But, isn't there always a but! I feel like I am on a forced vacation I wasn't ready to take. There only seems to be uncertainty. I'm waiting, hoping, praying to be called up from Juniors (3), but until then LIMBO!
Unemployment was not my first choice as to a reason to relocate. As many of my friends and family know, I wanted to be closer. West Texas is just to far from them. When I was offered the job in Texas, I told Heavenly Father I could do anything for 2-3 years. After working there for about 2 years I started looking for jobs closer to home. I began looking into Grad Schools. At the 3 year mark I thought, "Well, I guess it's going to take a little bit longer than 3 years and I continued to search. Then at 3 years 3 months I was laid off. It was almost like Heavenly Father said, "You said 2-3 years. You haven't been able to find something on your own. So, here's a little jumpstart!" I truly believe that it is a blessing. But, there's that but again, it isn't easy! I have internal conflict.
The fun, easygoing part of me says: "Live it up! Who knows when you will be in a situation like this again! You have NO RESPONSIBLITIES, have fun! Go to Utah, go to California! You don't have anything else going on. You can apply for jobs online from anywhere!"
The practical part says: " You have bills to pay and unemployment will only go so far. You need to stay focused and work harder at finding a job. What are you going to do about Grad School? You know you need to go. Make a decision! Get in gear! You can't go on a trip you don't have an income!"
I try to have a schedule. I try not to sleep in too late. I try to keep myself busy. The activities that I do throughout the week are: walk Nikki, job search, waste time on faceboo, research masters programs, crafting, read, cook dinner 3 nights a week (4), play Wii/Wii yoga, got to the temple 1 to 2 times, go to church, and hang out with my parents. I do watch a bit of TV and Hulu. For 2 1/2 years I didn't have TV, now I find myself doing mindless watching while job searching! I have to do something so I don't fall asleep while filling out job application or searching another website for job openings.
Things are getting a tad bit boring. I hope I find a job soon!
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1-In Midland I had to be up at 5am Monday-Thursday.
2-A couple of days ago, Nikki pulled a snake out of a hole in the green space. I was pretty big!
3-Juniors is the minor league of hockey
4-I made Stuffed Peppers for dinner last night. They were delish!
My Mini
Oh, and check out my new background and fonts! I was playing around with blogspots new templates.
For Christmas Dad gave me the Better Homes and Gardens Ultimate Cookie Magazine. It has some really fun and delicious cookies and bars in it. Before we left for Utah I made some bar named Chunky Path Brownies for our Family Home Evening. They were yummy brownies covered in gooey Marshmallow drizzled in chocolate syrup!
A couple of weeks ago I help host my book club and decided to break out the Cookie Magazine once again. Because we had read Northanger Abbey by Jane Austin I wanted to make a shortbread cookie and then a fun cookie. I decided on Coconut-Lime Shortbread(top left) and Marshmallow Snappers(bottom left). The glaze on the Coconut-Lime Shortbread turned out a little funny but they tasted just as shortbread should. The Marshmallow Snappers were divine! I brought the leftovers to church the next day for my Sunday school class and linger longer, they never made it to linger longer! Some of the young men in my class admitted that they were in love with the cookies.
So, I promised some of you the recipe, here you go:
Marshmallow Snappers
Prep: 1 hr Oven: 350 Bake: 10 mins Stand: 2 mins Yield: 48 cookies
1 12oz package semisweet or bittersweet chocolate pieces (I did 3/4 bittersweet and 1/4 semisweet)
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups pecan halves, toasted
24 large marshmallows, halved
Caramel ice cream topping (optional, but worth it!)
1.) In a medium saucepan combine the chocolate pieces and 2 tbs of the butter, Heat and stir over low heat until smooth. Let stand at room temp for 20 to 30 mins or until cooled. Preheat oven to 350F . Meanwhile, in a medium bowl stir together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
2.) In a large mixing bowl beat the remaining butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Beat in brown sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating and scraping bowl after each addition. Beat in the melted chocolate mixture and the vanilla. Add the flour mixture beating on low speed until mixture is combined.
3.) Drop dough by heaping teaspoons 2 inches apart on to an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8 mins. Remove from oven. Lightly press three or four pecan halves onto each cookie, spacing pecan evenly with ends pointing toward center of the cookie. Place a marshmallow half, cut slide down. in the center of each cookie over pecan ends.
4.) Return cookies to oven for 2 mins. Remove from oven. Lightly press a pecan half on top of each marshmallow. Let stand for 2 nins on cookie sheet. Transfer to wire rack and let cool. If desired, drizzle cookies with caramel ice cream topping just before serving.
Coconut-Lime Shortbread
Prep: 30 mins Oven: 325 Bake: 15 mins per batch Yield: 40 cookies
1/2 cup flaked coconut, toasted
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbs finely shredded lime peel
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cold butter, cut in to pieces
Lime glaze (optional)
Finely shredded lime peel (optional)
1.) Preheat oven to 325 F. In a food processor combine coconut, sugar and 2 tbs lime peel, and the vanilla. Cover and process until coconut is finely chopped. Add flour; cover and process with one on/off pulse just to combine. Add butter; cover and process until mixture starts to cling. Transfer to a very large bowl (dough will appear dry). Knead dough until smooth. Shape dough into a ball; divide in half.
2.) On a lightly floured surface, roll out one of the dough portions to about 1/4 inch thickness. Using desired 1 1/2 to 2 inch cookie cutters, cut out, dough. Place cutouts 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
3.) Bake for 15 to 17 mins or just until bottoms start to brown. Transfer cookies to a wire rack; let cool, Repeat with the remaining dough portion. If desired, spread tops of cookies with Lime Glaze and sprinkle with additional lime peel.
Lime Glaze: In a small bowl stir together 2 cups powdered sugar, 1/2 tsp finely shredded lime peel, and 1 tbs lime juice. Stir in enough water (2 to 3 tbs) to make a glaze of spreading consistency.
So, We will start with my first road trip to of the summer.
I went with my friend Adriane to her parents house in Timpson, TX. We were going there to pick up her sister, Amanda, stuff because she was moving to Midland. And to get a few things Adriane's parents were giving to her. Timpson is about an hour or so from the Louisiana boarder. In some ways I felt like I was back in Louisiana. It was extremely green with lots of trees. On the way our we stopped at CHIPOTLE in Dallas for dinner. I love and miss the Silver Bullet! YUM! Adriane curses the day I introduced her to Chipotle, we don't have one in Midland. We spent Friday to Sunday in Timpson. During this trip I truly realized how much I appreciate my family, who they are and what they do. I actually called Mom and Dad while they were ion there trip in Boston to let them know this.
On the way home we were about 45 minutes from Midland, just west of Big Spring when one of the van's tires blew out. We were very disappointed by this. We were so close and yet so far away from home. We were able to call my friend Ben who lives in Big Spring to come help us out. Ben and Bjorn came to our rescue! They along with the help of a friendly couple how stopped were able to help us get on our way. 2 hours later we made it home!
This a picture of where that huge dent was on the car. 
This is the size of most of the dents in the car....
The sad thing is that now every time there is a storm, I freek out about hail. I really don't want to go through that agaain!
The trees outside of my car.
The edge of the parking spot for our campsite, which was #85.
If you look closely you can see my cute tent in the darkness!
My honey bear blanket that I have had since I was around 12 years old! I love that blanket!
You might not be able to tell but I really like my car!
I kinda like the first and last ones of these!
This is what I should have looked like while sleeping in my car!!
I was able to eventually fall asleep and sleep quite well after having may restless nights involving a cough. Maybe I should sleep in my car more often when I'm sick!
