December is Here!

.....and I have been a failure at blogging!

Thanksgiving I spent with my roommates' family, which is almost like my second family.  After work, I exercised, jumped in the shower, and raced over to the Miller Thanksgiving.  I made a Spice Cake* the night before, and brought it nice and cold to the feast!  (Note, this is a really, really bad idea because I cannot stop eating that cake when I make it...oh my gosh holy cow.)  At work, they provided some really, really good food for FREE to all the employees that had to work that day.  I was very grateful for it, and by the time I got to the Millers I was still full haha.....oh boy, at least I didn't have to sleep on a too-full stomach!  I am grateful for good friends that let me join in on their family holiday.  Thanks Millers!

And then comes Christmastime to prepare for!  I've been working like crazy on Christmas presents, I am so excited because my family doesn't know what I am doing, and I can be sneaky about it since I am completely in another state!   Plus I have another couple of weeks to work since I won't be going home until January 1st.  

And speaking of flying on a plane to go home, I found out from a work acquaintance today that his wife works for Delta and she can get me free airline tickets to anywhere in the world.  Hello!!!  I don't want to push it, but I am thinking Hawaii at least!  Maybe I'll ask about Italy, but really, that seems like a really big thing to ask so I might chicken out of asking about that one....As of now, I have a few friends that want to come with me to Hawaii and THAT has ALSO been a lifelong dream of mine, so I figure, if he can get all of them in for free, then I can seriously be grateful for that and not ask for Italy too! Oh no, what oh what should I do, I really really really could use a free ticket to Italy.....!!

And can I say I just love my dinner group?  Last night, we started dinner at 7:15 and for some reason we were all still sitting at the dinner table until 9:00, just talking.  I love it, and I am grateful for friends and food, and how just this simple little dinner group has brought so many people together.  

I am totally going to have family dinners each night! That is, when I am not sitting on my computer alone blogging because I actually HAVE a family haha

*Spice Cake*

1) Sift together in a large bowl: 2 ½ cups flour and 2 cups sugar.

2) Mix in sauce pan: 2 sticks of butter and 1 cup water. Bring to a rapid boil. Pour over sugar and flour mixture while boiling hot. Blend together well.

3) Add ½ cup buttermilk ( ½ cup milk + 1 ½ tsp vinegar if you don’t have buttermilk), 2 eggs slightly beaten, ½ tsp baking soda, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp cinnamon and a pinch of salt. Mix well. 

4) Pour into greased sheet cake pan and put into oven at 400 degrees for 20 min (or less if using a crappy oven lol).

5) Make Cream Cheese Frosting and spread over cake once cooled. 
Frosting:
Blend together: 4 ½ oz cream cheese, 4 Tbsp butter, 2 ¼ cup powdered sugar, and 1 tsp vanilla