I have the best doctor ever and other exciting stories

Strangely enough, this was one of the pictures that came up when I searched google images for "best doctor ever."

Stories of the day:
1. My new doctor at the Student Health Center, Dr. Fors, is amazing.  Today she sent me an email about my blood test results, telling me the results and explaining them.  She told me that I needed to work on one (my A1C, which was 7.0).  She also CALLED me, asking if I'd gotten the email and telling me to call her back if I needed anything.  How awesome is that?  My doctor last year got mad at me for not scheduling two appointments in a row to give him enough time, and then gave me the nurse manager's card to call if I wanted to know my lab results.  What a difference.

2. I would like to brag for a minute.  I got the 2nd-highest score on my physiology test.  Out of two classes.  I feel pretty awesome.  What am I doing in the political science department?  Anyways...  I also did fairly well on the scantron portion of my OB test, which was exciting.  However, I'm not sure about the written portion.  We'll see.

3. I am becoming way more popular as the first exam approaches in Intro to International Relations.  I'm getting emails all the time from anxious students.  And then tearful thank-yous for reassuring them they'll do fine.  It's pretty cool to be able to help them out!

4. I went to the farmer's market again today and got cherry tomatoes and the ingredients for jalapeno jelly.  Probably my favorite part, though, was the huge number of samples available.  I got half a peach, honey butter, raspberry jam, jalapeno jelly (2 samples because I love it!), and half of a turkey burger with apple-dried cherry chutney, because dining services sends a chef over to demonstrate cooking (but he mostly just gives out samples :)  Kristin went with me and it was awesome.  We've really bonded this week, especially since we've had a common enemy (the flu!).

5. The flu.  We (Kristin and I) have determined that if we haven't got it by tomorrow morning, we're home free.  However, we both think that we aren't going to get it, because we cleaned so much and because if we were going to get it, we should have gotten it already!

6. Dinner tonight: grilled cheese sandwich with muenster cheese, caramelized sweet onions, corn, tomatoes, cooked red pepper (in the microwave, is that even allowed?!), and a final layer of pepper cheddar.  YUM.  I was going to take a picture, but I couldn't find my camera and I wasn't about to let it get cold while I looked for a camera.  So you'll just have to dream about it... :)

I love you all tons!  Talk to you later.

<3
Eliza

P.S. do this: go to physics.byu.edu.  Then press your keys in this order: up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, b, a.  This cracked me up.

The Doctor's Office

As I am down to my last bottle of insulin, I thought it would be expedient to arrange a visit to the doctor's office so I could get my prescription renewed before I was completely out.  I set it up for today, at 4:40.  At 4:10, I got home and found out that three of my roommates had the stomach flu.  Oh great.

Kristin drove me to the doctor's office on her way to pick up gatorade for our hypovolemic roommates to drink.  I got there and found out that their vaccinations office had already closed, so I couldn't get a last-minute flu shot.  Darn.  But I had a great appointment with my new favorite doctor, Dr. Fors.  She is awesome, and got everything taken care of (prescription, lab recommendations, and a referral to the podiatrist) in record time.  Then I got to go over to the lab and have some tests done.  I thought I just had to get some blood drawn - no biggie.  I arrived there and was handed the dreaded microalbumen cup.  Joy.  Much to my chagrin, I just couldn't do it.  So I got the take-home version of the test.  The blood test afterwards was a relief.  AND I got a bugs bunny bandaid.  Clearly worth the prick just for that.

I returned home and settled down to wait for the arrival of my own flu virus.  I'm not entirely sure I'm going to get it though, after Kristin cleaned everything down with disinfectant (thanks Kristin!  You're the bomb!).  Anyways, my method was this: I would make something so delicious that I would refuse to throw it up, and then I wouldn't get sick.  Creative, huh?  Well, the delicious part worked.  I am officially addicted to pan-fried tofu with spicy peanut sauce.  It's amazing.  I would suggest you go make it right now.  Go ahead.  I'll wait.

...okay, back now?  That was delicious, wasn't it?  All of my roommates were too sick to try it, so I ate two servings all by myself.  Ha!  Since that point, we've just been lazing about, the sick ones sleeping and the healthy ones studying.  We're all keeping buckets by our bedside though.

<3
Eliza


P.S. Look what I did!  I created these two pages, and I'm very proud of them:
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Eggplant-Pasta-Sauce
http://www.wikihow.com/Deal-With-the-Flu-when-You-Have-Type-One-Diabetes
Plus, I've been marked a "rising star" by wikihow editors.  I feel so cool.

P.P.S. Kristin is pretty much the most awesome person ever.  She is taking care of everyone who is sick and has disinfected everything so I won't get sick (diabetes and junk, ya know?).  Isn't she amazing?

Dear Dad

Dear Dad,

I was thinking about Ivy League colleges, and that led me to think about you, and all the sacrifices you’ve made for me.  I don’t believe you’ve ever told me much about living in Chicago and going to school there, but I’m sure it was hard.  I just wanted to say thank you, after all these years, for taking the less prestigious university and staying home to take care of me.  There were probably other considerations involved in your choice, but it makes me feel really blessed that you chose to stay with me instead of sending me to daycare 24/7.  The times I did have a babysitter were offset by time with you.  And I’m glad that things have turned out the way they have.  I’m happy with our moves and with the decisions you made about work and schools and houses.  I’m humbled by the sacrifices you’ve made for my well-being, and I’m grateful for your patience in dealing with the bureaucratic stuff you have to do at work to keep our family going and to allow mom to be home with us.  In short, you are amazing.  I am inspired by you, and I hope I can be half as good a parent as you have been.  I was listening to a career lecture in my topics in politics class a couple weeks ago where the speaker told us that his career success had come at the expense of his family, and he warned us not to do the same.  I remembered the David O. McKay quote you told me about a few weeks ago, the one that you’ve striven to live up to: “No success can compensate for failure in the home.”  I just wanted you to know that I think you’ve made home a success.  I don’t think there is a better dad anywhere.  You’ve made home my favorite place to be, and my family my favorite people in the whole wide world.  Thank you, dad, for all you’ve done for me.    I love you.

<3

Eliza

Holla!

Hey guys, I know my last couple of posts have been in a kind of morose late-night maundering style, so I decided to inject some reality into this blog.  My classes are going relatively well - I'm only 2 weeks behind on my econ reading, I got a B+ on my Spanish test (ouch!  Who knows the difference between que and cual anyways?), I have a physiology test that I need to take tomorrow, an organizational behavior test that I have to do before Thursday, and life is good.

Last week I had a busy time studying until Friday evening, when I didn't do anything productive.  At about 10:30, I got a call from Heidi, and I went over to Katheryn's to eat chocolate chocolate chip cookie dough and watch Treasure Planet.  It was great.  Saturday morning I got up and did my cleaning checks, and then I went to take a practice LSAT.  It was quite entertaining.  I went to Target, returned a shirt, came back and got my results, and went to eat ice cream at the Creamery instead of going to the football game (It's okay; we lost terribly anyways).  I found out that if the ice cream server likes your choice of ice cream, she will give you more ice cream.  I ordered a child-sized ice cream scoop, but got enough ice cream for a double-scoop. This was opposed to Heidi and Katheryn, who got the right size.  Ahahahahaha.  Then I went and babysat Jared for Ken and Kelsey.  I had a marvelous time.  When I got home, the old roommate (she moved out a semester or two ago) Sarah was here (apparently she'd been here all day, but I wasn't here...)  She was sick and couldn't drive home, so we convinced her to stay here for the night.  Luckily, she decided 15 minutes before the corner store closed, so we went and got Saltines, Sprite, and Pepto.  It was an adventure.

Today I made this baked omelet for our ward break-the-fast brinner.  It was gone by the time I got to that end of the table.  I ate lots of good food, and got an awesome vanilla syrup recipe.  When I got home (I was the only one from the apartment who'd gone), I watched President Monson's talk from the RS broadcast last night that I didn't see.  I'd hoped to watch the whole broadcast, but apparently it started at 6:00 central time, not mountain time.  I loved his talk, though.  It chagrined and inspired me.  Next time I say something judgmental on this blog, please reprimand me.  Actually, scratch that.  I'm going to try not to say anything judgmental on this blog anymore.  We'll see how far I get with that...

Speaking of future plans, I'd better go to bed.  So much for no more late-night maundering :)  I'm looking forward to several things this week, though: teaching water polo to my FHE group tomorrow night, playing my second intramural bball game on Tuesday night, going to the farmer's market again, and Conference!  So exciting :D  I'm going to make kugen if mom will send me the recipe.  Also, I'm going to try and invite my home teachers over for dinner on Sunday, hopefully with Kristin and Megan's help.  What a great idea, right? Well, I can't take credit; it was mom's.  Here's hoping you all have a fabulous week!

<3
Eliza

The flu

In spite of what you might think based upon that post title, I do not have the flu.  And hopefully I won't get it.  But, since there's a sick person in the apartment, I have been exposed and so I looked up some information on what diabetics have to do if they get the flu.  I am writing this down now so that the next time I am threatened with influenza, I will not have to google "stomach flu with diabetes" again.  Anyways, now that that's explained...


Things that a diabetic needs to do if she gets the stomach flu:

1. Keep on drinking.  Whether the drink is sugared or not depends on what your blood sugar is.  Unsugared beverages if the flu is one that increases stress hormones and blood sugar, and sugared drinks if it doesn't.  Because diabetics tend to lose fluid more easily due to fluctuating osmolarity of the blood, we need a buffer.  Even if it'll just get thrown up five minutes later, the American diabetes association recommends at least one cup of fluid every hour.
(My recommendations: diet sprite/ginger ale or G2 gatorade for unsugared beverages, and gatorade/sprite/ginger ale for sugared drinks.  NOT orange juice or other fruit juices, as they will significantly increase the acidity in your stomach and make your throat hurt.)

2. Keep on eating.  Same kind of blood chemistry thing but it also has to do with ketoacidosis.  See, ketoacidosis means that the pH of the blood will decrease, which can be deadly if it fluctuates by so much as .5 on the pH scale.  Insulin gets rid of ketones, but you go low and have seizures if you give yourself insulin without having sugar in your blood.  Even if you throw up, if you have a low blood sugar you need to keep on eating.  Not particularly pleasant, but...
(I recommend: jello, yogurt, toast if you can keep it down, chicken broth, etc.)

3. Check, check, check.  Blood sugar every 3-4 hours at LEAST.  If you have ketostix (I don't...), you need to check for ketones every time you urinate.  If you don't, check for ketones by watching for fruity breath, shortness of breath, and disorientation.  If any of those symptoms manifest, or the ketone level on ketostix is high, get to the ER immediately.

My personal recommendations for dealing with the flu, for everyone:
1. Don't get the flu.  This from the girl who has a phobia of throwing up.  Yeah, seriously something to avoid.
2. Sleep on the couch while you have the flu.  That way you can get up faster to bolt to the toilet.  Plus you don't have to have a ton of sheets hanging all over you.  (Note: Put a sheet  under you on the couch.  Please.)
3. As noted above, don't drink acidic juices, especially citrus juices.  It makes the whole experience more painful.
4. After throwing up, rinse your mouth out with a mixture of baking soda and water.  My dad taught me this one, and I just make up the ratios every time.  Something like a teaspoon per cup?  Whatever helps you out.  It helps to neutralize the acid remaining in your mouth and the top of your throat, making you feel better and protecting your teeth.
5. Saltines and Campbell's chicken noodle soup.  Period.
6. Get a good book - one that's easy to understand and has short words and an engaging plotline.  It will distract you and won't make you even sicker like the TV can sometimes do.
7. Be willing to accept whatever help other people offer.  They will really feel bad for you, and helping you out will make them feel less guilty for not being sick.  Not to mention that you'll probably need all the help you can get.
8. Keep a bowl or small garbage ban right next to your bedside (or couchside) for emergencies.  It is also helpful to keep one by the beds of each other person in the house, in case one of them comes down with the bug in the middle of the night.

I hope this was illuminating for everyone.  Maybe someone will google "diabetes + stomach flu" someday and come across this.  That would be awesome.


<3
Eliza

Oh genie of the lamp

So, as my birthday is coming up, I feel that I am justified in posting a wish list.  This is what I would ask a genie for if I had one.  Also a little hint hint for mom and dad, eh? ;)

Mini loaf pans - I'm not sure whether these are the same size Mom has, but I love the size of her mini loaf pans.
Jesus the Christ - now this one's serious.
Laundry drying rack - We've already discussed this, but I think it's important enough to mention again.  After all, look at this:

Isn't that ridiculous?

A time turner - P.S. did you notice that this link goes to the Harry Potter version of wikipedia?  Awesome.
A food thermometer - awesome, no?
A waffle iron - Mine isn't working :'(
A planner - yes, I admit that I have too much going on to carry it all around in my head.  Sigh.
An immersion blender - does this even need explaining?  I like to make soup :)
A new pillow - seriously, I've had mine since 7th grade
A million dollars
A book about choosing a college major - by Henry B. Eyring, no less
An ipod - I know, so cliche.  But I just haven't gotten over the theft of my last one, I guess....
A cure for this annoying eye allergy thing I have that makes me wear glasses all the time
While we're on that topic, a cure for diabetes would be nice too
Also, a cure for procrastination
A cure for world violence?
A Josh Groban CD
Hard shoes for Irish dance (tap shoes work)
Fun spices from Penzey's
A pair of TOMS shoes
A 9x13 pan
A personal assistant
These

I obviously need to stop late-night posting.  I'm babbling on and not making any sense even to myself.  So I will talk to you all later.  If you happen to see a tarnished brass lamp with a genie inside, let me know.  That would be nice.

<3
Eliza

P.S. I have physiology and organizational behavior tests that I need to get done in the next few days.  I also have a spanish quiz and the practice LSAT on Saturday.  What have I gotten myself into?  I also signed up to be a part of the Honors Student Advisory Council, on the Public Relations committee (as soon as I told them that I knew how to work CS InDesign, I got shunted into that committee.  I don't object.  All the other members are of the male persuasion ;).  And I'm going to host a chick flick night next week for my intramural basketball team.  No word yet on whether any of the boys will actually attend, although Ian says he will if I make popcorn.

Famous last words

It's only a fifteen-minute walk from my front door, after all.

You know that Dr. Seuss quote about love?  The one where he says "You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams"?  Well, I am obviously not in love.  I long for 11 o'clock every night, when I can stop doing homework and snuggle in bed to read my scriptures and drift off to dreamland.  I've never valued sleep this much in my life.  Without it I can't function.  I am stressed out by my homework, and so my escape is sleep.  I guess without books in my life, I have to find some method... :)


But thinking of that quote reminds me that I am at BYU, where the social pressures to be in a relationship, one that is going somewhere, and to be married, are huge.  I just found out that one of the girls in my freshman academy from last year got married a month ago!  A couple of other friends have also gotten married or engaged recently.  What is this?  I am so not ready for marriage.  But at the same time, largely because of those social pressures, I tend to look at all guys as potential eternal companions.  Weird.  I guess I'm just lamenting the lack of any kind of interaction with guys, largely because of those pressures.  


Okay, I'll be honest.  I'm boy-hungry.  Does that sound too aggressive?  Oh well.  It's true.  But in spite of all the dating opportunities at BYU, I'm not encountering a lot of guys to date.  I know, I know.  I'm hardly a spinster yet.  But sometimes at this college, it feels like it!


Anyways, I'm too tired to even read through all that I just wrote, so I hope you'll forgive any sleep-deprived ravings (I only got 6 1/2 hours last night, less than I've gotten in weeks, but more than I got all through high school... hm...).  I'll leave you with this one parting tidbit.  


Kristin, Stacey, and I were talking about marriage; specifically, about who is going to get married first.  Kristin is going on a mission in January, so she ruled herself out at the beginning.  Megan's missionary is leaving soon, so she has another two+ years.  Stacey's missionary (she says he's not really her missionary, but we all know the truth... ) is getting home in March, so we bet on her.  Then Kristin looked at me and raised her eyebrows.  I told her my normal excuse (which just happens to be true, thank you very much!), which is that I'm going on a mission, and besides, I'm only 18!  She shook her head, chuckled, and muttered, "famous last words.  Famous last words."  Hmmph!


<3
Eliza

(Unrequited?) Love

Yesterday I went shopping.  And I don't mean a ten-minute run to the grocery store (since when do I do that, anyways?).  I mean a serious shopping trip.  I followed the coupons for groceries and went to Target for some clothes shopping.  If you don't want to read about the clothes, you don't have to.  I'm putting this shopping analysis up for Mom's benefit :)

I can't find pictures on target.com of the scarf, necklace, earrings, or shirt I bought, but they're pretty cute.  What really captured my heart, however, were these fun shoes.

Don't you love them?  They are fun cute comfy too :)

These are some everyday flats that will spice up any outfit.  I adore them.

WINCO

I can't believe mom never took me down to winco in the valley before.  Yesterday I experienced it for the first time, and I fell completely in love with it.  I could pick out however much flour I needed - for a lower price than the bagged kind!  I could buy anything and everything at any quantity I wanted.  I could have wandered the aisles all day.  But I didn't. Sigh.  I got what I needed, got some nutella, and skedaddled.  I am still in shock that Mom never introduced me to this paradise, though.  It is absolutely amazing.  

I would so go on a Winco date.  

Even though it's a 20-minute drive, it's worth it.  

After the winco extravaganza, I went to Sunflower Farmer's Market, my formerly-favorite grocery store, and then went to drop off my groceries before exploring downtown Provo with Heidi.  We went to Sammy's, and it was delicious.

I love their decor.  It's this tiny little restaurant on a block of monoliths.

The food was amazing.  Almost worth the price tag.  I got a chicken sandwich with teriyaki sauce, grilled pineapple, and guacamole.  Yum.  And their fry sauce was to die for.  But the best part was their shakes.  They have several different kinds.  One kind is called the pie shake.  Then they have the cupcake shake and the cookie dough shake.  For the pie shake, they throw a piece of pie in the blender with some ice cream, blend it up, and top with whipped cream.  (Same with the cupcake and cookie dough shakes!)  I got peach cobbler, and it was divine.  I will spare you further details, but I must find a way to make this on my own.  It is imperative.

Anyways, that was my consumerist Saturday.  I won't lie; I had a great time (other than the Spanish test I had to take)... and my roommates continue to be the awesomest people ever.  (My computer says that's not a word, but I don't care.)

<3
Eliza

P.S. I almost forgot to tell you about the post title!  I absolutely love Winco and Sammy's.  I love my new shoes.  I love my family and friends (duh!).  But today my roomies had a funny conversation that also inspired this title.
Megan (complaining about her love handles)
Stacey: "You don't even HAVE love handles!  At most you have like handles.  Maybe crush handles."
Kristin: "Unrequited love handles?"
All of us: bursting into laughter

P.P.S. Stacey is actually a communication disorders major, not a communications major.  That means that even when she's funny, she doesn't lisp... right, Stacey? :)

The roommate edition

Remember last year's roommate trials?  By the end of the year I'd gotten comfortable enough to come out of my shell every once in a while, and at least one of my roommates would make an effort to laugh when I joked.  Well, this year's roommates are completely different.  I moved in only a few weeks ago, and it already feels like I've known them my whole life.  I am never in my shell at the apartment, and I can talk with them about anything.  They even get my sense of humor!  Who knew that was so important?

There are two roommates whom I don't know very well - Sam and Glaucia.  Glaucia is 34 and is from Brazil.  She doesn't speak English very well, and doesn't seem interested in getting to know any of the rest of us (besides Sam).  I don't know what she's doing, what she's studying, or anything else about her.  I do know that she likes to cook and she gets lots of car insurance mail (apparently she doesn't have car insurance...?).  She is also excessively bothered by people leaving dishes out (which by the way I don't do.  I clean up every one of my dishes before I leave the kitchen.  My room is also pretty clean!).  Sam is a UVU student.  She works or is at UVU most of the time, so I don't really see a lot of her.  She seems pretty nice, and I love the dish set she brought.  She also decorated our front room, and it's really cute.  Except.  On the wall behind the couch, facing the door, are two pictures.  Black and white vintage pictures.  One is of Audrey Hepburn and one is Marilyn Monroe.  The Marilyn Monroe picture shows her leaning forward, practically falling out of her dress.  That ought to be comfortable when the home teachers come over...  the rest of us had decided to say something about it, and last night we finally did.  Phew.  The first night it was up, a guy from our ward came over and Kristin held a pillow over the exciting part of the picture so they wouldn't have to deal with it.  Yeah, awkward.

Speaking of Kristin... she is my room roommate.  She is entirely awesome.  Kristin is an English major who will be going on a mission in January :'(  I just found out last week.  She is happy and generous (although shy around other people), she has the same sense of humor as I do, and she gives amazing back massages.  And, as an extra added bonus?  She is a deep-sleeping night owl.  I usually go to bed and get up before her, but we're both fine with the arrangement.  She sleeps through my getting-ready noises and I sleep through her going-to-bed noises.  It's awesome.  We also both have a bad habit of pressing the snooze button, so I don't feel guilty when I don't wake up to my alarm for a few minutes.  We have so much fun together too.  The two of us, plus Megan and Stacey, the other two roommates, dominated this game, which asks you to name the top 200 Harry Potter characters.

Stacey lives in the room next to us with Megan.  She is wonderful too.  She's studying communications.  She's quieter than the other two, but really really nice.  She has an infectious laugh and she came to my basketball game last night with Kristin to support me.  She is really happy and easy-going, and she's the one who goes to ward activities with me.  She always tells the other two that it's important to go to church stuff, even if it's not on Sunday, and actually gets them to come sometimes :)  She is the pragmatic one in the apartment, and likes to laugh at our antics when she's watching us do something crazy.  She does her share of joining in, too, of course!

Megan is, as the other two are, funny and nice.  She loves to dance and has a great sense of style.  She is sometimes cynical and is the youngest beside me (she's only like 5 months older!).  She works at the library and is also the TA for a history of psychology class.  Her major is psychology.  She has two different-colored eyes and last night taught us all to point our feet out for dance.  It's hard!  She is quite opinionated but doesn't force her opinions on anybody.  I share most of her opinions anyways, so it works out well.  When Kristin brings home grammar/usage homework and asks us what we think of various rules to finish polls for her homework, Megan gets really involved.  She loves grammar.

That's a quick sketch of my roommates for you.  You'll just have to hear more about them as the year progresses!  Today I'm going to the BYU v. Florida state game, taking a Spanish test, and going shopping for groceries and clothes (blowing my first paycheck, which I got yesterday!  Yes!)

<3
Eliza

Return of the galette!

I know, I know.  Another food post*.  But what do you expect me to write about?  My life?  Yeah right :) ...

*I borrowed pictures from each of the sites I linked to and from google images, because sadly I am not a food photographer, just a food eater.  

I miss my tahini!  And also, I really miss having a garden at home.  Thus, I have assembled a list of recipes for those things that I would cook were I at home.


If I had fresh tomatoes and herbs, and perhaps had some goat cheese on hand, too, I would make a Flaky Tomato Tart.

With fresh hot peppers (you can substitute red ones, too!) and cilantro, here is a recipe for a Green chili omelette.

This isn't really fresh, but if I was at home with some roasted tomatoes, I would make Mushrooms stuffed with dried tomatoes.

I would also make some yummy jalapeno pepper jelly.  I know it sounds weird, but with crackers and cream cheese, it's delicious.

As it is, I have managed to do fairly well for myself here at college.  The other night I made a butternut squash and caramelized onion galette (halved, and I substituted a mixture of mostly muenster, with a little bit of swiss and cheddar cheese, for the fontina), and it was amazing.  I cooked the butternut squash in the microwave, though.  Is that cheating?  Oh well :)  

Yesterday I had the leftovers from that, plus the leftover butternut squash, cubed and cooked in the microwave and then sprinkled with cinnamon sugar, and a salad with great homemade salad dressing.
This dressing is amazing.  You should go make it, RIGHT NOW.  I went to the corner grocery store to pick up some apple cider vinegar, and you can too.  Trust me - it's worth it.  The original recipe, napa cabbage salad with buttermilk dressing, is here, but my revisions are below (I halved it, and just had it on some regular salad.  I'm having it again tonight.)


Delicious Buttermilk Dressing
1/2 cup well-shaken buttermilk (or substitute 1/2 cup reduced-fat milk curdled for five minutes with 1/2 T lemon juice)
2 tablespoons mayonnaise

2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons minced shallot (or substitute finely minced onion)
1 tablespoon sugar
3 tablespoons finely chopped chives (substitute finely chopped/minced green onions)

Whisk together buttermilk, mayonnaise, vinegar, shallot, sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a large bowl until sugar has dissolved, then whisk in chives.

Anyways, moving on... Last night I also made some gnarley muffins, recipe below:

Gnarley Muffins

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup flax seed meal

3/4 cup oat bran (I got mine from one of those dispenser things at a health food store.)

1 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon (I would add more of this, plus some nutmeg for extra flavor)

1 1/2 cups carrots, shredded (you can use pretty much any fruit/vegetable for this.  I used a small peach, finely chopped + half of a mashed banana)

2 apples peeled and shredded (tart baking apples are especially delicious)

1/2 cup raisins (optional)

1 cup nuts, chopped (optional)

3/4 cup milk

2 eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon+ vanilla extract

1.  Using a wooden spoon, mix together flour, flax seed meal, oat bran, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl.

2.  Stir in carrots, apples, raisins and nuts.

3.  Combine milk, eggs and vanilla.  Pour liquid all at once into the dry/fruit mixture.  Stir until ingredients are moistened.  Do not overmix.

4.  Fill muffin cups 3/4 full.  Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 15 to 20 minutes.  Yields 15 medium sized muffins.

I got some muenster cheese on sale at the Hispanic market the other day, and discovered that muenster grilled cheese sandwiches are delicious.    Well actually, pretty much everything cheesy is delicious.

Oh, and last week I made rolls for the ward break-the-fast (Mom's recipe, I can post it later if anybody wants it :) and later, chocolate yogurt snack cakes, which are sinfully delicious.  But I console myself that it's only one unhealthy thing I've made so far.  We won't mention the half-jar of peanut butter that is mysteriously missing, or the 5 oz. of leftover chocolate chips that also seem to have flown the coop.

My list of to-makes is about a mile long.  I think tonight I will make mushroom crepe cake, because I have some mushrooms to use.

Note: I have some serious mushroom envy and I would love to try cooking with some of the more exotic dried mushrooms.  Luckily, they're pretty cheap at the aforementioned Hispanic market... (They also have good prices on eggplants, yay!!  What a discovery :)

I have two fresh ears of corn in the fridge, though, so I'm thinking I may cook those up and prepare the kernels for a fresh tomato and corn pie.

Yum.  I am also craving the black bean, corn, and cheddar fritters that Natalie gave me the recipe for (thank you for that, btw!  I love them!).  Plus, I have about five peaches and some blueberries that are just dying to be made into some sort of cobbler/crumb cake/other deliciousness.  I love late-summer food.

Missing home, as always, but I'm settling in to my difficult and intriguing classes.  Love to all!

<3
Eliza

13 months

Today I realized that I only have 13 more months, exactly, until I am no longer a teenager.  Isn't that weird?  I can't imagine myself as a 20-year-old.  Nineteen is already pushing it.

I got my Irish soft shoes today in the mail - they were packaged in a plastic bag inside a torn-apart graham cracker box with stamps.  It was pretty legit.  Hopefully they will help me out in class, but I am happy to report that I didn't need an extra practice session with the TA today.

I really need to get back to homework, but here's the thought that was in my head.  After doing laundry for the first time in Regency, where the dryers are PATHETIC, I really need one of these.

And like I mentioned, my birthday is in one month.... Mom?  Dad?  Have you run screaming from my obvious attempts to publicly persuade you to get me a drying rack?  Ah well.  

School is pretty exciting, and I'll have to write a post about the weekend tomorrow.  Love to all.

<3

Eliza

Epic fail

So today was my first day of Irish Dance.  It would've been quite fun, except that I needed TA help on the first step, and didn't improve much after that.  I guess my Scottish blood is showing through after all.

<3

Eliza

The first few days

You know how after summer vacation ends you go into shock and denial about the realities of homework, papers, and tests?  Yeah, me too.  Here's a (probably not-so-quick) rundown on my week so far.

Monday, my first class was Spanish 105, at noon.  Before that, I went and got hired by the Political Science Department officially, and then stood in line for an hour.  But that's a different story....  My teacher is Professor Gutke, who taught Spanish at a high school in Virginia before returning to Utah and teaching at a junior college, and then transferring to BYU.  He holds the state record for most interceptions in football.  Anyways, he's a pretty funny guy.  He has four little kids who like to sing songs and talk in funny voices.  Accordingly, we had to sing John Jacob Jingle Heimer Schmidt in Spanish today, and then conduct partner exercises in a robot voice.  Quite entertaining.  I also had to say the prayer today.  That wouldn't have been such a big deal, but hey!  It was in Spanish!  I was terrified, but somehow managed to get through it (peeking up at the board every few seconds to see the tips for giving prayers in Spanish).  Although the textbook, which cannot be resold, was $176 (kill me now!), I think I will survive the class.  I understand most of what people are saying in class, so that's a good sign... right?

My second class of the day was Physiology.  The professor is Reuben Rhees, who has been teaching at BYU since 1973.  He's a fun old guy who knows his subject very well.  Yesterday, we talked a little bit about glucose concentrations in the blood.  He asked if anyone was diabetic.  I hesitantly raised my hand.  He then told me that I would be giving a short presentation on diabetes when we got to that unit.  GREAT.  Like I know anything about the scientific aspects of my disease!  I have enjoyed the class so far, though, and the material is very interesting.  Did you know that your body produces approximately 2.5 million red blood cells per second?  Cool, huh?

After that, on Monday, I went to the class I'm TA for, Political Science 170, aka Intro to International Relations.  I felt less intimidated when I saw how many freshmen there were.  Also, the students had to hand in a little five-question, ungraded quiz when they left, just to give us an idea of where they were coming from. One of the quiz questions was "Who is the President of Russia?"  The correct answer was Dmitri Medvedev.  I saw just one quiz.  However, that one person wrote "Putin or Gorbachev - they trade off."  It made me laugh (although the reality of the system, if you exchange Medvedev's name for Gorbachev, isn't that far from this person's answer!)

The rest of Monday afternoon was spent on a crazy trip to Walmart to get binders and shampoo.  I got back in time to go to FHE, which we had as a ward at the bishop's house.  I drove with my roommates Kristin and Stacey (really, I will get to telling you about them soon!) and my FHE sisters from last year, Megan and Cherissa.  There wasn't a whole lot going on at the bishop's house (a 45 minute drive away...), but I had an enjoyable time helping to serve the root beer floats (I think the activity's committee is understaffed as yet), and talking to/meeting some new people.  Yes, mom and dad, some of them were even BOYS.  Crazy, I know.  we stayed for a few hours and then went back to our apartment.  The drive home was the best part of all: talking about Harry Potter and singing HP songs.  Sidenote: you have to see this; it's hilarious!  (Downhill people running FLEX!) When we got back, Megan gave me some English chocolate from her recent Study Abroad to Cambridge.  Yay!

Tuesday was exciting as well.  I started out with Econ 110, at 9:30.  I have Professor Kearl, who has a reputation for being the most difficult econ teacher out there.  And we're not even allowed to have computers in class!  Lame.  Oh well; I'll survive.  Another extremely overpriced textbook that can't be sold - that I may not survive.   The lecture was just introductory.  It seemed like he was in a bad mood, so I'll save an analysis on the class for later.  P.S. There are almost 700 students in the class.  Yikes!

An hour in the library, Spanish, and Physiology followed that.  I went back to my apartment so I could go close my storage unit before I was charged for September.  I got to my car and discovered an unwelcome surprise: a parking ticket!  My registration sticker wasn't up to date.  Of course, when I looked in my glove box, there was the updated sticker.  Great.  I'm going to call the Provo Police Department and ask them if they will please not give me a $30 ticket.  But I closed out my storage unit and got back just in time to go to my Irish dance class.  It looks like it will be a lot of fun, but I need to buy/borrow some shoes.  Let's just say it's a good thing I'm working!  A delicious salad and homework comprised the rest of the evening.

Today I woke up an hour early, with a low blood sugar.  I sighed to myself and made oatmeal to face the day.  Got some homework done in the am, and then went to my first class of the day: Honors Organizational Behavior.  My teacher is Kristen Bell Detienne, and she brought Twizzlers.  Duh I like her.  We talked about course aims and assignments, of course, and then we all introduced ourselves.  This was followed by a presentation on some very efficient companies, and what makes them that way.  One thing that really interested me was the cost of turnover.  Apparently it costs a lot to fire someone and hire a replacement, so companies try to maintain their employees as much as possible.  Companies who work hard to do this tend to have better profits and higher productivity.  Currently we are in a knowledge era - the sought-after commodities are not industrial or agrarian.  Instead, they are highly-trained and competent people.  Cool stuff.  We talked about our group service learning project, in which we are supposed to (in groups) volunteer somewhere in the community and apply what we've learned in class about efficiency and organizational behavior.  It will be fun.  I really enjoy this class.  Already it's making me question my planned (but undeclared) major... and it's only the first day!  We'll see how it goes.

After that I went through the usual spanish-physiology route, followed by Intro to IR.  I had my first office hours after that, from 3-5.  It was quite exciting, although the only reason people came to see me was that they'd missed the first day of class and needed a syllabus.  For the rest of the evening I'm going to study, eat dinner, go to a mandatory housing meeting, and eat popcorn with Heidi... oops, I mean... study with Heidi.  Yeah, I don't know where that came from either... :)

I'm looking forward to sleep.

<3
Eliza

P.S. Natalie, you're awesome.  Thank you for reading my blog :D  I'm so sad I didn't get to see you this summer, AND I missed you in Utah.  Maybe Christmas?

P.P.S. I love avocados, but I'm starting to think it may be time to change backgrounds again.  You know, since it is officially school time, not have-fun-in-the-kitchen-all-day time anymore.  What do you think?