a day of yumminess!

Pizza anyone?

What a day of sweet and delicious productivity in the kitchen. We had pots and pans and trays and plates working overtime to deal with goodies and delectables. Despite a tentative decision (that I made to myself) to not eat too many Christmas treats before we arrive in Toronto, this afternoon we made sugar cookies... and then ate sugar cookies. There was decorating and creativity in between these two activities, and, also, more eating. And for dinner tonight we made one of our favourites - home-made pizza! How delicious is home-made pizza... seriously! As I mentioned earlier, we used all of the same mixing bowls and baking trays, so our kitchen equipment got a work out today - as did our stomachs! MMmmmm... and taste buds. I also made myself get to the gym, where I sweat on the treadmill and stairmaster for a total of 60 minutes (I'm proud of myself - I almost didn't go at all), after which one of the trainers at the gym asked me (with a crazy look) what... I was training for. My response? Christmas. I'm training for Christmas.

Having fun baking....

... and eating!

afters and befores - in hand-made shapes...

The snowman family!

Que mas. This afternoon I ventured across the hall to say hello to a neighbor that I'd met earlier in the year. About a week or so after I arrived, I was sitting at the kitchen table (did I blog about this already?) when I heard American English in the hallway - I couldn't help myself, and yanked open the door - to the surprise of two women standing at the top of the stairs. It turns out that our across-the-hall neighbor isn't really a neighbor, but an office of a charity for HIV positive orphans here in Constanta. One of the women, Cynthia, is from California, and runs the charity with her husband through her church, visiting the city and the orphanage several times a year. SO long story short, I popped over to see if her Romanian colleague was around to say hello and see if there were any opportunities to get involved, seeing as how volleyball isn't going to work out for me over here. We had a nice chat over a few sugar cookies, and she asked me if I'd like to come and visit the orphanage when I get back from Christmas holidays. So we'll see if that leads to anything - regular or not.

What else is going on this week... Steve got a cable that connects the computer to the TV, so we can watch movies on the big screen - woohoo! We watched Charlie Wilson's War last night and liked it, though it was a little, hmmm... dry? at times - it wasn't boring, but neither of us were really captured by it either. It was good though - my favourite line was, "the ball keeps on bouncing..." - doesn't it just? Anyways. Speaking of bouncing balls (ha!) Team Tomis has a big game tomorrow night - they're playing a Dutch team in the second round of the European Cup, so hopefully that goes well. It should be a refreshing, challenging game - a change-up from the monotony of playing bad teams. Having said that, I hope they never lose a game in this league (the Romanian one) - it's not exactly the strongest. Oh well. We are listening to Christmas carols and slowly getting in the Christmas spirit, though I have a feeling that it won't really hit me until we are on our way back to Toronto.... I am (we are) soooo excited... it's going to be great. Busy, but great! Can't wait!!