Real World

- Grade information was posted for my two classes. I don't want to talk about it. Ever. No really, don't even THINK of asking me.

- I met my parents at Target this afternoon so I could pick up Matt and get some last minute Christmas gifts. All I can say is: bloody fucking hell! It took me a little over 30 minutes to get from Georgetown to the Savannah Mall. On a regular day, it takes all of like five minutes. It seems that everyone and their great uncle twice removed converged upon the store. It takes me another 15 minutes to find a parking spot close to Target. I go in and wait for my parents at Starbucks. And I wait. And wait. And wait some more. I buy a tall White Chocolate Mocha and wait. And wait. I get tired of waiting so I walk around. Or try to that is. I've got people pushing me from all sides. I've got small children grabbing onto me and calling me mommy then running off screaming when they see that I am NOT their mommy. I see people fighting. I see people yelling at their kids. WTF? This is Christmas! Where's the bloody cheer you assholes? So I give up and go to customer service, though it's not really called that for whatever reason, and I have my mother paged. A few minutes later I look over and see her waving frantically to me from about 10 aisles down. I rush over and find them all in a frizz. It seems that some bitch actually snatched a Baby Chou-Chou from my sweet mother's hands in the toy aisle. I offer to go find the lady and kick her sorry ass, but my mother pleads with me not to. No-one snatches a doll from my mother's hands and gets away with it damnit. That was my little sister's Christmas gift!!! And if that isn't bad enough, the SAME heffer, after she stole the Baby Chou-Chou, actually PUSHED my stepfather out of the way. I should tell you right now, my stepfather is a total gentleman and it takes quite a bit to piss him off. Well, the whole Baby Chou-Chou/shoving incident was too much, so he just pushed her back...really hard. Good for you Pete. Before I could track the lady down and shove my favorite black shoes up her sorry ass, my parents escorted me out of Target for some fresh air. From there, we exchanged kisses/gifts in the parking lot and we went separate ways. Our family day was shot to hell and there just wasn't anything that was going to fix it. We decided to go the mall another day. As for me and Matt, we found ourselves at the movie theater. You can check out more in the Entertainment section of this post. :)

- Is it just me or is Christmas coming way too quick this year? Come to think of it, it's been this way every year since I became a mother. I remember when I was a kid that Christmas took forever to come around. But now there just doesn't seem to be enough time to enjoy it or prepare for it. Does becoming an adult zap the Christmas spirit out of you or what? How I long to be a child again and view this season with wonderment and awe. *deep sigh*

- Matt's school Christmas party was on Friday and I'm proud to say that I survived. Aside from a few minor "incidents", all went smooth. I'm always tickled when I go to these parties because the kids treat me like I'm some sort of oddity. They just stare at me for a few minutes, sizing me up and trying to figure out if I'm sort of alien or what, then they do one of two things: (1) avoid me like the black plague...or...(2) become attached to me at the hip. I don't mind #2 as long as the kids aren't all snotty/drippy-nosed or have some other sort of body fluid running down their little hands or legs. I'm proud to say that only a couple children avoided me. Cute little scamps. I helped the children make Christmas trees out of waffle ice cream cones,icing, candy, and coconut. What a mess. Matt raked in the gifts/goodies and I left toting one huge Bob the Builder Christmas gift bag full of stuff to the car. Kind of makes me want to be six again.

And in other Christmas party news...

- My office party was okay. I arrived late, but in time to eat, exchange gifts, and make off with two heaping plates of food. Go me. And this year, I didn't get the traditional $10 Kroger gift certificate. Instead, I got recieved a $20 check. Yay. Other people got $50. That kinda sorta makes me mad. Why? Because I've been there for almost six years, that's why. And granted, I don't work full-time like I did before, but still...six years. I think I deserved the $50. But the $20 is better at nothing and I'm willing to keep my trap shut to keep the drama down. Bastards.

- Jason's office party was MUCH better. It had good food, good music, a raging bonfire, booze, and genuine Christmas spirit. This year, we had the party at an officer's house. Good move and something I hope we do from here on out. Why? Because you just can't get liquored up at City Hall and get away with it, that's why! Alas and much to my dismay, I couldn't partake in the booze. I was driving myself home that night and had to be sober for the ride home. Damnit. I always get shafted. Why can't I go to just one of their parties and get completely shitfaced and not have to worry about driving home? Gah. But aside from that, the party was great. We all sat outside beside the bonfire and laughed and talked and had a very nice time. Some of the "womenfolk" were inside during the party, but I'm not really a woman's woman, so I stayed outside with the men. Jason was working that night and was called out early, but I stayed about 30 minutes after before I said my goodbyes and headed on home. We should really do this more often.

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Recipes:

More Christmas Recipes.

Note: I'll have a huge Christmas recipe post sometime Wednesday afternoon/night. If you have any recipe requests, please have themt o me by Tuesday night. Thanks.

- Party Cheese Wreath:
2 pkg. (8 oz. each) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1 pkg. (8 oz.) KRAFT Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese
1 Tbsp. finely chopped onion
1 Tbsp. chopped red bell pepper
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. lemon juice
Dash ground red pepper

BEAT cream cheese and cheddar cheese in small bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended.
ADD remaining ingredients; mix well. Cover. Refrigerate several hours or overnight.
PLACE drinking glass in center of serving platter. Drop rounded tablespoonfuls of cheese mixture around glass, just touching outer edge of glass to form ring; smooth with spatula. Remove glass. Garnish with chopped fresh parsley and additional red bell pepper, if desired. Serve with assorted NABISCO Crackers and STELLA D'ORO Breadsticks.

- Christmas Creamy Eggnog:
4 egg yolks
1 (5 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 1/2 cups milk
4 egg whites
1 fluid ounce rum
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

In a large mixing bowl, beat egg yolks until they are thickened and light. Gradually stir in condensed milk, sugar, vanilla and milk. Beat the egg whites until stiff, then add them to the milk mixture. Stir rum into the mixture (to taste). Garnish with nutmeg.

- Baklava:
1 (16 ounce) package phyllo dough
1 pound chopped nuts
1 cup butter
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup water
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup honey

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F(175 degrees C). Butter the bottoms and sides of a 9x13 inch pan.
Chop nuts and toss with cinnamon. Set aside. Unroll phyllo dough. Cut whole stack in half to fit pan. Cover phyllo with a dampened cloth to keep from drying out as you work. Place two sheets of dough in pan, butter thoroughly. Repeat until you have 8 sheets layered. Sprinkle 2 - 3 tablespoons of nut mixture on top. Top with two sheets of dough, butter, nuts, layering as you go. The top layer should be about 6 - 8 sheets deep.
Using a sharp knife cut into diamond or square shapes all the way to the bottom of the pan. You may cut into 4 long rows the make diagonal cuts. Bake for about 50 minutes until baklava is golden and crisp.
Make sauce while baklava is baking. Boil sugar and water until sugar is melted. Add vanilla and honey. Simmer for about 20 minutes.
Remove baklava from oven and immediately spoon sauce over it. Let cool. Serve in cupcake papers. This freezes well. Leave it uncovered as it gets soggy if it is wrapped up.

- Brandied Candied Sweet Potatoes:
2 pounds sweet potatoes
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup brandy
1/2 teaspoon salt

Peel and cut the sweet potatoes into 2 inch chunks. Place them in a large pot of water and boil until tender.
In a large skillet melt the butter or margarine. Stir in the brown sugar, brandy and salt. Stir until smooth. Add the sweet potatoes. Cook over low heat, stirring gently, until sweet potatoes are heated through and well glazed.

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Entertain Me:

- "Jingle Bells" Controversy: Was it written in Savannah or not? You be the judge damnit!

- After the Target/Baby Chou-Chou incident, I decided that I hadn't spent 30 minutes in traffic for nothing, so I took the boy next door to the movie theater to watch "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events", which btw raked in over $30.2 million dollars this weekend. Wow! What a fantastic movie! I don't want to give anything away to those of you who haven't read the books or seen the movie yet, so I'll try not to be too spoilerish. My only complaint is that they rushed through the story in a few places. I understand that they were trying to jam three books into one movie in an alloted amount of time, but some places were just too rushed. On the upside though, Jim Carrey was hilarious as Count Olaf. He's so evil! You can't help but like the jerk though. And Emily Browning, who plays Violet Baudelaire, is going to be a huge heartbreaker in a couple years. Think the Olsen Twins and that silly, perverted "Countdown to 18" meme. Emily is defintely going to have one. She's a very lovely girl...and quite talented as well. So yeah, the movie was awesome and I highly recommend it.

- I rented "The Stepford Wives" tonight. It sucked. Moving on.

- How disturbing is this?

Michael Jackson inviting 200 children to Neverland Ranch Friday for a Christmas play date. According to the Associated Press, when one of the youngsters shouted, "We love you!" Jackson replied "I love you more."

How in the world could any decent parent let their kid anywhere NEAR this man? He may be innocent, but you know what? My kid isn't going near him until I KNOW he is! And my personal opinion is that he HAS done something inappropriate with one or more children. How incredibly stupid on the part of these parents. Shame on you all. Why don't you just drop your kids off at the local pedophile's house while you're at it. Oh wait, you may have already done that. Morons.

- I'm just itching to see "The Notebook" and "Garden State". Don't they both come out on rental this week? I don't know why I want to see "The Notebook" so badly all of the sudden, but I do. I mean, when it came out in the theater, I just rolled my eyes and said "pass". But I was reading an article on the movie online and it sounded interesting, so I visited the official site. From there I read a snippet of the book online and before I knew it, I just had to see the damn movie. Have any of you see it? Don't give too much away for me okay? As for "Garden State", I wanted to see it as soon as I saw the trailer. Looks like a great movie. Rental now!

- I received my Secret Santa gift Saturday afternoon. Okay, fess up whoever you are! I LOVED the Melonie Cannon cd you purchased for me. I've been listening to it all weekend. I want to thank you so much. Reveal yourself so I can add your site to my blogroll and thank you. *sends mucho kisses*

- "Trading Spaces" is filming somewhere in Savannah and I'm going to find out damnit. Jason knows a woman who lives on the same block as the homes, but she wouldn't give up the information. I think I need to go have a "talk" with her. If I miss Genevieve or Ty, I'll just die. No really, I will. Go ahead and dig a few feet just in case.

- And in other Savannah celebrity sightings...

Mark and Tonya from MTV's "Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Battle of the Sexes 2" were in town over the weekend, as was Jennifer Massey from NBC's "The Apprentice". I think I mentioned last week that she was born and raised in Savannah. Savannah's becoming quite the little celebrity town, isn't it?

- And while I'm on the subject, did you know that Big Boi, from Outkast, was also born/raised in Savannah? And let's see here, Mary J. Blige grew up in Savannah. Billy Currington was born/raised in Rincon. Must be something in that Savannah River water. Maybe I should start drinking the nasty shit. Do you think I could hit it big if I did?

- In my ongoing quest to make Keith Ur fans out of all of you, I'm here to announce that the new video for "You're My Better Half" is now on CMT. I command you all to watch it. After you do that, purchase his cd and be merry. I so want to marry his sexy ass. *fans self and falls out of chair*

- From Mugglenet:

Beginning January 7th (repeating every Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the month), DirecTV will be airing a POA making-of special with 20-minute commentary, as well as footage that's not available on the DVD. The program will be airing on channel 124, and is available to most DirecTV customers.

POA will be available to rent on DirecTV's Pay-Per-View for $2.99, also beginning January 7th.

And from Harry Potter to Porn...

I'm TOTALLY addicted to HBO's "Pornucopia". The sixth and final episode aired Sunday and I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm just a little sad about it. I know you think I'm a bad girl for loving the show, but it was REALLY informative. I mean, it's not just about sex and porn you know. The show goes into the history of porn and the lives of it's stars and before you know it, you're wondering where you can rent "Space Nuts" and you're Googling Katie Morgan and thinking to yourself, "What a sweet girl...for a porn star." I do have to say this though: Jenna Haze is the most frickin' annoying person on this planet. Her laugh makes me want to slit my wrists. So anyways, I don't care what any of you squares think, I love the show and I want more of it! This does NOT make me a pervert and it doesn't mean that I'm going to run out to Video Bob's and rent porn. Lighten up losers.

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Memes and Quizzes:

- Unconscious Mutterings:

1. Perfect Gift::
   
2. Santa:: Baby (see Skins)
   
3. Lucy:: Van Pelt
   
4. Buckets:: Suds
   
5. Recital:: Children
   
6. Stamp:: Book
   
7. Teacher:: Knowledge
   
8. Matchbox:: 20
   
9. Spit:: Fire Grill
   
10. Feeling:: It (as in Not Feeling It)
    

- Friday Five:

1. What is a fond holiday tradition from your childhood?
I don't really have one. My childhood sucked. Moving on.

2. If you could start a new holiday tradition, what would it be?
Hrm...you know, I'm not really sure. It seems as if all the good ones are already taken.

3. What is your favorite Christmas song and who sings it?
"Blue Christmas" by Elvis

4. Is there a certain event, food, television program, etc. that makes your Christmastime complete?
Without a doubt, "A Christmas Story". This is one of my all-time favorite movies ever. It's just not Christmas if I haven't watched 24 hours of it.

5. Does is traditionally snow where you live at Christmastime? If not, do you wish that it did?
It does NOT snow in Savannah...ever. And if it does, it's only for a few minutes and the snow doesn't even stick. It's sickening. I think that's why I never have any Christmas spirit. How in the world could I when I walk out my door Christmas day wearing shorts and a jacket? I really need to get back up north where it actually snows in the wintertime.

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Politics:

- You're either going to gag, hiss, cheer or whoop, but Bush has been named Time's "Person of the Year". I suggest you keep your opinions to yourself and away from my comments if you have anything nasty to say. I'm not the in the mood for politics and bullshit.

- I found this at Jeff's site and man did it piss me off:

The Washington Supreme Court has ruled that parents no longer have the right to eavesdrop on their children’s phone conversations — establishing a personal right-to-privacy for minors. The decision overturned a purse-snatching robbery conviction, which hinged largely upon information obtained when a mother eavesdropped on her 14-year-old daughter’s conversation with the now “alleged” thief.

Not surprisingly, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), an organization that has previously advocated for lowering the sexual age of consent to thirteen, filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of establishing privacy rights for minors. [source]

The ACLU can kiss my fucking ass. I'm tired of their Nazi bullshit. Let me tell you something right now. I had that child. I carried him in my belly for 9 months and I spent almost an ENTIRE DAY bringing him into this world. I'm a good parent. I feed him. I make sure he has EVERYTHING he needs and wants. I love him. I protect him. If I want to listen in on one of his telephone conversations, I have that fucking right and you and anyone else who agrees with you can kiss my fat ass. He's my child and he'll do what I tell him to and if he doesn't like it, he'll get the hell over it. The Washington Supreme Court is nuts. If you're a parent living in Washington state, I suggest you pack your shit and move out now before they take more of your rights away. Fucking ACLU. Right up there with PETA. Bastards.

- President Bush's dog, Barney, stars in this holiday spoof. Hehe...how cute! :)

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Top 5 Blog Posts of the Week:

5. Gut Rumbles: More on Blogging
4. Catfish: Whorehouses
3. Tenth-Muse: 2 Sweet 2 B 4-Gotten (The Catholic in me feels guilty for laughing)
2. The Sundries Shack: Castro: US Equals Nazis
1. Blogs for Bush: Target Still the Corporate Scrooge

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Friday Music:
I think there's something here for everyone this week. Enjoy folks. And if you like what I'm putting here, please let me know. If no-one's taking advantage of the tunes, I'll probably stop with this section. Comments...feedback...always a good thing.

You know the rules:
- DO NOT STREAM!
- Right Click/Save Target As.
- Files will stay up for 24 hours and then they're gone forever. Please delete these from your computer. Don't want the music nazis after you do ya?
- If you like the music, purchase the cds! Keep the music flowing people. If you can't do that, at least click on the purchase links and help me get to the next tier.
- A bloody "thank you" would be nice.

Right. Learn it. Know it. Live it.

Keri Noble - Talk to Me / Purchase
Not a holiday tune, but a damn good one all the same. I've only just discovered Keri in the last month and I'm already a fan. Check her out!

Keri Noble - This Christmas Time / Purchase
This IS a holiday tune from Keri. In one word: lovely.

Kelly Clarkson - O Holy Night / Purchase
I'm not a huge "American Idol" fan, but I do love me some Kelly Clarkson. She does the song justice with her powerful voice.

Leona Naess - Christmas / Purchase
One of my favorite tracks from the O.C. holiday cd. I get tingles.

A Charlie Brown Christmas - The Meaning of Christmas / Purchase
It seems lately that people are coming out of the woodwork to keep the Christ out of Christmas. Bullshit I say. You wouldn't HAVE a Christmas or a holiday without Christ. So stop already because you're pissing me off. It's like Christians ning the menorah during Hanukkah or all images of Allah during Ramadan. We all have our own religions, or lack thereof for some. Stop screwing with it if you don't believe in it. No-one is pushing it on you. If you don't want to participate, then don't. Stop buying Christmas gifts already if Christ bothers you that much. I mean, he IS the reason that you're buying gifts, seeing as it's his birthday and all. Create your own damn holiday and leave mine alone. Damnit, I'm usually pretty laid-back about this sort of thing, but this shit is really starting to piss me off. I'm going to let Linus edu-ma-cate you on the subject.

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Et Finalement:

4:41AM...damnit. These "Friday" posts take so long. Matt will be up in a few hours and Jason will be home in 1.5, so I suppose I should head to bed. I've got a busy day ahead of me. I hope you all have a lovely Monday. Be good. Be safe. And if any of you lucky bastards are anywhere where it's snowing, take some pictures for me damnit. I can't promise that I won't cry. I do miss the snow so much. :(