Blue! Wait, Purple... No....

Hello folks.
   Ah, the crazy season of cookies and Christmas and holiday cheer is in full swing at my house. Lots of cookies. And pretty, festive lights. And somehow, during the midst of this madness, I managed to find the time to dye my hair. It is no longer platinum blonde. Now it's a warm, medium blonde, with blue/purple streaks. I tried a new brand of hair dye. It's called RAW Color, and it can only be bought at Hot Topic. I tried Deep Purple. I love purple hair.

It looks like a really pretty purple . Let me tell you something, IT LIES!!!! I died my hair yesterday, and the dye just looked dark. That is perfectly normal. The stains I left all over the bathroom looked purple (which is also pretty normal). But when I rinsed the dye out, my hair was blue. Not blue purple. Blue blue. It looks good and all, but it was so not what I was going for. Today when I washed my hair, the water was all blue, and the shampoo's foam was purple. Now the hair is slightly more purple. This dye also bleeds into the hair by the dyed section. Just a warning. So my hair is now blonde/light blue/dark blue/purple/grey-ish blonde. Fascinating combination.

Ta-ta,
Veela

*Edit*

So here is what it kinda looks like. You can't see all the colors. And I'm upside down.

I can not make a duckface. That makes me sad.

Death by Pulling Taffy

I like taffy. It is really sweet, chewy, and smooth. Taffy is cool. So, of course, I had to try to make it. Let me tell you, there is a reason people use a machine for this. Especially the pulling part... If you don't pull the taffy  it just turns to hard candy. Sure, it is delicious hard, but it wasn't what I was going for. I pulled taffy for a good hour yesterday. Ow. Arms. Hurt. By the time I was done pulling it, I did not want to do anything with taffy ever again. That is why it is in the shape of a rope in the freezer, and not like, you know, cut into inch long pieces and individually wrapped in parchment paper how it was supposed to be. That was so not happening. I don't think I will make taffy again any time in the near future. But if you, my dear reader, want to try it, use this recipe. Try it at your own risk. I have a few tips for taffy making;

1. Grease everything! The taffy is SO sticky, it will cling to anything. Don't let it touch any fabric. Or it will be furry taffy.

2. Use a candy thermometer. You really can't make taffy, or any other candy, without it. And move it around the pot every once in a while to make sure it is cooking evenly.

3. Do not wait for the taffy to become cold before pulling it. Once it gets cold, it will harden. Start pulling it as soon as it is cool enough to handle. Be careful not to burn yourself.

4. Don't do it by yourself. Pulling taffy is really hard by yourself, and it takes forever. And you will probably need a friend to restrain you from throwing the taffy at the wall.

~Veelacat

Field trip! Field trip!

Hello,
Most every school around will take a field trip to their state capitol. So it is only natural that us homeschoolers also go and take a field trip into the state capitol. Regrettably, as we live 4 + hours away from our state capitol, this was the first time I have been there. But it really was worth getting up at 5:30 in the morning to go there. We all got up around 5:30, but we weren't on the road for another hour. I can't say much about our ride. Illinois is a beautiful state, but the majority of it is prairie. It all kind of looks the same to me. Three cups of coffee and half my playlist later, we finally arrived in Springfield. It is a cute big (no way I could call it little) town. First thing we did was visit the State Capitol Building. Wow. It is just so incredibly amazing I can not describe it. I took as many pictures as my camera's built in memory would hold (which is ten. I forgot to put it's memory card in it before we left).

This is the old Supreme Court room. Isn't is beautiful? You can't see it,
but the wall paper says Justice.

 Everyone we met was super nice. And we got our own private tour.

I loved the chandeliers. They were as impressive as all get out.

I think this is the senate chambers. The carpet is all hand woven.

This is mind blowing. Our dome is taller then the one in DC if my facts are correct,
and I believe they are.

This is a tiny corner of the State Capitol Building.

Here is me. This can kind of give you a picture of how big the State Capitol Building
really is. This is only the front entrance.

We also went to the Lincoln museum, but it had a no photography policy.
Well I have a art class to attend,

Veelacat

Hello People And Possible Aliens Who Are Reading This

Good afternoon.

I think I have finally finished my break from blogging, and so I shall start posting again. Even though I know it has only been about two weeks and a half since I last posted, it still feels like it has been months. I trust everyone had a amazing Halloween? I went trick or treating with my siblings as per usual. The only thing different about this year was that one of my very best friends, and one of Angela's friends, came with us. Oh, yeah, I also finally got to wear a tiara (thank you for lending it to me, my darling sister). I like tiaras. Tiaras are cool.

I have found the perfect example of team work that I just need to share.

Fezzes aren't cool. Sorry Doctor.

xx
Veela

Black Pepper Cookies!

Hello my dear readers,
pepper cookies... it doesn't really sound that appetizing, does it? You might think it just sounds flat out strange. That is what I thought when I first heard about pepper cookies. But really, they're delicious. My mom told me a story about how my great-great-great grandma used to make black pepper cookies, because
pepper was what was available to her. She didn't have the spices we have now. It was salt, pepper, and whatever they could grow. As no one ever wrote her recipe down, mom just told me what she heard from her mom, my grandmother, about the cookies, and asked me if I thought I could recreate them. I searched the internet for a recipe, but I couldn't find a recipe I liked. So I just used the basic proportions for cookies to make a new recipe.
Here it is:

2 1/4 cups of flour,
1/4 cup white sugar,
1 packed cup brown sugar,
1 teaspoon baking soda,
1 cup of softened butter,
1 large egg,
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract,
2 teaspoons ground black pepper,
Sugar or other sweetener to dip cup in (I used Splenda),

Beat butter for 30 seconds. Add sugars and beat until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and beat until well combined. Add flour, soda, and pepper. Mix, just be careful not to mix it too fast or else everything will go poof into your face.

Make balls of about one teaspoon, and put on a greased cookie sheet. You'll make about three sheets of cookies. Dip the bottom of a glass in sugar, then press the dough down, dipping back into the sugar between cookies. And you really do need to use the sugar. If you don't, the dough will stick to the glass.

Bake the cookies for 10 minutes (our oven is really slow. If you have a fast oven, try 8) at 350 degrees. Move the cookies onto a rack to cool.

I hope you like them!

Love,
Veelacat

I Created A Monster.

I apologize, for I have sewn the Petticoat-Which-Ate-San-Francisco. 

It's big.

Really big.

Almost too fluffy to fit under the skirt I made to wear specially with it. When I was sewing it, I thought that I couldn't make the petticoat too fluffy. Boy oh boy was I wrong (I seem to be wrong quite a lot lately). This thing is huge... I still need to trim it, 'cause it's too long, but other then that, it's done. 

I'm much too lazy to go onto Photoshop and make this right-side-up, so it's going to stay sideways.

And this is the edge of the skirt. Very exciting, I know.

Farewell,

Veela

Hello!

Hi.
This is Angela. Valerie left her blogger account thing open to create a new post in this blog.

WRITE ALL THE BLOG POSTS.

I'll tell you this.
Valerie is awesome. And I love her a lot. And she's cool. AND YOU SHOULD ALWAYS READ HER BLOG BECAUSE SHE'S FUNNY.
Actually, I think she's funnier than I am.
:hides:
But yeah. I really like my sister. She's beautiful and sweet and smart and she has such a unique way of looking at the world.
Which is why I lvoe her.
Partly.
:)
I also love her because she's one of my best friends. For ever and ever and EVER.
:D

Angela out.
~Angela