The Tale of the Sugar Cookies

Once upon a time, I realized that there was a huge gaping hole of Christmas in my home.

There were ZERO sugar cookies.

Sugar cookies are a MUST at Christmas. So I set out to bake some.

On Sunday, I mixed up the dough, wrapped it up, and set it in the fridge to cool. So far, so good.

An hour later the giant thing of flour was pulled out to make bread. And someone mentioned that it was 

BREAD FLOUR.

Well, this semester at school, we'd been having baking problems. Our desserts kept tasting salty or looking strange. Finally at the end of the semester we realized it was because the flour we were using was bread flour, which, according to my chefy roommate, makes the pastry taste saltier. 

And I had just made the same mistake with my Christmas sugar cookies.

So on Monday, I set out to finish the cookies. The dough was darker than I thought it should be and I thought it tasted off. Also it was SO crumbly - it took forever to cut out the cookies. 2 days, actually. I cut some out on Monday and then cut the rest and frosted them all on Tuesday cuz I was too frustrated to do it all on Monday. 

They looked just fine once they were all baked and frosted. And most people thought they tasted normal. But I know that it was bread flour. Not normal, white flour.

And that means my Christmas sugar cookies did not meet Christmas standards.

Oh well. Never again will I just grab the closest flour, assuming it is normal. 

Today I commit to labeling and checking flour before usage.

Goodbye from Smallhands

 I met some of my closest friends through BYU Catering. I have had so many good times with these guys. My last shift was on Thursday and, not going to lie, I'm kind of sad to go.

I mean, I've worked there since my Freshman year at BYU - Fall of 2009.

 These people are so funny. They've definitely added spice to my life.
I won't forget the zoo trip in the snow, the time the ranger guys crashed our bonfire, or the Creeps trips.

        I've gone to their birthday parties, freaked out with them over engagements, and wished so many of them good luck as they left on missions or graduated.
                         

It's crazy to think I won't spend a late evening in the dishroom again, not to say I'll miss that part. But I will miss the people. They are great.

From the support with the Skyroom dishwasher attack to sneaking lemon heads to pizza lunches, it's been a good almost 3 years.

Peace out, Katering Krew! Name a hotkeeper after me or something.

~Smallhands

Families are Forever

Today my Facebook was full of 3 kinds of posts: the end of finals, The Hobbit, and the horrible shooting. I am thankful that finals are over and I am excited to see The Hobbit, but that last one...I don't even know what to say. I can't put words into sentences coherently enough to describe how I felt when I found out. So I'll just list some words.

Horrified.

Sickened.

Distraught.

Shocked.

Pray.

Children.

Why.

Sympathy.

Love.

My friend said, "Christmas is only 11 days away. Those parents already bought presents for their children."

Just think about that for a second.

The only thing that helped me with this is knowing that God has a plan. I have faith that those children are safe with their loving Heavenly Father now. And I know that those parents can be reunited with their children again.

But those parents don't have the same beliefs as I do.

My heart breaks for them.

I will pray for the children's families. I will pray that they can be comforted and that they will feel the thousands of prayers going out for them right now. I hope they can feel the country's love.

"I have a family here on earth

They are so good to me

I want to share my life with them

For all eternity.

Families can be together forever

Through Heavenly Father's plan."

I am so grateful for this knowledge and for my own family.

#thinkingofthemtoday

 

Finals, the campus version of The Walking Dead

Finals. That dreaded week of not-enough-sleep, junky meals, cranky roommates, crowded libraries, stressed-out students, and frustration for everyone. 

Especially when your internet is a joke.

But, don't fret, my finals are basically done. Yup, only one left and we're only halfway through the week! 

Yay, me!

All I have is my scheduled oral final tomorrow for my American Novel class. He likes us to be a bit more insightful than I am capable of, so positive vibes would be very much appreciated.

We'll see how it goes. Hopefully I'll be coherent (it's at 8:00am) and hopefully I'll be able to remember all that I've read and all that we've discussed.

But anyways, this is how I feel/felt about finals week this semester. 

Okay, let's be real. Every semester.

Know what I mean? Finals should be classified as cruel and unusual punishment. We've already been tested on it, why should we be tested again???

And all these doctors are saying "more sleep" and "less stress" make you healthy.

Thank you, professors. When I die young, I'll know who to blame.

Apparently, if you find your roommate dead you get A's for the semester. I shouldn't of learned that. Now every semester I wonder who should be the one to go.

Do you get A's for the semester if you're the one to die?

My Drug (it's not your love)

Some people are addicted to Twitter, some to Gossip Girl, and some to actual drugs. What am I addicted to? Harry Potter fan pages.

I can literally spend hours looking at their posts, pictures, and memes. I love and repost, spamming my friend's Facebook feeds, things like this:

See? It doesn't even rhyme properly! But I love it so much. SO MUCH.

I was the girl crying through the epilogue of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, not because Ron was so fat, but because it was OVER. There are no more Harry Potter movies to look forward to.

Excuse me while I reapply my mascara.

Seriously. I scroll through the fan pages just to relive the excitement that is Harry Potter.  It's like reliving the good times by flipping through old pictures, but mine are full of wands and Weasleys. And then when I finally log out of Facebook, I am depressed because there will never be another Harry Potter book or movie. 

And then I go on Pinterest and repin things like this onto my wish list:

SIGH. It's like Winnie the Pooh said: "Can't we go back to the beginning and do it all over again?" (paraphrased; I'm too lazy to go find the actual quote)

So, if you need me, check Facebook. I'm the one tearing up over letters from George to Fred about Molly slipping up on their names again.

Or I'll be swooning over the cuteness of Harry holding baby Teddy, screaming "THIS is why you read the books!" in my head.

My name is Megan.

My addiction is Harry Potter fan pages.

Admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery, right?