I like hot dogs

C is for Cookie

2012-02-08T15:37:00.000-08:00

I've been trying to make an effort lately to make healthier choices in my life so that I can lose weight and feel hot. I'm starting off slowly, with a stricter diet and some small daily exercises; but even these small changes have been so difficult for me, and I've only been eating healthier (and less) for only a few days now. I know, I'm a wuss, but I am trying. My biggest problem areas are snacks and desserts. My mid-day snacks consisted of Twizzlers and cupcakes, and eating dessert became a nightly habit as of late 2011, it went hand-in-hand with watching "Lost" on Netflix after the kids were asleep. Anyhow, I've decided that the only way I'm going to change these habits is by ending them the same way they began, slowly. Instead of eating 10 Twizzlers last night, I ate 1. Instead of pancakes and syrup for breakfast, I ate yogurt and fruit. You get the point. Even though that wasn't the point at all, instead the point is this: These cookies are DELICIOUS! Although they aren't exactly healthy for you since they still have a cup of sugar in them, they're made from whole wheat flour, only 2 T. of butter, oats, bananas and blueberries (I substituted the blueberries for choc. chips) so they are less un-healthy than regular cookies, you must try them! I ate one for a snack, and am looking forward to having another after dinner. The rest are being bagged and sent to the neighbors, which is another one of my healthier habits:)

The recipe is here: http://cookieandkate.com/2011/chocolate-chip-banana-cookies/

-oh, and I added a pinch of nutmeg.

Neighbors

2011-08-04T08:05:00.000-07:00

We've recently come into the most frustrating situation in the whole wide world with our neighbors, so here I come to the blog to vent and tell my story.
On mid-morning Monday the West side of South Jordan had a huge, but short rain storm to pass through our little area. Since we are on the top of the hill, all of our water from our lot began to pour down into a couple of our neighbors lots and houses. I wasn't home at the time, but I head that it really was just a tremendous amount of rain in a very short period of time. Our neighbors directly to the East of us didn't have too much damage, they're just missing some dirt in 2 places in their rock wall, which is a very easy fix, amounting to about $100 worth of damage. Our neighbors to the South East, (our lot corners touch) had quite a bit more damage to their lot/house because they had both our water, and the water from the neighbors directly behind us coming at them. Also, their lot dips right into one of their basement window wells, so of course you can imagine what happened. Water not only soaked up into their yard, making their flower garden sink, but it also poured into their basement. Now switch sides of this situation for a minute. Here I was, at 5:30pm, just getting home. I go to my cell phone (which I leave home often) to hear my messages, and I have a random message from the Bishop in our ward, telling me that it rained really hard, and that it caused damage to the neighbors basement and garden, and that we are responsible for it, and that the only reason he's calling me is because that particular neighbor was in not in a state of mind to come speak to me respectfully.
.................................. WHAT?!?! Is it just me, or is that just insane. This neighbor had apparently pounded on my door immediately following the rain storm to yell at me, and after speaking to the bishop directly, he said "thank goodness that you weren't home, because he was heated." A couple of things are running through my mind at this point, 1. OH, NO, The rain must have destroyed this guy's house, and 2. Was it my fault that it rained? While I waited for Shevin to get home I made some brownies and was trying to figure out what to do and say to the neighbors. I took some brownies first to the less damaged neighbors, who we actually really get along with, and they were just fine. She showed me what happened, told me how terrible the rain was, and said not to worry, it just happened. I insured her that we'd start getting landscaping quotes and talk to our insurance to figure it all out and get it fixed as quick as possible. She said that'd be great. She then asked me if I'd spoken to the other neighbors yet, and I told her I hadn't, and then she had a kinda shyish grin on her face, I said, are they going to just beat me up? She then confirmed what the Bishop had already told me, that these neighbors are apparently blaming all of this water damage on us, and that they were incredible upset with us, and he came over to yell at us about it but that we weren't home. Ugh. Awesome. Even with opposite council from my husband, I still decided to brave it and went to their house next. They were in the basement starting to clear out the 1/4 inch water they had in 2 rooms of their basement. (they had just gotten back from a baseball game, which is why it wasn't already done.)
I gave them the brownies, apologized numerous times, and without being told, grabbed a shop vac, and spent the next 2 and a half hours getting out all the water that had formed in their basement. When I was done (10:30ish pm) I asked them what the next step is to getting their drywall and flower garden repaired (they had no flooring yet in the basement), he said that he would get some bids, and get back to me. Great I said, and I gave him my phone number and told him to let me know.
Well, he let me know all right. The next night, at 9:30pm, I received a knock at the door, and there standing was Mr and Mrs neighbor, and their landscaper. (uh.....) They began to tell me, it a not amazing way, that the landscaper was here to give me quotes on my own landscaping. And that they received a quote for their drywall of $350. I said that quote sounded good to me, and that I would call my insurance lady in the morning and let her know about it, and have her call him and arrange the payment. He then proceeded to yell at me for the next 20 min. saying that it'd just be better if I paid for it myself, and that I really needed to get a quote about a rock wall from this landscaper, and that he didn't care that I was moving in a few weeks that I needed to get it done before then because I should've had my landscaping done before I even moved in, etc. etc. I just very calmly replied that it doesn't make sense for us to put in landscaping now, weeks before we're moving out, but that I'm sure the buyers will do that after they move in. He argued again. Again, I replied that we weren't going to landscape before we moved. He yelled for another few minutes when finally Shevin came out (I asked him to stay out of everything because he also gets incredibly rude when he's upset) and asked what the problem is, and he let the neighbor speak for about 2 seconds when he interrupted and said "we aren't landscaping before we move, is there anything else you need". No response, "K, well we're trying to put our kids to bed, my wife will call you in the morning." End of conversation. Door closed. Next morning, I call the insurance, tell them everything, they say they'll call me right back. Fast foward 2 hours: I'm at Liberty Land with my mom, neice and kids and get a call from mean neighbor, who tells me that he got a quote for landscaping, $1300. His landscaping wasn't that effected by the rain, was missing some dirt in his garden and a part of his rock wall, so I was skeptical with such a high bid. I told him that if it'd be alright, i'd like to get a couple of bids on it too, and that I'd get them done by Friday. (it was Wednesday). And that I was still waiting to see on what and if our insurance company will cover. He didn't seem to like either one of those because he proceeded with "If you don't get these bids in the next 24 hours, then I'm going to call your insurance company and file the claim myself, and you'll have to disclose that to your buyers (disclose to them what a butt face you are?) and that he doubts that they'll want to still buy the house right after I filed a claim on it. "AAHhhhhhhhh.!!!!" (is what I said in my head) To the neighbor, I was still nice and polite and said that I'd just like to get a couple of bids, that I think that's fair for me to ask for a bid of my own because I still need to cover my bases, and that I'd do the best I could to get them out within the 24 hours, and that I did still want to talk to my insurance company. He threatens the same thing again, forcefully. I don't budge on my wanting the bid, again saying that I'd work with the unreasonable 24 hour time line if he'd just allow me to. He said "my niceness was wearing thin with him and that I had 24 hours. (I forgot to mention that I can hear his wife yelling at me in the background during this entire conversation.) I spent the next hour calling all the landscapers in South Jordan, (yes, I was still at Liberty Land) trying to find someone who could come out today to give me bids for my neighbor. After 16 phone calls, I found a landscaper who said he'd be there at 3pm. Phew! I thought I'd take a break from the chaos and play with the kids from a while when I get a phone call back from the ins. company. finally. They inform me that this neighbor had called them already this morning, and told them that if they don't pay him $1700 by today, that he was going to make sure that the next bids were thousands of dollars more, and that they'd have to pay for it. He told them, that it was only going to be $1,700 because he would do the work himself, so he wanted the check made out to him and he wanted it by 5 pm today. My poor insurance lady. She tried to explain to him that isn't how it works, that if a claim is filed, they have to first open an investigation, then get 3 bids each, and then start on the work. He apparently didn't like that and hung up. (which I imagine is when he called me) Anyhow, I asked her what would happen if we filed the claim, she said we don't even have a deductible, and that our premium would rise about $100 a year, for 3 years. Me- So, only $300 to fix this whole mess and have you guys deal with him instead of me? Insurance- yes. Me-please, file the claim, and please, drag it out as long as possible:)
Only minutes later I get another call from the neighbor saying that he hadn't seen any bids yet and threatened again to file with the insurance (not knowing that I knew that he already tried to) I said, you know what, go right ahead and file, and while I said that I chuckled. Then I hung up.

WAHOOOOOOOOO!! I was so happy with the outcome! I had spent the past 72 hours being nothing but incredibly nice, understanding and apologetic to this horrible, horrible person, thinking all the while that terrible things and terrible bills were going to come my way. But they didn't! The neighbor essentially got what he'd been asking for (to work with the insurance and not me) and I only have to pay $100 a year, which is so much better than the neighbor's $1,700 quote. And, I leave with dignity. I wanted to badly to get upset back, and explain that I didn't make it rain, or do anything purposefully, and give him the fight which he seemed so desperately to be asking for; but I didn't. I was calm, cool, and collected throughout this entire ordeal and can honestly say that I regret doing or saying nothing. While it definitely wasn't easy to do, I'm glad that I did.

Moral of the story: Don't be a jerk.

3 FREE Issues of Food and Wine Magazine

2011-02-23T06:33:00.001-08:00

Sign up to receive three free issues of Food and Wine Magazine courtesy of Pepcid. You will also be given the chance to get a coupon for $3 off Pepcid.

Sometimes...

2011-02-11T14:15:00.000-08:00

I stay in my pj's all day long.
my downstairs neighbors pound on their ceiling.
I hide behind a door, and jump out screaming, actually scaring my son because I need to laugh.
Jacob from twilight looks femmi.
Taylor Swift comes out with a catchy song.
Kix makes a great afternoon snack.
My kids play at Mcdonald's for over 2 hours.
I forget to eat breakfast.
I want to be friends with everyone.
I love money. (when I have a lot)
I despise money. (when I have little)
eggs are brown.
I'm mad at Shevin for no reason.
I say swear words in my dreams.
my favorite color is orange.
I think I will eventually find a word that rhymes with orange.
spanish words spill out my mouth.
Facebook makes me vomit.
90210 hypnotizes me.
I text using acronyms. Nope, that never happens.

Chili #1

2010-10-30T21:00:00.001-07:00

Today was the ward chili cook off, and I was very much looking forward to it since I've heard that the chili cook off is a pretty big deal in this ward and I was ready for some good competition. Out of about 40 families who showed up to the cook off, there were 22 pots of chili. There was 2 1/2 of the long tables filled with crock pots, bowls and large pots filled with everyone's different version of the best chili ever. Some chili's were white bean, some made with chicken, stew beef, and one was even tinted green from spinach, but mine blended in with about 10 other pots filled with ground beef, beans, and diced tomatoes. Out of the 22 pots of chili, mine was #1 on the list. What a terrible place to be in the competition! The judges tasted mine very first, and then tasted 21 other pots of chili, how in the world would they have remembered what mine tasted like after tasting so many! I was so sad, I was sad that the hours of dicing, sauteing and simmering my chili would all go to waste. That is, I was sad until they announced the winner! That's right, I won the chili cook-off! 22 pots of chili, and mine was voted best by all 3 judges! It sounds silly, but I am really happy and proud of myself for winning the chili cook off! I cook all of the time, and I love it, but most of the time I feel that I'm the only one who does. So although silly, it was nice to hear that other people appreciate it. I just love chili in the Fall.

Smoke Weed Eryday

2010-10-23T22:44:00.000-07:00

So, that latest conversation in a class of mine is the legalization of marijuana, and is it bad. My immediate response, yes. Why? Because smoking marijuana is illegal, therefore it's bad, right? Seeing how i've never smoked marijuana, I don't actually know first hand it's effects, but i've heard that some sort of chemical get released in your brain making you feel very relaxed and that the actual side effects are minimal. I also heared that people who smoke marijuana only start on other drugs because marijuana is so expensive to buy, and when people can't afford to buy weed, the drug dealer suggests cheaper, harder drugs, and since that's all that they can afford, they buy it, and then become addictive. I've also read that marijuana is less addicting than cigarettes, and that you can't overdose on it. Then I think, well, I'd rather had a "high" person than a drunk behind the wheel, not that I'd want either behind the wheel, but how can our country allow cigarettes and alcohol to be legal but not marijuana, but then if we legalized marijuana, what else would we legalize, when would it end. So my final decision was just to un-legalize alcohol and cigarettes. But then if we decide to make alcohol illegal, wouldn't people just find some way to get it anyways, or just find ways to make their own at home, which would be more dangerous than making it legal?? So basically i've gone from having a strong opinion to having no opinion. But having no opinion is stupid. So my opinion is, keep marijuana illegal, because although many people may still be buying it, it is still a drug and is harder to buy illegally than it would be to buy at a store, and because prescription drugs are legal and therefore are super easy to get a hold of, and that's a reason why so many people are addicted to those. Drugs, ehh (a disgusted sound), so stupid. Don't do them ever. And don't judge my writing.

Tips Are Appreciated

2010-08-30T08:53:00.001-07:00

This tipping craze has been bothering me for quite a while, so I thought that I'd share my opinions with the world. Is it just me or does it seem like every profession is "appreciating" a tip now a days. Let's go throughout an example day, I get in a cab, they ask for a tip, I get a non-caffeinated latte, the barista wants a tip, I get a haircut, tip, I eat lunch at a place that has no servers, but no garbarges to throw away your own trash, tip, At a play, the person who shows me to my seat wants a tip, I order pizza, tip, we go out for ice cream, tip, a midnight Beto's run, tip cup. It's making me crazy! Why does everyone who has a crappy job want a tip??? You chose not to go to school, you chose that minimum wage paying job, and you still expect me to tip you? I also feel strongly that it's a disservice to give tips to everyone with those jobs. Let's say I give the pizza man, who normally makes $9/hr, a $3, and he makes 2 other deliveries in that hour, his $9/hr job just turned into a $18/hr job, which is actually pretty good. So instead of looking for better jobs, or getting more education to lead into a better job, he decides that $18/hr is good for him. Complete disservice. I definitely understand tipping waiters/waitresses, but only because they make less than minimum wage. But taxi drivers / hair stylists / ice-cream makers / baristas / etc?? Why in the world would I give those people tips?!? They each get their own hourly wage. They are paid to make my ice cream, drive me around, and cut me hair. Why do they need a tip on top of that? I've heard the argument, "if they do a good job, then I tip them." So if they do a bad job, then you shouldn't have to pay at all? They get paid to do a good job! If a hair stylist expects a tip, why not just raise your prices? It's the same thing.

Mother's Day - Better than my birthday

2010-05-10T19:05:00.000-07:00

So, I've decided that Mother's Day just may be my new favorite holiday. Is it technically even a holiday? Well, I like it. Shevin let me sleep in until 8, and woke me up with a french toast breakfast (he got a recipe from rookiecooks.com, so cute)! And, it was actually really good! I was impressed. Then the bishopric canceled all of his morning meetings so that they could stay with their wives, which meant that I wasn't alone all morning. Shevin helped me with Gabriel, and washed the dishes, and cleaned whatever I asked him to. During Sunday School, Shevin offered to take Gabriel and said that I could stay at church for the lesson, and even though I was alone, it really was so nice! It's been so hard to go to Sunday School since Gabe has started walking that most of the time I just leave early and cry on the way home because it's so stressful. But for once, I was alone, I listened, I participated, and I LOVED it! The Church is true. After church I made us grilled cheese sandwiches, but Shevin would've made them if I asked. I only did it because I knew that he was making me dinner, and because I felt like a grilled cheese sandwich. I sat around and played with Gabriel and Shevin pretty much all day, until Shevin started to make dinner. Crab, Lobster, baked potatoes (googled a recipe for the potato) and peas! I was in heaven! Crab and Lobster are my all time favorite foods and it was so delicious! I love my husband. It was a great Mother's day filled with my favorite things; family, relaxation, and good food. Such a good day.

Viva Las Vegas!

2010-04-07T19:05:00.000-07:00

Our Bedroom with a view of the Strip!

Shevin and I recently took a trip to Las Vegas and had SO MUCH FUN!!! It was our last mini vacation before our second baby arrives. We had a bunch of Skymiles on our card so we were able to stay one night in the Rio, (all suites) and then 2 nights at The Trump, our first five star hotel experience! For some reason I just like feeling rich and fancy, and so staying at The Trump was the highlight of my trip.

Valet parking, doormen wearing white gloves, and asking, "How was your evening tonight miss?", elevator security, hallway security, no smoking, no casino, the flat screen tv reading "Welcome to the Trump Hotel Mrs. Yolanda Morris" upon check-in, a fridge, microwave, stove, dishes, a HUGE jetted tub, TV in the bathroom...blah blah blah, this room was AMAZING, the hotel was AMAZING.

Anyways, we went and saw Lion King on Thursday and had great seats, for what was a great show.

On Friday, we played Keeno for about 30 minutes, well, we got a bunch of Keeno papers and marked our numbers and pretended to play just with eachother, but it was still pretty fun. After losing every game of pretend Keeno, we went to The Price is Right, Las Vegas style. It was ok. Mostly just a bunch of drunk people (at 2pm) winning pretty lame-o things. For the showcase, they had a car, but in order to win the showcase the contestant had to be within $100 of the exact price! I bet that nobody's ever even come close to winning. But then we went to Cirque du Soleil's Love-Beatles production and that was also another very entertaining show.

Before the show some of the characters came out and started playing tricks on Shevin, it was pretty funny because they actually scared him a couple of times when they made his hair smoke like it was on fire for a few minutes, and then almost hit his face with a long hand looking toy. On Saturday we went to an all you can play arcade called GameWorks and played games like DDR, Outrun, Police Trainer, House of the Dead, Time Crisis, Mario Cart, etc. for about 3 hours.

This place was huge and filled with tons of video games, and you pay one price for the entire day, for as many games as you want. Basically any young guy's dream. We finished that night with David Spade's comedy show.

With jokes about pooping in front of bathroom attendants, and farting yourself awake when you forget that someone else is in bed with you, this show was Shevin's favorite part of the trip. And I admit, it was pretty darn funny, and definitely not too gross or inappropriate. We absolutely loved our trip, we rate it the most fun we've ever had on a trip to Vegas. We were pretty sad when we left early Sunday morning, but very excited to get back to our little Gabriel.

The Nesting Phase

2010-03-14T14:12:00.001-07:00

I don't even know what the heck "nesting" even means, but I think it may have something to do with birds building their nest while they're pregnant so that they don't have to think about how they feel like a fat blob who has constant heart burn. I don't know though, I could be way off.
But when you're pregnant with your first, "nesting" is easy to do, because you have to build a nursery, paint, pick out the safest and most cost effective stroller, car seat, crib, changing table, dressers, bookshelve, rocking chair, clothes, diapers, wipes, etc. Anyways, that stuff keeps you busy for at least 3 months. My problem is what to do while being pregnant with our second?
So, this is what I came up with. I decided to fix stuff in the house that we've been wanting to fix for a while, but just haven't for some reason. And I went to work on our kitchen and upstairs bath. Here are the befores and afters. The delema is, that took about a month and now I'm done, so what am I supposed to do now?

Bath - Before After

For the bathroom, we hired someone to paint, tile and set up the vanity. All we did was put up the lighting, fixtures and medicine cabinet and shelves. But we are so proud of ourselves because these small changes make such a big difference.

Costs: Tile, paint & labor - $400 Vanity, sink and faucet - $200 Cabinet & Fixtures - $105

Kitchen - Before After

WOW! We painted the cabinets all by ourselves and it was quite the process taking roughly 25 hours total, including all the prep work. We degreased and sanded, used 2 coats of primer and 4-5 coats of paint. We hired some guys to put in our granite, new heavy duty sink and faucet.

Cabinets: $111 Sink-$90 Faucet-$54 Counter tops and labor - $798

So total to fix up our kitchen and bathroom we spent $1758.00 (Great deal!) and we both feel that it was definitely worth it!

Remember Me? It's going to be hard to forget.

2010-03-14T13:50:00.000-07:00

So, if you haven't seen the movie Remember Me yet, released in theaters yesterday, then I'll try not to spoil it for you, while still saying what needs to be said about this film.
I'll sum it up into one word. Horroemotionictable. Horrible. Emotional, and predictable.
I'll never be able to think of my beloved Edward Cullen the same way again, (I think I may have to switch to team Jacob). He plays a greasy, perverted, seriously angry and just all around creepy guy, who lives in a dump, has family problems and emotional issues. He meets a girl, who seems like an ok girl with an ok family, but goes through random spurts severe emotional overreaction after meeting and falling in love with the Greasy Psycho.
It's completely unrealistic (they fall in love like after the first date, and she moves in after the second) and over the top emotional, they seriously just wanted people to bawl their eyes out through the whole movie, filling it with numerous tragic deaths and parental physical and mental abuse. But the best part, the part that I will not ruin just in case you still want to see it, is the last few minutes. You don't see it coming, you don't understand why, and it makes absolutely no sense with the rest of the movie. I actually laughed out loud when I realized what was happening.

In summary, if you have to go see Robert Patton in this movie like I did, and you're married, don't take your husband, you will seriously feel bad about putting him through that. Or even better, just wait a month or two until it hits RedBox. That way, you'll only be mad that you spent $1 instead of $8.

Mimi's Cafe- Five Stars

2009-12-12T11:50:00.000-08:00

This is what I signed up for just three days ago. A free breakfast at Mimi's Cafe in Orem. I've only been to Mimi's twice, and neither time was for breakfast. I thought both times were good, but not good enough to drive down to Orem, especially without a coupon. But free breakfast? No purchase necessary? Up to $10 each? Wow. We had to give it a try. After getting there, we noticed that only 1 or 2 items on the entire menu cost more than $8.99.
For breakfast, I ordered the crab and avocado omelet and it came complete with a delicious freshly squeezed orange juice and an even better warm carrot raisin muffin (which Gabriel devoured). Shevin got the inside n' out stuffed blueberry french toast pictured on the offer, you can also see a corner of it in this picture and his breakfast also came with a juice, but not a muffin. Shevin enjoyed his breakfast, but not as much as I LOVED mine. We opted for the large juice which cost $1 more each. Even though the small juice was free, we felt thirsty, and the large glasses were kinda fancy; so we were pleased with our decision. The waitress even brought Gabe a kids cup of OJ for free.

Total pre-coupons - $21.66

Total after coupons - $2.00

Thank you Mimi's Cafe for providing us with such a delicious, satisfying and economically friendly breakfast. I hope you can sign up and enjoy it as much we have!

P.S. The coupon expires 12-22.

Trunk or Treat? Never Again.

2009-11-06T14:13:00.000-08:00

Shevin and I were pretty against the whole trunk or treat idea to begin with, mostly because we really enjoy seeing all the little kids running around the neighborhood dressed up like cute fairies or ninjas; and when we go to the trunk or treat we miss that. But here are some other reasons why I dislike trunk or treating in place of trick or treating:
1. What about people who aren't in the ward but live in the neighborhood? Poor kids who are running around the block trying to get candy and only a few people are home. Sad.
2. If your ward doesn't have many small children, like ours, then you count twice as many adults going around asking for candy than kids.
3. You have to decorate your trunk, AND your house.
4. We're teaching children to be lazy, they don't even have to run around the neighborhood and actually earn their candy anymore, instead they walk through about 30 stalls, and then eat. And most don't even say "Trunk or treat!"
5. LAST BUT NOT LEAST: You can NEVER leave your trunk unattended to look at other people's trunks, or some punk kid will steal all the candy, including the bowl it was in!
Never, Never, again.

Nachos

2009-10-20T20:04:00.001-07:00

Last week a couple of friends and I went to California to visit the Price is Right, (no I didn't come on down) the beach, the Hollywood sign etc, and had a blast. One particulary good moment was visiting a small Hawaiin restaurant with the greatest nachos that I've ever eaten. And believe me, I've eaten my fair share of nachos. These nachos weren't even made with tortilla chips, but instead with a crispier chip, sprinkled with melted cheese, mango avocado salsa, diced grilled chicken and sweet chili sauce........mmmmmmm.......... Anyhow, I imitated those nachos tonight for dinner, and it was just pure heaven with every bite. I would say that my nachos were every bit as good as the ones eaten in Cali. Seriously one of the best meals i've made. Ever. But Shevin didn't think so, he's not into "fancier food" like mango salsa and sweet chili sauce. Whatever, because it was delicious! Here's the recipe if you'd like to give it a shot. I took a picture, but am too lazy to upload it right now, maybe later.

1 18 oz. pkg. Azumaya Large Square Wraps ( I only used maybe 1/2 the package)
3 T olive oil
2 T sweet chili sauce (I used the Mae Ploy brand found by the oriental food)
1/2 C Mango Avocado Salsa (recipe follows)
Shredded Cheese (I used about 1 cup of colby jack)

Set oven to 350 F, and grease the bottoms of two baking sheets with 1 T oil each. Cut each large square wrap in half diagonally 4 times, making 8 triangular pieces per square. Cut just enough pieces to cover each pan with a single layer of chips, try not to overlap. Brush the remaining oil on the tops of the chips. (or, if like me you don't own a basting brush, rub oil on your hands and pat them on the chips.) Bake for 6 minutes. Sprinkle sweet chili sauce onto the chips, followed with cheese, and bake for another minute or two, until cheese melts. Drizzle chips with sour cream and mango salsa. Ta da!
SIDE NOTE: It'd be easier and most likely tastier to fry them, but much more fattening (:

Mango Salsa (serves 2)

1 peeled and diced mango
1/2 diced green or red bell pepper
1/4 C chopped vidalia or walla walla onion
1 T white sugar
1 T olive oil
2 T lime juice (juice from 1 lime)
1 peeled & diced avocado
1 tomato, seeded (just use the outside edges of the tomato and keep out the juices)
salt

Mix all ingredients but avocado in a bowl. Fold in avocado, season with salt.

Big Leagued?

2009-10-07T18:13:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I ran into an old friend at Fudruckers, and I was what Shevin calls, "big leagued."
Big Leagued: When you see someone you know, and are excited to speak to them, and they do not reciprocate the feelings, leaving you feeling awkward, uncomfortable, and friendless.

After ordering, I saw this really good friend from high school. Not just some acquaintance, but a friend with whom I hung out with outside of school on numerous occasions during our senior year, no romance, just really good friends. Anyhow, I said his name and walked quickly over there for what I was thinking would be a friendly hug or smile, when instead, I was greeted with a hesitant "Yolanda" I was a little stunned by the lack of interest in his face, as we both stood there, me obviously happier than he was. I then asked if that was his wife, he said yes. I asked her name, he told me. I said oh cute, you're pregnant, how far along? She told me. Due to the awkward situation, I finally just got out of there and said it was good to see him. He said "you too." And that was it. I could not believe it. No interest or questions from him, just a hesitant "yolanda". The rest of my dinner was spent wondering if there was some sort of falling out that I couldn't remember, but nothing came to my mind. I really was distraught. Although it had been a few years since we'd seen each other, I did not expect such a cold shoulder. I'll admit, sometimes I see people that I know from high school and I try to walk the other way, or hide my face and hope they don't see me, but only to acquaintances, or people who I knew of, but didn't actually know, never to people who I actually considered friends. I was big leagued, and I do not recommend it. I have learned a valuable lesson here; I will now make an effort to be excited every time I see someone who says hi to me first.

24th Birthday, I give you 2 thumbs up!

2009-09-29T21:02:00.000-07:00

So, really my birthday isn't until tomorrow, but in my family (Shevin, Gabe and Me) we believe in a "birthday week." This means that for the entire week leading up to and including the actual birth date, we treat the birthday person special. ex: On Sat. Shevin got upset with me because I spent too much money on clothes for Gabriel, my response "but it's my birthday". All was forgiven. But today was especially wonderful. I had just finished putting Gabe down for his afternoon nap, and was 1/2 way through an episode of the office (it wasn't new, but I'm a new convert to the Office and am trying to catch up on pass seasons, thank you Tivo) when Shevin walked through the door. He said that he was on a work break and needed to use the restroom, which isn't too uncommon since Shevin suffers from Parauresis (go ahead, look it up). He then sat and started watching with me, then jumped up, turned off the show, and said, Hurry! We're going to be late for a surprise! He then took me to a day spa. That's right a Day spa! I've only dreamt of attending a day spa while watching Gossip Girl, but now, I've actually attended one. Upon arrival a welcoming Peruvian lady named Elsa showed me to my robe, bottle of water and shower. I then sweat/slept in my personal Sauna, soaked/slept in the bubbly jacuzzi, and then had a one hour massage/slept/drooled a little. I'm usually a little uncomfortable with this sort of scene, wearing a robe, lying on a message table naked, but it was AmAzing! 2 hours of pure relaxation. Relaxation that was followed by overeating at Tepenyaki, and dessert and Baskin Robbins. Today was my favorite birthday day of all time! Thank you Husband. Thank you.

MaryKay, more like MaryGay.

2009-08-26T21:00:00.000-07:00

Here's a note from me to you. I hate MaryKay. I hate all products that make you have these so called "parties". I hate companies that try to use your friends to pressure you into feeling sorry enough for them to buy something. This should be MaryKay's statement. Also, Phyllis, the visiting teaching companion/MaryKay worker uncovered the fact that she does indeed already own a car, as I saw her drive away in it today. I find this really upsetting since she passes around a sign up list every week in relief society asking for volunteers to drive her and her kids around running errands. Mostly upsetting since I've been the one to volunteer on numerous occassions. Just another way that Phyllis thought she'd get things from other people for doing nothing. No more volunteering from me.

Welfare

2009-07-28T21:01:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I'd like to start this post by saying that I understand that sometimes people go through some hard times and that the welfare system is overall a good system to help families who are struggling get back on their feet by provided food, insurance and financial assistance. Now that I've got that out of the way, I'd like to bad mouth it for a bit.

There is a lady in my ward (don't worry, I'm SURE she won't read this) who I went out with today and we'll call her Phyllis. So, I went to pick up Phyllis and asked her a little about herself and she told me that she's in her 30's, divorced with three kids, and lives (in a pretty big house) with her parents and her 22 year old brother and 19 year old sister. I thought, man, single mom, that stinks. And then asked her what she did for a living. She said that she picked up Mary Kay a couple of weeks ago and hopes to make enough sales to get a free MaryKay car. First of all, don't even get me started on how much I hate MaryKay, LiaSophia, Scentsy and all those other so called "jobs" that make your family feel bad for you and all of your friends avoid you. But secondly, was she serious?!? Well, she was. At first I thought, What a mooch, 30 years old and living off your parents. Then I tried to give her some slack and realized that it would be hard being a single parent and I'm sure she needed the help. So then I asked what her parents did. "They're ex-truck drivers." Oh, they're retired? "No, they got fired a couple of months ago" And they don't work? "No." Does anyone is your house work? "No." Is anyone in your house looking for work, because I bet my husband could help you guys try to find jobs. "Well, I don't wan't to pay a babysitter and I like doing MaryKay. And my parents like staying home too. My brother and sister are thinking about going to school, so I don't think that they'll want to work either. " So if no one in your house works, how do you live??? How do you pay for food and rent? "Well basically we live off state assistance and then the Church helps us with the rest."
I wanted to kick her out of the car immediately. I was so ticked off, and still am if you can't tell. You're telling me, that my taxes AND my fast offerings are going to help this family of 8 sit on their butts all day doing nothing productive in society and not only have they been doing it for the past at 2 months at least but they have no desire to change anytime in the future,which means 3 years from now they'll still be living off of me?!? What in the world? This woman and her lazy family is getting food, insurance, unemployment, rent, clothes, money and basically everything but a car (which her plan is getting that from MaryKay) for doing absolutely NOTHING. It's people like this that make me want to write a letter to the Prophet and ask him to set guidelines for receiving church assistance. It also makes me want to write a letter to the Governor telling him that he needs to change the guidelines or at least enforce them! There are people like this lady everywhere who just learn how to live off the state without doing a thing. I don't mind paying taxes for new roads, and libraries and parks, etc., but I DO MIND paying for this lazy lady's dinner that mostly ends up on her new shirt anyway, the shirt THAT I ALSO PAID FOR! GOOD FOR NOTHING PHYLLIS!!!!

If I had a million dollars...

2009-07-20T20:19:00.000-07:00

So I always look at financially wealthy people and can't ever believe how much money they spend and on what. Nice clothes, cars, multiple homes, expensive hobbies, private schools, home decor, hired help, furniture, nannies, assistants, clubs, spas, salons, 5 star restaurants, hotels... the list goes on forever. I think about the thousands and thousands of dollars that go wasted on these unnecessary things.
But then I think about what I would do if I didn't have to worry about money, what would I actually spend it on??? Would I really save it ALL? Well, to answer that question, no. I wouldn't. Shevin and I were talking about it yesterday and as I started listing off the big things that I would buy, I started with, A big house... on at least an acre... with a huge kitchen... and at least 2 extra beds and one bathroom per person... and a theatre room.. an indoor hot tub and steam room and since I wouldn't want to clean ALL of that weekly I would hire a maid, and a landscaping company, I would want 3 cars. One family car (BMW or Tribeca), a truck for Shevin, and a Jeep for me. We'd have a cabin and a couple of vacation homes, which again would require hired help. And we'd go on all kinds of vacations out of country where we would definitely stay at 5 star hotels and go wherever we want without looking at or comparing prices. Anyhow, then I started thinking about smaller things like nice clothes, going to salons more often, buying nice jewelry, furniture, eating at nicer restaurants, more expensive hobbies like golf (more often), tennis (taking private lessons), boating, etc. I even think that I would hire an interior decorator to decorate my huge house. And a private school??? You bet I would. If I could afford to put my kids in a school where 30% of them attend ivy league universities, I wouldn't think twice about it. Anyhow, you get the picture. If money was no object to me, I would probably blow it all too. Wouldn't you???

SLEEPING Like a BABy?!?

2009-07-16T20:25:00.000-07:00

What in the world does sleeping like a baby mean? I've always thought that it meant sleeping peacefully and waking up well rested. Well, let me tell you something about babies, at least mine and many others that I know; they do NOT "sleep like babies". I think whoever came up with this saying is very dumb. Babies do not like to go to sleep when it's time to, then they wake up at random times in the middle of the night and cry, and then when they wake up in the mornings, they're still so tired that they need to take not one, but two naps in the middle of the day. SO, "sleeping like a baby" means that you cried yourself to sleep and then woke up numerous times throughout the night, and then you were so tired when you woke up that you needed to sleep for 4 more hours during the day! It does NOT mean that you had a great night sleep. Why don't we start from now on using the phrase correctly, and watch the new meaning catch on like wild fire! Remember, Terrible night sleep=Slept like a baby.

Jello There!

2009-07-13T14:28:00.000-07:00

So, I've decided that my first blog on my very on site will be about myself. I'm 23, married with a 6 month old son and yes, I like to eat hot dogs. I know that they're made out of all sorts of yucky stuff, but I don't mind because I think that they are tasty. Speaking of tasty foods, I really like to cook. I enjoy making all kinds of food, but mostly desserts. I've recently found this blog of a Shevin's co-worker and I believe her to be my woman-soul mate. It's a blog dedicated to the foods that she enjoys and all of her recipes and I think I'm in love. I've been tempted on numerous occassions to 100% copy her blog and turn it into a website and call it my own. Then I decided against it.
I'm one of those lame-o's that dropped out of BYU after getting married and I keep saying that I'm eventually going to graduate, whatever eventually means. I don't even know what I'd graduate in. What I'd really like to do is go to culinary arts school and then open my own bakery or reception center with in-house catering. Maybe I could build a small bakery inside of my reception center. Anyways, what kind of degree would that require? Hospitality Management I guess.
I used to be a workaholic and loved it! But since having a baby, I like work as much as I like a bear chasing after me and biting off my face. I don't.
I do have this job offer that would let me work from home, that I'm only thinking of due to Shevin hassleing me about not having extra money to put in savings after we blew our savings on two cars. And after doing the interview they keep saying how they'll work with me with my hours, and that I only have to work when I can, and I can clock out if I need to cook dinner, or feed my baby, or run an errand. So, it does sound like a pretty good opportunity and I know that I'd do a good job, I just basically let them know that my family came first, and they seemed fine with it. So what I think I'll do is, watch Gabe and Ella, (did I mention I get to watch my neice Ella while Sydney works?) until about 3-3:30 which is when Gabe falls asleep for his 2nd nap, and then work (making/taking phone calls), then Shevin gets home about 5:10 to watch Gabe, and I'll work until about 7. On Friday when Shevin's home I'll work the full 2-7 shift, and I can work Saturdays if I want. If that doesn't work out, then it doesn't work out. But I promised Shevin that I'd at least try.
I like to find deals and I love using coupons. It's been quite some time since I've gone out to dinner or even to a grocery store without a coupon or discount ad of some sort, and I'm proud of it. This is what I figure, even if I save about $5 every two weeks on groceries, and $7 every week on a restaurant, that's $42 per month and $504 dollars a year. That adds up to a mini-vacation and for me, is worth the 10 seconds of shame.
I also very much enjoy t.v. shows. And not the normal programs, but I like the scandalous teen shows like Gossip Girl, One Tree Hill, 90210 and Degrassi. (Degrassi is Canadian.) I've been really trying to talk myself out of them, but they keep pulling me back in. I'm pretty sure I'm just addicted to Gossip. But here's something weird, I also really enjoy Jeopardy and Million Dollar Password and they have nothing to do with Gossip. oh well.
I think that's enough for today.