back to work

I am in from mon-wed this week. next wee is going to come as a shock to the system as I haven't worked a five day week in a while.

Anyway I hope you all have a happy and healthy new year. If you are going out on New years Eve please be safe about it. Enjoy the Rose Bowl, I am hoping OSU can at least win this bowl game.

See you in 2010.

this is for you Alana

My menu:

Honey Baked Ham (Bill's Favorite)
Mashed Potatoes (made with sour cream, whipping cream, Parmesan cheese and herbs)
Sourdough bread dressing with sausage and chestnuts
Balsamic braised Brussels sprouts with bacon
Sauteed veggies with minced ginger and garlic
Sauteed bok choy
and of course rice and pretzel rolls

I made our favorite Christmas cookies, Russian tea balls, and some chocolate chip cookies plus some more of those pumpkin muffins.

So now I want to know what did all of you have for Christmas dinner.... and what is the one thing that really makes it Christmas dinner?

Merry Christmas

I hope you all had a great Christmas! Bill and I had a wonderful two days off. We had Christmas Eve to ourselves. We baked cookies cleaned the house and then went to midnight mass (at 10:30). Yesterday, we had Bill's family over for a lovely dinner. and as the evening drew to a close we got our white Christmas. And now, it hasn't stopped snowing. We wanted to go out for a bit today but after shoveling twice we have decided to just stay inside. Maybe we can go see a movie tonight or tomorrow afternoon.

I hope you and yours had a great Christmas, and if you don't celebrate I hope you were able to have a nice day off.

ideo o o ideo o o ideo gloria...

so i was talking to my co worker Ed who is our resident expert on all things religious and all things operatic/classical. I was telling him about HB's tradition of singing IDEO through the hallways on the last day of school. We had a tough time finding a song called Ideo, but eventually found out that it is called Personent hodie.

interesting info about this carol: (all from wikipedia)

"The most common English translation of the text is by "James M. Joseph", a pseudonym of the composer Jane M. Joseph (1894-1929). She translates the title as On this day earth shall ring, although there are several other English translations."

interesting because at our all girls school we're all about female cultivation

"The Latin text is probably a musical parody of an earlier 12th century song beginning "intonent hodie voces ecclesie", written in honour of Saint Nicholas"

interesting because IDEO day had been a day that the juniors would perform parody sketches of the Seniors (until one year it got too out of had and feeling were hurt and now they just do a talent show)

and finally once you hear it it will be stuck in your head all day and you will be singing Ideo -o-o

bad blogger

Time has slipped by me in the past week. Bill has been working crazy hours which means most of the holiday getting readiness has fallen in my lap. But don't feel too bad for me because I really love Christmas.

Anyway in the past week I:

• roasted my first ever pumpkin
• used said pumpkin in a delicious muffin recipe
• did 7 loads of laundry (1 on Monday and 6 yesterday)
• decorated most of the house for Christmas
• wrote Christmas cards
• went to the mall and lost all hope for humanity while looking for parking, then regained said hope and then paid it forward
• decided on a menu for Christmas dinner
• listened to copious amounts for Christmas music and now have a conglomeration of songs stuck in my head

So that's what has been shaking with me. I work through Wednesday and then have a long weekend. Since Thanksgiving week, I have only worked one full week. Got to love the holidays.

Christmas yay!!!

This weekend we went out and cut down our Christmas tree. We also ran around a lot and wrapped up much of our Christmas shopping.

Today I took the day off, an along with a visit to Hyde Park I was able to decorate me house get some cleaning done and get the car serviced.

We haven't trimmed the tree yet, but I hope to do that in the next few days.

Oh and I will be doing the Christmas cards soon. If I don't have your address and you would like a card (ie if you moved over this summer to a better apartment in new york) just email me your address: sarahyoung921 at gmail dot com

glenwood

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this is where the package I was referring to in that post earlier this week was last seen.

this is also the most recent location of a package i bought this week.

the race is on. will the amazon books i bought on the 8th with super saver shipping reach me before the shirt i bought on the 30th of Nov?

***Update***
since i don't know which package landed on my door step first I regretfully have to call this a draw, but the MVP is totally amazon super saver shipping. Well played.

brrrrr

I hope that where ever you are, dear reader, you are warm.

This morning when I got up it was 2 degrees outside, and that wasn't including the wind chill. I guess it could be worse. My co-workers hometown of Alliance Nebraska was a nippy -17 early this morning (though it has warmed up since). And Bill's friend Pasha wins best facebook posting as yesterday he said "Now is the winter of our discontent". Leave it to Pasha to find something funny to say about the weather in Minneapolis.

Bundle up stay warm and for pete's sake don't go taking any triple dog dares!

_____

saw this story on two of the blogs I visit daily. And now I have that song in my head.

snow snow snow (2)

as i write Bill is outside shoveling. But Sarah, you ask, why aren't you helping him? Because I did a round of shoveling when I got home, and am now cozy and dry.

I have been mightily confused about the days of the week this week, as so often happens when you have a Monday off of work. I am now pretty sure today is Wednesday, and that means only two more days until another 3 day weekend!!

cyber monday

last week bill and I made a few different purchases online between Monday and Tuesday. All of these purchases have arrived except one. All of our purchases were free shipping, but I find it interesting that this one has not arrived. This one has traveled from Georgia to Montana to Wisconsin to Glenwood, IL to TriCity A/O, IL back to Glenwood, IL. I hope that this purchase arrives soon. I should say that amazon wins the prize for fastest free shipping. Bill received one of his orders on Thursday after ordering it on Monday.

snow snow snow

Flew home yesterday and most of the snow that we had was melted by the time I landed. I woke up this morning, however, and it was snowing again. bill asked me how it was snowing and I said it was like powdered sugar through a sieve. When we got to the train station Bill corrected me and said it was much closer to a child playing in flour. I countered that there would be clumps of snow if it was a kid playing in anything, so we agreed it was most like flour through a sifter. Like when I make some of my favorite Christmas cookies... Russian tea biscuits (or Mexican wedding cookies or tea balls or whatever you would like to call them) Now on top of decorating I have an incredible urge to go home and bake cookies.

What types of cookies should I make?

hi from az

Flew out to see my mom yesterday. Apparently, I escaped just in time.

Anyway we have an action packed weekend planned so I'll probably be mia until Monday. Have a great weekend.

last night

Last night one of the best holiday movies was on tv. I really don't know why I love this movie so much, but I do. Today I have been humming the Island of Misfit Toys song over and over.

I made this delicious looking acorn squash last night. It was perfect.

The acorn squash is usually something I mess up because it doesn't cook long enough, but last night I got it just right.

• About 35 min cut side down @ 350 in a pan with about 1/4" water.
• Then flip score/ poke the insides and put a bit of butter in them (I also spread a small amount along the top cut part)
• Then I made a yummy mixture of cinnamon, clove , freshly grated nutmeg, and ginger (also probably know as pumkin pie spice) and mixed it with 2 scoops of brown sugar (one for each side) and about a 1/4 a cup of finally chopped walnuts).
• After the 25 min are up this mix got evenly divided between the two and baked for another 10 min or so.

When you take them out of the oven make sure to stir the mixture so that all the sugar gets yummy and melted.

rudolph the red nosed reindeer

ooh one of my favorite holiday shows is on tonight on cbs(8E/7C). be there or be a misfit toy.

pedway

In my excitement about the beef recipe I forgot to metion that this morning I was able to walk from my train station to Randolph and LaSalle. The pedway is finally open.
This means that I can make it 2/3 the way to work in a warm covered autoless environment. Yay!

yummy beef recipe

I made a really yummy recipe that I got from a co-worker who got it from this woman. I added ginger and an extra pepper to it, but I think some of you might really like it:

Pepper Steak

* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 1 medium onion, chopped
* 2 large bell peppers, sliced into thin strips
* 2 cloves garlic, minced
* 1/3 cup soy sauce
* 1/3 cup honey
* 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
* 1 1/2 pounds flank steak, cut into thin strips

1. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Cook onion, bell peppers, and garlic in oil until tender-crisp, stirring frequently. Set aside.
2. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Pour soy sauce, honey, and red wine vinegar in pan, then add beef. Cook beef, stirring frequently, until done, about 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in cooked vegetables, and cook another 10 to 15 minutes