November 24 - A Day In My Life

For Thanksgiving, we took a trip in our RV to California to visit Bill's family. It was a fun trip and a great Thanksgiving!  The Saturday after Thanksgiving was spent hanging out with family and friends.  Here are the pictures to prove it!  Good times...

We woke up pretty early for being on vacation!

Our cozy bed in the RV.

Breakfast of bagels, bananas, and juice.

Gadget eats his breakfast in the RV (he likes to hide under the chair while eating).

Visiting lifelong friends.

Gadget chasing his tail...he's very serious about it.

Time check...time for lunch!

Lunch at the tepanyaki place.

The onion volcano - it was the biggest one I've ever seen...very exciting!

After a big lunch...naptime!

Gadget enjoyed playing with Milo.

I enjoyed watching some football.

Then we went bowling!  So much fun!

And we had pizza after the bowling...yummy!

Then it was time to head back to our cozy bed in the RV.

I forgot to take a picture in a mirror...sorry!

Pizza Crust

The recipe this month is one I use often.  Well, I used to use it weekly...then I stopped...now I started again.  Since I have more time now, I've re-started my tradition of making pizza once a week.  We now have home-made pizza every Friday.  So, I thought I'd share my pizza crust recipe, which I got from my sister (who got it from Allrecipes.com).  It does require a bread machine, but I'm sure you could make it without the machine - it would just be more work.  If you use the bread machine, it's easy and delicious...enjoy!

The ingredients...pretty standard.

Add water, oil, salt, and sugar to bread machine then cover with flour and sprinkle with garlic.

Sprinkle on yeast and herbs.

Let your bread machine work it's magic!

Roll out dough and place on lightly greased pizza pan.

Top with your favorite pizza toppings 

(for this one we used pesto, garlic chicken, and red onions).

Bake for 12-15 minutes at 475 degrees.

Slice and enjoy 

(in my case, with a Diet Dr. Pepper!).

Ricardo's Pizza Crust (from Allrecipes.com)

1 cup warm water
3 Tablespoons olive oil
3 Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups bread flour (I always add more flour as needed)
2 teaspoons minced garlic (I usually use a little more...we like garlic)
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried basil

Directions:
-Combine water, olive oil, sugar, and salt in pan of bread machine.  Add flour, then sprinkle garlic on flour.  Lastly add yeast.
-Turn machine on dough cycle.  As the dough mixes, sprinkle on oregano and basil (I usually just add this when I add the yeast).  Let mix for about 15-30 minutes.  Let the dough rest from 5-30 minutes (the longer it rests, the thicker and more tasty the crust).  Meanwhile, heat oven to 475 degrees.
-Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface.  Spray a large pizza pan with nonstick cooking spray.  Place dough on pan and add your choice of pizza toppings.
-Bake in preheated oven until golden brown, about 12-15 minutes.

Dirty Dishes - I forgot to take a picture!

But it was just the bread machine pan, the pizza pan, and the pizza cutter...not bad!

Pizza Crust 

Taste: 5 out of 5

Dirty Dishes: 5 out of 5

Time/Effort: 3 out of 5

TOTAL: 13 out of 15

5 Things From Our Shipment

One of the perks of working for the government is that they ship your personal belongings all over the world for you.  So, back in July, I packed up most of what we own and it was sent on a boat to Oregon.  This week, it finally arrived!!!  However, because my parents are currently living with us, and have most of their furniture moved in already, we decided to leave our stuff in boxes.  At least, most of it.  We have opened a few boxes to get out necessary items, or just to use different clothes (it's starting to get chilly here).  I thought it would be fun to make a short list of some of the items we decided were essential...some of them are rather strange.

5 Things From Our Shipment
1. Cake Decorating Kit.  Normally, I don't think decorating a cake is essential, but since my mom's birthday is this week, I want to make a special cake for her.  So, I need my decorating bag and tips.  Luckily, the kit was easy to find because I kept such a detailed packing list!

2. Clippers.  Because Bill's hair grows so fast, he's been spending lots of money to get it cut regularly.  It's not his fault that they charge so much for a simple haircut.  But, since we own clippers, and I'm here now, it's time for Bill to get FREE haircuts.  We found the clippers easily and I've already given Bill a haircut.  And, since he sat out on the deck for the trim, the clean-up was easy!

3. Desk and Chair.  This one seems obvious, but it's been really nice.  Like I said, my parents have their furniture in our house so they each have a desk.  However, I didn't have a good place to use my laptop and cluttering up the kitchen island all the time wasn't very convenient.  So, we had the movers unpack my desk and desk chair and now I have a little office space set up.  I love it and it makes it easier to waste time on my computer all day!

4. Alarm Clock.  You might assume that since I'm not working, I wouldn't need an alarm clock to wake me up each morning...and that's true.  But, I do like my illuminated alarm clock (with the over-sized numbers) so I know what time it is in the middle of the night.  And, the big numbers are especially helpful when I have my contacts out.  So, I unpacked it and plugged it in and now I always know what time it is.

5. Bread Machine.  Again, this isn't often considered "essential" for most people, but I decided I needed it.  Now that I'm not working, I want to make wonderful dinners every night.  That means we're reviving our traditional pizza night each week.  And, since I use the bread machine to make my pizza dough, I had to unpack it.  I plan to make some delicious pizzas each week...I'm really looking forward to it!

June 7 - A Day In My Life

I had originally intended to take pictures on Tuesday, Bill's birthday, because we had lots of fun things planned.  But, since we had so many plans, I totally forgot to take pictures.  Instead, I took them yesterday, which ended up being really fun too - since we had more good plans!  We went to City Fair in downtown Portland which is a carnival set up during the Rose Festival (Portland is the City of Roses).  It was a fun fair and it was also Fleet Week so we saw some ships.  In the evening, we celebrated our anniversary since we won't be together next week for our actual anniversary.  It was a good day.

I didn't take a picture when I first woke up, so this was after a shower.  It's not as early as some of the days I've taken pictures - but still not late enough to enjoy sleeping in!

  

Feeding Ubi in the rain.  He's still not sure what to do about this Oregon weather.

Looking at pictures while I eat Life cereal.

Driving (in the rain) to pick up our special anniversary cakes.

We had JaCiva cakes at our wedding so whenever we get a chance, we order them again to enjoy the deliciousness.  This time we ordered Chocolate Cappuccino and Luscious Lemon.

We rode the MAX (tram) downtown to the fair.

Getting a tour of a Coast Guard cutter in town for Fleet Week.

A Canadian Navy sailing ship.  It was pretty cool.

We traded our challenge coin (that I randomly had in my purse) with a coin from the ship.  We were very proud of ourselves!

Entering City Fair ready for some good food!

I had a delicious corn dog.

Bill had a Walla Walla Burger (smothered in Walla Walla onions).

 

We splurged and bought wristbands for unlimited rides at the carnival!

Riding the swings high above the fair.

We sampled a smoothie made in a blender powered by a stationary bike.  It was OK, but I was just there for the free Walmart reusable shopping bag!

Riding in the ferris wheel high above the city!

Bill rode this ride without me!  We rode so many rides that spun us around in circles that we both felt a little sick at the end.  But, we definitely got our money's worth out of the wristbands!

Waiting for the MAX on our way home.

This isn't the usual "picture of me in a mirror", but I thought it was creative so it counts!

Our special anniversary dinner - PIZZA!  This is the same pizza we had at our wedding reception so it was the appropriate celebratory dinner.

Oh, so tasty.  It really is GOOD pizza!

Eating our special cake.  We cut the cake using my mom's crazy cake-cutting tool.  It actually worked really well.

My only time-check of the day happened to be right before bed.  It was a long, busy day!

Week 46

November 13
Abby came over and we had a BBQ. I made Quinoa and Black Beans...it was really yummy and went well with our polish sausages and chorizo. It was a great meal!

November 14
Bill returned from a 3-day dive trip. He had a lot of fun. And, like a responsible adult, he washed and rinsed his dive gear before putting it away. Good job!

November 15
I got my new camera today...I'm hoping it helps me take better pictures. Although, if the problem with my pictures is the way I take them, then a new camera might not help. Either way, it was fun to play around with it and practice different focal points.

November 16
Still playing with my camera. So far, I think the pictures are better. Ubi looks so cute!!

November 17
I asked Bill to pick up the dog's towel, but when he got downstairs, the cat had claimed it. She decided it was a cozy place to rest.

November 18
We treated ourselves to lunch at our favorite Italian restaurant. It was so good...I'm hungry just thinking about it! It's one of the few places I will miss when we leave here.

November 19
We ordered a pizza and it came cut like this...with lots of itty bitty pieces. Maybe the person cutting the pizza was new. It was actually more convenient for me to eat it this way so I appreciated it.