ladies of the library

The campus library has a new exhibit honoring Florence Nightingale's life. However, I don't how how being represented by a mannequin like this qualifies as an honor.

She's wearing shimmery gold eye shadow, which I do not consider to be in accordance with her time period. I think it likely that the library got this mannequin as a cast-off from a department store and stuck it in an old dress.

I received a couple of funny looks from people as I was conducting Miss Nightingale's photo shoot.

Oh, and this library portrait is indeed a woman. Go figure. Her name is Anne Kristina Morrison Smoot, mother of Reed Smoot. May we all be grateful for the gender-distinguishing hair styles and clothing of today.

study buddies

Study nights are made especially tolerable when spent with Jordin and accompanied by warm biscuits, fresh from the oven. Ever since I made Mom's Baking Powder Biscuits at the beginning of last semester, they have become a source of great happiness for me and Jordin. Tonight, after eating some pasta that a friend brought over for dinner, I looked over at Jordin and said, "It's biscuit time!" "Really?!" she said, before hurrying to help me gather the few ingredients needed to produce warm, buttery, flaky goodness. Within 20 minutes, I was carrying two plates of them into our room, and we sighed contentedly as we settled down to our various academic pursuits.

I am now going to share this beloved biscuit recipe with you. I think that I will forever love these, and I hope that you love them too.

Baking Powder Biscuits:

Mix together:
2 cups cake flour OR 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 tsp baking powder

Cut in:
6 Tbsp butter until mixture is the consistency of coarse corn meal

Add 3/4 cup milk

Stir with a fork until just mixed.
Knead lightly on a floured board
Cut biscuits; place on cookie sheet

Bake for 9-10 minutes at 450 degrees

Note: My Mom always spreads out the dough and uses round cutters to cut the biscuits. From lack of counter space and for simplicity's sake, I just pull pieces of dough from the bowl and shape in my hands. Mine bake up more like mounds, but I actually prefer them this way. Try both, though, and see which way you like best!

I hope that these bring simple happiness to your evening as well.

this is why i am an accounting major

I had to finish a long paper for anthropology last night. Let me say that I would study for a test and punch a calculator over writing a paper any day. Writing this paper was one of those times when I was just spewing words, constantly checking the word count, longing to see the number hit the target of "2332 words of beauty and truth." (Yes, that is what the assignment actually says.) In my late-night fatigue, while being held prisoner to the word count, I took this series of lovely self portraits to convey my pain.


This seemed to do the trick, and I was able to shake off the paper hate. I decided to stop whining, hunker down, and finish. Though not my finest work, it is complete and safely submitted to my t.a.

In other news, we switched out our Valentine's/President's Day decor (yes, have I mentioned that we put up both sets of decorations?) for St. Patricks yesterday at work. The Oriental Trading Co., though cheap, does not always promote the best values. To solve this problem, I got to take a Sharpie to this lovely leprechaun contortionist.

I'm happy for any excuse to use an ultrafine Sharpie, but really?

*Would you rather write a paper or take a test?
*Do you feel better knowing that all decorations in the
Physics Department comply with the honor code?

monday

Today, I:

ate this for lunch:listened to this:
worked like this:
and longed to work on this:

moving forward

I had a very long list of Valentines to make and send this week. Due to other constraints upon my time and budget, however, my plans of Valentine magic did not come to pass. Many of you readers were on my list, and I'm really sorry that yours was never created. Today, I thought that I could work on them today and tomorrow and send them out this week. This would, of course, put me behind on the knitting projects I have on the sticks or in my mind. I came to the decision to let the Valentines go. There is no use continually building up creative debt. I am moving on. I'll catch you all next year.

My Valentine's dreams were not completely forsaken, though! I spent quite a few hours this evening making cards for my Relief Society sisters, which satisfied my need to stick buttons and ribbon to awesomely patterned paper.

There is something satisfying about sitting surrounded by so many colors and textures. The one open spot of carpet back there is where I sat. My knees cramped up pretty fast.

These are just a few of the finished products. Happy sight, no?

*Do you ever have to move past unfinished project plans?
*Did you finish your Valentines?

Happy Valentine's Day to you all!