The Surplus

Someway, somehow we had $105 glorious dollars left in our grocery budget in August.  Normally this means, "Woohoo, the bank can go ahead and lend out another 100 bucks courtesy of the Foley's,"  BUT this reminded us of that Office episode where Micheal has a surplus and buys a giant fur coat, so we decided we'd live like kings at Burlington Coat Factory and spend it instead.  You know, just so the budget is consistent.  (This is rational, ok?)

We didn't go to Burlington Coat Factory, but we did take a "little" trip to Costco.  If you ever have $105 burning a hole in your wallet, the fastest way for it to disappear is at Costco.  We walked in there planning to just buy some butter and we came out with a jacket and some towels and plans to buy a fake fireplace someday.  That place is insane.  But as I was drying off with my luxurious towel this morning, I thought, "THIS is my fur coat."  No regrets.

Meanwhile, we spent the rest on (surprise) food storage and other practical things AND an electric skillet.  Our entire marriage we've talked about getting an electric skillet.  You know, just the $20 kind that allows me to cook all 5 of our pancakes at once.  Why oh why have we not gotten one of these before now?  I've been cooking pancakes in two batches for years.  Moral of this story is, if there is something that would make your life easier, and it only costs $20, then buy it already.

In other news, football season has begun.  When I first hear about the season starting, I find myself having this tiny glimmer of excitement, but then about 2 minutes into the first game, the glimmer is gone...far, far away.  But I have things to study this year and football games are a perfect time for that, so hopefully that will keep me from freaking out about the sheer length. of. these. games.

In other other news, we are really into Rummikub these days. If you ever wondered what childless-people-who-just-make-money-all-day do, it's play Rummikub.  I am getting really good, despite starting turns that I have no idea how they'll end up.  We usually end up laughing really hard at how frazzled I get.

In other other other news, I actually drove somewhere the other day (this is a novelty since I work from home and Scott drives me if we go anywhere during the non-work-hours).  I realized I have no idea what driving around NSL is like.  My destination was the dollar store, and I was within 50 feet of the building and all of a sudden I was in a lane that forced me onto the freeway.  So on I drove with Dollar Tree fading into the distance.  I may need to get out more.

Alpine, WY

End of Summer Updates

What have we been doing with our lives lately?  Oh, how nice of you to ask, internet.  I will tell you.

First things first.  I started a food blog a week or two ago, and for the time being I'm super into it.  Pretty random, I know.  I'm not looking to be a "real blogger" or become a chef or go to blog conferences or host giveaways, but I like to cook and I want to share my findings (and have a gloriously organized place to find all my stuff) and I feel quite strange doing so here, so two blogs it is!  If recipe websites are your sort of thing, head on over HERE and see how I attempted to make a grilled, brown banana peel look appetizing for my first post.  Go big or go home right?

So anyway, there's that.  In other news, Scott is now in a new position at work.  He's now managing part of the production side of the business instead of estimating, which is a totally new job pretty much.  So far this means more time spent at work, but he got a fancy new office and it'll be a good opportunity for him.  See you next year, honey!  Kidding, but see you tomorrow at...9?  Seriously?  Meh.

Sorry this turned into a public message to Scott.  Moving on.  We just got back from a trip to Wyoming which was really great.  This trip probably deserves its own post, but just in case that never happens!  A photo!

In our spare time, we're forcing ourselves to hand sand a coffee table.  It is a lot harder than the kitchen table we did, but we really want a coffee table upstairs so here's to hoping we can motivate ourselves to finish.  Must. Keep. Sanding.

Things have been a bit too reminiscent of school lately.  I'm testing to get a couple letters after my name and wow, this whole studying-in-the-evenings thing is not something I've missed.  I know there are those people out there that could just go to school forever, but does that include standardized testing?  If so, please blot my name out of that group forever.

Ok, last thing.  We went to the Davis County Fair!  Apart from seeing prize hens, there really wasn't much to do.  Also, it was too hot to want to be there for more than 20 minutes, but we did get to take the Davis County Fair Bible Knowledge Quiz.  9/10, so whatever that means...

The Coconut

On Thursday we discovered that we'd never survive if we were stranded on an island.

Exhibit A:

Last week at the farmer's market, they had such unique things.  I was in heaven!  Lychee, Filipino eggplant, brussels sprouts?  Unique foods at basically no cost is my love language.

One of the less exotic things I got but was still excited about was a coconut. Scott and I spent an hour or two looking up how to open one and then what to do with it once we got it opened.  This is a high maintenance fruit (is it a fruit?), let me tell you.

The following are methods we considered when breaking open this coconut:
1. Place it in a tea towel and swing it like an ax on the concrete (a website recommend this, believe it or not).
2. Slam it in a car door.
3. Take it to a baseball diamond and beat it with a bat.
4. Use leftover 4th of July fireworks.
5. Put it in a box.  Put that box in another box.  Mail it to ourselves and when it arrives, SMASH IT WITH A HAMMER.
6. Do what "normal" people do, and break it open with a flat-head screwdriver.

Of course, to save on postage, we went with method 6, and the cracking/draining part of this experience was actually quite fun!

Then we got to the part where we had to actually use the coconut for something and that was significantly less fun.  Extracting the coconut flesh from that yucky brown shell is pretty much miserable.  Neither of us escaped the experience without large scratches, not to mention the bits of coconut shell that were flying around the kitchen that I had to clean up.  Then we ended up with about one cup of coconut milk when it was all said and done.

Was this worth it?  Absolutely not.  Haha.  If we're ever lost on a tropical island, there better be bananas because otherwise we will STARVE. On the plus, side bananas are my other love language, so I would be quite happy in that situation.