Listsssss

So I'm sitting at home.  Alone.  Watching Juno.  I love this movie for so many reasons, but the most important is because it reminds me of my best friend from high school.  We went to see the movie at the theater when if first came out and had an excellent time.  And yes, we both wanted Juno to end up with Jason Bateman's character.  It doesn't make us terrible people.  I promise.
Anyway....
This week I've been thinking a lot lately (one of the down sides to having so much free time on my hands).  Here is a list of all the things I miss from the 'wonder years' (yeah I threw up a little when I wrote that):
1.  My worries about guys were if I'd get asked out on a date, not whether or not I'd end up married or alone for the rest of my life.
2.  I wasn't committed to any one specific career path.
3.  My friends and I were inseparable.  I haven't spoken to Troy since May and even then it really hasn't been since December; Jessica and I really only see each other for an hour or so and talk infrequently; etc...
4.  Classes were a joke, now I have legitimate work
5.  I didn't get paid absolute crap at my job.
6.  Cleaning my stuff consisted of cleaning my room, not a kitchen, living room, dining room bedroom and bathroom.
7.  When I needed a hug, my mom was just around the corner.
8.  My dogs were never more than 10 feet away, not 3 hours away.
9.  I could watch tv shows like CSI, Criminal Minds, Dexter, etc without terrifying myself to death about being a single woman living alone.
10.  My dad would iron my shirts for me.
Publish Post
All of these are all the reasons I miss life when I was in high school.  Readers, (if I do in fact have them) What do you miss from your 'wonder years'?

Weekend Update

Last week, I tried making my Grandmother's Clothespin Cookies.   She used to sell them and they were supposedly delicious!  Well I tried making them and let's just say, it didn't end well.  I tried making them and let's start with the dough takes about 5 solid hours to make.  So when I finally got that done, I moved onto the filling. Well to do that you have to cook pudding but some words of caution: DON'T leave the pudding alone...I burnt the pudding and I'm pretty sure I ruined a pan.  I tried making the filling a second time and it didn't work out then either. Well I initially wrote it off as a bad recipe but it turns out I didn't read it all the way.  I am going to try the recipe again and when it undoubtedly turns out perfectly (wishful thinking) I will be posting away!

Over the weekend, I got to spend time with my adorable puppies, Baxter and Bonnie, and my big sister!! She finally came home from her internship!! I'm not going to lie, I'm not excited about having to share my apartment again but I sure am happy to have her back home!!

Homecoming!!

This week is going to be the BEST WEEK EVER!!! One of my best friends is coming to visit with me and have a slumber party!  We didn't get to talk a whole lot this summer because she was busy frolicking around in Spain and I was stuck here in my boring ol' college town!   Anyway!!! She is coming to visit me on WEDNESDAY! But before that, I get to have a tanning/pool date with a friend from Camp on Tuesday!! Who knows, maybe I'm actually becoming a social creature....!?!?  At the end of the week, I get the BEST end of summer present that I could EVER ask for!!  My seester is coming home from Iowa!!! She's finally coming back!! She's been gone since the end of May and it's the longest we've ever been apart!  Needless to say, as much as I complain about her during the school year, I do miss her dearly!  Maybe remind me about this come November.... :)

Nostalgia

So since I was soo busy at camp, I didn't have much time to miss my sister who's millions of miles away or my puppies and parents back home.  Now that all of that is done and I'm back to my normal schedule, I got a wee bit nostalgic.  When I went home this weekend, I got to spend time with my parents and my puppies.  One thing that I learned while I was home was that my Grandmother on my Dad's side of the family (deceased) was quite the cook.  Apparently she used to make all of these fantastic dinners and would go all out for every dinner.  We kept talking and I found out that she used to sell cookies.  Specifically these clothespin cookies.  I don't remember having ever eaten them or really her baking or cooking that much.  Most of the time our trips to visit them included a trip to Raptis Family Restaurant - A local 'dive' that knew my grandparents by name!  I really want to make the clothespin cookies for my Dad as sort of a surprise or something and so I messaged my cousin to see if she knew who got the recipes.  As it turns out, she has all of my Grandma's recipes and she said that some of them are os old they're nearly falling apart!  My cousin said that she's been trying to find the time lately to get some of the recipes and things together to send to me since she knows that I love to cook and bake just like her!  She even said she'd part with an apron for me!!  It's the little things like that make my day! :)

Whiney McWhinerson

So this is definitely a blog post where you should either call the waaambulance or tell me that I should work for the airport "COME PLANE, COME PLANE!" (get it?)  So if you're not into that, then just ignore this post and check back with me in a day or two!

Some days, you just want to do things your way.  It's like Burger King, "Have it your way."  That's all I want.  There have been quite a few times this week where I've felt neglected, ignored, and flat out forgotten.  My way might not always be best and it might not always be perfect, but there is reasoning behind it.  So could you PLEASSE just hear me out for two seconds?!  All the girl counselors want to dress like gangstas.  Now that's fine when you're a size 2 and want to throw on some baggy clothes and borrow your boyfriend's basketball shorts, but when your a fatty like me, you don't want to have to buy the extra large just to have some extra room and a new pair of shorts that you'll never wear again.  No.  I would like to wear the adorable floral dress that I bought forever ago with my cowboy boots.  I just want to wear something cute, do my hair all sweet and have some pretty make up on.  But no.  ALL of the girls are doing this gangsta thing.  Yet, no matter how many times everyone assures me that everyone is participating, I can't help but feel like it's just some ruse to make me look like a fool.  And ya know what? I don't like the way that feels.

Hiatus

So I know that Camp is all consuming and everything but...... A shooting in Norway, Amy Winehouse dying, something going on with the national debt, AND Borders is going out of business??? Seriously, I leave the real world for camp world for three weeks and THIS is what happens??!?!?!? GEEZE!!
I'll be back to blogging soon!!

This One Time at YAP Camp...

I am going to wholeheartedly apologize right now for the plethora of YAP camp stories that I'm going to be sharing.

So this camp is for Gifted and Talented kids and while I don't want to go too much into the logistics of our camp days and lives, it's basically like this:  We live in an off campus dorm, and each morning we take our kids to their class in the morning for a few hours, then go back to the dorm for lunch, then go back to class for another couple of hours and then come back for some downtime/group activity and then dinner and another activity or something. Then the counselors get together and we meet and then we have free time to dod whatever...a.k.a. sleep and go back home to get the things we forgot.
ANYWAY....
Before camp started, I made cupcakes as a "Welcome to Camp" surprise for the counselors.  This is what I ended up with:

Chocolate Cupcakes with a Whipped Chocolate Fudge Frosting 

I also made a fellow counselor a birthday cake this week.  I did the same chocolate cake that I used for the cupcakes, made the fudge frosting the filling and didn't make it as thick.  Then I iced it/decorated it with the basket weave that I learned as mentioned in a previous post with a blue tinted vanilla buttercream.  It was pretty tasty but I won't be posting any pictures because it was pretty messy.  A word of caution:  when piping buttercream, you want to make SURE that it is thin enough to pipe easily.  If not, you will not only take FOREVER, it'll make your hand hurt ridiculously badly the next day.  You can thin it out with water, or milk.  I used milk but not enough so it was still reallllllly thick.  

HOPEFULLY, I'll be able to post again fairly soon, but no promises because downtime is limited and mostly used for sleeping.