{Cooking} Nerd Alert

Excited about these bad boys coming to town soon. Thanks, Mom!!!! 

PS They won't match my kitchen and I don't care. Because. They're. BLUE. BLUE!!!

PPS  After writing this post, they arrived at my Mom's house!  One step closer to me!

PPPS  Apparently you can't put things surrounded by "<" and ">" because they get mistaken for HTML and Blogger just eats them.  Title fixed!

Picture Explosion!

Thank goodness I'm a photo-taking-fiend or else I would not know what I have done in the past few weeks!  Or maybe I would, but it wouldn't be as entertaining.  My world:

New bath towels and hand towels happened sometime in November.

Memories of the sickness...round 2 for this season.

Barefoot in mid-November...no big deal...

Someone has the middle initial pi.  SO JEALOUS.

One of my brilliant ideas.  Works like a charm!  (And it's festive...double win.)

Pink garbage truck!

Tackled these bad boys on the 1st of December!  But now they're back...le sigh.

Okay, I guess those were mums behind the garage.

December has been and will be pretty wild.  This is just my work calendar.  (Family/friends birthdays not listed...)

Pie my coworkers and I won for winning the Halloween Costume Contest.  It was pretty good!

Same coworkers plus more decided to decorate for a decoration contest.  These are "post-it" sized squares that we taped to our windows.  I designed the Kwanzaa candles, penguin, and dreidel.  And I actually put up most of the penguin and half of the dreidel.  Festive to the max!

Oops, I lied...NOW it's festive to the max!  My "ugly/tacky Christmas sweater" submission.  It lost.  :-(  Ah well, I still got lots of remarks on it and showed it off around campus as our company broke into groups and did a campus-wide scavenger hunt....which my group won!!!!!  (Yay, $5 Starbucks gift card!)  PS, I sewed this after designing it.  I literally searched Google for visual ideas after thinking that this is what I wanted to do and I found zero.  None.  That is very rare for Google.  I think this was a true original!

Alright!  Seeing as the costume thing just happened today, I think I'm caught up!  See you next time!

A Collection of Photo Stories

This is poo.  It landed right in my line of sight as I was driving to work last Tuesday.  This was one day after a bird pooped on my arm as I drove my car through a drive-thru.  Wednesday was a very uneasy day, but it was uneventful.

Salad WIN.

Wet, yet happy dog.

Wet, yet not so happy dog.

Potluck at work!  I was the only one that put a sign on my dish...kinda awkward, but it went over well!

This classy mom cut me off in traffic, so I got to enjoy her car art. Right above "Tahoe", is a pink magnet that used to say Suck Feisures....but she corrected that.  You can't read the magnet to the left of her plate, but it says something about being a smart mom.  Her 4 children (and either one of them is dead or a 5th is dead) must be so proud!  I am not a mom, but I can assure you that my children would not be allowed anywhere in or NEAR this tackymobile.

These precious children were standing in the middle of our yard playing their Gameboys (or whatever the new hot thing is right now...I have no idea...) when I got home from work.  They watched me pull into my garage, shut my car off, and come talk to them.  "You guys waiting on someone to come pick you up?"  "No."  ...  .... "So, you're just not going home yet?"  "Umm...uh...*mumbling*" ... "Well, okay then."  I shut the garage door, let the dogs outside and check on them several times.  They stayed in the yard playing their games for about 5 more minutes before the started to leave, as pictured.  Kids need their parents' phone numbers sewn into their shirts.  I definitely could have used a complaint line.  Who raises kids to do this!??!

Thought Soup

I'm going to coin that...anyway, I would like to share my soup with you:

I'm thinking about not voting for President.  I do not like either candidate for the major parties and I don't think our state allows us to vote for any other than them (BTW, there are more than 2 people running...look it up.  You can start here to get the names.  I haven't actually looked up what their platforms are, so I may not even vote for one of them even if they were on the ballot...ha). 

I just found out that my upcoming sleep study costs over $4000 without insurance.  That sure took the sting out of the $250 that I will have to pay (my deductible, apparently).

I need to find a way to make more money.  I want to be chipping away more at our debt.

I wish thinking about losing weight didn't make me hungry(ier).  Husband wants to try Insanity, but I was told that you basically need to be in P90X shape to even start Insanity.  Awesome.  And diets...I have never been on one and don't want to.  I've seen how they fail and I know they would fail for me, too.  I want to focus on portion control and eating the right amount at the right time of day, not cutting certain food/drinks out of my life completely.  I like salad, but to make your own you have to buy so much stuff and I am unable to eat it all quickly enough before it goes bad.

I would kind of like to start walking our neighborhood, but I don't feel like that's a safe idea.  I feel like our neighborhood is safe, but then I remember it's Tulsa and bad stuff can happen even in good neighborhoods.

Pretty sure we have a dead squirrel in the attic.  It smells like it, at least.  It's so bad.  I'd love to go get it out of there so it stops smelling, but Jon thinks (and probably rightfully so) that opening the door to the attic will just release the smell into the garage and into the house directly.  I wish I knew how long the smell will last.  It might be worth 2 days of gut-wrenching gross as opposed to 3 weeks of musty, light spray of death.  Sorry.  I hope you aren't reading this over lunch.

Where do adults meet friends?  I don't feel like I have many in town and I don't really know where to meet people without being weird.  I had lots of friends in college, then they all moved away (and I guess I did, too).  I like talking to them and keeping up, but sometimes I just want someone to go to dinner with me.  Coworkers are always weird because you spend all day with them, so you probably don't really want to hang out with them at night.  I feel alienated because I don't have kids, so all of my friends with kids have different schedules and needs than I do.  And I have the dogs, so I'm not exactly living fancy free either.  And while I have Jon, we work very different hours than each other, so "double dates" or whatever aren't really an option, either.  PLEASE NOTE that I do NOT wish I wasn't married, didn't have our dogs, or that my friends were single and/or without children.  I don't want our family to be an island - I would like to be in a chain of islands.  :^)

Speaking of children - we still aren't ready for them.  I had thought it was because we didn't feel financial secure enough for them (and I still feel this way), but I was recently told that kids don't really change anything.  If you had $20 left in your bank before, you'll have $20 left in your bank after.  And though we haven't had children, we have felt this effect in our lives already, too.  The more money you make, the more you spend.  This simple statement made me realize that it's not just the money part keeping us from having kids right now.  We both just don't want them right now.  And maybe it turns out that we don't have kids.  I think I might be okay with that.  Disclaimer #2:  These are all "mights" and "maybes" right now.  Apparently these are strong words, so don't take it that we are saying we will absolutely never ever ever have kids....that's not what I'm saying.  Do know that we are not attempting to multiply anytime soon, though.  I think everyone knows that, though, and that's not the tear-inducing statement...we won't go there unless we decide for 100% sure.

Mmmm...that was some good soup, wasn't it?  All gone!

Imperfection

I hate that I continually fail at life, but all I can do is keep trying.  I often re-evaluate my life and see what changes need to happen.  That part is easy.  The actual change is the hard part.  I got a strange motivation that I wasn't looking for this morning at work.  On an evaluation, a trainer asked his class, "What will you do with the time you have been given?"  Most evaluation responses are job focused and rather short, so the sheer length of this one in particular caught my eye.  Then I read it: "I will help others, be the best husband and father I can be, and also have faith in my Lord.  I will learn from my struggles and others, and I will encourage myself and others to pray every day.  Learning my purpose is still ongoing, but I'm willing to take this time I have and listen, understand, and help."  I'm not the only person in the world that keeps failing and having to regroup.  Thank goodness.  I was so wrapped up in failing that I forgot what the "solution" would be - perfection.  If only I never screwed up again...that would be cool.  I needed a reminder today that I'm just human - wasn't sure if anybody else needed that reminder, too, so here it is, just in case.

Setting smaller, more attainable goals is my new goal.

I killed it today

*I woke up.
*I made breakfast (in a convenient, to-go style).
*I worked from 10-3.
*At 3pm, I came home, half fed the dogs, fed myself.
*Then I left for the tag agency.
*Forgot my purse...turned around....
*Then I re-left for the tag agency.
*There, I paid tag/tax/title for the Mini Cooper and I renewed the Mazda tag.  My quote from the dealership was about $150 shy of what the cost really was...letting that go....

Please never ask any questions about this picture.  It is evil in a way I can never explain with words.

*I then delived the new real tag to Jon at TU.
*Then it was haircut time!!!

So loooooong!

Kinda diggin' it!



-Side note: OMG photos are killing me tonight!!!!!!  I am about to strangle you, Blogger!!!

*After haircut, I went grocery shopping and got some good deals and pretty much stocked the kitchen.



*Then I came home.

*Then, it was 6pm.  Boom.

*Doing laundry and other like fun stuff now!





On the other side of the leaf

With the purchase of a new car came the turning over of a new leaf.  The bulk of our money went to eating out because we didn't have the time or energy to cook at home.  So I am proud to say that we are changing that.  We aren't completely there yet, but we are making leaps and bounds.  I am by no means comfortable in the kitchen, but I am trying.  All this to say that I am now eating at home for most of my meals (in fact, I think Jon and I mostly eat out now to socialize...I don't really remember the last time we ate out alone) and I feel better about that.  I feel like it is healthier and I physically feel better most of the time now.  Okay, well, I've been sick with a cold/flu/black plague this past week, but even then I could tell that my body felt more clear eating the stuff we made other than eating out.  I plan to dive deeper into this cooking thing and even into healthier cooking options.  Maybe the "plan a menu for each week" thing needs to happen.  It's overwhelming for me to go into the kitchen and try to pull a meal out of thin air based upon what we have.  *Seriously thinks about this plan a week thing...*  Yes, I do believe this needs to happen.  However, I won't have to cook every night because we will have leftovers.  Yes, this is my plan developing even as I type!  *back burner*  Okay...all that to say that here was my morning:

Jon requested that I make sure he is awake at 6:30am, so this is when I woke up.  I let the dogs out (it was me...now let the song die...), fed them, blah blah.  I didn't really need to be at work until 10am, and I can get there in like 10 minutes, so I really didn't need to be up until about 9am at the earliest.  This left time for me to pay bills.  I paid the gas bill, a student loan bill, our first car payment, and I even paid our phone bill even though we haven't even received it in the mail yet!  Then, I wrote Pikepass an e-mail about how to pay for the couple of times that Jon went through and the Pikepass didn't pick up (he has a paper tag right now AND the Pikepass is not secured to the window yet), complete with picture of his tag!  Then, I wondered if you would be able to renew your tag online and found that you could (I haven't received the little card in the mail yet, so I'm starting to get nervous).  I was almost done when I realized that they were adding an "online fee."  I am supposed to pay you for me doing most of the work?  No.  I will come bother you in person.  Besides, we have to do that whole title thing for Jon's car and I'm pretty sure you can't do that online, so I will have to go in there anyway.  So, I backed out on paying that online.  Then, I went and cooked myself breakfast after Jon left (he didn't want breakfast), got ready, pulled the trash can in from outside, and made it to work by 10am!  Granted, I only cooked an egg and put waffles in the toaster, but it's more than I used to do!   So, that was my morning.  I felt pretty accomplished after it.

A Few of My Favorite Things (that happened today/this morning)

-Surprise payday!
-Helping people at something you're good at
-Knowing that the previous bullet point is grammatically incorrect, but knowing I'll sound like a freak if I change it :^P
-Feeling accomplished
-Lunch with Husband
-It's chilly outside right now!!!!
-Being able to rightfully think, "I told you so"
-Being able to say, "No, I made other plans"
-Coming home to a non-"Pukey Monster Was Here" cage.
-Going to bed early
-Husband going to bed early
-(After) midnight snacks

Now, I could list out all the things that weren't my favorite things today, but it would involve names of people that could potentially find this blog. So, I'll skip that part. And why write a drag post when I am actually happy right now?!  Now to add another favorite: Going back to sleep and sleeping deep. :^)

Makin' mayonnaise.

Yeah, you read that right.  Mother-in-law and I MADE mayo today...out of necessity...well, we thought.  There's no reason to give you the details on why we made the mayo, but I thought I might share my findings with you.  To make 2 cups of mayo, you need: 2 cups of some oil (we used olive oil), 2 egg YOLKS (not whites, surprisingly), and then a pinch and dash of these - dry mustard (never heard of until today...), salt, cayenne, paprika, vinegar, and water.  And maybe I'm forgetting some other stuff - not sure.  With ours, we didn't have cayenne so we used hot Louisiana Hot Sauce, and I'm pretty sure we used more olive oil than we were supposed to and we actually added another egg and all 3 egg whites.  So, ours wasn't perfect, but it was pretty clear what it was supposed to be.  And after all of this, we didn't eat the potato salad tonight (why we made the mayo), so we could have just bought some in town.  Hilarious!

Additionally, I worked a little more on the site today, adding a few more tags and working on getting the pictures from webs onto here.  Baby steps!  After tomorrow, Jon will have been at the new job for a week, so maybe I'll weigh in a bit about that.  Goodnight!

Recent Life

As usual, it's been awhile. I had some time on my hands and after seeing the last post was in April, I figured enough small events have passed that I can update. My friend Lyndsey had her baby on May 16th (a day before her own birthday!) and my friend Sony had her baby on June 30th (many days before her own birthday...haha). I still have yet to meet either of them, but they are both cute and we'll meet soon. I'm missing my friend Sarah's baby shower today (due October 13th...my stepdad's birthday!) and I'm sad about that. Lyndsey's little sister is officially engaged and getting married in August...in Vegas! And I guess Carrie Underwood is getting married today, too. (I only say that because people I went to church with actually grew up with her so I was kinda wondering if they are going to her wedding. Oh, and when my brother was born, Mom shared the room with Carrie Underwood's mom and Carrie...small world.) A friend from years ago is also getting married today. Joe and Miranda (Jon's brother and his wife) are in town so we are seeing them every few days and will tonight, too. My cousin Mallory's wedding is coming up soon in October. We're fast approaching my first year anniversary of Jon and I's wedding, my phone, and my job (Pretty handy to cover so many milestones at once. ;^P). Fourth of July came and went and the weather lately has been crazy weird. My dogs learned the difference between a 2 yr old toddler and everyone else they've ever come in contact with. I met my dad's new girlfriend and my brother's new(ish) girlfriend. I write letters to my nephew and niece when I get the chance (and when I get letters from them). I've tried and am okay with asparagus, beets, and some other "odd" vegetables that I never thought I'd like. My husband and I still tell each other that we love each other at least 20 times a day. I've made a new resolution at work and I'm trying to stick to it. I don't tend to sleep well at night. I tear up when I see a stray dog out in the country. I teared up yesterday after having to pass up corgies for sale. But then I felt better because I'd rather rescue a dog without a home than buy a puppy that was bred. That stupid Humane Animals Shelter commercial or whatever it's for always makes me change the channel and if I don't catch it in time, I tear up. My husband puts up with me watching Ghost Whisperer so he can watch Criminal Minds (which I put up with). My car now has over 100,000 miles on it, which makes me sad, but you can't tell by the way she runs. Yesterday, I found a caterpillar and my husband and I spent 10 minutes or more playing with it before releasing it back into the "wild".
These are the things that go through my mind and they things that have happened semi-recently. I don't know what else to say. There's a little glimpse into my life and my head.

-Mrs. Kreilaus