Selectively Reckless?

Taking a Break

2012-02-06T20:14:00.000-08:00

So there's a really good reason for not blogging.

I haven't made / done a thing lately. Not since the overload of activity that was Christmas.

I am making some felt flower roses for a few different projects, but other than that, and being in Scotland half the time, being in 2 and going to a 3rd wedding and all associated wedding party activities, figuring out schools with Zach, starting our taxes (don't you love filling out the FAFSA?!)...I haven't done a thing!

Oh yeah, and there's always Pinterest. So instead of crafting, I'm really just browsing. Not too much, just enough to build up enough interest so that one of these days when I have some time I'll have plenty of inspiration. Until then we'll have to keep up old fashioned style...you know, texting.

For posting to Pinterest

2012-01-20T14:00:00.000-08:00

If you're here from Pinterest, this lady is the talented one who made this and this is her store.

I have recently discovered the time-drain that is Pinterest. I can't really say I'm "TOO" addicted (yet) since I think the searching feature is kind of lacking and I'm not too into random browsing. I still prefer to find other addicting crafting sites via "linky parties" from a few of my favorite bloggers.

But recently my sister in law (seriously crafty and talented) made us this wreath for Christmas. I texted a picture to my sister for evaluation (of how it looked on the door. I already knew it was awesome). She immediately exclaimed it was amazing and looked like it should be on Pinterest. So here I am blogging about it just so I can pin it. Wild, I know.

This craft technique is the widely popular felt flower approach. I am making some of these flowers for a ball ornament/ball thing for our mantle which will be a white version of this cute ornament (I found this site on a linky party, not Pinterest!)

Anyhow. Toodles.

Happy Engagement Strawberries

2012-01-03T23:15:00.000-08:00

So, "surprise" engagement parties see to be all the rage these days. Not that I don't love knowing all kinds of secrets before the fiancee-to-be folk. So at a recent party, I was assigned a fruit tray to bring. The host suggested strawberries and I couldn't resist converting a few into chocolatey delights.

Here are my bride and groom strawberries. The "sweetheart" line on the "bride" was an accident, but it totally worked.

A few more for the other party goers to chomp on...left the rest un-sugared and barely ripe...it is January!

And here are 2 giant ones, my "test" strawberries...the "groom" did OK but the white chocolate dipping wasn't as nice. I've got to say though, I saw even worse on google. I'm sure it still got eaten.

I wish I took a picture of the rest of the fruit tray because I quartered several kiwis and put them on the plate. Along with a sign. Nerdy, I know, but I knew this would be an adventurous food crowd. So I left the kiwi skins on and made a sign saying, "YES! The skin of a kiwi is edible, nutritious, and is like eating a peach. Try it!" To my surprise (and entertainment watching people read and try)...ALL the kiwi got eaten - except for the one I stabbed with my "sign." So seriously...try some skin-on kiwi fruit today...your body will thank you!

Last Christmas present, done! (Now to wrap)

2011-12-22T18:46:00.000-08:00

I'm finally done with my last Christmas gift. This one is for my 4 year old niece, Bailey. I love my nephews but since marrying Zach I can finally buy (make) girly stuff!!! I was inspired to make this from a recycled pringles can post, which I thought I favorited, but can't find now. Its really almost nothing like the original tutorial, so whatevs. Here goes:

This is the final product. A 3 tier, rotating tree house/treasure trove/etc tower.

There is a dowel going through the edge of each of the layers, so you can rotate each section out and "open" it.

One layer is a bedroom for froggy, complete with hand-sewn mattress and pillow. I've been doing a lot of sewing lately.

Top level holds stickers right now. I'll let Bailey add whatever she wants.

Middle layer is currently for jewelry and a tiny panda I found. I'm sure Bailey has lots of her own little treasures to store in this thing, so I didn't really want to fill it up with stuff.

So here's the tutorial part. (Sorry no pictures.) 1) Go to Michaels and find the section where the unpainted wood and paper boxes are. Here I bought these 3 little cylinder boxes for 1.99 each. (They are like 4"x3"? Around that size. Buy a dowel if you don't have one at home (I did.) I took 2 of the 3 lids that came with these guys and glued them together to form the slightly large base. I filled these with rice and glue to make it heavy enough to deal with 4 year old play. I remembered to leave a hold for the dowel and glued that in as well. When that was dry and sturdy, I covered it with paper and mod podge. Then I decorated each box as I liked. My paint colors (and paper) weren't too hot until I decided to cover each box with mod podge as well...then the purple layer just POPPED and I love it! I also tried to decorate with puffy paint before painting the colors on (middle layer) for texture...but I'm a bad puffy painter. Oh well -- if I could puff-paint columns and such, I would have, and they would have been awesome. Okay so next I cut a layer of stiffened felt and put it in the base of each circle/cylinder box thingy. I also cut the hole for the dowel. I also cut my dowel kind of tall so the top level wouldn't bounce around so I had to cut a hold in the top lid as well. The dowel sticking out was kind of ugly so I added a flag. Overall this project was really fun and if I would love something like this as my own jewelry stand!!!

The pringles re-make list had you 1) slicing the can into sections and adding your own bottom to each section, 2) using a dowel in the base and then gluing a straw to the outside of each section and stacking each piece by running the straw through the dowel. I thought my method was more sturdy.

Likey? Think Bailey will like? Wish you had your own (maybe with a better color scheme?! haha)

Christmas Mantle!

2011-12-19T08:19:00.000-08:00

Due to a trip to Scotland (where I nearly got snowed in) I had a late start on my Christmas decorating this year.

Unpacking our boxes I realized I have a lot of snowmen things...I mean a lot! Don't get me wrong, I love snowmen (and they conveniently provide decoration through at least February!) but I think I'm going to start looking for more nativity themed decor.

Remember my cheap-o Target star and spray painting project? Love it. Oh, and those 2 ceramic snowmen are salt and pepper shakers some gals and I painted at my bachelorette party.

More clearance snowmen from last year...and my "D" letter has gotten a remodel...love spray paint!

Lastly, the wedding centerpieces I never had...Not that I didn't like mine, but I did like the look of cranberries floating in water. Not that this picture and lighting does it any justice, thats for sure. These are sitting on a $.50 floor tile from Home Depot that I spray painted (and a little cork board under that to protect my table.) Loving the floor tile "coaster" and will have to work that into more things in the future. I think I can use it as a trivet, even...maybe?

Christmas Craft: 5 minute Wreath (Ok, 15)

2011-12-17T08:19:00.000-08:00

Every year, I see a wreath or Christmas craft idea but it is usually too late. Like last year, I made the ornament wreath, which apparently didn't make the blog but was those fragile circle ornaments hot glued to a hanger. That was fun, but a lot of glue, and very fragile results. So 2 years ago I purchased the ornaments at 90% off, so at least the idea only cost around $3 to make. I trashed it when the season was over.

Then last year I saw this other idea, making a wreath out of cookie cutters. But I already had my other ornamet wreath! Dilemmas. After Christmas I found these again for some ridiculous clearance and boxed them away for this year.

Enter: 5 minute wreath (That really took much longer.)

First of all, take off the price tags right away. Mine were very stuck after a year in the garage. I tried soaking the cutters in water, which just made them rusty. So I settled for carefully arranging them such that the price tags didn't show.

Then I glued. And it was finished.

And I decided that I actually DIDN'T want to see those price tags, so I spray painted it red.

*Instant love*

In hindsight, it would have been cool to paint these both red and green before glueing them. The wreath isn't perfect - you can still see the price tags through the paint if you look hard enough - so this wreath is out on the front door where hopefully the lighting will be bad enough no one will notice. The wreath itself is a little thin...not sure how I could have made that better except to jumble the cutters all over, but, then you can't see the shapes.

So what's the verdict...for the $5 that this cost, should I store it a year in the garage, or toss it and hope for new inspiration by December 2012???

Happy Birthday Zach!

2011-12-15T18:52:00.000-08:00

Today is Zach's birthday. I celebrated by posting a picture of him fencing and tagging the wrong picture as him on facebook. Oops. He's wearing shorts with a stripe and black shoes...I tagged the guy wearing striped shorts and white shoes...look for that on FB, otherwise here are the pictures of the real deal: (He's fencing the big guy that has his back to the camera)

Here he is lunging at a competitor that I cut out of the picture...that is what I get for only having my phone with me. It was the fencing final so they were playing "war games."

I'd never seen any fencing before so I crashed the final to watch. It was fun!

Happy birthday to my sweet husband! Love you! And now you have your own kindle so YOU CAN STOP TAKING MINE!!!

Eggs and Noodles: Family Recipe

2011-12-09T08:19:00.000-08:00

The meal entitled "Eggs and Noodles" is a Davenport traditional meal. Actually originally a Doscher meal, invented by Zach's grandfather, Poppi. The original recipe included....wait for it...EGGS, and NOODLES. (And butter.)

In our neck of the woods, we make this recipe in our usual manner: add everything from the fridge. Here in a large skillet, we browned mushrooms, zuchinni, carrots (hey, they were already chopped up), peppers, onions, and corn. To this we added some leftover cooked bacon and a chicken strip. Then we let it wait in a bowl so we could re-use the skillet. This is probably around 3 cups of cooked veggies.

While we were browning the veggies, we were also boiling half a bag of egg noodles. Have you ever tried taking pictures of steaming food? Not easy. So no pictures of that. After the noodles are almost done, they get drained and go into the big skillet with a hunk (2-3 tablespoons) of butter. This stage crisps the noodles, so don't be shy about giving it time, or a little more butter if you need it.

Then we pile the veggies back in, and pour in 5 scrambled and seasoned eggs. We let the egg mixture cook onto everything.

Devour.

Let me know if you like it!

Eating in the UK, part 17

2011-12-05T08:19:00.000-08:00

In honor of my current trip in Scotland, I bring to you: Items I Could Buy At The Store, If Only I Wanted To:

Exhibit A: Port, Cheese, and Pickle pies.

Exhibit B: Sticky Toffee Apple...Cheese

Exhibit C: 5 Counties Cheese. In this case, this was actually my dinner. That is 5 varieties of cheese all lumped together in one block that would be a lot prettier looking if I wasn't using a cell phone camera.

Along the same note, I'd love to try this recipe, if only I could interpret the recipe. The words are in English, but they make NO sense. Caster sugar? A punnet of rasberries?

Lastly, if you are shopping for me for Christmas, don't forget this is on my Christmas list: Will and Kate barbie set, retailing in shops far away from you for the bargain price of 100 pounds! Converted, that's a steal of a deal at $80 per barbie! HAHAHAHAHA.

Enjoy...

My Favorite Post of the Year!! Christmas Cake Pops!!!

2011-12-01T08:19:00.000-08:00

I am calling this my favorite post of the year, and I really have to think that its true. I thought the burlap owls may have been close, but one bite of these tasty decorated treasures and a bunch of glue and fabric means nothing to me.

So: Cake Pops. Alternatively titled: How to make something that takes way longer than you planned, but is still way, way, awesome.

If you're gonna make cake pops of any kind, google for info. There are like a billion ideas, most of the professional ones very cute, and lots of amateur pictures out there too. I think ours turned out somewhere in the middle.

First picture is some prep work while our cake is baking in the oven.

More messes in the kitchen.

Once the cake had cooled, we dumped it into the mixer with a generous portion (maybe 1/3 of a can) of frosting. Don't hate me for using a box cake and canned frosting. I'm telling you it tasted like heaven.

Add enough frosting to get a consistency you can shape with your hands.

One box of cake mix made 24 decent sized balls.

Get really into what you are doing and forget to take pictures until you are almost done. (This step is crucial.)
Side note at this point: Do not be cheap about the melting chocolate you choose to use. We lost 2 cups of chocolate chips, which I have a love/hate relationship when melting, and ultimately ended up making emergency frosting with unsweetened baking squares. It worked out well, but, was stressful. I had white chocolate squares specifically for baking (or you can use candy melts) for the snowmen, and like I said we made a chocolate frosting for the rest. (1 square unsweetened chocolate, melted. Add 1 TBSP milk and 1 cup powdered sugar. Add more of each if its too runny. Thank you again, allrecipes.com)

Get creative with what you can decorate with in your kitchen. We dyed white chocolate and piped these noses. Mini chocolate chips for the eyes, oreo crumbles for the mouth.

Beth is one of those amazing crafty friends who always turns out beautiful creations. I like having her around because she gives me good ideas about how to improve what I am making. Here she is displaying her ornament, snowman, and one reindeer.

Here's my favorite reindeer - this frosting was a little thicker, so his head has a bit of texture.

Here's my motley crew - 3 reindeer and a tree. I love little reindeer personalities. (Are you making fun of me for personalizing cake?)

Here is Jen's snowman. She wanted to do a double decker one and we weren't sure if it would hold up on a stick, so he just sits (later in a cupcake liner.) Notice the mess-up behind him. That's code word for "we can eat this one as a taste test. For breakfast. No joke.

I had quite the refrigerator of creations, between 3 gals and 24 cake balls. The egg cartons weren't really up to snuff for holding the cake pops, so we had to improvise with cardboard, straws, etc...this might have been one of my favorite parts, if not for all the other wonderful parts of this day!

Another close up of Beth's treats, with a better view of the hat. (Those were mind oreos, we used the cream inside (trimmed down) to attach a rolo (upside down) to make the hat.

These are Jen's treats getting a rest in the fridge.

The next day I found some foam and we displayed Beth's again with a little more formality.

Here is one of the most important bits: These cake pops hold up well during consumption! Here you can see the cake pop stayed on the stick.

Even more importantly, it was delicious.

So please, I am begging you, come over to my house so I can make these again. Any excuse works. HURRY!

Seen in Sunnyvale

2011-11-30T08:19:00.000-08:00

Zach and I walked to the library the other weekend to return some books and a season of TV shows. When we got there, we realized the final disc was still in our player...Whoops. On the way back, I noticed a house with...blackberries growing in front!!!! How have I not noticed this before? (Obvious answer: they weren't in bloom.) I think these flowers - and the various colors - are so cute!!

See them? See them? I think I was too excited about this discovery.

Finally, I moved on from the blackberry house.

Just to discover...MORE! White flowers this time! My dear patient husband, he just laughed at me, handed his phone back to me so I could take more pictures, and waited.

That was the last picure...white and pink flowers...

I know my prior history of growing just about anything has been pretty bleak...but really, I can't wait to have my own garden to at least give it a try!

What's for Dinner? Chicken Tetrazzini

2011-11-28T08:19:00.000-08:00

What's on the menu to night for dinner? Recently we made one of Zach's favorite meals, chicken Tetrazzini.

At one point in time, I had his mom's recipe, but I lost it. Thank you, allrecipes.com! This was was equally tasty...considering we "sort of" followed it, as usual.

Not pictured: Cooking a mix of veggie noodles and regular spaghetti. (Believe me...not just because the colors are prettier...because if I am going to make a pasta meal 3 times in one week, I have to at least try and make the carbs a bit more healthy.) Added: Shredded Chicken.

Poured on: (Yes, sideways!) the generously-mushroomed cream sauce. Also, slices of zucchini and peppers. I also used cheddar cheese instead because...that is what we had.

Bake in the oven until browned and tasty:

This meal usually freezes well for us also. One less meal for you to plan this week! Most of the ingredients are kitchen basics, except maybe the whipping cream, which has become a kitchen basic item for us! Its also a great way to get rid of leftover chicken (or turkey!)

Cute, Easy Ornament Idea

2011-11-26T08:19:00.000-08:00

Happy Black Friday everyone! I'm scheduling this post ahead of time, because I think I'll be out bargain hunting on the actual day. And now the Christmas floodgates have officially opened, so I don't have to quickly switch CD's in my car to non-holiday when other people ride with me! :)

I saw this cute idea last year and actually made these then, but never gave any of them away. I got little containers of red and white buttons from Michaels. I strung them, randomly, on some wire that I tried to form in a circle. The hardest part was figuring out the best way to hook it, and to hide the wire. I chose ribbon. You cnan see in this photo I was only sort of successful. I may choose to re-do some of these and give them away this year. But I also have the owls. How many ornaments can one person give away? How many friends want an endless supply of homemade ornaments? *Sigh.*

Well, I think they are super cute. And if you're one of those crazy decorators who picks a "color theme" each year (or sometimes) this would be a cheap way to decorate your tree...and you could always re-use the buttons afterwards!

Last Ode to Fall

2011-11-21T08:19:00.000-08:00

I know, I know - I am finally getting around to the fall blog topics. So I was lazy about uploading my camera pictures! One look at these gorgeous pumpkins and you'll hopefully forgive me.

Zach and I spent a Saturday afternoon in Half Moon Bay. First stop: Farmer John's pumpkin patch.

I love all the varieties in shape and color they had there.

Are these squashes? Next year I need to study up a bit more and figure out which of these things I can cook after I use them to decorate.

More awesome pumpkins. Love the white one on the left. Actually all of them in this picture!

Here are bunch of mixed breed (?) pumpkins. Kind of cool, in a scientific way. Not what I was looking for today though.

We weren't doing jack-o-lanterns, but I couldn't get over how gigantic these pumpkins were.

A couples picture because we have a grand total of 4 of these since getting 1,000 taken on our wedding day...

And lastly...where the pumpkins ended up! On the mantle.

Did you decorate with any pumpkins this year? Come on people...I know you all blog too...show some pictures!!! :)

Home Decor: Collage Wall

2011-11-17T08:19:00.000-08:00

In our house, we have a long hallway leading from the living room to the office and bathroom. Huge white space in a sorta-well lit area that was begging me for some color, especially inspired by variations online of this post. Since the majority of other photos in the house were all wedding related, I aimed to avoid that theme for the wall here. I wanted people to be able to find themselves on the wall when they come to visit. (Side note: We have zero photos of ourselves with many of our local friends. I need to get the camera out more! I just feel awkward and cheesy about it!)

So, what is not shown in these photos, is the mess on the fireplace I made for the probably 4 months that this was in work. I was collecting garage sale frames, painting all my old ones, cleaning the glass, and lastly, waiting to find pictures for them all. (No problem on my side, but I figured it wouldn't be fair if none of the pictures are Zach's!)

So I painted everything black, then noticed a few of the frames didn't take the black so well. And it was an overwhelming amount of black. And I had this clearance bucket of aqua paint. So I repainted some. The aqua wasn't glossy. So then I mod-podged those frames for some shine. (I know. Took forever. Hence 4+ months on the fireplace)

FINALLY. Stocked up on command strips and ordered all the pictures and framed everything and put up the strips...and waited...the mandatory hour before you can hang things with command strips (this was the hardest part of all. And you really have to do it, since a picture, mirror, and mop-hanger have all fallen down after 6+ months because I did not follow that rule.)

So finally (again.) Here is the almost finished product! I left some gaps in there because I want to put the letter "D" in one spot and I wanted to have room to expand with new photos.

One of my favorites:

View from the other side...

Another favorite!

How do you use your photos to decorate your house?

Looking back to October: I can (could) CAN!!

2011-11-15T08:19:00.000-08:00

Warning: another post inspired by Our Best Bites. I am seriously going to have to start tagging them!

So, Zach has a thing for homemade McIntosh applesauce. We tried to get some of these apples from Apple Hill, but they HAD NO APPLES! No joke! Anyhow, some friends with an overflowing apple tree saved the day. Raw, their apples taste close to McIntoshes.

So anyhow. Inspired to do some canning. Wanting to use fresh applesauce during baking. Not having any room in my freezer. Enter: interest in canning. (Also goes along well with my obsession with glass jars.)

So the Best Bites website did an intro to canning, making it not seem as scary (and life threatening) as I previously thought. So I checked out a book at the library with some additional instructions and gave it a whirl.

sanitizing the jars

clean apples waiting to be peeled!

yum!

faithful helper!

making a mess with all the "stuff"

stockpot where jars are processing, small pot where lids are being warmed, and the cooking applesauce. Holy stove usage, Batman!

See my jar in there?

fearfully removing my jar...

First batch done!

Phew! Summary: A little more work than I thought, but stressful because I wasn't familiar with the process. Despite the work, though, I think the results are extremely satisfying. I'm happy with it! Next goal to can: pizza sauce!

Hotel Room Crafts: Sewing Christmas tags by hand

2011-11-13T08:19:00.000-08:00

Time to post the results of my newest hotel crafting attempt! After the First Great Cricut Experiment, I wanted to finish up this idea since I had been carrying around.

Prior to this business trip, I spent about 30 seconds rummaging for my sewing kit, any cropped paper I could quickly find, and some buttons.

I decided on some snowmen and a Christmas tree. I just cannot resist snowmen. To make my paper-sewing easier, I used this pin (randomly in my sewing kit) and some stiffened felt (also randomly in there, holding the pin) to punch some holes in the paper.

Here's how my little man turned out. I couldn't resist trying to add a carrot nose with the orange thread. Then I couldn't resist adding brown stick arms. When I get home, I MIGHT glue a little scarf on these guys, or a felt hat, or black sharpie eyes...we'll see. I think I will be gluing these to stiffened felt to act as a gift tag, decoration, or ornament...not sure yet.

I didn't have a pair of scissors with me (hello, using nail clippers to cut thread!) but I thought the torn paper look would work for this.

I rummaged around in my button bag and found the big brown one for a tree stump, so I decided to add a bit more decor to the tree as well. I actually ended up liking these so much I don't want to give them away (to people who will just throw them in the trash. People who would use it as an ornament or something are welcome recipients.)

Here's the final tally. I didn't feel like making my last snowman, but those 3 buttons are blue-ish and will be very cute. These took me around an hour (?) from start to finish, including an interruption from the maintenance man who was not as concerned with the giant wet spot on my carpet as I was. Oh well.

any other ideas of what I could use these for? When I have a few more colors of paper, I was thinking I could to some torn-paper holly (with red buttons) but I'd like a fourth idea so I can display them as a panel or something...please help!!!! :)

Dinner Default: Skillet Meal

2011-11-11T08:19:00.000-08:00

Today I bring to you yet another food post. Lately when I have been preparing these meals, I've been wondering if we will eat the same way once we have kids. For example, when we do skillet meals, I try to add all the vegetables we have in the fridge into the skillet, plus frozen bell peppers and onions. Everything else gets chopped fresh. It doesn't take a ton of time, but just something I think about from time to time. (NO, NOT PREGNANT.) Like, "will I have time to make this from scratch?" Anyhow.

Skillet meals are our go-to meal. We used to buy the frozen bags and add a veggie or two to the sauce to make it more homemade. Now I really prefer to make the whole thing from scratch, but it takes up more dishes that way.

For instance here we have 1 pot for pasta. Cooked al dente a little ahead of the rest of the meal and then rinsed in cold water to stop them from cooking more. I do NOT pour oil on them at this point because I read somewhere that doing so makes the pasta not stick to your sauce. I also have a second pan where I previously cooked up some sausages and am now cooking up the initial vegetables. (PS: Splurge on the baby bella mushrooms from Costco. They have so much flavor.)

Here are the rest of the items I am planning to add to the skillet meal. I didn't use all the broccoli but my main goal was to fill up this meal with mostly vegetables. Notice the heavy cream - I didn't promise it was a super healthy meal! Anyhow I used just enough to pull it all together. (cough, must leave some for whipped cream on pie later.) Plus cheese and sun dried tomatoes. YUM. (Side note: Speaking of Costco, I only buy my sun dried tomatoes there. So much cheaper. But I do transfer a small amount into the smaller jar so it can stay on my fridge door instead of hauling out the giant jar from the back of the fridge every use. Same for minced garlic. I know, how bad is it to not use fresh garlic? I'm lazy. Yeah, I canned applesauce but I don't buy fresh garlic. Go figure.)

ANYHOW. So I added the cream to the cooked vegatables and let it simmer for a while. At the same time, I put the broccoli into my 2 cup pyrex and half-cooked them. Then I added the noodles to my sauce, mixed in the broccoli, put the lid on, and let it all finish warming up/cooking for 15 minutes until Zach came home.

This kind of meal freezes GREAT and it has tons of veggies in it. (Although, there appear to be a lot of noodles in this picture. Oh well, I did my best.) Anyhow, I freeze these in individual meal sizes (yay portion control!) and Zach has them when I'm travelling, or I eat them when I'm too lazy to make lunch.
This is pretty much how we roll for skillet meals around here - we don't measure anything and try to keep it fitting all in the skillet. Do you have any go-to meals -- and will you share them with me so I can try something new?

Crafting with Garage Sale Treasures.

2011-11-09T08:19:00.000-08:00

Recently I went to Michael's and wandered around for some inspiration.

Cool mirror, $89, I have a similar one in mind as a craft that should only cost $15.

I love snowmen, and bells. Couldn't resist photographing this ornament so I can try a re-make at home.

What's this? Another bell craft? And I have those exact bells (silver) at home!

Enter: Garage saling with a favorite friend. Yielded: One garlic press, one set of flexible flashy bracelets, and...

and...$.50...A BELL!!! I can't wait to try that 2nd idea with this guy. (And its huge!)

And I got these beaded treasures for $1. I know I mentioned that in my last post. Even if I don't use the beads, I think the jewelry parts are definitely worth $1.

So, with my bell ornament (soon to be, I hope) I'm going to have a problem. I already have enough ornaments to FILL my Christmas tree. (Thanks, Mom!) What will I do with this one? Gasp - get rid of an old one? Maybe incorporate some into my yet-to-be-designed mantle? Hm...any ideas?

Hotel Room Crafts: Above and Beyond

2011-11-08T08:19:00.000-08:00

I thought it was about time we had yet another hotel room crafting post. I planned a bit for this one, by bringing my sewing kit, a small bag of buttons, and some card stock. My plan was to sew some Christmas cards based on a Real Simple inspiration last year.

But, I garage saled en route to Texas, and scored these beady treasures for $1.

THEN...I got a late birthday present.

Be.Still.My.Heart. A CRICUT! Ohmygoodness. So much crafting at my fingertips now. (I can't wait to make one of these.)

So, I I crammed my new treasure into my suitcase and hauled this puppy to Texas. Monday night I fired it up. Here are the results of my (very scared) first attempt:

I was warned that the first several uses of a new mat are VERY sticky. Note the condition of my removed "1st cut" pieces. (No scraper yet, saving that for the Christmas list). The pile of scraps on the top right is the flower. That guy didn't make it at all.

After this I took a second piece of paper and just pressed it onto the mat and pulled it off several times. Still big on the stickiness factor.
Then I (slightly less scared) tried my second set of cuts. As you can see, they removed a lot better.

I'm so excited to have this! Thank you so much! And I'll never reach this level of quality in my "hotel craft" series again!!
Next free night in my hotel room and I'll work on those stiched cards, though, so stay tuned!

Burlap Owl Tutorial

2011-11-06T08:19:00.001-08:00

Today I am going to show you how to make a burlap owl ornament. I also plan to possibly use these as gift tags. I was first inspired last year when I saved this Martha Stewart page, I just didn't have any burlap (now I do!) to try it out with. Plus, one of my closest friends Jessica was visiting from Santa Barbara, so it was a great excuse to get our craft on!

I didn't bother saving the measurements from the magazine, so we just picked a can and a peanut butter container from the pantry that fit the sizes we wanted to make. We also make some patterns out of magazine paper to figure out our sizes.

Part 1: Cut out your circles!

Part 2: Cut out all the pieces! (After my first one, I started cranking these out, assembly line style!

We used regular tacky glue to stick on the wings. Note: For most of these owls, we used the stiffened felt, not just regular floppy felt.

Part 3: Add nose. Oops, forgot to rotate this pictuere. *Sorry* this is a baby owl, I can tell from the smaller nose on this particular picture. It was hard to figure out from the magazine example, but it seemed like the top of the nose should be at the top of the burlap circle. (or even higher, if you want to glue your eyes to the nose a bit.)

Then I added eyes. This picture is of the bigger owls, I can tell because miraculously the nose turned brown and long. (Notice that the Martha Stewart picture has an orange nose? Yeah, we missed that detail until we were on our last batch of owls. We thought brown and black was still OK though.) Also, here I have a lot of the eyeball on the burlap. Sometimes it is cuter to have it half off the burlap, but that makes it harder to glue on. And, you want to cover up the tip of the wing too.

So that finally, after snipping out teeny tiny feet, you get something like this:

And then you make a bunch. We expiremented with pupil size. At first small was cute, then big, finally we realized that medium size was the best overall. Shown in this picture is an even smaller (red) one because they were TOO CUTE!

Then Jessica dared me to make one as small as I could. That is the smallest little red guy in this picture. Also, these are a bunch of Jessica's owls. Note the artistic wings (one has eyebrows!) and perfect circle eyes. She does a lot better than I do!!!

To make the owls a bit more sturdy, I stapled twine to a stiffened felt circle and glued it to the back of the owl. This is one of the first ones when I was thinking it had to be really, really, really secure...not thinking that 23 staples on the back of something is really, really, really not cute. Later I capped myself at 3 staples per backing.

From here, after glueing to the burlap owl (No, the glue did not show through the burlap holes!) I wrote little notes on sticky paper and attached them to the back. Things like, "Gloria, it was a really HOOT to spend time with you on Sunday!" (Please send me more owl related jokes.) Then on the bottom I put, "PS: You can re-use this as an ornament or gift tag!" I wanted my reciepients to know they didn't have to keep this little guy forever if they aren't into owls or something like that.

Homemade: Fall Burlap Wreath

2011-11-04T08:19:00.000-07:00

Hi Gang. Wow am I behind on post topics! This lovely wreath has already been on the door nearly a month. The previous door hanging, my flag book was inspired by a fellow Christy, but who lives in Texas and has a far more consistent (nearly famous!) blog. Seriously. Go read it for a while then really need to make fancy cupcakes and make a tu-tu. Christy (the cooler one) posts pretty much every day so I love reading all her stuff.

Burlap is nothing new to the Cooler Christy, but it (and wreath making) was pretty new to me. Being a newbie, I bought the smallest possible wreath at the store and then Zach (true love here) went with me to JoAnn's to get burlap. (Then I went with him to best buy to but something to enable a new video game. Craft Store / Video Game - I guess we are even then...and sooooo obviously not parents!!)

Anyhow. I was feeling lazy (i.e., didn't want to burn myself with the hot glue gun) so I decided to give the stapler a go. I cut some strips and successfully got burlap fuzz all over my pants and shirt.

I folded the burlap strips in half for more wrapped flair and stapled a bit on the back as I went along. Note the bandaid? Yeah...great thing about sharp knives, is, they are great at slicing things. The downside to sharp knives is...well...you take a guess.

Wow...I did not realize it would be nearly so....messy with the threads. A couple snips and that was solved.

Then I took a lok at my fall pretties. Mostly from dollar section of Michaels. I wasn't sure how I was going to attach the flowers, so I tried some stiff felt, trimmed, and stapled my treasures to that.

Then I stapled the felt to the wreath. It worked well enough, with a lot of stapling, that I did not get up and go get the hot glue gun. But if you come to my house, just don't look TOO hard at it, ok?

Then, (2nd half of above pic) I tried to tie a bow. Not that it needed a bow, but I tied a PERFECT ONE (in my opinion.) Downside? Completely upside down. I'm certainly no Martha Stewart in the bow department.

Here is a collage of the final product. Sorry its so small. You can't see all the staples in the back like I thought might show in the picture. I would have preferred to put the top yellow flower a little more on the front of the wreath, but my patience with the stapler was dwindling. And the best part? When Christmas comes, I can pull off the fall pieces and re-use the burlap and/or just the wreath!

More UK Treasures: Shopping at their "Wal-Mart"

2011-11-03T08:19:00.000-07:00

These two over-exposed camera phone treasures were discovered by Zach and I on our trip in August. We were wandering the aisles (I was eagerly wanndering around, Zach was patiently following) and I came across tissues. But..."MANSIZE" tissues? Notice how the first box looks like a box of golf balls.

And just to confirm that it wasn't a fluke, right next to it was another box. "Super soft mansize" tissues. Next trip I just might have to buy some of these and do a side by side comparison with regular (womansize?) tissues.

I love wandering the aisles in stores in foreign countries!

November Meal Planning

2011-11-02T12:19:00.000-07:00

I think I’ve mentioned before that I try to plan our meals and shop at the beginning of each month. I’m going to try to post some of the meals so I have a little more accountability (and get some suggestions from you all!). Last week I finally made Enchilada Pie after it was on the monthly meal plan for around 4 months in a row.

This month I will be gone for a week or so, so I wanted to make sure I had some tasty, vegetable filled, meals in the freezer for Zach. So far I have 2 sausage/pasta mixes (one with red pesto, the other…I think a creamy sauce). Plus last night I made a huge vat of Chicken Tetrazzini so that is lunch today and a freezer meal! (I’ll post something else about that meal in detail, because it was oh, so, good.)

Also up this month are: tri-tip steaks with potatoes, creamy tomato soup (I plan to add some rice to it), Eggs and Noodles, pesto salmon, fried rice with pot stickers, tortilla soup, pizza, and of course our Monday regular – chicken strips and tater tots! I spent like a year (an hour) chopping and prepping veggies for easy side salads too. Yummmmmy!

Okay…so that is what we are eating…what are you eating? Any good fall recipes? Next month I am going to try and use my crock pot…that’ll be a first for me…I am nervous!

Pie Pops: Bite sized treats!

2011-11-01T08:19:00.000-07:00

So, previously I promised a post about the pie pops. I made these for a pot-luck, where I wanted our dessert contribution (since most people were bringing desserts) to be bite sized and easy to handle. Enter: Best Bites creations here. I always think "small" desserts are "easy" and realize half way (or several hours in) that I AM TOTALLY WRONG. Anyhow.

I missed pictures of the creation part (pie crust making, apple shredding, etc) but I do have the finished product...at least the ones that didn't get "taste tested" by Zach and I prior to the pot-luck.

Also an oversight with the "easy dessert" concept is how messy my kitchen looks. I actually take a lot of pictures like this, when I get caught up in one (or 4) cooking projects and I totally destroy my kitchen. Usually I just delete them, but not today (LUCKY DUCKS!).

Have you been baking anything extra tasty lately?

[not so] Itsy Bitsy Spider

2011-10-31T08:19:00.000-07:00

Aren't these heirloom tomatoes beautiful? I didn't buy any, but I did drool on a few of them at Farmer's Market recently. This picture is just to make you feel nice before I tell of a horrible spider story in honor of Halloween and all.

Sometime in late August, recently returned from our UK trip, Zach pulled my car into the garage and as I got out, he said, "Babydoll, I'm going to ask you to do something for me. Please do not look at the dryer." I was compliant, but asked if there was a large spider on it. He said yes and that he secretly did want me to look at the dryer because it was pretty big.

Shocker, the surprise got the best of me and I had to look. HUGE SPIDER ON THE DRYER!!! Brown and big body and everything. EWWW. Zach went inside the house to get a shoe to kill it. I kept an eye on it. As I backed away, I took my eyes off it FOR A MILLISECOND and it was instantly on the floor and going behind the dryer. I'm talking here about like super-speed spider.

Needless to say, Zach did all our laundry for a while. I couldn't even touch the baskets if he left them sitting on the dryer unsupervised. (I know, I'm so high maintenance, right?) I did devote one brave Saturday morning to inspecting all the areas around the dryer for webs and spiders. I swept out the garage also.

Over time, I learned to do laundry again by myself. (Something about wanting to wear t-shirts that hadn't sat in the dryer for 2 days. I guess I'd rather face the spider territory than face an ironing board? Weird.)

This weekend I swept out the garage again. As I swept around a big pile of Zach's Army stuff on the floor, a larger brown ball got caught up with the dust, leaves, and flecks of paint.

IT WAS A GIANT SPIDER BODY. (Dead, so don't worry too much.)

Still, I had to stare. I had to go inside and get my camera, even! Zach thinks this is "the spider" he saw, but I think the other one was bigger, but with skinnier legs,...then again they shrink when dead...who knows.

I am still grossed out. Especially after finding a (live) spider on my SUITCASE last time I packed, etc. Needless to say I am planning some big fall cleaning to make sure no one is living here for the winter unannounced.

Above is the spider body in relevance to our broom. (Which is not a giant broom or anything. I'd say the body/legs are maybe 1.5 inches?

And a close up of the spider. Ugh. I need to go shower now. Grosssssssssss.

When did I start liking pie?

2011-10-30T08:19:00.000-07:00

Ok. First of all, check out this super awesome sign. Seen at Apple Hill. For those of you with terrible eyes, it says "NOT A THROUGH ROAD." Below that, a man-made sign, says "YOUR GPS IS WRONG."

Anyhow, that sign just cracked us up. The lack of apples at Apple Hill, not so funny. Boo, weather.

Not that something like a lack of apples could REALLY keep Zach from getting some pie. So I made pie pops (future post, just realized I didn't write about that yet).

So we had some extra pie crust left after the pie pops, so I made Zach a personal pie in one of our Ramakins (THANK YOU MELISSA!) and then applied my fancy lattice-making (just learned) skills to the top. I'm really not that amazing or anything, I learned it at ourbestbites.com. They should sponsor me for all the references I make to their blog! So seriously, my first pies were a homemade crust, which was totally flaky. Since making thist first one, my mom told me to substitute half the water for vodka, which dries up during baking to aid in the flakiness.

This particular variety is strawberry apple, dreamt up and mixed by Mr. D himself. Also consumed by him. And loved by him. I have since made more apple pie creations and developed a love for it myself. More posts on that to come. Apples and apples and more apples.

Oops I baked them again!

2011-10-28T08:19:00.000-07:00

I had intended to shrink my apple heads a little at a time, like an hour in the oven (at 100) then sitting in there with the door closed. Then I turned on the oven, went to work, finished work, took a shower, got taken on a lunch date, came home...and noticed the oven.

Shrunken-ness complete!

Now the dilemma is where / how to put them up. Right now they are chillin' in a jar on the table, held in place by some lemons. Zach wants to hang them outside for trick-or-treaters, but I'm not sure if we can figure out where...we have the world's smallest porch! Maybe if I put a TV stand outside against the side of the porch...and a pumpkin!! Ooh, inspired! Generally, I don't like to make a big deal out of Halloween, but I think we might have a lot of kids in our neighborhood of apartments, and since we are the ONLY house, I kind of wanted to do something -- at least to NOT be the corner house with all their lights off. We'll see, I suppose!

Last days of Summer

2011-10-26T08:19:00.000-07:00

Hey! So as it turns out, I am capable of posting about non-food, non-decor. Zach and I recently got bicycles as a late wedding gift. They are AWESOME! After a minor blowout / trip to get a new tire tube / why the heck does a new bike have a flat tire / incident, we were on our way.

We have a bike trail not far from our house going to Shoreline, which is beautiful!!! Unfortunately, I only have some ride pictures, not the lake. Now that it is all rainy, I'm not sure when I'll be able to get more pictures, but I'll certainly try!

Oh yeah! Sexy helmets, yeah? And below, we bike too slow for our friend Cris so he rollerblades along side. His wife, Anna, pulls him up and over this partiuclarly bumpy bridge.

Here I was taking pictures over my shoulder while trying not to fall off my bike.

Yay for getting a little exercise!

Hotel Room Oddities (Part 2)

2011-10-25T08:19:00.000-07:00

I'm starting a new post theme on my blog. "Hotel Oddities." I called this one part 2, because I think the Trouser Press referenced here counts as Part 1.

This TV volume control was discovered at the Embassy Suites in Texas. It controls the bedroom TV volume.

THIS WAS IN THE BATHROOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not to mention, the room has obviously been upgraded to new (big!) flat screen TV's. I can't even begin to fathom how this would work on them. To be honest, I can't even figure out how it would have worked on an older TV. Why would they even keep this thing installed in the bathroom??!!! I am totally stumped. Please, if you can tell me anything about this, please do!!!

D-E-C-O-R-A-T-I-N-G again.

2011-10-24T08:19:00.000-07:00

Hi again. So are you sick of decorating posts yet? I hope so, so I can switch back to food. Also on my last trip to Scotland, (all I do there is work and shop. I should work and work out, but that just doesn't happen.) a card shop was going out of business. Discounts! I found some socks that say "Grumpy's Socks" (some readers know who will get those!) and a cute name-engraved ornament for my cousin's daughter, Ella. Ella is a more popular name there so I was stoked to find it!

Ok, so while in the store, I saw these ADORABLE decorated letters. I was in LOVE. I drooled over them and left the store. (This was on a Monday.)

By Thursday, I couldn't handle it anymore. I had to have the "D." I went back and got it, and grabbed the X and O while I was at it. While realizing in line that I only had a few pounds in my pocket, I had to decide between X and O, or lunch. Tough decision. Ladies and Gents -- let me tell you -- the cafeteria food (which I would have had to eat if I had gone back w/o getting food at the mall) is bad enough that I put X and O back, and just bought D. But I consoled myself with the fact that I took pictures, and now I can make these myself, preferably in colors that coordinate better with wherever they will go in the house.

Meanwhile, "D" has found itself in our master bathroom. I have wanted SOMETHING in there for a while, but when I removed the glass from this frame to paint it, I broke it, then I didn't want to put a print into it on account of shower steam...oh my goodness. This was like a craft 4 months in the making. I decided my letter D would be perfect, and water-resistant as well.

So there you have it. Even Zach approves! And because I really, really like this letter, here is an closeup:

I've done some more decorating around the house as well -- wall o' pictures, to be exact, a project that overtook my fireplace for a good 3 months. I will try to photograph that soon and post it!

COUPONS!

2011-10-23T08:19:00.000-07:00

Ok, this subject line is a bit of a joke. I know my most frequent readers are wondering - where did all the couponing posts go? For one, I deleted a lot of the old ones. Two, I am not really actively couponing at this time. (I know! But how many free toothpastes do I need to get?) Three, I am already Christmas shopping, including being open to sales and coupon opportunities, so I'm not promising I won't post about them in the future.

However, I still monitor a few of my favorite sites. The first and primary one is refundcents.com. This is a paid subscription, but very cheap for online-only. Already I have saved probably around $40 at Snapfish in the last 2 months with deals from this site, so that pays for about 5 years or something of online subscriptions. There is a a chat board where wonderful people have answered all my questions about things, and I've traded coupons with folks on there as well.

A second one I will browse from my phone is http://www.hip2save.com/. Collin runs a great site with tons of tips, readers, and information. To be honestly, it is a little overwhelming for me sometimes - the amount of content posted regularly - which is why I scan it for the most recent hottest deals but still use the first link for specific weekly deals at Walgreens, CVS, RiteAid and more.

A third one I like because I first learned to coupon at Walgreens, is, http://www.wildforwags.com/. When this site was new, it had great Walgreens deals. Now the woman that runs it posts a lot of other non-Walgreens deals, but I still like her write-ups and shopping scenarios for each week. I would love if an equivalent site for CVS and Rite Aid existed, but they don't. I've toyed with the idea of starting one, but its easily a full time job to run a full-fledged reputable coupon site. (Although no doubt moneymaking!)

Last but not least, when I think I'm going to buy something online, I got through ebates first. When I first signed up, I got a $10 bonus gift card when I went over $25 in purchases. They have anywhere from 3%, sometimes up to 20% money back (paid cash to you, quarterly) on online purchases. Amazon isn't included, but Best Buy, Office stores, tons of stuff, I even saw cricut cartridges linked on there. If you're going to shop online for Christmas, you might want to consider ebates! (PS Click on my referral link and I get $5 when you sign up/qualify. No pressure, but, that is my coffee money and you KNOW I am cranky without my coffee.)

Anyhow, now you can sort out your own deals!!

4th of July Decor

2011-10-22T13:22:00.000-07:00

Because this year I was married to a veteran on July 4th, I felt I should do a little somethin' for 4th of July. I got this idea off of one of my favorite blogs, here. I can't find the exact link, so feel free to go over there and read a post, or 20, and then REALLY want to make some themed cupcakes.

The general idea of this door hanging is pretty simple. 1) Buy book at goodwill, or pick one off your shelves. 2) Paint said book with desired decor. 3) Seal paint. (I chose to use mod podge) 4) Hang with ribbon from nail on door. 5) Repeat for other holidays.

So far, its October and this bad boy is still out on the door. I might try to come up with something new for Christmas, or maybe a fall wreath...if I can get some burlap. I'm just wondering, does anyone else out there do any decorating for the seasons? I want to get into it - just slightly - not to the point where I have tubs of things dedicated to every season.

Garage Sale Treasures and Decorating for Winter!

2011-10-21T08:19:00.000-07:00

I do like fall. I plan to post some pictures of my fall decor (i.e., 1 single wreath...and soon to be some pumpkins, I hope) as soon as I upload them from my camera. But I uploaded these pictures from my phone, and they show that I'm already preparing for Winter decor! (I keep writing "Christmas" and changing it to "Winter" so I can leave everything up into February.)

The items below have all gotten a nice new shade of vintage white. On the left is a candle holder, given to me by an old roommate (aka left behind by someone else.) In the middle is a tim-like star from the $2.50 section at Target. On the right is a garage saled picture frame, which if you can take a closer look, has a lot of intricate carvings/decor on it.

Here is a close up of the star. I REALLY like it. I can't wait to use it.

I'm working on ideas for how to incorporate these into my (red brick) mantle. I like my mantle now, (which is not quite like this post had it, I'll have to post a new version). If you have any ideas, let me know!

Oh, and the frame on the right - I hope to staple some screen mesh to the back and gift it for Christmas as an earring holder!!!!! (Great idea right?) Are you gearing up for the holidays?

Food in the UK: Toast Toppers

2011-10-20T11:14:00.000-07:00

Hi again. Yes, I am posting about food again. You're welcome, because this post is not about coupons! And if you have taken a look at the re-tagging / labelling I have worked to do on this blog you will be happy to see that there are zero to very few couponing posts remaining, since they bored you all so much. Warning though, if I have to enter a contest or something, one or two might re-appear. However, with work being so busy and travelling a LOT, I have taken a break on couponing. (Also, I have enough free toothpaste for a year.)

On my last trip to Scotland, I spent my evenings wandering the aisles of Asda (Wal-Mart) and Morrison's, a grocery store. I was looking for anything interesting or new, or something that might be fun for cooking with that I wouldn't be able to get in the states.

That is when I noticed these gems: Toast Toppers. The instructions say these bad boys hold enough "toast topper" for 2 slices of toast. These cans are not small. I'd say maybe 2/3 of a tomato paste can. The flavors are "Ham and Cheese" and "Mushroom and Bacon." In the store, I was shocked and awed. While typing this, I am sick to my stomach! I mean that is a SERIOUS amount of toast spread per slice. Of course I bought one to experiment with, or to save as a white elephant gift.

Also, this amazing chair sits in a snobby little caviar shop at the London Heathrow airport. I think it is beautiful!!!

And a little more about the English and their love of toast. Shown below is a holiday gift pack - shortbread cookies, jam, and a toast rack. A toast rack was a new concept to me my first trip over, but its that white thing that looks like a multi-napkin holder. Apparently, this allows your toast to cool - individually - without stacking the slices and getting soggy toast.

I don't really need one of these, because at my house, toast goes from the toaster, to a paper towel, to underneath some cinnamon sugar, and directly into my mouth. No time to cool. No time to get soggy.

Would you use a toast rack, if you had one?

Food, but not about cooking

2011-10-18T16:55:00.000-07:00

The other day I was at a friends' house for an impromptu dinner while our husbands played video games. Turns out, this family has an apple tree in their backyard, so the other wife and I decided to try our hand at shrunken heads this year. I'm not big on Halloween in general, but this is part decorating, part craft, part food, and I really wanted to try it. We were inspired by ourbestbites.com, because, lets face it, I get all my ideas from that site.

Above are Krista's apples. Sorry for the bad quality DROID picture.

Above is my FrankenApple attempt. Well, Frank's hair is spiky and this is more like bangs, so, maybe notsomuch.

Another side view.

One of mine (again, above) where I tried to give him/her a chin.

I'm not sure I exaggerated all the features enough for them to turn out, but so far I've been treating them to 20 minutes at 100 degrees in the oven every day and then a nice rest in there as the oven cools off. I will post some updates soon!

Raising money for adoption

2011-10-17T06:10:00.000-07:00

Hi Gang,
Recently I re-stumbled across this blog, http://www.nogreaterjoymom.com/. Funny thing was, I actually found it by her husbands (much newer) blog first, but I don't exactly remember the original link. (I am suspecting Brianna, though.)

For a limited time, Adeye is fundraising to help bring kids home. Please go take a look and see if any touch your heart! You can pay by paypal, so you don't even have to get out of your chair to do this RIGHT NOW.
http://www.nogreaterjoymom.com/2011/10/together-we-can.html

Milestones: My first tri-tip

2011-10-16T08:19:00.000-07:00

Hi again. Sorry all of my re-blogging posts are about food. But think about my life for a minute. I work. I see my husband. I get on planes. I cook for husband. I go to church. I see friends. I do not take pictures. So really, food adventures are all I've got right now. And after a month of eating out in the UK, I was kind of excited about cooking again.

So here is my first tri-tip roast. We don't have a BBQ, so I planned to roast it. I scoured the internet for recipes and advice, and finally made up my own solution after reading how much work it could possibly be. This is a malt vinegar and soy sauce (mostly) marinade I made on the stove and marinated for a day or so.

When I finally baked it, first I baked it for 10 or 15 minutes fat side up. Then I flipped it. Then I agonized for the remaining 40 minutes about overcooking it. Finally, when the internal temperature was 128 (per one blog) I let it rest for 5 or 10 minutes, then wrapped it in foil for another 10 or so while we waited for our dinner company to arrive.

Then I had to check with said dinner company the proper way to slice this. The slices are a little fat, but you can see we managed to achieve medium rare!! WOO HOO!!!

Yum: Parchment Paper Salmon

2011-10-14T18:14:00.000-07:00

Okay, so seriously. How many blogger friends are NOT using the new editing feature? I upload most of my phone photos (and camera, when the pics are random and being "saved" for a blog) to Picasa. Now it is so, so easy to just bring those in (in order!) to the blog. Love it.

So we had our good friends over for dinner, and I wanted to make salmon. Also, not pesto salmon, which is my only salmon dish I can make. So I resorted to looking at my 70's era "Salmon Recipes" garage sale cookbook and found parchment paper salmon.

Turns out this recipe is not "so easy" seeing as how you have to blanch the veggies (read: chop, boil, dry) in advance and such. But, we had a great time each making our own parchment package with our desired veggies, lemon slices, etc.

No really, zoom into that previous picture and look at all that tastiness in there. Here is what sold me on the parchment salmon: "The best part is, if you overcook the salmon, it does not dry out, because the steam cannot escape." SOLD!

The after:

Before stuffing our face with all that salmon:

Yum!

Homemade Bagels: How to really appreciate Noah's (and even Safeway)

2011-10-12T08:19:00.000-07:00

Whoa...just figured out a waaaay better way to put pictures in! Nice. Okay, so bagels are pretty much my favorite breakfast. So I thought - homemade bagels - must be even better, right? And I am ashamed to admit, on a night at home, I would rather try making bagels so I can have one the next day than just driving the .5 miles to Safeway and buying some.

Also, I've been experimenting more with bread and such lately and my bread machine book had bagels. So I was interested in trying.
Turns out bagels are a ton of work. Rising. Water treatment. Burning fingers handling boiling hot bagels. Dipping. Geez.

Finished product. Flat. Not too dry. Only ate them for 2 days. Trashed the rest. Couldn't love them like official bagels.

Tried again one more time, because I don't give up easily. Results were not improved. Verdict: buy bagels at the store. :(

BACK!

2011-10-10T17:47:00.000-07:00

I know, where have all the posts gone? I turned off my blog for a bit because it seemed the safest way to not vent about work. I could have vented on private, but then for the 3 people who would go through the trouble to read the blocked blog, they would read about a lot of whining. So now I will just not talk about blog and stick with public-web safe topics. Then I went through a stage of wanting a blog tool with waaay better picture imports, so then I tried to figure that out. And yet here I am. But hey - I have loads of summer pictures and lots of baking projects, so tons of content! Woo Hoo, right?

Biggest news of the summer, was, TRAVEL! Zach and I spent a month in England, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland. And all those pictures are on Zach's computer, not this one. Whoops. Well they are on facebook, so look there, if you still use facebook.

I currently hate facebook. 1) It is impossible to keep up on statuses with the new formats. 2) When my smart phone prompted me for an update, it wanted access to read, edit, and send texts from my phone. I decided "NO WAY, JOSE" and removed the app. So I'm relegated to using the COMPUTER if I want to check, and how often do I *really* want to stay on the computer after 8-12 hours of work? (I mean, not that I spent 2 hours Monday night reading food blogs or anything.)

And apparently, it was May the last time I uploaded any photos to my computer. So to kick off my "its been 6 months since I blogged" here are some pictures from 6 months ago.

Zach and I spent our half-year anniversary at a little B&B in Half Moon Bay. From our house, we walked waaaay down the street for a yummy dinner, and went to the beach the next day. Oh, and it was totally freezing!

Our room key was all old school and such. Here's a view from our walk on the beach (the return walk, up on the pathway.) Notice the giant tree trunk that used to be somewhere and is now in that little ravine. I wanted to climb up it when we walked past from the beach but I was denied for reasons protecting my own safety. Boo.
View of the garden from our room. The place was called the "Old Thyme Inn" and they had a bunch of herbs in the garden. We even had rosemary bread in the morning. Yum!
And this lily pad / flower was in bloom!!! How cute is that??!!

Glass block Jello

2011-05-28T19:45:00.000-07:00

I saw this recipe quite a while ago on my favorite food blog, and I've been eager to try it. Finally, with multiple large dinners on the agenda I decided to give this a whirl. Its not fancy, its all jello, but I wanted to know how tasty it was and see if is worthy of all the big family gathering-type events that our extended family (my side) often has.

It starts with lots and lots of jello. Jiggler style, meaning 1/2 the normal amount of water.
Then cut it all up and put it in a greased glass pan. (I mean, do I really have to say instructions? I know you'll jump right over to the real recipe for the details.)

Take another picture of the jello because you are trying to be artsy and cool on your blog.

Add the last ingredient and refrigerate some more. Hope you had a lot of space in your fridge for flat containers!

MMM!! Tastes like...jello!!!

Empty Kitchen Dilemma!

2011-05-28T19:15:00.000-07:00

Last night was a great friday evening. Zach and I walked to the Library, where I was super excited to find some travel books on Ireland for our trip this summer. From there, we dropped off our rent check and got PINKBERRY!!! I have to say, I totally scoffed at them a year or two ago when they only had Original (tart) and Pomegranate flavors...now they also have chocolate and others and the chocolate is soooooo good. And don't even think about skipping the mochi topping. If you think it looks weird, at least give it a chance.

After dinner Zach and I played some video games then he got a text from his BFF about some video games at his house and he went over there. I was desparate for some cookie dough, but we only had one egg in the house. And I really wanted to make Zach some blueberry muffins. Which recipe should I use the egg for? Not to mention, we have around 1/4 cup of milk.

So...I found my trusty recipe site and decided to opt for the muffins and deny my cookie craving. I found this one-egg recipe and had BARELY enough milk to get by. I replaced the nugmeg with lemon rind and juice. I also replaced the white sugar with brown like some readers recommended.

As I was cleaning up, I was regretting my denial of cookie dough. UNTIL I REMEMBERED!! This site, homemademamas, is really fun. And I remembered that they posted a no-egg cookie dough recipe (this is purposely for not baking!) Let me tell you, they are not kidding when they say that this stuff is GOOD!!! It was a bit annoying to pound my softened margarine into the flour and sugar, but once the mindless mixing passed and I added some more water I had perfect dough! Of course I ate a bunch -- my fill really -- before it made it to the freezer, so I had to taste-test the frozen version later.

Moral of this post: You can make your husband his muffins and have your cookie dough too! lol.

Rummage Sale'd

2011-05-26T19:40:00.000-07:00

In my jet-lagged state upon return from Scotland, I found myself at a local church rummage sale. I love these things! I didn't have a big budget for the day, but in the outdated electronics section I noticed this HANDSOME leather case.
And inside...a vintage video camera!!!!!!! Ohmygosh this is the coolest thing ever!!! And it still has the original instruction book??? How could someone still have all this and then give it up for a glorified garage sale???

Vintage 8-mm video camera. With new batteries -- this puppy actually WORKS when you hold down the trigger. I think we are going to try and get some film that fits and try it out, even if it is a 30 second video that is filmed in "Wonder Years" style.

Seriously I just think this is so cool. I mean, I bought it for ZACH. FOR ZACH. I thought it would be cool when we have in a bigger house to have in his office/mancave or as part of decor, given his education choice. Heck, if anything, the leather bag alone is easily worth the $7 I paid for it all.

One last look at the inside...that's for the film, baby!

Scotland, the 5 minute version

2011-05-24T19:30:00.000-07:00

I did not title this post the "5 minute" version because there are only a few pictures. I chose this title because in my 6 day work trip there was abotu 5 minutes of "sight seeing". In no particular order, because that is how blogger organizes my uploads:

Balbirnie Hotel near Glenrothes, Scotland -- a walk around the grounds (which is also a golf course)
View from my window. I.E. opening my window, standing on the desk, and holding the camera out the window.

Third floor hotel room (thats the top floor folks! Hope your bag isn't too heavy to carry up yourself!) Now you can see why I had to put my camera out the window for a view. Because the rest of my tiny window view was all roof.

Possibly the coolest thing in my hotel room, EVER -- a trouser press. Sadly, I didn't try it out.

Inital view from the airport when I landed. Loved the yellow meadows. So lush over there!

Coasters

2011-05-03T22:22:00.001-07:00

I wrote this a long time ago, and know I have more pictures. But, they must be on my camera still which would take oh-so-long to get onto this post.

I’ve been making a bunch of coasters for an upcoming church craft fair. Initially I made a couple 2-pc sets with “Mr. and “Mrs.” on the front to encourage purchases for all the weddings happening at church. But then, without a cricut, I got really tired of cutting out the letters and skipped to 4-pc sets of cropped scrapbooking paper. Then I thought I could use up some of my cool old scrapbooking paper, but it turns out I only have old scrapbooking paper. Cool, notsomuch. Just a few sheets of “cool.”

Regardless, with a few trips to Michael’s and Home Depot I have created nearly 2 dozen coasters. After the first 4, I got a LOT better, and you can benefit from my lessons!

1) Buy the tiles at Home Depot, white bathroom tiles, 4.25x4.25 inches. They are $.16 ea. (I initially paid a quarter each from a haggler at a garage sale because I didn’t know the sale price!)
2) Plan on using more Mod Podge then you’ve ever used in your life.
3) Splurge for acrylic sealing gloss. ($8? For a can. "Acrylic Gloss" use a 40% off coupon)
4) Splurge again ($2.49) for 16 vinyl “bumpers” that will be applied to the bottom of each tile. (I ended up getting a bunch on ebay)

1) Choose an appropriate Mod Podge brush. I am in love with a white one that has since been crowned “ONLY FOR MOD PODGE.” The black spongy brushes left black spongy glue residue, and black paintbrushes left black brush hairs on my shiny colored tiles. So far this brush has been the BESTEST!
2) Trim your paper of choice down to 4x4 squares. If you want to print something onto the paper before trimming (I did this once, with my “Mr./Mrs” and it was cute but I’m not good at spacing it all out perfectly.
3) Apply a light layer of Mod Podge to the top of each 4x4 paper square and also the top of your tiles. (don’t attach yet). Once dry, apply a light layer to the other side of your paper square. You’ve just plasticized your paper, which will make it a lot easier to adhere to the tile if you need to reposition or squeeze out air bubbles.
4) Apply a layer of Mod Podge to the tile and a little to the back of your coaster cover paper. Stick together. Take care to push out air bubbles and make sure your paper is fully adhered on all sides to the tile completely. If you need to apply a bit more Mod Podge to the edges to make sure this happens, do it.
5) Apply 3-4 more layers of mod podge to the coaster, making SURE SURE SURE each time to really seal those edges. If you are Mod Podging 8 or more tiles at a time, the first ones are dry by the time you finish the last. Don’t make the layers TOO thick or messy, though, because your glue WILL dry bumpy and foggy if you are messy. (this rule is hard for me to follow.)
6) Take the tiles to the garage and apply two LIGHT layers of acrylic gloss, leaving lots of time to dry in between applications. This makes your coaster shiny and smooth. You won’t even see the brush texture from your Mod Podging at this point.
7) Apply the vinyl bumpers (or, if you are really cheap, the felt circle pads that are not as pretty…cough [voice of experience])
8) Wrap and sell! Or gift! These would be super cute monogrammed or themed for a family or with key phrases. If I had a cricut cutter I might have tried that a little harder.

Best ever breaded chicken!!!!!

2011-04-26T21:46:00.001-07:00

Monday nights are chicken strip and tator tot nights here around our parts. Lately also supplemented with a salad or hot veggie. Last night we were *gasp* out of frozen chicken strips so instead of going to the store, I decided we would make our own.
We have these 2-breast packs of chicken from Costco which makes the perfect amount of breaded chicken bites for us in our skillet meals, so I figured that would work. In the past year or so of attempting homemade breaded chicken with various recipes (including remembering the ease and delicious-ness of Shake-N-Bake, then buying the generic and being disappointed) (also including getting upset over egg/flour/crumb/mess/making chicken by myself), I finally noticed an easy breading recipe on...wait for it...the back of the Safeway bread crumb container!!!

The first time I used this recipe, I was amazed! Easy to bread, then bake...Yum! The second time I thought it was a tad bland. Both times I sort of modified the recipe as I went along.

Then came last night! I modified again and this time these chicken bites were AMAZING. I mean, I wish I had a picture but we devoured every last bite.

Here you go:

3/4 c Safeway bread crumbs
1 tsp kosher salt (if you are eating the chicken by itself. half this if you are putting the chicken in flavorful food)
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp italian seasoning
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp dried minced onion flakes
3 shakes chili powder
one handful frozen parmesean cheese (maybe 2 TBSP)
1/4 c EVOO

I like to dip in egg and then this mixture, then bake. MMMMM. Try it and let me know how it goes!

Oreo Chocolate Chip Cookies

2011-03-18T17:00:00.000-07:00

I've been seeing some posts here and there about the gigantic chocolate chip cookies baked around a Double Stuff Oreo. I seriously want to try that recipe out.

But in college I had a chocolate chip Oreo recipe of my own, it involved roughly chopping a bunch of oreos and throwing them into regular chocolate chip cookie dough.

I was making cookies for a photo shoot and wanted them to be small (so we could each eat a lot) so I opted for this recipe instead of the giant one.

I had no complaints! The cookies were delish.

2.5 Homemade cards

2011-03-04T13:37:00.000-08:00

Our church is hosting a craft fair fundraiser in May and I have been attempting to make some items to sell. (hahaha)

Additionally, I am having some girls over in April for a card making exchange so I am also trying to practice some nice card making, i.e. cards that people would actually LIKE to get. I went to paper source to borrow some ideas, although, it seems like I didn't take pictures of those ones so theses are just from my great brain. (Or not so great).

The top pink one is my best one. Used pink paint chips, a ribbon from a wedding gift, and an iron-on flower that didn't get used in a previous project. Not too bad.

The next one, blue buttons, is a work in progress. I sewed the buttons onto the blue squares but haven't decided how to finish off the card.Lastly, DO NOT LAUGH, this one I made and had a lot of fun. Yes, it is not a "beautiful" card. Yes, you can see glue all over the front. (Sick people might have blurry vision so I got away with it.) But hey, its fun. And I re-used the Cutie bag for the netting, which was my original inspiration. Thanks to Tab for getting sick so I could try out sending the card. (She liked it. The inside said "Hope you feel better soon.")

Next project: Improve my card-making handwriting! I have a few more ideas so when they happen I will post them!

What to eat?

2011-02-25T07:27:00.000-08:00

I thought I would post some of our go-to recipes and February meal plan on here, in case anyone needs ideas. I planned for a whopping 8 meals in February, yep that's right - 8. I aim for 2 a week, which leaves room for leftovers, a couple dates, and other various cravings.

This week we had Pesto Salmon. This has to be closely coordinated with a Costco trip, but now we have an extra fillet in the freezer. With mashed potatoes. We made 3x the mashed potatoes (that was Tuesday) so that last night we could put them on top of our Shepherds Pie. Worked out perfectly. I actually cooked the rest of the filling (meat, tons of mushrooms, plus olives, roasted peppers, garlic, corn, other veggies, and about a 1/2c of chicken stock) earlier that day and then we just warmed up the meal when we were ready.

We also have the fixings for Steak Quesadillas coming up soon, and we already had Eggs and Noodles [West Coast Style], lasagna (although frozen at a party, not the recipe I wanted to use)...

I didn't quite get to my 8 planned meals this month (so far). Also remaining is: burgers and sweet potato fries, asian chicken salad, and slow cooker pot roast.

But not tonight, because we are going out to dinner for a late Valentine's day date!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mantle Nightmare

2011-02-16T20:23:00.001-08:00

This fireplace is the entire length of my living room wall. On the right side (as you face it) is our couch, which faces the left side/wall- TV. I've been trying to figure out how to convert it from junk-spot to cute(r).

Before: (Actually, this is already with 1 yellow crate. I love the yellow pop. Also displayed are our unity candle, a wedding/embroidered gift, our date night jar, and a bunch of junk that needs to get off the mantle.)

Halfway there:
This is my attempt to combine most concepts seen online. Obstacles:
1) I need to paint one or more of the wooden crates, if I use all 3
2) Probably should repaint that "FAITH" sign
3) I have bricks sticking out in the middle (holding the Davenports sign) so I can't go tall in the middle.
4) The lantern(s). Don't really fit, like I said, I was just shoving everything up there for a test.

I definitely want more yellow, maybe one of the unpainted crates. But if I get more yellow, then I'm going to want a little more aqua. I'm working on a distressed looking white-ish frame (picture TBD) to add, but its small, so we'll see how that goes. Maybe a cooler clock.

The Date Night Jar (ideas) went onto another bookshelf, and the embroidered wedding thing I would prefer to actually hang somewhere.

Anyone have ANY ANY ANY ANY DECORATING IDEAS OR HELP FOR ME OUT THERE???!!!!!

I've been organizing the house for about 3 hours now and I feel like its not noticable. No, the house is not in total shambles, its just that I reorganized a closet, putting a bunch of stuff in the garage (pushed in the middle in a giant pile. Garage organizing is Saturday.) In the kitchen I reorganized the beverage/unused wedding presents section and moved some of that stuff into the newly spacious closet. I organized the INSIDE of my hope chest which is 90% Creative Memories photo albums How can I have so many albums? And not a single shelf over 11 inches to put them out. Grr. And none of them up to date, and piles of baby pictures still. I could have spent those 3 hours trying to catch up. I got rid of a box in the bedroom, so I guess that helps. Threw away notes I just found from an old flame. (I actually thought I had already done that a year or two ago but apparently there were more!)

Blueberry Oat Bars

2011-01-26T17:32:00.001-08:00

Zach loves blueberries.

Blueberries were on super sale this week.

It was my turn to bring treats to bible study.

Starbucks blueberry oat bars are ~~amazing.~~INSPIRING.

Some google searching.

delicious-ness

Note: I subbed 1/2 cup of the flour for whole wheat. And also I left the walnuts sitting in the bag (crushed with a ladle, of course) until after the step of baking the bottom. So I sprinkled half on the top of the baked bottom and half with the top. You can't even tell!

ENGAGED!!!

2010-08-15T23:32:00.000-07:00

Ok, so, confession! One reason for limited blogging time is that I have been busy PLANNING MY WEDDING TO ZACHARY DAVENPORT!!!

Zach proposed on August 7th (and 14th!). Long story. :) We are getting married on 12/18/2010 - with a 4 month engagement we have our planning work cut out for us!!

Here are some pictures and highlight moments...I am likely to post a little more on fb.

1) Picture at Myrtle Beach, SC - site of the first proposal (and a temporary ring!)!!! We were at his family reunion and it was really neat to be able to celebrate with his family there - since they live in Rhode Island (mostly) it would have otherwise been very tough (or expensive) to have that experience with them. Anyone who is willing to propose to someone who has seaweed in her hair and is sweating from the humidity is DEFINITELY in love.

2) Zach, on the morning of 8/14: He brought over my favorite breakfast! MMM - a starbucks and a whole wheat sesame bagel, toasted, with butter. With my breakfast, I got a note - with a piece of a a blown up photo of us - with clues about the next step in our adventure - a nearby park where we sometimes walk and hang out

3) On the way to the park we realized it was city wide garage sale day and I BEGGED Zach to let me (go back to the house for money) to get these lanterns, for $1 each. So excited about their potential.

(walking to the park, thank you tripod)

4) From the park I got another note with a clue to figure out - we went bowling!

5) Then the beach!

6) Then a walk in Santana Row, then Sushi for dinner! We had what our friends have nicknamed "The Marriage Roll" (yellowtail on a california roll) and a new roll, the Tommy Roll (fish on a spider roll). Both were deemed excellent.

7) With all 6 of my photo pieces now gathered from various notes, I had to assemble them to create the picture and then decode a secret message telling me where the last stop of the day would be...turns out, it was Las Palmas Park, right near Zach's house, where we used to play Ultimate Frisbee and often go for walks. There, he led me to one of the spots we first picnic'ed at, said a bunch of super nice things about loving me and protecting me and promising to take care of me and that I am perfect for him and then I got THIS (which is impossible to photograph, but I'll work on it):

I am super stoked!!! I love this man!!! Dating, in general, has been very scary for me (committment issues) but he has been a ROCK of patience and love through the entire journey. We truly believe God has designed us to complete each other, we desire to reflect God's character to each other, and are willing to further God's kingdom together! (Those were the 3 purposes of marriage we discussed in some recent pre-engagement counseling, which was cool to do.) I am daily blown away by how deeply and honestly Zach loves me and strives to serve me. Such a great example to me of commitment. I am so grateful!

At the end of all of this, my birthday party (which was that night - 30 minutes after the proposal!) was upgraded (to the surprise of our friends) to an engagement party as well!!! It was great seeing a bunch of our friends (including several sets of 2010 newlyweds who have promised to share lots of planning information), our church 20's group pastor, the couple we have had counseling with, a surprise visit from my bff Sarah who shocked me by flying up from a family party in San Diego to come to my party instead!! It was a long but great day!

Laughter

2010-07-02T10:13:00.000-07:00

So last night, before writing that extremely depressed post, I bunched up some test data and sent it to one of my coworkers for some last minute work on a project we have. I think my email (and the quality of the data/scenarios) is a really good example of why one person should not work 7-6 (or 6-6) multiple days in a row and then still try to get back online at 11pm). TOTALLY INCOHERENT. Luckily, she speaks "tired" and was able to translate.

Today I am totally laughing about it. A weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I really doubt anyone actually read my previous post and prayed for me in the time that has passed, but I really feel relief. PTL! So I'm going to share a few more UK photots I forgot about yesterday.

Cambridge - An Ostrich burger!!!

More Jousting (This one is for the nephews)

Watching the England/USA World Cup game

Great title for a pathway on the Royal Gunpowder Mills campus

Here is what the "Long Walk" looked like: (it got curvier later)

Good night!

2010-05-19T23:42:00.001-07:00

*Updated*
The story of my life:

Time for bed! I tell myself! 10:00

I just need to finish this email.
I'll check a few blogs before I go to bed.
I'll put away the things I bought couponing yesterday.
Oh no! My bin is full! Time to reorganize.
Oh! I'm visiting Dad this weekend, and I intended to put together a Fathers's Day assortment of coupon freebies. I'll put those things aside.
I'll give some to Tim, too.
Oh! So much more space in my bin for my other freebies!
Whoops! If I'm celebrating Fathers day this weekend, I need to get in gear for my gift/project. I better paint my canvas tonight.
Paint.
I'll paint these other wood anchors I found downstairs too. That'll be great for the Rhode Island party.
I'll wrap dads freebies up cute. After all, they have to transport somehow.
I'll wrap Tim's too. Oh man! He graduates from high school next month! I'll need a gift for that! Yikes!
Oops! Wasn't it bedtime?
11:41 pm

*Updated, 2:10am* Before above mention of 10:00 bedtime, said individual consumed 1 pint of iced tea. It was refreshing and delicious. At 12:15am, still wide awake in bed, said individual got up to continue on her many projects. She got MANY things done for the party decorations. This makes her very glad. She knows she is tired, because when she uploaded files to FedExOffice online (prints much nicer than my skewed inkjet), she had to do it THREE TIMES. THREE TIMES, PEOPLE! (4 separate documents). Ok. 2:12. Updating blog and going to bed. (With a hungry rumbly tummy!)

Craziness

2010-05-19T17:18:00.000-07:00

I'm going back to the Yucatan this summer with my church. Did I already say this? Zach is going too. We are having a party to fundraise for his trip costs. (And maybe some of mine?) The party is 100% Rhode Island themed. This is really fun, but a TON!!!! of work. What have I gotten myself into? What is a quahog (I'll remember it for scrabble now) and how the heck do I cook one??!!

Oh dear, oh dear...I may be in over my head...

Frosting: Better than Stroganoff

2010-05-14T13:38:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I took a break from the obsessive couponing. I had all these women pictured over to my house! We created 11 10 fantastic frostings and 1 mishap. My goals for the morning were to spend time interacting with all these awesome ladies and know be able to test a bunch of frosting recipes at once. We had mixers running from every plug in the kitchen!!

Now the next time I make brownies, or cake, or cupcakes, or anything that needs frosting...I'll have some great go-to recipes! We dyed each one a different color so we could tell them apart later. We sampled them on graham crackers then decorated cookies and cupcakes to take home. I have the recipes in a .vsd file, as soon as I figure out how

We've already agreed that we have to repeat this idea on both salsa and spaghetti sauce.

It took a lot of organizing to figure out exactly which ingredients we would need for the recipes I planned. These are the ones I was in charge of bringing.

I also hid all of our various kitchen counter clutter and even mopped the floor!

It was CRAZY with so many people in the kitchen at once! But we all had fun!

Notice the double boiler action in this picture. Talk about complicated! Wanda's recipe called for using a handmixer for 7 minutes while double-boiler-ing the frosting. I was skeptical about the results from such a complicated recipe - but it was amazing! So light!

Here is my favorite recipe in the mix: Janelle's Chocolate Cake Frosting. MMMM.

Krista and Christina had the other very complicated recipe. Double Boiling, Kitchen-aid, and an ICE BATH!! Amazing results though!

I can't remember which one this is, but Marian tried 2 easy recipes with cool-whip and marshmallow fluff. They got devoured like the rest!

And for some of the results shots, including decorating:

The pink one is buttercream and that one was my biggest surprise. I loved it! I've always thought store-cake buttercream was awful. This one was even shortenting instead of butter! Next time I'll try butter.

Irish Wheaten Bread - Sweet snack or curse word?

2010-04-05T17:54:00.000-07:00

I have Irish Wheaten Bread in my oven. This is my first official attempt at bread. Considering this isn't even a yeast-based recipe, I'm not sure it even counts. But I had leftover buttermilk after making these, so I used it on the bread.

My motivation behind the non-yeast bread is...I'm a little afraid of the process. Warm water over the stove while mixing in yeast...wait XYZ hours for dough to double...etc etc garble garble...net result: Christy is confused. So, I gave this a try, even having to learn how to "cut butter into the mixture" and buying a pastry cutter. (Which may be my only take-away of this whole experience!) I did buy some instant yeast to try in my next big baking endeavor.

Did everyone have a nice Easter? He is risen...He is risen indeed!

Easter Egg Decorating - its not too late!

2010-03-30T12:16:00.001-07:00

I did this little activity last week and wanted to post it soon so that you have time to craft it as well (if you'd like!)

Sara and Kate definitely explain WAY better than I can (and with better results) how to do this here.

I started with these 100% Silk ties from Goodwill:

And created these eggs:

More Running Treasures!!

2010-03-20T16:32:00.000-07:00

Maybe this is a sign I need to run more often. After coming back earlier this month with dozens of lemons, todays run yielded more "treasures." (aka, other people's trash.) March is the month when the Santa Clara area dumps all their big trash on the curb, no holds barred. I've checked out a few piles (one had a scrabble game box, but no tiles) and saw an AMAZING desk I was not brave enough to look at more closely, plus a TON of nasty matresses, wood, and quite a random assortment of items.

Today was a no different. I committed to carrying a picture frame home (why always so far from home??!!) which is 18x20 or larger, just the frame, to potentially be used for artistic purposes. (Tabitha, this means you.) Then I found a spot where a house had been forclosed and someone just put EVERYTHING in the garage out here. So I scored some new pillow cases, a little crafting fabric, LEFT a lot of nasty fabric and hand-knitted blankets there, and...this Moo Cow Creamer. It was so tacky, it looked vintage. I was right! Its from the 1960's! These sell from $1 to $15 on ebay! Not bad for free. It seems to be in pretty good condition. I'm not sure how I'll use it yet, but it seems awesome!
Now the other thing I did today...I will post about when I upload the pictures!

Leftover February Pictures

2010-03-19T14:55:00.000-07:00

These are the roses that Zach bought me for Valentine's Day. At first I was surprised by the yellow color, then he reminded me that the first flower he bought me (a gerbera daisy) was the same color! What a thoughtful guy. These roses were beautiful for DAYS (just grocery store variety!) and they opend up really big. I couldn't stop taking artsy pictures of them.
My friend Beth and I decorated sugar cookie pops for Valenties day. Mostly because I saw the idea on a blog and REALLY wanted to make sugar cookies on sticks. Next goal - find a more tasty frosting. (H.B.K. = Happy Birthday Kristie, roommate)

Beth's cookies were far more beautiful than mine, case in point:

Another rose picture. I actually just submitted this one to Capital One and it is going to be the picture on my credit card! Cool, huh?

Disappearing Chips! Why is that bowl empty? Oh yeah - because I made salsa! 1 part pureed bell pepper, 2 parts tomato, some garlic powder and salt...MMM, very fresh tasting. I love red bell pepper!

Not your typical Craft Tutorial

2010-03-15T17:24:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, a young man who is dear to my heart was in desparate need.

Desparate.

Of a fireman costume.

What good auntie can resist a charmng boy in need of a fireman costume? Not this auntie.

So I purchased the birthday costume items in a nice combo pack - hat, axe, belt, etc etc. Missing: a fire coat!! Now, said boy lives in SoCal where it is HOT. So no long sleeves here. I had an idea to use a big T-shirt and make it look like a firecoat. (This idea based on the fact that the boy on the costume package was wearing a yellow shirt. Inspiring people, INSPIRING.)

So I got to work pre-washing a bright yellow tee and ribbons for decorating. Then I flew across the country to finish my work in a hotel room. This limited my crafting ability to: imported glue (brought tacky glue from home - bad idea - should have bought fabric glue) and tape.

I started by attempting cutting the middle open and then highlighting the edges of the front and sleeves with ribbon. At some point I rejected the glue option for the sleeves and called the front desk for a sewing kit. The angels brought TWO, both of which I used.

This sewing job on the sleeves was no rocket science or pretty task, as shown below. My primary goal was for the costume to last multiple washes and two boys fighting over it as they eagerly put out big, scary fires. Obviously the inside seams were not much to look at:

Then I wrote a sentimental "SLO FD" on the back as a SLO shout-out. (Seriously, who DOESN'T miss that place??!!)

I wanted to add another ribbon accent across the top and big buttons, but I ran out of time.
My smiling model doesn't seem to notice the missing parts: (notice he is so tall this is almost too small for him already!)
Good thing he has a little brother to hand it down to:

When life gives you lemons...make lemondade...literally

2010-03-08T08:13:00.000-08:00

Last week I went running and passed a home where some gardeners were trimming a lemon tree. I thought to myself...hm, why not ask for a couple lemons? I could use them in the kitchen, right? They obliged (en espanol) and I was glad I had worn Zach's XL Army long sleeve shirt over my running outfit to keep warm. I tied the sleeves up and started harvesting. Somewhere in that process I got the idea of lemon chicken, lemonade...and wasn't sure how many lemons I needed. (After all, it was me or the dumpster!) I filled the shirt up and walked the mile home.

Here are some of my lemons, with my previously store-bought ones on the counter:

And here I am with my OTHER bowl of lemons, and pomegranate lemondade that Zach made. (I ended up with 35 lemons!)

Here is Zach posing with his lemondae...ignore the Apple Cider container! Ha! I'm using our one and only pitcher to hold excess kitchen items.

What do you have lemonade with? A new recipe! This is from the 2009 Holiday Costco cookbook. Basic elements include: pan cooked sausage, steamed broccoli, 1/2 cup of water all simmered and mashed together over pasta with some cheese on top. Easy and tasty!!!

Janelle's Chocolate Cake

2010-03-05T16:59:00.000-08:00

Growing up in San Leandro, a couple from our church "adopted" our family by choosing to invest in our lives, get to know us "kids" and babysit for my parents to have date nights. They lived just a few blocks away and we built essentially grandchild/grandparent relationships with them. They have been really amazing to our family.

Janelle would make this chocolate cake. One mention of "Janelle's cake" would leave ANY family member drooling. Its been at least 10 years since we had this cake, since our family moved, aged, they moved, etc. Since I've been wanting to amp up my culinary skills and because the cake is just so delicious, I've been hoping for an opportunity (excuse) to make this cake. It’s really decadent so the excuse had to be really good. And then it was my youngest brother's birthday! #18! Happy Birthday Tim! (back in February.) So I texted him, asking if he wanted the cake for his birthday. Usually he never texts me back. This time I got an immediate yes. In fact I got the "oooohhhhhhhhh" gasp from each family member when I mentioned it.

So I drove up. Tim, Amy and I were going to make the cake together. (I have forced Zach to watch the TV show Cake Boss with me. Zach had "Cake Boss" suggestions for the cake, like strawberries in the whipped cream, etc, but I rejected them. Our first time recreating the famous "Janelle Cake" had to be the original recipe.)

The exciting part of this cake is the layers. There are 4 layers of cake. Between each one is homemade whipped cream. (As you know, I am not a super pro at making this, but I'm trying.) But the frosting is truly the kicker. I've been looking at frosting recipes for a while now trying to find one I like and this one is completely different than what I’ve seen online, which explains why it is the most awesome. It uses evaporated milk, which I didn’t see much of online.

The assembly of the cake is simple. Our whipped cream was a little soft (being a newbie at whipped cream still, I'm afraid I'll make butter) and the cake layers a little thin (would have preferred to have 8inch round pans instead of 9, or maybe next time I'll have to make more cake). But, as usual the frosting held it all together for the approximately 18 hours that the cake lasted in the refrigerator. There were NO (Null. Zero. Nada.) complaints about the soft whipped cream, messy frosting, or thin cake layers.

MMM. When can I make this again??!!! I wonder if I could try a little cupcake version! Hm...

Room Redocoating

2010-02-11T10:44:00.000-08:00

floorplanner.com This site is amazing! I was able to turn this kind of layout planning: ...Into this: !!!

Ok now for the tough part: I'm switching rooms in my house to one about 2 feet wider! Although it is in the front of the house and one wall is almost entirely window! [single paned :( ... side note, if you put a layer of bubble wrap on it, its like intant sound and temperature insulation...or so I hope the worldwideweb is correct on this!]

Can you help me pick which layout to use? I'm not a huge fan of the desk (big white square) or the bed right under the window (red square shown in example B) but I'll do what I have to do.

In picture E, I took one of the small black squares (acually a tall narrow bookshelf and layed it on its side, stacking the "brown couch" bookshelf on top of it (its designed to do that) which is why those pieces aren't shown in that layout. The tan square is my dresser. The bottom right corner is the entry door (right side) and close door (bottom side).

And, I just noticed, the 3-box black/brown "couch" (my bookshelf) is designed in all these shots as if it is laying long-ways on the ground (looks nice under the window). It can stand upright (as it is in my current room) and only take up about 1/2 the length.

"Its like the Food Network in here" - Howard

2010-02-08T17:30:00.000-08:00

My brother Nathan is bailing on the USA for the next 6 months!!! I'll really miss him! He is getting really good at making all kinds of good foods so before he left I wanted to show him how to make one of my favorites - Chicken Parmesan.

I love the kind of meal ordeal where everyone helps prepare the food. In this case, we modified our own red sauce, using onions, peppers, spices, garlic, a little jar-bought sauce and some plain tomato sauce simmered on the stove for a couple hours. YUM.

Then we breaded the chicken (tragedy of tragedies: ran out of shredded parmesan, so didn't have as much as I wanted in there), pan fried the outside, and baked the chicken.

We also made our on pasta, which was a first for Nathan but a repeat feat for me. I still can't get the noodles thin enough. Next time I'll try with less dough each time. (Note: the noodles reheated in boiling water the next day were am.az.ing)

Overall, the meal was a big YUM!!!! Jess even brought over some delicousl bread to soak up some of the sauce. Yum yum yum. Oh and the boys made Ghiradelli brownies for dessert. Can't go wrong with those!!!

What's for dinner?

2010-01-15T17:40:00.000-08:00

"What's for dinner?" my grandma asked me via voice mail this week. Being a bad return caller, I haven't called back yet (tomorrow!) but I'll post here instead.
Last night was a fun filled evening with pesto salmon! I made my own pesto, baked the salmon with the pesto on top (thanks Jess!) with roasted potatoes and super salty green beans (thanks Jason!) and the best ever brownies (thanks Zach!)

I was a little nervous about the salmon and potatoes ALWAYS take at least twice as long as I think (and I never learn!) but it was DE-LISH.

Happy weekend everybody! What are you doing tomorrow? I'm going to SF!

Much Messier Cooking Adventures

2010-01-08T12:13:00.000-08:00

Not everything I make is as easy as grilled cheese. I got a rolling pin for Christmas!!! Finally - after several instances of using glasses and nalgene bottles for rolling out pastas and doughs. I also got some other pasta making stuff so I can give it a try. It definitely takes longer to make, but I love the taste. For the price of 2 cups of flour and 2 eggs, Zach and I can eat our fill of pasta. When noodles are actually on sale they are pretty cheap, so, aside from getting the joy of DIY (do it yourself), I'm not sure if this is much "cheaper," I do like making this stuff.

Check out this dangerous bad boy: It is an adjustable dough cutter. Pretty cool!
My first day of pasta making (using my pasta drying rack!)

I tried bowties an twisties this day too, and was thrilled when they kept their shape after being cooked!

Lastly, yesterday I tried homemade ravioli. I don't really follow recipes for this kind of thing, but I finely chopped a cooked chicken strip, a slice of cheese, and some spinach with a little butter and garlic powder for the filling. Then I rolled out the dough as THIN as I could get it (despite using all my strength, it still pops right back up! These were like the thickest ravioli's ever). I made squares using my handi-dandy dough slicer and then used a fork to mash the edges together. I figured with this type of thing it is better to cook the ravioli's right away and eat up! (Which we did. Yum.)

I'd still like to figure out how to make the pasta a little thinner...mostly because I am extremely impatient and the thicker pasta takes way longer to cook.

Easiest Grilled Cheese, ever

2010-01-08T12:07:00.000-08:00

It is actually more work for me to write this post than it is to make this sandwhich.

Don't get me wrong, I love a lovingly prepared grilled cheese sandwhich, buttered, parmesean encrusted bread slices with deliciously cheesy filling...maybe some tomatoes or lunchmeat added...grilled over the stove...mmm.

This is not that sandwhich. Here's how to make it:

1) Toast bread in toaster

2) Spray a little "spray butter" on one side of each piece.

3) Slap on pre-sliced cheese*

4) Microwave on a folded paper towel for 30 seconds

The resulting sandwhich is toasty and melty, without dirtying a single dish!!!

I made these while babysitting often and a boy (who is now in college) proclaimed joyfully, "These are even better than when mom makes them!"

This is how industrial engineers do it!

*Note: In my picture, I used 2 slices of different cheeses, and folded them (to break them) and staggered the distribution evenly across the bread. This is as fancy as I get with this type of grilled cheese.

Apples

2010-01-06T20:38:00.000-08:00

I found a late crop of a specific apple type and whipped up some applesauce tonight. And by "whipped up," I mean "painstakingly peeled and cored 9 apples by hand" because I was too annoyed with my Pampered Chef peeler last time to get it out again. Then, I double checked my recipe, KNOWING I had 3.5 pounds of apples. The recipe (that I never follow anyhow) reads:
3-4 lbs apples
1 cup water
then a bunch of sugar and stuff that I never add because it doesn't need it. (Although I put in a giant spoonful - probably 1/4c unpacked - of brown sugar)

Despite KNOWING I had 3 pounds of apples I insisted on putting a lot closer to 2 cups of water in. As a result (and taking it off the burner when I was bored of it after 30 minutes instead of giving it a little more time) the applesauce is a little runny but at the same time, a little hearty.

I dunno. I spooned it out, 1/2 cup at a time, into a muffin tin for freezing. Once it freezes in that shape I'll stick each snack-sized treat into one giant bag. Knowing that they are exactly 1/2 cup will also aid me in using one as a oil substitute in my next brownie batch!

Also coming up this week: stuffed mushrooms, homemade chicken and spinach ravioli, pesto (for freezing...I am on a "freeze now use later" kick), and...well, tht's it. :)

Important Question: Can you spot the vacuum cleaner in this picture?

2009-12-07T23:07:00.000-08:00

The other day it was time to vacuum my room since the dog has decided that he can lay on the floor and shed in here anytime he wants. (Oh, and, because I have long hair and I shed too. I guess it could be partially my fault.)

Ok so cue the fun story: I go to the laundry room to get our big GREEN/BLACK vacuum. Ladies and Gents, this is not a large laundry room by any means. Washer, dryer, rug, vacuum, mop, trash can...thats about it. So I look and I look and I LOOK and I look in the living room and I consider texting my roomies to ask about it but I can't find the big GREEN/BLACK vacuum. Grudgingly, I resort to using our old yellow one. I even have to move some things to pry the old yellor vacuum out of its spot wedged between the washer and the wall.

When I went to put it back, I noticed something in the laundry room. Something big and GREEN/BLACK. Can you see it??

Fake Fotoshop Fun

2009-12-03T09:02:00.001-08:00

Hi Gang!

I discovered GIMP, a free photoshop like software, and have been using it to turn photos into coloring pages. Unfortunately I am not kind enough to post each link I used to discover all of this but with a few swift google searches you can find the same and then make this:

Print and color, baby!!! Then I found another website that makes word searhes and crossword puzzules. (Hint: I'm making an activity book!!!) I heart internet!

*Edit: Those with toddlers - how much would Grandma love a picture of her and the kiddo that the kiddo COLORED? So cute.

And lastly, so I don't lose this, I got this recipe from my cousin. I can't wait to make it!

Grasshopper Pie:

22 Large Marshmellows
1/3 cup Creme de Menthe
1 (12) ounce Carton Whipping Cream, Whipped
1 (9inch) prepared Chocolate piecrust
step 1: In Large saucepan, melt marshmellows with Creme de menthe over low heat and cool.
step 2: fold cream into Marshmellow mixture.
step 3: Pour Filling into piecrust and freeze ...untill ready to serve.

That's it! Super easy. Be sure to get the Green cream de menthe so that way the color is green. And just whip the whipping cream til you get soft peaks, don't over whip or it turns out kind of lumpy! (I know from expierence. hehe) you want it nice and smooth! Enjoy!!

My Thanksgiving: How Grandma almost got run over by a [rein]deer!

2009-11-30T16:10:00.001-08:00

So what was your Thanksgiving like?
Mine started out with our annual family fun run. You know, as usual I spent the night before making all of the shirts for the big event:

On the morning of the race, we all gathered around for a pre-run photo:

Then I attempted to line everyone up and get an "at the starting line" photo. Here is last year's champ, Nathan, getting ready to race:

During this time, Tim decides not to wait for the official start and takes off running:

Causing a bunch of mass hysteria as everyone races to follow:

For various medical reasons, Tim, Grandma and I are walking the course:

We got a late start and en route soon encountered the other walk/joggers (returning from their 1/2 distance course) as we approach the 1 mile marker:

A few moments later (at the mile mark) Nathan jogs past effortlessly (returning from the 2.15 mile mark) en route to his 3rd consecutive first place finish:

**cue danger music!**
Then the plot thickens! Grandma and I continue walking along the course, past the halfway mark and up the perilous, hilly, sidewalk-free 2 lane road. As we approach the top of the tallest hill, we see a deer darting in and out of the trees.

editors note: these next 2 photos are re-enactments, because I was in too much shock to photograph live.
The deer began to cross the road. A white car comes up and over the hill.

The deer is about to get hit, and instead jumps super high in an attempt to jump over the car.

The deer doesn'tmake it over the car (after all, the car is driving into the deer) and instead brushes the side of the vehicle, sorta sliding down the side of the car, unhurt. The driver, most likely shocked, drives off. The deer now, having just richocheted off the side of the car, is now facing Grandma and me and still moving very fast in our general direction. I was standing right behind Grandma bracing myself to catch her as I imagined the deer charging both of us. Grandma stood still, shocked:
And luckily the deer grazed past us on the side and continued, terrified, down the road.
Moments later, Tim causually ran up the hill and passed us, oblivious. He mentioned when he finished seeing a deer as he ran on home.
Everyone managed to finish safely, eventually.
And then we took this sweaty faced post-race family picture. (Sorry Grandma the one with you in it is in mom's camera!)
And thus ends the story of how Grandma almost got run over by a reindeer at the 3rd annual family fun run.

Hope your day was eventful as well!

Excessive Grocery Supplies

2009-11-15T15:49:00.001-08:00

Dear Self,
Please stop buying powdered sugar. You have an excessive amount of powdered sugar in your kitchen cabinet. You do not, however, have any brown sugar and are running low on flour. If you absolutely must brave the baking section of the grocery store and must make a purchase, please select one of the items you actually need. If you ever decide to make more fondant, then you can use your powdered sugar and maybe even buy more.
Sincerely,
Your kitchen cupboard

Lower fat pumpkin chocolate chip cookies

2009-11-09T13:00:00.000-08:00

Hey gang! I enjoyed making these delicious cookies yesterday so much that I posted the recipe and picture online at allrecipes.com, my most-used online recipe source. I called them "lower fat" because I modified an existing recipe to replace half the butter with applesauce, half the white sugar with brown sugar, and half the flour with whole wheat flour. They were super soft and chewy and not dry at all. DELICIOUS! No one could even tell they were (slightly) healthier than the normal kind. And by cutting out some of the overall sugar content (doubling the vanilla as a replacement for flavor) they aren't as sweet as normal cookies.

YUM. Go check out the reciple!
http://allrecipes.com/PersonalRecipe/62181101/Lower-Fat-Pumpkin-Chocolate-Chip-Cookies/Detail.aspx

2009 Office Knock-off Fun Run!

2009-11-05T12:57:00.000-08:00

Ok Folks...the 2009 fun run details ARE HERE!!! This is my preliminary logo idea for:

2009 GHIORSO-MIFFLIN SACRAMENTO THANKSGIVING DAY CELEBRITY HOLIDAY PET HAZARD AWARENESS FUN RUN TO PREVENT ANIMAL PANCREATIS

Do not feed your pet fatty foods, bones, or chocolate! Fatty foods (gravy, butter, fatty meats can cause a potentially fatal inflamed pancreas. Also, turkey bones can cause intestinal perforation and chocolate causes an increased heart rate. Protect your pet by protecting your plate!

Don't know what I am talking about? Check out last year's race (pre and post posts) or the original Office "Fun Run" episode.

PS: If you are running this year (doubtful many readers are) I need to know your t-shirt size!

Pinesol is the best cleaner ever

2009-11-02T12:32:00.003-08:00

I am head over heels. For Pinesol. Starting last week. Let me explain why.

Last wednesday night I got all sugard up (Chex Muddy Buddy late night binge) and begun SCRUBBING my kitchen floor. It was beyond saving with just the mop, so I purchased a scrubber brush to do the trick. I looked under the sink at our trove of random cleaners and found a bottle of lysol and a bottle of pinesol. I randomly selected the Pinesol, added it to my bucket, added warm water (zero regard for dilution factor, but, there was a good amount of water in there) and got to scrubbing.

Man oh man, did my floor look great! However, since it was late at night and I actually used up all the Pinesol, I did about 1/3rd of the floor and went to bed. The next morning, the floor still looked great! Especially side by side the unclean portion. I got back to work (on my lunch break this time) and since I ran out of pinesol I used the Lysol multi surface cleaner (note: the lime green color of this cleaner reminds me of cancer in a bottle. Just a terrible color.) I added about the same ratio of cleaner/water to my bucket and continued my attack on the kitchen floor.

Much to my dismay...the lyson did NOT even come close to the pinesol cleaning quality. So I scrubbed harder. Still not a big improvement. However, at this point, I was pretty committed to finishing the floor and in no condition to run to the store for Pinesol so I rationalized to myself that it was bad lighting (and absence of Muddy Buddies) and that I should just finish.

Well...I got the rest of the floor clean, but it is still obvious (if you look for the line) which section of the floor is nicer. I haven't had the energy yet to re-scrub with Pinesol.

Do you have any cleaning tips? Discoveries?

So much cooking! Fresh pumpkin bread

2009-10-14T18:53:00.000-07:00

Ok, so, I apologize for the string of food posts. Actually, I don't. Maybe you will try and love one of these recipes! I haven't been posting about work, because, it is too dramatic and career limiting to write about on the web. I haven't been writing about super personal stuff, because, I'd prefer to keep it that way! (Seriously - ask me and I'll tell, I just don't want the random googler to find out.) I could post about my neck, but I'll try to get a photo of me in head traction first for your amusement.

So to tide you over: Pumpkins. I learned something about pumpkins - Jack-O-Lantern pumpkins are not ideal for baking. Sugar Pie pumpkins are. I found some at P.W. Market, an upscale market, for 3x the price of regular Jack-O pumpkins, but I was determined to give this a try. Sugar Pie pumpkins are smaller and darker than their counterpart(s). You can substitute fresh pumpkin for canned (same amount) in any recipe.

Here, the inside of a sugar pie pumpkin. Much easier to deal with than the stringy mess.

All done, after about an hour in the oven at 375. (Until tender)

My "harvested" fresh pumpkin - puree (I didn't have to) and refrigerate (if using within 3 days) or freeze.

Don't forget to roast the seeds!!!

Next post...the pumpkin bread!!!!!

Something with pictures!

2009-10-10T09:59:00.001-07:00

So, unlike my first pictureless post of today, I actually have some photos to share.

Have you ever caught the show Cake Boss or one of those other fancy cake decorating show? I think they are awesome - more a feat of engineering, sometimes, than baking. So I have been waiting for the right birthday to come around where I could try my hand at fondant. I had also just discovered these miniature cake pans in my cupboard which also inspired a cake obsession.

I wasn't ready to dive into the fondant decorating aisle at Michaels quite yet ($$$!!!!) so this was a DIY project. I scoured the web for fondant recipes, first being horrified by their complexity, then discovering an equally difficult marshmallow one, then finally finding something simple. Its not like I'm making a wedding cake so perfection wasn't really my goal.

Early stages of the frosting, which had to be kneaded by hand. I was wondering what I got myself into:

But, I had no choice, because the cakes were already made! The idea of these little shortcake style cakes is to put filling in the little cup area of two of them and then merge them together for a tall little cake! So cute!

After WAYYYYY more sugar than the recipe called for, the fondant started to take shape!

here it is all rolled out, ready to top the cake! I used a juice bottle for a roller. I got my ideas for decorating the cake by going to Michaels, reading the book they sell there about fondant, and then putting it back and walking out of the store. After all, this is a really tiny cake!

And here is the final product! I tore the frosting a little when we put it on top, who cares! It was a delicious cake and Bill was more touched by getting a cake than it being perfect. And yeah, I know the decorations aren't pristine, but hey - I was using a plastic knife and a chopstick.

Bill requested a strawberry-ish filling (the homemade whipped cream didn't happen - no time - but cool whip was a substitute, in a pinch) and underneath the fondant is another layer of yummy fudgy frosting, which helps the fondant stick to the cake and lay down more smoothly. (Some people complain fondant has a bad taste - like the wedding cake type - so I pilied on the fudgy frosting for good measure).

Happy Birthday Bill! This was so fun to make! Maybe I'll find some cheaper supplies on ebay!

Rigatoni Carbonara!

2009-10-10T09:57:00.000-07:00

Again I make a yummy dinner and AGAIN I forget to take a picture. How am I ever supposed to make my own cookbook if I can't photograph the results?! Oh well, seeing that I did not measure the ingredients, either, I suppose I will be making it again. This is a combination of a few recipes plus the addition of leftover veggies.
Here's a first draft:
1 lb rigatoni pasta
3 eggs
1 cup parmesean cheese
4oz pancetta (Italian style bacon, avail at Trader joes, although I've subbed for bacon and even chicken)
2 cups sliced mushrooms (this amoung is a total guess. I think I chopped 8 mushrooms. You can ALWAYS use more mushrooms.) Maybe 3 cups.
1/4-1/2 cup whipping cream

Prepare the rigatoni pasta according to directions. While the pasta is cooking, brown the pancetta and mushrooms in a medium-high saucepan with a little EVOO. (I threw in some sliced zucchinni at this stage also). I like my mushrooms to be REALLY cooked. Once you've got all that sufficiently cooked (may require modification/reduction of fats depending on what meat you use), add 1/4 to 1/2 cup (or more) of the cream and reduce the heat to a simmer. Oh and add salt/pepper/garlic to taste. [This is going into a pound of pasta, so be generous]. The cream will thicken a little.
Beat the eggs and parmesean cheese in a large serving bowl. When pasta is fully cooked, drain (reserve 1 cup of water) and then dump the pasta on top of the uncooked egg mix. Stir well to cook the eggs with the hot pasta. Add the meat/cream sauce. Add a little of the reserved water if you want to make it a little more liquid-y (I don't usually do this)
The end! Yum yum.
I rate this meal as "medium cleanup" because it takes 2 stovetop pans and 1 serving dish to prepare. (Plus cutting board and drainer.) Try it and let me know what you think!!

On another note, Trader Joes has a fantastic frozen pasta in a red pepper sauce. It is amazing. If you know how to make a red pepper sauce puh-leeze tell me!

2009-06-19T11:22:00.000-07:00

Coaches Huddle Time:
Me: So girls, do you have any questions for me or Coach Katie? You can ask us anything you want. My shoe size is 8.5. I know you were thinking about asking that, so I thought I would throw it out there.
**dead silence**
Me: Are you sure? No questions at all?
S: When is your birthday?
--we all answer and huddle time ends slightly awkwardly –

SNACK time
Me: Hey girls, you get enough for snack?
R: Do you read the Bible in order?
Me: Um, what?
R: Do you read the Bible in order?
Me: Oh. Well, yes, sometimes. I’m not doing that right now but sometimes I do.
R: What page are you on?
Me: What page? Um…(racking my mind for what I last read; mostly lately I’ve been only reading our camp bible stories and translating favorite verses)
R: How do you decide what to read?
Me: Well, you know how there are 30 or 31 days in 1 month? My dad taught me that there are 31 chapters in Proverbs. So sometimes, whatever day it is, like today is the 18th, I will read the 18th chapter. If you do that every day you can read the whole book in one month.
R: Oh.
Me: What page are you on in your Bible?
R: Numbers 20. *groan*
Me: Numbers? Numbers is a little bit boring, right?
R: Yes!!! Its all “he is the son of this guy, is the son of this guy, is the son of this guy”
Me: How about you, N? What page are you on?
N: I’m on page 30.

So now I know: During coaches huddle, talk about candy and video games, tickle a little bit, TRY and review the theme and the memory verse and maybe a discussion question…and save all the rest of the talking for snack time!!!

A shocker to us all.

2009-06-15T08:14:00.000-07:00

I am going to be a coach at my church kids sports camp this week. I am coaching CHEER. I know. Me. Cheerleading. When I told my family I was met with looks of shock, disbelief, and stifled snickers. But the girls are only 7 (in my “huddle”) and I was promised it will be easy and cute! Would it have been easier to coach basketball? Heck yes! Will I still faithfully serve my Lord and have a great time and serve kids with cheer? Yes! So, I’m stoked about it, although already *slightly* humiliated by the camp songs and arm gestures. Once the kids are there, though, it’ll be all for them and I’ll be super into it. (I hope.) So, if you think to pray for me this week I would really appreciate it!

On another note, it is only 3 weeks til I leave for the Yucatan! I have been gathering up all things “missions trip” (Spanish bible, pepto bismol, mosquito repellant, craft supplies) over the weekend and I am really looking forward to the trip. I feel 1000 hours behind on some preparations (…sports camp this will will *really* help me feel less stressed right?) but I guess I will just have some busy weekends to come. I am looking forward to serving the village we are going to, meeting the women there, trying to use broken Spanish, and being Jesus to people.

Mystery Person

2009-03-30T19:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I subbed in Sunday School for the 1-2nd grade kiddos again. Those kids CRACK ME UP. They have a weekly tradition of "Mystery Person." Each of the kids has filled out a little survey about themselves, their siblings, where they were born, favorite food, etc. All the kids stand up and as the teacher reads off facts, the kids sit down if it doesn't apply to them until only one person is left standing.
So here is how the game went on Sunday:
1) All the kids stand up (and teachers).
2) Teacher Kurt reads off the first fact, something like, "This weeks mystery person was born in California"
3) All the kids who weren't born in CA sit down.
4) Teacher Kurt reads off a second fact, "This persons' favorite thing about Sunday School is learning about God."
5) One of the darling girls standing by me says, "Oh, darn it!" and sits down, along with about a third of the other kids.
6) Teacher Christy and a second Unnamed teacher laugh nearly uncontrollably.
I couldn't decide what was funnier - the fact that 1st graders already have the "sunday school church answer" thing down, or the fact that several kids were very particular about their favorite thing about church NOT being learning about God.

Anyhow, it was fun.

MATH ANSWERS!!!!!

2009-03-20T11:42:00.000-07:00

To my 7 loyal readers and the 200 people that viewed/hit my page last friday after I posted the PI math problem, I have your answer. Let me say that this is a pretty good way to solve the problem but I don't really agree with the problem definition of "alphabetic shift cipher" and the way the actual answer played out. On the other hand, I KNEW "mathmovesu" had to be part of the answer but I thought it was at the beginning. Oh well. I did love some of the comments the original post got -both relating to the math AND/OR the pudding! Quite randomly addictive!

Answer:
“The digits of p can be obtained from the internet. The most common digit can also be found by doing a search on Google. One way is to load the 100,000 digits into Word. Use the find and replace functions to take out any carriage returns or other non-digits. Then use the find and replace to change each digit to another character, like an “x”. The find and replace will tell you how many it removed. Doing this you can see that the digit “1” is the most common. I also used Word to find the longest monotonic continuous integer sequence. In Word, I used the find function to look for sequences of “12345” etc. Each time it found one I looked to see what the number preceding and following was to see if there was a longer sequence. It turns out that “12345” is the longest sequence in the first 100,000 digits. So that becomes the key for decrypting the message. There are 15 characters. The first is shifted backwards 1 letter in the alphabet, the second 2, the third 3, the fourth 4, the fifth 5 and then it repeats, the sixth 1 and so on. This turns JNRZJNCWLRPXHWZ into ILOVEMATHMOVESU which is the answer!”

2008 Fun Run Stats

2008-11-27T11:26:00.000-08:00

GHIORSO-MIFFLIN SACRAMENTO THANKSGIVING DAY CELEBRITY TOXIC POTATO AWARENESS FUN RUN TO PREVENT SOLANINE POISONING

56 degrees outside

35 pictures (we are digitally obsessed)

42 minute finish time (me) (4th place)

26 post-run bagels

13 runners (2 remote, 4 for the walk, 7 for the run)

6 repeat runners from last year

4.3 mile run/2 mile walk

3 packages of t-shirt iron-on paper

2 brothers pep talking my sister out of bed to run

2 years in a row Nathan finishes first

1 map: http://www.mapmyrun.com/route/us/ca/fair%20oaks/822001420761

1 Great morning

2nd Annual G.M.S.T.D.C.T.P.A.F.R.T.P.S.P.

2008-11-26T23:21:00.000-08:00

That is right: G.M.S.T.D.C.T.P.A.F.R.T.P.S.P.
This stands for:
GHIORSO-MIFFLIN SACRAMENTO THANKSGIVING DAY CELEBRITY TOXIC POTATO AWARENESS FUN RUN TO PREVENT SOLANINE POISONING

Did you know potatoes can be poisonous? If they are green they could contain harmful amounts of solanine, very dangerous.

Tomorrow morning, 12 brave souls will be running to raise awareness of the harms of green potatoes and solanine poisoning.

Here is our logo I designed. (I'll keep my day job, don't worry.)

Tomorrow I will post race results and pictures. And maybe even throw something in there about thankfullness. Possibly.

PS: Wondering what all this craziness is about? Reference: Season 4 (2007) Episode 1 of "The Office" and the Dunder-Mifflin Fun Run.

For the sake of crazy cookies!

2008-10-30T17:17:00.000-07:00

I am writing this blog as I make cookies. After everything I have gone through up to this point (the first batch are nearly ready to emerge from the oven), I am PRAYING that my Martha Stewart attempts are successful.

I got this recipe from my awesome friend Alicia who I have known since going to Redwood. (9 years, if anyone is counting.) I bought all the ingredients the other day at the store. This morning I started to copy the recipe off email and realized I was missing brown sugar and peanut butter. I'm taking these to 20's retreat this weekend, so, if anyone is going to be friends with me then I better make some darn good cookies. Meeting people is already tough enough without poisoning them or noticing them spit your cookie out into the trash.

After an hour of humming and hawing about the wet weather outside I decide resolutely that I am walking the dog to 7-Eleven (quarter mile away) for PB and brown sugar. At this exact moment, it is drizzling pretty hard. But, once I make up my mind, right or wrong, I stick with it. So I walk. 7-Eleven does not have brown sugar. I wonder...should I get the PB and just substitute white sugar for brown? I decide yes. On the way back I decide I will walk to a farther destination, a nearby friend, to see if anyone is home to borrow brown sugar. (Still raining.) No one was home.

I get home and google "brown sugar substitutes" and read that you can substitute white sugar, but the white sugar is drier and won't provide as much flavor. Well, I can't go bringing dry flavorless cookies to a 20's retreat. So I decide to go to the nearest bigger store. Walgreens. Also no brown sugar there. At this point with various distractions it has been about two hours since I started on the cookie mixing. *Sheesh.* So finally I end up at Safeway.

Finally onto baking.

So these cookies are a Reese's variation on the christmas cookies where you put a Hershey Kiss on a peanut butter cookie. Same concept, but you bake the cookie in mini muffin tins and shove the Reese's peanut butter cup in the middle after baking for a little muffin looking treat.

Chocolate does not photograph well. I learned this attempting to be artsy (Lisa L. style) by snapping a "while I'm baking" picture.

These cookies are not fun. I suck at this. (I'm writing this midway through baking.) Self-portraits are a requirement though if I ever scrapbook this event since I'm already taking pictures.

Ok, just took the last ones out. I started to get better by the end.

I think I still prefer snickerdoodles. Or regular peanut butter cookies.

Update. I made another batch because I was worried about quantity. I mean seriously. Could 40 (good ones) really be enough? So the newer batch mixed like a champ, much softer than the first batch (led me to panic: Were the first ones good??!!) but I am just going to get over it, take them all, and hope they disappear.

Saturday

2008-10-11T18:54:00.000-07:00

Saturday. Today did not feel like a weekend. The day started with me filling in as volunteer coordinator for our site. After collecting a bunch of forms and handling 19 unexpected eagle scout volunteers, I quicly realized sitting around at a table all day wasn't going to work. So I abandoned my post in order to keep people busy, inspect the construction, finish up some sheetrock, and various other odds and ends.

For this I was demoted from volunteer coordinator. SHUCKS. My co-AIM team left today, and this was a very sad occurance! I am so glad to have met them and spent time with them and so grateful God provided me with some peers on site to bond with over the trip. And they were very hard workers and we have some great inside jokes (so common for all mission trips, right?!)

In the afternoon my food distribution task was to count cars and passengers. 295 cars, 547 passengers. This job in itself is incredibly dull but when you cound backfilling as traffic controller, walk-in station aid, espanol translator, and some more volunteer delegating, the time passed quickly. All the day volunteers are friendly and eager to work. Today we had mostly families with kids and those kids were major troopers! Throwing around cases of canned goods with the finesse of a wii controller or something like that.

One of the AIM employees keeps trying to convince me to stay here as a coordinator. Believe me, I wish I could figure out a way to do that...I may have to do some logistics analysis to see if I can come back at Thanksgiving or something.

Again, sorry for the short post. I am just so tired. God is so good.

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Friday

2008-10-10T18:06:00.000-07:00

Thanks everyone for the awesome emails and messages. They have been so encouraging.

Today has been crazy and I think we still haven't stopped but I will say, today I cur sheetrock for about 8 hours straight. And somewhere in the middle of that I learned how to measure correctly. Its been crazy. And we just got fed by some Billy Graham ministry that included some "wise" women (grandmas) singing us some beautiful songs that included choreography. It would probably be mean to be sarcastic at this point in a very public blog so I will just say, those women love the Lord.

I don't have time to write much else tonight right now but if anyone wants a 6 month job in Galveston, let me know. :). Until then the AIM folks are thinking I am going to do the job which is definitely not true.

Miss y'all!!

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Thursday and important survey!

2008-10-09T17:15:00.000-07:00

Here is the survey: could you, or could you not, sleep in a builfding where a dead man is resting in the embalming room. I will tell you my answer: I guess - could (or will have to) along with about 20 other new friends. Puh-leeze leave a comment on here and tell me if you can handle that.

Back to seriousness:

God and I had some great negotiating today. I had been dying to tape the newly constructed walls we put up, but I couldn't remember how. So basically today I started anyhow and 2 ppl showed me what to do then - got about 3 other people to help me. An hour later a professional showed up and improved on our technique. Nonetheless, God let me work in the arena I wanted to work.

After lunch was paybacks. I was assigned to pray with cars who were entering the food distribution line. Me. The one with a stranger phobia, amongst many other problems. :) However, I accepted the challenge and...discovered...I really liked it. Well, I mean it was a great growth opportunity for me and - really valued my 1-2 minute conversations I had with the people in line. Out of the 140 or so cars I hit, very few declined prayer (although I did pracice my spanish several times! "Vamos a orar"). I laughed partway through about how I eas enjoying (shockingly) being an extrovert. 4 hours was a long time though and the last 2 were brutal but another staffer was working with me and we didn't really have the option to quit since the line never stopped.

In other news, 8 more volunteers have arrived, 7 of them that run an adventure/sports camp outside of Austin. We bonded easily over some cutthroat Phase 10 and I am glad to have some volunteers my age.

Ok. I've been typing for a long time now. I miss everyone, am laughing at all the comments, and going inside now for evening debrief.

Christy

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Day 3

2008-10-08T16:24:00.000-07:00

Today is Wednesday, right? Today I ruined (no, "enhanced") my best thrift store/mission trip/painting shorts. Happily. Passing out bleach during food distribution.

Ok back to serious. (If I am capable of that blogging...thinking...thinking...yes sometimes I am serious). Ok today was my second full day. The morning was kind of slow with construction projects so I took a drive around to view some of the destruction. I have texted Christal 3 pictures and she is putting them up on her blog (the link to "Christal" on the side of this page. ) The pictures are of a gas station, a house, and McDonalds drive thru. Its tough to paint a picture with a mediocre camera phone.

I can 100% feel the effects of all y'alls prayers. Like yesterday I went to bed with a minor injury I figured I woud just live with for a few days. This morning: zero pain. Thank you.

The community ministries continue to be primarily food distribution at this time. Today we served over 200 cars with water, cleaning supplies, tea, popcorn, and Nutrisystem foods donated from a food bank. (Side note: those meals are tiny. No wonder celebrities lose 1,000 baby pounds in 15 minutes when on that diet. ). There are 3 food distribution sites in the area but we are the largest and we usually have ice.

7 more volunteers with AIM showed up today and are staying thru Saturday, so it will be cool to have some non-staff around and maybe they'll put us on a demolition team or something. I spoke at length with the AIM staff last night, having a very scary discussion about my dreams of missions and such.

Evenings are by far the quietest time. After dinner is when I do this - write my blog- and guiltily check facebook. I wish I could run outdoors here but the neighborhood really isn't safe. The one night we didn't have the guys pullinh night security shifts, one of the RV's got their gas siphoned. Usually I just read/write/reflect and when in doubt: sweep. There is always something to clean around here.

I have a hundred more stories about a discovery or awesome way God works, but there is a limit to my typing patience. Plus, there are 3 more days to go!

As always you can comment, email, text me, whatevs to say what's up.

Blessings,
Christy

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Day 2

2008-10-07T15:28:00.000-07:00

Well, its only 5:17 right now, but I think the main effort for the day is nearly done.

Most of the team of college students and I spent the morning continuing the gutting and rebuilding of the funeral home we are in. Since the owner has given us most of the area for a year, we are working to finish a few of the rooms asap so ge can continue to run his business from the space he is keeping.

I heart work gloves. It is truly amazing how much of a difference they make.

This afternoon we spent 4 hours distributing food to locals who drove past in their cars. They ranged in social class and kindness. Most were very grateful although some were manipulative. We probably had...500 empty boxes until a dump truck came by and we crushed all of them. I was amazed. Talk about provision!

I expect to be sore tomorrow but luckily we are getting additional day volunteers tomorrow. thankfully, the students here are a fun team, we are just lacking a bit of organization/experience at times.

I think that's all for today...

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Day 1: arrival in Galveston

2008-10-06T18:51:00.000-07:00

Um, wow. I had a running list of topics to write about based on my drive to Galveston but they are kinda blown away in comparison to actually being here.

So, not even 7 days ago, I complained that a stranger was babbling to me in Starbucks (10/1 blog "Stranger Danger part 1). Well, today to stay alert on my drive...I followed his advice and ate sunflower seeds. Which in fact are a huge pain to eat and crunch, but I found it pretty hilarious that I would end up embracing his advice. Taking Katies advice, I am trying to remember that every encounter with a stranger is an opportunity to show them Christ. So I was at Dairy Queen (too hot to resist a blizzard) when I thought the waitstaff was super friendly. Then on the counter...a stack of Daily Bread devotionals. Nice. I snagged one.

So, I thought it was flabbergasting when I saw a boat, a decently lkarge one, like bigger than a ski boat, chilling by the side of the freeway as I became increasingly closer to Galveston. That was until I saw, no joke, at least 5 of them in a row against a highway cement thing a couple miles. I really hope I can get a photo tomorrow. My camera was packed and it was getting too dark.

I'm not sure what the length restrictions are for this type of blog (I'm emailing it from my blackberry) so I will finish the next part in a second email. ... And then I will be smart and email the second email first so hopefully you, my faithful reader and prayer warrior, can read in sequence. Oh and please, feel free to leave comments even if you don't get an account because they will go to my email.

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Day 1, part 2

2008-10-06T18:48:00.000-07:00

Ok so arrival in downtown Galveston was shocking. I mean mouth gaping. I saw entire buildings collapsed. That's all I can really say except I am getting out there tomorrow with my camera and also camera phone and Christal has promised that if I text her some pics she will post them to her blog, or, maybe I will give her my password. :)

So I'm staying in a funeral home. Yep, if you want to know what an embalming room looks like...I am now an experienced source of information. Luckily we are sleeping in some other rooms. The boys are sleeping with (empty) caskets.

There is some sort of "masters" program (the students seem much younger) or college replacement/ministry thing where a team of people are running the place.

Tomorrow we are doing food distribution as they are still gathering resources and teams to do demolition. I should be meeting the other AIM volunteers and staff tomorrow, so I don't know if I will be hanging with them or if we are blending into this student team. Time will tell!

Thanks again for your prayers...I'm praying that I will be useful tomorrow and that assignments and stuff start to fall into place. The main leaders are down at the beach (evening debrief, sorta) so I probably won't meet the rest of the gang til breakfast.

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20 Hours til Galveston!

2008-10-05T21:23:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I am flying to Dallas, landing around noon, and dropping my computer off at work (for it to get fixed!) and then making the 6 or so hour drive down to Galveston, Texas. If I haven’t already told you, I am going with AIM (Adventures in Missions) to do hurricane relief work. I have been told I will be doing mostly house demolition (about 4 feet of water damage – so gotta remove all that moldy stuff) and helping residents move their stuff out, cleaning up wreckage, distributing supplies, and probably some prayer walking and evangelism.

I have had mixed feelings about this opportunity. When I first got a communication from AIM asking for volunteers, I was instantly drawn in. I almost went on another mission trip with AIM and so I am familiar with their organization. But the details seemed to fit together so quickly and easily that I was almost skeptical [When I write this now, like 2 weeks later, I’m thinking to myself “duh, that was so God”]. I was critical of myself and my motives for pursuing the trip. I felt like without some HUGE calling or commissioning that for some reason the trip wouldn’t be glorifying to Him, that working for the sake of working (and having the availability to do so) was just…coincidental and good Samaritan-ish.

Until today. Praise the Lord. I was praying about the trip, and feeling quite unemotional about it. I could feel myself withdrawing, conserving my energy the way I do as I gear up for most big, energy consuming trips and activities. (Its like my body has to build up its reserves.) So I was praying about the trip, and wondering a bit more about what to expect when I got there. That’s just it – I don’t HAVE expectations! Aside from listing what I *think* I might be doing at the beginning of this email, and knowing I am sleeping in an old gutted funeral home and showering in an R.V., I actually have no clue what the week will be like.

I feel like I heard God say, “and when you get there, that’s when you’ll know. I’m saving the passion of the trip right now, as a secret from you, because when you get there is when you are going to fall in love with what you are doing and I am going to use you beyond what you think your limits are.” And that made me REALLY excited about the trip. That’s when I knew – and that this trip is the right thing to be doing.
Narrator: And then Christy smiled, content in the Lord.

And if you are now humming the “That’s when you’ll know” song from Enchanted, I’m sorry. If it is any consolation, I am too.

TEST

2008-10-05T13:22:00.001-07:00

This is a test of a remote blog entry. Factoid: I have 23 tank tops in my dresser. 14 are from Old Navy. Scary.

Half Marathon

2008-10-02T21:07:00.000-07:00

I'm still training for my next half marathon. Since 9/1 I've logged 52 miles. (Dang - I should have added up frisbee time and swim laps too. Oh well.) My last race was at a 11:29 pace (better than what I thought I could do) and so far in training I've been able to hit 11:15 and even under pretty consistently. (Even when I walk - I guess I sprint after that to catch up). I have learned - I am a MUCH better jogger when I am not melting in the heat. (Who wouldn't be?) 10/26 is the big day!
I'm not sure how much training I'll be able to do while I'm in Galveston, but I figure the manual demolition labor will at least keep me in shape. Thats what they mean when they say "strength" training, right?

Germ Survey

2008-09-23T09:00:00.000-07:00

Here's an extremely relevant discussion topic. (NOT)

If/when you get a starbucks drink and you pony up to the bar for extra milk, sweetener, whatever...WHAT DO YOU DO WITH THE LID???

For a long time, I used to "protect" the "inside" area from germs by putting my lid on the counter like the first picture.

Then I got to thinking, that this meant putting the mouth/sippy area directly on the counter. So then I started putting the lid down like the SECOND picture, realizing that the edges of the lid that are actually touching the table, are not parts of the cup that ever touch my drink or mouth. So...this is my less-germy methodology now. And check it out..."X" coffee - DECAF in the mornings...for the sole reason of not being addicted and needing coffee on my off-work/non travel days.

Question: Have you ever thought of this? Do you just hold the lid in your hand the entire time? Does anyone else have advice out there?

103

2008-09-02T10:59:00.000-07:00

I just completed my 103rd expense statement. Well, technically I've done more than that with pre-PRISM trips, pre-expenses, and supplementals. But I was trying to figure out exactly how many trips I've made for this project. I guess 103 is my best guess. A few of those are definitely 2 week trips, however...I would guess probably 4-8 of them. That is a lot of weeks!

If you were to look at my expenses, you would see that like 80% of all my meals are eaten at Benihana (sushi - it is across from my Dallas hotel), PF Changs, Panera, and Starbucks. I guess I am a creature of habit.

Speaking of a trip I won't be making today...I won't be running! (I don't think.) I played Ultimate yesterday for a long time in too-small cleats. Ouch! I'm hoping to swim, if I can find a gym in the area.

I'm working from San Jose this week, from "home" actually, its very nice. Murray, pictured below, and I are hanging out. We are about to walk to 7-Eleven for some caffeine. I had a wild idea to go off of my morning coffee...stupid...so for now I'll be needing a lunchtime caffeine burst as I wean my body off.

For Labor Day, I went to a BBQ with 20's from church. It was really nice. (And played Ultimate-also nice - blisters - not nice). It was the perfect way to spend a paid work holiday (not doing real work). I also squeezed in a morning run, semi-prepping for another half-marathon with Beth. What did you do?????!!!!!!!!!!

Google Texting, Part 2

2008-08-08T09:42:00.000-07:00

I was just looking at some old posts and saw my July 19th post about Google texting. If it hasn't convinced you to convert to Google texting, then you need to reread it until you reach that point.

We used the google translation function often on our trip. Unfortunately, "Supresso" in Italian also means "supresso" in English, so it was not helping us in discovering that our train was cancelled due to a rail strike. Other than that, however, it was usually helpful.

Ok thats all. :)