We are the Children...

It's true.  We are overgrown children.  That is why we can't stop making up silly songs (like "Sprinkle Man") and giggling until late hours of the night.  Being twenty-something children has all the silliness and fun of being an actual child, but you also get added privileges like driving and late bedtimes.  It all sounds so glorious until you remember the responsibility that comes along with age... darn you rent, insurance and taxes!

But we forgot about that for a day and went on a kid adventure to....

This is one of those cool whisper dishes that allows you to tell secret messages to your chums across long distances.  When Grant & I met we lived across the grass from each other at Liberty Square Apartments.  We definitely should have built these for easier communication.  That would have spared us (and our poor neighbors) the pain of yelling across the complex into each other's windows...

The museum is in a part of Dallas called Fair Park.  It holds lots of museums, performance halls, and of course, the famed Cotton Bowl Stadium.

Inside the museum we found all kinds of cool things.  They have a dinosaur exhibit.  Dinosaurs are cool.  But they were a lot cooler in second grade when we played a dinosaur simulation similar to the Oregon Trail game... but for dinosaurs.  But now I feel like I've outgrown dinosaurs.  So I snapped this picture and we moved on.

Now, Polar bears are something that still hold my interest.  Probably because I just finished watching Lost.  This one was dead and stuffed, but he was still ginormous.  Much more ginormous than this picture gives him credit for.

The polar bear was part of an exhibit about water.  We learned all about the world's water supply, dams, porous rocks, and ancient irrigation systems.  We took interactive quizzes and played with small versions of dams and other water systems.  They also had this cool screen with a topographical map of Mt. Rainier.  When you held these clouds over the screen, it showed the path that rain would take down the mountain should it land there.  Sweet!

They also had exhibits that were more physics based.  I think those are my favorite types of museum exhibits because there are so many hands on activities.  Grant had fun with this anti-gravity mirror.  I find it a little disturbing that the middle of his body is missing... 

But that's okay.  It came back just in time for the classic Tanner picture.  When your husband has monkey-long arms, you find that most of your pictures consist of a facial close up where he's always on the right.  That's just the way it is.  

And I like it that way.

Into the City

Since Sunday was Independence Day, Grant had Monday off instead.  Is that generally how holidays work when they fall on Sundays?  Honestly, I had no idea.  But it was great to have a day together!  We ventured into the city for the day which is something I love to do.  Normally I take the 121 and 35 North to school.  But when we head to Dallas, we skip that exit and take the 114 all the way into the city.  For some reason, this really excites me :)  I think it has something to do with the fact that I'm not headed to school and I'm not alone in the car....

Grantie drove as I took all sorts of random pictures.  At our house, (or in our car, I suppose), it has always been an unspoken rule that when we take Grant's car, Grant drives, and when we take my car, I drive.  I'm not sure why we do that...  I think that possibly we're too emotionally attached to our cars, Esperanza and Shrimp, to be away from the steering wheel...

Rear view mirrors aren't really that important... so I stole Grant's to take these pictures.  I know, I'm a photographic genius...

It was a beautiful day yesterday with what I like to call "Toy Story clouds," speaking of which, I hope to be able to see soon in Toy Story 3.  Woot.

Texas is a funny place.  There are all sorts of streets named after famous Republicans :)

And then, over the hill and through the cars... there is Dallas.  Ahh... lovely.  This route to Dallas is fun because it basically takes you right through the city.  And where did we go while we were there?  I'll give you a hint.  It involves bubbles, polar bears, and skin... Wow.  What amazing clues :)

Ode to the Fourth

This is for all the illegal fireworks my dad spent hours driving to find through the years.

This is for the right to shoot guns and drive giant gas guzzlers.

This is for little children with face paint, balloon hats, and wide eyes.

This is for corn on the cob, watermelon, and hot dogs (of which I now love two of three instead of just one).

But most of all, this is for all those who have sacrificed their time, hearts, and their lives to uphold the name of freedom and liberty in this incredible country we call America.  

Happy Independence Day (...yesterday...)

Sushi Ya!

As long as these Tanners have been Tanners (nearly a whopping two years), we have reserved one night a week for Date Night.  Generally, this consists of going out to eat and some sort of activity.  It is our chance to talk, relax, have fun, even splurge a bit.  This week we thought we'd try something a little different for date night and instead we stayed home and made an awesome dinner!

SUSHI!!!

I spent the day scouring the countryside for the perfect ingredients... (I really just went to two stores).  

Yes... that is chicken in the corner... I was experimenting...  

In the end, I spent a little over twenty bucks which is way cheaper than it would have been at a restaurant.

Grant & I split up and had different tasks.  He took care of the fish while I made the rice.  Sushi rice rice is made from short grain rice like the Botan rice shown above.  You find it in the Asian section of the store instead of by all the other rice.  I threw it in the rice cooker like normal but when it was done I added a mixture of rice vinegar, sugar, and salt.  I cut and folded that into the rice basically until it cooled down & was all sticky... and irresistibly yummy.

Normally we're not afraid of the raw fish that typically comes with sushi.  However, considering the questionable state of grocery store fishes, we decided to err on the side of caution and baked the fish just a bit.  We used some salmon from Costco that we had frozen previously, and some fresh tuna that I bought at Sprouts that day.

So to walk you through the basic steps of making sushi from there:

First you lay out your nori, which is basically seaweed paper, and cover it it in sticky rice, leaving a bit open at the top.

Then you lay out the insides of your roll.  We really have no idea how to do this part... but it worked out fine to do it the way below.

Then you bring the ends of the sushi together and squeeze.

At that point, you can lay it back down and begin to "roll" it.  I have no idea how to describe that part... so I won't even try :)  And as you can see here, I squished the heebie jeebies out of this one and it ended up falling apart.... whoops.  Things got better after that first roll...

Then you slice them up and eat like there's no tomorrow!

Honestly, it was as good as most sushi we've had at restaurants and we had a lot of fun making it as well.  A shout out to Nadine Beaufort back in Boise who not only gave us the tools for sushi making, but left us nifty instructions as well!!

We're excited to make sushi again soon and we've been brainstorming ideas for Tanner Classic Sushi Rolls....  Brilliant ideas like: the Waffle Roll, the Howard Roll (not with Howard inside, just in his honor), and the Swaggly Roll.  Any other good ideas?!

Turtle! Turtle!

Yesterday I took Grant lunch at work.  It has been really rainy lately so it was a bit cooler outside, (although super muggy).  We stuffed our faces in the comfortable A/C and then took a little jaunt out to the giant sauna also known as Mother Nature.

And we made friends!

 "Hola!  I'm a giant turtle with a pointy nose and awesome webbed hand-fin things!  I speak Spanish because hey, I'm from Texas so I'm basically half-Mexican!  Woot!"

This is "Squirty" swimming next to our new half-Mexican pointy nosed friend.  I just named him.  Just right now.  Because I name things.  They were interested in the ever tempting goodies Grant threw to them.

Carrots!  Oh, and this is Squirty's friend... um... Lyle... yep.  They are covered in gross lake moss.  Lyle and Squirty liked eating carrots but had to venture into shallow water to get them.  The fish in the lake we much faster.  And honestly.. much scarier. 

"Hey Lyle!  That's my carrot!"

"You wish!  Eat my swimming turtle dust, Squirty!"

They are extremely competitive... when the fish aren't around.

This is when Grant hit Lyle on the head with a carrot.  Good thing they have those creepy extendable and shrinkable necks.  How handy in case of flying carrot pieces!?

Excuse my strange weirdness today... I basically woke up laughing... must be a 3 day weekend...

In case you're not sick of turtles and basic stupidity, get a little more turtle action here.  "Turtle!  Turtle!"

Gone Vintage

Last year when Grant & I were furniture shopping for our little apartment, we came across a lovely little table at a thrift store.  After it gave me a giant blood blister (I'm talking huge, stomach churning, have to sit down for 10 minutes so I don't throw up type of blood blister), we bought it for twenty dollars and took it home.

The table holds a sewing machine which, until yesterday, I was too intimidated by to even pull out.  (Part of that intimidation was from my lack of sewing knowledge... part of it was the blood blister...)  But I finally got it out and spent quite a while figuring out how it works.

 This is the extent of the instructions that came with the machine.... So the threading was easy, but that was it...

The machine I normally use is much more user friendly.  It has an automatic threader, the bobbin thread comes up on its own, everything is electronic and there are instructions printed all over the machine :)  Thus, I had some... shall we say...difficulties... figuring out how to do all those things on my own.  What can I say?  I've been spoiled!

This machine is a Singer, which for some reason makes me feel like its authentic vintage quality and that you should offer me hundreds of dollars because you want it... 

However, I looked up the approximate worth of this machine when we got it and it was disappointingly low.  (You can still offer my hundreds of dollars just for fun... if you want... my birthday is coming up soon...)

It has lots of dials that control various things like tension, buttonhole, etc.  They are really hard to turn which makes for some very sore fingers.  I just finished watching Lost and I kind of feel like John Locke when he has to turn that big wheel even though he has a seriously broken leg.  Except instead of having a broken leg I have baby fingers with no callouses.  And instead of a giant ship's wheel, I have a plastic wheel the size of a Pog... I think I need to get some of those rubber finger tip things. 

 Also, I'm really not sure this machine does anything besides a straight stitch.  Luckily, I have really never used anything but a straight stitch.  Honestly... I have no idea what you would use any other stitch for anyway...

I am also working on speed and control.  My newer machine allows me to go as slow as I darn well please.  Turtle speed.  Snail speed.  Glacial speed.   I need that.  This machine basically has two speeds: fast and turbo... Cheetah speed.  Rocket ship speed.  We'll see how that goes...

I probably shouldn't admit that it took me fifteen minutes to figure out how to put the darn presser foot down. I think at one point I convinced myself that old sewing machines didn't have that option, that instead you just had to learn how to feed the fabric through on your own... hah.  Then I turned my brain on and found the lever right behind the presser foot.  Thank you! Thank you! I'll be here all week!

Somethin's a Growin'

We are growing green peppers.  However, we don't have a garden, a window with good sunlight, or any clue when we were supposed to plant these or how to take care of them...

But hey, they're growing anyway!  I'm not sure how big they are supposed to get before any actual peppers grow.  Hopefully they will be okay in these pots.

This one's just a little guy.

If nothing else, at least they are improving the air quality inside our apartment.  

Of course, outside we still have our Mango tree.  The first one that we planted died because we abandoned it last Christmas when it happened to snow... whoops!  This year we'll bring him inside a little earlier so that he doesn't die on us.

We would like to have a garden someday when we actually own a small piece of dirt.  But for now, it's fun to just have some tiny little planties inside!