My House Stinks. Hardcore.

I was really craving an egg salad sandwich but my house stinks so badly like burned egg now that I feel like puking when I even think about eggs. It's all my fault. I put 7 eggs in some water to boil and then I stuffed some kleenex up my nose and laid down. I've been sick for the last several weeks and the runny nose is grossing me out. Anyway, Jake came in the room and said, "honey, you need to come see this." I figured he was probably talking about our cats cuddling or something because that's what he usually says when there is cute animal happenings but alas, no. My eggs had blown up and the kitchen was full of smoke. I had put the eggs on medium heat, and I meant to check back on them, and I did once, but then gave into the grogginess. So the water boiled out, the pan burned and the eggs blew up, all over the stove, the side of the fridge, the counter top and the floor. Our house stinks of burned egg, I'm really glad I still have kleenex shoved up my nose.

My Favorite Words. This Time in Sign Language.

Buzzy forwarded me this video of a girl's final for her college sign language class. Best video EVER and she's kind of adorable signing her way through the song. I love how they start clapping along near the end. Awesome.

Pine Cat Litter.

So this is a little awkward but I have to tell you about my favorite cat litter. I like the pine kind. I don't care which brand you pick, just be sure to get the pine pellets. It is a natural odor absorber and makes your house smell 100% less like cat litter. I never knew it existed until I was cat sitting for my friend Buzzy and saw how his cats love it. After it has been used a little it turns into sawdust which absorbs even more. The problem is finding it in stores. I guess Feline Pine is one brand but I bought a bag of that once, didn't really read it, and it was some weird green stuff. I must've bought the wrong kind. Now, I'm not just gushing over this cat litter because it looks pretty and eco friendly. I love it because I've tried every cat litter there is, literally, every single kind and this is the best. It smells the least (the corn litter stuff stinks) and it doesn't get wasted with the clumping, it doesn't give off strange chemical odors. I could only find it in one store back home and was having a hard time finding pine litter here as well but PetCo carries several varieties. yay! Now my cats are happy again.

bebandjays.

I'm hoping to reopen my etsy shop after Jake and I move and get settled in. All of my card making mats are in Oregon and I miss them. I miss my cardstock in pretty colors and my rubber stamps and ridiculously expensive ink pens. I can't wait to show them some love again. In the mean time, I've been posting on my shop's blog, trying to revive it. I've been showcasing some of my favorite etsy shops and posting some crafting ideas. I'm working on something super cool right now that I've never made before so I don't want to post any pics until it's ready but I can't wait to show everyone. Anyway, please go "follow" my blog, I'm hoping to use it to promote my shop, you know, once I have something to promote.

Things.

One of my classes has a volunteering requirement at a place of my choice that assists families living in poverty. I chose St. Anne's Center which is a homeless shelter/soup kitchen. Today was my first day there. I did a bunch of random things, one of which was to hang Valentine's Day decorations made by kindergartners from a local elementary school. While hanging these heart shaped people I overheard two men talking and it was perhaps the most heartbreaking thing I've ever heard in my life. One man has been homeless for awhile and was giving the other man tips on which shelters will house single men...with children. Each of these men has two kids, all under the age of 7 and they're all homeless. Many shelters will gladly take women and their children but not many will take men with their children because a lot of the woman headed families are ones that have left and are homeless because of domestic violence so they don't allow men in these facilities. The facilities that do house men usually don't house families which leaves these single fathers with few options. I can't even imagine being homeless, let alone with small children to take care of.

In other news, PtheD no longer lives here. He and Jake's mom got into it last night and she kicked him out. I mean, he was already kicked out but Jake isn't here right now so he just never moved out on Sunday like he was supposed to. We changed all the locks but refused to give him a key so he'd been texting every night asking us to leave the door unlocked. Well, last night he didn't text so I assumed he was staying at one of his lady friends houses so I locked the door. He woke Jake's mom up at 12:30 for her to let him in (she gets up for work at 2:30) and then he wasn't at the door. She went back to bed and he called her and said some smart ass comment like, "are you going to let me in or what?" which pissed her off. Then they got into a screaming match which woke me (and the neighborhood) up and she kicked him out. She made him get his stuff and get out of the house. Fine by me, it saved me the trouble of having to make it happen. That guy is such a moron. I had hard boiled eggs and he ate them all and replaced them in the bowl with raw eggs. I went to make egg salad sandwiches and when I rolled the egg on the counter to crack it, it made a giant mess as it was actually raw. What a fucking douche bag. I mean seriously, who does that? I really hope I never have to see him again, ever, because it will not be pretty if I do.

I {heart} Ikea.

I went to Ikea today. It's in Draper which is on the far side of Salt Lake from where I live so it's about an hour away but it's Ikea, which means totally worth it. I got a pretty duvet which matches the grey in our wall.
I also bought this tray that I love and these cute coffee cups even though neither of us drink coffee. They were too cute to pass up. I do drink tea but I already have my favorite tea cup from Anthropologie. Maybe I'll invite people over so they can use my cups but then again, maybe not.

Christmas Present.

Jake got me this awesome recipe box from 1canoe2 for Christmas. It's pretty much my favorite thing ever and I've been busy transferring all of my recipes from my blog and email inbox onto the super thick recipe cards. If you have any tasty recipes you love, pass them along. I also got an extra set of recipe cards so I have lots of room for yumminess.

How bad is it if the only thing I put under "beverages" is cran & vodka?

Corn and Potato Chowder.

This looks super nice if you garnish it with green onions and bacon but I didn't have any.

I found a recipe online awhile ago for corn and potato chowder which sounded delicious but the recipe itself was not getting stellar reviews. I read all of the comments, took in their suggestions for improving it and went to work with some of their and my own ideas. It has since become one of my favorite recipes and it's so yummy served with croissants. It's especially nice on these frozen Utah days. I mentioned this recipe on my sister's blog and my friend Jennie asked me for the recipe so here goes.

Ingredients:

1 can creamed corn

1 can corn (any kind you want, regular, white, mixed, hominy, whatever, don't drain)

3-5 potatoes (or one 16oz bag of hashbrowns)

1 medium onion

bacon slices cooked and crumbled or bacon bits (I obviously left this out of mine)

1/2 cup green onions

1 1/2 milk or half and half, your choice.

sour cream

1 oz. cream cheese

1/2 tsp. worcestershire

minced garlic/garlic powder/etc.

tobasco or your favorite hot sauce

cayenne pepper

salt and pepper

1/2 cup grated cheese (I just use whichever Tillamook baby loaf is on sale)

So you can either cook this in your slow cooker or on the stove. I did it on the stove because I was hungry now, not hours from now. Plus, I have no patience. If you're going to make this in the crock pot all you have to do is throw everything in and turn it on. Cube your potatoes, slap chop that onion to death and toss everything in. I didn't give amounts on the garlic, hot sauce, pepper etc. because that's all to personal taste but definitely add them in or else you'll have a bland concoction when you get home. If you'll be leaving this in the slow cooker all day while you're at work you may want to add more liquid (milk, water, broth) so it doesn't dry out.

Make sure to chop the potatoes into bite size pieces because once they're in the soup, you can't make them smaller.

I don't have a slow cooker yet so I cooked mine on the stove.

First, I emptied the two cans of corn into a pot.

Add your half and half/milk

Add worcestershire

Add however much garlic you want (I used about 1 tbsp. of minced and a few shakes of powder)

Add a few shakes of tobasco sauce

Add a handful of chopped onions (save the rest of the onions)

Add cayenne pepper, salt, pepper, and any other seasonings you may want

Add the cream cheese now too. I chopped it into smaller pieces so it melts faster

Mix that all together and cook on medium-low, stirring occasionally

Heat a skillet on medium heat, put butter or oil in the skillet and wait for it to melt.

Add the rest of the chopped onion and 1 or 2 tbsp. of minced garlic. Mix until covered in the butter.

Next add your chopped potatoes and stir in with the onions.

The point of this is, because your potatoes won't have all day to cook in the soup mixture and soften like they would in a crock pot, you want to soften them up first before you add them to your soup.

I like to add a few spoonfuls of sour cream to my potatoes as I brown them to give them some extra flavor and sweetness.

Once your potatoes are soft (not mushy but soft enough that you could eat them) add the potatoes and onions to your pot of soup.

Add your green onions and cheese at this time.

Continue cooking on low heat until it begins to thicken. Your potatoes will continue to cook and soften up a little but not much.

Once it's as thick as you'd like, garnish and serve. This keeps really well and tastes awesome reheated.

This recipe is great because you can take out things you don't like and add things you do and customize it easily to your specific tastes. You could also add other vegetables if you'd like. I think carrots might go well but I personally hate the things.

Fucked Up Thing About Utah #5.

One city in Utah has recently announced their English initiative. Yeah, seriously. 45% of the town is made up of minorities so they're starting this English initiative for everyone to learn and speak English as quickly as possible to bring the community together and make everything more cohesive. Yeah, bullshit. I see you tea party and you're not anywhere near as intelligent as you think you are. They are also encouraging all businesses to use signs and menus in English. I understand that it's easier to communicate when we all understand each other but something about this feels off, just like almost everything in this backwards state does.

Fuck You, Susan G. Komen Foundation.

What is wrong with these people? The Huffington Post recently reported on how the Susan G. Komen Foundation spends about a million dollars a year suing smaller mom and pop charities for using the term "for a cure". What the hell? Who gives a shit if they're Kites for a Cure or Mush for a Cure, how about, you're all trying to raise money to make the world a better place so leave them the fuck alone and let them raise money to find a fucking cure for what is ailing the people of the world. I've refrained from donating to Komen in the past because I had heard of other shady goings on with that company. Instead, I donate to the American Cancer Society (mainly because my sister used to work there and sends out emails occasionally making it so I only have to put in minimal effort to donate) or I donate to various MS foundations. I could understand if it was McDonald's or some other for profit corporation trying to maintain their income but you're a freaking charity, be charitable.

PtheD Part II.

So Jake finally kicked out the roommate. Thank fucking God. I was so sick of his antics. Since his last lady friend stole all of Jake's mom's pills, PtheD was not allowed to have anyone over. He didn't adhere to the rule for very long though. He had someone pick him up for work (since he has no car or license) and they came in the house. The rule was, they have to wait outside. Not only did he let the guy come in, they were also loud and woke me up. Not Cool. Then, yesterday, he came over with no warning, with his two brothers. When Jake confronted him about it he freaked out saying, "They're my brothers, man, what the fuck?" and started yelling and being a dick. I don't really give a shit who they are, nobody is allowed in the house. Plus, all he's done for the last couple of years is bitch about his family, he didn't even talk to his brothers until Christmas and now they're, "all he's got." He's complained about how they're awful people and his little brother has been in prison for the last two years. Yeah, just the type of people we want in our house.

So today we're going to Lowe's and buying new locks for all the doors. We've already cut and put dowels in all of the windows. Actually, we had PtheD do it awhile ago. haha, genius. He is refusing to give back his house key until he gets all his stuff. He came by today, stomped in, freaked out on Jake some more and said he was keeping his key, "as an insurance policy to make sure you don't keep my shit." How about you just take your crap and then you won't have to worry about it anymore. I think I might go bag it up and throw it out in the yard myself. He doesn't have anything of value, he's just drawing this out to be a douchebag. Fuck if I'm going to let that happen. Maybe I'll just throw the shit out in the yard without bagging it up, everything is covered in snow right now, that'll be perfect.

2011.

Perhaps this is the year I'll become an awesome cook. Maybe not. I used to hate cooking. I mean, loathe with the passion equal to the intensity of the heat given off of a million burning suns. I didn't have the patience for it and so mac and cheese (kraft, did you know it only takes 8 minutes to make) was the extent of my cooking abilities. Anyway, since I've moved to Utah I've been cooking a lot more. I'm not working right now and I think that's a big part of it. I used to come home after working 10 or more hours and cooking just did not sound like something I wanted to do. Right now, I find it really interesting and I actually enjoy cooking. Plus, who knew there is a whole world of really cute cooking related items? Vintage bowls, aprons, heart shaped wooden spoons, hand crafted cutting boards. It's freaking awesome. The experimenting you can do in cooking is awesome as well. I love throwing random shit into whatever I'm making and having it turn out much tastier than I thought it would.

Sugar & Spice Aprons.

I couldn't get the whole apron in the self portrait.

So I saw these aprons posted on the blog Take Heart. It's a sweet little blog (a little too Jesusy for me) where she posts links to cool shops and what not and the photos she takes of her family. Anyway, she posted about some aprons and I immediately fell in love with one. I mean, head over heels. It arrived in my mailbox today. Woot!! It's from Sugar & Spice Aprons on etsy. S&S makes vintage reproduction aprons from the 1920s to the '50s. They're really freaking cute and make cooking a lot more fun. I love mine because it has tulip pockets and tulips are my favorite flower ever.

Mom, Here's Your Present.

I kept asking my mom what she wanted for Christmas. She wanted a Kindle, instead she's getting this photo. Sorry mom but I am anti e-readers and anti Amazon. Talk about a shitty company. If you're anti wikileaks, I'm anti you. (My siblings got her one anyway, what is wrong with them?) By the way, we're wearing these ridiculous hats because Jake needs a haircut but we keep forgetting to get him one and I wanted the picture in front of the tree but our tree is going to catch on fire at any moment because it's so dry the branches are snapping off under the weight of our super cheap plastic ornaments. So we had to take the picture asap, hence the stupid hats. Also, I'm pretty sure we both have lice now, Santa hats creep me out.

Click on image for larger version.

Agenda.

I found an awesome agenda online but it was only available in Australia, unless of course I wanted to pay $70 in shipping. Maybe for some things, but not for an Agenda. So I got to work searching etsy and I was really disappointed that I couldn't find a very big selection of amazing agendas. Usually I find 20 of whatever I'm searching for but this time I only found one. The Artful Agenda is based out of Portland, Or. She collaborates with other artists and then compiles all of their art in a planner, so each week has it's own drawings that aren't duplicated in any other weeks. I got it in the mail and I love it. The other cool thing is that it's not dated so you can start it whenever you want and 5% of the proceeds are donated to arts education.

Sam the Chef.

This is my friend Sam. I've known him since high school. Sam is a chef and he helps me with ideas and knowledge on my new found cooking journey. Basically, if this was WoW, he'd be the cooking trainer. Anyway, I keep trying to get him to start a blog about cooking so I can stalk it but he says no. He did however offer to make a recipe of my choice as a guest post complete with photos and instructions. Now I just have to figure out what I want him to make. It has to be something awesome and slightly difficult that takes some skill. Any suggestions?

Favorite Cake.

I know I've posted about this cake before. This definitely isn't the prettiest one I've ever made but I was craving it so badly that I was kind of in a hurry to put it together. It doesn't matter to me what it looks like because it is delicious. It's probably one of the easiest cakes ever. It's made from the ingredients found in a box, add a little oil, water and eggs and voila! Don't forget the cool whip. Anyway, it had been a long time since I had one of these so I'm a very happy girl. Now if only my mama had made it and I wouldn't have had to put out the effort. :)

What Should I Be When I Grow Up?

So I'm about a year out from a Bachelor's in Anthropology but I really don't think I'm going to do anything in that field. I want to find a career doing something I'll love but I'm not sure what that is. I love making things, and if I could perfect something enough so that I could sell it, and people would want to buy it, that would be awesome. I'm also considering learning medical transcription so I can work from home on my own schedule. I would really like to be able to balance my work with my crafting time. I don't want a job where I work 60 hours a week and come home exhausted all of the time. If only I will be this lucky in life. Anyway, what should I be when I grow up, any ideas?

Sugar Cookies.

I made sugar cookies. I didn't roll them out enough, they were a little thick so my gingerbread men look a little bloated. I was decorating them and I decided to make one be Jake, and then I gave him chicken pox, except I told him that they were herpes. haha. So then I made him a WoW cookie to make amends.
It's a druid thing.

Foood.

I don't eat meat, but my boyfriend does and so therefore I made him some ribs tonight. I remember this recipe from my childhood. My Aunt Daisy (Dae-dae) used to make it and I just remembered how good it smelled and how obsessed with it my little brother was.
It turned out to be a big hit here too. Jakes excited to try the brown sugar and soy sauce marinade this summer. He likes to grill.
I found a recipe online for something called "almost parmesan risotto" and it is amazingly delicious and easy to make. The only thing I had trouble with was finding the arborio rice.
I used more garlic than the recipe called for, of course, my family always goes garlic overboard. Also, be sure to cut the onions into little pieces. I tend to go for larger chunks of onion but it's really much better if these are small pieces of onion, which totally sucks with the whole crying thing. With the amount of onions I use in cooking, I need one of those slap chops.

EDIT: I got a slap chop for Christmas, completely useless except for chopping mushy bananas.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree...

Here is our Christmas tree. There are few tree lots here so we went to Lowe's, but it was fun and we found a very very round tree; he's plump. Jake didn't have any tree stuff since he never puts one up so we went to WalMart and bought a bunch of cheap ornaments. I'm slowly collecting good ornaments. My mom has a lot of ornaments that were given to me while I grew up from my Aunties that she's going to send me, someday.
I really really love our star. It was $10 and I'm pretty sure would break the first time it even thought about falling but I love it so much. Jake wants to try and find a similar one made out of better materials.
That's our heart ornament for our first Christmas together.

Piece of Shit Human Beings.

So we have this roommate. He's one of Jake's friends, he lives here for free, and he's a giant loser douchebag. I feel like being petty and making my facebook status be something like, "how about you don't wake me up at 8 am asshole. Nobody gives a shit about your laundry. Shut the fuck up!" but I won't because I know it would frustrate my boyfriend.

So, let me give you some background on this guy, we'll call him Pancho the piece of shit douchebag or PtheD for short. So PtheD had no job, was running around with some druggies stealing radios out of cars to pay for pills and what not. Jake says he can live here for free as long as he knocks that shit off and finds a job. So he stops stealing radios, helps out around the house, and takes a year to find a job. Not too great, not too bad. But PtheD has two little girls he's not really helping out with. He takes them for the day every now and then but it's really not anything worth writing home about and he doesn't support them financially at all. Jake's been feeding him, clothing him, and keeping a roof over his head for over a year.

So he finally got a job in May or June. It took him a year, and instead of being a model employee, he gets customer complaints about him and he shows up late all of the time because of this skanky girl he met. She comes over, is rude to Jake, lets her bratty children break things and then expects everyone to cater to her. Not happening. So PtheD is one time being late away from being fired from the job he barely just got. He finally ditches the pinhead skank face but his paychecks are now being garnished for child support and oh, did I mention his fines. He has fines in several local cities that he hasn't been paying on.

So, Jake makes him pay his fines if he wants to keep living here. He gets all butthurt, stops helping out around the house, and is, in general, a total loser douchebag, just like I could've told everyone he is. So now he finds this new girlfriend who everyone thinks is super nice. I think she's just another chick who can't keep her legs closed and lo and behold, she ends up stealing a bottle and a half of pain pills from Jake's mom. Personally, I think PtheD had something to do with it. He, of course, denies it.

Anyway, I'm about ready to throw a fucking meat cleaver at his head. How about, go to work on time, stop eating my fucking food, take some responsibility for your actions, and shut the fuck up when we're trying to sleep.

Fucked Up Thing About Utah #4.

Okay Mormons, enough with the no caffeine thing. Worst rule ever. This state has very few coffee places, I think I've seen maybe one drive thru coffee stand. Coming from Oregon where there is one every 5 or so blocks, this is killing me. I am a huge iced chai fan. I would go to Dutch Bros. or the Human Bean several times a week, get my chai, and be on my way. I'm not a huge fan of Starbucks (because their chai tastes like asshole) but they do have a couple here so I caved and got a chai because my craving was so bad I was about to kick babies. So I get an iced chai and it was about 90% milk. Gross. I ended up tossing it out. Later, I came across another random coffee shop and tried again. They made me a hot chai and added ice cubes. Umm...what? Iced chai is not a difficult concept. It's approx. half chai and half milk but apparently math is really hard in Utah or something. Luckily, I have recently discovered that Wal Mart sells Oregon Chai so I will be making my own iced chais at home. 

Cata Release.

Hello world, sorry I've been MIA. You see, Cataclysm came out on the 7th and Jake and I went and stood in an absurdly long line at GameStop to pick up our copies at midnight. We haven't been seen since. No search parties please, we've returned, and yes, it was everything I'd hoped it would be. Cata is awesome! It's so fun and makes the game feel brand new again. There is so much to do I didn't even know where to start. So I went to the brand new underwater zone and got a seahorse mount and rode my seahorse around at 450% mount speed. Hell yeah! 

Making Music.

This is one of the coolest things I've seen in awhile. 

Baby Lana.

I have the cutest niece ever. I mean, she is freaking adorable. My mom and sister send me pictures of her and they brighten my day every single time. For more Lana adorableness visit my sister's blog. 

Christmas Yarn Wreath.

So, my sister posted about these cute yarn wreaths. The instructions are here. I made a Christmas one. The flowers are super easy to make so I'm going to make a ton, in different colors and put them on head bands, and pins to wear as a brooch. They'd look super cute on a cardigan. Yeah, they're that cute. 
We still have to get something so I can hang this on our door. Our door is metal so you can't really pound a nail into it. 

Christmas Cooking.

So, I had my mom send me a couple of recipes for my favorite Christmas food and from there it spiraled out of control. Jake and I went shopping to get the ingredients and he kept getting ideas for other things he wanted me to make. Haha, I ended up cooking until 1 in the morning, it was fun. 
I don't like white chocolate but Jake was stoked for these pretzels. Something about the sweet and salty together. That's why I just eat a bag of potato chips after gorging on reese's pb cups. I guess he doesn't know that little trick yet. 
Batch number one of Chex Mix. Batch number two came out a lot better. Not enough seasoning on batch one. 
This is Jake's mom's food processor/mixer/blender from 1970. It's like, a super early version of a Kitchen Aid. By the way, I want a Kitchen Aid, hardcore. I never thought about buying one because they're super expensive but Jake actually brought up getting me one. I don't need it anytime soon but I'm definitely hitting him up on that one in the future. There are about a zillion colors to choose from, that will be tough. Anyway, this is cookie dough for the oatmeal choc. chip cookies I made, but I forgot to take a picture of the finished product. 

Who knew muddy buddies are ridiculously easy to make? It involves microwaving chocolate chips and that's about the hardest part. They're so yummy too! 
Batch two of Chex Mix. Well, really this is batch one with a makeover. I cooked it again with extra extra seasoning for Jake and he had me put it in a bag so he could hide it from everyone else and not share. It's a little on the salty side for my taste. 

Umm...What the Hell?

So, I understand that everyone likes to decorate their tree differently, and some people do themes and what not. I actually don't mind the bird shown above, it came in a fairly pretty gold color but what the hell is up with the doll heads? Who decorates their tree with freaking doll heads?
I'm guessing this is an old person thing? Maybe? I hope.

Photos of Utah.

Technically, this might not be Utah. It was on the drive back from Havasu, when we were driving at about 1 mile per hour. 
Yeah, this happens everywhere. On houses, underneath cars. It's kind of creepy because I always think one is going to fall and impale me through the eye or something when I'm looking up at it. 
This was the view I was met with on my craft store quest. Have I mentioned that Mormon women are obsessed with crafts? There are craft stores everywhere. Literally, I drive by 3 or 4 a day. It's insane. It'd be fine except all I needed was some damn felt and all the crazy Momo ladies bought out all the Christmas colored felt in 3 stores. THREE stores. What the hell? Crazies.