Poetic Reminiscing

Recently I rediscovered my old notebook from my days in The Curiously Poetic Altoids and I decided to type up the poems I wrote.  They're at all different levels, but I like them and I'm going to post my poetry here as I go through and type it up.  I hope you enjoy it! :)

The College Student’s Lament

Night is falling

Friends are calling

But I’m stuck inside

The apartment light is burning

With fun the door is turning

Yet In the library I abide

New voicemails await me

Stacks of emails bait me

But my time I must bide

The TV is blaring

Roommates, stories are sharing

‘Neath my books I must hide 

I never finished this poem.  I was going to finish it to post it, but I couldn't decide how to end it.  Any suggestions how to end it?  Or should I leave it as is?

No More Earring Messes

This box was only $4 at Walmart.

Now to find an organizer for all my hair accessories . . .

I'm in Heaven!

I love living so close to Mom and Dad!

The results of today's trip the garden/orchard

Fresh peach cobbler-- the best way to use up mushy peaches!

(Plus Spencer's RA's love me now!)

Can this summer please last forever?!?!?!

Motivation

Sunday night always seems to be the time I reflect on my goals and progress in life.

Tonight I've been thinking about one of my toughest struggles-- bedtime.

I've never been much of a morning person, but the last few years my bedtime has been creeping later and later.  The last few months I've especially struggled with going to bed.  I won't give any specific bedtimes (lest Dad start quoting Proverbs at me again!), but Spencer jokes that I'm not a night person-- I'm a really really really early morning person! 

My erratic bedtime schedule has been bothering me for a while now, but it's a tough thing to change.  Especially when I don't have to be anywhere early in the morning.  Why force myself up at the crack of dawn unnecessarily?

I've tried setting rigid schedules, promising myself rewards, forcing myself to get up early anyway, etc., but nothing has really stuck.

So, tonight as I reflected, I had a stroke of inspiration on how to motivate myself to get to bed earlier.

I decided to come up with a list of all the things I've been wanting to do, but haven't been getting to because I sleep in too late, procrastinate, and then run out of time to do anything.

I'm going to post my list up in my apartment, where I can see it and be reminded why I should go to bed early.  I'm also posting it here for extra support.  :)  Hopefully this will be enough motivation to help me work on an earlier bedtime schedule.  Wish me luck!

Things I want to do:

•          Sewing
•          Do Family History at FHL
•          Update Family History Website/Blog
•          Crocheting
•          Swimming
•          Work (stay caught up)
•          Piano
•          Cleaning
•          Organize bathroom shelves
•          Organize boxes under bed
•          Bring boxes from Mom and Dad’s house
•          Scan Spencer’s old documents and photos
•          Go for a walk every day
•          Watch movies from Lloyd
•          Write poetry
•          Memorize poetry
•          Memorize scriptures
•          Hiking
•          Take classes at BYU (computers, gymnastics, etc.)
•          Do something nice for someone else every day
•          Finish birthday board
•          Hang out with Becca
•          Finish quiet book stuff
•          Go to SLC and digitize George Deliverance Wilson’s diary
•          Blog regularly
•          Visit James and Mary Riste’s graves in Santaquin
•          Visit Danielle
•          Hang out with Janel
•          Invite a friend over to do something
•          Finish quiet book stuff
•          Can peaches
•          Mend Spencer’s clothes
•          Explore a building on campus
•          Try the game the Hornes gave me
•          Rent board games
•          Try new recipes (nutella PB cookies?)
•          Have the Williams girls over for a sleep-over
•          Write in journal regularly
•          Ellipticise with Mom
•          Send pictures to Spencer’s family
•          Post reunion pictures on the Wilson Watch blog
•          Look up William Fort Jr.’s obituary for Dad
•          Volunteer (at the library, temple, etc.)

The End Result

Thanks for all the apricot suggestions!  Who knew there are so many yummy ways to use up apricots?

After much deliberation, I decided to take Krista's suggestion and can my own apricots!

The result is that I am now the proud owner of a 21 quart canner, 48 mason jars, and 7 quarts of home-canned apricots!

(A special thanks to my friend, Rachel Horne, who came and helped me get started on my canning.)

Not pictured: Mom helping me can 4 jars of freezer jam, Rachel helping me can these apricots, and Krista and Janel's help with canning questions.

Thanks, everyone for your suggestions and for helping me out.  It's exciting to be self-sufficient!

Emergency Chocolate Cake

Recently I was perusing the BYU Women's Services Blog (which is a fantastic resource for all sorts of women's issues, by the way), and I found this great recipe for a single serving of chocolate cake.  Spencer and I tried it out and it was pretty tasty!  Perfect for those times when you're home alone and want a little chocolate, but don't want to bake a whole cake just for yourself.  We put a scoop of peanut-butter cup ice cream on top, and it was a great compliment to the cake.

Here's the recipe:


2 Tbs cake flour (or regular flour is fine)
2 Tbs sugar
2 rounded tsp cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
2 Tbs milk
2 tsp oil
1/2 tsp vanilla

Coat the inside of a mug with nonstick cooking spray. Put all ingredients in mug and stir with a fork until smooth. You can also stir in chocolate chips, nuts or anything else your heart desires. Microwave for 1 minute. Allow to cool a little before eating.

You can even put on a scoop of ice cream or some peanut butter. Mmmmmmm

**Make sure you use a bigger mug or keep an eye on it. It will overflow if you use a small one- even if the batter only takes up 1/3 of the cup.




Source: http://byuwsr.blogspot.com/2010/06/emergency-chocolate-cake.html

My Apricot Factory

This week someone gave us a whole box and a half of apricots.  I was planning on taking them to my mom, helping her can them, and then snagging some bottled apricots for Spencer and me.

Unfortunately, someone already gave Mom a lot of apricots this week. 

As a result, our kitchen has been re-comissioned for an apricot processing factory:

In a 300-square foot apartment, there's not a lot of space to spread out apricots.  

I'm running out of cookie sheets fast!

So, the great question remaining is what to do with all these apricots?  I don't have my own canning equipment and Mom is already using hers.  I've been calling and emailing family for ideas, as well as browing all of Allrecipes.com's recipes that involve apricots.

Here are a few of my favorite ideas so far:

1. Apricot Freezer Jam

2. Apricot Leather

3. Apricot Cobbler

4. Fresh Apricot Pie

Any other suggestions?