Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Things I Could Live Without, but Thankfully, I Don't Have To!

Finally!  I will begin posting about, well, things that I could live without, but thankfully, I don't have to!

Less is more for me, especially in my kitchen.  I like having tools that can do many different things, that have several functions.  My husband and I saw a device, at a store the other day, that is used for shelling and deveining shrimp.  Yup, that's it.  Things like that don't wind up in my kitchen (c'mon people--isn't that what hands are for?!) 

For years I have been rinsing my vegetables and fruits in a colander.  See, I could use the same colander for draining pastas.  Making salads, in a hurry, were hard to do; the lettuce just wasn't draining all the way, so in order to really make a good salad I was either starting it a few hours beforehand so that the lettuce could drain enough or do lots of blotting with paper towels right before preparing the salad.

Costco had the Kitchenaid salad spinner a year or two ago, for super cheap, so I bought one.  Salad spinners have been around for years, but again, I thought of them as things that just take up wasted space.

I'm glad I "took a chance."  Ooo--so risky, I know--ha, ha!  Anyway, I LOVE the spinner!!!  I can now make salads in a hurry!  Hooray! 





The one I have (see above) is not the best kind out there, but for now, it's doing its job and I am happily making salads in very little prep time--YES!!!!

Monday, May 7, 2012

A first and a last... (I hope)...

I love spring (though not as much as summer).

I love gardening.

I love yard work.

I do not love the dead possum I found in my backyard.

I did not love having to scoop it up with a shovel and put it in black garbage bags.

I sort of love that I found it before my kindergartner, who plays outside almost every day.

I love the thought that I maybe I won't have to do that ever again.

~ ~ eek ~ ~

(No, I didn't take pictures--do you really want to see a dead possum?!!?!?!!)

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Rite of passage....

Now that she is of age, I took my oldest to Salt Lake City, Utah to attend General Young Women's Meeting--held annually every March.  Young Women's is the program for girls ages 12-18 of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  The members of the General Young Women's presidency all speak, as well as a member of the First Presidency (the prophet or one of his counselors).

The meeting is broadcast all over the world so we could have watched it at our local stake center, but my hubby and I wanted to start another tradition, so we decided we'd take each child, when they were twelve, to attend the YW (Young Women's) meeting or the Priesthood Session of General Conference (held bi-annually).

ANYWAYS....  it was so neat to be able to make a quick weekend trip--just us two!  We were able to walk all over Temple Square and see a lot.  She is only about 4 inches shorter than me now, so she was able to keep up with my crazy-fast walking pace.  Walking double-time meant that we were able to visit several places and go on a few tours.  I love being able to zip in and out of crowds!




We used to live in Provo, UT back when my hubby and I were students at BYU.  I've only been back to UT twice since graduation.  Only one of those times did we visit Temple Square but that was just to snap a few pictures in the North Temple Visitor's Center.

The last time I really toured anything here was back when she was 14 months old (when hubby and I were still students).  Which means, I didn't see anything because I was keeping track of her.

 At the Conference Center and restless, restless, restless!



11 years later, she is relishing every tour and listening to every word and asking intelligent and deep questions.  She is a life-long learner for sure.  We had several moments to ponder and feel the Spirit.  So precious.













We even had time to squeeze in a quick run through the brand new City Creek outdoor mall (SWARMS of people--whew!)





And see my brother's recent theatre performance,





have brunch with my siblings, who live in Utah (no picture) and their families,



and catch "The Hunger Games" with Effie (my sis).





Looking forward to returning when child #2 hits the mark.