Winter Break!

I just finished my homework for the week (12 hours early #wootwoot) and Eric is still at work so I thought I would write a quick post!

I would rather update about a lot of other things, but of course school is on the brain so let me just get it out of the way. Winter break is almost here. I'm really excited about it. #ineedsomerest Finals are coming up after Thanksgiving. After this semester is over, I will have completed 40 of my 59 credits.

I mean 68 credits. Because I opted to take another 4 classes next year. #crazylikeafox

But it is for a really good reason. I take the classes, I teach for 4 years (while getting paid), and 85% of my loans will be forgiven. Can I get a what-what?

In other news, July through October has been a blur. These months included really hot days here in Vegas, one of my two best friends moving away, a quick trip to South Carolina to house hunt (don't think we are moving there), a Moberg family reunion, lots of busy days at work, a crazy school schedule, the start of a clinical rotation, and of course, my husband being the supportive, fantastic guy he is (couldn't do it without you, babe).

We wish you a blessed, restful Thanksgiving!

Peach-a-Palooza

We got peaches folks. Brought to you by E&B Farmers.

Double what's in the picture and that is how many we actually had.  

From a miniature peach tree that is about as high as my waist.

As a side note, we also had green onions that were about as tall as the peach tree. Some were over an inch in diameter. I had to cut off over a foot of the green part so they would fit in the veggie drawer. I felt bad about that but you can only use so much scallions. I made a green onion dip that was oh-so-good.  Eric has been enjoying cherry tomatoes, and I have been using the fresh basil and oregano.

Anyways, we have eaten a few peaches. (Well, Eric has...I don't care to bite into fuzzy fruit.) We have also given some away to friends. And we still had more than we could handle.  Last year, we didn't quite have this many even though we had more than we could eat before they spoiled. So we made frozen treats - peach sorbet, peach custard. And we also had about a half gallon of peach puree left over that stayed good throughout the year. I just made some more peach custard again about 3 weeks ago. Delicious.

I tried some different things this year. All of them including peeling, pitting and slicing the peaches. 

To make the peeling easier, I first scalded the peaches and then put them in an ice bath.

Then I peeled and pitted and sliced.  It's a little dangerous - they can be quite slippery. I don't know why there are 3 knives. I only used the one in the bottom corner of the picture.

I was up to my elbows in peaches. 

For starters, I made a peach cake. By Ina Garten. God bless her.

Of course I would forget to take a picture of mine so I copied this photo from 

Stirring the Pot's web page. Which also has the recipe. ;)

I froze some sliced peaches to use later on. Another peach cake maybe. 

And made peach jam.

And canned it. I used the peelings to make peach honey which I also canned. Bonus.

I am so glad to not have wasted all of that wonderful fruit!

Pomegranates at the end of the summer!

Scanning Pictures

My darling cousin (and new mommy!) Rebecca happened to mention in a comment about when I last had lighter colored hair - I was much younger. And we had an adorable Airedale terrier, Roscoe. Good memory Rebecca! :) We also had a snooty black Persian cat. She had six toes on each of her front feet. We named her Tippy Toes. Tippy for short.

This got me looking through old photos. I have a big stash of them. I have had this for awhile, maybe a couple of years, with the intent of converting them into digital. After multiple attempts, it has never happened. (I just recently converted all my music, moving on to the movies soon.)

I have tried putting them in the document scanner - no go for the smaller pictures.

I have tried scanning one photo at a time on the glass. I don't have the patience for this. I don't know who would - there are way too many photos.

I have tried scanning multiple photos at once on the glass, but my computer didn't always save them as individual files so I have to rescan them anyways.

I have tried taking pictures of the pictures with my iPhone. This is especially easy with iPhoto and iCloud as far as getting them onto the computer, but again, too many pictures and most of them are curled on the edges.

What I figured I needed was some sort of color scanner with a feeder built for pictures. And I really don't want another piece of large equipment on my desk or to spend a fortune. So, I started searching cnet.com for photo scanners. And I found this for $78 (including S&H).

#yay

And I will also get future use out of this when tax season rolls around and I scan in all of our receipts!

I will update after I have used it!

Mini Golf!

About a month ago, Eric and I went to play miniature golf. It was so much fun!

I was in the sand a lot.

Eric joined me.

One of my favorite things was to move my shadow head across Eric's ball path. Like this.

Completely irritating I'm sure. I laughed so hard I had tears. I might have even snorted. 

I know...it doesn't take much.

 We banked shots, hit them left handed and didn't keep score. What fun!

Roots

Rather than get my roots touched up this time...

This ginger went back to her roots.

Blond ones.

Mmm-hmm. It's been mmphhmmph years since I've been blond. I've had red hair since before my first driver's license. Or some shade of red. Or brown. Or auburn. Or brown with purple highlights. Or...okay, let's just say it's been much darker than it is now. (Check out the profile pic over in the right margin.)

So for 3 days this dynamic duo bleached, lightened, colored, highlighted and trimmed my now goldilocks. Well, actually, Eric did it all. I just sat. And then I made him dinner and he didn't even use Tabasco. Does this mean I am cooking better? ;) Love that man.

Bleaching.

Highlighting. 

Can you even deal with the hotness in this picture?

And here we are today (Eric actually did my hair about two weeks ago). Due to reading more textbooks than humanly possible, a research paper, and finals (and school just basically eliminating my social life), I've not had many picture taking opps.

What that actually means is I finally washed my hair and put make up on today because I had to take a picture and send it in for my school badge.

Please excuse the washed-outness - cuter pics to follow later. Much later. (After school isn't consuming me.)

And if you see this picture on a badge, then I am your nurse practitioner student. =D