The first batch of pictures are from Christmas. Seeing as today is the last day of the Christmas season in the church (probably about the only thing I retained in church today... that's a different story...) I figure I reallllllllly ought to put them up now, otherwise you'll be looking at Christmas pictures in March (my next break time).
The traditional Christmas tree shot. Special things to note would be the dog on the couch (a no-no) and the Santa tree topper.
The artsy tree shot. I was sure to include my sisters *favourite* (sarcastically) angel ornaments. Each one does something special: one has a soccer ball, one is wearing a life jacket, one is playing a piano, and one has a skate. No tree is ever complete without a few geeky ornaments like this :-P
Since our fireplace is in the basement and we generally open presents in the living room, the stockings have lived at a landing on the main staircase for the last 10 Christmases. Note how we couldn't fit all of the presents into the stockings...
Dad kept on bringing down more and more presents that he forgot about. One included a new car brush/scraper for my mom so Keely just put it in her stocking. Starsky was quite perplexed by this as she thought she had got a new toy.
This is probably my favourite picture of the Christmas holidays. Erin has quite the knack for striking a pose. This one was taken after she decided it would be fun to wrap the snow scraper.
Erin & Keely shoving the newly-wrapped snow scraper into the stocking. You can also see the sweet doggie gate we have protecting the CDs in the bottom left corner :P
Another spot Starsky is not supposed to be. When she was a pup we let her do it because she was cute. Note to future dog owners: bad idea.
The inaugural meal with mes nouvelles pots! Look at how shiny they are! :)
The finished product: Tortellini and Cheese in less than 20 minutes! Boiling water was the most time-consuming part of this superfast recipe. I highly recommend it, because it was so tasty & fast, so I shall take a detour here for a second and post the recipe for all to enjoy:1. Cook 9oz of refrigerated cheese tortellini according to package directions. Place 1 cup of loose-pack frozen peas, corn or pea pods in a colander. Drain hot pasta over vegetables to thaw; return pasta-veg mix to hot pan.
2. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, combine 1 8oz tub of cream cheese spread (with garden vegetables or chive and onion) and 1/2cup milk; heat and stir until cheese is melted. Cook 9oz of chopped chicken breast (the recipe says you can buy this frozen & just reheat it, but I just cooked it in the pan anyways).
3. Stir cream cheese mixture into cooked pasta-veg mixture. Cook and gently stir until heated through. Spoon into serving bowls & top with chicken.
So good!
OK, onwards with the photographic diary...
Another meal that took less than 30 minutes. This was sweet-and-sour chicken. The recipe said it made 4 or 5 servings, but I'm pretty sure I had it closer to 10 times so its original awesomeness has worn out so I won't be making this again anytime soon.
Enough turkey chili to feed an army! Thankfully Jordan & Paul came over to help me out! Blessed are those who feed the hungry :-P
My first ever made-from-scratch muffins. I had some bananas kicking around and didn't feel like making banana bread for the umpteenth time, so I tried something new. They turned out ok but really aren't all that banana-flavoured considering I used even more bananas than the recipe called for...
Finally we have what I've been working on in the music office as of late. This is my set up in the conference room. Over Thursday and Friday I stuffed information packages about the music faculty to send to people who've applied to come here. I think the final tally was at 481 when I left on Friday, but Odilla (the Admissions' Officer) thinks we'll be closer to 900 by the time the deadlines close (sometime not in the near future). Even though I'm sure processing 900+ auditions for 140 spots would give most of you a headache, I LOVE this part of my job! SO many amazing (and not so amazing) applications come through it keeps me quite entertained. For instance, when someone applies with 50s on their transcript, or is applying from Brazil, or is from Brockvegas, I take note! Some people also have very awesome names (which I can't share for privacy reasons) but this is also fun :)Anyhoo, this grand post took 1.5 hours, so it is now time to do something productive with the remaining time I have before bed. Hope you all enjoyed this little photo-journey through my last few weeks!
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