lost... and found?

so.... i lost my wedding ring last night. BIG DRAMA!

i was out on the back porch playing with riley and it was fairly chilly which makes my fingers shrink. (disclaimer: my ring has always been a little too big. tension settings cannot be resized.) anyway, we were playing this game where riley runs around with a toy in her mouth and i chase her and try to grab her tail or swat her butt. well (for those of you who have seen our back yard) i was standing on the very far left-hand corner of the patio. riley ran around the front of me and i swept my left hand across the front of my body to the right trying to swat her as she ran by. when i swung my arm, my ring just went flying off all the way over the the neighbor's fence on the right side of our house. i saw it all in slow motion like a cartoon. i just stood there for about 2 seconds before i ran in and told justin to come quick!!

well i explained what happened and that the ring may or may not have gone through the wire fence into the neighbor's yard because i couldn't tell. well i immediately put on a long sleeve t-shirt, gloves and rain boots for fear of poison ivy and started on my hand and knees looking. i bet i looked hilarious. i'm in a bright green long sleeved john deere t-shirt, my gardening gloves, a khaki skirt, brown leggings and my navy rain boots. our neighbor isn't home, so i ask our other neighbor across the street if she can call him to ask if we can search his backyard. well, he has no cell phone, so we left a note on his door. her husband came to help us look because apparently he finds things easily. (a favorite pair of sunglasses in the ocean, for example.)

while brian and i are looking, justin is on the phone with my parents trying to find out where to rent a metal detector. (they had to rent one this summer when dad lost his ring in the backyard. he was flailing because of some little bug or something when it flew off.) well he finds a place that rents them out that's really close to our house-thank God!! brian and i are still combing the area in both backyards when justin gets back. brain decides he's been all the help he can be and goes home. justin and i got to work with the metal detector. he swept the detector back and forth and i looked when it beeped. this would have been a good system if the stupid thing wasn't beeping ALL THE TIME! plus by now, it's totally dark and we're looking with flashlights.

i went inside to make a phone call (we were supposed to go to dinner at a friend's and i was supposed to make mash potatoes (which i hadn't even started). we were supposed to be there at 7 and it was about 6:45. i called her to tell her that we would be late, if there at all. i decided then that i would look until 7 and then i was done, we would have to resume the search tomorrow. justin came inside and i had a total breakdown. completely bawling like a baby. so, we decided that justin would continue to look in the neighbor's yard and i would go handful by handful through the leaves we had raked up to make sure it wasn't in that pile. justin went outside and i was putting on my coat and gloves. he came right back in with his fist closed. "did you find it!?" he just opened his hand and there it was!! he found it right by the fence next to the big tree in our neighbor's yard. it had flown almost 25 feet. talk about relief!! i made the potatoes and we made it to our dinner party a little late. everyone else was late too-so it was no big deal. GIANT SIGH OF RELIEF!! WHEW!!! needless to say i will be getting a spacer put on tonight!

p.s. also last post was my 100th post! woo hoo!

cloth diapers?

ok, let me preface this by saying...

1- i'm not pregnant
2- i have lots of friends who use/are considering using cloth diapers
3- i have nothing against anyone who uses cloth diapers (i just think it's kind of gross)
4- i know people use cloth diapers for more reasons than the environment, for example, cost.

i came across this article yesterday and was really surprised by what it said. this is a british article and i'll post the link at the bottom if you prefer to see the website it came from. i really am interested to hear your reactions to this.

Blow to image of ‘green’ reusable nappy

A government report that found old-fashioned reusable nappies damage the environment more than disposables has been hushed up because ministers are embarrassed by its findings.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has instructed civil servants not to publicise the conclusions of the £50,000 nappy research project and to adopt a “defensive” stance towards its conclusions.

The report found that using washable nappies, hailed by councils throughout Britain as a key way of saving the planet, have a higher carbon footprint than their disposable equivalents unless parents adopt an extreme approach to laundering them.

To reduce the impact of cloth nappies on climate change parents would have to hang wet nappies out to dry all year round, keep them for years for use on younger children, and make sure the water in their washing machines does not exceed 60C.

The conclusions will upset proponents of real nappies who have claimed they can help save the planet.

Restricted Whitehall documents, seen by The Sunday Times, show that the government is so concerned by the “negative laundry options” outlined in the report, it has told its media managers not to give its conclusions any publicity.

The report found that while disposable nappies used over 2½ years would have a global warming impact of 550kg of CO2 reusable nappies produced 570kg of CO2 on average. But if parents used tumble dryers and washed the reusable nappies at 90C, the impact could spiral to . 993kg of CO2 A Defra spokesman said the government was shelving plans for future research on nappies.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article4969413.ece

pumpkin carving party!

well on sunday afternoon/evening we had a pumpkin carving party. we had so much fun and everyone carved out their pumpkins so well! here are a few photos of our fun!

my cookies

chris, erich, daniel and rana digging out the insides

kate, me and heather working on our designs

justin shot this video after we were all finished. they look pretty good if i do say so myself!

cinnamon bread

i made cinnamon bread last night. it was kind of an ordeal (because i had NO IDEA what i was doing) but worth it to have a warm piece of cinnamon bread this morning for breakfast.

my mom used to make cinnamon bread fairly often, but i've never made it or even really helped except for the sprinkling on of the cinnamon - which is the best part.

poor justin, i think he heard no less than 3 times, "come in here please. i need your HELP!" the first time i needed him to poor the milk mixture in while i mixed the dough. (you kitchen aid girls wouldn't have this problem, but i'm anti-kitchen aid. i think it tastes better hand mixed.) then i needed him to call my mom and put it on speaker for me so i would get my new phone all dirty. the first questions were, "how much flour do i add? what consistency is the dough supposed to be? oh i was supposed to measure the flour out? oops! i've never kneaded before, this is hard work!" then after i figured all that out and was trying to roll out this mass of super elastic dough i needed to call again. "justin!! help! ok mom, how am i supposed to roll this out. it won't stay! it keeps going back to it's round shape! i'm a pansy and need to put some muscle into it? ok. it's working now, thanks."

so for all you bakers out there who would like an amazing cinnamon bread recipe, here it is! remember to pinch the seam after you roll in the cinnamon. i ignored that step and only pinched the ends but not the bottom seam and some of the cinnamon leaked out and kind of burned the bottom. i'll know next time. and remember, if you want to get to bed before 11 you might want to start before 6. have fun!

Cinnamon Bread

4 1/2 to 5 1/2 cups unsifted flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 pkg. Fleischmann's Active Dry Yeast
1 1/4 cups milk
1/2 stick butter (1/4 cup)
2 eggs at room temperature

Melted butter
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

In a large bowl, thoroughly mix 1 3/4 cups flour, 1/4 cup sugar, salt
and undisolved yeast. Combine milk and 1/4 cup butter in a saucepan.
Heat over low heat until liquid is warm. (Butter does not need to
melt.) Gradually add to dry ingredients and beat 2 minutes at medium
speed of mixer, scraping bowl occasionally. Add eggs and 1/2 cup
flour, or enough flour to make a thick batter. Beat at high speed 2
minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Stir in enough additional flour
to make a soft dough. Turn out onto lightly floured board; knead
until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes. Place in greased
bowl, turning to grease top. Cover; let rise in warm place, free from
draft, until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
Meanwhile, combine 1/3 cup sugar and cinnamon, Punch dough down; turn
out onto lightly floured board. Divide dough in half. Roll 1/2 the
dough into a 12x8 rectangle. Brush lightly with melted butter.
Sprinkle with 1/2 the cinnamon/sugar mixture. Roll tightly from the
8" side like a jellyroll. Seal edges firmly. Seal ends of loaf and
fold underneath. Place loaf, seam side down, in greased loaf pan.
Repeat with remaining dough. Cover; let rise in warm place, free from
draft, until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
Bake, in a moderate oven (350 degrees) about 30 minutes or until done.
Remove from pans and cool on wire racks. Eat half of first loaf for breakfast.

fall fun!

we've conformed

that's right, we got iphones last night. we sold a bunch of stuff (including my laptop) and walked into the at&t store and bought them. (with cash dave ramsey-ites) we left with only $15 dollars and 2 brand spankin new iphones. they're kind of a big deal.

the main reason we switched out of t-mobile is that when justin travels, he usually doesn't get service. you can imagine how frustrating that is. we wanted to switch to either at&t or verizon. well, seeing as how at&t has the iphone, it was pretty much a no brainer. the ironic thing is that at my desk at work, i get maybe one bar of service. what are the odds!?

anyway, we had lots of fun playing with them last night. i can now get on the internet ANY. TIME. I. WANT. i officially rock.

debate '08

well the big debate is tonight, right here in nashville tennessee, about 2 miles from our house, at belmont university. i'm really excited about it, even though i'll be watching it at home like everyone else in the country. i hope it's interesting. justin and i got bored a little over halfway through the VP debate and turned on a movie instead.

belmont has been gearing up for this for weeks. they've put up this ridiculous, flimsy chain link fence around campus. like that's really going to keep people out who want to do some harm! this morning on my walk in from the shuttle lot, (that's right, i walk instead of taking the shuttle. yay me!) at least 15 pairs of motorcycle cops drove down the street in front of me. i guess they've beefed up security everywhere. anyway, it'll be interesting going home from work today. i have to drive right next to belmont to get home and they've shut down all the surrounding streets.
well have fun watching tonight!

p.s. is this new background annoying? i can't decide.