Recital Time!

Tonight is my big Senior Recital--- the one thing standing between me and graduation! I am super excited to put on a frilly dress, do my hair, and sing in front of a crowd! I'll let you know how it goes!

Cleaning with FlyLady

One thing that has been so helpful to me lately is FlyLady's website. You would think that a 700-square foot apartment wouldn't even have room to get messy, right? Then you've never lived with me or my hubby, both of whom are Messy People! 

I had been living under the false notion that it was pretty much impossible to work nearly-full-time and be a housekeeper, as well. And I'm not going to lie, even with FlyLady, it's still difficult! If you have any spare maids, send them my way! ;-) However, what I love about FlyLady is that it makes housework manageable and seeks to make my house cleaner through little changes in habits! Now that's what I'm talking about!

Some of her advice I don't follow. I just... can't... wear shoes... in the house! Some of her advice made me think, "Are you for real???" but when I followed it, it made things so much better! One thing I'm thinking about in particular is shining the kitchen sink. It sounds kind of harebrained, but I've noticed that I really can't shine the sink without also washing the dishes and clearing the counters. This all takes me 5-10 minutes every night. Voila, instant clean kitchen!

The thing I like the best about this method is that it's extremely low-pressure. FlyLady says (to loosely quote her), "The house did not get messy overnight, so don't try to get it clean overnight!" How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time! How do you clean the house? One little task at a time!

I'm very interested in hearing from anybody else who uses the FlyLady approach to housekeeping. I've only been doing this for a couple weeks, and have had success so far, but I'd like to know what people a few months into "FlyLady"-ing have to say.

Works For Me Wednesday: One Old Banana

It has happened to everybody: you come home from the store with a beautiful, slightly green bunch of bananas. One by one, they are eaten, until you have forgotten all about that bunch you brought home. A couple weeks later, you find one pitiful banana languishing in the bottom of the fruit basket, sporting an unpleasant brown-and-black coat.

(Now THAT is one bad banana!)

"Aha!" You say. "This looks like the perfect opportunity to make banana bread!" Unfortunately, every recipe seems to call for at least two bananas. If only your unfortunate fruit had a friend!

Here is where you take that one banana... and put it in a batch of pancakes! Maybe add some chopped walnuts, or some chocolate chips, if you really want a balanced breakfast :-D (wait-- what? Chocolate isn't a food group??). This instantly jazzes up your breakfast and becomes something that you'd pay six bucks to eat at IHOP. Works for me!

Check out all the other great ideas at We Are THAT Family!

Back I Am, Sam I Am!

I just loved Green Eggs and Ham when I was little. But I digress!

This week is Spring Break. I took off work, Adam did some planning, and we drove down to Dallas and spent a few days there! It was especially enjoyable because we finally got to go together! Travel costs are expensive (can I get a witness?), so when there are weddings, school trips, and the like, usually one of us goes and leaves the other behind. How sad! So we definitely appreciated this trip!

On a side note, Enterprise Car Rental is now our favorite car rental company. Have you ever seen all the restrictions and sky-high fees imposed by rental companies for drivers under twenty-five? (which both of us happen to be) It's always so frustrating to have a squeaky-clean driving record, and yet not be able to rent because I'm not thirty-six months older! Enterprise, however, was very reasonable with a friendly staff and good rates. We'll definitely be there next time we rent!

We ended up going to Six Flags theme park, touring Dallas, going to a museum, and hanging out with my former roommate (at whose house we stayed). I'll post pictures soon, but right now, I want to go to bed!

On another unrelated note, there seems to be a huge Blog Party going on, and it looks like fun! Maybe tomorrow, I'll pull something together and join the melee!

Chemistry Lab!

Tuesday Night was Chemistry, and I actually took pictures! Behold, the fun...


The experiment was about separating the caffeine from Mountain Dew syrup. Ohhhhh, yes, there is lots to be found. Here I am with my friend Ruth, who ended up being our partner for the evening.



Adam, looking very scientific.



He was the self-appointed pincers handler. He really loved it...



...maybe a little too much.



Naw, he really loves me! Even when I'm wearing dorky lab glasses!



Ruth recording data and trying to not get sucked up into our silliness.



Evaporating the Mountain Dew...




For some reason, I always feel like I'm in the kitchen. I just can't quite put my finger on it...



Writing up a lab report so we can go home!


Our textbook is really horrible (mixing bad theology with science), and the writing it assigns is equally horrible, so Adam and I don't really take it seriously. In fact, I think our lab report ended with, "And they all lived happily ever after." Every week, when we come into class and the professor gives us a weird look, I have to remember what on earth we wrote last week. :-)

There you have it! Proof of our misadventures!

Works For Me Wednesday: Tortilla Snack

 I learned about this hearty snack at Backpacking class (I know, that is pretty much one of the most far-out classes offered at my school!). It worked really well for me when I was on a three-day backpacking trip, as well as now, whenever the hungries strike! This is a poor man's Power Bar, if you will.

What you need:

1 tortilla

Peanut Butter

Honey

Uncooked oatmeal

Smear peanut butter on the tortilla. Add honey. Sprinkle with a liberal amount of uncooked oatmeal. Roll up and enjoy!

You could probably add raisins, coconut, nuts, or whatever tickles your fancy. Personally, I find the original combination so good, I actually haven't experimented yet. Best of all, this is the only snack I can think of that actually satiates my appetite and doesn't leave me rummaging through the pantry again in ten minutes! Works for me!

P.S. For a really good homemade whole wheat tortilla recipe, look here. I substitute canola oil for the olive oil, because olive oil is too pungent for tortillas, in my humble opinion. :-) And I've found that cooking on an electric griddle works the best.

You can find other great tips at We Are THAT Family!

Thank God It's... Tuesday?

Tuesday starts my "weekend", since my real weekends are spent serving people burritos. Today, I am thinking about rollerblading because the weather is glorious and I feel like a quick trip to the hospital! Just kidding about the hospital part-- but if you ever saw me rollerblading, you'd know why I say that.

In October, I planted a few daffodil and tulip bulbs and hoped for the best. So far, about three daffodils have bloomed, and it looks like one tulip will make an appearance in a few days. Unfortunately, these are the sole survivors of an apartment maintenance man's Weed Whacker holocaust. Boo!

Spring has sprung! Trees are blooming, the weather is warming up, and I now have to start worrying about what my toenails look like. Spring Break is next week, so Adam and I are trying to figure out what to do that week. Right now, we're thinking about hopping on a bus and visiting Six Flags over Texas, if we can figure out accommodations! I am really excited about that idea because I've only ridden on the same three roller coasters my entire life! 

Works for Me Wednesday: Jewelry Organization

Since I've participated in WFMW only once before, I'm going to go ahead and write a new post about what I think is the best household solution I've ever come up with!

I am a gal who loves her necklaces.

I am surrounded by people who love to give me necklaces.

Over the course of a lifetime, little jewelry boxes ceased to work for holding all my bling. Even those large stand-up jewelry chests, as beautiful as they are, left much to be desired, since I own more than ten necklaces, and several are too long to fit on the necklace racks. (not to mention, the price of one of those things!)

BUT!

Take some of these...

And one of these...

And voila! Easy, organized necklace storage that is out of reach of little hands! 

You could use a really decorative bulletin board, too! I used to have a purple/orange/green flower foam board... that my newlywed hubby absolutely refused to hang in our room. So I just kind of hide this one behind the door area.

That Works for Me! Be sure to check out all the other great ideas at We Are THAT Family!

Vive la France!

I am so excited, y'all. I am actually making concrete plans to fulfill one dream I have had for nearly a decade: to visit France! The costs have always been high enough that I would go to Travelocity and play around with itineraries for France, but never actually do anything serious about it. A girl can dream, right?

However, last night was slow at the restaurant, and I was bored... so I decided to rope my two younger sisters into going with me. :-P Adam's not a big France fan, so he's perfectly content to stay at home and let us girls wreak havoc in Europe. We always talked about going to France together when we were kids, and after a couple phone calls last night, I found out they're still game!

I love my sisters. Always so willing to make sure I'm not the only one being ridiculous.

(Wow, we all look so young! This was taken nearly five years ago, when we were all >18 years old!)

May 2010. We are going to France.