Punctuation Saves Lives: "Lets eat Grandma" / "Lets eat, Grandma"

So there are only 5 weeks left of my college career. cannot flipping wait for december 18th at 7:00pm!!! I bought my cap and gown last week - its black and i have yellow honors cords...b/c my curriculum gpa is above 3.7 :). this semester is surprisingly not as difficult as i had first anticipated.

my senior seminar is a mega interesting class because its about food, literature, and culture and i'm a total nerd and absolutely LOVE food and find the study of food and literature/culture immensely interesting. which is why i attended all of the lectures of the uta english department hermanns lecture series this year, as well as being selected to be part of a special undergraduate course with rick bayless, a famous mexican chef. my favorite part of that class was that he's not just some chef who loves to cook; he went to mexico originally to write his dissertation for an anthropology master's degree and fell in love with the food. he says that his first cookbook authentic mexican (the one i actually have) is his dissertation. it's amazing. i've never read a cookbook like it before. he includes the cultural background to he dish as well as different ways you can prepare the ingredients. i made his tortilla soup a couple weeks ago and its AMAZING! anyway, all we do in that class is read and then discuss the readings...the most common conversation gravitates around cannibalism...which is a very highly debated topic...ask if you want more info on that :). currently we are reading a book called the omnivore's dilemma which is all about food production in america...its very interesting and kind of makes me not want to eat anything i didn't grow ever again...

my young adult literature class is ridiculously remedial. it is a 4000 level course, which means it should be challenging and should have prereq courses; however, apparently they let anyone in. the professor teaches the class like a sophomore level course and if this wasn't my last semester, or if i was just wanting to graduate and get it over with and didn't actually want to learn something then i wouldn't be so disappointed. as it is though, i tend to like being intellectually stimulated and i can literally feel my brain turn to mush in that class. all we do is read a book, take a plot quiz, do character analysis on EVERY character in the book, and then discuss surface level questions about the books. all in one day so there's not even the possibility of going any deeper into possible theory on the texts. no wonder young adult lit has no theory or canon...no one studies one book long enough to develop any real ideas! to give you some sense of the class, i will give you an example. as you know, all young adult novels are "coming of age" novels. one day in class, while discussing a separate peace, one of my classmates, who is a communications major and thinks that means she needs to narrate the class, randomly said, as if she was having an epiphany: "OHH so this is a coming of age novel??" no duh. AND the professor reviews for class by watching the movies and its sooo obvious by the stuff she brings up in class about plot summary...either it didn't happen in the book or it happened totally different!

my two history classes are good though: World Civilization and Ancient Greece, both taught by the same professor. he's one of my fav's cause he's very entertaining. he's a funny old man who parts his hair in the middle. the only thing i dont enjoy about those classes is that each of them has a guy that won't leave me alone. they both sit behind me (one in each class) and ask me stupid questions or for my notes or just jabber about nothing at all. whatever.

i have decided that "things" is a lot more fun to play with people you know. we played it at the halloween party last weekend and no one really knew each other that well, so it took forever. BUT we played it last night at timothy's and we all knew each other or at least knew the type of person that every one was...so it was a lot of fun...i almost died laughing.

i have also decided to start knitting. trying to learn more than just the basic knit stitch, but its rather difficult and i think everything i make for christmas will just be a boring solid thing. once i get that down perfectly perhaps i will attempt again to try a design. i actually ruined a good 30-40 rows that i had finished because i wanted to try a pattern and totally screwed it up. oh well...just gotta start over i guess.

i'm sooo excited for the rest of this year!!! a TON of really good looking movies are coming out this month including flipping HARRY POTTER!!!! could not be more excited, unless of course my sisters were here to go to the midnight showing with me like we did last year. but it will be awesome anyway. and i just realized i get to see it before meaghan!!! wooohooo!!! yay for different time zones :) .

december will be AWESOME too! not only do i graduate but my mom is coming to stay for a while. she will get here on the 12th and so far will not be leaving until the 7th of january. she'll be here for graduation, christmas, new years, AND my birthday! :D. i honestly don't remember the last time i spend any of those holidays with my mom. :/ so this year will be extra awesome.

but along with graduation comes the end of school and the end of my current job and the desperate need for an actual job. i interviewed with bank of america this past week, but the other applicant had 15 years experience, which i do not have. but the interview was a good experience and they sent my resume to their communications department so hopefully i'll get a call from them sometime this week *fingers crossed* other than that i will be sending out my resume to anyone who will take it in the hopes that i will get some kind of well paying job.

of course i can't post without an update for my sweet kitten :). currently he's about 6 or so months...dont feel like counting right now. and he's about 2/3 the size of his momma. i think she's gaining weight, but i can't be sure because i'm seeing her compared to Hudson. it has become the popular consensus that both of my cats act like dogs. at the halloween party last weekend there were roughly 10-14 people there and while we were in a circle playing "things" both cats were in the middle of the circle sniffing people out. juno got bored and went to sleep on her tower, but hudson was playing around the whole night. most typical cats would run and hide until all the people were gone, but they both let random strangers hold and pet them no problem...well juno did at least...hudson didn't let anyone hold him, but he let people pet him as he was walking by :). got to get that boy fixed soon though...i'm afraid he might start spraying what he thinks is "his property" in the apartment. speaking of spraying though, juno has only peed outside her litter box when she was pregnant, and i'm pretty sure that was because she didn't make it, or the box was way dirty...its amazing how different she is living here compared to what she was living at my dad's. she couldn't go a week without peeing on a bed or a couch there, and here she's only peed on bathroom rugs twice. oh and the bed once cause we weren't home one night. anyway, the point is, i'm proud of her improvement..i think she's just genuinely happy here...not getting locked in closets or zipped into comforter bags when she's not being ignored.

anyway...lots of exciting things coming up...i will keep you updated :) - love you meaghan :D!

Last semester...last semester...last semester

So today marks the true beginning of my last ever semester of college! While I'm extremely excited to be completing my college career, I can already tell that this semester is not going to be completed with the relative ease as the others. I have realized that any amount of procrastination on my part will result in me becoming dramatically left behind in both of my English courses. I've only been to each class once and already I've had to read a long tediously boring article that put me to sleep three times before I finally finished it, about 100 pages for Wednesday's class (the rest of the book to be finished by Monday), and have to finish a short (190 page) novel by Thursday. That's just for this week and it doesn't slow down until the end. Between my two history classes and my two english classes, I have to have 24 books, only 2 of which I already have. I was telling Joshua today that I'm going to just have to keep telling myself its my "last semester" and hopefully I don't end up in the back of my closet rocking back and forth muttering "last semester...last semester...last semester" under my breath. :)
In other news, Hudson has finally realized that the bed is for sleeping on, not for attacking me at all hours of the night. Another "finally," Juno has been spayed!! She currently has a cone on her head that made Hudson react with quite a bit of hostility when she first came home from the vet. Now, however, he is used to the cone and she has earned a few hours without it every day, so long as she doesn't lick/bite at her stitches. She will get the cone taken off permanently when she has the stitches taken out on Friday. She's already showing signs that she's a new cat (sleeping on the bed, coming as soon as she's called, cuddling every time I'm sitting on the couch, and wanting to be close to either Brent or myself every time we're around). Hudson is a very sweet and adventurous kitten. He only scratches on accident or when he gets carried away while playing. Only cries when he gets himself stuck somewhere and needs help getting out, or just when he wakes up to figure out where everyone is hanging out.
Well, either my life is really boring because it consists of school and two cats, or I'm really tired and can't think of anything else to talk about...I'm hoping it's the second instance. But for now, I'm going to bed. Goodnight Meaghan :)

Juno had KITTENS...on my lap....almost

So, Juno, Hannah's cat, has been preggers since about mid-April. She got out one day while she was in heat and came back not in heat....three weeks later at the vet, Dr. Bone (yes, that is really the vet's name) verified that Juno was indeed a whore-cat..and was PREGNANT! So, in order for Juno to have a nice comfy and stress-free pregnancy, I took her to come live with me at my apartment (Hannah's in Idaho so she couldn't take care of her).
Juno was INSTANTLY a much happier cat. She no longer peed on any furniture whatsoever. The only places she peed were on the rugs in the downstairs bathroom (right outside her litter box) and the kitchen (right by her food) and I blame those on her pregnancy, b/c she hasn't peed on the rugs upstairs. Also, Juno seems to respect that downstairs is her area, and upstairs is my bedroom and she can only enter while I'm awake.

So as the days went by, Juno progressively got bigger (as seen in the image to the right). So, I put together a cute little next spot under the stairs with her food and litter box and a box for her to have the kittens in. She was totally not interested. This non-interest was emphasized when I found her sleeping in a basket of blankets that I keep next to the fireplace...I grew a little concerned because there was no way she was having kittens on the blanket my Nanny knit for me. So, I'd been keeping a much closer eye on her.

Turns out, the extra watch was completely unnecessary. Yesterday morning (6/8/10), Juno woke me up around 6:20 by jumping onto my bed and meowing in my face. When I got up she was meowing constantly and led me to the back of my closet where she had apparently been pulling up carpet to make a bed for her babies...she hadn't gotten very far. So, I put a box there so she could have her kittens there if she wanted. She just sat in it and stared at the corner trying to figure out how to get rid of the box. Later that morning, she led Brent down to the corner behind my desk, so we put a box there.

I think Juno had no intention of using either of those boxes. Around 7:00pm, while I was watching the last episode of season two of Avatar: The Last Airbender (because its awesome), Juno came into the room meowing and staring at me wide-eyed. She jumped on the couch and proceeded to climb into my lap and cuddle with me. About 10 minutes after she jumped up, her stomach started convulsing and I thought "OMG SHE'S HAVING CONTRACTIONS!!!" So I carried her to the closest box, the one behind my desk in the next room and at 7:39 she had kitten number 1, an all white kitten except for a black head, a black spot on its shoulder, and a mostly black tail. I'm not going to lie; watching her give birth to that kitten was AMAZING! I had a hard core adrenaline rush!! I was so nervous cause after the baby was halfway out, Juno started spinning trying to see what was coming out of her. Then she pushed some more and it came out almost all the way, hanging by a back paw, and Juno kept spinning trying to figure out what it was! Finally, she caught up with the kitten and did her motherly duties perfectly! Unfortunately, I could not see what she was doing and heard a crunching sound and panicked, thinking she was eating the baby, but really it was her chewing off the umbilical cord like a good mommy cat. I was, and still am, sooo proud of Juno!! I did get kinda worried, because all of these websites that I've been reading say that before a cat gives birth, she will start secreting small amounts of milk...well Juno did not do that..at all. In fact only two of her ten teets were even swollen at all. So about an hour after this kitten's birth I called my mom, who is somewhat of an expert on baby animals cause she used to breed Newfoundland dogs. After being reassured that everything was fine and normal I went back to watching. After another 30 minutes I went to the other room to wait...and watch Juno for signs of the next kitten via webcam :-) (Thanks Brent!!)

Well I saw her start having contractions again, so I went over there only to find that she'd already had the second kitten (9:30pm)! With this one, she needed a tiny bit of help because she quit licking it clean to pay attention to the other one. This kitten is a smart one though!! He ripped off the sac around his face on his own and started squeaking for momma. Juno was busy with the other kitten and was blatantly ignoring this new one (which is all black btw). So, using a soft clean rag, I picked up kitten number two and set it in front of Juno and she immediately set to work cleaning it off. Good Juno! Kitten number two didn't really want to be cleaned off though...not two minutes after Juno started, it was off to find something to suck on and found it!! WAY before it's older sibling too! Shortly after kitten 1 found a teet to suck on too though, so its all good. As you can see from the picture, kitten 2 was still wet from being born when it latched on, while kitten 2 is all clean and fluffy :) .

This time I sat around near Juno, petting her and telling her what a good job she's doing; all the while she's purring loudly. Around 10:50 she started having contractions again and like a pro, 10 minutes later had her third kitten, a very spotted black and white kitten. She immediately set to cleaning it off with a vigor and didn't stop until it was almost all clean. Unfortunately this kitten was a lot smaller than the other two and unlike the other two did not squeak at all after being cleaned off. Juno got tired of bending in half and started cleaning the other two kittens, again ignoring the one she had just given birth to. Once again, I moved the kitten closer to Juno's head and she again started licking vigorously. This kitten scared me to death, because it looked as though its back legs weren't going to work. The other two kittens had immediately started kicking all their legs, even before Juno started working on them, but this one did not. Also, the way the kitten had adjusted itself made it look as though it was missing its front left leg. Thankfully that was not true and after about an hour and a half it started moving its hind legs.

Around 1:00 I finally went to bed, confident that Juno was finished having kittens and that she would be able to keep them warm and alive through the night. Upon waking this morning around 7, I found that I was correct. All three kittens are alive and well. Even the little itty bitty runt is still squirming around squeaking trying to find something to eat. Sometimes it goes the other direction and Juno is stuck with the other two, so I have been allowed to move the kitten back to where it needs to be. Juno is also eating, I can't tell if she has had anything to drink yet, but she is definitely eating again, which is good!! I can't wait for the next 7-8 weeks!!!

Project 365

Jan 3rd: Cupcakes! I needed dessert for dinner with Josh and Sarah...so I decided to try out the new cupcake stand I got for Christmas from Brent's dad. FUN
Jan 3rd: Dinner with Josh and Sarah. My famous Cajun Chicken Pasta with salad and garlic bread...YUM!! This is the ONLY reason my siblings come see me at home.
Jan 4th: Apparently Brent couldn't wait to give me my birthday present. I came home and this was where my old knife block was...omg these knives are AMAZING!! yay!! Best boyfriend ever :-)
Jan 5th: My 22nd Birthday Cake. Chocolate cake with chocolate mousse and a thick slab of chocolate on top...YUM! I ate way too much of it.
Jan 5th: my adorable little brother Nivio while he and brent were working on his rc car...which he broke by driving it into a wall.
Jan 6th: spent the great majority of my day rereading this book...I'm a fantasy nerd...and if you are too you will love this book series...NOT THE TV SERIES!! that show is so wrong. lol.
Jan 7th: Brent got his new Google Nexus One. Its actually a pretty cool phone.
Jan 8th: Went to dinner with Melody and Jon (and Brent of course) and this apron is my birthday present from Melody! This is me with one of my knives that I got for my birthday. Yay!!

Jan 9th: Hung out with Jennifer and her fam at her house. Haven't spent time with them in SOO long!

Jan 10th: First real food i've had in a while...spaghetti is WONDERFUL!
Jan 11th: So Brent and I went to this Italian restaurant called Savianos with Melody and Jon and Brent got this minestrone soup as his appetizer...I ate it all...and I wanted more. SO I tried to make my own. Not near as good or addicting as the soup at Savianos, but defnitely great!!
Jan 12th: I was Skyping with my mom...this the first time we've SEEN each other in a while :-/ MOVE TO TEXAS MOM!! or at least the lower 48 :-)
.Jan 13th: The first step is admitting you have a problem...well i have a problem..this is it..hah! I am goign to have to uninstall this game before school starts!!! It's so addicting!
Jan 14th: This is how i felt when i got home from work. One of the two days that actually worked as birth control at the gym.
Jan 15th: My grocery list for my menu...surprisingly i had a lot of stuff already

January 16th: Went shopping with Jennifer...these are a few of the things that i bought...those shorts WERE $98...i got them for $9..heck yes. Also that comforter is my new comforter that i got from Marina for my birthday.
January 17th: Filet mignon with garlic mashed potatoes. it was sooo good!

January 18th: Breakfast!!! I decided to make pancakes and bacon..delish!
Jan 19th: had a migraine ...took nyquil...solved the problem after like 3 days.
Jan 20th: Decided to make a breakfast toaster when i got home from my one class on wednesdays...eggs, bell peppers, green onions, cherry tomatoes, cilantro, cheese and bacon!!! delish!!!
Jan 20th: Dinner! slow cooked bbq beef ribs...sooo good!!! could eat them for hours!!
Jan 21st:Root beer float! my decadent dessert to myself! :-) nothing beats vanilla ice cream and good ol' Mug root beer

Jan 22nd: This is how I spend my friday nights. Chatting on skype with my siblings...video chat with my 8 year old brother Nivio and IM chat with Meaghan...sweet!

Happy New Year!

So, I was reading a food blog...as usual...this afternoon and the author had posted her New Year's resolutions. Not surprising since it was posted yesterday...which was January 1, 2010. But...One of her resolutions was to participate in something called Project 365, take at least one picture every day for the entire year to help remember your year..and give me something to do! So I've decided I am going to participate. Good thing I read it today so I'm only one day behind...but not really because I took a picture of what I did yesterday!I used my rice cooker that Josh and Sarah bought me for Christmas. However, I did use rice that I already had rather than opening one of the three types they included in the gift. Not going to lie...I LOVE IT! (I also love the fact that I also have about 25 lbs worth of rice in my pantry) I cannot cook rice properly to save my life...I can cook virtually everything else, just don't ask me to cook rice the conventional way. Also, this rice cooker has a steamer! I can cook veggies and shrimp/chicken aswell!! I'm so totally stoked! I can buy fresh veggies and eat them steamed!

Yesterday was pretty obviously kind of a boring day for me. Nice relaxing first day of the year if you ask me! New Year's Eve was pretty uneventful too. Brent and I went to Genghis Grill for dinner then saw Sherlock Holmes (really good btw). Brent was dozing off during the movie..poor boy was tuckered out from having to look for a new car the whole day before. His mom sold his '97 Ford Explorer, so we had to find him something new to drive. After a long and arduous search, a fake number, and an extra $2000 later, we got him an '02 Chevrolet Tahoe. Bigger than his last car, and he LOVES it. He was soo excited on the drive home from Burleson. It was a much needed load off his shoulders. Anywho, after we got back from the movie I ended up dozing off on the couch around 10:30, and then just went to bed about 15 minutes later. Happy New Year! :-D

Today has been pretty uneventful. Went to work where we got up to like 110 kids, which is really good! Hopefully that business will continue so we can all work more hours. After I got off work around 2:15ish I got home and CRASHED. I literally took my shoes off and lay down in bed and passed out. In fact, I'm still wearing my work clothing. Slept for a good 3 1/2 hours and when I woke up decided I should make a menu so I can go grocery shopping. This is another part of my New Year's resolution...Keep to a menu (cook at least 6 days a week to cut down on fast food costs) This resolution led to another...while I was looking through my twenty-some-odd cookbooks and cooking magazines searching for what to put on this menu, I decided that searching like that is too difficult and time consuming. Therefore, I am taking upon myself another rather time consuming project. I am entering in all the recipes from these magazines and cookbooks that I like into Microsoft OneNote. Don't worry! I'm not putting in entire recipes..that would take YEARS! I'm simply going through and writing the name of the recipe and then the magazine, month, and page number. So I'm digitally indexing my recipes...fun huh? Wow I'm a dork! But that led me to my second picture of the year....all my cookbooks scattered on the floor before my brilliant indexing idea. YAY!

My final New Years resolution is kind of boring because EVERYONE does this one...except mine isn't to "lose weight" its to convert the weight I gained last year from chunky to solid muscle. My plan is to do at least an hour of cardio every other day, and then about 50 minutes of Pilates/Yoga the other days...50 minutes because thats how long the work out dvd I have is...:-)

So here's the "List"
1. Project 365
2. Keep to a menu
3. Digitally index all my recipes
4. Change chunk in to muscle
5. Try each recipe I have at least once....to filter out whether I want to keep it. :-) (most of the recipes I am indexing are because they sound good...hopefully with this menu thing i'll be able to keep this resolution...but it might take more than a year!! OMG I could be just like Julie Powell....except without the maggots in my sink and a regular daily shower! :-) But I guess posting a recipe or two a week couldn't hurt anyone... )
6. Get another 4.0 or close to it this semester and next.
7. GRADUATE FROM COLLEGE!!!!!!!

Well now that the resolutions thing is out of the way...I'm gonna miss my sisters. I've gotten so used to being able to hang out with them whenever I'm in lewisville cause of work, but they've left for school. Hannah's at her first semester of college at BYU-Idaho, and Meaghan is off to finish at BYU (Provo). I'm really happy for them! But I'm going to miss them...Meaghan, I'm crying right now cause you and Hannah are the only people I hang out with anymore, other than Brent. Well...not crying crying, but tearing up. The last couple weeks have been soo much fun..especially after I got Adam "Things" for Christmas! that is the funnest game ever! I cannot believe how perverted my family and our friends are!! :-) I will also miss Adam, but not quite as much since he just came home for the holidays. Meag and Hannah have been here like...all year though so its gonna take some getting used to not having anyone to play with. Anyway...I'm going to get back to my recipe indexing.

Happy New Year!!!