This is a brag post about Nate. He was sweet the other day and got me roses--red and yellow ones to represent our friendship and romance. He wanted to get some white ones to represent eternity....but they were dead. They gave him the wrong impression, so he didn't buy them. He brought the red and yellow roses home, but I couldn't find a vase anywhere and had to put the red ones in an old Welch's Sparkling Grape Juice bottle and and the yellow ones in an old mason jar. I felt bad; the roses deserved better. I told Nate that the next time he bought me flowers he would need to buy a vase to put them in. Well he delivered! (No he did not really call 1-800-flowers.) He brought me some beautiful exotic white flowers in a vase. He found the flowers he liked and then picked out the vase. He had some surprisingly good taste! (Plus the sales clerk told him the vase was on sale :) He brought them in while everyone was over for playgroup. They all got to see what a great husband I have. ;) Thanks Nate!
Pictured above is our grilled fish from the contest. It looks like Nate burnt the apples to a crisp, but he only burnt the top layer. So, if you didn't like the burnt parts you could just peel them off. I liked how the box said something to the effect of: If the edges of the board catch fire, spray them with water. It didn't say anything about the whole board being engulfed in flames. Which is pretty much happened. We even soaked the board in water before grilling for a whole 2+ hours instead of the recommended one. But the fish was delicious. It had a sort of smoky sweet flavor. I would recommend it, except for the fact it was soaked in beer before it was put in the box and shipped to the store. But I'm glad Nate didn't realize this before we bought it, or we wouldn't have purchased it. It was definitely worth eating at least once. ;)
I can't take any credit for the delicious meal pictured above. They are individual enchilada bakes prepared by Cheryl and Shella. They took left over BBQ pork, wrapped them in flour tortillas, poured red and green enchilada sauce on top, and sprinkled cheese and onions. Then they microwaved them. On the side are lettuce strips with cilantro. The enchiladas where topped with sour cream and cilantro after they were cooked. Talk about delicious convenience!! And aren't they darling? |
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| Make a Smilebox scrapbook |
Here it is:
"There is something refreshing about being surrounded by normal-looking people in the grocery store, when one has just read an overly sentimental book about beautiful people. It's nice to know that there are still other normal-looking people, quite a few actually, who dwell upon this planet, and lead normal, fulfilling lives."
Yes, I made it up. Feel free to quote it. (I actually have a goal: To make up a very deep, and quotable quote. We'll see how long it takes.) I speak from experience, one I had this afternoon at Walmart. I think I've read too many books. There need to be more books about people who look normal. Just because you write a book, it doesn't mean that you have to make the characters all look gorgeous or exotic. I mean it's not a requirement. So after reading a book series recently, my trip to Walmart was nice. I kept thinking to myself, "Wow, you look normal. Go you!!!" I'm all about empowering people. So go out there people and wear your normal-looking pride on your sleeve!
End of My Story
And when I get to the End of My Story
I will see that the Price of my Glory was
All the times that I spent all alone
And all the times that I carried the stone
I will see that the Price of my Glory was
All the times that I thought were so hard
Meridy thinks the song sounds too sad. I am inclined to agree with her except that I still find it soothing. The verse was meant to be sad sounding, but I think the chorus doesn't sound as happy as I thought it did when I was recording it.
Nate and I decided to buy some very posh looking salmon with our costco gift card. It looks like this:
Notice the pristine packaging and fancy description. In fact, it is so posh that you get to cook it on a the cedar plank that came with it!!!! The problem is that if we try to do this in our oven.....we might start a fire. Therefore we need a grill. We don't have one. This is where you gain......If you let us grill our fish on YOUR grill then you get to take a fish tax. We'll even throw in some of the apples that it comes with. The first one who posts a comment on this post is the big winner!!!! The only conditions are these:
1)You must live in Hurricane, Henderson, Vegas, or Cedar City (we don't travel anywhere else....)
2)You must comment by 6:00pm TODAY. We are leaving for Hurricane TODAY and we must know if we need to take the fish with us.
3) We must know who you are......you know people we've met at least once in person....
4) This is serious. We are not joking. Please comment to claim your prize!
If you would like to comment just for fun, please wait until after the first commenter has claimed their fish prize.
Thanks for playing!
To help get you in the spirit, here is a little video fun
Sorry to those of you who don't like fish.....but fish is good. And I found out it is easy to cook. You put it in a baking dish, pour a bunch of delicious sauce (some you can buy or you can make your own easily), and bake it at like 425 for 20 min or so. Done. So easy. My mom has a good recipe for salmon with a sauce made from brown sugar and mustard....I haven't made it yet, but if I do I will post it. It sounds delicious to me. The salmon pictured above was made with a store bought lemon herb sauce. Fortunately, Ellie helped me prepare the salmon this time. She poured (I mean she dumped it on and a lot of it came out of the bottle) the sauce on, and it made it very delicious. The rice is out of a box. The company that boxed it is called Near East. Normally this box of rice would be expensive, but I purchased it on sale. It is fancy rice that contains orzo, which isn't even rice. See how they take care of you? The exceed expectations. To the left is zucchini fried with bacon. It turned out really tasty. Just add enough water to cover the bottom of the pan, throw in some bacon and zucchini, cover with lid, cook on medium heat, and stir occasionally. When you run out of water, let the bacon fry a minute before adding more water. Repeat this process until the zucchini is done. Yes, I'm sure there is an easier way to do this.....but that's not how I did it...
Hi all! I figured out how to do full screen blogs. I've realized now, though, that it is difficult to make a blog design (full screen or small screen) that looks good on all computer screens. So if you want me to tweak something, let me know. I'm going to probably continue to be somewhat sporadic in my posting of new designs....so if you want a new design just let me know. If you go to www.shabbyprincess.com and then click on the free downloads section and let me know what paper you like and which elements you want, than I can get started. (You can mix elements and papers from different kits together. I have them all.) Or if you find some paper you want to buy and then you want me to design a blog for you, I would be more than happy to! Just email me. I would love to design one for you personally, but to design a whole bunch and try to anticipate tastes, is too much---so that is why new design posts on the bog will be sporadic.
I still am going to do some for the holidays coming up, I just won't do very many. Therefore, I may not post about it again on the Merinate blog, so just check into shabby chic blogs when the next holiday is coming up. ;) Again, let me know if you want me to do a holiday one just for you! (Let me know if you want an invite to the blog design blog).
Hello all! Sorry that I have been out of commission. I have been on a major reading kick.
Now I have good news! Remember how months ago I mentioned that I was making my own clutterbag? Well it is finally finished!!!! With the help of my good friends Clair and Kaarina! I could not have done it without them. They deserve some kind of prize! Seriously, when I found out that clutterbags are like $60-$70, I was flabbergasted. Now that I've made my own, very labor intesive bag, I realized that those bags are worth every penny! And I had such good helpers. Thank you so much girls! Nate continues to entertain the idea that the bag is hideous, which I think is funny. Seriously, have you seen his collection of ties? What does Nate know about hideous? Just kidding Nate!!! I think you really DO have many fun ties.....I'm not really going to get rid of them.....promise......
Here are some pics:
