Nightmare on MY STREET

Ever notice how it's difficult to go to bed after seeing something scary? Maybe I'm just a weirdo that allows myself to be scared of silly little things... but here I am... after watching a scary movie... and I can't go to sleep... I don't want to shut out all my lights...! lol I'm ridiculous about stuff like this. Here I am nearly 27; you'd think I'd learn my lesson by now not to watch things like this after dark... or even during the day if they'll have staying power in my mind... but I continue to put myself through the thrill of being scared and then losing sleep over it!

It's so fun to feel like a silly 13 year old girl on summer vacation! lol

It doesn't help that my cat Mozart thinks she's seeing a bunch of things THAT AREN'T EVEN THERE!!! (or at least, they are not visible to me)

Hopefully I get more than 3 collective hours of sleep tonight... I'd really like to be awake enough to enjoy playing some Wii Rock Band with Daughn and Damian tomorrow night!

I've become a non-believer...

I realized recently that I have become a non-believer. No not a non-believer in God and Jesus Christ... but a non-believer in love. How did I come to realize this...? I was watching various movies recently and I noticed that I had no reaction at all to anything romantic or gushing with love and sentiments. I remember when I was younger, if I'd see two people in a movie kiss or share a romantic moment I felt a flutter in my heart. I think I've been burned too many times or something... because I just don't feel that anymore, or even feel as if I have any hope of feeling that ever again. I think I've finally reached that point... that point I've been afraid of...that point when someone will come into my life and I'll resist it... or not believe they are genuine or that things they say are heartfelt at all. I'm also at that point everyone talks about... the moment in your life where you aren't looking and something is supposed to just pop into place.

I think a lot of these feelings of indifference stem from the fact that I'm so much more focused on obtaining a full time teaching job... that I don't really think of that aspect of my life. It's more important to me to get settled into a job... and get a new place and all... before I even THINK of finding a significant other.

Interesting epiphany I had recently...

Cakes

***When I return I will edit this to include the cake for my nephew's 1st birthday.***

Cake from April's 2nd grade class "Graduation":



The Grad cake had an owl graduate topper on the left-hand side of the top of the cake, but it wasn't on there until after the cake made it to the school. :)


Cake from Max and Erika's Housewarming Party:



This was the first cake I made/decorated where I made my own icing from scratch, and used piping bags/more decorative tips & styles... and I think it turned out pretty darn good! :)

Conner's Personal Birthday Cake for his 1st Birthday:


I thought it turned out pretty cute... although, he only ate a small serving off of this... he didn't quite know what to do when we set the whole thing down in front of him... he was too interested in the decorations! lol So we cut out a piece for him and watched him shovel in the sugar!!!

Productive day & Update

Well, I have had a pretty productive day... :) I got the layers of cake baked for Conner's personal one for his 1st birthday party on Saturday (we're leaving tomorrow around 1:30)... I also got all the icing and colors made yesterday... I've gotten all my laundry done... I have very little left to do to be totally ready for everything... I just need to pack my overnight bag and do a clean of the litter box before I leave Mozart for the weekend... We'll be back Saturday evening... but still... I don't want to come back to a kickin' room!

Tomorrow after we get to my brother's house, I'll get everything ready to assemble Conner's cake. The icing has to come to room temp. and it has to go in the fridge a few times in between icing stages so crumbs won't be on the surface... then I'll decorate it with the colors (lime green and bright blue) and then put it in the fridge before Saturday (the party is from 10:30am-1pm).

Tonight I have to go get all the weights for the canopies that my brother is borrowing from my friend Daughn... and of course I'll visit with them a bit. Moving them went really fast this time... mostly because everything was pretty much boxed ahead of time... We started around 9:30am and had everything moved to the new house by 4pm. And we stopped several times for water breaks and lunch... it was REALLY hot that day... in fact Damian's sister got heat exhaustion or something!

Anyhow, I'm off to finish last bits of things and all and get some relaxation in...! I'll update after we return.

Grammar is a dying artform...

Disclaimer: This will probably have a TON of errors... In this blog I'm referring specifically to a few different words that are commonly misused... read on if you're interested... comment if you have something to say about it.

I know I can't boast to be perfect... I don't think anyone truly can. But I strive to have near-perfect grammar. At least when I'm writing... being around my friend's 3 year old a lot, my conversational grammar is more lax... but I do my fair share of redirecting him to the correct way of speaking... although hearing him say "close yours eyes" can melt my heart and I rarely correct him on that one! lol

I've noticed, in general... and sad as it is...even people whose business is print (such as newspapers and news media sites) have lots of grammatical errors! What are the big things that people screw up???? Two/To/Too (and yes, I have made typos on this... in fact I made one yesterday commenting on Kate's blog... but I just didn't feel like going back in to delete and re-write)...Your/You're... and Their/There/They're... this is a HUGE pet peeve of mine... It irks me so much when someone says something to the effect of, "Their going out tonight," or "Your so funny." Say it the long way!!!! "YOU ARE SO FUNNY= You're so funny." It makes me wonder if a lot of people have just had terrible teachers... or if they just don't care to be intelligent people.

Then comes my annoying role in the situation... which is probably far less welcomed than I'd like to hope for. I feel a strong need to correct people when they don't correctly use these words... maybe it's the teacher in me... but I feel like they need to realize the difference between them all... and I'm probably just viewed as an arrogant bitch that needs to find something better to do. Seriously, if I EVER teach at the MS level, I NEED to teach English so I can be able to edit papers and grade written papers and use that as my outlet to correct people on such things and hopefully help people be able to come away from the dark side before it's *too* late. :-)

Shopaholic

I haven't read any of the Shopaholic books... but I think I could relate quite a bit! lol I'm not someone that buys a whole lot of clothes (and when I do I am the one buying things off the 50% off racks!!!)... but I do have a weakness with large handbags (although, I normally buy those at JC Penney because they seem to always be 30-50% off)... and *sadfully* (that is a word that Ricky made up back at the end of HS!) I peruse eBay a LOT looking for lots of childrens books... or various teacher resources. Oriental Trading is another place that I'm constantly looking at teacher resource stuff.... it's sad because I still have no full time teaching position... and still may not have one next school year (although, I'm sincerely hoping I do... the realist in me knows that it's very competitive right now). I had to stop myself from bidding on a lot of things... and just "watch" them on eBay today... I found a lot of like, 60 books for about $25!!! That's just amazing!

Well, in other news, watching Conner went very well... we had a good time and I will miss him until I see him again on the 20th...! ;) I know, not that far off, but he's such a cutie! Also in other news there is a chance that I could end up living over by them in Spring, TX. Yeah, my brother works with someone whose wife works for Klein ISD (this is RIGHT next to Spring ISD... pretty much in the same neighborhoods in some cases) and they have taken my resume and letter of rec from my brother and are passing it around to the "right hands." Apparently this guy's wife was teacher of the year... on more than one occassion... she's worked for Spring ISD before Klein ISD and has a lot of contacts still in Spring. I can't say that I'm excited... I mean, I'll do whatever I can to get experience... and this includes moving there and teaching for a year and *hopefully* coming back to SA afterwards.... I don't really desire to live out there. Don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful area, and there's not anything wrong with it... it's just I would DEARLY miss my parents, and I would DEARLY miss my very close/best friends here in San Antonio. I wouldn't want to be away from them longer than a year unless I just couldn't get back into San Antonio for another year. I don't think I'd have as much of an issue with living so far away if fuel prices weren't sky-rocketing b/c then at least I'd have a glimmer of hope that I could visit at least every month.... but I can't plan on that the way fuel prices are currently! Thus, I'm SERIOUSLY crossing my fingers that I either A) Get a teaching position in San Antonio... or B) Don't get a teaching position anywhere and just go work at USAA for the time being...

I've been really stressed about all this... so prayers are extremely welcomed! Hopefully I can post more soon (if I keep myself motivated to update on a regular basis)!!!

Taste of Home and SUPER AUNTIE to the rescue!

Well, there really hasn't been all that much to report on lately. The most recent happening is that my best friend Daughn's little sister (Danae) got married last weekend. So, there have been a LOT of things going on during May leading up to that event. Also the end of school has come and gone... I helped my friend April chaperone a 2nd grade field trip to the Witte Museum here in town, and then the following week I had made a yummy sheet cake for their "2nd grade graduation." I've been doing a LOT of cake baking... Complete with homemade buttercream icing and decorating with piping bags and the whole lot... I'm strongly considering doing cakes as a side-hobby for low prices... probably mostly only for friends/family/church people... etc.

Anyhow, I've also been doing a great deal of cooking and experimenting with recipes new to me. At Christmas my G-ma got me a Taste of Home Cookbook and I have just recently begun making recipes out of it. I had found a recipe for a basic pizza crust, and I had been longing for "real" pizza since I've been dieting (started in Jan. remember... still doing okay... haven't gained anything... haven't really lost a WHOLE lot more, though... but largely because I need to get back in the gym on a more regular basis!!!) Anyhow, I made pizza a couple weeks ago and it was really good... It was a yeast dough... and I haven't worked with active dry yeast all that much... but I knew I wanted to try some other yeast-requiring recipes... so I got extra.

Well, yesterday I got ambitious and had found this recipe for a Raspberry Coffee Cake... it sounded SO good... I had to try it out. The recipe is below.

Raspberry Coffee Cakes:

1 TB active dry yeast
1/3 C. warm water (110-115 degrees F)
1/2 C. warm sour cream (110-115 degrees F)
1/4 C. butter, melted
1/4 C. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 egg
2-1/4 to 2-1/2 C. All Purpose Flour

Filling:
1 package (8oz) cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1/2 C. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 C. raspberry (or your favorite) jam

Glaze:
1-1/4 C. confectioners' sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 TB milk

1- In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in sour cream, butter, sugar, salt and egg. Stir in enough flour to form a soft dough.

2-Turn onto a floured surface; knead 20 times or until smooth. Place in a greased bwol, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1-1/4 hours. (The cookbook suggests turning your oven onto its lowest setting just for 45-50 seconds and then turning off and shoving your covered dough to rise in there. It worked well for me!)

3- In a small mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, egg, sugar, vanilla and salt until smooth; set aside. Punch dough down (you know that it's ready for this by poking your 1st and 2nd finger into the middle of the risen dough... if the indention stays, it's ready to be punched). Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide in half.

4- Roll each piece into a 12 in. x 8in. rectangle. Spread filling to within 1/2 in. of edges. Spoon jam lenghtwise over half of the filling. Roll up jelly-roll style, starting with the long side with the jam. Pinch seams to seal; tuck ends under.

5- Place loaves seam side down on a greased baking sheet. With a sharp knife, cut shallow slashes across the top of each. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.

6- Bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pan to a wire rack. Combine glaze ingredients; drizzle over warm coffee cakes.

Yields: 2 loaves (10 slices each)
**Reheating options**
If you make a coffee cake in advance but want fresh-from-the-oven flavor when you serve it to guests, try this trick: Wrap an unfrosted coffee cake in foil. Reheat at 350 degrees for a few minutes or until warm.


Now... during all this fun, I had gotten a call from my brother. He had called a few nights ago to let us know that my sis-in-law's grandpa had passed away. He lived in Utah, and we figured she'd probably be going to the funeral... Rob had called me to see if I... or my Mom and I could come over to Spring, TX to help him with my nephew Conner b/c she wasn't taking him with her. And my brother really needs to work so that he doesn't fall behind on all his paperwork and such. SO... I'm going to be there from tomorrow to Weds. I'm taking the other coffee cake with me for all of us to have for breakfast/dessert... whatever. Anyhow... I will possibly update from there... but will likely wait until my return. Hope everyone has a good weekend.