Friday, February 29, 2008

my new way to watch American Idol


Holly made a comment on my last, "brief" American Idol post where she said she doesn't watch American Idol for three reasons: Ryan, Randy and Paula. I thought is appropriate to share with her and others my secret for enjoying American Idol: TIVO. We have never had TIVO, and I am not sure if we watch enough tv to make it worth it yet, but I currently love TIVO, especially when watching American Idol.
Here's why:
1. commercials...gone.
and 2nd. This is how a normal show goes-
Singer and Ryan have an awkward conversation on the red couch, commercial, singer intro, singer sings, judging (Randy: dog, dog, you know what man, you can bow, but dog that was just a'ight for me, I mean the middle was a little shakey and the whole thing was a little pitchy, not my favorite. Paula: You are a butterfly. You have discovered who you are and are being true to yourself. [some copy of a comment Simon made the episode before that doesn't apply]. When I hear you sing I feel like a golden puppy and you are my hero for being true to who you are. Simon: [something brief, true, and sometimes stinging, yet true statement with a clever analogy--I love it!]), singer gives Simon some lame sass, Ryan comes out to ask another awkward question and the singer shows their fingers that correspond with the number that comes on the screen-every time, commercial.
BUT WITH TIVO, this is how my show goes-
singer sings (sometimes I watch their intro), I usually hear Randy cause I like his laugh, fast forward through Paula (every time she opens her mouth), listen to Simon, laugh, fast forward through Ryan and the commercials, singer sings...
It is brilliant.
p.s. I am not on the Simon bandwagon where I like him because he is mean. I am not sure why America thinks that is funny...I like that he is the only one who offers true, constructive criticism. When he leans into attacking character, I am not a fan, but for the most part he is offering witty criticism, and it is so refreshing.

Ok...so I have about 5 different recipes for Monkey bread. I never know which one to use, but I'll post the one I tried on Monday because it turned out so good and soooo gooey - LOVED IT!!! Some of the recipes call for frozen rolls and butterscotch pudding - sounds good, but I've never tried it that way. If anyone has a favorite way to make it, let me know....

Here it is:

4 cans refrigerated biscuits
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 sticks butter
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tbsp. cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9-10 inch tube pan

2. Mix white sugar and cinnamon in a plastic bag or bowl with a lid. Cut the biscuits into halves or quarters and add to the mixture. Shake until all the pieces are well coated.

3. Arrange pieces in the bottom of greased pan. Continue layering until all the pieces are in the pan.

4. In a small saucepan, melt the butter with the brown sugar over medium heat. Boil for 1 minute. Pour over layered biscuits.

5. Bake for 35 minutes. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a plate. Pull apart and enjoy.


*I halved the recipe. I only used 1 can of the "grand" biscuits. I used a loaf pan instead of the tube pan and I only cooked it for 25 minutes.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Tah-Dah!!!

The finished product - my pinewood derby surfboard. It didn't turn out quite as good as I had hoped, but we'll see how she races tonight! Wish me luck...


(p.s. sorry about the blurry picture)


Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Is anyone watching American Idol?

just curious...

back again...

even I was annoyed going to our blog to get to other people's blogs. if I saw that dumb icicle picture one more time I was gonna kill myself. so, we did a revamp on the design (it is girly) and we are committed to blogging again. i lost my testimony of it for a while, and now it is back.

yes, i made it. it is not done yet, of course, but i wanted everyone to see my skills with a saw and sander. i am not totally useless i guess. i used two fancy saws and two fancy sanders to start making jenny's pinewood derby surfboard. we will post the final product too. (she is doing a pinewood derby for activity days this week.) is everyone overly impressed with me? if yo uaren't, you don't know me and i don't want you looking at our blog anymore you stalkers!:) ( i still have all my fingers, by the way--no nubs on the hands, just the feet.)


we made monkey bread for family home evening. I LOVE monkey bread. I think it is one of my favorite...baked goods? Whatever. I just LOVE it! Jenny has only made it one other time and I was sick, and didn't eat any of it, so she never made it again. We have made it twice in the last few days and eaten it all. Ye-ah!

I didn't get a picture of me skiing this week, but I will get something up so we can count it as a winter embracing activity (I kind of doubt we will reach our goal). But Buckbeack borrowed Jenny's snowboard for the weekend and Jack wanted to try it out before Loopy came to pick it up. Future boarder in the house...

Saturday, February 09, 2008

and so it continues...

Today was a hopeful day for me. Spring is one day closer. The tundra on our driveway is beginning to melt which is very promising. (I know, it is Utah and Spring is not until June, but I am shooting for optimism). Our neighboor James came over last week and helped us get off weeks of ice on our driveway. He is a saint. Then it snowed the next day, which is why it is back. Nothing new is happening with us, so I thought I would just show some pictures we finally have put on our computer :).


I call this photo: "Death by Ice"

I swear these were bigger than the picture gives them credit for. Our gutters all froze over, so the snow and ice started spilling over (And into our bedroom). So I got up on the roof, like a handy husband would do, and shoveled it all off. As part of my ice capades afternoon, I pulled down one of those giant ice knives and all of them came crashing down. A near death experience. The good news is when they fell they pulled down all of our Christmas lights, which previous to this event were solidly frozen to the house with no hope of coming down until the thaw. The force of it ripped the light wire in half, but that won't bother me until I need to buy new ones next year.

I call this photo: "You can't really tell, but there are deer in our backyard"

They come down from the mountain and feast on the apples that never made it off the tree. They are the frozen, rotten bug filled apples we didn't care for, so I am glad something appreciates them. This will be my convincing argument to Jenny next year on why I don't need to pick the apples up off the lawn. I am getting the deer through the winter. I got pretty close to them until I started having thoughts of them charging me, so I went back inside. At least it wasn't the cougar our neighboors saw in their lawn. Yikes. Maybe on of our winter embracing activities could be a winter safari in our own backyard. Emma, wanna come?

Well, the last picture had an error--must be a sign because this is getting kind of long. good night.

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

2 reasons why i LOVE february...
(and really, there are ONLY 2)



petite sour hearts from the BYU bookstore - i bought a whole POUND this year!



sugar cookies with kool-aid frosting

delish!!!