Images to ponder

Until tomorrow.

Handy Hubby

Brett did this for me, because pulling stacks of pans out from a cupboard is annoying. (we have one more pan to put up in the empty space, but we were using it.

He also found a way to squish our ironing board into unusable but easily accessible space.

And yesterday, I found some nice cords at Eddie bower. Brett likes me in cords, isn't that odd? I think it is because I had a lime and a cotton candy colored pairs when we got married.


And now I am done eating, so I will stop blogging and go to Tracie and Austin's, where I will inevitably have more fun than you are having.

And Brett decided

to keep this one. It is a little bigger, has lid protectors that will probably get lost, dimples on the inside of the lid (which are supposedly good), and can easily be returned to Costco if we determine that it is crud.

battle of the pumpkins

One of us did a trio of skulls, one of us did a vomiting pumpkin. I'll let you guess who did which.

What's this?

Another one of my plant curiosities. From a bush that reminds me a bit of a christmas tree, with a berrie that reminds me of an olive, because of the hole. Found it around my complex.
THE TWIG


THE BERRY



THE SEEDS

Dear Carrisa.

Due to your complaint, i have Posted 12 Things in the last several hours. Tag, you're it. And don't expect a ton of blogging for a while, I think I've done everything I can think of.

feathers and felt

We made these felt beads for our mag, and I got this idea to cut them in half and use them for the centers of those trendy silk hair flower's that people have been making lately. I usually resist overly saturated trends, but they can actually be pretty cute, and I've been wanting to try them with feather's anyway.
I think they came out pretty. I like the colors and shapes better than the first ones (bellow) I tried to make. I think they were A little to curly, I like the flatness of the white ones better. (though, I did have fun with the blue one's.

Sew Tempted

Is this table runner gorgeous? I sure think so. Carrisa made it for us a few years back, and I've been tempted to pick out some materials and make some for more seasons. Sadly, Nothing I ever sew comes out quite as I intend it to. I make A LOT of stupid mistakes.

But I've been doing a lot of little sewing here and there and am tempted to set up a little sewing desk in my guest room so that I don't have to keep taking it out of the closet, out of the styrofoam and box. Such an ordeal and so discouraging.

I've pulled it out and put it away several times this last week, I've

• fixed the tear by my zipper on my gym bag


• Sort of fixed the unthreading on my stretch pants (it kind of puckered, so I did something wrong)
  
• Sewed together the slits in my other gym pants so that they don't flair mid-calf (almost looks normal, but bunches a little in the back)


• Sewed the slit in my skirt so that is "appropriate" (I think this actually worked).


• Made a custom stink resistant custom dog bed (I'll show you later)

So ya, I've been feeling super crafty lately and a little more confident to attempt sewing, even though I know I'll make mistakes.

One Bell Short of a full Sleigh

SO, Early this summer, I saw one of these and spent a long time trying to make one, so I could teach my dog how to ring the bell when he has to potty. He's smart and I've seen it done. Unfortunately I lost one one the bells while I was making it.

Waste of time. I'm not the best seamstress and I made a lot of mistakes. Took hours longer than it should have, but I had needed a creative outlet. Turns out, that it is hard to teach a dog to ring a bell when you have already taught him how to "shut the door." Whenever I tried to teach him to ring it, He thought he was supposed to jump on the door. He was very excited about it, but he didn't get the point.

No Brett, you can't keep them all.

So Brett loves the Le Creuset Enameled Cast Iron Dutch Oven thingy his mom got us last year. I admit, It's pretty cool Easy to clean, goes from stove, to oven, to table.
Having amazing foresight, I bought Brett A more affordable version and hid it in the garage for his upcoming birthday. So of course, I let him open it early when he came home from costco last night with the kirkland signature version of it.
Now he is torn because the Cuisinart one "matches" the le cresuet more, but the Kirkland one is one quart bigger and has a prettier red.... And I can tell he is tempted to keep them all.

But really, three? yes, occasionally two would be nice, but three is a bit excessive.
So no, Brett, you can't keep them all.

Food Renegade

I'm trying to eat more real food. Not chemicals, not artificial sweeteners, not so much corn syrup, etc. This means cooking from scratch more often, which we've been doing better at, but time and convenience is still often a factor.

I can't say I'm a perfect example of a food renegade, I haven't really studied their philosophies, but I think my views coincide with theirs.

• Butter is better for you than Margarine, etc


• animal fats are ok, and help you absorb vitamins from vegetables


• Pasteurizing milk kills the nutrients and isn't necessary when animals are properly cared for and the milk is properly tested. Raw (unpasterized) milk is easier on your digestive system
• beef that is free range, organic, and grass fed (as opposed to CAFO grain fed beef) is better for you and your cholesterol
• I'd raise my own hen's if I could

You may think I'm one of those new age organic crazies. Oh well. I do break the rules here and there. I eat out occasionally, and I eat at other peoples houses, and even at home I'm not perfect, but I've been buying more and more "real foods." Cutting out GMO's, reading ingredients before I buy things, cooking more things from scratch, buying meat, eggs, and milk from farmers. So call me crazy if you will, but given my conditions, I'm a little sensitive to GMO's and their connection with infertility in rat studies. Food should not be genetically modified, given hormones, or mixed with chemicals.

So, One thing I've been wanting to do (even before my food renegade ways) is get a pressure canner so that I can make large batches of things like chili, and save leftovers without clogging up my freezer.

So Brett finally got a pressure canner, knowing I wanted one, because he had plans to make and can a bunch of the tomato soup recipe I discovered. He's been pretty busy this last month or so. I helped... a little.

(sides) Tomato Sauce (middle) Lamb Stock

(left) mediteranian tomato soup (middle) Apple sauce (right) squash soup
(Brett made labels)

Hello winter, I don't hate you, but I still don't like you.

Last night, I experienced my first "my feet are freezing even though I'm wearing socks and shoes" experience of the season. I hate that. The only way to fix it is to draw a bath. Thus the season of several baths a day has commenced. Boo. Then at 1 am I went out on the patio to find this:



And, several hours later, it is still snowing. My car is going to be beautiful tomorrow. Time to clean the garage.

Mermaid to order

I took this picture to celebrate finally finding the tealish color I was looking for several months ago. It's a little late for the summery color I intended for my toes, but I was excited. Teals and Aquas have been growing on me since June. If I'm not careful, they will replace Oranges as my favorite color.

If anyone cares, it is a Sephora exclusive shade of O.P.I. nail polish calledmermaid to order I decided this year to not bother buying cheep nail polish, It doesn't last long enough to be worth it. So far, O.P.I is my favorite

Halloween in progress

I'm working on window. This is the backside of a work in Progress

The Cat took forever to outline. I am not a natural at drawing.

Greta in Foilland

I would first like to make a disclaimer: I didn't do this, I just got the pictures emailed to me. Not that I don't think it was an awesome idea, because it was, but because I would never ever ever put an almost naked mannequin in my bosses' office. i personally think it was stupid, because with all the glass windows in their office, it seams like an obvious potential sexual harassment lawsuit. He could file it, any of the female employes could complain of it....

Anyhow, the over all foil execution was clever.




I'm hoping the computer was off and didn't overheat while he was out of town.

Learning to love

If these weren't trashy, I'd wear them. I couldn't help but laugh.



available here

But this is not the point of my post.

I've been learning to Love Utah.

When I was single in Provo, Utah was O.K. but not in my top 10. I could never afford to do anything, never had much free time from school, and didn't know where all the cool stuff was.


When I lived in Wymount I hated Utah. It's cold, miserable, and a lot like Hell. because Wymount sucks and married people are boring. Or self righteous. Or both.

Now, coming back, having my own place that I LOVE, a place that I can paint, and having money to buy things like a kitchen table and drapes, and overall loving living 2 minutes from the freeway (halfway between Provo and SLC, snuggled in a 5-7 min freeway drive from any store I could possibly need), I'm starting to love utah. Mainly for four reasons:

1. I finally know how to dress for snow, so it's not as miserable.
2. My current ward may not be the all sparkles and glitter, but it sure kicks Wymount butt. 1 year here, and I have better/more friends than I ever did in 3 years at Wymount. (Not counting, of course When Tara decided to move into my building).
3. I've been more social, which I need. I've met several people out walking my dog, I've gone on weekly farmers market trips with my sister-in-law, I've just barely started spending little bits of time with my brother, talked with Rama (my neighbor from India) over sweet Kheer, and spent several evenings over at B's cousin's house (Austin and Tracie's) eating dinner and playing games, and made more of an effort to spend time with an old roommate. I've needed all of it. Social interaction can make or break a place.
4. I'm starting to figure out how awesome the Utah terrain is.

• Endless free hiking trails as close as 5 minutes away, many with waterfalls
• Natural Spas/hot pots (after years of googling I finally found one of the free ones, but not bathed in it)
• Nearby Rivers to raft/kayak/swim in
• Several lakes to boat, swim, or kayak in
• A nearby hot spot for Hang gliding
• Nearby canyons hooked up for rock climbing (technically, I did this way back when, I just never had my own stuff.)
• endless camping options
• backpacking trails
• several unique-ish landscapes (salt flats, sand dunes, land arches, hikes through slot canyons, hikes to cliff dwellings, etc)
• 5-10 ski slopes with in an hours drive
• many places for sledding, if you know where to find them
• bike trails galore

Basically if you can find your happiness drinking in outdoor adventure, Utah is a pretty awesome place. So, now that I am learning (a little late) how to use Utah to it's full advantage, and I am starting to entertain the idea of staying here even after Brett finishes his Masters.

No promises though, I'd like to tackle another winter here before I make any promises.

This summer I finally got myself a decent (though not hardcore) mountain bike, though it didn't see as much love as it should have. Still, I took it on several grocery store trips, and a few exploratory rides through the local neighboring cities.

But, after a summer of hardcore local (and some not-so-local) mountain biking, my brother Nathanial has found a handful of trails that I, in my gloriously newfound body fat, can handle. They are like baby trails to him, but perfect for me... not too easy, and not too intimidating. One of these places in Lambert Park, Alpine, Utah. There is a downhill trail here called "rodeo" that is awesome. it has several spots where you ride the wall/side of a banked turn then the other side. I call it "Mario Cart" because it reminds me of some of the races in the video game... except that THIS IS FUN. Swish swish swish.

I took brett here about 2 weeks ago (a week after Nathanial took me). In just that one week difference, Autumn claimed the hillside. I swear we wen't uphill, we just only took pictures going down.

It stinks that I am figuring these locations out at the end of the summer. And now it won't stop raining.








Another fun trail Nanial took me to m (just last friday) was 5th Water. We had both our dogs off leash, rode up to the hot springs (pretty but stinky), and rode back in the dark. If I get back there before the weather gets too bad, I'll bring a camera next time.

Foraging 101.

This year, I've become fascinated with foraging. How many plants are out there that I can eat, and I don't even know it? Seems so wasteful. NEXT SUMMER I'M GOING TO EAT WEEDS AND WILD BERRIES AND NOT PAY A PENNY FOR FOOD. Okay, that's a lie, but I like the idea of it.

Anyhow, during Brett's mom's recent visits, She and Carrisa did several walks in Provo Canyon where they've found and made jellies from elderberries and choke cherries. I need to identify these bushes, because berries are awesome when they don't poison and kill you.


Carrisa with wild Elderberries.

I've also been seeing rose hips everywhere.... on every hiking trail, and even near my condos. Brett thinks I apply the term to broadly though, so I need to straiten that out before I go crazy making poison teas.

I've also recently discovered that this obnoxious weed that loved my garden is called mallow (as in marsh mallow). Apparently, I can eat it. I need to check the leaves more carefully, because although mallow does grow locally, the stuff I've been spotting isn't as bushy as some... not sure if all varieties are equally edible. (the following are not my pictures). It's turning to winter here and I didn't have the forsight to photograph weeds.


AND NOW FOR MY FAVORITE
This next plant was driving me crazy all spring summer. I hhhhhaaaaad to know what it was, and it grows wild all around our condos, on the outskirts. They have funny little prickly pear pods that I cant help but wonder if they are edible. these pods can get pretty little flowers , and eventually go to fuzzy seed. With a lucky suggestion from my brother (which turned out to be wrong, but led me to pictures of the actual plant) I've determined that it is either MILKWEED or DOGBANE. Next spring I will have to determine which, because one gives dogs cardiac arrest, and the other is edible when cooked. I even found a recipe for it.




Milkweed is especially interesting because it is one of the few plants that a Monarch Butterfly Larvae can live on. The pods look like they are exploading when they got to seed. Next year I will be sure to take my own photos.