Home safe and sound

It took 7 hours to get from GJ to Denver, instead of the typical 4 hours. I hear that the pass and tunnel were closed by the time we got home, and they're still closed today! Boy am I glad we left in the morning.

This morning my car wouldn't start. Just before calling a towing service Ben got some advice from his dad. He said to use something called "heat," an alcohol that breaks up crystals in your fuel. After waiting a while the car started! I'm so happy to fix it ourselves and not deal with a mechanic! With the car working we tried to walk around Crown Hill. Blowing snow and frigid wind chill forced us back after a quarter of the walk. Jem was prancing around happily like she didn't even notice the wind that was freezing our teeth.

Today I'm transferring all my photos and music to this new computer, doing laundry, dishes, and putting away presents. Ben wants a New England style beef stew dinner for his birthday tomorrow. I'm going to cook it in my new pressure cooker! Usually I would add potatoes and cabbage midway through the cooking time but with a pressure cooker I can't remove the lid. So does that mean I need to cook them in a separate pot? Or let them get overstewed in the same pot as the meat? Does anyone know?

Merry Christmas!!

I'm writing to you from my shiny new macbook! So far I'm ok with this mac thing. No major annoyances and lots of little wonderful things that are different from windows. Like programs that start immediately! Being able to put it asleep and awake instantly! Lots of prettiness! My old laptop was pretty pathetic. It was from 2001, was missing the L key, the CD drive fell out occasionally, and the USB ports stopped working halfway through fall semester. I don't think I'll go all crazy about Apple, but so far I'm very pleased with this wonderful present.

Other favorite presents are a pressure cooker (I can cook lentils in 20 minutes!), a Marimekko shower curtain, an original painting from my brother, jewelry from Russia, a new bag, and a little pair of hot Anne Klein heels from Ben.

Ben was also totally spoiled. Among his gifts was a beautiful SLR digital camera. Here are some of the gorgeous pictures he took today:

Christmas is coming!

We're driving to Grand Junction tomorrow, cat, dog, and all. This may be the first year I haven't begged Ben to take extra time off work so we can leave before the weekend. Probably because I have so much to do still. I'm back doing the transcription for my parents. It's funny to be doing the same job you had in high school :-)

I've given in to my domestic goddess urges and made peanut butter fudge and peppermint marshmallows. They will be perfect in mugs of hot chocolate with my family. Today Jem is in daycare so I can get some laundry, vacuuming, and cleaning done. Also tomorrow she turns 1 year old, so I figured we can call her playdate a birthday present.

Tonight I have plans to see Sweeney Todd with Ben and Brian. Frankly I'm a little nervous about it.
1) The singing probably won't be that great
2) It might be too gory for me and
3) I haven't actually seen the whole musical (on video) because I get bored and turn it off halfway. I hope the movie keeps the pace better. But how often do Ben and Brian encourage me to see a musical? How can I not go?

I'm so ready for Christmas! For family and food and presents and pets and all the fun that comes with my favorite holiday!

5 year olds

20

Snow on Green Mountain

The wait is over!

I'm going to nursing school!!!

Two dogs

We took Izzy back from the kennel with Jem last week and had her at home for an afternoon. She and Jem are very different.

Cooking

Beef stroganoff & cole slaw / scrambled eggs, baked beans, and potato pancakes

Chicken pot pie / Coconut macaroons

Chicken salad & steamed broccoli / sausage and wild rice in roasted acorn squash

Mushroom stew / Balsamic chicken, wild rice, and roasted sweet potatoes

Transform! Cabbage to cabbage rolls

Thumprint cookies with cherry cranberry relish / chicken fajitas

Spinach, mushroom, feta pie / butternut squash soup and rolls

Goat cheese and pistachio bites (for Miranda's shower)

Enchanted

I just saw Enchanted and it was fantastic. Very funny, we were laughing out loud. I loved all the references to old movies, and apparently I missed a lot (check the link for a wikipedia list of tons of references). I thought they recycled a lot of animation during the first section. If anyone else sees it, let me know if you agree that they reused Prince's Philip's fat dad adjusting his belly (redone as Nathanial), Alice falling down the hole (when Giselle falls to NY), and sleeping beauty petting the animals (by Giselle in the very beginning). There's probably some others, let me know if you catch them.