Last Week of Summer

The summer flew by! Usually by this time I'm ready to be back in classes and have people back on campus, but I've been enjoying having time to myself.

I guess that means that it's time to post the remainder of my Pinterest things!
First of all, I painted my nails back at the beginning of the summer. I really enjoyed the watermelon look. I did discover that I should practice using my left hand more!

I made some Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins that I was planning to take with me when I went to St. Louis. Unfortunately, the recipe had a minor typo. It called for way too much baking powder. It ended up tasting chemical, and the texture was off. I should have been warmed when the batter was more like cookie dough.

 

Something that I was much more satisfied with was a Mac'n'Cheese dog. There was an actual pin with a recipe for it, but I just took a normal hot dog and put some mac'n'cheese on it. My sister thought I was crazy, but it was yummy!

The rest of my projects were not from any particular pin. First of all, I had some flower pots, so I painted them. The first 3 I made for my mom's birthday. The others are for me. I just have to decide what I'm going to put in them!

 

I was randomly inspired to draw a castle. I didn't want to figure out how to draw the towers, so it ended up being a fortress.

Finally, I've been working on a couple of blankets. The first is a fleece blanket. I got a kit for it years ago and decided to finally do it. I ended up realizing that it was meant to be a baby blanket, so I made it for my family's dog.
The second is crocheted. My intention was to use up old yarn that was leftover from projects that I've completed. The problem was that I had yarn of different weights. I've gotten to the point where I've started taking yarn out of my mom's craft closet that I know she won't use. By now it's about twice as long as in the picture.

 

Approved Recipes

Throughout the summer, I've tried several new recipes. I still have a couple planned for what little bit of summer I have left.

I made some Pizza Pocket Crescents for supper. I modified the recipe given to match what I wanted to eat. I've made them twice now, and I am a super fan. I ended up finding some squeezable pizza sauce that worked great to dip them in!

 

The next meal I made was Mac 'n' Cheesy Chicken Stuffed Shells. I made it for my family, and we all liked it at least a little. My dad and I both loved it. The main problem was that the recipe made way too much stuffing for how many shells we made. I would definitely make it again, but I would make more shells.
 

The next recipe I'd like to share wasn't actually from Pinterest. In fact, it wasn't really a recipe. I had been experimenting in order to make great nachos. I finally found a combination that tasted very much like Old Chicago's Nachos Grande! A thin type of nacho chip, layered with Mexican blend shredded cheese and shredded mozzarella. I also included taco seasoned hamburger and anaheim peppers. If I had had tomatoes, I would have included those as well. I put all this on a plate and microwaved it. Easy and delicious!

Next, I made myself some Crockpot Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti. My crockpot was WAY too small for the recipe. The picture below shows just the sauce without the noodles added. I ended up putting in a few noodles, letting it get warm, eating those noodles, and adding in more until all my noodles were in the mixture. It made enough for me to have several meals. I got a little sick of it by the time it was all gone, but it was good!

Finally, my sister and I made Oven Fajitas. I was very happy with how they turned out. They were very easy, but it took longer than I would have spent on a meal just for myself.

General Crafty-ness

After cleaning my room at my parents' house, I realized that I had a bunch of crafts sitting around for about 10 years. I used to be creative without needing Pinterest!
I took it upon myself to complete as many of my projects as possible so that I would have less to move in the end. The biggest problem is figuring out what to do with them when they're done...

 The first one I completed watch a latch hook project. It was about 3/4 done when I found it. It only took me a few minutes to remember how to do it. I was pretty happy with the way it turned out, but I ended up giving it to my mom and telling her I didn't want it. I had no idea what to do with it!

 My next project was a color by number with mini colored pencils. The picture ended up all weird because the orange lines were really visible. There were also some mislabled colors (notice how parts of the cat are blue instead of gray...). I have it sitting on my desk now because it look ok-ish. I probably wouldn't buy anything from this brand again.

 This project is called "Popcorn Art." Here, I've colored them. The areas to color were bumpy, so I assume those are the parts that pop up. I'll put them in the oven in order to actually finish them this weekend probably. I'll try to remember to post an update!

This final that I managed to complete was another color by number, this time with crayons. The crayons smelled really bad and reminded me how much I love Crayola! It was fun to color, but there were several spots that weren't labeled, so I had to use the accompanying picture to figure out which color it should be. The numbers show through, which is a bummer, but I'm pretty happy with the picture!

Pinterest and the Summer Holidays

I still have quite a lot of catching up to do with this blog. Oops...
First, for Father's Day, I made this. Not a Pinterest craft, but I was still pretty happy with it. I made the design for the letters using Microsoft Word, and cut them out. Cutting them out was the hardest part.

I made this bracelet for the 4th of July. It obviously isn't perfect, but I was still pretty happy with how it turned out.

 

 

I made the mistake of making all the threads the same length. Since the blue is showing most often, it got used a lot quicker. The bracelet barely fit because I ran out of blue way too early.

It's a tradition for my family to make s'mores for the 4th of July.This year, I tried different combinations of bite size chocolate bars. My favorite by far was the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup! Shown below is the s'more with a KitKat. It didn't get melted enough to be as good as the Reese's.

I also convinced my mom and sister to make Campfire Cones with me. Apparently I never got any real pictures of them, though. Mine got pretty burnt, so part of the cone just tasted like burnt sugar!

Here are some other pictures I took from our celebration!

 

Sister Weekend

It's been awhile since I've updated the blog! I've done a lot of Pinterest things that I have to post about, but I'll keep it to only a few per post.

About a month ago, my sister spent the weekend with me. We made an itinerary and everything. Luckily, that meant we planned ahead about what we were going to eat, so we started the weekend by getting groceries. Apparently my mom told my sister that she would've loved to be able to follow us around to laugh at us trying to find all the stuff we needed. We managed rather well, though!

Saturday morning began with a Cinnamon Roll Cake. We used the optional "begin the night before" directions. That was a good idea because it still took a long time to finish on Saturday. Definitely not a "wake up and have breakfast right away" kind of breakfast.

It was a little bit dry, but it still turned out super delicious, and we both agreed that we would make it again, but we would probably make extra icing!

After going to a movie and introducing her to Cherry Berry frozen yogurt for the first time (which I'm happy to say she loved!), we made Jalapeno Popper Cheesy Stuffed Pretzel Bombs. I'm glad that we were both working on it. It went much smoother when we started working in an assembly line style.

We both really liked them, but we ended up freezing a lot! They're better after being microwaved anyway because otherwise the cream cheese was a bit overpowering.

By the time we were finished with the Jalapeno Pretzels, we were ready for a real supper. We made Spicy Chicken Poblano Risotto, which my sister was glad to find out was rice, not pasta. We couldn't find some of the ingredients, so we improvised. My sister used gloves to cut up the hot peppers (and jalapenos from the previous recipe)- I would highly recommend this! Instead of cooking wine, we used a Barefoot brand Pinot Noir. That meant that we had a wine to accompany dinner that perfectly complemented the meal! The arborio rice that the recipe suggested was a little expensive, but I've used it since then to make other basic risotto meals.

This meal definitely passed our taste test, but we decided it was a lot more effort than it was probably worth. Nonetheless, I ended up with leftovers so that I didn't have to cook the next night!

It was a great weekend. We were both surprised at how well we got along, and she seemed surprised that she didn't die from my driving (I'm a great driver! She just doesn't trust her baby sister).


What kind of things do you do to spend time with your siblings? Let me know in the comments!

Food inventory

I made a decision to be able to move at least one pin on Pinterest to my "Accomplishments" board each week of the summer.
The first one I've completed was based off of this pin.
I've been working on emptying out my freezer while I don't have a roommate so that I can defrost it, but I kept forgetting what I actually had, so I wouldn't incorporate it into my meals or snacks. Writing each item in my freezer and fridge on the actual fridge helps me know exactly what I have.

I added the freezer contents to the whiteboard I keep on the freezer door. Everything in the fridge is written on the actual door, separated by drinks, food, condiments, and snack drawer.
I checked before writing it all out that the dry erase markers would actually erase off the door, and it worked quite well.

Now, I'm hoping to be able to do an inventory of my cupboards as well so that I don't always have to search through them to find the things that have gotten pushed to the back!

Birthdays are Weird

Today is the day. The one day a year I get contacted by people I haven't heard from in a year. It's brought up a lot of issues in my mind today.
Do I respond to each individually?
Do I respond to the people who seem to have put some thought into their posts?
Do I wait until 12:01 tomorrow morning and post a general "Thank you" status?
Do I use the posts as an opportunity to rekindle old friendships?
That's part of the problem- I've tried that. In the past, someone would post on my wall with a generic "Happy Birthday" message, so I would respond with a thanks and ask how they've been doing. Only to realize they don't REALLY care about my life or birthday- they just wanted to post to let me know they still remember I exist thanks to Facebook reminding them that it's my birthday.

But all in all, birthdays are weird. I went to my first day of my summer class this morning and forgot it was my birthday. But then a friend walked in and told my happy birthday. And then the group of strangers I was sitting with were all "Oh it's your birthday? Happy birthday!" I don't know about you, but I find it odd that people who don't even know my name would wish me a happy birthday. Yes, it's the courteous and socially acceptable thing to do. But it's weird when you think about it.

All that being said, I've spent my day so far in class, at work, buying books, and doing homework. Other than my family coming down to take me to dinner, nothing is special about today. I kind of miss the childhood excitement of "YES! I'M ANOTHER YEAR OLDER!" That has kind of gone away now.

I'm old. Yay?

Yummy idea

I recently saw a pin on Pinterest for "Lasagna Grilled Cheese." The picture did not look very good, but the idea of having pasta on a sandwich stuck with me.
I had a handful of frozen raviolis left in the freezer from making a ravioli casserole for a Christmas gathering. I boiled them up and put them on bread with some cheese. After toasting it, it was judgement time.
I don't usually like grilled cheese, but I used cheddar instead of American and used minimal butter. I was pleasantly surprised. I really enjoyed the sandwich.
It was a little messy because the ravioli weren't stuck to the cheese well enough, so next time I would maybe add some shredded cheddar that would fill the gaps between the pasta. I would also add a little bit of marinara for some added flavor.

I was rather proud of myself for experimenting with food and being successful!

Getting old and color combinations.

I turn 22 in just over a month. That is crazy for me to think about. There's nothing exciting about that age. Almost being older than 21 makes me feel old. Like, people don't expect me to go out and have fun anymore. The only plus side to this birthday is that I'm going all-out to plan a party that will let me spend time with all of my friends one last time before everyone leaves for the summer.

I have a new obsession. With a color scheme. Teal, yellow, and gray are gorgeous together. I've always liked the color combination (when the right shades are used), but I never really noticed it until recently. I want to add yellow to my home to make it a bright and cheery place, and teal is my favorite color. Gray just happens to tie them together really nicely.
I never thought I would appreciate the color, but gray has an ability to look very nice. It's subtle, and smooth. The dark-ish shades make me think of being grounded.

What are your favorite color combinations? Let me know in the comments if you feel so inclined.
Thanks :)

New Motivations

I've been trying to find motivation to work out and eat right for years. Sometimes I find something that lasts for a few weeks. Sometimes it barely lasts a few hours.
I recently got my hair cut. The next morning, I tried styling it. I was all ready to go to class and looked in the mirror one last time to make sure I was put together. I was appalled that my haircut made my face look chubby unless I tucked it behind my ears.
Rather than letting myself get too worked up about it, I decided that I do, in fact, like this haircut. I'm pretty sure that losing a few pounds would prevent that chubby look. My awesome new hair is my new motivation. It's something that isn't going to go away very quickly, so I'm hoping that my motivation lasts long enough for me to start seeing a difference in myself!

A fresh start and Tea

I've attempted to have blogs before, but it never works out very well. I vow that I'm going to post every day. And when that doesn't happen, every week. In the end, my blog stays desolate and un-updated.
This time, I will have no schedule for how often I'll blog. There will be nothing specific that I have to blog about. I'll just post something whenever I have a thought that I feel is worth sharing.

The thought that made me decide to start blogging again?
I'm ready to live in a big-girl dwelling. Preferably a multi-bedroom house. I want to be able to decorate the different rooms, paint the walls, have throw pillows that bring everything in the room together. But mostly, I found some cool "Tea Station" things on Pinterest, and I want to have a place with a room that I can devote to tea drinking. I suppose it should be the same room as my library, since drinking tea and reading books go well together. I would just have to make sure that tea never gets spilled on my books!

Well anyway, thanks for reading. I may or may not post again soon- Time (and my thoughts) will tell!