The Dark Knight

We finally saw The Dark Knight on Friday in IMAX. I thought there was no way a movie could live up to that much hype....but it did. Heath Ledger was great and the few things that people were critical about didn't even matter in the grand scheme of the movie. Here is a shot-for-shot remake of the trailer starring someone's kids.
See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

chocolate french toast and black paint

We got a lot done on our office this Saturday. Before we stared working we had to try a recipe we saw on the Today Show for chocolate French toast. In an effort to keep this entry from getting too long I'll leave out our unfulfilled quest for brioche in the South Raleigh/Cary area. We ended up using a loaf of white bread from the Harris Teeter bakery.

Chocolate Stuffed French Toast

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup milk
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons HERSHEY'S Cocoa
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 8 to 10 pieces thickly sliced brioche
  
• semi-sweet chocolate chips
• powdered sugar
  

Directions:
1. Beat eggs, milk, sugar, HERSHEY'S Cocoa, vanilla, and salt in large bowl until smooth.
2. Heat griddle or skillet over medium-low heat. Grease griddle with margarine, if necessary.
3. Dip a slice of bread in egg mixture. Place on griddle. Place a layer of the chocolate chips on top of the toast. Dip another piece of bread in the egg mixture and place on top of the chocolate chips. Cook about 2 to 4 minutes on each side. Serve immediately with powdered sugar, if desired.

(I tried to find the video of the French chef who was actually on the show. When he made it he
put bananas on the side. If you've never heard a French person say "bananas," I highly recommend that you do whatever it takes to hear it.)

Painting the bed and chair took a little longer than we thought it would, but we are really pleased with the results:

While I'm tracked out I'll be working on making our $40 Craigslist twin bed look like a pretty classy daybed. I'll probably use a black ticking stripe for the daybed cover. Hopefully it will end up looking like the one below (better yet, I'll find a cheap one at the Pottery Barn outlet):

I'm going to get lots of different black/cream fabrics from the $7.99 fabric warehouse to make pillows. Here's a sample of one we already have:

The finished product should have a similar look to the bed below:

kids say the darndest things

As difficult as my job can be some days, it definitely has its rewards. I try to be strict and stone-faced for the first couple months of school....but sometimes I just have to laugh.

Student #1: Mrs. Russell, are you mixed?

Student # 2: With What?!

Believe it or not this was not the first time a student has asked me if I was bi-racial. What is it about me that makes me look like I have a little more that just plain white in me? I don't have the slightest idea, but I'll take it as a compliment.

stuff we've done to our house...

We've been in our house for about a month now and even though we haven't done much...it's getting there.We hung our Pottery Barn recessed shelves. They were a steal from the Pottery Barn outlet. Originally $120 each...we got 'em for $25 each. Now I just have to find something cool to put in them. I also covered old lampshades with fabric we got from the $7.99 fabric warehouse to disguise the "contractor grade" light fixture.


We got a desk/project table to go in our office. I'll be doing lots of sewing on that thing. That chair will be painted black.


This is currently our office. We painted the walls "Latte" from Sherwin Williams. The bed was a Craigslist find that will be painted black and turned into a daybed. We also got blinds!


This is what I hope our office will resemble someday (but with black furniture)....we have a lot of work to do.

yearbookyourself.com

So I found this website that allows you to download a picture of yourself and it shows you what your yearbook photo from the past would have looked like. The results are pretty funny...

1. Me in 1954 & Jason in 1956....I think we could've been homecoming king and queen....

2. At some point in the '60's we both had glasses...

(Of all the disgusting things I've done around Jason, he said he's never been less attracted to me than when he saw this picture. I think I look cute with cat-eye glasses.)

(Jason looks like he rode the short bus.)

3. And my favorite.....at some point in the '70's we were both black....

I love Wordle

So this is Wordle. I love this website! www.wordle.net
Take your random thoughts, bible verses, song lyrics, or whatever words you want to - paste them in a box and wordle will make a jumble of words for you. You can customize the font and colors to make some pretty cool pieces of art.

This one is a song from pretty much the best band ever - U2. See if you can figure out what song it is.

We've Moved!

We finally moved into our house this weekend! It was a lot of hard work, but we finally got it done.
Before: After:
There is still so much to do, but it's comin' along.
Here's the kitchen with our brand new fridge and accidental GE Profile microwave. The contractors put the wrong microwave in, but we get to keep it!

In addition to getting away from pickled oak cabinets, white laminate counter tops and gross apartment carpet:

1. I only have to drive 10 minutes to get to school! No longer will I leave the house at 6:30...hopefully I'll actually able to get there on time too.

2. There is a brand new (opened this past Wed.) Super Wal-Mart 5 minutes away. Hooray! for cheap groceries.


3. Pelican's SnoBalls. One of the things we missed from Louisiana were the shaved ice snoballs. Neither of us had been able to find a place with snoballs (not snocones) similar to the ones in Louisiana until Friday night. The people that own the stand are from New Orleans, the snoballs are great, and it's less than 10 minutes away!

SnoBall Flavors Bahama Mama Banana Big Red Birthday Cake Black Cherry Blackberry Blue Bubblegum Blue Raspberry Blueberry Butterscotch Candy Apple Chai Cheesecake Cherry Cola Cherry Margarita Clear Bubblegum Clear Cherry Clear Grape Coconut Cola Cotton Candy Cream Soda Dill Pickle Dreamsicle Egg Custard Fireball Fuzzy Monkey Fuzzy Navel Georgia Peach Granny Smith Apple Grape Green Apple Grenade Guava Hawaiian King Cake Kiwi Lemon

Lemon Lime Lemonade Lime Mai Tai Mango Margarita Maui Wowee Melon Berry Nectar Orange Orange Pineapple Papaya Passion Fruit Peach Peanut Butter Pina Colada Pineapple Pink Bubblegum Pink Grapefruit Pink Lemonade Plum POG Polar Punch Praline Red Raspberry Root Beer Skylite Sour Apple Sour Cherry Sour Grape Sour Tsunami Spearmint Strawberry Strawberry Cheescake Strawberry Daquiri Straberry Lemonade Strawberry Shortcake Sweet Cherry Sweet Tart Tamarind Tutti Frutti Tropical Punch Vanilla Vanilla Charlie Vanilla Cola Watermelon Wedding Cake Wild Cherry Wild Strawberry Wild Thang