my best ideas

to change things up and try new things, as well as satisfy my try-new-recipes hobby i made some indian food the other night.  i'm pretty inexperienced with this ethnic food variety, but it turned out fairly good, i think...

i used to think i got all my best ideas in the shower - and maybe that used to be true.  but nowadays it seems to be while i'm laying in bed trying to fall asleep.

so there i am for some reason thinking about indian food and restaurants and what good names for the restaurants would be.  here's my gem for indian fast food: curry in a hurry! : ) ha!

contact me for my royalties : )

how could anyone forget???

sometimes i hear people say they forgot to eat a meal.  could be breakfast, lunch, or dinner, i've heard them all.  and every time my eyebrows raise and i wonder how on earth someone could FORGET to eat!!!!  it seems like such a mystery!

i understand there are times in life that you may be very busy and it's not convenient to eat until later than you would have.  i've lived my own share of no lunch or no dinner days - especially while traveling : )

i also know what it's like to eat on the go so it's not really a "meal" necessarily, but you make do.

but do i look like a girl that's missed too many meals????!!  food is good.  i love food.  how can you "forget" to eat????  eat to live?  live to eat? : )

i'm one who loves to savor.  i love to savor most things - anticipation and experiences especially.  i also love to savor my food - don't rush me!  we've learned that we must make a line or some kind of division if i want my fair share : )

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monday morning i went back to zumba and had a fun time.  but, i didn't really feel that "worked-out" so i went home and went for a run afterward since i was already dressed for it (seems to be half the battle sometimes!) and sweaty.  it rounded things out nicely, but by that time it was getting pretty warm out especially with my sunburn...

so then when i was thinking about this morning i decided i'd try a run in addition to zumba again, but this time run before i went so it would be a little cooler out, plus then i'd be ready to move on with my day.  great plan, i thought, because once again i could have fun, get a good workout, and only have to get dressed for it (and shower) once!

so this morning came and i took will to the train then came home and went about my business watching the clock knowing that i'd need to get ready and go out and run by a certain time if i was going to get a decent run in and be able to drive to the church for zumba and be on time.  it was just about that time and i was looking up recipes/directions to try making my own yogurt (look at me go! ha : ).  i left my tab open for myself (true to my style : ), changed, and went to get a drink of water trying to be conscious of the hot weather and my sunburn i've been trying to baby all week.

there i am approaching the fridge to get out the water when i see the boxes of cereal on top.  let me be a little cliche and say "suddenly it hit me."

I HAD FORGOTTEN TO EAT BREAKFAST!!!!!!!!!!

honestly, people!  i really thought to myself, "oh my gosh!  i actually FORGOT to eat breakfast!!  how could i, of all people, forget????!!!!  now i'm one of those people!!!!"

i had such a perfect plan, and at no point ahead of time had i thought about breakfast and not once all morning did i think about breakfast.  how bizarre!!!!  so at that point i wasn't really that hungry, but i didn't want to commit the nutrition no-no of missing breakfast!  i also didn't really have time to do my planned run and eat breakfast if i was going to go to zumba on time.  but who wants a fresh bowl of cereal sloshing around in their tummy as they run?  so i decided to go out and run (where "my dog likes to jog in the morning fog" repeated to my running cadence over and over pretty much the whole time because somehow it was stuck in my  head...)  when i got back in i drank lots of water and had some applesauce before heading out to zumba.  there, now i'd had some breakfast : )  after zumba i came home and made a smoothie.

i guess now i can have a little more understanding when someone forgets to eat.... maybe?  but really... how can you FORGET to eat???!

so long! farewell!

you know that awkward series of sounds and weird phrases that people say at the end of phone calls?  mmhmm, ok, yeah, you too, thanks, mmmm, buh bye, uh huh, ok, hehe, i will, all right, ...... and some i don't even know how to spell... just sounds... : )  probably because someone thinks they're interrupting the other person saying something real so they stop mid-sound...

i always dread that part of the call.  mostly when it's someone you don't talk to much or know very well.... you get caught in that back and forth not sure when it's going to end sometimes!  it's also interesting to listen to someone else end their phone call with that.  do people have their set thing they always say???  i just try to make it out alive!!  sometimes it makes sense and pertains to the conversation and other times it just means "it's over" and it's a little mindless seeming.  i think i've observed that some people do that/say those things more than others.

maybe i've had to make and receive more calls in the last month or so... i don't know why i've been thinking about it more lately... should have given you a boring alert : ) ha

now will you be self-conscious as you conclude your calls??????

the first

i used to pray to be kept busy......  it's been at least over a year now and my prayers are still being answered!!

i don't have time or energy now to detail the last month and a half... but i am here to record some of our firsts in the last little while!  i thought it sounded appropriate for this hot july first... (JULY??!)

a couple months back we were wanting to plant some things, so finally in the first weekend in may we planted our first plants!!  we got a small tomato plant and a pot to put it in and we got zinnia seeds to plant in a different planter.  our tomato plant has flourished, is much much larger now and is yielding small green tomatoes!!!  some of them have started to ripen red!!!!!!!  it's a cherry tomato plant, so they'll stay small, but they seem big for cherries... but they're so cute!  and if we can harvest any good ones before caterpillars and worms get to them i'm sure they'll taste great!  we've already lost some to the our small critter friends... : /

and those flowers... do you know how exciting it is to watch little green sprouts finally poke up out of the dirt?!!  at time of writing, we have 3 blooms, 2 half blooms, and a couple more that are just about ready to start opening!!!  i can't remember how many seeds we planted, but it was definitely more than that : )  we have several plants, but they don't all have blooms yet.  like... the four that got yanked out by a small sub-three-foot friend and replanted by our plant babysitter while we were on vacation.... we haven't given up on them yet!!  (the plants....or the friends : )  and would we plant zinnias again?  we're not sure... they're a lot taller than we realized and the blooms aren't as big as we had envisioned.  now... they probably put all that information on our little seed packet... but we're novices with a capital n and i liked how the picture on the front looked... : ) ha

moving on.  after being faithful fish stick and tuna consumers for years, this family actually purchased a package of tilapia fillets and planned and made and ate FISH for dinner!!!  will made it and i made the pilaf.  the smell actually wasn't that strong and the flavor not too fishy, really.  we had heard before that tilapia wasn't too strong and more on the mild side.  we kept seeing the packs at winco, but never bought them.  then on vacation will tried tilapia at the place that we got a lobster roll (boston food!) and loved it.  so the next week was our first real fish dinner!!  word to the wise.... once your fish dish is in the dishwasher just wash it!  or hand wash it.... but if it just sits there you will get a reminder every time you open the dishwasher... and you can relive your days on the high seas!

our last first brings us back to today - july first.  this morning i did my latin american part to support the world cup in brazil.  i went to my first zumba class!!  i was able to secure a spot in the back.  it looked like they do a lot of the same dances each time because most people were familiar with all of them.  sometimes i was lucky to get the move down by the last time you do it before moving on... plus it's tricky in the back because you've got that many more people to see through and around.  sometimes your view gets blocked and it's like playing telephone as you watch the people in front of you and try and do what they do.... who knows what the leader at the front is doing! : )  i sweat like a pig and loved every minute of it!  i plan to go back when i can.  bonus: saw one of my first graders and her mom there!

some kids think "first is the worst," and "second is the best" but not lately!  yep, we're livin on the edge and loving it! : )

let the good times roll

(inspired by Ashley's exchanging post...)

Yesterday in church we sang this hymn.

For those who may not be familiar, one of the phrases in the chorus is "When the peaceful, happy moments roll". It made me think back to the good old days, those of limited vocabulary, not-quite-yet budding knowledge of common idioms, and Sesame Street. I remember hearing about quantities of time (moments, times, years) rolling in this hymn or in other contexts, and it was a bit confusing to me. How does a moment roll? And for that matter, how what is happy, peaceful rolling?

At some point, though, I figured it out somewhat, thanks to everyone's favorite educational TV program. I still didn't quite understand how it related to moments or times exactly, but sometime before kindergarten I at least learned for sure what rolling happily looks like. In case you haven't learned this for yourself yet, watch and be enlightened (at around 40 seconds in): 

May all of your moments and days roll as happily as this orange crayon wax!

you're welcome : )

some of you may remember that old classic recipe: "idea for old mushy banana" submitted to the cascade park ward cookbook 20some (25?) years ago by ashley s (with the help of her mother : )

well here is will and i's latest in the series:

idea for old mushy strawberries

- the rest of the carton that you could eat plain, but they're starting to look a little questionable

- the old vanilla yogurt that's been in the fridge longer than i'm willing to type here... : )

- one pear

- some milk

remove the leaves from the strawberries if you're skittish about that and puree them.  (we left the stems on.)  hopefully your puree will amount to somewhere between 1 and 2 cups... i think that's where ours was.  i didn't think to look exactly.  if you have more or less it will probably still taste good, just not exactly like ours.  then take the lid off of the yogurt, smell it and lick the lid to determine that it's really fine.  (plus, you like building up your immune system! : ) dump in the yogurt and blend.  have will taste it and say the yogurt is now a little overpowering.  then worry that the green, hard pears you just bought yesterday might ruin your creation!  decide it's worth the try anyway because what do you really have to lose, you can always keep adding things until you like it!  cut the pear around the middle and put the chunks in.  discard the middle.  blend it up and be amazed that something that seemed so hard could blend up so nicely!  taste it and love it!  have will taste it and love it!  decide that pears must be to the fruit and smoothie world what tofu is to the.... the... well... whatever world : )  depending on all your other factors, add milk until you like it.. .thinned out a little, but not too much.  decide that if you plan ahead next time and have pear chunks waiting in the freezer you can have a colder concoction!!  pour into two cups and enjoy on the couch with the nice cool summer morning breeze blowing in the open window!

have your own idea for old mushy food??? : ) share it with us! ha : )

ok, the other thing i have to share is the matching game cards i made for a primary lesson i subbed today.  have you seen the new "symbols" resources on lds.org??  basically they're line drawing like the ones in the nursery manual.  they have lots for different topics and they're working on a few more coming still.  it's not super comprehensive, but there's lots of good things there.  today was lesson 17 in manual 2 about how the Priesthood helps us.  and by the way, the one with the guy in the suit blessing the girl, i called that a "father's blessing"... or bishop or home teacher for anyone whose dad isn't a member.  anyway, we did the lesson then used them at the end to play a basic matching game.  i told will this morning, "who doesn't love a matching game??!"  once we clarified for 5 and 6 year olds he agreed : )  and it was true!  they loved it!  they all got to take at least one set home to color : )  SO, now i have at least the activity part of your family home evening taken care of for tomorrow!  enjoy!  and now think of how easy it would be to make a matching game out of any of those other images on the website!  when i can figure out how to put the picture as the link i'll do it!  but for now it's just the words...

Priesthood Ordinance Matching Game Cards

ok, will is home from Stake Priesthood now... : )  and i'm "subbing" for april tomorrow, so i guess i should go make a lunch, pick out some clothes for tomorrow, and get ready for bed.

exchanging

so i was thinking to myself... as i often do... : ) and i won't bore you with the details of how i got there, but somehow i thought about the phrase "exchanged looks" or "exchanged glances" or anything else like that.  i was reminded of times reading that phrase in books as a kid and always how weird i thought it was!!

BECAUSE to me exchange meant trade, basically.  so i always thought it was weird and confusing as i tried to imagine the characters "exchanging looks"!  i always envisioned them looking at each other with two different looks, then they'd swap (like happy to confused, for example).  i remember reading it over and over in context and trying to "get" why that happened or "what it meant."  i cannot remember any specific book or passage that had it - probably ramona books : )  but i do remember thinking it seemed strange because i didn't think people really "exchanged looks" in real life and what kind of mind powers were they using to change the other person's mind while having theirs simultaneously changed????!!!  they often didn't even say what the looks were that were exchanged!

and then somewhere in there i learned a little more and it wasn't so confusing anymore.... in fact, i exchanged looks with someone yesterday!  : )