Just need to vent

I'm tired of helping those who don't help themselves.

I'm also tired of making effort to do something, then no one picks up his/her end of the agreement.

I am not superwoman.

I can not be in 10 bazillion places at once and do everything for everybody.

I choose my battles and try my best at what I can, and am able, to do.

I expect others to TRY and work hard because that's not only how I am, it's part of the plan of happiness. (Note the word happiness)

Laziness, albeit nice and needed from time to time, should not be a lifestyle.

Please don't make lame excuses for your actions.

And, lastly, a phrase my father used to always say and one which I feel is perfectly fitting for this moment...

"Pee or get off the pot!"

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P.S. I am not going crazy. I love all my wonderful friends who support me. Just needed to get some emotions out, blog style. It helps a girl feel much better!

The Gobble Dance

This dance made us laugh and kept us entertained while we waited in line for Sports Authority to open at 4 AM on Black Friday.

We shook a "turkey leg" and did "the Gobble".

Hilarious.

{la neige} French Word of the Week

la neige = snow

So, Michael and I come home from Louisiana, where it's 70 degrees and clear skies to snow and cold weather. (see picture above)

A blizzard is coming in, as I write, to cover Utah with lots more snow and frigid temperatures. Like, we're talking in the single digits. Brrrrr!

Michael and I drove down to his parents in SLC around noon because we weren't sure if we'd make it through the canyon later. USU campus was officially closed at 2 PM. You know it's serious when they close campus. We NEVER get snow days here.

I'm excited to spend time during the Thanksgiving holidays, snuggling in front of the fire with Michael. We're going to eat LOTS of food and probably gain a few pounds. Oh boy.

Il va neiger beaucoup.
(It is going to snow a lot.)

Going home...

...to Louisiana later tonight (well, technically early early tomorrow morning, 12:50 AM to be exact).

Love that place and all the beauty there. Wish it was under better circumstances though. Traveling there will never be the same from now on. That makes me sad.

But, as always, I'm so grateful for the promise of eternity and that this is not the end.
I love my daddy. I'm glad that he's in a happier and pain-free place. I feel comforted knowing that he's happy and now free from all the pains, struggles, and hardships life has thrown at him.

Viewing will be at Hixson Brothers Funeral Home in downtown Alexandria from 6-9 PM on Friday. Funeral will be held at the LDS Alexandria Stake Center at 10 AM on Saturday.

Thank you for all your support, love, flowers, and kindness. I know I, as well as my family, appreciate it.

Creamy Bacon Potato Soup

What do you get when you combine...

this...

...with this?

A super yummy creamy bacon potato soup! As if the title of this post didn't already give that away. ;)

Michael and I love, I repeat LOVE this soup. We created it about a year ago, combining our favorite ingredients and components of potato soup recipes found on the internet and in cookbooks. So, it is truly representative of all we like and must have in a potato soup. Plus, it's just DANG good.

We had our friends, the Svedins, over for dinner last night and served this in homemade bread bowls. It was the perfect dinner to warm everybody up in this colder weather. I think it was one of the real reasons we ended up having a ghetto dance party in our living room after playing a few intense rounds of UNO. Jen and Bryant loved it so much, they are MAKING us share the recipe with them. In honor of our sharing with them, I'm sharing it with all of you, my dear friends. Aren't I so kind?

Creamy Bacon Potato Soup

Ingredients:
5 med. potatoes, diced
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 large onion, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
4-6 slices bacon, diced
2 cups hot milk
1/4 stick butter
Pepper
Salt
Thyme
Celery Salt

Directions:

1. Cook bacon in 4 quart pan until crisp. Remove from pan onto paper towel lined plate. Drain off excess fat. (Per Michael's advisement, don't drain. This is good stuff! But if you're going a bit healthier, then DO drain.)
   
2. Saute' onion and celery with butter, just until onions are translucent. Add in potatoes, soup, bacon, and milk. Season with pepper, salt, thyme, and celery salt to taste.
   
3. Make sure vegetables are covered with liquid. If not, add in a soup can's worth of water. Bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are cooked.
   
4. With potato masher or the back of a spoon, mash about 1/2 of the potatoes within the pot, to give the soup a more creamy texture. (Or choose not to mash, that's what Michael prefers!) Finish any last minute seasonings before serving, and enjoy!

*One thing I love about this soup and soup, in general, is that you can basically add whatever you want and it'll turn out great. You can feel free to alter bits and pieces of this recipe to your tastes and, barring any unforeseen circumstances, it will be a culinary success.

{le papier} French Word of the Week

le papier = paper

For my French class this week, we had to write a short 150-word paper about "Chez moi et ma famille", which is "My house and my family". Michael thought it was so fun and cute that I should share it on the blog.

It's no masterpiece, so be nice! And if you need a translation, ask me or Michael. I just didn't want to write it all out here :)

Ma famille est petite. Le nom de ma mère est Narayne et mon père est Thorsell. J’ai un frère, Michael. Mon mari appelle Michael, aussi. Ma mère a 53 ans, et elle est très jolie. Ma père a 86 ans, et il beau. Ils sont divorcés. Mon frère est grand, sympathique, et très drôle. Il aime jouer du sport. Il aime le basket, le golf, et le football américain. Mon mari est blond, grande, beau, et charmant. Il adore l’ordinateur et les voitures vieilles. Il parle Français avec moi. Je m’appelle Rebecca. Je suis petite, sociable, et sensible. J’adore la musique et mon mari, Michael. J’aime le jogging et le foot.

Mon mari et moi habitons un appartement à Logan. Il est petit mais comfortable et mignon. Il a deux chambres, la salle de bains, la cuisine, la terrasse, et le séjour. Mon père et mon frère habitent à Louisiane, et ma mère habite à Logan. Nous sommes une famille très heureuse.

TV Stand transformed

So, I have always loved food and cooking for that matter. I loved to pretend to be a waitress at a restaurant and "cook" up creations for my brother when we were little. I believe we even created a restaurant called "Michael's" one summer, with a menu and everything.

I think this is just about the coolest play kitchen I have EVER seen. Seriously. A TV stand transformed into a kitchen. How ingenious, and cheap to do!

I'm thinking Michael and I need to create something like this for our children someday. Knowing me, we will have a little girl just like me, interested in all things food. And what better place to inspire creativity and spark an imagination than in this imaginative piece of creativity?

{Before}

{After}

{Inside}

Too cute. I love the curtains and little picture window. Who wouldn't want to bake, cook, microwave, refrigerate, and wash dishes in this? Go here for step-by-step info and such.

Common Cold

This is what I look like right now.

And I'm afraid I've given it to Michael too.

Sneezing, runny nose, lots of tissues, headache, and general ickyness.

I think some chicken noodle soup is in order.

Green Chile Meatballs

This is what we had for dinner tonight and it was REALLY good.

I, of course, improvised a bit, seeing as we haven't made the full conversion over to quinoa, but it came out well.

I'm loving this site and all the great recipe ideas for healthy eating it has to share. I'm really trying to implement what I've learned into our lifestyle. Cause, the fact of the matter is, we need to eat better. Less sugar, more whole grains and raw foods. I can seriously tell the difference in my mood and how my body just feels when I'm eating better. If I splurge on something overly processed and sugary, my body lets me know that it does not like it. Funny how that is huh? Taking time to pay attention to what your body tells you is so important. It fills me in on what it needs and all I have to do is just pay attention!

Bottom line, eating healthier is the bomb. Enjoy the recipe!

Birthday Presents

I scored this year with some great presents, from my mother and the Mr.

I'm dying to share them with you, so I'm going to get right to it.

This amazing set of classic novels was from my mother. She purchased them at Deseret Book. They are beautiful and appear to be quite good quality. The books include: Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Sense and Sensibility, Little Women, Anne of Green Gables, The Scarlet Pimpernel, and The Secret Garden. The last two I listed I've never read, so I'm excited to crack them open when I have a free moment. And by free moment, I mean, when the semester is over and I can read for personal enjoyment.

These books have already found a nice, cozy home on our bookshelf. Now they're just waiting for me to open and explore them. Waiting. They're waiting and I'm waiting. Ah! Can you tell that it's practically killing me to not have the time to read them right now?!? Patience is a virtue...


There's a bit of a story behind this cookbook. Michael and I were in Borders a few months back, reading and browsing. Michael looked around the entire store while I, of course, made a B-line for the cookbook section and remained there for the entire hour or so we were in the store. No surprise there as I compiled a huge stack of cookbooks I was interested in, and started reading each one like any other person would read a novel.

As Michael and I were walking out of the store, we stopped in the bargain section and apparently, he showed me this cookbook and I thought it was way cool. (I said apparently because I actually don't remember that particular event of our day in Borders) Anywho, Michael remembered and purchased the book a bit later, saving it for my birthday MONTHS later. He hid it in his office where I wouldn't find it. Sneaky sneaky.

Long story short, he gave me this HUGE novel of a cookbook for my birthday and I love it! It has 1327 pages which is the most I've ever seen in a cookbook. Course, it does say that it's the "Encyclopedia of Italian Cooking", so that kinda explains it. One thing that is super cool about this cookbook is the way the recipes are categorized. All by season. So, if I want to cook something in Winter, I can go straight to that section and find a recipe that coordinates with what ingredients are currently in season. A.k.a. healthy and fresh. Also, there are special sections for particular meals that are cooked on Holidays in Italy. I might try something new for this year at Christmas!


This last present made me giddy and literally jump for joy. Those who know us, know that Michael and I love Le Roi Soleil, a French musical about King Louis XIV, The Sun King. The music is amazing, as is the staging and entire spectacle. We included the song, "Je fais de tois mon essentiel" on our wedding CD because it's special to us. I guess you could say it's "our" song.

Well, I bought the CD from the musical for Michael's 25th birthday and we listen to it quite a bit off and on. We've never been able to find the DVD in the US, so we kind of gave up on locating it any time soon. Until now. Michael had the brilliant idea to search Amazon France and found it! It came to us straight from Paris. The only problem we ran into is the region issue with the DVDs (as France is in a different region than the US), they won't play in an American DVD player. But, Michael, being the computer smarty that he is, found a program which would allows us to play it!

We watched most of it last night and it really is spectacular. Seeing the sets, staging, and acting combined with the music makes so much more sense and brings the whole thing together. It is fantastic.

I LOVE my birthday presents.

23rd Voodoo Birthday

Michael planned an amazing birthday party for me last weekend. It had a Voodoo theme, which was based off my newest favorite Disney movie, "The Princess and the Frog".

As my birthday is quite close to Halloween, we just basically combined the two and encouraged one and all to wear a costume to the event!

We had some interesting and exciting outfits this year.

Rebecca and Michael Black
(Shadow Man and Mama Odie)

Dani and Andy Satchwell

(Little Red Riding Hood and Big Bad Wolf)

Ann Mossinghoff and Andy Ribits

(Voodoo Queen and Voodoo Doll)

Marc and Amy Fuentes
(Scary being from "the other side" and a Bumblebee)

Jen and Bryant Svedin
(Damsel and Knight in Shining Armor)

Natalie Jolley
(Voodoo Doll)

There were others at the party, but we forgot to pull the camera out early enough to get their pictures. I believe we also had Tinkerbell, a mummy, a couple characters from Nacho Libre, A mad scientist, and her assistant Igor. It was great!

We also had some creepy decorations and food. Thanks to everyone who helped and contributed!

Events for the night included...

Some dancing...

Donuts-On-A-String eating contest...

And, of course, beating the living daylights out of a jack-o-lantern pinata.

We had a great time and I especially loved all the thought and effort put into my scary voodoo birthday. I will never forget this party and I'll let Michael know right now that he has his work cut out for him on future birthdays of mine. Favorite and best party yet!

{finir} French Word of the Week

finir = to finish

It's official! I have finished BYU's Human Anatomy course. I just received my final results and I'm happy just to have passed. It was quite the struggle sometimes.

Albeit, I did enjoy learning more about the human body, which gave me a greater appreciation for our Creator. When studying all the intricacies involved, one can have no doubt that God exists. Nobody else could design and create something so brilliant and detailed and make it function flawlessly as it does!

So, I can happily say "au revoir" to BYU forever. I'm grateful to never have to take a course from them again. Almost killed me as an Aggie and as a person with a desire to learn in an orderly fashion. Hint, NEVER choose BYU for Independent Study. What a joke.

Il est fini. Je suis heureuse.
(It is finished. I am happy.)