kitty pics

I'm not that great with the ol' camera. I always forget to download my pics to the computer. I finally did it and now I'm even pasting them to the blog! Enjoy!

it's the most wonderful time of the year...

I have no idea what to get my family for Christmas. Any ideas? My brother and sister-in-law are having a baby in January, so I know what to get the new addition, but no idea what to get them! Plus, my bro's b-day is next week. No ideas for that either! Maybe I'll donate money to a cause for them. They'd love that! Ideas are welcome!

venting session

I don't want to be a complainer. I wish I could see the glass half full more often. But I'm going to take this opportunity to gripe about Dallas. It has been a lot harder to get adjusted to living here than I thought. No, it's not the landscape that's hard. Yeah, I miss the mountains but I haven't had them in over 3 years so I'm getting used to it. The pollution stinks (literally and figuratively) but at least it doesn't reek of retention ponds like Orlando. (I like Orlando, by the way; I have a lot of wonderful friends there that make me miss it tremendously!) What has been the hardest for me is getting to know people, mainly other Christians. I love the people I work with; they are so great and supportive. But I don't have a connection with them like I do with my Christian friends. I don't want to assume that they are not believers; some of them very well could be. Anyways, I have been trying to find a church in the area. People kept telling me there are so many great ones here so I was excited to see what was out there. Well, they failed to mention that they are great churches if you happen to be married. Every church I go to, I'm surrounded by married people. I don't hate married people, it's just hard when you're the only single person. It's like being a cat at a dog show...you just don't fit in that well all the time. What makes it worse is that I have been trying to connect with a church that I like. I emailed someone about the singles ministry and even filled out a little card asking for someone to contact me. This has been over the span of 3 weeks, and I have yet to hear from anyone. I know, it's the holiday season and they are probably busy. But I can't help thinking, what if I was a non-Christian desperately looking for answers? I need fellowship in the worst way and even when I reach out to people, I get nowhere. I'm finding that Dallas is very superficial. People are very friendly when you first meet them. But getting to know them on a deeper level is almost impossible! I should clarify; this has been my experience at churches. I have not felt that way about my co-workers. Go figure. Churches here are currently batting a zero...

boo-hoos in 'hooville

VT 52, UVa 14
'nuff said.

it's electric!

Static electricity is something I almost forgot about. Living in a super humid climate for the last 3 years has helped me to forget the blue sparks. I hate getting shocked. It ranks right up there with packing to move overseas and eating cow intestine soup. Texas does not have a lot of humidity during the fall and winter. I was watching the weather channel and the level of humidity today is 23%...I didn't think it could get down that low unless you are in the desert!

I'm remembering why I use conditioner now. My hair is scary crazy sometimes with all this static. Plus, my clothes are sticking to everything, including my new couch. Granted, the static sound is kind of cool, but not the feeling you get when you come in contact with a metal object. I've gotten so badly shocked that I temporarily went numb in my left arm.

A couple of funny occurances, though. Simba came up to me earlier to be petted. I touched his nose and could tell I shocked him as the electricity left me and went into him. He jumped slightly, not sure what had just happened and kind of looked around, starteld. Later on, I was sitting on the couch and Ginger decided she wanted to share the space. She jumped up and when I went to pet her, I shocked her. She looked at me with a surprised look as if I had betrayed her. It didn't stop her from hogging half the couch, though.

get in shape, girl!

I finally broke down and joined a gym this past Saturday. It's about time, too. I haven't done anything fitness wise since I moved to Texas. I went to the gym on Sunday and again this evening and it feels so good! I'm taking it very slowly so I don't get so sore that I want to never work out again.

The one good thing about the hours of my job is that I can leave at 3pm if I don't have a meeting or tutorials. That means I can get to the gym and work out before the crazy crowd gets there after 5pm. I have free reign of any machine and because I'm one of the youngest people there at that time, I'm not self conscious about how my pasty white legs look in my black Nike shorts.

hummus recipe

I've been asked for my delicious hummus recipe. I should keep it a secret...but sharing is caring, right?

What you'll need:
1 can chickpeas/garbanzo beans (16-19 oz)--drain and save the liquid
1/4 cup Tahini (sesame seed paste)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (one small lemon squeezes about this much)
1 clove garlic (if you like garlic a lot, you can add more)

Combine all ingredients in a food processor or blender, adding only enough of the saved liquid to make it as thick or thin as you like; the more liquid, the thinner the dip. Blend for 2-3 minutes to a smooth paste. Viola! You can garnish with parsley sprigs if you want to get fancy and you can also sprinkle olive oil and paprika on top. I like to eat hummus with almost any veggie (carrots and cucumbers are my faves) and wheat thins. It's best with pita, but haven't quite mastered making a good pita yet.

This recipe comes from "A Taste of Lebanon" cook book by Mary Salloum. It is filled with great Lebanese delights!

hummus

I truly amaze myself sometimes. I like to make things in the kitchen, whether cooking, baking, or just using the food processor (which I just bought a couple of weeks ago and it is now my new favorite appliance). I don't really do much in the kitchen because I am single and I hate going to all the trouble of preparing a meal if it's just for me. But sometimes I get into stints of making stuff.

One of my dear friends loves to create things in the kitchen. She is my culinary inspiration. She makes a mean hummus and I have always wanted to try to make it myself. I finally broke down and bought all the ingredients now that I have the food processor. Well, I mixed all the ingredients together and viola! it was amazing! I can't believe that I made this batch of hummus! Very exciting, especially since I feel so mediocre lately. It's like that scene from Garden State where Sam says when she feels unoriginal she has to do something that no one has ever done before to feel unique and original again, even if just for a second. Now I know millions of people have made hummus before, but not me. So, even if just for an instant, I feel a little original.

Tonight my co-workers are getting together at our department head's house for a night of poker and fun. I will bring my batch of hummus for everyone to enjoy.

It has taken me a few days to write this post because I have been processing exactly what happened. I knew someone was going to die on Lost; the commercials let me know that. But why did it have to be Shannon? Sure, she was a little miss princess when the show started, but she has come so far. She was finally starting to see that there was purpose for her life and that she was valuable. That should have been my first major clue that she was getting the axe. She wasn't my favorite character or anything, but I hate it when someone goes through such a transformation and then dies. It's such a waste! But I'm so emotionally connected to these characters that I can't think of any one of them that I want to see die. Maybe I should take a break from the show for a while...

Whoa! What just happened?! Did I just say I shouldn't watch Lost?! I'm better now, no worries.

adulthood

I feel like such an adult! I recently purchased some furniture, the first time ever in my life, apart from my mattress and boxspring I bought last year. One piece was delivered yesterday and I was so excited; still am! Buying furniture is so fun! Ten years ago I'm sure I would not have said that. Ten years ago I was a sophomore in college...oh my gosh! I am so old!!! When did that happen?!

humility

I was reminded last night that no entity is completely invincible (except God, of course). My beloved Hokies lost to Miami. It was a sad game to watch; they just never really got it together. Miami played a great game, too. At least we lost to a top 5 ranked team and not to NC State or some other team. But it hurts just as much to see them lose. Now if USC and UT will just lose!

nevermind

Okay, I am totally obsessive, but I figured it out! Now it's all lined up just the way I want it to be. I should go into computer engineering! Just kidding.

Ugh!

I am trying to update my blog by adding links, etc. But it is driving me crazy! I am so computer illiterate at times! I can't get everything aligned just the way I want them and it's ticking me off. I know, I know, I just need to calm down and breathe. Why am I such a perfectionist with things that don't even matter? Maybe it's because I feel so out of control with my life that the little things I can control I become obsessive about?

sleeping in class

I understand that my class can be boring sometimes. But I absolutely love when I give an assignment and they have had 10-15 minutes to work on it and I announce, "Okay, 2 more minutes!" and a student pops his head up and says, "Nah, miss, I ain't finished!" and expects me to give him more time to finish the assignment that he chose to sleep through. Ugh! (Like the run-on sentence? I grill my students on that too!)

fire drills

Today the fire alarm went off at school. I hate it when that happens. As if it's not mad chaos to begin with in my class, they have to set off an alarm that allows them to roam outside in the parking lot between all the teachers' cars. I did a head count a at least 5 chose to hang out with other classes. I had students from other periods come over to hang out with my class and I had to tell them to go back to their class. I thought it was just a drill but then a fire truck zoomed by and I thought, "great!" I looked around the school to see if smoke was pouring out anywhere. I figure a cake must have spent too long in the Home Ec oven or something and set off the alarm. After 20 minutes we were allowed to go back into the building. With only 20 minutes left of class, it was impossible to get anything done. Oh well.