Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Failure Day

Things happen in patterns at work. When I have a large group of students test they are primarily almost all boys or all girls. But today is a fail day. I would say about 80% of the students that have tested have failed today. Kind of crazy, but that seems to be how it is going .
STAY AWAY FROM TESTING TODAY!!!!

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Huh?

Ok , I have two windows at work. One the out side looks like a clear windy spring morning. The other is Very cloudy and winter stormy.
I imagine that the wind is pushing the clouds east.
But man when I first saw it I was puzzled.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Presents

I love shopping for presents! I also love making presents.
I love giving a personal touch to them. Taking the time to think about the person and what they like.
Last night I went shopping with my little brother for a present for his girlfriend. He was set on a gift certificate.
Aaaaaahh!!!!
The cop out gift! (Unless it is for a wedding present or for someone out of state. In that case it is the perfect present.)

So our first stop was Borders to pick up a book for his English class. While we were there I asked what she liked, Is there a book you really like and think she would like. etc...
After a few min of talk Justin and I got him to buy her a book. A book he really enjoyed and though she would like. Yes!
Another score for thoughtful gifts. I just wonder how he packaged it? Anyways I hope she enjoys the book.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

New Additions to our Family!

This weekend we got 2 fancy rats.
They are super cute we have named them: Magellan, because he explores whenever we have him out, and can't wait to get out of his cage, and Macbeth, because he grooms himself frequently.
They are super cute.
I took some pictures, but non of them turned out.
They spent most of yesterday evening in Justin's sweatshirt.
they loved climbing around inside it, and poking there heads out of his arm sleeves. They are pretty fun pets.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Twilight Movie

The worst movie I have ever seen. And I enjoy some bad movies.
I just couldn't finish it. I didn't want to. I didn't even care.
And I really don't want to read the books now. Too cheesy and way to over dramatic. The movie was just trying to be to serious. Also could you have picked worse actors?
Anyways, not my favorite movie, but I did have a few good laughs while I was watching it. I just would not recommend the movie or the books to anyone.

It is no Harry Potter!

Friday, March 20, 2009

Happy First Day of Spring!

My top 5 things I am excited for this SPRING!

  • Riding my bike to work. No more gas gussleing for me!
  • FLOWERS!!!!! I can not wait for them to bloom!
  • Being out side! Does not matter what it is running, hiking, garden work etc.
  • BBQ! And any our door cooking! I love to do it!
  • Spring cleaning.
#1 thing I am not excited for
  • SPIDERS

Thursday, March 19, 2009

36-year-old Swedish countess says she needs more than $53,000 a week

This was a headline on MSN this morning.

36-year-old Swedish countess says she needs more than $53,000 a week


What one earth is she buying weekly that costs that much?

That is more than most people make in a year!

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Pizza, how I love thee.

I love Pizza.
It was the first solid food I ever ate.
It is so versatile, and delicious.
I make pizza very frequently. Here is a recipe that I use all the time:

Crust

  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 2 teaspoons yeast
  • 1 1/2 cups of warm to luke warm water

In a bowl combine the above ingredients. Let sit for 5 min. If it has bubbled, your yeast is good and is ready to mix in with the flour. If not toss it and get some new yeast.

  • 3-4 cups of flour
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil

In your mixer mix together the above ingredients. When the yeast mixture is ready add that and mix together until well blended. Then I change to my kneading attachment. I usually knead the bread for 3 to 5 min. I add more flour here if needed. You want your dough to be smooth and not tacky.

Then I spray a bowl with Pam and put a towel over the top and let the dough rise for about an hour or until the dough has doubled in size.
This will make about 2 medium to large pizza's.

While the dough rises I make sauce and cut up any vegetables and grate cheese.

Sauce

  • 1 can tomato sauce
  • 1 can tomato paste
  • 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar (depends on how sweet you want the sauce)
  • 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
  • salt and pepper to taste

I take a few liberties with the sauce. I add extra garlic and onion and sometimes more sugar. make sure you taste your sauce so you get it to where you want it to be. I like it a little on the sweet side. And feel free to add anything you want:)

Cheese

  • 1 to 3 cups mozzarella cheese
  • Parmesan cheese

Just depends on how cheesy you want your pizza. I put the Parmesan cheese on last.

Veggies

  • 1/2 bell pepper
  • small can pineapple
  • small can olives
  • 2 mushrooms
  • 1 tomato

These are some veggies I like. You can put what ever you want on your pizza.

Butter for crust

  • 1/2 a stick of butter
  • 1 teaspoon garlic
  • 1/4 teaspoon onion
  • pinch of parsley
  • salt and pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a pot. Turn off heat and add the ingredients. Mix together well.
I add chili seeds to give it a little heat.

Heat the oven to about 350 ( it is hard to tell what heat my oven is at ;)
roll out the dough to what ever size pizza you would like. Smooth on sauce, add a thin layer of cheese, add some veggies and add more cheese. When you are satisfied with the topping and cheese ratio sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Then with a basting brush liberally apply the butter mixture to the crust. Make sure you leave some for the 2nd pizza! Put the pizza in the oven and let cook for about 15 min. Or until the crust is brown and the cheese on top begins to brown.
Take the pizza out of the oven and apply butter to the crust again. (this will help your crust be flavorful and keep it from getting to crunchy.)

The dough also makes really great bread sticks and cheesy bread sticks. If you are making bread sticks double the butter recipe. If you want them to be extra flavorful add some of the butter mixture to the bottom of the bread sticks too. If you do the cheesy bread sticks you will want to put the butter on before the cheese and also after the cheese.

If you want it to be a little healthier don't add the butter ;) And have lots of veggies!

Enjoy!

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Raccons?


So we think we have Raccoons. Good times...

We saw some tracks on Christmas in our driveway. So we knew that there were some in the area.

But, yesterday morning we had some of our tulips ripped out, dug out, and chewed down to the ground. I was a little irritated, but it was only a few plants, they could have done worse damage then they did.

Also, how can you be mad at something so cute?

Monday, March 16, 2009

5k fun!

Justin and I had a great time running the 5k.
I was super happy with how I did!!!
I ran the whole thing in a little under 35 min!!!! I was expecting like 45 min.
I can't wait for the one in Provo next month.
I felt great afterwords and I was not sore. So I guess next month I need to push myself a little more.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Garden Photo update

Our garden is coming on nicely.  The roses look great. We are seeing new growth everywhere! We have a ton of tulips in our front yard. I was surprised at how many bulbs we dug up planting our Iris' fire pokers and roses. I can't wait for things to bloom! I can't wait for it to stop frosting in the morning so I can plant my summer bulbs.

Pillows!

I can't wait to make pillows tonight!
Yesterday I walked to the fabric shop up the street from us to find some snaps to finish my curtains. I was so excited to find some fabric that matches my curtains in our bedroom! Up to this point I had not been able to find any thing that matched which made me a bit worried about the accent color of our room. (it is a rusty orange color)
I am super excited!!!
Justin is not too excited to be adding 3 more pillows to our bed. oh well...

It is great I am finally feeling like our house is starting to come together. Things match and are not just thrown together out of necessity. I will post pictures soon of how things are coming on!

Server to Busy...

Ok so I went to check my hotmail account this morning and it said the server was too busy. What? I have not seen a message like that in years.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

5k Reminder!!!!


UVU's student athletes are sponsoring the 2nd annual Green Fever 5k Run/Walk!!!
Justin and I did the walk last year and it was a lot of fun.

Race information:
Location: McKay Events Center at UVU

Registration: 8:00 a.m.

5k race: 9:00
One mile
Fun Run/Walk: 9:30 a.m.

Early registration is $15.00 per person Day of Race registration is $20.00

All Ages are invited and the money goes to the Orem Rotary Club

Check out the web site link for more information.
The race is this weekend, I can't wait to see you there!!!

Saturdays Race Results

In the 110 hurdles I was slow and sluggish. My hurdles form was all over the place and I ran a pretty slow time (it's only the second time I've run the 110 hurdles at college height). I'm not too worried about it.

The 400 hurdles went really well. What I'm most proud of is the fact that I was gaining ground on the guy who won after I messed up. It's a good sign that my endurance is better than I thought it was.


Justin

Just a side note Justin got home Sunday morning at 3 a.m. And we finally got to sleep around 6. And woke up around 12. We are both extremely tiered. It has been almost 2 years since I have stayed up this late.
Hmmm, oddly enough I was up that late with Justin that last time too...

Katie

Friday, March 6, 2009

Resolutions Update

So I thought it would be good to update how I am doing with my new years resolutions. Two months in lets see how I am doing...
  • Exercise:Oooh man the last week in February I crashed and burned. No exercise at all. That is not good. This week has also not been good. We are just to busy! I need to work on making time and just doing it this month.
  • Eat Healthier. Still doing pretty well. Last night I had fish and chips. I will not have a fried dinner for the rest of the month :)
  • Clean everyday: I am still doing well with this one! I am soooo happy! It makes getting weekend projects done much more fun, and much easier.
  • Bake Bread: yeah I have not made bread. Unless you count pizza and bread sticks... And we did get wheat this last week. So slowly making progress.
  • Use my Cookbooks: I am reading my Martha Stewart Cook Book. I really like it! And I used the Italian Cookbook, and the Better Homes and Gardens Cook book also last month.
Ok so 2 out of 5 are being regularly done. I still need improvement.

All BY Myself....

So I found out last night that Justin gets to go to Las Vegas! He left this morning to run at UNLV.
I hope he does well! Go Justin!!!!

But I will be alone again this weekend...
Thankfully I still have lots of spring cleaning to do so I will tackle that this weekend, oh and also give my self some pampering time. I love that time:)

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Snow, snow go away!!!!

I am super excited for spring. Everyday more and more flowers are popping up through the ground. I have a bunch of summer bulbs I want to plant. If it would only stop snowing!!!! We now have 5 new roses. I am excited about them. We bought 2 peach 1 yellow 1 red and 1 white. Justin and I really hope the snow last night didn't kill them.
I am almost finished weeding out the grass in the planter box on the side of the house. Now we need to clear out the planter in the drive way and the one in the front yard.
Justin and Jace, our upstairs neighbor, Have been working on trimming back the 2 beasts of bushes on the side yard. I am very excited to get everything looking nice.
I have always wanted a flower garden I am super excited to have one!!! I may drive Justin crazy in the next few months. I will want to go and get more flower seeds and bulbs! Like yesterday, we needed to get a trowel and we came away with the trowel and 12 more bulbs and another rose:) And as soon as it is time to start planting food, I will go crazy with that too!
Spring can't come soon enough!!!!

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Race Results


Justin did well in the 60 meter hurdles!!!
He got 4th place!
This is the photo finish.