I'm not Tinkerbell. I don't care if you don't believe.

Several weeks ago, my mom handed me a recipe and said, "make this!" Not one to turn my mother down I went after it whole heartedly.. and it turned into an unmitigated disaster.

( Why recipies matter.. )

I'll fill you in on the details of attempt number 3 tomorrow!

I have dentist appointment number 2 today. Root canal. Blergh..

So of course I can't sleep. I made a "Dentist Playlist" which is mostly songs from Supernatural that are hopefully loud enough to drown out any drills I may hear. If that doesn't work I have 2 back episodes of the Red Wings podcast to listen to... but that may make me cry more as the Wings are not in a happy place right now.

But still.. Leverage Mood Theme, ftw.

I'm so excited! Less then 25 minutes now, whooo! Plus, new mood theme!

Last week, the airbag light on Sammy's dashboard came on. Fearing that the airbag would *explode in my face,* I took him to the dealership to get fixed. I figured they'd tweak something and the world would be fine. Heh. Yeah, apparently the entire electrical system in the dashboard is fried and the part to fix it is on back order. My guy told me that he would let me know when they had more information but didn't want me driving him in the meantime, for my safety.  I freaked out because a) I anthropomorphize my baby so to see him all hurt *sucks* and b)raputathebuta  was hours away from arriving, so hello! Needed a car!

They gave me a rental car which I thought sucked out loud, but it ended up being really neat because I'm now driving a red 2007 Impala. At first I just giggled at the Impala part of it, but realized it was a Red Wings weekend and I would be driving a *red* car. How fortuitous. Jacqui and I named him Mule after Johan Franzen of the Wings (who is nicknamed Mule). I have a Red Wings magnet I keep on Sammy so, while Mule doesn't sport the Wings logo like Sammy, he is branded in some small, impermanent way.

But, back to Sammy, I talked to my guy on Monday and asked him when he thought I'd get Sammy back. He wouldn't give me a timeline but I will say the word *MONTHS* was used and I was back to freaking out. I got another call today and he said that while they are looking at alternatives.. MARCH is his best guess.

MARCH!!!

My response to that was: they could develop the technology to create a whole new part for me in that time frame, and use the money they'd save in renting Mule to me for 50 bucks a day. *eyeroll*

I suppose I shouldn't get too upset. All the repairs, and the rental car aren't costing me anything, but still... I WANT SAMMY! I miss his little squee. That whole long story ends up with me asking for everyone to give some happy... non-March thoughts to my Sammy please!

Just wanted to post a quick photographic update of my New Years (ish) celebrations. raputathebuta came down to Phoenix to hang out, but most importantly... to see a WINGS GAME!

( Pictures!!!! )

Needless to say we had an awesome time and I was sad to have to send Rap back to snow and weather that is in the teens, while I'm still in the land of temps in the high 60's where our motto is, "you don't have to shovel sunshine." Incentive to come back!!! :cD

Seriously!! * *This doesn't include Andreas Lilja. There are so many players injured they can't be fit onto one screen! What do I have to do Hockey Gods? Why'd you have take Z before this of all weekends?!?

It's *CHRISTMAS*!!!! Something very exciting is happening on Christmas Day, but I can't talk about it cause it's a surprise.

Also, anteka made a *gorgeous* header, which I stole.

CAUSE IT'S CHRISTMAS! It even rained today so it *feels* like Christmas. My favorite time of the year. WOOT!

1. I have a cold and it's the kind with a sore throat. I can handle most types of sick but not sore throat.. suck.

2. Another reason to be glad you're not from North Korea: for this whole week, they have no money. All printed currency is now just paper. If they are caught using money to buy *anything* they'll receive harsh North Korean type punishments. Also, when their new money comes out on the 7th.. they can only exchange the equivalent of 200 American dollars, the rest is worthless. To me, as a Non-North Korean, the most troubling part about this is that no news outlets in America are reporting it. I only found out because I read British newspapers online.. like a big ole' nerd.

3. My Red Wings aren't doing so well, and it makes my heart hurt. Hopefully the Olympic break will be the best thing for them this year.. but the bestest thing will be having raputathebuta come see them play in Phoenix in January! I'm *very* excited.

4. On Thursday I went shopping with my brother and his girlfriend for a Christmas tree, their first together. We went to look at ornaments and Angie was very upset that she could only find one of a sparkly ball that she liked. When we asked how many she needed it came out that she believes a Christmas tree should be decorated in coordinating ornaments and trim. Christopher and I both looked at her like she was insane, but she couldn't comprehend that our Christmas trees are decorated with every single ornament we've collected/received/made over the years. She thought that was weird, and so they had an "argument" about how their tree was going to be until Angie relented. So, my question is: who is odd? Angie's family or mine?

5. Dollhouse was on tonight and I can't bring myself to watch it. It seems pointless to start watching anything Joss puts on the air. All you have to do is wait until the full series is released on DVD after it's canceled. That man needs to ditch network television. Cable or internet all the way!

6. Why Breaking Dawn has to be made into a movie. WARNING: Strong Language and Hilarity contained within.

My mommie's birthday was Monday, and she requested that I make her bread pudding. To fulfill her request, naturally, I had to make bread. I made what has to be the best loaf of bread in the history of evar. It was *soooo* good... that I ate it before it could become pudding. The second loaf was nowhere near the bastion of epic deliciousness, but it was still an improvement. I overheard my mom bragging about my baking skills to my grams. Such a proud moment.

The other part of her birthday gift was a set of cookies. Nikki and I had a blast making and decorating them and I think they turned out *sooo* well:

( They're quilt blocks.. get it? )

Cause my mom's a quilter? She absolutely LOOOVED them and it made her day. Tomorrow I have to make cookies and pies. The bestest bestest part of the baking year is this weekend:

GINGERBREAD HOUSE DAY!!!

( Last year's epicness. )

This is my favoritest favorite tradition of all traditions. Nikki and I spend two days baking and hanging out. It's soooooooooo awesome, I can't wait. Just need to think on what to make as my "special" house this year.

SQUEE!

Rather then continue on watching Lost for the first time, I decided to upgrade to Windows 7. ::sigh::

So, I never used Vista because XP worked for me, (and Vista was crap), but I was bored.. so I upgraded. One thing I will say to those thinking of following me in the path of Windows 7 is, make sure your hardware has supported drivers! Let's just say I'm not gonna be using the full extend of my audio device anymore, that's for certain. After you get past that, it seems fit enough. The main problem I have is the Vista interface. I despise the way they've set up the Windows Explorer, with the fiery passion of a thousand burning suns.

I can't find a Win7 download for VLC, which may be a problem come Wednesday when I have to stream the Wings game... hell hath no fury and all that, but that is Wednesday's problem.

More updates as I use the OS. Joy.

ETA:  Yeap, it's official.. I like it. I got my quick launch bar back and went into regedit to fix my Windows Explorer issue.. and everything else is just a matter of getting used to it.

I made icons. I was very very bored:

       

So, I may have a job. I don't want to jinx it.. or say that I'm even going to like it, but a job is a job. There's one more interview before they decide, but, I had a phone thing with a gal this afternoon, and she made me take all of these assessments for Microsoft Office programs. I was in the 98th percentile against a national average of 71 and type 97 words a minute, which she said was all very promising.

This is my first interview after *months* of sending out my resume, and money is getting tight. I had to miss the Wings game yesterday because I couldn't afford it. With the holidays, and upcoming visits from friends... I really need this like *whoa*.

Positive thoughts everyone!

So.. I love hockey. It sucks to live in a state with one of the worst hockey teams in recorded history (slight exaggeration), while being a fan of a team in the best team in world (god's honest truth) from another state. My only hope comes from the television channel "Versus" which actually airs hockey games. My cable provider is embroiled in this whole ridiculous thing with Comcast, which owns Versus and they discontinued service for that channel. That means I'm going to miss the opening game on Friday because DirecTV sucks!

But, this is where you can help! You may not actually have DirecTV but if you could email them and *kindly* say, in your own words, that they are ruining hockey? The email address is: versus@directv.com and, there's information to be had: here and here.

If you don't wanna, I understand that and this is a time for quiet reflection, but if you can.. please help! And tell your friends!

I had an unexpectedly awesome day today! It started as a day of no plans, but not in that "I have no plans so I can relax" way. More of a, "I'm a sad, boring loser home alone on a Saturday night," way.

But then Jacqui called me around 5:30 and said, "how soon can you be here?" Her roommate had given her tickets to a hockey game (that started at 6:00) so of course I was there in 20 minutes! The game was Coyotes vs. Sharks so.. they both sucked, but still it was hockey! I haven't been to a game since April, so this was a decidedly unexpected but completely awesome surprise! Coyotes won, beating the Sharks for what I'm assuming is the last time this season.. and there was hockey.

Is it weird that the world settles into peace during a hockey game? I vote no.

So, it's not often that I remember dreams ... and it's even rarer for them to be so cogent and downright linear that I have a proper, albeit bizarre narrative. Here's the one I just woke up from, and I wanted to type it out before I forgot. Then it was just so weird, I had to share:

( Cut to protect flists... )

I dunno, it’s weird.

Thoughts?

I got a present in the mail from gonturan today. It was epicness that any Wings fan would love! She got me a Red Wings logo decal, a Wings necklace, and a license plate frame for my Sammy.

( Cut for pictures! )

Theresa rules!

So, in my ongoing quest to better myself through baking, I decided to tackle bread. What follows is a lesson in always using fresh ingredients. A few days ago, I tried making my first loaf using the ingredients I had. Didn't matter that the bread flour was from 2002, and that the yeast was probably a few months shy of fresh but, what difference could that make really. Well, needless to say... today's second attempt is going better.

( This was Saturday's dough after raising for an hour and a half... )

( This is today's loaf after raising for half an hour... )

The secret is: Don't wait 7 years to use your bread flour.

ETA: So, obviously the second bread is going to be better:

( Step 2 )

My brother and I were supposed to go to a movie today, but he called at 7:00 am to say he was sick. Since I'm sick as well I totally forgave him (even for calling at seven in the morning) and went back to bed.

Now here I sit, all sickly and pathetic and I can't decide what television to watch and.. :c(

Being sick sucks!

We had the family celebration of my brother and my birthdays today. For years I thought he and I shared a birthday on the 5th, because  we always had a party between our two days: Christopher's on the 6th, mine on the 4th. Either way, tonight we had a fun little shindig. My father "accidentally" forgot about it and volunteered for overtime at work but that was okay by me! My mom made enchiladas with sauce from Seranos and her *amazing* cheesecake, we played with Christopher's new iPhone, talked about neighbors we had on the farm, and best of all presents! I got a cookbook from my mommie and a Supernatural travel mug and itunes gift card from my sister, and a card that played that annoying hamster dance song from Christopher and Angie. It was awesome and fun, and a nice little ending to birthday celebrations. My family rocks... true story.

I've recently come to a very disturbing conclusion about my mother. I'll start by saying she is an amazing person whom I absolutely love and adore and this doesn't change things, even though it's scary....

( My mother... is a Twi-hard. )

Long story.... less long: my mother is *adorable*, and can never make fun of my X-Files/Supernatural/Doctor Who/Firefly obsession again!