We're fryin' again!

Well I am happy to say that the turkey was fantastic! KC was the designated fry cook for the day and did a great job. It was a little rainy which makes for a very unsafe frying situation. So we made a covering of sorts and it worked okay. It took only one hour for the turkey to be fried to perfection with crispy golden brown skin. I am converted to fried turkey. It is very dangerous and we had to keep the kids at a safe distance at all times. So Thanksgiving went off without a hitch and the weird thing is, we only turned on the oven for about and hour to bake a couple things. I was right in my anticipation to buy more oil. KC and Jake went and bought a 4 1/2 gallon jug at BJs. We didn't use all of it, but we wanted to be sure. Everything tasted great! Last night the leftovers were great as well. And now that Thanksgiving is over I can listen to all the Christmas music I want. It has begun! Christmas cards are done, my winter cold is here (it was inevitable), and we are making lists of presents. We have yet to get a tree, but Black Friday weekend rushes are not my kind of fun, so we'll wait.

This year we're fryin'!

Yesterday as I was making preparations for Thanksgiving (so far two pies are made and everything is ready to go tomorrow), I thought about every year where I set the oven timer for 4 or 5 hours and checking it every 30 minutes to baste the big bird. I know it's traditional and festive but I always like to try something new, so I went and bought TURKEY FRYER! I found a great deal, as they can be very expensive and can't wait to try it. I had to buy a lot of peanut oil and am anticipating making a last minute run to the store for more. Let's hope not. I tried so hard to do my shopping in advance since the store was insane, but I was surprisingly patient. I think we can all get a little crabby in long lines. Anyway, the greatest thing about frying that I know without actually doing it yet, or eating it (which I am really looking forward to) is it is only a fraction of the time it takes to roast. I'm really hoping this works because I can't ruin a 19 lb. turkey which is what I'm told I have to work with. I'll write about how it turns out.

Bloggers Block!

I know it haven't posted for a while. And when you're a semi-internet surfer like me and have a few regular places to check when you have a few minutes, it gets boring when nothing changes. I think all the avid bloggers out there know what I mean. The truth is, I've have Bloggers Block. I feel like every time I want to add something it seems too irrelevant to mention or too personal for literally anyone to stumble across. Or I can't think of anything at all. I have recently seen "Stranger than Fiction" and really liked it but could only imagine how much more I would've related to it if I really understood writers block. I'm sure it's insanity. Not that this blog is as important as finding our how Harold Crick is going to die, but it really can drive someone crazy not knowing what to write on a little white space where you're not getting any money, grade, and barely have anybody waiting on what you write except yourself. I use this a way to be "productive" so with this blog I'll consider my day well spent. I also worked, did some advance baking for Thanksgiving and took a great nap, but for some reason this blog was yelling at me. If someone was writing a story about my life there wouldn't be much to write about at this point. But that's probably what Harold Crick thought too. He should've blogged. his life would've been much more interesting. At least every few days when we decided to add a new post.

Zzzzzzzzzzz...

Oh, how I wish I could just sleep in! It is Saturday morning and I have woken up at 6:00. I actually woke up at about 3,4, and 5, but I convinced myself to at least sleep to a reasonable hour. Since I can remember, I have found myself awake before anyone else no matter where I am sleeping. I used to pray to be able to sleep in. Most people who know me know that I'm definitely a morning person. What most people like to do at night, watch movies, go to parties, read books, etc., I'd much rather do in the morning. If I try at night, I fall asleep and get really grumpy when I have to wake up to people talking or loud movies. (All the friends I had sleepovers with will agree. I really am sorry for the things I said, but I honestly couldn't help it.) I will gladly go to bed at 10:30 (usually not by choice) and wake up at 6:30. But the hitch is, it doesn't matter when I go to bed, I wake up at the same time anyway. If I get a second wind and stay up until the late hours of the night, it doesn't matter. It used to drive me crazy knowing I could sleep in but just ...well...couldn't. KC likes to story about Christmas last year. Not only am I an early bird, but when I'm in a time zone that makes it even 2 hours earlier, I know it's going to be a long morning. So I woke up rather early Christmas morning. I would blame it on the day since as a kid we all had trouble sleeping in, but I think I'm past that by now. I was sleeping at KC's house. I knew I would wake up early, and I wondered what I would do in another person's house when they all sleep in. I naturally woke up at 6:30. I decided to go to the living room where KC was sleeping and see if I could just hang out there until someone woke up. At least I wouldn't be alone. Of course he woke up and we talked a little. He's very kind about my morning alertness. He asked what time it was and I told him what my clock said, when he looked at the clock next to him that clearly said 5:20 am. We had only been in Utah a couple days, so this felt like 3:20am. My clock was wrong, but now I was awake and there was no turning back. Poor KC isn't like me, he likes his sleep. But he knew I was awake and stayed with me. Others didn't wake up until about 8:30 or something. We actually got engaged that day and you can tell in a couple pictures he looks pretty tired. He hid it well for the most part. We laugh about it, but I still don't know how I don't need the sleep that everyone else is so desperate to have. Maybe it's a blessing in disguise. I have tried to use the time wisely over the years getting things done in the morning rather than later in the day, but just because I'm awake doesn't mean I want to get started with the day. Maybe later I'll have a child that will demand my morning alertness, and of course on those days I'll magically be able to sleep in. To tell you the truth, I'm starting to appreciate my alone time in the morning while I still have it. I get to blog, watch the morning TV I'm very familiar with, and sometimes even make a special breakfast, my favorite meal to make and eat. That's always been one of my preferred morning pastimes. I'll find my early bird purpose sometime in this life. Until then, if anyone wants to hang out around 6:30 ET, give me a call. We'll do breakfast.

Me...decorating?

Well, as we're going to stay in this apartment another year, I have decided to do what I can to make this place less drab. I've gotten new clocks, more frames for the walls, a bookcase for the living room, some pictures enlarged for the walls, a little art, and even Christmas decorations. It sounds silly that I'm getting all excited about all of this, but in a place this small, any change is a big one. Anybody that will come over won't even notice it, but that's not what it's for. It's for me. I never did anything before because I thought we didn't have room, but I've found ways. It's been really fun for me, and anyone who really knows me, knows this is a big deal for me too. I am a minimalist first of all, so buying things to just look at, seemed silly to me. The I started to notice how others homes were, and felt the warmth and creativity that was there. Guess which of these two clocks I bought. Okay, I'll tell you, I bought one similar to the one on the right. It's not the exact one but close enough. I think KC might wanted the Homer clock, but I didn't even consider it. He pretty good at helping me with my developing decorating skills, so I think he would agree that there isn't a place for Homer in our tiny apartment. I just thought it was funny. I also bought some DVDs to add to our non-collection (because we hardly have any). It's fun to make a house a home, especially when you are new to having your own space. Well, it's fun now, but I might have to hire somebody when I have a whole house because this is about all I can handle right now.

The Holiday Season is Here!

I guess I had a happy Halloween. Can you if you didn't really do any traditional Halloween activites. With our back door entrance we didn't get any trick-or-treaters, we didn't have any costumes, and didn't go to any parties. We did, however, get the makings for caramel apples and watched "The Changeling" thanks to my brother and his wife. It actually set the Halloween mood when I thought it would just come and go. I used to love Halloween. It was almost my favorite holiday. I loved seeing what shows would come on at night during the season like: "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown", or "The Worst Witch" ("Anything can happen on Halloween, a dog could turn into a cat." We used to sing that all the time.) I even liked watching a little "Casper the Friendly Ghost" during the season . But my favorite thing about it is the upcoming Holiday season. Thanksgiving is an out-of-work chef's favorite holiday in my opinion. It's an excuse to really put those culinary skills to use. And I'm all about traditions, but there are so many dishes at Thanksgiving dinner, no one will care if you add another new one here and there. I'm already making a list of new things I want to try this year. It's always hard to decide. I'll just save the recipes I don't use for Christmas.