A Year in the Life of Lolo

So, as I am missing my sweet little kitty, I have decided to show you a year in her life!  She has traveled from Cape Girardeau to St. Louis several times.  She has lived through an 18 hour drive to Palm Bay, Florida and the whole moving process.  She has enjoyed exploring her new home.  And, above all, she has loved being cute!!!  Enjoy!

Lolo playing hide and seek in the sink and watching "It's Me or the Dog"...

...playing on the couch...

...lounging in her basket...

...always looking out the windows...

...digging in momma's purse...

...sleeping on her favorite bag...

...once again, on her favorite bag...

...soooooo tired...

...watching the birds...

...can't you tell that this is totally her favorite bag?!...

...moving time...

...sooooo tired...

...digging in the couch...

...sleeping on top of the couch...

...napping in the Yahtzee box...

Lolo has had a busy year!  Being a cute kitty is tough work!  I can't wait to see my little girl again!!!

Delectable!

So, I'm going to attack my to do blogging list a little out of order!  I cannot resist posting the recipe for the most delicious apple scones ever!  Seriously, they are so good, I made them twice in a week!  Both times, I decided to make them for dessert one night, and then we had the leftovers for breakfast the next morning.  They're great for a treat or a meal!  Since it was just Thomas and me, I halved the recipe, and it was a perfect amount.  I hope you enjoy!  This picture is also from the website because we kept eating ours before I could remember to take a picture!  Yes, they're that good!

(The recipe is from Midwest Living, however, I made a few tweaks from the recipe you'll see on their site.)

Apple Scones

Yield: 15 scones  

Prep: 30 mins Bake: 15 mins to 17 mins at 375°F Cool: 5 mins

Ingredients

• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon apple pie spice or ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
• 1 cup finely chopped tart apple, such as Braeburn, Jonagold or Jonathan - I used Fuji, and they were delicious
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 3/4 cup whipping cream
• 1 egg yolk, beaten
• 1 tablespoon whipping cream
• 16 - 18 thin slices of unpeeled apple
• Coarse sugar or granulated sugar

Directions

1. Line an extra-large baking sheet with parchment paper or foil; set aside. In a large bowl, combine flour, the 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, apple pie spice and salt. Cut in cold butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the 1 cup finely chopped apple. Make a well in center of flour mixture.
2. In a small bowl, combine the 2 eggs and 3/4 cup whipping cream. Using a fork, stir egg mixture into flour mixture; stir until just moistened. (Stir as little as possible or the finished scones will become really crumbly.  They will still taste the same, but they're much harder to eat when they're falling apart.)  Dough will be thick. Using a 1/4-cup ice cream scoop or measuring cup, scoop dough into mounds and place on prepared baking sheet. Don't flatten.
3. In a small bowl, combine the egg yolk and 1 tablespoon whipping cream. Brush some of the mixture over the top of the dough mounds. Place an apple slice on top of each dough mound, pressing down until about 1-inch thick. Brush with remaining egg yolk/whipping cream mixture; sprinkle with additional sugar.  (I sprinkled them with a little cinnamon too because I'm obsessed with cinnamon!)
4. Bake in a 375 degree F oven for 15 to 17 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on baking sheet on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove scones from baking sheet. Cool slightly. Serve warm with butter and honey. Makes 15 scones.

I hope you enjoy Christmas with your family!  I know I'm loving mine! 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!

Table of Contents

I have had a wonderful past few days but obviously I've been a little short on time to blog.  So, I guess I will have to try and catch up while I'm off school for the holidays!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I officially made it through my first semester of teaching!  Hallelujah!  So, here are some things that are on my blogging agenda:

1. Photos of the scarf you saw a sneak peek of like forever ago.
2. Photos of the other scarf I've made since then!
3. A recipe for the BEST apple scones.  I can't honestly say that I've ever had apple scones before I made these, but seriously, nothing else will ever live up to these!
4. An update on movies!  Yay!

So, that's enough to keep me busy for a little while.  There's no time now because Thomas and I are getting ready to head back to St. Louis for a couple of days!  It will be the first time in six months that we've seen our parents.  (And that's a really long time for us.)  So, we're excited.

Goodbye beautiful Florida weather.  I will miss you every moment that I'm gone...  :(

2 Down, 1 To Go

Midterms, that is...  You know, I'm pretty sure writing finals for students to take is much more stressful than actually taking them!  I mean, I have to sit down and write all 100 questions from scratch.  AND I have to come up with all the wrong multiple choice answers too.  That's really challenging.  And SUPER time consuming.  So, I've got World History and French 1 finished, and I'm powering through French 2.  Not to mention the fact that I still have to write study guides too!  Yikes.  I am so excited for finals week because its going to be a piece of cake once it comes, but my brain may run away before I get to that point!

On the weaving end though, I have taken some time away from working (which is always welcome, but still feels like a mistake considering how far behind I get) to work on my latest project.  Its coming along really nicely.  I absolutely love the color and feel of the yarn I'm using.  However, I don't have any updated pictures because it looks pretty much the same with the pattern I'm doing.  I do love the was the Leno Lace is working in.  I can't wait to get it off the loom and see how it looks then.

Well, its a kind of dreary weekend here in Florida.  It's been raining off and on, but the tempurature's nice.  So, Lo and I are sitting on the covered porch watching the rain fall while I make up wrong answers to French questions!

7 DAYS OF SCHOOL TO GO!!!

Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down

So... I only went to school for a half day today... THUMBS UP!
The reason was because I had to go to the dentist... THUMBS DOWN.

I'm blogging right now... Thumbs up.
When I actually sat down to clean off my desk... Thumbs down.

I started a new weaving project the other night... Thumbs way up!
And got absolutely no work done that night... Thumbs down.

I really like the weaving design of this new project... Thumbs up.

The pictures just don't do it justice... Thumbs down.

Only 8 school days until Christmas break... Thumbs up!
Still 8 school days until Christmas break... Thumbs down.

:)  (If that wasn't random enough for you, then I don't know what you want from me.)    ;)

Endings...Bittersweet

Endings are a very bittersweet subject for me.  On one hand you have the night falling on a perfect day and the next day is Monday.  The final and perfect scene of the best movie in the world.  Pulling into the parking lot at work in the morning when you were secretly hoping the drive would go on forever.  The moment when the screen goes black and "LOST" appears at the end of every single episode except the very last one.  The last page of The Chronicles of Narnia which almost always makes me cry.  Because on one hand, you have the close of something so wonderful that it cannot possibly be topped by whatever happens to be coming next and you so wish it could just go on forever, never ending.

However, you also have the other side.  When the lights dim and a hush comes into the theater; the wait is over; the movie begins.  Pulling into the parking lot of your hotel on the beach for vacation after 20 hours of driving.  The final bell at school on a Friday.  Turning in the last assignment for an ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) course that has basically been the bane of your existence for three months.  :)

Yes!  I'm pretty sure I never blogged about my ESOL course because I just hated it so much.  Every teacher in Florida has to take one of these classes in order to be officially certified, and it is awful!  Especially as a first year teacher when I'm barely able to keep my head above water anyway.  But, this post is not a complaint, it is a celebration!  I turned in my final assignment super late last night, and it was a momentous and joyous ending!!!  Yay!!!

So today, Thomas and I (mostly I) are baking some Christmas goodies for a Christmas party tonight.  And I just love baking!!!  So, I'm really excited even though I'm pretty sure Thomas is dreading it more than not.  The only sad thing is that we don't have any Christmas decorations.  Somehow, they all got left at Thomas' parents' house when we moved.  I'm trying to put on a happy face about it, but its really killing me.  I mean, this is our first Christmas in Florida; its 75 degrees outside so it doesn't really feel like Christmas is coming (though I'm not complaining about the warm weather).  And I'm feeling like a scrooge this year anyway because I'm busier than I ever have been and feel like I'm never going to make it to Christmas.  And it's just one more thing that we don't have any Christmas decorations.  :(

Anyway, I get to spend the day with my husband and do some festive baking.  So there are a lot of things to be thankful for!  :)