This might be random

I have an orchid obsession problem, my mom has a trapeze bar in her bedroom, and I installed a new shower head all by myself. There's an update on the last two days.




Isn't this one a beauty? And it'll be gorgeous next to my 1st orchid when it blooms purple.


Say hello to the trapeze bar. It's the most fabulous thing in the entire world. Everyone should have a swing in their bedroom. Or at least somewhere in their house.




It's entirely too much fun.


And lastly, this is the shower head that I installed all on my own. Sure, it only required screwing it in place, but there were some initial leaks and I did get to crack open the tool box at one point. It is marvelous and the best part will be taking it off when we get to move out of the apartment. Moving out of this apartment in general will be the best part of things in general.

The Dress- part 2

This time in black.

Our Valentines Day

Celebrated on Friday the 13th.



We went out to the restaurant where we had our first date then to the park.










I kicked some rocks at Geoff and he fell in the mud.


It would have been a bad wife thing to do but he started it.

Yummy mini gooey

I've had the last three days off of work to make up for last week when my boss was sick and I covered all of her hours. Two days off is hard work. Three is about to kill me. I have done an absurd amount of cooking to keep me busy lately. The ham and potato soup was good-- there was lots of chopping involved so it took up a bit of time. Then there were stuffed shells, steaks, brownies, made-from-scratch bread, dinner rolls, and now cinnamon rolls. I shudder to think of all of the butter I've gone through.

While this could potentially be a made from scratch type of recipe, I don't have a bread maker and, thanks to my last few cooking adventures, have learned to hate kneading. And then lastly, mom recently showed me how to make a long list of yummy pastries with crescent rolls.






Cinnamon/sugar mix. For the first batch I made WAY too much.










I couldn't help myself.


I didn't even make it to a table. Just stood there and ate it over the oven.


Yum.


Cinnamon rolls- revised from a recipe from allrecipes.com


Ingredients:
1 package of ready made crescent rolls

1 1/4 tablespoons ground cinnamon
2 1/2 tablespoons melted butter

3 tablespoons cream cheese (1/2 3oz package)
2 tablespoons softened butter
3/4 cup confectioners sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
a pinch of salt


Directions:
-Pre-heat oven to 350.
-Unroll the package of crescent rolls flat and pinch the seams together to make one large rectangular sheet of dough that is wider than it is long.
-In a small bowl mix white sugar and cinnamon.
-Spread 2 1/2 tablespoons (approx) of melted butter over the dough and sprinkle evenly with cinnamon/sugar mixture. Roll dough towards yourself and cut into approximately 12 rolls. Place rolls into a lightly greased muffin pan.
-Bake rolls until golden brown according to package directions- generally about 15 minutes.
-While rolls are baking beat together cream cheese, 2 tablespoons butter, confectioners sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Spread frosting on warm rolls before serving.

Potato and Ham Soup

(Revised from all recipies)

Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups peeled and diced potatoes
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
3/4 cup diced cooked ham
3 cups water
2 tablespoons chicken bouillon granules
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
2 teaspoon ground white or black pepper, or to taste
5 tablespoons butter
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups milk (I use 1 cup cream 1 cup skim milk)
1/2 cup of shredded cheese

1. Combine the potatoes, celery, onion, ham, bouillon, salt, pepper and water in a stockpot. Bring to a boil, then cook over medium heat until potatoes are tender, about 10 to 15 minutes.
   
2. In a separate saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Whisk in flour with a fork, and cook, stirring constantly until thick, about 1 minute. Slowly stir in milk as not to allow lumps to form until all of the milk has been added. Continue stirring over medium-low heat until thick, 4 to 5 minutes.
3. Stir the milk mixture into the stockpot, and cook soup until heated through. Add cheese and mix into soup or sprinkle over the top. Serve immediately.

Next time I make this I want to add broccoli, cheddar cheese, or maybe even diced carrots. Yum.

Mothers Day Moth Orchid

This little orchid that was left behind at my hotel almost 10 months ago is preparing to bloom again. I guess all of my fears about killing it were a little premature.











It doesn't make sense how a pretty little topical plant can survive in an apartment in Ohio when my hardy succulents can't.

(The same orchid last year).

When an ice storm hits Ohio

we feel the need to go explore.




These pictures are not very scary as this is maybe three days after the ice storm. The big storm happened during a work day, so we missed out on the great photo opportunities.




My car still looks like a popsicle, though.












Welcome to the Hoover dam. A frozen arctic tundra.










There are not enough layers in the world to keep you warm in this kind of cold. Our extremities learned this quickly.


Look, we can see our car from the top of the dam, can you? Oh, so far away.


Let me help. That's almost three frost bitten toes away. Once we realized how far away we were, we decided to race back to the warmth of the car as quickly as humanly possible.


What Geoffrey didn't know until about fifteen seconds from this moment, is that there is a huge fence-like line of boulders at the bottom of this hill, buried under the snow. You don't want to run and roll uncontrollably down a steep hill towards piles of huge twisted-ankles-in-waiting... I decided to penguin shuffle my way down... Geoffrey risked death.


I huddled in the car and tried to thaw while Geoffrey braved the park restroom. Like the scary hill race, I was not brave enough to drop my pants in this cold.








Back home at night, we survived.