Sleep \

I never remember to take pictures when the Morphi' are here. Maybe it's because we always have too much fun. Last night they came over for dinner and we then continued to talk until 12.30am. Why do I keep doing this to myself?? Don't I recognize that I'll be short on sleep this week anyways, with Black Friday shopping just around the corner?

Neon Orange

We have been in our house for over 2 years now. I've never really decorated it. I don't know why. Maybe it's because we've spent so much time and money in just renovating it, that decorating just seemed too low on the priority list. Now that we are winding down on the renovating, and we are getting ready to sell it (how ironic), I felt the kids' bathroom really needed some umpfh. As I was (finally) finishing painting the breakfast nook, I figured that while I had the paint out, I would tackle the bathroom too. It was a lovely shade of blue, but I dont' have any extra paint, so I painted it the same color as the rest of the house. I love that color brown, but was feeling a little monotone depressed. That bathroom needed color. So I headed over to Ikea, and found some super cute fabric. Then, I found some matching orange fabric at Jo-anns for the top and bottom strips. I don't enjoy sewing large things like curtains, but I'm excited I made this anyways. Add some matching towels, bath mats, art, and some cute accessories on the counter, and voila! A bathroom that I actually enjoy being in.

The color in these pictures doesn't do the brightness justice. I had to take out a florecent color cast in Photoshop, and wasn't able to get the neon orange back in. It's bright, and I love it!

Which Team?

I'm am still trying to recover from my all-nighter on Thursday. My Bonham friends are a wild bunch, and we decided to join the throng of youngsters at the New Moon midnight release. The small town of Sherman had New Moon playing in all their 12 theatres. There was a 12.01, 12.02.... 12.12 showing. The first person from our party got in line at 5.30pm, and we were still a little ways back. By the time I got there at 8pm, the line was all the way around the building. They had everybody from all the different showings in one line together. When our showing got to go into the building, I had that same wonderful adrenaline rush I get on black Fridays.

When you squish 300 women and 4 men into a movie theater for a 3 hour wait, it's bound to get rambunctious. The theater staff would come in once in a while for some announcements. Our whole group had glow bracelets, and I had just gotten my camera out of the car. The announcement was clearly directed to us, when they informed us that no pictures or videos were allowed in the theater. Also, if we would "all" please remove our glow bracelets, as they would cause too much light and be distracting. Really??

To keep entertained, Renee, Dee, Anja and I all pulled out our phones and tried to sync them through blue tooth. I didn't even know my phone could do that (and I'm still hoping I won't get charged up the wazoo for that). Dee had started this thing a few weeks ago, where she gave each of us a "barbie" name. Renee is Gansta Barbie. I am Farm Girl Barbie. Dee is Mama Barbie. Of course we all need to have a special ringtone! "Barbie Girl" by Aqua (1997) is the perfect song! Dee tried forever to send that ringtone to all of us, only to find out she couldn't because she had bought it. I feel like such a phone dummie, as I don't even know how I would buy a ringtone.

After reading that movie theater popcorn has the same amount of fat as 6 hamburgers, I brought my own air-popped popcorn. Let me just warn everybody not to leave your drink (or popcorn), or it might be spiked. Even if you thought you were surrounded by friends. Yeah, apparently they thought my popcorn tasted like packing peanuts, and mixed in theater popcorn. As if I wouldn't notice.When Renee gets tired, she gets "drunk" and says funny things.

"Do you have a chocolate chip in your hair"

"OMG, we should totally pass notes"

"I used to be Piper's Milk Dud" (her candy of choice)

"What is this? Peoples court? (as I was writing her quotes down)

Dee chimed in with her funniness too: "This theater is like Estrogen Soup"

After the movie finally started, I was surprised at how quiet it was. I guess I was expecting a bunch of high school cheerleaders gasping, laughing, and screaming. The only thing that got any audible reaction was when Jacob first took his shirt off. I must admit: HOT!!! I am totally on Team Edward, but he just looked nasty in this movie. He was way too skinny, white and hairy. Jacob on the other hand, was buff, tan and smoking.

Why end a fun night after the movie is over at 2.30am? Why not party like it's 1999 at the local Ihop? We so totally did. As we were leaving the people at the next table made a snide comment about how it would finally be quiet after we left. What do they expect at 3.30 in the morning at an Ihop? We ate and talked until 4.15am, and then I still had a 45 minute drive home. That's what I'm still paying for 2 days later. I didn't hit the pillow until 5am....

Now the 7 month wait starts

Wait

Y'all will have to wait to hear all about my escapades at the New Moon midnight showing.

Must - sleep - now.

Baking Bug

I've had the baking bug for the past few weeks. Any dutch treats with Speculaaskruiden sound expecially good to me right now. I've made several things, most of which were flops. It's hard to find good recipes online. Of course I have the advantage of being able to look for Dutch recipes too, but that doesn't make it much easier. My first try at "taai taai" was a total flop. It's supposed to be chewy and cakey, but instead it was crispy and hard. That went to Piggy smalls. My next experiment was speculaas. That turned out a little better, but it didn't taste quite right either. My pepernoten taste right, but were hard as rocks. All of these were baked last week. Maybe this week is a better week.

So I tried again with the pepernoten. This time, I found a recipe for kruidnoten. The dough felt a lot better than last week's recipe. The little balls were easy to make, as the dough was nice and soft.

Here's the recipe for today's Pepernoten: (about 35 cookies)

100 grams Flour

1 heaping tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

50 grams Brown Sugar

45 grams cold Butter

1 tsp Speculaaskruiden (see below)

2 Tbsp Milk

Heat the oven to 300. Place parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Mix all the ingredients. Use 2 knifes to cut the butter into small pieces. Quickly knead into a thick dough. If the dough gets too soft, place in the fridge for about 30 minutes. Roll marble sized balls from the dough, and place on the cookie sheet. Bake for 2o minutes. Cool completely.

A lot of Dutch snacks associated with Sinterklaas (St Nicolas) have "speculaaskruiden" in them. These spices are widely available in Holland, but not here. Turns out, you can just make your own! All these spices should be available in your neighborhood's grocery store

Mix the following spices:

25 grams ground Cinnamon

10 grams ground Nutmeg

5 grams ground Cloves

dash ground Kardemom (I didn't have this, so left it out)

Store your spekulaas spices in an airtight jar. Some recipes that call for this include: Taai Taai, pepernoten, and spekulaas. Once I find good recipes for the taai taai and spekulaas, I'll post those too.

Enjoy your pepernoten with a glass of milk. Or, if you want to really celebrate Sinterklaas' birthday on December 5th, have Piet throw them in the door, and let the kids scramble to gather them.

Holiday Traditions

Holland and America have different traditions and holidays. Moving to the US, I lost some holidays, but also gained a bunch. Joe mentioned how weird it would be to move to a foreign country and loose holidays. It wasn't necessarily weird to me. A little sad maybe, but not weird. The one thing that IS weird, is to celebrate a holiday in a totally different way.

Take, for example, New Years. Growing up, New Years was always the biggest, funnest holiday. We got to stay up all night, party with friends and family, and of course the hightlight: set off fireworks. My parents banned me from setting it off, for the risk of loosing a finger or two. So even though I personally didn't (hardly ever) set off fireworks, all my friends did. Along with the rest of the country. In fact, so many fireworks were purchased, it would often take 2-3 hours to just light it all. Also, the next morning, the streets looked more like red rivers. Most fireworks are made in China, and wrapped in red paper. Bottles, boxes, and other litters is also strewn in the streets.

New Year's doesn't seem that big a deal here at all. Of the 11 New Years I have celebrated here, only the ones I have planned parties for, resembled anything from my youth. The major obstacle is the law that bans individuals from setting off fireworks in the city. A fireworks show is just not the same! We have been lucky enough the past 2 years to live out in the country. We never buy a bunch, but it's still fun to set some off.

I was curious to see what the laws are for Fireworks here in Texas. I found a good article on Ehow. My favorite part is:

"County Property is usually located on roads that begin with "CR" or "county road". You can stop your vehicle, and legally shoot fireworks on most county roads."

Seems dangerous! People stopping on the side of the road to shoot off fireworks! We just happen to live on a County Road. So anyone can stop in front of our property and launch fireworks?? What about all the ashes and trash was will blow onto our property??? I invite everyone to just come join our party, and launch them off our dock instead!

Together Forever

The Primary children have worked hard all year on their yearly program. They've sung the same songs, and practiced their parts. This years' theme was "the Family can be together forever". Temples play a large role in eternal families. It's in temples that our families are sealed together through sacred ordinances. We are lucky enough to have a temple relatively close by, in Dallas. In order to help the kids understand the importance of temples, the primary planned a trip for a visit.

In the foyer, the temple president told them a great story, a sort of parable. There was a man who got to the door of heaven. It required a key, but when the man turned the key, the door would not open. God came to the man and asked: "Do you want to be here alone? Don't you want your wife and children to join you?" The man answered: No, I would not be happy without them". God said "Go get them, and their keys". The man got his wife and children, and after they all turned their keys, the door would still not open. God came back again, and asked the man: "Would you be happy here without your parents, uncles, and cousins? "No", said the man. God answered: "Go get them, and their keys". The man gathered his parents, and after they turned their keys, the door would still not open. God asked him: "Would you be happy without your great grandparents, and all your ancestors? Would you be happy if any of your family members were missing?". The man came back with all his family, and after everyone turned their keys, there was still one empty key hole. The man was confused and asked God who possesses the key for that last hole. God explained that the last key belonged to Jesus Christ. Without Him we can't make it into heaven, and wouldn't be happy without Him there. Heavenly Father has given us the great gift of Repentance and Forgiveness, to give us all the chance to live with Him in heaven. The temple will help us to gather all our ancestors. When we do work in the temple, we are bringing our families together, so we can be happy together in Heaven.

Today's primary program was a great success. The children all sang great, and recited their lines. Even Ginger had memorized her line. I know that God loves us, and has given us the Gospel to learn his will. I know that we can do the work in temples to "gather" our ancestors, so we can all live together forever as families. I am so thankful for the opportunity Joe and I had to be sealed together in the temple by his grandfather Bill B. It gives me comfort to know that my children are sealed to me, and that we can be a family together forever.

My friend Renee is quickly becoming an avid photographer. Her mom bought her a fancy new camera, but she's still learning to use it. I was happy to capture this moment of pure concentration.

The temple is about an hour away, so Dee and her girls carpooled with us. On the way down, this truck with 2 shady looking Hispanic men just kept pulling up next to us. They would look over and smile. Crazy Dee would turn to them and smile and wave back. It's a good thing we were in the HOV lane, or they might have followed us home and I might not be sitting here right now.

On the way home, we spotted a huge buck and some other deer in a field. We made a quick u-turn to capture his magnificence. Unfortunately I didn't have my telephoto lens with me, so this picture is low in quality, but it still shows his rack.