Adding On

WWLCD?

2010-03-09T08:06:00.000-08:00

I love this website. I wish I could make EVERY piece! I wonder why The Pottery Barn is so nervous? Is it really a crime to offer affordable design? What do you think?

PS....that isn't a typo in the title....LC stands for Le Corbusier....a famous furniture designer.

Not to smother artistic talent...

2010-01-22T11:13:00.000-08:00

but, really, let's keep it on paper. If you have a little artist like I do, you probably have some walls that look like this:

BUT, with a little toothpaste and a lot of elbow grease (especially if you have textured walls...ugh) your wall can go back to this:

Yes, I used Arm and Hammer toothpaste because, really, it's not fit for brushing your teeth. Ick

Taming shrews and Culturing children

2009-12-29T22:15:00.000-08:00

Phew, haven't done movie/book reviews for a while.

I love art. I hope my children love art too. Why not expose art to them now! The book is Children's Book of Art. I read it to Bryant. He lasted 2 minutes. Yeah, well I tried. I wonder how they chose the different pieces for this book. Well, I really liked it. Maybe it should be renamed Parents' Book of Art.

Tonight we watched Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton's Taming of the Shrew. Loved it! I have seen it before but this was the first time for Ben. I loved that the costumes and scenery were set in Shakespearean time. I loved that they didn't modernize the script. I loved Liz's big hair. I just loved it. I wonder if Liz and Rich were like that in real life (the feuding parts.) After all...they were married twice. See this, you'll love it too.

Practically a new kitchen!

2009-12-13T09:05:00.000-08:00

Ok, maybe not quite. But our new backsplash sure does wonders for our kitchen. I don't have a before picture. The backsplash was just the wall. It was hard to clean and ugly. So you can just picture something ugly and hard to clean. But here's the after!

We got the tiles online from here and we LOVE them! We're not quite done. Still have some to put up. And we have to order some more because my hubby decided to become a cabinet maker!

Yes, he made that. Now we finally have somewhere to put the mixer. He just has to put on the door and then we can paint. And I think I'm tired of the white. I was thinking maybe a creamy color to try and warm up the kitchen a little. That probably won't happen until after the Holidays. It took us a month to put up tiles and we're not even done yet. The projects never end. Good thing they're lots of fun!

Baby, it's cold outside!

2009-12-11T10:32:00.000-08:00

It's freezing here. Literally. The tube that takes the water from the condensate pump (for our furnace) outside is plugged up because the water in it has turned to ice.

Goodee.

At least give us snow if it's going to be this cold! Hope you're all staying warm...and having a Happy Holidays.

Anyway, I love the smell of Christmas trees. Ours is up but not quite all the way decorated. We've been decorating it with the boys a little at a time.

Drosophila

2009-11-14T19:02:00.000-08:00

image found here

Fruit flies. Ugh. I hope you don't have a problem with them too. Sure, we need to eat our bananas a little faster but sheesh! It doesn't take long for these fruit decomposers to make some friends. They can lay up to 20 eggs a day! No fair.

Well, if you do have a problem with them maybe you can try this homemade fly trap. Mix a cup or two of apple cider vinegar and a few squirts of dish detergent in a glass jar. Put some plastic wrap on the top and poke some holes in the top. Shake up the jar a little bit to make some fly trapping bubbles and there you have it.

Or, if your trap isn't working fast enough and the flies are REALLY getting on your nerves....you can fire up the vacuum. :)

Yum yum

2009-11-13T19:01:00.000-08:00

I LOVE these. I personally can't justify buying them in the summer, but now that it's winter, I'm totally hittin' Costco to get me some mango goodness.

Partaaaaay

2009-11-13T12:38:00.001-08:00

Today

Me: Bryant, what are you doing?

Bryant: Having a party under my bed!

Me: I see

word

2009-11-02T10:47:00.000-08:00

We went to the U2 concert in Vancouver, Canada. All I can say is AMAZING! Thanks Ben for taking me. And thanks Crystal for watching the kiddies!

Heh, you can see we were pretty high up, but I LOVED it!

Gotta love Halloween!

2009-11-02T10:32:00.001-08:00

I love Halloween. Or maybe I just love the candy. Either way, this year was fun. And we must've somehow broke the curse because no one was sick! Yay! Our Halloween festivities started out with going to a pumpkin field.

The weather was pretty nice, but we didn't go house to house. That's ok, because our ward trunk or treat had plenty of treats.

That face says it all. CANDY!!! Yum.

Baba Gha-what?

2009-10-23T20:05:00.000-07:00

Baba Ghanoush! Now why would anyone eat something called that? Because it's so delicious. And pretty easy to make. It's a dip/spread made of eggplant, tahini, olive oil and lemon juice. We made some last night and it was very good. Especially when you dip hot homemade pita bread, carrots, and sugar snap peas in it. Want the recipe? Here:

Baba Ghanoush

1 large eggplant, cut in half lengthways
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tablespoons tahini (sesame paste)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil1 clove garlic, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon sea salt (we used kosher)
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Preheat an oven broiler (we put ours on high). Place the eggplant halves, skin side up, on a baking tray. Cook the eggplant about 1 inch from the heat source for 20 minutes. Remove the eggplant and let it cool to room temperature.

Scoop out the eggplant flesh from the skin with a spoon, and place in a food processor or blender with the lemon juice, tahini, oil, garlic, salt, and pepper; process until smooth. Store in the refrigerator, covered, for up to 3 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Serve with bread and/or vegetables.

See, doesn't that sound easy? Well, it was. So go get an eggplant and try it! Now I'm not so afraid of eggplant.

Homie

2009-10-05T21:31:00.000-07:00

My little gangsta:

And yes, those shorts ARE on backwards.

Which is which

2009-10-05T21:28:00.000-07:00

Guess whose mouth belongs to who:

Yes, it's random. Just having fun with the camera :)

OH, I know!

2009-10-05T16:37:00.000-07:00

If the dollar goes kaput, we can all move to Norway!!! :)

It's just money, right?

2009-10-05T16:32:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, Ben mentioned that the dollar being replaced could happen in the next 5 years. My reaction was, "Eek!, conspiracy theorists have brainwashed my husband!" Maybe it's not as far-fetched as I thought?

Remember

2009-09-11T09:01:00.000-07:00

Took these pictures when we were in New York. It was very sobering.

This is the inside of St. Paul's church where the wounded were taken.

This is ground zero.

Leatherheads and Ireland

2009-08-06T20:45:00.000-07:00

Is there an unwritten (or written!) rule that says you have to apologize if you haven't blogged for a while? Good...moving on.

The movie I'd like to review is "Leatherheads" with George Clooney, Renee Zellweger, John Krasinski, and a few other co-stars whose faces you may or may not recognize. That should cover just about everyone in the film. I didn't see this in theaters, but I wanted to! Does that count? We saw it on tv the other night and I thought it was pretty entertaining. It's about the rough beginnings of professional football. George is an "older" player on the Duluth Bulldogs pro-football team who are...well, let's just call them "free spirits" when it comes to playing football. Rules are made up as they go or not made up at all. Too bad their fun comes to an end when Congress appoints a Commissioner of football. Before that point, they have a lot of fun that includes harassing Renee and blackmailing John. What? You want more details? Sorry, you'll have take my word for it (don't sue me Lavar!) and check it out. Be wary of language and inuendo; especially language. Who knew they swore so much back then! Speaking of back then, I really like that George does these 20-30's period films. Did you love "O Brother Where Art Thou" too?

And now for the book. Have you ever been to Ireland? Well, you should go...now. It's beautiful, breathtaking really. And if you can't just now, why, just check out Frank Delaney's book, "Ireland". It will tell you the history of Ireland only not in the boring textbook style. First off, there's a fictional story that becomes the vehicle for the fascinating Irish stories. The fictional story isn't half-bad as well. But the Irish stories are the real star in this book. Have I been vague enough yet? Well, this book seems to be very hard to review...or it's too late at night. Or both. In any case, I highly recommend it. Warnings: language (you'll understand why when you visit Ireland) and some, well, hanky panky, nothing graphic though.

hot hot hot

2009-07-29T19:18:00.000-07:00

It's 95 degrees right now...in our house...lucky us...we're leaving now and not coming back until it's at least 85 degrees.

May and June

2009-06-28T13:54:00.000-07:00

Here's what we've been up to the last two months. It's only been summer for a week and already we've done so much!

Visiting family.

Visiting New York.

Birthday boys!

Harvesting our strawberries.

Camping with our ward which included sitting by the fire,

fishing (no luck,)

throwing rocks in water,

and horse rides. (There was also a giant slip n slide but I didn't get pictures.)

Well, there you have it. It's been a blast so far. Sorry for the lack of posts. Hope all your summers are starting out as fun as ours!

What's "soup" doc?

2009-05-08T12:36:00.000-07:00

Was that a bad joke? Sorry. Well, we had soup and salad for dinner last night. We've been trying to have at least one night a week where we eat a lighter meal. The salad was just a regular iceberg lettuce salad. The soup was carrot soup! Hence the title of this post. Brilliant, I know. Well, we thought it was delicious (the soup). And it's healthy too! Anyway, here's a picture and the recipe in case you have too many carrots running around.

Carrot Soup

3 cups chicken stock
2 cups roasted, pureed carrots
1 cup yogurt
1 tablespoon peeled fresh ginger OR ground ginger to taste
1 teaspoon kosher salt
cilantro (optional garnish)

In a nice big pot, bring the chicken stock, carrots, ginger, and salt to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and let it simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the yogurt just before serving, stirring it in well.
To roast the carrots, peel and cut into equal sizes. The smaller they are, the shorter the cook time. Then put them on a pan, sprinkle with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Put them in a 350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes or until they're nice and tender and golden brown. Then to puree them, just pop them in the blender.

Well, I hope you'll try it. Then maybe you can exclaim, as Will did, "carrots, yum yum."

Sleeping Brothers

2009-05-04T21:40:00.001-07:00

Here's what I found when I went to go check on the boys tonight.

Walking at the temple

2009-05-03T20:42:00.000-07:00

Today was such a nice day so we went to the temple to walk around.

Look at that gorgeous sky! Oh, and there's two cute kids too!

A rare picture of me.

My favorite.

Bug catching

2009-05-03T20:37:00.000-07:00

Target had little nets in the dollar bins. The boys had fun catching bugs in the sun!

Bryant used his net...and his mouth to catch bugs!

Taking a break to take off shoes.

First ice cream face of the season

2009-05-01T23:57:00.000-07:00

Bowl for free!!

2009-04-27T14:08:00.000-07:00

Hey all, we went bowling as a family last Friday. Bryant still needs to learn not to just chuck the ball at the floor, but all in all, it was pretty fun. I found out that some bowling centers offer free bowling for kids through the website kidsbowlfree.com. There's also a great offer to get a bowling pass for up to 4 adults for under 24 bucks! What are you waiting for...go sign up! Oh, and sorry for the crummy pictures. I forgot my camera and had to use my camera phone.

PS...some states (like Utah) have little to no participating bowling centers. Maybe you can write to your favorite bowling center and ask if they plan on participating!

March Catchup

2009-04-13T13:14:00.000-07:00

Yikes, it's been a while. Well, instead of gabbing about what we've been up to, here's some pics.

We painted our guest room.

We had fun visitors like my college roommate, Jenny...and...

Grandma and Grandpa!

We went to lots of softball games where Ben has umpired...here's our little future umpire.

We've been trying to make little improvements around the house...Will likes to help out.

And new couches for the family room!

Well, that's about it. Hopefully I can update the blog more often, but the warm weather we're starting to get has been beckoning! Hope it's warming up wherever you are!

Budding Photographer Part II

2009-02-22T11:48:00.000-08:00

Bryant loves playing with my camera. Here are a few more shots from the eye of a toddler.

Yikes, he's exposed my messy desk!

Look at that cute little foot.

My favorite.

Sunny in Seattle

2009-02-22T11:37:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the lack of pictures, my camera cord was lost. Anyway, this past weekend was so nice! Here are some pictures of playing outside.

Will has had some serious bedhead these days.

Future football kicker!

Happy Heart Day!

2009-02-14T08:57:00.000-08:00

Hope you're having a super romantic day! If not then keep the following in mind (it's from my favorite movie: What's Up Doc!)

Eunice: I'm not looking for romance, Howard.
Howard: Oh?
Eunice: No, I'm looking for something more important than that, something stronger. As the years go by, romance fades and something else takes its place. Do you know what that is?
Howard: Senility?
Eunice: Trust!
Howard: That's what I meant.

PS...Doesn't that picture just make you gush!

Happy Friday!

2009-02-13T12:29:00.000-08:00

Wow, haven't done this in a while. I just finished reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. It's about a futuristic North America where the cruel government sends a boy and a girl from each outlying district to the Capitol where they battle to the death. Why? Well to keep the districts "in line" of course. Alright, so the reason isn't very good but the rest of the book was a good read. There were quite a few violent parts that you can see coming and therefore skip over (as I did.) And as embarrassing as this is to admit, I didn't know this book was part of a series so when I got to the last few pages and expected a quick wrap-up, I was kind of annoyed when the last page read "End of book one." Doh. So if you don't want to wait until September to know what happens next, wait to read this book sometime in the Fall. Anyway, I recommend this book although I'm hoping they don't make it into a movie as it would probably be very gruesome.

And now to the movie. I absolutely love TCM and leading up to the Oscars, they have what is called the 31 days of Oscars where they show movies that either won or were nominated for Oscars. Lots and lots of good stuff.

Anyway, I watched a movie from 1945 nominated for best music, scoring of a dramatic or comedy picture. It's called Brewster's Millions with Dennis O'Keefe and Helen Walker. Not really big stars but they did well in this movie. It's about a guy (Brewster) who has just got out of the army and learns he is the heir to his uncle's fortune. In order to recieve all of the money, Brewster has to first spend a million dollars in two months. He can't just buy anything. Whatever he buys cannot be an asset. It's kind of funny how his buying schemes just can't work out. Who knew it was so hard to spend a million bucks! Very cute little movie.

TCM says this isn't available on video but there are a couple used ones for sale on Amazon. You can always wait for TCM to show it again or try and rent it. Good luck finding this gem!

*Note: Ben says I should mention that there is a remake of this movie with Richard Pryor and John Candy. I haven't seen it but I'll bet it isn't as good as the original. Oh, and I guess these movies are based on the book of the same name by George Barr McCutcheon.

Clutter, clutter, clutter

2009-02-03T16:40:00.000-08:00

I guess I'm getting into spring cleaning too soon, but lately de-cluttering has been on my mind. Martha Stewart gives 100 reasons for getting rid of stuff here. And if you're piled up so high you don't know where to start, this site can get you started. I love that she suggests that you sing "please release me, let me go" while you are de-cluttering. I tend to be a pack rat but lately I've become sick of all the "stuff" we have so I'm slowly trying to get rid of things. Having a clean, organized house always makes me happier! Does anyone have any other sites or suggestions that would help?

Rumble Rumble

2009-01-30T09:51:00.000-08:00

I must've been half dead. Did anyone feel this? I guess it wasn't very big. I hope it doesn't mean Mt Rainier is alive. Yikes! (these past few post make me feel like a newsie.)

Layoffs in Seattle

2009-01-29T09:50:00.000-08:00

Wow, Seattle jobs are taking a hard hit lately. Both Boeing and Starbucks are letting people go. Even Microsoft is falling on hard times. My heart goes out to all those who now have no job. Amazon posts fourth quarter earnings today. I hope it's good news. Sorry for the downer post.

Who knew yarn was so flexible?

2009-01-27T21:03:00.000-08:00

So I've taken up crocheting. It's not as easy as it looks...if you think it looks easy. I did. Now I don't. I never knew how many cool things you could make with a hook and yarn. Jo-Ann's website has a ton of free patterns for making adorable stuff. Check out what I want to make below. Who knows how long it will take to get them all done though.

Miss Who?

2009-01-27T16:27:00.000-08:00

Growing up, I remember watching the Miss America pageant with my mom. I dvr'd it and watched it last night. I fast-forwarded most of it. Was it always so cheesy? No wonder why it's lost popularity. What happened? Beauty pageants don't seem to be in "in," but if you're interested here are entry forms for Miss America and Mrs. America :)

Beat those January Blues!

2009-01-26T15:20:00.001-08:00

Well, nothing much happening around here except trying not to have so much cabin fever. Today we got to go to The Family Fun Center here for a birthday party. There's a play area where the boys got to run and climb and slide and run some more. Too bad I didn't have my camera to catch the action. Thank goodness for friends who get us out of the house. I tend to be more of a homebody but I need to venture out more to give the kids (and frankly, myself) a breather. Any ideas for more "not at home" activities for toddlers?

Anyway, here's some pics of the boys and a delicious cake I made last week. Mmmm.

Home Sweet Home

2009-01-13T20:51:00.000-08:00

Well, we've been back a good two weeks but unpacking, getting the house in order, and taking care of sick children have kept blogging off my priority list. Our holiday was great. I hope yours was as well. Not much to blog about, so I'm gonna blog about news. Beware, this might get boring. Yikes, I'm turning into Ben.

Anyway, Ben has got me hooked on a website that compiles news stories: Drudge Report. I have to admit, I'm more likely to click on the 275-Pound Woman Says Hospital Told Her to Use Zoo MRI... link than say the Obama stimulus: Increase likely for low-income elderly... link, but I try to round out my news reading. Anyway, so once in a while, Drudge will put a link to Camille Paglia's column on salon.com and I enjoy reading it. She was writing about Gov. Palin's Katie Couric interview in this column and I especially chuckled at her description of Couric (sorry to any Couric fans).

"And let me take this opportunity to say that of all the innumerable print and broadcast journalists who have interviewed me in the U.S. and abroad since I arrived on the scene nearly 20 years ago, Katie Couric was definitively the stupidest. As a guest on NBC's "Today" show during my 1992 book tour, I was astounded by Couric's small, humorless, agenda-ridden mind, still registered in that pinched, tinny monotone that makes me rush across the room to change stations whenever her banal mini-editorials blare out at 5 p.m. on the CBS radio network. And of course I would never spoil my dinner by tuning into Couric's TV evening news show. That sallow, wizened, drum-tight, cosmetic mummification look is not an appetite enhancer outside of Manhattan or L.A. There's many a moose in Alaska with greater charm and pizazz."

I don't agree with everything Paglia says but I certainly have to agree with her here and she seems fair and open-minded. Or at the very least sarcastic and entertaining. Anyway, sorry if this bored you. I'll try to think of something more interesting for the next post. Like maybe how I've taken up crocheting....hah....not sure if that would be more interesting.

Dashing through the snow

2008-12-16T10:25:00.000-08:00

Well, we're off to Utah and Idaho. As if it isn't cold enough here. Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and happy New Year!!

Budding Photographer

2008-11-30T18:48:00.001-08:00

So, one morning, Bryant got a hold of my camera and went to town. I call his pictures "Study of a Toddler's Point of View." Very existential. Here are some of my favorites.

The bottom of a floor lamp.

There's nothing more artsy than a wall...

Or cranberry carpet.

Wow, my lights switch covers look really dated from this point of view.

Don't you wish you had a blue door?

I should get him to teach me how to do this cool trick.

"What are you doing down there?"

The advertisements on his growth chart.

I think this one is my favorite.

Handy Man: closet door

2008-11-30T18:16:00.000-08:00

When we moved into our house, the closet in the living room had no door. And it's lined with cork. Anyone know why? I don't know. So we finally got around to getting a door and Ben put it up! Yay, now my guests don't have to be subjected to seeing our games, fans and other odds and ends we keep in there. Thanks Ben!

Gobble gobble

2008-11-30T18:13:00.000-08:00

Happy belated Thanksgiving! We had a grand old time with friends Lynn, Angie, Andrew, Lillyanne, and Amanda. We have so much to be thankful for and I'm especially grateful we can be surrounded by wonderful people.

Babysitting and Death (not related...mostly)

2008-11-23T18:51:00.000-08:00

So lately I've had a few friends get me thinking about babysitting swapping. After googling "babysitting co op," I came upon this book: Smart Mom's Baby-Sitting Co-Op Handbook by Gary Myers. This book had some great ideas to start a babysitting co-op. First you need at least 4 moms to start. There is a Leader/Moderator who takes care of leaderish things. Then there is the Secretary who organizes the sits and records the points. Everyone starts out with zero points and then slowly makes their way up to 80 or down to -80. You get positive points for sitting and negative points for requesting a sitter. Of course there are boundaries and rules and safety checks and medical releases and meetings. Anyway, I thought it was a great idea. Anyone feel like starting one? Of course you'll have to at least live in the same state as I do.

What say ye?

Are you with me?!?

I recently watched an interesting move. It's called The Fountain. Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz starred in it. It was very strange. I liked it. I liked it a lot. Hugh and Rachel's relationship are depicted in the 1500's, our modern day, and the not so dazzling future. This movie explores life and death and immortality with some symbolic comparisons to the tree of life. Anyway, it's kind of a hard movie to review but if you like abstract art...you'll love this movie.

Football for a three year old.

2008-11-15T22:26:00.000-08:00

So, Bryant got put down for a nap just before I started watching the game today. Being put down for a nap amounts to being sent into the downstairs bed room. He pretends to be asleep for a few minutes and then screams, Daddy, I already (pronounced: aw-eddy) did take a nap. Eventually, he either falls asleep or we give in. Well, after the interception drop in the second half, he started screaming and my heart was softened so I went and got him. We got back and I unpaused the game, and on comes the replay.

Bryant looked up at it and said, "Oh, he fumbled it." (All incomplete passes are fumbles.)
"No Bryant, it was incomplete. And it didn't count anyway."
"Didn't count? Why, Daddy?"
Now, Bryant's an awfully smart kid but the intricacies of the game are still a little beyond him. So I didn't try and explain the pass interference rule to him. But I wasn't quite sure what to say. I thought for a minute and he asked me again.
"The referee said that he was being naughty so they had to do it again."
"Oh, okay. He was being naughty."

Mind boggling

2008-11-15T22:20:00.000-08:00

So I took this "What Board Game Are You?" quiz and uh, yeah, not impressed. So, the first time, I was Boggle. I've never ever played Boggle. I don't see how I can be a game I've never even played. So, I decided to change my answers and submit again. I'm still Boggle. Third time's the charm right?.....no.

You Are Boggle

You are an incredibly creative and resourceful person.

You're able to dig deep and think outside the box to get things done.

You are a non linear thinker. You don't like following directions

You draw your inspiration from the strangest places sometimes. You're constantly inspired.

What Board Game Are You?

Maybe you should try it and see if it comes out better. Oh, and for some more fun, try this one:What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?. The longer your name...the more interesting you are....heh.

Note: Blame Ben for the title.

Need to supply a restaurant?

2008-11-14T08:37:00.001-08:00

So, we're a big fan of the show Good Eats on the food network channel and Mr. Alton Brown constantly recommends restaurant supply stores. So we checked out two stores. One is Cash and Carry and the other is A-1 Restaurant Supply (orginal,huh?) and have been pretty impressed. Cash and Carry has been kind of like a mini-Costco except no membership fees! I especially like the equipment section. We got our restaurant style booster seat there...you know, the kind that you can flip over for two different heights.
There's big spatulas, ketchup squirters, giant pots, cafeteria trays, and much, much more! And that's just the non-food stuff. They also have big bags of whatever it is you want to eat. So don't go shopping when you're hungry. You might end up with a 25lb bag of cheese ravioli or a 10lb bag of tootsie rolls (actually, the bags aren't THAT big).

A-1 should be renamed Chinese Restaurant Supply Store. It had quite a few Asian-style dishes and decorations. It's a smaller store than Cash and Carry but still had some good deals. Also, A-1 doesn't sell food, only equipment. Anyway, I highly recommend looking for a restaurant supply store in your area. There's lots of culinary goodies to be found!

"Nobody minds having what is too good for them." - Jane Austen, Mansfield Park

2008-11-14T08:02:00.000-08:00

I'm a fan of Jane Austen. She had a way of telling a happily ever after story without having the story be too cheesy. I just finished a novel based on her life with her sister, Cassandra, as the narrator. The book is called Cassandra and Jane and is written by Jill Pitkeathley. I think this book not only takes a look at Jane, but we get to see a little about her sister and their relationship. It was a good (and short) read.

While I'm at it, I might as well recommend Becoming Jane Austen (the book) by Jon Spence. It has quite a few more "facts" than Cassandra and Jane but it's more of a biography. Lots of facts that I didn't know about Austen. Anyway, if you're a fan of Miss Austen, definitely check out these books.

I also watched Becoming Jane this past week. I have to say I was pretty disappointed. I guess I was expecting it to be less Hollywood-ish and more biographical. I don't picture Jane Austen as they portrayed her. Maybe the director wanted her to seem more exciting, but Anne Hathaway didn't quite cut for me. I did kind of like how they made Jane's life kind of like Pride and Prejudice though.

Amazing costumes

2008-11-11T12:06:00.000-08:00

Look at these amazing costumes! And she doesn't even use patterns! I think I"ll have to practice more to make stuff like this....WITH a pattern. You should definitely check out her blog; she does some amazing stuff. And she just started an online store.

Nice, quiet Halloween

2008-11-01T15:42:00.000-07:00

Well, since we were all sick, we just stayed home and had a nice, quiet Halloween. I still dressed the boys up for pictures. Hopefully next year we can beat the curse!

"Go ahead, make my day."

"Man, this thing is itchy!"

Seattle, Children's Museum

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

This week we went to the Children's Museum with our good friends, Angie, Andrew, and Lillyanne. It was a lot of fun. Bryant loved running around trying everything. Will loved standing in one place in an overstimulated stupor. Here's pictures for proof!

Down the slide...backwards of course.

Bryant doesn't show nearly this much interest in vegetables at home.

Twice as many carts, twice as much food!

Where's the fire?

Everyone's dizzy.

This is a tube that twirled...kinda like a dryer.

The Mr. Potato Head exhibit was fun.

Gyros

2008-10-30T09:13:00.000-07:00

So, now that we're cursed, I can catch up with blogging. This past week we made gyros with tzatziki sauce. We used plain lamb chops instead of gyro meat but it was still really good.

On the left is the yogurt in cheesecloth draining. The middle is the tomatoes from our garden and the right is the de-skinned, de-seeded cucumber with salt draining.

Mmmmm lamb.

The yummy pita bread. Recipe is here.

And the finished result with brown rice. A little work, but a great result.

Curse of the Halloween Cold

2008-10-30T09:07:00.001-07:00

That's right, we're cursed. For the past three years one or more of us has been sick on and around Halloween. WHY? What did we do? How do we break this curse? Chants, potions, rain dancing? Well, if anyone has any cures, please let me know. I'm sick of missing one of my favorite holidays.

That time of week again

2008-10-24T23:19:00.000-07:00

So, this week I read a very interesting book. Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. I first thought this book would be very boring...much like my Econ 100 class. In actuality, it was very interesting. Not very long either. And as long as you don't check out the large print copy from the library, you won't get reader's cramp. The introduction reveals that this book has no "unifying theme." Who needs a unifying theme when you can have schoolteachers who cheat, real-estate agents who info-hoard, drug dealers who deal drugs (I didn't know either), and parents who obsess? You can find out how abortion and crime are related (not in the way you're thinking) and why not to name your child Winner or Loser (also not in the way you're thinking.) In actuality, I think the chapter on names was my favorite. I hear there are those out there who are baby name hunting...I highly recommend this book, it's named Freakonomics, but it's really a baby name book.

On to the movie of the week. Mirage from 1965 stars Gregory Peck, Diane Baker, and Walter Matthau. Now there may be readers out there who don't watch movies older than 2001, but old movies are my absolute favorite and you don't know what you're missing out on. I had never seen this movie before which is highly irregular, especially as Gregory Peck goes. Mr. Peck plays the part of an amnesiac wandering around New York trying to find out who he is and trying to stay alive while he does. There was a definite Hitchcock feeling to this movie, but I think Hitchcock probably would have done a better job (no offense Mr. Dmytryk.) I really enjoyed Mr. Matthau in this movie with his dry sense of humor. Ms. Baker seemed a little young for old Greg, but what do I know. I don't know what else to say that won't give away the movie, so just take my word for it and watch it.

Books and movies

2008-10-17T22:46:00.000-07:00

I feel like my blog so far is about two things. Vacations (or mini-vacays) and Ben's bread. Does anyone else out there feel the same way? Good. So, I really like to watch movies and read so now you get to know what I watch and read! Lucky you. Anyway, so the book I've been reading lately is called I Was Vermeer: The Rise and Fall of the Twentieth Century's Greatest Forger by Frank Wynn. This book is about Han Van Meegeren who apparently was a famous art forger.

Anyway, so Ben and I had this discussion that if anyone could forge a painting to look like a master, then did it really matter who painted it? I say yes, Ben said no (of course.) Very interesting book, especially if you like biographies (which I do.)

A movie that I just saw was Martian Child with John Cusack. Cute movie, but did anyone else think that this kid really was a Martian or am I just really gullible?

Anyone else read or seen anything good?

Bread n cheese

2008-10-17T22:40:00.000-07:00

So, couldn't sleep so here I am blogging about bread and cheese. Ben made some fantastic bread earlier this week and, that's right, cheese. I know the bread recipe Ben posted earlier sounds so complicated but I'll tell ya what, it's sooooo worth it. I'm not sure exactly how he made the cheese. A whole gallon of milk with some sort of chemicals and viola, mozarella and riccota cheese. He had fun kneading it.

PS...wasn't that BYU game sad?

Uncertain times

2008-10-15T14:13:00.000-07:00

Well, I usually leave the politics to Ben but I've been freaking out about everything lately. I read an article today that impressed me and I wanted to share it. Let's hope our futures aren't as bleak as I imagine them to be.

What Can I Do to Prepare?

Catching Up

2008-10-11T12:01:00.000-07:00

Yikes, it's been a while hasn't it. And, no, it isn't because I'm lazy...maybe...ahem, anyway. Here's what we've been up to. BYU vs UW, Ben's birthday, family visiting, Neil Diamond, softball umpiring, haircuts, Phantom of the Opera, Conference, and everyday living in between. What? You want pictures? Oh alright, here ya go.

Long, hot game

Wish I had taken this...thanks wikipedia.

Before

After

Umpiring jr. high girls' softball....serious business

The boys thought playing in the dirt was more fun than watching Dad umpire.

Looks like only Dad's reading...hah.

Mmmmm....muffins.

What happens when you leave Will and a chocolate muffin alone. Is that a pink sippy cup?

Well, it looks like that's all the pictures I have. Sorry I don't have Phantom, family visiting, or birthday Ben pics. I keep forgetting to have my camera with me. Until next month....heh, just kidding.

Bread -- part II

2008-09-20T19:41:00.000-07:00

So I took some notes on my bread making processes so I could pass them on.

Here's an example of the recipe I've used twice this week.

I took my sponge out of the fridge on Wednesday and doubled it. Then I doubled it again on Thursday. So Friday morning I had 8 ounces. I had Leilani mix 6 ounces of starter, 6 ounces of flour and 6 ounces of water and put it in the oven. I like storing it in the oven because it's protected.
When I got home a couple hours later, I mixed in about 11 ounces of flour. (Weight is a better measure than volume for flour. But for the flour I was using 6 ounces measured about 1 Cup.) This gave me a fairly wet dough. Flours are different so it's hard to say exactly how much you need. The way I can tell I have close to the right amount is that I add it and stir until it starts to clean the bowl. I also added a pinch of salt before I mixed it. Half the time I forget to do this. You can also add a couple of tablespoons of oil here to add a little flavor.
Then I started kneading it. A wet dough makes a better bread, so I try to use as little flour as possible. But it always takes some to keep things from sticking. I usually put some in my sifter and just dust the board and the dough.
I let the dough rest halfway through the kneading for about 20 minutes. Then I kneaded it a little more. It probably took 10-12 minutes of total kneading but I usually just stop when the dough is smooth, shiny, and stiff enough that it bounces back when I push on it.
I oiled a bowl and put the dough in. I covered the bowl with plastic wrap and put it back in the oven. If I'm in a hurry or the dough is very cold sometimes I turn the oven on for 30 seconds just to make it a little warmer. A slow rising dough is fine though if you have the time.
The rise is done when it's doubled in volume. You can tell by pushing on the dough. It should spring back slowly. If it doesn't spring back it's over-risen. If it springs back too fast it needs to rise more. If it's over-risen, just deflate it and let it rise again. It won't take nearly as long.
So I took my doubled dough and gently kneaded it to distribute the air. Then I divided it in half and shaped it into loaves. The only noteworthy thing here is that the skin of the loaf needs to be fairly tight.
Once the loaves had risen, I sliced across the top of them. These scoring cuts need to be about 1/2 an inch deep. The pattern doesn't really matter. If you don't do this enough your loaf will burst open. As soon as the loaves were scored I put them in the oven.
Halfway through the rising I preheated the oven to 425. When it got hot I sprayed the oven with a spray bottle. I do this a couple of times before the loaves go in and 2 or 3 times within the first few minutes -- each time trying to open the oven as little as possible.
About 30 minutes later the bread will look ready to come out. Then it needs to cool for 20 minutes or so before it can be eaten.
Now a word of encouragement: my first many loaves of sourdough were not devoured quickly. Hot bread, even mediocre hot bread still gets eaten. But once it's day old it needs a little bit of quality to get eaten -- at least around here. This proves just fine though because homemade croutons are a great use for this bread. (I'll post my technique some other time.) I used to make a lot of croutons. Now, I can't ever seem to keep bread around long enough to make croutons.

The rest of So Cal and Vegas

2008-09-19T13:03:00.001-07:00

Took a little hiatus from posting about our trip but I'll get back to it to appease family. After San Francisco we continued South toward you know where...that's right...Las Vegas. On the way we stopped in Modesto (Helena's hometown! Woot!), Fresno, Redlands, and Palm Springs. Palm Springs was where Ben and I honeymooned and though it was good to see it...it was better to see it from an air conditioned car. Hot, hot, hot.

Fresno Temple

Redlands Temple

Palm Springs hotel

I proceeded to take trillions of pictures of the windmills on the way out of Palm Springs. I love windmills. Blogger wouldn't let me upload all of them so you just get one.

I wish I could say he got his eyelashes from me.

We got to Las Vegas and with downcast eyes, finally found our hotel. We stayed at the luxurious Circus Circus. I hope Ben listens to me the next time I'm suspicious of the hotel price in Las Vegas. The room wasn't that bad....but it wasn't that good either. Oh well. Live and learn. We were pretty pooped from all the driving so we didn't venture out into the city until the next day. We started out in the morning and tried to duck into air conditioned buildings whenever we could. It was so incredibly hot there.

Look out Bryant!

The Venetian....loooooved the canals.

Lots of cool statues at the Caesar's Hotel mall.

Will got a panda from FAO Schwartz.

From Vegas we proceeded North towards family and cooler air. After this monster of a trip we won't be traveling for a loooooong time.

And you thought Kraft was good.

2008-09-19T13:03:00.000-07:00

Or in my case generic. Macaroni and cheese that is. I made some last night mostly following one of Martha's recipes except I substituted 3 cups of regular milk with evaporated milk and I used bacon instead of ham. It was pretty simple to make, no, not as simple as the box....but almost. Heh, I can say we, uh, shouldn't make this often as it has a week's calories in one bite. But it was good while it lasted. Yeah, that's right, it's gone.

I love my gun...

2008-09-15T14:54:00.001-07:00

Staple gun, that is. It helps me with projects like the one below. I have to say I'm not crazy about the Ghostbuster green though. I ran out of black fleece. I'll have to raid Jo-Ann's bargain bins again and fix it. Now I can stop using old diaper boxes as toy boxes.

Before

After

Mr. Carrot

2008-09-15T14:38:00.000-07:00

We've been trying to eat healthier lately. We try to stifle our appetites by eating vegetables before dinner. Hopefully Mr. Carrot from our garden can help us.

Remember

2008-09-11T10:33:00.000-07:00

Sourdough Bread

2008-09-07T21:11:00.000-07:00

So with my wife publicizing my breadmaking machinations, I've been deluged with requests (at least 2) for details.

So I make sourdough bread. (That is bread without commercial yeast; not necessarily bread with the famous San Francisco tanginess.) The only particular difficult part is making a starter. Once you have that, you just have to add some flour, stir and knead. You can add some salt, sugar, or oil if you like. I don't really work from a recipe but I'll try to estimate quantities in another post.

First, one needs to make a sourdough starter though. Because it is so heavily processed, all purpose white flour is really slow at picking up wild yeast. A store like WinCo that sells bulk flours lets you pick up a few better flours very cheaply. 2 or 3 pounds of flour will be ample for creating a savory starter.

There are some very fancy recipes online but it took me a while to figure out what underlied them all. It really doesn't take a recipe and is very simple. Start with 1 part flour plus 1 part water. Leave it at room temperature. Tomorrow you have to double the volume and keep the flour to water ratio even. The day after you double the volume. Pretty soon your mass of flour and water is a sweet smelling bubbly starter that will make great bread.

A few caveats. 1. Don't use metal to stir the starter as the reaction won't help. 2. Try and use filtered or purchased water at least to start as reactions won't help. 3. Since you're doubling the volume each day you may quickly have way too much. The solution is simply to discard half (or more of the mass) before doubling it. 4. Flours are different and the amount of water you need varies. The only way to tell how much to add is to try and get the consistency right. You want a batter that sticks to the spoon just a little as you pull your spoon away. Kind of a stringy look.

Depending on conditions you'll have a pet to keep in your refrigerator in as little as 5 days. My first try took almost two weeks though. Once you have it you need to either feed it each day or put it in the refrigerator and feed it once a week. I feed mine when I use it so once it's established there's no waste. Given the cost of those little yeast packets it's probably a fairly cost effective way to make bread. (Apparently some famous bakeries have kept their cultures alive for hundreds of years.)

They make sweatshirts for me!

2008-09-04T20:36:00.001-07:00

And the company my husband works for is the one who sells them!...well, selling them for a company called Direct Collection...whoever they are. I was totally excited to blog about this until my husband made me realize that I had to admit I was googling my name...well what used to be my name. Which kinda makes the sweatshirt not as impressive, but hey, it's still impressive! You COULD buy it here...and change "Bryant" to "Sauer," but apparently it's not available right now. Not sure how they picked my name. Weird...and kinda scary. Or how they decided to put my name on a sweatshirt...ick.

Mad bread skills

2008-09-02T12:23:00.000-07:00

Beware, at the risk of sounding like a bad housewife, I will now be boasting about my husband's bread. That's right...my husband is the main cook in the house. Don't worry though, he keeps me busy with dishes :) Good thing I don't mind washing dishes, but cooking (especially experiment cooking) isn't really my thing. I guess I'm more of a sous chef. Anyway, he made some bread this past weekend and it was absolutely delicious. He makes his own starter and likes to experiment. Check it out below!

mmmmmmmm!

Take that you beast...

2008-09-02T12:03:00.000-07:00

er...insect. We....have an ant problem. I swear nothing short of blowing our house up is going to get rid of them. I just read on Martha Stewart's website about a natural way of getting rid of them...peppermint oil. Please, please work this time! I'm thinking Raid will get rid of us before it gets rid of the ants!

Who will win the battle of the ants?

Hi everybody this is Ben

2008-08-31T21:47:00.001-07:00

At my wife's urging (and probably just to keep me from lurking here with the occasional off political post), I have created a political blog of my own. This will apparently keep me and my ramblings off of this happy place. If anyone is curious, http://eeidi.blogspot.com/ will take you there. I've discovered that I need to work on brevity. The mix is currently two humorous posts and one serious post. If I were you I'd read the humorous post and skip the boring one, but then I'm not you so you can make up your own mind.
If you do make your way over there, I shall try and work on having briefer posts.
Okay, enough interruption, now back to your regularly scheduled trip through our California memories.
--Ben

Disclaimer: These posts are long and many are boring....not for the faint of heart. --Leilani

Nor Cal

2008-08-31T20:36:00.000-07:00

SACRAMENTO, CA

The beautiful Sacramento temple.

Bryant in front of the California capitol.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA

Bay Bridge

Dolores Mission

Too foggy that day to see the Golden Gate Bridge :(

And Google keeps crashing so that's all the pictures for now....or maybe ever...heh j/k j/k.

Oregon Coast and the Redwoods

2008-08-31T09:58:00.000-07:00

So....we thought while we were headed towards beautiful country we should go camping. On the way we passed some pretty coastal cities. We let the boys get out and run around on one beach. Too bad the water was cold.

Well, when we got to the redwoods to camp, we realized the camp was about a half mile off the road, and straight down. We decided to drive all night instead and stop to rest at rest stops. We saw a few redwoods...in the dark. Heh. We'll have to go back in the daylight sometime.

Anyway, driving all night probably wasn't the best idea. We were pretty tired in the morning. And Bryant didn't like the curvy road we took to get to I-5. We were pretty happy to see Sacramento in the morning. Next post...California. :)

And we're back

2008-08-31T08:37:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been a while. I hope this isn't a sign of things to come. We got back from our super long trip on Monday and boy was it nice to be home. Then we had family in town this past week so now finally I have a chance to post. I think I better break this up into a bunch of posts since there's so much I want to show ya'll.

NEWPORT, OR

We left August 5th and headed down to Newport Oregon. Here's Ben and Bryant before we went into the Newport Aquarium. Below are a few pictures from the aquarium.

Look at this monster! No the crab...I'm talking about the crab. It's a Japanese Spider Crab and it can live to be 100 years old! And you thought you wouldn't learn anything from my blog.

I think that's enough for one post. Until next time.

Oregon, Cali, Nevada, Utah bound

2008-08-03T10:23:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, we'll be headed on vacation to Utah. We'll be taking the scenic route through Oregon, California and Nevada. I hope gas goes down a couple dollars before we leave! I'm really excited to see family. I'll post pictures when we get back.
Other news. Will has been walking quite a bit more although his walk makes him look like a mini-Frankenstein. Very funny. I know you all want to know this, but Bryant's been making quite a bit of progress with potty training. Except for naps and bedtime of course. Anywho, I might blog while we're away but probably not. See ya when we get back!

There...I did it

2008-08-01T19:13:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm thinking I'm more of a blog reader than a blog writer but I've been meaning to give this a try. Here goes. Hope ya'll are sufficiently entertained...and let me know when you're not :)