kirstenh04's Xanga

> Christmas Baking

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 03:28:59 GMT

> Just wanted to post a few pictures of the goodies we've made around here so far!

My all time fave - chocolate chip!

Chocolate-filled m&m pretzels... mmm...

Pretzels up close

Gingerbread men cut outs

Christmas tree cut outs

Angel and star cut outs

Snowmen cut outs

Kirsten

> So this is what's going down...

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 02:45:04 GMT

> Since I have not posted in quite some time, and since I still haven't been struck with anything original to share, I will be answering some Featured Questions!! I know anyone reading this (clearly I have droves of avid readers... ) just cannot wait any longer, so here we go!

> What is your clothing (or accessory) staple?

I guess I would have to say jeans, really. I often enjoy a comfy hoodie too, but I would say I am wearing jeans at least 75% of the time, if not more. I love it when you can find a stylish pair that fit well, but I am definitely not above wearing a ratty old pair that is super comfortable!

I just answered this Featured Question; you can answer it too!

> What was the first social networking website you ever used?

Aside from eHarmony and the like, haven't the only other social networking sites been Facebook and Myspace? I guess the first one I ever used was Facebook...

I just answered this Featured Question; you can answer it too!

> What was the best part of your weekend?

Staying up all night, and then driving an hour to shop with my sister on Black Friday was hilariously awesome. We went seamlessly from deep conversation to pointless giggling several times, and it was amazing!

I just answered this Featured Question; you can answer it too!

> What's your favorite Thanksgiving dish?

Hmm... it would be a tie between my cousin's asian coleslaw, and my uncle's ham loaf. Mmm. Mmm. Mmm.

I just answered this Featured Question; you can answer it too!

> What are you most thankful for this year?

I am most thankful for God's provision. Whether it be safety, or monetarily, God has provided for all of my needs, and many of my wants.

I just answered this Featured Question; you can answer it too!

> Have you ever dreamt of your own demise or funeral?

Hasn't everyone? I hope it's a long ways away, and that a lot of people are sad to see me go! Is that selfish?

I just answered this Featured Question; you can answer it too!

> What is the most beautiful song you have ever heard?

I have heard too many beautiful songs to make this distinction - I am so glad God created music!

I just answered this Featured Question; you can answer it too!

> What's your way of dealing with bad times? Be it a break up or family problems, etc.

My faith helps me to deal with the bad times. When something goes wrong (after a little grieving), I just have to believe that God is in control, and is looking out for me.

I just answered this Featured Question; you can answer it too!

> Well, that's all I've got, dear readers. There is Christmas music playing in the background, I am waiting for my homemade oatmeal dinner rolls to rise, and I have some homework that needs my attention. Hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving, and that you are celebrating Christ's birth along with everything else this Christmas season!

Joyeaux Noel,

Kirsten

> Well, knock me over with a feather!

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 19:13:46 GMT

> Two posts in one afternoon - will wonders never cease?! Anyway, I finished binding my quilt this afternoon, and now all that is left is to actually quilt the thing. I think I am out of creative inspiration at the moment, so I will ponder on this a while. Here's what I've got done so far...

> Also, I made sharlotka this afternoon! It is a Russian apple cake. My mom's ladies group at church is doing a lesson tonight on Russia, so guess who got to provide the snack? Anyway, I think it turned out really well - smells really good anyway! I'll include the recipe at the bottom in case anyone is interested in trying it.

After mixing all the ingredients together...

After about 40 minutes of baking...

Close up... mmm...

Sharlotka

1 1/2 C. sugar
1 C. oil
3 eggs
1 t. vanilla
2 C. flour
1 1/2 t. cinnamon
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/3 t. nutmeg
3 C. chopped apples

Mix ingredients together in a bowl.
Pour into a greased cake pan and bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes.

Kirsten

> Grapes :D

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:30:28 GMT

> I was out tasting our grapes the other day, and found a surprise visitor among the bunches! I don't think he was too pleased that I was watching him - he kept turning his head and looking at me with those beady little eyes...

> I also found lots of cicada shells - very common in the fall around here! They used to really creep me out, but now I think they're cool. It's fun to stick them on people when they aren't looking...

> Finally, the grapes! Most of them were ripe for the picking, and very tasty. I think this year we're actually going to take advantage of them. My grandma is coming over later to pick them! Maybe this means grape pie?

Kirsten

> My Day

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 21:51:35 GMT

> So, Labor Day weekend in my village (yes, I really mean 'village') is always our homecoming/town festival/etc. You know, parade/fried food/tractor pull? Well the theme for our weekend was "We're Having A Hoedown," and the floats in the parade were decorated accordingly. We all got a big chuckle out of this one:

See the guy to the left of the one in overalls?

If you can't quite see, there is a farner on the back of the float, sitting on a toilet with his pants down, and reading the newspaper!

> Last night at 1am I finished sewing most of the top of my second quilt. I think I am going to add some more bordering to the sides so that it will be a little bigger, though.

Columns waiting to be sewn together

> This morning I got up at 730am to help make noodles at my church. Our WCG (Women of the Church of God) makes these homemade noodles to serve in soup at their ice cream social in late September. I had never made noodles from scratch before, and it was pretty fun hanging out with the church ladies!

Tables of noodles

Kirsten

> My just desserts...

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 01:43:33 GMT

> Just thought I'd share a little bit about my day today! It started with getting up at 8am and showering, then heading out to the church for an 845am practice. I worked with the lady for about fifteen minutes, since I would be playing the song she is going to sing tomorrow during the service. After that I went back home to do as much as I could with my desserts. You see, I had been drafted to make two desserts for our county Republican BBQ gathering tonight! Last night I had baked an angel food cake and crushed a gallon bag of Oreos. After practice I cubed up the angel food cake, and made two boxes each of sugar free chocolate and french vanilla instant pudding. Before I knew it, it was 930am and time to go to my grandma's to clean her house like I had promised. Go figure that when I got there, she had already left for her hair appointment, and the door was locked! About ten minutes later my aunt and uncle had stopped on their way to town and let me in. First I Windex'd the whole house, then Pledge'd, and then used one of those fuzzy wand things that dust sticks to - this took about an hour. By that time I was pretty warm (plus, grandmas tend to keep their houses warm anyway, right?), so I took a break for about ten minutes. Next I started sweeping, and my freshly-coiffed walked through the door. After a little visiting I finished the sweeping, and was out the door with a jar full of change, a kiss on the cheek, and twenty dollars. Score! By about 1130am, I was back home and ready to finish assembling my desserts for the BBQ. I started by making the crust for my oreo pie, and then the peanut butter/cream cheese/powdered sugar/whipped cream second layer. While that was refrigerating I washed and cut the fruit for the trifle. Next I put the chocolate pudding layer on the buckeye pie, and then assembed the trifle. Angel food, vanilla pudding, blueberries, whipped cream, angel food, vanilla pudding, strawberries, whipped cream! Finally, I put whipped cream and crumbled Oreos on top of the buckeye pie, and put both desserts in the fridge - 145pm. I decided it might be smart to program the addresses I would soon need into my TomTom. About ten minutes later my sister walked through the door from work, and was ready to go to town to buy her flatscreen tv. By 200pm we were out the door and starting an hour's drive! We hit Target for the TV and a phone card, then the mall for Starbucks, and finally the Anchor Room for a favor for my dad. We ended up getting home around 500pm, leaving me twenty minutes to get ready for the BBQ. Now I'm here, typing, trying not to fall asleep!

> Here are the finished products:

Buckeye Pie

Bottom: Oreos+Butter+Sugar
2nd layer: Peanut butter+Cream cheese+Powdered sugar+Whipped cream
3rd layer: Sugar-free instant chocolate pudding
4th layer: Whipped cream
Topping: Crushed Oreos

Berry Trifle

Bottom: Angel food cake squares
2nd layer: Sugar-free french vanilla instant pudding
3rd layer: Blueberries
4th layer: Whipped cream
5th layer: Angel food cake squares
6th layer: Sugar-free french vanilla instant pudding
7th layer: Strawberries
8th layer: Whipped cream
9th layer: Blueberries and strawberries

I feel a Sunday afternoon nap calling my name!

Kirsten

> Cambodia Series: The CWCC II

Sat, 08 Aug 2009 17:30:38 GMT

> The following morning we went back to the CWCC to present to the residents. Like the day before, Jennifer's presentation about the cycle beads was a hit. Mine went well too, especially when I started handing out the baby hats! There were about twenty women there, but many of them looked very young. Most of them had already had at least one child, if not more. When we were all finished with our presentations and getting ready to leave, the women presented each one of us with a wrapped gift. I was so surprised! In each package was a Cambodian scarf, and mine was orange - my favorite color! Once we got back to the hotel, Jennifer and I stopped in the cafe and got a muffin. They were double chocolate, and huge! It had a different texture, and tasted like there may have been coconut in it - very tasty.

The residents of the CWCC learning about Cycle Beads

The start of my presentation.

The ladies really liked looking at the laminated PowerPoint slides.

Handing out the baby hats.

I think they were a hit.

> At around one-thirty, part of our group went to the hospital for another student's presentation. On our way, we stopped at Madame Pahni's house to pick up Sophie, some materials, and to use up a little time. When we finally got to the hospital, it didn't look how I expected. They did have quite a few departments, though. The student who was presenting did not have a medical translator, so that threw a wrench into the plans. It ended up going well, though. There were about fifteen people in attendance from the hospital, and a few of them spoke fairly good English. One in particular was very nice, and took us on a tour of the facility. We stopped at Madame Pahni's jeweler on our way back to the hotel, and I bought a really pretty stone - a Cambodian sapphire. I think almost everyone bought something there, because the prices were so good! (For a graduation present, my parents had it put in a necklace setting, and I wear it often.)

Some of the doctors at the hospital presentation.

They were very good listeners!

One wing of the hospital in the background.

> That night we decided to go to the Foreign Correspondence Club for dinner. It was 3-4 stories tall, and a lot of it was open-air. The best part were the little lizards crawling all over the walls. It really drove some of our people nuts, but I don't mind lizards! I ended up getting margarita pizza, and it was very good.

The lizards on the wall of the FCC.

> The next morning we were to meet in the lobby at 9:30 AM, and a few of us decided to use the phone beforehand. We got up around 7:00 AM, ate breakfast (a fried egg, rice, 1/2 a baguette with jelly), and headed to the Daniel Net. Crossing Monivong was scary as always, especially since we were coming back during 'rush hour'! I was able to talk to my family for nine minutes, and it cost me twenty-five cents - amazing. We definitely decided to forget about that other internet/phone place we tried. Once we were back to the hotel, we had to haul our packed luggage all the way downstairs (from the third floor). It was interesting, and I had the least luggage of the three girls in my room! Two of us got a muffin from the cafe on our way out the door, and got on the bus. After about three hours we arrived at the home of our professor's new fiancee. Her family was giving an engagement party, and invited us all to attend! Their house (like many others in Cambodia) was up on stilts, and they had set up several tables and chairs underneath it. There were many courses to the meal, including crab, cashews, 'river fish,' sour soup, beef, fruit, bread, rice, and other things. I shared a Coke (yes, they are pretty much universal) with a friend. A few of us were stuck setting in the sun. We must have been getting red, because they moved our entire table into the shade! On our walk back to the bus from their house (quite a long way), my flip flop broke. I hobbled back to the bus alright, though.

Srey's family home.

Walking back to the bus after the engagement party.

> After another hour or so of travel, we arrived at our destination: Kampong Cham. It is the third largest city in Cambodia, and significantly less busy than Phnom Penh. It was really a change after being in Phnom Penh for so long! Our huge, Western-style bus pulled up to the Phnom Prosh hotel, and it looked pretty nice on the outside. I was rooming with someone different this time, which was a nice change. Our room itself was really large, but most of it was empty. There were two twin beds, one desk, a nightstand, a TV table, and a small fridge. The bathroom, though, was the real kicker! The shower head was mounted to the wall, thus the entire bathroom becomes the shower. Not gonna lie - that weirded me out! After putting our luggage in our rooms, we all tuk-tuk'd to a temple ruin not far away, dated in the 10th century. It was really beautiful, and I got plenty of pictures before my camera died - ugh. We spent about an hour there, and then had a meeting. On our way back to the hotel, though, we went by the Mekong River and saw a gigantic bridge! After our meeting, supper was pretty good. We had 'steak' and 'fried chicken'... sure we did. We also tried to explain the concept of cereal to Srey - too funny! Later that night we headed back to the room, conquered the shower, and headed for bed.

The front of the Phnom Prosh Hotel.

Jennifer and I's room.

The outside of the temple we visited in Kampong Cham.

Some of the paintings in the temple.

Love the architecture!

A view into the center of the temple.

The center of the temple, which is used to this day.

The bridge over the Mekong.

Kirsten

> An unexpected addiction...

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 00:45:40 GMT

> I think I've mentioned in past posts that I was planning to make a t-shirt quilt for my sister as a graduation gift. I had never made a quilt before, but knew how to sew. I can do buttons, and mend things, and I've even made a purse... sort of. Anyway, I began to work on the quilt sometime this past winter after a friend gave me a pattern she had followed in the past. With school and everything, I was only able to do a little at a time. It seemed to take forever, but I finally finished it three days before her graduation! I really enjoyed doing it, and was even pleased with the finished product (that doesn't happen often), but as I sewed that final stitch I thought to myself: "I will not be doing this again for a long, looong time!" So, as you can imagine, I was fairly shocked when I started to have the craving to sew again this week! Ladies and gentlemen, I think I may be addicted. Case in point: Tuesday night I fashioned new curtains for my room out of an extra matching pillowcase, and they didn't turn out too bad! I am now thinking about finishing another, smaller quilt with some pieces I had already started cutting awhile ago. Thank heavens for creative outlets!

The top of the quilt

The bottom of the quilt

The top left square - where my sister works!

The top middle square - one of my favorites!

The top right square - our church softball team!

The very 'middle' square - drama and 4-H shirts.

The border on the quilt top, between the shirts.

The backing of the quilt - very soft!

My new curtains!

A little closer.

> Today was also my last clinical day for this quarter! Thank goodness!

Kirsten

> A whale of a weekend

Thu, 28 May 2009 00:14:06 GMT

> The group arrived Friday at 4am. As of Friday afternoon our home (which usually houses four people) was home to six extra people! Ah! My brother, his wife, and their four children came to visit us and attend my sister's high school graduation. As a whole, the weekend went really well. Sunday was by far the most busy day, with church, graduation, and the graduation party. We all slept in a little on Memorial Day, and then spent most of the day outside. By four o'clock, they were on their way back to Virginia. I never realized how much comfort I draw from my normal schedule!

Cameron, Mollie, and Alexis at the graduation ceremony.

Anneliese and Bullet, sharing some pizza.

Mollie and Bullet *lol*

Mom, Anneliese, and Dad.

The family (Mom, Me, Katie, Greg, and Dad).

*rofl* Bullet, upside down.

Hanging out on the deck (Grandma, Mollie, Greg, Kristie, Anneliese, and Cameron).

Playing (Anneliese and Greg).

Taking a rest (Bullet).

Skeptical Dad.

Katie's graduation rose.

P.S. I've been on Xanga for 4.5 years! :)

Kirsten

> Happy Memorial Day

Mon, 25 May 2009 14:51:48 GMT

> Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Memorial Day! Remember the reason we celebrate it. :)

Kirsten