I miss playing with HTML and Photoshop....

Gave my blog a makeover, do you like???







<3 Kristine

Some of my favorite kitchen tools!

So, this past month I have acquired some fun new kitchen tools at Target & as Christmas gifts, and I thought I'd share them because they'd make some great gift ideas or be convenient as a part of any kitchen.
Starting with some of the cheapest, these collapsible cup measure-rs are the BOMB. They don't fill up a ton of drawer space and the numbers (such as 1/3, 1/2, etc) never rub off b/c they are engraved into the plastic. They are a little pricier than normal measuring cups, but well worth it. These are about $15.00. They sell them at Target. Next time I'm invited to a wedding, I'm gettin' them these!!
I've recently discovered how much tasty-er home-made dressing is! There really is a different taste that is less vinegar-y and more fresh that livens up any salad if you use good ingredients. A salad-dressing emulsifier that I bought at target (that is actually a bit different from this amazon.com version) is great because it mixes and pours your dressing very well. I don't know how I survived without it, I was always getting oil stains on my clothes. I used to put my dressings in mason jars, but now I don't pour all over the floor instead of my salad. This cost about $12.00 at Target, great buy compared to some version by pampered chef.
This is a lemon-squeezer! Got it for Christmas, has already come in handy. Something I recently learned was to NEVER leave the entire lime or lemon rind in a slow-cooker. It makes your meat taste so acidic because the oils from the rind secrete out and make acid burns. Found this one on amazon for about $10.00.

The pampered chef garlic press is something I have been coveting. My mother-in-law uses it and you can crush the garlic very well without ever having to take off the skin.

A couple other kitchen tools I own that I truly adore include my Bosch Universal Mixer and my Nutrimill. I got these for our wedding, and they are very expensive, but I know they will last my entire life most likely, they are sturdy. The Bosch is like a kitchen-aide on steroids. :-) You can make six loaves of bread dough on this at once, and the blender is awesome. There are lots of attachments that you can buy for it, such as an electric cheese grater, food processor, juicer, pasta maker, pretty much anything you can think of.
AAANNNNND last but not least, my new-found LOVE:

THE DIGITAL PRESSURE COOKER!!I got this for Christmas, and it is now the love of my life. I seriously make every single meal with this thing. You can plump up dried beans in 22 minutes without ever using the stove-top. You can also cook a pot roast and it will be falling off the bone in 45 minutes! There are safety locks built in, so you don't have to ever worry about it exploding. You can slow-cook with it, brown your meats on it's 'browning' setting (which is HOT, burns garlic to a crisp if you dont watch it for even 1 minute), and of course an awesome pressure cooking setting. Love love love.

I never use my slow-cooker anymore, although I still like to use my rice-cooker because I'm way too lazy to cook that. And usually I need rice to accompany something that's already being cooked in the pressure cooker, otherwise I would use the pressure cooker for my rice. Maybe having 2 pressure cookers would be convenient? hmmmm....:-)

Well that concludes my list!!! ......for now....

Hundreds of Bugs, Dental School, Christmas & Our 2 year Anniversary

SO much news!!

First of all, I would like to show off my semester-long project:

These are my yummy bugs from my bug collection, where I had to collect 300+ specimens and they had to represent a large variety of Orders and Families. Soooo I have Cockroaches, Butterflies, Preying Mantises, Beetles, Bed Bugs, Bumble Bees, Wasps, Crickets, Grasshoppers, Fleas, Lice, and tiny tiny things like Thrips and Silver Fish. IT was NUTS! I did trade away some of my best specimens in order to have enough variety to get a good grade...sad...but it was worth it. So after all that work do I love bugs now? Yes. Yes I do. It convinced me that bugs are awesome regardless whether or not I thought the class itself was taught the way I would have liked. Plus, everyone in the class is in my program, and they are so fun!

Also, in other news, I would like to show off our very first Christmas tree. You see, the past two Christmases we have not had the opportunity/ money to get a Christmas tree, so this year I was extremely excited to put one up!!! We won't get to enjoy it on Christmas day, but the Homer's who are staying here while we're gone for their Grandpa's funeral will hopefully enjoy it.


So as you know, we have been dental school shopping, and have finally made the deposit and after hours of debating, crying, praying, and bouts of apathetic frustration we have made the decision for Richard to attend Midwestern in Glendale, Arizona. This was incredibly difficult decision because we wanted a balance of being close to home and provide Richard with great opportunities, and after visiting the school in Arizona (which is a very new school, and as a result we had very low expectations) we were really impressed and found that it offered some significantly great experiences. Sadly, it isn't near home, and that was a huge let-down, but in the end we feel like we have made the right choice.

A couple reasons why we chose it:

• Incredible clinical experience: It is the leading school when it comes to letting their dental students learn not only basic dentistry but also work that normally specialties would steal from them....such as root canals, implants and other advanced procedures. We honestly think this fact alone will put him ahead of the game.
  
• The curriculum is systems based, he would learn everything (histology, anatomy, physiology) about the lungs one week, then move on to the circulatory system, and then another system, etc. This is a great educational approach when you compare that to learning your histology separately from physiology and then later trying to apply those principles to the body parts you are concerned with.
  
• The breaks are pretty long compared to other dental schools. We would have at least a couple months off every summer, and two weak breaks from Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. This doesn't make up for the fact that we won't be near family, but it is definitely a nice plus.
• There is a continuing education center (for dentists that already have practices) located very close by where professionals from around the nation that are top in their field will teach classes on specific procedures that dentists can add to their practice and essentially earn more money. These classes can cost dentists up to 20 grand. The beautiful thing about this is that Richard would be able to take these classes for free as a dental student at Midwestern. Plus, the school invites these professionals over to teach the students about their specialties while they are in town.
  

We are excited to head North to Canada to spend Christmas with the Lows, which will be a special time since Richard hasn't done this with his family for 4 years. Between his mission, our marriage, and seeing my family last year, it has simply been a while! It will be my first Christmas away from home so I am really going to miss my family, but at least we got to see them over Thanksgiving break. That was so awesome.

Our 2 year anniversary is on this coming Monday. I still can't believe it has been 2 years!
We started off in the assisted living home and had many learning experiences, and learned how to live frugally and then when we moved to an apartment for the first time we really got in the groove of managing our own place and cooking our own meals, etc. We have really grown closer, and sometimes we are just silly weird goobers and I'm pretty sure if people saw how goofy we are together when we are alone they'd think we were complete idiots. Its ok though, we're still kids right??? We just know how to have fun together. That is my favorite part about how we've gotten closer---the fact that we can make anything fun!

So the countdown begins!

In 3 days we will find out what schools Richard got accepted into. It will be an interesting decision. My top choice is Louisville so far, and Richard's is Midwestern, Arizona. Plus, we need to find out if Rich will get the army or airforce scholarship, and then decide if we want to go that route.

Also, in about a month I will be student teaching! I will be at Oak Canyon Jr. High in Lindon, Utah. I think I'm teaching 7th grade.....The past few days I've been trying to catch the sales so I can get more skirts/ cardigans to dress up for teaching.

We just enjoyed a visit home to see the family--it was soo wonderful and so short! We saw Mindy get baptized and participated by giving mini talks. We both were able to attend his Louisville interview, which was surprisingly very close to home. I really liked Louisville, it's a great dental school plus it's only 1hr 45 min away from my family, and maybe 1 hour away from my Grandparents in Whiteland. The city has a lower cost of living and is next to a river.
I made a deal with richard that if he gets accepted to both midwestern and louisville that I'd go fly to Midwestern so I could see for myself why he loves it so much. Decisions, decisions!!

It's hard being away from family, I definitely cried when I left them this week. That's the biggest reason why I want to live close to home.

Marriage and Housework

I watched the show "Hoarders" today (talk about nasty!!) and it immediately got me digging around for random junk. In the end, I threw away 5 trash bags of things we never use. Plus, I'm trying to "Feng Shui" our room for a pseudo-science project (which involves getting rid of all clutter under the bed, in closets, under sinks...) so it's been a busy day! It has actually taken a lot of time! And I'm still not done! I seriously de-clutter at least once every couple of months, and it's just amazing how papers & old knick-knacks will pile up. Clutter is evil, and I intend to destroy it!

Which brings me to another thought. Recently I have realized that Rich & I are still adjusting to life outside the Beehive home. We are still trying to create routines, share chores/ dinner making, find ways to eat together, and save money. It's kind of funny how different our life is now (and how much more poor-er), but the best thing is that we are really happy and comfortable.

One thing I have been reflecting on is the stereotype of women being the main keeper/ cleaner of the home. I think this makes a lot of sense when the woman is home all day long raising kids, etc, but what about working wives? Student wives? I don't want thisto seem like a husband bashing session, because Rich really does a great job offering/ being willing to help, but what I realize is that I feel a cultural pressure to do everything myself, because if I ask him, that would make me a lesser home-maker. Even though I know that sounds ridiculous when I say it out-loud, it's funny to me that I have this inner voice pressuring me to be the perfect molly mormon wife. But it's simply not realistic, it's impossible to get decent grades and maintain a clean apartment and healthy meals by myself. I'm exhausted! I was so excited to do these things when we were first married, but now that it's been two years I just don't have the same motivation to prove I'm a great home-maker. Probably because I realize that I can still be a good home-maker without all the work.

When we were at the Beehive home, Richard had the harder classes, the need to get perfect grades, and didn't come home most nights until after 7 when I had most of the chores done anyway. Now that it doesn't exactly matter for him anymore, I have realized that I am the one that needs more help because all of a sudden my schedule was not as easy as I expected (Isn't that always the case in college?)

One thing I have learned is to sit down and talk with your spouse and actually list expectations and plan who does what chores. I have caught myself getting upset because there would be random things dirty/ undone, and he'd be playing a game or something, but because I didn't ask him to help/ have an expectation, he didn't know what to do. At the same time, shouldn't men learn to look for things to clean? Or do women have a knack for that? Or just me?

Maybe everything will change once we have a dishwasher. Hours will be opened up for cleaning more important things, like the bathtub.

A few more favorites....

This poem I first discovered in AP Lit, and thought it was pretty clever. I really like Plath's style, although she can be pretty dark, especially in her poem "Daddy". I read the Bell Jar and wanted to get her book "Ariel", I think, it's a collection of poems. This one is reminiscent of the Holocaust, but it also makes me think of insane celebrities---I think the song "The Fear" by Lily Allen might even go well with this one.

The Thin People
BY
Sylvia Plath

They are always with us, the thin people
Meager of dimension as the gray people

On a movie-screen. They
Are unreal, we say:

It was only in a movie, it was only
In a war making evil headlines when we

Were small that they famished and
Grew so lean and would not round

Out their stalky limbs again though peace
Plumped the bellies of the mice

Under the meanest table.
It was during the long hunger-battle

They found their talent to persevere
In thinness, to come, later,

Into our bad dreams, their menace
Not guns, not abuses,

But a thin silence.
Wrapped in flea-ridded donkey skins,

Empty of complaint, forever
Drinking vinegar from tin cups: they wore

The insufferable nimbus of the lot-drawn
Scapegoat. But so thin,

So weedy a race could not remain in dreams,
Could not remain outlandish victims

In the contracted country of the head
Any more than the old woman in her mud hut could

Keep from cutting fat meat
Out of the side of the generous moon when it

Set foot nightly in her yard
Until her knife had pared

The moon to a rind of little light.
Now the thin people do not obliterate

Themselves as the dawn
Grayness blues, reddens, and the outline

Of the world comes clear and fills with color.
They persist in the sunlit room: the wallpaper

Frieze of cabbage-roses and cornflowers pales
Under their thin-lipped smiles,

Their withering kingship.
How they prop each other up!

We own no wilderness rich and deep enough
For stronghold against their stiff

Battalions. See, how the tree boles flatten
And lose their good browns

If the thin people simply stand in the forest,
Making the world go thin as a wasp's nest

And grayer; not even moving their bones.
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I LOVE Maya Angelou, although the first book of hers that I read was "The Bluest Eye" and it involved abuse, but she is so great with words and is so descriptive. She's one of Oprah's favorites. Whenever I see Maya on TV she seems so refined.

Woman Work
BY
Maya Angelou

I've got the children to tend
The clothes to mend
The floor to mop
The food to shop
Then the chicken to fry
The baby to dry
I got company to feed
The garden to weed
I've got shirts to press
The tots to dress
The can to be cut
I gotta clean up this hut
Then see about the sick
And the cotton to pick.

Shine on me, sunshine
Rain on me, rain
Fall softly, dewdrops
And cool my brow again.

Storm, blow me from here
With your fiercest wind
Let me float across the sky
'Til I can rest again.

Fall gently, snowflakes
Cover me with white
Cold icy kisses and
Let me rest tonight.

Sun, rain, curving sky
Mountain, oceans, leaf and stone
Star shine, moon glow
You're all that I can call my own.

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This one I sang in a choir when I was in 5th grade, I used to make fun of it all the time, but now I kind of like it. This is about the beautiful life of lowly grass, personified as the life of a humble, beautiful woman.

THE GRASS. (By Emily Dickenson)

The grass so little has to do, --
A sphere of simple green,
With only butterflies to brood,
And bees to entertain,

And stir all day to pretty tunes
The breezes fetch along,
And hold the sunshine in its lap
And bow to everything;

And thread the dews all night, like pearls,
And make itself so fine, --
A duchess were too common
For such a noticing.

And even when it dies, to pass
In odors so divine,
As lowly spices gone to sleep,
Or amulets of pine.

And then to dwell in sovereign barns,
And dream the days away, --
The grass so little has to do,
I wish I were the hay!

I miss poetry....

This weekend my entomology class went on a field trip to Lytle Ranch in southern Utah, and on the way down I was sitting next to a sweet girl named Emily. She said she likes to write poetry, and is learning the guitar so she can put her words to song. I was really charmed. I used to love poetry so much more, and I was telling her how I used to write poems whenever I was feeling angsty or dark. I never really enjoyed writing happy poems, I mainly liked the weird ones....my favorite ones were by Sylvia Plath or e. e. cummings. I remember when Eric O. dumped me in highschool, I wrote him a poem....he thought I was weird. But I laugh now.

I found this cute poem by Tennyson, though, and thought I'd share it.

The Flower
BY
Lord Alfred Tennyson

Once in a golden hour
I cast to earth a seed.
Up there came a flower,
The people said, a weed.

To and fro they went
Thro' my garden bower,
And muttering discontent
Cursed me and my flower.

Then it grew so tall
It wore a crown of light,
But thieves from o'er the wall
Stole the seed by night.

Sow'd it far and wide
By every town and tower,
Till all the people cried,
"Splendid is the flower!"

Read my little fable:
He that runs may read.
Most can raise the flowers now,
For all have got the seed.

And some are pretty enough,
And some are poor indeed;
And now again the people
Call it but a weed.

How do people write stuff like this? It's such a gift. I don't think I could conjure up a poem anymore---at least not right now. I either don't have enough wit, courage, or emotion to do it....the emotions I feel the most now include simple joy and satisfaction, being married to Richard thus far has been pretty easy and carefree. I have no major worries, I am pretty bland in a sense. It's something to be grateful for. I guess I could write a happy poem? A poem about my dreams for the future? A poem for my future kiddies? I don't know! But I think I might step up to the challenge. Maybe you'll see a poem by me on here, someday soon.....