December 1, 2013

Louie and I took a break from decorating the Christmas tree to eat some tasty cinnamon rolls. :-)

Our Visit to Paradise

Hidden Paradise, that is! Over the July 4th weekend, Louie & I went up to Ainsworth to visit Louie's brother & sister-in-law (and their cute baby, Blake). We visited Smith Falls, went tubing down Pine Creek, and just generally enjoyed the scenery of north-central Nebraska. Unfortunately, I didn't take very many pictures...

I didn't have my zoom lens with me, so this was my photo of Smith Falls:

Luckily, I got a better shot with my iPhone:

This is Brutus. He likes to snuggle.

Anyway, we had a great time and hope to go back either later this summer or next summer to go tubing down the Niobrara. And now for some random photos from around the farm:

Griffin is one of the most ridiculous creatures I've ever met:

(Poor Man's Strawberry Shortcake, gratuitous amounts of whipped cream not yet added)

That's all for now! :-)

June 3, 2013

I know I've always joked that I couldn't cook my way out of a paper bag (wait, is that how that phrase is used?)...but I think a lot of my friends actually believed me. So, if you're wondering why I keep posting pictures of the food I make, it's in hopes of quelling the tide of relentless teasing that has been directed my way ever since I graduated high school. I can cook, people. Time to make fun of me for some other reason---and rest assured, there are plenty of reasons to choose from!

That being said, here's some beer-braised beef with onions and The Bread (which is pretty much the best bread EVER):

And tonight I made roasted red pepper pasta:

I think the dogs are starting to get really irritated with my photography (see exhibits below).

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

I planted a few flowers out in front of the house...nothing too special, but I like them anyway, especially the daisies.

Tonight Louie, my father-in-law Roy, and their friend John are working to shingle the garage roof. It's pretty steep!

Meanwhile, I'm swamped with homework for the two grad classes that I'm taking. I only have a few weeks left, though! :-)

May 11, 2013

I like taking weird pictures of Griffy. I mean, I guess they're not really weird per se, but I always manage to cut part of his body out of the frame without really meaning to. So there's that.

Tonight I made cajun chicken pasta. You should try it, it's pretty tasty.

To be honest, there's not much going on around here at the moment. Louie and his dad spent the day planting, while I watched "Ever After" in my pjs and made spinach and artichoke dip.

Yeah, I could get used to that life.

This week I talked my way into an opportunity to practice my web design skills, which is sort of exciting. I'll [hopefully] be redesigning the website for the Crete Heritage Society. Here's a "before" picture for posterity:

So yeah, lots to do there. ;) My summer classes start May 22; I'm taking "Critical Issues in Distance Education" and "Computer Interface Design for Learning." They both sound really interesting, so it should be a fun month.

'Til next time!

It's beginning to look a lot like...

SPRING! FINALLY. This is what it looks like:

This is going to be an average, run-of-the-mill, this-is-what-I've-been-up-to blog post, consisting primarily of pictures. Here goes! This weekend, I made orchard chicken salad from this recipe:

I also made homemade onion strings from this recipe:

It's been over 24 hours, and the house still smells like onion strings. ...whoops! 

In other news, Louie expanded Wallace's pen this weekend, so now he has a lot more room to run around and a lot more grass to chomp on. 

He also has a fancy ear tag:

Daisy likes to watch him through the bay window:

And also through the fence:

But usually, she just sleeps like this:

And uh...that's all! :) Happy Spring, everybody!

In the Bleak Midwinter...

In the bleak midwinter, I try to stay upbeat. And let me tell you, it's always a challenge. See, I'm one of those people that's given to dark moods and gloomy thoughts anyway (though I still believe that God commands me to be joyful). So when you take away the sunlight and the warmth and replace it with chill, grey, unfriendly skies... I have to struggle not to just. shut. down. All I want to do is be alone with my sad thoughts and all life/God wants me to do is be with other people. Bah humbug! ;) (just kidding)

So, I eat a lot of chocolate, listen to a lot of music, drink a lot of coffee, and take a lot of Vitamin D. You know, everything in moderation excess. Fortunately, I've also been reading a lot of Scripture.

The other day, I made banana bread for the first time. It had a lot of nuts in it.

Today, I made a lot of tacos from this recipe. I know it seems weird to use a recipe for tacos, but I would have never thought to put the lettuce in first, or to make the tasty dressing. 

It's not that I'm saying I don't find this beautiful:

...because I do; it's just that I need sunlight to thrive! 

Anyway, if you feel even remotely the same way, read the ever-encouraging Psalm 103. It's delightful!

December 21

Looks like I have a few days to catch up on! I'm currently writing this from the Omaha airport as Louie and I wait for our flight to the tropics. So let's see...December 21 was Friday, and on Friday I went crazy and dipped 98 Nutter Butter bites in vanilla almond bark. Before that, I dipped a package of orange gummies in chocolate almond bark:

It was the first time I'd ever dipped anything in almond bark, and the experience was even more cathartic than I thought it would be. I highly recommend it.

The icicle lights looked even cooler on Friday night when it got really dark.

December 18

Last night we had some good friends from church over for spaghetti, which has become a fun tradition that we've taken turns hosting (though they've hosted a few more times than us!). These are their two beautiful little girls, Ellie (left) and Chloe (right). They both fell in love with Daisy! I mean, who wouldn't?

I also tried my hand at making some bread last night. I used an easy recipe for artisan bread from Pampered Chef. It was quite yummy!

December 15

Ughhh grilled cheese and tomato soup. I'm so glad God gifted us with creativity so we could come up with stuff like this. Seriously. I'll understand if you need to take a break from reading this to go make some for yourself. I'll wait.

I got some Fotoclips from Photojojo today so I could make some photo collages for the walls. As usual, they sent me a new dino friend! He joined my stegosaurus:

Daisy was particularly photogenic today...

December 7

Last night we had our pastor (Doug) and his wife (Glee) over for dinner. As you can see, I made chicken! Glee is trying out the Paleo diet, which I like (Well, I like it in theory. There's no way I could give up bread and pasta!!!), so I found this recipe for Balsamic-Glazed Drumsticks. They were pretty good!

Tonight is the Christmas Festival concert at Doane--something I look forward to every year. I'm hoping it'll put me in the Christmas spirit! The concert will end with Ralph Vaughan Williams's "Fantasia on Christmas Carols." Have a listen: