After a weekend that went by remarkably fast, despite us actually having very little to do, I was bound to forget something come Monday morning. And today, that something was my camera cord. So, no pictures today, and subsequently my original plan for a post is out the window. But, I came across this little activity on a blog I follow, so I thought I'd give it a whirl!
All About Me ABCs
Age: 25
Bed Size: Queen
Chore You Hate: Doing the dishes. Especially after messy meals where there is all kinds of floating food particle stuff in the water. Thank goodness for dishwashers--I usually offer to load that while Darrell cleans the cookware that isn't dishwasher safe
Dogs: Definitely love them. My sister, however, hates them. So I guess that's one less houseguest we have to worry about once we get one?
Essential Start to Your Day: Breakfast. It's a must.
Favorite Color: Green. Which is unfortunate, because this time of year in the Midwest there is virtually NO green to be found
Gold or Silver: Silver for sure. I don't think I own a single piece of gold jewelry
Height: 5'6"/5'7"
Instruments You Play: I can work my way through a percussion section of a band pretty adeptly. I've also been known to rock out a few tunes on the piano (basic, 5th grade level tunes, but hey, it's something)
Job Title: Tutor. Coincidently, that's technically true at both jobs. It sounds much fancier on my resume though
Kids: Someday! And we'd both love to have somewhere in the ball park of four kids--so I'm sorta thinking we should maybe start in the next year or two. Maybe.
Live: Ummm...as opposed to die? Definitely going with Live
Mom's Name: Sherry (not Sherri or Sheri or Cherri or any other variation thereof that she's seen)
Nicknames: I go by Jess instead of Jessica, does that count? I had a few in college from my soccer teammates, but no one calls me those any more
Overnight Hospital Stays: None!
Pet Peeve: Poor grammar. I don't care if it's emails or texts or what--"I" is always capitalized, periods and commas cannot be neglected, and OH MY GOODNESS every computer and email system has a spell-check option--USE IT! When I find errors like this in professional, printed documents it always makes me highly agitated (for the record, I realize that I'm not perfect, but at least I make an effort)
Quote From a Movie: The only thing I really quote is the "Friends" TV show. And I quote that show All. The. Time. "Dude we are sooo gonna party" "Okay, dude alert" :-D
Righty or Lefty: Righty. But I've been known to bowl a mean strike with my left hand
Siblings: 2 by blood--older sister and younger brother, but I also consider Darrell's two sisters to be my siblings as well
Time You Wake Up: Between 6:15 and 6:30, which I don't consider to be too terrible
Underwear: Green today! (and that's all the details you need to know on that topic)
Vegetables You Dislike: This list has gotten significantly shorter since Darrell and I have been together. The only (common) vegetables I'll list--cauliflower and brussels sprouts--are really only on that list because I've never really tried them. Tomatoes could maybe go on the list as well--I certainly eat them, but the smaller the chunks the better. And don't even get me started on people who eat slices of tomato plain--ugh!
What Makes You Late: Forgetting stuff. I tend to do this a lot. Or my family. They've always been good at making me late
X-Rays: Never had any except at the dentist
Yummy Food that You Make: Sweets! I've come across and prepared a few disastrous meals, but my sweets usually come out a-okay! And whenever I'm looking to impress, I pull out my Great Aunt Rose's recipe for Sticky Rolls--it's always a winner at brunch!
Zoo Animal Favorite: Elephants! Too bad the Sioux Falls zoo is lame and doesn't have any.... Penguins and monkeys are usually the most fun to watch though. Oh, and meerkats! Our zoo recently got some of those and they were a hoot when we were down there last summer
Don't you feel so much closer to me already? Good. Now get back to being productive with your life
Tales of a South Dakotan married to a North Carolinian
Monday, February 28, 2011
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Pasta with Thai Peanut Sauce
Yay! A worthwhile post that isn't just a bunch of random ramblings! At least its more than just ramblings... I won't deny that it isn't still filled with randomness :-D
After a weeks absence from our kitchen, we were finally able to muster up the time to prepare an actual home-cooked meal. And clean. Which was very necessary. Because our kitchen looked like this:
After a weeks absence from our kitchen, we were finally able to muster up the time to prepare an actual home-cooked meal. And clean. Which was very necessary. Because our kitchen looked like this:
And this photo was taken after Darrell had already loaded up nearly half the dishwasher with dishes (you also can't see the four dirty pots on our stove...). You may think that two people who aren't home for meals and cooking would have a perfectly clean kitchen... But not us. Someone (I won't say who....) just had to do some baking before our trip (granola bars for snacks in the car!) and for an event at work. And let's face it, when the goodies don't get done until 10:45 at night--those dishes just aren't getting washed. Pair that with breakfast dishes and leftover containers, and you have quite full counters. And yes--that is my laptop on our kitchen counter. The ever-growing number of cooking blogs I read has resulted in a plethora of online recipes, so it just seems like an easy solution to read the recipe off the computer. Unfortunately, my computer is a little worse for the wear because of it (we had a major water incident a few months ago...), but we're hoping to replace this laptop sometime within the year anyway, so it wouldn't be the end of the world if it met an early demise (although not "early" early--this bad boy is seven years old!)
Anyway, onto the recipe. When we did finally have the time to get back into the kitchen, we pulled out a recipe that was a hit the first time we made it. The only modification we made the second time around was to add a little bit of shredded cooked chicken to the recipe just so that it made a more balanced main dish instead of a side. And yes--it makes a lot for two people, but I almost think the recipe is better as leftovers because the flavors have more time to come together. Without further ado, I give you:
Pasta with Thai Peanut Sauce
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
1/4 soy sauce
1 tbsp orange zest
splash of orange juice
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp all spice
1 tbsp cilantro leaves (we omitted these)
1 lb thin spaghetti, cooked
Shredded, cooked chicken (if desired--we used about a pound)
Whisk together all ingredients except the cilantro, spaghetti, and chicken in a medium saucepan over medium head until smooth. Cook for five minutes, or just until mixture comes to a boil, stirring frequently. Pour sauce over hot spaghetti, toss until well coated. Mix in chicken. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve.
Super easy, right? So easy, in fact, that I got home at eight and had dinner on the table by eight-thirty. ALL BY MYSELF. It was a very prideful moment for me. I had three different pots/pans on the stove, simultaneously cooking the pasta, chicken, and sauce. Which is why there aren't any pictures of the prep work.
Seriously, though, we've taken a real liking to this recipe. It's a great alternative to a traditional marinara or Alfredo sauce, and it doesn't leave the pasta overly saucy or too dry (which is hard to tell in the photo because we use whole-wheat pasta which actually ends up being the same color of the sauce). It's just enough to coat everything nicely and give it good flavor. You should really give it a try!
Friday, February 25, 2011
Church Confusion
Darrell and I currently attend the church that I grew up at in Sioux Falls. It's a nice church, we like it well enough, and it's one of the few churches in town that hasn't gone too contemporary for our tastes. But there's one major problem. The members of the church seem to be having a difficult time understanding that I no longer have the last name of my parents. Despite the fact that we got married at that church, which means that on the Sunday after our wedding our Pastor commented about how the flowers on the alter were from our ceremony and then said a prayer for us during the prayers (not that I was at church the morning after my wedding, but I know she does this after all weddings a members in the church).
The first incident was forgivable--we went to get our photo taken for the new church directory about three months after the wedding and when we walked in the church ladies who were checking people in exclaimed "Oh, so you're this couple! We were wondering who this Darrell and Jess was". We laughed, thought the old ladies were cute, and promptly forgot about it. Until about three months later (so we've been married six months at this point) when we agreed to help serve Communion. The person from the church who was organizing the volunteers called Darrell's cell, found a date that worked for us, mailed us a reminder, and printed our names in the bulletin. After church that day he comes up to me and says "I was so confused when you walked up to help with Communion! I knew I had called a Darrell and Jess, but when I saw you go up there I thought maybe there had been a change or something at the last minute. But then I realized that you ARE the same Jess just with a different last name!" This fact was very amusing to him--we just smiled along and nodded our heads in agreement.
Well, nothing had happened for awhile, so we thought maybe we were in the clear. How mistaken we were. Two weeks ago we signed up to be greeters at church (check it off the 101 in 1001 list!). As we were greeting members going into church, and after church while we were serving at coffee hour, we got at least five comments from members about how they had never made the connection that the couple "Darrell and Jess" was indeed, the "Darrell and Jess" that I was a part of. Mind you, I don't think our church has any other Darrells, or even any other Jessicas for that matter, so there aren't a whole lot to confuse them with. People even told us that when they saw our name printed in the church magazine saying that we were going to be greeters they thought it was new members. At this point the joke is starting to get a little old. Especially to Darrell--he joined the church over a year before our wedding, so in theory people should be familiar with him and his name, and then pair with that the fact that we arrive together and sit together EVERY Sunday--it should be a fairly simple equation. But it's not. And it gets worse.
Last week the new directories came out. Darrell and I were out of town so we didn't get a chance to get ours, but at dinner with my parents on Tuesday night we heard all about them. Apparently, in the photo directory segment of the directory, Darrell and I are clearly listed as a married couple, and my parents have my brother in their photo with them, which is also clearly stated. But in the back, where they have the addresses listed, I'm listed under my parent's address. Sure, I'm also there under the address that Darrell and I live at together--and with my married name, obviously. Under my parent's listing? I'm there with my maiden name. Despite the fact that I haven't lived at that address (as my main place of residence) for over four years--and the fact that I no longer have that name. On any legal document (birth certificate aside, obviously). Awesome. And I guess that goof just added to the confusion that was already brewing, because yesterday I got a letter from church addressed to "Jessica (maiden name) (married name)". Seriously?
I'm a little torn on what to do--part of me says that we should become uber-active so that everyone FINALLY puts two and two together... But part of me also doesn't want to do that because then we're going to have to deal with MORE "Oh, I didn't realize you were married!" "Oh, I didn't realize you were THAT Jess" comments until everyone DOES put two and two together. Ugh.
Disclaimer: I fully realize that this is a total non-issue. And I fully realized that I've blown it up into a way bigger deal than it actually is. I really didn't intend for it to get that snarky, but it just kind of came out once I got started. And I was kind of having fun with it so I didn't want to go back and change it. So, to any of my fellow church-goers (if there are any of you reading...doubtful), please don't take this insultingly. I'm merely over-exaggerating a comical situation.
The first incident was forgivable--we went to get our photo taken for the new church directory about three months after the wedding and when we walked in the church ladies who were checking people in exclaimed "Oh, so you're this couple! We were wondering who this Darrell and Jess was". We laughed, thought the old ladies were cute, and promptly forgot about it. Until about three months later (so we've been married six months at this point) when we agreed to help serve Communion. The person from the church who was organizing the volunteers called Darrell's cell, found a date that worked for us, mailed us a reminder, and printed our names in the bulletin. After church that day he comes up to me and says "I was so confused when you walked up to help with Communion! I knew I had called a Darrell and Jess, but when I saw you go up there I thought maybe there had been a change or something at the last minute. But then I realized that you ARE the same Jess just with a different last name!" This fact was very amusing to him--we just smiled along and nodded our heads in agreement.
Well, nothing had happened for awhile, so we thought maybe we were in the clear. How mistaken we were. Two weeks ago we signed up to be greeters at church (check it off the 101 in 1001 list!). As we were greeting members going into church, and after church while we were serving at coffee hour, we got at least five comments from members about how they had never made the connection that the couple "Darrell and Jess" was indeed, the "Darrell and Jess" that I was a part of. Mind you, I don't think our church has any other Darrells, or even any other Jessicas for that matter, so there aren't a whole lot to confuse them with. People even told us that when they saw our name printed in the church magazine saying that we were going to be greeters they thought it was new members. At this point the joke is starting to get a little old. Especially to Darrell--he joined the church over a year before our wedding, so in theory people should be familiar with him and his name, and then pair with that the fact that we arrive together and sit together EVERY Sunday--it should be a fairly simple equation. But it's not. And it gets worse.
Last week the new directories came out. Darrell and I were out of town so we didn't get a chance to get ours, but at dinner with my parents on Tuesday night we heard all about them. Apparently, in the photo directory segment of the directory, Darrell and I are clearly listed as a married couple, and my parents have my brother in their photo with them, which is also clearly stated. But in the back, where they have the addresses listed, I'm listed under my parent's address. Sure, I'm also there under the address that Darrell and I live at together--and with my married name, obviously. Under my parent's listing? I'm there with my maiden name. Despite the fact that I haven't lived at that address (as my main place of residence) for over four years--and the fact that I no longer have that name. On any legal document (birth certificate aside, obviously). Awesome. And I guess that goof just added to the confusion that was already brewing, because yesterday I got a letter from church addressed to "Jessica (maiden name) (married name)". Seriously?
I'm a little torn on what to do--part of me says that we should become uber-active so that everyone FINALLY puts two and two together... But part of me also doesn't want to do that because then we're going to have to deal with MORE "Oh, I didn't realize you were married!" "Oh, I didn't realize you were THAT Jess" comments until everyone DOES put two and two together. Ugh.
Disclaimer: I fully realize that this is a total non-issue. And I fully realized that I've blown it up into a way bigger deal than it actually is. I really didn't intend for it to get that snarky, but it just kind of came out once I got started. And I was kind of having fun with it so I didn't want to go back and change it. So, to any of my fellow church-goers (if there are any of you reading...doubtful), please don't take this insultingly. I'm merely over-exaggerating a comical situation.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Fitness Firsts
Well, after yesterday's awe-inspiring post, I figured things couldn't get much worse today. So I'll talk about going to the gym. Because everyone loves that topic. Although, to be technical, two of these "firsts" happened in the fitness room at the hotel we were staying at last weekend, so I suppose I'm a little misguided in calling this a discussion about the gym. But I digress.... On to the list of my recent fitness firsts (because lists are oh-so organized and make me happy):
1. Running at a speed of 8.0 mph (which is approximately a 7:30 mile). Granted, no way did I even get close to running a full mile at that speed, but I can honestly say I've never moved the speed up to that rate before. At least not while I was actively running on the treadmill (and yes, I am implying that I have been known to increase the speed of the treadmill belt while I was not actually running on it. So what).
2. Running in just a sports bra. While I can't honestly say that I've never done this, I can say that it's been ages. And I've certainly never gone running in just a sports bra in February before. But the fitness center at this hotel was located RIGHT next to the pool area, and despite the fact that the hotel didn't actually have a sauna, they kept the pool area heated warm enough that it could pass for one. I think I lasted all of seven minutes with my t-shirt. And then some awkward pre-teen boys came into the fitness room to talk to their mom--and decided they needed to stick around a get a workout in. Despite the fact that one of these boys looked like he lived on the couch. It was pleasantly awkward. But I suppose can take pride in the fact that I inspired some boys to be physically active, even if it was just for 15 minutes.
3. Going to the gym after a 12-hour day. Wednesdays are my dreaded 12-hour shifts (on a regular basis. Some weeks I have more thrown in just for fun), so I'm usually not getting home until 8:30. Well, I desperately needed to log some gym time this week--both Monday and Tuesday ended up being somewhat unexpected days off. So I bucked up at went to the gym at 8:30. And it was about as brutal as I thought it would be. I hadn't eaten since 3:30 (and that was just a measly yogurt), so I scarfed down a homemade granola bar on my way to the gym. Not so pleasant during a run. But I also don't run well on an empty--or nearly empty--stomach, so it was really like choosing the lesser of two evils. I don't think I'll be visiting the gym at 8:30 again--at least not without much more careful consideration about when and what I'm eating.
And what has been my reward for all this hard work? A handful of emails today from my mom about how important it is to ease into a spring fitness regime and the harms of too much endurance running. Awesome. Great positive motivation. I think she may be resenting the fact that she signed up to run the 5K with us in March... But that's just me
1. Running at a speed of 8.0 mph (which is approximately a 7:30 mile). Granted, no way did I even get close to running a full mile at that speed, but I can honestly say I've never moved the speed up to that rate before. At least not while I was actively running on the treadmill (and yes, I am implying that I have been known to increase the speed of the treadmill belt while I was not actually running on it. So what).
2. Running in just a sports bra. While I can't honestly say that I've never done this, I can say that it's been ages. And I've certainly never gone running in just a sports bra in February before. But the fitness center at this hotel was located RIGHT next to the pool area, and despite the fact that the hotel didn't actually have a sauna, they kept the pool area heated warm enough that it could pass for one. I think I lasted all of seven minutes with my t-shirt. And then some awkward pre-teen boys came into the fitness room to talk to their mom--and decided they needed to stick around a get a workout in. Despite the fact that one of these boys looked like he lived on the couch. It was pleasantly awkward. But I suppose can take pride in the fact that I inspired some boys to be physically active, even if it was just for 15 minutes.
3. Going to the gym after a 12-hour day. Wednesdays are my dreaded 12-hour shifts (on a regular basis. Some weeks I have more thrown in just for fun), so I'm usually not getting home until 8:30. Well, I desperately needed to log some gym time this week--both Monday and Tuesday ended up being somewhat unexpected days off. So I bucked up at went to the gym at 8:30. And it was about as brutal as I thought it would be. I hadn't eaten since 3:30 (and that was just a measly yogurt), so I scarfed down a homemade granola bar on my way to the gym. Not so pleasant during a run. But I also don't run well on an empty--or nearly empty--stomach, so it was really like choosing the lesser of two evils. I don't think I'll be visiting the gym at 8:30 again--at least not without much more careful consideration about when and what I'm eating.
And what has been my reward for all this hard work? A handful of emails today from my mom about how important it is to ease into a spring fitness regime and the harms of too much endurance running. Awesome. Great positive motivation. I think she may be resenting the fact that she signed up to run the 5K with us in March... But that's just me
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
....
Hmmm.... What to blog about today? I'd hate to skip a day and disappoint all of my faithful readers. I could always blog about one of the great recipes we've tried lately.
{drumming fingers}
Hmm. Can't seem to think of any. Guess that's what happens when it's been over a week since we cooked a meal at home. Maybe I could talk about the latest book I'm reading?
{head palm}
Right. I actually have to be reading a book in order to be able to discuss it. And five pages in doesn't really count (especially since I'm probably going to have to go back and re-read them since it's been well over a week since I've picked the book up). I suppose I could talk about sleeping in the guest bedroom last night because of Darrell being sick and having a bout of exceptionally loud (and phlegmy!) snoring.
{awkward silence}
Guess you probably don't want to hear about that any more than I wanted to sleep next to it. I'm fresh out of ideas then--maybe I'll have to change the title of this blog to "The Exceptionally Boring Lives of a South Dakotan Married to a North Carolinian". Because seriously, sometimes that just fits better.
{drumming fingers}
Hmm. Can't seem to think of any. Guess that's what happens when it's been over a week since we cooked a meal at home. Maybe I could talk about the latest book I'm reading?
{head palm}
Right. I actually have to be reading a book in order to be able to discuss it. And five pages in doesn't really count (especially since I'm probably going to have to go back and re-read them since it's been well over a week since I've picked the book up). I suppose I could talk about sleeping in the guest bedroom last night because of Darrell being sick and having a bout of exceptionally loud (and phlegmy!) snoring.
{awkward silence}
Guess you probably don't want to hear about that any more than I wanted to sleep next to it. I'm fresh out of ideas then--maybe I'll have to change the title of this blog to "The Exceptionally Boring Lives of a South Dakotan Married to a North Carolinian". Because seriously, sometimes that just fits better.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Mini-Vacation and ICE!
So, I haven't been posting because Darrell and I took some time this weekend to go on a mini-vacation. I had Friday and Monday off of work for President's Day, and Darrell took Monday off so we could have a three day weekend together. It was really nice to have a few days to just enjoy each other's company and relax--minus the fact that Darrell was sick most of the time. But I can't fault him for that, and besides, better him than me because he's a lot more of a trooper while he's sick. I get pouty and grumpy and don't want to do anything; he'll tough it out and do his best to put on a happy face (at least through all the sneezing and sniffling).
For our trip we spent Saturday night in Omaha with a friend from college, which was a good time (and late night!) as always. We always go out to places that aren't in Sioux Falls, and he never leads us astray in his restaurant or wine selections. Or when he cooks. He made a killer breakfast for us last time we were down there. But I digress. Sunday afternoon we drove to Des Moines where we had a hotel suite reserved, complete with wine and chocolates. We also had plans to do a fancy dinner, but neither of us were feeling that up to it. So instead, we decided to class up the local TGI Fridays--I was set on wearing a dress regardless of where we went!
After dinner we decided just to relax at the hotel (and sadly, not drink our wine. Apparently it's not a good combination with cold medication)--and learned an important lesson. Always make sure the hotel has a spa before booking a room there for a romantic weekend. Or at least get a jacuzzi suite. Epic fail. We settled for curling up at watching some TV. And Darrell must have really been feeling out of it because he let me watch TWO! episodes of "My Fair Wedding" on WE. It was awesome (for me). We then learned another important lesson when we went to bed--always travel with your own pillows. Neither of us slept well (stupid down pillows that feel like they are closing in around your face), and we both felt crappy in the morning because of it. So we grabbed a quick breakfast and decided to head home earlier than planned so we could get a good nap in before Darrell's meeting in Sioux Falls Monday night. One thing we weren't anticipating? Our garage door being frozen shut when we got home. Sounds totally awesome, right?
Allow me to explain. Last week we had WONDERFULLY warm weather (highs in the fourties!), which finally melted the snow and slush and ice and crap that has been coating our roads since November. Well, it turns out Mother Nature decided that our "spring" thaw had happened too soon, and struck with a vengence over the weekend. Thankfully, because we had travelled south (at least as "south" as Des Moines and Omaha can be), all we experienced over the weekend was a little bit of rain. Sioux Falls, apparently, was significantly worse--freezing rain (inches of it!) followed by snow. (And that isn't even the worst of this storm! Poor Minneapolis got nearly a foot and a half of snow--they're on track for the snowiest year ever!) The roads were fine for us driving home--until we got off the interstate. It's only five miles from the interstate to our house, and four of those miles we were driving on solid ice. Not enjoyable. And then when we got home, our garage door was frozen shut. Completely. Our front door was nearly frozen shut as well because it also faces north (which is the direction the wind was blowing out of during the freezing rain).
It didn't take too much work to chip away at the ice that had frozen our garage door shut, but once we got it open we realized a much more significant problem.
That, my friends, is a tennis ball showing you just how much solid ice we have on our driveway. So solid, in fact, that Darrell was able to take out the snowblower and clear the snow that drifted on top of it without any issue. We (briefly!) considered trying to chip it all away, but decided to save our backs and arms the pain. So instead, we now have a serious speed bump when we try to get in and out of our garage. And it looks like it'll be a week before the temperatures warm up enough to start clearing it away. So if you have any suggestions I'd be glad to hear them. In the meantime I'm going to curse the day Darrell and I decided to buy a house in South Dakota.
For our trip we spent Saturday night in Omaha with a friend from college, which was a good time (and late night!) as always. We always go out to places that aren't in Sioux Falls, and he never leads us astray in his restaurant or wine selections. Or when he cooks. He made a killer breakfast for us last time we were down there. But I digress. Sunday afternoon we drove to Des Moines where we had a hotel suite reserved, complete with wine and chocolates. We also had plans to do a fancy dinner, but neither of us were feeling that up to it. So instead, we decided to class up the local TGI Fridays--I was set on wearing a dress regardless of where we went!
After dinner we decided just to relax at the hotel (and sadly, not drink our wine. Apparently it's not a good combination with cold medication)--and learned an important lesson. Always make sure the hotel has a spa before booking a room there for a romantic weekend. Or at least get a jacuzzi suite. Epic fail. We settled for curling up at watching some TV. And Darrell must have really been feeling out of it because he let me watch TWO! episodes of "My Fair Wedding" on WE. It was awesome (for me). We then learned another important lesson when we went to bed--always travel with your own pillows. Neither of us slept well (stupid down pillows that feel like they are closing in around your face), and we both felt crappy in the morning because of it. So we grabbed a quick breakfast and decided to head home earlier than planned so we could get a good nap in before Darrell's meeting in Sioux Falls Monday night. One thing we weren't anticipating? Our garage door being frozen shut when we got home. Sounds totally awesome, right?
Allow me to explain. Last week we had WONDERFULLY warm weather (highs in the fourties!), which finally melted the snow and slush and ice and crap that has been coating our roads since November. Well, it turns out Mother Nature decided that our "spring" thaw had happened too soon, and struck with a vengence over the weekend. Thankfully, because we had travelled south (at least as "south" as Des Moines and Omaha can be), all we experienced over the weekend was a little bit of rain. Sioux Falls, apparently, was significantly worse--freezing rain (inches of it!) followed by snow. (And that isn't even the worst of this storm! Poor Minneapolis got nearly a foot and a half of snow--they're on track for the snowiest year ever!) The roads were fine for us driving home--until we got off the interstate. It's only five miles from the interstate to our house, and four of those miles we were driving on solid ice. Not enjoyable. And then when we got home, our garage door was frozen shut. Completely. Our front door was nearly frozen shut as well because it also faces north (which is the direction the wind was blowing out of during the freezing rain).
 |
| Our frozen-over front door |
 |
| Looking out one of our windows on the north side of the house |
It didn't take too much work to chip away at the ice that had frozen our garage door shut, but once we got it open we realized a much more significant problem.
That, my friends, is a tennis ball showing you just how much solid ice we have on our driveway. So solid, in fact, that Darrell was able to take out the snowblower and clear the snow that drifted on top of it without any issue. We (briefly!) considered trying to chip it all away, but decided to save our backs and arms the pain. So instead, we now have a serious speed bump when we try to get in and out of our garage. And it looks like it'll be a week before the temperatures warm up enough to start clearing it away. So if you have any suggestions I'd be glad to hear them. In the meantime I'm going to curse the day Darrell and I decided to buy a house in South Dakota.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Organization Overload
I've always considered myself to be well organized. And with that, I feel one also has to pay close attention to detail. Maybe I should have gone into interior design or architecture or something, but even since I was in middle school I've been very careful about planning and arranging things. When I would get bored with how my room was set up, I would measure all my furniture pieces, draw a very basic "blueprint" of my room--windows, outlets, vents, etc--and then sketch possibilities for the new arrangement until I found one I liked. I did this with our new house, as well. Once the cabinets were installed I began measuring them and mentally (and yes, there was a written list as well) filling them with items, being sure to keep items in their respective "groups"--baking, cooking, oils/vinegars, tableware, storage containers, etc. When we were debating what to put on one of our large, blank walls in the house, I diagrammed it on a piece of paper, being sure to indicate where the lamp and TV and other items overlapped with the wall space so that we could have a mini sketch board--and yes, everything was drawn to scale.
Why, you ask, am I bothering to share one of my little "habits"? Because I fear it's gotten out of control. Sometimes I find myself organizing things just for the sake of organizing them. No real tangible purpose, no real tangible application, and often, no real reason to go back and utilize the organization. But I do it anyway. Case in point. I have a list of books that I want to read. Sounds reasonable enough, right? Not my list. It's got over 500 books on it. It's organized alphabetically by the author's last name. I've got notes about genre next to the titles. There's a random number generator that picks for me the next book off my list (it's an Excel document). Do you know how many times I've actually used the random number generator to pick books off the list? Once. Mostly because I have such a stack of books that I buy second-hand that I feel like I need to read first since I already own them. And just when the pile starts to dwindle, Christmas or my birthday or a stroll past marked-down books happens and I'm right back where I started.
But that's not even the worst of it. Lately, I've been really into reading cooking blogs. And I don't just start following a blog from the day I stumble upon it. If I find one I like I'll go back and read all the old posts. And then, when I find a recipe I like, I save the website. I recently discovered the flaw in this system though; at work I use a Mac (love!) but at home I have a PC, which means I can't access the saved web files off my flash drive at home. My solution? Create a Google Docs document to store all of the hyperlinks (organized by type of food, of course). But then I decided that wasn't good enough, because the hyperlinks don't always include the full name of the recipe, which makes it hard for me to just look down the list and see what sounds good. So I decided to type the full name of the recipe next to the link. Then I figured that while I was doing that I might as well type some of the main/perishable ingredients; you know, so that way next time we have grape tomatoes to use up I can just go to my Google Docs, type "grape tomatoes" and have it match me with all the recipes that use that ingredient. And it gets worse. I'm having so much fun doing this that I also want to type up the names of all the recipes that we already have in our recipe box and list the ingredients for those so that all of our recipes are included in my searches. Odds that I'll ever use this document enough to compensate for all the time I'm putting into it? Not very good. Likelihood that I care? Not at all.
Got anything that you need pointlessly organized? I'm your gal! The more portable the better! (which, for the record, portability is the only reason my basement is as messy as it is. In my head I know where everything is going and I've already starting buying the totes for storage, I'm just not home enough to bring my ideas to fruition!)
Why, you ask, am I bothering to share one of my little "habits"? Because I fear it's gotten out of control. Sometimes I find myself organizing things just for the sake of organizing them. No real tangible purpose, no real tangible application, and often, no real reason to go back and utilize the organization. But I do it anyway. Case in point. I have a list of books that I want to read. Sounds reasonable enough, right? Not my list. It's got over 500 books on it. It's organized alphabetically by the author's last name. I've got notes about genre next to the titles. There's a random number generator that picks for me the next book off my list (it's an Excel document). Do you know how many times I've actually used the random number generator to pick books off the list? Once. Mostly because I have such a stack of books that I buy second-hand that I feel like I need to read first since I already own them. And just when the pile starts to dwindle, Christmas or my birthday or a stroll past marked-down books happens and I'm right back where I started.
But that's not even the worst of it. Lately, I've been really into reading cooking blogs. And I don't just start following a blog from the day I stumble upon it. If I find one I like I'll go back and read all the old posts. And then, when I find a recipe I like, I save the website. I recently discovered the flaw in this system though; at work I use a Mac (love!) but at home I have a PC, which means I can't access the saved web files off my flash drive at home. My solution? Create a Google Docs document to store all of the hyperlinks (organized by type of food, of course). But then I decided that wasn't good enough, because the hyperlinks don't always include the full name of the recipe, which makes it hard for me to just look down the list and see what sounds good. So I decided to type the full name of the recipe next to the link. Then I figured that while I was doing that I might as well type some of the main/perishable ingredients; you know, so that way next time we have grape tomatoes to use up I can just go to my Google Docs, type "grape tomatoes" and have it match me with all the recipes that use that ingredient. And it gets worse. I'm having so much fun doing this that I also want to type up the names of all the recipes that we already have in our recipe box and list the ingredients for those so that all of our recipes are included in my searches. Odds that I'll ever use this document enough to compensate for all the time I'm putting into it? Not very good. Likelihood that I care? Not at all.
Got anything that you need pointlessly organized? I'm your gal! The more portable the better! (which, for the record, portability is the only reason my basement is as messy as it is. In my head I know where everything is going and I've already starting buying the totes for storage, I'm just not home enough to bring my ideas to fruition!)
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