Tuesday, September 20, 2011

I'm actually 9 years old.

Hello friends.

There is not much to update event-wise. So maybe I'll share with you things that I love. Specifically TV things. Probably that you can insta-watch on Netflix. What a wonderful service.

Mostly, when I want to watch something while I wait for Mark to come home and I can't sleep or other such times when I don't feel like finding something to do, I have been watching Star Trek. The Next Generation, specifically. I enjoy it a lot, but its not something you want to watch continuously until you finish it. It is quite easy to get tired of.

But you know what I can never tire of? Avatar: The Last Airbender. You may be thinking, what? A cartoon? As in about kids and for kids? Oh yeah. I'll tell you some reasons why I love it so much.

I was going to write a synopsis for the show here, but it turned out to be too long. It also gives stuff away. Just watch the first episode. But don't stop there, because it only gets funnier, more clever, and more exciting.

Characterization. Some of the best. The development and journey each character goes through is interesting and not too predictable. They develop their powers, personalities, and talents. I also get a kick out of their hair and height changes.

Music. I admit, I have a soft spot for Asian-inspired things. I love this show because it was created in America but is pretty much Chinese. At any rate, I just love the music in the show. I often have the songs stuck in my head. Like this and this. I just listened to those and they aren't that great taken out of context. Oh well. Within context, it's fabulous.

I love that it lasts for three seasons, and has a clear goal the entire show. The pace is brilliant. Slow enough you get to enjoy some of the quieter, more frivolous moments, and yet fast enough that you feel the anxiety of the characters as time marches them on to their scary destinies.

There are many benefits for watching the entire show. There are lots of recurring characters and jokes that reward you for remembering them. A certain melon vendor comes to mind, who happens to be quite knowledgeable about the avatar in the second to last episode.

I love the tone and themes throughout. There is just enough darkness to make the good characters nice and shiny. And, surprisingly enough for a kid show, the good characters aren't 100% good, but flawed and human. They make mistakes. The evil characters aren't bad to the bone, aside from one character who is probably mentally insane. The bad guys have at least a few redeeming qualities and back stories to explain their horrible choices. I love the messages about working hard, doing good things for other people even if its way out of your way, having fun and dancing along the terrible journey, and that not everyone on the show has super powers. Some characters just use their brains, or leadership, or excellent human-y fighting skills. I also love the importance placed on family and friendship.

It's silly enough for children. Its clever enough for you.

Seriously. My favorite show. You should watch it.

Friday, August 19, 2011

So what have we been up to these past few months? I'll fill ya in.

We made the faraway move to Alabama! It has been fun noting all the differences in culture that we aren't used to. I used to think to myself that Missouri was pretty 'southern' in practices with all the iced tea, a few heavy accents, cut off t-shirts and giant trucks. I guess it was, compared to the west. I've decided that Alabama is the South. I find myself slipping into an accent as well, like the other day when I was buying a jigsaw puzzle and the man in line behind me commented that he was impressed, he thought puzzles were beyond my generation and I said I love them which came out "Ah luvum." Anytime I hear Mark's new southern accent I'm thrown into a fit of giggles.

Mark is enjoying the ups and downs of work. He isn't doing engineering work right now which is frustrating to me, but Mark is happy for the "underground experience." So that is what matters. He was recently promoted from managing a crew to managing four guys with crews, and a crew. He has been working outby since he started, which means maintenance. He works wherever they need him which most recently means the slope. It hasn't really sunk in what this means yet, except extended hours, an extra filthy husband, despite extra long showers at work, and that its exhausting. The coal... I'm having to learn new ways to clean it. I suppose I'll just have to deal with the permanent black ring around the tub. I've come to find Mark's coal eyeliner is kinda cute. When he comes up on the surface everyday, he says he is perfectly camouflaged with the coal pile. I think I'd give up if it were me. I don't like feeling dirty. Mark is such a boy. He loves it.

For the first time since I can remember, I'm not returning to school this fall. I hadn't thought of it, to be honest. I feel like I'm done, for the time being. So what am I doing, then? Mark's schedule is 5am to around 6pm and going to sleep around 8pm for the past couple weeks. Apparently in a week he'll be switching from outby to regular continuous miner section, which will mean four days a week 13 hour shifts which would be a vast improvement. But this could be a lie fed to Mark to placate his wife with. Still, I hope it is the truth!

Anyways, with seemingly infinite time on my hands why, you ask, have you not blogged even a little bit? I have no excuses, but I will tell you the things I look forward to doing everyday. I sleep in until I feel like waking up. I am working on a landscape painting right now, something to make my house pretty. Its looking okay so far, but I'm trying to imitate 17th century artists. I've forgotten how to do details in oil... but its been really fun reteaching myself. I'm learning how to be a better cook, expanding my recipe collection and compiling recipes I love into my very own cookbook. Speaking of which, last night I made the most fabulous meal. Mark loves chicken fried steak and I thought it sounded disgusting but it was amazing! Corn on the cob, green salad, mashed potatoes and country gravy...scrumptious. Eh, I'll give you the recipe:

1 lb top loin boneless beef (I just bought some steak from the store, I didn't want a whole pound)
2 cups shortening
1 egg, beaten
1 cup buttermilk
salt and pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 cup flour

1/4 cup flour
1 quart milk
salt and pepper

Cut top loin crosswise into cutlets. Pound each cutlet thinly with a moistened mallet or side of a cleaver. In a large, heavy skillet, heat 1/2 inch shortening to 365. I used vegetable oil because I have more of that. In a small bowl, beat together egg, buttermilk, salt and pepper. I just used milk with a Tablespoon of white vinegar because no way am I buying buttermilk for $4 a quart. In another bowl combine garlic powder and 1 cup of flour. Coat steaks in flour, then buttermilk, then flour again. Place steaks in heated shortening, cook until golden brown, turning once. Internal temperature should be at least 165, but I cooked until 190 and they were perfect for us non-pinkie meat people. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels. Drain grease, reserving 1/2 cup. Using the drippings in the pan, prepare gravy over medium heat. Blend in 1/4 cup flour to form a paste. Gradually add milk to desired consistency, stirring constantly. For a thicker gravy add less milk. Heat through, and season with lots of salt and pepper. Serve over chicken fried steak.

It. Was. Awesome. I was so proud of myself. Maybe I just didn't know the wonderful thing that is chicken fried steak, but I haven't stopped thinking about it. Not just because its dishes are still piled in the sink.

Anyways, back to things I do to entertain myself. I look up crochet patterns and then make things. I'm getting more proficient and not having to look up as many stitches. In this day of youTube, its so easy to learn anything. I go swimming/ lay by the pool and read a lot. I love it! Its soooo hot here. So hot. I got a new calling! Well, two really. I teach 9, 10, and 11 year olds in primary and on Tuesday nights I work at the family history center! I'm really excited to learn more about family history. I have 3 hours each week, which is kind of a lot. My primary class is three boys. Can you believe it? Three ages, and three kids. Our whole primary is usually around 10 kinds, from sunbeams on up. Its pretty wild. Oh. and I play video games! Right now I'm playing Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and Knights of the Old Republic. The first is on the Wii and the second on my laptop, but my laptop went wonky and Windows had to be reloaded so I haven't played it in a little bit. The new Zelda comes out November 20, and you can bet we already preordered it for my birthday. Mark doesn't really like video games, but he likes Zelda, so we'll see. Also, we really love that you can play old games on the Wii. Mark plays Final Fantasy III sometimes! Its so cool. Our favorite game is Super Mario Brothers.

This summer we made friends with a couple that was interning from the U and it was so fun. Us wives hung out everyday and it was awesome! Now there is a void in my days without her! Its quite sad.

I'm pretty excited to do lots of fun things and explore! We've got some fun things planned!

Also, I really love our apartment here. Its still a little bare, and we need more furniture but I just really love it. Its bigger than any shoebox that we've lived in so far. There is plenty of room for all our shtuff. It has two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a living room that has a dining area and kitchen open to each other. And a laundry room! I have found that I'm a bit of a kitchen girl. I love to buy things for my kitchen and there is never enough space for that. I think people must feel that apartment dwellers eat out everynight because they never build enough storage in that area. On a sad note, I can't keep food in the laundry room despite copious space because it gets hot and HUMID in there. I'm afraid of mold. Also I've seen some funky bugs and heard some foreign bird calls here. There is a grey bird that likes to perch on our balcony and wake me up every morning. Its call sounds like the whistle you can make by blowing through your thumbs into your hands. You know what I'm sayin'? I can immitate it pretty good. I just need to find out what the bird is called.

In closing, I just wanted to talk about Mark's new car. Its like a favorite pet, to a person to loves pets more than people. That's how Mark feels about cars, and his particular favorite dream car. He wants to cherrish what he has chosen to call "Rider" at the suggestion of Jeff, for his whole life. "And in ten years I'll park it in the garage and rebuild it again. I'm keeping this till I die." We have a carwash money jar. It gets emptied a lot. When it came to naming the car, I really was rooting for Snape "too greasy" or Bruce "What?" "like batman, or the Nemo shark because of that weird little fin on the top of the car." but Becca always comes up with brilliant car names so we deferred to her and Jeff. Yesterday we took Rider to the carwash as a family activity. Sometimes I only do things because Mark likes to. :)

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Hi Ya'll











We are on our very first "business trip" in Alabama! So far, I think Alabama in January looks and feels a lot like Missouri in the early fall. The people are super nice with super thick accents. Its really pretty, too. Right now I'm sitting in our hotel room while Mark and the two other guys interviewing with Jim Walter Resources are doing something interview-related. Us wives went out to this civil war ruined court house and took pictures, and walked around the University of Alabama.








For all our meals so far we've been out to eat. Last night we went to a sushi place... I really really hate Japanese food I've decided. I went for the first time to a sushi bar last week and hated it. I got filet mingon which would have been amazing without the flavoring that they put on it. It was loud, with firey explosions, and the rice and noodles were crunchy. I just don't like fish...








For lunch today we went to the most legit ribs place. They serve beer, iced tea, soft drinks, ribs, store bought bread and banana puddin'. On styrofoam plates. With a roll of paper towels in the middle of the table. You use your fingers and tear the meat off the bones with your teeth. It was amazingly delicious.








I've heard the word "ya'll" plenty in my life, but never as much as here. People are seeming to insert it in the weirdest places.








I think I wanted to talk about the plane rides out here on United. They were tiny. My head touched the ceiling. I was clausterphobic...maybe a little freaking out. And they charged for our checked bags, which I was weirded out about.








We toured the apartments that they'll let us stay in until we buy a house if we choose to live here. They are beautiful! And fully funished.








I have no idea how we are ever going to decide where to live. I feel so lucky that we have so many options, but its been pretty frustrating not knowing what's going to happen. We'll be in Pittsburgh at the end of January, so that's cool.








I'm going to get ready for our shmancy dinner with the CEOs tonight, but hopefully I'll blog about the rest of our trip!








I can't believe I haven't blogged since October. Oops!












Saturday, October 9, 2010

Happy Halloween!

Casey came to visit me this weekend! We went to the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, and here is my probably illegally taken picture of my favorite sculpture of all time. A horse constructed from tree limbs, casted in pewter. There are a lot of neat-o things there.

We went on a little downtown jaunt to the awesomest library and came across this idea in a magazine.

The bats, pumpkins, and ghosts are a weird variation of salt dough that must be microwaved.

The tree is a cut up and twisted paper bag.

Its a nice little decoration for the microwave.










Casey's cute little bat!



Hahaha... our leaf-pumpkin creation for the door.
I'm happy for October.

I love this kind of fall weather.


Mark's got a lot of job interviews! It looks like we'll be travelling a lot this semester, previewing the various places we might live. Maybe me by myself, since Mark has a lot of school. Who knows. It's pretty exciting! The end is in sight!



Thursday, August 26, 2010

Hello the blogging world!

Summer is over, which means that the months away from personal internet connection have ebbed! We have only two semesters until Mark is graduated and the proud holder of a degree!

For the summer, we lived in Price, Utah and Mark worked for Dugout Canyon Mine. We were quite impressed that despite being on fire, they decided to have Mark come to work anyways. They flooded the mine to put out the fire, and Mark got to scuba dive underground and weld some pipes and survey. Which he quite loved, a marriage of two of his favorite things. Once the zillion gallons of water were pumped from the mine, production resumed as normal for a few hours...(I cannot recall the exact period of respite and Mark is at school) when bam! There was an issue with sparks? And it caught fire again? Later it was proved that the blaze lasted 13 seconds, but hazard! And danger! The President of the United States shut down the mine. Forever. Luckily for us, the company decided to keep four people, two reclamation engineers to spiff up the countryside, and two ventilation engineers to reverse the problem and combat bureaucracy. Mark, the intern, was chosen despite his lack of actually being a ventilation engineer to fight for the cause. Lots of miners and engineers including the big bosses were shipped around the United States. This story is getting really long. In the end, production has resumed as of Monday, and everyone is very impressed with Mark, intern. Job offers galore have poured in, providing opportunities for us around the globe. So now, we settle into being homeless students. Homeless?! Yes. Our apartment doesn't become available until tomorrow morning. Oh, well that's not bad. Yes, our worldly possessions sit in the driveway of the kindly grandparents on Mark's mother's side. So that's good.

Jamie! What did you do all summer?
I'm still trying to figure that out. Perhaps when everything is unpacked I will take pictures of various projects and post them here. Most notably, I have been refining my portrait-from-a-picture drawing skills and watching Star Trek. I read a lot of books, and saw my family a lot, and Lara came to visit me. We had many traveling and "fun things to do" plans but for some reason, Mark worked every single weekend. I think he had four days off. The library and I became the best of friends. I even read the Fountainhead (don't read it) and Anne of Green Gables (I almost spelled it without an 'e'). I now have a whole notebook full of decorating-my-new-house ideas, which I will employ as soon as I buy a house. I have some ideas for paintings that I would like to do, and a fat stack of things I need to be finishing.

If you want some extra brownie points, please help us move in tomorrow. Preferable those of you with telekinesis. Thoughts of lugging that mattress up three flights of stairs makes me tired. Not that I would actually lift it, but you know. The fifth time moving in two years? Too much.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

I like fun Mondays

Shmashed rocks.


The thing that saves my life all the time

El gatito. He is cute. And angry.




I really like red.

Finals are almost here, and I can't wait until they're over. Not for my sake... my classes are easy-peasy. But I'm not looking forward to moving. Again. We have so much STUFF. I wish we were buying our new house because Mark was graduating. And then I wouldn't have to move for a long-o time. And I'd have a clothes dryer. Not to wish away my life, or anything.
My classes for fall look pretty exciting! I'm thinking of registering for SCUBA. This will make Mark happy. Also, I thought I'd need some sort of exersize credit, but I already have a lot. So it would be one more class. Which not might be so smart at this point.
Today I got a million books from the library. Chances are, 75% of them are garbage, and I'll stop reading on page 3, but I got some for-sure books. Like Norse mythology and a Foxtrot compilation. And some Joyce Carol Oats short stories. Mostly I like roaming around the awesomazing library that is the Salt Lake City Main. Lots of art and crazy staircases and a zillion books. It is quite nice.
When I got home from the library, there was a gaggle of people out in the court surrounding...a telescope! Our telescope, to be precise. Just Mark, realigning something or rather and showing people the moon. I really missed our telescope. Winter just isn't very nice. I'm loving the new weather.
Are all Roberts Arts and Crafts going out of business?
I made a cute-cute necklace out of some closing sale beads.


Friday, April 9, 2010

Mark is done with classes on Fridays at 8:20 in the morning. Which means... fun things! Like going to the largest hole in the planet mankind has ever dug. Digged?
We saw a lot of copper.
And this snazzy temple

And this gigantic wheel.



This big hole used to be a mountain. And then they moved seven billion tons of dirt and rock out of it, creating something that can be seen from space.
I think this is Mark's favorite place.

Then we went to a movie. I didn't like it very much. It could have been the lack of popcorn, though...