Monday, March 29, 2010

Pizza Dip

Saturday, I went to a Trivia Night with my dad's side of the family and my dad said to bring along snacks to share. I've been toying with the idea of trying this recipe I found in a December 2009 issue of Family Circle, so I decided it was the perfect time to try it.
It has pepperoni, olives, tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, cream cheese and mayonnaise. Basically, all I had to do was mix it up and throw it in the oven. Here's what it looked like before I baked it:
And here is the picture of it on the table ready to be eaten. Sorry about the poor quality, but my aunt was itching to try it out, as she had smelled it the whole 20 minute drive to the trivia place.
Everyone said it was really good and I had to post the recipe on Facebook. It makes me want to make more recipes.
Anyways, here it is for you all to try:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup light mayo
1 cup moz cheese
8 oz sliced pepperoni, chopped
10 large black olives, chopped
2 ripe plum tomatoes, chopped
4 crusty Italian loaves cut into 1/2-inch pieces
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Mix all ingredients except bread in a medium bowl. Spoon into a 6-cup baking dish.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until lightly brown and bubbly.
Serve with bread for dipping.
Now, I didn't use light mayo, put in more than 1 cup of moz cheese, only used about 4 oz of pepperoni and got sick of chopping so I ripped them up, I used a 2.25 oz can of sliced olives, and I picked up 2 small tomatoes at the grocery store. I also think I could have baked it a little longer, I just mis judged the time it would take to bake and what time we had to be out the door.
If you try it, let me know what you think.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Who Wants Free Paper?

I am giving away this giant pile of paper. Go here and here to read the details.

Welcome Spring!

It's the first day of spring and this is what I saw when I woke up this morning:
SNOW!!! About a couple inches covered everything, the sidewalks were icy on my way to work. Thankfully, by the time I got off work, most of it had melted away. Now there's just a tiny bit to remind us all, you never know what Iowa weather will bring


Thursday, March 18, 2010

Long busy week

This week has been crazy busy so far, and it's looking to be busy for the rest of it and into Sunday.
It's spring break for the college kids and below. I honestly thought everyone got a spring break week, but as I was hanging out with Kevin yesterday, he said they got a couple days around Easter, but never a whole week. People have been saying at the library how it's so nice and quiet with the college kids gone. Anyways, Monday, I worked at the library like usual, got done around 1PM, found out I had two movies waiting for me to check out: the 2nd Transformers and Star Trek, so I checked those out and popped the Transformers movie in when I got home, had to stop it to go get my hair cut. I got 8 inches cut off. I'll see about getting a picture taken so you all can see before and after shots. Started off in the movie where I left off when I got back home, had to go to work, and watched the rest of the movie when I got home again. I really don't like watching movies in segments, so I'm trying to find some time to watch it in full, but I know it's going to have to be soon, as I'm sure someone else is waiting down the list for it and I won't be able to renew it.
Tuesday: went to work at the library, when I got done, I found a text from Karli, asking if I wanted to go to lunch. We went to Pizza Ranch and then to Kmart and Earl May afterwards. Got back home about 3 and worked on my one world one heart art piece until I had to go to work, head over here to see it. Went to work and came home.
Wednesday: Kevin showed up about 3AM, I woke up kinda early and did my laundry, also scanned some ATCs (artist trading cards) for my collageatcs Yahoo group. Kevin got up about 1pm, and we went to a restaurant with some friends for lunch. Afterwards we went to Lowe's to get a present for his brother, who's birthday was yesterday. Then we went to the mall to get my ring fixed, the sapphire was a little loose. Finally we had just enough time to go get a DQ blizzard and drop me off at work. Work was pretty busy, then I went home to bed.
Today, I found out I won Susan's giveaway on her blog. I have to open the shop at 9:30 this morning and afterwards get to go on a picnic lunch and play with my friend, Loretta's puppies. Then we're going to go to PetSmart, after that I'm not really sure.
Tomorrow, I have to open the store again, and then sometime in the afternoon, my dad needs some help with computer stuff. There's also supposed to be a storm bringing rain and snow Friday night into Saturday morning. I read in my daily weather email that it's looking like 3 to 5 inches of snow.
Saturday, I have to open the store again and then I have the rest of the day free. Somewhere between Fri and Sat I need to work on some Trivial Pursuit ATCs for another Yahoo! group I'm in. I was thinking they were due in the middle of April, but was kindly reminded the other day, that they're due on the 1st, OOPS! I also need to finish up my one world one heart art piece so I can get it in the mail on Monday, I believe it's almost done, just needs a little more texture.
Sunday, I have to work at Hilton, the NCAA women's tournament is going on Sat through Monday, so I'm working some practice security from 8 to 1, and then a game from 4:30 to 6:30 that night.

I really hope next week slows down a bit.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Hawaii 1-7-10

Great day today. Woke up early to go snorkeling, which was great. Got to see sea turtles and lots of fish.

Came back to ship, had lunch and a nap. Got dressed to go to manor house for a tour and see a lu'au. Got to the manor house, got picture taken, took train ride around compound. Came back had a great supper of chicken, salad, purple sweet potatoes, pork, beef, mahi mahi, and lilikoi (passion fruit) chiffon pie. Went shopping in stores. Bought flower earring for $3.70 (I had originally seen earrings like these when we went to Pearl Harbor, but had told myself I didn't need another pair of earrings, and later, decided I did want some like that and had looked at pretty much every shop we went for some I liked), and a frog for $5.21.

Watched the Lu'au. Very cool day.

The lu'au was so cool, it was a bunch of people doing a dance about a guy leaving his girl to go to a new land and hardships that happened inbetween. Ross said not to take any pictures as we weren't supposed to use our flash and they wouldn't come out, but all my pictures turned out rather well, some of them look kinda like they're glowing in the dark. I'm very glad I didn't listen to him.

Friday, March 12, 2010

UGH!!!

I love it how my parents think I have no life. If I'm not working (and they always want to know my schedule) than I'm obviously not doing anything else. I must just be sitting here and doing nothing. My dad got a new computer recently (it was supposed to be a birthday present, his birthday was in Feb, and it finally came on Wed), anyways, Kevin came back and we spent Wed afternoon and Thurs together, but my dad calls on Thurs in the afternoon, and I happened to be in Des Moines and not hear my phone ring. Then he calls last night after I get home from work, and my phone was in the other room and I still didn't hear it ring (I wasn't ignoring him, I really didn't hear it ring), and then called about 10 minutes ago, and was annoyed when I told him I had something else going on this morning. You'd think they would want me to have a life. But, I've noticed my parents tend to have that effect on me, they love saying things that would get me upset. On Wed, when the computer was supposed to be delivered, they wanted to make sure I was downstairs (I live on the 3rd floor of their house), waiting for it, because it would have to be signed for. Granted I was downstairs doing laundry IN THE MORNING, any time after that, they would have been SOL, but since I wasn't working, I obviously had nothing better to do with my time.
Today, I do have an art project I am way overdue in making (it's from the OWOH giveaway on my other blog, that was almost a month ago, and my life got in the way, I've finally started it, go over to that blog to see how far I haven't gotten, it's at the bottom of the post), and I need to do something at the mall, plus I need to go grocery shopping. My parents are only happy that I work part-time, when I can help them with stuff, they'd be so screwed if I worked full-time (which I'd love to do if I knew what I wanted to do).
OK, now that I've ranted and gotten that out of my system, I have stuff to do.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Hawaii 1-6-10

Too much moving around today. When we can feel the boat moving, I feel like I'm drunk. It's weird when the floor moves.

Got up pretty early, had breakfast and went to get in line to get on the boats that would take us to shore. We got in line about 8:50 and finally got ashore about 9:50. It was an experience I'd like to pass on in the futres. Found out later that because the swells were so bad, they stopped letting people off at 10:00. After getting to shore, we went to the seahorse farm tour and found out the glass bottom boat had been cancelled. The sea horse farm was pretty cool. We got to see little baby seahorses, seadragons and even got to hold seahorses.

The best part was seeing the frog fish.

Went back to the dock and decided to eat fish for lunch and go to the local farmer's market. Had shrimp, crab stuffed shrimp and coconut shrimp. Wandered through a very hot farmer's market. Stopped at the Whaler's General Store, found Kevin a Ford truck with a Hawaii surfboard. Also bought a seahorse keychain and poster at the seahorse farm and collected coral at the beach.

Got back on the boat about 3:00, relaxed for the rest of the day.

Sunday, March 07, 2010

Hawaii 1-5-10

Nice day today. Got up pretty early to go on Volcano and Rainbow Falls. Saw trees planted by famous people and big Japanese garden. Went to Rainbow Falls, didn't see any rainbows by tgot some nice photos.

Went to a botanical gardens, not very neat, but got some great pictures.

Went to see volcano. I didn't find it very exciting. Bought a postcard and postcard book fo $5.50. Walked through lava tube, that was the coolest. Went to Mauna Loa macadamia nut factory. Bought milk chocolate Toffee macadamias for myself for $3.95. Bought Macadamia nut white chocolate flavored chip cookies and dry roasted macadamia nuts for Kevin for $4.17. Had vanilla macadamia nut ice cream, not that exciting. Got back on bus. Got to wear one of my new dreses and new shrug today, I thought I looked pretty good thought they made me look bigger (that could have partly been because I had a bikini underneath and the ties on the bottom made the dress fan out a little). We went tot see the lava flow, also not that exciting.

Hawaii 1-4-10

Nice day today, Woke up late at 7 this morning. Mom and Dad were already out. Went to the Aloha for breakfast, had tomato with cheese, cottage cheese, pastries, waffle and milk. Went back to room to found out Atlantis submarine excursion was cancelled (we were supposed to go down in this submarine and look at stuff on the ocean floor and underwater) due to wind. We decided to go on Lahaina On your Own tour instead. Got on bus at 9:30, reached Lahaina about 10:20 (I saw a whale jump out of the water and flip over on the bus ride there, it was pretty cool). Was greeted at Hilo Hattie's store and received shell lei. Bought very cute dress on sale for $9.99 instead of $34.99 and beautiful postcard of Olowalu for $.25, total was $10.67. Walked to Hard Rock Cafe and bought Hawaii pin for $5.21. Wandered on to another shop where Sharon bought me a nice crocheted shrug and some more cute postcards (I have found on my vacations, some of the cheapest and best souveneirs are postcards). Went to oldest banyon tree and decided to split up for lunch. We saw this cool shipwreck on our way to the banyon tree.
Mom and I went to Pacific'O where we had fish . Went to Whaler's General Store and bought underwater camera, water, and dolphin pin for Karli. Wandered past beach and saw crabs. Went to a couple (3) local galleries. Bought 3 postcards of banyon tree for $1.88. Went to get gelato, got a bunch of tastes before finally deciding on mango and passion fruit lolikoi. Went back to ship and found these towel creatures on our beds.
Dad and Ross, who don't like just wandering around, didn't enjoy the day as much as Mom and I did, I think it was a nice substitution for our submarine dive. It was better than sitting on the ship and doing nothing all day.

Hawaii 1-3-10

Well, I have no pictures from the 3rd of January, most likely because it wasn't that great of a day, so I'll post January 4th right after so you can enjoy a picture.
Not very exciting today. We didn't have anything until 3:45PM today. So we got up, ate breakfast, went to sun on the deck, planned to go to a movie at noon, but at 12:30, the movie still hadn't started, so we left to have lunch. After lunch, we went back to sunning on the deck. At about 3:30, we left the boat to go get on a bus for our sunset cruise and whale watch.. Twenty minutes later, we arrived at the boat dock and boarded. Unfortunately, it was very rough and windy and everyone except Ross got sick. I was only nauseated. So, none of us ate the included dinner. I did see some whales, but mostly I sat with my eyes closed at the back of the boat. After arriving back at the cruise ship, Don, Ross and I had supper. Then we watched TV before heading to bed.

Tuesday, March 02, 2010

I love my house

I was reading this blog today, and I left a somewhat long comment on this post saying how she will definitely get through restoring and fixing her house.
I kind of know. My parents bought our house in 1987 when I was 3 years old, and it was in need of restoring. A picture on the wall of their dining room shows it shortly after the purchase. It is a 3-story Victorian built sometime in the 1890's, when my parents purchased it, it had a regular front porch covered in vines and was white, and very noticeable that it needed some love. It was rented out by the room back then, I remember moving some furniture in through a door in the corner of the house that is not there anymore, I remember when we took out a wall and found our oval window in a closet (of the room my brother wanted because of the oval window), I remember when we took down another wall and found stairs leading up to the 2nd floor (from there they did continue up to the 3rd floor). What I don't remember is the state of the inside of the house and the horrible tenants my parents had to deal with until their leases were up, or the countless hours we all spent restoring the house. I have seen a picture of my mother and brother working and me holding a box of graham crackers.
Now, I believe our house is as done as it's going to be, it's got a wrap-around porch like it used to, it's got original paint colors, we have beautiful wood floors, all of them varnished, we have a gorgeous fireplace surrounded by tile and a beautiful wooden mantle, we have built-in shelves, we have a marble sink on the second floor with a claw-foot bathtub in the same bathroom.
As I was typing my comment to Paula, I thought I should go around and take pictures of my house, so everyone could enjoy it, I'll work on that this week. I'm pretty sure you'll like, I do (but I'm bias).

Monday, March 01, 2010

It's coming!

Spring that is. Yesterday, I heard birds singing, and as I walked home from work (after the sun had been shining for 2 days), I actually saw grass poking out. YAY!!!!

My dad said the weather people said we had gotten 70+ inches of snow this winter, and the snow from our first big snowstorm in Dec, when we got over a foot, is still hanging out. I am so ready to get rid of it all. BUT, it needs to melt slowly or we are going to have some major flooding this summer, and considering Iowa had a bit of flooding a few years ago, no one wants more, some cities haven't even fully recovered from that flood.

I'm pretty sure everyone's ready for more sunshine and warmer weather, which I've heard we're getting next week.



Anyways, I was thinking about my birthday the other day (because my friend Karli's is next Sunday and she was planning a get-together). I was thinking it'd be fun to do something extra special for my birthday this year. Of course, it's not like it's a big birthday, I'm turning 27, but still. I haven't really done anything big in the past few years. A couple years ago, Kevin, Karli and I went out to the ledges for a nice afternoon in the water and some food. I don't think I did that much last year, Kevin did come over and give me this nice computer. We were going to go to the Good Guys Car show that weekend (my birthday is July 2nd, and they always come to Des Moines the weekend around the 4th), but he had the whole weekend off, so I said we should go to his parents house, cause he doesn't get to see his family that much when he's working.

Anyways, anyone got any suggestions for something fun I should do? I don't know how many of you know much about attractions in Iowa, so generalizations will be fine. I do have some time to think about it.