random thoughts

I have so many random thoughts going through my head that I need to get out. Here we go!

- My mom and brother are coming tomorrow and my mom is going to be here for a whole week! AND my brother is going to be living in Salt Lake for school! I will get to see him way more often. This makes me very happy.

- My dad is sending up one of their camping stoves for me and Sean. Which means we now have everything we need for an extended camping trip if we decided to take one. We are going to be in the Uinta's if anyone needs us next weekend.

- It is freezing in my office building today. Seriously freezing. I have a jacket on and a blanket over my legs and I still can't get warm. Hate that.

- On the plus side, we are getting Cafe Rio at work today, and that makes everything better.

- I have lost all motivation to finish work today. Sucks though because I have a million tasks to do today.

- I also have a lot of cleaning to do before tomorrow. Why do I leave all the hard stuff for the weekend? All I have to do is finish the tub, toilet, bathroom sink, kitchen floor, and do all my laundry... that's not a lot, right?

- Bought my first Christmas present today. Only 10 more Christmas presents and 5 birthday presents to go before the end of the year...

- I'm still trying to catch up on sleep from staying up all night last Friday in Zion's. Curse getting lost (almost) in the Narrows at night. (More on that to come soon.)

- Last night was the first BYU football game of the season. What did we do instead? Watched Jurassic Park at my in-laws. And I don't regret it.

That should suffice. I feel much better. And much sleepier now. Hopefully I won't blow up my Twitter with any more updates. I think 3 in one hour is good enough to last me another few weeks, right? Right.

Until next time...

Wicked!

I am the luckiest girl in the world. I have been dying to see Wicked ever since I saw it in New York, and even better, I have a husband to see it with now! I told Sean I wanted to go when I found out Wicked was coming in like April. We FINALLY bought tickets, and it turns out the best deal was the day after our six month anniversary :) Best date ever!

So excited!!!

 

 Not sure what the point of this is, but it looks kinda fun.

 Intermission! This is where I start getting sad because I know it is over soon. So lame.

Thanks Sean for a great date!

It was really fun to see the show again. Both Galinda and Elphaba were fantastic. I had forgotten about a lot of the little fun things they do, especially Galinda. "Toss, toss!"

I wish I could see it again. Can't they just make it into a movie or 

something? Before Idina and Kristen are too old to do it? Come ON Hollywood!!!

And now for a trip down memory lane:

 

 Me at Wicked in 2010: Gershwin Theater, NYC

Grocery Shopping

I just read this article on MSN about a woman that is going to go 30 days without going to a grocery store. Basically, she is going to plan a menu for 30 days, she has a $30 budget to spend on the things she can only find at a grocery store, and then will buy everything else local.

Honestly, I don't know if I could do that. I have no idea where a local butcher shop is. And while there are plenty of fruit and veggie stands, most of them are the same or more expensive than Wal-mart. And my last peach that I just got from Wal-mart tasted pretty dang good. And me, plan a 30-day menu? I don't even have 30 meals on my "Successful Meals List" I started after Sean and I got married.

But she does make some really good points. Last Saturday, before we went grocery shopping, I actually thought about what I already had in my fridge and cupboards, what I could potentially make from those things, and what I needed to buy to complete those meals, and made my list. Success! Today when we get our groceries, the only things we need are fruits and veggies, and a few other things that are necessities. Like deodorant. Toilet paper. Shampoo. That kind of thing. Hopefully, over the long run, this shaves $$ off our monthly food spendings.

So goal #1 for me? Make a 2-week menu every two weeks. I can handle this, right? And Pinterest keeps spitting out new, easy recipes that should be easily added to the aforementioned "list".

Goal #2. Shop less at Costco. Whaaaaat?? Costco is almost as cool as Disneyland, and I do believe that spending more on bulk items saves in the long run. I really do. But for a long time, Sean and I were going to Costco every week. That's a lot of Costco. And a lot of money. So we made the goal to only go once a month (unless we need dog food). Again, this will definitely help us spend less money on food every month. 

Also along with shopping at Costco, we try to stock up on something we use all the time. Like one trip we bought a case of black beans because we use them in taco soup, regularly. Things like that. This will hopefully help us build up food storage in addition to the savings. Which brings me to...

Goal #3. Food storage. For the past few years I have wanted to start my food storage and have a year's supply of food. But I have no idea where to start. None! Going out and just buying everything is a HUGE expense, and there is no way we can do that right now. But at the rate I'm going, its going to take me approximately 2000 years to build a years supply of food. How do you figure out how to calculate a years' supply of rice? Flour? Sugar? Granola bars? Such a daunting task. I know it is important though, it's part of becoming self-reliant, which is what the prophets and apostles stress all the time. Apparently I need to do more research on this. Maybe that should be my next goal. Any tips/suggestions would be welcome.

I'm really glad I stumbled upon that article. It really made me start thinking about the way I've grocery shopped in the past (ooh that sounds good imma buy THAT!) versus what I did last week (much smarter and much less stressful knowing what I'm going to cook) and some of the other ways I can save on our food bill. Guess now it is time to put it into practice. Someone follow up with me in a month?

Ready, go!

yay i got a new hard drive!

'nuff said right? it feels good knowing my computer shouldn't have any problems for another 3 years. hopefully. knock on wood?

now if only this stupid cold would go away. both of us are sick. sore throats, runny noses, can't sleep. it all can end today. and to top it off, someone thought i was pregnant cause i was moseying down the hallway after church. after wrestling five 9-year-olds. battling my sickyness at the same time. i'm not pregnant. i promise. but that comment didn't make me feel any better.

here's hoping it goes away quick. cause i have to work at 7 every day this week...

but yay for my computer working right?

Sweet and Sour Chicken

You guys. I stumbled upon one of the greatest recipes ever! Seriously! 

Super easy, super yummy. I love pinterest!

You can find the original recipe here.

Soooo gooood! (Said like Teen Girl Squad of course.)

The recipe calls for cooking the chicken in oil. I just sprayed the frying pan with Pam.

We ate it with rice. And boy am I glad I made a lot of chicken. Because now I have leftovers.

Try it. You will not regret it!

My mouth is already watering knowing that come lunchtime this delicious chicken will be in my mouth. Mmm Mmm good!