The One With the Dead Yak

Every day is full of decisions. It starts before I even get up. Turn off the alarm or hit the snooze? Say my prayers or forget? Cap’n Crunch or Reese’s Peanut Butter Puffs? Exercise or play on the computer? Curly or straight(er)? And then the real fun begins. There are about fifty different things I should get done today. Which of them do I do? They aren’t all going to fit. It reminds me of my favorite bit from Brian Regan, the comedian, where he is talking about trying to jam something in the overhead compartment on an airplane. You have this much room, and you have a DEAD YAK. That is my day. I’ve got this much room, and a dead yak.

However, it’s my dead yak. It’s all things I want to do. Even if I have to cut it up into a hundred little pieces, I am going to shove it into the compartment. And if I can’t fit it all in today, then I’ll work on it tomorrow. And I’m still going to find time for dinner with a friend. Even if it is a cold dead fish head. Served with a turnip. And a spork. ☺

The One Where She Posts a Recipe (Hey, at least she posted SOMETHING)

I haven’t written in a month and a half. It isn’t for lack of anything to talk about. I have several topics I could choose, and probably still will. Just to throw a few out there: The One Where Grandma Has an iPhone? The One Where She Learns a Few Things She Never Wanted to Know (I may not be able to write about that one. Too painful). The One With the Great Song. The One Where the iPhone Babysits. The One Where She Kills His Voice (and Wherein He Loses His Wallet). The One With the Month of Meeting Girlfriends. The One Where She Was Too Towny For the Rodeo. Oh… and The One With the Ant Attack. I don’t even know where to start. If you have one you particularly want to read about, just tell me, and I will start there.

But today is about food. Specifically, Chocolate Mint Brownies. If you know me, you know I am not a big chocolate dessert person. I love candy bars, but when it comes to brownies or chocolate cake or chocolate chip cookies, I am a big apple pie fan. There is a single exception. These brownies. Dense moist chocolate brownie, with a creamy mint layer, topped with a chocolate layer. I don’t even know what it is that gets me about them… it tastes sort of like eating dessert and brushing your teeth at the same time. But in a good way. A very, very, very good way.

One of my favorite things about visiting BYU campus is picking up a chocolate mint brownie from the Creamery on Ninth. But these are better. I used Ghirardelli chocolate. Just click on the link below for the recipe. If I had a macro lens for my camera, I would take a closeup that would make me feel like I lived in a chocolate mint world. I guess I will have to settle for just eating one. Or three.

Chocolate Mint Brownies

The One With the Phew Day

Phew. According to the dictionary: an exclamation of relief, surprise, disbelief, weariness, etc. Can I just say... it has been a busy, stressful couple of weeks? In my brain, I am still on about Tuesday of last week, and I am not quite sure how I got to Thursday, the end of April. It has been a series of assignments, crises, responsibilities, disappointments, and the occasional happy surprise. Sort of like a fun roller coaster. Except that there is no one waiting in line, so the greasy guy operating the ride just throws the switch and lets you go again... over and over and over. Good thing I’m not a puker. I would like off the roller coaster please, just for today. I woke up with this nightmare two nights ago, where I sat up in bed and thought, “Skippy! I haven’t seen him in three days. I hope everyone has been taking care of him. Is he in his bed?” And I actually had to go check.

So, on the schedule for today? I am not sure. But it probably involves playing with Skippy, walking with Cambria, reading something a little mindless, maybe filling up the cookie jar for the first time in days, at least a couple hours with headphones at my keyboard... and, okay, fine: a couple loads of laundry. You know... a little break before strapping in for the next ride.

The One With the Comfort Food

What has happened to my life? Where did the lazy days go? I have been so busy my head is spinning. Could have something to do with that project I haven’t gotten around to telling you about yet… maybe. Oh, and I am making good progress on my recipe book. I have a list of about thirty more of my favorite recipes that I still have to make, so that I can include a photo or two with each recipe. It is going to be very, very cool. This was a great weekend. My amazing family... best friends… true church… and I just realized there is no school tomorrow, so I don’t have to get up at 5:00 a.m. Awesome. Too tired right now to make a lot of sense, so I will just leave you with a taste of my Sunday dinner.

This…

and did I mention...this?

Stuffed Pork Chops with Homemade Applesauce

Company Carrots

The One Where We Just Ran From One Thing to the Next

I’ve been under the gun. Last week of school. Visit from my mom. Beach party. Graduate party. Eagle Scout Board of Review. Packing for scout camp. And the list goes on… but it’s all good.










The ocean was beautiful:




At least someone still finds time to have fun: Felkner, Murray, Dillon, Skippy


And here are my lime cookies I took to the grad party. (The recipe for the lime cookies is the “Citrus Variation” of my best sugar cookies. Here are all my favorite variations: Sugar Cookie Variations. You gotta try these… I’m serious. They are cool and tangy:


And check out the creative cupcakes Michon and Kerstin made:


I think I’m going to have to start getting up in the middle of the night to get my songs done! Somebody save me…

The One With P-Day Tuesday

Do you remember that line in “Toy Story,” where Mrs. Potato says, “I’m packing your Angry Eyes, just in case!”? This picture reminds me of that. Not angry, though. Maybe a teensy bit tired. In the last two weeks, I have had my 25th anniversary, Tyler’s birthday, my birthday and Mother’s Day. I have baked a total of seven large cakes and 30 loaves of bread, stayed up past midnight at least eight times, gave a talk for 35 girls, and made dinner on Sunday for twenty. Two former missionaries that used to live here have come to visit. I helped the missionaries who still live here make and mail a CD for their mothers, I learned how to play Speech Therapy “Go Fish,” and attended a Mother’s Day Tea Party at the kindergarten class. There is much more…I will be merciful and stop.

In that time I have only done two loads of laundry, not once have I made my bed and I am afraid I have been on something like a fourteen-day eating frenzy. The missionaries have something called P-Day once a week. Preparation Day. I really, really need a p-day. So today I am folding laundry. On a made bed. Eating a yogurt. And working on music. There may even be time for...dare I say it?... a nap. No excitement today, please…it has been fun, but now it is done.