There's no place like...

There are no shortage of cheesy quotes about the idea of "home". Dorothy informed us that there is no place like it. We all know that "Home is where the heart is", "home, sweet, home", "home is a place to call your own", and (my favorite) "home is where you are loved."

Then, why does our brick colonial feel more like a museum than a home right now?

The full answer? Dan and I have been making all the appropriate moves to, well... move later this year. The market is lousy, but the low interest rates and deals on houses in better school districts are tempting, so we figured we might give it a shot. I'll write more on the emotional side of possibly saying goodbye to a house we adore later.

This post is dedicated to how getting our house ready to sell has been a royal pain in the ass.

It turns out that Dan and I are fairly disgusting. To the outside observer, our house seems uncluttered and charming, but if you were with us when we were scrubbing our floors this past week, believe me, you would judge. Grime, dust bunnies, dead crickets... oh my! (Okay, okay, I promise that will be my last allusion to Wizard of Oz.) We realized how often we accumulate an army of water glasses upstairs because we're too lazy to bring them down after we are finished using them. In his closet, Dan has a mountain of dirty clothes that could rival the size of Octomom's pile on laundry day. I wake up to wadded tissues when I miss the trashcan in the middle of the night. (What? Don't judge! I have a cold...)


Now, we live in the Land of Obsessive Tidiness (ruled by that bitchy tyrant Queen Clean). We can't wear shoes around the house lest stray leaves and dirt mar our perfectly polished floors. We have to keep swiffering to ensure dust free base moldings. And the worst part? We have to keep tiptoeing around the "exhibits" we have staged. Gone are all the dog-eared magazines and smudged cookbooks. Hello, bowls of green apples and useless candles. I staged all our closets with labeled boxes. We even have a fluffy, white bathroom mat that we plan on putting out right before people come to view the house, while we use a dark gray one in the meantime.

(What kind of anal-retentive person can actually keep a white rug, however small, clean? If you are one of said people, do tell me how you do it because I completely envy you and your spot-free existence!)

The one bright spot? I get to buy more loot for our house in the name of "staging" our home!

Here was our foyer before last week:

And here it is after a mini makeover:

On the other side, Dan thought of framing this photo of our house after last week's snowstorm:


Here is a close-up of that photo:

It's definitely still our home, sweet, home.

The saying is right: "Home is where you are loved"...
even if you are two of the most hopelessly messy people :)

Ode to my Snuggie

I've been checking you out for a long time, dreaming about your warm arms holding me.

You first caught my eye when I saw a commercial for you on late night cable television. Then, I saw another. And another. Each time, I couldn't look away. Your infomercials rivaled even the most classic ones. The Chia Pet and "the clapper" got nothing on you, baby! A blanket with sleeves?! Brilliant. How did I ever answer a phone or cook a snack while staying warm before? Your chic infomercials explained the financial, emotional, psychological benefits of owning a Snuggie. I would have lower heating bills, become better at math, be able to cook a five course gormet meal without getting chilly, find a cure for cancer, and, of course, look damn sexy while doing it all.

I had my doubts. You're so popular that I wondered if you weren't a bit of a player. Everyone, from Ellen to Weezer, was wearing, posing, parodying, caressing, and devoting themselves to you. 3,000,000 people to be exact. Would I just be another adoring fan?

I guess I'll have to share my obsession because I'm okay with all things cliché. Hell, it's time for one right now...

If loving you is wrong, then I don't want to be right.

When I opened my last present from my husband and found you in all your Pepto Bismal pink glory, I knew we would be a match forever. We could scoff at all those pathetic folks still using blankets. Losers.

You've been nothing but warm and wonderful. Even Dan couldn't resist your charms (picture withheld for future blackmail.) You, me, and 30 Rock Thursdays are going to be so happy together.

Just don't tell my robe.

We wish you a Merry Dunce-mas

When I checked through my mail yesterday, I saw an envelope from an unfamiliar address. Another Christmas card with family in cheesy sweaters, perhaps? An adorable photo post card of a friend's baby? As I ripped it open, eager to add to the card collection on my fridge, I found a marked-up copy of a story I had written instead.

What the...?

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Those of you who read my blog regularly (all two of you... holla, Mom and Dad!) know that I recently tried to take a writing class. I skipped two of the six meetings because I was sick of feeling like the class dunce. The group was led by a pretentious woman in her mid-sixties who was obsessed with the the sound of her own voice. She would pose topics just so that she ramble on with her own judgmental assertions. A few of her gems? People who read best-sellers have "simple minds", her own book is the best thing to happen to the world since creation, and the Harry Potter series sucks. I read all the Harry Potter books, and I'm not simple minded.

A nerd, yes... but we already knew that!

I'll admit, I'm paraphrasing her words a bit, but seriously, this teacher was obnoxious. She interrupted people constantly ("let me just play devil's advocate") and never, ever let anyone have the last word in a conversation.

Anyway, not able to handle anymore, I skipped the final meeting's writing workshop. This meant that I never had a chance to hear her feedback on a story I had written. Oh, darn. Instead, I drank wine, watched the Office, and trash-talked this woman's teaching ability to Dan. She may be one hell of a writer and a pretty decent editor, but I could tell her a thing or two about how to teach. Like maybe you should occasionally listen rather than talk.

Just a thought.

A month and a half later, I had completely forgotten about this teacher until I received the envelope with my story, the one that I had turned in but then skipped the workshop. She had written her revisions all over it.

One hundred and sixteen different revisions, to be exact.

Merry f&%*ing Christmas to me.

I told you she liked to have the last word.

(Dunce picture from here.)

The Jolly List

Yes, it's been two weeks since I've last written (I know, very naughty!), but I promise I'll be better about writing and come up with some new, scintillating posts when I'm on winter break next week. Until then, I'm praying for December 18th to come quick and am basking in this oh-so-fun season. Here are a few items that are making me feel jolly right about now...

1. Playing my yule log DVD

So what if our fireplace isn't in working order yet? Nothing like a LCD screen to keep you warm! Is this not the most hilarious thing ever?! It even makes crackling noises.

2. Romantic winter dates with Dan
Dan always surprises me with a winter date every year. In the past, we've gone to Colonial Williamsburg to see their winter fireworks, driven to every house on the tacky light tour, and have even taken a night carriage ride around Maymont, a local park. This year he surprised me by taking me to Christmas Town at Busch Gardens. (Believe me, there were many theater students in costume. We had fun chortling over the cranky teenagers dressed in elf ears and tights.) Cheesy? A bit, but luckily I adore all things cheesy! What more can a girl ask for than s'mores, hot cocoa, carols, thousands of lit trees, a light show, a train ride, and even real snow?


3. White Elephant Swap

Every year, we go to a party where there is a white elephant gift swap. For whoever who has never played, it's basically where everyone brings a gift and people can swap to try to get the item they want. It taps into everyone's competitive and greedy side! Last year, I won my own gift back, the Yule Log DVD (see #1)!

4. The white chocolate and cranberry cookies I just finished baking

So delicious... Let the emotional eating begin! I'll be better in January '10!

4. The Nutcracker
I try to go every year. I love everything about it: the costumes, the tiaras, the swelling music...
Later, I come home, play my Nutcracker c.d., and try to get Dan to imitate the grand, strenuous lift that the dancers do during the pas de deux. It usually ends with him groaning, "You're too heavy!", thus killing my "No one puts Baby in the corner!" moment.

5. Elf Yourself

Why should the theater students at Busch Gardens (see #2) have all the fun? Here is a video of Dan and me kicking it as elves. A shout-out to Mali and Laura for exposing me to this hilarious website. If the above link does not work, just click on this sentence.

Who else has a jolly list? Come join me by the (faux) fire!

(Cookie photo from here and I-wish-I-was-that-light- Nutcracker photo from here)

The Thankful List

Happy Thanksgiving!

I assigned a writing prompt to my eighth grade students on Tuesday where they had to list at least twenty blessings they were thankful for. Their answers made me smile! A few favorites:

* "Pop Rocks foaming with Pepsi in my mouth"
* "My annoying sister leaving her diary out so I can blackmail"
* "My hair straightener so my hair doesn't look like crap"

I like that they included the huge blessings (God, family, friends) with the small ones, too ("scoring a goal", "Twilight", "the Saw movies are awesome!", "Birthday Cake Re-mix ice cream from Coldstone's").

Here are a few of my smaller ones:

* My husband's happy dance (lots of fist pumping and whooping noises)
* My sister's biting sense of humor
* Greasy pad thai while cracking up at The Office
* painting my house
* When students reach for a high five after receiving an "A"
* Tina Fey
* sweater weather and changing leaves
* hardwood floors in our home
* Pizza Fusion's organic three cheese pizza
* My mom's hugs
* A new lipstick
* Watching The Wizard of Oz when I need cheering up
* A long jog with new songs on iPod
* fresh flowers on table
* Junior Mints
* design websites (this young house)
* Coldplay
* My dad's guffaw when he thinks my jokes are funny
* And yes...my hair straightener so my hair doesn't look like crap (Got to agree with that student!)

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

My accusation is... Dwight by the water cooler with the Dundee

How's this for art imitating life?

Five days after my murder mystery party, this past Thursday's episode of The Office featured a murder mystery, too!

My friend Mali (alias: "Scoop" at my party) immediately called to tease me mercilessly about the perfect timing of this storyline. So maybe my party might have also involved costumes and listening to a c.d. with cheesy accents, but that doesn't make me as lame as Michael Scott!

Or does it?

Check out this footage from last week's episode and decide for yourself.

Clue game visual from here.

Careless

I'm kicking it old school at the beginning of this post by flashing back to eleventh grade English class.

There's a scene in The Great Gatsby where Nick admonishes Jordan for being such a shitty driver. It goes like this...

"You're a rotten driver," I protested. "Either you ought to be more careful, or you oughtn't to drive at all."

"I am careful."

"No, you're not."

"Well, other people are," Jordan said lightly.

"What's that got to do with it?"

"They'll keep out of the way," she insisted. "It takes two to make an accident."

"Suppose you met somebody just as careless as yourself."

"I hope I never will," she answered. "I hate careless people..."

I'm not a fan of careless drivers either. My sister often rolls her eyes during road trips and deems me "a grandma", but, honestly, I probably make Betty White look like Dale Earnhardt. I always signal when pulling into parking spaces. I don't generally speed more than five miles over the limit. My hands don't leave the "ten" and "two" position. Ever.

Three days ago, I was in a five car pile-up, and somehow I ended up driving away without a scratch on myself or even my car. I almost felt like it hadn't even happened when I called my mom later that night; there was no dented fender or broken glass, no bruises on me, no scratched paint... even my license plate was still perfectly intact.

Lucky doesn't even begin to describe how I made out.

It was an eerie feeling knowing that I was about to be hit, though. There I was, at a stoplight on Broad Street in pouring rain, when I heard squealing tires and the sickening sounds of the first crash. This was quickly followed by another... and another... and another. When I finally realized that the sound was coming behind me, it was too late. I was the proverbial "sitting duck", trapped at the light. The SUV behind me slammed into my bumper, my body wrenched forward, and the force caused my car to skid about two feet.

Two hours later, I went from "sitting duck" to remarkably "lucky duck". After all the serious stuff (police reports, fire-fighters, frantic call to Dan), I was home safe and saying an extra prayer for the first two drivers who both went to the hospital with whiplash injuries. I was so grateful, so relieved to be safe... and kinda scared about driving.

Ever since then, I can't seem to relax when getting to work. I keep looking over my shoulder, trying to be vigilant about spotting the next careless driver who might collide into me.

I should have been more freaked out by the serious accident I was in last year. A teenager ran a red light and slammed into the driver's side, which caused me to propel into oncoming traffic. Again, I was lucky. All the approaching cars managed to skid to a stop, and I climbed out unscathed.

My mangled car did not make out nearly as well...

Here's the weird part. Even though my car was totaled and I was certainly more banged up, I never felt that scared to drive after accident #1. I had no prior warning that I was about to be hit by the teenager, whereas in the most recent (much less serious) encounter, I heard that domino effect coming several seconds before I was hit.

I think I'm more anxious now because I feel like I should have been able to do something to avoid the accident in those few seconds (move up, veer over, anything!) Irrational, I know. I'm just chalking it up to me being a hopelessly careful person.

Better than careless, I suppose.

Just do it #7: Throw a theme party!

This past Saturday was just an ordinary night, supposed to be filled with laying low and watching SNL. Halloween was last week, and everyone had officially packed up their costumes back in their attics.

So one might ask after perusing this post's pictures: "How did you end up having eight adults dressed up as 1920's characters in your living room?" At least I think that's what my neighbor is still pondering after he saw me through my kitchen window putting my chicken Parmesan into the oven while wearing my red feather boa and black gloves. Does he think that Dan had requested that I do a kinky dress-up thing while serving him dinner? Is that why he couldn't return my hello when I took the garbage out this morning? When our guests arrived, did my other unbelievably snoopy neighbors assume Dan and I had many friends with theater degrees who wouldn't resist a good costume? I'm thinking that survey says "yes".

So why did we all dress up this past Saturday? Lest you make one of the same assumptions as my neighbors, I'll clarify. I finally threw my murder mystery dinner party! It was an item on my whimsical "to do" list for a while now, and once I had shelled out the money for the murder mystery kit (yes, people do buy these), nothing was going to stop me, not even when my original Halloween date fell through.

Considering that my Just do it #6 (participate in a creative writing class) was a big flop after I skipped two out of the six classes, I thought you all might enjoy reading about this equally lame (but oh-so-fun!) challenge. Here's how it went down...

The story:

It is November 7, 1928 in Chicago. Notorious gangster Harold "Hal" Coppone's return was expected to trigger a wave of violence. Instead, Coppone has disappeared, mystifying police and the criminal underworld. To the small group gathered in a speakeasy near Coppone's headquarters, the crime lord's whereabouts become only part of the mystery when murder is discovered. Eight people, who all want to learn the secret of “Hal” Coppone’s murder, meet in the back room on a club to figure out the crime.

The characters:

Slinky M. Adame and Eddie G. Ambler

Bethany (AKA Slinky) couldn't resist mercilessly teaching her boyfriend Joe (Eddie) about the fact that he had originally bought this white, pin-striped suit to wear to work. After he received one too many "you look like a pimp!" comments, he decided to put it in the back of his closet... that is until he had the chance to pull it out again to play a stylish gambler.

She's one to talk! Bethy sported her homecoming dress from tenth grade.

Billy (the Kid) Thrower and Molly M. Awbsterr
Yes, the names are super cheesy. Say them fast and you realize they are puns.
Just call me Molly "Mobster".

Eddie R. Gyle and Scoop, the hard-working reporter
LOVED these costumes. Tyler even propped his golf bag against the wall to complete his rich-boy golfer look.

Torchy, the sultry lounge singer, (her dress was perfect for the part) and S. Treigthon Harrow, the district attorney. Also, you get a better shot of Tyler's massive golf prop.


The food:
"Leave the gun. Take the cannoli." - The Godfather

We cooked (ahem... and also bought) mostly Italian food to fit the mafia theme. I know this is way more information than anyone needs, but in case you are interested, here's what Dan and I served...

* Appetizers: olives, cheeses, crackers, shrimp cocktail, bread sticks
* Dinner: cranberry-spinach salad, garlic bread, homemade Parmesan chicken (yay! I didn't burn it!!), Maggiano's four-cheese ravioli
* Dessert: Cannolis from local deli and homemade ice cream sandwiches

Isn't my murder mystery set-up pretty? :)

Fast-forward five hours of playing the game, drinking, and just regular conversation later, I think my "just do it #7" was a success!

Just a few other pictures you might like:

Me trying to force my gloves back on after one too many raspberry champagne cocktails. Dan thought it was hilarious to document my valiant efforts.

Trying again to get photo ready!

The guys weren't as into taking photos as the girls were...

Here's our winner! Bethy was the only one to figure out this very-convoluted plot.

So, I think for my next "Just do it" challenge, I'm going to try something a little more strenuous. After all those cannolis and Halloween candy, it's time to get back in shape. I'm going to try something athletic, perhaps Bikram yoga. What do you all think of me + twenty-seven yoga positions + 105 degree heat?

Well, that or something else equally challenging. Stay tuned!

Wishful Wednesday

Yes, it used to be "Wordless Wednesday", but then I got lazy and stopped doing it. I was reading Seattle Smith (a favorite blog) and saw that people were writing posts to her prompt "I wish I could re-live..." and I thought it would be fun to answer her "Wishful Wednesday" prompt by linking to an older post.

I wish I could re-live my wedding day "first-kiss-as-husband-and-wife" again. While the entire day was beautiful, that moment was really special to me.

Read the story about the below photo in my post, "Not porno tongue! Church tongue."

The costume list

Here's the breakdown of our costumes:
* $10.00 discounted wings and halo
* $3.00 pack of band-aids
* $1.50 pack of balloons
* $2.00 pack of blow-horns,
* $0- streamers we already had in present-wrapping stash, permanent markers I borrowed from school, and white shirts we had lying around

Done!

Now, can you guess which "pick-up-lines" Dan and I dressed as for Halloween?

Here are a few photo clues...

Here's my best injured face as a last hint for mine...
Did you guess?

Dan was "There's a party in my pants (and you're invited!)" while I was "Did it hurt? When you fell from heaven?"



What did we do on Halloween night? We trudged through the rain, periodically self-congratulating ourselves for using permanent marker for Dan's shirt and thus avoiding one giant water-color project, and braved the bump-bumping Richmond club scene!

Cue rave music: mmm... ssss... mmmm...ssss. bump bump

There weren't as many clever costumes as we have seen in past years when we went to D.C. bashes because most people were dressed to be single and mingle. In fact, our "pick-up-line" theme fit in well with the overly-aggressive, "wanna-get-laid?" atmosphere. Many of the guys dressed as famous football players, outfits that allowed them to go shirtless (the Hulk, a Trojan warrior, a Greek god) to show off the hours they've slaved at the gym, or sexual innuendos. A gynocologist named Seymore Bush? Really?! I think I just threw-up in my mouth.

Then, there were the girl costumes. Mean Girls had it right with its quote, "Halloween is the one night a year when a girl can dress like a total slut and no other girls can say anything about it..." We saw many girls sporting bras and underwear, despite the pouring rain outside. In fact, there was no end to the barrage of barely-there costumes, which ranged from skanky librarian to slutty Hermione. I miss the original cute, fluffy haired wizard character in her over-sized robe...

Folks, I think this boring married couple may be finding a quieter place to party next Halloween!

I've got to say that while I had a blast making fun of the whole meat-market club scene with Dan, I've got no room to judge. I'm chagrined to admit that I'm almost always a girly-girl on Halloween, from when I dressed as a princess four times as a kid to even this year's costume. I might not have been pouring out of a skin-tight mini dress out for the world to see, but it was decidedly a cutesy look. In fact, when I was first brainstorming my costume, I said to Dan, "I want to look really busted in my angel costume!" I mentioned blackening one of my teeth, wearing a sling, putting pieces of grass in tangled hair, and slathering blood all over my shirt.

Dan's response? "Yeah right, hon! Like you're really going to mess up your hair!"

I hate it when he's right...

Hope everyone had a good Halloween!

Giving my guests the finger!

Dan and I are throwing a murder mystery dinner party in a few weeks. It's been on my whimsical "to do" list for a while now because... A.) I wanted an excuse to use the "good" china and attempt to whip up something gourmet, B.) I used to love the campy movie Clue and thought it would be fun to have my own version, with lots of drinking involved, of course... and C.) wanted to throw a Halloween party, but our house is a bit too small to have a raging fiesta.

I know, I know... some of you are probably thinking, "Hey, you forgot D.) You are totally cheesy", which I am, but that's beside the point.

Anyway, I just wanted to update you all on my fun invitation I made for this dinner party. As the oh-so-cheeky post title indicates, I did indeed give my guests "the finger", except not in the "Get the *&%$# out of my lane!" kind of way. Instead, I borrowed this invitation idea from Martha Stewart:

Isn't this a spooky spoof on the old "tie a ribbon around your finger to help you remember" adage?

Anyway, last week, I decided it was time to get crafty. I bought rubber severed fingers, black boxes and ribbon, and red shredded paper from Michael's. I hot-glued a black bow around each of the fingers, lined the boxes with red, set the finger on top, and wrote the date of the dinner party along with "Don't forget!" on the top of the box. Of course, I also sent descriptions of each character and the description of the Mafia story.

The below photo didn't come out very well, but here it is:


Stay tuned for more about this par-tay, as well as an update on new "just do it" challenges" that are coming soon!

Martha Stewart image from here

The "word" list

"You got that right!
Word to your mother!"

- Vanilla Ice
"Ice, Ice Baby"

"A word is dead when it is said, some say

I say it just begins to live that day!"

- Emily Dickinson

Sundays in our household are a time for laundry, church, grocery shopping, grading, wiping away disgusting hair follicles from sink (do men ever clean up after shaving??), swiffering, folding, hanging, planning dinners for the week, and in general becoming cleaner, more organized human beings. At least, that's what is supposed to happen. Except, these days usually end up looking more like this: Dan watching Redskins, sulking over defeat, both of us taking naps, going to coffee house together, and wasting endless hours on the Internet.

Today, during one such hour on the Internet, I found www.wordle.net, an amazing website where people can enter their blog URL or a post, and it will create artwork with your most used words.

I absolutely love anything to do with words, from collecting interesting quotes and playing with the magnetic poetry on my file cabinet at school, to teaming up with Dan to beat our family's asses at Scrabble and Taboo. And I'm all about words that are pretty, despite what they may mean. In fact, during a lazy lunchtime last year, my very bored colleagues and I talked about words that we thought were beautiful ("tiramisu", "cantaloupe", we even had a general consensus that the word "chlamydia" was way too pretty to be a term for an STD!) and words we hated to say ("moist", "puberty", one colleague for some inexplicable reason hated the word "trousers"?)

Of course, being all about words, I was curious of what the word art for this blog would look like.

Here it is...


And, it can easily be put in different shades!



Some of my top words? "List" (to borrow an early 90's quote... "no, doy!"), "make", "create", "Dan", "going", "bake", "simple", "summer", "teacher", "need".

Pretty neat, huh?

I'm just glad my word art didn't include words from this post. I don't think anyone would have understood if "chlamydia" or "puberty" had been in my wordle! Yuck.

Go check out your blog word art! www.wordle.net

********

"What's in a name?
That which we call a rose
by any other word would smell as sweet"
- Romeo and Juliet

******

The pumpkin recipe list

I am a freak for all desserts with pumpkin flavor! Need a pumpkin fix? Read on!

Pumpkin pie dip
Very easy and cheap to make, addictive, seasonal, yummy treat!

1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese- softened as much as possible

2 cups powdered sugar

1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin pie filling

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

garnishes- cinnamon sticks

Beat cream cheese and sugar at medium speed with electric mixer until smooth. NOTE: This may take a while. Add pie filling, 1 t. cinnamon and ginger, beating well for as long as necessary. Cover and chill 8 hours. Serve with gingersnap cookies, apples, and pear slices. Prep- 5 min. Chill 8 hours.

****
Pumpkin Pie Bars

Cold and delicious! The tray will be empty by the end of the night. By the way, I know there are quite a few ingredients, but this is so simple to make!

2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup apple juice
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie mix)
2 eggs
Frosting- cream cheese frosting

Heat oven to 350. Grease 15 x 10 x 1 inch pan. Beat bar ingredients at low speed. Spread batter in pan. Bake 20 to 30 minutes. Cool completely (1 hour).

Frost- refrigerate until set- about 30 minutes. Store in the refrigerator.

Cut into 8 rows by 6 rows. 110 calories. 45 fat.

******

Pumpkin Chocolate Chunk Cookies
I haven't made these cookies myself yet, but a colleague swears by this recipe!

* 2 1/2 cups flour
* 1 tsp. salt
* 1 tsp. baking soda
* 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
* 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
* 1/2 tsp. ground clove
* 1 pinch of ground ginger
* 1 stick butter, room temperature
* 1 cup brown sugar
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 1 egg, room temperature (??- this one was weird to me... why leave the egg out so long?)
* 15 oz. can of pure pumpkin
* 1 tsp. vanilla
* 1 1/2 cup of milk chocolate chips (or chunks from a candy bar, or butterscotch chips, or white chocolate chips)

Directions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 375
2. Sift together in a small bowl: flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, and ginger
3. In a large mixer bowl, beat together butter, brown sugar, and regular sugar
4. Add pumpkin and vanilla and mix until incorporated
5. Add egg
6. Beat in flour mixture gradually
7. Stir in chocolate chips/ chunks
8. Drop rounded spoonfuls onto baking sheet that has been greased and floured
9. Back for 13-15 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit for 2-5 minutes. Then, move cookies to a wire rack to cool.

Photos courtesy of here, here, here, and here.

*****

Lastly, if you aren't into baking, but you're still craving pumpkin flavor, I have two more options for you:

Pumpkin Sammies: Buy Ben & Jerry's pumpkin cheesecake ice cream (seasonal, of course) and a bag of large, soft, ginger cookies. Put a small scoop of ice cream on cookie and make sandwich by putting another on top. Freeze until firm, and then indulge. This could not be easier, unless you decide to just go for:

Coldstone's Pumpkin Pie in the Sky ice cream: Go to Coldstone's, order this, insert spoon, swoon! I like this lazy-ass pumpkin fix. :)

"Pick-me-up after long day" list

At first, my day went like this:

Fussing at students
Writing detentions
scrambling to copier
calling about said detentions
teaching, teaching, teaching
lesson totally bored the kids
iBooks not working during testing
strap broke on favorite pair of espadrilles
flu shot after school

But later...

Cuddling with Dan
hot apple cider
cold, homemade pumpkin bars
cream cheese frosting
The Office wedding
cracking up at Andy's crotch injury
watching hilarious wedding video on You Tube ,
(if you watched The Office, then you know why)

It's been a good day!

(If anyone wants it, I'll post this easy recipe for pumpkin bars tomorrow.
The above picture is from here because, while mine were delicious, they weren't as pretty as these!)

The "Halloween Decor" List

(Scary Hitchcock picture from here)

Why are birds so creepy when they're in huge groups?

I've remember feeling pretty nervous when I was suddenly surrounded by menacing pigeons at Trafalgar Square during Dan and my visit to London. They surrounded me like an angry mob and made all kinds of crazy coohing sounds. I actually remember barking something like, "Take the damn picture already!" to Dan when they started fluttering near my face. He proceeded to take his time and crack up over my bird hysteria.


So in the same vein as Hitchcock, I decided there was no better way to decorate for Halloween than with a scary bird motif! I love Poe's creepy poem "The Raven" and was so excited when I saw there raven silhouettes at Michael's for $4.00 per package. When I was playing hooky from writing class yesterday, I decided to do a little decorating. I removed all of the wedding photos from the frames in my dining room and filled them with the raven silhouettes. The whole operation took about fifteen minutes and a few sticky tabs to finish...

I tilted some of the pictures so that it would look like some of the bird silhouettes were trying to peck their feathered friends free from the frames:



Here's my dining room before:


And after my creepy bird invasion (sorry for the awful quality of the pictures- I desperately need a new camera!):





To finish the look, I put a few shiny, red delicious apples into a branch bowl to resemble "wicked" apples and added some black skulls from the dollar store on the table:
We're throwing a murder mystery dinner party later this month, so I just wanted to play with the set-up of the table.

Is anybody out there all about Halloween too? Please share! Oh, and enjoy our other Halloween decor pictures:

Stairs before:


Stairs after:



Mantle with gourds from supermarket:


Cinderella pumpkin that my sister bought for me (Can you believe this is a real pumpkin?? It looks so perfect!)