On Sunday I made up my own recipe and it turned out wonderfully. I have recently stumbled upon a great blog on crock-pot cooking here. Because of this discovery, I have cooked in the crock pot the last three weeks on Sunday, and have plans to make it a tradition. I was looking for a curry recipe on it, but didn’t want any obscure ingredients. I also sent Joe to the store, and he came back with slightly modified ingredients. I ended up just using what I had, throwing it all in the crock pot, and had moderate success.

Here’s the recipe:

2 c. uncooked brown rice

1 sweet potato

4 small potatoes

green pepper

onion

1 can tomatoes, undrained

1 package Golden Curry (easily found in the Asian food section)

5 c water

Peel and or cut veggies. Cook in crock pot on high for 4 hrs.  

I want to try it sometime with chicken or beef, and with different veggies. The potatoes did turn out a little soft in this batch, but otherwise it was quite good. We had tons of leftovers that we still haven’t finished and we’ve been eating it a lot: two people and a full crock pot of food goes a long way. I’m becoming more of a fan of the crock-pot–you put all these raw ingredients in there, come back and there’s delicious food—all without warming up the house. 

I was riding my bike home from work, when my husband called me and explained that a new computer had come in the mail. This was quite exciting because I had actually not ordered a new computer. One arrived on our doorstep for free instead.

About a month ago, I got a strange package asking for my information from Qwest. Attached was a set of rules for a sweepstakes a year ago–right at the time we signed up for our Internet. Apparently because I signed up for Internet during this time, I was automatically entered into the sweepstakes and I had won a computer from it.

It was a very happy day. Not so happy was finding out my external hard drive I had been using as extra memory didn’t work anymore. Also it takes a while to move all your stuff from one computer to the other. But its really cool the other one was free.

We arrived at the Grand Canyon on Tuesday afternoon, set up camp, and watched a pretty amazing sunset. The next two days we hiked around, stopped at almost every lookout, identified wildflowers (at least I did. Joe learned a few), took pictures until the camera was out of batteries (which happened much too soon), and relaxed a bit. The weather was pretty nice, except for one night of perpetual rain. The next morning we had to pack up the wet, muddy tent in a drizzle. As we were driving out of the park, we stopped at a  lookout and saw the prettiest view of the Grand Canyon. The clouds were floating around the cliffs just perfectly. Unfortunately this was after the batteries ran out. So no pretty pictures 😦

And if you do not look at any other picture, check out the helicopter and the mule. We were sitting enjoying ourselves, when we noticed a helicopter carting out a mule from the bottom of the canyon. It looked like it was still alive. Very strange.

Joe and I have been married for over a year now. It really doesn’t seem that long, and I am still adjusting to him and vice versa. For our anniversary, we should be going to the Grand Canyon next week. Joe has never been and I haven’t been since I was little, so it should be a lot of fun. On our anniversary, we spent lots of time together. We went out to lunch at Hamilton’s, which I thoroughly enjoyed. It was pretty classy, and the prices weren’t too bad (at least on the lunch menu). For dessert, we ate some creme brulee, which we both had for the first time on our honeymoon. We also took our hammocks up a canyon a little ways, and laid in them and talked until it got cold.

I love the guy I married. He hasn’t stopped being the nicest guy I know, and is always trying to be better and help me out. It really has been one of the best years of my life.

I have not really seen my husband for two days. He just got promoted at work–and wow what a week he has had. He has training on top of his regular job, plus several interesting incidents that have come up. Joe works at a group home–now he’s over a house. I think he will do wonderfully at his job and glad he got it, but will be happy when things calm down and I can see him more.

I’ve been working myself. Yesterday I hoed weeds, today I took soil samples. My back did not appreciate the abuse I gave it. I’m glad I don’t have to do that too often. This week, we should get the community garden tilled, which means I am one step closer (and helping 50 other people also get closer) to planting vegetables. Our garden has been extremely popular. We filled 60 plots and are on a 20 people waiting list. If you didn’t know–I help run the garden as part of my work. So I should be busy this summer. I’ve got big plans that include less weeds than last year, demonstrations and classes, and an awesome veggie garden.

One more random thing. I pulled out my sewing machine for the first time today, and got excited about sewing. The manual actually has ll these useful tips that I want to put into action. Problem is right now I have no fabric and no thread. I do need to mend the quilt on my bed, but that does not require my sewing maching. Sadness.

I graduated on Saturday. Hopefully I will get used to just going to work every day. It’s nice not to have loads of homework to do. I was sitting one day, thinking there is absolutely nothing I have to do right now. Hopefully I will start doing all those things I didn’t have time to do in school. I already finished one book, and went fishing. (with no success).

I graduated magna cum laude, which in my school is based on GPA. I realized I had not gotten a B since 8th grade Drama. Except for I did kinda not study for one class this semester. Apparently all my study has helped me keep a high GPA, because I got a B this semester when I didn’t.That makes me sound really smart, and well I do excel at school. I didn’t have an extremely hard schedule either. I don’t know if this really translates into smartness in stuff that matters.

So this will be a very random post. Lots has happened. Yesterday I finished my last class. It was the last class of school for the foreseeable future. Very strange. I have been going to school for 16 years, and as of Saturday this week, it will all be over.

It’s getting warm enough to go out and do things, although it did snow a little today. Last Saturday, I went bike riding with Joe, and my-in-laws Liz, Charlotte, and Nate. I was in better shape than I thought I was, and led a lot of the time. Yesterday evening Joe and I went on a hike. The hike was a little wet, although I love doing things in the rain. Maybe not so much the mud. We saw a skunk which was cool, mostly because it wasn’t really close.

We also bought a new car. This is the first car I have actually bought. It was fun because we were able to buy it with cash. Fun feature about the car is it has a DVD player in it. Should be fun for trips.

Went to the doctor today. It’s way easier to get excited about having a baby when you can actually see it moving around. So here’s the baby, coming October 28thish.

I have a little note to share about spring. Up here in Logan, and really Utah in general, people complain that it is snowing in March and April. But I have a new perspective on that. It is still generally warmer, and so the snow is quick to melt away. Spring is all about the melting snow really. So don’t complain, and miss spring while it is happening.

The bulbs have started to come up to. The crocus are in full bloom, and my tulips I planted last fall and poking up outside of my apartment. I am very excited for all the flowers. Too bad I don’t have a yard to put them in. I went out to the community garden yesterday–it got me excited to start planting some vegetables, but I think I will need to wait a month.