Loaded Potato Soup

As I think I've mentioned a time or three this week, it's gotten pretty cold here abouts. Today's high is supposed to be a grand total of 26. Now, for many of you out there, that sounds like a fine, spring morning. I, however, am from Two Rivers country, not the Borderlands.

(Not that we have much in the way of woods around here, mind you. Actually, we may be closer to Ghealdean... If you do not get the reference, it's okay.)

Anyway, this time of year Sam and I have a tendency to have lots of soup: potato soup, chicken noodle soup, tomato soup, chili, stew... et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Yesterday evening I decided to make us potato soup, and on a lark I decided to pretend I know what I'm doing and took photographs of the process.

If you want to skip the inanity to follow, I totally get it and understand. You won't hurt my feelings. Honest.

*watches the stampede for the door*

Jerks.

Just kidding!

For the three of you who are still here, I somewhat prouldy present:

How to Make Loaded Potato Soup.

First we need to gather our cast of characters:

Half & Half, Milk (2% in this house), 6-10 Golden Butter potatoes, scallions, sour cream, bacon, butter, and 1 slice of Velveeta cheese.

Trust me, you will love the Velveeta cheese. You can substitute any cheese you like, really, but Sam is a huge fan of Velveeta.

Not pictured but also needed will be garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, sage, marjoram, thyme, rosemary, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. For the purposes of this demonstration, we will be using dried spices, 'cause that's just how we roll around here.

(I do have high hopes for planting an herb garden this spring. We'll see how that works out.)

To start off with, we'll need to mash all of those potatoes mentioned above. This recipe was originally meant for using up leftover mashed potatoes, but we rarely have any leftover, so I always end up making some just for this soup. If, however, you have any on hand from the previous evening, then spend this time warming them back up.

For the rest of us folks, lets get on with the washing and dicing.

As you finish chopping up each potato, toss the chunks into a 4-6 quart stock pot, until it fully covers the bottom. In my case it took about 8 potatoes.

About like so. Once you have that, fill the pot with water until it covers all of the potatoes, then throw in some salt and place'em on the stove on high. You'll need to boil them for 10-15 minutes, or until tender enough to poke easily with a fork.

While that's going on, it's time to prep the bacon and scallions. First, wash your 4-6 scallions and lop off the roots. Then, go ahead and chop them into 1/2-inch pieces, like so:

Once you've done that, set them aside for the moment.

Next, pull yourself out a skillet, put it on medium heat, and toss in about 2 tablespoons of butter to melt while you're prepping the bacon.

Last night for this soup I used 1/2 pound (8 oz) bacon, which I chopped into roughly one inch pieces.

By the time that's done, the butter in the skillet should be melted down. Throw in a handful of the scallions...

...and all of the bacon.

Stay with the bacon and scallions, stirring occasionally, until the bacon is good and crisp and that poor handful of scallions are pretty much wasted away to nothing.

Set aside the skillet with all of that bacony goodness, and let us return our attention back to our potatoes.

By this point they should be more than ready to come off the fire if you haven't already removed'em. Drain off all of the liquid so that you have a steaming pile of potatoes.

They were steaming. Trust me.

Then throw the potatoes back into the original stock pot and proceed to mash'em.

Once they get to looking like the above picture, add in 1/2 to 3/4 cup of milk, until you can just start to see it amongst the potatoes.

Once you've added the milk, add in 3 tbsp of butter, then finish mashing the potatoes until they look like this:

Now we're ready to actually commence with the soup. Woot!

Place the stock pot back on the stove on medium-low heat. Next add in first 1 cup of 1/2 & 1/2, then 2 cups of milk.

Once you've added in all of the milk and 1/2 & 1/2, put in your first round of spices.

Typically, I don't measure out the spices I put in things--I eyeball it and taste as I go. For an idea of about how much I put in for each "round," here's a view from a little later in the process:

Pictured here is marjoram, sage, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, pepper, and salt. Again, taste as you go. There have been times where I've put as few as two rounds of spices in, other's I've put as many as 5. Also, you may find you need just a little bit more of one particular spice, so that's all you add instead of a full round.

In this case, however, we're just now adding in our first round of spices.

Stir up the soup, and once thoroughly mixed it should look something like this.

Next add in the bacon, 2 tbsp of the grease, and the rest of the scallions you cut up.

Stir until thoroughly mixed. Next, do another round of spices, and then again, thoroughly mix together.

Now if you wanted you could stop here, and it would be a decent potato soup. However, we're going to add a few more things to make this a great potato soup.

First tear up a slice of Velveeta cheese and add it to the soup. Stir until the cheese has completely melted.

Next, add in one dollop of sour cream.

"What's a dollop?" you ask?

This is a dollop:

Now, the thing with the sour cream is you cannot let the soup come to a boil. If you do, it will start to separate in the soup and it's just not nearly as tasty. So kick the heat down to low, and keep stirring after you've added the sour cream.

Do one last round of spices (if you think it needs it) and also add in just a pinch of red pepper flakes to give it a bit of a kick. Once it looks like the sour cream has melted into the soup, make one last taste test to see if you need to make any adjustments to the spices. If not, you're are ready to serve and enjoy!

Recipe:

Cooking time:  1 hour
Size: 6-8 people
Ingredients:
   6-10 Golden Butter potatoes
   5 tbsp butter
   4-6 scallions
   1/2 lb bacon
   1 cup Half & Half
   2-1/2 cups milk
   1 tbsp marjoram
   2 tsp sage
   1 tsp thyme
   1 tsp rosemary
   1 tbsp paprika
   1 tbsp onion powder
   1 tbsp garlic powder
   1 tbsp pepper
   1 tbsp salt
   1 pinch of pepper flakes
   1 slice of Velveeta cheese
   2 tbsp of sour cream

Instructions:
Wash and dice up potatoes. Put potatoes in 4-6 quart stock pot and cover in water. Boil potatoes on high for 10-15 minutes or until tender.

Chop scallions into 1/2-inch pieces and set aside. Chop bacon into 1 inch pieces and set aside. Melt 2 tbsp of butter on medium high, then sautee tbsp scallions and all of bacon. Once bacon is crisp, set aside, saving 2 tbsp of bacon grease.

Once potatoes are tender, drain of water and then mash using 1/2 cup of milk and remaining butter. Once creamy, put stockpot with mashed potatoes back on the stove on medium-low heat. Add half and half and remaining milk to soup. Then add spices. Next add scallions, bacon, and 2 tbsp bacon grease.

Next add 1 slice of Velveeta. Once the cheese has melted in, kick temperature down to low and add sour cream. Once sour cream has melted in, taste test then serve.

Some geeky and web happiness

I have three things I wish to share with you, my faithful readers.

(Especially my Russian friends. I had nearly as many hits from ya'll this past week as I did from Americans. I suppose that tells you just how few people look at this site. To be fair, though, I had a large contingent of Swedes as well.

Hey will, are you still trying to find me hockey players? I'm kinda taken now, you know. I found a nice redhead all my own.)

Any way, where was I? Oh yes--some fun geeky items I've come across today.

Firstly, if you haven't seen it, you totally need to go check out this poster showing the history and development of the bat-mobile over the years. It's absolutely fantastic, and would have made an excellent Christmas present for a certain gal I know who loves masked men....

Secondly, some excellent news coming out concerning Peter Jackson's The Hobbit. We'll be seeing Sir Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis, and Elijah Wood again. Maybe we'll be seeing this film after all...

Lastly, as most of you know I'm a bit of a fan of lolcats. Well, this week icanhascheezburger.com turns 4-years-old! Today they posted a brief video showing people's most favorite lolcats from the past four years.

Enjoy!

Only because I said I would....

I'm going to post a before and after picture for our winter weather.

Are you ready for it?

Are you sure?


Okay then....

That's the the before, taken Friday afternoon. The skies are blue and all the kids have left the nearby Catholic school/church.

Now to show you the after.

It'll make you weep.

Truly.

You still want to see it?

Okay then....

Lots of snow, aye?

The sad thing is, by the time this was taken (yesterday afternoon), it had actually been snowing nearly non-stop since the previous afternoon.

Honest and truly!

It was even snowing when I took that picture.

You don't believe me do you.

Well fine, here's a video to show it:

See, I told yo---bloody hell. Silly video quality of the site won't show it.

*sigh*

The thing is, until winter tried to visit over the weekend, we'd spent the previous week in temperatures as warm as 70 degrees Fahrenheit. So even though we'd been having all of this snow falling, and the temperatures had dropped down to the teens, the ground was so bloody warm nothing was sticking--not even to the grass.

On the one hand, I was disappointed because I find snow to be quite pretty. On the other, it was probably for the best--I have a nasty tendency to get really sick whenever it snows.

True story.

And as to winter...

It got cold, but no snow that stuck to the ground. Once Sam gets home and I can download pictures to the laptop, I'll give you the before and after (Not that there's anything to see, but I did say I would...).

As it is, here's another picture of a cat.

Tiger needs a funny caption. Any ideas?

My Brother's Keeper

By this point, I'm sure most of you have heard about the attempted assassination of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona on Saturday which resulted in six dead and many more wounded. It's a horrific event, which is something I feel every person, no matter their creed, can agree on.

In the wake of the tragedy, there's been an instant, visceral response from both of the main ideologies in America. The left wing immediately started coming out decrying the violent political rhetoric which the right has been increasingly using over the past three years. The right wing's instant reaction was to reply that this man is obviously unhinged and how dare they presume that the right had anything to do with it. If anything his history suggests that he's a left-wing nutjob.


Watching it unfold, all I could think of was Cain's line to God in Genesis 4:9, when God is wondering where Abel is: "I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?"

To me, that question goes to the heart of the differences between the right and the left. In any incident, no matter how great or how horrible, the ideology of the right says that they are not responsible for their brother, but only themselves. The ideology of the left would say that they are responsible not only for themselves, but for the life and conditions of their brother as well, and everyone should help whether they want to or not. For example, look at their views on things like market regulations, food stamps, climate control, gun control, unemployment, affirmative action... the list goes on and on.

With market regulations, the right insists that because everyone is looking out for themselves, people will act in their self-interest and won't do anything too detrimental, as in the end other self-interested people will react and make the instigator's business fail. The left replies that the other self-interested people wouldn't have enough power to truly affect the instigator, and so to prevent market failures regulations need to be in place to prevent people breaking the system. And back and forth and back and forth...

With food stamps/welfare, the right insists that by helping out those less fortunate, they're just encouraging those using welfare not to go back to work or improve their lives, and why should they have to pay for someone else's mistakes. The left replies that sometimes Bad Things Happen, and not having a safety net there to catch their brother when they fall will result in further Bad Things such as increased crime and poverty, and so You Should Help Them No Matter What. And back and forth and back and forth...

With climate control... well, you get the picture. Obviously, their views on these subjects have been simplified a bit to fit within the context (and length) of this post. Still, the underlying theme of their arguments, regardless of the topic, seems to run thusly:

Right: No matter what is going on, I am responsible only for myself. I do not want or need interference from anyone around me, especially the government, and I do not wish to involve myself in anyone else's problem, unless it affects me personally.

Left: Not only am I responsible for myself, but as a person I am also responsible for the common welfare of my fellow humans. As such, I need to make sacrifices and involve myself in the lives of those around me, regardless of their effect on me personally.

Of course, in real life people aren't generally this black and white, with people crossing over to one side or the other on various issues. But, again, we're talking about the underlying ideas.

And we can see it playing out in the discussion of rhetoric in the wake of the shooting.

The most obvious example that will get play again and again is Sarah Palin's website that had posted a map with gun crosshairs over various districts that Democratic representatives, including Rep. Giffords. Honestly, I doubt Ms. Palin ever intended or dreamed that someone may take that to mean that a person should go out and actually shoot one of the people listed on the map. And, to be honest, I doubt that her map had anything to do with why Jared Loughner attempted to assassinate Rep. Giffords.

However.

It very easily could have been. As Rep. Steve Driehaus stated last March (after then-Minority Leader Boehner suggested Driehaus would be a "dead man" for his vote on health care), "It doesn't really matter  the way you meant it, nor the way I accept. It's how the least sane person in my district accepts it."

It saddens me greatly that there are so many people who are unwilling to acknowledge that their words and actions, however indirectly, have consequences. If you tell people that a portion of the country (progressives) is a cancer that's trying to kill us all, that environmentalists are the same as jihadists, that having a revolution every now and then is a good thing, and to not retreat but instead, reload, sooner or later the odds are someone is going to take you seriously.

I don't hold with the idea that we should restrict people's ability to express their frustrations, even if it uses violent imagery. I do, however, believe that if you use it, you need to be prepared to take responsibility for your words.

I don't blame Sarah Palin or Glenn Beck for what happened. I don't blame Barrack Obama, or Keith Olbermann either. But I would exhort everybody, no matter their faith, creed, or ideology, to truly think about the power of their words.

Because I do believe I am my brother's keeper.

Winter is coming

According to weather underground, we're supposed to have a cold front come through sometime Saturday, followed by a stronger cold front and rain/snow, with a week of below freezing. I believe I can thank my brother for that, as that's what he put up with this past week.

Thanks a lot.

Ahem.

Now, to be fair, we've had an usually warm winter for us--there's only been one cold snap back in November, where we got all the way down to freezing (heaven forbid!) and woke up to a light dusting of snow. Aside from that, we've generally been bouncing between 45 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit. The bright side of that is I've been able to open up windows and let the kitties enjoy fresh air. The downside is that our little cold snap is going to seem that much worse because we've been spoiled by nice weather.

I took a few pictures this afternoon of the view out of my front door, in hopes that come Monday I'll be able to post compare/contrast pictures with snow.

We'll see how that works out.

As it is, I have people coming over tonight to hang out, so I need to run and finish preparing for that. If I don't make it back this weekend (which I probably won't), everybody have fun, enjoy this picture of our cat, and I'll see you Monday!

Nala demonstrating Anime Kitty Face.

Wacky Shenanigans

I forgot to mention this yesterday, what with all of the talk about being classy, but the 112th Congress started up this week. Why is this important? Well, aside from the obvious that our legislative body now has a Republican majority in the House, a bit of amusing going-ons happened on Wednesday.

You see, dear readers. the Republicans in the House of Representatives decided that they would begin the 112th Congress by reading the Constitution aloud. There's been some arguments throughout the blogosphere as to whether or not this was a waste of time or a wonderful show of patriotism, and that is neither here nor there. No, what's amusing (to me at least) is that on the very day that the Republican majority insisted on reading the Constitution in full (except for all of that embarrassing stuff about 3/5ths of a person in regards to taxes), two Republican representatives violated the Constitution by casting votes without actually getting sworn in.

From the Huffington Post:

Two House Republicans have cast votes as members of the 112th Congress, but were not sworn in on Wednesday, a violation of the Constitution on the same day that the GOP had the document read from the podium.

The Republicans, incumbent Pete Sessions of Texas and freshman Mike Fitzpatrick, missed the swearing in because they were at a fundraiser in the Capitol Visitors Center. The pair watched the swearing-in on television from the Capitol Visitors Center with their hands raised.

...

House ethics rules forbid fundraising in the Capitol.

Glad to know that fulfilling the job they were hired to do is so much more important than raising money for their camp--oh. Never mind.

A Classy Evening

I occasionally lurk on Reddit to see what sort of new and interesting things pop up. A day or two ago, someone linked back to a post on how to have a classy evening. When I set it up, it made Sam and I laugh so I hard (because it was so absolutely perfect) that I felt compelled to share it with all of you.

So courtesy of tadallagash on Reddit:

1. Pull out of your drink of choice.

2. Open 3 tabs on your favorite browser.

3. On your first tab.

4. On your second tab.

5. On the last tab (fullscreen).

Now, instead of Step 4, you can also pull up a similar station on iTunes. I also recommend either having a good book to read or a good friend to have a conversation with while this is happening. Makes for a highly enjoyable evening.

Real Life Super Heroes

Honestly, I don't know what to make of this. I was reading an article last night on Boing Boing about a group of costumed crime-fighters in Seattle. (This particular story was about a gentleman, Phoenix Jones, who stopped an auto-theft.) This, in turn, lead to the discovery of Real Life Super Heroes, a website dedicated to people who dress up and do good deeds.

Part of me says this is wicked awesome. Another part of me wonders at my and their sanity. Either way, I felt compelled to share this discovery with all of you.

You're welcome.

I will now return you to your regular programming.

Courtesy of icanhascheezburger.com

A brief tale...

Anora "Annie" Stouthart

This was originally posted for a bunch of my friends elsewhere. It's a scene that makes use of characters all of us play in one of our D&D games, and because I'm drawing a blank on what to post today, I thought I would share it with all of you. (If you've already read it, feel free to come back tomorrow). Most likely it won't make any sense to people outside of the group I play with, but, eh. Here you go!


Tea and Conversation

Heart fluttering against her ribs like a dove beating against its cage, Anora Stouthart awoke in alarm.
Laying still in the darkness of the room, Annie was barely able to subdue her panicked breathing. Images continued to flash through her mind's eye: fire, cries of terror, a train of twisted bodies, shame searing her soul as a pirate flew back in pain, a red child hanging limp on a cross, the angry mob sweeping her sister Alia away as Annie jumped aboard the Tranquility, a vampire holding her aloft and ravaging her mind...
Several minutes passed, but finally the after images of her dreams subsided and her breathing returned to normal. Cold sweat coated her forehead. Shakily, her hand reached up to wipe it away.
A loud rasping sound from the end of the bed made Annie sit bolt upright with the return of terror.
Annie barely suppressed a hysterical laugh as she recognized Ameron snoring loudly. Closing her eyes, Annie murmured a brief prayer to Arawei, and gentle calm soon encompassed her. Once she felt sufficiently in control of herself, Annie opened her eyes again to look at her companions, asleep in the predawn light that shined down through the port-hole. Her fellow halfling was all but indistinct beneath the covers. Only the grating snores and gentle rise and fall of the dark mound told her he was there and alive.
Quietly, so as not to disturb her bedmate, Annie swung her feet over the side and padded a couple of steps over to her other sleeping companion. An apparently human woman, Ky shifted restlessly, her covers tangled about her legs. With deft care and strength that belied her small size, Annie managed to untangle the blanket and tuck it around Ky, murmuring soft, soothing words until Ky's movements stilled and her face relaxed.
Normally the large woman would have started awake at such ministrations, but Annie had brewed the sleeping draught Ky had taken herself. Annie's teachers had been most thorough in her education, despite her youth.
Small, clever fingers gently brushed Ky's hair back from her face, causing the apparently human face to flicker towards something far more frightening, blue horns appearing briefly in Ky's hair. Annie was still greatly disturbed by what the older girl had revealed the previous night. The description of what the Silver Flame had done....
Annie shook her head to rid it of the images before they could form, and she lightly kissed the forehead of her almost-sister before withdrawing to the side of the room to put her boots on. Dawn was only an hour or two off at this point, and she knew there would be no more sleep for her that night. Thankfully she didn't have to worry about being too quiet, due to the background noise provided by the halfling paladin. After splashing her face with water and patting it dry--attempting to ensure no signs of her poor sleep were obvious--Annie slipped out into the main room, carefully closing the door to the small bedroom behind her.
It was a pleasant stateroom all things considered, though several objects and decorations that had once hung on the pristine walls were now littered about the floor, casualties of the previous night's explosion. In the center of the room, directly in front of the main door, Aurora sat in meditation, her unseeing light eyes staring straight ahead. Watching the Eladrin meditate always caused a bit of uneasiness in Annie. Even Rauthur, the resident deva, with his never sleeping disturbed Annie less than this meditation. It was unnatural to sleep with one’s eyes open.
Against the wall, not far behind Aurora, Gwalcavad's quill made a comforting swishing noise as he penned a note to his superiors. Several sheaths of parchment already lay to the side. Either the Breelish spy was having difficulties wording his report, or he was providing more details than Annie could think of at that moment regarding the insanity of this cruise.
Annie craned her neck to see if she could catch sight of any of those writings, though she was still a good distance away and the desk was as high as her head. Since joining their merry little band, Gwalcavad had sent a couple of reports back to his masters, and the one time Annie had managed to see one of those letters, it was written in some sort of cipher she didn't understand.
Still, she couldn't help trying to catch another glimpse.
The dark mound next Gwalcavad's desk shifted, and what Annie'd first assumed was a shadow was revealed to actually be be a wolf. Two green eyes gleamed at her as Eredrog raised his head. The halfling tried to make a shushing motion at him, but the wolf's tail thumped against the wall a couple of times in greeting.
Eredrog's movement had drawn Gwalcavad's attention to the new occupant in the room. Annie assumed an innocent expression as those cool grey eyes turned towards her. He quirked an eyebrow in surprise. "You weren't down for long. I expected you to sleep for at least a few more hours."
Annie shrugged one shoulder and moved towards a sideboard where a still-steaming teapot sat. "Ameron snores so loudly that at first I thought there was a breach in the hull," Annie said as she knocked on the wood of the sideboard. With everything else that had happened on this ill-fated voyage, it did not due to tempt fate.
Gwalcavad smirked as a louder than normal snore trumpeted from the closed bedroom door. Annie had never heard the human laugh, though she had hopes of fixing that one of these days.
"Thank you for knocking. The last thing we need is for one of these damnable bombs to actually succeed," Gwalcavad said.
"They should stop now, since those pirates are down in the Vault," Annie replied. The Baron's grimace of pain again flashed through her mind, but with her back to the spy he could not see it's effect on her. She hoped. "Would you like some tea as well?" she asked.
"That would be most welcome," Gwalcavad said. As Annie busied herself pouring them tea, the spy began gathering up the papers and setting them face down to the side. Annie wanted to cluck her tongue in frustration, but knew it would do no good. Eredrog had his mouth open in a canine grin, and if she didn't know better she'd swear the wolf was laughing at her.
"How long has she been out?" Annie asked, gesturing with her head towards the Eladrin on the floor as she set his tea on the desk in front of him.
After a murmured thanks, Gwalcavad turned his gaze towards Aurora as he sipped his tea. A dark look settled on his face, "A few hours. She should awaken soon." Gwalcavad looked back at the tiny halfling who sat down on the stool next to Eredrog. "Do you know where she was when all of that... insanity... last night was going on?" he asked, unknowingly echoing Annie's own description of the night.
Annie sighed into her teacup. The man's suspicious nature could be quite wearying at times. "I was with you most of the time, remember? Ky was with her, though," Annie said. "That's good enough for me." And should be for you too went unspoken. The halfling's reverence for Ky's insights was well known.
"Indeed." Gwalcavad said. His long fingers curled around the teacup as he breathed in the steam, which seemed to relax him. "Speaking of the fair Ky," Was that a hint of sarcasm? "she is going to be most displeased with you when she wakes up."
For the space of one heartbeat, Annie considered feigning ignorance or innocence. But before the thought was fully formed, the cleric quickly discarded the idea. She was too tired to try and play games with the spy.
"In case you hadn't noticed, in the three days we've been on this ship she had yet to truly sleep. She's become so twitchy I'm amazed those paladins are still alive." Not that Annie blamed Ky. Not now. Not really. "Things are tenuous enough," Annie was proud of herself for not stumbling over the word, "without a half-mad, sleep-deprived ti--terror of a paladin raging about the ship," she said. That was a dangerous slip of the tongue. Perhaps she should have tried for another hour or two of sleep.
Gwalcavad's brows began to furrow before smoothing back out. He stared from his teacup back to the halfling healer. "She'll still take it amiss that you drugged her," Gwalcavad said. Before Annie could do more than open her mouth, he raised a placating hand and continued, "But you're right. Ky was becoming a bit... unhinged."
One of Annie's hands had started unconsciously stroking Eredrog's fur as the spy and cleric chatted. The wolf leaned his head into her caresses, and Annie complied by vigorously scratching his ears as she sipped her tea. "Not unhinged--stressed and tired," Annie said. Here her eyes narrowed a little as she peered intently at the spy, noting the stress lines at his eyes and mouth, the tired droop of his shoulders. "As could be said of others."
Smirking again, the spy leaned back, balancing on two of the chair’s four legs. Gwalcavad gestured expansively with one hand, holding his tea in the other. "I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about. There's no reason at all why any of us would be stressed. This is has been a most enjoyable, uneventful pleasure cruise."
Rolling her eyes, Annie did click her tongue in frustration this time. "Why I bother trying to take care of you lot, I'll never know," the child said grumpily, sounding for all the world like an aged matron.
"You'll have to try harder than that, my dear girl," Gwalcavad said, a mixture of amusement and perhaps even fondness in his voice as he reached over and tweaked one of her buns. At Annie's offended glare, he actually grinned at her before taking an exaggerated sip of the tea.
Annie couldn't help but smile back. At this rate, she may succeed in getting him to laugh yet. The two settled into a companionable silence, each drinking their tea.
The cleric's hand continued its way down Eredrog's back, the wolf helpfully standing up so that it was easier for her to reach. Even though she sat on the stool, the wolf's head was now higher than she was. Annie set her half-drank tea on Gwalcavad's desk so she could more thoroughly pet the wolf, studiously ignoring the way the spy watched her every movement.
She had progressed to scratching at the base of Eredrog's tail before Gwalcavad spoke again, "Tell me, how does one of House Jorasco's child prodigies end up running around with a band of mercenaries?"
Hands spasmed on the wolf's back. Though Annie had steadily gained a veneer of sophistication since "running around with a band of mercenaries," she was not yet so sophisticated to control her surprise at the spy's question. Annie had to open her mouth three times before she could formulate an answer.
"Whatever would make you think I'm one of 'House Jorasco's child prodigies?'" the girl asked weakly.
Gwalcavad just looked at her. "I've worked with my fair share of healers, many three times your age, and they have not had half your ability to heal the wounded," he said.
"Arawei gives many gifts to her children. Mine happen to lay in aiding life to regain its full strength," Annie said, as if by rote. "So the priests of Arawei have told me."
During her little speech, Gwalcavad had placed his tea beside hers on the desk. As Annie finished, the spy gave a slow, but quiet, clap. "Very good. If you'd done that first, I might be a bit more inclined to believe your misdirection," he told her. At the tension apparent in the halfling's tiny frame, Gwalcavad sighed and ran one hand through his hair, making it stand up in twelve directions. "Annie... Anora, I mean you no harm. You know that. I'm just genuinely curious how a girl who can close a gaping wound in the shoulder of pirate to where it doesn't even leave a scar managed to wind up..." Gwalcavad gestured vaguely about the room, "...here.
Annie glared at the spy over Eredrog's back, causing the wolf to look between his human and the girl in confusion. He'd been set to guard the halfling on numerous occasions, and she'd always reciprocated with excellent ear rubs. He didn't understand the tension between the two now.
Seconds loudly ticked by on one of the clocks, the snores having gone quiet, before the halfling exhaled, shoulders slumping. I'm too tired for this. Aloud, Annie said, "My sister, Alia, and I left House Jorasco after my mother died. I don't know why--Alia has never told me, and I have never asked." Here Annie straightened back up, staring the Dark Lantern in the eye. "I spent a year living amongst the priests of Arawei, seeing my sister only rarely. When the, um... incident... in Ninety-Nine happened," a wonderful euphemism for the coup that occurred there, "Alia entrusted Ky to get me out of there. I've stayed with Ky ever since. Sooner or later she'll catch back up with us."
The spy slowly nodded, and was that a look of regret on his face? Why? Because he'd pushed to know from whence I came, or because he already knows more than I myself do?
"Ah. I forget sometimes that you are not actually from Sharn." Unlikely, but a pleasant fiction none the less. "In Breland, a healer of your skill would have had a very hard time leaving House Jorasco. In that place, though, many stranger things have happened," noted Gwalcavad with a wry tone.
When Annie said nothing, an apologetic look softened his features. "I beg your forgiveness, Anora. I did not intend to frighten you. We are both tired, and this was ill-done of me," Gwalcavad said, a surprisingly earnest cant to his voice.
Annie actually laughed. The sight of the normally reserved man looking contrite and making a formal apology was the last reaction she had expected.
"I was not frightened," Annie declared, putting her hands on her hips as though more offended at that notion than his inquiring into her past. "Now, I know you aren't done with your missive," another grown-up word successfully deployed, "so get back to work. When you're done, rustle Ameron out of bed and get some sleep." Annie glanced at his now-cold tea, "Otherwise, I'll have to go ahead and slip you something as well." Quicksilver, thy name is Annie.
It was Gwalcavad's turn to look surprised. After the abrupt shift in the halfling's mood and the sudden scolding, the spy actually had the audacity to chuckle.
Oh, yes, --now-- you laugh for me. You absolutely infuriating, incomprehensible, frustrating example of a... a... a human!
Grumbling something about insane Breelish men, (and privately wondering at her strange mood-swings--they were most unlike her) Annie shook her head with irritation as she headed towards the door leading out. She paused briefly in front of Aurora, unable to restrain an urge to peer intently at the Eladrin's unseeing face. Still creepy.
"Where are you headed?" Gwalcavad asked, looking much more sober of a sudden.
"To find some breakfast on this gods-forsaken ship. If you're nice I might even bring you something back," Annie said.
"Don't worry about me. My healer gave me strict orders to finish my work and go to bed. I try not to upset someone who may be poking needles in me later," Gwalcavad replied as he turned back towards the paperwork.
"As if I'd have to resort to such barbaric practices," the little halfling sniffed, though a mollified smile was beginning to peak through. "I'll catch see you later today then, Gwalcavad."
The man waved one hand absently in fare well, already returning his attention back to his writings. Sooner or later Annie would get a chance to study his cipher.
She hadn't gone more than ten feet from the stateroom behind her when Annie heard the human's voice through the open door, though she couldn't hear what he said. Three seconds later Eredrog padded out and came up to where she stood.
"Why doesn't anyone trust me to walk around this place alone?" Annie wondered aloud. Eredrog just sat back on his haunches, staring down at her eyes. With a wry smile, the halfling laid one hand on the wolf's head and scratched his ears. "Come on, Eredrog. Let's go find everyone some breakfast."

One step at a time...

Today, in many ways, marks the true beginning of the new year for me. Oh, yes, we had wonderful New Years celebration and we are already three days into 2011, but today is the day all of my friends and family are back home and going about their normal lives. It's also the day when Sam and I get back into the saddle regarding diet and exercise.

Yes, there will be much whining tomorrow about how my thighs hurt after exercising on that blasted bicycling machine.

Here are my goals for Monday, January 3, 2011:

• Take down and pack up all of the Christmas decorations
• Put the furniture back in place in that corner so all of the music stuff is no longer cramped together
• Clean-up and post some pictures from my new camera
• Dishes and laundry
• Post to my blog
• Look through my new cookbooks and start making this week's meal plan
• Head to the gym with Sammy tonight
• Play more Final Fantasy XIII

We'll see how many of these we manage to accomplish today. It's a packed list, but I think it's doable. Just waiting for my hair to finish drying before taking the plunge. 

Hope you're all equally productive!

Blessings Innumerable

All the cool kids are doing some type of 'Year in Review' this week to celebrate the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011. GeekDad has a Top 10 posts of the year, Whatever reflected on the past year yesterday, TPM decided to review the past year by giving out awards for various political stunts. Closer to home, will gave us his Top 7 theatre moments from the past year, and Literary Cat gave us an overview of her, well, literary adventures.

Since I am a sheep and follow the direction my peers and idols point, I figured I should also do some way of recapping the past year. Thus, in no particular order, here are a few of the blessings I've received and learned from in 2010:

• God has a plan. Sam and I managed to get by on $600 a month of income plus food stamps for 6 months this year. Looking back, I'm still not certain how God managed to pull us through Sam's last semester in grad school, but somehow He managed.
• Take Nothing For Granted. Up until this year, I'd never truly known what it was like to be completely without and having to rely on God. Because we had to, however, I appreciate so much more everything Sam and I have.

• Sam got his Masters in Music. That right there is a huge reason to celebrate. I couldn't tell you the number of times Sam and I discussed his dropping out of the program, and I am incredibly proud of him for sticking through it.
• Moving back amongst friends and family. When I graduated from college, I thought I'd left this town far behind. Some might consider moving back to one's secondary home-town a failure in life, but it has been a wonderful blessing in mine. My in-laws are here, my sister is here, and many of my friends from college are still here. The beginning of 2010 was lonely, but the end was all I could have hoped for.
• Learning to care for my home. Teenage me would never have predicted that I'd one day be a housewife and be happy about it. But I derive a great deal of pleasure, pride, and accomplishment from caring for my home, paying the bills, cooking meals for my Sammy, and doing my best to live up to Proverbs 31:10-31. 

• Bringing Tiger back into the fold. After nearly five years apart, my first cat has rejoined the pride. The first month or so was pretty rough, what with all three cats fighting because no one knew just what was going on. Once Tiger figured out though that she was here to stay and calmed down, though, she became an incredibly sweet addition to our little family.
• We have a new nephew! Speaking of sweet additions to the family, Sam's sister had a new baby boy last October. Even though we still haven't managed to go see him, we were both very excited for her and her family. 

Over all, I'd say that this was possibly one of the best years I've had yet, even if the first half of the year were rough and stressful in many ways. Sam and I have survived our first year of marriage, and I find myself thankful and hopeful heading in to the New Year.

Happy New Year everyone! Praise God, and may 2011 bring you joy and great happiness!

Checking out today

Literary Cat is coming over to play today, and then the whole crew is getting together to hang out tonight. As I've just finished all of my chores for the day, that doesn't leave much time for blogging.

But don't worry, I still love you!

(Yes, even you.)

And to show it, I'm going to leave you with a fun link that you can play with for hours. Or, at least, Sam, Sherri, and I have all played with this for hours....

There and back again

Glad to see that my experiment with the Blogger scheduler worked out. On the other hand, it does remove one more excuse for why I don't update all the time. Ah well.

As to our trip, some things did go sadly "wonky" over Sam and I's Christmas Vacation, but we did make it safely home yesterday afternoon. Some of you may remember I had a bit of a nasty cold in the middle of the month, but after a few days of laying around watching cartoons got to feeling much better. By the time the Christmas Party rolled around, we were both in tip top shape and had a fantastic time hanging out with all of our friends.

The next day (or maybe it was two days) all of us got together again to continue our latest adventure in D&D with the big group, and while we were there my nose was constantly running and I was downing pain killers for the sore throat that was developing. Hip Gamer noticed what I was doing and nonchalantly pointed out that if I had strep he was sorry, as he'd gone to the doctor the previous week and they'd put him on anti-biotics, though they didn't think he'd actually gotten strep. Walking Hyperbole then chimed in and explained he and Adorable Nurse had had horrible sore throats and coughing the previous week.

Oi vey.

The night we went over to Sam's parents for Christmas with them, I was noticing more drainage and coughing, so I tried to keep everyone at arm's length. By the time we left for Kansas the following morning, my voice was crackly and could not hit any of the upper registers. Which made me very sad, as it meant A) No singing Christmas Carols during the car ride and B) I had a raging headache/sore throat while riding in a car. But I could still torment Sam.

After we'd finished all of our Christmas Eve celebrations at my parents' that night, my voice was completely gone and I was utterly out of it. As there was a remote chance it was strep and not just a bad cold, Sam called his sister to see if she wanted us to go ahead and continue on to Kansas City the next day. We both really, really wanted to see our niece and new nephew, but we also did not want to get the new baby (or big sister who loves cuddling with the new baby) sick.

Everybody wanted to see each other, but they finally decided that as much as they love us, they did not want to risk a houseful of sick children. Completely understandable. Instead, the hope is to get up there around the end of January and see them then.

That decision resolved, I went and collapsed into bed.

Am I the only one who thinks McCoy looks like Gollum here?

What followed was a joyfully hazy time of sleep, movies (including ST IV), food, sleep, Nintendo, sleep, card games, pictures, and, oh yes, sleep. It took a few days, but by the time Monday rolled around I had my voice back and was coughing only occasionally, so we went and visited my Grandma Nena  (Hi Grandma!). It was an enjoyable afternoon, filled with good conversations, food, and the final round of Christmas fun.

And yes, I did bring home more recipes from Grandma. Good things will come of us this.

Trust me.

We made it back to my parents' house that night, and concluded our final evening with my parents by watching Sam participate in a long-standing family tradition--he beat Ganon in the original Zelda.

Yesterday morning, Sam and I packed ourselves up in the Jeep and headed on back to Oklahoma. It was a fantastic trip, all things considered, even if I was sick and we didn't make it all the way up to see Sam's sister and her family.

I hope everyone else had a wonderful Christmas!

With any luck, Sammy and I will be home tonight, unless things have gone considerably wonky since last Thursday. Tomorrow I should hopefully be able to pick back up on blogging in real time, and be able to share with all of you our adventures.

Thank you to those of you who have checked in over the weekend. Especially that person in Russia who keeps visiting the site. You know who you are.

Any way, I thought I'd share a final couple of Christmas videos. (Yes, I'm copying off of will. I never claimed to be original.)






All I have to say is Chip and Dale have an uncanny knack for picking trees. Just saying....

Failing Illusions

Christmas when I was six. 

There comes a time in the life of every child, when they learn that Santa isn't real. For some it happens as they approach middle school. For others, it happens much, much earlier.

I figured it out when I was 4 years old.

My grandparents had moved back into town the previous summer, and were now living in a small retirement complex where my Grandma Nena still lives to this day. My parents had driven down with my brother and I on Christmas Eve, or perhaps the day before. After 20-odd years, some of the details are hazy in my mind.

I do remember the tree that was set up in the corner of the living room, positioned so you could see it whether you were in the living room or the kitchen. Presents were piled up beneath the tree, and I happily helped my mother unload our presents from the car to put under the tree.

The day progressed, and there was much laughing and talking, food and card games. While the adults were playing bridge (or perhaps it was hand and foot?), I played in my Grandmother's bedroom, chattering at myself the whole time. In the course of my play, my doll fell off the bed onto the opposite side of the room, and when I went to retrieve it, several presents wrapped in brown paper and ribbon were piled on that side.

Confused, I pattered back out to the living room, announcing, "Mama, Mama, we missed some of the presents that need to be under the tree!"

I imagine the panicked looks that the other adults must have been exchanging, but I honestly don't remember them. My mother looked at me with a surprised expression, "Where are they?" she asked.

"Next to Grandma Nena's bed! Come look!" I told her, leading them to her bedroom.

But when we got there, there were no presents.

I was now genuinely upset. "But they were there! I promise!"

"Well, if they were, they're not now. But it's time for dinner now, sis," said my brother as they lead me back to the front room.

We settled in and around the dining room table, and soon all thoughts of the mystery presents disappeared from my head. After dinner, Grandpa Jim insisted on all of us piling into the van and driving around town, looking at all of the pretty houses glowing with Christmas lights and good cheer. When we got back to the house, Aunt Di read my brother and I the Christmas story.

Soon it was time for presents, and I fleetingly thought of the packages I'd seen earlier, but they never made an appearance that evening. Before long it was time for little girls to be in bed.

The next morning, there was much excitement because, of course, Santa had been to visit during the night. When my sleepy head padded out to the front room, what did I see beneath the tree?

Brown paper packages tied up with string.

A couple of other, less noble, Christmas stories....

I am fan of John Scalzi's blog. In fact, I've gotten my friend, Literary Cat, hooked on his blog as well. It's fantastic.

Last week, he posted two separate stories on his blog, the first about the Inn-keeper from the tale of Mary and Joseph, and second about the much less known Christmas Bunny.

If you're not sick of all things Christmas yet, I highly recommend you got check them out!

The Christmas Story

Luke 2:1-20
New International Version


  In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirnius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register.
  So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son.  She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
  And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.  But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid.  I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.
  Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
  "Glory to God in the highest heaven,
 and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests."
  When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."
  So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.  When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

The Animals of YouTube Present....

So, I lied about not posting anything further while we're gone. I think I've figured out how to have posts pop up on a schedule, so here's hoping this works! If this shows up just minutes after the previous post, well, then I have failed and everyone will get my extra filler post a day early, and I'll have to go back to the drawing board.

Ah well.

It's nothing much, but I thought these two videos would help to get everyone in the Christmas mood! :-D

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

Tonight begins our five day Christmas extravaganza, as we're going to have a full turkey dinner (second one this week!) with Sam's parents and do a small gift exchange.

Tomorrow, we're driving up to my parents' house for Christmas Eve. I predict that there will be chili, presents, and card games. We've decided to leave tomorrow morning instead of when we'd originally planned (when Sam gets off work), due to inclement weather that's supposed to hit the Kansas area tomorrow evening. As Sam put it, after last year's Christmas Blizzard (which I hope to write about next week), if he's going to be trapped by weather he wants it to be in Kansas instead of Oklahoma.

Christmas Day we're going to drive up to Kansas City (hopefully) and see Sam's sister and her family. After all, there's a new nephew and precocious niece to spoil!

If that works out, we'll stay over night in Kansas City, and then go back to my parents' house Sunday afternoon/evening. Again, providing the weather is cooperative. Monday we're driving out to see my Grandma Nena and then back to my parents' house, a 5 hour round trip. It'll be good to see her again! :-D Finally, on Tuesday we'll come back home, just in time for Sammy to go back to work on Wednesday.

Why am I telling you all of this? To explain why I'm going completely off of the grid for the next few days. At least, I figure that's what'll happen, unless I think of something. But no worries--I'll soon be back with lots of cute, happy stories, as well as more pictures of kitty cats. Scout's honor!

So remember dear friends, take joy in your friends and family, be they far or near, and never forget that even if there's no one at home with you on Christmas, the baby boy whose birth we celebrate is with you.

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Faithful friends who are dear to us...

Outside, two pillars of red and green framed a porch drenched in icicle lights as a lightly chilled wind blew dark clouds across an eclipsing moon.

Inside, the house was cheery and bright. A modest tree stood before the front window, decorated with angels and ornaments found over the years. Beneath the tree, a pile of presents steadily grew as each group of guests arrived. Stockings were hung on the wall with care, between shelves laden with books and holiday trinkets.

Ensconced in the big chair sat Walking Hyperbole, his hand unconsciously running through Adorable Nurse's hair as she sat on the floor in front of him. Hip Gamer gestured and talked animatedly from his place on the couch, a holiday drink in hand. Beside him lounged Rapier Wit, long, lanky legs splayed before him, while Gleeful Traveler sat also on the floor and leaned against Hip Gamer's legs. Curled in a large, leather office chair next to Rapier Wit, Literary Cat relaxed and watched the proceedings with a knowing gaze. Sher-bear nibbled a cookie made especially for her while she sat at the table, with the occasional laughing exchange with Literary Cat.

My Sam was perched on the keyboard chair, leaning his chin against the back of the chair, just behind Walking Hyperbole and Hip Gamer. I sat at the table with Literary Cat and Sherri, soaking in the joy of having my family in my home.

We sat and watched as images from the past five years flickered across the screen, while Christmas Carols intermixed with Fall Out Boy, Flogging Molly, Great Big Sea, Lily Allen, and Five Iron Frenzy in the background.

As a picture of Adorable Nurse playing amongst rocks and waves came on the screen, she said "I love that shot of me!"

"I really miss that shirt. Whatever happened to it?" Hip Gamer wondered as another picture from his college days appeared.

Walking Hyperbole sat up a little straighter, "I really have lost weight already. That makes me feel awesome!"

Another picture scrolled across the screen. "Whoa! Check out Sam's monstrous beard!" Hip Gamer said.

I piped in, "That was taken my senior year, so yes, we have proof that he and I did meet at school."

"That was your birthday party Rapier Wit, remember?" Sam added.

Rapier Wit beamed. "That's right! Does this mean I can officially take credit for your relationship now?"

Meanwhile a portrait of Sherri in Central Park came up.

"That's a great picture of you, Sher-bear," said Adorable Nurse.

"Thank you!" she said, only a trifle bashful.

On the television, Literary Cat and Rapier Wit posed at their wedding.

"And that's a picture of Literary Cat going 'I'm tired of taking pictured now," Adorable Nurse laughed.

"I'd been taking pictures all morning before we even got there! Yeah, I was tired of it," Literary Cat replied.

"There's a lot of pictures from weddings on there," I said. "Weddings are about the only time we take pictures when all of us are together."

Rapier Wit gave the couple next to him a sly grin, "Hear that Hip Gamer? It's up to you to have the next wedding so we can take pictures again."

At that point Hip Gamer decided it was time for all of us to open presents.


Friends are the family we choose for ourselves.
--Edna Buchanan

Recovery

Sam and I are doing much better, and the rest of the day will be taken up with helping the house recover from 3 days of neglect. Then tomorrow will be all about baking and making stuff for the Christmas party on Monday.

As such, I'm going to be away the next day or two, so I thought I'd share this bit of wisdom I came across this morning. Why didn't he tell me this 20+ years ago?



If my father were to tell me one thing, and Sir Patrick Stewart was to tell me another, I don't know who I'd be more inclined to believe. That wonderful voice! O.O