The Ungrinchification of Ansley

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas, finally.

I have been a little grumpy for the last week, not really negative grumpy, just not overly positive and ready for Christmas. So what helped me kick the grump habit? I had tried having a Christmas party, going to Christmas parties, and decorating my apartment, all to only small avail. So here's what did it; making Christmas cookies while singing along to a new Christmas mix. And just in case you're still struggling to get Christmasy (or stay that way while fight crowds on the roads and in stores), here's the music and the recipe.

The music, click here if you want a copy:
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - Ella Fitzgerald
All I Want For Christmas Is You - Olivia Olson
Walking in a Winter Wonderland - Bing Crosby
Jingle Bell Rock - Bobby Helms
Frosty the Snowman - Fiona Apple
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! - Dean Martin
Baby It’s Cold Outside
Jingle Bells - Ella Fitzgerald
Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home) - U2
The Christmas Song - Nat King Cole
I’ll Be Home For Christmas - Aimee Mann
Have a Holly, Jolly Christmas - The Format
I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas - Ella Fitzgerald
It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas - Bing Crosby
Santa Baby - Eartha Kitt
Sleigh Ride - Ella Fitzgerald
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - Barenaked Ladies & Sarah McLachlan
It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
Santa Claus Is Coming to Town - Ella Fitzgerald
Last Christmas - Wham
What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve - Ella Fitzgerald

The recipe:
Chocolate Mint Cookies
Makes about 3 dozen

2/3 C packed brown sugar
1/3 c margarine or butter
1 T water
1 C semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 ¼ C flour
1 egg
½ tsp baking soda
About 18-36 Andes mints

In a saucepan, heat brown sugar, margarine, and water over medium heat just until melted, stirring constantly. Stir in chocolate chips until melted. Put mixture in a large bowl and let cool for 10-15 minutes. Add about half of the flour, the egg, and baking soda to the chocolate mixture. Mix until thoroughly combined. Stir in remaining flour (dough will be soft). Place tablespoon-sized blobs 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350° for 6-8 minutes. Let cool a bit but while still warm place ½ an Andes mint (or a whole one depending on what you like) on top of each cookie. As it melts, spread it around the cookie.

So that's the regular recipe. I wanted them to look more festive so I replaced part of the chocolate chips with the Andes mint so they had the same flavor but it was all in the cookie, then I melted white chocolate and spread it on top.This is my attempt at creating a double boiler. It worked and I love this photo because you can see my canisters from my grandma and also the CD player that was playing the mix. And my Portland mug, which always makes me smile.

While the white chocolate was still warm, I sprinkled red and green sugar on top.Lots and lots of cookies!

Then I wrapped small stacks in saran wrap and put then in red cellophane bags with the CD in it too, attached a homemade tag, and have gifts for friends and the Christmas spirit for myself.All ready to go for delivery. Happy Holidays!

Light in the Darkness

Today marks the winter solstice, the official start of winter, the shortest, darkest day of the year. While that seems dreary, I've been counting down the days as I count the accumulating snowflakes.

See it also marks the start of days getting longer. Whenever I feel cold or tired of the snow, or missing the warm weather, I can just go to weather.com, look at the sunrise and sunset times and see that the days are actually getting longer. Summer is coming!

Today also marks Tamara's birthday. It's like God knew if the earth would be the darkest today, it would need her light, her optimism, her smile to brighten it up. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!That's not her! It's her cute dog Watson. I thought his picture would make her smile more.

Getting Political As A Nurse, Sort Of

A few days ago I was thinking about all the funny things that have happened or that I have said in the 4 short months I've spent as a nurse. Sadly, right now I can only remember one, but it's my favorite. A little backstory without breaking the law and telling you too much about the patient. He had taken a mix of an estimated 75 anticonvulsants and psychiatric meds. He was very agitated and when asked any question would reply with full, coherent sentences that had nothing to do with the question asked.

Example: Q: Do you have any pain? A: When can I leave so I can meet my friends on safari in Africa?

So he hadn't peed the whole time in the ER so we bladder scanned him, a painless completely external procedure. He had almost a liter in his bladder but had no desire to try to pee. So the doctor asked us to place a catheter. No this is never fun for anyone but even less so with a patient who is delusional, irrational, thrashing around, and potentially violent.

So I agree to hold his arms and try to calm him down while the aide put it in. The whole time he is saying random stuff but right at the end this was the conversation:

Pt: What are you doing?
Me: We are putting in a catheter, we need to do this because you have so much urine in your bladder and that's dangerous.
Pt: My dad, the president, George Bush, wouldn't want you to do this to me
Me: You really need this and, yes, George Bush would want you to have this catheter.

You Don't Bring Me Flours Anymore

Earlier this week I saw Stranger Than Fiction instead of being outside in the cold and snow for Family Home Evening.

I loved this movie! I loved the premise, I loved Will Ferrell playing a different kind of character than usual, I loved all of the other characters, and I loved the attention to detail. Dustin Hoffman was hilarious as the Literature professor and I loved trying to figure out which novels he was mentioning as he questioned the events of Harold Crick's life. I love seeing Emma Thompson commit to her role of distracted, hermit author with all the idiosyncracies and affectations. I loved the architecture, color schemes, and the little details like when Harold is staying with his friend who loves space camp (Buster Bluth) the sleeping bag has the cosmos on it. I loved the play on words of flower/flour although it took me about 5 minutes to get the joke. But one of my favorite exchanges was this one...

Dr. Jules Hilbert: Hell Harold, you could just eat nothing but pancakes if you wanted.
Harold Crick: What is wrong with you? Hey, I don't want to eat nothing but pancakes, I want to live! I mean, who in their right mind, in a choice between pancakes and living, chooses pancakes?
Dr. Jules Hilbert: Harold, if you pause to think, you'd realize that that answer is inextricably contingent upon the type of life being led... and, of course, the quality of the pancakes.

And if you want that song that Harold plays, click here...

Brrrrrrr!

Winter is here and everyone keeps saying it'll be a bad one. It snowed last night. I was at work and through the hospital windows, it looked like a blizzard. The University Hospital is in the foothills so it gets more snow than the valley. Bacause the snow hit in the middle of the night, they hadn't cleared the streets yet in the morning and the day nurses couldn't get in. I had to stay at work almost an hour late to cover for some of them.

And then, to add insult to injury, I get into my car and Matt Costa's Cold December is playing..."It's going to be a cold december." I think he's right.

My Post-Halloween Post

Some friends started a CD club last year and October was the last month. It was also my month; my turn to create a mix CD and then send copies to the rest of the group. Some people made extremely varied mixes, some people had themes like songs about cities, states, and the United States for July, or Guilty Pleasures with everyting from Vanilla Ice to MC Hammer. I knew I could come up with a mix of Halloween songs but would they really be songs people would want to hear?

And then something really scary happened to me...My computer crashed. So here it is, my mix of songs I'm glad I still have, thanks to my trusty external hard drive. Some are old, some are fairly new, but all are favorites. If you want these songs, use this link to download them, the link should be active until Nov 11 or 12.

Here's the CD cover, this is what happens when you give a nerd a Mac...
1) Everyday is Halloween - The Postmarks - A very cotton-candy sweet version of the Ministry classic; had to throw a little Halloween in the mix

2) Come Around - Rhett Miller - One of my favorite singers, hard to pick just one song, so I picked the chorus to which I most relate.

3) The Greatest - Cat Power

4) Sick of Myself - Death Cab For Cutie - The original Matthew Sweet version has probably been on more of my mix tapes than any other song. And by using the cover I got in a DCFC song too. There's only so much space on a CD, folks.

5) Do The Whirlwind Metronomy Remix - Architecture in Helsinki - Neither Architects nor from Helsinki; they maybe liars but they are great musicians.

6) Could Be Anything - The Eames Era

7) Ooh Child - The Five Stairsteps - A great song, from a great soundtrack, from a great movie, from a great director - Crooklyn by Spike Lee

8) Coffee and TV - Blur - There's just something about a good Blur song, you have to sing along loudly in your car.

9) Cold December - Matt Costa - One of my new favorites by a cute boy who puts on a fun concert.

10) Baby I Know What You're Thinking - The Mendoza Line

11) Suddenly - Ryan Ferguson

12) Somebody I Used To Know - Elliott Smith - I was first introduced to Elliott Smith and this song on a mix CD by somebody I used to know. Life imitates art, I guess it's true.

13) Let's Stay Together - Al Green - A great song, from a great soundtrack, from a purportedly great movie and director, which I hated, Pulp Fiction - Still a great song.

14) Me and Mia - Ted Leo & The Pharmacists

15) Wild Horses - The Sundays - One of those songs that makes you get blurry-eyed and romantic, or is it just me...

16) I Know I Know I Know - Tegan & Sara - When it's done playing, I always hit repeat at least once. It's like Lay's potato chips, I can't have just one.

17) At Least I'm Honest - Tiger Baby

18) Tickets to Crickets - Ferraby Lionheart - Just found him a few days ago, but I like him so I thought I'd share.

19) Cold Hands Warm Heart - Brendan Benson

20) Naked As We Came - Iron & Wine - If you like it, buy their albums for more of the same beautiful lyrics and dream-inducing voice

21) Butterflies - The Arrogants - Just a cute little song by a band I like

22) Come Sing Me A Song - Sing-Sing - Wow lots of hyphens in this entry

23) I Turn My Camera On - Spoon - So hard to pick just one, I asked several friends and we all decided this was a good introduction if you don't know them and a favorite if you do.

All The Pretty Girls Go To The City

I'm not claiming anything about myself, I'm just quoting Spoon.

Did you miss me? Did you even know I was gone? I guess I'm not posting frequently enough to have my absence be very glaring.

I just spent about 5 days in NYC visiting my friend, Tamara. She has a great apartment up in Washington Heights. The best two things about it are that she can have pets and that it is big enough for me to visit.

I got there late Friday night/early Saturday morning. And after looking for the elusive parking spot back at Tam's and then staying up too late girl-talking, we had a hard time waking up and getting going on Saturday.

Saturday, after getting up after 1pm, we wandered through Greenwich Village and Bleeker street. I've been to NYC many times but without mountains to orient myself, I sometimes get turned around when I first surface from the subway. So it took us a while to figure out the right section of Bleeker street. Luckily, like most of life, good things happen even with the wandering.

A few years ago, I had been introduced to Beard Papa's, a great little cream puff shop from Japan with stores in NYC. Tam and I decided it was a must see and must eat. We googled it but then surprise, when we came out of the subway, there was one we hadn't even planned on. Cream puffs while wandering! Joy!

I had 2 goals, new necklaces and a new hat. I found a great red necklace while "lost."

We finaly made our way over to Bleeker St, visited lots of cute shops, a very popular Italian bakery with an even more popular bathroom, and then decided to wait in the line for some delcious thin crust brick oven pizza at John's. This is where I took my only picture of the whole trip. I carried my camera every day but I'm terrible at remembering to use it. And this is it, Tam and I eating pizza and our celebrity "sighting" Johnny Depp's picture above our table. Of course, his is the only face blurred out by the flash.
Sunday we went our separate ways and each met up with college friends for brunch. I've known Serge since my junior year when a girl in my poetry study group took me to meet the guy she had a crush on. Sadly, her story with him didn't last very long, but he and I have remained friends. I couldn't make it to his wedding in February to the "Lovely Sabrina" due to being a poor student. Catching up with him over strawberry waffles, delicious. We then met up with Tam, went to H&M, where Serge offered to give his opinion on clothes and hold my purse. He had told me he was The World's Best Husband, and while I am not prone to believe self-proclaimed titles, after this, I might just believe him.

We then went over to 6th and 26th, an area full of antique stores and flea markets. Again, cute necklaces for sale and I was buying.

That night we went over to Union Square and again, just wandered. Trader Joe's recently opened there and anyone who knows me, reads either of my blogs, or has eaten at my house, knows, TJs is my favorite store and much missed now that I live in UT. But all that love wasn't enough to make me wait in the lines that wrapped around the entire store.

Monday, we met up for brunch with one of Tam's friends who was also visiting NYC. The food wasn't great but Ashley was lots of fun. Later that day, we stumbled across the City Bakery (stay away in Feb) we had heard of and knew they were famous for their "hot chocolate." I have to use quotes because it was really tepid chocolate soup. We each had about 3 sips and were done. Done with the "hot chocolate," done with food until much later that evening, and done with feeling good for the next few hours.

When we were ready for food, we were also ready to stop walking and relax. We decided to go to Whole Foods and get a smattering of favorites, go back to Tam's and then later go out to see Marie Antoinette. At Whole Foods, in addition to the delicious Indian samosas, Italian grilled veggies, Greek pasta salad, Thai coconut chicken, and French orangina, I had a REAL celebrity sighting. I saw, are you ready for it...

Sarah Chalke, from Scrubs! I know, not as great as Johnny Depp but she was a real person.

Dinner was delicious. We decided to get candy for the movie and although they seem to have taken over the city, we knew there wasn't a Duane Reade near the movie theater so we stopped at a bodega in Tam's Dominican neighborhood. And what should I find, Coffee Crisp. Canadian candy in a Dominican store in NYC, I love serendipitous moments.

Marie Antoinette? Meh. The movie got out so late that the next day we decided we would rather sleep that have a fancy brunch, although Tam did make some fancy pancakes. And that was it, we went to JFK, wondered if it was open because there were about 3 other cars there, and I flew back to SLC.

Thanks Tam for a great visit. Can't for March in Mexico!

Spatially Inept

I have never been good at things requiring spatial skills. I can finally read a map but that's about it. In wheelthown pottery, I could center it and thin the walls to get a great cylinder but could never get the shape I envisioned in my head into the clay. I can't do those questions on the SAT or IQ tests where you have to say which design on a flat paper will end up on top once the paper is folded into a box.

So I'm impressed by anyone who can.

Or anyone who can solve a Rubik's cube.

But I'm especially impressed by this guy. He takes one sheet of A4 paper, cuts it and folds it so that all the paper is still there, the flat part and the 3-D pop-up part are both amazing. This website has other projects of his too.

It Ain't Easy Being Green

I've had my nursing license since late June but I've been an employed nurse for only about 6 weeks.

It's been exciting:
Learning so much in such a short time
Meeting lots of new people that I work with
Starting my first IV
Placing my first NG tube

But last week was hard. I started night shift, which I like but is always difficult at first. The initial sleep deprivation causes me to not regulate my temperature as well, feel really cold, stops my digestive system (ewww, sorry), and I'm more emotional.

Most of the patients I see are fairly healthy, have a procedure, get some meds, and go on with their lives. Last week was different. 3 of my patients, all under 35, had cancer. Big, scary, spreading cancer. Add to that patients who wake up to find that the accident wasn't only painful, they had to have major surgeries, and their family died. Plus there were language barriers. I speak French, they didn't. Lots of other staff speak Spanish, still they didn't. So I can only use small sentences, hope they understand the call light and how to call me, hope they know the words for water and pain pill when I ask if they need anything, hope a smile translates well.

It was frustrating. It was disheartening. It was part of life as a nurse. Learning to shut off part (but not all) of your emotions so that you can help them rather than just curl up in the corner and cry, so that you can move on to the next patient, so that you can sleep when you get home, so that you can go back the next day.

Maybe It Is Time For That Microdermabrasion...

10 year ago today I went into the MTC to then go on a mission to Geneva Switzerland. YIKES!