Best BLT Part II

So you have tossed you bacon in the oven and now you wait a bit before starting on everything else. I ate an orange.

Here is everything else you need. Salad (I use the stuff in a bag), tomato, avocado, pesto and mayo!

Lest you are offended at mayo, look it has omega 3 in it. I feel better already. For some reason my tomato and avocado pictures did not load. But I am sure that you can figure out how to cut up a tomato and avocado. You must use the avocado! MUST MUST MUST!

Oh, and if you have frozen pesto on hand from before you realized that it is cheaper to buy the stuff at Costco, then pull that out as well.

Put a buttered slice of bread down, then the pesto on the other side.

Then put the tomatoes and bacon on.

DO NOT FORGET THE AVOCADO!!!

Oh, I guess some healthy stuff. And top with a slice of bread with mayo on the inside and butter on the outside.

Now tell me that doesn't look great.

Part 1 of the best BLT ever!

Through trial and error (and a lot of taste testing), I have discovered the secret to the best BLT ever. This is part one, but is also it's own recipe to great bacon. Let's make bacon! And no turkey bacon allowed. First crank that oven up to 400 degrees and place your bacon on a cooling rack over a baking sheet. I place foil on the baking sheet to catch the grease, foil makes for easier cleanup.


Place the sheet, rack and bacon in the oven. (If not using for a BLT, set timer for 15 min, take out, drizzle maple syrup on bacon and place back in oven for 3 to 5 min). However, we are using this for BLTs so no syrup. Just bake for 17 to 20 min.

Ohhhh, look at the pretty bacon. Sometimes I take a paper towel and wipe the fat bubbles off. This is a great way to cook bacon for several reasons.

One: you can do other things while you cook your bacon. Two: The bacon isn't cooked in grease and isn't as bad for you (maybe).

And I may or may not have eaten some bacon while making BLTs.

Ten Commandments

Mr. M and I drove up to Eureka the other day (well, OK about 2 months ago). There really isn't a lot going on in Eureka even though the name implies otherwise. But we did get to add another photo to our ten commandment collection.


This one is steel, in front of a church.

So Sorry

to have disappeared for so long. My crazy job is sucking the life out of me. However, dum de de dum, I have purchased photoshop elements and am hoping to learn how to use the crazy thing to post cool pictures. Does anyone know of any websites out there devoted to use of photoshop elements instead of photoshop (the expensive one). Thank you Internet for all the wisdom you provide.

Speaking of which, the Internet is an amazing thing. In college, my roommate were debating if hamsters can have diabetes. We googled it and yes they can. We loved google and were on the verge of asking them to put together an e-mail program when lo and behold, one appeared! It was a very happy day for us, but stressful as well. You see we had real options about what our e-mail accounts would be without adding crazy numbers at the end. We could pick whatever we wanted. The pressure was on. It had to be creative, but one that could stand the test of time, and yet represent us. I settled on my favorite coffee drink at the time, and it has served me well, although I get a strange look from time to time. Don't worry, I don't use it for business use. So thank you Internet for changing my life (mostly) for the better. I can't imagine being in Montana without it.

More sleep

Sign I have been on call to much:

I got out my toothbrush, then pulled my deodorant stick out of my drawer and pulled the lid off before I realized it wasn't what I really wanted.

Empty

To borrow a title from Dooce, but I couldn't think of a more fitting title. In early January I found out I was pregnant. We were very excited. As a nurse I have stats on miscarriages running through the back of my head, but as we approached 8 weeks, I felt that we had made it through the last 2 months and we were so excited and started to tell people.

I had my first doctor's appointment at 10 weeks. So far I had some uncomfortable symptoms of pregnancy, but nothing to miserable and I was excited to be nearing the end of my first trimester. We had started looking around at cribs and making plans. We would have a September baby and a 3 month old at Christmas. It would be my parent's first grandchild and Mr. M's mother's 15th.

Mr. M. came with me to my appointment. I knew at 10 weeks we should hear a heartbeat and we were excited to hear it together. The doctor couldn't find a heartbeat with the Doppler, but that is not unusual, so we went over to have an ultrasound. There is no heartbeat. It appears that the baby stopped developing at 6 weeks, but my body still thought I was pregnant. I choose to induce a miscarriage this weekend. And now it feels so empty.

It is empty, but not without hope. I am still so blessed. I have a wonderful husband, I have supportive friends and family. Both my husband and me have secure jobs, we have a church where we are engaged in and comfort in a sovereign God who knows our pain.

Our church building

Our church building is a classic building that is peaceful both inside and out. It looks better in the summer, but the snow lends it its own charm. Sorry for all the pictures, bear with me as I am playing with my new camera.

New Camera

For Christmas I was given a Nikon D60 as a gift from my wonderful husband. Here are some of pictures I have taken. I am still learning. These pictures did not load in the order I wanted them to, but I am to tired to figure out why.

Some winter berries in the neighborhood around my church.

More summer thoughts

This summer, Mr M and I went on a medium (but very uphill hike) where I whined about so much uphill. But I am really glad that we went.

For starters, I have a picture of Mr. M with a good smile.

And once we got uphill a ways, it was a wonderful view (I bet that lake is frozen now).

And we finally reached the grand waterfall (that is an icicle now)

where Mr. M refilled his water bottle. I do not approve of drinking untreated water myself, but he wanted to risk giardia.

As we were resting, a little visitor came our way,

and marched right up to our backpack. Hmmm, I think people have been feeding him.

Other things to do in summer...

Since I am trying to focus my mind on warmer times and not on the -8 F weather, shall we look at some pictures from a happier time? Mr. M's mum and niece came to visit this summer.

Look! I am wearing shorts! Shorts! And Mr. M's mum is wearing carpis. How I long for those days.

We hiked a trail that leads to a lake (original I know, but worth the effort). As you get closer, the view teases you from behind the trees.

Then you sit on the edge of the lake and check out the driftwood. And the million dollar view.

Your husband decides to take pictures of you staring at mountain walls.

And you attempt to get a picture of your husband where he is somewhat smiling. And then you see it just as you are getting ready to leave. Something you have heard about, but never seen.

A bear!

Which is fortunately far away, but makes it difficult to get a good picture due to the safe distance between me and the black bear.

Warm thoughts

So I am updating. So much has happened in my little life, I am not totally without excuse. Since my last post I have moved, a relative died, visited Dallas, visited Austin, and worked a bunch of hours.

And right now it is about -8 degrees. But let's not think about that. Turn up the heat and pretend we are somewhere else or some other time perhaps. Like say summer. Say that you were to come visit me in say Sept, like my friend R.

We could go to Glacier, which is only about half an hour from my house.

We could see baby deer and take this picture to prove how close we are. Hi, R! (I know that it is a fawn, but baby deer is so much more fun to say.)

This is really cool, another deer (not the baby mama) came over and the the baby deer got in a submissive position. I am still not quite sure what that is all about.

Are you ready for your closeup little one with sweet spots?

Here is the baby deer with the baby mama. Stay warm you two!

This just in...

The Missouri flooded in June. Yes for those of you that did not know that. For those of you who live in a cave and don't watch the news or check it online, I have pictures of the flood in Kansas.

In Attichison Kansas there is this cute park by the river.

Except the park was flooding.

This is really a huge tree floating down the river.

Oh, look a bridge that goes across the river.

Here is the kicker. See the train tracks that appear to be only 6 inches above that water? I am not talking about the upper set. The low ones! Trains were still crossing on that bridge! This did freak me out a bit, but I wasn't on the trains so I just went back the my hotel.

Way back in June...

I was in my friend S F's wedding. Hence the reason I had posted prairie pictures a few months ago. I was driving across Kansas to be in her wedding. S and I have been friends since we met in eighth grade. She moved a couple of years after we met, but we have always managed to maintain our friendship. (Even after A&M beat Nebraska our freshman years, ending Nebraska's 3 year winning streak. But, hey, I barely remember that day.)

Here we are all grown up the day before.

Here is S opening all the tacky things that every bride needs that bridesmaids supply.

She got really good at bossing us bridesmaids around.

Probably because we needed bossen. If she wasn't watching us, we were running off to Sonic to enjoy cherry limeades. It was a warm day. I don't have any actual pictures of the wedding because it is generally frowned upon for bridesmaids to snap pictures during the ceremony, but it was quite lovely, I assure you.

Ah, ha, a picture of the groom! Might I add that he made the groom's cake, that beautiful chocolate thing at the bottom of the picture. What a guy!

That's my mom and me looking good in black.

More wedding fun...

but then we got cold and warmed ourselves by the hand dryer in the bathroom. See we needed more bossing around.

Ahem, I would like to thank Mrs. S for choosing black bridesmaids dresses, because I looked quite nice in this one. And S's dress rocked! (Because we all know that that's what a wedding is all about.)

Well, then again, maybe it does have something to do with true love and all that jazz. Congrats to my friend S. You make a beautiful bride and wife.