Boring Life Tales

'Our Own' Roasted Vegetable Pizza

2012-01-31T10:07:00.000-06:00

The next adventure in cooking is trying to make a Pizza similar to "Amy's Roasted Vegetable" pizza.

There are really 3 parts to this creation:
1. Crust
2. Sauce
3. Veggie Toppings

CRUST
I've tried using Trader Joe's pre-made crust before, it works great!
This time, since there was so much recent success with sour dough, we decided to half the recipe, and use that as our crust:

INGREDIENTS

3 3/8 ounces bread flour, plus extra for shaping
3 3/8 ounces whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons vital wheat gluten
1/8 teaspoon active-dry yeast
1 teaspoons kosher salt
6-8 ounces filtered water

DIRECTIONS

Whisk together the flour, yeast and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add the water and stir until combined.(dough should be really soupy and not hold shape. ) Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow to sit at room temperature for 19 hours.

After 19 hours, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Punch down the dough and turn it over onto itself a couple of times.(use plenty of flour as it is sticky) Cover with a tea towel and allow to rest 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, shape the dough into a ball and roll out into your PIZZA FORM!.
Pre-bake at 450 for 5 minutes, before topping!

SAUCE
This is a carmelized onion sauce.

1 Large Onion
2-5 cloves of garlic
2 T Balsamic Vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

So Take one onion(we used a Vidalia Onion), slice it up. Put it in frying pan on low/medium heat with some olive oil. Stir. Let sit. Stir, let sit. The process to carmelize takes 25(+) minutes! Really depends on the water content of your onion. After you've deemed them carmelized, transfer to a food processor. Puree to be sauce like. At the same time add Balsamic Vinegar, and salt and pepper. Once pureed to sauce form, you're done!

Veggie Toppings

We used:
1 Zucchini
1 red pepper
1 orange pepper
8oz Shitake mushrooms

Wash, slice/dice to sizes you like. Put under broiler until you get nice brown crispy roasted edges.

Assembly
Put all 3 layers together. We sprinkle LIGHTLY with cheese. Although not needed and also not in Amy's version.

Quilt #3 - for a Big Sister!

2012-01-17T08:00:00.000-06:00

After I finished my second quilt, I had a book of lots of ideas of patterns, but I had no idea who my next recipient would be. Finally Jon had a good idea, I could make one for the big sister of the recipient of Quilt #2. We wouldn't want her to be jealous that he got a quilt and she didn't.

So, with no pattern in mind, Jon and I went to JoAnn Fabric to look for fun "Big Sister" fabric. Little did I know what fabric shopping would be like with Jon. We picked out 2 fabrics. One with cupcakes and one with monkeys. (Penguins were scary to me. Jon thought it was scary to have cupcakes near lady bugs...BUGS ON FOOD IS SCARY!)

I had no idea what to do with this pink cupcake material with green monkeys. Finally I figured it out, I needed a third color. Then I made a pattern similar to a quilt we(my friend Kat, Andie and I) made for our friend Bea's wedding. The difference being that her quilt was on point.(turned 45 degrees)

The first layout on the floor!

Bordered and Quilted

Quilt Specs:

Size: 42"x66"
Started: December 7/8, 2011

Finished the top: December 11, 2011

Quilted: December 11, 2011

Finished: December 13, 2012

Gifted: January 7, 2012

To: Makayla Ankeny

Made by: Jill Ryan, Rita Ryan and material picked out by Jon.

Quality Control: Jon

Variation on Sourdough bread

2012-01-14T22:45:00.000-06:00

Half-way through the whole wheat loaf!

So the first batch of Sourdough was such a success, we decided to increase the level of difficulty by using whole wheat flour! We did a half/half ratio of bread flour and whole wheat flour. In order to compensate, we also added 4 teaspoons of "Vital Wheat Gluten" in order to help it raise. I thought the last bread was too salty, so we used less salt this time. While mixing it, we found it was a bit dry, so we also added more water.

This bread was a smashing success!
Here's a picture of it half gone:

Below is the Modified recipe! (Check out the original here)

Knead Not Sourdough--with whole wheat flour

---THIS RECIPE if served in 12 equal parts = 4 POINTS PLUS PER SERVING!
ORIGINAL Recipe courtesy Alton Brown, 2008

Prep Time: 10 min
Inactive Prep Time: 20 h
Cook Time: 45 min

Serves: 12 servings (but what is a serving anyway?)

INGREDIENTS

9 ounces bread flour, plus extra for shaping
8 1/2 ounces whole wheat flour
4 teaspoons vital wheat gluten
1/4 teaspoon active-dry yeast
2 teaspoons kosher salt
12-15 ounces filtered water
2 tablespoons cornmeal

DIRECTIONS

Whisk together the flour, yeast and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add the water and stir until combined.(dough should be really soupy and not hold shape. We started with 12 ounces of water, and added 1/3cup more. The dough should not be firm, but not by runny either) Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow to sit at room temperature for 19 hours.

After 19 hours, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Punch down the dough and turn it over onto itself a couple of times.(use plenty of flour as it is sticky) Cover with a tea towel and allow to rest 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, shape the dough into a ball. Coat hands with flour, if needed, to prevent sticking. Sprinkle the tea towel with half of the cornmeal and lay the dough on top of it, with the seam side down. Sprinkle the top of the dough with the other half of the cornmeal and cover with the towel. Allow to rise for another 2 to 3 hours, or until the dough has doubled in size.

Oven baking: While the dough is rising the second time, preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Place a 4 to 5-quart Dutch oven in the oven while it preheats. Once the dough is ready, carefully transfer it to the pre-heated Dutch oven. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and bake until the bread reaches an internal temperature of 210 to 212 degrees F, another 15 minutes. Transfer the bread to a cooling rack and allow to cool at least 15 minutes before serving.

----------------------------------------------------------

Outdoor coals: Heat charcoal in a chimney starter until ash covers all of the coals. Place 20 to 24 coals on a Dutch oven table. Place a cooling rack (or other wire rack that is at least 2-inches high) directly over the coals. Set a 5-quart Dutch oven on top of this rack and allow to preheat during the last 30 minutes of the second rise. Carefully transfer the dough to the Dutch oven and cover with the lid. Place 20 coals on top. Bake until the bread reaches an internal temperature of 210 to 212 degrees F, about 45 minutes. Transfer the bread to a cooling rack and allow to cool at least 15 minutes before serving.

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Quilt #2 -- First quilt for a baby boy!

2012-01-13T12:00:00.000-06:00

So, after finishing one quilt, I wanted to see if I could do another. I had the perfect recipient in mind. His arrival date was off in the future yet. I kept the pattern the same as the first. Just new colors(blue and green instead of pink and pink). The blue actually had planes, trains, and automobiles on it. And I became OCD and made them always run the same direction on the whole quilt. So that was the added challenge on this one.

One of the initial layouts. Just squares and a possible border

On the quilting frame!

On the Quality Control Tester

Finished...all 4 sides...

The finished product with awesome flannel back.

Quilt Specs:

Size: 42"x54"
Started: Sunday, November 6, 2011

Quilted: November 26, 2011

Finished: December 7, 2011

Gifted: January 7, 2012

To: Michael Jeffery Ankeny

Made by: Jill Ryan...(With help quilting it from Rita Ryan)

Quality Control tested: Jon

Doh! It's Sourdough Bread.

2012-01-12T20:05:00.001-06:00

NEXT on the "To Try" list became Sour Dough Bread! We found a 'simple' recipe..."simple" being it didn't involve a sour dough starter. But it did take a full day before we got to try it.

The recipe followed is listed below. Again, Alton Brown to the rescue to explain why we did what we did.

The sour dough was supremely edible. Ummm yes, I want more. NOW.

Here are some pictures of our process:

Jon started the dough Tuesday night, this is after ~8 hours.
Wednesday morning....

After ~20 hours. After I turned it before forming a loaf.

Loaf formed. Now letting it rise on tea towel for a few hours.

After I formed the loaf, I went out to dinner with the girls. I came home to this:

The finished product!!!!

With the first slice devoured. That's the inside. NOM NOM NOM.

Knead Not Sourdough

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/knead-not-sourdough-recipe/index.html

Recipe courtesy Alton Brown, 2008

Prep Time: 10 min
Inactive Prep Time: 20 h
Cook Time: 45 min

Serves: 10 - 12 servings (but what is a serving anyway?)

Ingredients

17 1/2 ounces bread flour, plus extra for shaping
1/4 teaspoon active-dry yeast
2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
12 ounces filtered water
2 tablespoons cornmeal

Directions

Whisk together the flour, yeast and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add the water and stir until combined. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow to sit at room temperature for 19 hours.

After 19 hours, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Punch down the dough and turn it over onto itself a couple of times. Cover with a tea towel and allow to rest 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, shape the dough into a ball. Coat hands with flour, if needed, to prevent sticking. Sprinkle the tea towel with half of the cornmeal and lay the dough on top of it, with the seam side down. Sprinkle the top of the dough with the other half of the cornmeal and cover with the towel. Allow to rise for another 2 to 3 hours, or until the dough has doubled in size.

Oven baking: While the dough is rising the second time, preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Place a 4 to 5-quart Dutch oven in the oven while it preheats. Once the dough is ready, carefully transfer it to the pre-heated Dutch oven. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and bake until the bread reaches an internal temperature of 210 to 212 degrees F, another 15 minutes. Transfer the bread to a cooling rack and allow to cool at least 15 minutes before serving.

Outdoor coals: Heat charcoal in a chimney starter until ash covers all of the coals. Place 20 to 24 coals on a Dutch oven table. Place a cooling rack (or other wire rack that is at least 2-inches high) directly over the coals. Set a 5-quart Dutch oven on top of this rack and allow to preheat during the last 30 minutes of the second rise. Carefully transfer the dough to the Dutch oven and cover with the lid. Place 20 coals on top. Bake until the bread reaches an internal temperature of 210 to 212 degrees F, about 45 minutes. Transfer the bread to a cooling rack and allow to cool at least 15 minutes before serving.

Kiss My Bundt - Oatmeal Spice Cake

2012-01-09T21:51:00.003-06:00

The "Free" book

I've got a new Bundt Cake Recipe Book. I got it as a result of spending $30 at the Nordic Ware store. Now I only have a 6 cup Bundt Pan (for now), so I looked for a recipe that would be easy to 'half' as most of them are for the 10-12 cup pans.

Oatmeal Spice Cake
from the Bundt Classics book by Nordic Ware(see picture)
This dense cake is filled with the goodness of oatmeal and wonderful warm spices

1 1/2 cups boiling water
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Heat oven to 325 F degrees. Grease and flour a 10 or 12 cup Bundt Pan.

Pour Boiling water over oats; let stand until water is absorbed. In a large mixing bowl, mix sugar, brown sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla until very light and fluffy; mix well. Add oat mixture; mix well. Add all remaining ingredients; mix well. Spoon into prepared pan.

Bake at 325 F for 40-50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. remove from pan; cool complete on rack. If desired, drizzle with Spice or Vanilla Glaze.

I used Vanilla Glaze:

Vanilla Glaze
2 cups sifted Powered Sugar
1 tablespoon butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla, almond or rum extract
2-3 tablespoons milk

In Medium bowl, mix sugar and butter. Add vanilla. Gradually add milk until desired consistency; mix until smooth. For thinner consistency, add additional milk.

Here's the cake!

The finished product, glazed

Quilt #4 -- A birthday gift!

2012-01-04T08:00:00.000-06:00

OK, some of you are wondering what happened to the blog about Quilt #2 & 3. They happen to be gifts that have yet to be gifted. So, you just have to wait for them! I'm excited to post them too, but I don't want the recipients to see.

Quilt #4 was a gift for Janey Czeck's 69th Birthday! Her favorite color is PURPLE! She is also a huge lover of music. Thus this quilt was made with 2 purple pieces and the white squares on the diagonal are made up of music notes. I would have used white puppy dog fabric if I could have found it.

Size: 42"x78"
Started: Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Finished the top: December 31, 2011

Quilted: December 31, 2011

Finished: January 1, 2012

Gifted: January 2, 2012

To: Janey Czeck

Made by: Jill Ryan, Rita Ryan and advice from Mike Ryan.

Inside complete, just needs border

I have no pictures while quilting this one, oddly enough.

The next pictures are the complete pictures, with the QA tester:

Here you can see the back!

Here you can see the full length of the quilt

Upon giving this to Janey, she was thrilled. It was so much fun to see excitement over what I made. She used it the rest of the night as we watched the Timberwolves beat the Spurs!

Still to come: A picture of the pattern, in case you want to make it too! This is very easy, I can type up instructions if anyone is interested!

Baking Bagels -- as YOU like them

2012-01-03T08:00:00.000-06:00

This story starts out before New Year's Eve. Invited to a party, we were looking for the perfect appetizer to bring. I didn't want to bring any left overs home(namely if we made sweets). Jon wanted to make something savory. We remembered the random purchase of Auntie Annie's Soft Pretzels. We made them, and they were to die for! NO LEFT OVERS!

Now comes a very quiet and relaxing New Year's Day and we were looking for what made Pretzel's brown and what made them differ from Bagels. So after watching a bit of Alton Brown's Pretzel(in which he discussed bagels) episode online...We decided to try them ourselves.

The recipe used comes from "The Joy of Cooking". We made it as it states. Used only 3 cups of bread flour, as my house is super dry! BUT the BEST part of homemade bagels, is you get to pick your own topping, so if you want Garlic/Rosemary...but Bruegger's only has Garlic or Rosemary/Asiago, you can make what you want!


Rolling the dough out. You can see some already formed ones on the pan

Just before the oven

The finished product

Me and the finished product

DEFINITELY WILL MAKE AGAIN!!!! But it does take time (as do all breads....)
Receipe calls for 8 equal parts, next time, we're going to try "bagel thins", so 16 equal parts, same size, just flatter/squished?!

Recipe:

Bagels

from the Joy of Cooking

This recipe makes 8 servings of 7 Points Plus Values each

Combine in a large bowl or the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer and let stand until the yeast dissolves, about 5 minutes:

1 cup plus 2 Tbsp warm (105° to 115° F) water

1 package (2 1/4 tsp) active dry yeast

2 1/2 teaspoons sugar--(we used Honey)

Stir in:

1 Tbsp melted vegetable shortening

1 1/2 tsp sugar--(we used Molasses)

1 3/4 tsp salt

1 cup bread flour

Gradually stir in:

3 to 3 1/2 cups bread flour*

Knead for about 10 minutes by hand or with the dough hook on low to medium speed until the dough is smooth and elastic. Let rest, covered, 15 to 20 minutes.

Punch down the dough and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a rope tapering the ends. Wet the ends to help seal and form into rings, stretching the top end over and around the bottom end and pinching them together underneath. Or alternately, roll each piece of dough into a ball. Stick your thumb through the ball to make a hole. Stretch the hole out about 2 inches. Let rise, covered, on a floured board about 15 minutes, until puffy.

Preheat the oven to 425°F.

Bring to a boil in a large pot:

4 quarts water

1 Tbsp sugar--(we used Molasses)

1/2 tsp salt

Drop the rings 4 at a time into the boiling water. As the bagels surface, turn them over and cook about 45 seconds longer. Skim out and place on an ungreased baking sheet coated with:

Cornmeal

Press the tops of the bagels in a combination of

Caraway seeds, Kosher salt, Sesame seeds, Poppy seeds, Minced granulated garlic, Cracked black pepper

(or whatever you like)

Bake 20 to 25 minutes, turning after 15 minutes, until golden brown and crisp.
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Quilt #1 - for Ella Greene

2012-01-02T10:12:00.005-06:00

I've decided I want to make a scrap book of pictures/fabric etc of quilts I make.

Until I have that in my hands, Here is a brief explanation of the quilt:

MADE: October, 28 2011.
Finished: (Before November 19)
Given: November 19th
TO: Trina Greene
FOR: Baby Ella Greene
(Picture with Ella comes in MARCH).
Created by: Jill Ryan, Rita Ryan, Lisa DeGross
All of the squares lined up on the floor, only a few seams left

Added 2 borders
The complete top!

The whole she-bang! All done. First one!

The back

The front :)

In the nursery!

Mushrooming

2011-05-29T14:32:00.003-05:00

Apparently after a 1 year hiatus, I decided today that I wanted to write an entry again. Who's reading this, probably no one....That's OK!

Yesterday was a really fun Saturday of Memorial Day. We went to Jon's parents' house to watch his brother and sister-in-law, drill holes into a stump and plug it with mushroom spores...Let me explain.

Last summer, it was decided that the old(only about 35 years) old Maple tree in the back yard had to come down. It had a split trunk and parts of the tree were leaning over the house, a big storm could bring it down. Also the root system was starting to move some of the basement foundation walls. The tree came down last fall.

From Gardening

Now there is the stump. It's very large. It would be extremely expensive to get ground out. So, Stephen found a possible solution, inject the trunk with mushroom spores. Essentially, Mushrooms love dead trees to gown on. They will help decompose the tree as they grow.

Three types of spores were purchased, Maitaki, Lion's Head and Shitaki mushrooms. The first step is to drill the hole.

Step 2 is Plugging the hole. Trick is finding the actual hole amidst the sawdust.

Step 3 is melting wax to pour over them.

Step 4 is pouring the wax over them to seal in moisture.

Step 5: Check back between August and November if any spores have sprouted :)

I don't know, strange

2010-02-10T23:04:00.003-06:00

I'm sick of snow, so I was looking at fun pictures... that make me smile

Then with some effects....

Not The Devil

2010-02-07T16:32:00.003-06:00

My Car is Awesome!

Check out that Palindrome.

And that Number. To have 5 digits all the same is way cooler than watching it roll over to 100000

Yeah, that's my story.

gone to the cats....A complete blog

2010-01-24T00:00:00.006-06:00

Our morning started with parking in a ramp, where the lot attendant was SLEEPING!!! Elissa had to honk her horn in order to wake the guy up!

We arrived at the River Center/Roy Wilkings Auditorium and were greeted by many signs showing us the way!

We went in. Paid our $4 entrance, which could have been $3 if we had a Winter Carnival button.
We were also all stamped so re-entry was TOTALLY Allowed!!

One of the first things I saw while walking around was this woman come from almost no where and take her cat out and start furiously brushing it. I just LOVE her hair piece.

Then I felt the need to take random pictures of cats...
OHHH, and this was during one of the judging sessions. CHECK OUT THAT HAIRLESS CAT!!! SUPER UGLY! Almost looks like a dog. But yeah.
Then We walked around looking at the cats in their cages. And we happened to talk to this lady that had kittens for sale. These kittens were quite playful. They are only $350 a piece if you want one.

Check out this Cat Shrine. One of those pictures on top though, is a Cat that Becca wants.

Next we walked to a souvenir stand in the back corner. They had Cat purses and Jewelery. It took a lot for me to NOT buy these cat earrings, but I totally made it out of there without purchasing.

So on we moved, and check out this 'cage'/'home' for this cat. I don't like it. It's like a glass china hutch, how much air movement is there for this cat?

Gotta take a picture of the playboy cat! Actually it's quite a pretty tiger looking cat!

Just some cat paraphernalia hanging out in front of a cage

Check out the lace on that cage!

Becca looking for and finding a cat she likes a lot

OF COURSE Korat is the good luck cat of thailand!

This is the cape and hat that will be worn by the winning 'house cat'. Part of the judging involves the winter carnival royalty coming in and putting the cape and hat on the cat. Judging it's demeanor while wearing it too.

NOW to the cat toy store! We were drawn by a giant toy flying in a circle.

How could you pass it up? Elissa bought one.

and I contemplated buying some of these: Yes, New Luggage, with cats on it.

Here is Elissa's new toy. Now she needs a trip to Axman for the motor to make it go in circles!

Our final cat that we looked at, the HUGE Lion like cat. It is bigger than some dogs!!! and yeah, it totally looks like a relative to a jungle cat!

Then we went to Cafe Louisiana for brunch and that was the end of our day.

A night in pictures

2010-01-12T22:35:00.006-06:00

Andie and her 'surprise' You know she doesn't like pictures...
Next , the table was set with bread and HOMEMADE BUTTER. It was sooo salty and soooo amazing...I kept eating bread for the butter....

NEXT came the drinks. Jill got a "Pool boy martini" and Andie's blackberry drink
Amy's drink came in a mason jar glass...Kat's drink is in the distance.

Next came presents as we waited for our appetizer

We were so hungry, we devoured the baked brie and apples, before I got a picture!
Now for the Main courses:
Jill's
Amy's
Becca's
Kat's (the Tuesday special):

Andie's:
Jaime's spot:
Then we settled on blueberry bread pudding with icecream:
And of course the group shot!!! at the end of the night. KAT was a bit closer this time.

Over and Out. That was our night in pictures

Official Again!

2010-01-12T22:03:00.004-06:00

So after one hectic morning. Debating here yes or no. Then calling registrars across the state. I finally got into GEOMETRY :) Now I can finally, go to plays and games as a student...LEGALLY!

And I get to buy loose leaf paper and binders and mechanical pencils.

I get to have homework time and coffee/hot chocolate breaks.

And all the fun stuff from being a student!

AND it all comes with this awesome card shown above!

A Christmas round up

2009-12-26T09:55:00.004-06:00

So in the last week...it's been very wintery!!

I've celebrated in many ways!!
I went sledding with Madison, Jeff, Jackie, Greg and Ian last Sunday. We ate cupcakes and hotchocolate after wards:

Then came 3 long days of work. They were like torture!
But in the end came fun Christmas Celebrations:
Christmas Flowers and Piano playing
Family Christmas Time! We just shifted hours due to the snow storm. Phil had to plow snow, so we opened presents Christmas Eve at like midnight!
There is the loot :) Good times had by all. We played our random game. This year Dad made us all pick a number from 1-7. I picked 6, Phil picked 4 and Jim picked 3. in the end dad said, that number was to guess how many Fruit snack packages were eaten during present opening. Phil won. Cause I ate a fruit snack, Jim ate 2 and Phil ate one. It was funny. Dad was like, I KNEW Jimmy would eat at least one. It couldn't be prevented!

Then Friday came and we went to grandma Ryans.
Madison was the star of the show, clearly. She even stripped right in the middle of present opening to try on new clothes!!!

Afterwards I came home and cleaned the deck off to prevent iciness. There was drifts taller than my knees and it was super wet and heavy. Ugh. I'm sick of snow!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's my Christmas Round up.

Tomorrow = Beauty and the Beast!
Tuesday = BWW with Jackie and Fam.
Thursday = NYE, no idea what I'm doing yet.

I'll update more frequently again.

Last update of the hideous neighbors

2009-12-26T09:45:00.003-06:00

Here is the house next door...during the snowstorm.

yeah, this was fun to watch develop all december long!

What came in the mail? and more.

2009-12-08T21:41:00.004-06:00

SOMETHING FROM :
YES a "DO NOT BEND" Package from Co-SPort.

We've got transportation maps, leisure activities to do in Vancouver.
Confirmation of our events and our hotel.

AND LUGGAGE TAGS WITH OLYMPIC LOGOS!!

PS I'm watching some new pixar movie. "Prep & Landing" It's good.

Over and out :)

It's snowing a lot. BINGO Was cancelled. I forgot to go to target for glee when i came home early. i'll get it tomorrow

IF YOU WANT A CHRISTMAS CARD, email (I hope you know my email address) your address and I'll hook you up.

Big plans for the rest of the week(WED-Fri):
CLEAN.
Laundry, kitchen and stairs(with vaccuming)
catch up on tivo.
write christmas cards

Getting a hair dye on Saturday!! woot.

A week of pictures(or just 2 days)

2009-12-05T13:19:00.005-06:00

I can't get this to stop underlining!!!!

This is amy's tree :) With lights on in the room.

You'll see we're classic year.

and her manger scene :)

NOW for the reindeer run photos.
It's a fun run. A lot of people dressed up. So I bought a Santa Hat. BUT when we got out of the car, Bill didn't have a hat. So I wore my matching hat and sacrificed the fun to Bill. He looks better in it than I did!!

(PS I really liked the stucco on that house behind them)

Tecnavia Picture Pre-Race

Tecnavia picture AFTER the race.

It was a really good race I ran it in 40:50, in INCLEMENT Weather. Bill is a journalist, he's gonna write an article making it sound like an incredible feat.

Bill and Jim ran with me the whole time. That's it.

Those are the pictures from the week!

Sunday after Thanksgiving, christmas pukage

2009-11-29T20:27:00.008-06:00

This is my aunt and uncle's house!

A section of lights out:
The mysterious ghost bush???

So, we're to the Sunday after Thanksgiving. And there have been a lot of decorations put up!!!

I drove to my brothers house today on the way to take kat to the airport. I saw something amazing...

Yes that is death of the blow up christmas decorations. Why would you want littering your yard??? oh people...

So this inspired me to do my best at hanging my own christmas lights. I wanted to do my best to make my own non-half ass lights. I marked the lights at the halfway points etc so they were evenly spread out. I think I did alright. Pretty close to even. I guess the 3rd swag is slightly short. BUT the lights are well dispersed.

It's hard to take pictures of lights. flash, no flash etc etc etc.

Supper - YES I cooked again!!! tasty. I put the pineapple in the picture, just for looks.

Pot Pie for supper. IT was sooo tasty. I have 2 more meals + in the fridge. It's good stuff.

More Random Pictures

2009-11-28T12:30:00.003-06:00

More pictures of our neighbors...

So I ran by the New twins stadium during the turkey trot.

Black(and green and blue and red....etc) Friday!

2009-11-27T23:28:00.000-06:00

Wow, it's Friday. and I have all sorts of info. None of it is black. BUT, it's good.

1. I went to the gym at 6:30 for a large group class. It was a ton of fun with more people :) Ok. The excitement of this ... RJ was there at 7:10. So i yelled at him from my treadmill, asking why he was there so early. He's like, i've been up since 3AM. I said "Why?". He said, "Cause I have a girlfriend!" I didn't get it at first, but yeah, he was shopping. Then after class I spoke with him, and yeah, he name dropped. Her name is Christi! (no idea how to spell that)

2. At home I got a text msg at 8:15! It as from Becky. Asking me the name of the irish pub that her kids went to before a swarm game. So i told her via text, "McGoverns". She promptly called to make sure she knew where it was. It was great to get to talk to her :)

3. ON my way to work, I saw the flashers near this sign that says "Snow being made if flashers are on"....YES Buck hill was making snow today.

4. At the end of the day, Becky called back. She thanked me for the directions and said they had a great game!

5. I went to dinner with my parents to the Farmington Steak House. NUMMY!

6. Christmas lights have sprouted EVERYWHERE here. You know that house that hadthe blow up crap at halloween? Look what they've done for Christmas.

I have still photos, and then I realized they didn't do this place justice. I took a video especially for all of you readers.

I don't do babies

2009-11-22T22:41:00.000-06:00

So, Saturday...well, you skyped with me so you know pretty much.

We went to Rochester.

Here are the adorable pictures.

We played some Trivial Pursuit 90's edition. Then we ate really good TACO SOUP(Taco Chili kinda) A lot beans you woudn't have liked it, but it was good :)

Then we played Connect 4, battleship and cribbage. We had some apples with carmel and butterfingers. SOme of us had a whiskey night cap.

Here is the photo of the night though :) blackmail?

Sunday, I had church with the archbishop. It was nice.

Then I went out with Elissa. We drove around st. paul. I went to Trader Joe's for the first time Ever. Then I went to Half Price Books. I GOT BOOKS! I showed elissa, clearance. It was soo much fun. Yes of course, you can consider this stalking. BOTH houses.

We ate at st. Claire Broiler...This is where she had her first/only date with the CHAMP!

Nothing exciting happened.

Now I have to go to bed.

G'night
Jill

Thursday, September 17

2009-09-17T20:41:00.000-05:00

Wow, I started to fail at Practice Blogging already.

Day 3 of Practice bloggin after a 2 day break.

Tuesday night we[]Jaime and I] took our Mom's to the Twins game. Scotty Baker pitched. Super slow. BUT they won! It was fun. We had Subway and treats(popcorn,M&Ms,starburst,gummy bears,pretzels,honey roasted peanuts).

Wednesday night we made individual fruit pizza. Jaime brought hers home for dinner with Troy, Jill brought hers for a treat at Bar Bingo. Jill won 2 times at Bar Bingo, Grandma won once and so did Mom. $47 for 5 of us. Not too bad.

Each night were super late/long nights. Thus no time to blog.

Thursday brought around my Metabolic and Cardio point testing. More Time with Todd. I passed my test in the morning. I also rocked the afternoon test and found out that Todd has a girlfriend and a Cat. Afterwards I went shopping to cub, just cause I had to and then Jaime and I ate dinner at Fongs! We also went to Viking Liquor for me to get Beer for Dozinky. IT was LADIES night in Prior Lake. Seems pretty cool. Free Stuff, Ladies Drinking.

Tomorrow is Friday. FINALLY. Dozinky Days! No Blogging til Sometime Saturday. We're going bowling and a family dinner on Sunday. THEN TEAM Weight Loss begins on Monday.

Jill out for a bit. catch you again later.