So during my podcast spree today here are the tips I learned about how to really do garage sales. They're good tips and make sense, but I don't usually see them when I go garage sale shopping.
1) Deliver notices at least 2 weeks before the sale to notify your neighbors about the date and categories of what you'll sell
2) Have a pre-sale.
3) Collaborate with neighbors
4) Make good signs - big, bold, sturdy and graphically designed - rope off areas where you don't want people to park
5) Advertise off and online - date, time, address, and categories
6) Use long tables - try not to put stuff on the ground - price items beforehand and group things by categories
7) Play music
8) Use a belt pack to make change quickly
9) Talk to people - be a salesperson
And nutrition:
1) Cheat day false. It's all about how you eat on most of your days. If having one day a week helps you stick to healthy food the rest of the week, go for it. But purposefully binging on junk food one day a week is not going to help you loose weight no matter what celebrities do.
2) Water-that-does-more: don't improve upon water. It's not going to do what they claim. Use them as hydration! Learn to be okay with unflavored and unsweetened drinks
3) Grains need balance. They aren't essential to a healthy diet, but it is better to eat whole grains.
4) Eat homemade and home grown. Move away from food processors, but don't take up all of your time trying to make homemade stuff excessively (homemade powdered sugar etc.)
I've decided that nutrition is a lot simpler than they make it out to be. Drink lots of water, make stuff from home, eat your fruits and veggies, and do something active everyday. I don't think you really need a strict workout diet or a food diet. All you need to do is do the simple logical stuff. *oohm oohm as I eat a brownie ;) *
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Fit Tips
1) Exercise does help with stress (but the same feel-good chemicals that are boosted in exercise can increase stress in high amounts). So score 1 for Kenzie and score 1 for all of my exercise conscious friends. We both win.
2) Do a 10 minute stretch in the morning. Doesn't take long, helps start the day out right, and will make you want to exercise later.
3) Just breath right. Take a few seconds to get your breathing regular when you're stressed. I'm going to call this mini-meditation. Since I just love the concept of meditation. ; p
4) Tell yourself you'll only do the exercise for a super short very specific amount of time. I'll take a 5 minute walk or do 20 sit-ups. Maybe you'll end up going longer, but either way you've done something.
He's got a lot of other podcasts that look helpful too. Well here's to planning New Year goals!
Here's the podcast.
A Message of Peace
So I subscribe to TED talks (in truth because I've found some good ones to use in class) and today I watched this one. I think you'll like it. I'm calling it "A Message of Peace" but its real title is "Israel and Iran: A Love Story?". Take a minute, if you have one, and listen to this guy. He's just a graphic designer who posted a picture on Facebook that started a movement. I love what he has to say. Sometimes war is inevitable, but why not try and avoid it with words first?
Here's the link.
Here's the link.
The Science of Christmas: Poem
'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
We were surfing the internet, by clicking our mouse;
We found lots of articles posted on there,
About the star of Christmas, St. Nick, and his reindeer;
Some scientists think the new star had gone supernova,
While others said comets must have flown over,
Some scientists believe ‘twas a conjunction most propitious,
While others claim it was simply fictitious,
As for that sleigh driver known as St. Nick,
To visit every house on earth must be quite a trick.
If we start with the houses in just the U.S.,
We can do some quick estimates and make a best guess.
There were 115 million homes on the census last year,
And in each of these houses St. Nick must appear.
If we assume that for just five minutes in and out he does hop,
That’s over 1,000 years of deliveries non-stop.
Perhaps by stopping time he can get out of his plight,
Maybe the answer is to travel at the speed of light.
Or perhaps he tunnels through space-time like a mole,
Using a tesseract, hyperspace, or even a wormhole.
"Now, DASHER! now, DANCER! now, PRANCER and VIXEN!
On, COMET! on CUPID! on, DONNER and BLITZEN!”
We’ve heard that in winter a male’s antlers do fall,
So are those pulling the sleigh, females one and all?
While some males lose antlers in winter it’s true,
Other factors like age, health, and stress determine which do.
So while females likely make up most of the crew,
There are probably some young bucks mixed in with them too.
Now finally what about that Rudolph’s red nose?
Could there be science behind the way that it glows?
There are plenty of things that bioluminesce,
But a glow in the dark nose must be quite a mess.
There are glowing bacteria, beetles, and fish,
And all of them glow through bioluminescence.
These creatures light up the night thanks to luciferase,
An enzyme that has nothing to do with the devil’s sly ways.
It oxidizes the luciferin molecule, charging it up keen,
Which then give off energy, as light that’s blue-green.
But what about red glows, do such things exist?
Can red light be found coming from bugs or from fish?
Yes! There are fish and beetles that can glow bright red,
The color depends on the structure of luciferase, it’s said.
Scientists can even make new things that glow,
Something that won them a Nobel prize for their show.
So maybe it’s not hard to believe in a nose that shone,
Maybe Santa’s reindeer are all engineered clones?
Could it all be true, perhaps it just might,
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.
~Poem from Everyday Einstein (a podcast I'm trying out)
Christmas Scent
So for this Christmas I tried out something I found on Pinterest: homemade pot potpourri. I call this one "Christmas Scent". In fact, I liked it so much I gave it away as gifts in a jar this year.
 |
| Photo from the original website listed at the end of this post. |
So basically it's just orange slices or peels (I've done both and both work fine), cinnamon sticks (or powder), and cloves. I've also added cranberries, bay leaf, and vanilla. Both combinations work great, but I've found that the simpler one seems to last longer.
All you have to do is combine everything in a pot, fill it with water, and let it simmer. It makes the house smell fantastic, and if you keep refilling the water it can last for days.
This lady also has a couple other combinations I can't wait to try: lemon, rosemary, vanilla; lime, thyme, mint, vanilla; orange, ginger, almond; and pine, bay, nutmeg. I'll post if those ones work out too.
Merry Christmas!
Just a short post to say Merry Christmas! I know I haven't posted in a while and maybe I'll get better with that in this new year. Check out my collection of fun stuff to do in the winter: Kenzie's Winter Board
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Floral Design 2: Pumpkin Design
Next up, I did a design in a pumpkin. That was fun, and I can't wait till Summer when I can make a design in a watermelon. Seasonal designs are so much fun!
I etched fall leaves into the pumpkin - which took a long time but ended up looking great
And in the end, it looked like this!
Floral Design 1: Boutonnières
Just realized that I'm almost done with the whole semester and haven't posted any of my floral design pictures. Here's the first set. I learned how to make boutonnières and they are super fun and easy. In fact, after I learned how to do this I wrote instructions and taught my whole English class. Like I said, super fun! I'm dying to make more, so if you ever want one . . .
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Fall Bucket List
Well, I realized that I'm afraid I'll miss the seasons again this year because school is so busy. To avoid this, I finally made a fall bucket list. What do you think? Anything I've missed?
P.S. Today Andrew and I celebrated our 100 day anniversary!
P.S. Today Andrew and I celebrated our 100 day anniversary!
General Conference October '12
I've missed posting on this blog and have felt unconnected with family. Maybe some of you are still interested in reading this, but if not, I think I'll still try to do it--if for no other reason than I need a journal. School has been so busy lately that I have had no time for posting. Somehow, I'm going to try to find time to continue.
To get my posting started again, it seems appropriate to list the things I've learned this general conference.
First, I learned some big things about myself when they announced the new age limit for missionaries. Now women can go on missions when they turn 19. Since I got married 100 days ago and two months after my 19th birthday, I have just missed the cut off. Many people who read this, will not understand what a loss this is to me. I have always grown up with a burning desire to go on a mission and marriage came very unexpectedly.
When I received the revelation that Andrew was indeed the person I should marry, I cried. I cried because I knew I would have to give up a mission. I was giving up the opportunity to dedicate my life solely to God for a while, to learn a language, to meet people different than me, to travel, and to live a strict schedule. All things I have wanted to do forever. I love Andrew so much and he is the best husband anyone could ask for. I thought I had moved past this huge decision. When they announced the age change, I cried so hard. Why in the world would Heavenly Father change the policy so close to my giving it up? It seemed like He was rubbing salt in a deep wound. Thanks to some kind words from a best friend, I pulled myself together and decided, "I don't have to make the choice now, so I might as well be happily married." Andrew promises we'll go on a senior couple mission, but somehow it's hard to convince me that it'll be the same. Later through conference, it felt like they were emphasizing trusting in God's will and timetable. I'll work on that for the next couple of months. Obviously, even if I thought I was okay with following God's will, I was not okay with His timetable.
I loved Sister Dibb's talk about this. Can we truly say this in our lives? Are we willing to be so bold about it in speech and action? Are we willing to show how happy the gospel makes us? Do we know the truths, do we live the truths, and does that make us happy?
I learned that guilt, anger, and self-pity are all debilitating from Elder Bowen. I can apply this to frustrations I'm having with some policies at BYU right now. I can't get anything done about them if I just spend my time being frustrated and angry about them. I will get nowhere in my personal pity-party.
Elder Nelson encompassed one of my personal beliefs when he talked about how whether truth comes from a laboratory or from the scriptures, members of the church seek after it. Thus my belief that science and religion can work together.
I love President Uchtdorf. As many will agree, he has a unique way of speaking that goes straight to the soul and offers many one liners that can be implemented and repeated. I'm going to have to go back over his talk and do a separate post on it.
Do we as children understand the saying from Elder Perry's talk that says, “I can’t turn from your teachings because I know my actions would reflect on your character.” Everything we do reflects on our parents character. I've never understood that more than during the time my mother worked as the president of WHEN. Many people I had never heard of knew who I was and what I was doing. Everything children do reflects on their parents.
Can we truly answer Elder Ballard's question, "Have I done any good in the world today? Have I helped anyone in need?" It's almost always the small acts that add up to a busy life. Elder Hawke challenged us to read the Book of Mormon again and Elder Gay questioned what we would sell our soul for. Don't forget about sins of omission. Elder Whiting detailed how hard we work to make our temples perfect and reminded us that we are the temples of the Lord as well.
Elder Oaks came right out and stated that abortion is a form of abuse to children and that children should be center stage of marriages. President Eyring warned us not to put barriers between us and the Lord and then feel confused and hurt when we can't feel the Lord's love. Sister Burton urged us to observe and serve. Elder Gonzalas asked us to apply our heart to our scripture reading.
I loved Elder Holland's talk and can't wait to go back to study it. It struck right to my soul. In our mortal childish understanding of things can we at least live the first commandment: to love the Lord our God with all our might, mind and strength? I want to follow President Monson and take a personal inventory of all the blessings I have and have had in my life.
Elder Hales urged us again to do both temple work AND family history work. No matter what they say, I feel completely lost with family history. The tools they have for it are either so out dated I can't figure out how they work or tailored to advanced family historians in such a way that I have no idea where to start. I'm trying, but the most I can do is indexing. Someday, I'll understand how to do it.
Elder Osgethorpe announced a new teaching program that is designed so teachers can tailor their lessons to their students. Elder Clarke gave us 5 suggestions for sacrament:
1) Have a feeling of gratitude for the sacrifice of HF’s son
2) Memorize sacrament prayers
3) Feel forgive on our sins, by repenting before sacrament meeting
4) Receive inspiration for our daily problems
5) Partake of the sacrament worthily to feel the HG
Elder Bednar defined the differences between conversion and testimony and how they work together and President Monson closed the conference with a reminder to always be tolerant of others.
Love you all! I'll try and post more.
To get my posting started again, it seems appropriate to list the things I've learned this general conference.
When I received the revelation that Andrew was indeed the person I should marry, I cried. I cried because I knew I would have to give up a mission. I was giving up the opportunity to dedicate my life solely to God for a while, to learn a language, to meet people different than me, to travel, and to live a strict schedule. All things I have wanted to do forever. I love Andrew so much and he is the best husband anyone could ask for. I thought I had moved past this huge decision. When they announced the age change, I cried so hard. Why in the world would Heavenly Father change the policy so close to my giving it up? It seemed like He was rubbing salt in a deep wound. Thanks to some kind words from a best friend, I pulled myself together and decided, "I don't have to make the choice now, so I might as well be happily married." Andrew promises we'll go on a senior couple mission, but somehow it's hard to convince me that it'll be the same. Later through conference, it felt like they were emphasizing trusting in God's will and timetable. I'll work on that for the next couple of months. Obviously, even if I thought I was okay with following God's will, I was not okay with His timetable.
I learned that guilt, anger, and self-pity are all debilitating from Elder Bowen. I can apply this to frustrations I'm having with some policies at BYU right now. I can't get anything done about them if I just spend my time being frustrated and angry about them. I will get nowhere in my personal pity-party.
Elder Nelson encompassed one of my personal beliefs when he talked about how whether truth comes from a laboratory or from the scriptures, members of the church seek after it. Thus my belief that science and religion can work together.
I love President Uchtdorf. As many will agree, he has a unique way of speaking that goes straight to the soul and offers many one liners that can be implemented and repeated. I'm going to have to go back over his talk and do a separate post on it.
Do we as children understand the saying from Elder Perry's talk that says, “I can’t turn from your teachings because I know my actions would reflect on your character.” Everything we do reflects on our parents character. I've never understood that more than during the time my mother worked as the president of WHEN. Many people I had never heard of knew who I was and what I was doing. Everything children do reflects on their parents.
Can we truly answer Elder Ballard's question, "Have I done any good in the world today? Have I helped anyone in need?" It's almost always the small acts that add up to a busy life. Elder Hawke challenged us to read the Book of Mormon again and Elder Gay questioned what we would sell our soul for. Don't forget about sins of omission. Elder Whiting detailed how hard we work to make our temples perfect and reminded us that we are the temples of the Lord as well.
Elder Oaks came right out and stated that abortion is a form of abuse to children and that children should be center stage of marriages. President Eyring warned us not to put barriers between us and the Lord and then feel confused and hurt when we can't feel the Lord's love. Sister Burton urged us to observe and serve. Elder Gonzalas asked us to apply our heart to our scripture reading.
I loved Elder Holland's talk and can't wait to go back to study it. It struck right to my soul. In our mortal childish understanding of things can we at least live the first commandment: to love the Lord our God with all our might, mind and strength? I want to follow President Monson and take a personal inventory of all the blessings I have and have had in my life.
Elder Hales urged us again to do both temple work AND family history work. No matter what they say, I feel completely lost with family history. The tools they have for it are either so out dated I can't figure out how they work or tailored to advanced family historians in such a way that I have no idea where to start. I'm trying, but the most I can do is indexing. Someday, I'll understand how to do it.
Elder Osgethorpe announced a new teaching program that is designed so teachers can tailor their lessons to their students. Elder Clarke gave us 5 suggestions for sacrament:
1) Have a feeling of gratitude for the sacrifice of HF’s son
2) Memorize sacrament prayers
3) Feel forgive on our sins, by repenting before sacrament meeting
4) Receive inspiration for our daily problems
5) Partake of the sacrament worthily to feel the HG
Elder Bednar defined the differences between conversion and testimony and how they work together and President Monson closed the conference with a reminder to always be tolerant of others.
Love you all! I'll try and post more.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Snapshot Assignment: Sexism - Alive and Well
So, before I start to explain the single story being portrayed about men, I want you to look at a couple of my "artifacts". You may get an idea of where I'm going after the first one.
Now, I don't know about you, but this collection makes me feel a little bit sick. And I'm a girl! But when these things are by themselves we don't even think about it. Commercials, popular music, and popular tv shows are things that we, and children, watch and learn from without thinking about it. I would like to argue that sexism is alive and well. Just different than we normally think of.
The first video is very clever; without saying it, men are portrayed as easily manipulated. I mean, look how young she is and she's already got the technique down. A simple smile gets you everything you want.
Beyonce's song "If I Were a Boy" is another extremely clever example. The whole video gears your anger and disgust toward the lady just in time to show you who's really to be blamed. This video portrays men as self-oriented cheaters. You just can't trust them. Similarly, this next clip from the popular TV show Friends also portrays men as avoiding family duties and bumbling idiots. Very clever though I must say. I mean he's proposing right? That's family oriented. Except that he's only doing it because he's sorry. And note how his friends in the background are convinced the proposal is a bad idea.
The old spice commercial is different. You may even wonder why I grouped it with the others. The fact is, I think this displays a single story about men that affects teachers the most. I went through lots of old spice commercials and honestly there were several themes: power, strength, and attracting women. I couldn't find any about doing well in school. (OK so there's the BYU parody of Old Spice . . . but that's BYU for you.) I'm sure you've heard the stories about the decline in boys' performance in schools. Just in case you haven't, here's an article from CBS News:
I was going to just pick out a few quotes, but honestly the whole thing is good (and it's relatively short) so take some time to read it.
The fact is the single social story coming across to young men is that they are expected to be amazing physically. If you're not, you're not manly. And since achieving in school is so often associated with girls, guys don't want to achieve for fear of being teased. Besides, they're supposed to spend more time working out right?
I think overall the media has moved toward portraying men as physically strong, self-oriented, and perhaps lacking quite a bit mentally. And that's portrayed as being just fine! I loved this quote, " 'There's a little cultural secret at work here. Boys go out in the work world and earn more money,' says Thompson. 'Nobody wants to admit what's happening, which is, 'You girls work very hard, but sorry, ladies, when you get out there, we're not going to pay you equally. And you boys, it's OK. You can loaf through school. You'll get good jobs afterwards.'” I loved it because it shows an even deeper cultural belief at play.
Can you see how this creates a single story? Boys may feel like they're lacking somehow if they excel more in school than in sports. They can get teased for being less manly and may feel limited in career choice. For the boys in the class, what is people's response when you tell them you're going to be a teacher? Is this a "manly" career? I wonder what the social implications will be when the larger portion of the educated society is female. Educationally, teachers need to catch themselves in this single story. Do you find yourself saying that so-and-so isn't doing as well because he's a boy? Or do you find yourself categorizing certain subjects as more feminine/masculine? These kinds of biases come through to students and they'll realize the social limitations set on them.
I think it's fair to bring up an important aspect of single stories again. It's not like the characteristics aren't true above - in some cases. There will be men who are easily manipulated and situations where girls use things like smiles to get their way. There are men who are faithless and there are men who avoid family. There are going to be students who have trouble in school but excel physically. The thing is - these are just single stories. They do not apply to the whole group of men. And society begins to judge all men off these false characteristics.
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
My Life
Here are some beautiful sunflowers we saw on our walk. I bet Alysa knows right where they are. You can tell how early we go on our walks by the picture. Well . . . sometimes. ;)
Yes, there were random mattresses leaning against trees. This is one of them.
Another beautiful rose:
(Andrew takes such good pictures doesn't he!)
Breakfast this morning: yogurt, hot chocolate, oranges, apples, bananas, raspberries, and grapes
Yesterday, I made french onion soup in the crockpot, but it wasn't good enough to recommend. Does anyone have recipes for either French Onion Soup or Lasagna? (I tried lasagna recently and . . . it didn't turn out terrible, but next time I should probably follow a recipe.) I have grandma Pat's recipe for French Onion soup and I'll try that next time. I just want to figure out how to turn it into a crockpot recipe.
Love ya all,
Kenzie
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Creme Brûlée
I learned how to make creme brûlée! It was simple, took few ingredients, and was the best thing I've ever felt on my sore throat. I have to make some more!
4 large egg yolks (at room temperature)
1 bar Ghiradelli White Chocolate Bar (chopped into small pieces)
1/3 Cup plus 4 tsp. Sugar
2 Cups heavy whipping cream
1/2 tsp, vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Whisk egg yolks and 1/3 cup sugar together until smooth. Bring whipping cream to a simmer over medium-high heat. Add white chocolate to simmering whipping cream, turn off heat, and then whisk until melted. Slowly add the chocolate mixture to egg mixture, whisking continuously until smooth. Whisk in vanilla. Pour into four ramekins. Place cups in 9"x13" baking pan or broiler pan. Add enough water so the ramekins sit in 1-1 1/2" water. Bake until set, about 45 minutes. Sprinkle each cup with 1 tsp of sugar and broil until caramelized. Let sit till mostly cool and then eat!
If you can find cheaper White Chocolate go ahead and try it. I didn't have ramekins so I just made them in muffin pans sitting in a larger pan. It was so simple! And turned out great!
4 large egg yolks (at room temperature)
1 bar Ghiradelli White Chocolate Bar (chopped into small pieces)
1/3 Cup plus 4 tsp. Sugar
2 Cups heavy whipping cream
1/2 tsp, vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Whisk egg yolks and 1/3 cup sugar together until smooth. Bring whipping cream to a simmer over medium-high heat. Add white chocolate to simmering whipping cream, turn off heat, and then whisk until melted. Slowly add the chocolate mixture to egg mixture, whisking continuously until smooth. Whisk in vanilla. Pour into four ramekins. Place cups in 9"x13" baking pan or broiler pan. Add enough water so the ramekins sit in 1-1 1/2" water. Bake until set, about 45 minutes. Sprinkle each cup with 1 tsp of sugar and broil until caramelized. Let sit till mostly cool and then eat!
If you can find cheaper White Chocolate go ahead and try it. I didn't have ramekins so I just made them in muffin pans sitting in a larger pan. It was so simple! And turned out great!
Miserable?
Yesterday: "So today has been pretty miserable. And since it really makes me feel better to talk about how miserable I am, I'm doing a whole post on miserability. My family and friends know that I'm not joking. Retelling your stories is good for the soul I've decided. The reason? Everything sounds funnier when you tell it to someone else.
So yesterday, I was talking to Andrew when all of a sudden I started getting a sore throat. Now it was weird because it wasn't like a normal sore throat. No, it felt more sandpapery than anything else. I assumed it was due to a violent coughing fit I had had the day before . . . boy was I wrong. The sore throat rapidly got worse and by the end of the night I was in full blown allergy mode. Alright, not quite full-blown. Full-blown is what happened last year when my eyes blew up and I couldn't do anything but lay still and moan with a cold rag on my face for weeks. Anywho, basically my airways were so closed up I couldn't breathe anymore and had to get up and eat some soothing foods. So at 3 am in the morning, my cupboards got organized as I desperately searched for Mint Tea. I have none. But it's ok because my cupboards look magnificent! I did however find some jello left over from my recent throw-up days and made that this morning.
As if I wasn't suffering enough, I realized that I had a dentist appointment this afternoon. Now, even though it was just to fix a few small chips, I didn't really feel like laying on my back with my mouth open when I couldn't breathe. So I tried to change the appointment. . . . except that they had nothing open for months so that option was out. So I trudged off to the appointment. Now I had just resigned myself to enduring the dentist when the nurse turns to me and asks, "Do you normally use gas?" I just stared at her open mouthed in confusion. Gas? To fix a chip? She repeated herself three times before just asking me if I had never used gas before. I finally found my brain and said, "So I'm a little confused. I was told we just needed to fix a few chips." And she says, "Well actually you have two pretty large fillings that need to be done." Excuse me? (It turns out they were old fillings that completely fell out and that's the "chips" that he had to fix.) We opted not to use the gas. Next thing I know I've got three very large needles numbing my mouth up and tubes in my mouth so I can keep breathing during my operation.
The rest of the day I was pretty miserable. I couldn't breathe, had to blow my nose every few seconds, couldn't eat anything, and my mouth hurt terribly."
Today didn't start out much better. Again, I got no sleep because every time I fell asleep my throat constricted and I couldn't breathe. I had to keep water running down my throat or it closed completely and I started choking. My teeth are so sensitive breathing through my mouth sets off terrible pains in one of my upper teeth. Anyway, I was convinced that I was totally miserable.
Today I went to talk at Education Week that had nothing to do with being happy (well ok it was about learning to have fun again and that's similar). But I left feeling like I could be happy even though I hurt. I'm not sure what thoughts should be running through my head to make myself feel happy being sick, but I'll make it work. I still don't want to do anything but sit on my bed and try to breathe but at least I can fight happy.
So yesterday, I was talking to Andrew when all of a sudden I started getting a sore throat. Now it was weird because it wasn't like a normal sore throat. No, it felt more sandpapery than anything else. I assumed it was due to a violent coughing fit I had had the day before . . . boy was I wrong. The sore throat rapidly got worse and by the end of the night I was in full blown allergy mode. Alright, not quite full-blown. Full-blown is what happened last year when my eyes blew up and I couldn't do anything but lay still and moan with a cold rag on my face for weeks. Anywho, basically my airways were so closed up I couldn't breathe anymore and had to get up and eat some soothing foods. So at 3 am in the morning, my cupboards got organized as I desperately searched for Mint Tea. I have none. But it's ok because my cupboards look magnificent! I did however find some jello left over from my recent throw-up days and made that this morning.
As if I wasn't suffering enough, I realized that I had a dentist appointment this afternoon. Now, even though it was just to fix a few small chips, I didn't really feel like laying on my back with my mouth open when I couldn't breathe. So I tried to change the appointment. . . . except that they had nothing open for months so that option was out. So I trudged off to the appointment. Now I had just resigned myself to enduring the dentist when the nurse turns to me and asks, "Do you normally use gas?" I just stared at her open mouthed in confusion. Gas? To fix a chip? She repeated herself three times before just asking me if I had never used gas before. I finally found my brain and said, "So I'm a little confused. I was told we just needed to fix a few chips." And she says, "Well actually you have two pretty large fillings that need to be done." Excuse me? (It turns out they were old fillings that completely fell out and that's the "chips" that he had to fix.) We opted not to use the gas. Next thing I know I've got three very large needles numbing my mouth up and tubes in my mouth so I can keep breathing during my operation.
The rest of the day I was pretty miserable. I couldn't breathe, had to blow my nose every few seconds, couldn't eat anything, and my mouth hurt terribly."
Today didn't start out much better. Again, I got no sleep because every time I fell asleep my throat constricted and I couldn't breathe. I had to keep water running down my throat or it closed completely and I started choking. My teeth are so sensitive breathing through my mouth sets off terrible pains in one of my upper teeth. Anyway, I was convinced that I was totally miserable.
Today I went to talk at Education Week that had nothing to do with being happy (well ok it was about learning to have fun again and that's similar). But I left feeling like I could be happy even though I hurt. I'm not sure what thoughts should be running through my head to make myself feel happy being sick, but I'll make it work. I still don't want to do anything but sit on my bed and try to breathe but at least I can fight happy.
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Breakfast
I just wanted to share my picture of breakfast . . . I actually buckled down and made a good breakfast the other day and felt I had to share my accomplishment. Eggs, bacon, toast, peaches, hot coco, and milk. Oh yeah . . . I cooked in the morning. ;)
I also made homemade blueberry muffins yesterday (with fresh blueberries) but I'll save that for another post. Time to wake Andrew up . . . Mwahahaha.
I also made homemade blueberry muffins yesterday (with fresh blueberries) but I'll save that for another post. Time to wake Andrew up . . . Mwahahaha.
Update On the Cantaloupe
So, I had to share this! The cantaloupe is growing like crazy! It honestly never would have fit in that box in the first place. Two of the boys haven't moved their bikes since Andrew moved in and this is the result! We're guiding him up the railing now.
The funny thing is the vine growing up the bikes sure looks like it's trying to make cantaloupes. . . I didn't encourage this plant at all. I didn't help it pollinate or anything. But honestly there a whole lot of these ALL over the plant. I don't know about you, but it sure looks like it's trying to grow a cantaloupe while growing straight up . . . silly plant.
And just a photo of how it's taken over my garden. It's trying to grow up the bike in the corner there but that guy uses his bike every day so that particular vine keeps getting trampled. 10 points if you can find the strawberries underneath the cantaloupe. Speaking of which, someone's eating our strawberries. A huge disappointment since I've been watching one particularly huge strawberry grow for weeks and then I go out to pick it and somebody already ate it and the other three ripe ones. I don't know what to do to keep them out of my garden!
Funny Things We See On Our Walks
Just wanted to share some funny pictures Andrew and I have taken on our walks recently. First, this Wednesday was Sneak Some Zucchini onto Your Neighbor's Porch Day and lo and behold somebody had left this on someone else's door. It's huge!
A random backpack stuck in a tree . . .
Rappelling gear in a small tree . . . there was an identical tree across from it rigged up the same way. I can't help but wonder what people are using it for. . .
Oh and this is funny. Andrew and I wanted to show our future house. ;)
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
23 and 1/2 Hours
So I found this great whiteboard animated TED talk while looking for videos for my plant class I TA. What a great way of putting the concept. Andrew and I are motivated! We've started taking a walk every morning and now we're going to make a point of trying to get in at least a half hour everyday! Worth watching!
The Marvels of Ramen
So today's lunch was ramen with white sauce and fresh tomatoes. It's not really a recipe, but I just boiled the noodles for 3 minutes (left out the seasoning packet), warmed up the sauce and put it on top, chopped up some tomato, and sprinkled some pepper. It was actually really good and really fast. I'd post this with our dinner but tonight we're just having left overs so this is much more interesting. ;)
A Sunday Picnic
For our Sunday break the fast, Andrew and I walked up onto the nature trail and had dinner there. It was super fun and relaxing to eat by waterfalls and flowers.
We had antipasta salad (using ramen noodles), ham sandwiches, chocolate chip cookies, and lemonade. I would put up the recipes for those, but honestly my guess is you all know them already. If you don't know the recipe for antipasta salad (first you obviously haven't lived with me) then let me know and I'll post it in the comments.
See if you can find who I was photographing. We saw at least 5 but maybe more. They were playing around our picnic table pretty much the whole time.
Afterward we walked down by the duck pond and watched little kids feed the ducks and looked at the turtles. What a great day.
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Another Week's Worth of Meals
Since it's taken me till now to get blogger back under control, I have to post the whole week's worth of meals in one post. I guess some of you will like that right? Fewer emails from Kenzie . . . anyway, here we go:
Monday: Au Gratin Potatoes and Turnips
Ok, so this one was forged from a desperation created from old turnips and potatoes. I searched for recipes to use them up and came up with this: http://www.marthastewart.com/313868/potato-and-turnip-gratin. I give this one a thumbs down, although Andrew still enjoyed it. Course the truth is, I hardly followed the recipe so to be fair to Martha Stewart, I'm sure her recipe was just fine. Instead of Heavy Cream I used Condensed Chicken Soup, didn't use any herbs, and totally skipped the infusing herbs step. On top of all of it, I didn't cook it long enough resulting in crunchy vegetables. (It made sense at the time. I mean my oven normally burns everything if cooked at the normal time so I figured cut the time in half . . . not this time!) I guess I forgot to take a picture, but the truth is you didn't miss much. It looked cool when I put it in the oven but after . . . yup, maybe I didn't take a picture to avoid shame.
Tuesday: Hamburgers and Root Beer
To make up for the previous failed meal, Andrew got to pick Tuesday's dinner. Although he says he has enjoyed my meals so far I was thoroughly unsurprised when he asked if we could have Hamburgers. If you have not been out to dinner with Andrew you may not realize that Hamburgers are pretty much his favorite food. Since we don't have a grill I figured this would be pretty tricky, but the truth is - it was the easiest meal I made this week. We bought hamburger, I put some seasoning on it, cut up some onion and tomato, and grilled the hamburger on the wonderful pan given to me by the Nyhus family. It has grill ridges running down the middle so the hamburger came out looking like I had BBQ'd it. Complete with Andrew's favorite brand of Root Beer (Vergil's), this meal would have turned out fabulously if Andrew's work hadn't run 30 min over and caused the meat to get a little tough. He says it still turned out great though and I won't be surprised if he asks to have hamburgers again in the near future.
Wednesday: Crockpot Lemon Chicken with Veggies
This was a wonderful meal! I loved it and highly recommend it. So easy (as with almost all crockpot recipes) and it tasted great! This came from a taste of home recipe book from the Pettets (I think . . . I'm sorry if I mix up gifts).
Ingredients:
1 pound fresh baby carrots
3 cups cubed red potatoes
1 package frozen pearl onions (thawed)
2 celery ribs, thinly sliced
6 bone-in-chicken breast halves with skin removed
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
Notes:
I could not find frozen pearl onion anywhere so I just chopped up some fresh onion left over from hamburgers and it worked just fine. I also really dislike having to pick my chicken off the bone so I just used some deboned chicken breasts Grandma left me (thanks gram! They've been a big help in cooking.) Also, in my poor college kitchen I have basically no spices (besides rosemary which is growing in my garden - not even cinnamon) so I just skipped the parsley and thyme. I bet they would have even added to the wonderful dish.
Steps:
Combine the vegetables in your slow cooker and place the chicken on top. Combine the soup, water, lemon juice, and seasonings in a small bowl and then pour over the chicken. Then cook for 8-9 hours on low and enjoy. This recipe says it makes 6 servings but Andrew and I ate our fill and there's really only one helping left over so . . . judge well. It makes good left overs anyway so it's okay if you make too much.
A total thumbs up, I can't wait to reuse this one again. I aparently forgot a picture again. Oops . . . but I found the recipe on this website and it has a picture: http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Lemon-Chicken-Breasts-with-Veggies
Thursday: Egg Drop Soup and Pepperoni Pizza Bread
Yes, it's as weird of a meal as it sounds and I should never do it again. The combination of smells really didn't agree with me and I felt sick after cooking. I give both of these a thumbs down but Andrew still liked them.
Egg drop soup:
2 cups water
2 eggs (beaten)
1/4 diced onion
1/4 cup diced celery
1/4 cup green bell pepper
1 package chicken ramen noodles
Bring water to boiling and add seasoning packet, eggs, and vegetables. Stir constantly till eggs look done and simmer for 5 minutes. Add noodles and cook 3-5 minutes more, or until noodles are tender.
First of all, I don't like green bell pepper, so I just didn't add it. Second of all, this actually tasted exactly like the egg drop soup you get in pretty much every asian restaurant, but I just didn't like it. It was a little bland so I would have added more than just the one seasoning packet and it came out really thick and I had to add another cup of water. (Which in hindsight is probably the reason it was bland.) Maybe it was meant to be that thick but honestly there was no broth left it was more of a stew.
Pepperoni Pizza Bread:
I took some french bread, cut it in half, covered it in Preggo red sauce, put some pepperoni and cheese on it, and stuck it in the oven. Honestly it would have worked fine if I hadn't put it with Egg Drop Soup and burned it. I think my oven has a personal vendetta against Pizza. Every time I try to make it in there, it burns. It was only in the oven for like 10 minutes so I must have had the oven on too high. Sigh, I'll never know how to work that oven. Good for college students but don't make for a family. Don't do it.
Friday: Salmon Fest
This was fun! For $15 dollars a plate (and after a huge line) the Payson firefighters dish up heaping plates of corn, potato, colsalaw, cookies, water, and fresh Alaska Salmon. And when I say heaping, I do mean heaping. I've heard from my family that the fish is wonderful! It falls right off the skin and is well seasoned. They give you lemon juice and tartar sauce for it too. I did try 3 whole bites of my portion before handing it off to family. I try a little more each year but I can't seem to get past the fishy taste (which everyone else denies is there) and the grain of the fish muscle. Ask Andrew, the texture really means a lot to me. It was a wonderful break for Andrew and I (we didn't even have to wait in line thanks to awesome family . . . and being late) and the belly dancing was good. (A bit of an inside joke there. When I went with Andrew's family last year, there was a family of belly dancers performing. Which is cool except for the poor poor boy about Caiden's age who was up there belly dancing with the girls and boy did he have the belly to dance with. The other boys got swords, but obviously he hadn't graduated to being cool like that.)
Saturday: Slow Cooker French Dip
Ahh, we just ate this and it was really good. Andrew LOVED it but I have a few critiques.
Found on this website: http://bakingbites.com/2008/02/slow-cooker-french-dip-sandwich/
approx 3 1/2 lbs beef chuck roast
16-oz. beef broth (1 1/2 cans)
1 10.5-oz. can condensed French onion soup
6-oz red wine
1 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper, to taste
4-6 French rolls
sliced provolone cheese, optional
Trim excess fat off of beef roast and season meat all over with salt and pepper.
Pour beef broth, condensed French onion soup, red wine and garlic powder into slow cooker and place beef roast into liquid. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Take beef out and rest it, covered with aluminum foil, for about 15 minutes. Slice beef and return to slow cooker on low or very low for 30 minutes. Lightly toast the bread and evenly distribute cheese between rolls, if using. Divide beef onto rolls and spoon the beef juicer small bowls and eat everything while it is hot. Serve each sandwich with its own dip. Serves 4-6.
Well, one obvious change is I left out the red wine. I checked before hand to see if I needed to substitute something for it and in the end I opted for dumping the rest of the can of beef broth in. I mean, what am I going to do with half a can of left over beef broth anyway? Don't skimp on the cheese! It goes really well with the whole meal. Overall, super good. The hardest part of the whole meal was slicing the meat. I don't know if it's the cut of meat the lady recommended (I know nothing about that) but the grain of the meat made it really hard to cut into slices and in the end I just ended up cutting it into chunks. Still, the meat really melted in our mouths and the whole sandwich was good enough for Andrew to brag to his work team about it. (*success*) Something still tasted a bit off . . . too salty? Missing a spice? I'm not even sure what I'm comparing it to. Do we have a family recipe I'm used to? Never mind the recommendations - the whole thing was really good and you should definitely try it!
An afterthought:
For those of you who haven't seen it yet, I've gotten a bit creative with paint strips and decorating.
Monday: Au Gratin Potatoes and Turnips
Ok, so this one was forged from a desperation created from old turnips and potatoes. I searched for recipes to use them up and came up with this: http://www.marthastewart.com/313868/potato-and-turnip-gratin. I give this one a thumbs down, although Andrew still enjoyed it. Course the truth is, I hardly followed the recipe so to be fair to Martha Stewart, I'm sure her recipe was just fine. Instead of Heavy Cream I used Condensed Chicken Soup, didn't use any herbs, and totally skipped the infusing herbs step. On top of all of it, I didn't cook it long enough resulting in crunchy vegetables. (It made sense at the time. I mean my oven normally burns everything if cooked at the normal time so I figured cut the time in half . . . not this time!) I guess I forgot to take a picture, but the truth is you didn't miss much. It looked cool when I put it in the oven but after . . . yup, maybe I didn't take a picture to avoid shame.
Tuesday: Hamburgers and Root Beer
To make up for the previous failed meal, Andrew got to pick Tuesday's dinner. Although he says he has enjoyed my meals so far I was thoroughly unsurprised when he asked if we could have Hamburgers. If you have not been out to dinner with Andrew you may not realize that Hamburgers are pretty much his favorite food. Since we don't have a grill I figured this would be pretty tricky, but the truth is - it was the easiest meal I made this week. We bought hamburger, I put some seasoning on it, cut up some onion and tomato, and grilled the hamburger on the wonderful pan given to me by the Nyhus family. It has grill ridges running down the middle so the hamburger came out looking like I had BBQ'd it. Complete with Andrew's favorite brand of Root Beer (Vergil's), this meal would have turned out fabulously if Andrew's work hadn't run 30 min over and caused the meat to get a little tough. He says it still turned out great though and I won't be surprised if he asks to have hamburgers again in the near future.
Wednesday: Crockpot Lemon Chicken with Veggies
This was a wonderful meal! I loved it and highly recommend it. So easy (as with almost all crockpot recipes) and it tasted great! This came from a taste of home recipe book from the Pettets (I think . . . I'm sorry if I mix up gifts).
Ingredients:
1 pound fresh baby carrots
3 cups cubed red potatoes
1 package frozen pearl onions (thawed)
2 celery ribs, thinly sliced
6 bone-in-chicken breast halves with skin removed
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
Notes:
I could not find frozen pearl onion anywhere so I just chopped up some fresh onion left over from hamburgers and it worked just fine. I also really dislike having to pick my chicken off the bone so I just used some deboned chicken breasts Grandma left me (thanks gram! They've been a big help in cooking.) Also, in my poor college kitchen I have basically no spices (besides rosemary which is growing in my garden - not even cinnamon) so I just skipped the parsley and thyme. I bet they would have even added to the wonderful dish.
Steps:
Combine the vegetables in your slow cooker and place the chicken on top. Combine the soup, water, lemon juice, and seasonings in a small bowl and then pour over the chicken. Then cook for 8-9 hours on low and enjoy. This recipe says it makes 6 servings but Andrew and I ate our fill and there's really only one helping left over so . . . judge well. It makes good left overs anyway so it's okay if you make too much.
A total thumbs up, I can't wait to reuse this one again. I aparently forgot a picture again. Oops . . . but I found the recipe on this website and it has a picture: http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Lemon-Chicken-Breasts-with-Veggies
Thursday: Egg Drop Soup and Pepperoni Pizza Bread
Yes, it's as weird of a meal as it sounds and I should never do it again. The combination of smells really didn't agree with me and I felt sick after cooking. I give both of these a thumbs down but Andrew still liked them.
Egg drop soup:
2 cups water
2 eggs (beaten)
1/4 diced onion
1/4 cup diced celery
1/4 cup green bell pepper
1 package chicken ramen noodles
Bring water to boiling and add seasoning packet, eggs, and vegetables. Stir constantly till eggs look done and simmer for 5 minutes. Add noodles and cook 3-5 minutes more, or until noodles are tender.
First of all, I don't like green bell pepper, so I just didn't add it. Second of all, this actually tasted exactly like the egg drop soup you get in pretty much every asian restaurant, but I just didn't like it. It was a little bland so I would have added more than just the one seasoning packet and it came out really thick and I had to add another cup of water. (Which in hindsight is probably the reason it was bland.) Maybe it was meant to be that thick but honestly there was no broth left it was more of a stew.
Pepperoni Pizza Bread:
I took some french bread, cut it in half, covered it in Preggo red sauce, put some pepperoni and cheese on it, and stuck it in the oven. Honestly it would have worked fine if I hadn't put it with Egg Drop Soup and burned it. I think my oven has a personal vendetta against Pizza. Every time I try to make it in there, it burns. It was only in the oven for like 10 minutes so I must have had the oven on too high. Sigh, I'll never know how to work that oven. Good for college students but don't make for a family. Don't do it.
Friday: Salmon Fest
This was fun! For $15 dollars a plate (and after a huge line) the Payson firefighters dish up heaping plates of corn, potato, colsalaw, cookies, water, and fresh Alaska Salmon. And when I say heaping, I do mean heaping. I've heard from my family that the fish is wonderful! It falls right off the skin and is well seasoned. They give you lemon juice and tartar sauce for it too. I did try 3 whole bites of my portion before handing it off to family. I try a little more each year but I can't seem to get past the fishy taste (which everyone else denies is there) and the grain of the fish muscle. Ask Andrew, the texture really means a lot to me. It was a wonderful break for Andrew and I (we didn't even have to wait in line thanks to awesome family . . . and being late) and the belly dancing was good. (A bit of an inside joke there. When I went with Andrew's family last year, there was a family of belly dancers performing. Which is cool except for the poor poor boy about Caiden's age who was up there belly dancing with the girls and boy did he have the belly to dance with. The other boys got swords, but obviously he hadn't graduated to being cool like that.)
Saturday: Slow Cooker French Dip
Ahh, we just ate this and it was really good. Andrew LOVED it but I have a few critiques.
Found on this website: http://bakingbites.com/2008/02/slow-cooker-french-dip-sandwich/
approx 3 1/2 lbs beef chuck roast
16-oz. beef broth (1 1/2 cans)
1 10.5-oz. can condensed French onion soup
6-oz red wine
1 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper, to taste
4-6 French rolls
sliced provolone cheese, optional
Trim excess fat off of beef roast and season meat all over with salt and pepper.
Pour beef broth, condensed French onion soup, red wine and garlic powder into slow cooker and place beef roast into liquid. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Take beef out and rest it, covered with aluminum foil, for about 15 minutes. Slice beef and return to slow cooker on low or very low for 30 minutes. Lightly toast the bread and evenly distribute cheese between rolls, if using. Divide beef onto rolls and spoon the beef juicer small bowls and eat everything while it is hot. Serve each sandwich with its own dip. Serves 4-6.
Well, one obvious change is I left out the red wine. I checked before hand to see if I needed to substitute something for it and in the end I opted for dumping the rest of the can of beef broth in. I mean, what am I going to do with half a can of left over beef broth anyway? Don't skimp on the cheese! It goes really well with the whole meal. Overall, super good. The hardest part of the whole meal was slicing the meat. I don't know if it's the cut of meat the lady recommended (I know nothing about that) but the grain of the meat made it really hard to cut into slices and in the end I just ended up cutting it into chunks. Still, the meat really melted in our mouths and the whole sandwich was good enough for Andrew to brag to his work team about it. (*success*) Something still tasted a bit off . . . too salty? Missing a spice? I'm not even sure what I'm comparing it to. Do we have a family recipe I'm used to? Never mind the recommendations - the whole thing was really good and you should definitely try it!
An afterthought:
For those of you who haven't seen it yet, I've gotten a bit creative with paint strips and decorating.
It's my little Tulip Garden! The paint strips came in those leaf shapes so it was pretty simple to put this up. I just used some blue tape to put it up that way it wouldn't damage the paint. 10 points to whoever can figure out what I was trying to make with the blue along the baseboard!
Cooking Websites
So I recently realized that although my cooking board on Pinterest is virtually its own online untried cookbook, I have barely scratched the surface of the potential. So I went through and found all of the websites that I have been linking from. The result: a huge list of online cookbooks that I can use for future reference. Now, some of them I'm positive you've heard of. Things like AllRecipes.com and The Food Network. Others, I'm equally positive you've never heard of. I just wanted to share all of my newfound sites and maybe offer you some other sites to go to when you want to try something new.
- FoodGawker
- Pink Pistachio
- Baking Bites
- Fo' Reals Mom
- The Kitchn
- Take a Megabite
- Brown Eyed Baker
- Delish
- Martha Stewart
- Adventures in Cooking
- Taste of Home
- The Little Kitchen
- Punchfork
- Half Baked
- Betty Crocker
- Sing For Your Supper
- Family Fresh Cooking
- Closet Cooking
- 365 Days of Slow Cooking
- Baking Obsession
- Zen Can Cook
- Weelicious
- The Yummy Life
- Skinny Chef
- Just Cook Already
- The Pampered Chef
- My Kitchen Addiction
- My Mama's Best Recipes
- MyRecipes
I hope you enjoy these websites as much as I do. I love trying new stuff! Speaking of which, if you have favorite recipes send them my way! I'd love to try them out!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)