Daybook

FOR TODAY

Outside my window...grass that needs to be mowed, covered in leaves that showed up somehow after I raked and before the snow.

I am thinking... that Atlantis is the greatest movie ever!

I am thankful for... my husband is just plain incredible.

From the kitchen... was a delicious bowl of spaghetti. Simple and delicious!

I am wearing... pajamas, proudly all day!

I am creating... a brochure for our daycare's summer program.

I am going... to regret all the twizzlers I ate today ;)

I am reading... The Secret Garden for the umpteenth time. I love this book so much!

I am hoping... that this week is better than last.

I am hearing... Ian play his video game and chatting with his friends and making videos.

Around the house... is pretty clean, but some dishes need to be done--but now that the grandparents are gone we've slacked up a bit.

One of my favorite things... is cuddling with Ian and knowing there is nothing that needs to be done.
A few plans for the rest of the week:
Finish the brochure
Play more with the kids
Return books to the library
Make Ian a special dessert, just for being him.

Here is picture for thought I am sharing...because it's made me laugh all day long....

New Hobbies

I still haven't checked Facebook! I've seen a few pictures, and looked up the name of a friend's boyfriend before I asked her how he was doing (I can never remember this guy's name!) but otherwise, I've done really well! And I think compared to how much time I did spend on it, I am making great progress haha!

To fill my time I've been playing Jetpack Joyride on my tablet. It's so much fun! Poor Ian though, I had been playing for a while and he tried it once and doubled my high score. So I don't let him play anymore! He seems okay with it.

I've also decided that I want to read comic books. I don't read very much, I get bored really easily. I figured we told the kids over the summer that comic books are still books, so why doesn't it apply to me? I read one today called Chew, and it's making me wonder about drifting off into the nonstandard (to me) books. I only read the first issue and honestly, it was weird. It's about a psychic cop--that gets his visions from the food he eats. And I am not a fan of blood and gore, so that was a little shocking. Oh well.

When I was a kid I took a comic drawing class at a local community college. It was the coolest thing ever. We learned flip books, Ben-Day dots, and how to properly use speech bubbles (write the words, THEN draw the circle haha!) It was a child's class, but I thought it was the greatest thing I've ever learned for fun.

I've also been cooking a lot and loving every minute. Ian starts school this week and we were going to have a little party, but he decided he'd prefer just hanging out with me--what can I say, I'm just that fun to be around! But I'm making him the dinner I made when we first dated. It's Cranberry Orange Chicken and it was actually the first thing I ever made for him! He's been doing store inventory all day though, so he has no idea! Lucky him!!

social media

So a few weeks ago I realized just how much time I spend on Facebook. Almost every free second I had I'd check my news feed. I'd feel almost frustrated when people weren't posting. There were times I'd get off Facebook on the computer and immediately, without thinking, I'd open it on my phone. I knew it was a problem, and annoying for Ian, but I'd try just deleting the icon on my phone to add an extra step, but that lasted all of a few days. 

(This is feeling very dramatic, sorry haha)

I decided the only real way to stay off Facebook was to delete it. So one morning I clicked "deactivate" and went on my jolly way. It wasn't too bad, mostly because work was busy. Then on vacation I was okay, but kinda felt like I was really leaving my friends out. I actually was doing something interesting and no one was there to know! Sure, I use Google+ but I think I have 2 friends (not including Ian haha) that use it! So happy day for them!

I've thought about all my friends that don't use Facebook. They have hobbies. Or kids. Or both. I don't. I work. I'm at a great place in life that I can be a workaholic. We don't have kids, we both have great jobs, and we both have our own ways to get to work without relaying each other. Both of us are workaholics! But I don't have an exactly exciting job to tell the world about. Okay, that's a lie. I really love my job but picture-less posts are boring (If you're even still reading this, sorry.) And I don't want to put pictures of the kids on the internet. 

I know I could post on here, but really, I know no one thinks my life is that interesting. I need a hobby ASAP!! So yeah, I'll post when something interesting happens or when I try a new recipe!

Vegas baby!

We just got back from our first vacation together! 

It was a joint anniversary, my birthday, and Ian's birthday gift. 

He planned it out amazingly, we saw so much, did so much...ATE so much! Seriously, the best vacation ever!

Killer awesome shoes!

New York, New York

Cola from around the world....NASS-A-FRASS!

Bellagio Fountians

We saw Gordon Ramsey!

Umm, spiral escalators?? Awesome!

A very modern hotel (Aria I think?) had a really cool canoe sculpture.

This really cool tornado water feature in a mall.

The same mall had these ice sculptures. Fantastic!

Ian is on stage at the Penn & Teller show signing an envelope and checking a box for a trick.

The ever shiny TRUMP TOWER! It was fantastic! 

We ate lunch inside, it was so yummy!

The ship outside Treasure Island. We never did see the show haha!

Our last meal from the vacation. A little bit of death by chocolate!

We also saw Blue Man Group which was fantastic! I got an eye wiggle from one of them! I was SO close to going on stage with them! 

Our feet hurt--badly!!, but it was by far the greatest vacation ever! Thank you honey!

Clif Bars

I can't believe I've never posted this recipe!! This is my all time favorite recipe for granola bars. They are super duper tasty! I make them every couple weeks. You can really tweak it to whatever your taste likes, as long as you have some sort of "glue" to hold it all together.

HOMEMADE CLIF BARS

1 and 1/4 cups crisp rice cereal (Rice Krispies are fine)—I used cocoa krispies for a little chocolate flavor
1 cup uncooked quick-cooking oats
2 tablespoons ground flaxseed (flaxseed meal)

2 tablespoons wheat germ
½ cup dried coconut or ¼ cup finely chopped dried fruit (e.g., raisins, dried cranberries, dried cherries, etc.) and ¼ cup finely chopped nuts or seeds
1/2 cup honey

2/3 cup nut butter (preferably natural, well-stirred, but creamy is fine, too) try to use low sodium, it’s a fairly obvious flavor if you are limiting your salt intake
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 scoops of favorite whey protein powder (if using a vanilla flavor, skip extract)
Optional: 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Combine the syrup and nut butter in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring until melted and well-blended (alternatively microwave in small microwave-safe bowl 30-60 seconds until melted). Stir in vanilla until blended.

Pour nut butter mixture over cereal mixture, stirring until coated (use a wooden spoon at first, then get your hands in it. It will be sticky, but this way you can really coat everything. Just scrape off your hands when you're done). Press mixture firmly into an 8-inch square pan (lined with parchment paper) using a large square of wax paper (really tamp it down). Cool in pan on a wire rack and chill at least 30 minutes to help it set. Cut into 12 bars. (Wrap bars tightly in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator).

***Cocoa krispies with the coconut taste a lot like somoa Girl Scout cookies***

Spiced Muffins

Ian and I are leaving so early these days with school and work that neither of us have had breakfast in a couple weeks. So today I decided to make some muffins to help us have something quick to grab as we leave. The only problem: these are so delicious they might become dinner and we'll just keep not having breakfast!!

I adapted it from a recipe found here: Spiced Yogurt Muffins

Ingredients:
2 C all-purpose flour
1 C light brown sugar
1 TBSP baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp allspice
2 large eggs
1 1/4 C vanilla yogurt
4 TBSP butter, melted
1/4 C cinnamon applesauce
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 375°. Line 24 muffin cups with paper or foil liners (sprayed with cooking spray) or thick coating of shortening. In a food processor, combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, allspice, and pulse to blend; transfer to a large bowl. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs, yogurt, butter, applesauce and vanilla. Fold the yogurt mixture into the dry ingredients until just blended.Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups. Bake for 18 minutes, until the muffins are springy; let cool in the pans for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

These were so yummy!! And the shortening (I didn't have the paper so I experimented) gave the outside a nice crunch without the burnt taste! And they pulled away from the edges so well that I was able to just lift them out of the pan! The middle is spongy and it's so tasty!! Just look how yummy they are!

Burrito Filling

Okay, so Easter at my house is nowhere near conventional. Yesterday we went out for Chinese instead of using the money for baskets and candy. Today we had burritos for dinner! I like this. It could become tradition :)

Burrito Filling


8 chicken tenderloins
1 can cream of chicken + 1 can water
1 onion, chopped
1 can Rotel sauce (it's new to me, but it seems like just pureed rotel)
1 1/2 cups rice
2 cups water
1 can Rotel tomatoes with green chilis
1 can each pinto and black beans, drained and rinsed

Put the chicken, cream of chicken and water, onion, rotel sauce in the crockpot on high for 3 hours. Add the rice and 2 cups of water and the whole tomatoes. Just before the rice is done add the beans so they warm up.
Put all this on a warm tortilla with a dollop of sour cream.
Die and go to heaven.

Enjoy :)

If I blogged more I wouldn't have to title this "Catching Up"...

Things have been going pretty well here! Shouldn't complain (I'm not saying can't because I do complain, and it's a fault of mine...I'll work on it haha)

The weekend before Valentine's Day, Ian and I went to lunch, saw The Chronicle (meh, but I saw it because it's Valentine's and I love my husband), and then went to a hotel for the evening. Ian's sis is living with us and I wanted to get away. So Ian took me away! It was really romantic. And while we were still in town, we felt like we were far away. Until an old friend came up and said, "Oh hello! What are you doing here?!" **Hmm, it's a hotel, Valentines...want me to spell it out??** But it was still nice to get away. And with our room we got a gift card to Applebees, so that was a nice extra gift!

Then on Valentine's I got Ian a set of socket wrenches. Because I'm AWESOME. Because awesome people get their spouse tools. The extra good points come from buying them at like 9 pm Monday night. Ian is WAY better at gifting and planning than me. I had an epiphany on the way home from work that night, otherwise he would have gotten a bag of Reese's haha!

I took my first sick day in a LONG time on Thursday. I should have stayed home Wednesday though. I went in on Wednesday and knew I was in trouble when I couldn't figure out how many slices of bread it would take to make 2 half sandwiches. It's 2 by the way, if you were wondering ;) But after working on Wednesday I knew I wouldn't make it through Thursday so I stifled the guilty feelings of staying home, and just tried to rest. I didn't do that great of a job, but I sure tried!

With my sick day I ended up watching all my shows I reserve for Saturday so today I had to get creative! Well, I made my banana cake and spicy peanut chicken, did the dishes, did the laundry, moved all my everything onto Ian's computer. Now I'm just waiting for Ian to come home!

I need pictures...

Curves

I am now obsessed with the gym. It's been an amazing journey.

Since I've started college I've had a big gut. I was consistently asked when my baby was due and I'd laugh on the outside but obviously I wasn't too happy with it. My weight would go up and down, but I always stayed pretty consistent in my size. I was compact in my weight (the scale always showed a lot more than I looked). But after I got engaged I kept getting fluffier. Ian and I both lived and home so many of our dates involved eating out. My wedding dress fit perfectly when I got it but I had to do the slim-fast diet the week before the wedding to make sure it still fit when I came back from Florida. In October, I went to put on the dress I wore to the first valentines dance Ian and I attended. I also wore that dress home from the temple after we got sealed. It had been getting progressively tighter on me until in October I couldn't wear it. I cried and cried and cried. I threw it in the trash and put on some very stretchy skirt and top and cried at church. I realized then it was time to get my act together.

That Monday I started looking up gyms in town. Everything was really expensive and I knew I could go on campus for free, but I didn't want to go there. There are too many people there. And I don't tan so the unlimited tanning offers at World Gym was pointless, and anytime gym wouldn't return my phone call so poo-poo on them. But Curves, that seemed really good. And they offered me like a month free!

I went in on Wednesday and got the tour and did the weighing and measuring, but my anxiety got the best of me and my stomach was not up to a work out. Especially after the weigh-in. I went back on Friday and met my favorite woman ever: Cookie. "I'm the only cookie left in your life Beth." She has been my angel in more ways than one. She has never let me slack, she has pushed me further than I thought, and she is always congratulatory when I make even the slightest achievement.

After the first week I knew I was going to sign up for the year, but I didn't want to tell them because I was worried they'd end my free month early haha! I paid upfront for the entire year because I didn't want something like money to make me have to decide--gym this month or food? I knew we had it all right then, so why not get rid of the worry.

I need to get all my measurements written down but I've lost 14 pounds and tons of inches. I started in a 10/12, L or XL (dresses were even bigger than that) and I now comfortably wear 3/4 pants and medium tops. The girls aren't going anywhere so I can't go too small there haha. I tried on a dress at the Gap yesterday that was an 8 that almost fit (didn't quite zip at the top) but I'm not discouraged. Dresses are really hard to fit on me because I'm like an upside down pear, or triangle or whatever (my top is bigger than the bottom half, because my lady friends haha) so I have to get a bigger size. But it's still smaller than I have worn before. And it's all about fabric too. Some fabrics just aren't made for stretching to fit that last little zip. 

 Me at my biggest ;)

Just before we got married, you can't see how big (I manage to get rid of my big pictures) but let's just say I'm grateful that I'm leaning back some to flatten things out.

At Old Navy yesterday, size 5 skinny jeans (in my boots), a medium shirt and medium jean blazer. It's not the greatest picture, I'll do better later. 

Sometimes...

Sometimes...

It's hard for me to keep my mouth shut when I see someone doing something wrong. Not even dangerous wrong, just not the way I would do it. Sorry friends.

I'm reminded of how much I love my husband when he sits through endless girly television and gets the biggest smile on his face when I take him to man movies :)

I feel self-conscious when I go into a store first thing in the morning and all the employees kinda just stare. But I still prefer early morning shopping. 

I am mildly dishonest when I blame my phone for not sending a return text when really I just didn't want to talk to the person.

I can't imagine a world without my husband and my jobs. They make my world go round.

I'm surprised that I still cry every time I see men crying on tv. Like. A. Baby.

I get a little too easily wrapped up in making sure my house is exactly how I want it. Unfortunately not decorating yet, just cleanliness.  

I indulge in guilty pleasures like giant bags of twizzlers when I go to movies. 

I wish all things in life were as wonderful as waking up next to my best friend.

>>>

As I was writing these, I thought, I wonder how other people would end these sentences....

So I decided to make it into a little game! 

To play, just copy and paste the first, bolded part of each sentence and then add your own, personal ending. 

Play along, link up, and make sure to leave the link to your post in a comment so I can check out your "sometimes!"

**I stole this from here**

Turkey hair clips

I made these for a couple coworkers and a couple kids at work last night, the youngest recipient called him "Tango Turkey Bubbles"... I'm not sure why but it totally made my day!!

What you need:

Fall colored silk flowers (I used 2 and got 4 turkeys out of it)
brown felt
orange felt
eye balls (I like these tiny black eyes better than the googly eyes)
hair combs (my local craft store sells them for a quarter a piece, but if you have old ones you can recycle)
hot glue gun


The how-to:

Remove the stem from the flowers, then the plastic "caps" found at the base that helps hold it together.

Remove each layer of petal and sort by size/color

Cut the layers in half

Start layering petals together to make your feathered tail, attaching each layer with hot glue

Free hand a turkey body out of the felt and attach him to the petals at both the bum and the head, otherwise the "heavy" eyes make him droopy.

Attach eyes and a nose

Glue turkey onto comb with curved side up--that way he faces out when you wear him in your FABULOUS hair!

If you don't want to wear a turkey on your head, you can glue them to napkin rings, place cards, or whatever. They're very simple!!

I found the link from where I got the idea, so click here if you need step by step pictures!

Friends!!

Sorry, I've been sick and busy and running around like a chicken with my head cut off!! I made the banana cake again which was delicious again :) And Cherie is here!!

We did pumpkins, did henna art, went out to eat (too much haha) and took pictures together! We've just had a really good, relaxing time.

BBQ Pork Chinese style (Char Siu)

Hello my lovelies! Come over to my other blog and check out BBQ pork Chinese style. Last weekend we went for pulled pork, this weekend is all about the chinese food! Mmm, I've made the sauce and it smells delicious. I can't wait to cook it tomorrow afternoon!! I might not even invite others so I can have it all myself!!

Spicy Chicken with Peanut Sauce

So I just posted this on the other blog I was talking about last week. I am so excited to eat it!

http://somanyspices.blogspot.com/2011/09/spicy-chicken-in-peanut-sauce.html

Get over there and read all the delicious recipes, and cook them! I hope you enjoy them all!

"Back to school...

back to school, to prove to Dad that I'm not a fool..." Between Adam Sandler's song and the Staples commercial, back to school time is a wonderful time of the year. Even if I'm not actually going back to school, I still enjoy it!



We have made so many great things for our classroom (with so much being purchased at back to school bargain prices!) and it's only been a week!

Here is our awesome class tree. We had a paper one that a certain student loved to rip off the wall daily so we messed him up and painted it. He ran over the day it was painted and said "Oh! No rip!" (he's almost 4, but has the verbal skills of a younger child.) Now he sits at the bottom and looks at the acorns we have decorated our tree...almost like he's plotting how to get them down.

We've not got an owl I drew sitting on the branch. He was in the knot on the tree, but that was too low. Now he's watching class from the tree. And we move him around so the kids come in from school and have to go find the owl. It's adorable.

We are doing a lot of coloring activities now too so tonight while I waited for the laundry to finish I sat here and sharpened every colored pencil. Thank heavens for electric sharpeners! Now the kids can actually use the pencils. Novel idea, I know :)

Ian's started school today too. He really liked it which is awesome. I got him a desk this semester too so he's even more excited about that! Sad but true haha. He loves having a place he can put his computer and printer and papers that doesn't have to get cleaned up when company comes or when we want to have dinner at the table! I love it too. Between the desk, the gazelle, and the tv set up for a wii back in the second bedroom, it's a good thing we don't have a kid yet! I'm not sure where one would go! (Obviously we'd rearrange/get rid of stuff but it's funny to think of just putting a bassinet on top of the desk haha)

I hope you are all enjoying back to school time! Good luck to you!

Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Last night I decided it was time for a party up in here. So I got myself a pork shoulder and a bottle of coca-cola, and some rolls.

I called all my friends because it was short notice and put it up on facebook.

This morning at 5 am I placed an onion I had chopped the night before, a pork shoulder roast (fat side up) that I had liberally salted and peppered, and a cup of soda in the crock pot and put it on high.

Around nine I added another 1/2 cup or so of soda. At about 12:30 (after church and inviting some more friends!) I pulled the biggest fat chunks off and started shredding the meat. It came apart with tongs and I left the bone in. I hear it has more flavor that way.

At 4 I pulled the bone out and added a bottle of honey bbq sauce. I've kept it on high this whole time, but turned it down to low when I added the sauce. It was amazing tasting before the sauce, but I love sloppy pulled pork.

I had another bottle of sauce for when it was served which was nice because it gave everyone the opportunity to make it even messier!! Ian had brought home some macaroni salad and potato salad, so it was a full meal! I also made my chewy lemon cookies again. I figured it was a nice flavor balance with that!

Recipe


1 pork shoulder roast
1-2 cups of coca-cola (any soda will work, it just has to be regular, no diet)
1 yellow onion, diced
salt and pepper
1 bottle of favorite bbq sauce


Lay the onions on the bottom of the crock pot and then put in the meat fat side up. Pour one cup of soda over the meat and put the crock pot on high. Let cook 4 hours and add more soda. Cook another 3 hours and shred meat. 4 hours later add the bbq sauce and put on low or warm until you are ready to serve.

Total 11+ hours



It was so much fun having people over today. And now that I'm going to start posting to this blog (go check it out!!) I'm going to be having even more recipes. A friend started it and it's going to be awesome! I can't wait to get cooking, though most of mine will probably be on the weekends, that's the easiest for me to have time to try new things!

End of Time

How wonderful does this video make you feel?!

It's only September but I'm planning for November...

I'm cast iron pan shopping today. They're some trouble, but I do love them. Macy's is having a Labor Day sale and it's only $25! Regular $55! I like that a lot. So now I have to decide if I'm healthy enough to go down there/convince Ian of the importance of the pan so he'll go get it. I want to go down on Monday for the museum or the state fair (also if I'm healthy enough) but they'll only hold it until tomorrow night. Unless I call tomorrow and have them hold it. I don't know what to do!

I am so ready to cook up soups and stews and roasts. I am already thinking about Thanksgiving dinner. I want to have Thanksgiving here in my apartment and invite people over that can't go home. But I want to cook the turkey and make the fixings. It'll be our first thanksgiving on our own. I am SO excited.

The only thanksgiving dinner I have ever made by myself was a stuffed salmon fillet with linguine and a bottle of sparkling cider.  It was delighful but lonely.

Anyone have a good Thanksgiving cooking fail story? :)

Google Scribe...best friend...what? They're the same!

I was thinking today about how I loved T9 on my old phone because I could start writing a word and it would finish it for me.

Then today while trying to fix my other post I read about google scribe. It is a text prediction "app" for lack of a better word.  I will type out a word or two and it will start adding the (but giving me the chance to reject) other words following. Okay, let me give you an example. I'll start writing a sentence with "Today" and we'll see where it takes me...

Today I am going to... That's what it started. Like when you search in google for something and then it pops up suggestions. The tricky part is to accept a suggestion you hit space. But sometimes I just want a space, and not the word. But it's new, there will be kinks. And that is why proofreading is KEY! (Don't hassle me if I have something wrong haha)

I see this being my new favorite writing prompt. Kinda like this site... http://www.webook.com/911writersblock

Totally go there and try it out. I think between the two of these I might get back into writing. Remember back when I wanted nothing more than to be a writer? Yeah. I wonder why that never happened. I have written a lot, and people say it's good, it just doesn't seem good enough to me I guess. I submitted a poem to a publisher once. I'm pretty sure I still have my rejection slip.  But it was hand signed :)

When I was living in Iowa I listened to a radio show every Sunday night. The host described it as "a radio drama show with radio actors, sound effects, and music and and everything?" It was incredible. To have your story on the show you had to submit the script AND your rejection slip. The more slips the better. It was awesome. I swear, publishers don't know what's good! I still remember the stories. I'm sure my parents thought it was weird that I would slip off to bed at 8:45 pm to make sure I got everything done and ready by 9 and got my radio set, because seriously, it was non-stop awesome for the next hour.

See, I told you this writing prompt stuff made you write more. I haven't thought of this show for years. Many, many I have got to find it somewhere. I-tunes saved the day! 27 episodes. Thank heavens this medicine has wired me. I am going to go listen. EEK! Ah, even the intro music is making me giddy. Please, go listen to one. Maybe even Artie Azzetti one. He is this precocious child who gets into trouble. Kinda the Dennis the Menace of radio? Love it. Toodles folks! It's time to listen to magic.

It's feeling a lot like fall because...

1) I wore a sweater to work yesterday! It's green with a pink drangonfly on it. I love it!!


2) I've got my first bout of strep of the season. You could set a clock to my strep cycle...if you wanted a really slow, every 3-4 month clock. I woke up today and it was 46 degrees out, which felt nice for my fever when I went to the doctor. I told the nurse I had strep and she said, "Uh huh, you have a sore throat..." and then asked me all the other questions nurses ask. The doctor came in and in less than 30 seconds of examining me he said, "Wow, the nurse should have been able to tell this was strep, not just a sore throat!" He was amazed I could still sound normal while talking and that I hadn't come in earlier. It didn't feel like strep until this morning, but he said it must have been like this a few days (explaining the fever and other symptoms) for it to look how it did. And the last few days I've just kinda felt icky and haven't eaten much of anything that would have irritated my throat so I guess that didn't trigger anything either.


I looked for a picture online because I wanted to show you how yucky my throat was, but didn't want to take a picture of my own throat, but the ones online are WAY funky! Mine is gross, but not like those ones. It just looks/feels like someone took a knife and chopped little cuts at my ginormous tonsils. You're welcome for the mental image.


So I don't leave you on a gross note, now that it's feeling like fall, I am busting out my fall tunes.


3) This (and most of Ingrid Michaelson's songs) has been stuck in my head. Fall just reminds me of falling in love. I'm not sure why, since most of my relationships have been in the spring and summer, but I love the way this song makes me feel. You should also definitely check out "Falling in Love in a Coffee Shop" by Landon Pigg and "Love You in the Fall" by Paul Westerberg (not a real video, but just listen in the background haha).

Enjoy the end of summer folks, fall is coming and I am SO excited!