What My Parents Did

Wal-Mart came to my school on Friday to do a quick assembly that was essentially them trying to get us to love Wal-Mart.  It was mostly pointless, but 10 teachers were chosen by random drawing to get a $100 dollar gift card to buy things for their classroom.  I'll be honest, I was hoping to be chosen, but wasn't bitter when I wasn't.  In the teacher's lounge during lunch people were talking about what they'd spend theirs on and they weren't exactly sure what they'd want to buy had they won or anything.  I, however, knew exactly what I wanted.  Art supplies for my kids.  

Thanks to a generous mom we have a whole load of construction paper which is helpful.  Our class also has some off brand markers and colored pencils along with glue because of 1 cent back to school deals at various stores.  A previous teacher left a tray of crayons and I donated what art supplies I had at home (except for anything glass, my nice watercolors, and a hot glue gun) to the classroom.  We were doing ok.  Thing is, art is extremely important to me (to make a well rounded person, to give a chance for kids that don't succeed and thrive academically to be the best, etc) and I wanted to have the opportunity to do amazing things this year.

I told all the previous to my mom when chatting with her Friday evening (yes, I still talk to my mom every day).  The next morning I got a text message at about 7:30, "Up?"  Rather than reply I just called her and asked what she wanted (in a nice way, I promise).  "Congratulations, you win a $150 gift card."  I had only been awake about five minutes at this point and was confused, "Huh?"  "You win $150 dollars courtesy of dad and mom to buy art supplies for your classroom!"  Being an eloquent and intelligent human being I naturally replied, "Shut. Up."  Then I got up and squealed a little and did a happy dance by myself.  So, I haven't spent any of the money yet and I'm not positive what I'm going to buy, but my kids are going to do art this year!  Many many thanks to my lovely mother and father. 

Desserts

I got asked to make dessert for break the fast as well as host mix and mingle this week.  You know what that means: making about a thousand jillion desserts.  For mix and mingle I picked an ice cream dessert since it's supposed to be pretty hot today.

Firstly, I made a graham cracker crust (I doubled this recipe which was plenty for two 9x13 pans).  Let me tell you, this is DELICIOUS crust.  I just want to eat it with nothing on top.  

While you're making the crust, set out some ice cream and frozen juice.  I was making two pans.  One raspberry lemonade flavor (with vanilla ice cream, obviously), and one good chocolate based one (no juice in that one).  You really can use whatever combinations you want, but even though I love chocolate, I like the flavor and texture the juice ones have.

Nextly, once your ice cream and juice are pretty thawed, dump them in a big bowl and mix thoroughly.  I'm not patient enough to let them melt thoroughly or I don't have the appropriate tools or something so I used occasional microwaving to help the process.

Since it's spring I added a little food coloring to make the pink brighter because the color is extremely faint.  Full disclosure: I also added a little squirt of lemon juice to up the acidity.  Really you can do what you like.  

Spread the ice cream mixture over the graham cracker crust nice and smooth.  Realize you forgot to take a picture of stirring the chocolate ice cream so that it's soft and spreadable AND a picture of it in the pan.  

After the dessert is frozen solidly again spread some thawed Cool Whip on top (or in my case, be impatient again, thus ensuring the ugliness of your dessert).  If you want to you can drizzle some caramel and chocolate syrup over the chocolate one and some raspberry sauce on the lemonade one.  Store in the freezer.  Dip the bottom of the pan in warm water for 30 seconds before serving to make it easier.

I'm not into food photography at all.   That being said, I wish the light in my kitchen actually showed color....

It occurred to me yesterday that despite my love of cooking and watching Food Network, Top Chef, and the like, I'll never make beautiful food.  I don't know if it's because I'm impatient or because I lack an artists eye, but I am unable to create something gorgeous.

Other things I made yesterday:

Homemade oreos (which are often pretty disgusting, but not these) in case there's not enough snacks for mix and mingle.

Rice krispy treats for break the fast (yes, that's chocolate on the bottom and yes, I'm five and covered the top with rainbow sprinkles).  

New Look

Once upon a time in Stafford I made a best friend. Years later things happened and we grew apart. Some time later things weren't perfect, but they were a little patched up and the friend redecorated my blog and made me a nice banner in a fun, bright color. Anyway, this is my thanks to Heather for doing such a nice thing for me. I definitely appreciate it.

Heather and her fiance Drey (yes, I stole this picture directly off her blog).

Goings On

-Tori does not have cystic fibrosis.

-I'm addicted to kitchen gadgets.

-I spent New Year's Eve on my couch alone and didn't mind.

-It gave me great joy to pick up the Alvey children from the airport today. Maybe I missed Sarah, nbd.

-Time to stop being attracted to Jackson Rathbone in Beautiful People. He's kind of a privileged pretentious jerk with a heart that I love anyway. So what if I've watched 8 episodes in the last two days. Stop judging me IMMEDIATELY.

-I saw Tron today. There were issues, there was a bangin' soundtrack, and there was this guy. Attractive.

- Gabe cried when he found out I had to go back to school. He said why did I have to go back to my school and offered to let me go to his instead. Heather took this picture.

-Student teaching starts tomorrow and I'm FREAKING out.

-Finally took some time to do DC a little while I was home. At the National Gallery of Art I saw this picture and it was my favorite for several reasons. It's called Mountaineers by Arthur Bowen Davies.

-When I got back to the Metro station in Springfield I realized that I hadn't paid attention to where I parked and spent at least 30 solid minutes wandering the parking garage looking for my car. When my mom called she told me to be careful because bad things happen in parking garages on Criminal Mind. That was comforting.

-It's freaking cold here in Provo. It shocked me a little when I got back, if I'm being honest.

Lovely

I already posted this on my Facebook a little earlier, but I loved it. It's quite intriguing/beautiful.

No, I'm not turning into an emo kid (unlike Steph...).

The Rise of Evil

Moving on, the rise of evil. Maybe I'm being a little dramatic, but I have a feeling that that's not actually the case and this is more of a problem than many of us would like to admit (not a personal problem, a world problem, just read the rest before you get all indignant). So, I was reading an interview Ben Crowder did about his magazine Mormon Artist. The interview was good. The interview did metion, however, a website for some other LDS art called Images of the Restoration. I thought this would be right up my alley! The restoration is one of my favorite topics (before I continue, let me note that in the interview, Ben did say that he did not appreciate the art there because it was not uplifting, but I thought maybe this was more of a preference based thing). So, I go to the website and start looking at the art (which seemed a little strange) and began reading the story about the first piece. I was enraged (and trying desperately to contain the literal growl that was threatening to escape)! The stuff was parading as LDS art of some sort, but that was some anti work if I've ever seen it. I always thought that if I came across anti-Mormon literature (or in this case, artwork) I would recognize it immediately and not even be tempted to look. Not the case in this situation.

What did I learn? Two things. One: Ben has good judgment so if he says the art isn't uplifting then I probably should have listened in the first place. Two: I feel like we keep getting more and more entrenched in this battle between good and evil and evil is parading (successfully) as good. We (I) have to be so careful, or we'll get stuck. This scares me. A lot.

Next post (so I can remember, because I come up with ideas frequently and then forget them): people.

I Used to Think I Was an Artist

For a few weeks I've been wanting to paint again.

When I was little I used to think I was an artist. Not even when I was little. Up until I was probably 15. I thought I was pretty good, and no one told me otherwise. I knew I couldn't draw people, but that didn't matter. People are boring. I took private professional art lessons for awhile. I really thought that art (watercolor painting specifically) was something I would do for the rest of my life. I loved it. Then I got to high school and there were so many people in art classes and I couldn't fit them into my schedule. When I saw what everyone was capable of, I stopped considering myself an artist. Occasionally I'd try something, but never very seriously. I didn't want to call myself an artist and then have people laugh at me.

Last night I took some time and picked out a picture. I cleared my desk and taped down my paper. I got out my palette and paints. I set out my paintbrushes and pulled out a pencil. I started some music and got to work. I sketched out the picture then started painting. It was so comforting! Like putting on your favorite pair of pajamas, or cuddling up in your bed after a trip away. I sat and painted and painted and painted. I fnished the picture and it's not perfect, but I enjoyed it. It was the process I enjoyed the most. Now I'm trying to figure out what I want to paint next. I think I'm becoming reacquainted with an old friend. Painting Ginger may be someone who is here to stay. I sure hope so.



This is the picture I painted from. If you want to see the painting you'll have to come visit me.