Meet Samus

On August 17, 2010, CJ and I adopted a rabbit from the Humane Society. We named her Samus, after a video game character.

At the time we adopted Samus we lived in an apartment that only allowed caged pets. CJ and I also both work full time and aren't home during the day most days. These two factors led us to a rabbit instead of a dog - a rabbit can stay in a cage during the day with no problem.

Right away I knew I wanted a young black female rabbit. Young so that she'd be around for a while, black because the white rabbits tend to get all the attention and I don't know why a female. While searching the Utah Humane Society's website for animals they had available we found two 2-year old black females and one 3 month old black male. Since rabbits only live for about 10 years, 2 seemed a little old so I got my heart set on the male.

When we actually went to the Humane Society we found that one of the black females was actually 3 months old instead of 2 years. She hid from us at first when we tried to pick her up but once I had her and she started licking my arm (a sign of affection from rabbits) I was taken. We also found out that she was much smaller that then other available black rabbits and that she was likely from the same liter as the male (there was a gray rabbit and a caramel rabbit from the same liter as well). Samus (at the time she was called "Tiny") was much smaller than her siblings and she was missing a patch of hair on the back of her neck so we figure she was the runt of the liter and was beat up a bit by her much bigger siblings.

We hadn't planned on adopting on our first trip to the Humane Society but they don't hold animals or keep them at their location after they are adopted, so they put her in a cardboard carrying box and we headed to the pet store for a cage, food, litter box, litter, food bowl, bedding, hay, water bottle, play pen, and some toys.


Samus is a total cutie but also a typical rabbit. She sleeps a lot during the day and night and is most active in the mornings and evenings. When she is awake she does a lot of pooping, exploring, eating, and chewing. (As I wrote this blog entry she chewed right through the only cord I have that connects my camera to my computer and she took a chunk out of the scroller on my mouse; I should have been paying better attention to her.) Some of her favorite vegetables are basil, radicchio, and dandelion greens; she does not like chard or mustard greens. She also likes all the fruits that we've tried to give her: apples, bananas, watermelon, frozen peaches, frozen blueberries, and frozen raspberries. But, her favorite treat ever is almonds. She goes crazy if she smells them near her and she'll even eat them when she is stressed out and won't eat any other treats.

Like most rabbits, Samus is a total diva. She has to have everything her way or she gets very upset. She's constantly moving her food and hay bowls in her cage because CJ and I don't always put them where she likes them. She doesn't like to be picked up, cuddled with, or have her toe nails clipped and CJ and I have the scars to prove it. Once I was moving something out of her way that I didn't want her to chew on and she bit a nice chunk of skin off my finger.

But she is also very nice. Samus is often quite content just sitting in her favorite spots or licking CJ's head or my eyebrows. It's really precious. Once I was half asleep on the couch and she jumped on my chest and started licking my face. It was really funny. CJ got a video on his phone but it isn't very good quality so I can't put it here.

We are very grateful to have Samus with us. Even though she can be a handful, she's a lot of fun to have around.

Recipe: Raspberry Ganache Pie

Doesn't this look divine? Guess what. It is divine! This is one of my favorite, easy to make pies. To be honest, I don't really make pies. In fact, this might be one of the only pie recipes I've ever followed. I guess I picked a good one!

I found this recipe on kraftrecipe.com, one of my favorite recipe websites. I mostly like it because they show videos for some recipes that seem a little intimidating and because they show the nutritional value of all their recipes.

Here's how it works:

1 pkg.(8 squares) BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup whipping cream
6 Tbsp. seedless raspberry jam, divided
1 OREO Pie Crust(6 oz.)
2 cups raspberries
1 Tbsp. water

Microwave chocolate and cream in microwaveable bowl on HIGH 2 min. or until chocolate is almost melted, stirring after each minute. Beat with whisk until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is well blended. Stir in 2 Tbsp. jam.

Pour into crust. Refrigerate 4 hours.

Arrange berries on top of pie. Microwave remaining jam and water in small microwaveable bowl on HIGH 30 sec.; stir until well blended. Brush onto berries. Keep refrigerated.

My tips:

I've never coarsely chopped my Baker's chocolate. I find that putting all 8 one ounce pieces into a 2 cup Pyrex measuring cup with the cream and stirring about every 30 seconds until it is nice and creamy is sufficient.

Definitely let the pie refrigerate for at least four hours before adding the berries. If the chocolate parts don't refrigerate long enough, the texture never quite gets right and the pie ends up being a little mushy. It still tastes good, but it has a strange texture and it is difficult to serve.

The pie is fine without adding the extra jam on top.

The raspberries and raspberry jam can be replaced with strawberries and strawberry jam or whatever other kind of berry you'd like to top it with.

Nutritional Information (1 serving is 1/10 of the pie):

Enjoy!

I Love Pesto

Not too long after we were first married, CJ introduced me to pesto as something that could be a staple in our diet. I have since developed a great love for pesto and its versatility.

The first time CJ and I had pesto I made it from scratch. It is surprisingly easy to make. The recipe I used is:

• Put a handful of pine nuts and fresh basil in a food processor with some parmesean cheese and garlic cloves.
• Blend.
• While mixing with a spoon, add extra virgin olive oil until your pesto is the consistency you want it.

Easy. However, fresh basil is not cheap, nor are pine nuts. I found that this was a pretty expensive way to make pesto so CJ and I started looking for different pesto at the grocery store. The first one we tried was by McCormick and came in an envelope for about $2 for 4 servings (enough to go with half a box of pasta), we had to add water and oil. This pesto was a little boring and didn't seem to have much flavor so we moved on to Buitoni's pre-made pesto that came in a plastic package ready to eat. We definitely liked the Buitoni better than the McCormick but 6 - 8 servings of Buitoni costs about $4 at Walmart and I even paid $6 for it once at Harmons when Walmart was out of stock.

That was over a year ago. Recently, in the last month or so, CJ and I were dinking around Costco and saw that they had a large pre-made pesto in a plastic package for about $7. This package has about 18 - 24 servings if it is being added to pasta. I was excited to see this and the next time we were planning on eating pesto we got the Costco variety. I am pleased to announce that the Costco variety is very, very good. I even like it better that the Buitoni variety.

Pasta is a popular way to serve pesto but there are many other ways as well. My other favorite way in on a sandwich. Pesto can be added to a sandwich in addition to or as a replacement for miracle whip/mayo, mustard, relish, etc. One of my favorite sandwiches that has pesto on it is the Milano at Zupas. Delicious.

Here is a list of a few other ways that pesto can be used:

• With any kind of pasta including tortellini and ravioli.
• On pizza as the only sauce or mixed in with marinara or alfredo sauce.
• In Lasagna.
• On all kinds of sandwiches: turkey, chicken, grilled cheese, BLT.
• Mixed with sour cream or cream cheese as a dip for crackers.
• On tomatoes.
• Added to broccoli cheddar soup.
• A replacement for garlic butter on French or Italian bread.
• On baked chicken or fish.
• In stuffed tomatoes.
• With gnocchi.
• Added to mac & cheese.

I'm sure there are a ton of other ways as well, those are just the ones I could think of.

The recipe I listed above is for basil pesto and the only kinds of pesto that CJ and I have purchased are also basil pesto, but there are many kinds of pesto. Other kinds are probably more difficult to find in stores but they are probably just as easy to make from scratch. Here is a list of types of pesto that I've heard of:

• Basil pesto.
• Mint pesto.
• Rosemary pesto.
• Cilantro pesto.
• Spinach pesto.
• Red pepper pesto.
• Arugula pesto.
• Parsley pesto.
• Walnut pesto (this could be any of the above pesto made with walnuts instead of pine nuts).

As you can see, pesto is very versatile and can be very fun to experiment with.

As I'm sure you noticed, one of the main ingredients in pesto is extra virgin olive oil. Because of this, some people might think that pesto isn't a very healthy option for cooking with. Of course, if pesto is consumed a lot, the consumer is going to consume quite a bit of fats and calories. However, when consumed in moderation, pesto is extremely healthy. Here is the nutritional information for the Costco variety pesto that I currently have in my refrigerator.


As you can see, there is quite a bit of fat per serving but most of that is the healthy, unsaturated fats. There is also a surprising amount of vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, iron, and protein with very little sodium and sugar.

To sum up: pesto is great. I hope everyone gives it a try to find out for themselves how great it really is.

DIY: Fabric Backing For Shelves

I had black shelves with a black back that were pretty boring. Plus, they became a mess after CJ and I moved into our new place. I wanted to do something interesting with them. I came across a design article on MSN (if I remembered where I'd link to it but I don't, sorry) that said putting wallpaper on the inside back of shelves could add color and make shelves more interesting. I decided to try it.

My first thought was that wallpaper can be a messy project so I was going to try to find contact paper that had the color and pattern I wanted. However, nice looking contact paper is not easy to find. I did see a few online at specialty stores that I liked but it was really expensive.

So I started to look for wallpapers. Since I wanted a yellowish damask or paisley design, I figured wallpaper would be easy to find. I did find some that I liked but I also found that it was expensive and only came in huge rolls so I'd end up having a lot of extra wallpaper that I paid for that I'd never use.

So I moved on to fabric. Once I found the fabric I wanted I had to figure out which method to use. I found three methods for getting fabric on to the back of shelves.

1. The Whole Back Method. This method requires taking the whole back off the shelves (or creating a back for backless shelves), gluing the fabric on, then attaching the fabriced backing back onto the back of the shelves. I thought this blog did a good job of explaining this method.

2. The Starch Method. This method required dipping the fabric in a starch mixture then smoothing it onto the backing. This can be done while the back of the shelves is still attached to the shelving. This blog was helpful.

3. The Insert Method. This method is similar to method #1. Instead of adding fabric to the whole back, create new backing panels, add the fabric to those panels, and place the panels in the shelving. This is the blog that I found for this method.

Because I couldn't get the back of my shelves off (I definitely tried) and because starch isn't something I have ever worked with (CJ's shirts don't even get starched) I decided to go with the third method.

Tools I used and cost:

• Fabric - I purchased 5 yards so I'd have a little extra for other decor, like pillows or something to put on the wall. It was $5 a yard, so about $25.
• Fabric scissors - I actually had to go out and buy these; I paid about $15.
• Something for the backing - I used matte board, it was half off at Hobby Lobby. I got four 32" x 40" matte boards for $3.50 each, so about $14. I chose matte board because it was the right depth. Something too thick would have made putting the selves back on difficult.
• Hot glue gun and hot glue - I already had these on hand. My hot glue gun is one of the really cheap ones that takes the thin hot glue sticks, so the whole project took several sticks of glue.
• Something to measure with - I used a tape measure that was laying around.

That makes the total cost of this project about $54. Obviously the $15 for the scissors isn't going to be an expense that I'll have to put in every time I do a fabric project and I do have extra fabric for projects later on.

This is how I did it.

Step 1. Choose your fabric. This is easier said that done, but maybe that is because I had something very specific in mind. The walls in the room I'm putting the shelves are green. My kitchen is a teal-ish color and my dining room is yellow. I wanted something that would look nice with the green but also integrate with one of the other rooms, I chose yellow. I wanted a pattern that was fun but also sophisticated so I decided on either damask or paisley. While at the fabric store I found all kinds of damask and paisley patterns in every color but yellow, it was very frustrating. On my second walk through the store I found the fabric in this picture. It isn't quite the bright and happy yellow that I was going for but I like it anyway.

Step 2. Measure and Cut. Cut the backing to be about 1/8 to 1/16 inch smaller that your shelves. This allows a little room for when the fabric is added. Cut the fabric to be about 1 inch bigger than the backing on all sides. Hint: before moving on to step 3, place the backing on your shelves to make sure it fits. I found that either my matte board wasn't straight to begin with or I was doing something really crazy with my measuring or my cutting. There was one board that I had to trim several times to make sure it fill well in the shelves.

Step 3. Iron the Fabric. Winkles will probably show on the shelves unless they are ironed out.

Step 4. Place Backing on Fabric. If you have a pattern on your fabric that has a definite top, make sure to put in on the backing so that it is actually going to right direction.

Step 5. Glue Fabric to Backing. This is pretty easy and self-explanatory. The hardest part was figuring out how to make the corners look nice (which really doesn't matter because it isn't going to be seen). The corner I liked the best is the one in the third image below.








Step 6. Place Backing in Shelves. If everything was measured correctly everything should fit nicely. After the backing is in, put the actual shelves back on. If the backing doesn't fit perfectly, the selves should help hold it together.

Once all backing is in the shelves and the shelves themselves are put into place, the shelves are ready for books (or whatever else goes on shelves). Here is my finished product.

Halloween Themed Baby Shower For A Baby Boy

My little sister is having a baby in December and Little Sister's favorite holiday is Halloween so it only made sense to throw a Halloween themed Baby Shower for her on the Saturday before Halloween. The difficulty came in trying to figure out how to combine Halloween with the whole Baby Boy thing. It started with an invitation:


I took the whole black and orange thing for Halloween and added in a little blue. The ultrasound on the front of the card doubles nicely as a scary alien. I probably would have done more but the Halloween clip art hadn't yet been uploaded to the SendOutCards web-site, so I figured I'd just keep it simple. I think it turned out nicely.

The next challenge was what do you do at the actual Baby Shower to combine the two themes. The only solid idea I had was cupcakes with baby blue frosting and some kind of Halloween touch; so I headed to Gygi's to see what they had to offer. While there I found some bat candies for the cupcakes, a clear spider web table cloth and a baby blue table cloth, and some Halloween plates and napkins:



Again, I tried to keep things pretty simple. I topped the whole thing off with Little Sister's Thank you cards. By the time the shower came around, the Halloween clip art was available, so I was able to make something pretty cute:


The baby blue argyle patterns came from the baby themed clip art while everything else came from the Halloween clip art. The border around the name had some pretty creepy spiders on it so I just covered them up with some cutsie clip art.

Overall I think the whole Halloween themed Baby Shower themes worked well together. It might have worked easier for a baby girl because I just could have used purple instead of blue since purple is a generally accepted color for Halloween and for girls.

Maybe next year.

My First DIY Project

To be fair I need to begin by saying that I didn't do this DIY project all on my own; I had a little help.

This project was inspired by the fact that I've been doing some shopping lately. In my shopping I've brought home quite a bit of new jewelry. Once I got it home I was reminded how little space my jewelry box had remaining. In fact, I ran out of space in that box a long time ago.

I started wondering how I could organize my jewelry in a way that it would all fit (with room to grow - I'm not about to stop adding to my collection) and in a way where I could actually see what I had. I was walking around work and saw a pegboard in one of the work rooms and thought that a pegboard would be the way to go, so I started by google search and came across this website.

I started on Friday by purchasing some pegboard, some pegboard accessories, black spray paint, and wood glue at Home Depot. While CJ and I were there the Home Depot people asked if we needed the pegboard cut. At this moment I realized that I should have purchased a frame first so I would know what size to have the Home Depot cut the pegboard. We took the uncut pegboard home.

On Saturday morning we bought a picture frame at Michaels. We probably could have spent less on the picture frame if I really wanted to do this the DIY way and make the frame myself but that was a little beyond the scope of this project. Once we had the frame we knew what size we needed the pegboard to be but CJ didn't have anything that could cut the pegboard. So we called my FIL thinking he would have something that would cut pegboard. He did not. FIL called a friend of his who did have the right equipment, so we went over there and got the pegboard cut.

The next step was to wash and dry the pegboard then paint it. I choose black for the pegboard and a black frame because I thought that would make the jewelry stand out nicely. I was also going to paint the pegboard accessories but they were so shiny and pretty when I took them out of the box that I couldn't bring myself to paint them. I think I made the right choice - plus they would have been a pain to paint.

The paint had to dry for about 24 hours so it was Sunday afternoon when I used the wood glue to attach the pegboard to the frame. This didn't go as well as I had hoped it would. The pegboard stuck just fine to the frame but since I don't have any clamps I had to stack heavy thinks on the pegboard to make sure the glue did its job. This prevented me from being able to wipe off excess glue while it was still wet. I tried to get some off after it was mostly dry but I wasn't as successful as I would have liked to have been.

I took Monday off and on Tuesday I had CJ help me actually put nails in the wall of our closet so we could hang the frame and pegboard. After it was stably on the wall I added the pegboard accessories and my jewelry. I'd say that overall it was a successful project - I was even able to put some of my not so heavy scarfs on it.

Pop Quiz

Today's Pop Quiz is on work-place meetings. The better you do on the quiz the more you understand the dynamics of work-place meetings.



1. Why do meetings that are scheduled at 10am start at 11:40am?

a) Because people are incredibly irresponsible and can't seem to get themselves to work on time.
b) Because people don't respect their co-workers and superiors enough to be able to get to the meeting on time.
c) Because people choose not to read emails that they get from their superiors or coworkers.
d) Because the person scheduling the meeting is a push-over and will change the meeting time just because one person can't seem to make in to work on time.

2. Why do meetings that should be in a conference room happen in the department room where there are people who aren't involved in the meeting working on other things?

a) Because someone is too lazy to move a portable white board to a conference room.
b) Because someone forgot to schedule the conference room.
c) Because people didn't show up on time and won't know which conference room to go to.
d) Because those who are meeting don't respect the time and/or quiet atmosphere of those who aren't in the meeting.

3. Why are meetings scheduled for around lunch time, especially when lunch isn't provided?

a) Because those scheduling the meeting never get hungry.
b) Because those scheduling the meeting can't manage their time very well and the only time they've left available for such a critical meeting is lunch time.
c) Because those scheduling the meeting don't care whether or not the people attending the meeting will be hungry during the meeting.
d) Because the conference room has candy dishes and those scheduling the meeting think that candy will suffice when those attending the meeting get hungry.

4. True or False: It is rude to schedule a lunch meeting and provide lunch for only half of the people in the meeting.

5. Why are meetings scheduled and notices sent out only one day/ a few hours/ just minutes before the meeting?

a) Because those scheduling the meeting are too self absorbed to understand that those who need to attend the meeting may have over things scheduled.
b) Because those scheduling the meeting aren't prepared enough for the meeting to schedule it in a timely manner.
c) Because those scheduling the meeting don't respect other people's time.
d) Because those scheduling the meeting know that those attending the meeting won't read the email or show up on time anyway?

Answers: Ok, so there isn't a right or wrong answer to these questions for every situation with the exception of question #4. The correct answer to #4 is obviously "True", but that doesn't mean everyone gets this question right in the real world. For the other questions any answer could be correct depending on the situation. The real point of the quiz is to ask ourselves whether or not we are the cause of the questions.