Friday, January 17, 2014

But It's Cold Outside!

January is my favorite month of the year. For one thing, I LOVE the word January. Whenever I hear it, I see the world all spelled out in purple ink in Victorian script. I also see fireworks (for New Year's, I guess) and see a pile of shining violet gems (garnet).

For another thing, I love the snow. And, of course, January brings MY BIRTHDAY!

This year I didn't do much. I put on my Taylor Swift shirt and some pajama pants. I went downstairs to do school-- yeah, right. I'll be honest. More like stare at the computer screen yawning. :^) I accomplished absolutely nothing.

Well, it was freezing outside. It was -2 and the windchill was -44. Sledding was not an option, even though the ground was covered in a lovely layer of untouched white snow. I'd been planning on taking one of my friends to the basketball game that night, but it was canceled due to the weather. What to do?

So I called up my friend Sidney.

"Hey," I said. "Wanna come over? We could go see a movie tonight, if the theater ain't closed."

"Sure. What movie?"

"Err..." I was still half asleep and couldn't remember. So I went and found mom, asked, and returned to the phone. "Either The Hobbit, Catching Fire, Frozen, or The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Those are the only appropriate ones they're showing." (They were the only ones that weren't rated R!)

Once we finally got off the phone, my mom went over to pick her up. I stayed home with the Younger Four, who were busy running around in circles in anticipation of birthday cake later that evening. Only... we didn't have a cake! (When there's no school, the roads aren't plowed very well and it's hard to get "into town.") Since we hadn't gone much of anywhere, we hadn't ordered one.

So when Sidney got here, we made my birthday cake. They were actually Devil's Food cupcakes with chocolate filling. And I think we ate more icing than we put in the cupcakes... oh, well. :^)
Just press down...

... and tilt up at an angle.

Fill hole with icing. Eat the middle that you just popped out.
Move on to the next one.
Sidney and I didn't know what to do with the middles (cupcake guts, I called them). Apparently you're supposed to put them back over the icing once you've filled the cupcakes. We weren't told that until after we'd eaten them. Oops! (They were very good, if I do say so myself.)

We couldn't decide which movie to see. My dad finally talked us into watching The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, saying the reviews looked really good. We agreed. Later we found out that it was the "cheap" movie of the week (every week the theater picks a movie to show at half-price), so we think that might have been why he wanted us to see that one so badly....

Anyway, it was a great movie. A combination of adventure and comedy.

When we got home, we "did presents and cake." Sidney and I also exchanged Christmas gifts since we hadn't seen each other since before Christmas. It was kind of funny, because we each made the other a pillow for Christmas!

Thank you, everyone, for an awesome birthday!

I love January, but I know some people get depressed by the long, cold, dark dead of winter. So if you're feeling cold and want to warm up, here's the recipe my family uses to make hot chocolate. Having a big family we make it in bulk, of course.


HOT COCOA MIX:

22 oz. non-dairy creamer powder
 
32 oz. powdered milk
1 ½ lbs. dry chocolate milk mix
¼ cup powdered sugar
¼ cup cocoa


Now get out there and play in the snow. Go, go, go, before it melts!

P.S. I'm giving up the 30-Day Blogging Challenge. It's just to hard to blog every day!

3 comments:

  1. I may or may not have been stalking your blog for posts on Taylor Swift (I love her too) and I see that your birthday is in January!! I think you are a year younger than me, but I turn 16 on the 19th of January. What day is your birthday? =D
    Your blog is awesome, by the way. Just so you know. ;)

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    Replies
    1. Thank you so much! =D
      haha! That's okay, I do that, too, when I find fellow Swifties on other blogs. :)
      My birthday is the seventh of January (Just thirty-three more days!!!). I'll be 15. All my friends are getting their permits, but I don't think that's a great idea for me... last time I tried to drive something, it was the lawnmower and that did not end well...

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    2. I'm glad I'm not the only one! That's cool! I've got a full 11 months and 12 days on ya'! ;) I hope you have an AWESOME upcoming birthday! =D Haha, I got my permit last year, 2 days after my birthday. (I had wanted to get it ON my birthday, but it was a Sunday. And this year it will be on Martin Luther King Day!) Driving is a lot of fun, but it takes a lot of work. Maybe practicing with the lawnmower a little bit more would be a good idea. ;)

      ~Jess

      *ps. I have lawnmower stories of my own, by the way.
      *pps. I've ended both of my comments with a by the way...That's a little weird. ;)

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Love,
Rebecca :)