tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-314503452024-03-13T06:57:22.816-05:00just for funarmywifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03115747966355023048noreply@blogger.comBlogger305125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31450345.post-25301010899638522492008-10-10T14:18:00.001-05:002008-10-10T14:20:18.755-05:00what a weekwe paid off the altima this week! that was planned.<br /><br />i was promoted and got a nice raise! that was not planned, or at least not planned on for this week.armywifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03115747966355023048noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31450345.post-63420521109828093342008-10-05T11:43:00.005-05:002008-10-05T21:24:09.740-05:00since the war began, we have lost 609 u.s. soldiers in afghanistan. somewhere over nine hundred coalition forces. i don't know how many civilian deaths, but i'm sure a whole lot.<br /><br />during that same exact amount of time, there have been approximately 1322 murders in just my city, fabulous las vegas.<br /><br />a life is a life and all should be counted, no matter the location or nationality. but that isn't what you hear in the news. what you hear, is that there have been too many u.s. deaths and we need to bring the troops home.<br /><br />i bring this up because andrew's national guard unit received the official deployment orders to go to afghanistan next year. it is too soon to say more, and there are a whole lot of different ways that it might all play out. but 609 versus 1322. i think he may be safer there than i am here.armywifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03115747966355023048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31450345.post-22230861885716105302008-09-30T20:50:00.003-05:002008-09-30T21:01:41.932-05:00rummage saleour church had a rummage sale/bake sale this past weekend. andrew and i slaved away all friday night making baked goodies (we didn't have anything interesting to donate to the rummage sale part). i made an apple pie. andrew made chocolate cookies with white chips. and i made my favorite cupcakes (which are actually brownie bottoms, cookie tops, and icing to layer them).<br /><p><p><img style="WIDTH: 366px; HEIGHT: 247px" height="432" src="http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h73/christengarland/methodistcupcakes001.jpg" width="506" /> <p>as much as i love making cupcakes, i really adore making little flags for them to wear. these, since they were going to the church sale, say: UMC (united methodist church), desert spring (name of the specific church), wesley rocks (wesley founded the methodist church), open hearts, open doors, open minds (our moto), and other methodisty sorts of things. i didn't stick around to the end to see all my cupcakes go to good homes, but i'm sure they did.</p><p></p>armywifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03115747966355023048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31450345.post-17937302689911638302008-09-25T13:19:00.001-05:002008-09-30T20:37:46.852-05:00my nine namesa coworker sent this to me and we sat around comparing names and sharing a few laughs instead of otherwise being very hard at work...<br /><br /><br />1. YOUR REAL NAME:<br /><br />christen<br /><br />2. YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (first 3 letters of real name plus izzle.)<br /><br />chrizzle<br /><br /><br />3. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color and favorite animal)<br /><br />gray cat<br /><br />4. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME:( your middle name and street you live on/or neighborhood if it's a number)<br /><br />martin charleston<br /><br />5. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name)<br /><br />garch<br /><br />6. YOUR SUPERHERO/CRIMINAL NAME: (Your 2nd favorite color, and favorite drink).<br /><br />pink soda<br /><br />7. YOUR IRAQI NAME: (2nd letter of your first name, 2nd letter of your moms maiden name, 3rd letter of your last name, 1st letter of your last name, 3rd letter of your dads name, 1st letter of a siblings first Name, and last letter of your moms middle name)<br /><br />hargace<br /><br />8. YOUR WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (parents middle names).<br /><br />rae david<br /><br />9. YOUR GOTH NAME: (black, and the name of one of your pets).<br /><br />black zoe<br /><br /><br />i've also seen equations for my stripper name (street you grew up on and your first pet? or maybe the other way around). what i'd really like to know is my pirate name.armywifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03115747966355023048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31450345.post-37098668824886996902008-09-19T12:19:00.002-05:002008-10-02T08:02:58.596-05:00mini hot browns<blockquote></blockquote><p>From Wiki:</p><blockquote>A Hot Brown is a hot sandwich originally created at the Brown Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky. It was one of two signature sandwiches created by chefs at the Brown Hotel shortly after its founding in 1923. It was created to serve as an alternative to late-night suppers offered elsewhere. The Hot Brown is an open-faced sandwich of turkey and bacon, covered in Mornay sauce and baked or broiled until the bread is crisp and the sauce begins to brown. Many Hot Browns also include ham with the turkey, and either pimentos or tomatoes over the sauce. After its debut, it quickly became the choice of ninety-five percent of the customers to the Brown Hotel's restaurant. The "cold brown" was baked chicken or turkey, hard-boiled egg, lettuce and tomato open-faced on rye bread, and covered with Thousand Island dressing. It is rarely served anymore.</blockquote><p><br />so basically a hot brown is bread, turkey, bacon, all covered with a cheesy sauce and then maybe a tomato on top of that. it's bad for you. and a cold brown is a sandwich that no one really ever liked and most people have now never heard of or knew existed. we wanted to serve hot browns at the derby party in may but it is not really a dish that lends itself to finger fooding. what is it, necessity is the mother of all invention?<br /><br />our cute mini hot browns:</p><p><img style="WIDTH: 417px; HEIGHT: 279px" height="365" src="http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h73/christengarland/minihotbrowns.jpg" width="530" /><br /><br /><br />ingredients:</p><p>french bread, sliced</p><p>deli turkey</p><p>already cooked bacon</p><p>jar of alfredo</p><p>roma tomatos, sliced</p><p>on a cookie sheet, layer your bread slices. pile on turkey and tomato taste. dribble on some sauce. place a bacon piece on top. broil until toasty. these were a hit because they are simple, tasty, and cute. enjoy!</p>armywifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03115747966355023048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31450345.post-6035469523474592062008-09-15T07:00:00.001-05:002008-09-15T08:49:09.823-05:00have you been to an 'everything is 99cents' store lately?<p>its the grocery section of the everything is 99cents store that is interesting. the rest of the store is mostly random cheap socks and household items. i was amazed at the number of truely random things that i found in the grocery section. also at the number of horrifying food items available for purchase. however, there were a couple of gems to be found. in particular this cute fella: <p><img height="524" src="http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h73/christengarland/mangos.jpg" width="301" /><br /><p>i also found a can of mangos. so with my can of mangos and my mango syrup, we made mango pancakes this weekend. i guess i'm a really cheap date. andrew and i had a great time on less than $2.</p>armywifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03115747966355023048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31450345.post-32255156153770990072008-09-05T08:07:00.000-05:002008-09-05T09:59:22.066-05:00i can't tell you how much i miss minigolfi guess its just way to hot here to have minigolf. though you'd think that at least one of the strip casinos would have an indoor course.<br /><br />a coworker sent me this link and while it's not the same as the real deal, it is quite a bit of fun.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.ibogleif.dk/spil/flashspil/minigolf/minigolf.swf">online minigolf</a>armywifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03115747966355023048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31450345.post-37283861626585537002008-09-01T21:40:00.004-05:002008-09-01T22:10:37.287-05:00wow.so there i was, no lie...true story...<br /><br />i was driving along on saturday, minding my own business...when this pontiac bonneville passed us...<br /><br /><br /><p><img src="http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h73/christengarland/wow1.jpg" /> <p>i have never in my life wished to own a video recording cell phone until saturday. i assure you, this vehicle was actually in motion on the highway, yes, with both a fridge and a wash machine somehow jammed into the trunk. i don't know what the owners of the vehicle did with the top of the trunk, nor do i know if they realized the number of cars that nearly wrecked into or near them as they were driving (hence the desire for a video recorder). </p><p>of special note, none of the devices have their actual lids attached. you can see inside the washing tub, so no lid there. you can see the fridge lid packed to the left of everything. and no one knows where the trunk lid might possibly be.</p><p>and it really just doesn't get less ridiculous the more you look at it...it's like an appliance <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turducken">turduckhen</a> (which is an andrew type of dish, and while i like meat, i think it sounds absurdly grotesque).armywifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03115747966355023048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31450345.post-10869878215659068452008-08-25T14:06:00.001-05:002008-09-01T21:38:35.886-05:00what's better than chocolate?i am a big fan of biscuits and sausage gravy.<br /><br />not everybody is...<br /><br />...and i get that. not everyone likes meat and therefore would not enjoy meat byproducts. other people are health conscious and prefer not to eat things that are just pure bad for you.<br /><br />while i am a big fan of sausage gravy, i'm also a very particular fan of it. years ago just after college, it was practically a weekend tradition to cook up a big pan of sausage, then fix a big pan of gravy and finally pile it all together with some heart stopping buttery biscuits.<br /><br />as it turns out, there are many things in life that are not at all like riding a bike.<br /><br />if you aren't in the habit of making meat gravies, they just don't turn out well. you've got to practice to get it just right. ten years later, the last couple of times i've tried, its been a flop. but my attempts are not nearly as bad as anything i've purchased here in this southwestern town. las vegas isn't exactly known for its homey fatty southern cooking so naturally no one here is going to do sausage gravy well.<br /><br />but then i remembered a recipe a coworker shared with me a few years ago. it is not at all for sausage gravy, but its that sort of kentucky recipe that makes you feel at home on a saturday morning. it seems strange, i know, but it is for chocolate gravy and you really do put it on biscuits. the buttery the better! it's perfectly bad for you and delightfully warm and comforting in that way carby things usually are. my coworker explained that his mother, aunts, and grandmother, from the hills of eastern kentucky, had been making this his whole life. i was given a stern warning to not burn the milk and i'll pass that on to you, in all caps even . and while this is not sausage gravy, it will do very well for now until i can move back east and visit a bob evans restaurant.<br /><br /><br />chocolate gravy<br />by hannah newsome<br /><br />4 cups milk<br />1 cup sugar<br />3-4 heaping tablespoons flour<br />3-4 heaping tablespoons cocoa<br />1 teaspoon vanilla<br /><br />pour milk into medium saucepan. cook milk on medium to med-high. DO NOT USE HIGH. DO NOT BURN THE MILK. while milk is warming, mix dry ingredients well, pour 1/3 of your milk into dry ingredients to make a paste. return paste to saucepan with remaining milk. stir continuously until it thickens. pour over biscuits, breads, anything really. enjoy!armywifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03115747966355023048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31450345.post-22009759552036077422008-08-09T11:53:00.004-05:002008-08-09T12:32:42.388-05:00fairground foodi've tried fried twinkies. i've tried fried oreos. i've tried many of the odd things they sell on sticks. that's what going to the fair is all about, right? paying way to much for a corn dog, cotton candy and some random deep fried thing, then riding the tilterwhurl until it all nearly comes back up.<br /><br />this week the today show featured a really odd new fairground food:<br /><p><img style="WIDTH: 364px; HEIGHT: 241px" height="207" src="http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h73/christengarland/chocolatecoveredbacon.jpg" width="364" /> <p>yeah. it's chocolate covered bacon. i just keep staring at it. the online poll (not scientific in any way) shows 34% would try it since they enjoy other salty/sweet combos, 45% would not try it since it sounds gross, and 21% don't know if they would try it because they are still sitting on their couches staring dumbfounded (possibly with an eye twitch even).</p><p>for complete article and info:<br /><br /><a href="http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26092641/">bacon makes everything taste better...even chocolate?</a> </p><p><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:78%;"></span></span> </p><p><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:78%;">**post script: this is my 300th post! my how time flies.</span><br /></p></span>armywifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03115747966355023048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31450345.post-55947502403295553192008-08-07T06:18:00.001-05:002008-08-07T07:58:34.589-05:00this is not a derby pie<p>officially, derby pie was created in 1950 by the melrose inn in prospect, kentucky. the restaurant's owners were a couple named kern, and they were helped in creating this pie by a pack of children. derby pie is more or less just a pecan pie with chocolate chips and maybe a little bourbon. the name "Derby Pie" was apparently chosen because, like a variety of other quarrelsome kentucky families, they all wanted to name it something different. i guess there were too many options to flip a coin or play rock/paper/scissors, so they put all names into a hat. i have no idea what the other name options were but derby pie was the winner. since then, they've gotten a little over protective of their stuff.</p><br /><p>this is what wiki had to say about it all:</p><br /><blockquote>The name "Derby Pie" is a registered trademark of Kern's Kitchen, which registered the name in 1968. The company uses the name in the form "DERBY-PIE®" in official literature and advertisements. Kern's Kitchen diligently guards the trademark and secret recipe, which is known only to a small group of Kern family members and a single Kern's Kitchen employee (who actually mixes the recipe today). The company has filed several lawsuits over the years to protect its commercial rights. Because of this, others who make similar pies have had to alter their recipes slightly and/or use a different name (such as "Pegasus Pie", a reference to the Pegasus Parade at the Kentucky Derby Festival and May Day Pie, in reference to the First Saturday in May, the day of the Kentucky Derby).</blockquote><br /><p>on the one hand, i get it, whether its pirating movies or making your own derby pie. you've got a business and you want to sell your whatevers and you don't want everyone else to just be able to get that whatever without having bought it from you. on the other hand, i'm stuck out here forever far away from a derby pie store. so obviously, i don't know the official derby pie recipe and if i did know it, i wouldn't share it from fear of the kern family. what i'm going to share with you is a recipe for pecan pie with chocolate chips, and maybe a little bourbon.</p><br /><p><img style="WIDTH: 414px; HEIGHT: 259px" height="259" src="http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h73/christengarland/derbypie.jpg" width="455" /><br /><br /><p> </p><p>pecan pie with chocolate chips, and maybe a little bourbon</p><p>crust:</p><p>do what you want. make your own from scratch or buy a premade one from the store.</p><p>filling:</p><p>1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled<br />2 eggs<br />1 cup sugar<br />1/2 cup all-purpose flour<br />1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips<br />1 1/2 cups chopped pecans<br />2 tablespoons bourbon</p><p>beat eggs with cooled butter. add flour & sugar. beat until mixed well. stir in pecans, chocolate & bourbon. pour mixture into pie shell. bake at 350° for about 30 minutes, or until set. serve with whipped cream (i'm sure fresh whipped cream is great but i don't recall the last time i tried it. that canned stuff is right up my alley) or vanilla ice cream, or both!</p>armywifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03115747966355023048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31450345.post-57547403254925153812008-08-03T14:23:00.002-05:002008-08-03T15:14:34.799-05:00finding my placei think over this past year and a half, i've done everything i could subconsciencely do to make sure i didn't like it here and did not fit in. i haven't met anyone or done anything or gone anywhere. we moved out here thinking it would probably be for about three years. however, when we made that decision, i didn't know how little i would like it here. and now that we are about half way through this tour, maybe i'm ready to branch out a little. last month i joined a book club, and i went to a pampered chef party. this month i took a cooking class and learned how to make a spanish dish called paella. i went to the mall with some of the girls at work, and we got free makeovers at the makeup counters. i've joined a five week study that covers various christian disciplines (fasting, meditation, various types of prayer dating back all the way to the 2nd century church). and last night we invited another couple over for dinner and cards.<br /><br />there is a guy in national guard with andrew who also happens to work at tsa with andrew (though not at the same shift) so we invited him and his wife over. i think it went really well. nothing disasterous happened with the food. conversation was really interesting, or at least never dragged. we never got around to playing any cards, so i guess we'll have to get together again, which i think works out well, since i'm really new at this whole having a life thing. <br /><br />you know how embassies are technically property of their own government? inside the land and building of the u.s. embassy in wherever is technically u.s. land. if you are inside the embassy, you are inside the united states, even though if you step outside the door you are in mexico or south africa. i think i've felt that way about my apartment. not that the inside of my apartment is in kentucky, but that it is not in nevada. i step through the door and my apartment is my little safe haven that is just simply territory somewhere else, which allows me to live here without really living here. its a little odd that the time is halfway over and i'm finally starting to try to live here in nevada.armywifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03115747966355023048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31450345.post-82511965429321816352008-08-01T08:44:00.002-05:002008-08-01T08:50:19.055-05:00would you believe that this memory stick still works??<br /><br /><p><img style="WIDTH: 391px; HEIGHT: 320px" height="395" src="http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h73/christengarland/memorystick001.jpg" width="449" /><br /><br /><p>zoecat was underfoot. i got all tangled up in the laptop cord and her tail and the three of us took a tumble. the laptop landed squarely on the memory stick, whose outside casing is bent out on both sides. i think the usb port it was in is no longer functional but the naked memory stick is still stickin. <p><br /></p>armywifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03115747966355023048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31450345.post-31322678112415381922008-07-31T06:38:00.000-05:002008-07-31T08:49:33.691-05:00benedictine isn't just for monks anymorethis past spring, in preparation for our kentucky derby party, andrew and i went in search of traditional kentucky recipes. i wanted the official recipes for mint julips, hot browns, and derby pie. i found the recipes for several of those and more. my search reminded me of forgotten friends like fried green tomatoes, baked grits, burgoo, and chocolate gravy. and i discovered new wonderful treasures. for example, i had no idea that the brown hotel used to sell both hot browns and cold browns, but no one ever really liked cold browns, so we all only know about hot browns. over the next couple of weeks, i want to tell you more about some of these wonderful traditional kentucky recipes, starting with a new discovery: the benedictine.<br /><br />Jennie Carter Benedict was a caterer and restaurant owner in Louisville, KY. she opened up shop in 1893, and served a delightful sandwich spread made from cucumbers. it can also be used as a condiment or chip dip. i liked this best as a chip dip and did have a hard time stopping eating it once i'd gotten started. its kind of like a ranch or french onion, but without the badbreath afterwards.<br /><br />Benedictine Spread:<br /><br /><br /><p><img style="WIDTH: 378px; HEIGHT: 289px" height="313" src="http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h73/christengarland/benedictinespread.jpg" width="405" /> <p><br /><br />1 large cucumber, peeled, seeded and coarsely grated<br />8 ounces low-fat cream cheese (do not use nonfat)<br />2 tablespoons finely grated onion<br />1 tablespoon low-fat mayonnaise<br />2 tablespoons low-fat sour cream (do not use nonfat)<br />1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste<br />1 tablespoon finely chopped dill (optional)<br /><br /><br /><br />it was kind of odd grating cucumber and onion. i suppose you could coursely chop and then use a food processor, just don't get it quite to the point of puree. combine ingredients and chill before serving. enjoy!<br /><br /><br /></p>armywifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03115747966355023048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31450345.post-35448982337110560572008-07-27T18:02:00.003-05:002008-07-27T19:09:03.575-05:00summer reading listthis summer i've enjoyed several nice books and muddled through a few horid books. <br /><br />i was delighted to discover jasper fforde's thursday next series. i read the first two books (the eyre affair and lost in a good book) in the series and have been waiting patiently for andrew to finish the third book (the well of lost plots). i am afraid, however, that as the series continues, it make take more and more work on my part to suspend disbelief. its all getting more and more far fetched, but in a terribly wonderfully creative way.<br /><br />i adore most anything by neil gaiman and recently read one of his newer books 'interworld.' i enjoyed it thoroughly despite its brevity. also in the scifi/fantacy genre, i read 'andromeda strain.' i read it about two weeks before i heard about the A&E miniseries. the only thing i regretted about the book was that i didn't get to read it about thirty years ago. science has just changed so much since it was written. publishing must be like driving a new car off the lot. its instantly a used car or dated technology. however, if you've never read 'ender's game,' you really should. it was also written about thirty years ago but i swear, you'd never know it. though i suspect that will only be true for about another five years.<br /><br />i've joined a murder/mystery book club at one of the local libraries. <br /><br />oh, oh! as a side note, i've never lived in a town with so many library branches! and everytime i'm in one of them, i'm so happy to see so many other people. of all the places that i ever dreamed might support a great library system, las vegas was not at the top of that list. las vegas was not even on the list. <br /><br />well, last month with the book club, we read one of kathy reichs' bones books. the bones tv show is based on the leading lady of this book series, but with a lot of adjustments to the setting and other characters. 'bones to ashes' was in the middle of the series but i still very much enjoyed it. it was hard to figure out a couple of things, but only because it was in the middle. if you'd read all the previous books then you would have known more about so many of the people/backgrounds in the book. <br /><br />but the book club is a bit hit or miss. the book bofore bones was mostly ok. the next book is dorothy sayers' 'clouds of witness.' published in 1927, its a smidge out of date. there is nothing particularly wrong with it, its just really dry and long winded.<br /><br />i picked up a couple of books from the thrift store for a quarter and just could not finish them. 'mist of prophecy' was one. i thought it was going to be a historical mystery with a smidge of romance. i suppose if i'd read any reviews of it, i wouldn't have bought it. but since i paid twenty five cents, i guess i got my monies worth. <br /><br />i also bought 'dashing through the mall' which was actually three christmas oriented love stories. couples meet, they overcome odds, and fall in love. however, since the story only has about a hundred pages, it was kind of like a disney movie. it ends right at the falling in love point, and therefore never has those tedious getting to know you parts, or discovering you are human beings with bad breath or gas parts, or that maybe love was hard work parts. i didn't know it was three in one when i bought it. i finished the first story and may eventually read all three, but only on vacation or in an airport. not for serious reading or real entertainment.<br /><br />i'm somewhat burnt out on patricia cornwell at the moment. i read 'black notice' which is about the sixth or seventh book in the kay scarpetta series. and i started 'the last precinct' but the series has just derailed so much. i may not be able to finish this one either.<br /><br />and i'm currently about to finish a fairly trashy novel, 'head over heels.' i didn't realize it was going to be so trashy when i selected it. one of the groups i'm a memeber of did a book exchange. i think i gave up books much better than i took home, but that's just my opinion. anyway, 'head over heels' has a bit of mystery. or at least there is a murder to solve. and lots of people fall into lust. maybe be the end it will be into love, who knows for sure. i've got about a hundred pages left, anything could happen.<br /><br />and andrew is reading a book about the cold war. i keep meaning to read something that will teach me something but, well, i'm done with school, and i guess just looking for something fun nowadays.<br /><br />what are you reading right now?armywifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03115747966355023048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31450345.post-47514888634801576262008-07-25T08:24:00.006-05:002008-07-25T08:47:04.576-05:00thinking outside the boxour third anniversary passed about a month ago, late june. you may know that each anniversary has an associated gift. its actually two gifts. there is a traditional gift suggestion and a modern. first year is paper and clocks. second is cotton and china. third is leather and then crystal. the suggestions are a fun idea, but i don't really want to buy china and crystal for andrew.<br /><br /><br />so instead, we've both been thinking quite outside the box. while he was in iraq, i mailed him origami flowers and a countdown clock. it looked kind of like a pager and kept track of the weeks, days, hours until he came home. last year, i bought him a transformer toy that was made in china-so far no lead poisoning issues. this year, i took him to the movies. i scanned through the credits online until i found a movie that had at least one person named crystal - with any variation on the spelling. but i think he really trumped my ideas this year. he found the cutest cupcake pan (i adore cupcakes) and some rock crystal candy to decorate my cupcakes.<br /><br /><br /><br />behold!<br /><br />my 3rd anniversary model train cupcakes complete with crystal candy smoke:<br /><br /><br /><p><img style="WIDTH: 397px; HEIGHT: 236px" height="452" src="http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h73/christengarland/train.jpg" width="618" /><br /><br /><p><img style="WIDTH: 396px; HEIGHT: 208px" height="419" src="http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h73/christengarland/June001.jpg" width="609" /> <p><br /></p>armywifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03115747966355023048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31450345.post-2531648821012723962008-07-10T09:09:00.001-05:002008-07-10T09:11:44.328-05:00zoe has some anger management issuesthe sweater monkey cat toy has been looking a bit worse for wear for a while...but look at what i found this morning!<br /><br /><p><img style="WIDTH: 377px; HEIGHT: 238px" height="411" src="http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h73/christengarland/sweatermonkey.jpg" width="577" /> <p><br /></p>armywifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03115747966355023048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31450345.post-24248568264937704282008-07-04T09:05:00.001-05:002008-07-10T09:09:54.795-05:00HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!i was going for a sort of dr seuss feel with these 4th of july cupcakes. each one has three layers: strawberry, blueberry, and vanilla.<br /><br /><img style="WIDTH: 424px; HEIGHT: 286px" height="396" src="http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h73/christengarland/MiscPictures101.jpg" width="583" /> <p><br /><br /><img style="WIDTH: 423px; HEIGHT: 297px" height="424" src="http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h73/christengarland/MiscPictures102.jpg" width="599" /> <p></p>armywifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03115747966355023048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31450345.post-330640478336366222008-05-04T13:26:00.005-05:002008-05-04T14:06:45.043-05:00go baby go!yesterday was fairly interesting: andrew and i threw our first ever derby party. apparently there is an offical registry for derby parties. we didn't know until yesterday. there were aproximately 7000 registered derby parties yesterday! if we ever throw one again, we'll make it official.<br /><br />having an in home gathering was a great motivator to finally get around to finishing a couple of home projects. a good mix of people showed up; some friends, some coworkers, some national guard guys. i had been worried that there wasn't enough food or beverages but of course we have enough tasty leftovers that we'll not have to cook for days. i was also worried that since the party was from 2-5 and the race lasts a little less than 3 minutes, that we'd all be staring at each other bored to tears at 3:08. that was not the case, though unfortunately in part due to the terrible tragedy of eight belles. horses are just like so many other things in the world: fantistically strong and powerful yet so very fragile. my heart goes out to larry jones, her trainer, who, strangely, is the father of someone with whom i went to high school.<br /><br />last year i did bet, and my horse won. i think i came home with about $20. i had casually guessed which would be the top three, but did not bet the trifecta. i seriously should have because i was right and would have come home with at least one more zero at the end of that winning amount. this year, i did not bet at all. we were cheering for big brown, but strangely, not because he was the favorite. we choose him for his name. andrew's roommate in iraq was brown. whenever brown calls, andrew answers the phone with "hey big guy." there are a couple of other members in the "big guy" club, but andrew and brown are the founders. so a horse named big brown is naturally going to be our choice. he did a fabulous job coming from the worst spot at the gate and finishing many lengths ahead of everyone else. it really looked like his jockey couldn't hardly get him to stop, like brown was just having such a great time that he wanted to go around again! it will be interesting to see how he does in the preakness and then belmont. there has not been a triple crown winner since the year i was born...<br /><br /><br />our derby welcome wreath:<br /><br /><img style="WIDTH: 416px; HEIGHT: 279px" height="398" src="http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h73/christengarland/derbysign.jpg" width="554" /><br /><br />me and my derby hat:<br /><p><img style="WIDTH: 253px; HEIGHT: 361px" height="453" src="http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h73/christengarland/derbyhat.jpg" width="324" /><br /></p>armywifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03115747966355023048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31450345.post-42975581641659836952008-04-28T08:10:00.002-05:002008-04-28T08:15:56.774-05:00yesterday morning i awoke only to discover i had turned thirty years old. <br /><br />obviously i knew about the event before going to sleep the night before, but it was still very strange to wake up and be in a different decade. you expect to somehow feel different once you finally achieve sixteen, eighteen, twenty one, thirty...only to find out that you feel just the same as you did the day before.armywifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03115747966355023048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31450345.post-23417117790440629152008-04-10T20:05:00.001-05:002008-04-10T22:32:20.362-05:00successful midterm and book drivemi clase de espanol esta un telenovela = my spanish class is a soap opera<br /><br />so i showed up to take my midterm only to find out that my professor had been fired.<br /><br />sacked. canned. terminated. all happened over spring break.<br /><br />not the sort of thing you want to discover on midterm day.<br /><br />apparently, as an adjunct professor, he signed up to teach more classes than allowed. i'm sure there were more issues than that. there usually are. however, my old professor was solidly community college, could not have been more relaxed or laid back, and my new professor is kind of catholic school nun except not a nun.<br /><br />since then, they haven't been able to retrieve grades from the former professor. maybe the stuff i did before spring break counts and maybe it doesn't. who knows!<br /><br />the sad thing is that i'm completely not surprised. most everything about nevada has been wholly, completely, unbelievably amateur. a city that is barely fifty years old and suddenly finds itself with 2 million people is kind of like a six year old. except that you can often overlook a child's mistakes because he or she does not alway realize that there are people with experience who could teach them, show them examples, while this city, or maybe state, just chooses to ignore those with experience or example. our recent health care crisis is a good example. who doesn't know that reusing needles and vials is bad??? apparently the heath care workers in nevada don't know what most every fifth grader knows. everything here is trying to reinvent the wheel, and doing it badly. goverment, schools, roads, health care, etc are all amateur, practically preschool. so my professor is fired. my grades have vanished.<br /><br />which is not necessarily a bad thing...i did miss a couple of classes, and now no one is the wiser!<br /><br />oh, and i was a part of a book drive for the local cmn hospital. that shares this entry because i had to make a mad dash from my midterm to the book drive. it was a raging success and we recieved tons of boxes of books for the local children's hospital!!armywifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03115747966355023048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31450345.post-45505801830149023612008-03-28T10:57:00.002-05:002008-03-28T11:06:57.204-05:00deceptively deliciousandrew gave me this cookbook for christmas: jessica seinfield's deceptively delicious. its all about how to trick your kids into eating more veggies. i like veggies. i don't require trickery. but sometimes i find it hard to get all my daily veggies or to do new and interesting things with them. we're bored with our same ol veggies.<br /><br />so i adore the cookbook. its got a ton of great recipes and tips. we've enjoyed everything except for the mac n cheese recipe. it wasn't a problem with the recipe; it was a problem with me. turns out, i only like mac n cheese that comes from a blue box. also, and this is key, there are pictures of nearly everything. i don't understand cookbooks with no pictures. how am i supposed to know that i want to eat something if i can't look at it and say, "that looks yummy"? <br /><br />i keep thinking about posting one of the muffin recipes. but the basic plan for the book is to make veggie purees and add them to recipes. for example, the blueberry muffins have a half cup of butternut squash puree, which is all well and good in theory but a big hassle for just one round of muffins. if you are going to follow her plan, then you get into the habit of making purees and freezing them and using them. if you aren't going to follow her plan, then you don't really want to try just the one blueberry muffin recipe. so just pretend that i posted another recipe and you glanced through it and thought, "wow that sounds yummy, someday i'll make that" knowing full well that you probably won't, which is ok, because i too glance at a great many recipes and do that same thing.armywifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03115747966355023048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31450345.post-69732679148513886692008-03-27T16:19:00.002-05:002008-03-27T16:36:40.973-05:00i thought it would be great to take a class on saturdays. i would only have class once a week. i would have a whole week to prepare. it would not interfere with work. its all great except for the part of actually getting up and spending my whole saturday in a classroom. which oddly enough, i never want to do on saturday mornings when i'm all snuggly in bed.<br /><br />and i had thought that my classmates were exactly the brightest bulbs in the pack. that is, until i visited another section of the class. for whatever reason, i needed to go to the tuesday/thursday night version. it was during those two (i needed to go to two to make up for one saturday class) that lasted from 7:30pm to 9:30pm, that i learned just how good i have it on saturdays. if for nothing else, the T-R people make the S people look like rocket scientists. though i would never have guessed, apparently a higher caliber of students take the saturday class, so i guess that's where i'm stuck for however long i decide to take spanish classes.<br /><br />my midterm is this saturday. wish me luck!armywifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03115747966355023048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31450345.post-69913235906490517042008-03-18T19:27:00.003-05:002008-03-18T20:42:08.110-05:00so the story starts on last friday.<br /><br />one of my coworkers brought in duncan donuts and they were just terribly fun. she brought in donut holes but instead of being standard bite sized donuts, they were jelly filled donut holes. we all got to talking about how great an idea that was, and someone suggested bagel holes filled with cream cheese. and that seemed like heaven.<br /><br />then i went home and in casual conversation mentioned to andrew about the idea of bagel holes filled with cream cheese. he agreed it was a fantastic idea. what i'd forgotten was how making bagels was on his rather long to-do list. suddenly what was his project became an our project and we spent most of sunday making bagel holes and filling them with cream cheese. it was a lot of fun, and we were both delighted with how well they turned out.<br /><br />i knew i was going to be visiting one of our sites today, so i planned to take our little treats to them as a surprise.<br /><br />i've never seen people sneer at free food like those people did today. you'd have thought i suggested they eat bagels stuffed with worms. i spent the morning all nervously waiting for andrew to call and ask me about how much they loved our treats and i felt so bad telling him how our efforts were rejected. i had thought about bringing them muffins on friday but you can definately cancel that.<br /><br />at noon i stomped off to go get lunch and retreat to my office. i decided to dine at steiner's subtitled "a nevada style pub." i've seen several in town and thought fish-n-chips sounded like just the thing. only, once i got there, they don't serve fish-n-chips. how?!? how can you have a pub and not serve fish-n-chips??? isn't that a prerequisite to using the name "pub"? later on andrew reminded me that it does have nevada in the name of the establishment, which we've decided "nevada style" might be code for terrible. the waitress talked me into one of their burgers and it was fairly tasty. at some point in the meal, however, i dropped a big splatter of ketchup on my white shirt, left boob. how many times did she come to the table and not mention this?? the bus boy came by and took everything away, including all the napkins and even my drink, and he didn't mention the big blob of ketchup! i was on my way out the door when i noticed it. and its not like something stuck in your teeth, where you might not notice. it was a white shirt for crying out loud.<br /><br /><br />by that point, i'd already talked to my office mates and committed myself into stopping at the store to buy them ice cream. but of course, now i have ketchup on my boob and didn't exactly want to go into any public places. i bit the bullet and went anyway. everyone i saw had a silly smirk, which was annoying, but nearly as much as when the cashier haphazardly chucked all my change at me, i dropped half of it, and she said, "gosh, i guess you're just having a clumsy day..."<br /><br />when i finally returned with the ice cream, we all feasted while i regaled them with my tales of woe. we all had a good hearty laugh over it. i tried to be cranky all afternoon, i really did. gave it my best effort, but every time, i would accidentally glance at the ketchup stain on my boob and start laughing again.armywifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03115747966355023048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31450345.post-80851891944674315212008-03-16T17:33:00.002-05:002008-03-16T17:41:38.787-05:00lipstick snafui've really fallen for this 12 hour long lasting lipstick. well, i guess its lip gloss or something; its not a solid stick/tube of stuff. there is a wand and you apply the color. then throughout the day, you can apply generic shiny stuff, but the color stays all day. it doesn't smear off onto cups or forks or cheeks.<br /><br />today i accidentally got it on my front teeth during the color application process. naturally i didn't notice at all. andrew noticed halfway during the first song at church. oddly enough, lip stick that stays on your lips for 12 hours doesn't really budge off your teeth either.armywifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03115747966355023048noreply@blogger.com0