85 years!!!

My mom called me the other day to invite me to Sunday dinner with the family this Sunday. I asked what was this special occasion for me to drive an hour to eat at Fatz on Sunday, considering I will have lots of schoolwork to do that day. She reminded me that it is my grandaddy's birthday. Not only is it his birthday, but it is a very special birthday.... his 85th! I can't even imagine 85 years and all the things you can see and do in that time. I have an enormous amount of respect for my grandad and am amazed at how much he has accomplished in his lifetime. So, I have decided that in honor of this special occasion, I will make a trip home to spend some time with the family and celebrate. I can do homework at a different time.

Grandaddy is the only one I have left. He is my mother's father and has always had a significant role in my life, as well as his other grandchildren. As of 11 years ago, our family moved back to mom's hometown and about 10 minutes from our grandparents' house. We see them often, although not often enough. I love visiting them, but before a visit, I always have to make sure I have no plans for a few hours. Once Grandaddy gets someone's attention, he will talk his or her ear off for awhile! Thankfully, it's all interesting stuff. My grandaddy has the most interesting stories, but how can you be surprised when he's had 85 years to build them! He loves talking about how he was a cook in the war and lived in Alaska. He also loves talking about the horses he used to own and how he would race cars when they first came out... and win! I can go on and on about the stories he's shared over the years. Although you can hardly get a word in, you can definitely learn a few things from chatting with him. I am so thankful for the special relationship I have with my grandaddy and I can't wait to celebrate his 85th birthday with him!

How to....

Our assignment is to write instructions for something. Inspired by Thanksgiving and the amazing food, I decided to write instructions for my favorite dessert to make.... Peanut Butter Pound Cake. So, with help from my mom and her recipe... here are your instructions.

How to Make Peanut Butter Pound Cake

Introduction:
Pound cake is one of the best desserts ever, but sometimes it is just a little too plain. In this guide I will show you how to jazz up a classic dessert. Peanut Butter Pound Cake is a great twist to an ordinary dessert, and it's very easy to make. I am not a cook, a baker, or a chef, and I don't claim to be, but I can make a mean PB pound cake and so can you with this amazing recipe!

Ingredients:
2 cups granulated sugar 1 cup milk
1 cup brown sugar 3 cups plain flour
½ cup creamy peanut butter ½ teaspoon baking powder
2 sticks of margarine ½ teaspoon salt
5 eggs ¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon vanilla Extra flour and margarine

Supplies:
Large mixing bowl Electric mixer
Small mixing bowl Oven
Medium mixing bowl Bundt Pan

Steps:
1: Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2: Combine sugar, brown sugar, peanut butter, and margarine together in large mixing bowl and mix until creamy.
3: Place eggs, vanilla, and milk in small mixing bowl.
4: Sift together measured flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in medium mixing bowl.
5: Add small bowl (egg mixture) and medium bowl (dry ingredients) alternately to large bowl (creamy mixture).
6: Grease bundt pan with extra butter and flour.
7: Pour mixture into greased bundt pan.
8: Place bundt pan in oven for 1 hour and 10 minutes.
9: Remove from oven after time expires and let it cool.
10: Eat and enjoy!!!!

Thanksgiving!!!

I am sooo excited for Thanksgiving this year!! I've had a busy semester, so I really have not been able to go home a lot.... which means I haven't had hardly any good homecooking since this summer! Besides that, I cannot wait to hang out with my family. It will be a relief to get away from school and just enjoy my time with my family. The saddest thing this year is that my sister and her husband won't be able to come home for Thanksgiving. This may be the first Thanksgiving without Jenna, and I already miss her terribly. However, like she said, it is better for her to miss Thanksgiving for work than Christmas! Brandon will be taking her place at the "kids" table this year so he can be down here for the USC game... I hope he's ready for some Southern food!!! There's nothing better than my grandaddy's Coca-Cola ham, mom's mac'n'cheese and sweet potato souffle, and grandma's homemade dressing. I could go on with the list of foods that will be served, but it is already making my stomach growl!!! So, everyone eat some wonderful food, relax a little and have a happy Thanksgiving!!!!!

Crit Session

I've never had a Crit session, so I wasn't sure what to expect on Monday. Still, I wasn't very worried about it because I knew it wasn't a formal presentation and that it was just so our classmates can help us make our projects better. I was very glad we went first so that we could get it out of the way. I was expecting a good amount of criticism and a long list of things we need to change because we had really only worked on the letter, brochure, and plaque design that weekend.

Surprisingly, the class was very positive about our work. They seemed to like all three of our pieces. Our only critiques were design-related, like different fonts, font sizes, another picture etc. They really liked the plaque design... I have to give Ryan a lot of credit for that because he did an amazing job! I am so impressed with my group and with everyone's ability to get the job done, even at the last minute. Not only can we get the job done, we can also make it look great! I am glad we are not satisfied with just average and that we strive for above average work. It is a relief to know that we do not have to work on it during our Thanksgiving breaks. The changes we need to make can be done when we get back, so we can all enjoy our breaks a little more! I hope all of ya'll have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!!

Busy Weeks

Well, this week has been very interesting. I had 4 tests, a short paper, portfolio, and an Excel project due. Luckily, I have learned not to procrastinate (as much) and started on my portfolio and Excel project last week. I interviewed a Real Estate agent on Friday for my short paper, wrote the paper when I got back on Friday, and then I went out for the evening. I started studying on Saturday night after the game for my 2 tests on Monday. Of course, these tests were worrying me the most because I was on the A/B line in each class, and they had to be on the same day. Then Monday night through Tuesday, I studied for my Real Estate test which was on Wednesday. Wednesday night I studied for my Finance test which was on Thursday. In my free hours, I worked on my project and portfolio. So, basically I studied for 5 days straight.

This semester hasn't been too bad so far with the amount of work I've had to do. It all accumulated in this one week, though. I now realize why taking 18 hours is such a hard thing to do. However, this isn't a complete gripe blog. I also realized that the more I have to do, the more motivated I am to keep working, and the more focused I am when studying. I think pressure adds a lot to my work as well. I've found out that I work well under pressure and under a time constraint. I know in my mind what needs to get done, and I do it, completely focused. I didn't even suffer a huge loss of sleep or anything. I just put aside the trivial stuff I normally do and focused on my work. I have already received my Monday test grades back and they were 91 and 88 respectively. Considering how worried I was for those tests, I was dang proud of those grades. I don't know about my other 2 tests for the week, but I do know that I studied better for them than I have in the past. I guess I was just in the "study" mode. So, even though this was a hectic, no fun week, I'd have to say that I'm fairly proud of how I handled it. I've yet to pull an all-nighter or walk into a test feeling completely underprepared. Although I don't wish for another week like this, I now realize the importance of staying busy. If I start to slack off, I could lose some of the good study skills I have right now and lose the motivation and determination that got me through these four tests. Therefore, next time I have a hectic week, I will look more on the positive side of things and hope that it can only bring up my grades.

First Aid Training

Well I finally got my First Aid training by Red Cross. I seemed to always have something going on when these trainings were taking place, but I actually got to go tonight. I was in a room with 10 complete strangers, mostly non-students. That made me more nervous going in, because I am usually shy when I do not know anyone and am in a large group. However, this older man sat down beside me and just chit-chatted (is that a word?) with me all class. He definitely calmed my nerves and the class seemed very easy after that.

We learned about all the types of first aid training and then, practiced on partners. We practiced bandaging wounds and burns. We also practiced making the four different splints. Our instructor was very helpful and very easy to listen to and understand. We took a test at the end, all passed, and were out of there an hour early. We did not, by any means, rush through it... it just came easily to everyone. So, I got my small certificate and left.

I am proud to say that I have First Aid certification for three years now! Now, I just have to get my Adult CPR certification at the next session. I can't wait!

Fall Break

Fall break was AMAZING!!! I really thought I was going to burn out from all the school work I've had to do. I found it so hard to believe that Clemson gives us a fall break sooo much later than everyone else and sooo close to Thanksgiving break. Then I realized that our break happens to fall on election day. That's just like Clemson... they didn't want to give us another day off, so they made sure fall break would coincide with election day. Nevertheless, I still had a great, much-needed break. I don't know if I would have been so grateful for a break if it had been earlier anyways.

I went up to Maryland again, and this time it did not rain at all! It was, however, very cold! Still, I got to stop in Virginia and visit my my sister and her husband. I have missed my sister so much since she moved up there this summer, so I was very excited to see her. Then, we went on to the beautiful state of Maryland. We drove through the Bay Bridge Tunnel and up the Eastern Shore. The scenic drive was gorgeous!

I also went fishing for the first time ever! Of course it was absolutely freezing that day, but we took the boat out in the middle of the bay (well all over the bay) and caught some fish. The biggest one we pulled up was 16 in... haha. Hey, at least I got the experience of reeling one in. We also went shopping and visited downtown Annapolis. That downtown is adorable! I loved all the shops and we ate at a wonderful Irish restaurant! Other than the sightseeing, we just relaxed and had a good time, which I needed very much.

I have to say it was one of the best fall breaks ever!