Erika
12/31/08
Glad to hear that everyone had a good Christmas I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for the presents.
Sean, I loved the iTunes gift card, I've already used it all up.
Grandma, the S'more maker is so cool! I've been making tons of them for Emily & me.
Donna, the picture frame you gave me was perfect, & I have the perfect picture to put in it.
& Gary I absolutely love jelly beans!
Thanks again everyone!

Ah, that felt good! :-) Thanks! --Gary

Thanks Karen, for the grill. I haven't used it yet, but it looks like fun. ;-)

Ginormous collection of photos of Christmas in Minneapolis. Thanks, y'all! --Gary

My pleasure! --Gary

For those who don't know what we're talking about, I slipped on the ice yesterday and hit the ground like a sack of wheat. I was just about to get in my car to head over to Grandma's for Christmas when I slipped, landing on my knees (which were not in good shape to begin with) then twisting over and crashing on my side. Fortunately I was right beside the car so I could pull myself up; my knees hurt so much I'm not sure I could have gotten up otherwise. But unfortunately my car keys flew out of my hand as I went down and they were now lost somewhere in the snow. After collecting myself a bit and brushing off the mud and snow, I hobbled off to look for a neighbor with a phone. (Yes, I need a cellphone -- I'm getting one next week, along with several sets of spare keys.) Knocked on several nearby doors with no answer, and then saw some people loading their car over on the next street. So I caught them and used their phone to call Donna. I figured I may not see my keys until the spring thaw, if then, so she could give me a lift to Mom's. She headed right over, so while I was waiting I shuffled around in the snow around my car hoping to turn up the keys, and luckily I found them just a few minutes before Donna arrived. So we both drove back to Mom's. I felt kind of ...weird the rest of the day, due I imagine to the burst of adrenaline still in my system; and today it's just stiffness and soreness with a little bruising on my legs. Also, my left little toe hurts -- I must have kicked the side of the car on the way down...? Bottom line: If any of you are considering falling down on the ice, my advice is: Don't! It messes you up!

I too want to thank everybody for the great Christmas. Sam, the glassful o' goodies is just one treat after another -- thanks so much! Nelsons, thanks for the bag with many of my favorite flavors inside (and also a black bag, which is now I guess my trademark ever since Zach gave me one for Christmas many years ago -- I've worn out that one and two others since!). Donna and Hatgidakis's, thanks for the cookware and spices and such -- I lump them together here as I will certainly be using them all together. :-) And thanks to Mom for the amazing old newspapers she had saved over the years -- Moon landing, D-Day, Japanese surrender, and death of FDR. Those will keep me occupied for a while! And thanks to the Metcalfs for the Christmas candle. As I was making my goodbyes last night, Teghan said, "Have fun with the candle!" I will! :-)

Thanks everyone for the gifts! Tristen had to guard her Whitman's last night pretty tightly. And we heard "I love Chocolate" about 700 times! The purse is cute, though I felt so guilty opening it & enjoying it, knowing your box & gifts & baked goodies are sitting at a UPS. I can't tell you enough how bad I feel about the shipping mix up (really just me, typing in an E instead of an S).

Girls & I made homemade noodles tonight for chicken noodle soup tomorrow. Also made puppy chow & I made the cheese log everybody requests. I was feeling so good about my progress until I cleaned up my kitchen & put away soy sauce. And if you refer to the recipe, it doesn't take soy sauce. It takes the very similar looking worcestershire, which happen to sit next to one another on the shelf. ARGH! I'm not sure what's gonna happen there, but we'll see. They're similar, just saltier & not as smoky, which it's salty enough with the dried beef & accent, and the smoky flavor kinda adds to it. Argh...

Anyway, Merry Christmas Eve Eve!

Sounds like you have just invented the Chinese Cheese Log! --Gary

It's actually kind of warm out, 23 degrees, heat wave!

John & Marsha, we UPS'd your package yesterday, should be there by the end of the day tomorrow. Crossing my fingers it gets there OK, but they said they had had no delays this month due to weather or anything. So, as long as you're home, or they can drop it off you should be good!

Yes, we're at the office, having lots of fun. We're about to take a walk (inside the building). Gary's helicopter is fixed, so we can play with it. Yes, we had milk and it was very good. Gary brought like a lot of lunchables -- like, six. We've eaten a lot of Goldfish, and are about to play with the helicopter. Have a good work time, and stay warm! :-) --Tristen and Teghan

Hopefully it will be a bit warmer tomorrow, when I bring Tristen and Teghan to work with me. The campus is practically empty so we should have the run of the place.

I'm watching the school closings now: Lincoln Public and Omaha Public schools are closed, along with every other little school district in the area. But the University? No. Sheesh. So once again, I have to take responsibility and declare a snow day myself. Not only is my car encased in ice like an M&M in its candy shell, but I don't want to get anywhere near the streets based on the street crew's performance a few days ago. Enjoy your snow day, everybody! :-) --Gary

My mom made a really good poppyseed bread too that I wouldn't mind making more of. But, I can always do that at home too.

So, as long as she's feeling better by Saturday (which I'm sure she will be) and as long as Ryan or I don't get this bug are we still on for baking day at Grandmas? I have a few things on hand that I'll bring over & can of course get more things.

I have:
*2 packages of shortening sticks
*Probably almost 2 packages of margarine
*1 pound of butter
*2 cocoa containers
*1 1/2 packages of green tree & red star marshmallows
*2 bags of semi sweet choc. chips
*1/2 bag of mini kisses (for peanut butter cookies)
*2 cans of evaporated milk

I'm sure I have other stuff (flour, sugar, brown sugar, eggs, peanut butter) that I can bring too and I might just bring it to cover bases. What are we wanting to make?

*Spritz (both Ryan & Tristen requested these...)
*Caramels (Grandma, are you going to make them ahead of time & me & Linz will wrap them Saturday? If so, can I bring the stuff & you help me make my own batch & I'll bring them home & wrap them the next day?)
*Peanut Butter cookies w/ kiss (we've already done a batch of those & they're gone!)
*Chocolate Marshmallow cookies (we did a double batch of those & Teghan took a dozen to Girl Scouts & I took some to work so they're almost gone too!)
*Fudge (I have all the stuff to make it, just never did so I'll bring it-but it's enough for just one batch & I don't do nuts!) *No Bake Cookies (I have all the stuff to make these too, I'll bring it all)
*Pretzels-Donna?

There's always these too, but I don't know what everyone's thinking:
*Peanut Brittle (Linz did you ask about this?)
*Puppy Chow (girls love it, but I can easily make it at home)
*Pineapple Pecan cookies
*Easy & Wonderful Cream Cheese Mints :)

Anyway, just some ideas & I wanted to throw out the items I have... You don't even want to see the Excel Spreadsheet me & my mom made last year when we had a baking day. We were organized! It all went smoothly too except for the dang mints!

Oh, and what time Saturday? I assume we'll pick up Olivia & Lindsey & Matt will come over later. I'm sure Ryan will park it next to the fire & come up randomly to cool off....

Tristen is still pretty rough tonight. And OMG I am just hoping with all hope I don't get it. It's ROUGH. Today was locker cleaning out day too before Christmas break, so she was bummed to miss that...

Gary, the Christmas card is another winner. Framing is in order.

I thank you. --Gary

Another crazy day at school, the kids are getting way too excited about christmas. Tomorrow night is the big Christmas program, although a major snowstorm is predicted, the Mary was looking pretty sick this afternoon and several other kids were out sick -- oh what fun... Brent is home sick today too. Erika has been dragging, just trying to get through the week. She also has a debate tournament tomorrow. Our streets in SC are lousy too. Snowpacked and icy. Everyone is driving about 10 mph. Marsha -- is tonight your party? You'll have to report back tomorrow -- sure it will be fun.

One more thing: By now you've all seen the news clip of Bush and the shoe-throwing incident. You may not have seen the full-length version, however. Turns out there was much more to it than was reported:

Also, here's a nice online Christmas card that Donna posted to the newsletter two years ago. It's still live, and still cool.

Residents of Sioux City and Minneapolis should be on the look-out for Christmas boxes, shipped (with Sean's able assistance) from Orchard Street last night.

And if you're bored at the moment, why not go to one of our cool sites from last year around this time and design a Christmas sweater?

Dang! Hope you feel better soon, Tristen. --Gary

Great pictures of T&t.

Gary, I liked your Christmas card this year and was thinking next year you should do one of the nativity--you as Mary, Joseph and Jesus. ;-)

Yow! That's a whole lotta sacrilege for one little card... We'll see. :-) Today's advent picture was Christmas Eve at your house (as you know), but I can't remember the year. Some time ago, though, as I took that with an older (and crummier) camera. --Gary

Feel better soon, Teghan! --Gary

My fault. I changed your email but forgot to do your new phone numbers. Now fixed! --Gary

Thanks! I didn't realize until much later that the picture I found was a 4-door, but hadn't yet gotten around to changing it. --Gary

Tonight we did our decorations, but not the tree. But getting the house decorated was a start. Our neighbors have all had lights up since BEFORE Thanksgiving & we were a little put off by that. But, the inside is done & the spot is waiting for the tree. We will go pick one out Sunday & do it then. We did put the artificial tree upstairs for the girls to decorate.

Donna's new car is very nice! If I could still drive a car-kidwise-(& a two door no less) I would totally drive it. Love it!

We've had our fireplace going for a month now I bet. Ryan's gone through a lot of wood & has been keeping grandma stocked. He's going to spend the whole day tomorrow cutting wood & all that jazz. He's excited. He said he doesn't hunt or fish or anything, to him cutting wood & the whole deal is like his favorite pasttime. Whatever. My favorite pasttime is sitting in front of it when it's blazing!

Karen, what a sad deal. Tristen had a boy in her class last year whose father shot his mother a year or two prior & she died & the dad is now in prison. SO sad. He had to go to court & it was out of state & it was a very hard time for him. I remember she said she was extra nice to him at that time. Oh, and Karen-- have you gotten any emails from me? I sent one last Friday night & then again yesterday? If they're not coming through let me know. I need you to read it....

Sam, can't wait to see pix of the puppy! Bella's turning into a pretty good dog, except we think she's a little OCD. She will not leave her lamb alone. She's freakish about it. Carries it with her everywhere.

I'd love everyone to send in a picture of their house for Christmas. That could be nice. Inside, outside, the tree, or just a table, whatever. :) Maybe help the spirit too! We are going to bake a small batch of cookies next Sunday for Teghan to take to Girl Scouts for a Christmas party & cookie exchange. Then I think?? we might get together and do some more baking with Donna, gma, Linz, Liv? Not sure if any plans have been talked about seriously, but it might be in the works.

And how sad about 42nd Street. Just tonight I thought about that place. Years ago you gave me these 2 snowmen & I still wrap them in the box from there which has the sticker. I love those snowmen. Still one of my favorite decorations... So many places are closing. So many people are losing jobs or having hours cut, and pay cut. Makes me very glad I work for the state. I have low pay, but I know I have a job. As a matter of fact I have 150 hours overtime coming to me. And Ryan, as much as he complains about his job, he's pretty darn secure. The railroad isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

Tristen has dance all day Saturday, tomorrow. The choreographers are coming back in from LA to teach them the rest of their competition pieces. Tristen will be at dance nearly 6 hours on Saturday & there's no where else she'd rather be. She wanted to share the site for the choreographers: http://www.musedanceco.com/ Also, she wrote 2 little papers/stories about her pets, one about Sasha & one about Zoe & entered pictures into a "pet show" at her school. They hang the pictures & stories up in the library & will put the pictures up on the website sometime.

And not much else to report on Teghan, other than the Girl Scout party. Oh, and we're going to the Nutcracker at the Lied next weekend. A friend of Teghan's, Alaina & her mom asked us if we wanted to go. So, me, T & t will go with her & her mom. We'll eat dinner first & then go to the show. The girls got fancy dresses & they're very excited. So am I!

That's it for now! I haven't been on in forever & mostly just wanted to comment on the recipe, but couldn't stop there!

Too bad about 42nd Street! I blame George Bush. As to the beans, I have tried to duplicate them a few times and gotten close but not perfect. I do know the dish is usually called "Cowboy Beans," so if Lori doesn't read this in time you could Google that -- but there are many variations. What makes them so interesting is their sweetness, so look for a recipe that has sugar or some other sweetener. Here's one I just now found that sounds promising. Good luck! --Gary

Thanks again! Glad you all like it. --Gary

Donna -- your car sounds so nice -- is it brand new? Should be fun to drive again.

Oh, get ready -- flu bug has started. Brent was dragging all day yesterday -- and it hit him this morning. (He shouldn't have put off getting his flu shot).

I'm going to get rid of the ybenorml vanity plate and had thought to go generic, but now am thinking of getting a new vanity plate. Any suggestions? Gary, isn't there a website that lists vanity plates you can get ideas from?

Here's one and here's another (with pictures!). Also, here's the Nebraska DMV Plate Preview page, where you can try out personalized plates and also see if your choice of message is available. --Gary

How was your drive, Donna? Hope it was uneventful. (In your new car!)

That picture was taken by the renowned photographer John Hatgidakis of Minneapolis. --Gary

Glad you like it -- thanks! --Gary

Thanks. Stay tuned! --Gary