Mindless Nothings

Growing up, I didn't do a whole lot of cooking or baking.
Well, I suppose "a whole lot" is all relative.
To some people, pulling Pillsbury cookie dough out of the fridge and plopping it on a baking sheet a couple times a year qualifies as "a whole lot" in their books, but I digress.

I think I was about 12 years old when I decided that I wanted to really learn how to cook.  However, even then I was a stubborn, headstrong thing.  Cooking lessons?  Who needs 'em?  Certainly not ME!  I decided to blaze ahead with not a whole heck of a lot to go on.  And in an effort to actually follow through on this whole "cooking" thing, I believe I even made a deal with my mom that I would make dinner once a week.  I believe I selected Wednesdays as the evening of choice for my victims family.

I pawed through our various recipe books (most of which lacked photographic aids), and settled on "Sweet & Sour Chicken" for my first meal.  Folks, my poor family had to eat Sweet & Sour Chicken a LOT.  My brother dislikes Sweet & Sour and won't eat it to this day....I like to pretend it has nothing to do with the weekly meals he was subjected to in our youth.

My culinary prowess did not extend much further as the years progressed.  I once boiled out an entire pan of water, simply because I forgot about it.  I can also attest that it IS possible to screw up Macaroni & Cheese.   I've mixed up salt with sugar....which resulted in an extremely unappetizing peach cobbler.  I do not recommend setting your oven to 500° in the hopes that your oven will heat up faster (I honestly have NO idea why I would think that....), but if you do, I urge you to remember to lower the temperature of the oven when you decide to bake those cupcakes...I also urge you not to completely forget about the aforementioned cupcakes and mosey on to bed, only to be awakened by your father asking if you forgot something in the oven...true story.

I will say this for cooking though, the more you do it, the better you become.  Sure I still mess up.  Just this very evening I misread a recipe calling for "1/2 cup White Vinegar and 1 tsp White Sugar"....something got inverted....yeah...  But the important thing is to keep going.  I can't count the number of times I have had to start over on a recipe, or double it because I accidentally added WAY too much of one ingredient.

Now, I am not saying that I am any sort of culinary whiz, but I do enjoy my time in the kitchen.  I peruse cooking websites, read recipes and cooking blogs.  I ogle kitchen gadgets like you wouldn't believe!  But I still mess up, I still cut, smash and burn myself...I'm actually sporting a relatively new inch-long scar on my right hand thanks to my oven, but it goes really well with all the other cooking scars I have.

One thing is certain though.  I have branched away from Sweet & Sour Chicken.  I haven't made it in years...probably because it wasn't that good to begin with.  But the memories are fun to dive into.

Happy Pi Day

Have you looked outside?!

It is totally springtime!

The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and the snow piles are quickly disappearing.

Can I get a "hallelujah"?

Happy little pillows

Lately I have had some weird sleeping patterns.

Some days I will be reading in bed and completely zonk out before 10:00pm.
And other days I will be exhausted at 6:30pm, but can't manage to get to sleep until after midnight.
I also often wake up multiple times throughout the night for no apparent reason, generally around 1:00am, 3:30am and 6:00am.  The 3 hour intervals are an actual thing...it's weird.

Sometimes the source of my trouble comes from the fact that I cannot get my brain to shut off, which is really annoying.  I will mentally note that my brain isn't shutting off and allowing me to sleep, and by making this mental note, once I start to slip into blissful brainlessness, I somehow make a mental note of it and I'm suddenly cognizant again.  These are typically the nights where I have really bizarre dreams once I do get to sleep.

Other times, I just cannot get comfortable.  The sheets feel itchy (they aren't), the blanket feels bunchy (it's not), the pillow is too warm (I prefer a cold pillow)...this was actually the problem last night.  Not only was the pillow too warm, everything was too warm.  This is actually not a normal occurrence.  Normally I am fairly cold, and for sleeping, that is fine with me because I have blankets, and I can get the nice balance of heat and chill by sticking a leg outside of the covers (I've been told that other people do this too, so I take that to mean I'm not weird), but last night I must have generated way too much body heat because no matter where I moved to on the bed (I sleep on a queen, so there is plenty of room for me to sprawl) I would heat the area up in a matter of seconds.  I tried it all....I flipped left, I scooted right, I moved my pillow to the foot of the bed and tried "upside-down", I moved all the pillows that typically grace the unloved (right) side of the bed onto the floor and tried that spot, but after 2 hours of furtively trying to get comfortable, I gave up.  It wasn't happening.  So I let my mind wander.  And in wandering (for about an hour) I found myself in some pretty unpleasant dreams...but I was dreaming!  Which means I was asleep!  Hallelujah!

Turns out that the middle of the bed was the sweet spot that night.
We'll see how tonight fares....I should be tired, but I'm not really (I was 4 hours ago though!).

All the pillows are still on my floor.
I think they like it there.
Who am I to destroy their happiness?

Stats

Have you ever checked the "Traffic Sources" in your blog stats?

Normally this section shows me that Kelly, my mom, my sister and some random guy in Russia have been to my blog.  Normal, believable traffic sources.

What I'm now wondering (and will not investigate to find out the reason...) is WHY there are 2 porn sites listed as traffic sources.  This is the first time in the 5 years I have had this blog that I have noticed that.  Granted, I don't check it that often.  Heck, I don't even write in it that often.  I'm sure they quickly realized there was nothing to get excited about here.

Procrastination, party of one?

I have basically been the biggest procrastinator during this current term of school.  Horrible. Awful. Laaaazy.
It all started when I took a term break so that I could go to Switzerland and France and not have to worry about school, or missing a month of school time.  Unfortunately, when I did start classes (November), my mentor was now on maternity leave and her replacement and I...let's just say we didn't get along. At all.

Then there were the holidays.  Normally, I have about a month and a half of plugging away at school work before the holidays rear their head, not so much this time because I took that stupid term break.

And so it doesn't sound like I am trying to blame everything on outside forces, I have been lazy. L.A.Z.Y. I ain't got no alibi. The last thing I have wanted to do is sit down and study accounting.  Or write a business research paper about compensation benefits, or create a marketing plan for a product I do not care about.

So basically, I didn't do any school work for...about 3 months!  I know!  I'm horrible!  I did look at things, knew what I needed to do and promptly avoided it.  Yay me (not proud of myself, I promise...that was ALL sarcasm). So now, here I am.  One failed attempt at an accounting exam under my belt, a study guide in place for accounting, a paper to write and a marketing plan to create.

Have I mentioned that my term ends in April?

Yeah, this'll be fun.

Procrastinators unite! .....Tomorrow.

The perils of long(ish) distance dating

I know that many people would not consider a 2 hour drive a legitimate long-distance relationship qualifying distance (does that sentence even make sense?).  I know it pales in comparison to cross-country and military separations, but since that is not the case for me.....aaaand since this is my blog, I'm going to say it qualifies.  I figure since T and I live in different states, it definitely qualifies.

To start off, I never thought I would ever date someone who lived in a different state than me.  I constantly get the question "how ever did you guys meet since you live so far apart?".  I find it interesting that no one readily recalls the fact that we live in a world ruled by the internet and that online dating is a significant part of our culture, but whatever.  Back to the point.  Due to the distance and the fact that we both have our individual jobs and responsibilities, we only manage to physically see each other once every two weeks or so (this has been the case for the last 2 months or so...we saw each other more frequently at the onset of our relationship....that whole relationship building thing...kinda important)

Below are some pros and cons I have discovered about dating long-distance:

Pro: It is always ridiculously exciting when we get to see each other for 24 hours or more at a time
Con: There is usually about 336 hours between our visits

Pro: Long leisurely drives up to Idaho (for me) or down to Utah (for him)
Con: Drives including snow, ice and stupid drivers

Pro: Being completely content just sitting and doing nothing because we just want to be together
Con: Doing nothing because we're so content just being together makes us sound really boring when people ask us what we did over the weekend

Pro: Lots of movie watching due to the above...
Con: T owns like 12 movies....boy movies (There isn't much to do in Blackfoot...and Layton is boring)

Pro: My phone blows up with text messages...99% from T
Con: T is not into e-mailing or Facebook (I'm actually okay with the Facebook one, but he keeps bringing it up) and neither one of us really likes talking on the phone

Pro: Distance allows us to keep a fairly untainted image of each other
Con: That could cause a rude awakening at some point

Pro: I get giddy when we actually have a telephone conversation and I get to hear T's voice
Con: Those conversations are rare...and sometimes make me nervous (Not much is scarier than a text message that says "I have something I need to tell you, Can I call you?" from a telephobe)

Pro: We spend a good amount of time talking and getting to know each other when we're together
Con: We have pretty superficial conversations when we aren't together (there are some exceptions to this one)

Pro: Space in a relationship is good. You still have your own interests and obligations to pursue without feeling bad for "neglecting" your significant other
Con: Space isn't everything

In case you haven't noticed, I miss T.  Which is kinda funny considering he was here this weekend and only left me a few hours ago.  It's probably the fact that I know I won't see him again for 2 weeks....I've learned to love and hate weekends all at the same time. Thank heaven for unlimited texting!

YTC

Two years ago, I started making overarching goals for my year (because I don't necessarily like New Years resolutions).  First came YCB, or the Year of the Classy Broad, which sought to have me incorporate more classy activities into my life such as drinking out of fancy stemware, dressing up, traveling, trying new restaurants, accepting compliments graciously and being kinder.  Next came the YWB, or the Year of Well-Being, in which I tried to strive for a spiritual, emotional and physical well-being, standing up for others, knowing who I am and being happy.  What I like about dubbing my years is that the things I do and the attitudes and outlooks I gain can continue into the succeeding year, since we are never truly done improving our lives.

I have thus dubbed this the YTC, or the Year of Taking Control.  Probably sounds more exciting than it is, I plan on taking control in various areas of my life, in the past I have wished I had time to read more books, cook, learn to sew, be more crafty, finish school, be more daring...whatever, well, this is the year that I (finally) take control of my life and where I am going.

I will not let the actions and feelings of others dictate my life and negatively influence me.  I will be the person I want to be, realizing that I make mistakes and have the right to adjust my path and expectations as I go along.

Here's to taking control!