Christmas

So now that it's New Year's Eve, I guess I'll officially update on Christmas.


Christmas Eve we went to my parents' house. Lauren got lots of dressup clothes, which of course she loved. Sarah got a Light Bright box and a Barbie Karaoke Guitar, which she adores. Luckily, it has volume control. :D

I got to open my present before anyone else - a video camera, horay! As we were driving over to their house, I'd been thinking that I wanted to buy a camera after Christmas, and wondering how much it would cost. Perfect timing! Of course, my 18 year old cousin Danny had to figure out how to use it. I think we have about 10 minutes of film on that.

Christmas morning was at our house; pretty quick and quiet. Jeff's favorite present was the pennant I got him from the All Star Game. The 2004 Houston All Star Game, not this year's here in Detroit. Why would that be his favorite present? Why, because it means he gets to give me shit about being an airhead and not noticing that I got the wrong pennant for the rest of my life. It's the gift that keeps on giving!

By the way, it would appear that one of our Christmas traditions is that not only will the girls get new jammies on Christmas Eve, but that they will fit badly because I didn't check the measurements. Sarah's aren't too bad, but Lauren's in particular are far too long!

After going to church, we came home for a light lunch and quick nap, then off to Grammy & Grandpa's! More dressup clothes for Lauren (that's Grammy looking at her birthstone bracelet next to pink Tinkerbelle, and Aunt Andrea behind the purple feather girl), and Sarah got the Barbie Laptop she's been craving for so long. Lauren also got a scooter just like Sarah's, which she whizzed around on all night. Also, lots of clothes, so hopefully no more fighting with Sarah on Sunday mornings about what she's going to wear.




















The highlight of the night was that Jeff's brother Greg brought his guitar. The girls were all over him. Sarah had brought her pompoms, and Lauren really got into the cheerleading thing, which was hilarious. Greg has a nice voice - he sounds a lot like the Green Day song "Time of Your Life."


















Jeff and I also got a considerable bit of cash from his parents. There are so many things I'd like to do: upgrade my digital camera (something with more megapixels and more zoom), get the gingerbread cookie charm for my bracelet, get some new clothes, etc. But we decided that it's smarter to hold onto it and put it toward plants for the front of the house next spring. The new grass looks great, but we still don't have anything in front of the hosue, and it needs it, badly. We'll still spend some of it on fun stuff, but nothing too big.

I just realized that I got a lot more fun pictures of Lauren than of Sarah, so I'll throw in my most recent favorite of my big girl, getting a piggy back ride from Grandpa.

Candied Baklava

(I'll recap Christmas later)

Yesterday, I went over to my friend Jami's house (waving, 'cause I know she reads here) to learn to make baklava from her mom, who was visiting for a week. Mmmm, baklava. And this is Persian baklava. The baklava you get in bakeries is usually Greek baklava, which means it has walnuts & honey. Persian baklava uses almonds and sugar, and I think it has a more delicate flavor. I just found out that Lebanese baklava uses pistacios, and I might have to try that sometime. Although I knew the basics of how baklava works, it's nice to have someone to walk you through it the first time.

When I got there, we had to run out to the store to pick up more almonds and another pastry brush, since we made two pans simultaneously. Also, Jami needed a little breathing room from her mom, which I can totally understand. When we got back, we got down to business.

Each pan of baklava calls for a pound of melted butter. Start layering the phyllo sheets, with butter between each layer. I quickly forgot how many layers I'd put down, because of course I was constantly talking and not paying attention. Margey (Jami, how does your mom spell her name?) works with a charity that is building schools in Afganistan, and one of the fundraisers they did was an Afgani dinner. That is so the kind of fundraiser I could get behind! Luckily, baklava is forgiving of that kind of distraction.

After putting down 8 layers of phyllo, add ¼ of the filling. The filling is four cups of nuts and four cups of sugar. More phyllo, more filling, etc. Total of four layers of filling, five layers of phyllo. Then cut into squares or diamonds (the hardest part!), and bake for about 30 to 45 minutes, until the top is golden brown. While it's baking, make the syrup, which is a cup of water, two cups of sugar, a couple cinnamon sticks, and a tablespoon of lemon juice.

As she was copying the recipe (from this fabulous old cookbook called The Persian Kitchen), I noticed that she wrote down that the filling calls for TWO cups of sugar. Not four. Two. When I noticed, she said, "Oh, that's right," crossed out the 2 and wrote a 4. But then she went back to the book and realized that indeed, we should have used just two cups of sugar. Well, it was too late to do anything about it, so we decided to just wing it. Once it was done baking (it looked gorgeous!), we pulled it out and poured the hot syrup over it. Then we waited for it to cool. And waited. And waited.

While we were waiting, we snitched samples. The phyllo was wonderfully crisp, yet chewy due to the syrup. The filling was . . . um. Yeah. The filling was sweet. Really sweet. Hence the name "Candied Baklava." I'm going to cut a couple pieces for the kids and take the rest in to work today, and hopefully it'll all get eaten. I do plan to make baklava again, but I think that Candied Baklava is going to be retired. The story will certainly make it into my recipe book, though! ;D

Pity Party

Uuuuurgh.

I feel like crap.

My sinuses are all raw.

I had to pull the car over on the way to work so I could throw up.

Since my morning student didn't show up, I've been taking naps back here. It helps, but then I walk around and feel queasy again.

I really intended to go to the post office and run other errands, but it's not happening.

Bleagh.

Queen Kim the Productive

Yes, I saw Narnia last night; it was great!

My awesome wonderful parents had the girls for a sleepover last night, so I got to run errands this morning all by myself, which totally rocked!

I went to the mall for a present for Jeff and perfume for my SIL. Barnes & Nable for books for my Dad & my brother. Dollar Store for stocking stuffers. Grocery shopping (somehow, I lost a bag of groceries - d'oh!), too. Now I'm tired, but the house is a wreck, and I still have to make dinner. Once the kids are in bed, I'm up for some sewing.

The best things, though, are these: They're birthstone bracelets for my MIL, Sarah, Lauren, and stepmom. Sarah's birthstone is amethyst, and Lauren's is aquamarine. I realized, though, that since they're birthstone bracelets, I really should wait for their birthdays to give them to the girls. I so want to give them to them right away, though! I just hope they fit - I might try them on them while they sleep.

Hee

We went to the Rockettes last night, and had a lot of fun. One of the other moms from Sarah's tap class reserved a block of tickets, so in addition to getting the seats for half price, Sarah got to sit by one of her friends in dance class. I'm glad we got tickets for this instead of the Nutcracker, although that was a tradition when I was growing up and I really love it. But this was a little easier for little kids to get into (Lauren kept asking "Where's Santa?" every time he was off stage). Sarah said her favorite part was the living Nativity at the end. I was glad to see the show end on a non-commercial note.

As we were leaving, it was snowing, and had been for a while (which we'd expected--we have quite a bit of accumulation this morning). As the huge crowd was crowding toward the parking structure, a group of people behind us began singing, "let it snow, let it snow, let it snow." For me, that was the high point of the evening--people taking something that was an inconvenience and having fun with it. It got a laugh out of pretty much everyone else, as well.

As for that last entry, well . . . the beginning of the week was rough. And I still have too much to do, but I'm not stressing about it as much anymore, though I did add "blender and margarita mix" to my Christmas list). Thanks for the good wishes, everyone!

AUGH!

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The Story Behind the Dresses

. . . or, How Kim Almost Got Herself in Way Over Her Head.

When I screwed up cutting out the bodice front piece of Lauren's dress last week, I scrambled to the nearest JoAnn Fabrics. Not the same one where I bought the fabric, but it was closer and I was hopeful. As soon as I walked it, I saw this gorgeous fabric. It looked like velvet with detailed metallic embroidery. Very flowy, graceful, Christmasy. And they had, in addition to deep red with gold stitching, midnight blue with silver stitching (which looks great on blondes) and hunter green with gold stitching (which looks great on redheads).

As soon as I saw it, I fell in love. I seriously considered putting aside the dress I'd already done, as well as the one I'd cut out (and screwed up) in favor of making two entirely new dresses out of this fabric. Did I mention that I did this on Saturday night? And that the pictures were going to be on Tuesday morning? And still I thought, "Yeah, I'd have to sew pretty much non-stop, but I could make it." Luckily for me, a saleslady saw the pattern envelope in my hand and said that the fabric wouldn't work with a gathered skirt. So I was off the hook. For this year.

I wonder if it would go on really deep sale after Christmas . . . I could find a pattern that would work, and buy enough to make the next size up, and be all set to make the dresses in September if I wanted! No rushing next year!!! That would be so awesome!

Um. Yeah. Anyway, THIS year's photo session went very well. Here's what we got (by the way, I don't know how true the color will be, but they're purple shot with some silver, and silver ribbon at the waist and cuffs):