Jen Builds Things – Cabinet Edition

Huh. I got bored typing up a long post about how I built a bathroom cabinet so I just decided to turn it into an equation. 

 

+ 

= 

Ta da!

Awe. Some.

Look it what they have for sale at Walmart! How cool are these? And down in the right corner is the tiny keychain version! *adds to wish list*

In smallest theater ever getting ready to watch Jurassic Park! Yay for dinosaurs!

Deer on commute

I really love living in an area where this is what I see on my commute.

Cheating people in the age of the internet

My car insurance company will only cover 5 miles of towing for free and sadly, my mechanic lives further away. So I have to pay by the mile (no more than 3.75 per mile) for anything over 5. Before I called today, I googled the distance between my house and the mechanic.

Of course, I looked at this and calculated how much it would cost to tow my car up Aurelius, costing me the least amount of money. Seems reasonable, right? Then the tow company called to let me know they were on the way and that only 5 was covered and I said taking Aurelius would only be 8 miles…then he hemmed and hawed and told me that they couldn’t take that route. Something about trucks not allowed on all of that road. I have no idea if that’s true or not but it felt like a story.

So he said he’d figure out the mileage before he came over. Wanna bet that it’s going to be the 12 mile version?

EDIT: Yup. 12 miles for $28. Lovely.

Fairy Ring

Look, it’s a fairy ring! I’ve been driving past this for days and finally had the chance to pull to the side of the road and snap some pictures. How cool (and huge) is this thing? It’s in front of a house that’s for sale on Aurelius road in Holt.

While this is a naturally occurring growth of mushrooms that can be explained scientifically, I think it’s much more fun to think about the folklore associated with fairy rings. Most stories about fairy rings paint them as bad things, places where elves or fairies can trap people for eternity. Some talk about those who enter a ring being forced to dance until they die (which probably is not as fun as it sounds).  I’ve also read tales where the rings are there as portals, doorways to another world, which may or may not have being enthralled and being trapped for all eternity involved as well…so you take your chances. Wikipedia does state that only safe way to investigate a ring is to run around it nine times. I didn’t get out of my vehicle so I’m probably safe from vengeful fairy justice…but if nobody hears from me you should probably swing by this circle and see if I’m dancing like a fool. 

Green thumb

Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow? Well, I’m not Mary but my garden is doing pretty well this year. Instead of a lot of different types of veggies we’ve focused on just peppers and tomatoes (like we’re a salsa factory!). The tomatoes seem to be struggling through the weird weather that Michigan has been gifting us, really bad heat waves and then massive amounts of rain, but the peppers are flourishing!

 

 Here are a progression of shots of some little peppers in Garrett’s hot pepper garden. Did you know they grew upside down? It’s the craziest looking thing! Then they turned bright red and we picked them…while they were super tiny. If I didn’t see it with my own eyes I wouldn’t have believed it. They are jelly bean-sized! I’m not sure if they would have grown larger on the plant or not. But they are cute!

Finally, bell peppers! I’ve already harvested both yellow and green bell peppers and this one in the picture was picked the next day…but the red peppers are taking their own sweet time. Maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe by the time they are ready to harvest they will be extra super yummy! Red peppers are the whole reason we focused on peppers and tomatoes this season. We used red peppers in everything last year and they were incredibly delicious. I’m anxious for them to grow this year so I can start cooking all sorts of new recipes full of delicious red peppers.

Who’s awesome? That would be me and my sis.

It’s a long standing tradition in my family to play “I packed my bags”, even when we’re not on a road trip. I’ve got fond memories of ‘bag-packing’ from childhood all the way to just a few nights ago when my sister and I played the game while supervising floor waxers in the middle of the night.

I Packed My Bags by anthrogeek

In case you didn’t catch all that, here’s the list.

Angels
Batman (with Abed from Community impersonation)
Cows
Donkey (with Shrek impersonation)
Eggies (AS SEEN ON TV!)
Falcon
Garrett (because we thought he’d look cool with a falcon)
How-To Book on how to raise Donkeys (yup, still Shrek)
Iguana
Jell-O
Killer Mutant Ape (Can you guess who packed this?)
Lima Beans
Medicine
Naptime music
Organ Playing Monkeys (I’m so awesome.)
Pied Piper
Queen Latifah
Rambo
Sixty Helium Balloons
Tarzan
Umbrella
Vixen the Reindeer
Witchy Woman Song (ooh-hoo)
X ray machine (X is always hard. We pack a LOT of x ray machines)
Yellow Submarine
Zumba

Veggie Harvest

Back from vacation to find a garden full of veggies! Picked several tomatoes, a couple of bell peppers and glared at the banana peppers that continue to torment me.  Yummy, yummy! I feel like making salsa!

Recipe: Spinach Breakfast Bake

Why is it that when I make super yummy things, I can never photograph them properly? Either I’m in a huge hurry, or my camera isn’t charged, or, like in this instance…I baked late at night. Yeah, breakfast at midnight, baby. It’s what all the cool kids are doing this year.

Or rather, it’s what I do when I want to bake something and it’s crazy hot outside. I try and wait for the air to cool off and before I know it, I’m peering into a dark kitchen with only a whisk at my side. Ah, the joys of cooking.

Ingredients

3 cups chopped fresh spinach
6 eggs
1 onion, diced
1 can mushrooms
half loaf french bread, cut into slices
shredded cheese
salt and pepper

Sauté onion and mushrooms in pan for approx 5-7 mins, add chopped spinach and cook for just a few minutes, until wilted. Beat eggs in bowl with pepper and salt. Line casserole dish with bread slices, then spread onion, mushroom and spinach mixture evenly over top. Pour eggs over the top and cover with aluminum foil. Cook at 350 for 20 minutes. Uncover and add shredded cheese over dish (personally, I say more is better!). Cook until edges are browning and eggs are firm.

I didn’t add any meat to this dish, but you could probably toss in ham or sausage for added breakfast yummies. Leftovers heat up very well in the microwave days later so this is a great dish to make a little extra.

I am consuming a lovely pineapple smoothie. It makes me smile!

You know…

It’s possible that the greater Lansing area is just a little too excited for the upcoming u2 concert this weekend.

Just maybe.

Wow. Just saw a man walking down street with a rat on his shoulder. Weird.

How the Robin got his red breast

There once was a little gray bird, who looked like nothing special. He would hop across fields and dirt, blending in with dreary wood and muddy piles. His morning song was cheery and long, but when eyes would look to the trees to find the singer, they would pass over his dull feathers. The little gray bird longed to stand out, to be something more, to be special.

One cold night, he happened upon a father and son traveling in the woods. They were tired as they built their fire and filled their bellies and went to sleep. The little gray bird knew that this part of the woods was dangerous, and he tried to sing a song to wake the weary father and son, but even his loudest song couldn’t pierce their sleep.

As the night grew colder and the fire grew lower, the little gray bird was scared to see a wolf inching up towards the sleeping pair. He cried out loud and long but the people slept. He sang angrily at the wolf, but the wolf just snarled in his direction. Knowing one thing that the wolf was scared of, the little gray bird hopped his way towards the dying fire.

With a flap of his wings, the embers glowed brighter, illuminating the campsite. The little gray bird chirped happily at his idea and flapped his wings again, even harder. The dying embers of the fire started glowing brighter and burning hotter, tiny tendrils of smoke and flame starting to lick out against blackened wood. The wolf paused, wary of getting close to the flame, and the little gray bird flapped his wings harder. The heat from the fire grew and washed over the little bird and he knew he should fly away, but he also knew if he stopped, the wolf was just advance. So he kept flapping. As the embers turned to flickering flames, he flapped. As the wood crackled and spit while it burned, he flapped. As the light and the heat and the noise drove the wolf away into the woods, still the little gray bird flapped.

When morning came, the father and son awoke to find a healthy fire in the midst of their campsite and a little gray bird with a bright red burn on his chest. Both were grateful for the sacrifice of the little bird and while they helped soothe the bird with water and berries, they let him keep the red marks to show others his bravery. From then on, the little gray bird has always had a bright red patch on his breast to remind the world that robins are a very special bird.

Over The Edge – Lansing

The Boji Tower (formerly The Michigan National Tower) is the tallest building in Lansing. It’s a beautiful historic building that’s been a staple of downtown Lansing since it was built in the 30’s. 

I’ve personally only been inside twice and both times I was awed by the art deco decor and the grand elevators. Despite not spending a lot of time inside, it’s a very familiar building to me. It’s clock is still one that I use to keep time downtown, and I use it’s imposing face to frame shots of the Christmas tree in winter. And despite the fact that they removed the neon lights years ago, I still call it the Michigan National building in my head (and out loud).

Also, people jump off of it. Well, jump might not be the right word. The past two years they’ve done this charity thing where people pay $500 and rappel down the side of the building. Today was the first chance I got to go and watch the Over the Edge event…and it was pretty wild. There wasn’t a lot of people there (we were early) but it was enough to make people who were driving past paranoid about why we were all looking up!

The first person who came down was fast, which leads me to believe that they were part of the crew. (can you see him at the top of this picture?)  He seemed to traverse the building, winds and ropes with ease and despite a bit of vertigo while trying to aim my camera it was pretty fun to watch. I think they did that on purpose because the next fellow down almost gave me a heart attack.

I’m not sure if it was user error, or an errant gust of wind but the older gentleman who came down next ran into trouble. He swayed way off course at times and then appeared to be stuck, jerking on his lines and hovering several stories off the ground. I know next to nothing about rappelling or how safe it is, but I was worried. Thankfully, the spotters on the ground seemed calm so I tried not to be worried that he was going to plummet to his doom. (I did have to stop watching though!) The gentleman in blue is the one that struggled, and the next shot is of his partner going down as well. She seemed to stop for a while but I thought hers might be just to give him encouragement.

  After that bit of stress, the next few didn’t seem so bad. In fact one pair ended up waving at the crowd below. That takes guts! We watched for a bit and then walked over to the farmers market where I inhaled an italian ice so fast there wasn’t even time for pictures.

We were early for Be a Tourist in Your Own Town day, choosing mainly to go to outdoor events. Boji Tower didn’t seem crowded, and while the Lansing City Market was busy, it wasn’t packed. There were about a bajillion green-shirted kids at Lugnuts stadium for Sparrow’s Michigan Mile kid’s race. It was a hoot to see the 6 & under group running while crowds of people cheered them around the stadium block. I’m hoping the other events today got a good turnout. It’s a beautiful day, sunny and warm but with a decent breeze and I hope Mid-Michiganders take advantage of good weather and some great free events.

Everything?

I’ve recently discovered everything bagels. Well, discovered isn’t the right term. I knew they existed before, but I’ve never tried them. I just assumed that the way they looked that they would be icky.

Yes, icky. I’m apparently a 6 year old when it comes to food. Even the idea of  ‘everything’ bagels kind of creeped me out. I figured that at the end of the day, they just took some bagels and scraped up all the leftovers on top of them. Gross. But it turns out that they are tasty! I’ve been using them as sandwich bread and I love how yummy and savory they are. It makes me want to explore other types of food I’ve passed over because of ‘ickiness’.

Except for black eyed peas. Those are still on the icky list.

Bassoon, Brother and other awesomeness

So I made my first seven letter word in Scrabble. And then just a few turns later…I made my second. A couple of other high point turns and I went over 300 points. Probably my best game ever. Go big or go home, that’s what I say. (Okay, I don’t think I’ve ever said that.) I give credit to the fact that we watched The A-Team during the game. Explosion movies are my secret weapons.

This makes me smile!

Got a beautiful postcard in the mail today! How pretty is that? Thanks, Shelby!

This is the Stuff – Francesca Battistelli

I’m loving this song right now. I’ve been singing it loudly in the car and I love how cheerful it sounds. The lyrics are awesome too. “In the middle of my little mess, I forget how big I’m blessed.” It’s pretty timely for me with everything that is going on, I sometimes too forget just how much God has blessed me and my family.

Guest Photographers

At one point this weekend my camera broke. Broke like “holding the lens in my hands” broke. It was an accident and to be honest, not the first one involving my camera hitting the ground. I was bummed because I love my camera and I love taking pictures. All I could think of was that there wouldn’t be able pictures of the rest of vacation. Thankfully, God totally fixed my camera and the lens went back in and I was able to keep taking pics. But the whole experience made me realize that I actually know some pretty cool photogs: my family. I want to share some of the really cool shots they took on our vacation.

How cool are all these shots? The first shot of the sunrise was taken by my mom and the drama of the colors is just amazing. My sisters pic of the bridge in the fog is so romantic, while her shot of the building on the dock is spooky. The diamond spots on the seagull that my mom captured are really cool (and it tickles me that the bird just posed for her!). And there really isn’t an angle of the Mighty Mac that isn’t photogenic, is there? Becca got this shot while in the parking lot of Fort Michilimackinac (hiding from the bugs) and I love the perspective.

I’m so glad that my camera is back in business, and I’m itching to take lots of pictures, and I’m also happy to see what art the other photographers I know are producing. 

Vacations and Led Zeppelin lyrics

 Someone told me there's a girl out there with love in her eyes and flowers in her hair.

 A vacation is having nothing to do and all day to do it in.  ~Robert Orben 

News

Reports are in that Osama Bin Laden is dead, possibly killed by US assets in Pakistan. Listening to correspondents and anchors and pundits tell us what they know about the current breaking news and it’s surreal. It didn’t hit me emotionally till they showed a rapidly growing crowd in front of the white house who are standing in the dark, holding flags and singing the Star Spangled Banner at the top of their lungs. It’s been a very long ten years.

A fan of delicious flavor…

Today has been a good day. A day filled with pineapple. Breakfast at the hotel included a big bowl of fruit salad that had more than its fair share of pineapple chunks. Or at least my portion did!

Then on the drive home we found an ice cream machine at a roadside stop and they had a pineapple frozen fruit bar. Huge and cold and delicious. I may have made an embarrassing squeal of joy when I saw they had pineapple available.

Did he valet park the TARDIS?

Someone today posted a picture of the Royal Wedding with the Doctor in the audience. I honestly didn't question the veracity and I can't decide if I thought that the British were geeky enough to have Matt Smith attend in costume or if I actually thought the doctor showed up to the wedding. It seems like something he would have attended.

Or rather, it seems like he would have prevented some horrible monster/alien from showing up in a Kate Middleton fleshsuit and ruining the wedding. Then the queen told him that he could stick around and he did, but mostly just for the dancing. After all, the maid of honor did have disco balls installed in the palace. Who is going to pass that up?

Project 365 - Day 90

The prettiest flowers all in a neat row. I had a huge urge to skip around it. I didn't, because I was busy avoiding stock boys so I could take this picture.

Project 365 - Day 89

Rainy night out shopping (that may have had snow mixed in...the jury is still out on that one)...

...that ended with frozen custard. Yummy!

Project 365 - Day 88

My brownies turned out so good this time, just the right balance between gooey and crispy. Unfortunately a lot of them got stuck to the bottom of the pan (still haven't fixed that problem) so there weren't a lot of 'pretty' brownies.

Thankfully, brownies can be eaten whether they are pretty or not. I'm so glad I live with people who are accepting of all types of brownies!