Saturday, July 30, 2011

College Chopped

I leave for a mini-vacation before classes start in just under two weeks. At that point, I have to be all packed up because the new renters move in (who I know, thankfully) and they're letting me keep my stuff until I get back and am able to move into my new apartment. That means that I'm trying to pack up and eat whatever is left in the fridge and freezer. It's my version of Chopped.

Today, I started with the Rice-a-Roni beef rice:
I added a little garlic, naturally
I still have about 6 or 7 bags of frozen veggies in my freezer. Apparently I thought I'd somehow need them all. I took bits and pieces from the frozen spinach, broccoli and mix "fiesta" blend of peppers and onions and mixed them together.
I microwaved them first, so they were at least re-warmed
Instead of adding the brats in my fridge, I added some eggs. I was going for a kind of egg fried rice, but because the rice had so much moisture with how it was cooked, they didn't really scramble all that well. But at least it's protein. My roommates from last year/summer left some cheesy garlic bread in the freezer (buried in the back, or I probably would have eaten it by now...but it's frozen, so it's still good, right?). I cooked up some of that to go with my rice mush and...Ta-Dah!
I added some feta to the bread as well. Trying to use everything in my fridge!
Dinner. And probably lunch for the next couple days as well.

I can't forget about the AMAZING find of the day. I was out getting textbooks (I know it's a month early, but I don't want to deal with the crowds of freshman who have no idea what they're doing) and ran across this awesome find in the bookstore:
I should have bought all the ones I saw
Nutella to Go, with little cracker sticks. The last place I saw these was when I was in Santorini, Greece. Europe is full of Nutella freaks, so I fit in quite nicely. But here in the states, I still run into people who have no idea what I'm talking about. So I'm SUPER Excited that these are being sold here. Makes life so much easier than carrying around a jar of Nutella for a snack on campus :)

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Definitely a College Student

How can I tell that I am totally a college student? It's not the fact that I'm procrastinating horribly over this paper (which I am), it's my dinner tonight.

What am I having that screams "STUDENT"?

A combination of foods I had hanging out in my kitchen. Kinda like a cheap Chopped. I started with Bacon Cheeseburger Hamburger Helper (minus the hamburger of course). I added the two hotdogs sitting in my fridge, along with the leftover shredded cheese and a can of corn. I had to add a handful of pasta or it would have been a cheese soup with stuff in it. And it has that bacon flavor. It's actually pretty good.
Why Yes, I am in college. Why do you ask?
And it's even in a tupperware bowl. Easier to mix, easier to eat out of and one less dish to clean when I have to put it in the fridge. I can claim being a college student now. After college, I'm just going to claim I'm a recent grad. After that....I'm just inventive?

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Operation T-shirt Blanket: End of Mission

My masterpiece
In under a week, I finished! It took more work than I expected, mainly the basting of everything before I could sew it. But I'm super happy with how it turned out. Is is the most perfect quilt ever made? No. There are obvious flaws, like the fact that not all the t-shirts line up with one another. And some of the stitching is questionable. And there is extra fleece in some areas. But am I proud of it? Damn straight! I made it myself and all the imperfections just make it more special to me. And all the t-shirts hold memories for me. (And it got them out of my closet and somewhere where I will actually use them often). I'm pretty happy right now.

Of course, I got the approval from everyone as well.
Pretty content with the quilt
Really only laid on it because I kept telling her not to
Kept sneaking on it when I wasn't looking
I'm pretty sure that it's legit once I have their approval. And for how often they tried to sit on it while I was still working on it, it will be a popular blanket. Or maybe that's only BECAUSE I was working on it. Maybe the later. Either way, I'm glad to be done. I may do another one after I graduate with all my Kilroy's shirts. But this one is good for now :)

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Operation T-shirt Blanket: Part 2

Let me help you with your basting Grandma
I managed to get alot done today on my blanket. All the shirts are sewn together in big strips and two of the strips have the edging I want on them. The other two I'm basting (pinning together) tonight so I can jump on it tomorrow after I get home. Then its just a matter of sewing everything together and then sewing the backing on. So close!

I thankfully also felt better today, so that helped. Although I can always use a nap and took advantage of one. I miss being in kindergarten when they were required. You'd think it would be more beneficial now that we're older and want them as compared to being young and not wanting to take a break from our day of play.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Operation T-shirt Blanket: Part 1

My colorful shirts, ready to go
I picked up the sewing machine I'm borrowing from a woman at work in order to start my blanket! I also stopped by Hobby Lobby and got some fleece backing and some cute grey-polka dot fabric for borders. I'm excited to get rid of at least 5 or 6 of my shirts and to have a cute and comfy blanket.

But of course I can't do anything on my own. Others must approve of what I do...
I approve of your fleece choice
I had to get the approval of fabric choice by both Tommy and Bella. They also liked the soft tape measure and chased that around while I was trying to use it. I did have to chase them off the table while I was sewing for safety's sake. But they were around for everything else.
Bella playing in the scraps
Just in case the shirts decide to get up and walk away
I'm hoping that this head cold I have will go away and I can actively finish the blanket tomorrow instead of napping and taking breaks all day. But I plan on downing some meds and working my way through the rest of the blanket. My grandma would be so proud of me :)

Thursday, July 14, 2011

It Must Be a Full Moon Tonight

I had no idea it was a full moon tonight, but it makes sense. Tom has been acting strange all day. He decided 6 am was enough time for me to sleep and was a constant pain until I got up at 7:15. I then came back after my first class to take a nap, and he decided to be ornery about ten minutes until I was going to wake up. He kept clawing at my blanket, didn't want to lay down, and was generally just being a butt. He even growled at Timmy. And while I was watching a show during dinner, this is what I got:
Mr. Diva today
I got a pissy look from him and he wouldn't let me pet him. I hope it's just because of the full moon cause I don't want to deal with this past today.

I'm headed off to the Harry Potter double feature, in 3D, and should be home around 3am :)

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Why Doesn't My Armory Have AC Again?

I had drill this weekend. An entire weekend of cleaning weapons. That I didn't fire. In an un-air-conditioned building. It was a pretty boring and miserably hot weekend of getting really dirty. I didn't leave Friday night, but early Saturday morning instead.
This is what I get for leaving
I got there early of course and cleaned a M249 SAW on Saturday (I'm ADD about cleaning weapons...they have to be perfect) and a M240B on Sunday. My hands turned black and I sweat through my shirt just from sitting there. It was about 90 degrees all weekend and our armory has no AC. The outside looks great and was renovated a couple years back, but no AC. So it was even hotter inside the building from lack of air flow. Shove together 50 people in a hot building doing something really boring and you get alot of people sleeping and alot of pissed off people. Can you guess which one I was?

Luckily, I had friends there to hang out with and we got out at a decent time on Sunday, so that I made it back home before 6pm. AND someone was competent enough to help me with a pay problem. So that made up for alot of things. I am now happily back in my apartment, showered and hanging out with my cats. In air-conditioning. It's great.

I leave you with a video of Bella panting. She chases the hairtie so much sometimes that she literally pants like a dog.
I try to make her calm down and relax a while after she starts doing that, but she is so spazed out that she just keeps running. Silly dog-kitty.

Friday, July 8, 2011

Too Much Stuff

Our apartment has become temporary home to alot of other people's furniture. A friend of ours was getting rid of his couches, which are pretty darn comfortable, so we said we (Jess and I) would take them. Jess is thankfully taking the big couch to storage this weekend to get it out of our living room, but the loveseat will be in our dining room until I move it into the new apartment in August.

We're also holding his bed and dresser until he comes back to completely move to Chicago in August. So we're a little tight on space, but we're good on seating!

And of course the cats have hated it...
They've loved the multiple places to lay and climb on. I'm sure they'll readjust as soon as their gone too. Oh the life of my cats.

Thursday, July 7, 2011

In Brief

Just a quick jot today. I've been working and studying for a Spanish exam I had today. And looking forward to drill this weekend (they need a sarcasm font).

Anywho, I leave you with another flying Timmy picture:
Flying or holding on for dear life
I'll write more after drill. Where I'll be cleaning multiple weapons all weekend long. For 8 hours a day. Yay.