Back to the way it was...

Well, it's official- Mike finally went offshore. Thank God! Now lets just hope he stays for a while! I know that sounds cruel, like I don't want him here. But seriously, he wants to be there. We were just starting to catch up on debts before work slowed down, not to mention the fact that Mike can get stir crazy like nothing else when he isn't working. 3 months and a week is long enough! So now back to the life I was used to- cooking for one, sleeping alone, etc. Well, I have roommates, sort of. Josh doesn't work offshore, but he is never home so he might as well. Dan is currently on the same job as Mike, so they'll probably be gone for the same amount of time. Doug just got back in from offshore- he was in saturation diving though, gone for 36 days, so when he leaves again he will probably be gone for a while. That's ok, I like my alone time. I have also met so many other diver's wives/girlfriends down here it's strange! I think I know more people down here in LA than I do back home LOL! In all seriousness, I am surrounded by plenty of people I really have nothing to worry about. Plus I have Buddy : D I wish my cats were down here. I have been missing them so so much lately. There is nothing that compares to a warm cat laying in your lap while cuddling on the couch. 

Betty Crocker

I think I am turning into Betty Crocker. I went on a bit of a rampage in the kitchen today- first I used half of the eggs we dyed for Easter to make some deviled eggs- my first attempt at it, and I must day I didn't do too bad : ) I've also had some bananas sitting in the kitchen getting way too ripe to eat... so I tried my first Banana bread- again, better than I expected it to be. I also decided to make some pumpkin muffins- I have made these before, they are so ridiculously simple to make it's silly, and they only have 180 calories per muffin, so they make a great breakfast that no one can feel guilty about- I even put a little bit of low-fat cream cheese on them. So after being a busy bee this morning, figured I'd post some recipes and some pics. Enjoy : D

Deviled eggs: http://www.deviledeggs.com.

• 6 hard boiled eggs
  
• 1/4 cup mayo (calls for light but I just used regular)
  
• 1/2 tsp dry white mustard (according to deviled eggs specialists, this is key, to use dry mustard rather than regular yellow mustard)
  
• 1/2 tsp white vinegar
  
• 1/8 tsp salt
  
• 1/4 tsp black pepper ( I used less because Mike isn't a big black pepper fan)
  
• Paprika as a garnish

I followed the steps it shows on how to get the yolks centered, how to boil, how to cool, how to peel, etc... pretty useful actually.

Banana Bread: Betty Crocker Cookbook

Fruit Loaf recipe

• 2/3 c sugar
  
• 1/3 c softened shortening
  
• 2 eggs
  
• 3 Tbsp buttermilk (or sour milk, wherever you get that)
  
• 1 cup mashed extra ripe bananas
  
• 2 c flour
  
• 1 tsp baking powder
  
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
  
• 1/2 tsp salt

Mix the first 3 ingredients thoroughly. Add the buttermilk and bananas and mix. Sift together dry ingredients and mix into bowl with other ingredients. Pour into a well greased bread loaf pan (9"x5") and let sit for 20 min before baking. Bake at 350 degree in preheated oven for 50-60 min or until browned and tests done.

Pumpkin Muffins: sparkpeople.com recipe

• 1 15 oz can of pure pumpkin
  
• 1 standard box of spice cake mix (betty crocker, duncan hines, etc.)
  

Mix ingredients together in large bowl. Will be a think consistency- spoon into muffin liners in a muffin tin, bake at 350 degrees in preheated oven for 20-25 min. Muffins are a little sticky on the outside but are delicious! : D

So I set up my mobile blogging today...

So I set up my mobile blogging today... Just testing out the first post!

Easter Weekend

Life has been good. Yesterday was Easter- Mike and I decided to go to church for the first time on our own in  a long time. We found this church called Crossroads Church- it's a non-denominational Christian church, it's very contemporary and we both enjoyed it very much. Our roommate Dan went with us too. All three of us are planning on going back next week, as long as the boys are onshore. If not, I'll be going by myself. But it really was great- I think we have all been doing a little soul searching, so it was a nice experience for us. 

I guess it's time to announce that Mike and I are officially trying to get pregnant : D I've been off birth control for almost 3 weeks now, and we are both stoked. I am hoping we won't have any problems with it, but I will keep everyone posted. I am a little nervous to just tell everyone that we are trying- I guess I am afraid of jinxing ourselves. The part of my brain that doesn't always make sense thinks that once I announce it that we will have a hard time with it- obviously we have never tried before, so we don't know if there will be any issues for either of us. But we both want kids so badly, I would be pretty upset if I wasn't able to carry, or if there was an issue with Mike, or whatever. So, if you think about it, please keep us in your prayers for that.

I also don't think I mentioned that Mike did get his motorcycle. He is very excited about it : D I got to ride on it a bit this weekend too- he drove me to work on Friday since he was off from working in the shop for Good Friday. And Saturday we just did a little driving around town, went to meet up with out friends Tiff and Dan for a bit, and later we took the bike to the movies. And on Sunday we actually rode the bike to church : D

On Sunday I spent some time in the kitchen- I boiled eggs and we colored them for Easter. I also made my favorite slow cooked Chili. I tried making cornbread, but I was disappointed- the kind of cornmeal that I bought turned out terrible. I used to buy the same kind back in WA, and since moving down here I haven't been able to find that kind yet. The recipe I used was always on the back of the box of my favorite brand, so since I can't buy it anywhere, I have been trying different brands with different recipes. Last night's batch was terrible- it wasn't the slightest bit sweet, it tasted like I dropped the whole container of salt in it, and had no flavor other than that. I was bummed. If anyone has a good cornbread recipe I would really appreciate it.

It's back to the daily grind this week. Can't complain too much though- I have been lucky enough to get M-F most of the last month, I have to work 4/25/09 and it will be one of my first Saturdays in a while. I enjoy working M-F so much more than having one day off in the middle of the week to work on a Saturday.

Social Networking Sites

Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Blogger, LiveJournal.... the list goes on. I use a lot of online social networking sites and weblogging, I was just realizing that this morning. Recently I have been experimenting with the mobile web browser on my phone, and I just thought I would share my thoughts on it. It's too bad they don't have one gigantic social networking site that monopolized the internet- then I wouldn't have to open 6 tabs on Safari every time I am online LOL. Anyways, nothing big to share today, just wanted to say something. Today is Friday and I am stoked- we may go and see a Journey cover band called Frontier tonight at Nighttown. I love Journey *grin*. Off to work, for 8 more hours of the daily grind before freedom!

Getting ready to go to work... I am excited because I don't have any Saturdays scheduled yet this month, and the schedule is out until April 18th. :D I love weekends. Been thinking about a lot of different stuff lately... don't really have time to write a lot, plus I kind of want to get some thoughts together before I just start rambling.... life is good though, don't get me wrong.

Taxes and this weekend

We finally got our tax return- being a first time home buyer paid off this year- we got the additional homer buyer's stimulus with our tax return! Which is exactly what we needed. At first we were talking about redoing our kitchen with the money, and then we agreed that we have a few debts we need paid off before we go about spending a bunch of money making our dream kitchen. So we sent a bunch of money at bills and other debts. Mike is hoping to get his motorcycle soon- he has been talking and dreaming about it a lot lately. He has been wanting a motorcycle since he was sixteen- well, before that really, but realistically he has been thinking about getting one for a while. We have been talking about babies lately- when are we going to start trying, you know- and we did come to the agreement that he gets a motorcycle before we start trying. As silly as it sounds, it makes sense- he doesn't want to start the parent thing, and then have all these excuses as to why we shouldn't spend the money on a motorcycle for him. Kids are expensive, and we both know we would be putting their needs first, of course, so I am totally ok with letting Mike spend the money on a motorcycle now (as long as we have the money!) so that we don't put it last later on down the line. 

Here is Mike sitting on the one he wants at the Harley shop.

The trick now is getting him back to work- we have the money thing worked out perfec

tly after the tax return- but only if he goes back to work. If not, his bike money we have set aside, unfortunately, will probably need to pay the bills this month. We both have our fingers crossed that he will be going back to work soon- he has been onshore for 7 weeks now, exactly as long as we have had our house. 

We had a good weekend this last weekend. Saturday was spent grocery shopping, watching movies, cleaning... We bought Twilight, even though I have already seen it, I wanted to watch it again. So Mike was sweet and watched it with me. Then I cleaned the house, which was surprisingly easier than I thought it would be. It had been almost 2 weeks since I had cleaned. After that Mike and I watched another movie, called Role Models. It was pretty funny. After that we went to meet up with our friend Matt and played some pool. Then we went to meet with some other friends, a girl I work with named Samantha and her boyfriend Neal and played pool with them. It was a fun day. Yesterday we went to the tattoo shop that Josh has been apprenticing at- he finally got to do his first "professional" tattoo at the shop, and Mike got to be his guinea pig. Josh has been drawing a lot and he got to try tattooing on grapefruits, but this was the first time they let him use the tattoo gun on a person : )

Mike got two coi on his calf, together like a pisces symbol. Josh put some shading on it too but I didn't get a good picture of it. 

I also got my tragus pierced while we were there, and bought some rings for the other ear piercing that I have. 

Before we went to the tattoo shop, I mowed the lawn. I wanted to post some pics of our yard, because we have been slowly but steadily making improvements to it. We planted some geraniums in front of the mailbox after the tulips died, and last week when Mike mowed the lawn he put down some southern lawn weed and feed, so our grass is getting a little greener and a little less weedier. 

About a month ago, Mike planted a little garden- tomatoes in the back, and in the front there is mint, rosemary, cilantro, lavender, and basil. We had some gnarly rain last week, and it really helped our little garden grow! Soon I will be cutting some of the herbs and drying them. And hopefully our little tomato plant gives us some fruit : )

So that's about it for now. Figured I'd update and put some pics up. Things are going pretty good, so not much else to say for now : D