Did Someone Say "Bargain"?!

The other day, I was hunting all the thrift stores for a crock pot so I could more easily use dry beans which are way cheaper than canned beans. I went to all of the thrift stores that I knew of, but to no avail. As I admitted defeat and began to drive home, I noticed a store in the corner of my eye that I hadn't noticed before called "Nanilee's Resale". Hey, it's another thrift store! I quickly pulled over and ran in to look around. I found this brand new, still-in-the-box crock pot. Yay!
When I came out, I looked down the parking lot and noticed a store called "Bargain Basket". With a name like that I had to check it out. It turned out to be a completely ghetto grocery store. It was like DG&L, but more of dive...if that's at all possible. Truth be told, I loved it! It was so fun walking up and down every aisle looking at all of the random items that were dirt cheap. What's more fun than that?!
In the news of other awesome deals that I have happened upon, I found some shelves on clearance at at Target the other day (only $3.34 each!). I bought two and stacked them for some more kitchen space to be able to unpack a few more boxes. Ta-da!
Also, guess who discovered that the angel food cake pan that they got for a super deal at the thrift store leaks? This was all that was left of the cake when the timer went off.
Mmmm...angel flat cake.

"I Know You Are, But What Am I...Infinity!"

So, I'm a total copier, eh! All the fruit and canning talk has made me want to get in on some of the action. "Jealous!" Since I'm pretty limited now on space and supplies, I figured that freezer jam would be the perfect thing for me to do. Not to mention that I have been craving freezer jam for over a year now! It's about time I acted on that. With a little pep talk from Heather, I made some Strawberry Freezer Jam.
I liked the way it turned out, but I may opt for the full-sugar version next time. I think I prefer my jam to be "sickeningly sweet" as opposed to "slightly tart". But no complaints, I'm inhaling it nonetheless. I also found a recipe on AllRecipes.com for a refrigerator jam that didn't require pectin. All I needed was blueberries, sugar and a package of lemon jell-o.
I only made half since I didn't have enough blueberries, but it turned out kind of fun. Some comments left on the recipe site suggested using different fruit and jell-o flavors. I think next time I want to try strawberries with strawberry-banana jell-o. I'll let you know how it works out.
With all this jam, the only thing I was missing was the bread to put it on. Well, lucky for me, I found a bread maker in lovely condition at a thrift store the other day.
It's not as nice as my last bread maker from Unique (why did I give it away in the move?!) but it makes a larger loaf. It must be an older model because it's pretty noisy. When I first plugged it in I literally jumped when it buzzed on. I thought my smoke alarm went off. It also makes this continuous thudding sound while it's mixing the dough. My neighbors must have thought I was being beaten (but they must not like me very much since they never came over to see if I was okay).
As a side note, apparently I don't know my own strength. While I was scooping out the flour for the bread, I snapped the handle off of my measuring cup.
I guess Anziano Lemon was right:
"Sorella Stevenson, I'm really feminine,...but that's okay, because you're butch."

Are You Ready For Me To Bore You To Death?

I've tried not to put many political things on my blogs because I realize that I'm probably the only one interested in all that stuff. But, I've recently realized that I don't have much else to put on my blog, so you will just have to suffer the boredom of some of my thoughts on politics.

A really cool thing happened at the UN General Assembly this week.
Now, generally speaking, I don't pay any attention to the UN either (they increasingly demonstrate that they don't have the interests of the U.S. in mind), but Benjamin Netanyahu's speech was powerful and condemning.

A little background:

On Wednesday, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (the president of Iran) gave a speech to the UN General Assembly. In it, he railed against Israel. This is not surprising since, in the recent past, he has publicly stated that Iran's goal is to destroy the "little Satan" (Israel) and then the "great Satan" (the US). He emphatically denies that the ever Holocaust happened, calling it "a lie". He only refers to Israel as the "Zionist Regime" and "the Occupiers". He talks about a Jewish conspiracy, saying, "It is no longer acceptable that a small minority would dominate the politics, economy and culture of major parts of the world by its complicated networks." He also accuses the Jews of seeking to "establish a new form of slavery, and harm the reputation of other nations, even European nations and the US, to attain its racist ambitions."


...Like I said, crazy. A lot of people were upset that he was allowed to speak at all. Such a public forum would only give legitimacy to a tyrant. Some countries refused to go to Ahmadinejad's speech at all (Israel and Canada), while other countries had delegates that walked out during the speech (the US, Argentina, Australia, Britain, Costa Rica, Denmark, France Germany, Hungary, Italy, New Zealand).

Well, the next day, Benjamin Netanyahu (the Prime Minister of Israel) spoke to the UN General Assembly. The first part is basically a response to Ahmadinejad's speech, but he goes on to condemn the UN and Palestine and finishes with a declaration of Israel's right to defend itself and merely to exist. It really impressed me.


I'm not clever enough yet to imbed a video, so here's a link to the first part (out of 4) of the speech.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44HkjBDQz_k

The first part is the strongest, so if you watch anything, that would be the best.

Waaaaay too much time on my hands...

So, without any reason for a schedule, I have given myself one anyway. Each morning I get up and get ready in case I get called out for an interview or a temp job. As much as I love lounging around in my pajamas all day, I feel a lot less motivated when I do. I call around to all of the temp agencies to see if they have any assignments that they are holding out on. Once that comes up empty, I spend my afternoon actively job hunting. I either submit online applications or drive around town looking for places that I can request applications from. I quit searching around 5, when most everything pretty much closes down. Then it's time to go home and change into my pajamas. I usually listen to talk radio while I prepare my dinner and then eat it on my makeshift couch (aka the orphan bed) while watching TV. I don't have cable, so I have been cycling through my extensive DVD collection. Recently, I have been going through the CSI:Miami series and it just occurred to me...David Caruso is an unpainted clown! The wacky head tilt, the awkward sentence pauses, the uncomfortable invasion of personal space, the weird sunglasses thing all the time. I mean, come on, the eyebrows alone...
(Um, did I just admit to not only watching, but owning CSI:Miami? I am ashamed.)

Culture Shock

Texas is definitely a unique place. I've only been here about a month, but already there are some definite differences that I have noticed between here and anywhere else I have lived. For instance...

Good Different:
Everyone is so polite. I am now officially a "Ma'am" everywhere I go. I didn't realize how much I had grown accustomed to DC's back-off-ish-ness (I think I just made that up...but you get what I mean). Don't get me wrong, people in DC are lovely, but they are initially very distrusting and it takes a bit get past that. Here, everyone automatically treats you as if you have been friends for years. Anyone that I casually mention to that I am looking for a job has come up to me again later and asked me how the job-hunt was going. I can't believe they remember details about a casual conversation that we had...which only makes it worse that I don't even remember their name or anything that they told me before. I may need to work on that whole "developing charity" thing. Twice already I have purchased groceries, picked up my bags and walked out of the store only to have an employee run franticly out of the store after me asking me why I didn't wait for them to carry my groceries to my car for me. They were genuinely confused when I explained that I could just do it by myself. They almost seemed hurt that I didn't need them.

Bad Different:
The juice selection stinks. I drink A LOT. In restaurants, along with finishing off my entire meal, I will easily down 4-5 drinks. My tips usually reflect a waitresses vigilance to refills. Sheesh...it's a good thing I was born into a Mormon family because I would easily be a lush if I wasn't. My roommates used to tease me because I never drank out of normal glasses. I had my special cup that was approximately the same size as an extra large cottage cheese container because regular cups just don't hold enough. Think how much time I have saved in refill time alone! Anyway, I love juice and always keep a gallon of prepared juice in my fridge to fill my huge cup. Well, every grocery store I go to has (no kidding) at least 10 different varieties of orange juice. There's regular, country-style, pulp-free, extra pulp, calcium boost, etc. But, other than orange juice, the pickins are pretty slim. One brand of apple juice, one of grape juice cocktail, and two kinds of lemonade (regular or pink). I miss all the fun Old Orchard flavors. *sigh*

Indifferent Different (haha):
There was a baby blessing yesterday in church. The little boy was given the name Cougar-Jay. I don't remember his last name...I was a little distracted by the first name. It was really cute to hear the dad all through the blessing addressing his son saying "Cougar-Jay (this)" and "Cougar-Jay (that)". Is it completely irreverent that all I could think about during the blessing was the line from Taladega Nights "This is my son Walker, and my other son Texas Ranger."?

Updates...

...there are none. Haha!...joke's on me! (aww...I made myself feel bad.)
Still looking for a job. I call into three temp agencies every morning and apply like mad on craigslist the rest of the time. So far I have only had one interview. It went very well, but the woman was very frank and told me that I was too overqualified. She feared I wouldn't stay long term. So, basically I'm finding that I'm not qualified for anything except jobs that I'm overqualified for. It's pretty frustrating.
Everything else is going well. I went to Institute last night. It's a Book of Mormon class taught by the first counselor in my bishopric. There's an actual Institute building across the street from the University. It's tiny, but the total fun way. I met up with a girl from my ward and we sat together. I was glad we did because the teacher was one of those kinds that says things like "Turn to your neighbor and tell them how this verse makes you feel" and "Get into small groups and discuss these verses"...you know, my favorite! Man, I really dislike class participation beyond comments (I actually love making comments. I'm kind of an obnoxious participator that way. ...but nothing more!). It's funny because the girl from my ward convinced me to go to this class specifically because he teaches this way. I'll keep going, but I think I'm going to sign up for the other night class as well. Hopefully he's more of a boring lecture type of teacher (did I just say that?!).
My apartment is still great...except for the fact that horrible smells pour over from the neighbors about every other day. Most days it just smells like put-out cigarettes, but every once in a while it smells like a nail salon. I've pretty much convinced myself that they're running a meth lab (Hooray! How does that make you feel mom and dad!).
I have been living off of my food storage. It's great, but I'm limited as to what I can eat. Not because I don't have enough food (do you even know me?!), but because I can't figure out how to work my oven. It's an old gas stove and I'm basically afraid that I'll blow myself up. Pathetic, I know. I can handle the stove top, but the oven has proven a bit beyond my "I'll just flip on the gas and jam a match in there" comfort level. I'm hoping my home teachers will help me when they come. But, before they can come, I'll have to get some furniture. "Welcome! Go ahead and have a seat on the orphan bed! I'll just sit indian-style on the floor by your feet." Slowly but surely, it's all coming together.

It's About Time, Eh!

Well, I've finally decided to restart a blog. I figured this would be a good way to give everyone a heads-up on what I'm doing (you know, since that worked out so well last time).
In case you don't already know, I no longer live in Maryland. I moved to Lubbock Texas! (psst...it's the red dot on the map)



If anyone is shocked by this, join the club. It was a last minute decision that needed to be done quick if it was going to be done at all. "Why Lubbock?" you may ask... Well, it may seem random, but there actually is a reason behind it. I loved living in the Washington DC area, but I knew that I didn't want to live there for the rest of my life. I lost my job earlier than I was anticipating, so I figured that now was as good a time as any for a change if I wanted to get the most out of my severance package. I've always been curious about Texas and their job growth is continually beating out the rest of the country. I knew that I definitely wanted to move someplace warmer, but I was pretty done with humidity. Well, west Texas is hot and dry. After a brief internet search, turns out that the only Temple in west Texas is in Lubbock. Hmmm...Lubbock it is!

I have settled into a cozy little apartment...that was the least ghetto of all the places that I looked at. (Huh...who knew Lubbock had a ghetto!) Now that I have finally figured out how to upload pictures that don't require a microscope for viewing, I'll give you a virtual tour of my apartment. This is a view of the quadruplex (did I just make that word up?) from across the street. I'm in the second apartment over.
If you squint really hard, you can see my van parked in front of my door (well, not exactly in front of my door...then I wouldn't be able to get in!). This is a closer view of my front door. Can you feel the excitement building! I sure can!
Now, before I go on, I want to clarify that I am not done putting my house together. It is a bit messy now, but I wanted to just take pictures as it was and not try and sugar coat it...so stop judging me! When you walk in the front door, it opens right into the living room. Ahh...notice the unhidden speaker wires on the wall, the un-put-away boxes on the floor, and the orphan bed instead of a couch (and it's even un-made...what a slob!). The far door goes into the bedroom, but we're not going there yet. Stop trying to get ahead of the tour!
This is a view of the same room, but from the opposite side. That's the front door. I would like to draw your attention to the television that I got for a super deal at a local thrift store. Works like a charm.
Just off of the living room is the kitchen area. There is a small space for a table...if I had a table. Right now it's just a couple of chairs that I brought with me. I'm hoping to find something on Craigslist or at a thrift store once I have some extra cash to blow.
Around the corner is the kitchen. Magical, isn't it?!
Now, into the bedroom. This is the view from the living room. That door leads to the back yard (nice lock set, Pappy!). Those are my clothes on the shelf. You may not know this about me, but I hate putting my clothes in drawers. I try and put all of my folded clothes on shelves. That way, I can see everything that I have at a glance rather than having to dig through a deep drawer. I used to have a big shelf cabinet so I could close the doors for a tidier look, but it was too big to lug all the way here. I saw one for sale at Target the other day...ahh, yet another thing I want to blow my wad on. I have my computer all set up (including the amazing flat screen that I also found at a thrift store for a screamin' deal!). Also, if you look in the corner...yes, that's a stack of totes filled with nothing but yarn. ...I can stop anytime I want to!
This is a view of my bedroom from the opposite side. (I swear...that girl doesn't know how to make a bed). My bed is on risers so that I can store all of my DVDs underneath. I have my priorities worked out here. Hmm...more shelf trivia about Holly that you may not know: I prefer a shelf for a nightstand. I usually read in bed before I go to sleep. Rather than have a heap of books piled on the floor beside my bed, I put the books that I'm reading and cross-referencing on the shelf. It sounds like I'm being efficient, but it's really just laziness. I hate getting out of my toasty bed just to look something up.
This is my great closet. I didn't realize until recently what a clotheshorse I was. Closet space is essential.
Just off of the bedroom is the bathroom. You can even kind of see me taking the picture.
Only one view of the kitchen, but two of the bathroom?! I don't understand it either...
Last stop on the tour: the uninviting back yard. At least I don't have to mow.
Well, hopefully I haven't bored you to tears (I know I cried a little bit). Thus far, things have been working out quite providentially. I'm hoping to secure a job sometime next week. I'm feeling quite hopeful right now. I'll keep you posted as things warrant, eh!