You say "cheap," I say "innovative"

Yeah, that pretty well describes a lot of what I do/have done.

In today's case, I'm talking about reusing/upcycling things to use as vases instead of buying real ones.

I mentioned planning to do this a number of posts ago. Anyone remember?

I took some Simply juice bottles, like so:

Cut off the top where the lid screws on, sanded the edges....ok, I may have actually filed them with an emery board, but it worked and as we all know, I'm on a budget. Moving on, the rest is paper and Mod Podge.

This is one of the smaller bottles, about 1/2 as big.

This one's full-size and was my first attempt.

Also, after seeing a few ideas on Pinterest for coloring mason jars w/ Mod Podge and food coloring, I thought I'd try it out with something different.

Like a Sobe bottle.

Terrible shot, I know, but I'm assuming you know what a Sobe bottle looks like.

And the results...

In process of drying

This doesn't do the color justice.

It's certainly not a perfect process, or at least, I haven't perfected it. And as I said, the pictures really don't do it justice, which is a shame. It's such a beautiful, rich green, like a nice green glass. I'm very happy with it.

Stuff:

• The Sobe bottle was outside drying upside-down for at least 3 days, with me periodically rotating it to change which side had the most sun.
• As you can see in the first picture, it doesn't look like it's drying evenly. However, by the time I deemed  it finished, it had all evened out pretty well. Under closer scrutiny, there are a couple minor issues, I suppose, but I think it's great, especially for a first attempt and since it'll usually have flowers in it.
• I probably used a bit too much Mod Podge, actually. The coloring happens because the Mod Podge forms a layer over the inner surface, then it dries clear, but for the color, making it translucent. 
• I haven't tested this with water inside (hindsight is 20/20, right?). Oo So we'll see how that goes. I'll let you know.
• I also keep one Simply bottle around for mixing concentrated juices in. Saves having to use a giant pitcher that takes up too much fridge space. It's really a handy size; I know exactly where on the bottle to add water to mix it just to my liking and I can just screw on the cap and shake it up instead of having to dirty a mixing spoon.

Versatility

I know it's off-center. It makes the composition better technically.  So there.

I know what you're probably thinking, "Sara, whatever would possess you to post a picture of a jar of pickles?"

I'm glad you hypothetically asked that. First, take another look. Yes, it's a pickle jar, but it's not a jar of pickles. Well, mostly. There is a pickle down at the bottom.

Here's the deal: you finish a jar of pickles and you're left with this jar full of pickle juice, which most people toss out. Such a waste. Instead, buy some cucumbers, slice 'em up, put them in the jar, and swish them up a bit. Ta-da! Instant pseudo-pickles. 

Really, I don't know why more people don't do this. Or maybe they do and I'm just the last one to hear about it.

Anyway, I say pseudo-pickles because the cucumbers don't get fully pickled (fermenting? is that what pickling does? Sorry, I've completely had a brain lapse of my Food Science class right now). I suppose they could if you leave them in the juice long enough, but I typically go through these in a couple days, so they're still basically marinated cucumbers.

Other things you may or may not want to know:

• The big reason why I like this idea is because I really like bread and butter pickles. A harder flavor to do on your own, and kinda expensive to be buying jar after jar. Über cheap alternative.
• As aforementioned, the cucumbers basically just get marinated. It makes me feel like I'm eating a tad healthier snacking on them than on legitimate, vinegar-altered pickles. (Right? Isn't vinegar a main component?) Please note, I did say feel.
• One jar will last me about 2-3 decent-sized cucumbers before the pickle juice gets diluted from the cucumber juices. Not a bad deal, I'd say.

As for my title, I'm talking about the jar of pickles, of course. Reuse the juice, reuse the jar. I don't think I need to start talking about the numerous uses of jars. And also versatility in the sense of the word "pickle." It's a verb, two different nouns ("Have a pickle!" or "I'm in a pickle."), an adjective (well, pickled). See? Versatile.

I love Christmas!

I love the music, I love the decorations, I love that everybody seems to be happier or have a generally better attitude. I love the baking, I love that the whole month just feels magical, and I certainly love Christmas itself, that celebration of the birth of our Lord.

While I was home I was able to enjoy the beginning symptoms, the telltale signs that it's that season: the day after Thanksgiving, I woke up to the sound of The Forgotten Carols blasting from the living room, and the house was filled with the sound and smells of my dad making his Christmas candy (which he's basically famous for throughout our town). I brought some fudge he made back with me and I can say that he's acquired a lot more fans.

But come back I did, and before we returned, my roommates and I were collaborating over text what decorations we could bring to festive up our apartment.

And may I just say, we're awesome?

This thing alone is about as bright as our main lamp.

I brought my miniature Christmas tree and nativity set that I've had forever as well as a couple other nativities my mom lent me. Kelsey's parents brought us a full-size, pre-lit fake Christmas tree, Sara's parents bought some ornaments and Sara made a paper chain garland for the tree as well as a few origami stars and flowers. We made a bow out of some glittery ribbon Taylor had leftover from the Masquerade Ball for our tree topper.

And I made a wreath, like I did in China, but with a few more options. You have no idea how excited I was for this wreath. It's simply a coat-hanger bent into a circle, with strips of plastic bags tied around it. I spray painted it green, and used a red plastic bag for the bow. 

And I'm so happy with it; I've gotten a lot of compliments thus far and I think we're the only apartment in our complex with any sign of festivity visible from the front door.

Doesn't that look inviting?

And just because I most adore the sight of a Christmas tree when all the other lights are off:

Pizza Monkey Bread

One of the first of the aforementioned "oh, that looks good" instances was after seeing this recipe on Confections of a Foodie Bride (again, brought to us by StumbleUpon).

It was easy enough, it definitely looked tasty enough; we were sold. We did a Broulim's run the Saturday before to gather the ingredients and were good to go. Mostly. We also discovered we didn't have a bundt pan....which you kind of need for monkey bread. Therefore, Heidi and I ran over to Viking to see if any of our gentlemen friends happened to have a bundt pan (not completely unheard of; some of them bake). After an initial lack of success, Logan informed us that his girlfriend (who actually lives at our complex) had one, so we went back home, ran upstairs, borrowed said pan, and were back in business.

Why didn't we just ask the other girls in our complex in the first place, you may ask? ............That's a great question. I don't entirely remember. There was a reason, and it seems like it was halfway decent, too. At any rate, it's not important.

Ignore all the random junk behind it and the lack of proper lighting, etc. I stole this picture from Taylor as I had neglected to take one myself. Let's focus on the important thing here: it looks (and was) really tasty. I mean, isn't that a beautiful golden brown?

A few notes:

• As often happens, we wound up not having enough pepperoni for the entire thing, so some bites had pepperoni and others didn't. 
• We used store-bought frozen pizza dough. That's right. 'Cause we're lazy. Still tasted awesome.
• We bought one of those containers of mozzarella balls, which turned out to not be quite enough. So in addition to some having pepperoni and some plain cheese, we also had some that were mozzarella and some that were cheddar/colby jack. 
• We didn't use garlic. Well, not real garlic, anyway. We sprinkled the sides and the pieces with garlic salt. 

So, there you have it. You can fiddle with the recipe, be cheap as can be, and make some adaptations and this can still be wonderful. I suppose that could just be my lack of refined tastebuds talking, but hey, I was happy with it. Give it a go, why don't ya?

Again, the recipe is from Confections of a Foodie Bride. Visit. Love.

I'm going home!

It's true! I finagled (let me tell you- man, did I finagle) a ride home. Of sorts. At any rate, I'll be home by this time tomorrow.

And I'm so excited!!!

This also brings to mind a certain little ditty you may or may not be familiar with:

To market, to market

to buy a fat pig.

Home again, home again,

Jiggity-jig.

To market, to market,

to buy a fat hog.

Home again, home again,

Jiggety-jog.

There. Wasn't that lovely? Anyway, just wanted to share the excitement before I go.

Epic Flail

Pun most definitely intended. (also, picture courtesy of Google images)

So.....yeah. A definite lack of blogging. And I had been making such good progress, too!

But, yet again I have noble intentions. Along with hopefully getting more consistent again about blogging (same old song and dance, I know), I'm also wanting to do some re-vamping: adding details about projects, cooking, my photos, etc. Maybe that'll kinda get things hoppin' and encourage my consistency as well.

Too tired to think of something clever

It's true. I'm posting, then it's off to bed with me. I've got things to do tomorrow- like an ecology test that I'm definitely not prepared for. Oh dear.

But! I'm determined to get this posted; my "at least every other week" update. This is just a quick goal status report, but I'll do something rash and kind of recap that last little while another time.

So. Goals and such. They're going pretty well. I'm happy to say that my roommates and I have been awesome about apartment prayer. Mornings happen when they can, but I think we've only missed one or two nights this entire semester. And I think it's making a difference. I'm not saying things are perfect or that we have no problems, but I think we've been better as a whole and certain things have improved. And we're really enjoying our ward this semester; FHE, visiting teaching, we're all involved in callings and church assignments. It's good.

I actually cooked a moderately decent dinner for myself, so there's a step for that goal. Tilapia and asparagus. First attempt at both, but I think it went pretty well. Still need to actually practice piano, so I'm failing there...

I finished one of my "projects" last week or so: a juice bottle that I decoupaged to make a vase (picture later). It's currently in use and looks great, if I may say so myself.

Thanks to non-freezing weather, we've done a fair amount of getting out of the apartment and doing things. This last week we played soccer one night and had a bonfire (well, kinda. not that big), and sometimes just walked around town.

Jessica and I haven't missed a single week yet for our temple attendance, so I'm definitely happy about that.

All in all, I'd say the accomplishment of my goals is coming along swimmingly.

Ode to My Mammy-faise

Have I mentioned how much I love my mother?

Honestly, I'm so darn lucky. My mom was always around when I was little; she worked while I was at school and was done around the time I got home. I remember her walking me to school when I was in kindergarten, having me turn my little pigeon-toed feet out so I wouldn't trip and turning it into a game. She's made me numerous Halloween costumes and Easter dresses that were wonderful. Even an under-appreciated Easter shirt and short set that I now remember quite fondly.

My mom has been my Girl Scout leader or assistant leader, has gone on numerous trips. She's started pillow fights and been deemed awesome by my friends (I agree). She's chaperoned and taken part in crazy conventions and beaten the whole family in a Bust-A-Move tournament.

My mommy has read numerous books to me, either with me snuggled right beside her, or while I did the dishes and listened. She's taught me how to needlepoint, decoupage, and helped with my piano practice, and has been patient with me when I haven't been patient with myself or have gotten frustrated.

I've had wonderful adventures with my mom, in this country and another and shared inside jokes with her. We reminisce and joke of getting lost, directions, Miffy, and unseen chain draggers. We've shared lunches at Fujiyama and crepes on the square. We've exchanged emails or instant messages when I've been away from home and she sends some wonderful care packages.

My mom has been the troll under the bridge to my Billy Goats Gruff, every time I asked her to, and yet she still took me to the park to play, though she knew that request was inevitable. We hunt for suitable river rocks together and she helped encourage my interest in botany, teaching me to recognize various plants and what the difference between an annual and a perennial is.

My mommy has calmed me down or simply listened to me countless times when all I could do was cry. She tucked me in and sang me a lullaby every night for years. She's never pressured me to do anything or try anything I didn't want to (except maybe food) and only asks that I do my best and take care of myself. She's offered herself as an excuse or a way out in times that I'm afraid to take the responsibility myself.

I've been lucky enough to have my mother to myself in a house full of boys, where we could bond over the lack of a Y chromosome. I'm blessed to have a mother who I know without a doubt loves me. I love spending time with her and I can honestly talk to her about everything in my life.

I love my mommy so so much and I hope that I can be as good a mom as she is. Thank you for everything, Mommy! I love you!

See? I'm trying.

I'm updating within slightly over a week. And I said every other week, didn't I? So I'm doing pretty awesomely thus far. Woo!

So yeah. Happy to report that I'm doing pretty well on most of my goals. Temple attendance is going very well, esp since I actually have a sort of set time for it every week and last week we had ward baptisms, so that was a bonus. Apartment prayer is still goin' strong, so yay us! I'm going to decoupage an old Simply juice bottle soon so we'll have a makeshift vase, so that's one less "project."

We're now going into the second full week of the semester. Only second? Yeesh, it feels like so much longer. Oi. However, I can't really complain 'cause it's not like I have hours and hours of homework. Actually, my classes are great and I really have a very light workload. That's not to say I'm not learning anything or they're easy classes; Ecology and Mammology are primarily lecture and don't really give homework. I'll have some papers to do later in the semester; we actually had to turn in a tentative subject/title for our research paper in Mammology today. Mine was "Pangolin Range, Habitat Loss, and Conservation in Asia." Sounds pretty good, huh? I thought so.

But yes, in Ecology most of the work primarily happens in Lab, and in Mammology lab we have quizzes, so it's mostly studying beforehand. And I don't spend hours studying because this stuff makes sense to me. It's what I know. *shrug*

We have readings in Ecology that we have to come to class and answer questions about. Everyone has an index card and after you answer a question, he'll (the professor) take your index card and you receive credit for the reading. However, he asks one question less than there are people, so someone's up a creek. But we have a grace of one missed reading, so he's not setting us up for complete failure.

Last Friday was our first reading. He had these light-up buttons that we had to buzz in with, basically. You had to be fast to get it; I have to admit, it was remarkably stressful. I'm sitting there on pins and needles to answer a question before there's no more. Happy to report I was successful and was able to relax for the rest of class. I can understand why my professor does it: he probably thinks it's hilarious to watch us panic....I'd probably do it, too.

Last weekend my roommates (except Thea) and I went to Idaho Falls, where we spent the day finding our way around, getting my new SLR, chatting with my aunt and getting some things my parents left for me there back in Jan.....it was fun. I won't lie- it was very painful to spend that much money at once, but oh, my camera is glorious. Soooo glorious.

Wednesday last (see what I did there?) was our first time working in the Photo lab. Some of my classmates and I were a little shocked to discover we're supposed to make all our prints black and white- "This is a black and white class?!"- though I think we're going to do color, too. Regardless, I'm still shooting in color; we're learning some Photoshop to touch up all our shots before we print them and turn them in. I'm pretty happy with my first print. There're some things that should be tweaked, but it is my first. When I had first gone out to do the shooting for my assignment, I discovered upon later review on my shots, that they were all blown out! Much sadness in my soul. BUT! But! I know how to fix that and actually now have a camera that I can do that with! So I went back out, used a much smaller aperture and a much faster shutter and got it almost perfect (I later decided maybe one aperture setting up would've been just right). So. Big deal for me. :)

Doctrine and Covenants is a great class. Class is primarily discussion, with some lecture. On the roll every day, we mark whether or not we came to class on-time and prepared, which entails having done the reading and written a journal about it before class. If we've done everything, we mark a dash and if not, we mark -minus however many points. It's very reasonable. We also will have scripture mastery quizzes; our first one is this Thursday. And since I'm thinking about it, I'm going to really quick type as much of it as I can remember to quiz myself.

Doc&Cov 84:88
"And....there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left. And my Spirit shall be in your heart. And mine angels shall be with you round about to bear you up."

Rats. I cannot think of that first part for the life of me right now. But I think I'm good for the rest of it, proper punctuation aside......so after checking, I've discovered I also need to rearrange that bottom line, but I'd say I'm still doin' pretty good.

So, what fun stuff did I do this weekend? Hm........Um....oh! OH!

Friday night Kirsten and I went to the 1964: Beatles Tribute show on campus. It was so awesome!!! These guys were great! Kirsten squealed every time John (or the guy portraying John) spoke. It was so much fun. I just wish it had lasted longer, but it was so good. Kirsten and I sang along and danced in our seats. So fun!

After that, we headed over to ballroom. I saw our old neighbor/my old ballroom classmate, Kayla, so it was nice to hangout and talk with her. And dance a couple times. >w<

Saturday night was a very good time, indeed. We made a sheet fort in the living room and played Catchphrase in said fort with our friends Eric, Logan, and Sean. It was probably the craziest, most fun, and most infamous game of Catchphrase to ever be played. I'm happy to report that mine, Eric, Thea, and Sean's team won. By a lot. 'Cause we're just awesome like that.

Sunday was good. Great testimony meeting- aside from a rather embarrassing interruption when Thea's phone went off- great Sunday school lesson, great Relief Society lesson. I had a quick nap after church and went and indexed- it occurs to me I've never mentioned that, so allow me to do so:

Last semester, Jessica and I were called as Family History indexers, so every Sunday at 2, we go over to the Family History lab on campus and index names until at least 4. I was able to break 1000 names by the end of the semester! Jess and I agree it's probably one of the best callings ever.

--so back to indexing this Sunday, I am one census sheet away from 2000 names! I'm pretty stoked about that. After indexing I had an introductory interview with our new Relief Society President, then had just enough time to grab my stuff from home before going over to the BYUIC (pronounced like the buick car; BYU-I Center) for a CES Fireside.

After the fireside was food, then we decided to watch Enchanted, though about ten minutes in Sean and Abram came over, so we started it over for them. However, we paused another 15-20 minutes in to go to Stadium Singing. After that, we wound up going over to the guys' apartment for games and waffles. And hey, our neighbors (the awesome, gorgeous, super-fun girls of Apt2) were already there. We laughed a lot and played Signs, which, though normally quiet, was remarkably loud. It was a really fun night and we all had a good time. And we did finish Enchanted after we came home, btw.

As for today, we're off to FHE and sometime tonight I'll call the people who brought me into this world (I like to call them my parents). Who knows after that?


OH! Last, entirely irrelevant note: Jessica, Kirsten, and I also finished reading Nightlight. I say we, 'cause I'd read out loud to them. Such a funny book. A complete parody of Twilight. So, so funny. As in, stomach-hurts-from-laughing-too-much funny.

Anyway, yeah. Off to FHE.

Meh

Yeah, so clearly I haven't touched this for a while. I looked at it, if that makes a difference. And I certainly had noble intentions of updating every Sunday last semester, but clearly those came to naught. At some later time, I'll do a highlight reel of sorts (famous last words).

Right now I'm just kinda bleh. It's late and has been rainy, so I'm sure that helps (though I've always loved rain :/). The last three weeks or so, basically the last month, have just been really hard. Emotionally, mentally, even physically. It's really been taxing on me; I didn't realize how much until my roommate informed me that she thought I'd lost weight (she has me step on her back on a regular basis, so she's got a pretty good idea). I hadn't noticed anything amiss, but upon having access to a scale I found out she was right. Really right. And I was really surprised/startled as that's never happened to me before.

Anyway, things've just been interesting and everything decided to happen at once, making it so much harder to take than if they'd come at me one or two at a time. I needed the week break between semesters dearly to go home and recuperate and be away from and not have to worry about anything for a while. I didn't really do anything, but I was glad to be home with my parents and my cats and I enjoyed being at my home ward on Sunday.

That said, it was also a sort of relief to come back. You know, to get things started, get this new semester going and everything. And to be back with my roommates; I won't deny it, it got rather lonely during the break. I'm blessed to be able to live with my best friends. Especially as of late, they support me and take care of me as best they can. When I got back late Monday night, I came in to discover all of them had waited up to welcome me home and I was so happy to see them all.

We've decided to really try harder this semester to be even better to each other and to really have the Spirit in our apartment. We're attempting to redecorate to make it feel more like a home, and we've been really great so far about having apartment prayer morning and night. I know it's only been three days, but we're off to a great start. And we're trying to have a goal of getting to the temple at least once a week, whether we can all go together or we have to go in two groups on different days or we have to get up early on Saturday. Jessica and I are going tomorrow. I'm really hopeful for this semester.

I've never really been one for personal goals and all that jazz, but I also made a list of things I want to work on. Unsurprisingly, some are more personal so I won't share them, but here's a couple:

Finish at least one of my "projects"
Cook an actual meal at least once a month (sad, but true)
Be happier/friendlier
Blog at least every other week
Get out of the apartment (do things)
Practice piano at least once a month

Now I actually have witnesses for at least some of my goals, so perhaps that'll give me extra motivation. At any rate, I really want to just be/do better. All-around. Just be a better me. Here goes.