Ways to open up a dead blog.

I haven't felt like writing a blog in a long time. I guess life is consumed with other things and you get busy and just forget you have a blog. Well I can promise you from time to time I do come back here and read some of my older posts. Just waiting for that inspiring moment to restart my dead blog. I have been reading a lot lately rather than spending time on the internet. Facebook just seems to drive me crazy and I am super annoyed now that every post is about some "like" or "dislike" or "check out this article" or "look at this website". There is no substance to people's lives on facebook anymore, nothing really about their lives just interests and really I was on facebook to connect with people, not to read and debate things. I was more interested in seeing pictures of what was going on in their lives and what was really happening in their lives. (keeping in touch you could say).
Anyways I promise I will be back with more to say, but for now just hold tight and there are things to come.

Honey Sauced Chicken.

Mmmmm....doesnt that look delicious.

Completely gluten free and healthy...hopefully it turns out,

it is still cooking and should be ready soon to eat on a bed of rice.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

an afternoon of baking....

 On the left we have cake batter fudge and on the right we have rice krispy squares. Delicious hopefully! I had found the cake batter fudge on pinterest and wanted to try it out. And rice krispy squares are just always good to make.

A macaroni shaped marshmellow we found in the bag.. it was delicious to eat.

another hawaiian adventure....

we stopped at the dole plantation, it was a little disappointing, there were no pineapple in the bushes to look at.

welcome to haleiwa, a small surf town on the north shore, it was a pretty tiny town, but really neat to explore.

The Vans triple crown is going on right now in Haliewa, but unfortunately today the waves were only like 1 to 3 feet tall, so no competition today, or at all this week according to a guy who was walking there.

Standings so far, not much competition left until the finals....

small back road adventure we went on that took us into the middle of nowhere, but we explored the town completely.

Cool looking surf shop

Rules for visiting the sea turtles on the beach...unfortunately too many people did not follow the rules it seemed.

A sea turtle up on the beach just relaxing in the sand.

 

The red rope is the boundry you have to stay out of. The lady on the right side had a book that she was trying to find out what kind of sea turtle it was, as there are a large variety of sea turtles.

mmmm mcdonalds outside the polynesian center....it was an alright lunch stop.

no trip is complete without a stop at this beautiful park across from kualoa ranch. very picture perfect.

another day

we stopped here....

did some shopping here...

saw this cool statue....

drove around diamond head...

saw the lighthouse...you cant walk through it though.

road on this to see everything around diamond head...

should have bought these for the farm....

honolulu part one

christmas decorations are up....they look weird without snow, its a bit odd....

us coast guard ship....pretty cool to see how big their ships really are.

at the ala moana shopping center this christmas train drove a loop down some shops and back again. kids were riding it, no adults sadly...but it was pretty neat o see.

the beach, the beautiful beach...what more can you say about waikiki

and the stories continue

#4- Life in a snowbound cabin
It's day 250 stuck in this cabin. I think the walls are starting to close in. It's very white outside, I haven't seen outside in over a week. I am almost out canned food. The water well is frozen over. At least my food in the ice chest is staying cold. I have fashioned a hunting bow out of a stick and some string I found. I am using my knife blade to make the arrows sharp. I am planning on going hunting for a deer or maybe a moose. I need some meat to eat and the fur will make me a nice coat and maybe a blanket too. It's very cold in this cabin too. I need to go venture out and get some firewood as well. I have a little stack left but need to dry out some more wood. I wish I had a telephone, I would call someone, being stuck in this cabin by myself is kind of boring. I keep winning at chess. Murphy my dog isn't much company, he's pretty lazy and naps all the time. I will find a way out one day, a way off of this mountain and find civilization again. If it ever stops snowing.

#5- Write a letter to your landlord.
Dear Landlord,
 I am the tennant in apartment 76. I wanted to write to you so you would address some issues. First there is a strange odor coming from across the hall, from apartment 79.  It smells like stinky old socks and it is quite strong. I haven't seen the little old lady come out of there in a few days. I knocked, but she did not answer. So I believe she is not home, but I would like you to please address the odor. Everytime I walk by her apartment, it just wafts out from under the door. Secondly, the garbage room is over filled, I think the garbage men are on strike but that doesn't mean you can't take care of it. It's quite gross, all the old pizza boxes and bag upon bag of garbage. It's time to invest in a new system of disposing of garbage. Maybe relocating the garbage room. Thirdly, The little boy who lives in apartment 12 was trying to sell chocolates door to door. After closer inspection I discovered these are not at all chocolates, but I believe they come from the resident cat you have living in the foyer downstairs. Could you please get rid of that cat so the little boy stops profiting from his "chocolate" sales. And lastly, there is a man living in the laundry room, I don't believe he is paying rent and he is kind of creepy looking. He keeps asking if I have anything that he can sell and for some reason many residents are complaining that clothes and laundry soap are disappearing. Could you please kindly evict him since I believe he isn't paying rent.
Sincerley, the tennant in apartment 76

642 things to write about continues....

#3- write facebook status updates for the year 2017

January- Boy oh boy is it ever cold outside, I think I may stay inside today.
February- Happy birthday to me, I am now officially over another hill...36 and pushing it.
March- I think I got my first grey hair today
April-My hovercraft quit working today, I had to take the teleporter to work
May- Facebook is still around, I remember when it wasn't so complicated back in 2012
June-I should update my status more often
July- So tired of facebook, they keep chaning it and changing it.
August- It's the end of summer. I'm sad.
September- School's back in! Yay, I can grocery shop alone.
October- Excited to see how many kids come to the door to trick o treat in something other than the standard Space suits we now wear.
November- Where did the year go? it's almost christmas.
December- Merry christmas, happy new year!

#4- You are an astronaut. Describe your perfect day.

Being an astronaut is hard work, everyone thinks I just float around and do flips and twirls in space. Well that isn't the case. That isn't a perfect day for me. The perfect day for me would be laying on a beach somewhere, staring up at the sky, knowing I have flown higher and farther than the blue sky stretches. That I have encountered little green space men running around the busy planet. That I have collected thousands and thousands of samples from different planets. The perfect day would just to be lay there and watch the ocean and look forward to the next adventure when I fly into space.
Being an astronaut is hard work, people just think I sit back and let the spaceship fly into space. It takes lots and lots of energy to put a trip to space together, hours and hours of countless training. I would much rather just sit and do nothing on my perfect day.

after a long hiatus...I'm back...

So I have a new wind if you may....a new perspective on how to keep this blog alive...finally! After months and months of empty promises...yada yada yada...that my blog would come back. I finally have taken the time to make it come alive...so I went to chapters today and picked up a book. "642 things to write about." Now I started writing in it and after sometime have realized I am completely writing it in wrong. So I figured why not write the internet blog version of it...I will continue to write in the paper version now that I know I can completely make stuff up and it doesnt have to directly correlate with my life. Isn't that what writing is about? Fiction, non fiction? I am excited to introduce to you: 642 things to write about....the blog version...

Topic #1- what can happen in a second?
What can happen in a second, thats a very interesting question. I think in a second I could be in love, I could be out of love. I could be happy, I could be sad. I could be rich, I could be poor. I could be breathing or I could be on my last breath. I could be an influence postively or negatively on someone. In a second your life can change, you never know what the next second may bring.

Topic #2- A houseplant is dying, tell it why it needs to live.
You need to live, you really can't die on me. Far to many plants die on me. I kill plants actually. I dont think many plants live the life you have lived (inside my house). I need you to stay alive because your leaves are green and pretty and it would look bad if I had a dead houseplant in the corner of the room. I probably would just toss you out with the trash then if you died and replace you with a brand new plant. So you should try to live, so I dont have to replace you.

The end product.

Red Velvet cheesecake brownies cut into hearts. They are very easy to shape and cut out from the pan and they tasted delicious!

oh cooking experiments...

Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies...Doesn't it look tasty?

This was a picture halfway through cooking....it looks scrumptious...now let's hope that it tastes as good as the picture looks.

Cooking Chicken fajita in a crockpot.

A picture of my crockpot chicken fajita's simmering away in the crockpot....yummy

The finished product...a mix of vegetables, chicken and spices....the aroma was delicious and it tasted delicious. Served with tortilla's and rice...yumm!

RECIPE:

1 lb boneless chicken breast cut into 1 inch strips

2 tbsp taco seasoning mix

2 tbsp flour

1 each- red and green pepper (cut into thin strips)

1 onion- cut into thin strips

1 cup frozen corn

1 1/2 cup salsa (I used a whole jar)

1 cup shredded cheese (to be used a topping, not put into the crockpot)

To MAKE:

Mix the chicken with taco seasoning and flour in the slowcooker (coating the chicken) Stir in all the remaining ingredients except the cheese.

To COOK:

Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours or cook on high for 3 to 4 hours

Stir before serving and top with cheese.

You can serve with tortillas and/or rice

It is a very good recipe, i suggest you try it. If you do like it spicier try a hotter salsa and maybe add a bit more taco seasoning. It is delicious!

Sponge shopping.

Browsing the aisles of a big box store. (which I will not name as to not promote this chain on my blog) I came across this delicacy in the valentines section. Sponge taffy. It may just look like a flat piece of styrofoam/spongy looking candy at a glance but once you turn it around you see.....

It is infact three dimensional and looks like a sponge. Our children are going to ask mom as you walk down the valentines aisle if they can buy this novelty sponge candy.

I am afraid it may become an addiction. Children may find sponges under moms sink or in grandma's cleaning closet and assume they too are novelty candies. We might find our children sitting at the kitchen table eating sponges. Has candy gone to far? I myself will not be buying sponge taffy candy...looks too much like the real thing.

Since it's been awhile...

I will give you a taste of what is yet to come...the next blog will be about a.......SPONGE...There that is all I am telling you. So wait in suspense until I have time to upload the pictures and write story...trust me, it will be thrilling, super intriguing, a story of awe and wonder...or maybe it will just be a story about a SPONGE....you will never know until you tune in again for my next blog post.

A summer picture...

Harvest time.

Webcam 101 for Seniors....

I had to share this video- webcam 101 for seniors...it is quite hilarious
But I guess at some point and time the elderly do need to learn how to use technology.
Anyways I guess I haven't blogged in awhile, but for now this will have to do until I can think of something else to blog about.

Summer and watermelons and....ROLLKUCHEN!

Rollkuchen Cooking in the fryer....yummy...

End result...Rollkuchen and a nice tasty watermelon.

I had been pondering for awhile what to write about when i came across a blog called Mennonite Girls can cook....(shocker...mennonite girls can cook!...haha) But I was googling Rollkuchen and how to make it. I haven't had any yet and the summer is almost half over. Google took me to that blog and honestly there are like hundreds upon hundreds of recipes on that blog (it's crazy!) And no not all are mennonite recipes but there are tons of recipes if you like to cook.
the website is:
http://mennonitegirlscancook.blogspot.com/

So I am craving some Rollkuchen. (It's healthy too- My fitness Pal told me it's only 52 calories for one) So I can have some, ok maybe one.....haha
See I am in the midst of a diet (trying to lose some weight). So I figured I would open My fitness pal app on my cellphone and check and see if it had some mennonite foods and lo and behold it recognized what Rollkuchen was and how many calories per serving...What are the chances of that happening?
The website is:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/

This website is crazy amazing. It is also available as an app on the iphone and samsung galaxy phone. You input your weight and it calculates for you how many calories in a day you can have. And you keep up with it by putting in what you eat at all three meals, how much water you drink, and how much you exercise etc. each day and it keeps track of it as a log. You can also input your weight changes and it graphs it for you. You can find almost any food as there are over 700,000 types of food on myfitness pal. You can log in on your phone and then also log in online and all your information is there. It is amazing. Plus it kind of keeps me chained to my diet as its in my cellphone.
So my new addiction is myfitnesspal....move over angry birds....lol
Now off to find a recipe so I can actually cook some of this scrumptous Rollkuchen....I can hardly wait to taste it!

It's a lickety Splickety kind of day....

I figured I should update my blog so you know that I am still here....I am not gone...I am just not very good at keeping my blog up to date. I promise new pictures to come soon of my latest adventures around here...I realize I haven't been very good at keeping up with my 365 photo project on facebook either...So I will find something interesting to update my blog with soon...

One of these things is not like the others.....

((I do not quote seseame street often but this song is fitting for my blog today))
"One of these things is not like the others,
One of these things just doesn't belong.
Can you tell which thing is not like the others
By the time I finish my song.
Did you guess which thing was not like the others?
Did you guess which thing just doesn't belong?
If you guessed this one is not like the others,
Then you're absolutely....right..."

ITS THE SCOOTER!
Yes she risked her neck to squeeze past my car on the road as I awaited a red light and squeeze next to the truck parked infront of me at the red light. I feel like submitting this to the local paper....maybe the police showing them how careless and wreckless these little old scooter driving grandmas and grandpa's really are.
I wonder if it'll take someone dying for someone to take notice of our SCOOTER problem.
Maybe I should have labelled this blog "Encounters of the Scooter People".

Why?

Good read, good stories...I packed so many of these books my finger tips are shiny like plastic. I wonder what would happen if they finger printed me? Would my finger prints show up anymore? My fingers are sore, many have cuts....paper cuts...my left hand is sore from stuffing these books into bags.

I encourage you if you've never heard of the Why Encounter to inquire and get a book and read the book. It's full of heart felt stories and challenging questions.

As sore as my fingers and hands are, it was worth it. Pretty soon people will reading this book and asking questions and hopefully finding the answers they seek to why am I on this earth?