Last One, I Promise

Finally, a general life update post.

• I started work at Kanapaha Middle School a couple weeks ago. My job is to work one-on-one with a boy in a wheelchair as he goes about his day in the general education classroom. I help him stay organized, get his books, and generally just keep him on track. It's really a pretty easy job, but it's enjoyable and gives me employment during the daytime before going to Sylvan, so it works out well right now while I'm waiting to hear back about grad school.
• This coming weekend, Tracy has a medical conference in Weston, FL, which is basically Ft. Lauderdale, so we're taking a little road trip! He'll be in classes part of the time, but we're both excited to get away for a few days and see some ocean. We'll also be visiting some lovely friends from pre-Florida life down there; it'll be nice to see some familiar faces.
• The weather here has been gorgeous the past several weeks. It was a little above 80 today, and it's supposed to be in the low 80s and high 70s for at least the next week. I actually had to run when it was close to being dark outside today so that it was cool enough. Truly can't wait for a few weeks from now when it's beach weather and we can drive over to St. Augustine for the day. This is the part of Florida I will miss when we move back.
• That's about all I feel like saying for now. I'm attempting not to get sick, but the tickle in my throat is telling me that my efforts may be futile. I have tomorrow off from Kanapaha but not from Sylvan, so I plan to relax for another hour or so and then hit the hay. Hope everyone has a good week!

Valentine's Day

Let's see, what else has happened in the past month? Oh yes, Valentine's Day. Tracy and I celebrated in a pretty low-key way. I thought I was going to be working till 7:30 that night (work got canceled), and he had no idea how late he'd be working because it was his first day of a new service, so we didn't have big dinner plans or anything. We both ended up being done with work around 4:00, so we decided to just hang out, watch a movie, and relax. It was a really good Valentine's Day-- unconventional, but much enjoyed. As for gifts, I gave Tracy a gift certificate to a place in Florida called Ocala Gran Prix, which has really cool high-speed go-carts and a big track. Last year, I paid for him to go skydiving, so I figured I'd find another present that substantially threatened his life to keep up with tradition. This year, Tracy got me a Nike+ iPod thingy, which has one part that plugs into your iPod and one part that goes on your shoe, and it tracks the distance you run, calories burned, and your pace. I've been in a bit of a running funk, not finding much motivation to exercise at all, but this little gadget has helped a ton. In fact, I've run for 7 straight days (every day that I've had it). I was perfectly happy this year to have a non-cutesy flowery over-the-top Valentine's Day in favor of some quality time and gifts we actually enjoy. I think our gifts sum up our relationship beautifully-- I want to kill Tracy, Tracy thinks I'm fat.... Wait. No no no, they're simple but good. Yeah, that's it. Simple but good.

Cream Cheese Doesn't Melt

Hello blog world, it has been awhile. I'd like to say I've missed you, but I've truly had no motivation (or time, really) to write. Alas, it's time to update those of you who may care about my life. I think I shall do it in multiple posts so that nobody's computer crashes when it tries to access a ridiculously huge post about what's been going on for the past month in Florida.

• Cinnamon Rolls- I set out to make Pioneer Woman cinnamon rolls awhile back. A few friends requested that I blog about the experience, as cinnamon rolls aren't the easiest of fare to make. I was gonna do a picture-by-picture PW-style cinnamon roll post, but let's just say in the middle of making my first ever batch, I had enough going on that pictures kinda went by the wayside. The whole endeavor actually went pretty well, up until the end. See, I did the cinnamon rolls from one recipe, but I wanted to do her cream cheese icing, rather than the maple icing, and I neglected to see beforehand that the cream cheese icing recipe requires an electric mixer to make. Unfortunately for my cinnamon rolls, I do not own a KitchenAid mixer (much to my disappointment). I don't even own a cheap electric hand-mixer anymore-- mine is still at the house in Oklahoma. Soooo I did what any resourceful person would do, and I attempted to make it anyway. Even after whisking it together a lot, the mixture was really chunky and lumpy, with bits of butter and cream cheese floating around. Did I give up? Of course not! I had come this far, I had spent literally hours creating beautiful cinnamon rolls, and I was not going down without a fight. I pulled out my potato masher and tried to mash the crap out of the butter and cream cheese. That sort of worked, but it still wasn't smooth and creamy. I started to despair, when I realized that the bits of stuff are pretty much fat and should melt when heated. I poured the whole stupid thing into a pot and put it on low heat. This finally got rid of the butter, but (who knew?) cream cheese doesn't really melt the same way. At this point I was exhausted and the rolls were out of the oven, so I said screw it and doused everything in lumpy icing. They still tasted really good, but they didn't look too appetizing. Plus, the recipe made a gazillion of them. I have 2 pans in the freezer, but I think I'm gonna buy a cheap hand-mixer and re-make the icing for those. I ended up eating about 3 cinnamon rolls total, and Tracy ate zero because he said they looked gross. Cinnamon rolls? Success. Cream cheese icing? Fail...