#76 Mini Adventures: Dog Park

Anyone who has a dog (especially a dog who loves water) should take their dog to Cosmo Dog Park (on Ray between Greenfield and Higley). This was so much fun! Zilli had the best time ever!

I actually found out that the dog park was recognized in 2007 as the best dog park in America! Pretty cool! And it lives up to it!

The park is big and wide and open, plenty of room to run around, but it also has some areas that are fenced in for dogs that are more shy, or for specific training or classes. There is actually even a little obstacle course built in part of it. Plus there is a giant lake (with fish!) for the dogs to swim in with a beach entry as well as docks to jump off. Up the hill there's a playground for children of the human variety.

We honestly didn't even have to bring Zilli's ball. As soon as we got close to the water, she realized that someone had the audacity to leave a tennis ball floating in the lake, and she wasted no time to jump in and "rescue" it.


Then, after depositing it safely on land, she turned around to realize that another ball had floated by! This could not be! Before long, we had a bit of a collection of these "rescued" tennis balls.

Such a good little momma dog, making sure all the tennis balls are safe and sound on land, haha!

She was so pleased with herself though! She was so excited she didn't know what to do! We could tell she was starting to get tired from all the jumping and swimming, but she didn't want to stop! We even tried giving her some taco bell - her own taco and everything, what dog wouldn't love that - but she was too excited to eat it and actually spit it out! The only time I've ever seen her happier is when Anthony's mom is around. And even then its a pretty close match!

I think the best part of the experience, for us anyway, was the fact that she got a free bath at the end. There's all these little shower stalls around the park with hoses, and we brought some shampoo and lathered her up nicely.

Even I got pretty hot and sweaty from the experience (c'mon, it was only something like 110 degrees out that day!) But I did notice that I got a freaking flip-flop tan on my feet!

And here's Zilli after the experience was over. Still as happy as can be.

Unfortunately, when we got home, first of all, the cat was freaked out of his mind (he couldn't recognize her smell) and started hissing at her like crazy, and also our house smelled like wet dog the rest of the day. Yummy. I bet you are SO jealous!

#66 New Food: Mousaka

Anthony and I celebrated our second anniversary today.

In a very grand way - we ran errands all day and then went to My Big Fat Greek Restaurant for dinner (because we had a coupon!).

The thing we didn't realize was that the coupon (from Restaurants.com) required us to spend $50 to get our $25 off. Yeah, pretty worthless, since we only usually spend $25 anyway, so we just got a lot of extra food for the same money we would have otherwise spent.

But it did allow us to try their sampler platter. It consisted of gyro meat, lamb chops, pork/steak/chicken souvlaki (skewers), rice, potatoes, mousaka, pastitsio, and tzatziki. It normally costs $18 per person, which we normally don't spend. But the amount of food almost justifies the cost - the dinner plate they brought out was the size of a large pizza pan, piled high with food!

Oh, and as a side note, the pitas here are soooooooo much better than Pita Jungle. Ok, that's all I needed to say.

Anyway, I had never had mousaka before, and it was actually pretty good. It is a baked pasta with eggplant, zucchini, and potato in it. Not exactly what I was expecting, and pretty rich - I don't think I could eat just that for a meal - but surprisingly very tasty.

I just keep hearing in my head the scene in My Big Fat Greek Wedding where the girls call it "moose ca ca." Haha....it makes it hard to really enjoy it!

#18 Recipe: Gelato AND #76 Mini Adventures: Homemade Ice Cream

So we went to Target last night and found an amazing deal: an ice cream maker for only $20! What a steal! Now, I love ice cream of course, but I ADORE gelato. I go nuts for the stuff! So, to celebrate our fantastic find, we found this amazing recipe for gelato.

Honestly, it isn't the easiest stuff to make - mostly because it takes so dang long. I just wanted to get that goodness in me! But you have to be patient, and it is quite rewarding when you're done.

Ingredients:
2 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup sugar, divided
4 egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
(And then whatever other flavoring you want. We just added macadamia nuts and caramel. That's Anth's favorite!)

To make it, you combine the milk, cream, and 1/2 cup sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook it until the sugar dissolves completely.

In a separate bowl, whip the egg yolks and remaining sugar together until they are thick and pale yellow. I did this with my kitchenaid and it worked quite well - I could tend to the milk on the stove while it was mixing up (wow, I'm thankful for than invention!). Then pour a little bit (1/2 cup or so) of the milk mixture into the eggs and stir, then add it all back into the saucepan. Stir constantly until it starts to get thick (the recipe says thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon - whatever that means!) but it does start to get thick after 7 or 8 minutes. Then add vanilla.

Now this is the important part - you have to wait until the mixture is completely chilled before you put it in the ice cream maker or else it won't work. We discovered this quickly. We actually tried putting it in when it had only been in the freezer an hour or so (and hot liquid does not cool very quickly in the freezer, even after an hour it was still lukewarm) and it did nothing. We left it in the fridge overnight, and tried it again today and it thickened into ice cream almost instantly.

We added the macadamia nuts just before taking it out of the ice cream maker and then added the caramel after serving.

Sooooooo yummy! I really want to try different combinations! Plus, it isn't really all that bad for you - only 3/4 cup sugar total, and mostly milk instead of cream. I don't know the exact calorie count, but it seems very healthy (and don't anyone try to correct me!).

In addition to being a new family recipe, this was one of our mini-adventures that we decided to do together, and it ended up being a lot of fun. Sugar always makes for a good bonding experience!

#65 New Restaurants: Havana Cafe AND #66 New Food: Various Cuban Food

It's the 4th of July, and we didn't have any plans, so we did the most patriotic thing we could think of - eat Puerto Rican food! Haha!

You know, I wasn't too impressed with this. I mean, it wasn't bad by any means, but it was sooo expensive! My plate (it was a lot of food, granted) cost $17.00. My food was great - not that I had any idea what I was really eating. I ordered the San Juan Combination which was a whole bunch of things I'd never had before, including a pastele (Puerto Rican tamale), mofongo, alcapurrias (if this was what I thought it was - and I didn't know one food from another on the plate - then it was my favorite), tostones (which were far too dry), arroz con gandules, and masas de puerco. I really liked most of the food, but my stomach had never encountered most of the spices before, and wasn't too pleased with me afterwards. Plus, the majority was either fried or naturally greasy in some capacity, and that didn't sit too well either.

Anthony tried the pulled pork and really didn't like it. It just wasn't his type of spices. His order cost $20. So after all was said and done, it was over $50 just for dinner. And it was decent food, a new experience for sure, but not worth $50 for a single meal!

Actually, my very favorite part of the meal was the bread that they brought out. They had AMAZING bread! Mmmm....yes, that was the best part! But again, I'm not spending another $50 for good bread and decent food.

Oh, and just a word of advice: puerto rican food does not reheat well. That's all I'll say about that.

#15 Nonfiction: Rule #1

Just finished another good, practical book about finances and money management. This one targets investing. And not investing like day-trading and obsessing over the stock market, but investing for the average joe, but still getting a great return on investment.

The book is centered around the investing rules of Warren Buffet:

Rule 1: Don't lose money

Rule 2: Don't forget rule 1

Basically the book teaches you how to use the free tools on the internet (MSN Money, Yahoo Finance, etc) to find good, stable businesses at a great price (at least 50% off the actual value), and then invest your money in them by moving in and out (in when the stocks are going up, out when they are going down - and it shows how to predict this), so that you are virtually guaranteed not to lose any money.

The book is not about making a quick buck, or making millions and millions off the stock market (although the author had only $1000 to his name when he started and is now a multi-millionaire). You don't get in when the stock is at rock bottom, and you don't get out at the ultimate peak, because you can't really know where the bottom is until it starts going back up, and you can't really know where the top is until it starts going back down. But you learn to watch for the signs that is a safe time to invest your money.

So far the hardest part is just finding businesses that fit all the qualifications he says to look for - stable history, rising values, etc. I went through probably 150 different companies and came up with a watch list of about 20 that actually met all the criteria. And then only 5 of those were priced right. And then none of those had all the buying signs. So I don't have anything to invest in quite yet, but I have a great list of companies to watch for. And every few days I'll just go online, check where everything is at, and once I find the right price and the right buying signs, I'll put some money in. And then a little more. And a little more.

I'm actually pretty excited!

#15 Nonfiction: The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands

This book was definitely not anything that I expected. I turned on the CD while I was doing housework earlier today, just hoping that it might have some inspiration in it for learning how my husband's brain works better and maybe a couple pearls of wisdom in it.

I've always been wary of radio talk show people. So I wasn't sure how to trust Dr. Laura. (I was thinking of Sleepless in Seattle meets Delilah - who I generally can't stand).

But within the first 3 minutes of the program, I wanted to reach out and hug her! She is absolutely brilliant, and every woman should listen to this tape. She goes off on how women are too overconcerned with themselves and thinking their husbands should "romance" them all the time, and yet want to be thought of as brilliant and capable and fully independent of their husbands. She point blank said that the rise of feminism is one of the biggest causes of divorce and failures in families and that women blaming men for all their problems are actually the problems themselves. And this was all in the first few minutes.

She says wives need to turn to their husbands for support, not just to their girlfriends, and that they should be romantic toward their husbands if they want their husbands to be romantic toward them. She says to stop beating around the bush if you want something and just tell your husband directly, but not nagging about something (i.e. "how much did _____ cost you?!?!) but rather about the actual issue (i.e. "hey darling, can we talk about money? I think we're spending too much"). And she says that men want to be their wife's hero, her knight in shining armor, so humor him once in a while with this fantasy.

Wow, I was surprised she wasn't shot by the fem-nazi's after what she said! But it needed to be said!

Really, all I can say is that every girl needs to read this book or listen to the book on tape. Seriously. It has great, practical advice, not all fluffed up.

My favorite line: Happiness is an attitude, not a reality.

#15 Nonfiction: The Peacegiver

I've been reading a lot of these nonfiction-fiction books lately. And this one was just as exceptional as the rest of them.

The story is about a husband and wife that are not getting along at all, both blaming one another for the marriage issues. The husband is visited by his deceased grandfather in his dreams, who teaches him through gospel stories about how the atonement isn't just for sinners and how it can apply to the problems he is having in his life.

Although my marriage is just fine right now, there were plenty of applications I could make to my own life. The big one being upset (but upset isn't really the right word...some sort of combination between upset and jealous) that people who have hurt me haven't "gotten theirs" and actually are doing quite well for themselves and have certain blessings in their lives that I've been trying to achieve. Yeah, I know that's a bit of a big confession to make, that I harbor all of these bad feelings toward others, something of a grudge against them. But I didn't realize that I did it so much until I was sitting up thinking about it one night after Anthony fell asleep to me reading to him again. So now that I know I have the issue, I can start to work toward it, and find more happiness in my own life. I don't even remember anything in the book that particularly dealt with that subject, but the fact that it got me thinking and that I made that realization about myself has really changed my perspective. Isn't it crazy how books can do that - make you think about something completely unrelated and, in effect, change your life?

The book is easy to read, and captivating, and will definitely get you to think about things in your life, even if you think everything is all honky-dory right now. We all can learn more about the atonement and how we can apply it in our lives.

#52 1001 Things I'm Grateful For (#1-10)

In no particular order, but the first ones are always the easiest! LOL!

1. My amazing phenomenal husband. Sure, we've had our struggles and we don't always get along, but I can't get enough of this guy! He's my favorite! Really, I can't even express it. I love him so much. He's my bestest friend in the whole world and I'm so glad to be married to him forever.

2. My membership in the church. You know, even if it all were just the "opiate for the masses" as Karl Marx says (even though I know for sure that it isn't), I wouldn't mind. It makes my life so much more than just the day to day life that many people live. I know why I'm here. I know where I'm going. I know that I will be with my family for eternity. Life has meaning, pain serves a purpose, I have a reason to go through the day. And I know that someone is always watching out for me and guiding my life where I need to go.

3. My cat. Ok, this may sound so lame, but I really am grateful for him. He snuggles me every single night and greets me every morning when I wake up with some kisses on my nose. He comes when I call him, and he just knows when I need him to jump into my lap and lay there for a bit. And when he sits there and sucks his thumb (yes, he sucks his thumb!) and purrs, I feel so...perfect. I was told that cats do that when they were abandoned at too young of an age - I found him when he was maybe a week old - and it means that they are perfectly content. It is a way to mimic the nursing they were never able to do. I just love that little guy.

4. And if I say my cat, I need to say my dog too. She is the best dog anyone could ever ask for. She's so well behaved, and wants mor than anything to please us. She'll come and do anything, and loves nothing more than to lay by (on) our feet. She holds our feet with hers. It is so ridiculously cute! And she's always so excited when we get home, or wake up, or talk to her, or look at her, or do anything. She always makes me smile. I don't know what I'd do without her.

5. My house. We've put so much work into making this house beautiful, and I'm always just so happy to be at home. Everyone seems so much happier and healthier in this house - even the animals seem happier! We love living here, and I am so grateful to be blessed with our home. It is perfect for us, and I hope that we can stay here a really long time.

6. My sis-in-law Ambre. She's been living with us for a couple months now, and at first I wasn't sure what to expect because I'd only seen her a few times before she moved here, but I'm very glad she's here. It's great to have another source of estrogen here, and someone to talk to when I need a real source of reason (boys just don't get it sometimes!). Ambre is awesome, and I'm thrilled to have her as a sister!

7. Music. Music has always been a very big part of my life, and I love how much emotion it can express without having to necessarily use words, or how much more is conveyed through those words than just the words themselves. Music touches the very core of my being. When I listen, I can feel it in every cell of my body - the pain, the happiness, the strength, the sorrow, the peace. I've always said that I would rather be blind than deaf. I couldn't live without music.

8. The internet. I am always looking things up online. I love knowledge, and to know things - any random things. I couldn't survive without being able to look up answers to any crazy question that pops up into my mind. Google, IMDB, Wikipedia - these are all of my best friends.

9. Sundays. It just happens to be a Sunday as I write this, but I'm so glad to have a day to rest and relax and just be with the hubby all day. The day always starts out with some wonderful spiritual enlightenment, and is usually filled with yummy food, spending time with friends and family (or just the hubs), reading a good book or watching a fun movie, and, of course, a much needed nap. How could a day be any better?

10. My dad. We didn't get along very much growing up, and for a while I was pretty much convinced that he hated me and wished I was never born. It's only been in the last few months that I found out that wasn't true, and we've been really good friends. I see him at least every few weeks to go out to dinner, or have him over at the house, or go do something fun. I'm so glad for this new opportunity to get to know him. He's an amazing person and I'm so glad to have him as my daddy.

Mini Adventures

So I made a slight change in one of my goals.

I was thinking yesterday about how boring my life really is. Anthony and I really don't do much, unless you count renting movies and sitting at home watching them is super exciting.

It's not.

I mean, I love snuggling with my husband and watching good movies, but it really isn't exciting.

The thing is, we don't have a ton of money right now, so we can't do all that much. We can't travel a ton right now, or buy fun things, or do any of that. So I spent some time brainstorming yesterday, and came up with a list of 101 activities we can do that cost little to no money! Each one can be its own little adventure. The best part, is Anthony was actually kind of excited about it. Whenever I talk about my lists and plans and ideas, he rolls his eyes. But I showed him the list after he was home from work, and although he said a few times, "what, are we in high school again?!" he started saying other things like, "hey, that could be fun..." which basically means, "wow, my wife is the most creative person in the world but I really don't want to tell her that because that would be giving too much away, so instead I'll make an ambiguous comment that could possibly be perceived as a compliment and maybe she'll figure it out." Yeah, I got it! :)

So I'm going to print out the list and cut it up into little slips of paper, and for each date night that we have, we can pick one of the activities. Sometimes they're a bit longer than just a few hours, or need to be during the day, or require (or would work best with) more people, so if that is the case, then we can just snuggle and watch a movie, but we have to plan that activity out right then, schedule a time for it. If it is a typically "seasonal" activity, like dying eggs, then we still do it anyway, and decorate them for whatever season we're in. Haha!

Oh, and there were a couple things that he wasn't sure he wanted to do (he's too joe cool for that, I guess!) so the rule is, that if we pull out an activity and he doesn't want to do it, he has to plan something more fun instead. And there were only 2 or 3 that he said that about, so he only gets 3 chances to change the activity.

And so off we go, making memories and traditions in our family!

MINI ADVENTURES

1. Ice skating
2. Rock climbing
3. Boating at tempe town lake
4. Horseback riding
5. Play golf
6. Tandem bike riding
7. Drive in movie
8. Bumper cars
9. Roller skating
10. Climb a tree
11. Fossil Springs
12. Go to the zoo
13. Visit an art museum
14. Go-Kart Racing
15. Mini Golf
16. Visit a waterpark
17. Carousel at the mall
18. Laser tag
19. Bowling
20. Improv theatre
21. Sporting event
22. Dye eggs
23. Picnic in the park
24. Farmer’s market
25. Hike south mountain
26. Fly a kite
27. Take Polaroid pictures
28. Visit Santa/Easter Bunny at the mall
29. Ice blocking
30. Oracle caves
31. Sand castle at the park
32. Wish balloons
33. Visit a random themed museum
34. Open mic poetry reading
35. Test drive a very expensive car
36. Relive the first date
37. Make your own drive-in (and make your own “car”)
38. Play a game of pool
39. Make homemade ice cream
40. Swap meet
41. Wedding crashing (for the food) :)
42. Hopscotch at the park
43. Local band concert
44. Go to the arcade
45. Feed the ducks
46. Carve pumpkins
47. Roast marshmallows
48. Visit a fair or carnival
49. Watch the sun rise
50. Go to the public pool and jump off the high dive
51. Take Zilli to the dog park
52. Find a tire swing
53. Ride the light rail
54. Play tennis
55. Go fishing
56. Run through sprinklers
57. Read kids books at the bookstore
58. Make pottery
59. Play Frisbee
60. Make rock pets
61. Tie dye tshirts
62. Play croquet
63. Make a lip synch music video
64. Regressive dinner (backwards, different place for each course)
65. Paper airplane contest
66. Photo shoot
67. Jazz/Piano bar
68. Exchange love letters
69. Batting cages
70. Hike papago park
71. Ghost town
72. Tonto bridge
73. Dance club
74. Castles & Coasters
75. Salt River Tubing
76. Scenic drive
77. Stargazing with a star map
78. Indian ruins
79. Japanese friendship garden
80. Ugly night
81. Apache Trail Drive
82. Paint a picture together
83. Truth or dare (mostly just dare)
84. Visit a nursing home
85. Heart attack someone
86. Build a model rocket that flies!
87. Sneak into a ritzy hotel and swim in the pool
88. Learn a new card game
89. Play with legos (etc)
90. Photo scavenger hunt
91. Broom hockey
92. Go to the visitor’s center to watch the movies
93. Capture the flag
94. Play racquetball
95. Eat cereal and watch cartoons
96. Dollar theatre
97. Dress up and get fast food
98. Get a piñata
99. Homemade taffy
100. Remake something from a thrift store
101. Pizza slice tour of town

#65 New Restaurants: Pita Jungle

Anthony and I tried Pita Jungle yesterday.

It is on the SW corner of Val Vista and Williams Field.

It definitely wasn't quite what I expected. Just based on the name and everything, I guess I was thinking it was something like Chipotle style, or maybe Pei Wei - you know, the hybrid fast-food type place. But no, it was a sit-down-with-a-menu-and-a-real-waiter place. But the confusing part was, all of the waiters and waitresses were so uber casual, you would have thought it was a beach party. It didn't feel quite right. I mean, they could at least wear normal casual clothes - jeans and tshirts seemed dressed up compared to their attire.

Anyway, the food was pretty decent in my opinion. I ordered, of course, the most expensive thing on the menu (a whole $14!) - the mango shrimp and rice plate. The rice was great. brown rice, just slightly chewy (which I absolutely love) and the flavor of the sauce was really good. You only get 7 shrimps though, so even though it was plenty to fill me up and still have some leftovers, for $14, I think I could have gone to just about any cheap chinese food place and gotten nearly the same thing for half the price. I mean, it was definitely good, but a little expensive for what you got and the atmosphere and everything.

My husband thought otherwise. Since I ordered the most expensive thing, he got two pita sandwiches - the beef gyro and the philly cheesestake gyro. He thought both were decent, although, in his words, the philly was a "disgrace to philly cheesestakes everywhere." He said it was good, but definitely not a true philly cheesestake. Each of the sandwiches were about $6. He liked it, but again, for the price and the atmosphere, its just not really worth it.

Oh, and we also split a plate of hummus for an appetizer. Anth isn't a huge fan of hummus, so we tried the jalapeno cilantro type that they had on the menu. We both absolutely loved that. The big problem was that the entire plate only comes with 1 pita. There's enough hummus there for probably 4 pitas, but you only get one, and they charge you for any additional pitas. Ok, they only charge $0.39, but still! That's like a mexican restaurant charging for the tortilla chips!

Basically we decided that if we're in the mood for greek food, we may as well go to My Big Fat Greek Restaurant instead. It may cost a dollar or two more, and be a little further from home, but you get more food, better service, better atmosphere, and they don't charge you for extra pitas.

Overall rating:

#85 Start My Own Business IN PROGRESS

I turned in the paperwork to start my LLC yesterday. I won't consider this goal complete until I have my Fed ID# and everything all put together. It should only take a week or so though.

So I'm on my way to entrepreneurship! Yay!

#95 Make and Use Reusable Grocery Bags IN PROGRESS

So I realized I forgot to post some pictures of this super cool reusable grocery bag that Lizzie Thayn got me for my birthday! She is soooo sweet!

Check it out!

It starts as just a little bag, about the size of a small makeup bag, definitely small enough to even carry all the time in my purse:

With a zipper on the side:

Unzip, and it folds open like a book:

And then expands out into a full size grocery bag! So cool!

I'm going green! Er, teal.....

:)

#56 Complete a Year's Supply of Emergency Storage IN PROGRESS

I found a fantastic website for getting my emergency storage done. I have been feeling pretty overwhelmed with how much I have to get done, but at www.foodstoragemadeeasy.net, they have a biweekly checklist that they send you to remind you what you need to do. So you just have to purchase a few things every two weeks. Easy, right? And after a year of following their so-called babysteps, you will have "72 hour kits, water storage, 3 month supply of normal foods, and your entire one year supply of long-term foods as well as some critical non-food items."

Nifty!

I'm much more excited for food storage now. :)

#18 Recipe: Arancini

So I tried out this sicilian dish last night. It was more complex than most anything else I've ever tried - there are 3 different multi-step processes you have to go through, but it turned out pretty good. Anthony actually really liked it, despite the fact that somehow in my world of amazing intellect I mixed up the mozarella cheese with hash browns. Hash browns?! Are you kidding me?! Yeah, I didn't notice until afterwards. Hey, they're both shredded and white and my darling husband put them both in clear plastic bags right on top of eachother! How in the world would I have known different?! I mean, I guess I could have tasted it, but I wasn't thinking that it could be anything other than mozarella cheese. Hash browns come in a big red bag, I know, I've bought them before!

But, they still turned out pretty good. Fortunately, I made enough of the filling that I can try to make them again (with the cheese this time) later this week.

Anyway, here is the recipe, from Rachael Ray's website:

Rice Ingredients:
2 cups uncooked rice
1 quart chicken stock or bouillon
3 tablespoons softened butter
4 egg yolks
1 cup finely grated parmesan cheese

Filling Ingredients:
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup chopped onions
1/4 cup chopped celery
1/2 pound ground veal, beef, chicken or pork
1/4 pound mozzarella cut into half-inch cubes
1 can tomato paste (6 ounces)
1 can water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/3 cup frozen peas

Frying Ingredients:
4 egg whites, slightly beaten
2 cups bread crumbs
Enough extra virgin olive oil to cover the pan 2 inches deep

Preparation

For Rice:Combine rice, chicken stock and butter in large pan. When chicken stock begins to boil, turn heat down low; stir rice once, then cover pan tightly and simmer until all liquid is absorbed, about 15 minutes. Rice should be soft and slightly sticky so that it will hold together.Set aside rice to cool. Add egg yolks and parmesan cheese to cooled rice; stir well. Refrigerate while making the other parts of the recipe.

For Filling:In a saucepan, heat extra virgin olive oil and sauté onions and celery until golden, about five minutes. Add meat and brown. Stir in tomato paste, water, salt and pepper. Cover and simmer about 20 minutes. Add peas and cook for five minutes longer.

To Fry:Add enough extra virgin olive oil to a pan with high sides so that it is about two inches deep, then turn to medium-high heat. While extra virgin olive oil is heating, shape rice mixture into round balls, about 1/2 cup each. With your finger, make a hole in each rice ball. Add one tablespoon of the meat filling and the cheese cube and cover the holes with more rice. Dip rice balls in egg whites and roll in bread crumbs until thoroughly coated. Drop carefully into heated extra virgin olive oil, a few at a time, and fry until golden, turning around for about 3-4 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towel. Serve warm or at room temperature and with a side dish of tomato sauce.

*Changes I made: I made the rice with my rice cooker, and used just a little bit of extra virgin olive oil instead of the butter. I also eliminated the salt from the filling (because I just don't need the extra sodium) and the peas as well (because I couldn't find any fresh peas - only frozen, which I can't stand). You also don't need to use a full 2 inches of olive oil to fry them (the stuff is expensive!) so I just went about a 1/3 inch deep and was more careful rolling the balls around. I just did one at a time.

Oh, and the rice balls ended up being pretty big - larger than my fist. There was enough to make maybe 5. I probably should have worked the rice a little bit more in my hands so that it wasn't so thick around the filling. Then I could have made them a little smaller as well. Either way, one rice ball each was enough to fill up both my husband and myself.

I'll update after I try it out again.

#42 Read all the Standard Works: 1 Nephi

I finished reading 1st Nephi for probably the 2 billionth time. I always start things from the beginning, so I've read and read and reread again this book! Mostly the 1st chapter! If I forget to read for a while (months? oops!) then I just start over.

It's a good thing there's a lot of really important stuff in this chapter, and that it is fairly easy to read and understand. If 2nd Nephi was first, I don't think anyone would make it through at all! (Not that there is anything wrong with 2nd Nephi, it is just a little bit more difficult. Someday I'll understand Isaiah stuff though...someday...).

Some of my favorite scriptures in this book are:

1 Nephi 3:7
We can always do anything and everything that the Lord asks of us. There WILL be a way.

1 Nephi 6:4-6
The whole purpose of the Book of Mormon is to bring us to Christ, so anything that we read is meant to do exactly that and it is all of worth to us today, even over 2000 years later.

1 Nephi 10:19
If we only ask and seek out the gospel, we can understand just as much as the ancient prophets and today's prophets. There is nothing hidden from us. This is very comforting to me as I often feel very overwhelmed with questions. It seems like when I study the gospel, I just uncover more questions, and very few answers overall. But I know that if I just keep at it, eventually I will understand everything.

1 Nephi 17:13
We are all in the wilderness of life, and the Lord will be our light in this wilderness. The funny thing about carrying a lantern in the woods is that it doesn't light up everything so we can see miles and miles away. All we need to see in order to stay on track is the few feet in front of us. The Lord does that for us, guiding us in the way we should go. We don't know what will happen a year or 10 years from now. We just need to follow him one step at a time and know that he will guide us to the right destination.

1 Nephi 18:3
The power of prayer. I need to do this more.

1 Nephi 18:16
I wish I could say this. I need to print this out and read it every day so I remember to stop complaining all the time!

1 Nephi 20:10
Reminds me of this story I heard a few years ago and have never forgotten:

In Malachi 3:3 it says:"He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver."

This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.

One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.

That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver.

As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver."

She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire.

If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?" He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's easy, when I see my image in it."

Author Unknown

Scripture List

Since I so love to check things off as I accomplish them, I decided to expand out my scripture reading list, so I can mark off each book as I read it. That way it won't seem like absolutely forever before I can report something on it. I have a lot to read!

Here is the list:

Not read
In progress
Completed

BOOK OF MORMON

1. First Nephi
2. Second Nephi
3. Jacob
4. Enos
5. Jarom
6. Omni
7. Words of Mormon
8. Mosiah
9. Alma
10. Helaman
11. Third Nephi
12. Fourth Nephi
13. Mormon
14. Ether
15. Moroni

THE OLD TESTAMENT

16. Genesis
17. Exodus
18. Leviticus
19. Numbers
20. Deuteronomy
21. Joshua
22. Judges
23. Ruth
24. 1 Samuel
25. 2 Samuel
26. 1 Kings
27. 2 Kings
28. 1 Chronicles
29. 2 Chronicles
30. Ezra
31. Nehemiah
32. Esther
33. Job
34. Psalms
35. Proverbs
36. Ecclesiastes
37. Song of Solomon
38. Isaiah
39. Jeremiah
40. Lamentations
41. Ezekiel
42. Daniel
43. Hosea
44. Joel
45. Amos
46. Obadiah
47. Jonah
48. Micah
49. Nahum
50. Habakkuk
51. Zephaniah
52. Haggai
53. Zechariah
54. Malachi

THE NEW TESTAMENT

55. Matthew
56. Mark
57. Luke
58. John
59. Acts
60. Romans
61. 1 Corinthians
62. 2 Corinthians
63. Galatians
64. Ephesians
65. Philippians
66. Colossians
67. 1 Thessalonians
68. 2 Thessalonians
69. 1 Timothy
70. 2 Timothy
71. Titus
72. Philemon
73. Hebrews
74. James
75. 1 Peter
76. 2 Peter
77. 1 John
78. 2 John
79. 3 John
80. Jude
81. Revelation

DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS

82. 1
83. 2
84. 3
85. 4
86. 5
87. 6
88. 7
89. 8
90. 9
91. 10
92. 11
93. 12
94. 13
95. 14
96. 15
97. 16
98. 17
99. 18
100. 19
101. 20
102. 21
103. 22
104. 23
105. 24
106. 25
107. 26
108. 27
109. 28
110. 29
111. 30
112. 31
113. 32
114. 33
115. 34
116. 35
117. 36
118. 37
119. 38
120. 39
121. 40
122. 41
123. 42
124. 43
125. 44
126. 45
127. 46
128. 47
129. 48
130. 49
131. 50
132. 51
133. 52
134. 53
135. 54
136. 55
137. 56
138. 57
139. 58
140. 59
141. 60
142. 61
143. 62
144. 63
145. 64
146. 65
147. 66
148. 67
149. 68
150. 69
151. 70
152. 71
153. 72
154. 73
155. 74
156. 75
157. 76
158. 77
159. 78
160. 79
161. 80
162. 81
163. 82
164. 83
165. 84
166. 85
167. 86
168. 87
169. 88
170. 89
171. 90
172. 91
173. 92
174. 93
175. 94
176. 95
177. 96
178. 97
179. 98
180. 99
181. 100
182. 101
183. 102
184. 103
185. 104
186. 105
187. 106
188. 107
189. 108
190. 109
191. 110
192. 111
193. 112
194. 113
195. 114
196. 115
197. 116
198. 117
199. 118
200. 119
201. 120
202. 121
203. 122
204. 123
205. 124
206. 125
207. 126
208. 127
209. 128
210. 129
211. 130
212. 131
213. 132
214. 133
215. 134
216. 135
217. 136
218. 137
219. 138

PEARL OF GREAT PRICE

220. Moses
221. Abraham
222. Joseph Smith – Matthew
223. Joseph Smith – History
224. Articles of Faith

#94 Walk/Run for Charity IN PROGRESS: Breast Cancer 3 Day

This goal will be in progress for quite some time.

I just created my own team for the Susan G. Komen Walk For the Cure - a 3 day walk against breast cancer in November of this year. I am going to walk 60 miles in 3 days. Wow. But it is for a very good cause, and I should have some of my closest friends with me on the journey. I can't wait!

I also need to raise $2300 before I can participate. I have 5 months to do it, but I'll need to come up with some great fundraising ideas. If you have any, please let me know!

My team is the "Bra'd Squad" - superhero girls against breast cancer. It will be so freaking awesome. My amazing mother in law came up with this one. She's crazy - and that's one of the reasons I love her so much. I'm creative, but not in that way. I don't know what I'd do without her!

Also, if you are interested in making a donation or joining me, or know anyone else who might be, check out my website here: www.the3day.org/goto/bra-dsquad

I am so excited to do this! I've never done anything even remotely close.

I better get my little booty in shape!

#54 Develop a Budget IN PROGRESS

Inspired by my aunt and uncle's fantastic book, Debt Free on Any Income, I have started a budget.

I've tried doing this numerous times before, with very little luck. But I always just wanted to sit down for an hour or two, map it out, and then go to work. I never put much time into it. So this time, instead of just arbitrarily assigning numbers to the various categories (Um, I think I can get by on only $150 for groceries and then I can put $1500 in savings! Yeah, right!) I'm going to thoroughly research my spending habits for the last few months, and see where I can make the most changes. Then, since there have been several changes recently to our income, and hopefully a few more coming up very soon, I need to monitor spending over the next couple months as well. It doesn't help to budget a certain amount toward savings if we end up having twice the income, and even a percentage doesn't always vary quite the same way. 10% of $1000 per month may be all we could afford, but if we were bringing in $10,000 per month (I wish!) then we could afford a bit more than 10%.

So it will take a little while before I have the true budget fully in place. And then I have to stick to it...

But, there are a few things that I'm going to implement right off the bat, based on looking at just the last month's spending:

1. Limit eating out to once per week or less - we eat out all the time! We could save a lot of money by cooking at home. Did you know the average home-cooked meal is anywhere from $3-$5 per person? Good luck getting anything more than Taco Bell for that price! Gosh, is eating out really worth it to spend $15 or more per person? That's a week's worth of dinners in one sitting. I mean, leftovers usually make at least another meal for me, but still! We can definitely cut back here.

2. Plan meals in advance each week and then only buy what is necessary to use for those meals. One of our biggest bad habits is buying food that we don't really need and then forgetting about it. It is especially true in our new house, because we have a fridge in the garage as well, and I usually forget to look there. We're always going to costco and saying, "mmmm....check out those strawberries! They look so yummy!" So we buy the big giant tub of strawberries, get home and eat one or two, and then forget about it. Oops, there went all those strawberries. So I'm going to monitor that a lot more closely.

3. I downloaded Quicken to manage our finances, especially since I have my own business now, and we have ideas for a couple other side businesses to run. One of the great things I've found so far in the program is that it can link to all of your various bank accounts and show you all the transactions, and you have to accept each one individually. That means that you hold yourself accountable for every single transaction. You can't slip one in. Everything gets categorized. Plus, this helps eliminate identity theft, because you are on top of it all. And it only takes a couple minutes per day once you get it up and running. I feel very much more in control.

I'll keep updating my budgeting ideas as they come to me. :)

#15 Nonfiction books: Debt Free on Any Income by Tracy and Lyle Shamo

This book has special meaning to me because my Aunt and Uncle wrote it. Tracy is my mom's sister.

The book has been out for a while, and I've been wanting to read it since I knew they were writing it, but I just finally got around to doing so.

And I was not disappointed.

There is a lot of wonderful and practical advice for creating a budget and paying off debt. We have been very fortunate to not have a whole lot of debt. We had a little bit on a couple credit cards, but I was able to pay those off right away. The best thing is though, after performing a few of the calculations in the book (using their software), we realized that we could pay off our cars and the house in about 10 years! Isn't that amazing?! And we were planning on staying in this house at least that long anyway. To think, when we get to selling our house, 100% of the money could be cash towards a new house! That idea is just so energizing!

Anyway, this book is a pretty quick read - I finished it in only two days since there are a lot of charts and numberical data and the meat of the book is very concise with little to no fluff. It is great advice for everyone! I'm thrilled about the changes that we can make to our lives to save additional money and pay off all our debts. And it won't even change our standard of living hardly at all. It will just make it more organized!

I recommend this to everyone!

#91 Service: Cleaning

I spent an hour in service today and it felt amazing. I haven't really done any service in quite some time, because I've been "too busy". Partly that was true - most of the service projects that the relief society sets up occur during the day and I've always worked all day every day - but partially, I just didn't make time for it.

Well today I did. There are a couple single moms in our ward, and our bishop came from a single parent household, so he asked that we do a little bit extra to help them out. So the relief society organized cleaning house for a couple of the families. I helped out this morning. It is absolutely incredible how much cleaner a house can be in just an hour with those ladies working. I know I didn't help nearly as much as I should as far as overall contribution. I don't have years of experience coming up with creative solutions to everyday cleaning problems like many of these women do, but I definitely worked hard. And I must admit, cleaning someone else's house is a lot more enjoyable than cleaning my own house. Especially seeing her face when she came downstairs - she works two jobs, one during the day and one at night to support her family, so she sleeps really late in the morning. But when she came down, you could just see all of the gratitude on her face. It was worth every moment!

Hopefully my schedule will stay flexible enough that I can help out on a regular basis!