Star Wars Cake Batter Truffles

So, this weekend, the FYE (For Your Entertainment) in Woodbridge Mall was doing this grand reopening extravaganza for three days.

Anyway, I was browsing Facebook the Thursday before, and a post from Her Universe caught my eye.

"Do you live in the tri-state area?"
Yes, yes I do.
"Then come meet Ashley (Eckstein, founder of Her Universe) when she judges a cosplay contest in the Woodbridge Center Mall!"
Wait, my Woodbridge? The place I was just two weeks ago helping my mother look for a dress for the brother's wedding? With the Disney store and the carousel and the Nestle shop? That Woodbridge?

I was so there.

Now, I didn't participate in the cosplay contest (I saw that Miggy Jagger from Heroes of Cosplay was supposed to be co-judging it, so I assumed that it would draw some of the epic, screen-accurate cosplayers, but I guess it just either was too short notice, or not publicized well enough. That's not to say the cosplayers that showed up weren't excellent, but there just weren't as many as I was expecting, and a couple other newbies were participating, so while I still wouldn't have had a chance of winning, TARDIS dress and top hat wouldn't have looked so out of place) so I wore my Her Universe t-shirt. Specifically, my "Come to the darkside; we have cupcakes" Her Universe shirt that was designed because Ashley loves cupcakes.

Ever since I discovered that, I have totally wanted to give Ashley cupcakes. But I thought it would be kind of weird to bring cupcakes, so I thought I would make something that traveled a little better and was still kind of cupcakeish: Cake batter truffles. And what was even better about that was that I could make them in my myriad geeky silicone ice cube trays.

*INTERNALLY SCREAMING*

I very nearly wussed out at the last minute (YAY SOCIAL ANXIETY), but my mother (who I dragged with me with me, purportedly so we could look for wedding shoes afterwards, but mostly because I hate driving, and especially to Woodbridge), walked right up to her and introduced us, and kept dropping hints about the blog.

Ashley was super sweet and promised to check out the blog, even took out her phone to make a note of the name (but it's totally cool if she never does; I'm over the moon that she even intended to look it up), and was really impressed with the truffles. She asked me how I made them, and I stuttered something about homemade cake mix and ThinkGeek and ice cube trays in reply. I'm not completely sure how much sense it made at the time. My brain and my mouth aren't always on the same page.

Well, Ashley, if you're reading this, here is a much better explanation: I started things off with my Homemade Yellow Cake Mix (you could do store bought; I'm not judging, but I would have had to buy cake mix, which would be silly when I already had all the ingredients for it in my pantry). Now, I know I always say you can use cold butter in place of the butter flavored shortening, but for cake batter-y things, I feel like the butter flavoring is essential to the cake batter flavor. So if you can't bring yourself to use shortening, I would suggest adding maybe a 1/4 teaspoon of butter flavoring.

Next, I followed these instructions for the truffle filling from Take a Bite out of Boca, I just added some almond extract and upped the vanilla (since my mix was homemade, it wasn't pre-flavored) and nixed the salt (it already tasted a little salty to me). I also added chocolate sprinkles instead of rainbow. I stopped just before the rolling and chilling, since it was going into molds.

Then I melted some dark chocolate candy wafers (chocolate works as well, but the wafers just melt easier and cover better, and I already had them in the freezer). You want to fill the molds about 1/3 of the way with the chocolate and tap it a few times to get rid of air bubbles and fill in the details of your mold. Then take your truffle filling, roll it into a ball (a little less than a tablespoon was good for the Darth Vader molds. The Milennium Falcon took a lot more, maybe a tablespoon and a half? I didn't measure it). Press the filling down into the mold, until the chocolate starts to come up the sides. (Don't press too hard, or the chocolate will be too thin and break when you try to remove it). Fill the molds up the rest of the way with chocolate, give it another couple taps to get rid of air bubbles, and chill until the chocolate is firm (I freeze it, usually because I'm impatient).

Then just carefully pop them out of your molds, and give to the geeky celeb of your choice. It will still be weird, but not as weird as carting cupcakes around with you, and they might promise to visit your blog.

Cake Batter Truffles

Ingredients
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
½ cup sugar
1½ cups flour
1 cup Yellow Cake Mix
1½ tsp. vanilla extract*
½ tsp. almond extract*
3-4 tbsp. milk
Sprinkles
Candy coating (I used dark chocolate flavored. Vanilla or almond would work as well. Or use your favorite chocolate)

Directions
In bowl with electric beaters, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until fluffy. On low speed, add the flour, cake mix, and extracts, and mix until well incorporated. Add 3 tablespoons of milk (you may have to add more to achieve the right consistency). Stir in the sprinkles.

Melt the candy coating in the microwave or in the top of a double boiler. Fill your molds 1/3 of the way with the coating. Tap gently to get rid of air bubbles. Roll the filling into balls and press them into the molds, until the coating starts to come up the sides. Fill the molds the rest of the way with chocolate, tap again, and chill in the refigerator or freezer until the coating is firm.

*If using store bought cake mix, reduce the vanilla to 1 tsp. and forego the almond extract-- it will be pre-flavored

Recipe adapted from Take a Bite out of Boca

NOTE: I got both ice cube trays off of ThinkGeek, but it doesn't look like they have them anymore. (They're listed as out of stock, but don't show up in the general listings). You can find them elsewhere, like on Amazon or a site like Perpetual Kid

And because I know you want them: Cosplay Photos! (Sightlines were poor in the store, so I didn't get as many as I would have liked)

And finally, I feel like I should apologize for this:

Victoria Cosplay derp face

#sorrynotsorry

Stuff and Things 7/25/14

Life as I know it
It's been a while since my last Stuff and Things post. It's been crazy, guys. I'm still working on getting settled and getting back into a blogging routine. I have already had to call 911 (I woke up on July 4th to this really loud crackling noise. I looked out the window and the recycle shed was engulfed in flames. Good times. And now I don't know what to do with my recycle)

Source

I put in a service call to our security company at work because one of the maglocks on our data center wasn't getting power. They sent out two techs-- the first one walked in with a ladder (?) and didn't appear to have any idea what he was doing. The second one fixed it, I think, but in the process took apart an emergency shut-off switch that was connected to the AC in the data center, and the temperature sky rocketed and it was really bad. G was there for five hours saying, "hey, you think the tech might have done something?" and everyone told her no, and then she texted me, and I was like, "that must be related to the maglock," but she told me no, and then the landlord found the switch and everyone was like, "Wow, G was right."

So I've decided this must be the employee motto of our security company:

Brought to you by Captain Hammer, corporate tool

They also manufacture tools (sort of a weird crossover, I know) and I hope those are good, because their security techs are not exactly the sharpest in the shed. (Get it? I made a funny)

I finally watched Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing, and I loved it. That's always been one of my favorite Shakespeare plays, so it was really fun to see some of my favorite actors in it (because Joss Whedon filmed it in like a weekend, so he just called up all his friends and said, "hey, you wanna do a thing?" And he apparently invites his actor friends over all the time to do Shakespeare readings, and I want to go to there. I'll bring cupcakes and just sit in a corner and be completely unobtrusive, promise.)

I also watched Magic Mike, and, umm, it just made me feel really uncomfortable. Like, really, really uncomfortable. And was there plot? Because I couldn't find the plot. Maybe Matthew McConaughey's character scared it away (he was so creepy). I'm sorry, but I just don't get the appeal. I will just take this as more proof that I don't know how to girl.

Source

Ayup.

Speaking of girling, the brother and sister-in-law are getting married the same weekend as NYCC. Which was super disappointing at first. I was like, well maybe I can manage to go on Friday, then I was like, no I'll probably have to do bridesmaidy things. And then it hit me: Comic Con Bachelorette Party. Aw yiss. And the sister-in-law said yes, so it's on like Donkey Kong. We even decided on a Doctor Who group cosplay (the sister-in-law insisted I be a dalek. She'll be Rose, my brother will be 9, MOH will likely do River Song, and then we might have a cyberman and a Captain Jack. Honestly, we spent more time deciding on our cosplay than on the bridesmaids dresses.) I'm going to make little somethings to identify us as a wedding party: a Tardis boutonniere for the brother, maybe a blue tiara and veil or something for the sister-in-law, and maybe mini blue corsages for the rest of us. I don't know. I still have a lot of brainstorming on that part. My dalek cosplay will be more stylized than screen accurate, a lot like my Tardis dress, I've just got to work out the actual crafting bits.

TV- Beyond this point, there be spoilers

Falling Skies- So I just totally marathoned the first three seasons of this show, and I was pretty impressed. Aside from a couple inconsistencies (like who the frack is actually taking time to embroider peoples names on their uniforms post apocalypse? And where do they keep finding all these military uniforms? And why aren't they using the mech bullets anymore? And why do the Espheni keep not killing Tom?) I really liked it.

But this newest season, with this whole Lexi storyline, I'm not loving so much. I mean, the half human/half alien messiah child with the accelerated aging process and magic powers? That's straight out of Stargate. And let me tell you, Adria was annoying, but a lot less so than Lexi. And WTF is with Lourdes being all crazy stalker fangirl? Wasn't she devoutly Christian? Isn't she supposed to be smart? Is this like that Doctor Who episode where when your faith is shaken, the minotaur takes it over and makes you praise him before he eats you? Is Lexi the minotaur? Whoa, I think I found a new headcanon.

Posts from this week

Cocoa Pebbles Grilled Bananas

Stuff and Things 5/9/14

Life as I Know it

SIX MORE DAYS. Six more days until I close. Supposedly.

I'm not going to believe it until it's here.

I can still play it in the Sims. -.-

I've got everybody all confused. My mortgage company sent me an email the other day, and I was kind of worried until I opened it and it was like, "Congratulations on your closing!"

Slightly premature, mortgage company. Shouldn't you know when it is, since that's when I pay you the money? You'd think they'd know.

But I got a couch, so there's that. Well, more specifically, my aunt gave me a couch. It was my cousin's, and it was less expensive for her to buy a new one than to ship it down to DC. Plus its also kind of massive, and she says she didn't like it because the fabric shows your butt imprint. This is a serious concern, but since I'm also kind of obsessed with decorative throw pillows and blankets, I think I can live with it. It might be too massive for my living room, but it's a sectional and comes apart, so I can always put a piece in the bedroom or something.

Other than that, I've been in a kind of limbo, house wise. I saw a really cool 1950's kitchen table in the antique store, in great shape with all four chairs, for actually a decent price, but I didn't want to buy it, not knowing how much room I'll have or where it would go. It's probably not there any more. I've also had my Amazon.com cart full for about 2 weeks of things I need, like a vacuum cleaner and a set of pots, but I can't click buy because it's bulky stuff and I have no where to put it. Meanwhile, the house that will eventually be mine has five big closets and a walk in pantry, and there's even a shared storage space for the building. SO MUCH STORAGE, I NEEDS IT PRECIOUS.

I've been going a little crazy. I'm just frustrated with all this lingering crap.

Oh, but some good news: you know how I talk about the brother and the sister-in-law? Well, she's not actually my sister-in-law, but they've been engaged for forever and a day, so it's just a lot easier to refer to her as the sister-in-law then as my brother's perpetual fiancee. But she's going to be the for-real sister-in-law in October! So I've totally been pushing for storm troopers. And that the officiant should be a dalek. I don't know if I'm going to be a bridesmaid; last time we spoke about it, that was kind of up in the air, since my brother's best friend's wife is due to give birth like two days before so he won't be able to make it. So they were thinking of going with no wedding party, but I said that he could contact the local chapter of the 501st to be his groomsmen. AKA STORM TROOPERS.

And then I was being helpful with the guestlist (ACTUALLY HELPING, I'm so proud of myself), because I'm apparently the only one who knows who's married or engaged or has a steady boyfriend-- just don't ask me the names-- and the sister-in-law looks up and goes, "I'm sorry Kimmy, I never asked; is there someone you're going to bring?"

Guys, I didn't even blink. I just said, "Benedict Cumberbatch. God Mo," I call her Mo, "it's like you don't even know me. How could you forget my imaginary husband?" And basically she just started laughing and we were not getting anything else done after that. But then my mom was like, "You totally should invite him," because I come from a family of enablers, "because if he doesn't show up, he doesn't show up. But he might." And when I told her the RSVP cards would need Royal Mail stamps, she was just like, "So we get some." Because etiquette.

And then Mo had a dream that he did come to the wedding, and she was so happy for me (this is her wedding, might I remind you) and that we were basically giant dorks together the entire night and now she's really down with this idea. And then I was texting a friend this whole story saying I guess I need to find his fanmail address or something since my entire family has decided he needs to be invited to the wedding, and almost immediately, she texted me the fanmail address.

Me: Umm, that was fast. Do you just keep this handy in case I need a date for a wedding?
Her: Maaaaaaaybe

So that's the story of how everyone in my life is conspiring to invite Benedict Cumberbatch to my brother's wedding. I am not saying this is a bad idea by any means, don't get me wrong-- because it was mostly my idea-- but at this point, I feel like I'll be the least disappointed if he doesn't show. Mostly because on the 0.03% chance he does, I'll probably hide in the corner the entire night taking stalker photos.

SOCIAL ANXIETY FTW

TV- Here there be spoilers

Castle- I'm happy HRG... err, Senator Bracken is finally behind bars, but I'm not looking forward to next week's episode. The "we can't get married because you were young and drunk and accidentally married your totally unsuitable boyfriend/girlfriend who I may or may not perceive as a rival for your affections" trope has been done and over done to death. I was instantly disappointed when I saw the promo.

Supernatural- I'm so torn. I don't want Dean to hang on to the first blade, because it's clearly no good, and it's totally changing him and I don't like it. But I also want to see him fillet Metatron with it. I really hate Metatron.

Also, I can't decide if Gadreel is setting Cas up or he really switched sides. Cause I gotta say, since he stopped trying to be Ezekiel, I find him a lot more sympathetic. I know he still killed Kevin, but I think he really didn't want to, he just thought he had to. He has kind of been out of the loop since the dawn of humanity and all.

And since Crowley changed the timeline by saving his son, does that mean the Doctor has to come and fix the paradox? (Although, really Supernatural writers, the man was in Doctor Who, and now he's got a time-traveling son. That was a complete missed opportunity for a reference. "Time can be rewritten." That's all he had to say.)

I still miss Benny. Can we go back in time and save Benny?

Arrow- SARA'S BACK!!!!! I was really upset that she left. And the why she left. Now I kind of want to smush her little assassin face. (Although, the blonde wig over the already blonde hair still kind of gets me as not making a whole lot of sense)

MALCOM MERLYN'S BACK!!!!! I laughed for about 5 minutes when we learned he wasn't dead. It was this really intense, dark scene, but I couldn't stop laughing. Because it's John Barrowman. I haven't been this excited for a villain's return since Moriarty, so, yeah.

OLLIE DIDN'T HOOK UP WITH LAUREL BEFORE SARA CAME BACK!!! That was the thing I dreaded happening the most. Not death and destruction. Not Isabel hurting Diggle (although I was really scared that was going to happen. Because Summer Glau + Mirakuru = unstoppable. But then Felicity hit her with a van. *giggle* That's my girl.) But the writers making a stupid love triangle between Ollie, Laurel, and Sara, that was my greatest fear. Black Canary and Green Arrow is canon, okay? And Ollie and Sara make a better couple. (And Laurel is a useless character, okay?)

Except the season finale is next week, and that makes me sad.

Posts from this week

"Darth" Chocolate Cupcakes with Sith Lord Red Velvet Frosting

How to make Monkey Cupcakes

Stuff and Things 4/18/14

Life as I Know it
Did you guys know I'm really bad at helping with wedding planning? I mostly suggest ways to work storm troopers into the ceremony, and how the ring bearers should be dressed up as little secret service dudes, and that a dalek should be the officiant so he can go "OFFICIATE. OFFICIATE," and how zombies should totally attack mid-ceremony.

...I'm not helpful. I'm just trying to give them the awesomest wedding in the history of awesome, but nooooo.

Did you know the bestie's fiance nixed a video game themed wedding? He writes a video game blog. I was like, I could totally make that elegant. An orchestral version of the Mario theme playing as the wedding party walks down the aisle, some power-up cufflinks, and the centerpieces would be so much fun to design. But nooooo. He doesn't even want a theme. He wants a "wedding themed wedding." I told the bestie she should could totally do some meta-theming with that. She didn't find that helpful.

Other than that, not much to report. Closing date has been moved up a day (for me, anyway. The sellers are still closing on the 30th). The date has been moved around so many times, that my attorney already has that date booked solid. So I'm closing the day before I actually close. It never goes smooth.

I just want it to be over at this point. Honestly, if I could close tomorrow, I would. I just don't like this lingering stuff. Plus, I have to pick out paint colors. Like, that's been eating at me, because I want to paint before I move in. I know the color scheme I want in the kitchen (purple and gray, with brass accents), and the bathroom has blue tile, so I'll probably just paint it white, but the living room feeds into the hallway, which is really long and goes down to the bedroom, so the color in the living room will effect the color of the entire house, and how do people make decisions like this? What color is your living room? How did you decide on that color? How did you not completely stress yourself out picking that color?

No, I am not getting overly crazy about paint colors. I'm normally this way.

Source

This is my color inspiration for the kitchen

I found this on Pinterest, and I can't stop laughing:

Source

Start with Homemade Cake Mix, you must

Also, Peter Capaldi's not even really the doctor yet, and he's already melted my heart. Why is there water on my face it must be raining I'm not crying.

TV
Supernatural- I was SO EXCITED when I saw Gabriel was back,and then it wasn't Gabriel, and NOW I REALLY WANT GABRIEL BACK WHY DID THEY DO THIS TO ME I WAS FINE BEFORE.

(Funny story, I watched this ep. with my mom, and I was explaining who Gadreel was, and then I said, "Well, he's not technically evil, he's just really super gullible," and that was right when he walked into the Winchesters' trap)

But I think I kind of hate Metatron more than any other baddie on the show. Dick Roman killed Bobby, and I still hate Metatron more. I don't know why. I just do. Maybe it's because he burned a book. That makes me angry.

Also, Mark of Cain. Not loving this. What's it doing to my Dean? (Also Cas, srsly, you are not married Dean. And stop doing exactly what Metatron told you he wanted you to do. You should not do what the psychopath told you to do.)

Arrow- First of all, Ollie, you need to go to Star Labs and get that gun that the lab techs used against Slade. Because, dude it totally worked really well.

Second of all, Thea, I know it sucks that your dad wasn't your biological dad, and that your mom and your brother kept it from you, and your boyfriend broke up with you for no reason you can see. You've had a sh***y couple of days, I get it, I do, but trust me, you don't want to go from billionaire to broke, so just sign the papers, okay? Pretty please?

Thirdly, Starling City doctors apparently don't believe in doctor-patient confidentiality. When a patient's sister comes to see her in the hospital, it's fine to tell her about the current injuries, especially since they're minor, but don't follow that up with, "Oh that's nothing compared to her old injuries." WTF. And Laurel, if you haven't figured out that Black Canary is Sarah yet, especially now that you know Ollie is the Arrow, and that crappy doctor told you all about her old injuries, you are too dumb to live.

Fourth, SUMMER GLAU HAS BEEN DOSED WITH THE MIRAKURU. EVERYBODY RUNNNNN! RUN FOR YOUR LIVESSSSSSS!

Posts from this week

Homemade Strawberry Cake Mix

Stuff and Things 3/21/14

Life as I Know it
Soooooooooo... as I type this, I just got off the phone with my attorney because the sellers tried to pull some shady, backroom dealing on me and cheat me out of $1500.

You know how we finally agreed to the appraisal price if I moved the closing date back two weeks? Well, they'd been dragging their feet about sending the addendum to the contract, and I just found out why. I got a call from my attorney this morning, saying the bank wouldn't forgive the sellers the $3k. I was like, okay, sucks to be them, but not my problem. Then my attorney goes on to say that the sellers were "willing to meet me half way" by dropping the price $1500.

Now, she'd been out of the office the past week, so she was a little behind. I was working pretty exclusively with her assistant and my realtor, not wanting to bother her on her vacation unless I needed to. So I guess she hadn't yet been notified (especially since there was no addendum yet) about the deal, and she thought the sellers' attorney was offering this in good faith. I was like, hold up. We already agreed to the appraised price. I'm confused as to where this is coming from.

The sellers' attorney must have known my attorney was OOO, and was banking on her not knowing about this yet, and figuring how young and inexperienced I was (and my attorney's not exactly and old fart either, although this is not exactly her first rodeo), he could go back on the agreement since it was only verbal and change the price in their favor.

I don't know how much the sellers actually had a hand in this. By all accounts, their realtor was actually upset that this was going on, since it's written in the contract that I can back out if we can't get it down to the appraisal price-- and I would have if they went back on their word; it wouldn't have been worth it-- and they can't get another house until this is settled. So whether their attorney gave them bad advice, or did it on his own, or they goaded him into getting as much money as he could, I'll probably never know, but right now I want to slap all three of them in their faces.

It's cleared up now. Pretty much as soon as my attorney called and went, "my client just told me something interesting..." he faxed over the signed addendum at the agreed upon price. But the whole experience has exponentially decreased my faith in humanity

Good news is, I made my two first official purchases for my new house (provided the sellers don't pull any more dick moves):

The first is a sliding glass door buffet I got from Christmas Tree Shops. It was the last in stock-- actually the display piece-- so I got a good price on it. It's a little dinged up, but still a nice piece of furniture. It's doubtful I'll actually use it as a buffet, since my dining room will be a library, but I might use it as a media cabinet. I have no furniture, so it could go anywhere, lol. The second is a vintage-style tin sign that I found on amazon and fell in love with. They only had 4 left in stock, so I panicked and bought it. That's going in my vintage glam kitchen, obviously. It's also the first thing I bought off my "condo wishlist" so you can say things are getting real now.

I had a dream last night that the condo was secretly a three bedroom, and that made it too long and it took forever to go find the bathroom and I got lost and that's how I discovered the spare bedrooms, and somebody asked me why I put the library in the dining room instead of in one of the spare bedrooms, and I couldn't remember why, so I said that the spare bedrooms were too small. As you can see, this hasn't been on my mind at all. And you can also see just how restful my sleep has been as of late, which is to say, not very.

TV- Here there be spoilers

Castle- Ninjas and no ninja ropes reference? Nathan Fillion, I'm ashamed of you. Also, I kind of thought they were from the League of Assassins. I've been watching too much Arrow.

Supernatural- I was super excited when I saw Kavan Smith guest starring. He was in Stargate: Atlantis (WHAT. We've established I'm a nerd), originally as a background character without a first name. I used to call him Major Cute Guy (because he was Major Lorne, get it?). The fandom called him Scottie the Hottie. Then it turned out his name was Evan and we were all disappointed. And then he played Sheriff Andy on Eureka, so I'm kind of super attached to him.

WHICH IS WHY IT WAS DOUBLY CREEPY WHEN HE WAS ALL KIDNAPPY STOCKHOLM SYNDROME DUDE. I was not even sad when Dean beheaded him. But when are they gonna bring up The whole "directly descended from Cain and Abel" thing? They're ignoring cannon, and this makes me angry.

Arrow- I KNEW that was Harley Quinn in the promo! I KNEW IT I KNEW IT I KNEW IT. They couldn't get away with more than a cameo, but it's still very exciting. I liked that this episode was Diggle-centric. Ever since Black Canary came on the scene, Dig's been kind of background and that upsets me because I love Dig. But I am upset that Laurel got more screen time than Felicity because Felicity is awesome and Laurel is not. Also, one session of AA and Laurel's totally clean and sober and sunshine and rainbows and loves everybody and is giving sage advice? I don't buy it.

And next week-- Do they really expect me to believe Helena stands a chance against Sara? B*tch, please.

Psych- The zombies were fun, and that part was really well done, but this was a little light on actual story. The mystery was obvious. I expected more from the SECOND TO LAST EPISODE EVER.

Posts from this week

Grasshopper Pie

Stuff and Things 3/14/14

Happy Pi Day! Here are 9 pie recipes to help you celebrate (the collage is clickable)

Life as I Know it
You know, I watch a lot of HGTV, and most of it has to do with buying houses. Property Virgins, House Hunters, Love it or List it. The Property Brothers is my favorite, because a) they're cute and b) while I understand all the benefits of buying a fixer upper and renovating, I wouldn't have a clue how to go about doing it, so I like watching them do it.

Anyway, my point is that I figured my watching lots of HGTV would prepare me for buying a house, it did not.

Like, appraisals. I didn't even know they were a thing. I figured that's why you have a real estate agent, to tell you what the house is worth. But no, after you're already under contract, you have someone come in and appraise the house and tell you the price that you already agreed on after 48 hours of negotiations is more than you should be paying and if you go with the price you agreed upon, that's going to affect the mortgage that you already did all the paperwork for and locked your rate in for the next 90 days except not because that extra $3k is going to raise your rate which doesn't make any sense to me because nothing's actually changed. This was the price I was approved for, this is the price I'm paying, but now it's somehow all wrong.

Raise your hand if you think this should come before you actually agree on a price with the seller. *raises hand* Doesn't this all seem a bit counter-intuitive?

So the house underappraised by $3k. Which, in terms of real estate, is not a big number. And since it's not going to appraise for a different price for anyone else, it would seem a given that the sellers would give me the house less that amount. So now's the time that the attorneys get involved, and I get a call from mine saying the sellers can't afford it. They're actually bringing money to the table in order to close. But! she says to me, their attorney is going to try something she's never actually heard of anyone doing before, and it might not work, but it's worth a shot. He's going to go to the bank and see if they can forgive the $3k, making it a short sale that's not actually technically a short sale. If he can show that the sellers can't afford to stay, and afford to lower the price, and since it's not like the appraisal is going to change anytime soon, and the fact that they already have a buyer on the line, he thought it was worth a shot to try. But, my attorney says, it's never been done, and she doesn't even know if he'll get in the door.

So this was Friday. On Tuesday, my realtor calls and says, the sellers found a place but need to push back the closing date 2 weeks. They'll drop the price if I agree. After checking that it's well within my 90 day rate lock, I was more than happy to agree.

Good news, the Pier 1 by me is having a clearance sale because they're closing for renovations. I'm going to go and buy things because a) I have nothing one would need in a new house, and b) I really need some retail therapy right now

Movies- Here there be spoilers

Silver Linings Playbook

Okay, I had high hopes for this movie since I love Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, but I didn't really like it.

Of course going into it, I didn't realize that it was about the "mentally ill." And like most similar movies, the whole time it was like, "ooh, look how deep this movie is because we're talking about the taboo and we're making the mentally ill people the ones you root for, but secretly we're still ostracizing them because we're showing them as wrong and strange and the only people who can love them are other mentally ill people." As someone who's been there, I tend find these movies insulting.

Because look at it this way, if you take away the mental illness-- if Bradley Cooper's character had been in jail or rehab, or similarly isolated from society, and if Jennifer Lawrence's character had just been having trouble adjusting after her husband passed away-- it would be a really bad movie about a highly toxic couple. Tiffany actually extorts Pat into being her dance partner, and then it turns out she was lying the entire time (but it's okay, even romantic, because he's mentally ill? Not understanding that logic). Pat shows zero interest in anything other than getting back the ex-wife that cheated on him with his coworker to their wedding song. When he's with Tiffany, he does nothing but talk about Nikki, his ex, or bring up the fact that Tiffany's husband is dead.

And not for nothing, even thought Pat is supposedly bipolar, they show him nothing but hypomanic. Not once does he have a depressive episode, and I don't even think that he showed a true manic episode, since they all seemed to be over in minutes. But I guess depressive episodes just aren't interesting enough (and even though he's supposedly in recovery, he's not taking his meds for the first half of the movie, so don't give me that). But I guess depressive episodes just aren't crazy enough. I mean, the urge to beat someone after you find him having sex with your wife to your wedding song, and he tells you you should "get out of here" when it's your own house, doesn't strike me as particularly crazy.

I thought the more interesting story, the one they spent the least amount of time on, was Pat's parents. Taking in their grown son after he'd been hospitalized, trying to deal with his episodes and their own guilt over not seeing it sooner. That would have been a good movie, but I guess they're just not young and pretty enough.

And what was up with the people in town? The therapist plays Pat's trigger in the waiting room of his office-- Pat, who'd just gotten out of state-mandated hospitalization for beating a guy half to death. Pat could have hurt the receptionist or the other patients in the waiting area (not on purpose, but that's why we keep triggers in controlled environments, dude) and he wasn't even there to see the result. And that cop, "Hey, aren't you Tommy's widow? Yeah, so sad, you wanna have sex?" And Tiffany's sister is all, "Hey, Pat's back, and he's crazy, and Tiffany's crazy, let's invite them both over for dinner so they can meet, but then I'll get upset when that's the only thing they can find to talk about." The f*** is wrong with these people?

Posts From this Week

Funky Monkey Oatmeal Muffins

Stuff and Things 3/7/14

Life as I Know it
Well, life has been pretty much eaten up by the house. I had the home inspection on Wednesday, and everything looked good except for some minor issues (the floors in the kitchen and bathroom need to be redone, but they're laminate tile and it's not difficult to do. The ceiling in the bathroom needs a little TLC, but not major, and there were some mold spots, but he checked and they're not in the walls or the insulation, so he said it's probably just from the current owner's humidifier, and just needs to be cleaned). The only major issue he found was that the wiring was aluminum, but so long as it was grounded correctly-- and he's fairly confident it would have been-- it's a non-issue. My realtor checked on the permits today (Thursday), and it looks like the complex had had an electrician through to do just that. So yay!

It also underappraised. Not by much, and my realtor doubts I'll have any trouble getting the mortgage, but she's trying to renegotiate. Best case scenario, I get it for 3k cheaper than we originally agreed upon (or they cover 3k in closing or that amount is made up somewhere). Worst case, I have the option to eat that money or walk away. My attorney made sure that I had that option in the contract. I don't want to walk away, but I have to be prepared to. First rule of negotiations.

Buying a house is hard you guys.

As for the job, more of the same. There's a pissing match going on upstairs to decide how cold I should be while doing my job. They move me to the conference center, then they move me back to the lobby, then to the conference center, then back to the lobby, and now I'm back in the conference center. And not a single person talks to me about it. I've just decided I'm not moving again unless I'm given 24 hours notice. Last time the phone was off for half an hour while I was moving my things back to the lobby, so I don't feel that's unreasonable.

Books- Beyond this point, there be spoilers

Dying to Get Published- Judy Fitzwater

Okay, I'm not usually a mystery genre person. I find them overly dramatic, formulaic, often way too obvious, and just not enough to keep my interest (the classics are the exception. Agatha Christie, Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle). But I found Dying to Get Published for free on the kindle store, and the premise sounded fun. And let me tell you, the book was a lot of fun.

The book centers around Jennifer Marsh, a wannabe mystery writer, frustrated with all the rejections from many agents and publishers. She hears a story on Oprah about a man who was acquitted of murder and got a multi-million dollar book deal from it. So Jennifer decides that if she can commit murder and get away with it, her publishing troubles would be over with. So she meticulously plans the murder of Penney Richmond, a nasty agent with a poor reputation. She follows through with the plan right up to Penney's front door, and chickens out at the last minute. But when Penney ends up dead, all evidence leads to Jennifer-- exactly as she'd planned.

The humor in this book was what really hooked me. It was dark, almost black, and I giggled the whole way through. The characters were quirky (I especially loved the little old ladies that were actually rather excellent spies), and Jennifer was refreshingly flawed. I didn't care for the love interest though. He was over confident, overly perfect, and came off kind of douchey.

The plot needed a little help (despite Jennifer's well established poor spying skills, she still managed to sneak her way into all the places she needed to, often with a little help from deus ex machina), and the story wasn't perfect, but it was definitely a light, fun read that I really enjoyed.

TV

Castle- Poor Beckett. *Sad face* Although is it weird that I'm happy the uber-baddy is back in play?

Psych- These episodes are making me sad. Everyone's moving on. And Lassie has a baby!

Arrow- OMG, Slade, you are kind of completely terrifying. And it was so surreal to see him just making small talk with Ollie and Moira and Thea. And all the cameras-- creeeepy.

But Felicity-lite episodes make me unhappy. Moar Felicity!

Supernatural- Okay, Dean was totally breaking my heart when he told the story about him and Sam jumping off the roof and how he had to drive Sam to the ER on his bicycle handles. That punched me right in the feels. Seriously Sammy, would you forgive him already? Because which of you slept with a demon, got addicted to demon's blood, and cracked open Lucifer's cage? I'll give you a hint: not Dean.

I'm also kind of really sad that the Ghostfacers broke up. I've just got a lot of emotions, okay?

(Although, you know what makes me giggle? Those "TV now" commercials the CW has with all the actors from their shows kind of wandering in this creepy, psychedelic manner. All the actors from the shows I watch have weapons, and I just have this image in my head that Dean, Ollie, and Diggle are there to murder all the main characters of all the other shows. Like Hunger Games, CW style, and they're the Careers) (My mom said, "what about the vampires? They don't need weapons." Um, Dean Winchester has a machete. Vampires best run for their lives.) (I have nothing against the characters from the other shows. The commercial just makes it look like Dean, Ollie, and Diggle are about to go serial killer on them, and that makes me giggle)

Posts from this week

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

Stuff and Things 2/14/14

Life as I Know it
Happy Valentine's Day! Or as I know it, the-day-before-my-birthday-and-also-the-reason-my-friends-all-have-other-plans day!

I'm quite comfortable with my role as crazy fangirl, though. (I still have 24 hours to pretend this will happen. Shhhhhh)

I know I've been kind of an absentee blogger lately, but in my defense, that always seems to happen around this time of year anyway.

Okay, that's not really a defense. Why do you guys even still come here? I suck.

Did you guys get Thunder Snow last night? I did. And I'm a little too way excited about that fact. Thunder Snow. It sounds like a Syfy original movie. Or a bad eighties power ballad.

What else, umm... Have I ever told you how much I hate Dr. Oz? Like, with a passion? Since the grand majority of his claims are unsubstantiated-- or even actively rebuffed-- by actual medical science? Well, after reading this article in the New Yorker, I've gone from thinking he's just a buffoon who doesn't know how to check his sources to a legitimately terrifying public figure knowledgeably peddling pseudo science as fact. I mean, this quote in particular I find chilling:

Oz sighed. “Medicine is a very religious experience,” he said. “I have my religion and you have yours. It becomes difficult for us to agree on what we think works, since so much of it is in the eye of the beholder. Data is rarely clean.” All facts come with a point of view. But his spin on it—that one can simply choose those which make sense, rather than data that happen to be true—was chilling. “You find the arguments that support your data,” he said, “and it’s my fact versus your fact.”

-Michael Specter: "Is Dr. Oz Doing More Harm than Good?" 

 And on this subject, let's have a chat about one of my biggest peeves, which I can trace right back to Dr. Oz. Coconut oil is not healthy. Is it better for you than Crisco? Yes, but not as much as you think. Is it better for you than olive or vegetable oil? No. Is it good for you? No. If you sit down and actually do the research, which is a thing that I like to do, this all becomes readily apparent. Coconut oil is very high in saturated (bad) fat. It raises good cholesterol, but it also raises bad cholesterol. And while it does contain mid-chain triglycerides, which some studies suggest may help with weight loss, it doesn't contain enough in a serving to actually give you any benefit.

But don't take my word for it; this article from WebMD sums up all these points very well. (And in anticipation of the next argument, no I didn't do all my research on WebMD, but the article is consistent with all the rest I found and is a good summation in layman's terms)

Look, use it because you like it or use virgin coconut oil as a less processed, vegan alternative to solid fats like shortening or butter (the non-virgin version of coconut oil is very highly processed), I have no problem with that. But stop perpetuating the idea that it's some sort of health food

Books

Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic

Stuff and Things 1/24/14

Life as I Know it

It's freeeeeeezing here in NJ lately. Record arctic temps, and we got about 10-12 inches of snow in my area. It's the light fluffy stuff, so it wasn't so bad to shovel up, it was just the drive home on Tuesday that was scary. And we closed early.

Of course, this has been my uniform at work lately:

That's me, in a long sleeve shirt, with a sweater over it, in my winter coat and gloves, a fleece blanket on my lap, and a 12ft 4th Doctor scarf. Because someone in HR threw a hissy fit that not having the receptionist in the lobby "isn't professional and doesn't look right." And if you look closely at the revolver behind me, you can even see the gap where the doors are improperly sealed but, according to the landlord, "aren't worn down enough to fix."

Yeah, I'm looking for a new job.

Update: They finally moved me. Because G had a talk with the exec who "controls" the conference center. She got in trouble, but I'm actually able to take off my winter coat. Just the fact that we had to fight to not sit in a 44 degree lobby tells you all you need to know. Plus no one recognizes my 4th Doctor scarf, and that's just unacceptable.

In other news, I got some new phone cases! I went Sherlock-themed, obviously, and I couldn't decide which one I wanted, so I got two. I'm currently using the wallpaper one.

I love the pink rhinestoned cupcake one I've been using, but it's been shedding rhinestones like nobody's business, and it just looks a bit sad. I got them both from Etsy: the wallpaper one is here and the 221B one is here (the image is a little blurry close up on this one)

I'm assuming that you've all heard about Bridgegate and how Gov. Christie and his administration continue to give NJ a bad name. Well, this Born to Run parody by Jimmy Fallon and Bruce Springsteen makes the situation a little bit better:

And lest we forget, folks: Bruce Springsteen is NJ's favorite son. So while the media makes us out to be either white trash or mafioso, Bruce is out there representing the rest of us. Because we rock.

And if you watch Sleepy Hollow (if you're not, you should) and saw the finale, this recap from The Mary-Sue is hysterical and also completely accurate.

I'm also beta-ing a novel for a fanfiction author I really love, which is why I haven't had any book/movie reviews lately.

TV- (Beyond this point, there be MAJOR spoilers)

Stuff and Things 1/10/14

Life as I Know it
You guys, I almost forgot about Stuff and Things this week. And that would have been a scandal because the job has been totes cray cray all week. And I never say things like "totes cray cray" so that just lets you know how cray cray it been.

First, you know that cold snap we had this week? The sub arctic vortex thingy of wintery death? The lobby, where I sit all day, every day, is impossible to heat at the best of times. The 4 doors I have on either side of me have ginormous gaps in them, because our landlord is an a-hole and doesn't get that if he fixes them, it would help heating costs. Then, the lobby is open all the way to the roof (hence the echo problem), which had a skylight, obvi. Then the wall behind me is 100% windows. It is seriously the worst design and I sit in my winter coat huddled over a semi-illegal space heater all winter.

Source

This is not a new problem. The vortex thingy didn't come upon us suddenly. We knew it would be cold, and we knew the lobby would be freezing because that's what it does in the winter. But Bossmans 1 and 2 were acting like this was news to them. They waited until the morning of to do anything about it, then they were scrambling around like this had taken them by surprise, trying to find more heaters and talking to IT to see if they could move my equipment. Which they did, in the middle of the day, confusing all guests and employees, and meaning the phone was off for 20 minutes during the busiest time.

Then, then, a temp (not one of mine, thank goodness) came in wanting to reactivate a loaner badge she'd had out for 3 weeks (loaner badges are only meant for 1 day use), and I told her she couldn't have a loaner because she'd had that out for so long. She copped an attitude (nothing new), interrupting me, trying to make it my fault. G, who had been standing by-- who does security with me, by the bye-- stepped in to explain procedure. To which the temp snapped, "I'm not talking to you, I'm talking to her."

Then an employee who we'd been talking to, who's a sweet as pie older guy and just happens to be one of the higher ranking executives in the building, stepped in to try and diffuse the situation, to which she responded, "I wasn't talking to you. I'm still talking to her."

Bitch, you know me. You want to cop an attitude with me, that's fine. You don't talk like that to an executive who is also the nicest guy in the building. And she had no clue who he was. He could have been a visitor, a client, the owner of the company. I had to report her to HR. I'm not a narc guys, but there was a client meeting going on not 10 feet away. If one of them had walked out and witnessed this, gotten involved, and she spoke to them like that, it could have caused the company mucho dinero. As it was, I had a director from a different department walk in at the end of this asking me if this sort of thing happens all the time. I laughed it off and said it was a first, but he pressed on and said, "But you get that attitude a lot?" I shrugged and said it happens, and he had this look on his face like

Then I hear from one of the mailroom guys--who I happen to work with-- that the HR rep from the temp's department was asking who G's manager was. Apparently the temp went to her complaining about how nasty G was when she asked to see the girl's manager. And the HR rep tells him the story. Um, no. I took I/O psych, that is a big breach of confidentiality. So the HR rep schedules a meeting with Bossman, but comes down to see me, no warning, before that, so I could tell her what had happened. She then apparently twists my words when speaking to Bossman, who then told G, who argued with him over what I had meant. But guess who he doesn't ask? That's right, the person who actually said the thing in the first place because Bossman is apparently scared of me or something. He never comes to talk to me, even when it's about things concerning me.

Then we had two interviews who didn't know their own names. Two guys came in at the same time, I called their respective contacts, one goes to the restroom. An employee comes down to pick up the first guy, I'm busy handling a badge for an employee, not really paying attention. She goes to the guy in the waiting area, says, "Hi, Scott?" and the guy stands to shake her hand. They go upstairs. The other guy comes back from the restroom, and a recruiter comes to pick him up, at the same time her next appointment comes in. There's a little confusion as the new guy signs in, but she goes to the one who's been waiting, says, "Hi, Robert?" and the guy stands up to shake her hand. They go upstairs. Then I get a call from the employee who picked up the first guy saying, "This guy is not my interview." Well, not my fault your guys don't know their own names.

And lest I forget, Monday at 1:15 in the morning, a transformer on my street blew up or something. There was this loud electric buzzing noise and white flashing light, and power went out for about 45 minutes. But nobody seems to know anything about it, and there's nothing on the interwebz about it and I just

First full week of the year, guys. I think I'm going to bed now.

TV

Stuff and Things 1/3/14

Life as I Know it
HAPPY 2014!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What did you do for the New Year? Mine was pretty low-key. Watched the New Year's Rockin' Eve in between bouts of Doctor Who with the family. I always have to work on New Year's Eve, so by the time I get off, that's all I want to do. I had a big bowl of caramel ice cream, though, so you might say I had a good time. And New Year's Day, the brother, sister-in-law, and I watched the Doctor Who episode, The End of Time, so the three of us started the new year huddled on the couch crying because of David Tennant feels.

In retrospect, maybe not the best idea. My mother tried to convince me that this episode isn't that sad, but take a look at those big, brown eyes, and that face, and think of him saying those words, and tell me you don't feel your heart break a little bit. (Of course, I always say that that episode wouldn't be half so sad if not for Wilf. When he's trying to convince the Doctor to take the gun and his voice breaks, and oh god I just start gross sobbing)

I also GOT A NEW CAR!!!! WOOOOHOOOOO!!!!!

Isn't it pretty? I've kinda been an obnoxious new car owner, texting everybody pictures, saying, "Lookit my pretty new car! Isn't it pretty? And also, it's pretty." But it is. I haven't settled on a name yet, I gotta get to know it a little better first. Until then, it's my pretty car. Did you notice that it's pretty?

Do you have any New Year's resolutions you want to share? I have one: I have a super-secret project that I've been working on, and I want to have it done by the end of the year (if not completely done, then well on its way to it). I don't want to go into too much detail, because I don't want to jinx it, but there is a way that you can help. If you have any fandoms that you think should have recipes, or any geeky-inspired recipes you want to see, let me know. (And that's all the clue you're getting. :P) And fandom can mean anything that you're enough of a fan of that you would want a recipe for. Doctor Who, My Little Pony, Jane Austen, whatever. Just not Twilight, because I have never wanted to punch a literary character in the face as much as I wanted to punch Edward Cullen. I actually liked Bella (in the first book, at least), but I wanted to punch Edward. And I can't do a recipe for someone I want to punch in the face.

Oh, and I'm avoiding the internet for a bit to avoid Sherlock spoilers. (I advise any US fans to do the same. You only have to hold out until the 19th, and after 2 years of waiting, you can't expect people to be silent) So be aware that if you spoil it for me, I will burn the heart out of you. And yes, I am planning something Sherlock related for the US premiere. Though it remains to be seen if it will work or be an epic fail.

Posts from this Week

Christmas Tree Cookie Stacks & the Year in Review

Christmas Tree Cookie Stacks & the Year in Review

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!

Can you believe that 2013 is over you guys? It had its ups and downs, but I have to say, it was a better year than 2012, for many reasons. Still no series 3 of Sherlock, though (but soon, very soon).

Top 10 Most Popular Posts of 2013:

1. Easy Apple Cobbler
2. Bananas are Good Frozen Nutella-Covered Bananas
3. Lemon Bubble Ring
4. Individual Elvis Pies
5. Peanut Butter Cookies
6. Peanut Butter Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies
7. Dalek Cupcake Tutorial
8. DIY TARDIS Dress
9. Doctor Who Round Up
10. Bad Wolf Cupcakes

I'm definitely noticing a theme here. That's five Doctor Who themed posts (one more subtle than the others), 3 peanut butter recipes, and 2 so-easy-they-barely-qualify recipes. And lemon bubbles, which are just awesome. I have one rule when I write this blog: I assume there is at least one other person out there just like me, who wants to read what I want to write about. By the looks of this list, that rule pays off.

And the Bad Wolf Cupcakes were a bit of a surprise, but I'm starting to suspect Rose Tyler had something to do with that...

Honorable Mentions (My Top 3):

Black Forest Icebox Cake

Bowties are Cool Blueberry Goat Cheese Pasta Salad

Neapolitan Cupcakes

My Family's Favorites:

Cherry Almond Oatmeal Cookies (gluten free)

Raspberry Red Wine Sauce

Sfogliatelle Scones

Most Pinned on Pinterest:

Doctor Who Round Up

Pumpkin Spice Marshmallows

These both kind of went viral on Pinterest (the marshmallows thanks to a pin from Recipe Girl *starry-eyed fangirl moment*) shocking the crap out of me.

My Favorite Search Terms:

1. My brain is leaking
2. Why is Nathan Fillion getting fat 2013
3. Don't involve me
4. Nathan Fillion singing peanut butter song
5. Nerdy Nummies helping hands fanfic The Nerdy Nummies helping hands videos are funny, but not so much I'll write a fanfic for them. Watch them here
6. Non-sucky homemade gifts
7. Velvet Elvis Castle fanfic
8. Dalek shower
9. Epic bean dip
10. Bad Wolf Okay, so not funny, but it's one of my TOP search terms, which tickles me

As I have each year since the beginning of the blog, I've also included a recipe with your Year in Review round up: These super cute, super easy Christmas tree cookie stacks

Except, it's not really a recipe. More of a method. You just start with any roll-out cookie dough (I used LilaLoa's End-All Chocolate Cookie Recipe (These are my go-to roll out cookes because a) chocolate b) no chill variation c) yum) plus 1/2 tsp. peppermint extract).

Using graduated star cutters (I got mine at Home Goods. They're an imported brand, I think Italian?), cut two of each size for each cookie stack (3 of the smaller stars so you can put one on top)

Melt some white candy melts (I like the ones they sell at Candyland. They taste better and melt smoother) with a splash of peppermint extract (flavoing oil is better because it doesn't have water, but if the chocolate seizes, just add a little shortening or vegetable oil. The Candyland chocolate didn't seize, but the Wilton's did). Dip the face of the cookies in white chocolate, and stack to look like Christmas trees.

Add sprinkles if desired, and stand a star on top. Et voila. Christmas tree cookie stacks. A unique and fun way to give out cookies, and easy enough for the kiddos to help.

And you know, my stats for the year show that you guys are a lot like me, so don't ever hesitate to reach out. Facebook, Twitter, email. Do you have a fandom you want recipes for? Do you have a question about baking? Do you think I got something wrong? Do you just want to talk? I'd love to hear from you guys more.

Here's to more geeky, sugary goodness in the New Year. Happy 2014, lovelies!