Tortilla Time

• Flour
• Oil
• Salt
• Water

That's what you get when you buy tortillas from the store. What a bad deal! Especially if you are a tortilla fiend like me. You can find a bunch of great recipes on line, I particularly like Allrecipes.com. The key to making them paper thin is to let the tortilla dough "rest" overnight. This allows for the glutton to breakdown and allow for a more gummy consistency.

Here I am dreaming of endless supplies of quesidillas, burritos, salad wraps, and other nummy goodies:



Charity has crowned me the 'Tortilla King'. Although I am surprised by this honor I have to agree that I make some pretty good homemade tortillas.

(editorial note: please ignore the "messed up hair" and "non-matching clothes". I am a designer, which means that I must have dressed and styled my hair this way on purpose!)

Things I am still pondering...

I was cleaning out the paperwork that has been threatening to break the binding of my journal when I found these quotes. They are very worn and ragged from years of transfers between journals. I thought it would be good to put them in a format that would preserve them a little better and allow others to enjoy them also.

'Sometimes the best people have the worst experiences because they are the most ready to learn' ~Elder Neal A. Maxwell

'I do not believe that sheer suffering teaches. If suffering alone taught, all the world would be wise, since everyone suffers. To suffering must be added mourning, understanding, patience, love, openness, and the willingness to remain vulnerable.' ~Anne Morrow Lindbergh

'A lot of misery could be traced to this one mistaken notion [that] we need to be perfect for people to love us and we forfeit that love if we ever fall short of perfection. There are few emotions more capable of leaving us feeling bad about ourselves than the conviction that we don't deserve to be loved, and few ways more certain to generate that conviction than the idea that every time we do something wrong, we give God and the people closest to us reasons not to love us.' ~Rabbi Kushner

'The Lord can do remarkable miracles with a person of ordinary ability who is humble, faithful, and diligent in serving the Lord and seeks to improve himself. This is becasue God is the ultimate source of power.' ~Pres. Faust

My Hero

This morning didn't start too well. Cold, tired, and feeling especially large as I tried to gracefully get into my car, I managed to get settled, get the seatbelt fastened and then I turned the key. Nothing. When I removed the key my car alarm went off. I put the key back in and it went off... but again no ignition. This was repeated a few times, much to the annoyance of the neighbors I'm sure. My car problems usually end up being for unusual reasons and my spirits plummetted as I began to replay my past car disasters in my mind.

Luckily for me, I have a handy husband. Daniel jumped my car. It made it about twenty feet then died. Typical.

He (by himself) pushed it back into the parking spot for further diagnosis of the problem. He drove me to work and then began to try to solve my car conundrum. After a trip to the store he discovered that the battery was fine. After another trip, he discovered that it wasn't the alternator. He was suspicious of the ground wire from the alternator and checked that out. No luck. So then he pinpointed the actual problem by cleaning off the excess oxidation on the battery and replacing the connectors. Yay! My car has been revived and my involvement was minimal. I think this has to be one of the best things about being married. I really dislike dealing with car issues and heavily relied on my dad's expertise when I ran into problems in the past. It is great to have Daniel step up and take that worry out of what is usually a very stressful situation for me.

Yay for handy men, especially when they are married to you!

Home 'Stretch'

We are finally in the home stretch of the pregnancy. I have gotten big and people at work are beginning to look from my face to my stomach and then get a thoughtful expression. This probably would have occurred sooner if it wasn't for my big white lab coat that I wear all the time. How grateful I am for it! Without it I would have had to admit defeat and gone to the store to buy maternity clothes. (Not that I don't need materinity clothes, but I have been very blessed by generous women who gave me some of their old maternity clothes. Believe me, I have been making VERY good use of them.) With my lab coat, no one need know how I have stretched my wardrobe to its limits and beyond. Literally and figuratively.:)

Although I am increasingly uncomfortable, I am happy. Daniel has been very good about taking care of me. Just today he tucked me in on the couch with a glass of water close at hand and put in 'The Living Planet'. (...a nature show I have seen thousands of times growing up and which I find very soothing. In fact, I am never able to stay awake for more than a 5 minute stretch. A very useful fact I'm sure my mom enjoyed.) Whilst I slept, Daniel cleaned up the appartment, did the laundry, and made me lunch. I was unconscious and it felt heavenly.

Tag...

I'm it. :)

1. Ten years ago: I was finishing up my junior year at Fountain Ft. Carson High School. I was sixteen and was asked to the prom for my first date. I remember all the people at the prom being surprised to see me with makeup, in a dress, dancing, and with a boy. I didn't get out of the library much, I guess.

2. Five things on my "to do" list today: Go to meetings, send out instruments for calibration, contact calibration company, clean out my inbox, train my technicians on test methods.

3. Snacks I enjoy: A bowl of peas, raw carrots, microwaved broccoli, oatmeal, saltines, oranges, lettuce, or a bowl of salted beans (any type).

4. What would I do if I were suddenly a millionaire: Tithe, buy a house, put money away for my children's education/missions, pay off my families' houses, buy my year supply of food storage, set up a fund for medical treatment/expenses for family members, and donate money to the Church's perpetual education fund and humanitarian aid fund. Save the rest.

5. Three bad habits: I stack my clean clothes on top of the dresser for easy access. I pass people on the right when they are stopping to turn left (I picked this one up in Jersey out of self-preservation, I'll have you know.) I interrupt people.

6. Five places I've lived: Wyoming, Kansas, Utah, Minnesota, Wisconsin, California, Brasil, New Jersey.... (okay, so it's more than five)

7. Five jobs I've had: (Most recently, in reverse order) Lab Engineer/Scientist for Bristol Myers-Squibb in Skillman, NJ; Associate Scientist for Church and Dwight, Inc. in Princeton, NJ; Telemarketer for Moneyline, Inc (doing surveys, lest any think less of me!) in Provo, UT; Research Scientist for BYU Chemical Engineering Dept in Provo, UT; Events setup for Wilkinson Center in Provo, UT... and the list goes on.

8. Five things people don't know about me (except my family and a few others): I can write with both hands. I like to sleep on the floor and did so right up until I married Daniel. I was caught eating sticks of butter when I was a toddler (but only once, I'll have you know!). I like to climb trees.

Cardboard Mashmallow Puffs Part 2

So, I was trying to think of alternate uses for my favorite cereal. After a brief brainstorm, this is what I came up with:

• Make Rice Crispy Treats
• Fill up some Pinatas
• Spread them out on the sidewalk for extra traction when its icy
  
• Place them under the tires if I get stuck in the snow
• Donate them to the Boy-scouts
• Use them as packing material
• Feed it to the local wildlife
  
• Use them to soak up oil spills
• Mix into concrete for extra color
• Make a zen "rock" Garden
• Use it as insulation

Let me know if you have any other ideas.

Job Descriptions

Why is it that every time I look at a job posting, the would-be employer always says something like:

You must be a motivated, self-starter and team player with a great attitude, excellent communication skills and great sense of design.

Honestly, if every job posting I look at says this, is it really necessary? Do they actually think that somewhere out there there is a job description like this:

You must be a slothful, demotivated loner with a bad attitude, habitual mumbling and must like Memphis-style design.

Mind you, my complaining about this doesn't mean I am a demotivated mumbling disgruntled lone designer. It just means I am a motivated, self-starting disgruntled designer.

And another thing. Who are these companies to say what is good design? I am sure all the friends in the Memphis boxing ring thought they were high on the design hog in their day, but really... look what they did to the 80's.

I am sure the hiring process could be considerably less inefficient if HR would just list the keywords that their database program is looking for.

Hi, we are So-n-so Inc, everything about us is on our website. We are looking for someone with 3 Years of experience and skills in:

• Solidworks / ProE
  
• Illustrator
• Photoshop
• Product Presentations
• Exact0-blades
• Making us lots of money

If you don't have these keywords on your resume, our robots will totally ignore your existence. Have a nice day.

Is that so hard?

Bulk Marshmallow Puffs

Product Review:
I thought I would give you all an update on how our food storage accumulation is going. One of our most recent acquisitions was a purchase of some Marshmallow Rice Crispies from a BulkFoods.com. From the images, it looks like Rice Crispies meets Marshmallow Maties; a winning combination, in my opinion. With Charity's reluctant endorsement, we bought 10lbs of it. Coming in at $1.49/lb, we (I) figured this was an incredible deal. Plus, who would want to have to pre-mix Rice Crispies and Marshmallow Maties? With this product we get both in a convenient (large) package.


The big day arrived when our bulk marshmallow cereal came in the mail.

I was impressed at the shear volume of product they managed to put in the unassuming exterior box. Right away, I knew that they did not concern themselves with frivolous packaging designs and marketing gimmicks. Product presentation definitely gets high marks.


As suspected, the individual product units were dimensioned in such a way that they easily fit into our standardized food storage container. Once again, I was impressed with the foresight of the food makers in allowing for such versatility.


I picked out my favorite green bowl for the inaugural meal. The green glaze was a perfect compliment to the golden tan rice puffs.

I was ready for a slam-dunk finish to my quest for cheap bulk breakfast cereal when I took my first bite. I then took a second bite. And then a third. The texture of the Rice Crispy components had a cardboard-ish kind of taste to them. The marshmallow parts were a bit stale... Even after I left them in my milk for several minutes. Despite the high marks in other areas, I was underwhelmed at the taste performance.

Here was Charity during my ordeal:

No, that's not smugness from her utter disinterest in my cereal quest, but rather her pure and innocent satisfaction she derives from so-called natural foods.

Conclusion:

(+'s) Breakfast of Champions:

• Volume of Cereal - For me, quantity is a type of quality.
• Packaging - Simple and utilitarian, free from marketing madness
• Appearance - Looks like it could taste good.

(-'s) Marshmallow Cardboard Puffs:

• Awful taste
• 9.9 lbs to go

Verdict:
Don't fall for it.

Playtime

Our little boy is definitely an energetic child. We have a lot of fun playing with him already. I enjoy watching and feeling his antics, most of the time. It is such an amazing sensation to feel him doing somersaults inside of me. At times I look down and my belly is dancing of its own volition. He seems to get the hiccups more frequently now which leads to his 'dancing' being a little more rhythmic than usual.:) Other times I see a definite slope to the right or the left as he defines the limits of his space. Every once in awhile I swear he is tickling me with his foot by running it along my pelvic line. His antics have lead to me appearing crazy on a number of occasions as I have burst into laughter or poked back at him or reprimanded my belly. I'm having a great time.

He seems to enjoy playing with us already. When I press in, he presses out in the same spot soon after. It's our own form of Simon-says and I love it. Daniel is also in awe of our little person. He was able to catch a foot the other day and hold onto it as the little one tried to tickle his mama. We are having a great time and are looking forward to meeting our little ball of energy on the outside soon.

Happy Valentine's (or Our Short History)

I could give a lot of excuses for why I haven't planned anything for Valentine's this year but I won't. I will say, however, that my sister-in-law inspired me with her blog. I have been wracking my brain to think of something that I could do that Daniel would appreciate and that would make a good memory. So I decided to blog about us, basing it off of the survey questions that she had posted.

1. How long have you been together? Two years total. Nine months and three days married life.

2. How old is he? 28

3. How old are you? 26

4. Who eats more? Depends on what we are eating. I win any contest with vegetables.

5. Who said "I love you" first? Daniel

6. Who is taller? Daniel

7. Who sings better? Me, but that's because I practice more. (That may change as Daniel has started to sing primary songs with me around the house.)

8. Who is smarter? Depends on the subject. Daniel is the technology guru and very good with his creative abilities. I am the math, English, and organization. We make a very good team.

9. Who does all the laundry? We usually trade off. It is what gets done by whoever is avoiding doing something they dislike more.

10. Who does the dishes? Mostly me, but Daniel has been doing them a lot more now that I don't bend so well to reach the dishwasher.

11. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? That changes depending on where the bathroom is located. I usually call the side closest to the bathroom.

12. Who pays the bills? Whoever gets them from the mailbox most of the time.

13. Who mows the lawn? No lawn yet.

14. Who cooks dinner? Whoever gets home first usually. Daniel is a fabulous cook. He recently made a very good Minestrone from our food storage goods.

15. Who is more stubborn? Definitely me.

16. Who kissed whom first? Daniel kissed me first.

17. Who asked whom out first? Daniel asked me out first. We had been 'recommended' to each other by a CES missionary and when we finally did meet he suggested we go to IKEA together to look at stuff and eat their Swedish meatballs with Lingenberry Sauce. We ended up going on many other dates before actually making it to IKEA and by then we were holding hands.

18. Who proposed? Daniel.

19. Who is more sensitive? Me.

20. Who has more friends? Daniel.

21. Who has more siblings? Me. I have three brothers and two sisters. Daniel has two older brothers.

22. Who wears the pants in the relationship? We both wear pants. :)

23. Where did you meet your husband? Princeton Institute NJ. Daniel was working for Machineart and I was working for Church and Dwight, Inc.

24. What was the first thing you said to your husband? I don't remember. I think it is in email format somewhere. Something introducing myself... I'll see if I can find the email to attach.

25. Where was the first kiss? We went walking on a nature path near my apartment. We had enjoyed coming there before to catch fireflies and frogs. It was a Sunday and the sun was setting. We stopped on a bridge overlooking a pond and Daniel kissed me. Good memories.

26. Did you have a long or short courtship/engagement? Our first contact/email was in February 2006. We were engaged January 1st 2007 and married on May 11, 2007.

27. Where did you get engaged? Phase one, sometime as we both realized that things were getting serious (around late December-ish). Phase two, at the Quakerbridge Mall soon after purchasing a beautiful engagement ring (Jan. 1) while getting a bite to eat. Phase three, at my apartment after I had my nails done (to properly show the ring), and he proposed (on both knees for effect:)).

28. Where did you get married? In the Washington D.C. Temple.

29. How did the reception go? We had a pre-reception at a friends' house in Montgomery, NJ a few weeks before the wedding. We had a open house the evening of the wedding at Daniel's parents' home in Winchester, VA. Both events went very well. The food was great, the photographer was amazing, and everyone had a good time. Plus, I got to do what I wanted; which was to see my family and friends without the stress I was afraid I would feel.

30. How was the honeymoon? It was a time apart. We went to the Bahamas and had a great time. We discovered that not many people get up to see the sun rise on a cruise ship or go out to see it set. We discovered hammocks in the shade and had fun dreaming about the future. It was idyllic.

:DC: cre bo tcheu

Provident Living (and Spending)

Saturday marked the culmination of months of planning and the beginning of a new era of food management for our family.

Charity has spent countless hours building a database of information that has tracked how we eat food and how much it has cost us. For example, over the last 3 months, among other things, we have eaten the following vegetables:

• 1 lb cabbage
• 17lbs carrots
• 5 stk celery
• 2.5lb corn
• 1 cucumber
• 10lb broccoli
• 5lb peas
• .5 lb garlic
• 3lb lentils
• 12 lb onion
• 15lb potatoes
• 18 heads of romaine
• 2lb split peas
• 48 tomatoes

What can I say, we love our vegetables.

Through careful research and analysis (Charity is an engineer, of course!), we have done a cost comparison of all the major grocery outlets, online stores, bulk food suppliers, and other foodstuffs venues, and discovered where the good deals were. For example We can see that on December 14th, 2007, we paid $1.50 for 2 lbs of carrots. What a deal!

From that information we have gained an understanding of what food typically costs, how much we eat of it, and where the best prices tend to be. At this point, I sense a lot of you may be raising your eyebrow at our "enthusiasm" for detailing our food consumption. All I can say is that it's been real fun and informative.

We discovered that the Home Storage Center at the Bishop's Storehouse was the cheapest place to buy bulk Beans, Oats, and Wheat in the area where we live. So we set up an appointment to go in and serve at the Bishop's storehouse and also placed our order. You can see what they have here on their order form.



The Piscataway Bishop's Storehouse is located at
121 Ethel Rd W Ste 7
Piscataway, NJ 08854-5952

There phone is
(732) 248-7606

They are open from 5-9pm on Tuesdays and 8am-12pm on Saturdays if you wanted to go and help fill orders. The people that work here are some of the nicest you will ever meet. I highly recommend serving there.


Upon seeing the warehouse, Charity commented that she would love to own or run a place like this. I agree. When we were there, I couldn't help but feel that this was a wonderful gift to so many people. It is a place where I would like to find myself often.


After serving, we loaded up the car with our bulk foods. Photoshop you say? I don't know what you're talking about. That was all muscle!


Our food storage here is taking up the bulk of the back seat.


This is our food storage shelf, only slightly smaller than a warehouse.

The great thing is that we already know that we are going to be eating the foods that we bought. No mystery meats or exotic dehydrated menus for us! What a blessing it is to know that we have one more safety net in place in case of hard times. The prophets' counsel is truly inspired.

If you are interested in learning more about how we are planning our food storage system, we would be happy to share some of the results of our research.

Ten Things Better Left Unsaid

Treading carefully when communicating with a pregnant woman can be difficult. Below is a list of things that I would suggest you not say.

1. You're a big helper.
2. You're my all-round favorite girl.
3. You look pretty today. Not that you didn't yesterday... I mean... uh
4. Would you pick that up?
5. Didn't we have (insert food item) in the fridge?
6. I'm feeling fat.
7. Wow, I couldn't eat another bite.
8. Guess what? I've lost another couple pounds and I'm not even trying.
9. I think my pants are too big.
10. Did you know that your belly button sticks out when you laugh?

In all honesty, if said pregnant woman is not in a good mood or, shall we say, appears to not be at her best, it would be better to say nothing at all; just get her whatever she wants and don't ask what that is. :)

Hoover Leads to Fowl Play

We gained a very valuable addition to our household this weekend. Our old vacuum has become more of a tool for pushing the lint around the carpet, causing great frustration, than for actual vacuuming. I have pushed the vacuum back and forth one, two, three, four,... I'm sure it will work this time, five, arg! Only to admit defeat and crawl around the apartment with my lint roller, painsakingly going one foot at a time then unwinding the spent sticky-paper. But those days are now gone. Thank Heaven.

We stopped into Bed Bath & Beyond in the hopes of finding a vacuum that would work and not break the budget. We had researched them online and it seemed that those two goals were mutually exclusive. Not to mention that some of the vacuums out there are just plain ugly and I didn't want to get them no matter how cheap they were. We were blessed to find a vacuum that not only works and isn't too expensive but isn't ugly. And there was much rejoicing.

Upon exiting the store we were skipping with joy in anticipation when we noted a flock of seagulls loitering in the parking lot. Then we got an idea! An awful idea! THE GRINCHes GOT A WONDERFUL, AWFUL IDEA!

Now, please don't ask why. No one quite knows the reason. It could be that our heads weren't screwed on just right. It could be, perhaps, that our shoes were too tight. But I think that the most likely reason of all is that we had ... no reason at all.