Go Cougars

WOW- BYU was ranked 11th in the schools whose graduates were top rated by recruiters. (that sentence sounds really awkward) See the WSJ article here. Considering all the wonderful universities out there this is really cool if I do say so myself.

UCLA was ranked lower, still in their top 25, at 17th.

Proud to be a Cougar and a Bruin today :)

Of course none of this applies to Social Work graduates........"Recruiters" what's that? Foreign concept to people like me.

Treasure Hunting

I love going garage sale shopping. There are few things as enjoyable as finding "treasures" and great deals. I always go with a few specific items in mind and then find many more treasures once I am there. I limit it to just a few a year and only go when it is a community wide sale. That way I can roam the block looking at all the stuff for sale. Lots of junk but lots of treasures amidst the junk.

Yesterday was a gold mine.

Cute little cabinet for my kitchen $10

Camelback hydration system $5- I almost died when I saw that gem laying beside some junk. Mike has a camelback for when we go mountain biking and I have been wanting one for a while but couldn't justify the large price tag. This looked like it was only used once or twice and it still had the instructions with the price tag on it. $70. Yup I got a $70 piece of equipment for $5. What a deal. Can't wait to go mountain biking and use it. :)

Maxi Dress $4- I used to not even bother looking at clothes for me because most garage sale adult clothes are tattered, torn, stained or very out of date. But after looking through plenty of junk I have decided that there are treasures to be found.

The list goes on but I won't bore you with more. We dumped out our change jar the night before and counted and then rolled $96 worth of quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies. I took about $30 of it with me. The rest can wait for another yard sale. There's nothing like paying someone in rolls of dimes. kind of embarrassing I admit but hey I am buying their "junk" that's one step away from the goodwill.

The majority of my Christmas shopping for my kids is done. I love how they are too young to care whether something is new or used.

Goldilocks and the Chocolate Cake

Once upon a time there was a cute little girl named goldilocks. She was very hungry one afternoon so she sneaked up onto the counter and with 4 of her fingers clawed a nice chunk of frosting right out of that delicious chocolate sour cream cake. No matter that goldilocks had already partaken of 3 pieces of cake a mere 2 hours earlier, she needed more. Goldilocks tried to run away but alas Pappa Bear caught her (and hid the cake).

Thou shalt not covet

I can't help it. I am coveting my friend's bike. We borrowed it a few weeks back for some serious beach cruising and i have been coveting it ever since. Is there anything cooler than riding a pink bike with your baby in the back along the strand at the beach. Does it get any better than that?

Has this ever happened to you?

I was in the dentist's chair a few days back getting 2 out of my 7, yes I said 7, cavities filled. She finally finished and told me I could close my mouth. But the problem was that I COULD NOT CLOSE MY MOUTH. My jaw was locked open. Has this ever happened to anyone? I started laughing while drool was escaping my numbed up mouth because it really was quite comical that I could not close my own mouth. The dentist had to fiddle with my head/jaw to get it to close. For the rest of the day I was terrified to open my mouth very wide for fear it would be stuck that way.
Lucky me, next week I get to go back for the third and final session of cavity time with the dentist.
I am starting to feel a little old upon realizing that both my dentist and family doctor are younger than me. And then I think about my OB and I feel young again. The man has a full set of dentures.

p.s. Mike does not really believe that I could not close my mouth. (Literally not figuratively mind you) Will you please tell him that this DOES really happen.

Happy Rosh Hashanah.. a little late

Ok I know I'm not Jewish but why not celebrate the Jewish new year with a Rosh Hashanah feast. I read an article in the food section of the LA Times last week about traditional foods for Rosh Hashanah complete with recipes so of course I had to try them out. Above is a picture of our chicken thighs with oregano, honey, capers and green olives. (and a bunch of other stuff not worthy of mention) Kind of a weird combo but it was soooooo good. As a kid I detested green olives. My Dad used to eat them strait out of the jar and he was the only one in the family who could stomach them. But I have to admit that in the last year or so I have come around to liking them. I also made a leek soup with apples and potatoes. (cole really liked it but the rest of us not so much.)
I love finding new good recipes to make. Sometimes I get stuck in a rut where even new recipes taste like all the other stuff I already make because there are just certain ingredients that I'm attracted to in recipes. Are you with me??? And since green olives aren't normally something I cook with (except when making spanish tortillas) this was definitely something different for me.
Have I mentioned before how much I love food. I was at the park last week and was chatting with an old Armenian grandma who was tending a small child. What I really wanted to say was "Can I come over to your house to learn how to make Armenian food". Of course I refrained from actually saying that but I swear that is what I am fixated on anytime I meet someone from a different country.
So if you come from another motherland, please send me all your cooking secrets. :)

p.s. I recognize that the food looks gross in the picture, but really it was good.

Lego Club

If you are 5 and a BOY and like Legos you just may be invited to the Lego Boys' Club. You can play with lots of legos, have fun conversations, chase Julia around the house and yard and run around like a chicken with its head cut off.

How did Blake get so old all of the sudden?

I really love it when his little friends come play at our house. It's so amusing to watch them all interact. I hope that our house will always be a fun little hangout. I love making little treats for the kids. Well in all honesty I just love making treats period! This way I can justify doing it without feeling too guilty because half of it goes to the kids right??????