fRecipe fRiday! (It’s been a while!)

As you may know, it’s been a loooong time since I’ve written a fRecipe fRiday.  My reason?  Blogging about food while being sick just doesn’t add up for my stomach.  But now I can eat, so I can share my recipes with the world again! 

Most recently, I made

CRESCENT ROLL APPLE DUMPLINGS!!

These were pretty good, especially since I’m a fan of crescent rolls and apples and cinnamon and butter and sugar.

First, after you preheat the oven to 350 degrees, you take your package of crescent rolls, and you stretch and flatten them out. 

The next step is to mix 4 teaspoons of sugar and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon in a little bowl. 

Peel and cut two small Granny Smith (or any other TART apples) into slices.  You may not need to use all of the slices.  Roll the apple slices in the cinnamon/sugar and put 2-3-4 slices on each piece of dough (depending on the size of your slices.)

Fold the dough over the apple slices and pinch the edges together.  You may have to stretch the dough some kooky ways to get this to work.  Set them in a pan (I think mine was a mini-rectangular pan.)  Not to gross you out, but I was just thinking how they look like tiny chickens before you cook them…

Anyway!  Mix a little under 1/2 a cup of water, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, and the rest of your cinnamon/sugar mixture.  Pour this over the dumplings, then put a tiny scoop of butter on top of each dumpling.  Or a regular size scoop.  It really doesn’t matter. 

Finally, bake the dumplings for 25-30 minutes.  They’ll get nice and brown and look like this:

Oh so delicious!

See my new purse?  Caleb got it for me!  It matches anything peacock feathered.  I’ve been spoiled!!

Memories I Thought I Made Up (Titanic Edition)

When I was a kid, Titanic came out.  1998 is when I believe I saw it the first time…so I was at the young, impressionable age of six.

I had already grown up watching Leonardo DiCaprio in Growing Pains, and when he wore those cute little poor boy clothes in Titanic, I fell in like.  

  

Now for the good part.

Many of you may remember the legendary ballad “My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion.  Oh, you don’t?  Go ahead, click play and listen as you read.

You’re welcome.  Anyway, as you may know, Leonardo’s character in Titanic was named Jack.  I liked Jack, so when I sang this song, I would sing it to him.  My brother cranked up his boom box, popped his Celine Dion tape in, and as I laid in bed at night, I sang along, whispering “JACK” after every line.  Just to make sure Jack knew that I was a much better choice of girl than dumb Rose, and I would have totally let him share my floating door in the ocean.  And that I could have rocked out a blue sapphire and diamond necklace with my stick on nails better than Rose ever could have.

No one heard me since I was talking to Jack, or so I thought.

The other day, I told this story to my brother, sister-in-law and boyfriend while we were out at yogurt, thinking everyone would get a giggle out of it.  They did.  The only problem was my brother saying, “I REMEMBER THAT!"  There I was, thinking that my memory was a lonely one, or one that maybe I had made up and thought was real.  Nope, I really did that as a child.

I guess having to share a room with my brother had its consequences.

It’s Hard To Sit Down For Sports

Recently, I’ve realized how bad I am.  I love sports.  I love watching them on TV, in person, and I love playing them (when I’m good at them…)  On the same token, I’ve known for two years now just how loyal I am to my Hogs. 

I’ve been sick for almost a week now.  I absolutely love laying around, doing nothing, and eating only crackers with a side of Gatorade.  Oh wait, no I don’t.  When I’m sick I always have to do things.  I can’t stand being sedentary.  I read, I move around, I clean, I whine about how I don’t feel good because I moved too much, I sit back down, I get restless, repeat.

There was a very important gymnastics meet and pep rally for UofA Friday night.  Loads of recruits were brought in to see what the atmosphere was like.  I always loved watching gymnastics on TV, and my brother was super excited about the recruits, so it was kind of a perfect storm.  Oh, and at gymnastics meets you get to sit down and watch.  For a sick kid, that was a jackpot.  As tired as I was that night, I stayed awake and watched the whole meet.

It was amazing.  I felt like I was at the Olympics.  And guess what…not only did our gymnastics team beat three school records in one night (including biggest crowd attendance-I was part of that!) but it is now the *DRUMROLL PLEASE*

NUMBER ONE TEAM IN THE NATION!!!

The next day was the big basketball game.  In the student section, everyone stands the whole two hours or so of the game.  Me?  I sat down at the farthest edge of the student section by the railing and watched my brother’s and sister-in-law’s drink.  I’ll tell you one secret perk to sitting by the railing…you get to see everyone that passes by.  So when our quarterback and our head of the athletic department and the Cotton Bowl trophy passed by, I knew first.

Incredible side story: When I saw the trophy come by me, I alerted my brother.  While he was acting like he was about to touch it, the man carrying it looked over at us.  Bro said, “Uh can I touch it?” And the man leaned that trophy over the railing so we could wipe our filthy paws all over it.

A perk to being sick and sitting at the games: Having a steadier hand for shooting pictures.  I won’t complain.

Critters

Today I’ve been aching to blog, and since I missed my deadline for fRecipe fRidays, I couldn’t just do one about cooking.  I’d been feeling a bit down today, so I looked through some of my favorite pictures…and today, I am going to tell you about Audubon Camp.

This year at Audubon camp (an ecology camp for 11-12 year olds) I had the opportunity to teach Aquatic Biology with a good friend of mine, Matt.  Aquatic Bio was my favorite class when I went to camp there, so I was pumped.  I have to say, the best part of teaching the class was getting to catch and hold all the slimy critters. 

Here we’ve got a cute newt.  Or salamander (I’m a bit ashamed of myself for not remembering, but it’s got a flat tail so I’m thinking newt.  My dad will shake his head when he reads this.)  And just look at the bucket of creatures below it!  Wait until you see my picture of that…

Yes, a bucket full of amazing critters.  You see the tadpoles, crayfish, dragonfly larvae, and fish in there?  It’s amazing that we caught all of that in one little piece of lake.  (Seriously, maybe in a stretch of 3 yards in 3 feet deep water.  Matt sacrificed himself a bit more than I to obtain these darlings.  No credit to me for this one, my dad picked this soft-shell up with his bare hands.  (Random story: Dad teaches mammalogy at camp, and he shows off a bear arm to his classes by putting it on his arm and asking what it is.  Kids will say, “It’s a bear arm!” And Dad responds, “No it’s not, my arm is covered!  It’s not a bare arm!”  And the kids eventually figure it out.)

Now for some of the most amazing critters yet!

Wait a second, no, that’s not what I meant to put there…although those people are pretty cool.  (Was that corny enough for you?)

I’m willing to bet that most of my readers haven’t looked through a microscope at teeny planktons before.  If you have, you’re either from camp, took a great Biology lab, or are my parents.  But really.  Those are some nifty critters.  When you look at them in a jar of water, they are just tiny green specks floating.  But under a microscope they are completely different.  And if you look at the very bottom plankton, you will see the REAL-LIFE version of Plankton from SpongeBob.  Not joking. 

If this post grosses you out, you should go outside more often.  There are some really amazing things that you are missing.

P.S. I am disappointed in my spell check for knowing that the first “B” in SpongeBob needed to be capitalized, but not knowing that mammalogy is a real word. 

People Get Crazy About Football on Twitter

I love to live tweet during football games that are important to me.  Also, I am an insanely loyal Razorback fan.  So, when the BCS National Championship came on, I had to choose between the lesser of the two evils: Alabama or Louisiana State, both of which beat us.  Naturally, I think, I picked Alabama, who we don’t have an intense rivalry with. 

Most of this is unimportant in the story I have to tell.

My “most famous” tweet of the night was:

“I will say this…Arkansas was able to score touchdowns on Bama and LSU.  Not to brag, but #WPS.” (This was before Alabama’s touchdown.)

Eventually, an LSU fan saw my tweet and got incensed.

“@Tamtastic27 is this a joke?”

To which I replied:

“I don’t see how it’d be a joke since it’s true!”

To which HE replied:

“Does 41-17 ring a bell?”

I don’t remember saying we beat LSU…did I say that?  Also, don’t get me started on the fact that during this game the Razorbacks were still recovering from the death of a teammate.  

So I finished out that conversation with a:

“Oh by no means am I saying that Ark is a better team! Just that we scored touchdowns. You can't deny that! You prove my point.”

It makes me nervous when people tweet like that to me.  I feel like they will come find me in the night and steal my glasses or something.

But then I got another fun tweet!

“but where is ARKANSAS”

Me: “In the Cotton Bowl, where we belonged, because we aren't ranked 1 or 2. Didn't say we were the best. Said we scored some TDs”

See, I tried to be nice!  And these next words are verbatim; I did not edit them:

“but that mean nothing they lost right EXCATLY #RTR don’t hate”  (dear whoever you are, thank you for throwing that apostrophe in there)

Me: “Haha no hating at all! Just glad that we could score a few touchdowns on the best teams in the nation! #RollTide”

Maybe I just shouldn’t have been proud of my dear Razorbacks, or should have just kept it off the social media sites where who knows who might’ve seen it.  But getting 50 retweets and feeling just downright happy that LSU got blown out in the National Championship made me feel a lot better.

Dear, sweet girls. This is what you look like.

I notice that nowadays, girls like to take pictures of themselves.  And that is not a problem.  I don’t, because I have the dilemma of never looking the way I tried to look in the pictures.  The more I deal with younger girls and become their Facebook friend, the more opportunity I have to view the current self-portrait trends.  Now…I make fun---I mean, comment---on how silly it can sometimes be.

What you look like:    

What you think you look like: 

What you really look like: 

(They call it duck face for a reason)

What you look like:  

What you think you look like: 

What you really look like: 

(Being in a professional photo shoot makes a difference)

What you look like:    

What you think you look like: 

What you really look like: 

(Again, professional photo shoots make the difference)

What you look like:   

What you think you look like: 

What you really look like: 

(I mean, really.  Dead eyes, scary smile.  Are you going to eat me?)

What you look like:    

What you think you look like: 

What you really look like: 

(A lesser form of the fish face, mouth gaping and eyes startled.)

So maybe this seems harsh.  Honestly, I think girls need to realize that looking dumb does not equal looking pretty.  At young ages, maybe girls think they have to take those pictures to get guys’ attention.  Someday when their kids look through their pictures, the children will say, “Mom, why do you look so scary?” or “Mom, why are you making a silly face in every photo?”  Then the mothers will say, “Well, back then, everyone took pictures that way.”  What does that say about your generation?  Girls have got to learn…

The Best of Friends

There are friends that bring out the best in you, and there are friends that bring out the worst in you.

Fortunately, I had the opportunity to hang out with a group of girls who bring out the best in me and in each other.  All of us counseled and/or went to church camp together. 

After talking about school, boys, and general life topics, our conversation drifted to Christianity.  We discussed changes in our lives, aha moments, and Crazy Love (which I apparently need to read.)

I’m glad to have friends that are so focused on God that when we talk, that’s where the conversation ends up.  It doesn’t feel artificial or forced, which is something I come across too often.  This night was just another good reminder that there are people who feel the same way, who believe the same things, who go through the same struggles, and who are willing to listen to and support you.

It was nice.

Plus, this is the last time I’ll see Autumn before she sets off to Greece! 

 

Ding Dong New Goals

I'm really boring when it comes to holidays. I have no outstanding traditions other than normally jumping in the lake on New Year's Day. This year at midnight my family watched The Soup. Woohoo.

The one thing I do accomplish every year is writing a list of goals, although I never know if I make it through most of them since I lose my list by the end of the year. This time, though, I'm putting that list in a place where it can never be lost...the internet! Right? Here goes (complete with commentary!!):

• Grow closer to God/Do an individual Bible study at least three times a week-self explanatory


• Exercise at least two times a week-Because having the lung capacity of an average 6-year old just doesn't cut it on campus


• Brush my teeth even when I don't want to-Being an adult is hard, and I forget a lot


• Practice self-control with my eating-I've been getting sick too much lately from greasy foods


• Get 50 reward points for going to sporting events


• Do a photoshoot with my own model...and also start a photography website-so many people do nowadays


• Work on my cooking skills-I bake constantly. Let's switch it up


• Get a job-I'd like extra money to put toward a new camera


• Get an autographed picture of an actor-I'm thinking either Ryan Reynolds or Ryan Gosling


• Begin a facial cleansing regimen-I like hygiene goals.


• Take one day each month to destress-Everyone really should.


• Organize my room-That might help me destress


• Write a cd's worth of songs with my guitar-I love it


• Buy a new book that I've never read before-I have trust issues

Break pictures:

Some of my friends after the Jump-In!

A random dog came to visit me!

Family ladies' picture at the Christmas lights.

Another friend who I visited with, who I haven't seen in a year...since I last cut his hair...

My beautiful new guitar, courtesy of a certain Caleb.