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| Decoupaged candles and a tea party for one- read below to see what I did with this and more! |
Last weekend I decided that I could perk things up in my living space, so I went on a hunt to find some cool things. I found two tall, narrow vases in the Batcave (that's just a fancy name for the cabin full of junk!), remnants of scrapbook paper in the chapel, and candles in the unoccupied office (it used to be Erin's, and lately Kristjun and I have each been using it when we want better internet connection). Then I set out to do something crafty while watching TV on my computer. My original plan was to put my small, thin candle into the vase for a stained glass effect, but I couldn't find a matching candle, and I wanted to use both vases. So instead I found some chunkier candles, shaved them down a little, and they fit perfectly in the top of the vases. Then I decoupaged the vases with the scrapbook paper, and as you can see in the picture above, they didn't turn out too bad! I also decoupaged my little candle so it wouldn't feel left out! ;) In fact, I ended up also decoupaging a cup for my "change jar" and an oatmeal canister that I keep my jewelry in--- I was addicted to decoupage that day!
This weekend I actually am working, but Saturday was mostly a day off since the group didn't come in until the evening. So on Friday I realized that I had enough ingredients to scrape together a half a batch of scones. I always use the recipe from this blog for my scones, except this time I left out the chocolate chips and vanilla. I found some apple butter and Cool Whip in the fridge, and each of them (separately!) went well with the scones. Saturday I still had plenty of scones left, so I decided to make a tea party out of it, as you can see in the above picture. I made some tea, served apple butter with the scones, and used inspiration from the tea party blog link above and made pineapple sandwiches. I didn't have cream cheese, so instead I subbed the sugar and cream cheese for Cool Whip. I know it's kind of tacky to have a tea party for one, but really, who do I know that would have joined me for this?
On Sunday, I decided to have another fun lunch: I would go on a picnic! But first I had to figure out what to eat. I came up with what was probably the most delicious meal I ever made, and I created it entirely out of leftovers and dairy products.
First, I boiled some milk on my skillet, then mixed in pre-cooked rotini noodles and gravy. I then added lots of Parmesan and a little bit of shredded cheddar mix cheese. When that was nice and hot, I put it in a Tupperware, drove down to the lodges, and (after checking on the group) went down to the campfire pit that overlooks the river. The river looks kind of weird now; it's the only place that still has snow. However, the weather itself was quite warm.
I have a few more stories about my mundane adventures, many of them involving food. What can I say? Food is pretty darn good and I'm the only one who regularly cooks around here; as if I was becoming the residential mom. In fact, this first incident I'm about to tell you about involves two very motherly topics: coffee and cleaning.
So on Saturday, I went to use the microwave. The coffeepot sits on top of the microwave. I don't drink coffee, and no one else who currently lives here has a set habit of drinking coffee, so I was more amused than repulsed when I peeked at the coffee mug and saw this:
I posted this picture on Facebook, and Eli owned up to it. He's moving to camp this week, and he claims that things will change at that point! (In reality, he's generally the biggest neat freak out of all of us, so he probably was telling the truth.) Here are a few other comments my friends gave about this picture on Facebook:
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Elijah Sturgeon Haha ill take the blame lol ill bring my own out anyways...too bad you can't burn that heh
Saturday at 18:39 ·
Jes Lippe I'm so used to seeing a bunch of moldy food since I'm probably the only one that cleans the fridge... but this was too beautiful to pass up! I don't know... if I let this ferment a little longer it probably will be burnable!
Saturday at 18:50 ·
Don't you dare put that in my burn pile! I don't have a permit to burn Hazardous Material!
Saturday at 19:27 · ·
4
Elijah Sturgeon Haha well I guess you could always eat some jes and then we can hav a live patient to practice skills on :P things will change when i move this in this wk
16 hours ago · · 3
(BTW- We weren't actually trying to kill each other with this... but if one of us were to drink it, it would be great practice for our EMT class!)
Speaking of old food, we often get too many of one kind of leftover and not enough of others. One leftover that we've been getting quite a lot of lately is apples. They start to get a little mushy before we can eat them all, but as long as I don't try to eat them raw, they still taste pretty good. A few days ago I figured out how to make an amazing grilled cheese sandwich with whole wheat bread, provolone, Parmesan, and thin apple slices. (I also found some toaster bags in my kitchenette so I can put the sandwich in the toaster oven without getting crumbs or cheese everywhere!) Another thing I've been making for several months now is fried apples. I melt a little coconut oil, and then throw in some diced apples and water, then cover and wait for them to get really soft. It's a fun challenge to come up with new recipes for old food, and I would definitely welcome any recipes that you can suggest!
My original intent was to have my Sunday picnic on top of the tower overlooking the river. On Saturday, I remembered that I actually haven't gone all the way up the tower yet. The furthest I had gone was to the part where the climbing wall is, and that's only about halfway up. So I decided to see if the top of the tower was all it's cracked up to be. I started up the steps, and made it to the part where the climbing wall ends no problem. Then after a few more steps, I started to freeze up. This thing is pretty tall, and it seems taller since the river is much lower than the ground that the tower was built on! After a few more steps, I knew I couldn't convince myself to climb any higher. I only made it 5/8 of the way up that day, but someday I will see the top! However, 5/8 of the way still has some nice scenery:
My final story is about last night. Adam had us come out to his house for dinner. He didn't say that he had also scheduled a private concert! The first performer was Kevin, who performed for us the first night I came here back in August. It was much more entertaining this time around since I'm now comfortable with my surroundings and I'm not exhausted from a full day of flying! The second group was a band called Families, which was also very good. When I got back to camp, I was already really tired, but I decided to share my own musical talent as well:
(The sound is a little off... it synced perfectly on my computer and on Facebook; it's just a Blogger prob.)
I chose this song not only because I like it, but because I'm halfway there with this whole internship. Woo!
o.k.. . I like the hat, very cute! Patty I. just asked us yesterday if you were shy!!!! We said, "give her a mike & . . .". Here's the proof! Too funny.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful pic of the river.
Beautiful tea party.
Love, Mom