The Giver

While most people I know read the book, the Giver in high school, I was never required to read it. It was on the list of books that are going to be made into movies, this year. I read a little about the book and thought it sounded interesting. It was a really easy, short read. Roughly, 175 pages. Took me under a week to read it.

It's about a community where you get matched with a spouse if you want one, you request kids and get them (no more than two), and you're all told from an early age what career you'll follow. You're not allowed to ask questions and everyone blindly follows whatever expectations are placed on them in regards to their job. If an infant isn't progressing fast enough, they're "released." Everyone assumes that means they're turned over to another community, but no one really asks. Once someone gets old, they're also "released." Finally, someone accepting a new position challenges the "way it's always been." It had a decent ending, but everyone who knows me, knows I'd have liked more closure. :)

Also, on the list of books being made into movies was, A Long Way Down. I tried it and only made it a couple of pages in. It was a bit too dark for me.

Now, I'm reading, Allegiant, the last book in the Divergent series. Love those books; can't wait for the movie!

Are you reading anything new? Anything interesting? Share!

Relationship Ramble

There's something about the finality of an ended relationship. All the parts and pieces can't be easily swept away. The explanation of the demise of it all isn't simple. Closure is generally not enough for one party. Feelings are hurt, emotions run high, questions remain. The rough parts are the memories; any little thing can trigger them. One minute you're fine and the next you're remembering your first date with that person or the moment you realized the attraction was mutual. Along with the happy memories are those of blank stares, unreturned calls and texts, and the finality of whatever it was. One minute you smile, the next you fight a tear. Sometimes, it's hard to rationalize how something that started out so great quickly turned into what it is. You wonder if something seemingly so small ended it, if it was just a matter of time before it'd have fallen apart anyway, but the problem is you'll never know. It's harsh to think that our lives will no longer intersect. Maybe this is the way it was supposed to be anyway.

Either way, I know God has an amazing plan for my life. He didn't promise it wouldn't be rocky and pain-free, but He did promise He'd take the journey with me and would see me through to the end. I have to find peace and solace in that.

Since I love quotes, I thought I'd share this one:

Last Chapter of the Car Starter Saga

I'm so tired of this drama. Two weeks ago, Audio Junction, the installer of my car starter, said they'd call me to set a time to replace the screw they lost. No shock, they never called, so I called them. No response. I texted and a couple days later got a response. They said they could come to my work during the day, but they always texted at 5:30 asking about doing the repair. Finally, we set a day, Thursday at 4pm. I had to text to remind them. They said they'd be there in 5 minutes, but they're always late so I went out at eight minutes and had to wait five minutes for them out in the cold. I texted the owner of Audio Junction who said he'd give thought to a partial refund and told him that not only had I had to remind the tech of our appointment, he was also late. I asked him to again think about a partial refund. No reponse from the owner. So much for "we feel bad about this and will make it right." The tech arrived and said he brought the wrong screwdriver, but would try to make it work. It took forever. The tech said the owner didn't want him coming at all to replace the screw they lost. Really bad customer service! So, it took EIGHT weeks to get my car totally fixed by Audio Junction! What a nightmare! I've made at least three dozen calls to their store in that time, it was exhausting and felt like a part time job. So happy to be through will them. Would you report them to the Better Business Bureau? People have told me I should...

Recipe #10: A New Take on Lemon Bars

At an MBA potluck, someone made a different type of lemon bars and I loved them.

It's super easy to make:
I used a butter cake mix (butter)
cream cheese
lemon

You don't fully mix up the cake mix. You kind of leave it crumbly. You bake most of the mix. You mix the cream cheese, lemon juice, and lemon zest. After baking the bottom layer you add the cream cheese mixture and add the rest of the cake mix (I put some lemon juice and zest to my cake mix). Bake that and then it's done. I loved this recipe, but don't think it was very lemon-y though. I'll be making this recipe again soon!

Recipe #9: Orange Cream Bars

I made Orange Cream bars for Valentine's Day, but after dinner we were too full to eat them. :( I did try parts of it along the way, as I made them and they were tasty. Most of all they were super easy.

The recipe called for:
frozen orange juice concentrate
graham cracker crumbs
butter
vanilla ice cream
sugar

Here's the recipe and directions:



I smashed my own graham crackers, so my pieces weren't uniform. I think it worked fine that way.

I used vanilla bean ice cream, so next time I'd use regular vanilla ice cream.

Recipe 8: Oreo Icebox Cake

So, I had leftover chocolate sandwich cookies and I hate wasting anything, so I remembered seeing this recipe. Thankfully, it called for 3 ingredients: chocolate sandwich cookies, milk, and whip cream. It was very simple to make:
1) Dunk chocolate cookies in milk and line them in the bottom of a glass dish.
2) After the first layer, you cover with a layer of whip cream.
3) You continue to layer until you're out of chocolate sandwich cookies. Then you top with whip cream and I sprinkled with cookie crumbs.
So, I don't think it ended up looking very great, but the guy (yes, guy) that I gave it to said it was "quite good."

Here's the link to my inspiration on Pinterest:

Car Starter Saga

So, after getting my car starter installed, every time I used it, it set off my car alarm. Not cool! So, I made another appointment to take it in. So, they came up with that I would have to lock my already locked car before hitting the automatic start button. I guess, I'll have to live with that.

Also, despite that I repeatedly asked for some sort of partial refund, they never got back to me on that. This is despite the fact that they agreed they handled everything poorly. I've had to call them a minimum of two dozen times in five and a half weeks.

I'm still waiting for them to get the screw to put back in my steering column. They said they'd call in a few days about it and come by to put it in.

I hate that I'm the one who has to remind them things aren't complete. Shouldn't they be calling me? It's five and a half weeks since I had the initial install and we're still not done. Still frustrated.

Recipe #7: Red Velvet Poke Cake

I've been waiting to try this recipe from Pinterest since summer and finally I had a potluck to go to.

Ingredients were pretty simple:
-Red velvet cake mix; eggs, oil, water
-2 boxes of cheesecake pudding
-whip cream
-chocolate sandwich cookies

Essentially, it's like a poke cake, which I'm a pro at. I've never tried making a poke cake with pudding instead of Jello.

It was pretty easy to make and I followed the directions this time. ;)

The recipe:


Here's how mine progressed:

1. You make the red velvet cake mix according to the directions on the box:

2. You let it cool for several hours. Then you poke holes in it. When making a poke cake with Jello, I would use a fork to make the holes. With the recipe, I used a wooden skewer stick. Unlike with a poke cake, the pudding doesn't completely soak up into the cake. So, just smooth it out on top and put it in the fridge to set a little.

3. After an hour or so, I smoothed on the whip cream which I'd allowed to defrost on the counter.

4. Next, I added 6-8 sandwich cookies in a ziplock bag and put that in a larger ziplock bag. From there, I smashed the cookies to mid-size chunks. Then I added them to the top of the dessert.


I received several good comments on it. I didn't try it that night. I gave some to friends and my dad. They all really enjoyed it. My dad asked for seconds! I tried it and LOVED it. It feels somewhat light, but very flavorful. This picture kind of shows the layers. I'll definitely be making this recipe again!