Update on my blog

Okay, for those of you that may have known or not known, I have my own r/c blog that I have neglected recently but that changed this morning. I updated it with another video. I saw the link to it has disappeared on this blog so here it is!
amazingrcvideos.blospot.com 

I'll have to get the blog link back up on this one so anyone interested can check it out. This video shouldn't give you motion sickness like some of my others might have.

Welcome to the Neighbor Hoods'

Due to the fact that we will have family visiting in the near future who have never been to our home, I thought it would be wise to prepare them a little for the experience. Though I've lived here all of my life (okay, minus eighteen months in Peru), I grew up on the other side of town. I have since learned that life on this side of the tracks is a little..er...interesting.

But life here isn't bad. We have some great local shopping:

a dollar store. a discount liquor store, a shady "family" video store, a bowling alley, a low-end grocery store and this classy establishment:

In my opinion, it's just a step down from prostitution, but hey, if it helps you pay the bills or fund some illegal extra-curricular activities, at least you are saving lives. There's just one catch: after your first week, you can only make $40 per week.

The people here are nice. In fact, I met some neighbors while I was out walking the other day. Here's a little bit of our conversation:

Girl A: Hi!

Girl B: Hi! Do you have a baby or a dog?

Me: Um..hi. No. I'm going to have a baby, but I don't have a dog. Are you out here alone?

Girls A & B: Yeah! We are building stuff. As they move closer I can see dirt and grime smudged on their faces. Yes, they have been building stuff.

Me: Neat. How old are you?

Girl A: I'm six.

Girl B: I'm ten

Girl A: No she's not. She's seven.

Girl B: No. I was seven last year.

Me: Um...so wouldn't that make you eight?

Girl B: Uhhhh...I mean, last year I was nine. Riiiiiiiight.

Girl A: eyeing my ipod. Is that an ipod?

Me: Yes.

Girl B: Can I have your ipod?

Me: No. I need it.

Girl B: Will you buy me an ipod?

Me: No. I don't know you. I barely met you five minutes ago.

Girl B: I know you. I saw you at Wal-Mart. I'm thinking at this point that she might actually be telling the truth but she continues. You work with my mom.

Me: Um...no i don't. Are you girls sisters?

Girl A: Nope. We're cousins. But I'm not supposed to get too close to her.

Me: Is she sick?

Girl B: Nope.

Girls A & B: Head lice!

Me: Ohhh......um...I need to get home and make dinner.

With that, they insist that I give them high fives before I go, which I reluctantly do. I do not touch anything with that hand until it has been thoroughly disinfected. I don't have pictures of the girls, but I do have pictures of some pretty sweet rides that our other neighbors have. Check these babies out:

Apparantly if I really want to "keep up with the Joneses" around here, I've got to pimp out my minivan with some nice rims like these. Here's a close look:

If you still aren't convinced that we live in an interesting part of town, maybe this will convince you:

Does it mean:

Grill?

Grill?

-OR-

Grill?

I think we all know what is really implied by that street sign. And for the record, Flava Flav is NOT our neighbor. But he might like it around here.

With that said, did I mention that we live near a golf course?

Well....a frisbee golf course. And, surprisingly, it's a pretty popular place. People even go on cold and windy days.

So, there you have it. Consider yourselves (those of you that will be visiting soon) sufficiently prepared. We really do have nice neighbors. Kenta's sister lives next door and some college boys with guitars live upstairs. Our landlady is nice and Kenta has even gotten to speak Japanese with a couple that lives a few doors down. So don't be afraid. Bring the family! We have our air mattress waiting for you. And if the weather is nice, we can go golfing.

Weekend in misery...uh...Missouri

Last weekend we took a trip up north to the Michaelsen Hometstead to partake in a longtime Michaelsen tradition - applesauce making. I was really looking forward to the trip. I have such fond childhood memories of tasty, fresh, warm applesauce on cool fall days. I just forgot all the work that it takes to make the darn stuff. For those of you who have never witnessed the process of turning an apple into sauce, how about a little picture essay:

Hand model, Kenta, properly demonstrates how to remove a sticker from an apple.

After sticker removal, apples are tossed into the kiddie pool. Approxomately 1500 lbs. of apples passed through this cleansing phase.

Soren shows of his mad apple chopping skills. Please note that the unique chopping set-up was a brainchild of Soren's - apparently flipping a pot over and cutting apples on it is a more quick and efficient way to cut apples.....? Honestly, I don't understand some of the things that my dad and brothers invent, but they do work. And, yes, that is the same huge blue plastic bowl that was filled to the brim with potato salad at three of my sisters' wedding receptions.

After being sliced, the apples are poured into one of three large silver pots...

....where they cook until squishy. Those of us that were working in the garage where they were cooking baked, too. But we did not become squishy.

Next, the squshy, cooked apples, seeds, skins, cores, and all, are poured into the white bowl of this nifty contraption, which, surprisingly, my dad did not invent. You can see the sauce coming out into the large tupperware on the left. What happens to the seeds and cores?

They are deposited into yet another tupperware. After that....

...they end up in the nasty compost pile in the garden. This is the only step of the process in which I never participated, for obvious reasons. Back to the applesauce...


Here, Soren demonstrates a clean and effective way to fill bottles with applesauce. What you can not see in the picture, however, is the small metal cookie sheet on which Soren methodically organized all necessary applesaucing tools (spatulas, spoons, measuring cups, etc.). Typical dental student.


Soren's lovely assitant/wife, Natalie, properly screws on a lid. It looks fairly simple, but these jars were full of very hot applesauce and the metal lids had been in boiling hot water.



Next, the jars are placed in a hot water bath in a large metal cooker, where they boil for twenty mintutes to seal the lids. Along with the three pots of apples that were cooking, we had three of these cookers going. The garage was so hot.


After twenty minutes, the jars are carfully removed from the cooker...


...and placed on the garage floor to cool. After a sufficient cooling period...


...the jars are placed in boxes for storage.

My dad estimates that we canned about 560 quarts of apples over a two-day period. I worked all day Friday (probably about twelve hours) and started working about 7:00 a.m. on Saturday so I could take a break to watch the OU/Texas game. Needless to say, I was back in the garage making applesauce before it was over. It was too painful for me to watch. My heart is still mending.

Even though my feet and back were killing me by Saturday night, I was happy that we made the trip to Missouri. It's fun to visit my parents and help them with their projects. It's not always fun while we are working, but afterwards, it's nice to look back at what we accomplished together. And I gotta give a shout out to my sister-in-law, Natalie. She was such a good sport and was out there working probably longer than any of us.

So, the weekend wasn't a completely misreable experience (even though our bodies were aching and OU lost). I think this little gem of a billboard put everything back into perspective for us as we drove home early Sunday morning:

Click on the picture, if you want a good laugh. Honest to goodness, these signs are scattered along the Kansas turnpike. I love living in the Bible belt. Capturing this picture made the entire trip worth the effort.

Conference time is here!

What a great weekend! I hope all of you got to see Conference. It was so refreshing. With all of the economic and political craziness that has been happening lately, how nice it was to hear words of hope and reassurance. We are going to be okay. Yes, we do live in the last days, but we have the tools we need to live happily in an increasingly unstable world.

Some of my favorite parts:

Dallin H. Oaks. The man is awesome. I actually missed the Saturday morning session because I was in a mandatory rehearsal (Ft. Smith Symphony). Kenta showed me his notes and I youtubed the talk this morning and watched it (the church website won't have the archives for a few days). I enjoy listening to his talks because he is so clear and to the point. Don't get me wrong - I like flowery stories and metaphors and such, but it's nice to hear things like "don't text your friends during sacrament meeting". I've also got a soft spot in my heart for Elder Oaks. Almost exactly four years ago, I was on my mission in Peru and he came to speak to all of the missionaries in Lima (from four different missions). He introduced the Preach My Gospel manual. We had heard about the changes since we had been in the MTC and it was so cool to finally see the book. And when I saw Elder Oaks, I got teary-eyed and a little homesick:














Okay, okay. So maybe my dad just has the same hairdo and wise-looking face, but I sure missed him when I saw Elder Oaks. (I had to Google my dad to get that picture - I had actually never seen it before).

Silvia H. Allred's talk. What an amazing lady. I know how excited members in South America get when they see a latino or latina speaking at Conference. I wonder if those missionaries who baptized her ever thought she would be in the Relief Society General Presidency. Probably not. A great talk about missionary work.

New temples! I love it when new temples are built near friends and family that I know have had to sacrifice to drive far (or haven't been able to go because it's too far). Mom and Dad are getting a temple in Kansas City somwhere and Jill gets a temple in Italy. Yay for new temples!

The Primary children's choir. Did anyone else catch the kid poking the kid next to him to remind him to put his arms down by his side? Or the little girl that had her arms by her side but was flipping her hands up and down? Or the little kid trying really hard not to pay attention to the camera? Too cute.

The closing prayer on Sunday morning. Short. Sweet. To the point. A rarity at Conference. My guess is his stomach was growling as much as mine.

President Eyring. And Uchtdorf. And Monson. In no particular order. I enjoyed them all.

Admittedly, by the time the last session rolled around, we were all struggling to stay focused. I even took a power nap beforehand, but my eyelids still got a little droopy. We kept ourselves awake by playing "How Many Ethnic - Looking Tabernacle Choir Members Can You Count?" and "Name the Foreign Country That That Seventy is From". We needed a little help with the last game. Luckily Kenta had borrowed a friend's itouch for the weekend (a "test drive", if you will) so we were able to quickly consult Wikipedia and glean much-needed information without having to leave our seats. Maren, you might be interested to know that the "L" in Neil L. Anderson stands for "Linden". And the most interesting Wikipedia fact of the day: Fatboy Slim's real name is "Quentin Cook".

So there it is. Our cups runneth over. I hope that each of you are making the choice to act on inspiration that you received while watching Conference. What an amazing time that we live in when we can listen to the words of the Prophet from the comforts of our homes.

On a side note: A special thanks to The Powers That Be for not scheduling Conference on OU/Texas weekend (or is it the other way around?). I always feel so conflicted when they fall on the same day. Of course I choose Conference over the game...but it is really distracting, nonetheless. Anyway, have a great week, everyone!