Adventures of a Crockpot

I love cooking, I really do, but my new crock pot (which I love and adore) has been giving me grief lately.  I can't say that I know exactly why.  But I can take a good guess... I'm just not very intelligent, that's all!

Yesterday I decided to make this new dish that my mom copied down for me while she was in California.  It's called Thai Chicken.  Reading through the recipe I thought that it sounded so so good and super easy! How much easier could it get than sticking something in a crock pot?

The recipe called for 4 WHOLE chicken breasts (that's 8 individual breasts, for those of you who, like me, didn't know that... and that's a stinking lot) so I halved the recipe.  2 whole breasts, or 4 pieces, half a can of coconut milk, 1 whole onion chopped up tiny, turmeric and red pepper flakes, set on low for 5 hours, cranked up to high when the chicken gets tender, add some pineapple pieces, some cornstarch and water, let it sit on high for 15 minutes, serve it over brown rice... mmmmm....

Easy right?

Well, yeah, except for the fact that my crock pot has a lethal lock'n'go feature that cut my pointer finger when I tried to unlock it!

I thought it would be better to lock the crock pot because the lid stays on much tighter and I figured it would cook a little faster... but when I unlocked it to take the lid off, one of the little doohickeys that keeps the lid on snapped back and hit me in the finger.  I didn't even notice it did me any damage until i noticed blood streaming down my right hand.

"What the...?" *blast water at the sink* *run finger under water* "Why does this not hurt??.... ok, seriously... why does this NOT hurt?!"

Should I be grateful I'm not feeling any pain in my fingers? Is that just because I'm cutting my fingers so much lately that I'm just immune to the pain now? I mean, seriously, it was a big old gash in my finger right on my knuckle, and it should have hurt really badly,  I can't understand it, isn't there a name for that? Some kind of disease? Oh well, next time I feel pain in my fingers from a cut, we'll have a party.

Hats and Flowers

Here's a peek at a hat that I made for one of my aunt's friends.  Apple green with a bright blue flower.

I don't have a head model to put it on yet.

Here are some pictures of flowers that I've made, I'll put up more later!

That's all I'm putting up for now, team!!

Wow, I've Never Turned 20 Before...

How many times can a girl turn 20 in a year? Why don't you just ask Drew Howells.

Ever been to Texas Roadhouse? Yeah, me neither, until last night.  I went out to dinner with my little sister, my brother and his friend.  It's this restaurant that's really country and rustic, pretty cool in it's own sorta way.  It reminds me of Frontier Pies that used to be in Provo... but I digress.  The most important thing is that my brothers good friend, Drew Howells, just happened to tell the waiter after we were all done eating that it was my birthday.  Wow.  Really? I had no idea.  I had said something earlier in the evening in regards to it being my birthday.  Anyways, I didn't think the waiter actually believed him because after Drew told him he looked at me and said, "Ohh, lucky youu..."

.... OK.  Thanks? I guess. So I figured he knew Drew was just bluffing.  But then... out comes the whole parade of waiters and waitresses who pull out a saddle, yes that's right, a saddle.  "What do I get to sit on that thing??" "Why yes, genius, you do.  Saddle up."  So I saddled up, and they proceeded to yell that it was my birthday, my 20th birthday, in fact.  Can I get a Yeehaw? YEEHAW!  A good sport, they called me, what a good sport.

Is it ok to say that I felt like I was 9 again?

And so, as I dismounted from that wooden horse and got back into my seatbench, I turned and said, "Well that was the best birthday I've had all year... Wow, I've never turned 20 before..."

And it was indeed the best birthday I've had all year.  I really have never turned 20 before.

Oh, and as it turned out, our waiter was from Mission Viejo, the neighboring city to Drew's growing up.  Small world, right?

Just a side note, it is snowing as I write this.  Hooray!

Note to self, never wear a belt buckle that is bigger than... I don't know.  Just don't.

My very first blog, aww...

Well, team, this is a pretty exciting thing. Blogging, whoever would have thought? Now it's just time to get my mom on the bandwagon and get her blogging! She'd be a great blogger (did you read that mom?)

I'd like to ask you all something:
What in the world am I supposed to do for a research paper in History??? My wonderful, fabulous professor, Dr. Stecker, told us we had to write a research paper, about 16 pages long, has to be on something before 1500 AD, and needs a title page, a bibliography, a thesis page, and then the body of the paper. The "outline" is due in about a week, and I have already emailed the History tutor to no avail. I'm basically at my wits end. What in the world??? I picked a topic - Ancient Egyptian Medicine - because... well basically I have just always found it fascinating. But now I'm wondering how in the world I'm even going to write a thesis on that topic! Honestly, what in the world am I supposed to try and prove anything on that topic? Advice... please? Anyone that knows anything about writing research papers like this, I would seriously appreciate ANY help that I can get! Thanks :)


Nah. Not stressing! In the words of Radcliffe Emerson, "Peabody thrives on situations like these." Now, I'd like to think of myself as Amelia Peabody Emerson. She's intelligent, she's witty, she's logical, but also intuitive, she's practical, she can fight off an attacker with a parasol. I'd like to think of myself as Amelia Peabody Emerson. I really would.

So here I sit, attacking my History study guides, not knowing how on earth I'm going to get through all the things I have to get done within the next few days. I love it.

Ok, so maybe I'm being a bit cynical, but you know what, it helps, alright? And I reall do need a break from this study guide. Confucius and Daoism and Young Kong Qui and Filial Piety.... it's all far too exciting to take in at once. I'd better get back to it though, I think it misses me.