I'm so addicted to....

...Sonic shakes. Yeah the strawberry ones are especially good. Sonic's food is ok. Not great, just ok. But their shakes...well that is a whole different story. Let me just say that if you want a good shake, you need to try Sonic's. They are awesome and inexpensive. The only drawback, they spill the shake all over the cup and then don't wipe it off very good! This especially makes Chad angry and we have had a few Sonic employees that were probably a little afraid to give us our shakes because we told them throught the loud speaker to PLEASE WIPE OFF OUR SHAKES. But when we told them, they did it, so I guess it doesn't hurt to just tell people what you want. After all, you are paying for it. So, lesson learned, Sonic Shakes= good. Try em.

On another note, there has been something bothering me that I have been meaning to blog about. Maybe its just me that this bothers, I don't know. I guess I will find out. Who is Lady GaGa and why do people like her or her songs? She is the most annoylingly weird person!! I have seen her perform a couple time on Dancing with the Stars and American Idol (I think, correct me if I'm wrong about that one) and she is just weird. It's not entertaining becuase she is a good perform but rather it is entertaining because you are sitting there watching thinking, 'what is this lady doing?' No pun intended. But the name, also weird. Is she from England? You can't just put Lady in front of your name because you want to. So I know it took her a long time to be "discovered" and I think I know why: she SUCKS! Her songs might have a catch to them but after about the 100th time hearing them on the radio I want to rip off my ears! Her newest song, "Love Game" really annoys me. So when I hear a rapper on the radio talking about gross things I am not surprised. They don't try to hide the fact that they are talking about sex in their songs. They say it how it is. I might not agree with it, but at least I know what I hear and can turn it if I want to. But oh Lady GaGa, is a whole other story. She has to try to hide what she is talking about and use terms like Disco Stick, huh and love game. Ok so I really hope most of you get what she is talking about when she says Disco Stick...maybe my mind is in the gutter but it seems pretty obvious to me. When she uses Huh I could see someone missing the real meaning. Here is her exact wording.... "I can see you staring from across the block, with a smile on your face and a hand on your huh!" Seriously? Is this woman mental? I don't understand why you write a song about a love game and try to disguise what it is really about? It's about sex Lady GaGa. You aren't fooling anyone. Sorry to break it to you. I hate that song and I dislike Lady GaGa more. Ok enough about that, just something I needed to get off my chest.
She is crazy... just look at the pictures...


Thirdly, I don't know how many of you are watching the Bachelorette, but I am. I will admit it. I love this show. Yeah I know a lot of it probably isn't real but it's entertaining. I just want to say that I really don't like Wes and Jillian is stupid for keeping him around. I mean give me a break. I also almost started crying when Jillian didn't give Michael a rose and he got all emotional at the end. He is a nice guy. Too bad Jillian dumped him.

Jillian:

Michael
Stupid Wes:

Ok well that is enough about music and reality TV. I honestly do have more of a life than those two things I promise.

Glazed and Fired

So on Wednesday, I glazed all of my hand built and wheel thrown pieces. There are so many glazes to choose from and sometimes its the hardest part simply because there are too many options. So you take your bisqued fired pieces, (which have been fired at a lower temperature after they are all dried) and give them a rinse and then put was on the bottom of the pieces or where ever you don't want the glaze to be. You can't put glaze on the bottom of the pieces because they would stick to the kiln shelves and ruin the kiln. So after the wax, then you did your pieces in the glaze and then let them dry. From there you fire them again at a higher temperature. The pieces I will show you in this piece are all handbuilt and they were fired at a lower temperature than the wheel thrown pieces.
Me and my two teachers at the glazing:

I will give the bad news first, this soldier didn't make it. Sometimes when a pot is fired after being glazed, it doesn't make it out of the kiln in one piece. With my luck, the fallen soldier just happened to be the pot that I was giving to my sister as a gift. We were both really excited about it so it was really depressing when I found out that it didn't make it through firing! I was seriously depressed for a long time...actually I still am! I worked so hard on it and was so excited to give it to my sister. I'm sorry Nichole! I know its not my fault but I still feel bad. I will probably be sad about this for a while and I know that Chad will probably get tired of hearing how I am sad, but he always makes me feel better. I have promised my sister that I am going to start on another pot ASAP and hopefully make it better! I have already started to stockpile Pottery materials so that I can continue doing this even when I move back to Cali. I know just need to find somewhere that I can glaze and fire them.

So here is the poor guy pre-fire, post-glaze.

Here he is after he has been injured (I know i sound cheesy, but you work on them so long, its almost as if they are your friend so he it's a he not an it.):

I will show you the before it is glazed or after it is bisqued fired:

Here is the pot after it is glazed:

And after it is fired for the last time:

This is another piece, pre-glaze:

After glaze:

Finished:

This is my third large handbuilt piece in its pre-glaze state:

In its post-glaze state anxiously awaiting to be fired at a very hot temperature!

Finished:

These are two smaller handbuilt pieces:

Thes are them post glaze and fire:

These are wheelthrown work:

Three of my cups: (yes they aren't the best but they were my first wheelthrown pieces ever so give them a break!)

More Cups:


Some after they are glazed:
And here they are fired:

One of my bowls: (A side view)

Here are the bowls glazed:


And here are some more tiles I made (glazed):

And the finished products. I think they turned out so well.

Pots, rain and Oriental Food

Sorry...this turned into a longer post than I anticipated.

So I don' think I ever showed the final version of the last pot i was working on...well final version before the glaze. So here is the final! I just love it.


And here is one more pot I started. I actually have finished it but I just haven't taken a picture of the final product. So I will add that later. But here is how it is started. I have talked a lot about pookies but haven't ever posted a pic of one. So here is what i start my pots with. It just makes them a little easier. I am actually going to making my own to take with me to California so that I can continue this hobby!



Here is the pot in process in different stages. It is amazing how much different they look when they are actually finished.


And here is a small one I finished...


And I just had to post some pics of the rain because it has been a big part of our life for a while now. Rain....



And more rain....this was on Saturday. It poured so hard! And of course it started pouring about 5 minutes after I jumped in the car to run errands. I went to take a redbox back...by the way Seven Pounds with Will Smith is really good and Will make you cry so be prepared... and take some old clothes to DI. So i pretty much was soaked by the time I made it home. Not to mention the pants I was wearing were a little big and wanted to fall off. So the drive through at DI in sugarhouse was closed because of the rain i am guessing so I had to get all 5 bags of clothes out of the car in the rain while trying to keep my pants up and not get soaked. I managed to get the bags inside and only get a little soaked and keep my pants up. It was a miracle. Also the workers at DI met me right at the door. They were very helpful. I then went and looked around in DI. Everyone seems to find stuff there but I found nothing. There was a Harry Potter book that I already had. I just can't bring myself to buy used silverware or anything else really from DI. Not to be a snob but thats just gross. Maybe someday I will find some good find there. Sorry for the sidenote rant. Where was I? Oh yes the rain....it rained a lot on Saturday.

I also wanted to share some recipes I have made lately. The first I made tonight and it turned out really good. (Also we got these recipes from Chad's uncle Tony.) The first one is Stir Fry Tomato and Beef. It is a wonderful oriental dish that is good for people like me who aren't really a fan of oriental. It has just enough oriental flavor to satisfy my husband who loves anything orietnal and not too much to overload me. The recipe is as follows:

1 lb- beef flank steak, flat iron steak, etc
1/2- teaspoon instant beef bouillon granules
1/3- cup boiling water
1/4- cup soy sauce
1 Tbs- cornstarch
2 Tbs- cooking oil
3-4 Tbs- grated ginger root (I only used about 2 Tbs but it just depends how much of that flavor you want)
1/2 Cup- thinly sliced celery or more (I used more)
4 Tomatoes- (I used about 2 tomatoes and that was a good amount but if you like more tomatoes then use 3 or 4)
1 large onion cut in small wedges or strips
1/2 Cup- Shredded carrot or more (Again I used more)
1 green bell pepper cut into strips or pieces

Partially freeze beef; slice thinly across the grain into bite size pieces. Dissolve bouillon granules in water. Blend soy sauce into corn starch. Stir in bouillon. Set aside.

Preheat a wok or large skillet over high heat. Add cooking oil. Stir-fry ginger root into hot oil for 30 seconds. Add the onion, carrot and celery. Stir fry for 2 minutes. Remove from pan. Add more oil if necessary and half of the beef to the wok. Stir-fry 2-3 minutes or until red color is gone. Remove beef and stir-fry remaining beef for 2-3 minutes or until red is gone. Return all meat to wok. Stir soy sauce mixture into beef. Cook stir-fry until thickened and bubbly. Stir in onions, carrot, celery mixture. Add green pepper and tomatoes. Stir and then cover and cook for one minute. Serve at once, makes 4 servings. Serve with rice if desired.


This one I mad a couple nights ago. It is a recipe for Chicken Enchiladas. It was pretty easy and my husband loved them. He is pretty picky about his mexican so it must be good. Also it is really easy if you buy a whole rotissere chicken and just shred that meat for th enchiladas. Thats what I did. I also cut the recipe in half but you could do the full and freeze what you don't eat.

6-8 tomatillos
4 chicken breasts
1 clove garlic
1/2 bunch cilantro (just the tops)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup of sour cream
2 small can diced mild green chilis
18 corn tortillas
1 onion diced
2 cup grated monterey jack cheese
Salt to taste
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 can black olives (optional)
Lettuce (optional)
Tomatoes (optional)
Salsa (optional)

Boil the tomatillos until they are losing their color and are looking transparent but not mushy. Remove from boiling water and set aside.

Boil the chicken breasts until they are cooked through. Remove from water, cool and shred.

Fry the corn tortillas in vegatable oil and drain on paper towels.

In a blender or food processor combine the tomatillos, garlic, cilantro, cream of chicek sous, sour cream and salt. Prcesss to a smooth consistency. If the sauce is too thick, thin with water the chicken was cooke in or milk. ONce the suace is made be sure and taste it, adjust salt or add more of any ingredient to meet your taste.

Place a corn tortilla on a plate and add some fo the shredded chicken, mild green chilis, diced onion, a tablespoon of the sauce adn some Monterey Jack cheese and roll the tortilla into a round. Place some of the sauce in the bottom of a glass or metal baking dish (9x13 is fine). Add the stuffed and rolled tortillas. Continue adding the rolled tortillas until the pan is full. Cover with sauce and sprinke with cheese. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove the foil the last 5 minutes of the bakng time to slightly brown the cheese.

These were both really good and pretty simple.

Lastly, here is Chad's new toy. He got this 90 gallon fish tank for $100! It was a steal. They normally run $300-400. And it looks practically brand new. We won't set it up till we get settled somewhere in Cali but it was too good to pass up. It is so big compared to the 65 gallon we have now.


Oh and here are some pics of Brielle from a while ago. I keep forgetting to post them but they are too cute to not post at all. Nichole came to Salt Lake a couple weeks ago and we went to Sugarhouse park and enjoyed the beautiful day.