in case you were going to ask

On the road this morning, I was driving behind a Jeep that's top was covered only by sheets of plastic. On the back, the spare tire cover said in large brown all-caps letters, "HELL YES IT'S COLD."

Christmas Heidi style

In these tough economic times, it only makes sense to try to cut back a little bit this Christmas. Luckily, things have been working out pretty well on that front.

First off, my extended family, who get together every Christmas Day, collectively decided not to do the adult grab-bag gift exchange this year. I'm a little sad about this because I actually enjoy Christmas shopping and picking out gifts for people, but then I keep reminding myself that it's saving me about $30. So that's good. As for the kids in that same group, I have never been expected to give them gifts, but most years I try to do a little something for them. It is usually something homemade, or an inexpensive trinket. This year, however, my idea of some personalized candies fell through, so I am making the tough decision to not get them anything. I would bake them some cookies (and still might change my mind), but my Mom has also decided to scale back, and she will be giving the kids either some tasty baked goods or popcorn-ball snowmen. Our Christmas party will be a little bit different this year without the massive gift exchange portion of the night, but I am sure the spirit will be there all the same.

As for my immediate family, I have decided this year to do a photo collage project for each of them (Mom, Dad, brother). The only thing that actually needs to be purchased for these gifts would be the frames, and I ended up getting some inexpensive ones from Target. Score! I am super excited about these gifts especially, because making them is going to be just as much fun as giving them. And that is saying a lot because I am fully expecting tears on Christmas morning.

What about everyone else on my list, you ask?? COOKIES!! The last few years, I have baked about a metric ton of cookies, and this year will be no different. Recession or no recession, cookies are a must-have for me. I think I've decided on 8 different varieties. Some of which are old favorites I've made a thousand times before, some are newer favorites from the past couple years, and some are recipes I've never tried before. My Mom and I are getting together this Saturday for a bake-a-palooza in her kitchen and I could not be more excited. TO BAKE! Yes, you can call me a nerd if you want. I don't mind. :) But chances are, if you know me, you will have the opportunity to try some of my home-baked yummies at some point this Christmas season.

So that is my grand plan for saving a little moolah this holiday season. No mall madness for me. No trendy gadgets, expensive doodads, bingle balls, whofoo fluff, goowho gums, whiffer bloofs, wuzzle wuz, snaffer snoof, dang-donglers, bizilbiz or wums!

to tree or not to tree?

Christmas is my absolute favoritest of holidays. (Look, I just made up a new word!) But every year, I am encountered with a dilemma. Do I decorate, or do I not? I spend Christmas Eve and Day (and sometimes the following day) at my parents' house, and they do the whole tree/decorations/twinkle lights thing, so every year I ask myself if it is worth the time and effort to decorate my own apartment.

Three Christmases ago, I lived with a roommate, and he went out and bought us a live tree, which we set up in the living room. I dragged out all the decorations I had collected during my years of working in a gift shop, and our place ended up looking pretty festive. But the next year, no tree, and minimal decorations. (Perhaps the lack of tree was due to the fact that after the first Christmas, we were remiss in our duties to dispose of the tree in a timely manner. Our eventual tree disposal method involved several garbage bags, a small saw, and my roommate's trunk.) That was the last Christmas I had a roommate, so when the next one rolled around, I was even less inclined to get a tree because I'd have to do the whole thing myself. And I lived in a 4th floor walk-up. Alone. With no good spot to set up a tree anyway. That year I didn't even bring out my pink Rubbermaid boxes full of decorations. As a matter of fact, those pink Rubbermaid boxes of decorations spent that Christmas in my family's basement. So very sad, it was.

But this year. THIS YEAR, I am living in an apartment that I am enamored with. Yes, I do still live alone, but it's much easier to imagine decorating when you love the place you live. I have a spot in my living room that I think would be perfect for a tree. It would require minimal rearranging of furniture (just a chair and an end table), and would be out of the way, yet in a highly visible location. I would still have to lug it up many, many stairs (What is it with me and the 4th floor?) and would probably need help with that and with setting it up in the stand. But this year I am seriously considering going all out with the decorations. Even though nobody will be seeing them but me. :)

As a side note, my apologies to Thanksgiving, which tends to get the shaft most years. If it makes Thanksgiving fans any happier, I am keeping my pumpkins and gourds on display through the end of November. :)

afterglow

I'm not going to say anything here about yesterday's election results except this: Congratulations, President-Elect Barack Obama! Your victory has made me proud to be an American.

In other much more important news, I just overheard someone say this: "I found Dad a cute vest for Christmas." There are just so many things wrong with that sentence.

ok, I'll play by your rules

Somewhat on the topic of the last post, I wanted to share something that happened JUSTNOW!! I believe I have mentioned previously that I have a very conservative coworker who likes to send out e-mails of questionable validity that perpetuate rumors about Obama, or others involved in his campaign. He never seems to check the truth of these things before blindly sending them on, so whenever I receive one, I go straight to snopes.com to check it out. Normally, I just satisfy myself with the knowledge that whatever his e-mail says is false, and don't forward the snopes link to the coworker. I don't particularly want to open that can of worms. But today, I'd had enough of it. I received an e-mail with an alleged article about Obama's views on the National Anthem that was so over the top, I could not let it slide. So I found it on snopes and sent the link to the 8 or so recipients of the original e-mail, saying "This is not true." The response I got was priceless. My very conservative coworker responded that he'd received an e-mail just a couple of weeks ago saying that snopes was owned by "a rabidly pro-Obama couple" who skewed their research in favor of Obama. And then he forwarded me said article. Now, if you've read enough of these kinds of things, you learn to see the signs that it is false before ever having to look it up. This thing was full of red flags. But again, I did not want to let this slide, so I decided to play a little game. The anti-snopes e-mail listed truthorfiction.com as a better source for verifying the e-mails you receive, so I did a little research of my own, and found this. I sent it out to the recipients of the original e-mail. I haven't gotten a response.

;)

I wanted to write about other stuff, but this is what came out

So, in case you've haven't noticed all the strange commercials on TV telling you how evil one person is and how awesome another person is, there's an election going on round these parts. Generally, I'm not a very political person. I care about the issues I care about, but I don't involve myself in the political process other than casting my vote when the time comes. But this election seems different somehow. Maybe it's because the issues I care about are front and center, or maybe I'm just getting older (and wiser?), or perhaps it's because my job security is somewhat dependent upon what party is in office. No wait, that can't be it because I'm voting for the other guy ... but that's a moral dilemma for another day. My point is this: I am worried about the future of my country, and the people who live in it. Therefore I cannot in good conscience vote for McCain. I am voting for Obama because he believes that the same things are important that I do. Health care is important to me because of who I am. Abortion rights are important to me because of who I am. Put simply, Obama represents me. If I was at all undecided about McCain at any point, the decision became much easier for me when he chose Palin as a running mate. Not because of her own family issues (which a surprising number of people have a problem with), but because she personifies the problems that I see in the government. A staunchly Republican friend of mine asked me why I wouldn't vote for the candidate with a female running mate. His reasoning being that I am a woman and wouldn't I want to see a woman in the White House? My response was, what kind of a woman would I be if I voted for someone based solely on gender? Especially someone whose views on abortion show so little respect to those of her own gender? But the closer we get to Election Day, the more confidence I have that Obama will win the Presidency. My most recent bit of good news was hearing that both my middle-of-the-road Mother and historically Republican Father will be voting for Obama this year. I was sitting at the computer at my parents' house the other day, reading an e-mail I'd gotten from the Obama campaign. I jokingly said to my Dad, "Look Dad, Joe Biden sent me an e-mail!" In the ensuing conversation, he asked how I could have become a Democrat, growing up in a Republican household. I said I didn't know, but mentioned that I'd voted for the Democratic Presidential candidate in the last two elections, and will be doing so this year as well. His response: "Why you little ... person!" Yes Dad, I am a little person.

one weird thing, one random thought

Weird Thing

I just got a voice mail on my work phone. It was a recording, in Spanish, that I believe was telling me I'd won some sort of prize. I need to listen again, but I think it said something about pressing numbers on the phone (obviously meant for if the recipient actually answered), and I know I heard the word 'regalo.' Congratulations to my high school Spanish teachers, who have allowed me to translate about 1/20th of a short spammy phone message. Yay!

Random Thought

I have a song in my head. The reason it is in my head is because on Monday I was watching TV (Chuck) and the song was played in the episode. I own that particular CD (The National - Boxer), and hearing it in the show made me want to listen to the CD. Over and over again for 3 days. So the song being stuck in my head is no surprise at all really. But that wasn't my random thought. The thought was that I think I prefer the music featured in TV shows and movies to be unknown to me. That way it stays pleasantly in the background of my consciousness, only to emerge if it is something truly spectacular that I need to be listening to. If I know the song already, my attention is drawn away from what is happening on screen, towards the realm of "OMG, I know that song! Hey, that's So-And-So Band! Cool! I want to sing along! Whee, this is fun! But hmm, that's kind of an odd place to put that song, during this scene here. I always thought the song was about this other thing. Now I totally have to go listen to it again! Maybe I got the lyrics wrong. I could look them up online ... wait ... wasn't I doing something? Oh yeah, TV's on."

kitchen-y goodness

Hey there kiddos. (I declare that we can all be kiddos today.)

Fall is here and I could not be happier. Yes, I am one of those weirdos who actually likes the cooler weather and the end of summer. So sue me. But one of the things I like best about fall is all the yummy treats that come into fashion this time of year. Baked goods, apples, pumpkins, etc. (If this is all sounding very deja vu-ish, it's because I mentioned this is my last post, but bear with me here. I am going somewhere.)

The other week I found a recipe online (from Evite, no less) that sounded just too good to be true. Simple instructions, delicious ingredients - many of which most people might already have around the house. In fact, that's kind of the point of the recipe. What was it, you ask? Why, it was Pumpkin Bread Pudding of course! (Meaning bread pudding *with pumpkin*, not *made with pumpkin bread*.) I have never made bread pudding before, and only eaten it probably 3 or 4 times in my life, but this recipe came along at just the right time, because at the exact moment of discovery, I had one rather old, most likely very hard loaf of whole grain bread in my fridge and I was at a loss as to what to do with it. So I see pumpkin bread pudding and think, I can make a dessert out of an old loaf of bread??!! Sold!! Where do I sign up?

The other day, after a mad search for a can of pumpkin puree (I tried my usual grocery store on two separate days, then finally bit the bullet and went to a different one. It must be pumpkin pie season!!), I finally made the recipe and ... YUMMY!!! If I made it again, I would make a couple small changes, but for the most part, it turned out perfect, and now it calls to me from the fridge as soon as I get home from work each day. So I cut myself a piece and have dessert first. So what. Life's short.

If this sounds as good to you as it did to me (and delivered!) here's the recipe:

6 cups bread, crusts removed, cut into 1/2 in. cubes (The recipe called for French bread, but the awesome thing about bread pudding is that you can use whatever you have. I had some Brownberry whole grain bread and it worked great.)
1 cup whipping cream
1 cup whole milk
1 15 oz. can pumpkin puree (Not pumpkin pie filling. That already has spices mixed in and we will be adding our own spices)
3 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup candied/crystallized ginger, finely diced (Here is where I might make a substitution next time. The candied ginger I used kept kind of a crisp texture even after baking, which sort of surprised me when I tasted the pudding. The second day, it was a little less crisp, but if you want to avoid this all together, I'd try adding powdered ginger instead, for the flavor, and perhaps a bit more sugar, though I have no idea how much of either.)

The recipe said to make some cinnamon whipped cream to top it with, but ... well ... I am not quite that ambitious, so I bought me some Reddi-Whip. :) Also, you'll need an 11x7 in. baking pan, which I myself had to go out and buy (cheap) because who has that size?? I mean really!?

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Arrange the bread cubes in the pan, then pour over the whipping cream and the milk, stirring to combine (make sure all the cubes are soaking in the liquid). Set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, pumpkin, brown sugar, spices, vanilla and salt. Here is where I would make one more suggestion. The recipe says to pour this pumpkin mixture over the bread/cream in the pan and stir to combine, then stir in the ginger - all within the baking pan. However, when I tried this ... well ... that baking pan is mighty small, and it was hard as hell trying to keep the stuff from going over the edges. And why oh why would you need to wait until the end to add the ginger? I added the ginger directly to the pumpkin mixture. And what I will be doing next time is pouring the *bread/cream mixture* into the *bowl*, stirring to combine, then transferring back to the pan to bake. But whatever way you choose, the next step is to bake about 60 minutes, or until set.

Once it's baked and cooled, cut into 6 pieces, top with whipped cream and enjoy!! You'll be so DYING to try it by the time it's done because while it's baking, your house is going to smell absolutely heavenly.

See? Easy as pi - er - pudding. :)