More thoughts inspired by stuff in a book

I've been reading again. This time it's "American History- a very short introduction", same series as the WWI book. I guess it's an appropriate read since we'll celebrate our nation's formation later this week. It really give you some perspective on things when they condense American history, from pre-Colombian Native Americans to the current decade, into 130 pages of a book about the size of my hand. The actual fighting portion of the Civil War was recounted in about 2 pages. And this is a mini history of a country that's only less than 250 years old. Imagine the slightness of events viewed in the context of all of history. It's pretty impressive to consider how young our country still is in the history of the world.

However, the thought that got me up and writing wasn't a patriotic one. As I read a few lines on women abolitionists, who also took up the women's rights movement, and experience from yesterday came back to me. Story:
I was asked a few weeks ago to speak in sacrament meeting yesterday. I enjoy speaking in church and accepted the invite. I prepared in my usual manner of studying as much about the subject in as many different directions as I can then after letting it all sit for a couple days I'll come back and compose some sort of general outline with what the goal of the talk is. This allows me to be able to adjust easily to the actual amount of time I have to speak- because it's never the 12 minutes they ask you to prepare for. Well, as it turns out there were to be 3 speakers yesterday, myself and another girl and a guy. After talking to the guy before Sunday school Brother Strong, who would be conducting the meeting, came over and asked me if I'd be ok as the last speaker. Sure, no prob. Then he continued "Yeah, I just spoke to [whatever his name was] and he said his talk is about 8 minutes. I usually have the guy go last so he can accordion his talk to fit the remaining time, but it doesn't look like that would work in this case." I said I would be glad to be last and accordion my talk as needed. What went through my head was a sarcastic "Yeah, cuz a guy is better at speaking/adjusting length so he goes last..." not that I was terribly offended by this perceived slightly sexist comment- the thought just rolled through my head and gave me a good laugh at poor Bro. Strong's subconscious "blunder". The reason I think it caught my ire is because I consider speaking and teaching to be one of my better natural abilities. So while he didn't mean it as such I initially reacted to it as a jab at my abilities as a orator. I spoke last, for about 25 minutes. (The other two talks probably averaged a length of 7 minutes.) But that's another story.
Later I was telling this story to my oldest sister (who interestingly enough is probably one of the only people who will actually read this. Hi Slick!) to which she countered by pointing out that the guy would go last traditionally as a sign of respect for the women. The women could deliver their discourse as planned without concern of time and then the poor guy at the end would have to find more to say or cut out everything he wanted to say to accommodate the time left in the meeting. By George- this makes perfect sense. I was caught. I had no response. I can't remember actually saying anything- and it was probably pretty weak if I did- for the rest of that part of the conversation. She continued to point out that many things that used to be a sign of respect are now perceived as slights against women because that's not how they want to be respected anymore- they wanted to be treated as equals.

So, as I was reading about abolitionists who picked up the cause of women's rights because their marginalization by the men at the time I thought back to this event yesterday. You know what I realize? I'd been sucked in by the modern feminist movement. gack! If someone were to ask me if I consider myself a feminist I would say that I am, but not a modern feminist. I believe in the power of women, and that they should be respected and have equal rights with men- but that doesn't mean we have to be the same as men or become like men. I just think we should be able to do whatever work call to us and be fairly treated in it. I also think that includes the choice to stay at home as a mother, and that we should not be derided for that choice by those who choose another path. Sometime I sit and shake my head at the "crazy feminist ladies" in the news and the media. I think though my sister was probably internally shaking her head at her poor little sister who had gone astray down the path of crazy feminist lady. (I could be wrong, but it makes the point, so just run with it.) I had automatically assumed the worst about the comment made by a man who I know is very respectful to women and who's wife is a wonderful, capable, strong lady. I'd stepped onto the dark side.
I think my sister's comment is an interesting point though. She said that women don't want to be respected by being treated special, but want to be treated equally. I think it's just that the idea of respect has changed. We want to be respected, not babied. We want to be recognized as people with brains and stuff. I know I don't mind letting a kind gentleman carry my groceries for me if 1. I actually do need help, or 2. I know that he respects me as a capable person and not as useless girl. (Tip to boys: Instead of saying "You got that ok?", "Need help?" or other things that imply that she doesn't have it ok, try "I'd like to help you with that if I may." It's way easier to say yes to.) I think that's the reason a lot of women shy away from conventional forms of men showing respect to women is because we are talented, capable, independent people- and we don't like feeling like someone thinks we're not. Call it pride if you will, but I think sometimes it's ok to have some pride in who you are. So my reception to a gesture of respect will largely depend on my confidence in my nature as a strong woman. I am a strong woman, therefore I can let a guy lug my luggage up the stairs for me, even though I could do it myself, because I know he's just trying to be kind and respectful. I can let him open a door, walk me to the car, or even speak last in church because I know that it doesn't change who I am.
So basically for your average daily interactions:
Dear Guys: Be respectful, not patronizing. We can tell the difference.
Dear Women: It's ok. You are a capable person. You know you are- now, let the guys be nice.

Acupuncture and Networking

Today I had flaming needles sticking out of my back.

Yep.
I've been to a chiropractor a few times, for neck issues at first but adding in knee and wrist more recently. It just so happens that my chiropractor also does acupuncture. I don't know that I really believe in it or not, but it's not going to do me any harm either so I just go with it. It's a unique experience. Most of the time you don't even feel any pain as they go in, just a little poke. Then once it's in you don't really feel it, you just know it's there- sticking out of you. They'll play some nice Enya or something and you just get to chill for a few minutes then they come and pluck them all out and that's it. Today I had my neck, knees, and wrists all adjusted. After the adjustments my chiropractor lead me, not to the usual room for some acupuncture, but down the hall to another hall with 2 rooms in it. In one is a guy with a smouldering ball of something on a pin sticking out of his shoulder. Into the other one I go and am peppered with pins- I've never felt so much like a pin cushion in my life. Then comes the sound of the match and the smell of smoke. I couldn't tell any difference, but it's something else I can say I've done. When the nurse came back and plucked out my pins she forgot the ones in my wrist, so I got to see those as I asked her to take them out. It's a strange sight to have big silver pins sticking out of your hand.

As I was sitting there contemplating the strange thing that was going on I decided to write this post, and I just planned on writing what I did above- but then I though another interesting thing- I never would have sought out a chiropractor who did acupuncture. In fact I'm pretty sure I would have avoided it when chiropractor shopping. How did I end up here? Networking. My chiropractor is the father of an acquaintance from a few years ago. It made picking a chiropractor pretty easy. I don't know that I even would've started going to a chiropractor had I not known this guy. This got me thinking about the other things I've tried because of someone I knew- rock climbing, sushi, grad school... Yep- I probably wouldn't have done grad school in math if I hadn't gotten to know Dave as an undergrad. Before today I would always just think of networking as meeting people in hopes of getting a leg up on a job- but that's not really what it's about. Networking is all about meeting people who will help you try new things, get out and explore... Take chances! Make mistakes! Get messy! I can see now that as my set of friends and acquaintances stagnates so does my exposure to new experiences. I guess it's time to get out an meeting new people.

A century later...

I'm amazed, looking back at my education to this point, at how much I have not learned. I have done pretty well in school, yet somehow seem to have not actually learned a lot about many things I supposedly knew enough about to get good grades in the classes about them. It's maybe a statement about the system, but I won't go there today. I would rather talk about The First World War.
  I was at the library last week and became reacquainted with a book series called "(fill in the blank), A Very Short Introduction". They're just what they sound like. Ranging from 100-150 pages long and basically pocket sized they offer a quick start on a very wide assortment of subjects. Since I recently had been contemplating my astounding lack knowledge of history I selected a few of these I thought might be interesting. My first read was about WWI, which I thought appropriate since it is the 100th anniversary of the start of that war. Oh my. I was sucked in. By the end of it's 119 pages I was astounded by many things, one of which was how little I actually knew about WWI before reading this "Very Short Introduction". And most of what I did know I learned from a John Green youtube video...
Now, if you know a lot about WWI, this post probably won't be very interesting to you- except for you to laugh at my incredibly limited understanding of that war... Just a warning. If, like me, you never had an actual good study of this chunk of history, read on for some interesting tidbits.

What I "knew" about WWI:
-It happened in Europe. America joined in eventually.
-Trenches. Lots of trenches.
-Something about Flanders Field.
-Lots of people died.
-It started because of Germany, as it usually does.
-It had something to do with Franz Ferdinand and Serbs.
-France got invaded, as they always do.

Really, if you had quizzed me about WWI I wouldn't have done very well. Now some thoughts on things I learned from my brief study of the war-

-It didn't actually really start entirely with Germany. With the assassination of Franz Ferdinand the Austro-Hungarians saw an opportunity to go to war and Germany backed them. Germany got all the blame though because they kept fighting after everyone else in their alliance fell apart.
-It's startling how well Germany/Austria-Hungary did in the war. If they had stuck to their original plan of crushing France before rushing over to fight the hapless Russians, they probably would've won. As it was, even with their infighting and aspiring generals they still managed to outlast Russia and take (for a short time) everything stretching from Poland to Finland. Because of this and their eventual defeat all those countries were created along that strip- including the two aforementioned. The Austrians succeeded pretty much only because they were fighting groups even less competent then they were. In the end they just managed to out last the Russians socially and politically. The Germans, however, seemed to be the best fighters in the war. They were better organized, more prepared, and more innovative than the Allies. Again, it seems that if it weren't for the disunity in the military and political scene they would have dominated. As it was their focus shifted back and forth from one front to the other creating no progress on either until Russia imploded. By then, though, the war had gone on so long their own country was suffering and their other choices were to come back and bite them pretty hard.

-America hardly had anything to do with this war. It seems we just came in as the closers. We contributed much throughout the war in the way of trade and shipping, but we were essentially neutral, always calling for peace. Imagine if the blockade against Germany hadn't been so strong we probably would've been supplying them as well as the Allies. And I guess it makes sense. The causes of both sides of the fight had nothing really to do with anything the US cared about. Why should we pick a side? Neither side was entirely right or wrong as far as ethics go, so until Germany started sinking our ships why should we favor one side or the other? Nowadays we see Brittan as a natural ally, but that is because of this war and the one that followed. At the time they were still a competitor and the country we'd just fought 2 wars against. But, thanks to Germany sinking our ships and Allied propaganda eventually we did join the party- just in time to finish it. It seems the real value of the US joining the war was just that our soldiers were well fed, not battle weary, and numerous. They hadn't been hanging out in trenches for the past 4 years, and it showed. It seems the biggest victory of having the Americans was the crushing of the morale of the German soldiers. Heck, they were only actually involved in the war for a few months before the armistice. A tidal wave of fresh leg-ed boys dropped into the last mile of a marathon.
-Germany tried to get Mexico as an ally. That would've been something. They promised Mexico they could have Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona back. Ha. Can you imagine Mexico attacking the US? Can you imagine Mexico taking back Texas?
-The sides were not the same as they were in WWII, the war I somehow gleaned more knowledge of in school than I did of WWI. For some reason I assumed Germany always had the same friends. Actually, Japan, Italy, and Romania all fought against Germany the first time round.  Also the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) was an ally of Germany too. I didn't even know they were involved in either of the World Wars.
-Spain and Portugal never participated militarily in either World War. And somehow Switzerland managed to stay neutral, despite being smack in the middle of the action. How did they ever manage that?
-France wasn't actually overrun by Germany. In fact, they never even got to Paris. Turns out the two world wars were actually different things...
-The sheer amount of destruction and loss of life is almost unbelievable. I guess it was just an awkward transition between the old ways of fighting wars and what was required with the advent of new technologies. Just so sad.
-I also was impressed at how WWI really set up WWII. Everything that happened at the end of the war paved the path for Hitler's rise to power and a nation of people who would support him. Also WWI brought in the Russian revolution and Communism. What a legacy.

Yeah, I learned a lot. It's an interesting thing to commemorate 100 years since the beginning of one of the deadliest and most destructive wars in history. 100 years ago the world changed forever. It doesn't even seem like there's very much of a silver lining to say "But at least..."  I guess the main emotions I had at the end of the book was just awe at how lucky the Allies were to win (I mean, they were pretty impressively incompetent.) and how sad it is that it even happened in the first place. It changed everything, but accomplished nothing. So, a century later- what's the take away? I don't know. Anyway, I feel much enlightened and am looking forward to learning more as this centennial year goes on. It's good to remember.

A thought from the Ensign

Wow, apparently I haven't posted anything since November! How time flies. I break my non-blogging streak today as my second 1060 class takes their test. I've been filling the time by shopping for climbing shoes and reading the Ensign for this month. Test days are so exciting like that...

Lately the Ensign has been having an article or two specifically for the young adults. I'm really glad that they do that. Sometimes I feel like we could almost have our own magazine like the Friend (and it would probably include a cartoon strip and search and find pictures in it too). At the end of one of these articles in this month's Ensign they had a side bar with a quote from Pres. Uchtdorf: “[Heavenly Father] didn’t send you on this journey only to wander aimlessly on your own. He wants you to come home to Him..." only when I read it my brain read "He wants you to come unto Him..." both good. I'm going to talk about the second one...

I've been feeling a little adrift these last few years, like it didn't matter what I did or where I went- as long as I wasn't getting into trouble. It's hard to sit in church and have people talk about how they've been specifically guided as to where to go or what to do in their lives. It's sometimes hard to hear the promises of leaders and in talks that 'If you only ask the Lord will show you what He wants of you" and feel like you're just getting left alone. Sometimes the things people say can mess with your head, honestly. You start thinking "Well, maybe I'm just not being faithful enough", or "Well, maybe it really doesn't matter what I do with my life. Maybe there is no plan for me" or whatever. I think that's why Pres. Uchtdorf's words meant so much to me as I read them. No matter whether there is a best place for me to be right now, or best thing for me to be doing, or if this is just burning time for a while- no matter what I always have a purpose and direction. That is to come closer to Christ and my Father in Heaven. That is always a cause to be actively pursuing.

When I first started rock climbing I mainly went with my friend Mark. I would get part way up the climb, far enough that the holds and best route aren't really visible from the ground, and I'd get stuck. I wasn't very trusting in my shoes yet, and I was inexperienced in falling (it's really not bad. That's what the rope and harness are for...) and so I would stand on whatever footing I had and feel around for something big enough to hold onto or step on. Eventually I would call down to Mark "Where do I go?" His response was always the same "Up!". Not really what I was looking for, but exactly right. It doesn't matter what holds I use or route I take, as long as I'm going up I'm closer to my goal. When you move side to side it can become more dangerous the farther you go. Now when I take people climbing and they ask that to me I answer happily, "Up!" (And then laugh inside at their dismay, cuz I've totally been there.)

Similarly, when we get stuck in life often times we want a specific answer- go here, do this, don't do that. We will receive those as needed, but most often I think the answer is just "Up." Do what you need to do to learn of Christ, teach of Christ, follow his teachings, and come to know him better.  Repent, make better habits, try harder to spend more time or better quality time with Him and his words. If we're doing that then we will not be lost, rather we'll have an assurance that we are on the right path in the part that matters most. And, then when those specific directions are in order we'll be in tune to understand them and have the faith to follow.

An unusual thanksgiving list

It's Thanksgiving day and I thought I would join in the spirit of the day by saying a few things that I am grateful for. Naturally I am grateful for my family, health, schooling opportunities, friends, house, car, clothing, computer, and country. I'm especially grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ that gives me direction and hope every day. But I've had a few things this last week or so that I've become aware of that I've realized how grateful I am for.

I'm grateful that I have learned to choose to be happy. I was blessed to have a generally happy personality from the get go, I don't often get down in the dumps for long. But of course it's not sunshine and roses all the time. There are times it's ok to be sad, so I'm definitely not saying you have to be grinning like a fool happy 24/7, but you definitely don't have to be in the depths of despair every time something doesn't go your way. One of the catch phrases from this last summer was "It's ok, the church is still true." I'm grateful that I learned to have that attitude a long time ago. Things aren't going your way? It's ok, things will work out. Eat some ice cream then pick yourself up and go enjoy the sunshine and the good things around you. God's got your back, trust in him and you'll be just fine.

I'm grateful that I love to read. It's not something I am always in the mood for, but I really love books and reading. I received a surprise a while back when the Wall Street Journal showed up on my driveway. It's part of my Christmas present this year from Christine. At first I thought, what am I going to do with this? But I've really enjoyed it. I read the BBC news regularly, blogs, history, fiction, church books...  I gain a lot, I feel, through reading and I'm grateful that it has been a part of my life from the start.

I'm grateful that I learned to be socially proactive. It's still nice to be invited to do things, but I no longer wait for it. I figure, I'll invite people and if they don't want to play they'll say no. I can't even imagine where I would be today if I hadn't learned to change that attitude after high school. I certainly wouldn't have the great friends I have now or have had in the past. I'm grateful for my friends and the great times we've had together and the things I've learned from them.

I'm grateful that I have learned to give people the benefit of the doubt. I've learned that the way someone behaves towards me probably doesn't have much to do with me. I've learned that I don't know what's in people's heart and for the most part people try their best. I've learned a little bit about compassion and trying a bit harder to be a bit more like Christ. I still fail miserably a lot, sometimes inadvertently sometime cuz I'm just not there yet, but I see progress and that makes me thankful for the Savior and his Atonement that makes it possible.

And I'm thankful for my brain and the way it works. I'm really grateful that I'm a logical thinker and can usually maintain some sort of objectivity and think through problems and find answers. I'm sure I'd be grateful for whatever cranial talents I received, but I like the ones I did.

Well, don't know what you got out of that, but I hope you can find some more things to be grateful for this season of thanksgiving- beyond the standard list. Have a great turkey day!

Once, we had a band.

Once upon a time Tanner, Tia, and I played a song for our ward talent show. A little while later Tanner, Abby, and I played a different song for Tanner's ward talent show. (It's the last one we play in this video) Then we added Becca and we had our band. Tanner plays the guitar and writes most of the music. Abby plays the accordion. I play the ukulele and tambourine and hand drum. Becca plays violin. She's pretty great. I don't know if she ever plays the same thing twice, she just makes it up as she goes. Unfortunately she leaves for Romania for her mission later this month. But, maybe we can find someone else to fill her shoes somewhat. Anyway, we played a show at the local venue a while ago. We played mostly songs Tanner wrote and one by the Decemberists. (it's the last one.) Ashley was kind enough to video it. She was on the front row, so not all of us fit in the screen- but it's ok, tambourine's the least fun to watch. Enjoy!

Blessings in strange forms

Sometimes I have stories from my life that I think- boy, if I ever were to speak at General Conference this would be a good story for that... Don't pretend like you've never done that. Ok, so maybe not GC, but maybe one day I'll tell it in a talk or a lesson or something. Story time:

Once upon a Tuesday, about a month ago, I was heading up to campus for my afternoon class and was then going over to Ashley's house so I didn't ride my bike but drove instead. I was thrilled to see a spot open at the bottom of Old Main Hill and snatched up the parking spot. I went to class and did some homework for a while then headed back to my car. I got in, started it up, checked for cars on the road, and then spotted something on my windshield. It was yellow. It made me sad. It was a parking ticket. Apparently at some point since last time I was a student they changed that whole side of the street to 3 hour parking. I was parked right in front of a sign saying so, but in my haste to make it to class I didn't even notice it. I definitely deserved the ticket, but I was still upset by it. As a teaching grad student I got paid each month for my teaching the previous month. This means I didn't get paid until the beginning of October, so basically I was on a tight budget in September. I had many more things I wanted to spend $20 on. But I put it out of my mind by shoving the ticket in between the seats of my car, planning on returning to it when I was a bit calmer. Yeah, didn't happen. Because of that the price increased to $40, which really made me sad. But at least now I could wait until I got paid to pay it, then it wouldn't be as big of a hole in my wallet.

Fast forward a couple weeks. I check my phone after a class and see I got a voice mail from Mom. It was telling me that I got a letter from the police about my ticket. I called her back and explained what happened, so not to worry about the letter. As we say goodbye Mom said something about getting on it and paying it soon so the price doesn't go up. Um, the ticket was almost a month ago, the price has gone up. But the letter apparently said that if I paid it within 10 days of getting the letter I'd only pay the $20 original fee. Sweet! So I had Mom scan in the letter and email it to me so I could hold them to that when I went to pay my ticket, who wants to pay $40 if you can get away with $20? I open up the email and first thing that stands out is the line that says "Make: subar" and I thought "subar? Does that mean Subaru? I don't drive a Subaru..." then I noticed the license plate had 5PM as the last 3 digits. I don't have my license plate memorized, but I would if it had 5pm in it! This surely wasn't my car. The ticket was for residential parking violation, not even the same place as mine. I didn't quite know what to do. I laughed a little and stared at the screen in disbelief a lot. I didn't even know who I'd go talk to in order to get it straightened out. Then a shiny blue button on the screen caught my eye "Appeal". Done. Reason? It's not my car!

Today I got an email in response to my appeal. Somehow something got crossed when they were putting in tickets and my address ended up with someone else's ticket. As a consequence they decided they'd scrap the late fee on my actual ticket if I'd appeal it or give them a call. Yeah, I think I can do that. When I read the email I just laughed. Who'd have thought that accidentally getting the wrong ticket letter could be a blessing?

I think this is pretty representative of life. So many times we look at something that's happening and think "Why? It's just weird/not fair/hard/sad/awkward...." but really without those moments we wouldn't be able to receive blessings later on. I think it's also a good reminder that even though we make mistakes and don't always make the best choices if we will turn to the Lord there is a way for things to get fixed. I had thought a couple of times about how I could get them to not charge the late fee (wishful thinking, you know) but never in my wildest dreams would I have come up with a scheme like that. Turns out Heavenly Father's a pretty smart dude. I definitely deserved the ticket and the late fee, but I'm glad that Heavenly Father saw it as an opportunity to remind me that he's there and cares about even the relatively small things going on in my life.

Ok, maybe it's kinda long for a talk, but still a pretty cool story I think. I guess a blog post will just have to do for it.

Waders!

I fear I'm in danger of becoming one of those bloggers that really belongs on instagram or tumbler. I keep taking pictures of things with my crummy little phone camera (my better camera broke if you'll recall.) and thinking I'll blog them. I also keep thinking of things that I wish I had a picture of to blog. Well, I guess I'll feed that tendency and share with you a delightful picture of me in fishing waders.

They belong to a boy in my ward named Nick. If you're familiar with the trip to Swiss Days last weekend, he's the one that drove down and brought all his fishing gear. We went to the fair then went fishing since Mom and Dad weren't home yet. We went to a place off Midway Lane on the Provo River and learned how to fly fish. That's the picture above. We went again yesterday on the Logan River. I looked pretty much the same just with a jacket on under the waders this time. I didn't really need the waders for the Provo River, it was a nice day and the water was pretty fine. I just wore them because it was silly and I like silly things. (note the size of the shoes, silly is the right description. I felt like a fishing clown in those.) Yesterday I wore them because it was overcast, occasionally rainy, and the water was cold. I would have been frozen through after 30 minutes, so it was good he had them. I guess an alternative would also to have simply stayed on the bank of the river, but that's harder and less fun, so waders it is!

I can see why fly fishing is alluring... reels you in... (what other puns can I make?) easy to get hooked on...
You go out to a peaceful place on a river, usually by yourself or with only a few people, stand in the water and just fish and enjoy nature. It wasn't quite that calm and peaceful either time I went just because we were learning and had lots of tangled lines and snagged trees and trying to find a good spot to cast from. But usually it's just you and nature. Nick said he really likes fly fishing because he feels really cool after tricking a fish. I personally don't think tricking a fish sounds that awesome, but I know what he means.

Now because I said 'tricking a fish' I feel we should all go enjoy the Bad Lip Reading version of Twilight, the first one. "Dude, you slapped a fish!..."  Enjoy! (You'll like it, even if you don't like/have never seen Twilight. I haven't, and I thought it was great.)
http://youtu.be/FmxSk0wZxss

What watching a fake vlog made me think.

I just spent probably over 400 minutes (yes, that's over 6 hours...) watching a... um, how is this best described.
There's a thing called a vlog. It's a blog, but video. Well, someone did a modern rendition of Pride and Prejudice in the setting of a series of 100 vlogs by Lizzie Bennet. (It was really interesting how they modernized it. You know it's good when it's a book you've read a ton and seen several movies of and you still felt compelled to watch the next video to see what happens next! Also they suck you in. Each of them are only 3 - 5 minutes so you think... sure, what's one more? Next thing you know it's 2 in the morning. True story.) (hmm, now there is a P&P that's 6 hours. Since we all know that the A&E one is actually only 5 hours.. it's 6 episodes. But 5 hours...)
Anyway, I watched them all (cuz I'm a nerd) and around the middle I got a sudden desire to start a vlog. I mean, wouldn't I be so much better at vlogging than I am at blogging? I would just have to speak it instead of typing it! So easy! But then i realized- I really wouldn't be any better. The problem isn't that it takes so long for me to type a blog post or anything, I'm just lazy and lack real motivation. I would have the same problem when it came to recording and editing a vlog. I thought, this summer, that EFY would be so great for my family emails and blog. I would have time at night waiting for the kids to fall asleep where I could just sit in the hall and blog away. Well, when it comes down to it I'd rather chat with other counselors or read my scriptures or fall asleep in the hall in weird positions that type a blog post at the end of a long day when my brain feels like mush. It's true. (My brain doesn't feel like mush today. Hence the post.) (P.S. when I went to type 'brain' in that last parenthetical statement I accidentally typed 'braid'. Ha! that makes a difference. Thank goodness for computers, they're so much nicer than ink, or even typewriters.) (See, I can be just as random and distract-able in a blog as on a vlog.) Um, where was I? Oh yes- motivation. Truth is that I frequently have time in which I could write a family email on Sundays or a blog post whenever. I (especially up until I started grad school) frequently had oooodles of time on my hand. But I just would've rather watched another episode of The Magic School Bus on Netflix (true story) than write about what I consider my boring life and observations. So, my lack of motivation to actually write a blog post I think stems from the age old problem of "eh, no one wants to hear about that so I'm not going to take the time to tell it." or "my life's really bland. There's nothing to say." Both of which, in general are false. Besides, when I started this blog didn't I state one reason I wanted to was to help me record for myself some things in my life that wouldn't get recorded otherwise? Why am I worried about what people are going to think about my blog? or if anyone's even going to read it? (That makes it sound like I'm trying to think of amazing things to impress whatever readers I may have from time to time and I'm desperate for people to read what I have to say. Hm, funny how a lack of inflection can do that to words.)
So, what did watching this fake vlog make me think?
1. I'm a pretty good storyteller if I may say so. (Aunt Elaine said she likes my emails. I'll take that as proof.)
2. I have random stuff that happens all the time in my life. And I love retelling silly stories and making snarky comments.
3. If I can't use my blog for that, what can i use it for? I don't have any kids to blog about (which is what the majority of my friends who actually still blog write about. And really, who can blame them. Kids kinda tend to take over your life. And people seem to think they're pretty cute.) I don't have any big causes that I'm into or passions that I want to write about (Don't get me wrong, you start talking about education in the US and I'll get going, but I don't want to write about that.. blah.) So one way I'm going to be a better blogger is by being a storyteller.
Now, this again comes back to why I started this in the first place. I don't do too well with journals because I tend to write like Charles Dickens. (if only I got paid by the word for my works...) I tend to be overly detailed and ramble a bit when I record events (have you noticed?) So that can sometimes be demotivating since I don't usually like the idea of "I'm going to get on my blog and write a mini novel for whoever actually reads these things." But I have been trying something. I've started a new journal project that is forcing me to keep it short, so maybe I can follow suit here and not get bogged down by the weight of finishing such lengthy stories and such.

So, to start us off today here's a question:
If something happens but no one is there to tweet, update, snap-chat, instagram, or otherwise chronicle it on social media- did it actually happen?
(Well, of course it did. It's a comment on the over publication of our generation's personal lives.) (I wrote 'publisization'  and spell check changed it to 'publicaton'. I like publisization better...)
Well, I did something today that I've been wanting to do for a long time. It was silly and I had a good time. And for a second I thought "Hmm, too bad I don't have a camera or anything." But then I thought "Nope, it's better when it's real, not digital." So, what was it? I'm not going to say. That would chronicle it, and though this is not a typical social media site it would still be publicizing it, so it would defeat the whole point of my deep philosophical thinking. Sometimes it's kinda fun to do things 'off the grid'. If you want to know you'll have to ask me. The end.

(Kinda an ironic end to a post where the first 2/3s is about how I'm going to share more of my stories online.. ha.)

Pictures from my phone

I was thinking the other day how it's probably a good thing I don't have a fancy phone and Instagram. I'd probably end up being one of those lame-o people that post pictures of food and stupid stuff no one cares about. The main reason for this isn't that I actually think other people care about these things, but that I do (to some extent). I get so much joy out of everyday things like a great salad or a giant shoe that I would post it regardless of whether anyone else cares. I'd also probably run wild with #hastags because they're just so silly. So here we go- a sample, What if I had Instagram and used #s?
(and think, these are all pics I just took on my phone this year without instragram to post to. It would only get worse if I knew I had instagram to post to...)

Ooh, we're at the Parachute concert. Doesn't it look like fun? Aren't you glad I took a picture and posted it so you could all see how cool it is? Oh, what's that, you can't tell? Yeah.... #yourphonecameraisn'tthatgreat #stoptakingpicturesandenjoytheshow

Ah, legos. Ah, Star Wars. Ah, children's lit. It's a beautiful thing. This is from a 'book' my nephew got. #Noooooooooo #kidstillatheart #ilovelegos #beingsillyisthebest 

And this is only a size 20 or something, still smaller than Shaq's. #ginormous #theDIisthebest #peopleofDI #iamwearingsomanylayers #loganwinters

This is my niece. She's 5. she climbed it all by herself. She rocks. #mynieceisthecoolest #it'shardnotputtingpunctuationinthesethings #rockclimbingisthebest #futurerockstar

A friendly reminder from Mountain Crest High School #goingtothecafeteria #highschoollunch #yummy!

View from the patio behind the Crepery. #lastdayofschool #ilovetheoutdoors #ushistoryisneat #crepesarethebest #ruralfeelinginthemiddleoftown

Found at the farmer's market #thetardisisapeanut #thefarmer'smarketisthebest

Mmmmmm. Salad. #ithinkthisisn'thowthislookedinmyhead #healthyme #iactuallyaterealfood #morereasonstolovesummer #saladisthebest

First one was too small, second was too big... sigh. #newwallet #ducttapeisthebest #thanksmom

Did I mention I like duct tape? #Ilikeducttape #ducttapeforever #ducttapeisthebest

It's mine now! Fresh from the yard sale. #newtome #Yardsalesarethebest #toobadidon'tactuallymountainbikelikeever #guessishouldbuyahelmet #timeforanewhobby

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hosed

My car got hosed today...

Yes, seems my hoses were in pretty sad shape. I spent a couple hours of my Saturday afternoon getting them replaced. Story time:

   I have been having some leaks from my oil and power steering systems so I jacked up my car the other day to see what I could see and try to find the source of the troubles. At some point while I was poking around my engine I found hose #1, not on it's nozzle and looking really pathetic. Note the 3 holes (1.a) and the cracked openings. It was pretty useless. Ashely came around today to see if I wanted to come shopping with her while she was without kids for a bit so I took the chance to get a ride and we stopped by an auto parts store while out. I had taken off hose #1 to show them, and by taken off I mean ripped the last inch off because it was melted to the nozzle (1.b, you can't really tell, but that end bit isn't connected to the rest cuz I ripped it off. It had to be pried off with a knife.) They didn't really know what I was talking about, what the hose connected to where so, after we decided it would be safe for me to drive my car in, I went home and got it. Well, the specific hose for that spot wasn't in stock and wouldn't be in till Tuesday, so we just fitted some stock hose to it, and it fits so well they said I probably won't have to buy the fancy hose unless it shows signs of obvious distress. Yay!
   While we were fixing hose #1 I observed a little piece of hose that was also cracking and coming off the nozzle, enter hose #2. What you see in the picture is only the top inch or so of the hose. It was actually a hose with a fancy grommet on the end to plug into the air box thingy (yes, I only use technical terms for things.) and they didn't actually have it in stock. We called a dealership and they wanted $25 and a few days to ship it! No thank you, my engine isn't hardly worth $25... So we made our own. We snipped off the bad part (2.a), cut up a connector to be shorter and attached a piece of hosing so it almost looked the same. It was pretty good problem solving from the auto shop guys! We got it all made, but then it didn't want to reattach to the box. We ended up having to detach the box from all it's connections to be able to manhandle that grommet back in there.
    As we wrestled with the box we discovered another nozzle that was running around without it's hose. Later found this hose and it looked like hose #3. so we replaced it with some stock hose. It was by far the easiest of the fixes. But 4 auto part store dudes and 2 hours later I'm all hosed up and ready to go. I've been told I should get better gas mileage now and on the way home I was averaging 24 mpg, I usually only got that freeway driving! Yay.

I don't know when these hoses were replaced, or if they ever have been, but they were in pretty sad shape. I'm glad I found them and fixed them. It cost me only about $5 instead of the $45-50 it would have just for parts if a shop had done it. Car work is so fun! Now, to find see about that power steering leak and see how my break pads and rotors are doing...

That time I took a vacation

(Beware, this post is probably unnecessarily detailed, and therefore rather long. But it could've been worse!)
 It was spring break for the school districts here in Logan. This meant I had a week of no work, but all my friends did. So I could either stay in Logan and do whatever all day and hang out in the evenings the same as usual, or I could go somewhere by myself. I chose the later. I had a brilliant plan- go spend a few days with Mom and Dad in Heber, see some friends then go to Provo for a day and see friends there then SLC for a day... then back to Logan sometime before Monday for work. It's great, I thought, Mom's always reminding me that I can come visit, and it's been a while since I saw many people I'd like to see again and I'll have a whole week to do it. Well, the thing I forgot is that it's spring break for everyone involved with public schools, so Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, and several friends were all on vacations of their own. Oh well. Just didn't visit as many people as I had originally planned, but I still had fun. Plus it was worth it just to get out of my regular routine. I was about to go crazy!

Monday I had scheduled a dentist appointment (hadn't had one for 2 years, I figured my teeth are worth the expense of paying for it yourself...) so I packed my things, checked twice that I hadn't forgotten anything and set out for home. I got my teeth cleaned and with a 42 second glance from the Dr. got my teeth declared fit as a fiddle. On my way home I noticed that what used to be a lumber yard was now a thrift store, so I stopped in for a gander. I'm glad I did. I got a nice sweater and the ABBA Greatest Hits II record! Woo. I then borrowed the Greatest Hits I record from my parents and can enjoy all the ABBA my heart desires on vinyl. Back at my parents I had no sooner unpacked when I noticed that I'd forgotten several things, despite my checking twice to make sure I had everything. Luckily Ashely was coming down the next day and brought it all with her. That night, though, I didn't have anything to do. No one I knew in Heber was around, so I was on my own. I ended up getting dinner from 3 different restaurants and renting some movies from the library. I then went home, at the food, watched movies from my mom's collection and did a puzzle. Good way to spend an evening. I did feel rather Gilmore Girl-ish (although a puzzle would be way to strenuous and activity for Loreli's tastes.)

Don't worry, I didn't finish the breadsticks that evening.

Tuesday I had lunch with some friends at Dairy Keen. While we were waiting to order I get a call from Ashely asking if I wanted to eat lunch with them, they just got to Heber. "I'm already eating, but thanks. Where are you going? ...To DK, of course. See you in a bit!" So my friends got to meet my nephew and nieces in all their "Here let me crawl all over you" glory. We enjoyed a nice lunch of catching up, it'd been a long time since we'd all been able to get together. After lunch we went to the park. Drew wanted to walk so he and I did and met Ashley at good ol' J.R. Smith to use their play ground after stopping to buy a kite. The only kites we could find were diamond shaped. I was bummed cuz they're typically really hard to get flying well, but at least the kids would get lots of running in. We got a nice Darth Vader one that Drew assured me everyone would like. He was right. The Kite surprised me, it was maybe 18 inches tall with a tail I guess was 9 feet long. I thought I would break the cross bars when I put them in because they were such skinny little plastic things. But they stood up to the pressure and the kit took off as soon as I let it go. Anne especially had a good time with it. That kite was good. It stayed up like a champ and refused to be crashed. Kite Triumph! The rest of the day we just spent at home playing and watching movies, as usual.

Wednesday I headed up to Provo with the intention of going to the temple. Didn't actually make it there. I had planned to go in the evening but ended up babysitting for Ashley after Kate was carsick the second time. I enjoyed seeing cousins Ari and Taylor, especially since Taylor's going into the MTC this week. Highlight of the day was getting a facebook response from a friend I hadn't seen in a couple years. We went out and got horchata and tortillas at Cafe Rio, sat under a tree in the parking lot, and chatted for an hour.

Thursday I went to see my friend Sarah who just had a baby. The baby was cute, it was fun chatting with Sarah, and her mom decided I should be set up with her neighbor because he also wears sandals all winter... Ok... one of the more random reasons I've been set up with someone, but I guess it could be worse. If it ever happens I'm sure it will be interesting. I was then supposed to meet another friend named Sarah so I ended up in downtown Provo waiting for her to return my call. I got to see live the amazingness that is the construction process of the Provo Tabernacle Temple. They put it on stilts and dug under it! Probably 60-ish feet deep. It was crazy! They were putting together a crane and had a nifty 'crane building crane' holding up part of the arm so they could lock it in. It's one of those funny things "It takes a crane to build a crane". There was some guy on the steps of the courthouse where I sat to enjoy the wonderful day and watch construction who had brought a camp chair and was eating cookies. It was great. He came over and asked if I'd take a picture of him, sitting in his camp chair watching the construction. And if I could, try to get the crane in the pic. I can only imagine it's his new facebook profile pic. Well, right after that Sarah texted me to say she was sick, so I went back to Grandma's and played my ukulele on the porch. It was fantastic. I then got a call from my friend Brandon and we chatted for a while. His wife was sick though, so he didn't have time to get together but it was delightful to catch up again. It was hard to leave the porch and head to SLC, but I managed to do it and spent the night with my former roommate Kandi.

Kandi had persuaded me to come with her to boxing class on Friday morning so we woke at the absurd hour of 5:30 am and headed off to the gym. She does this every week day and I think she's crazy. It was a regular boxing class so we warmed up by pretend jump ropeing, running, doing jumping jacks, ect. I thought "This isn't a warm up, this is exercise!" but it got better. After warm ups we put on our gloves (we got to wrap our hands and everything. I felt very hard core and kinda silly at the same time.) and started punching the punching bags. I'm used to martial arts style fighting where your hands return to your core area and the coach kept telling me I'd not look as nice as he does if I didn't keep my hands up to protect my face. My thoughts? "Um, it's a punching bag, it's got no arms to fight back with..." We'd box the bag for a minute then do 20 seconds of 'active rest'- A.K.A. not resting. Planks, push ups, sit ups, leg lifts... I got a lot of drinks and skipped most of the 'resting'. By the end those gloves were really heavy and my shoulder wanted to fall off, but I had a really nice nap afterwords!
Originally I'd made plans to go hiking with my friend Andrew, but it was rainy and I slept more than I anticipated after boxing so he went hiking in the rain and I met up with him after for some pleasant wandering around SLC in the sunlight. It turned into quite a lovely day. We went downtown to Temple Square to admire the flowers, then after lunch we wandered around the giant cemetery where all the prophets are buried for an hour and a half. He thought he knew where either Parley P. Pratt or Porter Rockwell (I can't remember which) was buried, but we couldn't find it. We did find Pres. Hinkley, McKay, Taylor and a monument to Hyrum Smith. Close by Hyrum was a headstone for a dude who thinks he is Hyrum Smith reincarnated. He claims to have received the gold plates from a resurrected Joseph Smith and translated the sealed parts. He had the websites for more info carved right into the headstone. Don't worry, he's not dead yet so there's still time to get on this bandwagon. We were both amazed that we'd never heard about this. Obviously the church is keeping secrets... (you know that was sarcasm, right? good.) It was a great day to be out and about. It's an awesome cemetery. I wish I lived near by so I could go for rambles through it all the time. We decided that Andrew needs to get all the names for his kids after he gets married by wandering through it with his wife and picking out names. There were some great ones to choose from.

Pretty flowers on a tree in SLC, in case you were wondering...

After that I was going to go home, but I got distracted by Kandi's Zelda game on her wii. It's fun! you get to 'use your sword' by shaking your controller. I hear in the newer game you even get to use your controller like your sword, which would be even cooler! I guess I'm kinda a sucker for video games sometimes. But I enjoyed that for too long and put off my going home till the next day. I listed to most of the first conference session with them, but headed out before the last speaker so as to avoid post conference traffic. Then I was home. It was a nice vacation. I had been in Logan with only a day or two out for a looooong time. I was starting to go crazy. I feel a lot better about this lovely little valley now that I've gotten to spend some time outside of it again.

P.S. Thanks Mom & Dad and Grandma & Grandpa and Kandi for letting me stay at your place!

What's missing at the library

So I had a job subbing on Tuesday. It was kinda nice to have something to do (shocker!), though I can't say as much for waking up so early. Maybe one day I'll get used to it and prefer it to staying up late. One can hope...

After school I arrived home and realized that I had forgotten to take my house key when I left this morning. It happens from time to time, but at least this time I had my car keys on me. I decided that I'd see what time my roommates would be coming home and go enjoy myself somewhere until then. I chose the library. I only had one book particularly in mind and it was all checked out, so I was left to wander aimlessly around in search of something to suit my mood at the time. I wandered down all the aisles of the young adult section (there aren't many) and through many of the fiction and biography aisles before I finally just started reading a book again I haven't read for a while. As I walked around I was overcome with the sheer quantity of books in a library. There's so much there, how is one to know what's worth reading and not? They have searches to tell you where a specific book is, or one about a specific topic, but what if you don't really know? I wish libraries had clerks that knew what was in the books as well as where to find them and how to use the electronic catalog. Wouldn't it be grand to go to a library and say "I want to read something that will make me feel like I can do anything today" or "I would like a book that I can enjoy in little bits, during what breaks I can fit in here and there" or even "I just need a good book today." and then have them be able to point you to a book or two that hits just the right spot. I know it wouldn't be in the budget to employ people just for that purpose, but it would be grand I think. (And I'm sure I know of a few people that would be glad to do that for the rest of their lives. Read books so they can recommend them to others... what a job!) I bet people would read a lot more if they could find something to suit them without wading through mountains of titles that mean nothing. Anyway, it's just a thought.

Small confession

Confession: for at least the last week I've purposefully gone back to sleep in the mornings until most of it is gone because I have no idea what to do with it.
 Sad. yes. Pathetic. I know.
I do know that there are things I could do (like exercise, read, practice guitar, cook extravagant meals...) but I don't really think about that when I wake up. All I think about is how I have nothing on my agenda for the day and that's too much time to fill by reading 3 different news pages online, so I go back to sleep. Now that I've confessed, maybe this will be the start of longer/more full days for me. Indeed, I actually didn't do this today. I was woken up at 9 by my friend Alycen, who is staying at our house for a day or two, calling me because she locked herself out of our house. So I was up at 9 and decided the best thing to do was to just stay up (especially since I wasn't really tired. I usually am quite awake when I first get up, but then go back to bed anyway).

I decided to finally make some soup that I have been meaning to make for a long time now. I had all the ingredients and had set out the pot several days ago to remind myself to make it. It was just going to be a basic veggie soup in chicken broth, such as I have made before, but with the addition of some soup mix I bought (the kind with lentils and alphabet shaped noodles...). I pieced together what the package said and my prior experience with making soups and came up with, what sounded like, a good plan. Cook soup mix, when it's almost done throw in chopped veggies. Yum.
Yeah, it didn't quite turn out like that.
The soup mix absorbed a whole lot more liquid than I expected, and between it and the potatoes it made more of a stew-like gloopy-ness instead of a broth-y soup. It doesn't taste bad, but it doesn't taste really good either. And that's the grand accomplishment of my waking up at a reasonable time. Though I did have 2 thoughts based on this whole experience:
1. It's at times like this that I'm glad I'm not married. There's no husband who has to dutifully eat this soup-paste and pretend it's really good. No one has to eat it but me, and I don't have to pretend it's any better than it is. And hopefully when there is a husband expecting a good dinner I'll have soups down a little better.
2. Sometimes things really just don't turn out as expected. (shocker!) But that's life and that's half the fun of it. If everything turned out like expected I imagine life would be pretty boring. I much more enjoy a good surprise. Ok, maybe not always at the time, but i don't like always knowing what's coming next. So, while I'm not really glad that my soup turned out like gloop, I am glad it got me to write a blog post. (I'm sure most of you thought I died somewhere in the last 3 weeks...)
So, here's to the unpredictability of life. Maybe tomorrow my morning productiveness will be a little more tasty...

Magical Things

I'm sitting in my kitchen/dining room area at about 2:20 am (don't ask. I'm just good at staying up late) (ok, fine- I beat Portal 2 and then had one thing to do on the compy before I went to bed and I just got distracted... yes, distracted by my blog.)

Ahem, I'm sitting here listening to Of Monsters and Men and I began to think about how that's how my last blog post started too. They were introduced to me by a friend who is much more into the music scene than I and generally has good taste. I originally only knew one or two songs, but after acquiring the entire album recently I've just been swept away. Whatever my mood is it seems like they hit the spot.

Another story and then to tie them together.

Awhile back we had a shin-dig for something (new years, I think) and a friend brought over his X-box so we could "Just Dance!" the year to it's close (and we did! and then we sang Auld Lang Syne in the street, barefoot, with bottles of sparkling cider like we were wasted. This was followed by a ridiculously long game of uno, then sleep. Who could ask for a better start to the new year?)

Ahem, so he brought over his X-box then forgot/neglected to take it home. Not just once, but a few times. Eventually I told him if he wanted to forget a few other games, besides Just Dance!, at our house to go with it we'd sure be ok with that. Well, the other day he brought over FIFA soccer and then Portal 2 (when he found out I'd played the original Portal) and then left them for us. I said something about this online and got a comment back amazed at how we end up with quite a few cool things being left at our house for a while- e.g. a giant love sac. My reply to this comment: it must be some sort of magic.

This post is just to say, magic is totally real. It's what happens when a band has a song for every situation. It's what happens when friends are extraordinarily nice to you. It's what happens when it snows that really dry sparkly snow and it's a full moon so the world looks like a fake Christmas village.

Like tender mercies, magic is a matter of observation. I'm sure God is bestowing blessings on us left and right and we only notice a small portion of them each day. In the same way, I'm sure our lives are full of magic and we just don't take the time to take notice. So, need a little magic in your life? Just.. Look Around You. (another magical thing. Bonus points if you know why I capitalized that.)

Last Day Thoughts

Well, it's all done. I'm sitting here in (was used to be) my classroom at the seminary, listening to Of Monsters and Men, looking at empty desks, and typing. I've cleaned up all the things I put around the room, thrown away all the papers no one needs anymore. I just need to go do the same to my office upstairs and I'll all be done and ready to give back my keys. It's a sad feeling, but I'm not really sad. (if that made sense...) I've loved working here and with all the other teachers and students. I almost feel like LHS is my school after 2 student teaching jobs here. However- honestly, I've been pretty sure I'd only do one semester. (there was a moment there I was afraid I wouldn't even get to finish out the semester...) So it's not really surprising, and I've had a very long time to come to grips with it. I was kinda hoping for a while there that I'd get to do the whole year, but this is probably for the best. I'm glad I got this chance though. It's funny, the thing that was always the hardest was when I would tell people I was teaching seminary they would almost always say such nice things about how lucky the kids were, how good I was going to do, how they're so glad because they always need more female seminary teachers... But as they were saying these things I knew in my heart it wasn't going to work out. It's hard disappointing people.  It's hard to not be a good at something as everyone thinks you will be, everyone including yourself. But, as I said, I'm glad I did it. I've learned a lot and hopefully I was able to help a few kids along the way understand the scriptures better.

So, now the question- what's next. I only wish I knew. I applied for grad school at USU at the urging of a professor I knew during my undergrad time. It's all done and "Ready for Review", and just sitting there since Tuesday. How many other applications for this semester can they have to look at? Really? I mean, school started monday? I doubt there are very many people wanting to start late... So what that means is I don't know what I'm doing Monday. I guess that just means the opportunities are limitless! There's a line from a song I really like that says "You can't get to where you're going till you say goodbye to where you've been" So- Goodbye where I am! Future- Here I come. I don't know exactly what's in store but like Marriner (my bro-in-law) said, maybe there's a reason for all of my not settling into a job and everything yet. Time will tell. Ooh, maybe it will bring a lot of exciting changes. That would be fun...

Bac-on!

Bacon! What a delightful piece of meat. Yet, it's frequently so difficult to cook well! I simply cannot abide soggy bacon. But sometimes in the quest for delightfully crispy bacon you end up with cracker like meat with no flavor. But I have made a break through. I have done an experiment and discovered the best way to cook bacon in order to achieve edibility of the whole piece (not just the actual meat part) and maximum bacon-y flavor. No one should be surprised at my findings, the name of the food itself implies the proper way for it to be prepared. It is, after all, bac-on. Bake it!

  Now, this is how the story goes. I bought some bacon a while back because it looked like it had a high meat to fat ratio and promised some good hickory flavoring or something like that. Moving forward to a few days ago I had the grand idea to make up a few slices and crumble them into some soup or a salad for dinner. So I pull out the package and open it up to begin making the bacon. I think I had planned on microwaving it, since it's quick and makes for crispy fat. But something on the package caught my eye. It read "Baking instructions". Baking bacon? The thought had never occured to me. What an idea! So I decided to try it. I lined the tray for my toaster oven with some tin foil and fit 4 pieces of bacon on it. "Bake at 350 degrees till crispy", easy enough. Then in true Turner fashion I decided to go ahead and just try them all and compare them to find the best way to make bacon.
   I placed 3 slices in paper towels for microwaving and 3 slices in a pan to fry. The package said to do 1 minute per slice in the microwave. I only did 2 minutes and they were quite crispy. I put them in for another 30 seconds just to be safe and then ate them all up, leaving only a strip of meat a couple inches long for comparison later.
  The pan frying was still warming up really, so the bacon was just sitting there, starting to cook a bit. The oven was up to temp and I could smell the bacon sizzling up nicely in there. There wasn't really much to do while i waited. After a bit the bacon in the pan started sizzling and I decided also to flip over the bacon in the oven. After a few more minutes the bacon in the pan was frying up well, but the fat was just not getting cooked. It kept curling so I'd have to flip it over and squish it down so it could cook. But the baked ones were done, so I pulled them out and enjoyed eating all but a sliver that I saved for later comparison. I then finished frying the remaining 3 pieces and consumed them in a similar manner to the other 2 batches.

The results are as follows:
The microwave piece was a bit leathery though without much taste in the meat part itself. The fat was all cooked crunchy though and so there was almost no gicky pieces I didn't want to eat. (I'm really picky about bacon fat. Gicky bacon fat is just inedible for me...) But it wasn't greasy at all, and clean up was a snap because of the paper towels it was surrounded by. Pro: crispy, non greasy, easy clean up, really fast cooking. Con: low taste, bit leathery
The baked bacon had a nice meaty texture, kinda reminiscent of thick jerky. It tasted great because it was still cooked in the drippings, unlike the microwaved slices. It also had very well done fat and I consumed all but a few small pieces of fat that were a bit too fat like for my tastes. Pro: Tastes good, easy clean up (just let the drippings cool in the tin foil then roll it up and toss it. Done! No gross looking can of nastiness) wonderful smell! Con: takes a while, bit greasy
Pan frying took the longest, or at least seemed like it. (The baking might have taken longer, but just finished first since I started it first... who knows) It created a very tasty, crunchy meat- but had the most gicky fat pieces. And I had to wash the pan when I was done. Pro: tasty! Con: most clean up, needs constant supervision, clean up, under crisped fat.


Well, guess which one was the best... oh wait, I already told you. Bake that bacon. You will not regret it! As a funny side, I actually ended up not making anything else for dinner that evening (lazy me) and so I got to tell everyone how I had 10 slices of bacon cooked 3 different ways for dinner.

 I made the rest of the package today and had the most wonderful BLT ever with it. And it was so nice. I popped it in the oven then went about my business. I checked back on it after a while and flipped the slices once, then a bit later it was all done and we consumed every speck of the bacon. Yummy!

Being all homemaker-y

I read an article the other day about the saddest and most disgusting thing I've ever read about food. There's a reality tv show (oh, the depths we have sunk too that this passes as something worth spending time on...) called "Here comes Honey Boo Boo" about a super red-neck family who's daughter Alana (aka Honey Boo Boo) is in pageants or something. I guess a while back the show featured what this family eats when they haven't gotten any road kill for a while and are out of meat. The meal it showed them cooking they call 'sketti' and it's spaghetti noodles with a concoction of half butter (probably margarine actually, even worse...) and half ketchup melted together and poured on the top. It looks like spaghetti sauce... but it makes me sick just thinking about what it would smell like, or taste like, or do to your body...

   Anyway, this article was about how a blogger saw this and decided she could make a cheaper and healthier spaghetti from store bought goods, and she did. Before reading this article I had been sitting around thinking "Gee, I've got so much time today, what am I supposed to do with it?" (I did nothing with it, btw) But then I read this and realized- I should cook! I can cook, I'm just really lazy when it comes to cooking (or most things...) and so I usually eat things like mashed potatoes, rice and veggies, burritos, frozen veggies and raviolis. Things that are quick and easy (but not THAT quick and easy, cuz then you get into the sketti and easy mac realm, and that's scary) But since I have time on days when I don't have meetings and activities to go to, I should try to make cooking something I enjoy more. This article had some nice links to blogs and such that feature recipes that are easy and quick, but not potato flakes, which is just what I'm looking for. (though I'll still eat my fake mashed potatoes...)

    Now this is not going to become a food blog, but I did want to show off some of what this new resolution has produced: Behold carrot/cucumber/cream cheese sushi and "Squaketti" (the recipe the blogger made that was cheaper/healthier than sketti)


























Et voila. I think I'm going to like this cooking thing.
And as a bonus, here's a cake I made for my roommate a few weeks back. I feel so culinary-y.

It's the Bat sign... in case you were wondering... I'm not much of an artist, so just take what you get.

And I crocheted a hot pad/wash cloth something Sunday, but I left it at school. I'll talk about that later... so stay tuned!

Pumpkins!

I have really out done myself this year with the pumpkins.

Carving pumpkins is really my favorite part of Halloween. I just have come to love it for some reason. I have enjoyed the last few years making my own pumpkin patterns (at least somewhat) and this year I got all sides of the creative spectrum. One Kyle and I made completely free hand, one I took an idea from a picture online, and one I printed out and carved fancy pants style (I added the shadow to it though...) I love them all. Let's go through one by one shall we...

I call it: Crazy face with a "BOO" shadow. Creative name, I know. If you get your computer screen at just the right angle you might be able to actually see the "BOO" on the wall.
So, my friend Kyle needed a date for a double date with his friend, and knowing that I'm a fan of pumpkin carving he asked me to join them. We had a pretty big pumpkin, with really thick walls, so we went easy and big cuts. We drew this all on our own. We wow-ed the socks off of the other couple with the shadow. We even put 3 candles in it so the shadow showed up on the wall 3 times at different angles... "Science!"

This is

 "Totem Pole Tiki Face"

He was carved based off a couple different designs I saw online. 

My friend Abby got this awesome idea last Halloween to create a pumpkin totem pole that would have a nozzle in the mouth of the top pumpkin that would spit flames. The closest we could come this year was creating a totem pole by stacking 4 pumpkins up a fence post, then balancing the 5th one on top, putting a can with kerosene soaked wick in it, and lighting it on fire. We put a little ethenol on the top to try to make the flames blue, but it didn't really work. But it looked amazing anyway! I don't have a picture of the whole totem pole, but the carvings were (from bottom to top) a moon sliver, an eagle silhouette (think Native American), a jack-o-lantern face, and a haunted house. We realized later how cool it would've been to put the flame several pumpkins down and light them all up with the fire, but I kinda liked the foot tall flames out the top.

And the 3rd and final entry I call: Avengers: Unite!

If you can't tell what it is, it's Captain America in the shillouette of the Hulk with the Avengers' A on the wall. It was pretty darn neat. The problem was the pattern for the Captain/Hulk carving was definitely meant for a larger pumpkin, so some of the details got lost... along with part of the Hulk's fingers and the Captain's head. But don't worry, we found them and I reattached them with toothpicks. And you might notice the picks in the back holding the A pieces in place. The other thing that caused trouble is that this pumpkin was very very thick. I spent a long time thinning it out and still was carving through too much. So when I would try to carve away extra stuff to get a clear picture it would tear some of the more delicate features. Like the Captain's head... But it all came back together and looked fabulous on our front porch. 

It was a pretty fun Halloween season. We didn't do much tonight. Half the evening was spent with people just watching me carve my pumpkin, but that's ok. As a bonus I'll show you a couple shots of my costume. "I'm a Hufflepuff!"

I saw a bird once!

My name is sewn into all of my clothes!

I'm a Hufflepuff!

If you have no idea what is going on, I suggest you watch this. Even if you do, I still suggest watching this:

So many reasons to love...

the Farmer's Market! Bet you didn't think that's how that title was going to end.. ha.

We have a terrific farmer's market here in Logan. It's not huge, but I love it. It's been in Merlin Olsen Park for the past few years and is moving to Willow Park next year. (I hope I'm around to enjoy it at the new location. It's so much more convenient!) But they have the farmers and the artists and the craft-ers, and the food, and the park, and live entertainment, and it's just great. If you've never been to a farmer's market: REPENT! (a Greek word meaning to have a change of mind or heart...) You'll love it too. They have great produce during harvest season. I love going each week with a handful of cash and seeing what I can get for it. I usually have less than $10 but come home with bunches of fruits and veggies.

A couple weeks ago I found these delightful treats:

Yes, my friends those are purple green beans and purple potatoes! Yay! Unfortunately the purple cooks out of the beans, and the potatoes turn more of a blue/grey color (the insides are purple and white which combines to make bluish gray...) But they were sure yummy!

Then yesterday when I went I got 5 yummy small white peaches for a buck that we used for crepe filling last night. Also, when I went yesterday they didn't have an actual band playing, like usual, they just had a sort of open mic thing going on. I think my 'favorite' act while I was there was a little 9 year old pop star who sang Don't Rain on My Parade twice. Yep, twice. In a row. The first time the track had the singer on it as well and she did fine for a youngin. The second time there was so singer on the track... Maybe it's bad that I was laughing at a 9 year old, but it was really funny. Not so much that she was bad, but it was funny that she was still posing and holding her mic up like she's on American Idol. All in all, it really added to the fair atmosphere and I had more fun wandering around the stalls looking at everything.

Most of all I think I just like the feeling of the farmer's market. Whether I get a good deal or not, it's a lot nicer just buying what you need/want from the people who grew it or made it. It's so much fun shopping in open air markets and seeing people you know in the park. I think we should have more farmer's market style things. It just makes Saturday even better.