Monthly Archives: August 2008

Chicken Enchiladas

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Today seemed pretty crazy at work. I’m still just falling farther behind on my email, although I am taking care of the important things, I hope. My desk is starting to get a bit cleaner though so that is a good thing seeing as how I need to get things ready for next Wednesday.

I came home from work and nearly fell asleep on the couch watching TV. Just as I started cooking some dinner Sister Rodriguez called and told me they were having chicken enchiladas and I said I’d be right over. I was ready for a nice quiet evening at home, but I figured a nice evening with the Rodriguez’s and the Dunagan’s would be just as good. Or maybe even a bit better since Alyssa was there tonight and I rarely get to see her. The enchiladas were amazing, so much so that I had to stuff myself with even more than I should have possibly considered eating.

We sat around and looked at old pictures and such till about 10 and now I’m working on getting to bed. Alyssa invited me to the movies tonight, and I almost went even though it would have involved being out way past my bedtime tonight. Since tomorrow is going to be a longish day at work, I figured I probably should try and get a good nights sleep. I get to work a wedding for the first time in a while, woo hoo! And on that note, I’m going to bed, before I get busted for being up just as late as I would have been if I had gone to the movies!

Unplugged my Fiber

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So it turns out that some Verizon newbie decided to just unplug my fiber the other day and that’s why it wasn’t working. The repair guy had it fixed in seconds and then mentioned that there were some other houses out as well. This guy had unplugged about five of them. It really makes you have to wonder what was going on in the guys (or girl’s) head when he was unplugging the fiber lines from the switch.

I was fairly productive working from home today until about 2 and then went to Disneyland. Larilyn and Jessica were going and they invited me along. It was pretty crowded, but I think we all had a good time. I hadn’t been in months, either since I was there with Ashley or with Kelsey and Mandi.

In any event, I need to get to sleep, so that’s all for tonight!

Dot’s Blondies

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As I have received multiple requests for this recipe, I figure I’d better post it for everyone else who was too shy to ask!

Dot’s Blondies are a mom’s secret weapon | The San Diego Union-Tribune

Dot’s Blondies With Chocolate Chips

Makes 2 dozen

  • 2 sticks unsalted butter (plus more for greasing the pan)
  • 1 pound (2 cups firmly packed) light brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour (see note)
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
  • 1 cup chopped pecans, optional

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-inch-by-12-inch baking pan well with butter. Set the pan aside.

Melt the two sticks of butter in a 2-quart microwave-safe bowl covered with a paper towel. Remove the bowl from the microwave, and add the brown sugar. Stir well. Add the baking powder, salt and vanilla extract, stirring until completely incorporated. Stir in the flour, again stirring until it is well mixed.

Crack the eggs into a small bowl, and beat them well with a fork or whisk. Add the eggs to the batter and stir with a spoon until they are completely incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips (and the nuts, if using).

Spread the batter in the greased pan. The batter will be stiff and sticky. You may have to spread it to the edges of the pan with the back of a spoon, but don’t worry too much about getting it exactly even, as the batter will spread as it bakes.

Bake until the top begins to get golden brown and the blondies just begin to pull away from the sides of the pan, about 20 to 25 minutes. (Baking time will vary depending on your oven and the type of pan.) Do not overbake. Cool for at least 20 minutes, and cut into small squares. Store in an airtight container or cover well with plastic wrap. These bars freeze very well and improve in flavor after the first day.

Note: To get the proper texture, do not use an electric mixer. You do not need to sift the flour, but spoon the flour into the measuring cup so as not to pack it down too much. Use the spoon handle to brush away extra flour and level the top of the measuring cup.

Start to finish: 7 minutes preparation, plus approximately 20 to 25 minutes baking time and 20 minutes cooling time.

Per blondie: 216 calories (41 percent from fat), 10 g fat (6 g saturated), 38 mg cholesterol, 2 g protein, 31 g carbohydrates, 1 g dietary fiber, 59 mg sodium.

Note: For the housewarming party I doubled the receipe and put it in an 11 x 13 glass pan I believe. I cooked them for much longer than the intended time, trying to get the inside cooked and pulled them out when the edges and top looked like it couldn’t take any more time in the heat. I also made them the day before as I think they need about 12 hours to cool so they don’t fall apart as you try to eat them. They are great hot out of the oven as well though!

Winnings and Weird Things

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This funky looking huge thing just went rolling up the street with a semi pushing it as well as pulling it! It had 4-5 police cars escorting it and some truck driving in front making sure the path was clear high enough for it as well. I didn’t get a really good look at it unfortunately though to figure out what the heck it could have been. I’m almost guessing it has something to do with the new overpass they are putting in just up the street, but that is only a total guess and maybe not much of a good once sine I didn’t see anyone working there tonight.

Today seemed to cruise by in the office. Batch and I went to the chamber for lunch and I won free advertising in the lobby. I went to the Rodriguez’s for dinner tonight and then went to try and do some home teaching with Zach. The three people we tried to visit all seemed to be MIA.

I was thinking about taking tomorrow off and going to Disneyland, but I couldn’t find anyone to go. Actually, I guess I never tried that hard as I think I only talked to Kelsey about it and we pretty much determined that she has no time for me. I told her we could make a quick trip in the evening, but I don’t think she thinks it would be worthwhile. I guess we’ll just have to see.

Verizon may be forcing me to take the day off though. My Fios wasn’t working when I got home from work today. The fail light is just flashing. I called tech support and they didn’t know what was going on with it. When it was working at 10 o’clock tonight, they decided they had better send a tech out, sometime between 8 and 2 tomorrow. That’s essentially the whole day! Now, trust me, I’m game with playing hooky tomorrow, I just want someone to play hooky with!

A Laundry End to a Boring Work Day

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Today seemed like a long day at work. I miss doing Tara’s job, it is so much more fun than my own. I did start to get my desk cleaned up a bit, which was good and am starting to catch up on my email. It was just a boring day though.

I came home and got started with laundry. Batch came over and we made spaghetti and meatballs and then watched The Illusionist. I had watched about half of it Saturday night before watching videos of Natalie Wiess. I must admit I was a bit busy text messaging and not paying too much attention to the movie the first time around either. I was really impressed with the movie tonight though and was not expecting the end at all. There isn’t much to say that wouldn’t ruin the movie, let’s just say I was happy that I couldn’t see the ending from the beginning.

President Mattson is being Released

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President Smith talked today about how we don’t need to be perfect, we just need to have our life in order. I have the exact quote downstairs, I’m just not going down to get it now. Zach had earlier pointed out that the church isn’t a retirement community for saints, it is instead a hospital for sinners. How true both of these statements are and yet how often do we not think of it that way.

Today went pretty well. There was some disappointing news I would almost have rather not received. I know that Heavenly Father has a plan though and we just can’t see it from here. President Mattson is going to be released next week. I almost felt this was coming recently and when he said something about changes in the office during branch council this morning I almost knew it for sure. For some reason I didn’t think about that when I saw President Smith on the stand, I think I just had too much on my mind at that point.

The rest of the day went well. My family came over for dinner tonight. Well, they brought the pizza and just wanted a place to eat it. I really enjoyed walking to branch prayer tonight. I almost felt as if I was in rexburg walking down the street to prayer. That was great! I had a good time talking with Brother Lee before anyone else got there as well.

Let’s backtrack a bit here. I don’t remember much of Friday other than the girls wanted to come over for a quiet night at home. It was just Larilyn, Maegan and I to start it off. Melissa joined us and then so did Megan. They kept me up way too late and then I did not sleep well all night. Lauren says it is cause I was thinking about her, which is probably true.

Lauren came up after building cleanup on Saturday and we hung out together for most of the day. She was supposed to be coming up to go to the activity, but when we got to that point of the day, she decided she didn’t want to go. There were lots of people at the activity, although I don’t think most of them were actually doing anything on the inflatables.

The Divine Institution of Marriage

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The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints just released a full statement on the marriage proposition (Proposition 8) which aims to amend the Constitution of the State of California to define marriage as between a man and a woman.

I don’t have much to say on the matter other than we need to do all we can to support this and I probably haven’t been doing all that I can do. California voters already voted eight years ago that marriage should be between a man and a woman and four judges from San Francisco possibly put their own interests above that of the voters and ruled that unconstitutional. We need to turn out and vote to make sure this proposition is passed so we can protect marriage.

The Church and this proposition are not against gays. This measure is not intended to attack or take away rights as some may incorrectly believe. We are simply trying to define marriage as being a union between a man and a woman, as ordained by God. Gays will still have the rights they have as far as domestic partnerships, the advantages of tax law, etc. We are worried about what will happen if marriage is not clearly defined. What will our kids be taught in school? How is the next generation going to be raised? What are they going to be learning?

Please get educated and pray about the appropriate action to take on this measure. This document from the Church is a great resource to start to understand what is at stake.

The Divine Institution of Marriage – LDS Newsroom

I only recently came to understand how serious this measure is. Some have asked about the seperation of church and state on this issue. First, I think that when government tries to interfere with a religious institution or right such as marriage, the state has already gotten things messed up. However, it was pointed out to me that even if this is as issue that should be separated, that simply shows how much this means that The Church and other churches are willing to cross that line to do all that they can to support this proposition.

Vote Yes on Proposition 8 to protect marriage in California this November.

Quiet All Around

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Not much to report today. Things were pretty quiet in the office. I’ve been talking about blogging for work for a while and I think I am going to actually get started. I wrote my first post today although it was more of a note and less of a post, congratulating the guys at Quantum for earning rep of the year.

I had a nice quiet evening at home tonight and am hoping to get a good night’s sleep tonight as I was really tired today. I think I’ve determined that the mood I’m in when I go to sleep has a huge effect on me the next day. I guess it is true that you should never go to sleep angry. Monday night I was excited/happy and I think it was the best night’s sleep I’ve had for a while. The rest of the week hasn’t compared and this morning I even got up late. I think I totally slept through my alarm.

School Traffic

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I’m not sure I really like the idea of the kids going back to school. It seemed that there was a lot more traffic on Whitewood this morning, before I left the house. It was really the noise that was getting to me, maybe the wind was just blowing this direction or something. I did see a bit more traffic on Whitewood than normal, but it wasn’t the first time I had to sit through an extra turn at the intersection of MHS.

Work went well today. I was busy most of the day just trying to stay on top of things while Tara is gone. I found myself getting pretty impatient trying to get tracking numbers for things that should have shipped days ago and I probably enjoyed bugging people for tracking information too much. I did get a lot done though and need to work some on my actual job tomorrow and hopefully can keep moving forward there.

I went over to the Rodriguez’s for dinner and crashed their party with the Dunagan’s. As always, that ended up with doing something technical, in which case we ran a ethernet cable and then I started working on setting up computers for networking. Of course, one is xp home and the other is xp pro, so they don’t want to talk and I have to deal with tons of software getting in the way. Oh, there was also the router from Verizon FIOS that was resolving the name of one of the computers to an ip address that it was no longer at. I don’t think the second router was helping that problem and probably needs to go so we don’t have any further problems down the road. I still need to finish up the printer sharing which will involve making home and pro play nice together.

What’s your personal paper cut?

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Larilyn poses this question here about the things that someone would have to essentially get over in order to deal with us.

I’m a freak and you’re a freak with me: What’s your personal paper cut?

I don’t think you can have something that someone has to overcome alone. I think it has to be in pairs. For example with Michelle, if someone loved BYU Cougars as much as she does, that wouldn’t be something to overcome. It wouldn’t be the papercut.

See, Edgar had the problem, although I guess that would be with anyone, but maybe there was only one he was willing to face the problem for and he would give in to the others. I think searching for something that someone is going to have to get over isn’t going to help because it will be different depending on who that other person is.

Does that make any sense?

College Road Trip

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I’m kind of enjoying doing Tara’s job at work lately. It’s fun to have little projects that I have to research out constantly to find out where this order is or what is holding this up and so forth. I don’t think I’ve done any of my work though lately, so I definitely see the need for her to return at once.

I had a nice quiet evening at home tonight. Nobody came over and I just sat and watched a movie. I chose College Road Trip since it seemed like the one that no one else was interested in watching. I enjoyed it and enjoyed pondering the days of raising children and how hard it is going to be to let them go probably. It is going to be interesting raising kids and trying to incorporate all these LDS activities and so forth that I know nothing whatsoever about. I’ve never held an FHE for my family. We came close at BYUI, but it won’t be the same. I’ve never gone to seminary, so I don’t know what it will be like. What the heck is mutual and all these other random things? What if my kids don’t want to go to BYUI where I’m presumably going to want to send them? That will be far away, but I know they will be safe and be nurtured there. After being raised in an LDS family, are they going to want to rebel and go to some party school? Am I going to be disappointed when they don’t want to go to school or don’t do anything with their schooling?

Man, I’d better stop pondering this before it gets really crazy. And, since this morning went so great with being up a few minutes earlier than normal, I’m hoping to get to sleep and be able to do the same tomorrow.

P.S. It is beautiful outside. I got downstairs down to 73 before closing the windows. It might even be a tad bit chilly in the morning which will be great!

Mailing Checks

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Things went pretty darn well today! I was able to get a lot of bills paid this morning. I think I mailed 27 checks which is like outrageous!

Things were fairly busy in the office today and I didn’t get a chance to get anywhere near caught up on my emails from the weekend. We had some good meetings today and I think we are moving forward.

Going Great

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I have so much to write about, but I so need to get some sleep. Lauren came over last night which was great. I miss that girl.

Alysa’s baptism went well last night. The spirit was really strong and I’m glad I could attend.

Church and meetings went well today. Home teaching went terrific.

I got to talk with Allison yesterday afternoon which was great. She sent an email saying she was in So Cal and she wanted to meet up. I called right after I got the email, but it didn’t sound like they had time in their schedule to actually meet up. I asked her to plan better next time and plan on spending the night or something here.

I’ve been working on family history like crazy – pretty much all day yesterday and some of it is actually starting to make sense. I have to find documents for everything as what I have so far is just what other people have written down or what someone else had already done.

Inputting Family History

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I made it down to Fallbrook tonight for dinner, tritip of course. It actually worked out well because I wanted to get down to Fallbrook to take a look at the genealogy files he had and get started on some family history work. I started getting things inputed while I was there and then came home and kept going. I was able to get one of the lines back to early 1800s mostly from information my dad had already collected. The real work will begin here once I get through the info that he has and actually have to get going.

I was really interested to see that one of my ancestors had like 12 children, three of which died at a young age. Three of them were with his first wife and the other nine with the second. It was also crazy what information I could find in family search and then how there seemed to be gaps or many duplicates of the same person. I’m sure by Sunday I’ll have lots of real work for Sister Dowden. I was also impressed to see some of the temple work had already been done, so that is great.

Painting Ideas

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I finally got Sib over here tonight. It nearly involved kidnapping her, nevertheless she came peacefully. We started talking about ideas for painting and she realized what a big job it is going to be. With dinner and then being rushed to go home teaching, we didn’t get anything settled, so we will have to finish it up another time.

Work went well today. Time seemed to fly and I can’t really pinpoint what exactly I was able to accomplish. My desk is still a mess…

Sister Dowden, Larilyn, Kenny and I went to the temple Tuesday night. I hadn’t been in a really long time – I think she the last time I went with Sister Dowden a few (two-three) months ago. It was good and so was the Cheesecake that followed. I got home way too late though and have been having a hard time getting up all week. I’ve barely made it to the office on time and haven’t had the leisurely time in the morning I like to have. That also means I haven’t had a chance to dive deeper into scripture study.

Larilyn was over last night and made cheesecake. Lauren and Michelle came and helped us eat the ground beef tacos that needed to be gone ASAP. Again I was up too late.

I was thinking tonight on the way home from home teaching that I could get to sleep early. Then I decided that this was my only chance to carpet clean Geoff’s room before he moves in, so I decided to do that. Then the hallway outside the garage. After the third time I filled the machine up, I decided it was time to call it a night! I’m glad I did it though because it appears that it pulled a lot of dirt out of the carpet. I need to work on doing a room a night or something so I can get the whole house done.

Geoff is moving in tomorrow, so my peace and quiet may be gone. I’m thinking that maybe I’ll start actively looking for more roommates once I’ve got him settled in so I can bring in the cash to keep working on the project list. Sib told me tonight not to get married, just so I could keep both sides of the closet! Oh the joys of sharing…

I’ve got dinner plans with the family tomorrow night and am hoping to get some family history done at the same time although I understand Tom won’t be home. Then I’m hoping to get the first movie night in this week and we’ll see what fun projects the weekend brings.