was out in plenty of time. This allowed lots of time for snooping, which I'm sure my family really appreciated. Michael's family did things a little differently. All of their presents stayed hidden until Christmas morning for him. While I understand the need to keep all those presents hidden from 3 little boys, it's something Michael and I have had to talk about. I have all his presents wrapped and under the tree, and all of the presents he bought for me are hidden away, not wrapped or under the tree. Finally, I had to tell Michael that it was sad not having any presents under the tree, and that he needed to wrap some of mine and get them under there. He understood and wrapped them, so now I have presents under the tree too!
We still haven't got any more of our Christmas decorations out other than our tree. :P We took the lights out yesterday and talked about putting them up, but never got around to it. We still don't have stockings up either. We're basically Christmas slackers, but at least we have most of our gifts bought. When we get a chance to slow down and just be at home together (I've been at work a lot lately, and Michael is finishing up the semester projects and getting ready for finals) we just want to cuddle and be together, not worry about decorating. Maybe sometime this week or weekend.
Saturday was a very nice day! While the weather stunk, the day overall was good. Michael and I went to Panera for lunch and played some cards. We saw Cara, one of my best friends since kindergarten, who works at Panera. Cara always hooks us up with free stuff when she can, so we had a special treat of a couple of chocolate mint cookies! They were delicious!! It was nice to get out of the apartment and spend some time together. Then we did a little birthday shopping for Nick, then went back home for the K-State game. I'm sure Michael has lots of things he needs to update you all on about basketball, so I'll let him do that in his next blog.
That's been our life lately. Hope you all are staying warm. Can't wait to see everyone over the Christmas holiday! Here's our schedule:
Dec. 24 - Christmas Eve together in Manhattan
Dec. 25 - Christmas morning in Manhattan, then to Topeka
Dec. 26-27 - More family time in Topeka
Dec. 31 - Head to Wichita, Christmas w/ Grandma Heorman and family
Jan. 1 - Afternoon Christmas with Grandma Counterman, Evening dinner @ Sals w/ Sis and Adam
Jan. 2 - Christmas in Towanda with Mama
Sorry we won't be in town any more than that. Michael is trying to work over break. Love you all! Can't wait to see you soon! Only 7 more school days till Christmas!! WOOHOO!! :)
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