Adventures in Cooking – The new year
January 5th, 2012

Happy New year! It has been a while since my last update. I’ll have to post again about Christmas and New Years specifically. This blog post it to update you in the wonderful world of Kristina’s Kitchen – Adventures in Cooking!

Scott and I got a nice 5-in-1 Grill/Griddle/Pannini Press for Christmas from my parents (thanks mom and dad!) and we have been attempting to use it.

—–

Adventure 1 – Steaks

Now that we have a grill, I no longer have to fiddle around with finding ways to cook the steak in the oven. Toss some confetti for me.  I got a packet of steak marinade, Montreal style, and read that I needed to soak it for 15 minutes. Now, I thought marinade was supposed to soak for the whole day, but what do I know about cooking, right? I followed the directions, read and reread the pamphlet that came with the grill on how to operate it, finally finding that I needed to set it to “Grill” and “Sear”.  All is going well, steam issuing from underneath the press, sounds of sizzling steak great my ears. When it is time to remove the steaks, I grab some tong things and move them to a plate. Now, let’s back up and paint the picture. Imagine our grill press sitting on the counter top just beside the sink. Behind it is a toaster and a large Death Star cookie jar. The grill cannot be opened very far and there’s really not much room to scoot it away from the sink as then it would be invading the fridge’s space. Fast forward to present. Yes, I dropped a steak in the sink! Scott had just got done cleaning a fork so there was certainly water and some soap remains there to great the lonely steak. My husband, bless his heart, told me to just put it on the grill for another minute or so and he’d eat it. In the end, the steaks tasted great and I almost got them my preferred restaurant medium pink. Next time will be better.

 

Adventure 2 – Hamburgers

I must say, touching ground beef uncooked is gross. End of story.  It’s cold and greasy feeling. But I had to touch it as I made my own hamburger patties. I learned this recipe from my dad.

1 lb ground beef
1/2 packet dry ranch mix (like 16 oz Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing Dry Mix)
Sprinkle dry mix in bowl with beef and mix with hands gently.  Ball up beef and flatten to make about 4 inch patties.
Makes 4 hamburgers

Beyond needing to get over how gross the meat felt, it was rather simple. Somehow I made the patties too small and our hamburger buns were giants. But they tasted FANTASTIC.

Adventure 3 – Panninis

Well, this adventure was interesting. I’ve only ate a few Panninis in my life, never saw them make them, Scott had no idea what they were, and I didn’t know what to put on them. So, I googled for Panninis and found several suggested recipes. Me, being me, combined what I thought was the best of  all and sent text messages to my husband to buy at the store. I still don’t know what ciabatta bread is, but neither did he. He came home with a huge loaf of Italian bread. I had him get Salami, Ham, Provolone Cheese, Lettuce, and Balsamic Vinaigrette.

The first Pannini I made was a battle. The top of the sandwich wanted to slide off or only get cooked on half of it by the grill press. Until, that is, I found I could make the top of the grill float and move to adjust to the stuff it is pressing! Still, it was a challenge. I’m pushing on the top and poking the sandwich with the back-end of a whisk (you know, the thing you use to beat eggs…. or something) trying to keep the sandwich all in one piece.

The second Pannini I decided to trim the Italian bread on the top and bottom half to make it 1)Less thick and 2) not so rounded. Waaaay better that time around! The bread didn’t move as much, the cheese melted better, and overall a much better Pannini. Oh, I had also put some olive oil on top and sprinkled basil flakes so it gave it a nice look. My husband says, “It’s like I’m in an Italian restaurant.”  I’m glad he liked it.

—–

Well, since then I’ve made another set of steaks (none in the sink this time), and got my perfect medium pink in the middle. We’ve done hamburgers again and I made them the right size. But, I keep putting off trying to make another pannini. I think that thing was more work than it was worth. Tonight we made spaghetti and meatballs (prepackaged – I’m not that brave yet) only to find we lacked pasta sauce. My wonderful husband is out at the grocery now to get the sauce. I’ve since heard we could do olive oil and salt? Hmm. Oh well, on to more cooking adventures!

Kristina

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Posted in Adventures in Cooking |
Happy Christmas Eve!
December 24th, 2011


 

This morning I piddled around, like I usually do, and wound up wasting a bit too much time than I had planned. In panic, when I realized what time it was, I ran about the apartment getting my things packed for heading to my family’s this afternoon, piling the presents to pack in the car, getting myself ready, doing laundry (as I had run out of clothes!), packing our dog Poe’s items,  and making my Pineapple Cracker Spread for this evening’s festivities. Huff puff huff puff. Just about finished and now I take a break to wish everyone who reads my blog a Happy Christmas Eve and a Happy Christmas tomorrow as well!

I’m actually going to stop en route to my family’s to get my husband Scott his last Christmas present. I wasn’t brave enough to venture to the mall this week and there weren’t any stores near enough that had what I wanted. I’ll be leaving him in the car with Poe while I run into the store about half way to our destination. Oh, and I just remembered we needed to stop and get my parents’ one last item as well. Glad this blog reminded me ;)

Today I’ve listened to various Mannheim Steamroller Christmas songs, Sandi Patty Christmas, and other things tossed in. I’m finally getting into the spirit of things! Nothing quite like waiting until the last minute for that, too.  Well, not much time left before I need to pack the car. I’ll post my recipe if anyone is curious. If you’ve read my other Adventures in Cooking blogs, you’ll probably be scared of this recipe. But since there’s no real cooking involved – and I’ve made this for several years now – I can assure you it is easy, disaster free, and actually rather yummy!

 

Kristina’s Pineapple Cracker Spread Recipe

12 oz cream cheese (1 tub)
10 oz crushed pineapple (drained)
1/2 cup finely diced green peppers
1/4 cup finely diced yellow onion
3/4 cup finely chopped pecan
salt to taste (suggested 1 tsp)

Mix all well

Best flavor when allowed to sit overnight in fridge

Enjoy!

~Kristina~

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Posted in General |
Christmas is Coming!
December 18th, 2011

My husband and I went Christmas shopping this afternoon, finishing up on those few items for the families. I then proceeded to listen to Mannheim Steamroller and wrap presents – two presents for the second time. I’ll explain.

Last weekend I had my two sister’s over (15 year old and a 6 year old). We went shopping for gifts for our parents. We also wrapped said gifts, rather nicely I might add. We placed them under the Christmas tree (which happens to be sitting on TOP of the dining room table, otherwise our dog Poe would ingest every last ornament). I don’t know when it happened, or who caused it. I was getting the table ready for dinner the day after my sisters went home and went to slide the gift over to make room, but it wouldn’t budge! Upon further investigation, juice had been spilled ON THE PRESENTS! I was livid. The wrapping paper left a stamp on the table when I was able to pry it off, a perfect little stay-behind reminder that a present once sat there. It was horrid. A gift that was on top of that one also suffered. They both needed to be unwrapped and re-wrapped – lucky the items inside were not damaged. My husband used his muscles to get most of the paper print (circles of red and green and little sguigglies) off of the table, but there’s still some left. I’ll try to remove more of it eventually.

This leads me to yet another Christmas tale of misfortune. I knew I was running out of mailing time, so I finally got a friend of mine’s present(s) put into a box. I like to include one of my random handwritten letters as I find them entertaining – they are much like my blog posts [random and unorganized] but with scribbles as I don’t have a “backspace” button. I finished my letter, made sure everything was packed nice enough not to get damaged, printed a lovely mailing label and stuck on my return address label. Next stop, post office. I also had some Christmas cards from the previous night. I’ve delayed too long and tried to get as many done as I could, but my hand just isn’t used to writing those Christmas cards! I got five or six done and called it a success. These I piled and took with me.

I was running late for work (late in the sense that I couldn’t make ANY stops or I would indeed be late) and it was also a little chilly, so I decided I’d just drop the cards in the mail when I went to pay for the package. It’s a good thing I waited. I would have dropped the cards in the mail container…. with no stamps. And there’s no getting those envelopes back once they are eaten by the blue monster. Fast forward to after work where I am arriving at the Post Office. They have this marvelous self-services station where you can use a touch screen and print the postage for your package, get delivery confirmation, the works. I gladly chose to do this method instead of waiting in a line that would probably take one year of my life away. Insert credit card, pay for priority shipping, drop package in big slot on the wall, and I’m out of there. I wake up at 6ish the next morning with my brain yelling at me – “You put the postage and delivery confirmation label OVER the mailing address”. Ugh. Are you serious? I reflect back on the previous night, realizing the machine only asked me for the zip code of the destination, not the entire address. And I went and put the blasted thing over the real address. How is it going to get there now? I called the Post Office when they opened, hoping to catch the package. Of course there was no, “Let me see if I can find it”, just a bored tone on the other end and a rude comment of “Well, if there is no address, they won’t know where to take it.” You think? I hadn’t thought of that – in fact, that’s not the reason I’m calling at all….. Well, hope still remains as the receiving post office may lift the label up and see that there is the address hiding beneath. I have my finger and toes crossed.

I’m hoping for some snow to come my way, but I’m not holding my breath. The weather has been really odd. Last year this time I’m sure I was already shoving snow off of my car and maybe even breaking through some ice. 50s and 40s just don’t cut it for Christmas weather. It’s chilly, and the wind can make me feel very cold, but where’s my snow? If YOU stole it, please send it back to me.

I love giving gifts. I have such a hard time keeping them secret because I want to give them to the person right away so they can enjoy it – but then they wouldn’t have anything on Christmas and that’s not very fun. I keep trying to get my husband to take his gift early, but he refuses. And can you believe it? He won’t let me open mine either. :( I’m 95% done with the buying of gifts. I still want to give my husband one more, and maybe my parents one just from me but we shall see. For now I need to keep working on the wrapping. I have 10 or so still to go. At this rate, I won’t be done in time. I better pick up the pace. Turn on Mannheim Steam roller Christmas music and commence to wrapping again. Joy!

Here are some Christmas pictures from our apartment:

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Posted in General |
Mis-steak
November 26th, 2011

I sit here, goosebumps from the open silding-glass-door and the blowing of the floor box fan that sits in the dining area, my eyes squinting against the quality of air. Why? You ask. But of course I will tell you! It’s another cooking adventure!

You see, there’s smoke in the air. Even though this happened 15 minutes ago, there still a heavy fog…. everywhere in the apartment. I can’t tell if I want to scratch my eyes or sneeze, or maybe a bit of both. My poor dog is hiding in the bedroom because of the smoke alarm that went off. At least now I know it works!

Here’s how it happened.  My husband bought two 1 pound rib-eye boneless steak. Yum! Right? We don’t have a grill, or even one of those indoor grills, so I decided I would cook it in the oven. I’ve done this before, however it never turns out just right. So like any unskilled craftsman, I googled it. Found a nice how-to-cook-steaks page, which insisted I needed to brown the steak first. I believe, having read several pages like this, it’s called searing (but I could be mistaken).  I did what the page said, added some marination and salt and pepper then waited.

The instructions said to wait around 30 minutes for the steak to get room temperature. Fine with me. I preheated my oven and when the time came, proceeded with the next steps. Iron skillet? Check – got us a whopping cast iron skillet as a wedding present. Heat on high heat? Check, that burner sure looks red. Place steak, yada yada, cook until one side is brown and flip. Oh… my… gosh. When the first side of the steak landed in the skillet I’ve never seen such smoke rise! Quickly I turned on the overhead fan, but there was so much the fan couldn’t keep up. I thought eventually the gosh darn thing wouldn’t have anything left to smoke, so it should stop. Good idea if the steak was one sided. I had to flip. And swoosh! Another wave of smoke. I run to the sliding glass door, counting the seconds until I need to remove and add the second steak and run back to the kitchen.

In comes my husband, having just walked the dog, and he asks if he should turn on the floor box fan. No, I wanted to salvage what dignity I had left. Wrong move. Now the fire alarm starts to go off. But I have to finish the steaks! I tell my husband, “Go fan the smoke alarm!” Which he promptly does with a hoodie. Meanwhile I finish the last steak, plop them both on a baking sheet and slide them into the oven to cook for 25 minutes. I grab a hand towel and start fanning the general kitchen area.

Ah, the smoke alarm finally shuts off but the smoke is still heavy in the air. I take the iron skillet, noticing a layer of charred blackness that wasn’t there before, grumbling that all of my seasoning was there in the bottom, and start to rinse it. Bad move. More smoke, or steam – whatever it was, wasn’t pleasant – rises and I return the skillet to the stove to cool off.

My husband, being smarty than I at this point, plugs in the box fan and turns it on to push the smoke out of the sliding glass door. My poor dog is huddled in a corner, I find, of our bedroom afraid to come out. Sigh.

All I have to say is… these had better be some epically awesome steaks.

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Posted in Adventures in Cooking |
Wish Lists
November 19th, 2011

No, I have no shame in blogging about my Gift Wish Lists, or sharing links on every social media as possible. What was that quote – “If you build it, they will come.” Same philosophy  – If I share it, they [the gifts] will come.

The problem, however, is that I can’t seem to find that one or two items I really MUST have [must as in, if someone is wanting to get me something then I should choose something I'd thoroughly enjoy]. Oh, I have a lot of items that would be cool to have and depending on my mood I may jump for joy at the sight of it, but then I have items I probably need but they are less fun. Woe to the choices.

My mother and grandmother and probably others have complained that they get “bored” shopping for the same things every year. What can I say? Music, video games, books, movies… I really enjoy those things! That’s who I am. But I’ve tried to throw a few things on my wish lists that aren’t those, just in case.

Amazon.com is great for me. It lets me add items from a plethora of buy-able objects right on their site, but also add items from other websites I browse. I have three wish lists I’ll be sharing:

1) 2011 Wish List

This one could also be called my Christmas and Birthday List. It contains many different types of items, all of which I’d call my “top picks”. I’d rather have most of the items found here before moving to the other lists.

Note the right side tells you a comment from me (Like if I’m dying to get it) and the priority level (high or low). Make sure to click to “Sort by priority” to get the highest up at top :)

 http://amzn.com/w/A97QYVBLQKK5

2) DVD/Movie Wants

This is just what it says. It contains movies or tv shows on dvd that I’d like to own now or eventually. Same as the other list, note the comments from me on the right side and the priority level. But again, my “top picks” are held in the 2011 Wish List (these are the not-so-top-picks).

http://amzn.com/w/3NU6YJBWBXQ5C

3) Video Games

Same as #2. Video games I’d like to own now or eventually. But my “top picks” for video games are in the 2011 Wish List. I’m a hyper-gamer, trying to play so many video games in so little time and not finishing them all, but having fun nonetheless.

 http://amzn.com/w/3M4SPOBGJ9SNT

So, there you have it. I’ll be modifying off and on, as I know #2 and #3 don’t have all of the priority levels set just right, nor all the comments filled in.  And remember, I like gifts :) but I don’t need gifts. This just makes like easier for me (keeping track of things I’ve noticed I want) and sharing easily with people that ask “Hey…. what do you want for <insert occasion here>?”.

 

Thanks for reading!

Kristina

Kristina’s Eyes

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Posted in General, wish lists |
Sea of Riddles
November 12th, 2011

Here follows a short story inspired by a recent dream:

——————————————————————-

The sea was foggy, a cold blanket that obscured the horizon and made anything beyond her vision shrouded. It was morning, the sun was rising but the blanket refused to let more than a few rays escape. How she had got here, she did not know, standing in an opening much like a doorway high above a ship below. The wind tugged at her thin cerulean gown, bringing small drops of mists to touch her bare arms. Focusing from her feet onward her eyes followed a silver pathway, smooth and reflective like opaque glass, almost tinted with hint of blue as well. It draped like a rope bridge over a cavern, yet it was solid – one piece of material with no indication of interlocking pieces – connecting where her feet stood with the vessel that bobbed gently in the sea below.

She was alone, yet she felt as if someone was behind her or perhaps waiting for her on the other side. Stepping forward, her white slippers touched the glassy surface of the descending bridge, careful to step slow and lightly fearing she could slip or even cause the bridge to break. Instinctively her hand reached out for the railing, it too was cold and tainted with the wetness of the mist and the sea. Supporting some of her weight on the railing, she descended slowly, noticing the reflection of her feet and long gown in the smooth surface.

Nearing the pathway’s nadir, the point at which the bridge seemed to almost level out leading into a dark entryway for the ship in front, she drew her eyes away from the surface raising her head to look more around her. The wind tugged at her long hair, threatening to whip it in front of her face and clouding her vision. But there was no mistaking what she saw then. She stopped moving, her hand rigid on the railing, her breath caught in her throat. She wanted to turn away and return back up the slippery slope, but she couldn’t tear her eyes away.

The ship had rotating contraptions on either side of the bridge. They plunged beneath the fog into the water below rising again dripping, like paddle wheels of an old steam boat yet enclosed or cage-like and a pattern and movement almost like the track of a military tank. The splashing and dripping noises was almost like being within a waterfall. Inside these cages were bodies, or the remains of bodies. She could see some were merely bones, bits of flesh still hanging on with tattered strips of clothing. Others were in mid-decay, wrinkled skin from the ever-present water, then wisps of hair and sunken eyes. And then there were some that seemed only to have just arrived – she couldn’t tell if they were dead, though she thought she saw some of them struggling to free themselves – although that could have been from the movement of the wheels.

Her stomach threatened and she covered her mouth fighting back a heave as she ran forward into the dark entryway. She found herself in a dimly lit room, large with a floor as glassy as the bridge she’d ran from. It was like a ballroom with several pillars strategically and aesthetically placed. Several men lurked in the shadows of the pillars, dressed in fine suits and watching her wearily. In the center of the room was a small table, a doll sitting on its top and a slumped, hooded figure sitting next to it.

Pressing forward, she ignored the few people scattered in the room and approached the table.

“We’ll never get out,” whispered the hooded figure beside the table. “Many have tried, many have tried. You must do as she says,” he pointed a a fingering shaking slightly to the doll.

It was a porcelain doll, the mouth expressionless, the eyes vacant with thick black curls and a fine white and cream laced dress. The doll brought her some comfort and it’s features were soft enough to almost mimic happiness.

“The riddles. Always the riddles,” came the hooded man’s voice again. “You must solve the riddles.” Then he was gone – simply not there anymore. In his place was a small tool, like a pocketknife made of springy styrofoam. She picked it up and held it tightly in her hand. Then came another voice, a quiet melodic voice, like a child’s – but this time it was inside her head. She knew it came from the doll.

“You must succeed. I will help you,” it pleaded. “Place beneath, but up above,” it stated.

She blinked at the doll, not understanding.

“Place beneath, but up above.” Came the voice, more insistence this time. She knew it was the first riddle. And a vision almost filled her head of what she should do.

Laying flat on the cold stone floor, she looked up to the table holding the doll. Taking the object she had received from the hooded figure, she reach an arm slowly up toward the table. The object began to glow neon green, then starting to flash – slowly at first then quicker. She knew it was a timer, and it was telling her she was moving too slow. Her hand shaking she dropped the object to the surface of the table and pushed it beneath the frilly dress of the doll.

The object remained in full green glow, she held her breath afraid to move an inch, then the glow vanished. A pulse emitted from the object, deafening her ears like the pressure of climbing a mountain or rising in a plane.

“Three for one, two for four,” came the second riddle.

No time for rejoicing in the solving the first, she concentrated on the second task. Again like a vision came the answer, but this time it was even more jumbled. She set to work pressing on various spots on the object, now glowing bright red and starting to flash. Each time her finger pushed, small sections on the object rotated – some extended out, others moving to shape the object into something more than a rounded rectangle. Finally the pieces shifted so that three sections protruded in a rounded W from the rectangular shaft.

Without hesitation she began running past the doll, further into the chamber aware that the object was starting to flash quicker. Finally seeing a hallway to the left of her, she veered into it seeing several figure at the end – four figures as still as stone. They had their backs to her as she began sprinting. Touching the middle of the W, the object split in two and she flung them with a flick of each wrist sending them flying like shurikens. They arched out to the edges then curved back to slice through the cloaks they wore, each fragment taking two. Then the pieces glowed a solid red and exploded with no sound, sending a shock wave that knocked her back, her back and head hitting the floor hard enough to steal her breath and darken her vision.

Her breath returning to her, she pushed up on her elbows to see that the four figures were now a pile of stone, as if they had been nothing but statues before. And in her hand rested the object, back to its round rectangular form and without colored light. She returned to the table and the doll, walking this time to bring her breathing back to normal.

“Together, together we part.”

He was here, she had to find him in time. The vision was quick, but she already knew what it was. She snatch the doll up in one arm, cradling it like she would have were she a child again. Then she half jogged, half ran, behind each pillar tugging at the hooded cloaks to reveal the faces beneath, or grabbing the man by the arm and roughly turning him to face her.

The object seemed to glow black this time, pulsing faster as before. Now there were doors, doors that hadn’t been there before, so many doors to open and search lining the ballroom. With tears threatening to fall, she flung open door after door, searched hood and pillar, trying to find him. The object was flashing faster than she wanted it to, and in almost desperation she turned to go back to the table. But now there were hallways, not an open ballroom, mazes, and she dashed through them following her instinct.

This hallway ended, with a small table and the doll sitting on it, and crying she knelt before it. Touching the doll’s hand, she felt an arm wrap around her shoulder – he had found her, he was there beside her. The object grew to a solid black and she grabbed the doll under one arm and wrapped her other around his waist, burying her head in his cloak. The darkness exploded from the object, expanded to engulf everything.

Then her eyes opened to find him sleeping, safe, beside her. Glancing to the mirror by their bed she saw the reflection of the doll sitting on her dresser, its mouth now forming almost a smile as it faded from the mirror and her view.

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Posted in Dreams, General, Writings |
Horse-themed Birthday
November 12th, 2011

Last weekend my littlest sister turned 6. My husband and I went down to my parents’ for the weekend to celebrate with them. The weather was a little chilly but nice enough to have a picnic, pony ride, and hotdog roast. Two days of birthday celebrations are the best.  She had a good time. I, unfortunately, forgot her presents at my apartment. Boy did I feel like a moron. But we (my, my other sister, and my husband) went shopping and I got a joint present with my husband at least. I’ll be going back to delivery her other presents probably next weekend.

I have never had the change to take any photography of horses, until now. I haven’t been taking much photography at all lately, so my skills at picking the right settings and adjusting the shutter speed and aperture, etc., aren’t the best at the moment. So I struggled capturing the colors – as there were still some fall leaves out there – as well as capturing horses that refused to stay still. It was a learning experince, but I did get a few good shots to add to my collection.

Below are some pictures from the birthday celebration:

 

 

 

 

kristinaseyes.com/blog

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Posted in General, Photography |
Craptastic!
November 2nd, 2011

How do you like that title? I copytraderightmark that sucker right here, right now until eternity. Please send all royalty fees for using said expression to my personal mailbox.  Please and thank you.

I have to keep things interesting to stay sane (although the term “sane” may not mean the same to you as it means to me). Creativity, witticism, happiness, excitement, fantasy – all words that are thrown into the boiling pot of emotions to make the tasty soup ‘Kristina’s Sanity’. So if my day has gone bad, I may just try to make a grotesque joke of it all. “How’s your day going so far, Kristina?” “Oh, it’s craptastic! Simply craptastic!”

Last week I had a great high – I had studied for what I consider now the hardest test of my life for a little over a month, had a four-day crash course, and passed the exam. Take that, Mr. 7, and put that in your coupon rate! The day before I studied and went to bed early as I needed to be at the testing center by 7am. But like my brain is prone to do, it woke me up at 2am to start asking me test questions. They were nonsensical and even though I’d answer them (“Answer A, municipal bond!”) my brain kept telling me to answer again and again and I couldn’t quite grasp the actual question to know if I was answering it right or not. I tried my usual calming technique – envisioning myself as a hawk soaring over an evergreen forest along the course of a river running beside a mountain – but it didn’t help. I never went back to sleep. So I arrived at the test site nervous, slightly sick to my stomach, and feeling like I pulled an all-nighter.

But here’s the best part. The test is slotted to take 6 hours. It took me 3 hours, and that was with a mandatory 30 minute break. I asked the proctor if I could take a shorter one, but alas I had to take at least 30. And as I hit my final submit button and waited on the edge of my seat for my answer my legs wiggled like they were about to run away and take me with them. I got a 71% – I only needed a 70% to pass. Had I waited another month I would have needed a 72%, but this day it was good enough – this day I passed. I had to fight laughing maniacally and skipping out of the testing center. I was so happy, so relieved like a great weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. I felt friendly again and spoke to many people. And I basked in the light of my accomplishment.
And then today happened. A week after passing the test. Craptastic happened. I won’t bore anyone with the details. But here I sit listening to my Halloween playlist (complete with Sweeney Todd and Nightwish and Castlevania) contemplating a massive headache and wishing I was instead finishing my short story The Jacobian. I vow to write more of it tomorrow! I may not finish it, but I WILL work on it.

 

And perhaps tomorrow I will share another Adventures in Cooking blog – a story from several months ago but funny nevertheless. I am now off to hopefully finish reading Interview with the Vampire and soothing dreams there after. Tomorrow will be a better day and I will get to do the things I want to do.  I need to start meditation, I’m sure of it. I will start my Vulcan meditation attempts again. Something has to help the level of frustration and anger that continues to rise in me. The End (for now).

[Side note - this blog is so scattered, I apologize if it is confusing and odd. Let's cross our fingers for tomorrow, shall we? No more craptastic, please. We just can't handle Kristina loosing her mind]

 

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Posted in General |
Dream Log Oct 16
October 16th, 2011

I’ve decided to start trying to document some of my dreams.  As a brief explanation of things to come, I may not always write all of the details. I’ve found in many of my dreams I have a “feeling” that something is true but without knowing the full background of it. So I might say “we” did something, but never tell you who is in that group, it is because I never questioned myself in the dream but knew there was the feeling of being with another person (or persons). I may say that something “bad” happened, but never explain why it was so. I might not even know, but I “felt” something was wrong, or had gone wrong, and continued within my dream world.

Last night I had four dreams. I woke up at 5am and repeated the first 3 I had to myself until I fell back asleep again, in hopes to remember the dreams when I finally woke up. Between 5am and 7am I had another, which I remember but I lost one of the original three. So, here are three of the four dreams, or scenes (they maybe are the same dream, but jumping around wildly) from last night.

 

Mermaid/Shatner

We were in a coastal city, the weather was fine but it was a dark night. I got my things packed into a bag, grabbed a few other items, and was ready to leave with my group. I followed the person in front of me out of the port area and into the open waters of a large lake. I was on a vehicle much like a scooter but for the water. Very hard to balance and it was pink. My sister was swimming with William Shatner, and just as I was about to water-scooter past them I lost my balance and tumbled into the water. Shatner laughed at me and my noob abilities while I watched my water-scooter sink to the bottom of the lake. I swam to the edge of the lake, like a swimming pool edge, my sister climbing out and diving back into the water. Something was wrong with the bottom of the lake; I dove again and again, looking at the underneath side of a walkway and watching bugs crawl in and out of grate-like objects at the bottom of the lake. Then we were swimming as fast as we could away and to the doorway in the distance. Something had happened to our male companion – he’d held the box and it had killed him. Me and another female reached the doorway, which had stairs leading deeper into the building. We had to get away from them, but they were gaining. We hid, but they came. I pretended to be the mermaid while my companion (the real mermaid) attempted negotiations with the group of three, I was watching from the gap in some stacked crates. We were to sign the rights of something that belonged to us over to this group. I wanted to protest, but now I was pretending to be the mermaid so I came out of hiding to sign the document displayed on the podium my real mermaid companion now stood at. But I didn’t know how to spell her name. Feigning ignorance at never have written words before, I quickly stroked how I thought her last name would be spelled. R-I-M-S followed by a check mark symbolizing true and a question mark to ask if it was so. She signaled to me it was true and I scratched out my doodles, done in a fine-point faded pink highlighter, and signed “Sophia Rims” to the bottom of the document.

Honeymoon/Grandpa

Scott and I had just been married and it was time to go on our honeymoon. But he didn’t want to go. Instead, I took my grandpa. We were in a town that had very large and old building – buildings with culture and thought behind the design, like gargoyles at the top. I was excited to be in this area that felt like Europe. We toured the city and I took many pictures with my camera. Then I was in a sundress, walking over a suspended rope/wood bridge to the hotel. We entered at the top floor and the first door we walked passed was open. We stepped into these people’s hotel room and my grandpa began talking with the little girls there. He decided we needed to rescue one of them and take her home with us. I protested, but could not sway him to see my reasoning.

Reunion/College

Scott, my husband, and I were in the town of our college staying in a large hotel for it was our two-year graduation reunion. [Keep in mind, Scott graduated a different year than I did and also from a different college.] It was very tall and we could see out across the city from our room. His parents were also in town and they wanted to get together with us. But we already had plans as one of the reunion activities was happening very soon at a theatre.  Scott thought maybe we could go out to eat with his family before hand but I suggested we call the venue as they might be serving dinner there and we’d already paid for the activity. I sat at a computer in the room while Scott knelt nearby and called the venue. I wasn’t satisfied with the questions Scott was asking and as my whispered suggestions were being ignored I took the phone from him. “Hi, this is Kristina, you were talking to my husband. I just wanted to know if food will be served tonight.” I could see the man on my computer screen. “I have to warn you, I like a good joke. Depends on what you call food. hahahaha There will be popcorn in the movie.” I hung up the phone and relayed the message to Scott. The event was starting at 10pm and it was already 9:30 so we really didn’t have time to eat with his parents, nor grab any food for ourselves. We’d have to be OK with just popcorn.

 

The End

Kristina

www.kristinaseyes.com/blog

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Posted in Dreams, General |
Medicine and Wedding Dreams
September 25th, 2011

Time to play catch-up with my blogging. I’ve been sick since last Saturday, not at all fun except for the day I got to watch four movies while laying very lethargic on the couch (though “fun” still isn’t the word I would use). I tried to push through feeling bad as I knew one of these days I’d get flu-like sick and I’d need to save my “sick days” for that. But try as I might, I felt terrible. I couldn’t breathe out of my nose, my throat hurt, my ears were stuffy, I had a terrible headache, I was moody, developed a cough, and just sounded awful. I tried DayQuil, NyQuil but that made me even more moody and caused me to feel shaky.

Finally I went to see the doctor on Thursday morning, subsequently calling in sick that day and the next. Seems my husband brought something home which affected me 4x worse than it did him. The doctor wanted me to wait 10 days before I used the prescription handed to me,  she attempted to explain briefly why that was but it sounded like, “Because the waves of the ocean are moving harmoniously with the butterfly wings,  the fairies must dance under the moon at 2 in the morning”. Otherwise known as balderdash. I filled my prescription immediately and took my first dose – by the late afternoon I no longer felt like I was dying. Hip-hip hurray! And after a much needed sleep-in on Friday, I could sit up and do more than just watch movies.

I’m glad I got to catch up on my films, though. For the first time I watch Babylon AD which was a pleasant surprise and because I didn’t have high hopes to begin with I rate it 4.5 out of 5 stars. Watched The Last Mimzy, a nice child sci-fi but it could have been better, 3.5 stars out of 5.  Race to Witch Mountain, enjoyable at a 4.5 stars. And Splice – a complicated rating here – originality and unused actors a major plus, but the disturbing and quite messed up story will prevent me from ever watching it again: 3 stars.

Feeling poorly as well as effects of medication have worked an interesting twist on my mind.  I started no less than 5 books this weekend, never making it beyond page 10 in any of them. I attempted to write a story (attempting to poke fun at Twilight) and got rather bored with my own writing half way through the first page. I started at least 3 video games and none of them have held my attention. I’m just waiting to be inspired by something.

On an odd note, I’ve seen a recent odd trend in my dreams. Maybe it is medicine inspired, or maybe it has to do with my attempt at starting a wedding scrap book while I’ve been sick and reviewing all of our wedding photos. They’ve been very wedding-like. I dreamed my sister was getting married in India and polygamy was fine. She and another girl were marrying the same guy at the same time. We were all being hunted afterwards as we walked down a forest lane in near-dark and I was awesome at hand-to-hand combat. One of our assailants turned in to Poe (our Black Lab) and he did not want to be left behind.

Another wedding dream involved me getting married again, to the same person (my husband). We had to get married three times in a row for this wedding, each time was a little different with the way I wore my veil or how I walked down the isle. The third walk involved everyone standing in the front in a long line instead of seats. I couldn’t locate my boquet and there happened to be a nice set of rose bushes but my mother wouldn’t let me pick the flowers so I had to walk empty-handed, everyone staring at me (not nicely) and sweating in the sun. The whole thing felt terrible, as if it was a nightmare.

The most recent wedding dream involved planning the cake for the wedding. We had been told by the baker that we could store the bottom half of the cake in the closet and it would keep fine. I went into the closet to check on the cake, cutting myself a slice, realizing that the cake was far too small for our reception. And the cake tasted terrible. It was clearly spoiled, some version of Tres De Leche gone wrong,  but I kept eating it. I decided we should instead buy some cupcake tiers and place many chocolate cupcakes that way instead to feed everyone. Oddly enough I woke up sick after this one with a tiny dose of food poisoning, for real.

I’m sure I’ve had others but I don’t remember enough to type them out like I did for the three above. It really must be a combination of being sick, medicine, and looking through my wedding photos for the scrapbook. Weirdness is the only word I have for it at this point.

On a side note, I’m very happy with how my wedding turned out. The weather was perfect, the flowers beautiful in the garden, my hair and dress were fantastic, my husband was so handsome, and everyone had a great time. If I could have changed anything…. nope, can’t think of anything at all!

Now, I’m not feeling anymore creative to start writing nor does any book call out to me. But I think I might watch another movie before work claims me again tomorrow.

~Kristina~

www.kristinaseyes.com/blog

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Posted in General |
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