Two in one.

Well, while I was attempting to post yesterday blogger died! Here is yesterday's post:

Tomorrows another day

and I'm thirsty anyway

So bring on the rain.

It's raining like magic.

It's falling like starlight.

It's raining like magic.

It's raining life!

Well those are two of my favorite rain songs, in honor of this little rainstorm we got today. I have always loved summer rain, but now that we are once again in home with no air conditioning this rain is a particularly welcome guest. Our windows sit directly over the driveway so it doesn't really cool down enough here at night. The lowest I could get it down to last night was 77degrees. However tonight's rain has cooled off the cement and now with the fans on and windows open the thermometer is dropping!

Also I got a interview today! I think it went well. It was a little worry some though because of all the applicants. My interview was at 1:30, I think they had been interviewing since 8, and there was still a long line after me. We'll see if they invite me back for a 2nd interview. Cross your fingers for me.

Today's Post:

I got an email today saying: "Come on back!" Got the second interview at 2:30 on Wednesday! Wish me luck!

Yes! the correct answer is yes!

Its been a weird June. Richard is back on nights. My brother's are back in California with no cell reception. My mom moved to a place in Canada with no phone service at all yet and unreliable internet. I've been repeatedly rejected (or just plain ignored) for job after job even with a bachelors degree. I applied for a passport card and that was rejected too. Evidently the birth certificate I have is the wrong type. The right type is somewhere in a box in Canada. All I seem to accomplish each week make the house look nice once or twice and going to work 3 times a week for a few hours at my daycare job that I am totally burnt out on. I try searching for more job openings. It always starts out hopeful:

Yep I've got that degree

Yep I'm great with that software

Yep I've used that machinery

Yep I've got training in that field

on and on down the list I nail every requirement. Then all my excitement whooshes out of me as I read the very last sentence: "Applicants with less than 5 years industry experience will NOT be considered."

These circumstances have left me with little to no motivation.

Finally I just give up and I just waste time flipping through late night television waiting for Richard to get off work. This was my June. I had no real sleep schedule, I felt completely alone in the universe and depression was running rampant.

However, this is NOT a sob post! This is a post about the solution!

This last week everything changed and it changed because I said YES.

I forget when I'm being self pitying that I have friends. And not just any friends I have AWESOME friends. Friends who have been asking me to do things with them for 4 years but I have been too busy to take them up on the offer. Once I got free time though I forgot to change my answer from no to yes. Until now.

Last week I chose to say YES to:

Going for a walk

Going tanning

Taking a Zumba class

Watching Tangled in the park

Going to see the Flying Ninjas

Getting a free massage

Going to the hospital and holding my new born niece

Going dancing

It was amazing! The first two always help me get out of my funk and are probably what helped me say YES to the rest. I'm going to write about each of the others individually because they were all such a fun and unique adventure.

ZUMBA:

I've been telling my friend Abbie no to Zumba over and over. Her sister teaches it in the evenings. Finally on Weds I said, "OK, fine YES I'll go!" IT WAS SOOO MUCH FUN! It was yet another reminder of how horrifically out of shape I am. I seriously almost passed out. But it was such a great time. I haven't really listened to Spanish rap since I moved away from California and thats what this mostly was. A couple of girls doing hilarious dance moves together to Daddy Yankee and the like. It was a party! When class was over all the girls invited me to go to Club Hotel and go dancing with them on Saturday and I said YES!

TANGLED:

Well I don't have work on Thursday so I ended up just sleeping with Richard all day. We woke up just with enough time to get him dressed, fed, and out the door. And there I was again alone in my little basement. I started to feel so sad, lonely and disappointed with myself for another day wasted. Then I remembered Katie telling me that if I ever wanted a walking buddy to give her a call. So I did. Turns out that she and my nephew Josh were going to watch Tangled in the park. Would I come too?... YES! Yes I will come too! We got there early so we could claim good seats. We spent the next hour or so watching Josh play on the Jungle Jim. She has raised him so well. I had forgotten how much I loved hanging out with the two of them. When the movie finally started it had gotten a bit chilly. Katie and Josh shared their blanket with me :) It was so much fun to watch with Josh too because he is so dramatic! He loudly gasps when its a surprising moment, holds his breath when its suspenseful, full out belly laughs at the funny parts, and cheers the good guys on the whole time. What a blast! Katie says tomorrow there is a live performance of "The Flying Ninjas" Would Richard and I like to go? "YES!"

THE FLYING NINJAS:

Since I had slept all day Thursday I just stayed up all night and when Richard got home we hung out for a while and he decided to take me to work. We got back to bountiful around noon and since we had both been up for 20 hours we crashed. The alarm goes off at 4:30pm (the flying Ninja's start in Ogden at 6) Do we really want to get out of this cozy bed to go see this? YES! It took us a little while to get going so we didn't get there til 6:30 but its OK they do another show at 8 :) We wander around and it was like a mini fair from back home in California. There are a bunch of classic cars out to look at. Artists and vendors everywhere.

We track down Katie and Josh in the music tent. Josh is wailing away at a drum set. He looks like a little rocker! This drum set is his most favorite thing EVER. I don't know if I have ever seen a kid love any thing as much as Josh loved playing this drum. We have fun talking with Katie while he plays. After a little while another child comes who wants to play the drums too. Katie tells Josh "Ok we have to share now," I internally gimace... "Oh no! this can't be good. No kid who loves something as much as Josh loves this drum set is going to give it up with out a fight" But my grimacing was for nothing. Josh lets out a little sigh hops of the stool and walks up to the other kid with the sticks. Josh cant talk but he is a master at using body language and eye contact to communicate. He looked at the other child and very clearly expressed: "Look I LOVE this drum set, but see that lady over there? Well she's my mom and she says I need to share so I'm going to give you these drum sticks, but just know that I Really REALLY love this drum set!" With that he very gently and politely hands the sticks over, lets out another little sigh and then rushes the key board, his second favorite thing in the tent. I was such a proud Aunt! I wanted to be like " HEY EVERBODY! Look at what a good little boy he is! Ya he's my nephew!

Next we go watch this activity where they zip you in a giant beach ball and let you roll around like a hamster but on water. It was hilarious! Someday I am totally going to buy one!

We checked out the cars and walked through all the fun booths. We ran into Chantelle and Jeremy. Chantelle was SO pregnant! It was great fun to hang out with them too!

Have you ever had the Hawaiian Chicken vendor food? If not you MUST! The aroma is so incredible it takes all you will power to not lick the booth! Lucky for us they were at this shindig and we could hardy wait to to chow down on some! We weren't very hungry yet though and decided to save it til after the show.

The show was fun to watch. It was totally scary though because they were just amateurs doing terrifying stunts. They fell and slipped a lot and I was sure someone was going to wind up dead! They finished the show in one piece though so that was good!

We went to go get Hawaiian Chicken Dinner IT WAS AMAZING! Richard and both were completely stuffed with spit barbecued chicken, shredded pork, green salad and rice, for only $10 for the two of us!

After a delicious dinner we went and watched an artist named Matt Sorensen. He uses spray paint and fire to make incredible art in about 20 mins!

Here is his web site so you can see him in action:

http://www.mattsorensen.com/b1.php

Champagne Super Nova (5 down) is really similar to the one we got to see him make. We stood mesmorized by his work for 30 mins easily but the burning paint fumes got too powerful for me to keep breathing. So we finally tore ourselves away from his amazing performance.

FREE MASSAGE:

One of the booths Friday was for Prince Bodyworks Inc. They were offering free massages. Even with as much as I love massages I never say yes to these. I have had bad back and or shoulder pain since I was 18. I was hurting so bad though that I decided to swallow my pride and say YES to a free diagnosis and massage. Turns out fascia in my shoulders have been shortened and it is pulling on certain muscles that have in turn been tensing other muscles etc etc. Anyways after 5 mins of this lady working on me I felt like a brand new human being! IT WAS SOOOO AMAZING to be pain free even just for a little while. Richard is about to get heath insurance and as soon as he does I'm going go get a full length treatment! I'm so excited!

OLIVIA KATE ANDERSON:

Chantelle had her baby around 4 on Saturday. She was 6lbs and 15 oz! This is a picture of her only a few hours after she was born.

Would we like to come visit them in the hospital? YES! Isnt she a cutie? Most newborns are kinda... well, you know... weird looking. But not Olivia! I think she was unusually cute for just being smushed through a birth canal. And you know how the mom of newborn usually looks like she's been run over by a truck? Not Chantelle! She was sitting up eating a sandwich looking all cute and perky. Holey smokes, I hope I look like that after I have babies! She was such a nice little baby and let me hold her for almost an hour without crying at all :) I even convinced Richard to hold her for a bit. It was totally cute :)

DANCING:

Later I'm going to write a full out post on this trip. I'm still processing a lot since this was my first 'Club' experience. I did have a great time though. I haven't gone dancing in sooo long and it was really fun to dress up and go out partying. I invented a really fun new hairstyle with Richards help. Its sort of fancy updo meets pretty in punk. I wish I had taken pictures. I will next time I do it. Also it made me SOOOO thankful for my big strong husband. He kept protecting me and my friends from all the creepers. There were so many! I don't think I would go to this particular club again but its a bit too much to delve into right now as this is already a HUGE post. I'll just leave it as I had a great time partying with my husband and friends :)

Well that's my week of YES! I'm excited to keep it up. For tonight though I'm just going to get the dishes and laundry done and apply for a new job opening I was emailed! Have a great week everybody!

My love hate post about shoes.

As a small child each year I would be issued a pair of hiking boots and a pair of unisex webbing sandals. I think there was a pair of dress shoes thrown in there for good luck occasionally. But, if it could be avoided, I wouldn't wear any of them. I had a nice layer leathery tough callused skin covering the bottom of each of my unusually small feet (I was still wearing a child's 13 in the 4th grade). Lawn, dirt, sidewalk, gravel driveway, lava rock, there was no terrain I couldn't handle. I only put shoes on when it got too cold or if we were going into town. Evidently there was some social objection to people who didn't wear shoes. I remember being so insulted when I was old enough to read the signs saying: No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service. What was wrong with these people, and their pasty white baby feet!

Now that I've been living in the city for the last 7 years I have lost my beloved hobbit feet and must be sorted in with the baby feet people *sob* However back to my story:

When I left for college I owned 5 pairs of shoes. 1 pair of each, church shoes, church sandals, casual guys sandals, snow boots, and skate shoes. I think the highest heel I had ever worn was 1" tops. My roomie Krista would let me teeter around in some of her's from time to time.They looked cute but they were such a pain to move around in. Only about .5% of the time would I ever wear them. The other 99.5% of the time I really feel like the evolution of shoes should be heading more in the direction of Keens or Vibrams:

I mean I wore custom Chucks to my own wedding:

However much to Eli's displeasure, Richard is slowly making a lady of me and heels make it to about 3% of my footwear these days. I am proud to say with several years of a little practice here and there I can actually walk in 4" heels! And I am happy I learned because come on how cute are these:

Occasionally I find myself looking at 5 or 6 inch heels thinking, "Wow I wish I could walk in those." But then I wonder, how high is too high? It is kind of a weird fashion anyway. Somewhat like earrings. I mean why is poking a hole in your body and threading a sparkly through it considered socially acceptable, let alone attractive? But just like I find earrings beautiful, I do like high heels. And just like one must wonder how many piercings is too many, one must also wonder how high is too high. While there definitely is a grey area here, the internet being the wonderful tool it is has provided us with the definition of TOO HIGH! This menacing device is referred to as a ballet heel:

Who on earth designed these!!! No human foot should be forced into this shape and expected to bear weight for an extended period of time! Whats upsetting is women are buying these and teetering around all over you tube! "Look I've been practicing daily for two years and I can almost walk in a straight line!" Sick and wrong...sick and wrong!

In the totally opposite direction I stumbled on this blog about going bare foot while I was researching pictures for this post. Its an interesting read I think.

http://barefootted.com/2007/05/tough-feet-preserved.html

Cute Cartoon

Got another bunch of texts again this morning telling me Sustainability Through Size was in the paper again this time it was accompanied by this little cartoon:

Hooray for Fondue!

For graduation I got a fondue pot and recipe book. Tonight was our first try with it. We made Parmesan Fondue with Pesto Swirl, and Hazelnut Chocolate Midnight. IT WAS AMAZING!

Here is the recipe for the first:

1lb cream cheese

2 cups half and half

1 1/2 cups freshly shredded Parmesan

Dash of Salt

1/2 cup pesto

Melt the cream cheese in a double boiler or in heavy cast iron pot (thats what I've got). I used super low heat too.

Gently stir in the half and half until smooth and heated through. (this takes a long time)

Add the Parmesan and stir until it melts and thickens the fondue (this takes forever too lol)

Add just a tiny dash of salt

Transfer mixture to your fondue pot or just take your fondue pot from the stove to its heating devise.

Drop tablespoons of pesto over the top and swirl til beautiful!

Keep the pot on low heat so the Fondue stays warm but not hot.

I served ours with:

(I wish I remember the actual name) a hard sourdough garlic bread chopped into cubes and tossed in olive oil, a little garlic from my garlic grinder, and fresh chopped parsley, toasted under the broiler till just barely crispy.

We barely steamed up some yellow squash, zucchini, and broccoli

We also had granny smith apples but they didn't really work with this particular fondue.

We cut the recipe in half since there are just the 2 of us. Even cut in half we probably still could have fed an additional 2 people. Absolutely delicious! We had to go sit for a bit and then go walk it off after eating so much I thought my stomach would explode! I was really happy with this recipe. It was flavorful without being over powering. Plus, as far as cheese fondues go, it was relatively inexpensive to make. Also, there was no wine or other spirits in it! It seems like 98% of the fondue recipes I have call for some form of liquor. I don't mind adding it since the alcohol cooks out but what I do mind is that unless its white wine (that I keep around for some of my chicken and fish recipes) I don't have any in our house. This means I have to spend 9 or more bucks on a whole huge bottle when I only need 1/4 cup or even less. Then the likelihood of me actually using it again is slim to none. That doesn't even start on the where do I store it in this tiny little apartment. So like I was saying, its really nice that this recipe is made of simple, affordable ingredients, and still tastes high quality. The texture was very nice as well. Here is what it looked like:

It would hardly be a fondue night without a dessert fondue. We went with a classic bittersweet chocolate fondue accented with hazelnut.

Here is the recipe for that:

1 cup heavy cream

Dash of salt

1 lb bitter sweet chocolate chopped (you can get this in the bins at WinCo in the little melties)

2 Tbs of Frangelico or hazelnut Torani syrup ( I have a SF hazelnut Torani so we used that)

3 Tbs Nutella

In sauce pan (or your fondue pot) heat the cream and salt over low heat until hot but not boiling

Gradually stir in the chocolate letting each addition melt before adding more. (I did about 1/4 cup at a time)

Stir in the syrup and Nutella.

Transfer to fondue pot on lowest setting. Turn off the heat if it starts to boil!

We ate ours with:

Granny Smith apples

Bananas

Strawberries

Pound cake cut into cubes and broiled til lightly crisped

Mini Macaroons

Doughnut holes

and

Coconut covered marshmallows

SOO yummy! It was just a hint of hazelnut though, so if I make it again, I may add more nutella and syrup. Also the bitter sweet melties are more expensive than the milk and dark chocolate melties for some weird reason. I would recommend buying milk and dark and just mixing them yourself to make your own custom bittersweet melties. (As far as I can tell this is what the bitter sweet melties were) I would make mine just a little less bitter. I think little frozen cheese cake bites would have been awesome to dip in it as well, and I if i could find some I would want to have a little bowl of chopped hazelnuts to roll the dipped items in. We cut this one in half and we had left overs too!

Here it is:

Both of these recipes were my variations on Peggy Fallon recipes. She has some great ideas!

MMMM Mountainous Mandarin Pie

Today's Recipe is brought to you by the letter M.

Last week I tried a recipe for a multi level lemon pie ... it went terribly wrong. Richard was super nice and insisted on eating it anyway. I threw away a slice everyday, though, to shorten his suffering. To redeem myself this week I decided to stick to one I know, and well I now have to sit down. My poor little belly is so swollen from licking fingers, beaters, and bowls. While I'm sitting here I might as well share it with you. Ladies and Gentlemen - Mountainous Mandarin Pie

Ingredients

• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
• 1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 cup thawed orange juice concentrate
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 2 drops yellow food coloring, optional
• 1 drop red food coloring, optional
• 1 carton (8 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed
• 1 chocolate crumb crust (9 inches)
• 1 can (15 ounces) mandarin oranges, drained
• 1 ounce unsweetened chocolate
• 1 teaspoon shortening

Directions

• In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Beat in the milk, orange juice concentrate, sour cream and food coloring if desired until smooth. Fold in whipped topping. Spoon half into crust. Set eight mandarin orange segments aside. Arrange remaining oranges over filling. Top with remaining filling and reserved oranges.
• In a microwave, melt chocolate and shortening; stir until smooth. Cool slightly; drizzle over pie. Chill for at least 4 hours before serving. Yield: 6-8 servings.

Other musings while I'm waiting to de-bloat. What is it about sweetened condensed milk that is so amazing?! Today I caught myself licking the sticky, thick, sweet, dripping concoction off... the jagged and very sharp lid from the can! OH MY GOODNESS! I realized what I was doing and quickly set it down. 5 mins later there I am licking this lid again! AGH! What do they put in this stuff?! Ingredients: Whole milk, sugar. That's all? Really? No MSG? No addictive chemicals? No crack? Good thing I haven't found a recipe that only calls for a few teaspoons of the stuff otherwise you would turn on the news and hear:

Tonight's Top Story-

A young woman in Northern Utah was rushed to a local hospital after apparently overdosing on a common household ingredient. It all started when Abby Ronnow, an unemployed Weber graduate, came across a recipe that only called for a small portion of a can of sweetened condensed milk. She was found hours later passed out on her kitchen floor. "It was awful,"said husband Richard, "She was just lying there, a dumb grin on her face with what looked like tin can cuts on her tongue." .....

Oh More Tiny House!

We interviewed with this reporter before graduation and she decided to make an article of it :)

http://www.standard.net/topics/features/2011/06/10/little-house-block-three-wsu-students-design-small-affordable-green-homes

I thought she represented our project really well! There is a typo though. Our largest home was 1100 square feet. But overall I was VERY impressed with her article :)

All Hail Beetle!

First there was the bug. The original amazing! The peoples car!

Ever since I was a tiny little girl and saw the cute little profile with its tires rotting in my neighbor's field I just knew I was going to buy that someday!

Got a little older and they devloped the New Beetle:

Loved it. Bought the hot-wheels version and the book. But something wasn't quite right.

Too feminine maybe? Not to mention some mechanical issues. As I got older I came to the realization that this was not the bug for me. I've looked into getting an old classic one, but I really enjoy the modern features like air bags, a/c, cruise control. I started thinking about trying a mini cooper, or maybe a fiat 500. However I never was able to get that emotional connection that came from that old rusted profile.

2011 Super bowl commercial teasing us with the 21st century beetle:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NGN4J6F_vI

I awaited the release of some pictures, Would it live up to the VW legacy? Would it feel like a real bug? Here it is and I gotta say: I think they really out did themselves this time.

The bug rolls again!

Here is a little clip of how they made the commercial:

( yes they said that right, imported 3 tons of nature from NorCal )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVQSPXPIHGw

Mobile Devices

I just set up my blog to have a mobile application.

Now if you access it from your phone or iPod it should show up better. It's not working on mine but I think that's because mine isn't technically a smart phone. If any of you have a smart phone or iPod will you let me know if its working?

Thanks!

In need of some motivation?

Lets be honest, life seems to have these sections where everything just goes glum, nothing seems to work, and trying feels more and more like a waste of your time. Here is the remedy:

Take advice from from this little guy, Its all worth it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaIvk1cSyG8

Abby the Aunt

That sounds like title for a children's book:

Abby the Ant

An alphabet book for insect lovers

This, however, is a post about Abby the Aunt! When we got married I was lucky enough to inherit all of Richards cutie nieces and nephews. Add them to my roomie from college's little boy and I get to be an aunt for 8 great kidos! This is a post welcoming number 9 to this elite little group. Say hello to TJ Williams!

He arrived last Sunday at 6 lbs 15 oz. No amount of words can describe his cuteness! With a baby this adorable there's going to be a 3 week waiting list for who gets to hold him next. I wonder if being his aunt makes the wait list any shorter?

p.s. stay tuned for #10 coming this June/July :)

Can I just say I love the 1940's! Beautiful cars, beautiful clothes, beautiful shoes, beautiful men (yes Cary Grant I'm pointing to you!), beautiful hats and fascinators and last but not least beautiful hair! Over the last few years I've acquired enough items to officially have a 1940's outfit or two. So seeing how the job hunt is still dragging on, I still have plenty of free time. I decided tonight to get a collection of hairstyles together and test 'em out. I spent the last few hours watching tutorials, reading, and downloading pics.

I took my trusty laptop back to my mirror and began to work on bringing my 40's hair to life. 20 minutes later I emerge completely deflated and feeling quite blue. See, the trouble with all of the 40's hairstyles are they are intended for hair at most a few inches longer than shoulder length. My length of hair just doesn't apply. For the first time in my life I looked at my long hair critically.

Maybe hair this long isn't all its cracked up to be. Does hair this long just look weird? Maybe if I just took 6 to 8 inches off? The internal debate begins:

me -Wait, who am I kidding, I don't want to cut my hair!

critical me -Really? You like washing you hair for 20 mins? and taking 2 hours just to curl it?

me- No I really hate that part, but its ok because I like my long hair

critical me- Do you really like it this long or are you just used to it?

I do like it... I think...

You don't sound so sure..

I .. I am... I'm pretty sure..

Come on a few inches, it would still be long.

Well I don't know its just ... WAIT! Richard likes it this way! HA! take that critical me, I win!

Fine pull the Richard card! You may have won this time but I'll be back!

I sat back down and looked even harder for a cute 1940's hairstyle that could be done with two and a half feet of hair and still came up blank. Finally out of frustration I typed in "long blonde hair" to google image search and this is what popped up:

Awe! She's beautiful! I'm not sorry for my long hair! I LOVE my long hair! Who cares if I can't get an authentic 40's hairdo out of it. Forever and always Rapunzel I'll be :)