A Word to the Wise

Whatever you do- DO NOT go see the movie Couples Retreat.

It is NOT funny. (I might have laughed 3 times. maybe.)

It is VERY inappropriate. And dumb.

The only good thing about it was I didn't have to pay since I went as a mystery shopper.
More about that later.

Coincidence?

It was an interesting week this past week. Monday morning my phone rings at 7:30. It was the substitute system calling with a job. It was for a kindergarten class at the school one of my nieces goes to... and she just happens to be in kindergarten. So I call my sister to see if it was for her teacher. It is. Crazy. I showered, got ready and drove there in time for 8:10. Yikes. I walk into the classroom and discover the teacher's aid is a girl from my ward. Crazy. It turned out that the teacher has a flu and as a precaution she is required to stay home for a week. So I spent a week in kindergarten and LOVED it. They sure are cute and fun.

What are the chances that I got that phone call Monday morning- to be my niece's teacher and with the girl from my ward?? Coincidence? or destiny? ha ha.



Last weekend I was reminded of another crazy happening. 3 years ago my friend really wanted to go camping in Delaware for her birthday. So 4 girls headed out for the adventure Friday night. Saturday we hung out around Cape May before heading back to Virginia. It was the Relief Society broadcast that night so we found a stake center that was on our way home in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. We got there right when it was starting and found seats on the front row. As soon as it ended, my friend and I went to the washroom. While I was washing my hands I hear "Shelley?" I turn around and there was a lady from my home stake. She was visiting her parents in New Jersey. CRAZY. What are the chances that we would stop at that stake center? And both be in the bathroom at the same time?


It really is a small world after all.

What's a post without a picture. So here are the 3 girls flying a kite on the beach at Cape May.

Movies

Let's talk movies.
Or shall I say- get comfortable. Because I am going to talk about movies. And then you can have your say when I am finished. ha.

Have you seen (or read) The Boy in the Striped Pajamas? If not go get it. Today. I haven't read the book but I am going to. (as soon as I am finished my current one).
The movie wasn't very advertised. Why is that? Some movies have the snot advertised out of them. And others- you never hear of. I understand budgets and such. But why. I don't think I even heard about this movie until I saw it in RedBox. But seeing it this weekend changed me.
It is sad. And inspiring. And thought provoking. And sad.
Here is the trailer if you would like a little taste of the sadness-



Certainly a different perspective of the Holocaust. The book is for teens and the movie is clean- other than the fact that it is about the Holocaust.

Okay. now to my second thought about movies. Many moons ago they had Cheap Tuesdays. You could go to any theater on Tuesday and enjoy a movie for a "cheaper" price. Then for some reason they had to double movie prices. And eliminate Cheap Tuesdays. I don't get it.

Well the theater by my house stayed strong. They resisted the temptation to rip off their customers... at least on Tuesdays. And boy did they benefit. I think the whole city would come out. You couldn't find a place to park. You had to show up at least 30 minutes early to get a somewhat decent seat.

Until yesterday.

My friend and I went to see a movie. Because it was Cheap Tuesday. There were signs everywhere with the title "Advisory". There were LOTS of words on it. So I read the first paragraph. Something about some company (I will not mention) is sponsoring Tuesdays. You can buy a movie ticket, a medium popcorn and a medium drink for $11.45. That is a savings of 50%. Their words- not mine.

While I was standing in line, I read the other paragraph. Which explained that Cheap Tuesdays were gone and T****S Tuesday's are in. Starting today. I was mad. I only go to movies on Tuesdays. Because I am cheap. I bring my own snacks to movies. See. Cheap.

So the lovely guy at the ticket counter said it would be $11.90 for a ticket. Or I could get popcorn and pop for $11.45. So I took the deal. Who wouldn't.

Which got me thinking. Everywhere you look nowadays the focus is eating healthy and being active. So then this company is willing to put it's name on a weekly "event" that encourages you to do nothing but sit for at least 2 hours. And consume a large amount of popcorn and pop. I don't get it. And I don't like it.

So I probably won't go see a movie again unless it is at the cheap theater. Or I have a coupon.

I am done. (in more ways than one).

STAY AWAY!

These are evil. And when I say evil, I mean totally tasty. So tasty and evil that once you start, you can't stop. mmmmmm.

A friend told me about them. I saw them. Bought them. And love them. I 've suffered through baked chips before and they aren't so tasty. But Old Dutch got it right. Lots of flavor. Lack of grease.

And guess what? You can eat 27 chips to equal a serving. Hello.

Sorry my American friends... I think these are only available in Canada. But maybe the USofA will get something right and start importing these. ha.

The fruits (and vegetables) of our labors.

My parents have a pretty amazing garden. And they were kind enough to plant potatos, peas, carrots and beans even though they would be out of the country to partake of the bountiful harvest.
Or help with the weeding or harvesting... hmmm.
how convenient. too convenient.


I spent an hour in the hot sun, battling bugs and thorns and weeds to get these beauties-

Pretty sure it is all going to be worth it when I have a yummy
baked potato and green beans for dinner.
And some raspberries and ice cream for dessert.

Thanks Mom and Dad! I love you!

Super Delicious Yummy Ham

I got this recipe from Rose- a lady on my mission. So I call it Rose's Ham. But you can call it whatever you want. It is super delicious and yummy. So feel free to call it that.

I tried to take pictures throughout but of course didn't get pictures at the beginning or the end...

First step is to bake ham frozen, with skin on at a low heat (about 150 to 200 degrees) "all day". My ham wasn't frozen so I was a little worried about cooking it all day. Plus my oven would only go as low as 170 degrees. So I put it in the oven before leaving for church and it was "done" when I got home- 3 hours later.

Take out of oven- remove skin and fat.

Now comes the delicious part.

Mix together:
2 cups brown sugar
1 Tablespoon dry mustard
3 or 4 shakes of soy sauce
1/2 cup corn syrup
1/4 cup or less ketchup

(my ham was pretty small so I halved the glaze recipe)

It will be pretty thick- paste the glaze onto the ham. Cover the ham as best you can and just pour in the rest of the glaze.

Return to the oven- but this time at 400 degrees. Bake for 15 minutes- basting it with the glaze a few times.
I tried to baste it about every 5 minutes. The glaze becomes very liquidy and easy to spoon over the ham.


I made this to take to my sisters for dinner. So I just put it in a container, poured over the glaze- it travelled perfectly.

Just before eating we sliced it, poured some glaze over the slices and dug in. Pretty sure my brother-in-law ate half of it.


My sister also made a plain ham (that was HUGE) so there were lots leftover. I took a few pieces, put them in my container with some glaze and enjoyed it the next day.


Try it. You will love it.

Dorm Food.

Living in a dorm for 3 weeks is an interesting experience. Especially when you only have a mini fridge and microwave (and have to share a bathroom and showers with 9 other ladies). My friend/roomie Rachel and I decided to do a lot of experimenting with her sandwich maker. or Snack Master as she likes to call it.

Here is what we made-

Pizza Sandwiches. Pretty tasty. Put sauce, cheese and desired toppings (we enjoyed ham and pineapple) on a piece of bread. Top with another piece of bread... and enjoy.


Have you seen that infomercial for the GT Express 101? She makes something called Stuffed Soup so we decided to give it a try too. You mix stuffing, chicken and cream of chicken soup. It was pretty messy as you can see... But it was tasty.


We were pretty good at making breakfast... We made eggs which were probably my favorite. I don't know that I will make eggs in a frying pan ever again.


This is when we made eggs the first time. The next few times we added cheese and ham. Mmmmm.

We also made pancakes. Rachel loves sausages so we added them to her side.

Here is the final product... So yummy. Not sure if I will ever make pancakes in a frying pan ever again either.

Here is Rachel enjoying the goods.

We made cupcakes. I saw this mix a couple months ago and knew it would be perfect for our dorm living. And it was. While they don't look like cupcakes they sure tasted like them. Especially with yummy cream cheese frosting.

My battery died so I didn't have a chance to take pictures of everything we made. Other breakfast foods included muffins. And other desserts like brownies and cookies.

We made breakfast for our class one morning. It was so fun feeding 10 people a meal of muffins, pancakes, sausages, and eggs all made in a sandwich maker.

Now I need to go purchase one for myself.

Remember me?

Holy Schmolies it has been a long time since I lost blogged.

It has been a CRAZY month.

-I finished my 5 week teaching assignment and found out that a GYM teacher was getting the position. I don't want to talk about it.

-My parents left on their mission. And should now be in the Philippines although the last time I heard from them they were in the Taipei airport. Really hope they aren't wandering aimlessly.

-Celebrated Canada Day with some of the family. Yummy breakfast. Delicious BBQ. Too bad I was just recovering from the 24 hour flu so I didn't get to enjoy as much as I would have liked to.

-Started 2 online classes. Statistics and Research Methods. There are about as fun as they sound. Luckily there are only 2 weeks left of them.

-Unluckily they happen the same time as my 3 on campus classes. Yup. I am living it up in the dorms again. I am enjoying the delightfully fresh produce available in Washington. I am not, however, enjoying the fierce wind that comes with being in a small town in the middle of nowhere. Wind is my least favorite element. I would take snow, rain and of course sun over wind any day.

-What am I talking about? I have been enjoying the produce of Washington before I even left Alberta. I seriously think I have personally consumed at least 6 pounds of cherries in the last 2 weeks. Mmmmm.

-I had the opportunity and blessing of staying with some Virginia friends who are now living it up in Spokane. I was hoping to get pictures with all of the friends I was reuniting with this summer but forgot to take a picture. But I did get a picture of the cute little welcome gift Megan left on my bed. So fun. (and my battery just died as I was loading the pictures on to my computer so it looks like I won't be getting any other photos either since I forgot my charger at home).

-Amidst all the studying and paper writing I have had a few opportunities for fun. Like shopping at Target and Grocery Outlet (I seriously LOVE that store), going to the Seattle Temple (which p.s. is the MOST confusing temple I have EVER been to. And no workers to direct you), eating at Sonic and Chipotle. Mmmm. We were told about this amazing thrift store on Mercer Island in the Seattle area. Apparently the island is quite hoitey toitey and everything they donate is too. It was pretty impressive. But I was surprised how many clothes were stained/dirty. Apparently their maids didn't wash the clothes before donating them. And apparently no one on the island is larger than size 12.

-And my friend Anna (who I knew from home but married a guy from around here) had me and my friend/roomie Rachel over for dinner last Sunday. It was so nice to get out of the dorms, have real (and mighty delicious) food, play fun games and do lots of catching up.

-Today starts the last week of my on campus classes. I am more than overjoyed. We have a new professor each week and our professor for this last week is goooood looking. Pretty sure our class of 18 ladies isn't going to have any problems staying awake.