Domesticating? How about Creating?

So of course as usual I have not been on for awhile and I have a TON of catching up to do. Well it isn't happening today :)  But since I am all about having my camera in my hand at all times lately I wanted to share a little of my creativity 

The heart is what caught my eye but then (because I learned how to take my camera focus out of auto and into manual) I was able to get the detailed web below... 

Trip to the East Coast...

In the winter Eric and I planned a trip to go back east for a friends wedding in Philly and to seemy family in Upstate NY. Unfortunately my grandmother passed during that time and sincewe were unable to make it to the wake and there were problems at the cemetery, Gram wasn't able to be buried. We were able to be there when she was laid torest and I am so grateful to havebeen able to do this with my family.

The first part of the trip started in Philly withour friend Lou (one of Eric's college buddies) and based on the photos it looks as if we just ate and drank the 2 days away. I have no pictures ofthe wedding but it was BEAUTIFUL!!

Then we headed to NY on Sunday to see my family and along with having the seriousness of my grandmothers burial we had a cookout and saw family that I haven't seen in 6 years. Aunt Joanne, Uncle Paul, Paula and her girls Caitlin and Marissa. I'm not sure how other siblings are but I have a feeling that my siblings and I will never grow up when we are around each other... I really hope that we don't.

Summer TV

The only things I have been watching are The Voice and Kate Plus 8

Being such a BIG fan of American Idol "The Voice" is the next bext thing however doesn't really compare. I am a big fan of Blake Shelton and his 2 girls are too sweet. Xania, I'm not sure that she has the best chance to win but I love how Blake is like her big brother and what a unique voice-

Dia Frampton has a very sweet voice and I think she can win- I only care about Team Blake

Other than that I think the show is kind of lame and will not take over American Idol unless AI goes off the air.

Kate Plus 8 is also pretty LAME... Summer TV stinks so I should just stick to reading - I think I will going forward. My thoughts are she looks GREAT, I wish I was as tan and toned as her, maybe after I produce a few little ones. SHe really needs to loosen up though, she is int he public eye eno9ugh that she should feel comfotable by now and not come off as such a bitch. She needs to learn how to shake hands as a professional and not as a flaky bimbo. Be strong and confident if you are going to go around speaking to people. Just my 2 cents, she should really watch herself on these shows and be more aware of her facial emotions. (Not sure how to say that)-

Dehydrating Veges...

E and I have had a few things going on in the last few months... So now that things have calmed down over the last few weeks we have been traveling which brings bad eating and drinking habits and well... lack of proper exercise in my world. I've gained 7 lbs and am not doing muchto lose it :(

On a recent trip to the East Coast while at a rest stop in NY I paid $4.00 for a ziplock baggie of dryed veges... The things we spend money on while traveling.

Prior to our trip E unpacked the dehydrater that we received as a wedding gift 2 years ago from my brother and made his first batch of beef jerky (from what I hear it was pretty good). Today I headed over to the Farmers market and picked up $16.00 worth of veges (photo below)and am hoping to make a few healthy snacks for us for the next week or so. I'm a huge fan of hummus so I am really looking forward to an alternative to bread and tortilla chips.

Beets: have to be steamed

http://www.howtogardenadvice.com/harvesting/how_to_dehydrate_dry_vegetables.html#dry_beets

Not normally my root of choice but I think they were in the package and they tasted all right dried out with a little bit of salt.

Carrots: peel cut into 1/4" slices and dehydrate (16 hrs) seems like such a long time and I do NOT have patience...

Green beans- these need to be blanched for 4 minutes and then an ice bath to stop the cooking

Lets just say the carrots and beans didn't make it... I'm not sure what I did wrong but I will need a little more practice.

Squash (green) peel and cut in 1/4" slices-

I ran out of room and these take hours so hopefully I will have the energy tomorrow to finish my mix-

The only veges that I could salvage were the beets and the squash. I ate the squash but can't eat the beets because they still taste like... BEETs...

Update on Reading..

The latest book I read was "Heart of the Matter" by Emily Griffin

What I find funny about any book I read is that I dream about them while I am in the process of reading them and up to a week after. So my poor husband has to hear about my dreams of him cheating. This book is good and such an EASY read as are all of her books.

A quick story though on my dreams and cheating.. On our 1 month Wedding Anniversary I wake up after having the WORST dream, my husband cheated on me ... well he comes in in the morning to wake me being all sweet and it was so real that I said "If you ever cheat we are done" (He was like, "huh?" ) Well, I know that I have an amazing guy and the reason I was having these dreams is that I had insecurities and don't ever want to lose him. Every 2 months I had a similar dream and one morning I woke up, rolled over and said, "Now you're a POLYGAMIST"... the next day "Big Love" (an HBO SERIES) shows up from Netflix... my husband was so quick on his feet that I thought maybe he had ordered it and then I dreamed it and we were somehow reading each others thoughts... anyway, we were hooked on the series, but boy do I NEVER want to be a polygamist I couldn't share him :)... SO now I read these books and give him a book report and he thinks I should read more educational pieces... This weekend marks our 2nd wedding anniversary... YAY!!

April Update- mom came to visit!

It was a pretty low-key week since I don't have any vacation time and to be honest I also wasn't feeling well.. so we were able to do a few activities and mom was able to see a few of her old friends a success! This is a picture form the Farmers Market in Huntington Beach- strawberries and crepes... so GOOD!!!

another March update -

So after going through photos of the last few months- (the only way I remember what happened in my life) I see that we went to Denver to watch little cousin Andrews Lacrosse game A, J, J & D (I don't have any pics of J & D and only 1 of myself )... Jeff Eldridge also stopped by with little Emmaline so SWEET---here are a few photos of the weekend..

Our boy # 9

Court andBret

Iwish this wasn't blurry cuz its so cute!

John and his holster... I think having this thing on for a brief minute was what got me all caught up in security on my way home... they found explosive materials on my hands... scary but funny that I forgot until I saw this picture ... lol

the game was great, the boys didn't win but as you can see fun was had by all!

wow.. where did the time go?

So I just found a post from March that I never posted and it looks like I was working a lot and wanted to tune it down a bit and cook 3 meals a week for my husband.. I have to say that did not happen during the month of March, April or May...

So here we are May 31st, 3 days after my 32nd birthday and I am feeling at peace, Eric took me away on a surprise weekend to Seattle on Friday afternoon and we returned yesterday late afternoon to a quiet house and E packed up his bags again this morning and headed to Phoenix for the night... I have to say I really don't like when he leaves but I do get to watch WHATEVER I want AND he earns some great airline and hotel miles that we get to enjoy like we did this past weekend :) SO I pick and choose my battles. Someday we will look back on these days and say remember when?

I will quickly update you on March- a low date was the 27th when my grandmother passed away. She was 91.5 years old and lived a very full life, 5 daughters, 13 grandchildren, 18 grandchildren and a number of furry grand-animals. She was a really sweet lady and I will always remember where I get my sweet-tooth from, my blue eyes (although I think hers were much lighter and prettier than mine), my will to always push harder. Gram grew up like most of our grandparents int he depression so growing up she still told me I was poor... I thought well, I don't want to be poor so I guess I'll just work hard and change that... Over the years of me traveling and working really hard to make money, I also had a lot of time to call gram while traveling and driving from place to place. I would tell here where I had been and what I had seen and she would always say, enjoy, keep traveling and take pictures... I like to take pictures of trees, she didn't like those shots :) Always asking why are there so many pictures of trees? http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dailygazette/obituary.aspx?n=jean-wilson&pid=149765280

The day she passed I was in CA and due to circumstances beyond my control I was unable to get home to the mass and wake, so I did what I could to stay busy and keep my mind at ease- I sewed together a completely new bedroom set... E helped me with the headboard, and it took me forever to get the curtains right (they still need to be a little longer) but they look nice and the room is a bit brighter for spring/summer. So I think maybe she gave me the strength in her own way to get me through that day.

I do look forward to June 20th when I will be home again with my family and we have her memorial and burial. It will be great to be together to remember all of the good times.

Reading List

So far for the goal of reading 12 books this year I have read 2- The Help and The Friday Night Knitting Club... OMG I hope I enjoy the next 10 as I have these 2 (at this rate I may read 24 this year!!) I couldn't put either of them down! I'm not going to go into a book review but they were both very touching-

Next on the list from my mothers library is......The Book Club

10/28/2011
Well, apparently I have fallen off the reading bandwagon this year and can only think of (2) books recently that I have read... 

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See and Sweet Grass by Mary Alice Monroe

To start Sweet grass was a going-out-of-business find at Borders and for some reason think that Shanghai Girls was the same reason for the pick.  Either way, both great reads. 

Sweet Grass was a little slow going for me, but probably because I have had a lot going on and well reading wasn't my main priority.  Once I got into it though, it was one that couldn't be put down.. I read it on a recent trip back east to see my family.  Based in the 50's and today has an amazing twist that makes you NOT want to put the book down.  It is really interesting to me how the older generations always make themselves out to have been such angels in their day.  It makes me happy that I am an open book (whether good or bad) what you see is what you get.  It upsets me how many stories you hear about teenage pregnancy, and how they "took care of it",  hid who the father really was and or just had the teenager sent away and the child up for adoption.  I think that our future children will respect us more knowing that yes, we are not in fact PERFECT.  No one is and never will be.  Make mistakes, that is how we learn and there is no reason to cover it up... its never really covered up and will come out in the end... after you pass we will find out.  Tell us now, let us understand how you became the person you are today and not have to figure it out later... If you read this book you will understand why I just went on a rant. 

Shanghai Girls was one that I couldn't put down the minute I picked it up.  Walking  through the airport, not paying a bit of attention to those around me... that is a good book :) This really put perspective on how bad things were in Shanghai (well in the world) back in the 30's and how hard it was to get into the US during that time.  Amazing how many "paper" marriages and "paper" babies there were and how people could manipulate the system so easily.  

While reading these (2) books traveling I had more than one person mention that i was the first "young" person they had seen reading a "book" and not a "Kindle".  I personally like the feel and smell of the good ol' paperback. 

balance..

Not going so well for this not quite so "domesticated" chick...

So since my last blog I have not sewn a darn thing, I've traveled to NY to see my family for a long weekend, rehung the racks in my rental closet, cooked a few impromptu meals, baked a lemon pound cake for my husband, celebrated our dog Elroy's 5th BIRTHDAY by taking a quick trip to the dog park, and started to take a yoga class, sold 4 elevators at (my FT job) and well I feel a just a wee bit overwhelmed with life...

I try to do do do and be perfect and one of these days I will realize I can't do everything... in the meantime this is what I have accomplished since my last post...

Since I had not been home to NY to visit my family in over a year I decided that this was probably the best time to do it, MLK Weekend. My 91 year old gram is not doing verywellheath wise and besides that I missed everyone. Here are a few photos from my trip, what a FUN trip it was!

DIYR (Do-it yourself renter)

Clothes not fitting properly in your closet? Maybe your rods aren't hung properly. Rather than dealing with my clothes getting caught every morning I decided to take matters into my own hands and rehung my rods to my satisfaction:

Issue # 1 clothes getting caught and closet not closing properly-

the reason was that when the DIYHO (Do it yourself homeowner) hung these closet organizers he centered them in the closet and NOT with the tracks that the doors were hung on.

as you can see the center for where the hanger was and the edge of the track, then add a shirt to this and it is not gong to work...

I do not have my "after" photos uploaded but the closet doors now shut perfectly and I only had to move them in about an inch on both sides on all 3 rods that were previously hung-

Tools required:

Drill

Drill bit

drywall plastic things for the screws

measuring tape

level

The Pound cake was a nice stress reliever using fresh lemons from our rental lemon/lime tree, when it called for lemon extract I used lemon juice (it turned out just fine and had a very fresh flavor).

Too good to not share the recipe, I can not find it online so here we go:

Very Lemon Bread

1/3 cup butter, melted

1 cup sugar

3 tablespoons lemon extract

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup milk

2 tablespoons freshly grated lemon peel

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Lemon Glaze

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1/2 cup sugar

**In large bowl, mix butter with sugar, lemon extract and eggs. In separate bowl, sift flour with baking powder and salt. To butter mixture, add flour mixture alternately with milk, stirring just enough to blend. Fold in lemon peel and pecans. Pour batter into greased and floured 9x5-inch loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove bread from pan and with a wooden pick poke holes of 1-inch intervals on all sides. While loaf is still warm, drizzle lemon glaze mixture over top and sides. Wrap in foil and store for 1 day before slicing to serve.**

On the other hand work for the girl who is "not going to put work first" is great! In my new career I sell residential elevators, I LOVE it but I lose sleep over the little details. Little details are really the most important of my job. I've been told its just because I am new, but to be honest I have always been this way. Waking up in the middle of the night when I made pizzas, was a bagger, cashier, bank teller, selling advertising, etc. So I have taken up yoga as of this week, I've gone twice and to be honest it is so great when you reach that place of total relaxation.