Painting (Primer): Bathroom

It has officially been decided that things are approaching being clean and we could finally go out and buy some paint! I, of course, couldn't wait more than 24 hours before I started...

Our first project? The bathroom. It's a pretty small room that was painted a very dark color; while pretty, it made the room feel small and not very comfortable. I've had this thought in my mind forever of making a bathroom into a sailboat bathroom...and that's what we're doing. 

Before I get too far ahead of myself, it's not a magical transformation. Today we just did primer after the Packer game (because priorities). 

We went to Lowes for our paint products, but that's because of the color that I wanted to match other decor. This primer was recommended by the woman working there for going over a dark color. 

Allow me to share. 

Before:

After primer:

Now, the primer is a pain in the butt because if you go over anything that's damp but not dry, it will pull the clumps of primer right back off again. So be careful. I still don't have any great advice. Just be patient and wait for it to dry before you go over the first layer in any way. 

The final colors are a blue and a tan. But alas, the work week calls and we'll be back at it next weekend!

Super Nurse

My brain power is at -1 right now. Having started 2 jobs in the last month, I feel like I will never be able to learn all of the things that these people are teaching me and I feel both elated and stupid that things are starting to sink in. I'm happy, no doubt. I'm making good money, I'm going to have a decent amount of hours, and I'm back in a place where I'm comfortable instead of something completely new.

But holy moly, that means it's hiatus time from blog world again! I'm so tired!

Recipe (sort of): Canned Pickles

The reason that I say this is sort of a recipe is because I'm not a real cook/canner and I use the cheating version of a pickle juice concoction purchased from Festival Foods. 

So following the recipe on the back of the bag, you mix vinegar, water, and the powder mix and stir it in a big pot on the stove until the powder dissolves and the mix just comes to a boil. 

Clean and chop up your cucumbers how you want them, typically spears or slices. 

Make sure your jars are clean (dishwasher clean is preferable) and make sure you have new, unused lids. They don't seal twice! I also learned the hard way that if you tap on the rims to loosen the covers, it dents the rim and messes with the seal on the jars. So use your muscles and don't smack the jars with anything. 

Pack the jars with cucumbers, leaving roughly a half an inch of space on the top. Fill the jars with the juice concoction and seal immediately and snugly with the lids. Tip: use a Pyrex measuring glass or something equivalent to get the juice out of the pan and into the jars. This stuff stains EVERYTHING so if you try to pour it in and miss, I wish you the best of luck. 

Let the jars sit for a while and cool down. If you did your job right, you should hear the telltale "pop!" a few hours later. 

Tip of the Day

Today's Tip of the Day:

When hanging a plaque on the wall that does not already have a bracket on it, and the plaque has any sort of weight to it, do NOT use super glue to attach the bracket. It will not hold and your plaque will come crashing to the ground.

Recipe Chocolate Zucchini Cake with Fudge Frosting

First and foremost, my apologies for lack of significant posts lately. As it turns out, I have a slightly scary level of underlying anxiety when it comes to getting this fundamental wedding stuff taken care of. I've been hell-bent on booking things the last few weeks and it takes up enough of my time. 

But I digress. 

When the concept of putting vegetables in a cake first crossed my path, I was doubtful and grossed out and was convinced that it was going to be disgusting. As it turns out, this is my favorite kind of cake made from scratch. The zucchini is so shredded, it bakes right into the cake. It adds a crazy amount of moisture, adding deliciousness. And then there's the fabulous frosting, which I could eat plain for days. 

Ingredients

1/2 C margarine

1/2 C vegetable oil

1 3/4 C sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla 

1/2 C sour milk (plain milk works just fine)

2 1/2 C flour

1 tsp baking soda

4 tbsp cocoa

1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional or less...I always include it)

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups grated zucchini, peeled and drained

Soften the butter and cream together with the oil and sugar. 

Beat in eggs one at a time. 

Beat in the milk and vanilla.

The recipe says to sift the remaining ingredients and add to the wet mixture. I've never sifted things before in my life, so you can just add everything in (without making a mess). 

Once all of the regular ingredients are beat together, use my favorite and most sentimental kitchen appliance, the salad shooter, to dice up the zucchini. 

Stir the zucchini into your beaten mixture. 

Make sure you remember to grease the pan! I've already made that mistake before...

Bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes. 

Now, the frosting is the best. 

Ingredients

6 tbsp margarine

6 tbsp milk

1 1/2 C sugar

3/4 C chocolate chips

1 tsp vanilla

Combine butter, milk, and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil; boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. 

The combination will thin and becomes frothy as it boils. 

After the 1 minute of boiling, remove from heat and add the chocolate chips and vanilla. Stir until chocolate chips melt and the mixture thickens. Tip: the fresher the chocolate chips, the easier they will melt. 

The finished product will be very runny and can be poured easily over the top of the cake. Leftovers can be licked out of the pan (let it cool first) ;)

Enjoy!

God's Not Dead

Typically, I am not the type of person to really preach and share my beliefs. But as of recently, I've felt this pull, this inexplicable anxiety, like an electricity buzzing through my veins or ants crawling under my skin. It's like I'm being pulled toward something that I am completely unsure of, but trust completely.

I believe that God was, is, and always will be the one true Savior and that Jesus Christ is his son, who died on a cross so that we could live. I believe that He has a plan for each and every one of us that He will reveal with time.

I suffered in my own ways a lot growing up. But even when my prayers consisted of a lot of "why" and "please help me", He has slowly but surely answered my very childish questions. I am constantly learning why I went through the things that I went through, why I had to end the things I ended, and why I am on the path I am today. It's a constant journey until that day that I leave this very temporary life behind and join the eternal life in heaven.

Now would you look at that? I've become all preachy and I've never been like that before in my life. But my faith is simple. I believe that God made every one of us in the likeness of him and that we are all equally valuable and loved. I just finished watching God's Not Dead and I feel yet again like I've been renewed. There are so many lessons in that movie, I can hardly wrap my head around half of them. But my favorite is the following.

The professor in the movie claims to be an atheist. He argues against a Christian in the class and tells him that God is dead. But the boy follows the voice of God and comes up with an impeccable argument. He pushes and pushes until the professor breaks and says how much he hates God.

If he hates God, God must exist.

I'm not saying it's that simple. Not everyone is like this professor. And I never want to offend those who don't believe. I am an equalist; I believe that we were given the gift of free will because we are all able to choose if we believe or not. There is no right or wrong answer. But God does exist. There is no doubt of that in my mind. If we choose to believe it, it's the greatest blessing we will ever have. If we choose not to believe, it's just that...a choice.

I am no expert. If anything, I am just taking my very first wobbly baby steps in my faith journey. I am learning. I am working hard. I am trying to remain as humble as I can. It is not going to be a small task. But I finally feel like I'm starting to figure some things out.

And it's incredible.

Internal Ramblings

I am such a sucker for those tumultuous emotions that only assault your brain at night. I mean right now, I'm a perfectly rational, sane, somewhat emotionless girl. I've got my head screwed on straight and my vision is full speed ahead. But at night, when all of the little thoughts start to trickle in, like "I wish I could tell this person this" or "I should live every day like it's my last" or "I really miss such and such", then I get sad, and I consider doing rash silly things that won't be productive at all. Yet most of the time, I act on them anyway, even though I know it's stupid. The joys of knowing my zodiac is Cancer? Ha.

Moving

We are deep in the throes of cleaning, rearranging, and decorating the house.

Will return...soon. I hope.