Christmas Finger Jello

I was browsing The Pioneer Woman's website yesterday and came upon this recipe for Christmas finger jello. It looked simple enough, though time consuming, so I decided to take a few hours Sunday morning to make it. It is very easy to make and certainly looks very festive! The only reason it takes a long time is because you have to let each layer set for 15-20 minutes before adding the next (and I did all nine layers). It is light, tasty and fun. You could do this with any jello flavors/colors, for whatever occasion (I'm thinking red, white and blue for a cool July 4th treat); the white cream layers in between allow for the colors to be particularly distinct. It is also fun to eat a piece layer by layer, in a particularly childlike manner. :)

so much jello

And the final product...

- From the desk of Mrs. M

Holly Jolly State College

Some holiday scenes from around here...

We've been enjoying some State College eateries, doing some gift shopping, and hanging out with family. We got a bit of sleet and snow yesterday! with more on the way; maybe it will be a white Christmas.  My youngest brother arrives from school today, Kyle and I are hanging out with friends tomorrow evening, and once Christmas eve hits, things will get busier- more people gradually arriving (sister on the 25th, Canadians on 27th), we'll take a 24h trip to Pittsburgh to visit Kyle's family, and it's my mom's Christmas birthday, and brother's 21st on the 27th!

- From the desk of Mrs. M

What I'd Wear

We should get back in TX on the 30th, and we have no specific New Years plans (maybe going to Austin?). So while I may end up in pajamas, watching the ball drop on TV and forcing my cats to dance with me, here are my outfit ideas for if I a) decided to buy a whole new outfit for the occasion and b) we actually had plans. 

Modcloth dress/ anthropologie tights/ ShoeMint shoes/ Stella & Dot ring/ Kate Spade studs/ Modcloth cardigan

Modcloth dress/ anthropologie tights/ American Eagle shoes/ J Crew ring/ Stella & Dot necklace/ Modcloth cardigan

- From the desk of Mrs. M

The Week in Photos

dinner/ most amazing candle/ Christmas crafting/ packages to send to friends

packing nail polish/ ice cream with Bailey's/ D/ H

napping in my arms

more crafting/ holiday dress for $13!/ squinty miss D

documentary/ oven burn/ D napping under the tree/ breakfast & lunch

the craziest old Christmas movie/ our gifts/ Hux investigating/ bread maker!

quote/ trees/ outing/ The Hobbit

gift for Kyle/ amazing candle/ dot T/ IHOP

packing/ kittens fo free!/ new litter box/ D in Kyle's pants

shoes/ blazer and cardigan packing/ last run outside/ more pants sleeping

 On the road to PA! Louisiana lunch stop/ travel attire/ cats loooved this chair at the hotel/ hotel breakfast

foggy Alabama morning/ travel champs/ Virginia skies/ tree at moms house

- From the desk of Mrs. M

A Year at Home

Every relationship has its important dates. The day you started dating (April 16,2008  around 1am), the day you got engaged (December 21, 2010 around 1 am...this is the first time I noticed that. I can assure you it was not planned on his part!), the day you get married (March 7, 2011, a Monday morning), and then if you're as cool weird as us, the day you had your wedding party (June 15, 2012, 4pm). For those of us in the military, we also have other days. Days when our soldiers get back from deployment (and days when we have to say goodbye, but those are not the fun dates I'm talking about). Sometimes we don't know what day a redeployment will be until a day or two before. But these are also special days. I was lucky enough to get my husband back right before Christmas last year (December 18, 2011, around 3am). Why do I have a sneaking suspicion our kids will be born in the wee hours of the night? ;)

This year is the longest we've lived in the same town since high school (graduation 2006). I've more than once found myself saying or thinking, "so this is what it feels like," to have a "normal" relationship. Even if our normal includes a constant threat of another deployment, I'd take a normal day with my husband over an extraordinary day with anyone else, any time.*

Check out the video I took last year of Kyle's redeployment ceremony. Or don't. It's mostly shouting and marching and flag waving.

- Mrs. M

*Maybe unless that means a normal day is driving for 12+ hours with unhappy cats for a couple days. Never again!

Hobbit Day

Kyle and I are dorks, and as such, we (I) bought us tickets to a Saturday morning viewing of The Hobbit a week early (no way it would sell out, but still), and planned to go to Denny's before the film (they have that new "Hobbit-inspired" menu). The Denny's in town, however, was permanently closed on December 2nd, as we learned when we drove up, saw no cars there and read the sign on the door. So we went to IHOP instead, then sent some Christmas gifts off, and then arrived at the theater, nice and early. This was our first time at the new theater in Belton, and it is way, way better than the one at the Temple mall (that smells of urine in the hall and has screens too small for the movies they project). This theater has a full cafe with Starbucks beverages; the special of the week is tilapia. But anyway, the movie was really good. The music was perfect, as always, and I don't think the movie dragged at all, which I'd been hearing. I won't say any more for those who haven't seen the film and wish to, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

In light of recent events, this quote from the movie spoke loudly to me. 

The full quote I believe is: "Saruman believes it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love. Why Bilbo Baggins? Perhaps because I am afraid, and he gives me courage."

- From the desk of Mrs. M

Greetings from the North Pole

This year we sent out these cute holiday cards from Rifle Paper Co., land of all things pretty and papery. They're actually postcards. That's pretty much it; keeping it simple this year. It's quite like Santa's Village up in the Arctic Circle in Finland, actually! Merry Christmas! :)

- From the desk of Mrs. M

Grad School, Part 1 of 4

via

Side Note: I actually don't spend any time on the lovely Baylor campus. The social work building is downtown Waco (only a few minutes drive away), and we have our own computer lab, and I don't use libraries, and parking is free at SSW, so I'm never on main campus. I actually got a GA position where I would have been driving a golf cart all around campus, but then they realized I'm a social work student, and they couldn't give me the position as funding came from big Baylor graduate school (they're separated). That was dumb, but moving on. 

This first semester of grad school was really...fine. It wasn't particularly difficult, but I am one of those annoying people who likes school and doesn't procrastinate. I didn't get a lot of sleep, but that is mostly because I wake up much earlier than I need to, and don't go to bed as early as I maybe should. The amount of work was completely manageable, though I'm expecting things to get more difficult this next semester. I don't feel like my home life suffered, either; towards the end I was probably cooking dinner less frequently, but neither my house nor relationship fell to ruin. It maybe helps that I have no friendships down here to maintain, sad as that sounds. The commute to Waco wasn't bad, either. I had to drive in three days a week, and the half hour-40 minute drive isn't bad, except for all the trucks and bad Texas drivers. Most importantly, I haven't been weighed down by working in a field that can be thoroughly depressing. I spend my days at internship hearing directly from the victims about all the horrible things that have been done to them, and the bad things they have done as a result, but for whatever reason, I'm not really fazed by it. I used to wonder if I am just cold, but ultimately this is a quality that will allow me to work longer and harder in this field, where burnout is common and employee turnover rates high (on the positive- there is always a demand for social workers, and I could work pretty much anywhere). 

Everyone at the School of Social Work is very nice, encouraging, and supportive. I've never met more nice and genuinely caring people as the social work; I was a little taken aback at first, thinking, "wait, are you really like this, like, for real?" It is weird, sometimes being singled out as the only person that doesn't believe in God in class. I don't mind talking about it, and I've offered up that information willingly, but I do wish there was more diversity in that regard, because then all of the examples are from a particular faith perspective that all the teachers and most of the students share. I do think that Baylor is a bit behind in its ideas of diversity and cultural competence, in particular when there was a diversity panel, made up of a black woman, a mixed ethnicity guy, and a Mexican woman. That was supposed to equal diversity, and it left all the white students thinking they have no voice in that discussion. I do think some of the curriculum could be changed a bit, but overall I think classes were helpful and related strongly to my internship. My internship went well, also, though there were struggles within the agency, with staff quitting or being let go left and right, including my field instructor, but hopefully next semester will run more smoothly there. Part way through the semester I also got a graduate assistant position, and I'll be working with a professor for the remainder of the year. The primary research for that has been discrepancies with adoptions and health care when it comes to race, and how community outrage can lead to state legislation. 

As I was not a social work undergrad, I definitely feel I've learned a lot about the profession in this first semester. I am, however, still quite uncertain as to what I want to do after I take my license test, graduate, and have LMSW attached to my name (aside from leaving Texas and having all the babies). Social workers work in just about every setting you could thing of, helping people in whatever ways they need. I could work in a hospital, or a school district, or with veterans, kids, people who are dying or people who are struggling to live. Social workers work with a whole person, that includes their spiritual and cultural beliefs, their socioeconomic status, physical well being, mental and emotional state, their surrounding environment, family, community, state and country. At this point I'm not sure what exactly I want to do, but my interest in macro social work, dealing with community movements, social policy and more "big picture" stuff has been growing (I think since watching The West Wing I have this romantic notion of moving back to DC and fighting to make the world a better place. oops). My experience, even before school, however, is with adolescents and their families, in behavioral and mental health facilities. Next semester, though, are the community practice classes, and I will be working with adults and the elderly at my internship, so I may gain a better idea of where I want to take my skills and interest. 

With social work, you really, really have to think a lot about your life, thoughts, beliefs and perspectives, because you can't let them get in the way of helping a client. So we have done a lot of self-reflection over the semester, and a lot of talking about ourselves, odd as it may sound. I have become way more aware of what I think is right and what is not right, and in that become more politically charged, particularly when it comes to social issues (it was really amusing being the only one showing up to class happy the day after the election). This semester fell in line with a pretty violent and surprise separation between my parents, and I know honing in on this social work perspective that I already naturally had, has helped me work through that personal situation as well. Ultimately, while I oddly did have some reoccurring terrible migraines and had to be put on preventative medicine, I had a good and relatively low-stress start to my masters program, complete with all As and a new appreciation for, well, everything. 

- From the desk of Mrs. M

Coffee Candle

Or: What to do When Your Cats Destroy Everything. My cats have a thing for coffee. I don't know why, I don't know what it is, but they are really drawn to the stuff in beverage form. So, when I brought home some nice Baylor coffee to give out as gifts, the cats promptly found them and got them out of the shopping bag, and chewed them up. Apparently they just love anything coffee. Since I couldn't give the coffee out as a gift, and since this Texas Pecan is the most delicious smelling coffee, I made a simple Pinterest find. Stick a vanilla candle in coffee in a jar or glass, and voila. It really smells wonderful. I suppose you could also grind and drink the coffee, or repackage it, but I personally am not a big coffee drinker, so just being able to smell it is the best option. I put it in a large mason jar with a lid, so when not in use I could close it up, to prevent further cat destruction. *Make while catching up on How I Met Your Mother

- Mrs. M