Two Years!

Happy Anniversary!

You are my best friend and I love you very much!

Change of Plans

Ben and I planned on going camping with his parents this weekend. However, we canceled the trip due to rain. So, instead of spending Saturday hiking in the great outdoors, Ben and I sat on the couch the whole evening and finished watching episodes of Season 2 of The Office. (I got the set at the library, so we only had 1 week to get through an entire season.)

As always, there were some incredibly funny moments:

Creed forgetting to get Jim a present for the Secret Santa party and instead pulling an old shirt out of his closet and throwing it in a bag.
"Jim Halpert: He clearly forgot to get me something, so he went into the closet, dug out this little number, and threw it in a bag.
[cut to Creed]
Creed: Yep. That's exactly what happened."

The entire Injury episode
Dwight trying to put out the fire "The Fire."

And as true to The Office some incredibly awkward moments as well:

The rest of the Christmas/Secret Santa Episode
Michael Scott: So Phyllis is basically saying, 'Hey Michael, I know you did a lot to help the office this year, but I only care about you and oven mitt''s-worth.' I gave Ryan an iPod!

Michael's speech at the salesman convention (especially the deleted scenes. That was pure torture).
Michael acting like a baby on his birthday.
Michael Scott: Somebody got donuts for my birthday!
Toby: Happy birthday!
Michael Scott: You didn't know it was my birthday.
Toby: I guess I forgot.
Michael Scott: Well I guess I forgot to give you a donut.
Toby: You're serious?
Michael Scott: Mmm.

And of course, I loved any storyline that centered around the Jim and Pam romance!

Season 5 starts on the 25th! I cannot wait!

What's your favorite Office moment?

Cling Free!

I've always used the fabric softener sheets in my dryer to prevent that horrible static cling. Over the years, I read e-mails about how they can interfere with heat sensors, or coat the lint filter and make the dryer work less effectively. They can also coat the clothes with harmful chemicals.

Although I realized the problems they cause, I did not know of an alternative. Not using them was not an option....the thought of peeling my clothes apart after each load made my hair stand up on end!

I read about the As Seen on TV dryer balls, but mom tried them and said they only worked part of the time. I also read about using a ball of aluminum foil, putting a bit conditioner on a washcloth and throwing that in (someone said the conditioner got all over their clothes), and throwing in a plain dry washcloth. Plain dry washcloth....that seemed easy enough, so I thought I would give it a shot.

It works really well!

I use a plain white washcloth for my white loads. The white washcloth left little fuzzies in my dark load, (you were right about that, mom) so I found a dark blue washcloth for them.

I don't know why it works...if someone does, let me know. My bath towels are not quite as fluffy as when I use a dryer sheet. However, my clothes are soft and do not stick together at all! Plus, I save on the cost of the dryer sheets too!

Mc Cain Picks Palin

Just in case you did not already know!

Camping at Sherwood

When Ben and I first started dating two years ago, he worked weekends. So, he would drive down Thursday evenings, and I would drive up Sunday evenings. Once, however, he was able to get a Saturday off. He surprised me with a day of hiking at the Tamanawas Falls near the Sherwood Campgrounds. Yesterday, we went back to the Sherwood Campground and camped overnight near the river. We left Wednesday morning around ten, and got there about 12:00, just in time to find a nice spot right near the river and have some premade sandwiches. We were going to sit by the river and eat our lunch, but it was too windy.

Instead, we decided to go exploring around the woods before we had to set up our tent. This was my first time at the campground, but Ben has camped here many times before, so he is familiar with the terrain. We walked up the river until Ben found two logs which we could walk on to cross the river to the other side. Unfortunately, we do not have pictures of this....I wish I did. But the first log was quite skinny and I decided to let Ben cross the river by himself. However, the second log proved thicker and sturdier, and I felt a bit lonely watching him travel on, so I called him back to help me over. I walked around the first log and he hoisted me up the second log. The second log was a large tree that had fallen over. The roots were massive. I did not get a picture of it, but it looks similar to the one posted below

(I thought the picture of the tree was awesome! Look at all the roots needed to hold that tree up! Ben reminded me that there might be even more roots in the ground.)

We made it safely across the river and Ben lead me through the forest. We stepped over trees, ducked under branches, trotted up the hill, until finally I started to feel like Ben must feel when we go shopping at the housewares department at Ross.....is there a plan, or are we just wandering around? I asked Ben, and he assured me he did have a plan. We finally found the designated trail. After that, we walked back to a massive log that had intentionally been turned into a bridge to cross the river. It was right near our campsite. We never needed to find our own makeshift bridge, we could have taken this to begin with. I did tell Ben I wanted an adventure. When we got back, we set up the tent. It was pretty windy, so I helped Ben stake it down.

(Our campsite)

Later that afternoon, he built a fire and we fried burgers in my cast iron pan over the hot fire. We also tried a new recipe I found for dessert called "Rum Baked Bananas in Foil." It is courtesy of The Oregonian, but they adopted it from "Campfire Cuisine" by Robin Donovan...hmmm, I will have to pick up that book.

For the recipe, you....

1. First, take one banana, still in its peel, and slice lengthwise through the length of the peel and the fruit, leaving the underside of the peel intact.

2nd. Pull the slices of the banana apart and sprinkle 1/2 T butter, cut into small pieces, 1T brown sugar, and 1/4 tsp. cinnamon. You can also add 2t dark rum, but we did not.

3. Close the banana back up and wrap it in aluminum foil. I double wrapped mine, just in case.

4. To cook, you place it directly on the coals (or grate if using a gas grill) and bake 10-12 minutes until hot and soft. Remove, discard foil, and eat with a spoon.

We put ours on the grate over the fire. We cooked it maybe 5-6 minutes and the foil was starting to singe, so we took it out. When we opened the foil, the butter and sugar had melted, leaving a nice gooey mess! The banana was not quite mushy enough, so we could have cooked it longer, but it still tasted great! Ben gave it his seal of approval....which is always the deciding factor for me!

We roasted some marshmallows, but it got dark pretty quickly, so we went to bed soon after.

The next morning, we woke up, had some oatmeal, and went on a short hike to get warmed up. The sun was starting to shine through when we got back, and I got this beautiful picture of the sunrays hitting the river.

We decided not to spend another night, so we had some lunch

(Grilled chicken and hot dogs)

And then I read by the river until it was time to pack up the camp and come home! Thank you for reading about my camping adventures!

It Begins!

After failed attempts at iWeb and the fact that my "girly" posts didn't always match with Ben's gray and black background, I have finally decided to branch out on my own! Be prepared for a variety of posts on homemaking, cooking, policy, and the simple joys of life!