Ahhh... drinking.

Me too.  Me too...

Pure class

We've all been there.

Those Russians have their shit together.

Respect your wine.

All images from this site.

Sunbutter, banana, bacon

Oh the glory that was this sandwich.  I want another one.  Recently, I was introduced to sunbutter (sunflower seed butter, a fantastic alternative to peanut butter).  I've been addicted to it after the first taste.  After eating about a pound of sunbutter on crackers, I felt it was time to expand my horizons.  Thus the sunbutter, bacon, banana sandwich:

Toast the bread.  Because toasted sandwiches are amazing.

Sunbutter on both sides, because one side just isn't enough.

Peel one side of the banana, because it's easier to slice when it's peel is holding it together.

Put the banana on one side of the toast.

Eat the banana that you didn't use.  Om nom nom.

Add the bacon.  Glorious bacon.

Another view of the gloriousness.

Make it a sandwich and consume it with gusto.

I want another one.

Fuzzy boots

Underarmour addiction.  It's the leading cause of the depletion of my bank account.  For example this pink hoody.  Did I need another hoody?  Well... okay I could argue that point and say yes, but lets go with no.  But yet, here it is.  And it's pink.  And I love it.  And it has a low neck so the hood doesn't pull at my throat strangling me.  And did I mention it's pink?

This pink hoody really goes with everything about me.

Fall boots!

These are fall boots for two reasons.  I can only wear them in the fall after the ground is frozen so they don't get muddy.  I can only wear them until the snow falls because once snow falls they become slippery as f*ck.  I fell in them three times before I figured out that I'm not coordinated enough to wear them when there is snow.  Hence, fall boots.

I love these jeans.  Aaaand they're made in the USA!

Summertime beaver chasin'

Bwahaha... I crack myself up.  I really did chase a beaver though.  And I caught the little guy.  The proof is in the pictures my friends.  Thank you to Sava for catching this on digital print and for being a gorgeous Russian that I got to stare at all summer.

Why hello little beaver.  I see you there.

On the drive up to site one day, I saw a brown little butt scuttling along the side of the road.  So naturally I stopped, got out and started saying hello to it.  The boys in front of me also stopped and Sava busted out his camera.  The poor little guy was quite surprised by us.  I took a few pictures with my phone and Sava was clicking away with his camera.  Then Sava said, "Go grab it.  I want to take a picture of you holding the beaver."  I laughed.  He said, "No, seriously."  So I laughed some more and said, "Okaaaay."  Then I started waddling after the beaver, trying not to step on it.  Eventually I got hold of it around it's middle, yes it was a wet beaver, and held it up for the mug shot.

I won't hurt you.

Said mug shot:

I just want to hug you.

I think I terrified the little guy.  He was all shaking and quaking, squirming and trying to get away.  After picture time I set him down and he started off running away from us again.  It was like we just didn't have a bonding moment or anything.  How rude.

And let you go.

I shall trap you one day.  Just you wait.

Beaver Mitts

Sewing circle wanted someone to make beaver mittens.  My mom volunteered me.  So here begins my beaver mitt making story.  Step one: Choose a pattern.  The pattern I used was so generously given to me and mom by Karen Coffey.  I believe it was her mom's pattern.  

Said beaver mitt pattern.

Step two: Acquire beaver, leather, needles, thread, fleece, etc. in order to make beaver mittens.  I'm lucky I have a very crafty mother because I can go and steal supplies from her.  I probably should start buying some of my own supplies because I'm an adult now, but she'll never possibly use up all of her supplies in our lifetime.  So I steal.  And she doesn't seem to mind.  Too much.

Step three: tracing and cutting.

Step three: Trace and cut out pieces for the mittens.  This pattern requires three pieces for each mitten.  Six total (In case you can't do math.)  For the leather I had to trace on the shiny side because my black pen wouldn't show up on the black leather, go figure.  You can use either scissors or an exacto blade for the leather.  For the beaver fur, you want to trace on the back (obviously) and you need to use an exacto blade or utility knife because you don't want to cut the fur.

Exacto blade

I cut out all of my piece before I start sewing.  With the leather you don't need to be nearly as careful as you do with the beaver hide.  There's no fur flowage to worry about, the only thing to really concern yourself with is that you get to opposite sides.  To help with this process I label my sides A and B.  And done.

Wallah!  A cut out palm piece.

5 things that make me laugh

These are all from my one of my favorite sites.  There is a theme with these...

It's always so easy to blame the other girl.

I relate to this way way way too much.  It's pathetic really.

This just cracks me up.  I spent two months singing this song.  Then I saw this.  And laughed for two months.

If someone hates you, they're not worth caring about.  Lesson learned.

*le sigh*

Apple and Sunflower Seed Kale Salad

I got home from work last night and all I could think about was this:

The glorious of igloo food.  No cooking.  Minimal wait time.  CURLY FRIES.

So naturally I looked in my fridge, realized I needed to eat the kale that was going bad and ultimately decided to made a kale salad.  Why didn't I just let the kale go bad?  Well, there are a few reasons which contributed to that.  #1: The stores don't stock kale out here.  So if I let it go bad there was no chance of getting more.  #2: It was free.  The Jacob's crew gave me all their food that they didn't eat from over the summer.  One simply cannot let free food go to waste.  #3: It's better for me than a big old fatty burger and fries (I'm making myself put this on the list.)

Tear up the kale.  You can see it was starting to yellow.

 I found the recipe for this salad in Cooking Light.  Naturally because I live in the middle of nowhere I didn't have the right ingredients.  Surprise surprise.  Not really.  So instead of celery, I grated carrots.

And instead of using a granny smith apple and walnuts, I used whatever kind of apple I had in my fridge and sunflower seeds.  Sunflower seeds have become my go to replacement for most other fancy nuts i.e. pine nuts, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, etc.  You get the idea.

Quartered and cored

Then sliced.  I ate one little sliver when I was slicing.  Sue me.

Oh yeah... And I didn't have a red onion, which look more like purple onions to me.  So I used some of my yellow onion.  I do like red onions better than yellow onions, but a village girl can't get too picky.  Unless it comes to men, then you need to be the pickiest gal on the planet.  No lie.

Slice, slice.  I didn't cry.

Instead of cider vinegar, I used cloudberry vinegar.  Instead of walnut oil, I used sesame oil.  I didn't have kosher salt, I had some kind of fancy sea salt that was a gift.  My house doesn't believe in fresh ground pepper, so I used regular pepper.  However, my fancy self had brown sugar and feta cheese.  What up.  That's how I roll.

I ate the whole bowl.  I have no self control.