Chocolate Bundles Recipe

This is the recipe for the girls night dessert. I added raspberries, chocolate syrup, chocolate shavings and whipped cream on top.

Ingredients
1/2 pkg. Pepperidge Farm® Puff Pastry Sheets (1 sheet)
1 pkg. (6 oz.) semi-sweet chocolate pieces
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
Confectioners' sugar
Directions
THAW pastry sheet at room temperature 30 min. Preheat oven to 400°F. Mix chocolate pieces and walnuts.

UNFOLD pastry on lightly floured surface. Roll into 12" square. Cut into 9 (4") squares. Place about 2 tbsp. chocolate mixture in center of each square. Brush edges of squares with water. Fold corners to center on top of filling and twist tightly to seal. Fan out corners. Place 2" apart on baking sheet.

BAKE 15 min. or until golden. Remove from baking sheet. Cool on wire rack 10 min. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar. Makes 9 bundles.

TIP: For large bundles, cut pastry into 4 (6") squares and place about 1/3 cup chocolate mixture in center of each. Proceed as directed. Makes 4 bundles.

The Talking Stain

'S Colby's favorite!

Baby Update

Some of you may and may not have known that I am expecting a baby. A big baby. My mother always said look at the head of the guy you're dating and ask yourself if you really want to birth a melon-headed baby. Well, in our family it's go big or go home. My mom is in town and we all went to USA baby or Baby USA, whatever it is. Colby's choice and a great one! They have so much stuff there for cheap, well cheaper than Baby's R Us. We were overwhelmed. It took an hour to find a good stroller and another half hour to decide on baby's bedding. Of course, it's not like any of this is for the kid. Let's be honest...it's for Colby and me. I don't want to look at an ugly print and neither does Colby. So as a result we got a jungle print bedding and a wicked cool stroller. We're so stinking impressed with our purchase we want to put a stuffed animal in the stroller and take it around for a test drive (if you do see us walking with a stroller, humor us)!

I'm officially 7 (or so) months. Here are my mug shots:

Dating Advice from Kids Who Aren't Old Enough to Date

Dating 101 from my 9th graders. For Valentine's Day we watched clips of Hitch and then wrote a paragraph pretending to be Hitch. Here are sentences gathered from my brilliant 9th graders. The M at the end of the sentence stands for "Written by a male" and the F at the end of the sentences stands for "Written by a female". They're pretty funny. Some are really insightful...for 9th graders.

If a girl asks, “How do I look?” always answer positively. M

When you are approaching for your first kiss, you do not want to make her kiss you. M

Be yourself. Typically, your date is gonna be as nervous as you are. M

When you talk, don't ramble on about your life. Ask questions. M

Women are complicated and I do not understand why they believe they need to fake tan until they are an ORANGE. M

To keep her, be a gentleman like the guys used to be. F

What most guys don't realize about women is, no matter how old they are, they always have the self-conscious teenage thing. F

Boys often need help with flirting. I find boys think being rude is flirting. For example, some boy might take your pencil and tease you with it. This is rude. NOT flirting. Be kind when you flirt. F

If she runs away when you hold her hand, don't try and hold her hand again. F

Guys: always ask a question about them, they usually like you to ask about how things are going for them. M

Girls, it's good to go up to a guy and talk. But don't follow them everywhere. M

How not to ask a girl out: “Yo, you! You is my girl now!” M

Most girls would rather hear beautiful or gorgeous rather than babe, sexy, or hot. F

When dating, relax or you might scare your date. M

Girls still need to send signals saying whether or not to kiss them. We don't know if they are grossed out or if we should move in. M

If you have to fart, go to the bathroom. M

Be yourself! M, F

How you speak to a woman is individual to the girl. M

No little side hugs! F

Girls like to be flattered. Tell girls they look beautiful, not hot. Be sincere and be nice. F

More cool things on the internet

Here are just a few random blogs I've found in my browsing and they are pretty darn cool. This is free piano sheet music for you who tickle the ivories every once in a while:
http://my-piano.blogspot.com/



And for those of you who watch home improvement stuff and wistfully ruminate of the day you can actually paint your walls something other than white:

http://morewaystowastetime.blogspot.com/

It's a pretty interesting website and I just like looking at all the different pictures.

My bologne has a first name. It's O-S-C-A-R...

Oh yes. The Weinermobile was driving in Jordan. Colby and I were coming back from a SLC class and this made my night. It made the drive worth it. Really, how often do you get to see the hot dog car? And this hot dog is brand name! We took pictures but unfortunately they're on my phone and I have no way to retrieve them. Anyway...the funniest part it the license plate on the back: WEENR. How do you think the guy driving this feels?

We sold our car!

Well we sold Squeakers! I know, we met with this guy last night in SLC and he loved it. He really needs a car quick so he bought it. KSL and craigslist.com work! Anyway that means that we've got to find a car fast. Here's his story: We asked him why he needed a car so fast. His car got totaled. He was in SLC turning left on 7200 S when he was hit head on. He said the car looked like it was straight out of a commercial--the steering wheel was right up against his chest. But here's the clincher. He was hit by an illegal immigrant, who had no insurance, no license and who was platered slobbering drunk! The only thing he could say was "No cops!". Wow. Could it really have gotten any worse! We've been looking at the Nissan Altima. It'll be saving us money. Eventually we'll get another big car but for now...sniff. Oh well, at least it's a shiny car we're getting!

Huh?

I actually got a student today saying that they missing learning about Romeo and Juliet. What?! Did that really happen?

Coming soon...

Dating 101: Advice on boys and girls from boys and girls.

The Snow Saga Continues

Today was another disaster in the parking lot. Alpine got 14 inches of snow and the parking lot was a mess. Come to find out, only after I'd parked in the lot and sloshed my way inside that we were supposed to park in the parking lot across the street. Bah!

Snow day

Well, not a snow day yet. Where I work it has been blizzarding all day, almost a white out. Well, the buses failed to pick up the kids due to the large amounts of snow. So...we had to keep the kids late after the release time and eventually most of the buses were able to make it through. We might even have a snow day tomorrow. Wow! I would love to live in Alpine!

You might live in Utah if...

These are some Jeff Foxworty-isms. Only picked out the funnier ones:

If 'vacation' means going anywhere south of Salt Lake City for the
weekend, you live in Utah .

If you measure distance in hours, you live in Utah .

If you install security lights on your house and garage but leave both
unlocked, you live in Utah .

If the speed limit on the highway is 75 mph -- you're going 80, and
everyone is still passing you, you live in Utah .

If driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with
snow, you live in Utah .

Guitar Hero Addict

Well, not quite an addict. As many of you know, we bought Richard's Xbox360 and Colby's been wanting to rock with the legends for quite a while so we splurged. It's been so much fun. I don't really know most of the songs but believe you me, I'm getting to know them very well. For example, there's a song by a band called Dragonforce that really rocks and I would not have known about it had we not bought GH3. The Joneses have come over and we've all gotten the face-melting solos down so good that we should all be on tour. It seems that everyone has their own GH rock pose. Andrew's got what he calls the "Power Stance", Chelsey's a real stage show-off complete with dances and walks, Colby got guitar lifts and dips, while for the most part I've got a chill attitude kind of like the guy from Red Hot Chili Peppers (I am working on a Power March though--sort of like Zoolander and Blue Steel). We're working our way up the difficulty level and are just starting the hard level. All in all...It's been super fun! Definitely a good purchase.

Wall-E

I have never really been excited for a Pixar movie. When I heard about "Finding Nemo" I thought "A movie about a fish?". "Monsters Inc." was a stupid idea too. Or so I thought until I saw the movies. "Monsters Inc." still is one of the most creative movies I've ever seen and how awesome was "The Incredibles". So I'm really excited about thier next movie "Wall-E".

Stuff

Blogging is really and truly for the blogger and not for other people. So with that in mind, indulge me in listing things:

My friend Chelsey has tagged me which means I have to write 6 habits/facts about myself. Here are the most interesting things about me:

1. I love to bake and love to decorate cakes. I took a cake decorating class at BYU. The first two I've made and the second two are ones that I'd like to make. Eventually, after I learn how to use fondant, I'd like to make a side business out of it. P.S. Even though the roses cake looks fabulous, it tasted really nasty. I shouldn't have used a carrot cake for the base! Live and learn.


2. Some of my favorite words are salacious, melliflous and ...I can't remember the other one. I won't tell you the definition of salacious but it just rolls off the tongue. Ex: My face turned red at the salacious gossip I heard.

3. Um...I'm having a baby which is weird. I keep thinking of that part in Alien where the thing pops out of the stomach. The baby's a boy which is great. One of my students actually asked me, "Mrs. Gage, how do baby's come out?" I paused, looked at him and answered, "Out of my bellybutton."

4. I've broken my finger twice. Once playing rugby (my favorite sport), and the second time playing football. I actually played rugby in high school and started to play for BYU but didn't continue due to my broken finger (just the top knuckle was affected). I had surgery on it to fix it (I can't straighten it and it permanently rests at a lazy 45 degree angle to my straightened finger) but Droopy, as I affectionately call him, remains. I don't know why my droopy finger is a him not a her, but it seemed to fit. The droopy finger isn't really a problem but it is my driving finger and traffic is twice as bad with it crooked!

5. My favorite books/reading material are Ender's Game, A Tale of Two Cities (I cry every time), and Much Ado About Nothing (especially the movie with Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branaugh). I'm actually not much of a Pride and Prejudice fan- book or movie. Sorry.

6. I also have this weird pickiness about chick flicks. I actually don't like them very much. They have to either be off-kilter, like Chocolat with Depp, or idealistic (somewhat) like "How to Marry a Millionaire". Here's my gripe list with perhaps the most popular chick flicks: "You've Got Mail": stupid' "Casablanca": Rather squeeze lemon juice and salt in my eye; "Little Women": Why didn't Jo go with Laurie?; "Love Story", "Grease", "Pretty Woman", "Ghost", "10 Things I Hate About You" (never saw it, don't care), "Notebook" (see previous), "How to Lose a Guy"-Hate the second half...The list goes on and on! I DO like the very edited version of "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind". Ask Colby or Gretchen. There are two different edited versions of that movie floating around. I like the very edited one. They both think I'm crazy. I love "Sense and Sensibility". The end just gets you. I like "Bridget Jones' Diary" (again edited).

At C&Os with the Devores

At one of Colby's favorite restaurants. Huge portions, great Italian, killer garlic rolls...What's not to love? It was made even better sharing a wonderful evening out with our friends the Devores.

The World's Best Snowman Ever!

Well, before we left for Christmas, Gretchen, Colby and I were frolicking in the snow--which was perfect for making snowman. We made a snowman that was easily 7 or 8 feet tall. Gretchen supplied the Snowman kit. Here's just a few pictures. We were trying to make him last until Spring. No deal.

It's a Rocket!

It's a rocket! Well, let's back that up. First, we're having a baby! Yeah for us. As you can tell, Colby's pretty far along and happier than ever. How can this be? Well, you've seen the movie "Junior" right? That was a weird movie by the way. We just watched it on TV this trip. Anyway. The due date keeps changing but I'm not really concerned. It's at the end of May/beginning of June. This Christmas we visited Colby's folks and have really had a great time. We also took a trip to La Canada (sing it with the national anthem if you desire) to visit the DeVores (spelling?). We went to C & O's Trattoria which has some of the best Italian food around not to mention the best killer garlic rolls. And yes, these are worth dying for. We had a great time and stayed with Ja's family. Before the food though, Colby and I heard some great news. Ja's dad deals with high-risk pregnancies and birth defects specifically the heart. He has a really cool ultrasound machine and can even project 3D images. Ja's dad was able to help us out and give us and early ultrasound. We've got the pictures below and these will just have to do. He even gave us a DVD! Many, many thanks to Ja and Laura and Dr. Devore! This is a profile:
Below is a 3D image of the baby's head. Don't be alarmed. Our baby doesn't have a hole in it's head. Just because the camera can't have everything in focus at once it omits to show some of it. The baby's fine. We'll worry about it's brains of the lack thereof when it becomes a teenager.
Below is my favorite picture. I think it's amazing to see the bones and the spine. And yeah! No spina bifida! Sorry about the glare on the pictures. We don't have a scanner readily available so I just took pictures of the pictures. On the right is the 3D image.
Next comes Colby's favorite shot- the rocket. Dr. Devore kindly showed us the gender of the kiddo. I've merely circled the item in question. He said it so quickly that Colby wasn't sure.

So, there you have it folks! After Colby heard the news he said, "Yes, yes, YES!" I'm happy too, of course!

Dis-Enchanted (Spoiler Warning)

Wow. Danielle said she didn't like this movie and I agree. While Danielle may have disliked the movie for entirely different reasons than Colby and I, I still say this movie deserves to be disliked. It was really cute and funny up to a point. I really thought that Amy Adams (or whatever her name was in the movie) was wonderfully naive and full of the ideal. Her innocence was refreshing but instead of staying with her prince, her one true love, she ditches him for this other guy who also ditches his 5-yr long girlfrield. Blah! The villain is defeated because she accidentally falls. Lame! And, there are subtle innuendos, or presuppositions that it's okay for a man you don't know to see you in nothing but a towel, it's okay to stay at someone's house and not be married, and it's ok to wear immodest dresses. When the girlfriend caught the two main characters in a risque position she was rightfully upset. But the male lead pacified her by saying it's ok, nothing happened. She believes him but her faith is misplaced because he eventually does have an affair with the "enchanted girl". I don't know if anyone understood that or not but decidedly, Colby and I did NOT like the movie. It was cute and great and fun until the romance switched people. She even de-naivatized, she had doubts about her true love, she got angry. More human, yes. But it's a fairytale! Maybe I'm reading too much into this (that was my downfall with Pixar's cars) but I can't be the only one if Colby agrees with me too. I've said my piece.

Casinos in Utah

So the students were assigned to write a persuasive essay. One of the prompts was should there be casinos in Utah? This quote is from a student paper. He made the same mistake twice so I guess it's intentional: Do you know what casinos bring? Gambling prostitutes and drugs. Gambling is a big waste of time and money.

Oh the importance of one little comma:
Gambling prostitutes or gambling, prostitutes?

Grammar sticklers of the world unite!

Dental School Lament (in Shakespearean)

O Dental School, O dental school.
Wherefore art thou difficult?
Deny thy restrictions and refuse all else.
Or if thou wilt not, I'll hack into the computers and insert my name.
O, be no longer barred.
What's in admissions anyway?
That which we call "admitted" by any other name would still "admitted" be.
O, Dental School.
I give thee all my money and for all that,
Take my arm and leg, all myself!
-Romeo and Juliet on their way to Dental School

My New Favorite Trailer and a Trip Down Cartoonery Lane

Something you may not know about me...I've been a comic geek (I collected comic book cards) and a few comic books (come to think of it Colby collected comic books) and both he and I watched X-men the animated series. So pretty much, our kids already have a pretty big geek streak against them. I can only hope that we've got a recessive cool gene that'll express itself at some point in their lives. I digress. Scanning through imdb.com, as I sometimes do when I need a break, I noticed the trailer for Iron Man. I was never really drawn to Iron Man, preferring instead the Dark Knight and, of course, X-men. However, after watching the trailer, I have found my new favorite trailer. Robert Downey Jr, has had some rough patches in his career, but you've gotta' love the dry humor and the fact that he still is making movies. This trailer screams GUY MOVIE, but who cares. Never like Iron Man before but this might be a first. There's a first for everything. I actually watched a complete James Bond (007 Casino Royale) and actually liked it. So enjoy:
Iron-Man Trailer- HD

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Of course, taking a trip down memory lane into my cartooning past wouldn't be complete without a tribute to Gargoyles. Why, oh, why did they stop? And I would probably buy the complete TV series if they had it. Like I said, confessions.

Halloween Party

We had so much fun at the West's Halloween Party! We were graced by many characters the least of which was royalty:
Nacho is always a favorite with the crowd:
The Church's were creative with their costumes and luckily they didn't fumble little Brady (the football):

Ja and Laura were rebels without a cause, or at least just rebels:
And even though their peasants, the Stocks were still able to afford the tickets from Cambodia to here! And all for the West's party:
Unfortunately, I forgot to get pictures of the Leathams and their award winning costumes of the Border Patrol Officer and an Illegal. Baby Talmage was a pirate, a grumpy but cute pirate!
Last but not least came the ogres:
Colby's on the left! This was close to the end of the evening so Fiona looks not quite as Fiona-esque as possible. Someone even said I resembled Elphaba from Wicked. Gee, sure wish I'd seen that play! And yes, Colby did shave his head for this! Brave man! Isn't he cute? Next came some ogre behavior...Just remember that ogres are like onions...
And of course, we froze a hand to put in the gruesome punch but ran into some difficulties when Colby removed the glove. Colby said, "Ummm, guys? The hand worked but only one finger stayed on." Turning around he showed us the profane hand.

Anyway, we had a great time. We played pin the wart on the witch, the Jones' charades game, had a costume contest, and guessed how much Candy Corn was in the jar. The Devores won most of the games. You win some and you lose some. I should mention that my sister Annelisa helped pick out the prizes which included a Shrek nightlight, poster of a Rooster and noise baton. The Devores were lucky enough to snatch the Rooster Poster. Like I said, you win some, you lose some.

UEA!

Let's hear it for UEA weekend! UEA week...well, UEA stands for Utah Education Association. Every year they host a huge statewide teacher development convention in SLC. At least that's what I've heard. I've never been. In fact, I don't know of one teacher who has. You're not required to go, but they do give you two days off in order to facilitate your attendance. But who wants to sit in meetings for two days when you can be at home in your pajamas? Plus, I view UEA week as a life and sanity saving break. I know I'd have probably kicked one of my students by now if I hadn't been able to chant my mantra: Just till UEA, just till UEA. Anyway, it's here and I've been catching up on all my grading and of course sleep. Hat's off to you educators who did go. I'm sure it was fantastic.

Why English is Fun

Today was a day unprecedented in the history of my English class. I've never seen a group of students so excited, worked up, and focused as I did today. Too bad it wasn't about the lesson. We were just breaking into groups to work on our acting projects when students leaving the classroom to work in the hall start fanning out as if something smelled really bad. In the center was a girl named Paige. Someone yells, "Spider" and I think, "Oh brother. Getting worked up over a spider" (probably what Colby thinks every time I ask him to kill one--Oh the irony). Someone yells "Step on it!" and I heartily agree. Someone else yells, "Don't step on it!" and I think "They're in for a shock when my shoe comes down!" As I push through students and am prepping myself to step on it, I see Paige, standing stock still and Zack is using a paper to brush the offending bug off of her hair (which is long, brown and in ringlets). Still pushing through students, I say "Let me see!" Well, on Zack's sweater is one of these:
My next thought is, "That's not a spider." Zach and the 4.5 inch-long mantis make their way to the window to be free. Whew! If it hadn't been for Allison (another girl who was key in averting a giant bug smear on the carpet), Zach and Paige's calm heads, we'd have had one of two things:
1. A dead bug 2. A girl with a concussion from being whacked on the head with the largest textbook available. Crisis averted! Man, Mrs. Gage's class is cool!

UCSF

It seems that we are cursed with ever getting an interview at UCSF. First it was a mistake on the AADSAS website saying that we'd gotten an interview. That fell through. Next was the UCSF site itself saying that we'd gotten an interview. When Colby called today, they were sorry for the mistake but that his application was still under review. Phew! Well, third time is a charm. We'll be in for sure if we get asked a third time!

Terrible Terry Tate

The Colby School

We were up in Park City with some friends when we saw this sign! It was too perfect to pass by without a picture.

The lessons taught here are Awesomeness 101-303, Lifting Heavy Objects 101, and the Complete Guide to Obtaining Gageness is the primary text studied.

Nachoooo

Well, Colby and I hosted a Nacho Libre party the other day. On the bottom was an invitation to wear your best stretchy pants to the party. People, didn't shirk from the invite but rather embraced it as you can see.


From left to right: Colby as Young Nacho , Andrew as Nacho, Chelsey as Encarnacion, Ja as Esqueleto and Laura as the Fat Girl (I don't remember her name)!
Next comes the eagle powers:
And the past and present meet at last as Colby (left) and Andrew showed us their strength:
This is Andrew and Chelsey (she made their costumes which will be used for Halloween):
Then Horseface Jay and Laura (it's all pillows):
The food was fantastik! We had corn on a stick with sour cream and chili powder (Jay and Laura's), nachos (by us), toast and toppings (Andrew and Chelsey) and massive Oreo pie provided by the Lapes and tres leches cake from the Newcomers. There was so much food I don't think anyone ate until early afternoon the next day!
We also busted open a pinata, which we fondly named Burrito. Burrito definitely didn't make it though the night:
As you can see, Colby utterly destroyed Burrito. Below is each of our friends taking a whack at Burrito. Gretchen (in the yellow) was hilarious because she would jump to get the pinata and her legs would go out like she was touching her toes, then her legs would close when she landed, almost like doing a ballet glissade.
Next comes Andrew. If you flip back and forth between the pictures you can almost make out the karate chop action he used to defeat the helpless donkey:



VIVA LOS LUCHADORES!