Home, Home on the range

Today is my day off and I thought I should do a little updating. I'm not feeling very well, I've come down with a cold, so I'll take a break from my relaxing to inform all of you of our recent happenings.

First off, Doug is home! He flew in last Saturday, thankfully before the airports shut down because of Irene. He got in at around 10 a.m. so we got to spend the whole day together. I couldn't have been happier. He was really tired, he only slept 2 hours the night before because he was keeping up on the news to see if his flight would be cancelled. So he took a nap for a couple hours. Then we went and looked at Aunt Eula's Blazer she was selling. She just bought a new car, it's really pretty, and was selling her '01 Chevy. It took a few days for us to decide, but ultimately we bought it. I've named him Winchester, Chester for short. We're still waiting for Aunt Eula to go back up to Grouse Creek to get the title, so we can't really drive it yet. Sad.

We wanted a second car for Doug to drive to the Trax station. He needs to be to work in Downtown by 7, so he leaves the Trax station by at 6. The station is about 2 miles away from our house, and the road to get there doesn't have any streetlights or anything. We live out in the boonies where there are just factories and distribution centers. We had originally planned on him riding a bike, but I don't feel comfortable when it's so dark and early in the morning. (Just this morning he said he almost hit 2 deer on his way there.) So the Blazer works out great, it will only get about 4 miles of use a day, so gas mileage isn't an issue, and Aunt Eula sold it to us really cheap. So since we don't drive it right now, I've been dropping him off and picking him up from the station. It will be so nice when he can drive himself. More than once I've been in the middle of making dinner when I need to go get him.

Speaking of dinner. I've been trying to make more home cooked meals, you know, to get into a good habit of it. I need good basic dinner staple recipes. It's hard to cook for two, especially when we don't care much to eat the same leftovers for two or three nights. Any suggestions?

Other than that things are the same old. Milo and Pepper and little rascals as always. Pepper knows when it's bedtime and when I'm going to put them away for the night. She runs under the table in the corner where she knows I can't get her. One of these days I need to use her intelligence for some entertainment. Maybe train her to do a puzzle to get food or something. That would be fun.

That's about all the time I can manage to spare from my relaxing and recuperating. Til next time, enjoy finding me good simple recipes

Round Two

This will be a mushy gushy post. Consider yourself warned. I just want to gush over how great my hubby is, you all can be jealous. On our last anniversary I posted things I had learned over the past year. Now it's been two years, and I've learned even more.

• Communicate, communicate, communicate. If I'm feeling upset about something he can't guess what it is, I need to tell him, and vice versa. If I want him to do the dishes, or take out the trash, I need to tell him and not be upset when he doesn't just notice.
• It's important to think about the other person's needs, and make sacrifices to fulfill those needs. Doug needs the security of being financially stable; I don't like working, but I want to help him out in the way he needs me to.
• Marriage is just as much work during school as it is being graduated, just less homework.
• It's fun living with your best friend.
• Patience. Nothing is perfect right at first. But it always gets better.
• Love is shown in lots of ways, find as many as you can.
• Hearing, "I love you" never gets old.
• The time you spend being angry is all wasted, and you can never get that time back. You'll regret it later.

Doug is the perfect man for me. He puts up with all of my idiosyncrasies. We got cats because I love animals, they can be a real pain, and financial burden, but Doug puts up with all of it. He doesn't mind that some nights I just don't feel like cooking, and he'll eat Ramen Noodles. He listens when I'm upset, and bless his heart, he always tries to fix the problem. I love how he will randomly burst out in song. I love how generous and caring he is to me, and to other people. He is so good at looking past my faults, and forgiving me so quickly. He doesn't hold grudges, something I can learn. He tries so hard to be a good provider, and make sure our lives are comfortable. He's the cutest, sweetest person in the whole world, and he's all mine. I can't wait for him to finally come home. But it's true, absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Happy Anniversary (on Monday) Doug. You're the best.

Call me Crafty

So my super cute sister-in-law had a baby shower July 16th. I didn't think I would be able to go because of work, but fate was on my side and I wasn't scheduled to work that day. I've been thinking about things I could get her, I'm kinda new to the whole baby-shower business. Since money is a little tight I decided I would make something cute. Then the search began for something cute, trendy, and easy to make. My mom told me about tulle tutus, which I had never heard of babies wearing. I looked them up, and they look really cute, and are probably the easiest things to make. To prove it, I semi documented the process of making mine.

As you can see, I'm very professional. My mac is my cutting surface, the remote is holding down the tape so it doesn't move, and all my sewing stuff is in a Nike box. The only legit thing in this picture are those scissors. I bought two rolls of tulle, 25 yards each. I cut them 18" long. Since my cutting wasn't very precise I almost ran out. So you can either buy tulle by the yard, it's pretty cheap, or get bigger rolls. Cut the strips 6" wide and then however long you want. I liked how 18" looked.

I cut the elastic waist 19" at first, but then ended up cutting off about 1.5" at the end because it looked huge, and I ran out of tulle, and didn't want to buy more. The elastic is 1" wide and it's the non-folding kind, so that you can tie the knots tight without it bunching up. Then I just took a strip of yellow and a strip of pink tulle, and tied them in a square knot around the elastic. As you're tying the knots it helps to keep the elastic stretched, so I put it around my thigh and it worked great.

This is the tutu all done, and a little out of control. I made the headband out of stretchy lace and leftover yellow tulle. I cut the tulle into circles and then burned the edges to make them curl. I sewed a little pearl button in the middle then sewed that onto the lace. And there you have it.

(That was back in June, I just didn't want to post it until after the baby shower.)
Update: I also made another tutu for my other sister-in-law who is also having a girl. Hers was light pink and red, it turned out cute too. Sorry I didn't take pictures. I did it late at night and the lighting was terrible. But they are so easy to make. I suggest you try it out. You could also attach the tutu to a onesie, so it's more like an outfit. Or it would be cute to attach little things to the tulle, like rhinestones or little flowers.

My Kiddies

I like cats because they are cuddly. They aren't bony like dogs, they can just curl up in your lap and their body will conform around yours. I'm lucky to have Milo, he's affectionate all the time. Pepper can be a real brat sometimes, but she has redeeming moments. Like when Doug pours a bowl of cereal downstairs, she hears it from upstairs, and she comes running down to lick his bowl when he's done.

Don't get me wrong. I want a dog. I want to be able to train something, and not just spray it with water when it jumps onto the counter (I honestly hope my dog won't jump onto the counter). I like the idea of taking a dog places, hiking, to the park, camping, etc etc. But for apartment living I think cats are the best choice.

I just had to include this picture. I was making bread yesterday and Milo was very concerned about the noises. He would jump up, and circle it, look in, meow, circle it meow, etc. Then the cuteness was over and I had to spray him square in the face with water.

In other news, the Mavs won the NBA Finals, and we couldn't be happier. Doug, because he's not a big fan of "King James," and me because when Doug's happy everything is good. There's nothing worse than having a depressed hubby because his team lost.

In other other news, Doug and I did some great shopping over the weekend. He needs dressy clothes for his new job, so we've been on the lookout for good deals. JcPenny had their ad in-store and in it was a coupon for $10 off a $25 purchase. It just so happens that dress slacks were on sale for $27 (normally $60). We each grabbed a pair of pants, each with a coupon in hand, and after a couple of trips, walked out with 3 pairs of slacks, and two dress shirts for $81. With the 4 coupons it was $40 in savings! And it was not dishonest in any way, the coupon only said "one per customer." We were each customers, and there was no daily limit. Yay for coupons!

10 Not-so-secret secrets to success

In order to document what Elder Richard G. Scott said at Commencement, Mom had me write some points down. Unfortunately it was on a tiny memo pad, and I ripped the paper out. So before I lose this historical piece of paper, I will type it in the ink of the internet.
On April 21, 2011 Elder Scott said these ten things (I failed to write down what the ten things are for, Success? Happiness? Exaltation? Don't know, but they are good points none-the-less).

1. Establish a set of principles to guide your life
2. Don't make exceptions to your standards
3. Be loyal
4. Live so that The Lord can guide you to where He wants you to serve
5. Serve others
6. Smile (insert joke here)
7. Don't complain
8. Always have a Church assignment
9. Go to the temple
10. Use the Savior, Jesus Christ, as your example in life

That's all folks.

Turkeys smell really bad

Today was my second and final field trip for my animal husbandry class. First we went to the turkey production plant in Moroni. I could've done just fine without ever seen dead turkeys on a conveyor belt getting their insides chopped out. Although, I do appreciate it in a way, since I saw them dead, but still with a face it made it more real. They were live animals that gave up their life to feed us. We shouldn't be wasteful and take it for granted. The production plant was very very clean, and didn't make me feel disgusted about how my food is slaughtered.
Next we went to the turkey grower. I have a love-hate relationship with turkey farms. Love the baby turkeys (called poults, not chicks). Hate the smell! It's like cat litter+giraffe house at the zoo+gas station bathroom. And these barns were enclosed with fans, so the yucky poo dirt was circulating through the air. Gag. I had my sweatshirt over my face the entire time. At first I was the only one, others caved in soon after. Anyways, back to the poults. Adorable, and they follow you. Turkeys respond to sound, the adults will "gobble" back at you if you make a noise. The poults are attracted to lights, shiny things (such as wedding rings), and the colors red and green. That's why the feeders are always red.

I would stick my hand in and they would run over to peck my ring. In this barn, the "brooding barn" they had 9,000 poults! It's 8,000 square feet, the rule of thumb is roughly 1 sq foot/poult. As you can see, the guy keeps it very clean, hardly any poop in there. Which is good because it has to be like 90 degrees in there so they don't die.

Isn't he cute? I promise I'm not squeezing him, I just didn't want him to jump out of my hand. I know he's a "he" because this farmer only raises toms (male turkeys). They grow to be 40 lbs! HUGE! I didn't take any pictures of the older birds because 1) they're ugly 2) I couldn't hold my sweatshirt around my face and take a picture. But this is what they look like.

Blue faces and all. Fun fact: When they are maturing, some faces turn blue before the majority of the flock's, those ones get pecked to death because they look different from everyone else. Turkeys are merciless. Also, if they happen to have a black feather or two they'll get pecked to death. Walking through the barn some even pecked at my blue boots. Did I mention I don't really like turkeys?
Lastly we went to a sheep farm. This was by far my favorite. Sheep smell bad, but it's a grassy/hay stinky bad, I can deal with it. Right now is peak lambing season. So...

I got to hold one. It was so darling and sweet. All the lambs in this barn are less than a day old. They are put into small pens with the ewes so the ewes can "mother up." Basically get to know who their baby(s) is, and vice versa. Gradually they are put in larger pens with more ewes.

Ewes with proper nutrition tend to have twins. Once in a while they will have triplets (like this one, the third lamb is there, I promise) or quadruplets. Ewes only have 2 udders, so usually if they have more than twins the extra lambs will be placed with a ewe and a single, or bottle fed. As you can see, lambs are born with long tails. When they're happy they even wag them like a dog. Usually their tails get docked when they are a couple weeks old.
While we were here we even saw a ewe give birth. The feet were sticking out but she was taking a long time, so the farmer just pulled the first one out. Then he stuck his hand in and grabbed the second one right away. Usually they don't bother helping, but it was going too slow. The lambs were able to stand up after about 15 minutes, it was amazing. No pictures, just because I was kinda far away, and there were too many people crowding closer. As cute as they are, sheep are incredibly stupid creatures.