Happy in my own place

I went to the hairdresser this weekend. I explained to her once again how much I'd like to have big curly hair instead of my very tame straight brown hair. She has been through this with me a lot of times before, but this time, she sat down and told me that I do not have big hair and probably shouldn't have big hair. She said I should learn to live with what I've got and that I should "own it". Make it mine. I've been thinking a lot about what she said and I think I can apply this to a lot of areas of my life.
I live in the desert. I love rain and hate the heat, and so clearly, this is the wrong place for me. For three years, I have been trying to do little things that make the desert seem less desert-y. The most thick-headed of these attempts has been my quest to grow tomatoes. I really like gardening and I really hate store-bought tomatoes. The first year, I grew tomatoes in pots which died instantly. I didn't realize you had to literally water things twice a day if you put them in a pot. The next year, I moved and I tried the tomatoes in pots thing again, but on a "shady" side of the house. Once again they died. This year is my final attempt and I have really made a go of it. I made a planter, filled it with beautiful soil and mulch and sunk a drip hose. Still, this:
I tried one last time and bought more plants. With extra water and love I have these, with just the teensiest signs of life. They have blossoms, which just might turn into tomatoes.
If they live another week, I'll buy them cages. However, I've realized that I've spent a lot of money, energy, and time trying to create something that isn't natural. Just like my hair, I can't make Arizona something it isn't. If I get tomatoes, that will be great, but next year, I'm putting in jalepenos and rosemary.
Meanwhile, I do have some things growing well in the yard like these baby pomegranates. By fall, the birds and I will have a messy feast with those.
So, it's my goal for the rest of these hot months to come to terms with the straightness of my hair. Straight brown hair isn't boring if I say it isn't! Also, I'm going to accept Arizona for the good things, like beautiful sunsets, long drives, open wilderness, and low heating bills.

*update on yogurt: it didn't kill me. It was actually pretty yummy. If I make it again though, I'm going to use 2% milk, because it wasn't as thick as I'd like.

Live and Active in Tucson

Guess what! I made yogurt! I eat a lot of yogurt around here. I'm sort of picky about it and I really like this certain brand that I get at this store that's across town. It isn't expensive, but it's a pain to drive over there. So today, I decided to make some and it was really easy. I took 4 cups of milk (I used skim for extra healthiness) and heated it on the stove until teeny bubbles started to form. Then I took it off and let it cool down to between 110 and 115 degrees. Then, I stirred in 2tbsp of the yogurt that I like so much until it was all smooth. I put the mixture in the oven, but kept it turned off. You could use any warmish dark place, just so long as your cats can't get to it. If you live in a cold place, I bet you could put it in the oven with just the light turned on or something. I left it there all day while I was at work and when I came home..viola! 4 cups of delicious yogurt made from clones of my old yogurt. I like plain yogurt, but I bet you could put in fruit or vanilla or whatever you like and it would be great.

Now I don't have to drive across town as long as I have 4 cups of milk! I'll taste it tomorrow for breakfast and let you know how it is. If I don't post for another several weeks, you know not to try to make your own dairy products.
p.s. go check out the super cute dress up clothes my sister made! (I'm going to pretend that people other than my sister and my mom read this site)

Trip to Mexico

This weekend my friends Nikki and Joe came to visit. They are from Ohio and so were shocked by the horrible heat here. They were good sports though and we had a great time. On Friday afternoon we drove down to the mission San Xavier:
...and then we drove on to Nogales, Mexico. We walked around and shopped a little , and then we had lunch at a cool little restaurant on a side street. Joe and Nikki, though they had only a little rental car and were flying home in two days, bought a pig skin couch and chair that they haggled (impressively) down to $62 and 200 pesos ($20-ish dollars). We strapped the couch to the roof and Nikki and I rode back to Tucson squashed on either side of the chair. It was worth it though because the furniture is really cool. They drove off to Colorado with the couch precariously tied to the roof of the rental. I'm sure they'll come up with some way to get it all home.
I came home with much smaller treats. I bought this copper star that you can put a light in. I think I have some kind of addiction to light-up stars, and I 'm not sure where to put this new one. Any suggestions? I also adopted this crew of luchadores who did not want to stand up for the picture.

They have promised to watch over the house while we're at work. I'm not sure the capes are entirely necessary, but they swear they're very important.

p.s. I'm still working on the cereal. We've patched up the walls, paved the driveway, and fed all kinds of children in need. Still no boxes eliminated. Thanks for all the suggestions though, I'll tell my dentist you warned me off the sugary stuff.

The Great Cereal Debate 2007

So, we have a rule in our house that I think is unfair. We are only allowed to buy new cereal when we have finished an old box. I am the only one in this house who eats cereal, you see, and I think I should get to make up the rules. Well, recently I have begun to see the beauty of our rule. Four weeks ago, I had a box of cocoa puffs and a box of rice crispies. Then, our friends started going into the field for the summer and sending us stuff from their pantries. Then we had cocoa puffs, two boxes of rice crispies, honey nut cheerios, and raisin bran. The other day, crunch berries were on sale for a dollar (!) and I know I shouldn't have, but I bought them.

Now I have a dilemma. All of this beloved cereal is going to go stale before I can eat it. I think I need to develop a plan of attack so that I eat the best cereal first. I don't want to eat the same one every day, but I still need to eliminate some boxes. What do you suggest? How would you conquer this mountain of bran, oats, rice, and crunch berries?

Sunday cooking adventures

A culinary bug bit both my husband and I this Sunday. We were both inspired to make the kinds of food we never usually have. Mine was pretty tame. I made buttery blueberry waffles.
R. was wayyy more ambitious and decided to make beef jerky. I didn't even know you could make beef jerky outside of a factory, but apparently you can. First, he bought a roast (I'm not sure what cut) and marinaded it for 36 hours in soy sauce, teriaki, brown sugar, garlic, salt, and a load of other things I didn't see him add. He cut it into teeny tiny slices before putting it in the marinade. When the meat was done soaking, it looked awfully gory, but it smelled delicious. At this point, I thought we were going to spread the meat out outside in the dry, dry, 102 degree heat. No, R. insisted that we make our jerky under controlled conditions. He set the oven to 175 degrees, and hung the little strips of spicy meat across skewers through the oven rack with a bunch of foil at the bottom to catch the drips. He cooked it all day, filling the house with the most delicious campfire-y, steak-y aroma. When it was done, the little strips had shrunk a lot and were much darker. In the picture they have a weird color, but really they looked just like store-bought jerky, but without the little silica packet and all the MSG. Yum!!

Apron and Ruins

I finished the Laura Ingalls apron. It's pink and flowery on one side and green on the other. It's not exactly the Laura/Mary apron that I had planned, but maybe she'll like it anyway. It has little pockets that don't show up in the picture.

I also made the pink fabric into an apron that I like much better and that I'm considering sending instead, even though it has nothing to do with the theme. I'll attach pictures as soon as I can get the camera to behave. It's hard to take a decent picture for a blog, isn't it?
In other news, I'm going to be backpacking next weekend! There's a really remote site in northern Arizona called Keet Seel. It's about an 8 mile hike and then a 100 foot ladder! It should be really cool. The site is off the beaten path and so it may not be as looted as most sites around Arizona. Also, it isn't a huge tourist attraction, so it won't have reconstructions or interpretive signs. It should be a great trip. It's really warm down here in the desert lately, but at Keet Seel, it should be much cooler. Keet Seel is located on the Navajo Reservation, but it was occupied by the Kayenta Anasazi long before the Navajo came to Arizona. It was built in the 1100's and was probably abandoned like the rest of the southwest around 1300. It's closed to the public now, so I'm excited to have the chance to go. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures to share.

Friday is for pretty things

I bought some pretty new fabric when I was in Georgia last week. I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to do with it yet, but maybe you have some suggestions. The pink one is sort of canvas-y and the blue one is the thinnest nicest cotton. I am making an apron for an apron exchange with my sister, and I think the pink one would be great, but it doesn't follow the theme. The theme was "things that remind us of when we were little". We both came up with plans for a Laura/ Mary Ingalls style apron which is just weird. Hers came out beautiful, and I've already gotten batter all over it. I need to get crackin' on mine.

The second pretty thing is these beautiful peonies
from Trader Joes. I love Trader Joes. When I got these flowers they were baseball sized and white. Now they are pink and as big as my head. They make the whole kitchen smell
so so good.

The third pretty thing is... what?... wait a second,

that's not pretty!...That's a scary bug from my yard!