So Long Wintermute

He was a kind and gentle computer. He worked like a dog and remembered all the things I asked him to.  He has been around longer than I've been married and longer than I've lived in Chicago. He is survived by Jason, Cami and Deebo.  He passed at 4:20 in the afternoon on January 2, 2008.  Feel free to take a moment of silence for my long lost friend. 

Yep, my computer died.  We knew it was sunsetting but didn't know it would come so soon and so abruptly. It started making a bad noise when it had to work, not just work hard but work period.  Now when you try to turn him on you get a question mark.  That's never good.  We'll get me a new one eventually but for now Jason and I will be sharing.  Luckily Jason is good at sharing. 

Anessa Cline

In early December we went to Hermiston, OR to visit our families.  It was my first chance to meet my new niece, Anessa.  She was born in July of this year and is simply adorable.  

Christmas Dinner

Christmas Dinner Menu

Filet Mignon

Brown Sugar Crusted Green Beans

French Bread

Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Gravy

Deebo's Shoes

Deebo got a pair of shoes for Christmas this year. This is his first attempt at wearing them. Tonight he wore them outside for the first time and had a blast. He didn't want to play with other dogs at the tennis court but loved running in the snow.

Cinnamon Rolls and Buttercream Frosting

Janeal's Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups hot water
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 cut oil
2 eggs
2 1/2 tablespoons yeast
6-7 cups flour

2 sticks butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup cinnamon and sugar mixed
1/4 cup raisins (optional)
1/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Mix water, 3/4 cup brown sugar, salt and oil. Add eggs and mix well. Let it rise for 15 minutes. Add flour until dough is sticky. Spray mixing bowl and top of dough with spray oil, cover and place in fridge overnight.

Divide dough in half and roll into a rectangle. Spread soft butter over all of the dough. Cover with brown sugar, then cinnamon and sugar. Add raisins and or walnuts if desired. Roll dough from one side so you have a long tube. Use dental floss to cut log into 1.5 inch pieces. Place in pan one inch apart. Let them rise for 2.5 - 3 hours. Bake each pan for 13-15 minutes in 350 degree oven. Wait 10-15 minutes and frost.

Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients

1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening

2 tablespoons soft unsalted butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 pound strained confectioners' sugar

1/3 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

In a large bowl, cream together shortening and butter on medium-low speed until completely blended.  Stir the salt into the confectioners' sugar.  Add the sugar alternately with the milk to the shortening / butter mixture.  Starting with the sugar add four parts sugar to four parts milk.  Mix together until smooth, but do not overmix.  Blend in the vanilla.  Spread over cinnamon rolls. 

Chicago

There are so many unique things about Chicago. Some of them really make me laugh, others are inconvenient and others are just plain rude. Here's what I'm talking about:

They say washroom instead of restroom or bathroom. I actaully have picked this up and will probably continue to use it for the rest of my life. I like the way it sounds but I'll admit when I first heard it I was so confused. I was at work and a coworker was showing me around the office. He took me to a tiny door behind the patient charts and explained that through that door is the washroom. I was thinking maybe we had some sort of laundry room at work for our lab coats and stuff.

I've mentioned this before but I think it is so weird when you get pulled over they take your license and you have to use your ticket as a license until you go to court.

The mob is called The Outfit. 

Taxes are higher on everything including tires and car leases.

Freeways have names like The Dan Ryan and The Kennedy as well as numbers. They do this only to confuse those of us who aren't from Chicago.  People from Chicago don't even know the numbers of the freeways, just the names. 

When you're driving down a narrow one way street you should feel totally validated stopping wherever you want and run an errand or two.  Oh, as long as you put on your hazard lights.  

You honk for everything.  If you see someone you know, if you want to let someone into your lane, if you are upset at something and even if you are coming out of an alley.  If you're in Chicago and aren't sure what you should be doing... Honk. 

Christmas List

At Danette's request, here's a few things on my Christmas list.  

* Slippers

* A Guitar (Jason laughs because this is on the list every year)

* Learning SQL by Alan Beaulieu

* A multi-use kitchen timer

* Scandinavian Modern by Magnus Englund 

* A baking stone

Cami's Latest Trip

It was great to visit my family in Oregon over this last week.  The are so awesome and I appreciate how much time they took off just to spend with me.  It's always a party at my parents house.  We had 'Christmas' on Monday since that was the only day that my whole family, Jason and I would be in town.  It was a sweet and special time.  My grandma came over and we had a delicious ham dinner.  

I wish we could have done things a little differently so Jason and I could have been there the whole time together, but all well.  Next time we'll actually vacation together.  Although, I don't know if Jason wants to get to and from our destinations together.  Yes, I've had another problem while flying.

On the way to Oregon I had a few troubles.  The weather was terrible in Chicago when I flew out and so they had to de-ice the plane.  It didn't take too terribly long but when the truck that pushes airplanes from the gate started moving the pin broke that holds them together.  Yes, the pin broke.  And, since all the other trucks were in use they had to go to the parts department and get another one to switch it out.  This took a total of 1.5 hours.  My layover in Minneapolis was exactly 1.5 hours.  So, of course when we actually got to Minneapolis I was convinced I would be spending a lot of time trying to figure out how to get to the Pasco, Washington airport. When I got off in Minneapolis I asked the gate agent what the status was of my flight from Minneapolis to Seattle.  Through lots of prayers, I'm sure, the plane to Seattle waited for me.  But, she said they wouldn't wait long so I had to run from the B gates to the F gates.  As you'll see from the map here they are on opposite ends of the airport.  I ran my little legs off.  And, since I always have problems while flying I never check my bags so I had my carry on and a large purse to schlep around with me.  It was quite the show, but I made it. 

After that everything was pretty uneventful until it was time to come back to Chicago.  In order to fly to Pasco, WA we generally have to use two airlines because the Pasco airport only has so many airlines that fly into it (I think two or three).   I checked in to my flight last night and found that when Northwest told Horizon my name, they got it wrong.  It was mostly right but not really what shows up on any sort of documentation.  I always give my name as Cami O. Wilcox.  Well, the name that showed up when I checked in was Camio Wilcox.  Small airports are very meticulous about the rules. I'm sure it's because they have a much lower volume.  I was nervous and barely slept last night.  Well, when I checked in today nobody noticed that my name on the boarding pass didn't match my drivers license.  I am so lucky!  The rest of my trip home was quite and uneventful.  

I'm thrilled to be able to spend time with my family and feel so blessed to be able to visit them as often as I can. I wish it was more often.  Oh, I'll include pictures from the trip, but since Jason is still in Oregon with the camera you'll just have to wait.  

SNOW

I'll be the first to admit that I don't like Chicago winters.  I don't really mind them until February when it's still horribly cold and windy and has been for months. But, I really like to watch snow falling.  I had a late work meeting today and didn't leave until around 6:30.  It was so nice to not have very many cars on the road and be able to watch the snow coming down.  I think it is so beautiful and clean.  Jason got some pretty good pictures of it.  If there's something I'll miss about Chicago winters it will be the snow.  

Christmas Prep

Today has been a day of Christmas prep.  We got the decoration box out of our storage unit and started putting things up.  We have our Christmas swag out, (instead of a tree, we have a swag) fluffed and hung and we have out stockings hung.  I haven't finished Deebo's stocking yet so as you'll see in the picture the small stocking holder is empty.  I'll get it done on time though.  Since it is Deebo's first Christmas with us we are going a bit slower with hanging ornaments on the swag.  We want to make sure he doesn't pull it down while we're gone.  I'm sure it's fine but it's better to not throw too many temptations at him at one time. 

We also took our annual family picture.  It was a lot of fun since we just got a new camera.  It makes a lot of beeps before it takes the pictures which made it easier for Deebo to know where to look.  I love the holiday season and am so excited to spend time with family and friends. 

Scandinavian Design

I have a very specific design preference and have for a long time. I didn't know exactly what it was called until about three years ago when I entered Ikea. I love Scandinavian Design. It is clean and simple and doesn't involve a lot of layers to look good. I know some people feel it is a bit cold, but I think it feels comfortable. Maybe that is because I feel anxiety and an inability to breathe properly when I am overwhelmed by clutter. My favorite stores to window shop are Dania, The Scandinavian Design Center, The Sweden Shop, and The Danish Design Store. I can't afford anything from these shops yet but someday I will. For now, Ikea all the way.

Scandinavian design has a very modern feel. When we went to Sweden and Denmark last summer we went to the design history museums in both countries. It was fantastic to see how Scandinavian design has changed in the last 400-500 years. There was a large Chinese influence in the first few hundred years and then they started moving towards what they are now. It was also fun to see people in Sweden taking boxes from Ikea onto the train.

I think Jason enjoys Scandinavian design as much as I do. He appreciates the clean feeling and currently loves the economical aspect of it. He also has specific design preferences that I don't agree with, but go along with for now. He doesn't like rugs, curtains or throws. I would love to get a white shaggy rug for our living room but I just can't convince Jason that it would make the room seem larger and a little softer. I also don't understand his distaste for curtains. I thought maybe it was the type of curtains he is used to seeing, but after showing him a bunch of modern options I concluded it was just curtains in general. Thankfully he isn't averse to window coverings in general. I do enjoy wood blinds and am willing to compromise on that one. And throws are also another thing I don't care that much about.

I think the hardest part about loving Scandinavian design will come when we have kids. There are a lot of beautiful cribs etc. that would look great with our style but they are incredibly expensive. It's awful. I certainly can't have a modern / Scandinavian house with a very traditional nursery. I guess there's always Ikea. Plus, I've got plenty of time.