Friday, March 23, 2012

On the Road (1)

like i said, i was in a stake show, "On the Road". it was FANTASTIC. so fun. i loved singing & dancing around like a crazy every night. i loved using my talents & actually getting to SING! hooray! the directors were brilliant & patient, the cast was fun & talented & the time spent well worth it!

but what i loved the most above ALL THINGS were friends made & many, many tears of laughter shed. seriously, these ladies are HYSTERICAL. together we basically were the gooniest, silliest, most confident & fun group i could have imagined.

elena, jen, bethany, kimber, lindsey, jen= TROUBLE!
(jen photoshopped this. i love her for that.)

four of us were disney princesses. with one of our FABULOUS directors, melissa

we are beautiful, poised, lovely ladies on stage....
and riotously irreverent back stage. BAHA
"The Real Princesses of Disney"
 

as rapunzel, i got to sing & dance with some WONDERFUL men from the stake in "i've got a dream."
oooo these thugs are the softest, kindest & most fun & least thuggish i could find. they were so good to me as the only "lady" in the number!





Tuesday, March 13, 2012

an early morning rant

lately i have had many many thoughts on my mind... and a lot of them make me worried, anxious, angry. and sleepless.
this is not good.
i just feel like i have reached my wits end with people. so here i am again, another late night, stewing, trying to get out all my feelings of frustration and let it go. but some things just won't "go." how come some people get under my skin so badly sometimes?
(i actually know the answer to this, it is not rhetorical.)
it's because i care about them and they don't care about me and it hurts my feelings and i just get so mad i want to punch them in the face, but then i love them so i wouldn't and i forgive them, but then the cycle starts all over.
uggh.

anyway. i'm going to post a cute picture of my baby now, that will make me feel better.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Rapunzelllllllll, let down your haaaaaaiiir!!!

so the HB Stake, (group of congregations in one area- like isaiah said about the church of Christ being like a "tent" over the whole world- we are a "stake" of that tent) which is where we live, do this HUGE MUSICAL PRODUCTION every 3 years. we are talking 350 people, thousands of dollars & hours spent. it is not a small thing, nor a cheap thing, nor a cheesy thing. it's legit. digital sound, lighting, crazy costumes, etc. ages 3 to 93 are welcome to participate. IT IS AWESOME. i am basically in love with the people who are in charge- they are AMAZING.

this year i am participating, naturally, so there have been ALOT of hours spent in the last couple months preparing & practicing. we open this weekend and have 8 shows. we dance & sing & act like crazies & just have a lovely time laughing, singing & enjoying it all.

oh and i'm rapunzel so i get to sing 2 songs from tangled. my costume is AMAZING. just wait til i post pictures!!!! it's all about the wig. the people who made my wig literally took HOURS to do so. it's everything rapunzel should be & more!

anyway- if you live in HB- come to the stake center 7 PM thurs fri sat or 4 PM sat for the next 2 weeks- you won't regret it!:)

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

5 AM??

5 AM: the time Faye got up this morning, kicking & ready to go.
2: the number of hours I required of additional sleep this morning.
$4.27: the cost per gallon to fill up my car this morning.
$0.97: the cost of the donut iced with emotional stability I ate this morning.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Easiest Most Delicious Food Ever

I have been cooking in 2012. Cooking A LOT.
It saves muchos buckos, is more healthy and I get to wear an apron & pretend I'm domestic!! Winner!
Following are 2 easy meals we frequent. They are delicious & make great leftovers (we love leftovers!)
Disclaimer: These are non-gourmet, easy, cheap meals. If you like fancy, don't try them!

I like to cleverly call this meal "Meat & Peppers":
Buy some kind of shoulder or rump roast at your local store. Beef. We like to buy meat from the carneceria in Santa Ana where it's cheap. Freeze it until the peppers go on sale for cheap at the grocery store.

You will need:
Meat roast
at least 1 of each- Yellow, Orange, Green, Red Peppers
Montreal Steak Seasoning
Pan &Oven

Preheat oven to BROIL. Cover one side of meat with steak seasoning. Let sit for about 10 min while oven is getting hot and you cut up peppers into large chunks and strips. Take whatever non-food item your toddler is eating out of their mouth. Put peppers on bottom of pan. Put meat (and most of the drippings if there are any) on top. Broil on each side for 10-15 min, depending on thinkness. Cook to Medium Rare, then pull out & let the meat rest while you set the table and stop your toddler from impaling themselves on a pen.
Pair with rice. Or a green salad.

VOILA!!! Meat & Peppers. What I love most is the peppers, seasoning and juices get all delicious on the bottom of the pan. If your peppers look burned, don't worry- they are not burned, they are DELICIOUS & flavorful. Easy and quick!

The second go-to meal of late is what we call-
Chicken Vegetable Soup:
You can use whatever kind of chicken, but bone-in, skinned thighs make the best flavor without adding anything. If you use boneless/skinless you will need to add more seasoning or some MSG in the form of chicken bullion or just a ton more salt.

4 chicken thighs(frozen or fresh)
Garlic Salt
Pepper
Chili
Half onion (optional)
Bunch of Italian Parsley
Lots of Carrots(like 7-8 whole carrots- not baby carrots. Just wash them, don't peel)
Whole Bunch of Celery
Head of Cabbage
Salt

Put the chicken on the bottom of a large stock pot on very very low (on my electric oven I do like 1 or 2) with like 1 cup of water. Go clean the bathroom, fold laundry, or watch a british murder mystery series. Come back half way and turn the chicken. If you use boneless it cooks faster. If you put them in frozen they take longer. (DUH.)
When you turn put in a liberal amount of garlic salt, pepper, dash of chili powder. Put in more than you think will be good- that is the right amount. Then put in a bit more just to be sure. You may choose to put in chopped onion at this point. Sometimes I forget to buy onion so I put in some onion powder.. and sometimes I forget the onion all together and it turns out just fine. Leave again until chicken is cooked.
Cut up carrots, celery, parsley & slice cabbage. Put parsley in first, then carrots, then celery and pile the cabbage on top. Sometimes the cabbage won't let the lid sit right cause it's so full- this is how full it should be. Put in 2 more cups of water.Then sprinkle a tiny bit of salt on top of cabbage. This makes the cabbage weep more easily.
Leave and finish the laundry you didn't finish folding bc you got to inthralled watching the murder mystery.
After about 15-30 min the veggies should settle and you can use a big spoon to mix up & push down so the lid closes.
Now really walk away and forget the soup is cooking. In about an hour to hour and a half, remember you forgot about it and it will be PERFECT! The chicken will fall off the bones & the natural oils will make it DELISH.
My favorite thing about this soup is the Italian Parsley. DELICIOUS and flavorful- makes boring veggie soup have pizzazz! REMEMBER: don't change the temp- just leave it at 1 or 2 the whole time.

Serve with saltine crackers or bread. Or nothing. Both my husband and my kid will eat this soup like it's going out of style. Winner!

currently obsessed