I change my mind

I do want something for Christmas I would love a KitchenAid Stand mixer in Blue

I also want to say I like Pandora.com. It's a site that you type in a name of a song or artist and it creates a radio station that plays music similar to and including said song/artist. It's nice I have yet been disappointed by it's selections and have found a few things I didn't know about before.

So right now I am taking a break from cleaning and baking (hence the need for a stand mixer my arm is tired). Some friends from out of town will be here tonight and I am excited to see them. I don't get to see or really talk to them much during the year.

On the menu for tonight is Molasses Ginger cookies, Lemon Sables,a Caramel Cake, Mulled wine, Artichoke dip, and chips and whatnot. Two things I am excited about are having a somewhat cleaner house and friends.

So I should get back to baking and cleaning. Don't forget the stand mixer.

I know how he feels sometimes.

What have I been doing with my break thus far?

3 words Lost season three. I know it is still a couple of months off and with the writers strike who knows when it actually might make it back on. I need some catch up and something to help me with my Lost withdraw. That and the Jack withdraw He is so hot isn't he mmmm.

About damned time

My brother kicked my sister-in-law out. Bitch was bad news. Firstborn finally got from her that she had been cheating on him. He said get out and don't think you are getting the kid. A month earlier she had wanted him to leave but now he just told her to leave. On one hand it's not good that it came to this but on the other he needs to get out of that marriage. She was not the greatest mother and not the greatest wife and this just makes things worse so really good riddance.

Yes I am a big dork.

So lately I have been wondering about phrases that are in our vernacular but we really don't know where they came from or what the actual meanings are. Example I was leaving a comment on another blog about possible meanings to the phrase "Shake a stick at". As in so many stupid people at the bar last night you could shake a stick at. In this instance one possible explanation comes from when farmers would count animals in a coral they would use a stick to point and count. Hence so many you would shake a stick at to count.

Another usage is when someone is referring to something as being less. Like it was nothing to shake a stick at. In this case they may be referring to when people carried swords. Another old phrase "Sabre rattling" could be connected. When they would want to make a defiant gesture at an enemy one would shake their sword or rattle it. If someone was not worthy or less of threat to them they wouldn't. Therefore you wouldn't shake a stick, or sword at them.

What ultimately got me on doing this was the phrase "Mind your P's and Q's". We actually use this in the wrong context all the time. I always hear it in the since that you must behave. Your mother would always say mind your p's and q's. It got me to thinking what the fuck are my p's and q's? Well I looked it up and actually it comes from when people would have to set type for a printing press and you would put the letters in backwards and if you go to fast you could put a p in where you meant a q because they are mirror images of each other. So it really has nothing to do with politeness or courtesy but more to do with being accurate and thorough.

I think it is important that we all use this little quips and phrases in their proper contextual setting. So I will never use mind your p's and q's again. Unless I am referring to type setting. lol

So much Sugar

Well today has been a fun filled day of not much. Today is technically a review day, but with all but one of my classes being a performance based class I only have the one final. It is on Friday but I will be safely in Chicago by then. The kids have been bringing in candies and an assortment of baked goods. I love the gesture but I end up giving most of it away. I have also counted $50 in panera gift cards, $30 in Starbucks and $50 to the Olive Garden. Granted I do not go to the Olive Garden much but for free food I may make an exception. I still have 3 more classes left so who knows what I may end up with in the end.



My baking has gone over well it always does. I could put a bag of sugar in the middle of the room and they would love it.

<---------Not my students but you get the idea.

The one problem today and there always has to be one. Special K decided to leave at the beginning of her 3rd period. She gave them all passes to the library and then took off with Student Teacher. I have know idea where they went or for what. All I know is that at the end of 3rd they were not back. I needed to run to the bank during 4th, I don't have a class then, and when I came back at the end of 4th neither Special K nor Student Teacher were back. Her 4th period was completely alone for almost the entirety of the class. Unprofessional, Rude, Unacceptable these are all fine words I would use to describe this "teaching" methodology. She finally showed back up with 5 minutes left in class. I grabbed my stuff for resource and left. I was so livid. I ended up going straight to the VP and letting loose. If this were any other teacher I would be obligated to say something so why not in this instance. Well I have to share an office with her, which makes things uncomfortable, but you know what I don't care. It's her bad and I am not taking the burden of it. So there it is, I turned her in, to my VP and my department chair. Right now I am trying to come up with a tactful and professional way to tell her what a fuck up she is.





Anyway Merry Christmas to my students who are not reading this anyway, at least they had better not be. And I will end with, 28 Hours left. I will explain the significances of that later.

Despite what you may think, I do have a heart.

I say this because at this minute I am baking for my classes. I do this every year at the end of each semester. This year I am making peanut butter brownies, chocolate chip cookies, and lemon sables. This have become an increasingly larger endeavor each year. My class sizes have increased and the number of classes I teach have gone up. I have 40 students to bake for, it would be a lot more if I included the bands which are like 150 I would add to that number so I give them the shaft. Sorry kids.

I like doing this, especially for the Christmas break. It really puts me in the holiday mood. I find the radio station that does nothing but Christmas music and I just spend the day baking. In the off times I do a little knitting. Yes, I said knitting. Some of my friends do and they taught me over Thanksgiving and I have been keeping up on it. I am in the midst of a scarf and being the perfectionist I can be over bizarre things I took the whole thing apart last night and started over. It looked like it had a tumor and I wasn't going to give it as a gift like that. It's a really neat pattern for those who know how to knit; Cast on 20 then knit 2, pearl1, and knit 1. Repeat until desired length.

Alrighty back to the baking.