Always look on the bright side

Long Time, No Blog

I know, I haven't blogged in awhile.  It's been a busy time, first I had a cold, then Mike had a cold, now I'm in the middle of finals.  So life hasn't exactly been peaceful here.  I'll try to give you the highlights.  Well, for one thing we've got less furniture (yeay!).  Mike's oldest daughter Sophie came over with her gang and took a few things that she wanted that we didn't.  Anything we can cut down on is all to the better, if you ask me.  Besides, we got to have a great little visit with them.  Probably the biggest event though that's happened is we closed on our loan for the land in Williamsburg!  Finally!  At last!  We closed on the loan yesterday, in fact.  I was so nervous when we were sitting in the lawyer's office.  My heart was pounding, my stomach was twisted in knots, all from the excitement of it.  After all, although we've done a lot of stuff towards this Williamsburg goal, we haven't really done anything 'permanent' if you know what I mean.  But now we're committed.  And the funny thing is, neither of us had any second thoughts!  It was the perfect time for second thoughts, but we were both just really happy we were finally getting things started.  I tell you though, I've never signed my name so many times!  The stack of papers we had to sign was just enormous.  I kept being afraid I wouldn't be able to sign my name right, or I would write the wrong date (which I did--once).  It's funny, but when you're so excited about something so important and everything's so formal and legal, all of a sudden, signing your own name takes on a much greater importance!

Razan is here!

Yeay!  We've been waiting for her for a long time now and she's finally here!  Who is Razan, you might ask?  She's one of our friend Rana's sisters, and we got to know her quite well last year when we were in Jordan.  I'm very fond of her and it's so great to have her here in the US!  She's come over here to study (she's a graphic designer) but for the summer at least she'll be taking English lessons.  We've been going to lots of places together, today we went all over the Mall.  Here's a picture of us all with the puppies (whom she just loves, she's a real animal person):

Rana is on the left, then Razan, then me, then Mike.  We were all kind of tired by this point, the girls and I had a big day (Mike had some other things to do and he's not feeling so great anyway).  I think our favorite thing today was the butterfly exhibit at the Natural History Museum.  I've been there quite a few times by now, first with Mike, but then with other people who wanted to go see it.  This time was different though.  This time, there were these large Morpho butterflies that look like this:

They were a good 4-5 inches across and very friendly.  Before when I've been there I've never had a butterfly land on me, but one of these perched on my shoulder for a second and then on my neck!  I could feel it fluttering there before it took off.  A little later one landed on Razan too.  We were having a great time.  Then, one of these big Morphos landed on Rana's face!  Her eye to be exact.  It was quite funny actually, Razan and I kept laughing.  It only stayed there for a few seconds, and I can assure you that both Rana and the butterfly were unharmed.  Rana didn't want it on her face, but what made it so funny was that she also knew she wasn't supposed to touch the butterflies, so her hands kind of did this little dance around her face, not knowing what to do.  After it left Rana started laughing too, we all just couldn't believe it.  But you know what they say, "It's all fun and games until someone gets a butterfly in the eye!"

Good News at Last!!

Yeay!  The appraisal is in!  We got an email from Wells Fargo today letting us know.  At the risk of being overly optimistic, I think we're in the final stretch.  Now it just goes to the underwriters to get approved, then we can do the closings.  It's amazing, I was beginning to think it would never happen.  Once we found out, we both felt like there was this huge weight lifted off of us.  We've been so stressed out over getting this appraisal so we can do the closing.  At the same time, we haven't liked to talk about it much because it just stresses us out and there wasn't anything we could do that we weren't already doing.  So we just tried to concentrate on the things we were looking forward to, and other projects we could work on, like cutting down on the stuff in the house and getting estimates on the stuff we need to do to get this house in shape to be sold.  But now at least we know things are going forward!  What a great night this is!

Low Fat Chocolate Truffle Cake Recipe

Not really much going on, except I did make this lovely chocolate mousse cake for Mike since it's one of his favorites, and I thought some of you might like the recipe.  It's ultra rich and decadent, but the only fat in it is the fat in the chocolate chips, so you can have your cake and eat it too.  It's even pretty easy to make.  It's definitely mousse- or truffle-like though, it's doesn't have a cakey texture, it's got a creamy texture.  Check it out, you won't regret it.  Be warned though, this is for serious chocolate lovers only, it may be low-fat, but it's very rich and deeply chocolatey.

Low-Fat Chocolate Truffle Cake
3/4 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup fat free evaporated milk
1 cup egg whites + 1 more egg white
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  You’ll need a waterbath for this cake, but otherwise it’s a no hassle make.  It’s actually very simple, you’ll need an oven proof container that is able to hold your springform pan and have room around it (preferably about two inches, but you can squeeze it), so the springform pan can sit in it loosely. Fill pan with about an inch of water and put in the oven to heat up along with it.  NOTE: It is important to do this at the beginning so the water has a chance to heat up in the oven.  Spray a 9-inch springform pan with vegetable oil spray. Place chocolate chips in a large bowl; set aside.

In a medium saucepan, heat cocoa powder, sugar, and evaporated milk until hot, BUT DO NOT BURN IT, whisk constantly. Remove from heat and pour over chocolate chips.  Let stand to melt the chocolate chips, then whisk together.  Whisk in egg whites, being careful to make sure there are no streaks of egg white that remain unmixed, but at the same time you don’t want to over-mix it.

Pour batter into prepared pan and set it in the oven in the waterbath.  It may float a bit, but that’s ok, you might tilt it a little to get any air bubbles out from beneath it.  Bake 25-30 minutes, remove and let cool. Chill in refrigerator a couple of hours before serving.

Welcome to the world, Susan Boyle!

I have to preface this by saying that I'm not really one for tv in general.  Sometimes I keep up with Biggest Loser (though not often), but my favorite tv shows like 30 Rock or My Name is Earl I usually just buy on dvd and if I want to see the current episodes, I just watch them online.  I just don't have the time or schedule to follow tv shows.  I watch lots of movies and things on dvd, since I can turn them on and off as I like.  Having said that, I heard about this Susan Boyle woman yesterday on CNN.com and then last night for the first time in almost a month I actually watched a tv show: Access Hollywood, and they had a clip of Susan Boyle.  For those of you who haven't heard about this woman, you've got to click the link below and watch the clip I've posted below, she really is amazing and I wish her all the best.  It's actually rather inspiring, it shows it's never too late for anyone.  I probably sound full of cliches at the moment, but honest to god, it moves me when I watch this clip.  Oh, and this clip is the real deal, the full length one, not the one they have on the Britain's Got Talent website.  Unfortunately embedding seems to be disabled on most of these clips, so you're going to have to click the link to see Susan Boyle sing.  And then tell me it wasn't worth it!

Home Loan Merry-Go-Around

So we were supposed to close on that piece of land in Williamsburg on Friday and that is not going to happen, unfortunately.  Despite constant assurances from Wells Fargo, where we're getting our loan from, that everything is on schedule and we won't have any trouble closing, that is clearly not the case.  So here's how it's supposed to go down:*

1.  Fill out all the paperwork (our end).  Did it, no problem, done, and double done.

2.  Get appraisal done of our house to get the loan.

3.  Close on loan up here.

4.  Wait three days for right of rescission to pass.

5.  Go down to Williamsburg and close on the land.

6.  Celebrate!

Guess where we are after a month?  Number 2.  Yep, that's right, the appraisal.  We paid for it almost a month ago, but it's not in yet.  About two and a half weeks ago we started calling Wells Fargo, asking what's up, how are you, and, oh ya, where's that appraisal??  They assured us everything was fine.  Then, after a week of calls, they said they'd send a message and it would all be alright.  Then a few days ago Mike decided to try tracking down the actual appraiser and ask him or her what the heck was going on.  So he called the guy at Wells Fargo who originated the loan, who told him to call our lown officer at Wells Fargo, who's actually in Connecticut, who gave him the number for the appraisal company who finally gave him the phone number for the actual appraiser.  Who, it turns out, didn't actually have the correct phone numbers to contact us.  Once she did she was happy to come out and do the appraisal.  So, a four week delay because Wells Fargo gave out the wrong phone numbers and, despite repeated calls by us to try to get to the bottom of it, didn't actually get to the bottom of it, and have made us delay our closing.

You know, I can see the humor in all of this, but I'm having trouble looking on the bright side on this one.  May it'll come to me in time.

*Anyone who's been through the pain of home loans will appreciate that this is a condensed version.

It Starts Already

We won't be moving for a year, but already we're starting to get ready for moving day.  It's a little daunting, though, when you think about how long a process it's going to be.  But it's as well to start early.  Part of what we're doing is building a small house, about half the size of our current house, to be exact.  That involves quite a bit of downsizing, especially when you consider the fact that we won't have a large basement to stuff extra things into, but instead all of the space will be in use, with only a small amount of storage space.  So we're starting earlier in the hope that we'll have an easier moving day.  Towards that end, on Sunday we started cleaning out, and today Mike took 12 bags full of clothes to Goodwill, all of it inventoried to be claimed on taxes later, which was no small task, let me tell you!  I also personally dragged up what must have been 30 or more volumes of an encyclopedia (the original edition plus many yearbooks).  After pruning my own book collection over previous weekends (which resulted in over six boxes of books going to the library for their next booksale) I also combined bookcases and was able to take one medium sized, beat up bookcase out to the road for passerbys to pick up, which joined a coffee table Mike had put out earlier.  The puppies might be upset about that coffee table, actually.  You see, it was their little home in our bedroom.  Here you can see it when we first put it up, Mike was showing the puppies how to use it:

Cute as that is, I already knew we wouldn't have room for it in our new small house.  So out it went to the street.  But don't worry, the puppies aren't homeless.  I've cleaned out my closet and installed their little bed in there, as commodious and sweet a little nest as any puppy could wish, and they don't even seem to mind my clothes hanging above them. 

Easter Tomorrow, Stalinism today

But first, tonight, my Mom is coming over for dinner.  I'm not sure where, exactly, but it'll be a relief to get out of work.  I've been here at work all day (my last Saturday for the semester, woo hoo!) and it's been so quiet here I won't mind getting out of here.  I don't even know where we're going out to eat, but I'm looking forward to it.  It's been a long, uneventful day here, but I did get the outline done for my final paper for my Stalinism class.  I'm writing about women and the Stakhanovite movement.  The Stakhanovite movement was primarily in the second half of the 1930s and Stakhanovites were ordinary workers who, through exceeding production goals (oftentimes producing two or three times the quota on a regular basis) became regional, even national heros.  They could be anything from milkmaids to machinists to train operators to tractor drivers, the point was always that they broke records of production and in other ways (such as becoming more culturally literater) upheld Soviet ideals.  They were paid more, given awards, featured in newspaper articles, made speeches, and generally held up for admiration by the public, they were promoted as the 'vanguard of the proletariat.'  I'm doing my paper on two sets of speeches, one set by female Stakhanovites detailing their accomplishments as workers, and the other by wives of male Stakhanovites talking about how they support their husband, keep the house clean, etc.  They present two very different images of Soviet women, both being promoted in public at the same time, so it's a pretty interesting topic.

Tomorrow, though, I'll be taking a break and relaxing a little.  Neither Mike nor I are particularly religious, but Easter is a good excuse to fix some nice things.  So, I'm making a rack of lamb with a mustard, garlic, and breadcrumb crust, which is really yummy.  Mike will be slicing up and roasting some potatoes to go with it, and we'll have some lime curd trifle to top it all off.  The lime curd trifle is my own invention, strictly speaking it's not a traditional trifle, but I take homemade lime curd and shortbread cookies, whipped cream and raspberries and layer them for a variation on a trifle.  Mike has already previewed it and says he loves it as much as pumpkin pie, which is saying something.  Have a great weekend everyone!

Ginger and the birds

Lately we have been taking the puppies on a different morning walk.  The walk we've been taking them on lately is flatter, with more trees and open green spaces, as well as being closed to traffic most of the way.  We've done this because little Ginger kept refusing to go on the previous route, which was very hilly, didn't have a lot of green spaces, but had plenty of traffic to make up for it.  Can't really blame her, I must say.  I've been enjoying it too because there are so many cherry blossom trees on the route and I just love cherry blossoms.  One thing we have learned about Ginger now that we've changed routes is that Ginger loves to chase birds.  And I mean loves to chase birds.  I've never really been a bird person, but now that I've been going on these walks with Ginger I find my eye picks up every little flutter of a wing.  When Ginger sees one, she tenses up, stares intently, and then bang! she's off trying to catch it.  Given that's she's on a leash this sort of involves me chasing it too.  She's gotten within a couple of feet of some birds, which gave her no end of delight.  In all honesty I do think the birds are perfectly safe, they're so much faster than she is.  And I would never let her take after an injured bird on the ground or anything like that, so I figure it's a harmless bit of fun.  She's just obsessed with birds, it's kind of funny.  She knows the word 'bird' now and if you say it to her in an excited tone, her whole body tenses up, she starts running around trying to find it, and making little whining noises if she can't.  Not that anyone in our house would ever do such a thing, of course. ;)

Home Adventures Continue!

Yesterday we had Anna (5) and Lizzy (2) over and babysat them while their parents got to have some alone time.  We all had a great time.  There were adventures in the yard.  Mike found some old fairy beds (seed husks from last year's irises) and Anna swore she could still see a fairy in one of them.  In the little backyard pond we spent some time looking for the goldfish and once we'd found him the girls tried a little spearfishing (don't worry, the goldfish escaped completely unscathed).  Inside there were crafts to do, including decorating some picture frames to give as presents, and then dinner.  Dinner was a very traditional cheese tortellini and marinara sauce.  We just wanted to fix something that they would just ea up and we wouldn't have to persuade them was real food.  I did end up making the cupcakes, homemade banana cupcakes.  I did cheat though, I wanted to get ahead on my Stalinism reading, so instead of trying to pipe those adorable chicks I put some jellybeans in the center of the cupcake 'nests' as eggs.  It was way easier and still cute.  Probably the biggest news of the night though was little Anna and the puppies.  Anna has been scared of them ever since they met.  They did have a very unfortunate meeting, Anna, who was four at that point, was coming up the walk and obviously nervous about the puppies waiting and wagging their tails at her in the house.  The puppies were way too excited though to see her and jumped over my leg blocking them from getting out, ran down the stairs, and jumped all over her in excitement and friendliness, and scaring her in the process!  But yesterday, all on her own, no one making her, she let the puppies lick her hand through the doggie gate, then she petted them, then she said I could let Chrissy out!  Chrissy was good, calm and gentle, and that went well, so we let Ginger out too and it was great!  Anna petted them, played with them, ran after them, it was very adorable!  She was so proud when her parents came back and she showed them how much progress she made.  All in all, it was a wonderful evening.

In current news, our home telephone is fixed, but in an unrelated event, about an hour ago I was heating up lunch in the oven when sparks flew out of the control panel and it tripped a circuit.  That stove is about 20 years old, so we knew it would need to be replaced soon.  I guess it just wanted to go out with a bang!  I unplugged it and we are not using it again!  Until we get a new stove (which should be soon, we'll go shopping today) our hot meals will be either from the microwave or takeout!