Mar 13, 2012
Yesterday was my last day at Disneyland. At least for a while. My annual pass expires in six days, and since I still don’t have one of those day-job-thing-a-ma-jig’s, I’m not renewing. Not yet.
So yesterday was my last day Disneyland. At least for a while.
Megan and I were finally able to go together. She drove. And I can happily say, I did not get us lost. She did. Or rather, her GPS did. We named the GPS Stella. Just ‘cuz we could. And while laughing about different voices a GPS could do, we missed an important direction along the lines of “In one mile, turn right.” Yep. We missed it. On the way to the Park. And Megan was driving. That made me rather happy (no offense, Meg!).
She says there’s a download application to have the GPS use different voices, and one of them is Yoda. So we started talking like GPS-Yoda: “Turn right, you will.” One of the features that kept us laughing is with the merging freeways, Stella would tell us, “Turn right, then stay left.” While the directions were appreciated, if you didn’t know how to interpret, it could have been pretty difficult. We imagined what would happen if we made a mistake and GPS-Yoda were guiding us. We could only imagine being told, “Stupid, you are!” So while we’re laughing at being told we’re stupid, we missed the whole “turn right” thing. Yup. That confirms it: Stupid, we are!
We hit some heavy fog on the way, which is rare for us. It was a little spooky, and lent itself to five minutes of telling ghost stories. Granted, the photo was taken as we’re moving down the freeway, but still… Creepy looking, isn’t it?
We made it into the Park, and this is where I sincerely apologize to Megan: she’s a die-hard roller coaster fan. I’m so not. With the altitude change and my lack of coordination, I get a little nauseous. So I don’t do rides like Space Mountain or the Matterhorn. She was relegated to the Kiddy Rides with me. And proudly announced it through the Parks: “The Kiddy Rides are just around the corner!” Yeah. Way to boost my ego, there, Meg!
I looked for the Engine Ears store so I could finally get my Mr. Potato Head, but they closed it down! No Mr. Potato Head anywhere. Talk about disappointment! But the rest of the day was a smash. We did the usual: Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, it’s a small world, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters (I got a hideously great high score of 368,100; my best ever). We walked through some shops and attractions. I verified the heritage and family crest of my surname and almost bought a Narnian sword (okay, not really because it was almost $200… but a girl can dream!).
We ate some great Chicken Fusilli with garlic breadsticks. We talked about everything from our book series to Jimmy Hoffa to Man Stores to how young is too young for Disneyland?
I showed her one of my favorite spots: The Bench:
Here’s a close-up of the Plaque:
And then at the end of the day, I took this picture of us together. Awesome camera. But I’m still not very photogenic, especially after a day of intense walking.
Leaving the Park was harder than I thought it would be. I knew it would be hard, but I put it out of my head. Then we headed to the exit. And walked through. And it clicked: I’m not coming back any time soon. It was really bittersweet.
And so now I have a new goal: Find a job so I can renew my Pass. ASAP. And sell my writings. Sooner or later, one of these goals is gonna become a reality.
And Frankly, My Dear… that’s all she wrote!
Mar 12, 2012 |
Chocolate Covered Pretzels
I know, right?! Yummm…!
Check out that velvety rich chocolate and candy sprinkles coating those crunchy, salty rods. I made them by melting Wilton Chocolate Melts (dark chocolate, thankyouverymuch!) in my new Wilton Chocolate Pro melting pot.
Wilton Chocolate Pro Melting Pot
It’s gonna be an amazing tool in my kitchen. I feel like Willy Wonka.
It’s crazy-simple: just plug it in. Preheat for five minutes. Pour in a bag of Melts. Let melt. Stir occasionally. Look how silky it gets. The best part? No overheating. No messy spillovers. No double-boiler stove-top disasters. Just this.
Melting Chocolate
When the chocolate was ready, I took one pretzel rod at a time and dipped it into the Pot. I also used my small spoon to scoop up the melted goodness and rolled the pretzel in it. Once the pretzel was covered to my liking, I placed it on wax paper and started the next one. Each pretzel took only about 15 seconds to coat.
While the chocolate was still a little gooey, I sprinkled some candy sprinkles and even drizzled a little melted white chocolate over them. [For the white chocolate, I melted 20 Chocolate Melt chips in a small glass bowl in the microwave.]
Chocolate Drizzles
One bag of Wilton Chocolate melts took only ten minutes to melt completely, and there was enough to coat a full bag of pretzel rods with just enough left over to make one tray of molded chocolate treats.
In less than half an hour, the Chocolate Covered Pretzels were ready to eat. Delicious, filling, and oh-so-enjoyable!
Chocolate Covered Pretzels
So yet again, I can only say, “Thank you, Wilton. From the bottom of my tastebuds.”
And Frankly, My Dear… that’s all she wrote!
Mar 11, 2012
Overnight we had that excruciating experience of losing an hour through Daylight Savings Time (DST). Seems to me there’s still 24 hours in a day, though. Still seven days a week.
One hour is sixty minutes. One minute is sixty seconds. Daylight Savings Time in the spring kidnaps 3,600 seconds only to give them back in the fall.
The idea began with Benjamin Franklin in 1784, but wasn’t put into practice until the First World War. Several nations, and even states within our own, have implemented it at one time or another; and not always in sync.
An original goal of DST was to reduce reliance on incandescent lighting but as energy usage varies greatly by environment, this wasn’t completely successful.
The change in time is conveniently construed to be over a weekend night, for as little disruption as possible. Seriously… you don’t want to be at work at 4:30, only to find out it’s actually 3:30, do you?
In 2007, The United States changed the DST months from March and November to April and October. Today marks the first time in five years that DST is being observed in March.
And now that the history lesson is over, what does one hour mean to you?
In one hour, I can work out on the Wii Fit Plus and Just Dance.
In one hour, I can lose an average of eight rounds to Dot on Mario Kart.
In one hour, I can make a full dinner.
In one hour, I can make a full breakfast and do the dishes.
In one hour, I can read three chapters of whatever book I’m currently into.
In one hour, I can play an average of seven Super Sudoku games on my cell phone.
In one hour, I can write and edit at least six pages of great material.
In one hour, I can watch a full episode of Flashpoint, NCIS, or The West Wing.
In one hour, I can clean my house pretty decently.
In one hour, I drive about 75 miles straight.
In one hour, I can run about 15 errands.
In one hour, I can balance the checkbook, write out the budget, and pay the bills.
In one hour, I can crop two full scrapbook pages.
In one hour, I can have meaningful phone calls with my brothers and my mom.
In one hour, I can think up a buzzillion more uses for this hour.
But that’s when I have an hour. Last night it was taken away from me. So til midnight tonight, I’m gonna be behind on everything.
Bummer.
And Frankly, My Dear… that’s all she wrote!
