The Turtle Troubles

 Here are the pictures of Mr. Bumble very unhappy about the photo shoot. I told him that these were for Vogue so please don't tell him that they aren't.

 He has one of the prettiest tummies I have ever seen!

 Here is Mrs. Havok. She isn't very happy about the picture taking experience. I promised her that these would be great pin-up girl pictures. That is why she is grinning in the top one. Her belly isn't as pretty but hey, whose is after you have pushed out a bunch of eggs. Have fun picturing my turtles as pin- up girls!

I have two Red Earred Slider turtles and their names are Havok and Bumble. I have had them since I was in 6th grade or something. Havok is the older one and she is a biggen! It takes two hands to hold her up for sure. Plus, some added strength because she hates being held. Bumble also hates being held but he is a bit smaller. Last night, Wyatt and I decided that we would clean their shells and put them in the bathtub to change things up. They actually let me carry them from the tank to the bathroom which was pretty impressive. We got an old toothbrush and scrubbed down their backs and I held then while Wyatt scrubbed their bellies. Here are some pictures of the experience that we thought we would take for you all.

Gone Pickin'!

 A few days ago we went to the Northforks Flea Market in Fort Collins and found this printing block letters. We managed to find all of the letters for both of our last names. I did make a 'w' from an 'm' though. Oh well, if you can't tell, my last name is spelt 'OSWALT' and that is pictured above. Below is Wyatt's last name spelt 'LINTZ'. His name, for some reason, is easier to read when it is placed backwards.

 'LINTZ'

 The day before yesterday Wyatt and I went looking around for random things to take. I found this random piece that looks to me like a couple boots that would have been used on a sign. Some people believe that this isn't a sign but rather farm equipment. I am not entirely sure so let me know what you think it is.

 Not only did we stop by the random field to try and find things, we went to this area on 1st street where you can drop off your old Christmas trees. Wyatt and I were 'Good Americans' and pushed the trees further into the designated area so that others can get their trees in. Our main reason for this action was to look for ornaments that people left behind on their trees, that we were going to snag. We only found a small wooden tree and then a real wreath which we can take apart and reuse the pieces to make different ones. Oh well, this made it all worth it.

 Here are pictures of me on the old car near all the farm equipment where we found the boot. Isn't Wyatt a good photographer??

I did happen to find a hand blown Italian glass Christopher Radko lady ornament that I haven't taken a picture of. Here is a site that had some similar glass ornaments to the one I got. http://www.radkoforsale.com/servlet/the-806/Radko-Italian-HOLIDAY-BLUSH/Detail
Mine is a lady that looks like she is a 1940s or 1950s movie star.
Yesterday, we stopped by a flea market to get this egg box that had been there for months. When we got there, it wasn' there. Since I have the disease, Wyatt let me look around and I found a 1950s Federal Enlarger that is used to print photographs. I set that up in my room and I plan to use it for my photography class. If any of you have some vintage photograph equipment like a timer, 4 trays, film developer canister, or even some safe lights let me know and I may be willing to take it off your hands. Also, I wouldn't mind if you kept and eye out for the 1940s enamel trays. Happy junking!

Jerky Adventures!

So a few days ago Wyatt and I were sitting on the couch eating jerky. I pretty much couldn't stop so I ate the entire rest of the bag. I was like," let's go buy a new bag and eat it." Wyatt brought to my attention that the bag he brought was $12!!!! I was just floored by how much that bag of jerky cost. I have been wanting to make jerky for some time now but have never gotten around to it. I told Wyatt that we should just buy meat and make our own jerky. He thought that was a good idea so I told my mom to pick up some meat on her shops and we looked up the recipe online. I found a recipe that said,"You do not need a dehydrator to make this flavorful beef jerky at home. Make it in the oven. However, you may certainly use this marinade on beef used in a dehydrator.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 4 hours
Total Time: 4 hours, 15 minutes Ingredients:
1 pound boneless top round steak or London broil, trimmed of fat
1/4 cup liquid smoke
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
Preparation:
Wrap beef in plastic wrap and freeze 30 to 60 minutes until firm, but not rock hard. (This makes it easier to slice evenly.) Using a sharp knife, slice the beef across the grain into thin strips about 1/4-inch thick.
Place liquid smoke, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and cayenne pepper in a large zip-top freezer bag. Seal and squish to combine. Place beef strips in the marinade, re-seal, and toss to coat. Open bag, squeeze out all the air, seal, and refrigerate for 12 hours or overnight.
Preheat oven to 250 F.
Drain meat strips from marinade and pat dry with paper towels. Place a baking rack inside a jellyroll pan. Arrange beef strips on the rack in a single layer with room in between for air circulation. Bake for about 4 hours, until dry to the touch. Remove from oven and let air-dry in a cool dry place for another 24 hours."

taken from http://homecooking.about.com/od/beefrecipes/r/blbeef103.htm

Since I had never done this before, I printed out the recipe and looked it over as well as looked at what ingredients I had and didn't have. For one, I didn't have liquid smoke. Plus, while I was looking at the comments, a person said that it makes the jerky taste weird to have it anyways. Then, I realized that I didn't have any Worcestershire sauce either. Wyatt but up the meat or me because that is super nasty to touch raw meat. Then, he pounded then with a tenderizer to make it flatter and seem like more meet than it really is.
I started on the marinate. I grabbed a gallon freezer baggie and poured some soy sauce in it, some teriyaki sauce in it, salt, cayenne pepper, pepper from pizza places, pepper kernel, garlic powder, onion powder, jerk seasonings, and steak seasoning into the first batch. Since this was only one piece of meat, this didn't seem to be making very much jerky pieces so I asked my mom to grab me another piece of meat while she is at the store.
It was around 9:20 pm last night when my mom got home from her shops. We saw the meat and decided that since the meat had to marinade overnight, we should make the other piece so we have more. Wyatt again cut the meat and I made another batch of the seasoning. My mom also picked up some Worcestershire sauce so we thought we should pitch that in. It only took us a few minutes to make this batch.
Today after I got home from school, we put the pieces on a the tray and put them in the oven at 250 degrees for 4 hours. When it was at roughly 2 and a half hours in when we decided to check it. They were getting pretty dry so we decided to pull them out of the oven. I would have kept them in for 2 hours or and hr and half because they are a bit too dry. The kind without the Worcestershire sauce batch was not as good as the other batch so next time we will nix that ingredient. Also, they were a bit salty so we will cut the salt out and possible cut down on the teriyaki and soy sauce. Overall, this was a wonderful experience!! I highly recommend that you guys try this. Feel free to use my modified recipe and let me know what you think. I hope you are all having a wonderful day just like me.

Valentine's Day is Coming up!

As you all know, Valentine's Day is only 39 days away from today. That is a very short amount of time to accomplish all that I want to do. This year, I want to decorate my living room for Valentine's Day. I am not incredibly sure how to do that since I am not much for new items so I am going to have to use all vintage things. I was thinking about making more of this little paper candy holder things that are Swedish I believe. I learned how to make them at a Valentine's Day Night on the Town in Loveland a few years back. They are fairly simple but are very cute. Along with those, I may hang some of my vintage Valentine's Day cards with some clips on string about my fireplace on the mantel. That would bring some character to the room.

Not only does the decorations at my house excite me, but the city decorations are quite amazing. Every year, men and women buy their loved ones wooden hearts that are painted and personalized and displayed around town. Above is a picture of just some of the hearts displayed on 4th Street in Downtown (picture taken from Google images). However, as dangerous as this may be because I stare at them while driving, they are still one of the cutest things you can do for your loved one during this time of year. I believe they are like $60 to have made. You get to keep them when it is over so it is something I believe is worth the money. I have always wanted someone to get me one of those. Hope every one's day is wonderful.

Wyatt's First Tattoo

Wyatt got his very first tattoo on Wednesday at 2 pm. This is the outline of the tattoo that he got right after it was just finished. The idea behind the tattoo was that it was for his dad that passed away. Since Wyatt and his dad were both into Native American stuff he had the skull with the Indian headdress on. The bottom of the headdress has a dream catcher with snakes weaving in and out of it because he likes dream catchers and his biggest fear is snakes. Also, his dad used to have a nickname of snake because of the big rig that he used to drive when he was younger. Inside the mouth of the skull is the Gears of War omen. This drawing is loosely based on the one I drew up for Wyatt to incorporate all the ideas he had for tattoos he wanted.

Since the outline was done, let the shading begin! This is a picture of Wyatt watching carefully as Eve starts the shading process of the skull.

After the skull was shaded, the worst part was yet to come: the shading of the feathers. Apparently, that part of the shoulder hurt the most to get a tattoo on because it send pains and weird feelings all down the collar bone.

This is the finished work on Wyatt's arm. It took a total of 4 1/2 hours to complete with pretty much no breaks. It looks pretty good; I think Eve did a good job.

And People wonder why I'm stressed

Here are some of the stupid ass things that happened during my seven hour work shift today. It is remarkable how many people decide that the movie theatre is where they shall let the stupid flow from their mouthes. These are in order from when they happen during the day.

• There was a major bitch on the phone that was complaining that we don't have a marquee for our theatre which we don't even begin to have space to have.


• There was a man with a bunch of kids that got the amount of children he had wrong so he got mad at me because he didn't have enough tickets.


• A couple came in with their kids but they only told me they had 3 so they bitched at me because I charged them for 3 instead of 4.


• Lady found the wrong time online and assumed it was our fault.


• Lady made her child pay for their own ticket and they only paid for one ticket. However, they were supposed to pay for two so we had to do two transactions for one kid.


• A man could barely speak English and was getting frustrated with me because I couldn't understand how old his kid was so I didn't know if they got in free or not.


• A family stood in the lobby, holding their tickets, and asked where their movie was. Just and FYI, the ticket stubs don't have the nutritional information for gummy bears, they tell you what theatre you go to.


• A small child came up to us and told us that he found a hat in the theatre. He handed us a wallet.


• Lady swiped her Stubs card and then decided to walk away without paying for her tickets which I had to stop her so that she could pay.


• Another lady came in to bitch about the wrong times being online.


• A lady asked if you have to wear glasses in the 3D movie.


• Family assumed that since it is a new year, the Stubs has expired.


• Old lady came in earlier in the day and said she bought a ticket a while ago for the showing but was there at the wrong time. Then she came back later and showed me a gift card receipt and thought that was her ticket. I just let her go in.


• A little girl paid a quarter towards the tickets while her mom paid the rest of the $14.00


• Girl ordered a large icee, then changed it to a small which was only 50 cents less, which she didn't have enough for so she changed it to a small water which was $3.50 and she only had $3.00. She didn't get anything and then she came back with $8.00 and got Skittles, and M&Ms.


• A family ordered two kids packs and then ordered a #1. They then changed their mind and wanted a #2 instead of a #1. Then, changed it back to #1.


• Another family that assumed the Stubs was expired because of the new year.


• There was a lady making hand motions at Kathrine from the middle of the lobby. She then came over to the concession stand and yelled at Kathrine because she didn't give her a carrying try which she was apparently signaling for.


• Kathrine asked if an old lady had a Stubs card. Then the lady asked why she asked her what her name is which she never did.


• Lady smacked her child in the head with the 3D glasses when she grabbed them off the counter.


• Family insulted the mother of the family while she was out in the car looking for the Stubs card.


• A man and two kids walked into the theatre and I asked them what I could get for them and they asked if this is where you buy tickets. Um no that is a block south. DUH! Of course this is where you buy tickets. Then he went over to the concession stand and realized he forgot his wallet in his car.


• Lady brought in tickets from a previous trip to the theatre where she forgot her Stubs card. I wrote down her card number and how much the tickets were worth and then she asked if I wanted the tickets. Did you not just see me write them down???!!


• A guy gave me a strange look when I told him the tickets were $7.oo for the 3D movie. Then I told him that it was in 3D and he got it. Then he asked what time it is when there was three clocks right in front of his face.


• Old ladies were sad that I didn't ID them for a rated R movie.


• A lady called and Blake had to explain the entire website to her. She then asked how to spell 'cinema' and insisted that there were two 'n's in it.


• Someone asked when the evening shows start and I said 6. Then they asked if the 6:30 was still a matinee.


• Lady said she was going to buy a Stubs card. She asked us to explain it to her and we did then she walked away and left.


• Lady asked if the AMC cards from King Soopers are good here. I said yes and then she asked if all AMC cards are good here. Nah why? Only the ones with the gold star are; not! People are so damn stupid.


• Two separate groups of people asked if Happy Feet 2 in 2D was in theatre 4 when it clearly read, "Happy Feet 2 2D" on the sign.


• When people get mad because are concession prices are so much. Yet they don't realize we are a business and have to pay bills as well. Plus, we only make 10 cents on each ticket.


• A man asked if the prices were going down when he was at a matinee showing and normally goes to evening shows.


• The community service officer came in and asked if we have seen an elderly man that has dimentia and has escaped from the home.


• Two staff members and a manager decided to leave the stand and go in the back room just to hide from an old man that talks a lot. That left me to sell tickets all by myself while she was bsing in the back room. And the usher was in the back and a MANAGER! Plus, the most aggervating part of it is that I got in trouble from that manager that was in the back because I went in the office when I saw a guy that yelled at me at a previous time. I believe it is completely ridiculous that she did that. Very unprofessional.

New Year's Eve Rocky Horror Picture Show

The picture above is of me and my boyfriend Wyatt. I was dressed up at Magenta going through a mid- life crisis and wants to be Frank- N- Furter. Wyatt was dressed up as Meatloaf's character, Eddie.

This is a picture of me making my pouting face.

This is Kathrine in her vintage veil, corset, red gloves, and leotard.

Wyatt in his leather jacket, white scarf, jeans, and boots.

The first night was pretty full with around half of the theatre full but the second night, New Year's Eve had a whopping ten people total including me.