Thanksgiving

We had a Thanksgiving luncheon for work and I couldn't decide between two awesome dessert ideas.... so I made both!

Happy Thanksgiving!
May the day be full of thanks and turkey!

Newsflash!

I'm not a morning person. I never have been a morning person. I consider the four years that I had to go to early morning seminary (and I actually remained awake for it) as a fluke. I'm still not a morning person. I'd rather stay up late and get things accomplished instead of telling myself that I'll get up early to do it all. I have 2 alarms that go off every morning (3 if you count Tim's) and I still hit the snooze button for another 15 minutes.

When we lived in Provo, I had a 10 minute drive to work, so I got out of bed around 6:45. The main thing I was worried about when we moved to Murray was that I would have to get up earlier for my 45 minute drive to work. No... I get out of bed at 7. I just really don't do mornings.

Now, I married a morning person. If he even tries to get me out of bed early (because I asked him to) he gets kicked and mumbled at. Or I just pretend to be a limp body until he leaves me alone. If he manages to get me out of bed, then I hop back in once he's in the shower. If I have somewhere to be, I stay in bed til the last possible moment and then I get ready.

The funny thing is that on Saturday mornings, I'm awake by 8 and then I just can't go back to sleep. I blame my father for this one. His rule was that you weren't allowed to sleep in on the weekends but had to get out of bed and help with the housework. So, I'm just cursed... my sleeping in never happens.

The reason I bring this all up is my brilliant idea that allows me to sleep a little longer, eat a little healthier, and save a little money.

When I get up in the morning and get ready for work, I never have time to make a lunch because I would rather go out to eat than get up a little bit earlier. (Yes, I am that pathetic.) When I was in New Mexico this summer, my mom gave me some tupperware containers... a decent size for a lunch. Upon my arrival at home, I realized that I could actually use them for lunch and just take leftovers to work. Yeah, that didn't happen. If I actually took the leftovers out of the fridge and put it in the container, I was late for work. So then I tried putting them in the night before... and half the time I forgot, the other half was I didn't want that for lunch because we were having it for dinner too.

Then I came up with my idea... I'll make 2, maybe 3, meals a week (most recipes feed 6 people, and there are only 2 of us). One meal becomes dinner and we just have leftovers every night. (I love me some leftovers!) The other meal gets divided into 10 containers after its made and Tim & I just grab one every morning on the way to work. BINGO! Lunch is served. (We do grab some fruit too, but that's already prepared.)

Since we've been doing this, we've had healthier lunches and we actually have saved money. Well, I have because I haven't been going out to eat. Tim really hasn't 'cause Mr. Morning over here always got out of bed early enough to make a lunch. So meet this week's lunch... Buddy & Tony's chicken... notice the steam on the containers... it's fresh!


And Tim sent me those flowers at work for just no reason at all... I love him!

Confession

I have a confession to make....

I have an addiction.

Don't worry, it's not drugs or alcohol. Nothing like that... but I am addicted to books.

When I was a kid, I would read a book a day... I mean, the librarian knew my name and didn't need my library card to let me check out a book. Now, it's not so much a matter of obtaining books from the library, it's more of getting them for the library.

My dream is to have a house with its own library. The kind with busts placed periodically around the room and a rolling ladder to reach those high up books, a really big comfy chair to curl up in with my warm blanket and a fireplace. (I'd like a cat there too, but I can't really see Tim allowing that one.)

I knew when I was looking for my eternal companion that he would have to have a love of the written word. That's why I was so excited when Tim and I spent one of our first dates just talking about books! (Yes, I am nerdy.) When we were moving into our first place together, one of the biggest disagreements we had was about how to organize our books. I'm a fan of placing them in size order to make them pleasing to the eye (also, I have problems remembering authors, but I know what each book looks like) and Tim wanted them alphabetically by author (he knows authors but not looks.) So we compromised, all of the "secular" books (anything not church related) are by size and all church books are by author.

The reason I mention this addiction of mine is simple... I'm also a tad bit OCD about my books. No spine is creased, no pages marred (or dog-eared), and absolutely no writing. Tim's not that obsessive with his books, but I actually have people afraid of marring my books. It's not that it ruins the book or anything, I just like to have nice, clean, mint condition books sitting on my bookshelves looking pretty.

Despite my OCD, I still lend my books out. (And they do come back in the original condition, for which I am truly thankful.) My friend at work (I borrow tons of her books) turned me on to a new idea. I normally don't have a problem keeping tract of who borrows what books, but I decided I wanted my books to feel like they belong to an institution. So I bought it and spent the weekend using my new toy. I have a ton of books to go, but I think all the books will feel like they belong. So now, if you borrow a book of mine, look for this little logo in the upper corner on the inside cover page.

Welcome to my library.

The stamp is from Sweet Papery. www.sweetpapery.com

Some random pictures

Firsts...

This weekend I was able to make my first wedding cake. My friend's grandmother got married and I got to do the cake! Here's how it turned out...


I handmade each little flower and put a little pink dot in the middle and then hand placed it on the cake. It took awhile, but I'm happy with the results and my friend liked it a lot too. I just hope her grandmother did.

I found this last night going through some old pictures and I thought I would share it with whomever reads my blog.

First things first.... Lori, I love the outfit! Travis, love the hair. And it seems as if Andrea never grows older. (This picture was taken 12 years ago.) Tim had weight problems back then... you can tell his belt is struggling to hold his too big pants up. And finally, I love Aunt Sylvia in the background peeking through! I love this family!

Road trips!

This is backdating a bit, but I'm going to blog about it anyway...

The last weekend of July, Tim and I decided to head to Colorado to go to WaterWorld because apparently "it's the best waterpark ever" (Tim's words) and I decided I needed to see it. Naturally, it wouldn't be fun going with just the two of us, so we took Phil & Lori's family along... then we made it perfect by bringing Nicholas and Natalie Tholstrom with us! I don't understand why people say traveling with kids is hard... they were perfect for the whole 7 hour drive.

WaterWorld was fun, but I think I want to go back when it's warmer. The wind was blowing so it was a little cool, but the rides were fun and we didn't even get a chance to go on all that we wanted to. (Sorry, no pictures of that, I didn't want my camera to get wet.)


The next day, Phil & Lori took the whole gang to a statue park that was really kinda neat. We rode on a fun little train that took you around a small area of the park. The kids and Tim and I traveled in the cattle car of the train that was just a bit cramped for us. Luckily, it was a short ride.

We had a great weekend with Phil & Lori and their kids and it was nice being with Nick & Natalie as well. I'm sure all the cousins had a great time.