Word for Wednesday

Word: Qwantz

Take a guess, what does it mean? Put your guess in comments then come back around 3:00 to see if you are correct.

Pink Glove Dance for Breast Cancer Support

Trip for Tuesday

Poitiers, France

On January 8th, my son's girlfriend will be going to France to study abroad for a semester. She will be studying with the University of Oregon study abroad program.

Poitiers is about an hour and a half away from Paris. It looks like a small community in an ancient European city but we'll find out more after MacKenzie has been there for a while. If you want to follow her journey, check out her blog here to learn more about traveling, studying abroad, and living in France.

I'm sure we'll all miss her but what a life experience this will be for a young lady.

Monday Munchies - Homemade Kahlua

So we still have the New Year to celebrate and here's an EZ homemade recipe to help:

Homemade Kahlua:

Ingredients:

1 quart water
3 cups sugar
16 teaspoons instant coffee
1/5 Vodka
2 teaspoons vanilla (or one fresh vanilla bean)

Simmer two hours, allow to cool, add two teaspoons real vanilla extract

Makes approx. two fifths of Kahlua

You can see the two bottles we made in the picture. Plus you can make it taste more or less like coffee. I always tell my kids recipes are just a guideline - adjust everything to your own taste and desire. That's why I love to cook at home - things taste just the way I want them - well, unless I burn it. :)

A Bevy of Books

For Christmas I got a bunch of books- just what I wanted.

1) The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets


2) The Savage Garden


3) Shiver


4) Under the Dome

Avatar

One of our Christmas traditions is going to a movie on Christmas. So, today we went to see Avatar, which is about 3 hours long but I barely noticed because the movie was so engrossing. This is a James Cameron movie and a Fern Gully grown up feature film. It mixes drama, graphics, suspense and thriller all in one. I would definitely recommend it on many levels.

And, if you haven't seen Fern Gully - go rent it this weekend. That is a definite must-see for any family with kids.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

I hope you all have a healthy and happy holiday and an even better New Year!