#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.