Category Archives: Awesomeness

Ivy Tech Spooktacular 2015

Last night was the Ivy Tech Spooktacular. Though I don’t think we had quite as many kids go through as last year, there were a lot. Not one Doctor or Dalek to be seen this time. On the other hand, I may have helped make a girl’s night by asking if she was Raven Queen (she was, and she was the only Ever After High character I saw).

The bookstore gang did Ghostbusters this year. Because I haven’t posted about it before, here’s a run down of what we’ve done before:

2014: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (sewer scene backdrop; Amy, Cassie, Dana, Krystle, and Tya were the turtles – yes we went old school and used Venus too, I was April O’Neil, and Sally was Master Splinter)

Sewer backdrop I painted, 2014

Sewer lair backdrop, 2014

2013: Alice in Wonderland (the Mad Hatter’s tea party; I was Alice, Paul was the White Rabbit, Shayna was the Mad Hatter, Marcela was the Cheshire Cat, Cassie was one of the card guards, and Sally was Tweedle Dee.

The Mad Hatter's Tea Party 2015

The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party 2015

2012: Halloween Party (spider and cauldron decorations and whatever characters we wanted to dress up like; Paul was a mad scientist, I was a princess, Shayna was a witch, Natalie was a devil, and Marcela was a beautiful La Calavera Catrina (I think I got that right).

Traditional Halloween 2012

Traditional Halloween 2012

Back to the present, we had four Ghostbusters (Amy, Cassie, Krystle, and Jeff) Willa was “there is no Dana, only Zuul”, with working proton packs and the front of the firehouse. The proton packs shot silly string!

Balloon Stay Puft Marshmallow Man

Balloon Stay Puft Marshmallow Man

Proton packs!

Proton packs!

They did a great job making a 3D backdrop this time – I only printed the picture for the sign, the participants did everything else!

3D backdrop

3D backdrop

It all went pretty well. I’ll post again about what our family went dressed as then and next weekend on actual Halloween!

Starry Night

This is so awesome that I had to share. You might have noticed that I love Starry Night. I also love science!

Starry Night grown in bacterial cultures!

2015-08-14 10.40.37r

Art Grown in a Petri Dish
by Claire Voon on October 5, 2015

The Number Thing

I am fascinated by numbers and sequences of numbers. It’s a very odd feeling, sometimes, when dealing with numbers and being disappointed or giddy simply because of the sequence they present in.

For example, when closing the store, I use deposit tickets and I look at those numbers and sometimes, I find myself disappointed because I won’t get to use a number because I’m not closing the next night. For example, I would be using ticket number 1233 and be disappointed not to be using 1234.

I like round numbers and prime numbers and √-1. 13 is my lucky number! I like Π and C and XIII. I use Δ daily in my notes. I love the Fibonacci sequence (0 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34) and the golden ratio (φ) and seeing it in nature!

Math is the core of our very understanding of everything and anything! Btw, there’s an XKCD for that… there always is!

XKCD 435

All the news that’s fit…

So, because I haven’t posted in a LONG time and a LOT has happened since the last post, this one will be brief.

It turns out that:

o + , = @

Baby Rachel, due July 2014!

Weird Al Week!

This week was one of the best weeks of the year. It was Weird Al week!

On Wednesday, we did this:


WeirdAl_300x200-1

Yes, we went to Eastside 9 and saw UHF on the big screen. This year is the 25th anniversary of the filing of UHF. Weird Al did a Q&A afterwards, and Paul got a high five from Weird Al as he came down the main aisle! Yes, it was as awesome as you think it was.

Then on Friday:


tour_header

We sat in the middle of the center of the theater at Elliot Hall of Music, and it was perfection! (Props to Patrice and Brandon for getting us such great seats!)

And Weird Al was as perfect as ever!


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(Wanna B Ur Lovr, Weird Al :picture by Patrice)

Chocolate Amaretto Pie

Chocolate Amaretto Pies

Chocolate Amaretto Pies

As promised on Facebook, here is my chocolate amaretto pie recipe!

In the picture above, the one with the chocolate drizzle is made with dark chocolate (the chocolate drizzle is just 2oz. of melted dark chocolate, left over from the pie).

First the crust!
The crust is mind-bendingly easy!
1 cup of flour
3 tablespoons of powdered sugar
6 tablespoons of butter (soft)

Mix all together and press into a pie tin. I’ve found that butter a little melted in the microwave (or my kitchen on a brutally hot day) works better than just room temperature. It’s just easier to mix and press. Be careful of the bend in the pan, and not to make it too thick there!

Oven = 400 degrees, 8-10 minutes until golden.

The filling (the best part!)

12 tablespoons (¾ cup) of soft butter (at least room temp.)
1 cup of sugar (granulated)
2 oz. baking chocolate (I used Ghirardelli * see pics below)
2 tablespoons Amaretto (I used Amaretto di Amore * see pic below)
3 eggs

WARNING – DO NOT SUBSTITUTE THE BUTTER – IT WILL NOT SET UP CORRECTLY!!

Cream the butter and sugar.
Add the melted chocolate and amaretto, cream again.
Add 1 egg at a time, mixing for at least 2 minutes between each! (This is so very important, or you will have a grainy pie filling!)

Put filling in cooled pie crust (must be room temperature). Put in fridge for at least 3-4 hours before serving.

A couple notes:
This will melt in a hot car.
There will likely be around a ½ cup of filling left over. Eat this.
Seriously, add those eggs one at a time and mix for at least 2 minutes.
Enjoy!

Ghiradelli Dark

Ghiradelli Dark


Ghiradelli SemiSweet

Ghiradelli SemiSweet

Amaretto di Amore

Amaretto di Amore

Uh oh, I’ve started something…

As many of you already know, we went to the Lego store at Castleton Square Mall for my birthday. It was a total kick-ass experience. I want to do it again. I need more pick-a-brick! Here’s a picture of our haul:



[click to enlarge]


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no post this weekend

I’m too busy playing with the newest addition to our family. Her name is Singularity. She’s a smokin’ fast, custom HP laptop. A little smaller than I’m used to, but perhaps by next week, I’ll be able to review her.

Also, this weekend went by waaay too fast.

Toys of the 80s

Remember the 80s? If you’re my age (mid-30s), you grew up with Transformers, GI Joe, My Little Pony, He-Man, and so many more. In particular, though, I’m thinking of Transformers here.

In the last few years, we’ve seen a resurgence of interest in the Transformers. I couldn’t tell you how many toys my husband and I have purchased in the last several years. We are their secondary market, with the primary still being kids of course. We are the first kids they marketed to with their thirty minute commercials with a feel good lesson at the end.

Who could have imagined that marketing done twenty-five to thirty years ago could have been so effective that those same kids, who now have disposable income, are still handing money (fist over fist) for the same things we wanted as children!

And even more interesting; we’ve done this to ourselves! We were so deeply touched by those cartoons and toys back then that we brought them back ourselves! The same kids who watched those cartoons and played with those toys are the same as the adults making the new ones.

We are the first generation to have this kind of echo marketing with mass media showing us what we’re going to become. It’s strangely fabulous!

In case you were wondering, I have several Starscream toys, a whole mess of little My Little Ponies (Friendship is Magic), lots of Barbies, and crapton of Lego. 😀

Here’s my latest Barbie additions, btw:


&

Tickled pink

This just tickled me pink. I was looking to see if any of the search engines had caches of my blog posts (I did get a couple, but that’s not the point). I found this link:

Why are earthquakes hard to predict? on Yahoo Answers.

One of the two references is a paper I wrote in college in 1998. But that means someone read it!

Music: Cherie – Betcha Never
Mood: Amused to the point brink of insanity