Why Blog?

Since the move, I discovered why I started blogging. I also discovered the reason behind my unplanned hiatus. I blog when I have something else to do that I REALLY don't want to do. For the last two years that has mostly been grading. :) What a great distraction, right??

But now that I don't have anything pressing that I want to put off, blogging is harder for me to do. Don't get me wrong, I have plenty to do. Its just that now I enjoy a greater portion of it. Wait, that sounded wrong too. Alright, here's the scoop. I love teaching. I love having my own classroom, I love working with teenagers, I love being a part of a school community. I do not love grading, commuting, stressing, homeworking, or having no time for myself.

So having decided to take the year off from teaching- partly by choice, partly by circumstance- I am enjoying a fairly stress free existence. I tutor at a local tutoring company about 25-30 hours a week, and I also tutor a few students privately. So I still get to teach, though in a much more controlled setting. I still get to work with teenagers, just not so many at once. And the best part is: I have the energy to plan and cook dinners, clean my house, and work on projects if I so choose.

For the past two years my wonderful husband has been taking care of the majority of the daily things for me... because I didn't have the energy. Now that he is busy and studying and all that comes with medical school, I have more time to take care of those responsibilities; and I love it.

I also love that I have to fill my car up once every two weeks instead of every four days. No joke. 

Are some people really this ridiculous?

I'm speechless. I just stumbled across some how-to instructions for cleaning your jeans without washing them but by freezing them. Because naturally jeans should NOT be washed like regular mortal clothes. This is of course meant for "serious" jeans. So naturally, a few questions ran through my head.

1. Who calls jeans "serious"?
2. How much would you have to pay for "serious" jeans?
3. Why on EARTH would you spend that much money on clothes that require that much upkeep?
4. Are you kidding me?
5. Are you stupid?

I am amazed that people would go to such lengths to wear cool clothes. I have no time for that kind of thing. Or patience. Nor can I take that kind of person seriously. The only way I would pay exorbitant amounts of money for a pair of jeans is if they not only washed them selves, but the rest of the clothes in my closet. I have a hard enough time justifying Dry Clean Only, and Hand Wash Only clothes. Most of these jeans have a price tag of around $200, but I kid you not, I saw a pair of jeans with a $414 price tag. My prom dress didn't cost as much as either of those.

I am amazed.

Please, if you have jeans that are so precious to you that you cannot wash them but must freeze them, don't tell me. Because if you do, I don't think we can be friends anymore.

Link to apartment therapy How-To video

To-Do

Alrighty friends, I'm back from a mini vacation to Minnesota (just wait for the pics from the Spam Museum...) and I'm ready to get to work! Literally. I got a job. I'll be working for a tutoring company, and I will get to teach ACT prep classes. I'm pretty excited. And not to get too nerdy or anything, but I have to take the ACT and score at least a 28 on each section that I want to teach. I'm pretty excited. I've decided to do a bit of prep for the math section, let the reading slide (I haven't stopped reading or anything in the last 8 years, so I should be just fine...) and honestly if I can't get above a 28 on the science section then I don't deserve to have a teaching license.

Not only am I employed again, but I have a laundry list of things to do around the apartment. Alex's parents are coming to town -and mine too hopefully- at the end of the month for his white coat ceremony, and I have a few items I would like to accomplish by then. Here's the list:

Paint and stain side tables
Buy extra shelves for living room
Stain shelves
Unpack office
Seal the unfinished desktop
Paint new chairs and headboard
Convert dresser to entertainment center
Hang mirror in dining nook
Make pillow covers for bedroom
Research and buy air matress
Organize kitchen pantries
Organize office closets

So as it currently stands, I have 24 days to accomplish these 12 tasks. Ready, set, GO!

First: 10 MInute Drawstring Pouch Tutuorial

That's right friends, I sewed something. And I took pictures of it! The sewing something is not the surprising part, but the taking pictures part is. The posting of the pictures is particularly mind-boggling. Blogger and I have not been getting along recently, and we've been fighting about pictures. 

Regardless, here is what I made:

What: Drawstring pouch for sunglasses

Materials: Two scraps of different fabric, and 8-10 inches of ribbon or twine or string. 

Why: Because I'm too cheap to buy a sunglasses case. Or nice sunglasses for that matter. They're sentimental. But I do want to protect them. 

How long: 20 minutes. This includes time for photo taking, two phone calls, and some very loud and distracting thunder and lightning. 

How: Allow me to show you

1. Size it up. Allow room for seams. Approx. 1/4 inches on all sides. 2 inches for the top. 

2. Pin it up. Pin all the way up one side, and leave about 1" space at the top of one side. If you squint you can see the seam stops well below the pin on the left. 

3. Repeat with second fabric. I chose a nice flannel (because I already had it) to be a soft liner for the sunglasses pouch. You can see here how I left a space at the top of one side of each pouch. 

4. Pin the pouch tops right sides together. Match up the sides with the gap. Sew all the way around the tops of the pouches. Skip the gap. 

5. By now you should have a long rectangle of fabric that is "inside out" with a 2" or so gap in the middle. Pin the lips of the gap back. This will be where the drawstrings come out. 

6. Carefully  sew the hem of each lip back. Do not sew this opening shut. You may need to roll back the lip that you are not working with and pin it. It should look like this when you finish this step.

7. Fold your long rectangle in half where the two sections of fabric meet. Match up the corners and sew at a 45 degree angle at both corners. Cut off the corner. This step will prevent the pouch from getting twisted, tangled, or infuriatingly inverted.

8. I don't know I don't have this picture, but reach through the lips of the gap that you sewed shut is step 6. Grab one of the corners, and pull is out of the gap. Pull gently until you have turned your pouch right side out. All of your seams should be hidden on the inside now, the corners are secured to one another, and you have the gap for the drawstring.

9. Now we need to sew around the circumference of the top to make a pocket for the drawstring. Locate the bottom of the gap, and use that as a guide.

10. Grab a safety pin and your ribbon, thread, twine, or whatever you are using for the drawstring. Attach the pin to your ribbon, and thread it through the drawstring pocket. Go around the whole pocket twice as shown in the next pictures. This will help keep the pouch closed when you want it closed.

11. Tie off your ribbon and you're done.

That Face

The only "celebrity" I've ever been told that I look like is Jane, from Tarzan. Resemblance?

Perhaps. 

But lately it seems that everyone seems to know me! Which is funny because I've been in this state never before, and I've lived here for a grand total of three and a half weeks. 

Nevertheless. 

While I've been running or walking Luna, I've been getting a lot of the beep-n-wave. Not the Honk-n-Holler. Which is different, and can best be described as a not so polite way of complimenting a lady on the way she looks. No its definitely been the beep-n-wave. Last week a family in an SUV drove by TWICE to make sure they got a wave back from me. 

At church yesterday, I was told I had a twin sister (news to me) in somebody's sister-in-law. I've never felt so popular. I guess this all comes from having an average looking dog, and being average height, weight, hair color, face shape etc. I look like a lot of people. 

So do me a favor. Pick your favorite doppleganger, and let me know who she (or if you're feeling mean) or he is. I wanna know who else in this great big world I look like. So have fun and tell me who. 

Whale Watching in Juneau, AK

                                   

Squirrel!

Luna learned a new word. They didn't hang around much in Utah, so she never learned it. But she seems to like it now. It can be a great distraction. Much like good old Dug.

Laundry Day

Now that we're in an apartment, we get to trek to the floor below up for the good old coin-op laundry. I actually don't mind that. I can haul my laundry down, throw them into a few machines, haul it back up and fold it in just an hour or so. Done and Done. No more all day laundry sessions. Plus, the machines are HE, and my clothes get even more clean. Love. It.

But it is still laundry day. There are always drawbacks. Like:

1. You're down to the bottom of the pile, and the last pair of skivvies bunch. 

2. Your last pair of running shorts are the ones that habitually ride up. That half moon during the day? Not mine, but (butt) pretty close. 

3. All of my favorites are dirty, so I have to get creative with my outfits. 

Alas, I'm sure I'm not the only one with Laundry Day blues. The only solution: wash your stinky clothes. 

On a separate and unrelated note, I still can't find my hot pads, windex, or leather wipes. Shoot.

(On a sperate and unrelated note, if anyone finds a small, brass key...)
[10 points if you can name the show. 20 if you can name the show AND season.]

First: Best Asian Inspired Dinner EVER

You all know that I'm no cook. Cooking is a necessary evil, and whenever possible, should be done by someone else.

So two posts in a week that include food, that I've made... unheard of. I guess my problem in that I love to eat. Go figure.

So part of my being (happily) unemployed for the moment has meant that I've been trying to be superwife. I've done a pretty good job this week, I think. I planned out all of the meals, and today I even started to prepare them before hubby got home from school! Superwife: 1, Daytime Television: 0

On the menu today was a feast. I kid you not. Between the two of us, there are rarely leftovers. We have an entire MEAL left. Not lunch sized, but dinner sized. Our amazing feast included two favorites, and a newbie.

Teriyaki Marinated Chicken Kabobs. (Diced chicken marinated in Kikkoman teriyaki sauce, then 'grilled' on the George Foreman)
Giada's Asian Chicken Salad (minus the chicken, the dressing is my absolute favorite)
and
Emily's Sesame Noodles (Make sure to make it with the Udon noodles)

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Oh. My. Yummy. 

I may have to start cooking on a regular basis. 

Welcome to Chigacoland!

No seriously, that is the name of our collective suburb. West Chicagoland. I laughed at first, but then I realized it was serious. There is a reason there are about 300 different freeways and highways crisscrossing Chicago and its suburbs. Oh. My. Goodness. And I thought Seattle was bad.

The biggest adjustment for me is that everything is flat. Like a pancake. Not even a lumpy pancake. Earlier this summer we flew into O'Hare, and I commented (with some despair in my voice) that there wasn't a hill over 6 feet tall within sight. Which is a long freaking way. Because there are no hills to block your view. I do not take that statement back. But, I'm am getting to like it. We are on the 5th floor of our apartment, and we can see for miles! And miles, and miles... Its actually really neat. My favorite part has been the thunderstorms. West, and mountain west regions have NOTHING on these thunderstorms. They are just plain Wicked!

Other than the overall flatness, we are adjusting well. Luna slept all 3 driving days, we listened to a book on tape, and we're great! Here are some things I love so far:

1. Fireflies. 'Nuff said.
2. Trees. I missed them living in Utah. Its not Seattle, but the greenery is goooood.
3. People. Everyone that we have met so far is so very very nice! People go out of their way to hold the door open for you, smile at you, say hello... I'm amazed.
4. Our ward. Lots of lovely people that are just so nice!
5. Giordano's Pizza. Look it up. You can have them ship you a pizza. Do it.


Things I do not love so far:

1. Cicadas. They are NOISY! And possibly the ugliest bug you have ever seen. But they are kinds cool in an entomological sense.
2. Humidity. Last week there was a heat warning out. The temp was in the upper 90's, but felt like 109 degrees. I sweat. A lot. Ew.
3. Mosquitoes. Lots of lakes, puddles, and retention ponds = mosquito heaven.
4. Ticks. Haven't found one yet, but Luna got a frontline treatment, and I'm living in fear.
5. Construction. 'Tis the season.

And yesterday we made an amazing dessert. The strangest step for me was to "slowly pour the boiling water mixture over the batter", but it was delicious! And pretty easy. Try it with strawberries and vanilla bean ice cream. :) After you order Giordano's pizza of course.

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Alas! The recipe for Brownie Pudding recipe from the better home and gardens cookbook does not appear to exist on the internet! This is as close as I can find, and mine looked a lot like the picture. I'll try to give you my version in the future.

First: Cross Country Move

Let me just say this right off- Pay someone else to pack for you. It will be totally worth it!

So Far:

One 16 ft moving truck
One tow dolly for Gunner
Two nervous breakdowns
Three trips for more boxes
Three days to drive
Five rolls of packing tape
Lots of stuff to donate
Nine Friends to help

And way too many goodbyes.

Wish us luck on the open road!

Holy Chaos Batman!

Who's surprised that I haven't posted in a month?

Not me!

Right now we're just packing like madpeople, trying to stay cool (don't die little swamp cooler, you can make it!), and enjoying our friends and family while we can! I may have to start carrying around a little box of tissues for all the goodbyes. I may have already cried a little.

Anyway, if you need a desk, or luna-chewed bookshelves, or a nightstand, lemme know.

Espana: Days 3 & 4; Ronda

After Gau-theen, we got to Rhonda. This quickly became, and stayed, our favorite city. We pent quite a bit more time there than we planned do to a little mishap with the Cafe Colòn. (As in Christopher Columbus, who is known simply as Colòn here.)

The mishap went like this: we were hungry, so we stopped in and ordered some pastries. When she handed us the pastries, Hubby handed her the credit card. She said (in spanish of course) "No, no cards, only cash please". We of course had not stopped for cash yet. Mistake #1. So Alex said, ok, I'll run to a cash machine and get some. But she said we should sit and eat first, he could get the cash later. So we ate. Mistake #2. I stayed at the Cafe while Hubby ran to the cash machine. While he was out, I watched the Federer/Nadal tennis match, thinking silly things like: "Oh this is so fun, this will be a great story to tell!" or "This is something that people do in movies!" or even better "this is kind of romantic!". Forty-five minutes later, Alex comes back. Without cash. Because we didn't have the PIN number for our credit card, and we didn't bring our debit cards with us that day. Mistake #3.

We decided the best thing to do was to ask our hostess what she thought would be best since we were out of ideas. She was very kind, and said to come back and pay her tomorrow since we were so far from our hotel and she would be closing soon. We love opportunities to be honest!

So we spent the remainder of that afternoon walking around the BEAUTIFUL city of Ronda, then came back the next day for some more! On Monday, day 2, we ate lunch at the Hotel Don Miguel which is right on the chasm that splits the city. We had the most beautiful view, and the food was fantastic. Our first taste of Gazpacho was to die for!

Hotel and Restaurant Don Miguel. The bridge below is just to the left of it, we were standing on the end of the bridge to take the picture.

 Lunch, and the view at Hotel Don Miguel!

Ronda is famous for its bull fighting ring. 

Espana: Day 3; Gaucin

We got up this morning, but were too late to get to a nearby church. So we watched a general conference talk, and decided to take a scenic drive to Ronda. The scenic part was that all along the two hour drive there were the most beautiful white cities! Apparently they were border towns between the Spanish and the Moors, but who cares! Look at them!

We stopped and got out in Gaucin. I of course said it with a strong french accent. After all, if I'm not speaking english, it must be french, non? So my dear hubby corrected me each time. "No, its Gau-theen". ok.

Driving through Gau-theen was one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. The roads were barely wide enough for our little hyundai, and each lovely home was whitewashed with a lovely terra-cotta colored roof... it all looked very Grecian to me. But I've never been to Greece.

The Decision

As many of you know, we have been waiting to officially decide where to head for medical school for Hubby. Well, the ballots have been cast, the chips have fallen, and now we're showing our cards. So come the end of  July, we'll be packing a truck and heading for...

Any tips on the Windy City? I've never been there before.

Espana: Days 1&2

Day 1: We started off late. Of course. Ah well. We got the the airport on time, got to Chicago (O'Hare is huge, and I think its kinda ugly, but thats just me), printed our tickets. Got on the plane for Madrid (!), and I got my first taste of having NO IDEA what is going on. No hablo espanol.

Cutest little boy ever was sitting in front of us. He was very bouncy. We played Peek-a-boo. He was probably 3. His mom was funny too, and kept telling him to sit down. Silly Juan.

Took Lunesta to try and sleep. It worked for approx 2 hours. Restless the rest of the flight.

Arrive in Madrid at 7:40 am. Longest. Layover. Ever. I took 15 minute naps in hubbys lap. We watched How to Train a Dragon on the laptop. Flight to Malaga at 4:30 ish. Slept.

Luggage lost.....

Day 2: Was told that my luggage would arrive at the hotel by 11... Didn't see it til 1 (13:00). Slept in all morning as I didn't have anything to change into, or shower with, or brush my teeth with..... Hubby watched TV, :)

Luggage! So we immediately head out to the pool. Lounge for a couple hours, try the beach... However the Mediterranean is not geologically old. Meaning it was rocky. Very rocky. Maybe I'll be brave enough to try later this week.

After baking in the sun for awhile, we head to the Mercadona. Bingo! Make meals in the room and save a chunck of change!

Ronda tomorrow, with lots of pictures!

Time Out

Most of you know already, but my sister-in-law, the one with the 9 week old twins, had a stroke a week and a half ago on May 15th. It was caused  by a condition called postpartum cardiomyopathy. It first appeared as a pulmonary embolism, then the stroke. She's recovering at the the in-house stroke rehabilitation center at the U, and is making some progress.

With all this going on my Mom is in town to help, and we've been hunkering down and taking care of the family. I'll follow with some more detailed posts later, but I've taken a bit of a time out from all of my extracurricular activities lately.

Wedding Cake

In honor of my third wedding anniversary yesterday (love you darlin'!!) I thought I'd share a story that needs to be written down, lest we forget.

It starts with tradition. That funny tradition where the top layer of the cake is frozen and saved for the newlyweds for their first anniversary. Well, to start with, nobody told us to cut the bottom layer of the cake first. (Who knew??) So we sliced into our own top layer at the reception. No biggie though. We of course did the whole cake trading ritual, with only minimal smears of frosting- shocking, I know- but I didn't really get a piece of that cake.

I was busy cutting the rug with the rest of the family while the cake was served, so no piece of cake then either. Then we left for our honeymoon. Forget about cake.

A little less than a year later, I graduated from college and my parents and little brother came into town for the festivities. Baby bro was acting weird, even for him, but refused to tell me why. Dad let it slip later that evening that he was being so strange because he ate my leftover wedding cake from the previous spring. All of it. Including that top tier that was reserved for me and Hubby. Let the relentless teasing begin. At first I was a bit upset that I wouldn't get to actually taste my cake (which I hear was delicious). But then I realized the power that I had in my hands. This could be blackmail for the entire decade. Like something I can tease him about to his future girlfriends.

I'll take that instead of cake anyday.

Inside of a Dog

I toss a ball into the other room for her. Its her favorite after dinner game. She bounds away, landing with a definitive pounce on the object of her desire. She trots back to me, tail high in the air. If the find was exceptional, or if she caught it on the bounce, she may include a victory lap around the ottoman. Eventually I get the ball back from her. On this toss, I hear no pounce. All is quiet. She trots back in to the room not proud, questioning. She makes eye contact with me and trots right up to me, head in my lap. She's lost the ball out of  reach. 

So Alex got me a book this weekend called "Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know" by Alexandra Horowitz. He knows I'm a sucker for these animals, which is exactly why we have one while we are renters. What I have read so far is not surprising, but fascinating. research shows that dogs are descendants of wolves. 

So how did they get to be so dog like? I mean isn't it incredible that my dog will look for her ball where I point? She looks me in the eyes as if to ask for attention? She knows by which pair of pants I'm putting on (each get a thorough sniff on the way out of the drawers) if I'm going to hang around for a bit, take her for a run, or go to work. Upon recognition, she will lay down in the middle of the room, bounce and play bow and run to the front door, or curl up on her bed and go back to sleep respectively. 

I find this type of research fascinating. I guess thats why I went into biology and decided to teach. But I love to read about it and experience dog-ness. 

Do your four-legged friends amaze you sometimes? Mine does every day. 

On Being Happy: 12 Lessons from a Labrador

1. Go to be when you're tired. Few things are worth staying up. Good friends make the cut sometimes, facebook, TV, Movies or even a good book do not. 
2. Nap whenever possible, or reasonable. Few problems can't be fixed when you're feeling rested. Or at least your attitude will have improved. 
3. Take every opportunity to go outside. Even if you don't NEED to go...
4. Be observant. You never know what joy and beauty you can find if you look for it. 
5. Be quick to respond to criticism and encouragement. Even if they are awkwardly delivered, and especially if given by a loved one. 
6. Make friends easily. If you looks for friends or enemies, you will surely find them. Look for a friend in everyone. 
7. Be excited to see old friends. What's better than an old friend to play with?
8. Play. Its good exercise, and it relieves stress. 
9. Defend those you love. There are all kinds of meanies out there. Don't let people boss you around. 
10. Let people know how you feel. Sometimes people just don't know!
11. Find joy in simple things. Bugs, sticks, birds, wind... The list goes on. 
12. Run for the sheer joy of it. Its good to know you're alive. 

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Luna's Birthday

We had a busy weekend which I will post about soon.

But today is Luna's Birthday.

So Happy Birthday little pup. You're two today! Congratulations.

Love,

Me

Long Walk

Taking advantage of my spring beak (hallelujah), Luna and I headed out this morning. It was sprinkling when we left, but it was a perfect cloudy morning for a walk. Nice and cool and humid, and glorious.

Well, we ended up walking for almost two hours because I was enjoying it so much! We headed away from campus and crowds and walked all through these lovely neighborhoods up on the hills.

My favorite part of walks and runs and exploring on foot is that I get to goggle at new homes and yards. And what a treat! I think I discovered my new favorite house. It has EXACTLY what I want in my future home- down to the large-ish garden patch (it even had a few rows or raspberries!!!) and fruit trees. It was nestled in between other houses at a comfortable distance with trees and hedges, and hyacinth and daffodils and a gazebo....... I may just die happy now. And I can't wait to get hubby in the car so I can drive by it and show him the house. It may just be on my brand new running route. It would give me motivation to run, because its not exactly just across the street. Perfect!

But what I really want to know is- would it be too creepy of me to go back and take some pictures of this piece of perfection? I want to keep it as a reminder of what I want. A beacon if you will. So I don't get distracted by... other landscape styles ...? I seriously do want to find a house just like it someday. Just not that one. Because that one is in Utah. And I do not want to be in Utah.

Too creepy?

Reason #6,562 Why I love my Husband

I came home on Friday after a long week at work made longer by a cold and the prospect of Spring Break next week. 

This is what I found:

 A trail of tissues leading to a pile of some of my favorite things and a note. 

I'm feeling better already!

The Skinny

I am a known "late adopter" (though I am not old, or uneducated... just reluctant) of all things related to technology, fashion, and... life. Remember how I said I'd never buy skinny jeans?

Well I didn't buy any.

I made them. Or "re-fashioned" them as some would say. I like them because they were free, and they fit my athletic legs much better than something store bought would.

I still feel a little funny wearing them because they are new to me. But I do like them. Maybe I'll get the courage to make another pair one day!

Spring Tidings to You!

Look whats popping up around the house these days!

Pansies: Viola tricolor

Strawberry blossoms: Fort Laramie variety (I think. But these are June bearing and they have bazillions of runners in the summer...) Fragaria ananassa

California Poppy Volunteers : Eschscholzia californica

Daylillies:  genus Hemerocallis

Grape Hyacinth volunteers: genus Muscari

Forsythia bush: Forsythia floribunda

And I planted my spring veggies! 

Can I get a Hey Now for sunshine and warmer weather? Hey Now!