Due to popular demand, I’ve decided to post the slideshows I use during my freezer cooking/oamc/canning/etc. class that I teach on Thursday nights. We’ve barely finished week one, so if you’re interested in coming, browse through this presentation and do the homework! You’re welcome to come over this Thursday at 7 for week two where we dive straight into freezer cooking!

We threw a Halloween party the weekend before Halloween. I’ve been designing party tables for Whipperberry, and decided to try my hand at a dessert table for our little get together. I was really happy with how it turned out!

If you’ve got a party coming up, I’d love to help you design it! You can see my party packs here, or if you want something completely custom, just e-mail me! 

Sushi is by far my favorite food. It’s pretty, yummy, and relatively good for you! My sister, Lindsay, got me a sushi book/bamboo mat/utensil kit for Christmas and we finally got the chance to use it last weekend!

We made rolls with smoked salmon [so yes, it was fully cooked. I'm not gutsy enough to go for the raw stuff.] and crab meat, scallions, cream cheese, avocado, and cucumbers [from our garden]. They turned out so much better than either of us thought they would! And we were way over prepared. We had a ton left over. This will be one meal we’ll be doing again!

If you like sushi, don’t be afraid to make it yourself! It looks intimidating, but it’s much easier to make and make well than you think.

Part of the major changes for our family mentioned in the 3 things post was that we’ll be staying in Utah for another two years. C will be getting a business minor in addition to his Exercise Science degree. We think it will come in handy when he’s running his own Chiropractic practice in the future. Because this means we’ll be in this same apartment for a longer period of time, it means I suddenly have more motivation to make it a nicer place to be.

One of the biggest eye-sores in our home is the “pantry” or really, lack thereof. Our non-refrigerated food was stacked on a bookshelf out in the open right next to our kitchen table, like so:

cute, eh?

Eyesore #2 is the Laundry nook. It is also in the kitchen and just looks washed out, boring, etc. It wasn’t terribly cluttery or dirty, but was far from being pretty.

And so, on our day off [Happy 4th!] C and I took a little jaunt down to the fabric store. $20 bucks and an hour later, our pantry and laundry nook got a major facelift!

I’m totally thrilled. My mom would be so proud. Now that corner has a major pop of color, we have room for a portable dishwasher [more for C, because let's be honest...dishes and me really don't get along.] and our cluttered pantry isn’t glaring at us all through dinner. Win-win-win.

Ever noticed how when you try extra hard to do something nice, things often go so wrong it’s comical?

Tell me I’m not the only one that happens to.

Take today for example. I came home from work, was super productive with designing and headed off to go Visiting Teaching. Visited with a super cute girl from church for about a half hour and then came home to make dinner for C who was biking back from class. I was looking fabulous today. Turquoise satin shirt, brown slacks [size 4 baby! don't hate. :) I haven't been able to wear them since the wedding], and heels.

Thai pasta was on the menu, and I had some cooked chicken pre-chopped in the freezer. Pulled out the chicken, threw the sauce together, etc. I thawed the chicken under some cold water, but it was still frozen into some chunks so I was just going to let it thaw the rest of the way while the sauce thickened. I’ll admit, I was feeling pretty on top of it.

One poorly guided swoop of the spoon later and there is thai peanut sauce [read: El Pato jalapeno salsa and peanut butter] splattered all over my satin shirt, the bread machine, the floor, the far wall, the fridge, and the stove, none of which are in the same general direction.

I immediately take my shirt off in a panic, thinking about the grease and stains that are inevitable. Additionally, wonder-husband had started the laundry, and so all of my shirts are in the kitchen/laundry nook, but they’re all wet. Kitchen window is WIDE open, and I realize I’m wearing a hot pink bra. [It's laundry day, after all.] Thus, walking back across the kitchen, past the window, is not exactly going to happen. The sauce is burning, and I can’t run upstairs to grab a shirt, so I begin to rummage through our delicates batch. Miracle of miracles, one of my white-ish blouses made it into the delicates batch on accident.

Let me paint this picture for you.

Hot pink bra + white blouse = very visible hot pink through white.

However, if C’s the only one who’s going to see me, who cares. And so, we enjoy a nice dinner together and watch make it or break it on the couch eating ice cream right out of the carton. I, then, head back upstairs to package up some of my new scrapbooking products, and C heads to the kitchen to finish up the dishes. [love him.]

And…there’s a knock at the door. At 9pm. I ignore it because I know full well how I look and I’m not about to go welcome the world into our home. C can’t hear it. The water’s going. I call down to C. He can’t hear me either.

Knock at the door #2. More urgent this time.

So, I go down and open the door, doing the strategic half-way hide behind the door without looking awkward move.

It’s our home teachers.

We completely spaced it.

Feigning pleasant surprise, I excuse myself for a moment and invite them in. Panicked moment #2 begins when I realize 90% of my clothes are downstairs in the laundry nook and therefore none of my colored tank tops are up in my bedroom. Why I didn’t just put a different [darker colored] shirt on is beyond me. So I grab a white jacket. Really Kristin? Really?

And all through our conversation with the Home Teachers, I’m moving all over the couch trying out different ways to sit to potentially shield my fluorescent bra with a combination of C’s body, my pathetic jacket and completely avoiding eye-contact.

Fail.

And all because I wanted to have dinner on the table for C.

Some days you really just have to wonder if it’s all worth it.

lol.