What I've Been Up To

Okay, so I was shocked when I saw the date of my last post.  Not that I have a bazillion readers checking daily, hungry for the latest and greatest of The Nilla Life (it's not that exciting...).  But I thought it had only been a week.  Not 11 days.

I say it a lot, but I don't know where the time goes.  It's kind of getting annoying, if you want to know the truth of it.  My "things to do list" never gets crossed off all the way (a true tragedy in the Nilla Life) -- and instead I'm adding to them!  Yes, I'm probably whining.  But seriously.  Where is the time!?!

We are smack dab in the middle of buying the house.  We had our home inspection and the biggest concern there is the wiring.  Which we already knew and had planned to fix.  The inspector said it is a sound house based on his inspection.  There are cosmetic things to do -- like repainting almost everywhere.  But those don't affect the stability of the house.  We are going to remodel basically the whole upstairs (and eventually finish the basement), so there will be a lot of work to do before we even move in.  But we'll get there.  And hopefully by next summer, we'll be enjoying apples, pears, peaches, plums, and grapes (yep, we found more fruit!!) from our very own yard :).  I'm pretty excited about that.

Speaking of fruit...  This brings us to one of the things that has been taking up a lot of my time.  So last Friday, one of the gals I serve with in Primary has a plum tree in her yard.  She had a ton of plums and wasn't getting to them fast enough.  So she offered some to me and another lady during our presidency meeting.  So I grabbed about 1/3 of a grocery bag full and proceeded to make plum jam on Saturday night.  I found a recipe that didn't require pectin, but since I had tripled it... Well, it took longer to boil down.  But here's a picture of one of the jars.  It only made 2.5 pints and since Jeremy goes through jam fast, I didn't bother to can them -- just screwed on a lid and put them in the fridge.

I've already tried it on a pb&j last week and it is tasty.  Probably mostly because I made it, and there's just something enjoyable about enjoying something you made...

Well, then Buck from the funeral home had a ton of plums and sent a huge box with my mom to me.  Approximately 17 pounds worth.  And so Jeremy and I spent Monday and Tuesday nights chopping up and freezing plums.  I ended up with 44 cups -- all in my freezer (it's a scary place in there right now...  I had to rearrange stuff for about 5 minutes to get the door to close...).  Then Buck sent home  a huge grocery bag full of green beans for me too.  Phew!  So last night, Jeremy and I rinsed and snapped them.  And today I par-boiled and froze them.  I don't have a pressure cooker to do pressure canning, and apparently that's the safer way to go with veggies.  So I just froze them.  I ended up with about 20 cups of those frozen.  And yesterday they had 6 ounce containers of raspberries for $1.00 each.  I stocked up on 10!  I ate one with Lea at her house when we did breakfast yesterday.  Kept 3 more in the fridge (but rinsed them).  Froze the other 6 in 3 2-cup baggies.  For future raspberry coffee cakes :).  Which will be featured at our next Friday breakfast in two weeks...  So here's the frozen abundance:

I'm hoping next weekend I'll be feeling ambitious and I will make a ton more plum jam and can it (we have plenty of storage under our bed ;)!) and maybe also the pepper jelly.  Because after the Temple today, I went out back at my mom's and harvested everything.  Because today was the return of the rain.  And being that it is the end of September, I'm pretty sure we are done with our hot sunny days.  I got quite a harvest though, considering how little work I did!  And I plan to make the jalapeno pepper jelly as well as some home-made rotel with the tomatoes and the remaining peppers.

So yeah...  That has consumed a lot of my time.  And will consume more.  And now, it's time for date night :).  We're going to snuggle up and watch a movie while sipping a smoothie :).  Oh...  Did I mention we got a tv for free?  It's an old-style heavy one.  But it was free and since we don't watch tv all that much...  Well, I'm content with it.  However, it's ginormous and dwarfs the living room.  Haha...  That's what happens when you live in less than 500 square feet!  But not for much longer!  Yay!!

Oh...  And here's a stupid Nilla moment for you...  Tuesday night, Jeremy was taking out the trash after I'd been home for about 2 hours.  On his way back in he showed me I had left my keys in the door.  For two hours.  We live on a rather busy road (literally right on the road) in a sketch part of town.  We count it a miracle that my keys were still in the door.  As in my car key (still the only one we have) and my house key.  Ummm... I freaked out a little and lost it a little.  How does one do something so careless?  Ugh.  But like I said... A miracle.

So here's our monstrosity.  And our snuggly pictures :).  I'm off for more snuggling!

He tolerates all my picture posing so well... ;).  Haha....  Faces like this are the reason he has to pose a few more times :).  But isn't he a cutie?

P.S... He's on graves next month. Gag me now.

The Sound of Silence

It's been an eventful week.  Which would seem to belie the song title I have chosen for this particular post.  But it doesn't, trust me :).

Things were hopping at work last week.  I think I mentioned in the last post that a co-worker had quit, and since she had trained me on a lot of her job, I have been continuing that, only without her awesome help.  Let me just say:  the time flew.  Which I appreciated.  But my stress level went up a tad bit too.  Which I didn't appreciate so much.  Rushing to meet deadlines, playing inter-departmental politics.  Yeah, not so much my thing.  But it all worked out just fine in the end.  And, until further notice, I will get to work half my day on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays in the back.  And I enjoy that, because there are fewer interruptions. 

We had found a van that we went to look at last Saturday.  We were prepared to take it home if we liked it.  We did.  The girl wasn't ready to let it go.  She needed it for one more week.  Okay, so after I was grumbly about her being flaky...  I got over it.  And we agreed that we would purchase the van at the end of the week.  Sounded risky, but we figured if it didn't happen, it wasn't meant to be.  But the girl was very thoughtful in that she contacted us a couple times during the week to let us know how progress was going on her end with the things she needed to do (she is leaving tomorrow to go to Taiwan for a year to teach English, which is why she was selling the van).  But, that meant we were still without a second car.  Which meant I was still driving Jeremy's car to work.  And that was all well and good and all of that.  Until Tuesday -- which had been a very stressful day at work for me.  I headed to the parking lot a block away from where I work, thinking about how I was voluntarily going to work the next morning at 6:30 (sick, right?  But I had a big deadline I had to meet by noon on Wednesday, and I was freaking out a tad).  And I was texting Jeremy that I was headed home (he's on days this month).  I got in the car and turned the key.  And heard nothing.  Nothing.  It was the sound of silence (hence the song title post :)).  Seriously.  A dreaded sound when what you want to hear is the engine start.  Well, I quickly realized I had disobeyed my morning directive to myself to "remember to turn off the lights when you get to work."  Nice.  It had been a cloudy morning.  Not really enough to merit lights, so I have no idea why I turned them on.  But lesson learned.  Seriously.  So I called Jeremy, who of course could do nothing, as he was home about 11 miles away with nothing but a bike.  I remembered AAA, but who wants to waste a call out on something someone else can help with?  I thought of my mom, and then got a grip and thought, "Hila, there are still people in the office."  So I called my boss who sent (actually, this person volunteered) someone out who happens to have to jump her own car off all the time.  And then another nice employee came over and helped us too.  So, though I did shed some tears (it had been a stressful day), it all went just fine.  But by the end of that, I was done.  D.O.N.E.  So I skipped walking with Sue.

Wednesday was laundry day.  And Thursday evening we went and got the van :).  Yay!  Here are the pictures :).

Try parking that thing in our tiny parking spot.  Ugh.  It's a chore and a half.  But beyond that, I really like it.  It's a smooth ride and has lots of room.  And we're hoping to put at least another 100k miles on it :).  It's a Honda, so at least it has a reputation for being able to do that! 

And then today.  Today was mostly lazy.  We had nothing planned, except going to look at another house.  Which we did around 1:30 today.  Nice house.  Still needs some work.  Again, the basement isn't finished.  But we wouldn't need to finish it in order to have all that we want.  We probably would eventually, but it isn't a priority.  It has slightly less acreage than the other, but more than our minimum.  And one of the coolest things, to me, is all the storage!  Some of it is in these random nooks and crannies that are just so stinkin' nifty!  A kid's dream for hide and seek...  Anyway, I really like this house.  I liked the other too, but the more the week has gone by, the more I have realized how much work we'd need to do from the word "go."  So we've been discussing a lot lately.  It's a lot to consider.  Of course, I don't anticipate that the house we looked at today will be on the market for long.  But we aren't willing to rush into anything.  So we will move forward prayerfully and see how we feel.  These are important decisions, after all.  But!  If we do get a house, and you find yourself in the Pacific Northwest...  Consider yourself invited to our abode :).

It's Gonna Be a Good Good Life

Yeah, I’ve really been slacking on my blog. I know, I know. Life has been busy, and I haven’t had internet access. I pretty much changed my plan of going to my mom’s to do laundry. The reason is because that is a lengthy process. And so the Laundromat is so much faster. Thus, that is my new plan. And I don’t know if they have wi-fi at the Laundromat. I guess I could find out.

And so I have a long list of catch-ups. And several pictures. Some of which are food :). And since it has been so long, I can mostly just give a brief sentence in most cases. So here goes a Nilla month in review.

I dressed up 80s for Halloween. Yes, I went to work in jelly shoes, a jean skirt and jacket, leggings and leg warmers (which was handy, since the weather here has been so cold! We’ve already had ice 3 days that I know of). And I crimped my hair right after I got to work. Two other ladies in my office also dressed up. I work pretty closely with them, since we are all at the front. It was fun to be dressed up and do something different on a work day :).

I have been steadily working on my little house. And I’ve enjoyed plenty of fun little experiences even within this first month. Feel free to peruse the pictures below which will show how much I have done so far. The bedroom remains a work in progress, but it will get there. I don’t have a real bed right now, so I don’t feel especially hurried as far as getting it squared away. Thus it is a last priority. I have quit sleeping on the couch. I did that for 3 weeks, and apparently that’s my body’s limit. I have entered the age of back aches and that was not fun. I felt like a really old lady when I’d sit at work and lean forward to answer the phone and have to cringe from the pain in my lower back. So I inflated my self-inflating air mattress, and it’s been much more tolerable ever since :). Of course, the other sad fact that comes from all this is that I know there was a time when it didn’t matter where I slept – it didn’t affect my back. Consider those kids who fall asleep with their head hanging all over the place in their car seat. They bounce back as though nothing happened. Not so for me. And I guess 31 is when things start really falling apart ;). Because somewhere in the last month, I turned 31. This past year went fast and was jam-packed with life-changing events! Like getting my own place…

…And like Jeremy. Yep, we are still dating :). And here’s a few pictures to show you the smiles :). We’ve been dating 6 months now. Somehow that doesn’t seem possible – in both ways. The fact that it’s been 6 months when it seems to have gone by so fast; and the fact that it’s only been six months when sometimes it seems like we’ve known each other for much longer. It’s been pretty amazing. He’s smart and handy (he replaced my radiator a few weeks back) and wonderful and fun and handsome… :). And I’m sure, if he ever gets around to reading this post, he’ll be most appreciative of that little list of some of his many great qualities :). I’m one blessed gal. And believe it or not, the time is quickly approaching when we will be jetting to Alabama. Let the fun begin! That’s this Friday, by the way. Yep, time flies. And so lately, he and I have enjoyed relaxing quiet evenings at my house where we study scriptures, have Family Home Evening, drink hot chocolate, he hangs my pet net (for my stuffed animals), I unpack and put stuff away, and we cook and eat dinner together. We have cooked and eaten taco salad, home-made pizza (see the mountainous pictures below), and we had our Chinese night with orange chicken, cabbage ramen salad, and Sweet and Spicy green beans. So much fun! Unless you do something dumb. See below. And on other nights, I have cooked and he has joined me. I love it. I love cooking and sharing meals together. It suits me :).

Please note we are not drinking hot chocolate in this particular picture... That's honeycrisp apple cider ;). Warmed up.


Ah, here's the food :).


Chinese food night.

Awesome Nilla moments you can laugh at:

-I learned why the recipe on the Hershey’s Cocoa container for home-made hot chocolate warns Do Not Boil! Here’s what happens if you happen to leave the milk heating on slightly too-high of heat and then walk away from it: at first, nothing. You sit there sipping your hot chocolate and feel pretty cozy and happy. And then Jeremy will look in the bottom of his jack-o-lantern mug (which for some inexplicable reason you couldn’t seem to pass up last year when they were on clearance at World Market – even though you already had a MILLION mugs…) and notice that his hot chocolate is starting to become quite pudding-like in consistency. And you say, “Well mine is okay.” But alas, that is only because you haven’t gotten to the point where yours has cooled enough to do the same thing. And now you see the texture and taste the bitterness of it, and it’s pretty grueling to finish off your mug of cocoa and it’s even worse to think about having to drink the rest of what’s still on the stove tomorrow morning on the way to work… But then you have a sweet Jeremy who “takes one for the team” and finishes off the other stuff so you won’t have to and so it’s not wasted. And you understand now why you don’t let the milk boil. Because that was easily the most disappointing hot chocolate experience of my life. And I had been seriously looking forward to that hot chocolate!

-When you put more coolant into your radiator reservoir, make sure you replace the cap. It’s just a good thing to do this. Otherwise, you’ll be driving around to the Laundromat and to pick up Jeremy and go to the store to do some shopping together and you’ll notice that your car is over-heating and you’ll think, “But I just filled it up this morning! Why is it over-heating!?!” (I used to fill it up daily because the radiator was leaking as well as wherever else along the line it is leaking into the head gasket – yes, I know what this eventually means, but I’ll drive it til it dies – but since Jeremy replaced the radiator, I only refill about once a week… And usually these aren’t the results, since I usually remember to replace the cap…). And then, the next morning, you’ll have had the thought come to your mind that maybe you hadn’t replaced the cap, so you’ll check it and sure enough… Ugh. I hate when I do stupid things. Thankfully there is a car part store a block from my new home…

-When you turn on the wrong burner to heat up the sauce for orange chicken. And the only reason it’s discovered that you turned on the wrong burner is because Jeremy is in charge of browning the chicken and he has his assembly line going with the raw chicken waiting to be floured and egg-dipped on your plastic cutting board which is sitting on the stove. On the burner you turned on. And suddenly you smell the plastic melting (or rather he does, because you’re busy making the dressing for the cabbage salad). And now you’ll always know which side is up on the cutting board, since the other side has the eye of the burner etched forever into it :). Yep, good times! Burning plastic stinks, by the way.

-Always keep the genius statements coming. A la “It’s only fun when it’s fun” (which I’m considering hanging my banner behind my door at the entrance to the house. It sets the mood ;)). My newest one was uttered to Jeremy the night we made taco salad. We had bought two cans of black olives – two different sizes. We decided to only use one can, so Jeremy said, “Do you want to keep the extra can here or do you want me to take it home?” And I said, “It doesn’t matter to me. If it stays here, it will just sit there until it gets used.” Hahahahah. Genius. You can call me Princess Obvious :).

So in all my unpacking (yes, I somehow segued back to my house stuff…), I discovered that I have a million kajillion books. I got rid of about a box full, since I am positive I won’t be reading them anytime soon – if ever. And if I decide I want to, then there’s something called a library. Go figure! I also got rid of about 6 boxes of other stuff. It’s amazing what I’ve been holding onto for so many years. I do have to share this little tidbit. I came across a thing I filled out in 4^th grade called an “interest-alyzer.” That thing was full of little gems, let me tell you! One of the questions was, “If you were involved in a play, what role would you want to have (ie scenery, actor/actress, sewing costumes, etc). My number 1 choice was actor or actress. Hahaha! So not me! I have no desire to be front and center! But that wasn’t the best part. The best part was the question about if I could have a famous person come visit my school, who would my top three choices be? I will give them to you in reverse order, because my number one is the most hysterical ever. Number 3 was Rod Stewart. Okay, laugh, because I am. And yeah, I do think that’s pretty funny. But I can actually excuse it, because during that time in my life, he had a song called Forever Young that I really loved. So, okay, I can logically understand that. My number 2 was Debbie Gibson. Also understandable for me. I still have her CD that came out around that time (her 2^nd one, not her first one – it was one of my first CDs ever). But, drum roll please… My number 1: Jane Fonda. Yes, blink and re-read and it will say what you thought you saw the first time. Jane Fonda!?!? For all my life I cannot imagine why I would list her as someone I would want to have come to my school. Not now as an adult, and especially not then as a 10 year old! That one still baffles me. Oh, I laughed so hard when I saw it. I laughed so hard. I have to share that here, because it will be worth remembering one day, I’m sure. Cracks me up. Oh yeah, so I started this paragraph to say that I bought myself a tall bookshelf. And Jeremy quite kindly put it together for me :). I told you he’s handy and nice. And what would have taken me 3 hours took him less than one. But I put together my lamp that Lea got me as a house-warming gift. It’s a lamp I wanted to buy about a year ago when it was on sale at Target, but they didn’t have the wood one, and I didn’t want the black one. So now I have my functional lamp (it has shelves :)). You can examine all these things in my pictures :). And so Lea and I hung out Tuesday night so I could get the book shelf and she could get the lamp. We went to Target and the mall and we had fun laughing about nothing. I stayed and hung out at her house for a bit afterwards and met their new dog Petie.




See the bedroom still needs the most work. But the stuffed animals are in their spot :).
Well, I’m sure there is more that has happened. But that’s the gist of it. The high-lights. I mean, it’s life. There have been some really yucky days. There have been some really awesome days. And there have been plenty of in-between days. It’s just life. And I’m just rolling with it. Because it’s gonna be a good, good life :). It already is.