This article comes from the daughter of a very dear friend of mine. Worth copying and passing on to your own kids who may be considering furthering their education. -Doc
By Sarah Landers | November 05, 2008
My friend has a severe Peter Pan complex: he never, ever, ever wants to grow up. For a long time, I thought it was strange, because I was always in a hurry to grow up. I could not wait to go to college, live my own life and make my own money.
But when my dad asked me about college applications, I suddenly found myself dreaming about fourth-grade recess and pencil cases and yearning for my old blanket and favorite SpongeBob pajamas.
It was nice to think of growing up and college life in my middle school and freshman years when the future was too far away to affect me. But now that I can see adult life’s pirate ship on the horizon ready to pilfer my childhood and careless days, I am afraid.
Among my greatest fears of velociraptors, murderers and falling down the up escalator, not getting accepted into college may be my absolute worst. I’m sure that some community college would be happy to have me, but I have higher hopes than a fallback school; I want the dream education.
I can send out as many applications as I want (provided I have enough money for the application fees), but I have nightmares of opening the mailbox to hundreds of small envelopes filled with letters that all start with “we regret to inform you…” In these dreams, the letters chase me down the halls telling me that I’m a failure, painting a picture of my future shoveling garbage for the rest of my life with no other diploma but one that certifies my graduation from Beer School at SeaWorld.
It’s just disturbing to know that my fate as a functioning member of society balances on a few numbers and club names. But more than that, college acceptance determines my validity as a person, whether I am successful or well-rounded.
What if some college gets sick of kids sending in transcripts with 2.1 GPAs, and decides to send me a letter saying, “Get your sorry self to work and don’t contact us for another four years.” My ego is not quite strong enough to handle that kind of rejection.
Maybe it’s just me; maybe I’m paranoid about college in a way no other junior is. But I doubt it. This fear has been instilled in the majority of us ever since the first day of kindergarten when we refused to leave our parents’ sides, grasping their pant legs for dear life and promising we would be good forever if we could just stay home for the rest of our lives.
Granted, college is more of a dress rehearsal than the big show of adult life. I can act like an adult, but there is always the safety of school and returning home in the summer. But that’s not where the worries stop. They still rampage toward me filled with questions that won’t be answered until my fears are at my doorstep, questions that ask in whiny voices in the back of my head, “After college, then what? Where do I look for a job, how should I present myself? What if I am terrible at everything I love?”
Sure, I have a year or two to go before these worries of careers and mortgages hit hard, but last year I thought the same about college. Now, all of these fears and possibilities loom over me - the true monster under my bed.
Prepare cake using two 9-inch round cake pans. Cool.
Prepare the gelatin according to package directions.It works best if it is just a little on the soft side.
On a foil-covered cookie-sheet, place one cake layer for the body. Cut a smaller circle out of the center of the layer. Place this smaller round of cake as the spider’s head. Fill the hole left in the body layer with gelatin. Place the other cake layer on top of the body and trim cake slightly to shape, if desired.
To prepare frosting, in a mixing bowl, add blue food coloring to the chocolate frosting until black in color. Frost the entire cake black. Cut the black licorice whips in half and insert for the eight legs. Position the gumballs as eyes.
Halloween Pumpkin-Shaped Cake
Twice the batter for any cake recipe
(or 2 packages of cake mix, prepared)
Twice any white frosting recipe
(or 2 cans white frosting)
Food coloring
1 Hostess Ho-Ho
(or similar cake-roll snack item)
Prepare two cakes in bundt pans and cool completely.
Color most of the frosting a deep orange, reserving about 1/2 cup, which should be colored black (or use dark chocolate fudge frosting).
Place one bundt cake upside down (rounded side on the bottom) on a cake plate; frost the top only. Place the second bundt cake flat-side down on top of first cake. Frost the entire cake with orange frosting, making up and down motions with spatula to simulate a pumpkin.
Insert the Ho-Ho in the middle of the top of the bundt cake to make the stem. Use black frosting to make eyes, nose, mouth, etc. (Or use candies, gum drops, jelly beans, black rope licorice — be creative!)
Grave Yard Dessert
CRUST
2 cups chocolate wafer cookie crumbs
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup margarine, melted
FILLING
8-oz package fat-free cream cheese
12-oz tub Cool Whip Free, thawed
2 cups boiling water
2 (4-servings) packages orange gelatin
1/2 cup cold water
Ice cubes
DECORATIONS
1/4 cup chocolate wafer cookie crumbs
7 rectangular shaped sandwich cookies
7 oval shaped sandwich cookies
Decorator icing brown, green, orange, and white
Candy corn and Candy pumpkins
Preheat oven at 350 degrees F.
Prepare a 9 x 13 x 2″ pan with cooking spray and flour.
To prepare crust, combine 2 cups cookie crumbs, 1/4 cup sugar, and margarine in a small mixing bowl. Press firmly into prepared pan. Bake for 10 minutes and then chill.
To prepare filling, combine cream cheese and 1/2 cup Cool Whip in a mixing bowl. In another mixing bowl, combine boiling water into gelatin until completely dissolved. Mix cold water and ice cubes together to make 1 1/2 cups. Stir ice water into gelatin until thickened. Remove any remaining ice cubes. Spoon gelatin over cream cheese layer. Refrigerate 3 hours or until firm. Spread remaining Cool Whip over gelatin layer.
Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup cookie crumbs. Decorate as a “grave yard” by poking sandwich cookies on end into dessert. Decorate the cookies as tombstones with the decorator icing. Scatter candy and pumpkins around the surface.
Ghost Suckers
Use these for party favors, hanging them from the ceiling until ready to distribuate to your guests.
Take a round-headed lollipop. Lay the head in the center of a white handkerchief, facial tissue, or cloth square. Gather the handkerchief down around the stick and tie tightly just below the head with a rubber band, twist-tie, or string. Add 2 black dots for eyes.
You can also use these ghosts as an invitation to your party. Write the party date and location around the outside of the handkerchief before making the ghosts. If you plan to mail them, you might want to use flat round lollipops and padded envelopes.
Witches Hats
You will need Keebler fudge striped cookies, Hershey Kisses and a tube of orange decorator icing. Turn cookies upside down so that the chocolate side is up. Use the orange decorator icing to pipe around the hole in the center of each cookie. Place an unwrapped Kiss on the icing circle. Finish by piping around the base of the kiss and drawing a little bow.
Chocolate Pumpkin Cake
From: The Halloween Issue of Country Living Magazine, October 2005
Makes 1 eight-inch 3-layer cake (18 servings) or 26 cupcakes
Prepare cake pans: Heat oven to 350. Lightly butter three 8-inch cake pans and fit each bottom with an 8-inch circle of parchment paper. Lightly butter the parchment paper. Set aside.
Make the batter: Sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a large bowl and set aside. Combine the buttermilk, pumpkin and vanilla in a medium bowl and set aside. Beat the butter and sugar together in a large bowl, with an electric mixer set on medium speed until fluffy.Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, until the mixture is smooth and light. Alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk mixture, blending well after each addition.
Bake the cake: Divide the batter among the pans and bake until a wooden skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean-about 35 minutes. Cool the cakes in the pan for 20 minutes. Remove cakes and cool. (For cupcakes: Heat oven to 375. Place cupcake liners in standard cupcake tins and fill each with ¼ cup batter. Bake for 22 minutes.)
TIP: Start with chilled frosting and ice the layers to ½ inch from the edge to prevent too much dripping.
Assemble the cake: Trim each of the layers. Place one layer on a cake plate and top with on third of the frosting. Repeat with the second and third layers. (To ensure that the cake layers do not shift, cut three skewers to ¼ inch shorter than the full height of the cake and insert them before icing the top layer.) Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Orange Cream-Cheese Frosting
Makes 3 ½ cups
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened.
¼ cup unsalted butter (½ stick), softened
1TBS fresh orange juice
1 tsp grated orange zest
½ tsp pure vanilla extract
4 cups confectioners’ sugar
¼ tsp orange food coloring
Make the frosting: Blend the cream cheese, butter, orange juice, orange zest and vanilla in a large bowl, using an electric mixer set at medium speed, until smooth.Add the sugar and continue to beat until light and creamy-about 3 more minutes.
Add the food coloring and gently stir until the color is uniform. Chill the frosting until ready to ice the cake or cupcakes.
Easy Black Cat Cookies
1cup Crunchy peanut butter
1/3 c Water
2 Eggs
1 pkg Chocolate cake mix
Candy corn
Red hots and popsicle sticks
Beat together peanut butter, eggs, and water. Gradually add cake mix. Mix well. Form dough into 1-inch balls. Place on sprayed cookie sheet leaving enough room between cookies for Popsicle sticks. Flatten balls with bottom of glass dipped in sugar. Insert Popsicle sticks into each cookie. Pinch out 2 ears at top of cookie. Press fork into dough to form whiskers.
Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. As soon as they come out of the oven, press in the candy corn for eyes and the red hot for the nose.
Makes 4 1/2 dozen.
Halloween Popcorn Balls
1 pk (4-serving size) orange Jell-o
1 c Light Karo syrup
1 c Sugar
Combine all ingredients in a heavy saucepan and bring to a boil. Pour over 5 quarts of popped corn. Form into popcorn balls with buttered hands. Place in a zip-loc baggie or insert a Popsicle stick in and then place in a sandwich bag. Makes 12. These are wonderful no-fail popcorn balls.
Caramel Marshmallow Apples
The caramels will unwrap easy if you freeze them for 10 minutes.
1 package (14 oz) caramels
1 cup miniature marshmallows
1 tbsp. water
5 or 6 small apples
Wooden skewers
Line baking sheet with buttered waxed paper; set aside. Combine caramels, marshmallows and water in medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until caramels melt. Cool slightly while preparing apples. Rinse and dry apples. Insert skewers into apples. Dip each apple in caramel mixture, coating apples. Place on prepared sheet. Refrigerate until firm. For variety roll apples in crushed peanuts or drizzle with melted chocolate.
Halloween Snack Mix
1/2 c Blood drops (red hots)
1/2 c Cats eyes (blanched almonds or gum drops)
1/2 c cats claws (sunflower seeds)
1 c chicken toenails (candy corn)
1 c colored flies (M & M’s)
1 c butterfly wings (corn chips)
1 c ants (raisins)
1 c earthworms (cheese curls)
1 c cobwebs (Triscuits or Golden Grahams)
1 c snakes eyes (peanuts)
1 c bats bones (shoestring potatoes)
Mix together in a large bowl. Serve with several pints of blood (cherry punch).
As you can see, we’re just about done with the major contstruction. McNabb did a wonderful job on the floor and everything else is coming out better than we’d planned… cranky inspectors notwithstanding. Which reminds me ..we failed electrical inspection. AGAIN. Who knew all of the outlets in the UNFINISHED side of the basement had to be GFCI? Back to Lowe’s we go. Some staining and some touch-up painting and we’re ready to start moving stuff in. Sorry about all of the junk on the actual bar. I’ll have it off of there this weekend and take more photos! For fun, click on the pictures, blow ‘em up and see if you can read what’s on the chalkboard wall.
Anybody else following “Dirty Sexy Money” on ABC? It’s one of the returning shows I looked forward to, this season. But, man, what a set of twists!!!I have a question and a prediction:
What do you think Simon Elder’s end game is with Karen?
And here’s my prediction: Lisa will hook up with Jeremy and end up pregnant. Nick will be happy thinking they’re having another baby. Lisa will be terrified because she doesn’t know who the father really is.
I’m listening to Kellie Pickler’s sophomore album as I write this. It’s really good. Interesting to note: The better songs on the album are the ones she had a hand in writing. My favorite one, so far, is a wedding-crashing tune called “Rocks Instead of Rice.” I laughed all the way through it. Pick it up (or win it from us) and let me know what you think!
As you can see, we’ve made considerable progress. The color of the walls inside the bar area aren’t as pink as this photo makes them look. Just discovered we put the baseboards in too low for a wood floor, so those will have to come out. And the guy who was going to do the floor now can’t get to it until the end of the year. If you know anybody, e-mail me!!
Meanwhile, the electricians came in and installed some of the can lights, most of the outlets …and disappeared. They were supposed to come back Tuesday and we haven’t heard from them. I could really use a light in the bathroom. Same with the countertop people. They left us without backsplashes. That was 2 or 3 weeks ago. Not complaining, really. Gave us the ability to paint without having to tape off as much stuff. Contractor assures us they’ll be here THIS Tuesday. I’ll let you know.
The thing is turning out better than we’d planned. The countertops look fantastic as do the cabinets and the tile. Looking a lot more elegant for the same price.
Still trying to decide if we’re going to paint or stain the front of the bar area. Feel free to post suggestions, below.
We’ve also decided to paint the 30-year-old refrigerator we’re using black rather than buy a new one. I didn’t know you could do that until Kay stumbled across something called “Appliance Epoxy Paint.” Wish us luck!
PS: I want to apologize to the people at Lowe’s for the number of times we’ve ordered and returned cabinet pieces. SORRY.
Just finished a new CSI-style thriller from Robin Cook called “Foreign Body.”
It’s about a med student whose grandmother mysteriously dies after a hip replacement operation ..in India. Something doesn’t seem quite right to her, so the practically broke med student heads over to India and stumbles upon something very shocking! Cook spent time in India, so he paints a vivid picture of what it’s like.
In the television department, I’m hooked on the TNT legal thriller “Raising the Bar.” It’s on Monday nights at 10. The show stars Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Gloria Reuben and Jane Kaczmarek.
You have to watch the second episode if you missed the first one. A lot of the romantic entanglemnts are revealed in episode two, airing Monday (9/8) and Tuesday on TNT.
Another great show coming up on CBS is called “The Mentalist.” Don’t miss this one. Our parent company also has a sitcom coming up called “Worst Week.” That one you can skip.
Now, for the basement:
As you can see, the countertops and cabinets are coming along nicely and we’re about ready to paint and stain. Had a holdup on the tile floors as the inspector reared his ugly head, again. Can’t put slick tiling in wet locations. So, we had to change out the tile in the bar back and the bathroom to something that was non slip. I know. It was news to the tile store, too. Half of the stuff they sell won’t pass the new Michigan code!! Just another reason to NOT pull permits when remodeling your house!!! DidI mention what I’m putting in the basement bathroom? Have a look:
Ok, maybe it’s not really week five. I’ve lost count. But after the week’s delay for the inspector, we’re back on track. Here are some new photos from the bar area. You can see some of the cabinetry in the background.
Ty asked me to marry him the day after we shot the video for “I Do”.It was my birthday, and I was so surprised!!! I wrote “I Do” about me and Ty, of course. We have sort of been teetering on the edge of this for some time- but not really talking about it. I could just feel us both sort of contemplating and weighing everything out. And that’s what I wrote the song about. How dangerous and serious it is. A Game Until Its Played was a line I wrote in a poem several months earlier, and it struck me as a good start to the chorus.Ty and I have seen failed love, failed marriages, divorced family, broken hearts- all of the risks- all around us our whole lives, and marriage and children were something we take so serious. Tying our lives to one another forever, and what that involves, is no light matter! As beautiful as love is, we have always looked at it like a wild animal- beautiful, but deserving of a healthy respect ‘cause it’s also potentially very dangerous!
So I wrote the song one day as all this was running through my mind and heart, about being on the edge, and wondering if he would jump in!
So, I wrote the song last year, and it became my second single this May.
We shot the video, and headed home where he proposed to me May 23rd. I said yes of course! We then looked at our schedules to see how soon we could get married, and the soonest I even had 3 days off in a row wasn’t ’til august. We decided to elope, because it would have been too short notice to organize all the family and friends scattered around the world. Plus we wanted it to be intimate and private, with no paparazzi, and the only way to really do that was to elope. We knew our family would understand, because they know us so well and know how private we are and how bad we hate organizing parties! Plus I knew our families would just be so happy we finally got married, that they wouldn’t care how we did it!
So, Ty gave me a leather strap with a key on it, instead of a ring. (A diamond would have given us away) and I would wear that on my left hand. It was really fun to have our own little secret that just we knew about. I’d wear it on TV shows- like Nashville star- and folks would ask about it- and I’d just say it was the key to Ty’s heart… Well, august came fast! Even such a small event was a lot of work to organize- especially as a secret!
My old key board player Jason Freese (he’s in Green Day’s band now) and his wife were at my San Diego Brad Paisley show, and he mentioned he was a minister, that he had gotten ordained online - and that’s when Ty and I decided to tell him and his wife about our plans, and have Jason marry us!! So the four of us went to the Bahamas and it was just magical… I can’t even describe it… It was perfect! I loved my dress, I loved the cake, I loved our rings, and I loved the beach and the sunset…. It was absolutely perfect! I walked out to Otis Redding’s song, I’ve Been Loving You Too Long.We wrote our own vows. Our first dance was Don Williams’ I Believe in You, and then we sat down to eat- by this time it’s dark, and suddenly we hear fire works! As a present, the hotel had a boat just off shore explode 20 min of the most amazing and huge fireworks I have ever seen! And we danced as they exploded! It was like a fairy tale!
It’s going to be so fun to sing I DO at shows- with a whole new meaning! More later, but that’s all for now!
I learned a lesson, this week: No good deed goes unpunished. When I set out to have my basement remodeled, I wanted to do it right. I’m using union workers and I wanted all the permits pulled and inspections made. Now I know why people do things under the table. The inspector (pictured above) came out and was BRUTAL. The guys doing the work had never heard of some of the things he brought up. Couldn’t use gray caulk, it had to be red caulk. The insulation the house had been built with had to be replaced. Fire barriers had to be installed every few feet in the suspended ceiling. And - here’s the kicker - the rest of the 1996-built house has to be brought up to 2006 code before he’ll sign off on the work. Yeah. Things have to be changed all over the house. He even wants a fresh-air duct run to the water heater. Nodoby knows how to do that. Water heaters don’t come with intakes. And there’s more.. even in the upstairs bedrooms. It’s going to cost me thousands to change things that were to code just 3 years ago. I could have saved so much money by doing it under the table. Thank you, Novi. Makes me proud to be a taxpayer.
Well, august came fast! Even such a small event was a lot of work to organize- especially as a secret!
