Christmas Fun

First of all...

WOO-HOO!

I am in the middle of a 17 day vacation from school. This girl is so excited. I would use the "Who has two thumbs..." joke here, but Mr. B might disown me if I employ it one more time.  Who has two thumbs and uses that joke a lot?

This girl.

Celebrations and thumbs aside, the Bees have a full house right now.  For those of you who don't know, Mr. B & I decided to downsize and move into a smaller house.  It has been wonderful, even with holiday company. Although I must admit that the only squeeze is when we are trying to eat together.  Our little square table wasn't built for family gathering larger than 4.  Welcome to eating in shifts.

Last Tuesday, my parents, Mimi and Papa flew in from Ohio.  This is their first visit to our house since we moved into our new little house and since we went vegan. The same for my sister who arrived on Friday from Kentucky and left early this morning.

There have been lots of treats like chocolate chips cookies, sugar cookies, chocolate cake, fig bars, cinnamon rolls, Cherry Cardamom coffee cake, potato pierogies and mushroom pierogies...

Those bad boys were made from scratch.

I still have the flour in my hair and a house that reeks of carmelized onions as proof. 

And last, but not least, the amazing Seitan Roast Stuffed with Shiitakes and Leeks, or as my family dubbed it - the Satan Roast.

I managed to get pictures of the seitan in process...

and the filling...

But not the final product.  Figures, right? Fret not because mine turned out to look almost exactly like the picture of the original recipe. You can find it and the picture of Isa's roast (which looked just like mine, remember?)  here at The Post Punk Kitchen.

My family can't decide whether this tops the Holiday Hamskit of 2008. This was a ham my sister cooked in a crockpot for about 32 hours in a conglomeration of sauces. Part ham, part briskit, 90% mystery.  Who know the crockpot was a tool for scientific experiments?

Other than that, it was a lovely Christmas with the family. Aunt Kimmi savoring some antibacterial handwash...

Little B giving Mimi her new cover for her Kindle Fire.

Papa in his new K-State sweatshirt.

Mr. B opening Seinfeld Series on DVD...please note that next Christams I need a photography class and new camera. And what a forearm. Just saying.

Little B cheering for her new Solar System model.

Little B was delighted with her first telescope, which was from Mr. B & me.  Santa ain't getting all the glory. 

Of course there was a little family gaming.

Mr. B caught in a heated moment. See that terrible hand? Bluffer. I'm on to you.

Merry Christmas!

Best Kind of Tears

Sometimes you need to laugh so hard, you cry.

I superficially apologize in advance if any of these photos offend anyone. 

Giving new definition to "I'm behind you all the way."

MY swing. 

See, milk does NOT do a body good. 

Conan the Suburbian

Perfect fit!

Armed and Endangered

Why balloon twisting should be illegal. 

And what is probably my favorite, but most disturbing....

WARNING: photo and comment are not for the prudish. 

Don't even think about touching my pussy mullet.

I laughed so hard a tear ran down my leg.  

Thank you Awkward Family Photos.

Disappearing Act

Disappeared for a few days. Whoops.

I ended up getting a very naasty cold over Thanksgiving, which curbed the cooking and in turn, curbed the blogging. At least that's my excuse this time.

And then, the week from, well...you know.

Mr. B conned me into doing a Holiday show with him, which has actually been a great time.  A group from Topeka is doing It's a Wonderful Life Radio Show and local people (like me & Mr. B) are doing the commercials. 

In the midst of rehearsals, I have been working on several other projects,
all of which involve my home computer.

I suppose I shouldn't actually call it my HOME computer, because it isn't actually at HOME. 
It's at the computer repair shop. 

Did I mention that my home computer has my lesson plans for next week, all my documents and information for my auditions tonight; my agenda, notes and presentation for the district's tech fair tomorrow; and drum roll please - our school's presentation for the Board of Education meeting tomorrow?

This reminds me of a coffee cup my mom had when I was little. It said...

This is the exact cup she had.  I can't believe I found it. I love you, Google Images.

That cartoon was also an exact replica of how I have looked the past two days trying to recreate what I cannot access. Please add the cartoon holding an imaginary two finger gun under its chin.

She also had a cup that said, "Things could be worse.  You could be old and still have zits."
After this week of stage make-up, you can add several zits, too. 

Thank you, Mom, for your keen and prophetic choice of coffee cups.