Murrayed Life

Day Five: Pattern Mixing

2012-01-27T08:00:00.000-08:00

As I stared at my closet, trying to figure out which pieces I wanted to mix, I knew immediately that I wanted it to be this outfit.

Sorry it's blurry...night pictures with the bean can be hard.

I also knew that outfit pictures were going to be more fun than usual, because we were going out for my birthday that night, and I had specifically requested that we go and see "The Bean". Apparently it's called "The Cloud Gate" but I literally didn't know that until right this minute when I looked it up on Wikipedia.

Stripes and Paisley

All night as we walked around, boarded the train, and went out to eat, I just couldn't stop being in awe that we live in this city.

Nate got in on the pattern mixing too, and wore a paisley tie with a striped shirt. Apparently, he was even complimented at work for it.

Seriously! I still can't get over it. So far, I'm completely happy.

Katie mixed floral details on her jeans with leopard print lining in her coat. She pulled it off magnificently.

We loved Pennsylvania, and Utah, and everywhere else that we've lived, and there are definitely things that I miss about them all...

Katie: She's just the best. I can't believe she's getting so tall!

But there's something immensely satisfying about loving where you are at that moment, and finding excitement and joy in what you've got when you've got it.

Panorama Nate took...awesome!

Basically, if 27 goes like yesterday promises, it's going to be one amazing year.

Be sure to link up with Kayla if you're doing the challenge!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!

2012-01-26T12:29:00.000-08:00

Oh my goodness. Today has been A.MAZ.ING. Also, it's not over. This has definitely been my best birthday in years.

To start things off, I woke up early so I could open a few presents from Nate before he dashed off to provide for all of us here at home. I got a really sweet present from my parents which I won't disclose because I think my sister might be getting the same thing (PS: Emily, you're going to love it.). I got a gift card to a fabric store and a thimble from Nate (I kept poking my figure pretty badly a little while back on a project) and those were both really sweet, and then I got to talk to some people in my family and make Katie and myself an awesome breakfast. Just in case you want to make yourself an awesome breakfast too, here's the recipe:

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Pancakes
1 Cup Flour
2 T Sugar
1/3 C Chocolate Chips
1 T Baking Powder
1/3 Cup Peanut Butter
1 Egg
1 Cup Milk
2 T Oil

Mix dry ingredients together in one bowl, then mix Peanut butter on down in another bowl, mix together. Bake over medium heat for 2-4 minutes each side, devour.

I don't have any pictures of them...because we ate most of them, and I kind of burned some a little. They tasted just fine, but they're not really photograph worthy. Also, you probably already know what a pancake looks like. You should totally make these, because they're delicious. We ate them plain with a little butter, but I'm sure you could go much crazier than that.

Anyway, then I did a little sewing, hung out with Katie, and got showered and dressed for the day. Then, I got a buzz at my door, and UPS was here. I opened the door and there he was with the most exciting birthday present of the day: A New Sewing Machine!!

This picture is SO hideous of me, but it's totally how I feel about this present.

Yeah...it's been a great day so far. I can't even imagine how I'll feel about it tomorrow.

Day Three: Channel Someone

2012-01-26T05:44:00.000-08:00

Today's prompt was to channel someone...and I couldn't think of it for the life of me. Disney princesses were mentioned...and so I picked Belle, who was always my favorite growing up.

Source

Blue, white, something twisty with the hair, and ballet flats. I mean, Belle is the reason I started wearing ballet flats as an adult...I added a yellow belt as an homage to her other, more famous outfit and this is what I came up with:

Outside pictures (Barely...they're in my stairwell...and I ran inside as soon as I saw my neighbor coming home).

As I got dressed, I was looking through my shoes, trying to pick the right flats, and I saw my floppy boots. Then I thought, "What if Belle and Gaston had gotten together and had some sort of weird fashion baby?" That would be this outfit. So, no flats, but slouchy boots instead. I think he's also where the skinny jeans come in. Once I put on my red coat to walk to playgroup, the whole thing really changed mostly to just Gaston.

I did not, however, eat 5 dozen eggs this morning. I would prefer to avoid being "roughly the size of a barge" if possible.

Go and link up with Kayla!

Day Three: Embrace a Trend

2012-01-25T07:23:00.000-08:00

These pictures were taken at the very end of a somewhat long (but not bad) day.

And you can't really see the trends that I was embracing unless you get really close (unless the striped shirt counts).

Trends:
Blunt Bangs. I cut them on Saturday...just in time, and I think I like them? This was sort of how my bangs were all throughout high school and middle school (though a bit shorter), so it almost feels like I've gone backwards. We'll see if they stay.
Winged Eyeliner. Can't really see it here, but it was pretty decent. I think I'd do it again.
Mustache Fingernails: Between the shirt, the red shoes, and the mustache, I almost felt like this post should go up tomorrow when I could claim I was channeling a mime...but I still like it.

Be sure to go over to Kayla's and link up!

Day Two: Monochrome

2012-01-24T11:31:00.000-08:00

Last challenge I went all green...much like the wall behind me. It was a neutral-ish color, so I thought I'd try something a little more daring this time.

PINK! I wish I could say I felt like Elle Woods, or Barbie, but I mostly felt silly. It really helped that I wasn't going anywhere...at all. Except to take the dog out. Going nowhere makes me really bold in my clothing choices...or really lazy.

Actually, it's usually really lazy.

I never utilize monochrome in my normal outfits. I can't decide if it's too boring, or if I just forget about it, or if it makes me feel too daring. I know, boring and daring? Doesn't make a whole lot of sense...neither do my outfits much of the time.

Head over to Kayla to link up yours!

Day One: Layers

2012-01-23T09:23:00.000-08:00

I love all the yellow I've been seeing around, and it makes me happy, especially when the winter has been a bit bleak for the last little while. I also kind of like that the thin yellow shirt almost becomes a striped shirt. It's a fun effect.

Striped shirt: Target, Yellow shirt: Old Navy (thrifted and altered), Jeans: Old Navy, Shoes: Thrifted

As soon as Nate started taking pictures, everyone else jumped in too. I completely adore both Katie's face, and her pose here. She makes me laugh.

Check out the rest of Day One Here

10 Day Challenge: Winter!

2012-01-20T08:59:00.000-08:00

Ahhh Kayla, you've done it again. It's the end of winter (well...sort of the beginning, since we've just now been getting snow here), and I'm in need of some inspiration, and a good reason to do more than wear my stretchy pants and sweat shirts all day.

Starting next week (my birthday week, incidentally :D ), it's time for another little set of prompts. I'm totally going to do it (it was awesome last time), and I hope you'll do it too. Head over to Kayla's blog to learn more about the basics and to catch all the prompts.

Pants Refashion and OTI Post

2011-12-06T07:57:00.001-08:00

I don't know if you read Kayla, Amy, and Erica's blogs, but they're pretty great. Anything I ever wear that's halfway fashionable has probably been inspired by Kayla's 21 Day Challenge, which got me out of just jeans and a T-shirt...at least sometimes.

These three ladies have been doing a fun series called Open to Interpretation, and, tomorrow, we're all invited to play along as well.

As per the usual rules of the whole shebang, one of the three chooses an inspiration picture, and people go and get inspired by it, and then post pictures. Here is the inspiration:

Now, you don't have to dress exactly like the outfit. In fact, you're more encouraged to dress like yourself. That being said, I happened to have, or have access to almost everything in this picture. Even though it's just about nothing like what I usually wear, I decided to give it a go. Before that though, I had to fix the pants.

I'm not super up on fashion trends, but I've seen enough pinterest to know that colored denim is pretty hot for fall. I may be one season late, but why not, right? I found these very, very large pink jeans at the thrift store for $0.30. Originally, I passed on them. When they were still there a week later, I thought, "Meh, what the heck?" So I plopped down my money and proudly marched home with a pair of very pink pants. Then I worried that pink pants might not fit into the whole colored denim trend...that it might just be red, blue, etc. I threw them in my "do something with this later" pile and figured I'd do something later.

Then, I saw these on GAP's website: http://gap-mag.com/work-together-wear-together-bright-denim and I thought, "If that color of pink can be in, why not?" Then the OTI crew showed this picture for the interpretation, and so, the pants finally became something less than size 20W.

Before (inside out so I can figure out where to start taking them in)

I took in the waist about 2 inches from the seam on both sides (about 4 inches of fabric, folded in half) and just sewed down the entire length of the seam. Then I tried them on. I thought about doing Liz's trick of taking in the crotch so that they could sit lower, but I just wore them up really, really high (like, above my belly button) with a belt. Maybe I'll still take them in properly later...maybe I'll just wear them up really high. As long as I don't have to tuck in a shirt in them, I should be good.

Once I'd sewn them to be small enough to be in mostly the right places up top, it was time to skinny the legs. I just pulled the seam I'd sewn, and then pinched and marked where I wanted to skinny it with a washable marker.

And, Voila! I gathered together everything I owned that was similar to this darling woman, and put it on.

Hat: Nate's, Sweater: Cable-knit cardigan worn backwards from Old Navy (gift), Striped Shirt: Thrifted, (refashioned), Jeans: Thrifted (refashioned) Shoes: Crocs (gift)

To be perfectly honest, I felt a bit ridiculous in this outfit, especially the backwards cardigan, and we had to go to the vet. Part of me thought, "Who cares, we're moving soon!" The other part of me didn't want to make my husband shake his head the whole time we were together. So this is what I actually ended up wearing:

I thought I would be kind of self-conscious about the hot pink pants...but no, I wasn't. I actually didn't even think about my clothes the whole time (we even went out to eat after the vet appointment). I would say that that makes this a pretty successful attempt at utilizing a trend that I probably would have never tried without another challenge. Thanks guys!

Jacket Refashion

2011-12-03T20:50:00.000-08:00

I found this adorable little hat for Katie at a thrift store, and it looks like something out of a production of A Christmas Carol. After seeing it, I just knew that she needed a little red coat to go along with it. I have a red pea coat that I thought about cutting up, but it's still a pretty good coat. Then, I came across this lovely blazer for $0.29 at Goodwill.

Shoulder Pads...boxy-ness...it was ready for a new life.

So I took the whole coat apart at the seams, and then took a coat that Katie is getting a little bit too big for, and used it as a pattern

I made the pattern using a paper grocery bag. It ended up being three parts--the back (one full piece), the arm, and half of the front. I tried to make sure that I kept some of the parts of the original coat together when cutting the pattern pieces out. Things like the collar and the pockets that might be difficult for me to sew alone I just re-purposed. I actually cut off about the bottom 10-12 inches off the bottom of the coat all the way across, and just gathered the bottom of the new coat.

This is probably one of my favorite parts of the coat. I was just planning on re-purposing the original lining of the coat, but then I found this fun leopard print minky fabric remnant, and I decided that it would be softer, warmer, and WAY prettier than the original stuff.

And, here it is! The best thing is that Katie loves it. She's using the pockets, which she's never done before in her life, and every time I hang it up, she's actually really sad about it. I've still got to get pictures of her in the coat, with the hat (good lighting would be best...clearly), but I'm really, really proud of how cute it turned out!

Cost Breakdown:
Coat: $0.29
Lining: $2.74
Button Kit: $1.44
Red Thread: $2.07

Total cost: $6.54 Hooray!

Small Tip

2011-11-16T15:46:00.001-08:00

There are about a billion recipes out there for making your own diaper wipes, so this is nothing new. I'd never tried it before today, even though I'd been meaning to, but today, we just about ran out of wipes, which can be pretty awful, so it was time to try it out.

Diaper Wipes:

Roll of paper towels, cut in half (I used one of the ones with the "choose a size" perforations)

2 cups warm water

squirt of baby shampoo

squirt of lotion

squirt of aloe vera gel

Put all the liquid stuff in your container, put on the lid, and mix it all together. Then shove the paper towels in, cut side first. Screw on the lid, and then turn it upside down after a few minutes so that everything gets its share of the solution.

Most of the recipes I saw called for some kind of oil...I don't know why. I ignored that part. They also called for a certain kind of Rubbermaid container, which I didn't have. Instead, I grabbed this recently-finished jar of peanut butter container (it's a big one), and (with a bit of effort) shoved the paper towels into it. Now, it's pretty much the perfect size. So, there's the tip--use an old peanut butter jar.

Also, no crafty post would be complete without some decoupage...right? Make sure you add that on there too. ;)

Shoe Redo

2011-11-02T12:25:00.000-07:00

After seeing Kathleen's fantastic shoe redo, I've been wanting to try my own. I have resisted buying extra shoes though...mostly to avoid a closet full of things that I don't wear. When a pair of my beloved black flats started looking pretty worn, I was really excited.

I grabbed some leftover fabric from my box (remnant fabric from Joann's, definitely some kind of flannel), mixed up my own mod podge (equal parts glue and water), and for $0, I got myself an awesome pair of flats (again). Bonus: They're all worn in and non-feet rubbing. Here's hoping they last pretty well!

A Peek at the Future

2011-09-05T18:41:00.001-07:00

No outfit post today, because the challenge is over. Not that I won't ever post outfit pictures again..but today, none. I do have kind of a great story for you.

On Saturday we went to Walmart for a few things. As we worked through the store to get some canning supplies (more on that adventure later), we saw that a little old lady was stranded on one of those electric cart things that had run out of batteries. She was stuck there trying to sort of wiggle the car forward, and the poor woman was stuck directly in the walkway between the groceries and electronics, which is a terrible place to be stuck, especially on a Saturday. Nate, being the fabulous person that he is, went up to her and asked her if he could help. She explained that the battery had died, and so Nate went to the front of the store to get her a new cart with a battery that wasn't dead. This took a surprisingly long time, because it turns out that the carts don't actually move very quickly. About 5-10 minutes after Nate left, I look towards the groceries, and see Nate, riding sloooooooowly around the corner on this little cart that makes a spectacular "wheeeeeeeeeeee" sound. It probably took a full 30 seconds for Nate to get the 20 feet or so from the end of the aisle to where the woman was stranded. Nate stood by as a Walmart associate (who had finally stopped to help after 3 others had just hurried past her) helped her onto the new cart, and we all went on our merry way.

My Fabulous Nate, holding Katie's hand...melts my heart every time.

I sincerely wish that I had a little movie of Nate's trip through Walmart on that scooter. I also wish that I could have heard what people must have been thinking about this young man who was puttering around on the scooters. Makes me laugh every time I think about it.

Work It

2011-09-04T17:34:00.000-07:00

Well, it's the end of the challenge. I've loved it! Thanks Kayla for such a fun (and flexible) series of prompts. If you ever feel so inclined to try it again...I'll jump right on that ship.

Today I got dressed in something else...and then decided that I didn't like it. I was trying too hard. I switched into this outfit, and it just felt right. I think that's a big thing about getting dressed--it has to feel right, otherwise your outfit just looks off as well. Also, I got compliments all day long at church, so something was working for me.

Dress: Swapped with Ali, Belt: Thrifted, Shoes: Mervyns...back when it existed, Necklace: Kohls, Watch and Earrings: Gifts from Nate

Prior to this challenge, I never would have belted this dress...but now it's fantastic. I also probably would have just skipped all the accessories, but they really added to the look, and I tried something new with my hair, it had wilted a bit by the time I took the pictures (serious humidity), but still good. All-in-all win, win, win.

Also, I love the clothes that I have gotten from Ali so much...maybe we should work out some kind of 21-Day Challenge-wide clothes swap? Anyone?

Thanks again Kayla, you're awesome.

Sunday Shoes

2011-09-03T10:10:00.000-07:00

Please tell me that I'm not the only one here who thought of this video when they saw the prompt today:

This is me dancing:

Shirt: made by me, but inspired (see Thursday) by Merrick, Jeans: Target, Shoes: Gift from my mom from Crocs

Anyway, in honor of Footloose, here are two pictures with moving feet. If I could make one of those moving picture awesome things, I would have. Just scroll fast...

By the way, these You by Crocs shoes are really crazy comfortable, and they're satin, not foamy plastic.

Wear Something on your Head

2011-09-02T20:07:00.000-07:00

These pictures were taken at the end of a long day. I had a dentist appointment to get two fillings, on the top right, and center of my face. Our dentist is great, but my nose was numb for an hour or so...which is odd. Straight from there I went to work, which was fine, and now, here are pictures.

Shirt: walmart, Undershirt: Shade Shorts: thrifted, Shoes: crocs, gift from mom

This outfit looked boring when I put it on, so I added the yellow belt. My fingernails are also yellow. This outfit is such a good combination of prompts from this challenge: Belted, something new with my hair, neutral base with a pop of color, I even ended up wearing that undershirt backwards because I spilled on it. That's creative...right?

I made this hair thing a really long time ago--actually out of some of the scraps from the trench coat that I refashioned. I've just never figured out how to wear it. Finally, here it is.

Statement Jewelry

2011-09-01T11:36:00.000-07:00

Saw lots of these necklaces all over the internet, and thought, "I could probably make that."

So today, I did.

Shirt: Thrifted, cardigan: swapped, jeans: thrifted, Necklace: by me.

Repair Something

2011-08-31T11:22:00.000-07:00

So, funny story. I recently went through and repaired just about everything in my repair bag, so I was running kind of low today. I decided to run over to the thrift store and see if I could find something in the 30 cent racks to repair. I found a pair of white pants, and a yellow shirt. I spent my 67 cents (with tax), and took them home to try it on.

Well, wouldn't you know that the one time I want to have to fix something, the pants and the shirt fit me pretty much perfectly.

So I was stuck finishing a project that I started last spring. After seeing Liz's Trench Coat Refashion I decided that I should do the same. I hemmed it months ago, bit it still needed a few bits of tucking and tailoring to take it from creepy coat, to awesome.

Also, are there any limits on wearing white pants after Labor Day anymore? I kind of hope not...

Menswear

2011-08-30T08:08:00.000-07:00

We're back from vacation, and it's so good to be home. I missed Nate something fierce, and so wearing his shirt today seemed somewhat appropriate.

The problem is figuring out how to wear it. When I put it on this way, I was kind of proud of myself for pattern mixing, and trying something new:

Shirt: Nate's, Blazer: Thrifted (30 cents!), Jeans: Lucky, via Plato's Closet, Shoes: Fake Toms, Sole Envy, Belt: Also Nate's (with a few extra holes punched in)

Nate said: "Umm...you look like a pimp or something. It's just too...flashy? You don't like it, do you?"

This was my face (and no, I didn't really like it, we actually had a really good laugh about it all).

When I went with tucking it in. I got the comment that I looked like a lumberjack. So I took Nate's Velashka (an ax carried by Slovakia's equivalent of Robin Hood) off the wall and we made a go of it.

Lumberjacks are super manly...right?

Yeah...he's right.

What's a Girl to Do? Shirt: Nate's, Jeans: Lucky, via Plato's Closet, Shoes: Fake Toms, Sole Envy, Belt: Also Nate's (with a few extra holes punched in)

Guess I should have gone with the shirt and tie....

Though, to be honest, I feel a little bad stealing any of Nate's ties. They're all pretty gorgeous, and definitely his favorite accessory. Me? Shoes. Nate: Ties. He's got really good taste in ties

Do Something New With your Hair

2011-08-29T09:00:00.000-07:00

I'm flying home today, unless Hurricane Irene has something to say about it.

So I'm cheating a tiny bit. Just a little, itty, bitty teeeeeny bit and pre-shooting this post. Because I have never done this with my hair.

I used to have really long hair, until about 5 weeks ago. It had been years since it had been above my shoulders, and I loved it. Everyone who knows me from before those 3 years or so is thinking, "Huh?" Because before then, my hair was pretty much always short.

Anyway, my hair is short again, and I'm finding that it's a little harder to do new things with it, so here's what I did. I pulled small sections from either side, and then twisted and pinned until it all stayed.

I also parted really far over on the right. My typical part is usually about an inch more central than this.

This is my remix shirt, which I'm wearing with a skirt, but I'm not really counting this as fully remixed until I do something new with it next week. See you all in Pennsylvania!

Copycat

2011-08-28T11:44:00.000-07:00

Huge Disclaimer: I have never seen the show Mad Men. I therefor cannot attest to the appropriateness or anything else about it...except the style.

I saw the Banana Republic Mad Men line highlighted on several blogs, and I decided that it had to be my copycat outfit.

This is my attempt at a copycat face...I'm pretty sure I failed.

Banana Republic Dress

My copy: Dress (as a shirt here): Thrifted, Skirt: Gift from mom, re-sized, Shoes: Thrifted, Scarf: Borrowed from mom, Necklace: gift from Nate

Neutral Base With a Pop of Color

2011-08-27T12:51:00.001-07:00

When doing today, I decided, "What's more neutral than jeans and a white t-shirt?"

Neutral Base...

Shirt: Walmart (more Danskin), Jeans: Target, Shoes: Crocs, Undershirt: United Colors of Bennington, Bracelet: Borrowed from my sister Ashley

Pops of Color

Jazz up Your Jeans

2011-08-26T12:09:00.000-07:00

I wish I could have done Jazz Hands as well as Kayla did here. Definitely not going to happen though.

Also, I'm clearly missing Nate a little too much. This tree was begging for a hug.

Shirt: Walmart (Danskin Active Tee...love it.), Pants: Swapped with Ali (Today!), Shoes: Fake TOMS (Sole Envy), Necklace: Awesome hand painted metal beads from my mom.

Overall, kind of lovin' today. Jazzy Denim for all!

Wear a Skirt

2011-08-25T15:07:00.000-07:00

I love today, because I love skirts. In fact, I loved today so much, that I color-blocked, and tucked. Woot, woot!

Shirt: United Colors of Bennington, via garage sale, Skirt: BYU Bookstore...about 6 years ago, shoes: fake Toms

This necklace is THE Mojo. Nate got it from a scout leader back in his boy scout days, and before he went on his mission, he asked me to keep it safe for him. He had also very cleverly stuck $1.32 inside of it which we had been trying to get the other person to keep for months. My man is kind of tricky.

Closet Orphan

2011-08-24T21:34:00.000-07:00

When I was a junior in High School, I found a green dress. Green happened (and happens) to be my favorite color, and so the fact that it was a size or two too large, and oddly shaped didn't matter. I bought it (on clearance) with my own money (hard earned from after school day-care), and treasured it's peasant-y appearance.

Well, a few years later, I came to my senses, and realized that the dress was actually kind of ugly. It's cut diagonally to the stretch of the fabric, so the thing pulled oddly, and then there was a tie around the neck and the sleeves were kind of puffed...it just wasn't working. Somehow though, I just couldn't let the thing go. I'd bought it with my own money, and it was green! It sat around in my closet, where I'd try to pull it out a few Sundays a year to see if it had somehow gotten better looking...it hadn't.

Fast forward about 7 years. I start learning how to refashion clothes, or at least getting enough practice so that they don't look worse than when I started. I cut the top off the dress and make it into a skirt. However, I cut the skirt too long and it hit me in a really unflattering fashion, so it sat in the closet, and then in the Goodwill bag for many months.* About a week ago, I decided to save this scrappy comeback-kid closet orphan, and see if it could gain new life.

It still pulls oddly diagonally, but with the new length, I think it works pretty well. I think it's saved itself from a trip to Goodwill for now...

Shirt: Shade, Undershirt: Shade, Shoes: Crocs, Belt: (voluntarily belted!) thrifted, Skirt: Walmart, refashioned to save its poor little life.

Sadly, this was the best picture out of the bunch...I think I was finishing a delicious coconut M&M, and when you're on vacation, there's just no time for silly things like re-takes.

*Does anyone else do this? You create a bag of Goodwill stuff, only to later go through it after seeing some project someone else did? This happens to me all the time. Usually I figure, "Well...if I totally mess up, I was going to get rid of it anyway...right?"

Monochrome

2011-08-23T12:36:00.001-07:00

Today wasn't hard at all. I have lots of clothes that are in the same color tone range, and so it's not any great science to put them together.

These challenges have made me want to add other things though. I was looking at different necklaces, and I even wanted to add a yellow belt, but in the spirit of the challenge, I kept it one color.

Shirt: By me, shorts, by me, shoes: Crocs, from my mom.

Special thanks to Ali, who crawled all the way down into the dinosaur quarry to take these pictures.

Mix Formal and Casual

2011-08-22T20:23:00.000-07:00

Umm...This one was reeeeeally a struggle.

I tried wearing a gold-ish top with a jacket, and some jeans, and...it was kind of itchy, and hot, and blech.

Maybe I was just blech.

The concept is one that I still like, and I think I might need to try and find myself a rhinestone top, or some sequins or something. SOMETHING fancy, right?

Anyway, I wore this really fancy jewelry with my casual clothing. I also wore my black cardigan, which I've worn to a couple of more formal events...it's lame, but I'm on vacation, so I hope it counts.

Fancy earring, necklace not pictured close up (I don't know what happened to the picture...): Gift from my mom.

Striped t-shirt: Thrifted, Black Cardigan: Target, literally 9 years ago, watch, necklace, earrings: all gifts.

Layer Accessories

2011-08-21T20:26:00.000-07:00

My accessories layering isn't that exciting. I took a pearl and silver necklace, and used it as inspiration to layer another pearl necklace as a bracelet with two silver bracelets. Not really a "Ta-Dah!" type of moment, bit it was fancy.

This shirt, however, is something to be excited about. This shirt is the shirt my mom wore in her engagement picture to my dad, approximately 28 years ago. After seeing Kayla's Remix Item, I got thinking about that picture, and this shirt. I asked my mom today if she still had it, and after church she came down with the shirt (which is actually the top to a skirt-dress combo) in hand.

So then things went like this:

"So...can I try this on?"

Try it on, decide it's kind of awesome.

"Do you mind if I wear this to dinner?"

Wear it to dinner. Get complimented. Love it.

Shirt: Mom's Engagement Photo shirt, Necklace: Kohls, Bracelets: all gifts, mom, grandma, husband, Pants: Calvin Kline, gift from Grandma, Shoes: Thrifted

In a side note, This shirt would make the best nursing top. I'm kind of tempted to try and copy the tulip-y pattern sometime...maybe.

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! I love you!

Wear Something in an Unexpected Way

2011-08-20T18:07:00.001-07:00

I was a little bit stumped on this one, but eventually found a way to kill two birds with one stone (no birds were harmed in the creation of this outfit). Remember the shirt from this post?

Boom. Remixed.

Yup...I turned the body of the shirt inside out and left the arms right side out, then sort of folded the inside-out body up until it hit the regular neckline, and wrapped the arms around and tucked them in. Then I just put my head through the regular neck hole. Confused yet?

Shirt: Thrifted, Jeans: Plato's Closet (upscale thrifted), Scarf: thrifted shirt, Shoes: more fake TOMS, from shoe envy, today.

Maybe not the most awesome unexpected way to wear something, but I've also never successfully worn a scarf for fashion purposes alone. Look at me getting all adventurous!

Wear a Belt

2011-08-19T12:20:00.000-07:00

I'm on vacation, folks, and it's FAN.TAS.TIC.

Seriously. I love my family and I love Nate's family, but being with them last night and today, it reminds me of how much I love being around them. They're fun and quirky, and Mariel even took all of these outfit pictures for me. My life is crazy good. It would be full-on insanity good if Nate were here too, but I'll enjoy myself for us both right now.

Ahh...Vacation.

And now, the challenge. This one was actually a challenge for awhile. You can ask Nate, I've tried belting...it hasn't worked for me. Seriously...it hasn't worked at.all. Today though, it's working. I think I've figured out that I can only wear a belt at my waist or lower. The empire look doesn't work at all for me, and that's what I had been trying.

I even went to the thrift store a couple of days ago just for this challenge. I found this fabulous red belt, that's wide, and elastic, and it kind of looked like it came off an episode of The Golden Girls.

I hope you appreciate the strange faces here.

please excuse the fact that my legs look detached from my body.

I just had to take a picture of the shoes here, which were free! The thrift store near my house is called the Faith Center, and they send out an e-mail about every week. This e-mail usually contains some devotional, and if you can answer a question about the devotional, then you get something free (I've gotten a couple of pairs jeans and a shirt this way in the past). If you could answer the question this week, you'd get a pair of shoes for free. I read it, like I always do, and I thought, "Meh, I'm not going to just get shoes because they're free. I'll only get it if I could miraculously find some red wedges or something."

I walked into the store and there, in a basket, were these red wedges, in my size, like brand new. It felt like a little miracle, just to make me happy.

Shirt: Rue 21, Pants: Target, Belt and Shoes: Thrifted

Color Blocking

2011-08-18T04:28:00.000-07:00

Today's prompt was the first one where, as soon as I saw it, I thought, "Hey! I can wear _____."

And now, a story:

Once upon a time, there was a very cheap girl named Nicole. She was so cheap, that the TOTAL cost of any of her outfits so far had never been more than $20. If you take out the shoes, the total cost was less $10 for any of her clothing.

One day she found a shirt on sale at Walmart for $1.00. "Who doesn't need a gray shirt?" she thought to herself, and stuck it in her cart.

Unfortunately, she took the shirt home, and found out why it was $1.00. It was kind of horrible. It didn't fit right, the stitching was off slightly so it twisted oddly, and the color was just...well...gray. It got tossed into the Goodwill pile with a handful of other clothes.

Then she had some free time, and decided to try and fix this shirt. Wasting even a dollar seems criminal...right? She grabbed two other shirts from the pile (both of which had been free) and got to work. At first she was trying to turn it into a tunic...but she made it WAY too long. So long that...with a little extra fabric, it could be a dress (not too bad for $1)!

Dress: three wayward shirts turned color block dress.(by me!) Shoes: Airwalk TOMS copies from Payless, Undershirt: Shade

A dress that could be worn comfortably from airport to airport...because, after all, it's just three T-shirts sewn together. If it were less fitted, I'm pretty sure it would be a muumuu, and/or a house dress. Just don't tell anyone, OK?

Pattern Mixing

2011-08-17T06:25:00.000-07:00

I worked until 1:00 this morning, and then had to wake up before 7 so that I could help a friend out...This is the face that happens when I have days like today.

Top: Old Navy, Skirt: Made it Myself

Pattern mixing is another HUGE no-no for me. Nate is much more progressive in this. A couple of summers ago he was wearing a striped shirt and some plaid shorts. To my shame, I laughed at the combination. Apparently, he's a man ahead of his time.

See? Stripes plus pattern. Still don't know if this'll make a regular incorporation into my fashion life...but here it is today.

Tuck it In

2011-08-16T07:19:00.001-07:00

When I saw this prompt, I groaned a little bit inside. I've done a little bit of tucking in here and there lately...like, 3 times in the last year, with a pencil skirt, for church, and I was feeling pretty progressive.

Not that I don't think things being tucked in look nice. All growing up my mom would tell me to tuck in my shirt whenever we were doing something fancy casual. I would usually tuck it in until I caught sight of myself in a mirror, and then un-tuck it quickly. This would leave me with a wrinkled bottom-half of my shirt....super cool.

Shirt: JC Penny (via Plato's Closet), Shorts: Old Navy (Via Thrift Store, hemmed into shorts), Undershirt: Shade

Slightly Random Tangent: my mom would also try to tell me that it was OK to put my bangs back when I was younger. I had somehow gotten into my head that I had a weirdly large forehead, and so whenever my mom would do my hair for church and nicely put my bangs back, I would find my way to the church bathroom, soak my hands, and then pull my bangs out and plaster them down on my forehead. Sorry mom--you did try to help me be somewhat normal fashion-wise. End Tangent.

So, tucking is not something that's normally part of my fashion history. Tucking into pants is a stretch, and tucking into shorts...who does that?

Me...apparently.

Indy got into the action as well. He's wearing a collar from Chaco. As dogs go, he's really quite fashionable.

These pictures were brought to you by my husband, and our front porch thing...thanks Nate!

Remix Something

2011-08-15T09:00:00.000-07:00

Well, it's Day 1 of the 21-Day Challenge: Remix Something. I am not a fashion blogger, and have never participated in a 30 for 30, so I really wasn't sure what to remix...Finally, I decided to just pick a shirt I like:

I got this shirt at a thrift store after seeing lots of people wearing striped shirts. It was about 4 sizes too big, and very oddly shaped, but a little work with a sewing machine, and it's now awesome.

Shirt: Thrifted, Jeans: Target, Ring: wedding

I've seen a lot of people who are pairing stripes with patterns, which was ALWAYS a huge no-no (or so I thought). I'm hoping to step outside my bubble a bit and pair this with things I thought would never work.

In a small twist for myself, I'm not going to apologize for how awful my photos are. Who cares? :)

21 Day Challenge

2011-08-11T09:39:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends! My wonderfully put-together freshman roommate has gone and started a challenge that I intend to participate in. Check out all the details here. Now: To find myself a photographer...and some facial expressions that don't look super goofy.

Even if you don't participate in the challenge, you should totally read her blog, she's pretty much awesome all-around.

Make a Toddler Robe from a Single Bath Towel

2011-05-28T20:11:00.000-07:00

For a little while now, I've been wanting to make Katie a robe. We have this older towel that she seems to love, so I decided to try and make it into a robe for her.

1. Start off with a towel, and a toddler. Katie is 17 months old, and I'm pretty sure that the robe will fit her until she's at least 2. She's currently about 24 pounds and 31.5 inches tall.

I tried to chase after her to get some specific measurements...but it's difficult. I got some basic guidelines, and the end result fit well.

I hemmed and sewed all the edges using a zig zag stitch.

A few tips:
1. Make sure you use a towel that you've already washed. Most towels will shrink a bit, and you probably want to have that happen before you go to all the work.
2. As I've washed the robe a couple of times, I noticed that some of the edges have frayed slightly, but the seams are still holding strong. To prevent this, I guess you could fold them over and sew them down once more.
3. I might also add a couple of loops for the tie, but I haven't done it yet. As is, you end up with a good sized washcloth to go with the robe when you're done, but you could easily trim that and create a couple of belt loops.
4. The towel material is very thick when you're hemming all the seams. I would strongly recommend using a thicker needle--maybe a jean's needle or something similar (I think it's a 16).
5. You could probably get a beach towel and create a similar robe for an older child by scaling the measurements up a bit.

Katie Packs

2011-05-17T11:33:00.000-07:00

First, here's a picture of the blouse in the tutorial below that I didn't take myself:

Less awkward, right?

Anyway, I've pulled out the suitcases lately for a trip we're taking soon. Katie decided to pack today:

In case you can't tell what's in her suitcase, let me run it down for you:

1. Piggy bank

2. Shoes

3. Sunscreen

4. Roller Coaster Bead toy thing

5. Baby doll

Yup, looks like she's got all the basics.

Copycat Shirt

2011-04-28T19:24:00.000-07:00

Kayla over at Freckles in April did a post about her wood bead necklace, and she posted this picture:

I decided that I would like to copy the shirt behind the necklace.

However, being somewhat skeptical about my abilities to do so, I failed to take a before picture. It was a basic long-sleeved men's shirt that I got from my local thrift store for $0.33. It looks a lot like this one.

First, I removed the collar and front pocket using a seam ripper, and then sewed up along where the collar was:

I also sewed in some darts in the front and the back to make it more fitted. I can't really tell you how to do it specifically, I just tried the shirt on inside out, and then pinched and pinned equal distances from the buttons in each side. The size of the shirt before will determine how much you have to bring it in. I did the front darts first, and the back darts later.

I next cut off the sleeves so that I could have the material needed for the ruffles. The one in the picture had long sleeves that were rolled up. I measured how long I wanted my ruffle to be (about 11.5 inches), and then added a couple inches to that measurement so that it would be ruffly. I ended up cutting off about 14.5 inches of sleeve.

The cut sleeve looked really lame all by itself, so I cut the cuff off of the bottom of the sleeve that I had removed. My bicep happens to be larger than my wrist, so I needed a bit of extra material to make the sleeve work completely, so I cut the collar that I had removed in half, and then pinned and sewed the pieces together so that they would fit around my bicep. Then I pinned the sleeve to it (sleeve right-side-out, cuff inside-out), and then sewed all around. The second time, I pinned things and sewed wrong, and was forced to use my seam ripper to fix it...so you shouldn't do that. This was the result:

When taking a picture of yourself from below, be sure to crane your neck upward to avoid showing off multiple chins.

Then I took the sleeve parts and cut them in half. Then I used the longest stitch on my sewing machine, and gathered them until I liked it. Then I pinned and sewed them to the shirt.

Then I took about 50 pictures of myself looking like a total dork. Here's one that didn't turn out blurry, even though I look grumpy:

Sometimes cropping helps?

Well, nope.

Maybe once Nate gets home I'll force him to take a few pictures of me that look less like I took them myself.

Happy Groundhog Day!

2011-02-02T10:43:00.000-08:00

So, life is fantastic. If you're really missing out on our Halloween/Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Years/Anniversary etc. You're welcome to check out http://picasaweb.google.com/kobylka?authkey=Gv1sRgCKr5n-Wz9eSkIA. Because really, aren't the pictures what you're wanting to see?

One Year

2010-08-19T15:05:00.000-07:00

Then

Now

And one of Katie, because she doesn't usually look that grumpy.

We've been in Pennsylvania for a whole year now. Exactly one year ago (right about this time, actually, we pulled up and got out to a hot, humid, and beautifully green state.

One year later:

-Nate is about to start another semester of school.

-Katie has joined our family

-Nicole was in an accident that totaled one car, and now we've got a new one. (No one was hurt, and it actually worked out to be financially in our favor)

-We've moved once to an apartment slightly closer to town

-We've survived a whole summer without air conditioning. Some days, it was quite difficult, but we did it.

-Katie has managed to learn to smile, laugh, eat solid foods, get 4 teeth, crawl, roll over, and be basically too adorable for people not to comment on.

-Indiana has survived not being the main being that needs caring for, and has made a few friends and even been to a dog park many times.

It's been a really good year, and even though we miss seeing our families as often, Pennsylvania really has been a pretty great place to live.

You Should Get More Sleep When...

2010-08-12T08:03:00.001-07:00

Last night, I fell asleep reading a book in bed. Nate woke me up so we could say prayer, and it was my turn. I was really, REALLY tired. This is how the prayer went:

Nicole: "Please bless that we can be kept safe, and if we can't, please bless that we can defend ourselves..." A few more things..."Amen"

Nate: "Did you say 'defend ourselves?'"

Nicole: "Uh, yeah. In case we can't be kept safe..."

To be honest, I usually just sort of revert to standard phrases that I use when I'm that tired. "Defend ourselves" has NEVER been in a prayer that I've said before...ever.

Look out intruders.

Making Your Own Cloth Diaper Covers...

2010-06-26T18:34:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about doing cloth diapers with Katie since before she was born--mostly because diapers are really expensive. We had a lot of family that was really nice and basically kept us in diapers until just recently. We've still got some, but we're running a little low. This morning, I decided to take on a project that I had thought about doing for a month or so now. If you don't want to read about it, skip to the end. There are some cute pictures of Katie to see.

First, I decided to make a pattern. This was not as simple as tracing a regular diaper, because it definitely wasn't big enough. I decided to recycle Indy's Dog food bag...Also, we didn't have any newspaper.

To figure out sizing, I measured around Katie's waist, from her belly button to the middle of her back, and the width of the diaper in between her legs. I left her in a diaper for the whole measuring thing...and it was more ballpark than actual science. This is what I came up with. I decided to add 2 inches on each side of what I measured, so I had some extra room, and so it'd be big enough. I made sure all my lines were centered, and then I just basically drew a vertical line from about an inch and a half in to the center on all sides.

This became my pattern. You could probably do this without a pattern, but you'll have to repeat your drawing for each cover you do.

I placed the pattern on my waterproof material: A cute tablecloth I bought from Walmart for $4.00. After looking at all the other plastic-backed material, I decided that this would be nicer--the inside is actually soft, though not a whole lot of it touches Katie's skin.

Once you cut out your pattern, you should have something like this...or something that resembles your own pattern.

I didn't really take pictures of all the sewing stuff, but I used a sewing machine to sew elastic along the legs (I did .75 times the total length of the leg openings). Just sew on the elastic at the ends, for the rest, make a sort of pocket for it--this will allow the fabric to bunch up and stretch if needed. After that, just hem all the edges, and attach Velcro (or snaps, or whatever your choice is) to the tabs in the back, and the front. If you use Velcro that already has adhesive on it, it sticks pretty well, but you might want to tack it down with a few stitches. You might also want to do the tacking by hand, since the adhesive will gum up your sewing machine if you're not careful.

In the end, you should get something like this:

Here's a close up of where the elastic went. I used 1/4" elastic, also from Walmart, for about $1.50 (you get a lot more than you'll need for one).

Here's the inside of the thing. The Velcro on the left I tacked down, the Velcro on the right I did not. I'll be fixing that later.

As I was reading about materials to make the liners out of, I found a lot of people selling terrycloth. I had an older towel that wasn't part of any sets, so I cut it up into pieces that could be folded to increase the thickness and absorbency.

How does Katie feel about saving the environment (and saving her parents a lot of money)?

She likes it!

I love this one. I think she looks so sassy.

And that's all there is to it. I don't have amazing sewing skills, and so it took me awhile to make the first one (an hour and a half or so), but that was due to a lot of issues with me, mostly. I bet a more experienced person could make one in about half an hour, easy. We used this cover all day today, and just replaced the towel liner each time we changed her. No leaks yet, which is great.

A couple of notes:

1. I would just hand wash the cover--I tried running the material through the washer before, and it didn't work out so well. It might work better with higher quality PUL material elsewhere, or try something else.

2. I will probably sew around the edges of my liners before using the rest of them--they fray a bit and can leave behind little bits of towel. Hopefully just sewing around the edges will help this--maybe if you cut yours with pinking shears?

3. You could use other things for the liners too--microfiber towels, maybe even a sham wow if you really wanted to go crazy. :)

Anyway, the best part about it is that I've got enough tablecloth left for about 10-15 more covers. I've probably got enough elastic for the same. The Velcro I used is leftover from another project (fixing some of Nate's sandals), but it was about $4.00, and buying another set would probably let me finish it up. Bottom line is, for about $10, I've got Katie's daytime diapering covered for awhile. We're still planning on using a disposable diaper at night, just because it's more absorbent. As long as this works, we should save quite a bit of money in the long run...here's hoping!

Sleep

2010-05-17T20:26:00.000-07:00

Before: Sleeping while being held.

Katie is 4 months old, and a couple of weeks. About two months ago, right after she got her first vaccinations, she was sleeping through the night like a dream--8-10 hours, it was fantastic. She did this for about a month.

Then, we moved, she got her own room, and suddenly, she's getting up 2-4 times a night.

WHAT?

I know, I should just be grateful for the month of sleep that we got. It's just really hard to go from getting a good amount of sleep to suddenly waking up again. I started thinking that my new life theme song would have to be "Who Needs Sleep?" For the past month, I've been trying to do all kinds of things to get Katie to sleep.

First, I tried to stop swaddling her. It gets pretty hot in our apartment by the end of the day, and I was worried she'd be too hot while sleeping, and maybe that was waking her up. Clearly, this wasn't the answer, because she would not go to sleep without being swaddled unless she was exhausted, and she wouldn't stay asleep once we put her down.

Next, I tried to focus on naps during the day. According to one book that we got, better naps during the day=better sleep at night. Following the suggestions in this book, we got a few great naps, which was nice, because I was finally doing some household chores and unpacking, I even baked bread! However, night sleep wasn't getting any better.

So, at the start of this week, Nate and I decided to finally try just letting Katie "Cry it out." I had wanted to avoid doing it because I'm not really a fan of crying. We tried the following method:

Put her down around 8:30 (she starts crying about 2 seconds after the door is shut)

3 minutes later, Nate goes in and offers comforting words and patting, but no picking up (she's now mad that we know she's crying, and we're not helping her)

5 minutes later, I go in and comfort and pat. She grabs my hand, I just about break down, but leave the room instead.

7 minutes later, Nate goes in again

10 minutes later, I go in

10 minutes later, we're ready to go in, but the crying has stopped, so we decide not to mess with it

10 minutes later, she's still sleeping.

She woke up around 10:30, but she was really hungry, so I fed her, she went right back to sleep, and slept until about 6:30 the next morning. This is great progress for us!

During: not a happy camper (this picture is actually from a couple of months ago).

The next night, I fed her, put her into her crib in that pseudo-awake, milk-drunk state at 8:00. She started crying. I was prepared to go and comfort her in about 5 minutes, following this suggested schedule, but about 2 minutes later, the crying stopped, and she was completely asleep. She stayed that way until 7:30 in the morning. that's 11.5 hours! When I went in to get her, she was smiling, happy, and the first thing she did when she saw me was laugh. This was great, but I was a little bit skeptical, since it had only been one night. The rest of the week went as follows:

Wednesday: Katie cries for 45 minutes before finally going to sleep. After checking and trying to soothe her with shushing and such, we decide that all it does is make her mad, and we stop going in to see her.

Thursday: Katie goes to sleep after about 2 minutes of crying.

Friday: Another 45 minute bought. Though the crying is more intermittent than constant.

Saturday: About 5 minutes of crying

Sunday: Really, just a little bit of fussing, that's all.

Tonight: No crying--a couple of little whimpers as she struggled to get her arms free, but she's currently sleeping, and she's not crying.

I guess we'll have to see how it works, but so far, this is good. I am now a believer in the fact that some babies just have to learn to go to sleep on their own. Katie falls asleep while nursing all the time, but before this last week, she hasn't really ever just fallen asleep without a car ride, feeding, or 15-30 minutes in a swing or with a bouncy chair being bounced for pretty much the whole time. Naps have even been going better! When she's really tired, I can just put her in her crib, and she'll go to sleep in a bit. Nate even put her down for a nap today with no crying involved.

Anyway, I thought I'd share our experience with the crying it out thing. It's kind of hard to go through, but I think that Katie, and Nate and I, are happier overall getting better rest.

After: Everyone is a bit happier around here.

New Favorite Food Blog

2010-05-17T06:50:00.000-07:00

I recently discovered Mel's Kitchen Cafe by way of a couple of other food blogs. I can't believe how delicious and (for the most part) simple some of the recipes are. Some of them take a couple of extra steps (like letting bread rise), but they're really easy if you've got just a bit of time. So far, everything I've tried from there has been really good.

These cookies are really good, and these sandwiches are just about as good as the Italian Place, and we have yet to find better than the Italian Place when it comes to Phillies. Yes, even in Pennsylvania.

Anyway, I hope you try some of her recipes. They're really, really good.

3 Months?!?

2010-04-01T09:10:00.000-07:00

Oh goodness, I can't believe Katie is already 3 months!

I'm really, really loving life with Katie. I had some struggles with adjusting to being a mom at first, but I'm starting to feel more comfortable with my new role, and really starting to enjoy more of each day. There have been so many moments of wonderfulness these last three months, but now it feels like there are hours of goodness at a time. Katie sleeps for a consistent 8-10 hours each night, and that might be part of what's making a difference. Nap time is getting better...though we're still working on getting it down--any suggestions on that would be appreciated.

Now there are so many smiles, and laughing too! How satisfying those little things are to my new mom heart. I really love seeing Nate play with Katie, and seeing her laugh. She seems to think her dad is the funniest thing ever, but I can get a laugh out of her every now and again. She's no shortage of smiles either. There are still meltdowns, blowouts, spit-ups, and more drooling as of late, but each day is also full of investigating, and learning, and figuring different things out--for both of us.

In the short three months that Katie's been alive she's:

Celebrated New Years Eve, Been to the ER for an X-Ray (bloody spit up the night she came home...all is well, our pediatrician just told us to get her checked out to make sure)

Taken a Road Trip, Visited Baltimore, Stayed in a Hotel, Flown on an Airplane

Got Blessed (I made that dress! I'm really pleased with how it looked on the model :)

Had a Party

Had a "Play Date," Visited an Art Museum, Went to several restaurants, Saw Disney on Ice, and a play (If you Give a Mouse a Cookie), as well as two movies (The Princess and the Frog at home, and Alice in Wonderland in Utah)

Been showered with love, gifts, and more love

Moved to a new apartment! (I'm probably most excited about this--it's a great place.)

Basically, we've all got good, full lives, and I have a feeling They're only going to keep getting better. Some days are more exciting than others, and Spring Break was a whole week of excitement. Thanks to everyone who we got to see. We miss you already. If you're in the neighborhood, you should stop by. :D Happy Easter!

Please Vote for Indy!

2010-03-05T08:00:00.000-08:00

Those of you who have met our dog know that he's amazingly awesome...just like his owners. :) We're trying to get everyone else to see it too.

Also, he's a gorgeous dog, and really ought to be the spokes animal for something, right?

Click on this link to go to the contest: http://www.bissell.com/mvp_PetDetail.aspx?id=8590089159

Voting runs between the 5th and the 11th. Please help him win!

My House isn't Clean...

2010-02-15T09:01:00.000-08:00

But my baby is. :)

Life here is going pretty well. Katie is 6 weeks old, and she went with us to church yesterday for the first time. Clearly, this prompted the need for a photo shoot. You can see it here. She was pretty great. I think church actually went by more quickly than usual. Having Katie there makes it almost a game to ward off any potential crying. She's also really cute and fun to watch, so that helps when things are...less entertaining.

Emily came and visited us about a week ago. I miss her already. It was so nice to have her to hang out with, and to talk to, and she taught me to make some fun things--like flower bows, andwheat thins, and Katie loved her. Emily, come back soon! The Wheat Thins are all gone... ;) Seriously though, it was so great to have you here. I love you!

We got a lot of snow out here--not as much as DC, but probably about a foot and a half or so. Because of the snow, Emily's flight was cancelled, and she had to spend an extra day with us. We didn't mind.

Overall, life is really good. I'm working out the details of being a mom and a housewife. I'm learning to do a lot of things with one hand, and learning to let some things go. It's OK if my clean laundry piles up, or if the vacuuming waits an extra day or two. Seeing the messiness around me sometimes makes me feel a little like I'm failing at what I'm "supposed" to do, but I'm not. Katie is thriving, I bathe on a a regular basis, and no one is starving. I'm even happy, which is more important than being tidy. I'll take the mysterious baby goo on my shirt and unfolded laundry over the alternative any day.

1+1=3

2010-01-12T07:54:00.000-08:00

Three Years Ago...

Two Years Ago...

Last Year (as in 2009....)

And Now...

We sure do look a lot alike in this picture...

I couldn't think of a better way to spend our last three years. Happy anniversary!

Let Me Count the Ways...

2010-01-05T11:41:00.000-08:00

I'm in love with our new little girl, and we've only just met.

Early Evening on Wednesday...

Katie Linn Murray was born on December 31, at 1:45 am. She weighed 8 pounds, 3.5 ounces, and was 21 inches long. We went to the hospital for the induction at 8:00 am on Wednesday the 30th, the doctor broke my water around 2:30 pm, I got an epidural around 10:00 pm, we watched Star Trek the movie, and then Star Trek the Next Generation (on TV) and then I started pushing at 1:26 am. Katie came after just 19 minutes (like, 5 contractions or so) and was quickly hailed as the best baby ever (at least by her parents, though the nurses were quite fond of her too).

She's great. She does all those things that newborns do really well--eating, sleeping, diaper filling, and looking cute in various tiny clothes. Our experience may be typical by the facts, but it has sure changed our lives forever. We're parents...and it's overwhelming, and exciting, and somehow normal all at the same time. We've gotten so much love and support and many well-wishes from everyone. Thank you for your love and kindness.

I'm really excited for 2010 and for all the challenges, and adventures that it's going to bring. Nate starts school soon, he's back at work as of yesterday, and we're both learning how to do this whole baby thing. The diaper changing thing is going remarkably better...and faster...and more in the diaper. :) Basically, life holds so much promise and potential for us right now, and with all the love and support that we have, it's going to be a good year.

Christmas Food

2009-12-16T16:43:00.000-08:00

Next to Christmas music, Christmas food is something that helps to get me in the spirit of the season. Mostly, this means that there's a lot of baking, candy making, and general eating of desserts and other deliciousness.

First, there are caramels. These are delicious. The first time Nate and I attempted to make caramels, we made them with some friends, thinking that they'd be easy and fun. Well, they were easy...but they took for.....ev......er. Seriously, we were adding like, 1/4 cup liquid from this 6 cup mixture and then it had to rise to the right temperature. The first attempt took like 3 hours total. We did end up with a mountain of caramel, but it was so much work...I was scared to try again.

Then, this year, I googled, "easy caramel recipe" and found this baby. In my opinion, it worked out just as well as the long, hard, expensive-ish one. Also, it took less time, and fewer ingredients--just make sure that you really do get it to the soft ball stage.

Next, there are cookies. I'm sure the rest of you out there have already discovered this, but cake mix cookies are the easiest thing ever. I've never made them until like, last week, and now, I wonder why. I made some devil's food cake cookies with semi-sweet chocolate chips...they were delicious. Think of the other combinations you could do though! Butterscotch chips and carrot cake cookies! Funfetti and m&m's! Chocolate and mint chips! Mmmm.

Me with the Linzer Cookies

We also made Linzer cookies this year--they're a bit more complicated, but they sure are pretty. When making these, just make sure that the shape you cut out in the middle leaves you enough dough to transfer to the cookie sheet...or better yet, transfer the base shape (like a circle, perhaps) to the sheet, and then cut the center part out of it. You can also use any jelly you please with these, and the bigger variety of jellies you use, the bigger the variety of colors you end up with.

We've also made some banana bread, some rolls, and tonight we had Orange Julius' (Orange Julii?) for dessert. These were all fantastically good--and the rolls freeze and re-heat really, really well. Still on the list of festive foods to try: fudge (any good recipes out there?) and a couple of cheese balls. This is in addition to whatever we have for Christmas Dinner...which will either be ham, and then some other good stuff, or hospital food. :)

Christmas Music

2009-12-07T10:46:00.000-08:00

I love Christmas music. I don't really know too many people who don't. Sometimes the songs make me feel a little sad and nostalgic--especially songs like "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." I may or may not have cried the other day when a fairly bad pop version of "I'll be Home for Christmas" came up on the playlist.

OK, I cried, but I still didn't hate it.

Anyway, I also adore getting good stuff for free. So, if you're interested in free music, I get it from two places:

Amazon 25 days of Christmas--Amazon gives you a free Christmas song each day. The best part is that you don't have to remember to download it each day--you can go back and get all the rest of the songs for the month too.

iTunes--they have new free music available for downloading every Tuesday. During December, one of the free downloads is always something Christmas related. You can also get free music videos, clips of TV shows, etc. Not all of the music is awesome, but it is all free. You have the whole week to get it, so if you forget on Tuesday, you can still snag it another day. The Downside? You've got to remember to download it before the next Tuesday, otherwise it's back to having to be paid for. To get it, open iTunes, go to the store, and scroll all the way down. There's a section that says, "Free on iTunes." Everything in that area is, well, free.

Enjoy expanding your collection...for free!

"Nursery" Pictures

2009-11-17T18:00:00.000-08:00

So, we don't really have a nursery, exactly. We do have a second bedroom, but it's on another floor in the house. While I know that having her sleep in another room could be a good thing, knowing myself, and how I'd react to a baby monitor, I'm sure that I'd be getting up for every single little whimper, running downstairs to check on her, realizing she's fine, and then running upstairs again to sleep...only to hear something else to run back down again.

Just thinking about it is tiring.

Now, I'm sure that I'll do a similar thing with her in our room--but at least this way, I can check without stairs, at least until we're a little more used to her being around. Also, if you want to stay with us, we've still got a room for you.

So, the nursery, for now, is part of our room. The paint and the curtains came with the room--not awful, but we probably would have decorated differently if it was our house.

This is the rocking chair that we have. I originally wanted a glider, but after looking into prices, and hearing that they actually can be pretty not-useful I went with this rocking chair that I found at a local thrift store for $12. It currently has a sheet on it, because it's ugly, and a little old, and needs to be recovered. We'll see if that actually happens before our baby comes, or if it happens some other time...

This is our crib--it will eventually convert into a toddler bed. The adorable quilt there was made and sent to us by my sister Emily--so cute! In the previous picture, and this one, you can see some little wall decorations. I found some packs of cute shaped paper at Michaels for a dollar each, glued them to some foam board from the dollar store, hot glued some little bows made from ribbons on presents at our baby shower, and stuck them to the wall. The total cost was less than $10, and I think the overall effect is pretty cute.

This is the closet, it's right next to her crib. We stuck a nightstand in the bottom that was already in the apartment, rearranged the shelves, and used a curtain rod from somewhere else to make a place to hang her clothes. Also, not expensive, and now there's a good place for her clothes, and baby accessory-type things.

This is a close-up of the baskets and the nightstand. The baskets were only a dollar each at the dollar store--and look at the cute little butterflies on them. Also, there's a baby book there that's completely adorable (Thanks for the gift card Aunt Lori, Erica and co. :)

Here are some toys that she has, that will likely not stay in the crib once she's born. There's the dog from Kathi Elison and co, and the frog from Diana Elison and Grace. Also, there's the turtle, which was Nate's when he was little. Not pictured in the crib my lamb and a bear rattle from when I was a baby. Tender, eh?

Lastly, there's this picture frame, which is currently filled with the people who came with the frame. It says, "Family Tree" on the bottom, and it will soon be filled with pictures from our very own little family sapling.

Then, One Time, I was Caller #2

2009-11-07T13:45:00.000-08:00

Nate and I went grocery shopping on Tuesday night. We both love to grocery shop...it's like a hobby for us. As a result, dinners this week have been fabulous.

In case you're curious, if you love the Roasted Red Pepper Sauce from Brick Oven, this is a really close substitute. It works particularly well if you're over 2000 miles away from Brick Oven and you just desperately want some of that incredibly good sauce. Also, it's only $2.00 at Walmart, at least ours.

Anyway, we started at Giant, bought most of our things, and then headed over to Walmart for a few other items. These stores are about 5 minutes apart. Along the way we were listening to the radio, which happened to have a contest giving away tickets to "She Loves Me." This is the play that You've Got Mail is based off of, and it happens to be one of my favorites--Nate and I were planning on going and seeing it. I decided to call in, just for fun. Winning something off the radio has been something I've wanted to do ever since I started listening to the radio. I used to call in every morning on my way to work when FM 100 did their 100 days of Christmas. They were giving away $100, after all, and I like money. I never won though. I also attempted to win a love sac, but some guy named Steve won it for his 3 year old daughter. Anyway, I called, the line was busy, I decided to call again...the line started ringing. What do you know it? I managed to be caller #2. The radio guy says, "Hey, who am I talking to?" I tell him my name, he tells me I won. I say, "ArE yOu SeRiOuS?!?" He says "I wouldn't kid about a thing like that!" He gives me a chance to promote the radio station, at which point I quickly look over at the car radio and listen to Nate telling me what the station is that we're listening to, since I've never listened to it before that day, and then he tells me how to get the tickets.

And that, is how we got free tickets to a play we were already planning on seeing. This means that now, we can also go out to eat beforehand. and I'm so excited, because this isn't really a date we'll be able to do for awhile after the baby is born. Hooray for contests when most people aren't listening to the radio!

Or for just plain dumb luck. Either way, I'll take it.

79 Days (or so) To Go...

2009-10-06T17:14:00.000-07:00

As most of you know, we're having a baby this year. She's due on Christmas, in fact.

This is, occasionally, a fact that I forget. I'm sure you wonder what kind of moron can forget that they're pregnant...but that's this kind of moron for you. Today, I was putting on a light jacket to go and find some fall leaves in the yard. I put it on, and then worked to zip it up. I couldn't figure out why it was really tight around my middle...until I looked down and remembered my somewhat massive belly. "Oh yeah...there's a baby in there."

This isn't the most regular occurance. She kicks me often enough to remind me that she's there, hanging out and waiting for Christmas to come. I think sometimes it's more of a mental coping type thing. The reality that we're having a baby is really difficult for me to actually grasp. How different our lives will be in just a few months! I'm excited, terrified, and pretty clueless. Whenever I tell someone this, I'm always given the same response--"Don't worry, you'll figure it out soon enough." While I am sure that this is true, I would love to hear some anecdotal stories, advice, anything.

Hopefully, this is where you can help me out. I know that a lot of you out there are moms, or know moms, or know everything about children for one reason or another. I am soliciting advice from anyone who'd like to leave it. I'm sure lots of people refrain from offering such advice in the interest of not being overbearing. I would love for you to overbear! You can even leave an anonymous comment on my blog if you'd like to. I'd love your thoughts on cloth diapers v. disposable, baby products you can't (or couldn't) live without, or that you found were a royal waste of money, things you wished you'd known in the first few weeks of baby life, anything! I know that I can find much of this information on the internet...and I've read a lot about most of these topics already--I would just like to hear more from people that I've at least vaguely associated with (and I'm pretty sure that I at least know of almost all the people who read this blog regularly).

Thanks in advance. If you're really not comfortable commenting in public, but you'd love to give me some advice--email me (kobylka at gmail dot com). I would love to hear from you.

Tour de Murray

2009-10-02T10:25:00.000-07:00

I'm sure you've all be dying to see our house, so I thought I'd take you on a tour of basically what I see during the day.

First, I wake up in this room. This is the dresser, and this is Indiana. He regularly sits and looks out the windows. If the curtains are closed, he swats the curtains open with his nose until he can see out of them the way he would like to. This happens all the time--probably because there are many interesting things to see outside. This also leaves some interesting nose prints on the window.

This is the bed that was here when we moved in. It's great! We've upgraded from a full to a queen, and the new amount of room is pretty fantastic. The only bad thing about the room is that the floor is incredibly uneven. I think we've finally figured out a configuration that doesn't end up with one of us rolling off the bed.

Here's the view from the door. That's the crib, and we love it. We also love Indy.

This is our bathroom, it's got a nice amount of room in it, as well as storage. Good job bathroom.

This is the shower and our robes. Sometime, I'll tell you about the gigantic spider that tried to live in Nate's robe. He got evicted.

Once you leave the bathroom, you can go down the stairs. This is a collection of hats that Nate's started. The stairs seemed like a good place for them.

Here's the base of the stairs. They're pretty easy to vacuum with our small vacuum. In fact, if I plug the vacuum in just to the left of this picture, I can vacuum the entire house in one swoop.

Hello living room. That couch turns into a bed--if you want to come and visit us, you can sleep there.

Turning just to the left of the stairs, you can see the kitchen...and laundry room.

If you turn to the left again, you'll see a sliding door that leads to this porch. This is a view we have every day.

Here's the view to the left.

And to the right. Just through those trees is our next door neighbor. Now that we don't share any walls with anyone, we can do things like vacuum at 12:00 midnight. Oh the freedom!

Here we are back in the kitchen. I bake a lot here. I'll also feed you if you come and visit. :)

Leave the kitchen, and you're back in the living room. This is another couch we have, you could sleep here too. Let's go through that door in the back left corner there.

And now we're into the guest room/future nursery. Right now it's sort of the room where we keep the extra pillows and blankets and games...and stuff. What's that red curtain in the right corner?

Well, it's a bathroom! OK, half a bathroom. They've turned a closet into a bathroom, and while it's a little funny, at least we have a bathroom downstairs--it's really nice.

Here's the other half of the bathroom...or quarter of the half bathroom?

So, let's leave that room, and bathroom. Here's the living room again--that white door, that's the front door. Let's go out of it.

This is our house, in all of it's rustic glory. Our roof is metal, which means when the branches and such fall down on it, I tend to freak out and think there's someone in our house. When I freak out, Nate has to get up and check. So far, no branches have broken in, and I've managed to stop freaking out on as regular a basis.

This is the yard to the left of our house. I hope you're not too jealous, but it really is fantastic. You're welcome to come check it out--you could even camp in our backyard and use that fire pit.

Whether you come and camp, or visit for the day, we can go and check out the rest of the property--on a mini hike. We'll start out here, and head along a little path into the forest.

After walking for about a minute, we'll come to this stream that runs down from the mountain.

This guy almost always beats everyone else to the stream. It may be his very favorite part of living here.

If you walk through the last few trees for another minute or so, you'll get to these train tracks. This is the end of our property, but the land on the other side is state land, and we're totally allowed to go and explore it. Also, there really are trains that go along these tracks. Most of the time, we just here it clack by, other times, when a conductor who used to live in this area drives by, he'll blow the whistle a little too. It's pretty awesome.

If you want to visit, room and board, as well as the local landscaping is free...you've just got to get here.

But Who Will Help Me Eat the Cupcakes?

2009-09-14T10:14:00.000-07:00

Last night, after watching Nate put together our awesome Graco Travel System, I decided that I should bake some treats. So I made These.

I have to say, I adore the way the mint cuts the richness of the cake. Not that I hate rich desserts. The mint really makes it feel light and refreshing.

The problem here, of course, is that I now have 20 cupcakes (yes, I did make 24...so?), and no one to help me eat them. Seriously, if you'd like to send help somehow, I wouldn't mind it at all.

Moving Out

2009-08-31T13:22:00.001-07:00

So, as usually happens when you drive across the country, we saw some awesome things.

Sadly, we didn't get pictures of all the awesome things we saw, but I jotted down a few notes so I wouldn't forget.

Sunday night in Kansas there was a pretty awesome thunder and lightening storm. Unfortunately, this was also the night that we found out that Indiana is afraid of thunder storms. He was up for quite a bit of the night whining and trembling, and he wouldn't calm down unless one of us was petting him and he was close to us. It was really sad, and it gave us a teeny tiny little taste of our future in a few months. Hopefully our daughter won't be so scared of thunder!

Monday, in Kansas, we were ambushed by 6-7 Direct TV vans. Seriously, all on the interstate at the same exit. My rearview mirror suddenly fills with these vans. I hope that there was some kind of conference or something, because otherwise I don't know why they'd all be in the exact same place at the same time.

Also driving through Kansas, we happened upon a sign that forced us to pull off at the next exit. We resisted the 5 legged cow, and the XXXXXL dress shop, but we just couldn't ignore the Czech Capitol of Kansas. Really...could you? We went in, we stopped at a grocery store to use the bathroom, and went to a gift shop where we got some czech pastries, and a German sandwhich, and we also went to the czech museum. Unfortunately, the woman who took us through the museum also wanted to tell us all about it, and so we were there for about an hour and a half. There was some cool stuff there, but it was just a loooong time to go through a few rooms. Overall though, it was a pretty great stop.

This was Indiana for all the days we drove. Poor guy. He had more room than a kennel, and we made sure to let him out and walk around, but he sure was glad when the whole trip was over. Probably more glad than the rest of us!

Driving through Missouri, We ran into a place run by someone named Rose. She has a series of stores all in a row that include the following: gifts, wireless, cigarettes, and cremation. Yes, you can get a cell phone contract, cigaretts, and cremated all within the same city block. And the basic cremation package is only $495!

Also, we stayed in pretty good hotels all the way across...except for the Knights Inn around Columbus OH. They gave us a smoking room, even though we asked for non-smoking. The whole place was just really seedy, and I don't really want to know what kind of deals were taking place around the back lot. We didn't even shower in the morning because the bathroom smelled so badly of smoke. We just left, got breakfast at Wal-Mart (apparently, the hotel had none, or it was over super early.)

I drove through traffic at rush hour in a couple of cities...which was a bit stressful since I was unfamiliar with said cities, and involved a lot of merging and lane changes. Honestly, it wasn't really any busier than driving on the interstate in Utah County though, and most of our drive there would be just a couple of cars for miles. Overall, the drive was great--the weather was basically partially cloudy the whole time, which we've decided is the best possible weather for traveling. We hit a little rain and construction when we crossed over into Pennsylvania, but other than that, it was great, in spite of the ease of it all, we sure were glad when we didn't have to be squished into our car with all our stuff any longer.

The Vacation Part of Moving

2009-08-27T06:16:00.000-07:00

While much of the moving process was mostly long and not terribly exciting, the first day we drove to Denver, and we ate here at Casa Bonita:

Here, Nate helps to demonstrate how different our heights are, since I have to crane my neck just to get my face into the picture.

This is is inside of Casa Bonita--there are waterfalls, and different rooms, and a gorilla guy that just runs around making a rucus. Apparently there are also cliff divers and such, but we had to hurry, and didn't see any of them. We did see some of a magician act--he wasn't too bad. Apparently he was voted best magician in Colorado though, so maybe we just weren't there long enough to be properly impressed by his act.

We actualyl got to eat in the theatre where he was performing, so that was nice. The space between the tables was a little bit small...or maybe I was just a little bit bigger than I recalled. :)

One of the things that you get for going are Sopapillas. I don't know that I spelled that correctly, but they're essentially fried scones. Then you can put honey on them, and jam, or whatever you like. Nate was attempting to squirt honey onto his from one of the condiment bottles on the table. Turns out the lid wasn't on that tight, and so Nate got a little more honey than he barganed for. We shared it.

After picking up Indiana, who'd spent our dinner time at the Vet getting a few vaccines, we headed down to Colorado Springs to see these guys:

Seriously, this was the best part of the move. There was a movie, and ice cream, and fabulous soup, and homemade bread, and good company, and homemade apple cobbler. Laurie, your food was the best we had the whole trip. It was so great to see you guys.

On top of their fine hospitatlity, they even took us to see The Garden of the Gods. This is an awesome place that's totoally free to get into because of a donation made by a family. People were rock climbing, and just wandering around. It was really cool.

This is supposed to be two camels kissing--way up there at the very top of the picture, where the tiny little hole is.

Indiana got to come too--and he was so glad to be out of his tiny little space in the car.

Here's the only picture we got of all of us the whole trip. Thanks Uncle Brent!

Sadly, we had to leave Colorado Springs and get on our way. It was such a nice break though--the perfect way to start out our long drive was with a stop and some fun along the way. Thanks again, Colorado Elisons!

Pre-PA Weeks

2009-08-25T11:02:00.000-07:00

The weeks leading up to us getting here were so wonderfully busy. It was great to get to see so many friends and family. A few things that happened:

1. Nate had a birthday, and we had a party for him. A Guitar Hero Championship was involved, and Karly beat out the entire bracket, without a single loss. Don't mess with that girl on Miss Murder.

2. We had an ultrasound, and we found out that we're having a little girl. I'd had a dream it was a little boy, and so had Nate. Originally, we were planning on being surprised...but then I went and got curious about a week before. However, since I had been expecting a little boy, finding out that it was a girl was quite surprising. I can only imagine how convinced I would have been that it was a boy by the time she was born. Regardless of expecting it to be a boy, there was no dissapointment. Nate's actually a little relieved. He's got 4

younger sisters, and no brothers. He's at least got some experiences with baby girls. We're really excited. Our due date is right on, so as long as all keeps going well, we'll have a daughter at the end of December. Yay!

3. In conjunction with baby stuff, I got a surprise baby shower Tuesday Night. We had the ultrasound at 4:00, and then around 7 we were going over to Uncle Doug and Aunt Lori's house to play games and hang out. When we got there, I kind of expected the whole family to come, and sort of have a "yay Nate for graduating good luck in PA!" type party. We got in, and everyone yelled "Suprise!" I just picked up the dog and started to walk over to where all the people were. Soon, however, I realized that some of the people in the group were not, in fact, family. There was Krista--a good friend from BYU...and a couple of others.

Then I went from not surprised to really confused, especially as I realized that there weren't any men there either. I was told to go and sit in the chair in the corner, and there were gifts on the hearth of the fireplace, and...huh? Then, Nate said, "Bye Nicole." I was still confused. Then I noticed the sign on the fireplace mantle that said, "Baby Shower." Finally, it dawned on me what was going on. I'm sure a lot of people there were disapointed that I didn't act more surprised, but I can't tell you how surprised I was. I had absolutely no idea whatsoever what was going on, which is why I sat there with a dumb look on my face for the first 10 minutes of the party. I really was so touched and surprised though. The things that we got from

everyone are adorable, and I'm really excited to get to dress up our little girl in them, or to snuggle her in them, or even to burp her with them. To everyone who was there--Thanks a million. You're really sweet.

4. Wednesday we went to see the Dark Knight at the Scera with friends and some family...who are also friends. It was good times.

5. Nate Commenced on Thursday Afternoon. He looked really handsome in his graduation gear--see?

Thursday Night we played some games and ate cookies with Kip and Diana and Kurth and Kathi and Co. It was really fun, and the cookies were quite tasty.

6. Friday Morning Nate Convocated. He was the first one to walk across the stage! The pictures below are half from Thursday afternoon, and half from Friday while Nate was walking. I don't know why, but I don't have pictures from friday after Nate walked--I'll have to get some from others. Ashley and Lance, and Grandma and Grandpa Elison, Savannah, and Grandpa Murray, and Mom and Dad Murray as well as Karly, Abby, Natalie, and Mariel were all there to watch Nate get his diploma holder. Mom and Dad Frost missed the ceremony because Mom Frost was still recovering from surgery the day before. Jared, Emily, and Jordan weren't there because they were in Missouri, and Ryan is on his mission. Thankfully, everyone who was in the state was able to come to the real celebration that night--dinner at Yamato's, which was good...even though our server seemed quite stressed over the number of people in our party. I guess 18 is a lot, but Nate's got a lot of people who love him! :)

Saturday morning is when we took off on our move. I'll have to post more about that later. We're so grateful to have such wonderful families that have been so supportive and caring. We look forward to our new adventure even though we miss you. We'll look forward even more to visiting you all soon-ish.

Getting Ready...

2009-08-06T09:40:00.000-07:00

So, tons of our stuff has sold--thanks guys. Now, we're left with a slightly cluttery mess of a house, and a Nicole who doesn't want to do anything about it.

Too bad we're moving in a week.

Seriously? A week? I can't handle it.

As of tomorrow, me and baby Murray are 20 weeks along. That equals half way. Time has gone so fast! Apart from no longer being able to comfortably lay on my stomach, having a little trouble raising myself from the floor of our nearly seatless apartment and wondering if 70% of my wardrobe will ever fit again, things are pretty much normal. For those of you who are interested, here's a picture.

Yesterday--so about 19.5 weeks.

Anyway, we've been spending a lot of time with family, which has been wonderful. There have been family pictures, dinners, lunches...a lot of food things. We've also just hung out and watched movies, TV, whatever. Times like that, I'm going to miss a lot when we're gone. I just can't believe that we'll be parents, and living in PA in a few months. That's no time! It's also really exciting. I'm excited not to be living in and out of boxes, and to get to settle in, and for Nate to start school, and to start some of our own Sunday Dinner traditions. It's going to be great. It'll also be fun to explore the new place, and to meet new people. Now, we just have to drive there...

Shameless Plug

2009-07-12T10:47:00.001-07:00

We're moving, and selling all of our stuff. But, rather than post it here, you can check it out at our new blog. If you want something--buy it...or don't. We don't judge. Also, all prices are negotiable. If it's a reasonable offer--we'll probably take it.

Murray Online Garage Sale

Ask about the "Friends and Family" discount!

PS: If you see something on the blog that you gave us, and we're selling it, please don't be offended. We really do love our stuff, we just don't have room for it in our car. Thank you.

The "Less" Beautiful People

2009-06-22T19:04:00.000-07:00

With Nate working later hours lately, I've been watching a bit of television.

OK, so I nap through it for a couple of hours, and often wake up during "The Doctors" or "M*A*S*H" or "The People's Court." This can be really disorienting.

Anyway. In watching various shows, I've found that I like shows better--or at least that I find myself scoffing less when the people who are on them are the less-perfect looking people. Not that I want to watch a show full of really ugly and unfortunate looking people, but when people just look normal, it's easier to watch them for me.

For example, I'm currently watching "Lie to Me." This guy is the main character:

Now, mind you, the rest of the cast is really nice-looking, but they're not so over the top that I couldn't find people like them. The main guy...not hot. In fact, he looks a little bit sketchy, which I think works for his character.

I've noticed that the less likely I am to find a group of normal people who look remotely like the characters, the less likely I am to suspend disbelief and get into the show. Maybe I'm too skeptical, but I have a hard time believing that the entire law enforcement department of California, Florida, or Las Vegas are flawless people with great hair, make-up and wardrobes.

And if they are, and they do, sign me up. I could use a little of that as of late.

Other Updates

2009-06-11T19:25:00.000-07:00

I think my favorite thing about having exciting news to share is the chance to briefly reconnect with people who I haven't talked to in a long time.

However, doing so has made me realize that we've failed to let some people know what's going on in our lives.

The biggest thing (besides impending parenthood), is that Nate accepted Penn State's offer. We're moving there in August, and it's going to be awesome. If you're ever in Pennsylvania--we should be friends.

In preparation for this, I started to do some research into moving costs. Turns out that the cost to rent a moving truck to Pennsylvania from Utah is kind of pricey--like, between the moving truck, gas, and tow dolly for the car, it's going to cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $2100.

Friends, I don't think we really have $2100 worth of stuff. Really, most everything we have has been given to us, or gotten second-hand. It's been wonderful, and we feel so blessed to have received so many nice things. But, due to the expense, we're basically planning on selling everything we can, and donating anything we can't. And then we'll load up the things we're keeping and drive off into the sunset.

It's going to be a great adventure.

Merry Christmas!

2009-06-10T11:55:00.000-07:00

To all of you who haven't heard the news yet, and who I just can't find the numbers for, I'm sorry. I promise it wasn't personal.

The great news is: I'm pregnant! We're about 11.5 weeks along right now, and yesterday we got to see the tiny little baby with it's nice 160 bpm heart rate.

Also, we're due on Christmas, which is fantastic. I don't think I could ask for a better present.

As far as how things are going--they're great! The baby looks good, and it's got a great heart beat, so we should be fine.

I've been good too--tired, and nauseous, but not actually sick. Thank goodness. Being a teacher, it would have been more than a little awkward for me to excuse myself in the middle of class to vomit. My pants are a bit tight at the moment, but I guess that just means I can do a little shopping!

All-in-all, we're thrilled. I'm a little nervous--especially as the reality of it all hits me a little harder, but still so excited. Thanks to everyone and their well-wishes so far. We're really looking forward to it!

Dear Universe:

2009-06-03T16:54:00.000-07:00

Today I made meatloaf.

No, seriously, it's cooking in the oven right now. Whoda thunk it?

Also, we have two dogs this week. If you could get the second one to stop waking up at 3:00 in the morning and have her not throw up on our bed at 5:00 am, it'd be really nice. I know, I know--they're great during the day, they play together, etc. but the lack of sleep is really starting to cramp Nate and my style.

Thanks.

-Nicole Murray

It's the End of the Year as We Know It.

2009-05-30T13:21:00.001-07:00

Well, at least if you're in school/teaching school.

Friday was my last day as a teacher at Lone Peak. As the day started out, I was feeling just content. As I finished cleaning out my classroom and getting the files I wanted off the computer, I just felt like I had done a pretty good job of teaching, but I was ready to head out on to some other adventure.

Then, when it actually came time to walk out of the school forever, I felt like crying.

Not because I didn't do a good job, and I was suddenly overwhelmed with regrets, but because I wasn't going to be a physics teacher anymore. I mean, I might get a job in Pennsylvania, but there might not be a job for me to get. Leaving something that I'd become comfortable with for some great unknown suddenly was quite overwhelming, and a little bit sad.

Today, I'm not so sad. I'm proud of myself for actually enjoying my first year of teaching. All I heard in college was how awful the first year is, and how you just have to get through it. I think I did better than just surviving it (at least most days :).

Also, on the way home, I remembered that I'm teaching summer school this summer. That starts on Monday. I guess I just don't have time to really miss it yet. Maybe I'll feel sad again in the fall without my bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils. Maybe I'll be too excited about our move to Pennsylvania to be really sad about it. I guess if I really feel sad, I can always go out and buy some school supplies to console myself. I sure do love those pencils and post-it notes.

A Wii and Wii Fit for $42.87?

2009-05-18T21:27:00.001-07:00

Heck Yes.

Back a couple of months ago, I was reading this post, and I decided to give it a try. I opened up the site, I read the terms and conditions, and happily started on my offers for various levels. We ended up spending a total of $42.87 on everything, and we got some really great stuff in the process. I got a necklace, some make-up, we tried (and loved) netflix. All-in-all, these were great offers, and it all worked out. It only took a couple of weeks for everything to get approved (2.5 weeks tops). And then we mailed off our letter. Exactly 6 weeks after we e-mailed out letter, the wii and wii fit arrived at our door. Technically we didn't pay any money for the wii or wii fit, and we didn't pay for the shipping. All the money we spent went towards different offers--membership fees and shipping etc.

The Wii and Wii Fit

Further Proof...Since stock photos don't come with our dog.

The best part of this is the fact that no one else has to do anything in order for you to get the prize. You don't have to spam your friends, or scam anyone. It's just you, the offers, and the prize. I won't get anything if you decide to do it, and you don't have to get anyone else to do anything either. It's equal opportunity!

If you plan to do this--just be sure you're organized about it, and that you have all your information in one place. I just made an Excel sheet that worked really great for me. Good luck!

Mother's Day

2009-05-10T10:03:00.000-07:00

Nate and I are both blessed to have fantastic mothers. Also, we have wonderful Fathers...but their day isn't until June.

In a talk from President Monson, quoting President Benson, he said,

"Thinking of the example of his own mother and that of his beloved and faithful wife, Flora, President Benson has offered ten specific suggestions for mothers as they guide their precious children:

1. Take time to always be at the crossroads in the lives of your children, whether they be six or sixteen.

2. Take time to be a real friend to your children.

3. Take time to read to your children. Remember what the poet wrote:

You may have tangible wealth untold;
Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.
Richer than I you can never be—
I had a mother who read to me.

4. Take time to pray with your children.

5. Take time to have a meaningful weekly home evening. Make this one of your great family traditions.

6. Take time to be together at mealtimes as often as possible.

7. Take time daily to read the scriptures together as a family.

8. Take time to do things together as a family.

9. Take time to teach your children.

10. Take time to truly love your children. A mother’s unqualified love approaches Christlike love."

Thomas S. Monson, “Memories of Yesterday, Counsel for Today,” Ensign, May 1992, 4

We've been so blessed to have moms who checked off this entire list, with each one of us, and created some pretty great memories in the process. We also turned out pretty good, if we do say so ourselves. :)

Thank you so much Moms--we can't tell you how much your sacrifice, love, and continued support mean to our past, and future successes. We love you both!

Spring...sorta.

2009-04-08T17:58:00.000-07:00

So, it's officially spring in Utah, although this week is the first one that's really starting to look like it. I say this not because the weather is awesome, but because it's not awesome, but at least it's not snowing.

Life at the Murray house has been pretty great lately. Nate got accepted to one grad school, with a great offer, and we're just waiting to see what happens with the other two. He'll be flying out to visit them the week after next.

Speaking of next week, have I mentioned that it's spring break? Well, next week is spring break, and I'm ridiculously excited about it. Sleeping in! Cleaning house! Possible Fishing! No school!

It's going to be great.

With Nate being accepted to grad school, I turned in my official resignation to Lone Peak. This way, they can hire teachers before all of the physics teachers are gone. Tendering my resignation brought mixed feelings. On the one hand, I'm really excited about whatever it is that the future holds for us. Nate in grad school, me, possibly teaching in some other school district, in another state. Moving sometime in August, finding an apartment before then, etc.

All of this brings a total mix of emotions. I'm really excited on one hand, and really nervous on the other. There's so much uncertainty in our future when it comes to specifics, it can get a little overwhelming.

Thankfully, there are a lot of things that aren't changing. Those are the things that I like to stick to in times like the present--you know, the times that make you wish you could magically jump into the future and have all the transitioning done. I'm glad that I'm married to Nate, and that we'll be together wherever we end up. I'm glad we've got Indiana, and that we're doing well with budgeting, and working with coupons (more on that later). I'm glad we know who we are, and we're both confident that our future will work out just fine.

I'm just sometimes impatient for the "just fine" part.

So much for that...

2009-03-08T20:43:00.000-07:00

OK, the Valentines day post probably won't be happening any time soon--it was really fun, we went to Vegas, we saw Eric and Jenn, Sage, Savannah, Haven, and Ryder. They're fantastic, and it was really fun.

I've been thinking about time lately. Between the change in it this weekend, and the fact that we went to an activity put on by the Young Women in Nate's family's ward, it's been interesting.

At the Young Women's activity, I was thinking "Holy cow, I'm not in Young Women's anymore." Clearly, I was previously aware of this, but Relief society in a Singles ward, and in a Young Married ward feels basically the same as Young Women's--just bigger.

I've also been thinking about the fact that I have a job--like a real one. I'm a teacher. The thing that I always said I wanted to be "When I grow up." Suddenly, I'm here, and I don't think that I'm really "grown up" yet. Who knows when I'll really feel like a grown up. I guess I feel moments of adulthood, just not a general feeling of being an adult.

In Stake Conference today, Sister Bateman told us about a quote she heard from Sister Hinkley. She said, "You're all wonderful, you just don't realize it because you're so used to yourselves!" I really liked that--and I guess it goes with the whole time thing. Over time we tend to get used to lots of things in our lives. We sort of fall into a pattern, and we don't think about lots of different things that we have to appreciate. This can apply to friends, family, our spouse, anything. The same thing I think starts to happen with ourselves. We're always with ourselves, and we start to ignore the talents and abilities that we've been given.

Not that we should run around tooting our own horns, and extolling our various virtues, but I think that it might be just as important for us to recognize the blessings we've been given in the form of personality, and talents, as it is for us to be thankful for the physical blessings we've been given.

And if you're having a hard time figuring out why you're wonderful, you should ask someone. If no one else, ask me. I can tell you a thing or two about why you're fantastic.

Working on a Valentines Day Post...

2009-02-24T11:13:00.000-08:00

But, in the meantime, here's something fun.

It's my first ever give-a-way!

Here's how it works...The first five people to comment on this post will get something from me, possibly made by me. My choice--but just for you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I give!
2. What I create or give will be just for you.
3. It will be done this year (sometime, I don't know when)
4. You will have no clue what it is going to be.
5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange

The first 5 people to do so and will win a marvelous homemade gift or handpicked gift by me! Let the games begin! Oh, and I have to be able to contact you with mailing information! I promise it will be something good! Good Luck to all!

The Best Two Years...

2009-01-11T11:40:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is Nate and my 2 year anniversary. This means that we've been married for twice as long tomorrow as we were last year.

I know that everyone who's happily married thinks this, but I have the best husband on earth.

Right this minute, he's finished cleaning the dishes--the same dishes that both of us have avoided doing for about a week. This means he's cleaned about 30 forks alone.

He's also making butternut squash risotto. For Lunch, for me.

He brought me breakfast in bed this morning. Cheerios, and peanut butter and jelly toast.

He plays with me--he'll sled, he'll tickle, he plays Dr. Mario. Seriously, he's fantastic.

*Did I mention that he's ridiculously good looking, and one of the smartest people I know? He is.

He's good and patient, and kind. We have fun together, and he makes me feel safe.

Here's to a fantastic couple of years. And several more decades worth of them to come. I love you!

Christmas Break 2008

2009-01-04T11:24:00.000-08:00

Christmas Break was absolutely amazing. We got to spend a lot of time sleeping in, hanging out with each other and with family, and just enjoying everything that Christmas break should be about. We were blessed with some amazing gifts from parents, friends, and each other, and a lot of time to focus on what Christmas is really about.

Enjoy a Collage from some of our adventures. I don't know why, but we seem to have forgotten the camera when we went to my parents house. Thus we have no pictures of the fantastic times we had there with family and gifts. Perhaps a re staging is in order? Maybe I can just convince you guys to send me some pictures--Jared? Ashley? Anyone?

Seriously, Such Satire

2008-12-12T10:18:00.000-08:00

I don't know if you've heard about "Seriously, so Blessed," but you should go there. Today TAMN is having a huge gift-a-way, which is fun. More fun, however, is the satire, and how true it rings (at least some tiny part) with myself, and most of the people that I know who are recently married/hoping to get married someday/female and part of the Utah County Culture.

62% BYU Student.

2008-12-11T10:58:00.000-08:00

I found this on someone else's blog. I found it somewhat entertaining...hopefully you will too.

How BYU are you?

77 questions.

[X] You have been kissed at lease once
[_] Your first kiss was on campus
[X] You've had a boyfriend/girlfriend
[X] You lived in the dorms your freshman year
[X] You went to Homecoming or Preference
[X] You hiked the Y
[_] You've taken a social dance class
[X] You regularly attended FHE for at least a semester
[X] You've participated in Choose to Give
[X] You've been to Liberty Square for a party at least once
[X] You've driven around south of campus for at least 20 minutes trying to find a parking spot
[X] You know the cougar fight song
[X] You've crossed the crosswalk without using the flags or biked through a red light
[_] You've been to Friday Night Live
[_] You've performed or witnessed an act that made it onto Police Beat
[X] You've been on a "date" to the bell tower or duck pond
[X] You've been to the Bean Museum for FHE
[X] You've been to Divine Comedy
[X] You've been to International Cinema
[X] You are engaged
[X] You are married
[X] ...in the temple
[_] You were previously engaged/married
[_] You have kids or are expecting kids
[X] Your birth parents are still married
[X] ...in the temple
[X] You have at least three siblings
[_] You've taken a marriage prep or relations class
[X] You've taken at least one religion class that is not based on the scriptures
[X] You have slept on a couch in a restroom
[X] You have been to the BYU Creamery
[_] You have been in one of the BYU choirs
[_] You've been on a date to Fat Cats
[X] You have read Twilight
[X] ...book 2
[X] ...book 3
[X] ...book 4
[X] ...seen the movie
[_] ...more than once
[_] You've waited in line at the Bookstore for the Harry Potter or Twilight book premiere
[_] You have seen The Singles Ward or Sons of Provo
[X] You have walked out of a movie you found morally reprehensible
[X] You know where the "chastity line" is
[X] You can finish the phrase "Nothing good happens after ______"
[X] You read the Daily Universe at least 3x a week
[_] ...and it's the only newspaper you read
[X] You've personally known someone who was reported to the Honor Code Office
[_] You've participated in or watched a Mr. BYU contest
[_] You've received personal revelation that he/she is "the one" (or been told this)
[_] ...and told him/her about your revelation (or been told this)
[_] ...and then they rejected you (or rejected them)
[X] You've been to the Nickelcade
[X] You've been to Classic Skating
[_] You've ignored your parents' phone calls for at least 3 days
[_] ...and then they called the University Police
[_] You've been pulled over by the University Police
[X] You watch The Office religiously
[X] You mostly wear jeans and t-shirts or plain fitted shirts
[_] You own at least 3 things from American Eagle or Hollister
[_] Your sacrament meeting is a fashion show/scam session
[X] You've been on a date to the Provo River

You've kissed in a...
[X] ...campus parking lot
[X] ...Provo Canyon or Squaw Peak
[X] ...on temple grounds
[X] ...on a couch as soon as your roommates left the room
[_] You think UVU is not a real university
[_] You hate U of U with a passion

FOR GIRLS (don't answer if you're a guy)
[X] You own knee-length shorts
[X] You regularly wear camisoles/undershirts for modesty reasons
[_] You are a MFHD, RMYL, Elementary Education, or Exercise Science Major
[_] Your major crush ended up dating a MFHD, RMYL, Elementary Education, or Exercise Science major
[_] You have had at least one roommate who is in hair or dental school
[X] You own The Italian Job or The Princess Bride
[X] You wear makeup at least 3x a week
[X] You do something with your hair (other than brush it/ponytail) at least 3x a week
[_] You went or plan on going on a mission
[_] ...because you couldn't get married

FOR GUYS (don't answer if you're a girl)
[_] You shave every (or almost every) morning
[_] You know when your hair is "too long"
[_] You know what the "divide by 2 and add 7" dating rule is
[_] ...and you follow it
[_] You've dated freshmen girls as a RM
[_] ...when you already knew better
[_] You've used the phrase "On my mission..." to a girl
[_] At least 3 girls have baked cookies or meals for you
[_] You went or plan on going on a mission
[_] ...because you wanted to get married

TOTAL: 48

A: 68-77
B: 60-67
C: 53-66
D: 45-52
F: 44 or below

Yes! I'm 62% Stereotype! I thought perhaps that waiting for a missionary, going to a Divine Comedy Show, and only ever kissing my husband would have pushed me over the top.

The Sweet Life

2008-12-05T10:50:00.000-08:00

Last night, Nate and I had some amazing food. I like my google reader, and in the recommended feeds, it linked me to a woman from our old ward's blog that had recipes on it. From there, I stole this recipe.

We made our own sweet pulled pork, and then we ate it with black beans and corn on homemade spinach tortillas. It was really, really, really good.

Here's the recipe:

Sweet Pulled Pork

For the Pork, buy yourself a picnic roast (also called the butt roast...even though it apparently comes from the shoulder). Place non-frozen roast in a crockpot. Add 1 cup of brown sugar and 1 cup of salsa to the mix. Cook on low for 8-10 hours.

After you've cooked it, then pull the roast out, and pull it--just use forks and make it look shredded. Then put it back in the crockpot with the juices. Let it warm while you make

Spinach Tortillas
Pull the frozen chopped spinach out of your freezer that you thought you'd only use in casseroles. put 2 cups of it in a bowl and microwave it for about 2 minutes and 30 seconds.

While the Spinach is being nuked, mix 3 cups of flour, 1/2 tsp baking soda, and 1/2 tsp salt with about 4 Tbs of olive oil. Mix until the oil is all mixed in and it looks a little like kind of crumby flour. If you grab a handful of it, it should stick together for a second before falling back into the bowl.

Take the spinach out of the microwave and stick it into a food processor/blender/something else to make it about the consistency of baby food. Ignore the smell...it's not that great.

Once it's liquid-y, dump the spinach into the flour mixture. Start kneading it with your hands. Be grateful you washed your hands first...then realize you wish you'd taken off your wedding ring first. Take off your wedding ring, then continue kneading the dough.

Split the dough into 8 balls. Roll out really thin...like...really, really thin. Cook in a frying pan with no oil for about 20 seconds each side. Stack the new tortillas underneath the old ones--this helps them to be softened after cooking.

In other non-food news, life is really good right now. We have a Christmas Tree, and stockings, and lights...it's lovely. We also only have a little bit before the end of the semester, Christmas, and New Years. For the most part, I'm so excited. I'm also a little bit sad though, because as soon as these things happen...they're over for a whole year. I plan to make the most of the holiday season. Pictures, and more food to follow.

Nic and Nat

2008-11-30T20:48:00.001-08:00

The first picture here was taken at Greg and Tess' wedding in May.

The second is at Thanksgiving--on Thursday.

Apparently, Natalie and I like to take the exact same picture...and so does Karly.

Thanksgiving was wonderful, in case you were wondering. Hope yours was too.

Also, Merry Christmas!

Easy Quiche

2008-11-24T16:08:00.000-08:00

I'm sure when you read that title, you though, "What, quiche...easy? Not possible." It is though! I've stumbled upon a quiche recipe that is really easy to prepare. You can make the whole thing in about an hour.

Taco Quiche

First, you take four flour tortillas and line your pie pan with them. If you're fancy enough to have a quiche pan, then you can use that instead.

Next, you cook some hamburger with an onion in a pan. Season the meat however you like. Then add in whatever else you want to--I added in some chopped spinach.

Take the meat mixture, drained of any fat and moisture, and put it in your tortilla lined pan. Then sprinkle your favorite kind of cheese on top.

in a separate bowl, beat 4 eggs with one cup of sour cream (I used plain yogurt instead), then pour the mixture on top of your meat. Put in the oven at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.

We haven't eaten it yet...it's in the oven. I'll let you know how it goes.

Be Crafty--for Free! Also, Other Promotions...

2008-11-14T10:47:00.001-08:00

Hello Friends.

I just got word about some fellow on Oprah who is trying to help people to declutter etc. etc. As a result, snapfish is giving people coupons for free photo books. These are bound, and printed, and just lovely. And also, FREE!

The only catch is you have to redeem your coupon before midnight tonight, and you have to finish the book by Sunday at midnight. It seems a fairly worthwhile endeavor though. Click here for more information.

Also, through random recent connections, I've been the recipient of a coupon for 50% off from Chaco. Chaco makes the fantastic shoes at the top of our blog. The coupon is good for one order, and has to be used by the end of December. If you're interested in going in on an order with us, send me an e-mail (kobylka@gmail.com) and we can work something out. I'm hoping to send the order off before Christmas, so let me know by the beginning of December, if you're interested. 50% off for Chacos is a really, really great deal, in case you didn't know.

If you want to buy me these lovely shoes for Christmas with the 50% off coupon, I'd be ok with that too.

In other news, nothing much is new. Life is great at the Murray household. Nate and I have started exercising regularly at the rec center in Orem. I really like that place. There's basically zero pressure, because everyone there is just trying to be fit, and not trying to impress anyone.

Happy Thanksgiving Season!

Accent?

2008-10-16T10:30:00.000-07:00

I just took the American accent test on Facebook, and it told me that I have a Northern Accent, specifically New York, New England, and the Great Lakes area.

How did this happen? Out of all the regions in the United States, that's just about the only area I haven't lived. I have, however, always had a strange desire to live in Maine...maybe that's why I talk as I do.

In other news, this Thursday and Friday is UEA here...bless it. Getting to sleep in this morning was just what the doctor ordered. It's also fall, and beautiful. Hope you're enjoying things wherever you are.

And Suddenly, it's October.

2008-10-10T11:16:00.000-07:00

I can't believe the change that's come over Utah. It went from being ridiculously hot, to everything being just...crisp. The other day, I was talking to Nate and I told him that fall is one of my favorite seasons because everything is crispy...like the leaves. I have since realized that crisp is probably a better description. Still, I love it. I can wear sweaters, and jeans, and not want to rip my clothing off in public places because of the excessive temperatures. This is a good thing, especially when you are employed by the public school system.

Speaking of employment, for the most part, I really do like it. Overall, I've got great students, and the subject matter is really enjoyable. I like coming to work and feeling smart, and then helping other people feel smart once they get it too. I think Physics makes people smarter...if it doesn't melt their brains first.

In other news, exactly 5 years ago, Nate and I went on our first date to one of BYU's Homecoming dances. We were dressed up fancy, we were dancing the night away, and I went from thinking he was pretty cool to wondering about whether I was OK with breaking with my previous desire to only kiss the man I married. Guess I ended up solving both issues by both kissing him 2 weeks later, and then my marrying him about 3 years later. Happy 5 years of close association Nate, I still think we're pretty cool.

Two Weeks in...

2008-08-29T13:23:00.000-07:00

I've survived! I have officially made it a whole two weeks into my teaching experience. Honestly, it's been pretty fun. I'm fairly sure I'm doing something I won't mind continuing for awhile as a career. I don't yet think that teaching is the worst thing I could have ever chosen to do, and I don't suspect that I will anytime soon.

Some great things:

First, teaching physics has been just about my favorite thing about teaching. You know why I like it? Because I can see them thinking. I can empathize with the process they're going through to comprehend the same things, and I can see the look of understanding on their faces when the concept finally dawns on them. The last thing is definitely the most fun. I love when someone says, "Oh! I get it!" Especially after I've been working with them for a bit before it happens. Then, I love seeing them explaining it to their friends, and seeing them get it. It's like a whole bunch of lights being turned on in a sequence.

After physics, Astronomy is probably my favorite thing to teach. The class is fun, but they still work, and the subject is really interesting, so I don't mind studying it to teach it later. The textbook defines astronomy as the study of the Universe. It defines Universe as "The entirety of matter, space, energy, and time." Occasionally I stop and tell some side story that has little to do with what we're actually studying at the time, but I always relate it back to the fact that Astronomy is the study of...well...EVERYTHING. It's nice that it's low-key, and there aren't any end of year tests to worry about.

Meteorology is a bit of a challenge...mostly because I don't really enjoy knowing everything about it. The weather is something that I really like to know about...insofar as it will effect my life. The fact that I don't love the subject makes it slightly more difficult for me to be as into it. I need to work on it, and make class more entertaining for myself as well as the students. Hopefully, that'll work out.

Overall, it's been great. I'm so tired when I get home at night, but Nate's been fantastic. He cooks! He cleans! He gives me back massages! He's patient with me even when I fall asleep while he's talking to me. I got me a good man, I tell you what.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho...

2008-08-17T13:39:00.000-07:00

It's off to work I go!

Tomorrow is my first official day of teaching Physics, and the next day, I teach Physics, Meteorology, and Astronomy. These weeks in Provo have been pretty full of moving in, getting settled, and getting ready for a school year. Also, Nate had a birthday in there, which was fun, and we've even taken some pictures of the process.

As soon as I manage to find our silly photo card transfer cable, you can see the journey outlined. Until then...you can't. You can, however, watch this funny song. Please enjoy.

So. Funny.

2008-07-31T21:20:00.000-07:00

I've been hearing a lot about various and sundry midnight release parties for Breaking Dawn lately. At the moment, I'm not planning on attending any of them, but I am hoping to get the book fairly soon thereafter. If any of you are planning on going to one...well...let me know.

If I were going to a midnight release party, I think I would have to go to the BYU Bookstore's. Not only are they doing a book release party, but they're also doing a blood drive.

Yes, a blood drive, for a vampire novel. I'm still laughing about it now. Genius.

Pioneer Day Weekend

2008-07-28T10:39:00.000-07:00

This Pioneer Day weekend, Nate and I decided to go and see the Golden Spike Museum at Promontory Summit, and then we went to see the Spiral Jetty.
When we went, it was totally dry--no water at all around it, just hard, dry, shiny salt.
This was a stick that was entirely crusted with salt. Also, the Salt from the Salt lake is really, really salty. Much more so than just table salt.
Can you see the sparkles? It looks a lot like snow, except that it was really hard, and it was WAY too hot outside for there to be any snow.
This is a place where the salt has formed crystals on the rocks of the Spiral Jetty. In case you don't know what the Spiral Jetty is, you should go here.
This was a large metal ball. The salt has totally eroded and rusted it, and now you can break off parts of it easily if you tried. We didn't. It's pretty amazing to see what nature can do to stuff that's dumped in her.
This is the presentation of the driving of the Golden Spike.
And also, the reinactors and the engine replicas--they really run, and they're pretty, which is a funny thing to say about a massive machine, but it's true.
Nate got this action picture of them driving the last spike, which was actually a plain Iron spike. The golden spike was never actually driven.
This is Nate and I with the reinactors, each holding one of the Golden Spikes...ok, so they're replicas, but they really do have gold in them.
Here's one of our Chacos on the sand. We're not quite sure why it's so blue, but it's kind of cool.

Hope you all had some good Pioneer Day experiences. We're sure glad they came to Utah!

More Indiana News

2008-07-28T10:15:00.000-07:00

On Sunday night, we took a little trip to the Vet's office, because Indiana had run under a trampoline too close to a pole and gotten his skin caught on a bolt that was poking out underneath it.
Seeing that it was a bad cut, we decided he would probably need some stitches. Our neighbor (who's house we were at) called the vet. Soon after that, Indiana was temporarily bandaged until the vet could meet us over there.
This is me, holding our poor bandaged puppy. I'm making this face because I'm sad for him--especially since he's already been to the vet one this week for surgery.
This is what Indiana's cut looked like after it was all stitched up. He got 4 stitches, and the end result looks kind of like a phoenix. We're certain he will rise again and play with his friend.
But, for now, he needs to rest a little. The poor puppy also has to grow fur back in two places where he's been shaved recently.
We don't want to focus on that though, let's enjoy some pictures of Indiana and Stormy playing for now, and hope that they can play again before we move on Friday.
Also, in case you don't know--getting two small puppies to sit still long enough to get a picture taken is nearly impossible.

Confession: While we were there helping/watching the vet take care of Indiana, I actually had to leave the room and go outside for a second because I felt lightheaded and queasy. This is not my normal response to situations like this. I can give blood and help clean up a cut or a scrape without too much difficulty. While the vet was cleaning out Indiana's cut and shaving him around it and everything else, I just couldn't take it. Thankfully Nate, who usually has more difficulty with this kind of thing than I do, managed to hold it all together the whole time. I guess it's a good thing that I didn't become a pediatrician or a dentist like I thought I wanted to for awhile. I really can't handle the thought that I'm helping to cause people physical pain...even if it fixes them in the long run.

Indiana's Getting Schooled... Updated

2008-07-22T08:22:00.000-07:00

I dropped Indiana off at the Vet's today to get fixed before we move. We decided to do it now since he doesn't have any annoying male puppy behaviors, and we'd like to keep him that way, because he's so great right now.

It was so sad to leave him at the vet's though. As soon as we walked into the door he turned as if he wanted to head back out of it. Then we went all the way back to the kennel room where he has to wait until it's his surgery time. He was really scared to go into the kennel, and once he was in he let out the most pathetic whine...I almost cried right there in the vet's office. They told me I could come and pick him up this afternoon. I stopped by a local butchers, and bought a couple of bags of dog bones on the way home. Once I got home, I called Nate, and then cried.

I had no idea I was THIS attached to him. I sure hope they do a good job.

Update: Indiana is doing fine, he's eating, he's playing (carefully) and he's happy to see us. Phew.

Because I like Comments...

2008-07-21T05:50:00.000-07:00

I put off doing this for a bit...because I don't want to look like I'm following the blogger crowd, and I don't want to look desperate for comments. I'm feeling nostalgic though, and would rather look a little desperate in the hopes of gathering some good memories.

So...yeah. Leave a comment with a memory, and I promise to reciprocate. It'll be like a reunion...only we're not actually together. I guess it's more like we're 80 and making phone calls to each other where every sentence starts with, "remember that one time..."

Anyway, I'd like to hear from you. Leave a message at the beep.

Beeep.

A Day at the Beach

2008-07-20T13:43:00.001-07:00

We've only got two more weekends here in Tremonton, and so we decided to take advantage of some of the local attractions. We headed to Willard Bay, which is an offshoot of the Great Salt Lake, except it's freshwater. We took Indiana along to see how he'd like swimming and the beach. He was a little skeptical at first, but he got right in after sniffing around a bit.

Indiana really liked rolling around in the sand

Me and Indiana, chillin' on the Beach

Nate and Indiana, getting some sun

After swimming around, Indiana needed a drink

This picture took some effort. Indiana hasn't learned any "look at the camera" command, and we, apparently, can't handle it either.

It was a lot of fun. If you're ever in the area, I would highly recommend it. Also, Indiana can swim, and well. Here's a video...in case you wanted to see it in action.

Book Post, I am a Nerd

2008-07-17T21:10:00.000-07:00

I got tagged. I'm sad that I'm doing it now, only because it reveals what a nerd I've been today. Wendy Tagged me.

1. Pick up the nearest book. 2. Open to page 123 3. Find the fifth sentence. 4. Post the next three sentences. 5. Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged you

Book: The Atmosphere, Seventh Edition

A single hailstone may contain several ice layers consisting of alternating zones of clear and milky ice. The milky layers are produced by the rapid freezing of small supercooled water droplets, which trap tiny air bubbles in the ice. By contrast, the clear ice is produced when larger droplets collide with the growing stone.

Now you've all learned about hailstones...I hope you feel enlightened.

Man, I was so tempted to pretend that some other book was the nearest book--the Book of Mormon, Too Late the Phalarope, maybe even Eclipse...alas. I followed the rules, and now I look like a nerd.

Because I am one.

To clarify, this is one of the textbooks that I'm using for the Meteorology class I'm teaching next year.

I tag MaryIrene, Rosalee, Chase, Jennifer, and Kayla. Also, I'm not really sure who reads our blog anyway...thinking of people to put on here was more difficult than I thought.

From the Files...

2008-07-15T10:54:00.000-07:00

I was going through some of our old files, in an effort to consolidate what we have into one place, instead of having it on two computers and a removable hard drive. In the process, I found these pictures.This was after a trip to Panda Express. I got the best. fortune. ever.

Seriously, this is what came out of my cookie.

I believe that this is my impression of being so cool I don't care what you think...I don't even have to do anything to my hair I'm so cool.

...or not.

These girls, however, are that cool. These are their Tour of Italy Shirts. You'd never know they made them themselves.

This is when I started fighting with Sophie because I was so jealous of their awesome shirts. As I recall, I lost.

Somehow though, we managed to be friends, even if we couldn't center the picture..

This is the picture that we're going to put on the "be an RA!" flier sometime. Seriously, look at the kind of people you work with.

Wendy and Sophie, I miss you guys. We should play more often. Also, if you want to get me one of those Tour of Italy shirts, I wouldn't complain too much. I'm still ever so slightly jealous.

But Pretzel Day...I Like Pretzel Day.

2008-07-11T10:09:00.000-07:00

Nate and I decided to attempt to make Giant Soft Pretzels last night. Here's the recipe we used:

1/8 Cup Hot Water
2 1/4 t Instant Yeast (1 package)
1 1/3 C warm water
1/3 cup brown sugar
5 cups flour (plus some for spreading)
a little melted butter

1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees

2. In a large bowl, mix yeast and the hot water until the yeast is dissolved.

3. Add to the mixture the warm water and the brown sugar until the whole mixture is well blended.

4. Add the flour, one cup at a time to the mix. The dough may be a little dry. If this is the case, add 1/8 Cup water. While this may make the dough slightly sticky, that’s better than dry.

5. In a large pot bring 8 cups of water plus 8 Tablespoons of Baking Soda to a gentle boil

6. Knead the dough on a floured surface for just about a minute. Then, break off sections slightly bigger than a golf ball, but smaller than a racquetball of the dough and roll them into a rope about as thick as your thumb and about a foot and a half long. Twist into the pretzel shape, or whatever shape you like.

7. Place the shapes you’ve made into the boiling water for 30 seconds—they should start floating when they’ve been in there about long enough.

8. Place the shapes on a greased cookie sheet, and bake for 7-8 minutes. Once the shapes are out of the oven, immediately brush them with some of the melted butter. If you want to, you can top them with Kosher Salt, cinnamon and sugar, garlic and herb…or just eat them straight.

This is what you end up with at the end:

These were FANTASTIC! They're also really, really, ridiculously easy to make--and also very cheap. The whole process took about 40 minutes from start to finish, and we made more than just Pretzels. We also took two hot dogs and covered them with pretzel dough for pigs in a blanket. We also took some cheddar cheese and cut them into small cubes and wrapped them with pretzel dough. We cooked these exactly the same as the regular pretzels. Anyway, if you're a pretzel fan, I highly recommend that you make these, right now.

I Love This.

2008-07-10T12:02:00.000-07:00

Nate and I have decided to do a no sugar diet again. The last time we tried this was back before we got married, and it wasn't that bad. We had an end date in sight. This time, we've decided not to have any end date--we're just going to do better about sugar. This, at least right now, doesn't include things like jelly, peanut butter, natural sugars, etc. Though maybe, once we're through the jelly and peanut butter that we currently have, it will. We'll see. For now, it includes things like candy, ice cream(!), cookies, cake, etc. An occasional otter pop is allowed, kind of like a nicotine patch. Honestly, it's not too hard, it just takes a little more thinking than not. It stops me from just snacking, which is all too easy, and when I need something sweet, I do a better job of grabbing some fruit.

Anyway, as I was looking for possible sugar-free cookie recipes, I basically came upon a vegan recipe place. At the bottom of the web page, I found a link to this place. I've mentioned before that I'm not really granola, or green, or vegan, etc. Looking through this site, however, I really like them. For everything you buy, they donate food to different organizations. You can also just straight donate to feed an American family through food banks, and they don't keep any overhead. Also, all their goods are fair trade, and their prices really aren't super high, as some of these goods are wont to be.
At any rate, if you're in need of giving me a present, you're welcome to buy me this at any time.

Weekend Adventures...Part 2

2008-07-09T06:02:00.000-07:00

In which we had our camera, and simply failed to take many pictures.

First thing in the morning we headed out to the Provo Parade. There were some awesome floats and people, and music, but we just watched until the Provo missionaries came through, and then Nate wanted a picture. So we took a couple. We took Indiana with us, and towards the end this group of little girls became really interested in him. They were all trying to get his attention, and one little girl, who happened to be the littlest of the group, kept ripping up grass from the area and trying to feed it to Indiana. He happily ate what he could from them.

After the parade, we headed back to Nate's parent's house, where we got out the paper rocket launcher that I made a little while ago in a physics conference, and started launching paper rockets down the street. We also tried attaching smoke bombs to the ends of the paper rockets. It was pretty cool.

We then headed over to my parent's house for some sweet Mario Kart racing and some lunch. My parents and family then headed out to work at Stadium of Fire, while Nate and I headed back to the Murray's. I'm pretty sure that this is where we took a 2 and a half hour nap.

Yes, that's right, 2 and a half hours. Wait, no. That happened on Saturday--but it did happen.

Once back to the Murray's, there was more Mario Kart, and Nate and Abby and I went to Walmart whre I got some contacts and we got some rocket making supplies for the evening of cousins. We also got a few fireworks. And, now that I think about it...this happened on Thursday night. Regardless, there was a lot of Mario Kart this weekend.

Friday night, all of the Elison/Edwards clan came over for fireworks and food. As usual, when that group of family gathers, there were plenty of delicious things to eat. We set off fireworks galore, which was fantastic. During one session of snake lighting, Chase made the comment that the snakes were, "The Devil's Untrimmed Fingernails." This phrase was quickly adopted by other cousins present, and the snakes took on a much cooler tone to the boys who were sitting around as I lit them.

After the Elison/Edwards festivities, we went to my parent's house to light some more fireworks. Fire and family--who could ask for anything more?

Saturday morning, we got to go and see Wall-e for free. I thought it was a really interesting film. I won't go into too many things in this post, but it touched on a lot of interesting things.

Then we went to a BBQ with the same Elison/Edwards group, which was delicious. Then there was the Nap mentioned above. Then some more Mario Kart, first with the Murrays, and then with the Frosts.

Sunday we went to church with Grandpa Murray, and then we had lunch with the Murrays, and said goodbye to both families and headed back up to Tremonton. It was a great weekend, and we did a lot of things that made my Fourth of July well worth being one of my favorite holidays.

Weekend Adventures...Part 1

2008-07-07T11:25:00.000-07:00

We had a really great fourth of July weekend. The beginning of it, however...was interesting.

Sadly, we didn't have a camera, because it was located at Nate's parents house.

So...here's a makeshift representation.

Backstory: Tuesday night, Nate and I were heading to the store to browse for some building materials. We get into the Mazda, and it won't start...at all. The radio doesn't work, the air conditioning isn't functioning, and everything else is just not going so great. We call our dads, and they both tell us that the battery is probably dead. We get a jump (after attempting to pop the clutch) from our apartment maintenance man, and drive about 20 miles to the nearest walmart...which is all that's open in the way of mechanics at 5:00 in this area. They're full, but they offer to give us tools to change the battery after checking to make sure that it's dead. The battery is dead. Totally, and completely dead. So we buy a new one and head home. Life is good, the car is working, and I babble on about how glad I am that we found out before we headed down to Utah County and got stuck on the side of the road somewhere along the interstate.

This brings us to Wednesday night. Nate took off a day of work, so we decided to head down early and spend a lot of time with our families. Everything was going great. We were packed up, and started heading out around 5:00 PM, confident in our new battery and the fact that the car was working. We made sure to pray before leaving, as is our standard practice before heading out on car trips.

This is us, listening to the radio, and enjoying ourselves.

This is us enjoying our air conditioning. For a 20 year old car, this air conditioning is fantastic.

Suddenly, the radio stopped working, and so did the air conditioning. This is Nate and I looking confused. Soon after that, the car stopped being able to accelerate too. At this point, we're just south of Salt Lake, in the carpool lane, and, apart from no longer being able to go faster, out turn signals also don't work, and the gas gage drops from about half full to empty. We decide to pull over to the left side of the road.

This is the Mazda, sick, tired, and not going anywhere.

Thankfully, we had cell phones, and called our parents again. My mom, who has lots of connections, got us a tow truck who took us to Midas, who fixed the car the next morning. We waited in the car for about an hour or so for the tow truck guy, which was a bit hot. The guy with the tow truck came up from Utah County, to Salt Lake County, got the mazda on the truck really quickly, and was super friendly. It was really nice, given that the situation wasn't all that great. He also gave us a discount on the tow, which was really, really helpful. The mazda is running great now, it just needed a new alternator.

More about the rest of the 4th of July later--but for now, thanks so much to everyone who helped us with the car issue--it was really helpful, and it made a very stressful situation very bearable.

Takin' Domesticity to a Whole...'Notha...Level!

2008-07-02T12:27:00.000-07:00

In the vein of saving money, and still having some convenience, Today, I made my own bisquick mix. This one is seriously easy friends. Here's the recipe:

8 cups flour
1 1/4 cups powdered milk
1/4 cup baking powder
1 T salt
2 cups Shortening

Mix dry ingredients, then cut in shortening. Store in a cool dry place, makes 11 1/4 cups of mix.

To make drop biscuits from this mix, you just mix 2 1/4 cups mix with 2/3 cup milk and your favorite seasonings. Then you cook at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for about 30 minutes.

Also, I took some of the powdered milk mix and used a recently finished milk gallon to make more milk. We used to do this all the time when I was little. I didn't really like the taste of the dry milk by itself, but when you pour it over sugary cereal, you can't really tell the difference much. Maybe I'll use it for baking.

Also, I was planning on taking pictures of a casserole that I was making, as well as a few other things I did...but I forgot our camera at Nate's parent's house again. I didn't even notice until Mariel told me about it. Oh well. You'll just have to wait for the exciting nail polish story...which really isn't all that exciting.

That Poor Woman...And Happy Birthday!

2008-06-30T12:43:00.000-07:00

In AP European History, our teacher was completely insane. He'd rant and rave about just about any topic. One of his favorite was Sophia, sister of Peter the Great. While her life story is fairly treacherous, I would say that the ultimate part of her legacy, insofar as I know it, is this painting:

Tell me that this isn't the saddest painting that you've ever seen. Generally speaking, in pictures, they try to make you look flattering...if this is flattering...I feel such sorrow for that poor woman. Clearly, this artist was a little too realist for her own good.

Good old Coach Thomas used to randomly stick this picture up on the overhead. Then he would just chuckle to himself while the class sat in horror waiting for him to get rid of the picture.

In much more attractive news, today is Jared's Birthday!! He's a whopping 16 years old, which means that every one of the Frost's is now old enough to date...or is married. Jared is awesome. He ballroom dances--and well. He has a great sense of humor, and, somewhere he managed to pick up enough coordination to do a rip stick. He definitely didn't learn that from me. Congratulations Jared--you're awesome. Also, don't let the girls chase you too much.

Alternative Fuel

2008-06-25T14:51:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about alternatiwording ve fuels lately...especially since the price of gas has turned into an exponential function. While at the physics conference I've been at this week, we saw this movie:

I think that this is a pretty great idea. I also think that their marketing is interesting--1/10 of the state of New Mexico, is actually about 12,000 square feet. While I don't really see a huge problem with taking some of New Mexico (sorry if you're attached, I'm not), or any other desert state for that matter, their comparison is important. They don't say that they'd need an area larger than Vermont, for instance, or New Hampshire. Or that if they used the entire states of both Connecticut and Rhode Island, then they'd have enough land. Nope, they picked a state that no one really thinks about, and that no one really knows the size of (it's actually the fifth biggest state in the USA). I'm not sure if I find this sneaky...or clever.

At any rate, it sure looks sustainable. You just feed these little guys, and they make the stuff you need. What do you think?

Various and Sundry Things

2008-06-19T11:21:00.000-07:00

I was going through some pictures on our camera from this last weekend, and I found this picture of Nate, smiling a smile that I don't think I've ever seen caught on camera before. Looking at it made me realize that he looks like someone....

Oh yeah! His little cousin Gavin! Putting these two pictures side by side makes me wonder if Gavin will grow up to look like Nate. Honestly, I sure hope he's that lucky. :) I mean, he's already got some sweet dance moves. Give Gavin the looks too, and that kid's got it made.

Here's a picture I snapped yesterday. Indiana was just sitting on the couch next to Nate, and it struck me as picture-worthy. What else does a boy need but a dog and his laptop?

I found that I had a couple of bug bites on my leg last night. They're a little bit red and swollen, so Nate wanted to draw a circle around the swelling so that we could see if it spread anymore today (it didn't). Then Nate added the nose and mouth. This reminds me of when my dad used to give us Mr. Ziploc on our fingers. My dad's Mr. Ziploc was much less crazy looking though.

I saved this picture for last, because I didn't want you all to be so jealous that you stopped reading. Remember yesterday's mention of 20 pounds of red potatoes? Well, after cutting up about half the bag and filling two gallon freezer bags with french fry cut and hash brown cut potatoes, I ran out of both room and desire. So, what do do with the rest of the potatoes? Clearly, if they just sit in the bag they'll go bad, and the whole investment will be ruined (although, price wise, even getting half of the bag, 10 pounds, for $5.99 is better than 5 pounds for $3.99). Nate and I saw this tip on PBS once, and I decided that I should do it. The potatoes are now in a pair of pantyhose, which are tied off after each individual potato. To use the potatoes, you just cut a slit in the section where the potato you want is located, and then use the potato. if you cut a small enough slit, you can reuse the pantyhose potato holder again. This also works really well for Onions--Nate and I tried it with knee-highs a while back.

Please try and not be too sad that you don't have your own pantyhose potato holder--you can make it too, just get a pair of pantyhose, and some potatoes, and it'll keep them fresh for a long time, since there's plenty of air flow, as well as plenty of space between the potatoes. The ones in the top part, that are all touching, I'm planning on using first. I just didn't have enough pairs of pantyhose to make many potato holders.

Congratulations Mom!

2008-06-18T19:26:00.000-07:00

My mom just told me that she's getting the Presidential Lifetime Service Award at the end of this month. I, personally, think that this is fantastic. My mom really does do a lot of things. For one thing, she went down to Mississippi and helped with the clean up after Katrina. She's always been there to help people, and is just a great example of generosity. I know that she won't be stopping anytime soon, but it's nice that someone recognizes all she does. Congratulations, Mom--you deserve it!

Buying in Bulk...

2008-06-18T11:28:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, I think I have a disease. I enjoy shopping--all kinds of shopping. I do not, however, enjoy spending money. The combination of these two traits is a good thing, as it keeps me from going out and spending loads of money in shopping trips.

The problem really comes in that I dislike spending money so much that it's hard for me to spend money even on a good quality product. When I see some clothing that I like, that's well made, and everything, I look at the price tag, and the only thing that crosses my mind is, "But, I could get like, 3 other shirts for the same price!" Again, this isn't too bad of a thing, because it keeps me from spending inordinate amounts of money. I also get really excited when I see sales. Sure, the stuff on sale may be less quality than the stuff that's not on sale, but it's less expensive! I like to say that I'm thrifty...honestly though, I think I'm just cheap. I'm working on it, but it's not the easiest thing to fix.

In an effort to be more frugal, and not cheap, I've been learning to do some things at home to save us some money. With all the floods and everything else, and the issues with the economy, I want us to be able to have some money now, and hopefully be prepared for later. One of the best things I've learned to do is flash freezing. You take something, you put it on a cookie sheet or some other flat surface, and put it into the freezer without covering it for a bit--usually around an hour or so. Things you can do this with include fruit, vegetables, etc. I learned this trick from pioneer woman, and it has changed my kitchen life. Seriously.

Anyway, Nate and I went grocery shopping last night. We bought two items in serious bulk, because they were really good deals.
1. We bought a flat of raspberries for $9.99 Last night, we washed most all of them, let them dry, and then put them on the cookie sheets and left them in the fridge overnight. This morning, I took our now individually frozen raspberries and put them into a gallon freezer bag. I've done the same thing with balled watermelon, and it's also really good. Now we have raspberries to last us for quite awhile, and it was much cheaper than buying all the frozen bags of them...and they don't have any added sugar or anything. Mmmm. I put some of the ones we left unfrozen in my cereal this morning, and it was delicious.
2. 20 pounds of red potatoes for $5.99. OK, this was a deal I couldn't pass up, because I looked at the 5 pound bag, and it cost $3.99. When I can get 4 times as much for 2 dollars more, how can I refuse? I will be spending much of the afternoon turning many of those potatoes into french fries and cubed hash browns. Again with the flash freezing...hooray!

Anyway, I suggest you do some of the same thing. It's really not that hard, and it's really easy to use later.

Also, we got a swamp cooler yesterday, and it was pretty much like Christmas. For all who want to know, the inside of our house is no longer 80 degrees, and it's fantastic.