Ornaments and plane rides and nerves, oh my!

The lovely Jessica organized a small ornament swap between a few bloggers this year. I got a very late start on it (see last post) but I got them finished and set out on the due date. Hurrah!

They're little mugs of hot cocoa complete with marshmallows! I hand sewed all of them and I absolutely loved making them. I loved it so much that I am in the process of cutting out more of them to sew up on the plane ride home. (Attention little cousins: you will be getting a hand sewn ornament. Surprise!)

Our plane leaves at 7:20AM AKT. I am so so so nervous. Not so much about the flight (although it did occur to me that someone could hijack the plane so now I have to worry about it crashing and hijackers. [Please don't ask how I could forget about planes being hijacked. Yes, I am an American. I know, I have no excuse.]) I'm very nervous to see my family. It's been a year and three months since I've seen any member of my family and for some unknown reason, I've made myself sick worrying! I've felt nauseous all day and my heart feels like it's fluttering (also causing me to worry if my Long QT Syndrome is back. That sh-t is scary.) Kyle assures me everything will be ok but I can't help it. I get nervous about everything. Ev.ery.thing.

So the next time I blog, I'll be in Florida. Well, I don't know if I'll have time to blog down there but I'll still be on Twitter. Mostly because I should be able to tweet from my phone again. (Emphasis on "should." Suck it, Verizon.) Rest assured that when I get back to Anchorage, I'll have lots of pictures to share. Beach pictures, Sea World & Busch Gardens pictures, (I am so excited to go to Busch Gardens I CANNOT STAND IT AHHHH), and new baby cousin pictures for sure.

Have a wonderful holiday and a fantastic new year!

Breathe

I've barely had time to breathe lately, let alone blog.

Finals (which if I don't pass, I'll fail the whole class.)
A (huuuuge) wholesale order.
Christmas gift buying and wrapping (still not done, and they should have been mailed out yesterday.)
Photo shoots.
Ornament exchange crafting.
Oh, and work. I keep forgetting I have a real job.

I've been trying so very hard to keep my head above water and I guess I have. I've been thisclose to a mental breakdown several times this week but tomorrow the finals will be over and the wholesale order finished. Then I'll sit on the couch with a big mug of tea and watch Glee and all will be right with the world.

In two weeks, we will be on a plane to Orlando to be with our families to celebrate Christmas and ring in 2010. I can hardly wait for a break from work! Not to mention sunshine, warm weather, and the beach. I love you, Anchorage, but we need to take a little break.

Pumpkin Roll Recipe

Several years ago, at my dad's company Christmas party, his boss' wife made something called a pumpkin roll. It was so delicious that my mom asked for the recipe and tucked it away in a cabinet. I don't remember when it was dug out, but it was and I was the one to bake it. I had no idea what I had just gotten myself into.

Everyone loved it. (Because it is FREAKING DELICIOUS.) My dad and I baked at least 3 or 4 every holiday season for 3 or 4 years straight. I had people asking for them at Easter. (WTH, family? Eat your Peeps and be quiet.) I had a cousin hijack my aunt's cell phone last Thanksgiving to ask me where his pumpkin roll was. Someone else had made it and it wasn't as good as mine. I don't do anything special to them so I think their issues are psychological.

Anyway, on with the recipe! We're gonna do this Alton Brown style, but without all the scientific info.

The dry team

• 1 cup sugar (I think I normally do 3/4 of a cup, though.)
• 3/4 cup all-all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
  
  

The wet team

• 3 eggs
• 2/3 cup of pumpkin
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  
  

For the filling

You don't need this stuff right now but I'd go ahead and take the cream cheese out to soften.

• 8oz. softened cream cheese
• 4 tablespoons butter or margarine
  
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Other things you need because this thing is involved

• A mixer
  
• A 10 x 15in. jelly roll pan (I used our cookie sheet and it worked fine.)
• A clean kitchen towel
• Wax paper
• Crisco or another nonstick spray

Let's get cooking!

Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees.

Start by mixing the sugar and eggs. Once you have that, add in the pumpkin and lemon juice. Yum.

In a separate bowl, combine all of your dry ingredients.

Mix it up by gradually adding the dry to the wet. Adding it gradually is more to avoid having a flour mess all over yourself. Now it's yum for real.

Spray your pan with Crisco (I'm sure you don't have to but I do out of paranoia) and line it with wax paper. Spray the wax paper with Crisco, spread your mixture evenly in the pan, and bake for about 15 minutes.

Once it's done, take it out and let it cool for another 10-15min. While that's cooling, roll out your kitchen towel and sprinkle it with powdered sugar.

Lay the pumpkin roll on the towel, wax paper side up. Start peeling the wax paper away. If you used enough Crisco and the cake is cool enough, it should come right off. If it's a little difficult to get off, let it cool a little more. If it's still difficult to get off, I have no idea what you did and I don't want credit for this recipe. (But really, I don't know what to tell you.)

Sprinkle a little powdered sugar on top of it and roll it up with the towel inside. I know, it's crazypants. The first time my dad told me to do that I was like, "Um, no." But do it. And then let it cool in the fridge while you make the filling.

Start by mixing the butter and cream cheese together. Once that's mixed, add in the powdered sugar (gradually to avoid a mess!) and vanilla. Mix it until it's smooth and creamy, like the picture. I almost feel like you could make a little less filling and be ok, like maybe take out 1/4 of all the ingredients.

Once the cake part is cooled, take it out and unroll it. Spread the filling inside. This part can be really messy and I don't like it. (On the upside, you get to lick this yummy filling off of your fingers!)

Roll it up, sans towel, and you have a pumpkin roll! I like to freeze mine before cutting because it helps them stay together a little better. (These freeze so well. You can make multiples at Thanksgiving and freeze the remainders until Christmas and they're just as good as the day you made them.)

Cut into 1/4-1/2in. slices and enjoy!

Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving '09 was, I'm not going to lie, probably the best Thanksgiving ever. It was so stress-free, we hung out with friends and just had fun. There was...

Eggnog (which I don't drink but it looks nice anyway.)

Pumpkin roll (made by me, recipe coming soon!)

Shots of Jack.

Modern Warfare 2. (With seven guys and only three girls, what did you expect?)

And pirate cat, who likes to sit on people's shoulders.

I hope everyone else had a fantastic Thanksgiving!

Thankful.

This year I am thankful for many things.

• My husband.
• My cats.
• My family in Florida.
• My new friends. (I have friends, yall!)
• My job.
• My home. (Nothing makes you appreciate a warm home more than seeing a homeless person in the snow. Absolutely heartbreaking.)
• A truly amazing year in Alaska. (And Alaska in general. It's pretty cool up here.)
• Musicals. (Holy eff, you guys. Rent brings me so much joy. It should be illegal.)
• Bigelow Pumpkin Spice tea. (That makes me feel like when you're six and you say you're thankful for your puffy stickers or something. It's totally superficial but something I'm glad I have in my life.)

I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving! (And if you're not in the US, have a safe and wonderful Thursday!)

You get caught singing Miley Cyrus ONE time...

Yesterday Kyle (he's home!) was getting ready to go snowboarding while I was getting ready to go to the gym. He insisted we leave at the same time even though we were going different places. (I know. Don't ask me.)

Me (putting my shoes on, singing very quietly): It's so hard with my girls not around me, it's definitely not a Nashville party. All I see are stilettos, I guess I never got the memo.
Kyle: What?
Me: Nothing, just singing.
Kyle: Yea, I know. But it sounded like...Miley Cyrus.
Me: Um...no. No. Definitely not.
Kyle: Yes you were! HYPOCRITE!
Me: Ok, I was. And I've never said anything bad about Miley...how am I a hypocrite?
Kyle: You said...Hannah Montana...HYPOCRITE!
Me: I've also never said anything about Hannah Montana. And they're not even the same person!
Kyle: YES THEY ARE.

So the rest of the night, he would tease me about it. We couldn't find anything to watch on TV but Hannah Montana was on. And since I had been recording all of his favorite shows while he was gone, we watched the Hannah Montana episode of Family Guy.

So later that night, with him still teasing me, I said, "Honey? I'm really concerned about the fact that you know a Miley Cyrus song when you hear one." He used the "I just got off of TDY where I didn't have control of the radio in the van so I had to listen to what everyone else listened to, which is top 40."

I tell you, if I've heard that once, I've heard that a thousand times.

Hug a Soldier

It's Veterans Day here in the states. Honestly, it didn't mean much to me until Kyle joined the military. Now it's kind of special. When Kyle gets out of the air force, he will be a veteran.

Newspaper clipping about my grandpa. He was an air force pilot during WWII. He joined when it was still the army air corp. (it became the air force in 1947 so...yea) and retired in the 60s or 70s. When I first showed Kyle this clipping, he said, "Megan? Your grandpa was a badass." Yes, I know. I only wish that he was still here. He never met Kyle and I know they would have gotten along famously. (Famously? Who am I this morning?)

So thank you, grandpa, for fighting in one of the worst wars of the 20th century and defending our freedom. Thank you to all soldiers, active duty, retired, and fallen. Thank you to my husband, cousins, father in law, and uncles who have all served. And that awesome Vietnam vet we met on the way up here. Thank you, sir.