2013 in Review

In less than 48 hours, we will be ringing in 2014. As always, here is our year in review & resolutions.

January: Christopher was still deployed. Sirius turned a year old and I made him wear a silly hat for a picture. He loves me. We also got to spend a day in Savannah with Jess, Shaun, and the girls! Fandom Mama (formerly Myrda Custom Prints) was created.

February: We got a little excitement this month! Started out with a visit from Susie & Bill during the Superbowl. Krissa & Gene (Nana & Poppy) also came down for a visit. They help me complete the big surprise for Chris, which was the garage overhaul into the "Bears man cave". Lucas hit the milestone of sitting up on his own.

March: The boys and I went on a retreat to Hilton Head, SC. We all had such a blast. Holly and Audrina were also there, so it was nice to have friends nearby. Holly & I got to have dinner without kids. *GASP* We also found some jellyfish and a live sea snail in a conch shell. Christopher's squad suffered their first and only loss this month. 

April: I made a last minute decision to drive to Illinois by myself with the boys to attend Grandma Judy's services. Aside from Nana and Poppy, this was the first time the family met Lucas. He also got his first tooth on the drive up! Our week long visit turned into 2 weeks when I developed food poisoning. Also, even though we weren't present, Cory & Tim got married and yay! 

May: The only thing of note, that I can remember, is that I hit my first major fitness goal of losing 50lbs. 

June: This was a big month for the Myrda family. The boys and I traveled to SC for a Thirty One party with Bethany. Shortly after, she and her kids met up with us in Savannah to help me shop for a homecoming outfit. Most of the month was spent checking the flight schedule over and over. On June 29, Christopher was finally stateside again and reunited with us. This was the first time he saw Lucas since was 13 days old. Conner was overjoyed to have his daddy back.

July: Lucas finally started crawling. We took some traveling time for his post-deployment leave. We took the boys to the Atlanta Aquarium before heading up to Ft. Campbell. There we spent a few days with Susie and Bill. With the help of Stephen and Kari, we managed to organize a surprise dinner. We said it was for his mom's birthday, when we actually we were hiding out in the back to surprise them. I got to visit with Katja and her kids. We ran the Run 4 Gus 5k in Chicago. The boys went to their first White Sox game. Got to visit with Nick and Archer. There was a homecoming gathering for Christopher at the Rochelle VFW to see many of our friends and family members.  While we were visiting, we found out about Stefan being KIA. We were heartbroken for his family. We took a day trip down to Jacksonville, FL to meet Ashley and her family and get some photos taken.

August: I organized a counter-protest against WBC, who planned to show up to Stefan's services. This was the second I have planned (one at Bliss in 2011). I assumed a few hundred would show, and it ended up being in the thousands! It was beautiful to see so many people come together like that. We had people from all over GA, and many from FL and SC. There was even a couple that drove from Ohio to help us. I participated in GISHWHES 2013 and had an absolute blast! I can't wait to do it again. Conner started school at Long County Head Start. And we got a new car.

September: Two big things this month. Lucas turned 1! All of my planning finally paid off with a huge Pirate party for Captain Conner and First Mate Lucas. It was so much fun! I am not sure how I will top it next year. We also went back to cloth diapers and I realllllly wish we had kept with it in the beginning.

October: Conner turned 4! It was nice to have Chris here for it, instead of saying goodbye as he went to the sandbox. Unfortunately, Lucas contracted RSV and pneumonia, which resulted in a 4 day stay in the ICU. Winn was great with him. Finally Halloween came along. We did a family theme and dressed as characters from Doctor Who. Conner was a red dalek, I went as a female 11th doctor, and Lucas was the TARDIS. Conner also dressed as Bilbo Baggins for storybook character day at school.

November: I turned 25 O_o. I did 25 RAOK to celebrate. I went back home for 5 days. It was only supposed to be 4, but my flight was cancelled due to inclement weather. It was nice to be back and not have to worry about anyone but myself. I got to see my best friend, who I haven't seen since 2011! Many thanks to the Pedersen's for putting up with me for a few days :P. Thanksgiving was very small. We were supposed to have a few guys come over, but they decided not to come last minute. No big deal. We still had an awesome day. Lucas also got his first haircut! He also went under some testing for CF, but I *assume* it came back negative since I never received any calls or stuff in the mail. We have a follow up in January.

December: Fandom Mama took our first outing to a flea market. It was a huge bust because it was raining. We doggy sat for a friend. My mom and Bob came out to spend Christmas with us. We took them to Tybee so that my mom could finally say she had been to the Atlantic Ocean. We just returned from a trip to Stuart/Port St Lucie, FL to see Aunt Gail, Cory & Tim, and Jeff & Trudy. It was really nice to get away from home and catch up with them. Lucas also started walking! He also learned to climb stairs. As for NYE, we don't have any specific plans. Maybe I'll figure out the permanent fix to our dryer problem. lol

Overall, 2013 was a busy, hectic, full of medical issues and I am glad it is over. I stink at making and keeping New Years Resolutions, but there are 2 that I plan to work really hard towards. 1. I want to get our savings account back up. With all of the traveling, birthdays and Christmas, we really let it dwindle. 2. To weed out negativity. This means taking toxins out of my life, as well as working on mini-goals, like less yelling and arguing, to reach the big goal. I know that these two things are attainable, I just have to stay on top of them. Being that I am starting school in January, I will definitely be put to the test on the second one. I guess I need to throw in a 3. Pass all of my classes. There is only one I am worried about, so that shouldn't be a problem. 

I know I say this every year, but I truly hope to keep up better on this blog. I have a list of recipes to make and things to do in order to keep it more active. I won't make this a resolution, purely because I have for 2 years and never kept it. C'est la vie. Happy 2014, everyone!

Teacher Christmas gifts

Hi there! This is the first year I have had the task of creating gifts for a teacher. We decided to make them for all of the staff. Both things were very easy to make.

Bath Bombs
1/2 cup baking soda
1/4 cup citric acid
1 Tbsp oil (I used EVOO because it's what I had)
Essential oils for scent
Silicone ice cube tray
Air tight storage container

In a bowl, mix together the baking soda and citric acid to be sure there are no clumps. Add in the oil and EOs. The amount of EO depends on how strong you want the scent to be. Mix. I found it easiest to press the powder onto the oils in the bottom and then break up, press again, etc.

I found little silicone ice cube trays in the shape of trees, snowmen and Santa, so I used those. Full then and press the mix down. Add another layer, press again. Repeat until mold is full. Let sit for a minimum of 1 hour. I left mine for 6 hours and they were much easier to remove. Place in air tight container for storage.



We Whisk You A Merry "Kiss"mas
Whisk
Hershey's kisses
Ribbon
Plastic treat bags (optional)

Fill the whisk with the kisses. That easy!

I will update with pictures later this evening.

RAOK: How I Celebrated Turning 25

It's been a while since I blogged, and there is a very good reason why. This month I set most everything aside and focused on putting a little more good into the world. I also went back to Illinois, which brought with it a cancelled flight, but that is a different story. Sort of. Illinois played a part, too.

As you all know, I participated in GISHWHES 2013. One of the list items I completed for my team was to video tape the reaction of someone I performed a random act of kindness for. After seeing how 3 out of 4 of the family members reacted (the 4th was indifferent), I decided I would celebrate turning a quarter of a century old by giving back. 

I had a very hard time taking pictures of all of my acts, mostly because I didn't want to make anyone uncomfortable. "Hey, I just did this nice thing for you. Can I document it in a picture that I will be sharing with the whole internet?!" Didn't sound very fair. It made it seem like I wanted recognition, and that I did not. However, in order to hold myself to completing the acts, I signed up through Random Acts, and was sent materials to pass out describing the whole RAOK thing. In return, I was to document, through video, pictures or blog, my random acts. I did not request any monetary grants from them. Everything that cost something came out of my own pocket.

Sometimes the "random" part is lost on me. I totally planned for most of these. Some of them happened randomly, but for the majority of them, I knew I wanted to do specific things, sometimes for specific people. Anyway, here is my list (and some pictures) of my acts. 

Amber's 25th Birthday RAOK:

1. Helped a mother with a stroller carry her items/held the door open for her at the UPS store.

2. Sent formula to a mother/infant in need.

3. Donated $25 to Cloth for Everybum to get items for their lending kits.

4. Paid for a car in the drive thru at Taco Bell.*

5. Donated art supplies to Long County Head Start.

6. Gave the director of Long County Head Start the ThirtyOne bag the items were in.

7. Donated a car seat to a child at Head Start that did not own one.

8. Donated $10 to a friend participating in NaNoWriMo.

9. Sent/delivered soap bits to 3 cloth diapering mamas.

10. Baked cupcakes for a friend who was having a bad day.

11. Donated household items to a (formerly) homeless veteran who had just gotten into a trailer.

12. Bought groceries for (formerly) homeless veteran.

13. Paid for the person behind me in the toll booth.

14. Bought a cell phone case for a friend, just because :)

15. Bought pizza for friends, just because :)

16. Left a gift card on a strangers table at a restaurant.

17. Tipped the pizza delivery guy 75%.

18. Returned loose shopping carts.

19. Got a friend a cloth diaper advocate (mini diaper) keychain.

20. Donated $25 to relief in the Philippines.

21. Cleaned trash up in my neighborhood after stray dog got into garbage cans.

22. Returned the neighbors garbage can to their house from the sidewalk.

23. Passed out cards with encouraging/inspirational sayings to strangers at a store.

24. Brought medicine to a friend in need.

25. Volunteered at our local Bountiful Baskets site.**

*I was inside Taco Bell and this act triggered a line of random acts that continued for 4 cars.

**I volunteer to unload the truck/distribute every other week, but stayed the entire time to help out the main volunteers as people came to pick up their baskets.

A lot of these things I didn't want to count, because they are things I do on a regular basis, but after searching the Random Acts site for ideas, decided to count them since others were. I completed 25 random acts in 23 days. There were technically more, but again, I do those things all the time and didn't want to count them. It was a very humbling experience. A lot of the acts I performed were either instantly, or soon after, returned by others. I realized how much I could change a life with a simple gesture. Something that I think is no big deal, but means the world to the receiving party. I vow to continue to do the simple things I do all the time, like returning carts people left out, holding doors open, and helping when I see someone needs it.

Not all of my acts were met with gratitude. One lady threatened to call the police on me for offering to help her unload her groceries so she could attend to her crying baby. I guess I came off as a creep, even though I had my kids with me lol.

There is that saying "Be the change you wish to see in the world." That is what I am doing. A small act of kindness can literally change someone's entire outlook on the day. I'm so glad I decided to do this. This was definitely one of the best birthdays so far.

Happy Halloween!

My Whovian family went all out for Halloween this year. I made my oldest a Dalek costume, which I was exactly pleased by, but it worked. My little was the TARDIS and I decided on the 11th Doctor. Our candy collection was very minimum, but we still had a lot of fun.

It was also story book character day at school for C. Our original plan, Peter Pan, went out the window when the store didn't have the green fleece I needed in stock. Instead, we hit up the costume section, on the night before Halloween, to scavenge what was left. There wasn't much, and absolutely NOTHING in his size, so we ended up with a size L in boys (big boys, not toddlers) and a need for getting crafty. Determination and a night of hand sewing ended with a pretty neat Bilbo Baggins outfit!

I've also got one more awesome announcement - the winner of the amber bracelet giveaway! Only three people commented the post, so random.org chose number 3.. Michelle! Congratulations and thanks so much for reading our blog. :)

Broccoli and Cheese Soup

I can't tell you how many times I have attempted a broccoli and cheese soup recipe that ended as an epic failure. Either it tasted terrible or it clumped and wasn't a soup, but instead the garbage can's dinner. My favorite thing in the world to eat is Panera's broccoli and cheese soup in a bread bowl. It is SO good! No other place I've eaten broccoli and cheese soup at has come close. I found a few "copycat" recipes on Pinterest.. and those were my epic failures. I started playing around with my own recipe and finally have one I think is good enough to keep! It's definitely not Panera quality, but close enough for me to enjoy and share!

Ingredients:

broccoli florets (about 1 head will do)

1 large carrot, diced

1 small onion, diced

4 Tablespoons of butter

2 cups of heavy whipping cream

3 cups of chicken broth

1/4 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

salt and pepper to taste (I used about 1/2 teaspoon of each)

8 oz velveeta cheese, cubed (yes, I opted for processed cheese. sue me)

In a large pot, melt the butter. Add in flour and mix well. Add in the heavy whipping cream slowly, whisking until smooth. Add in the chicken broth, nutmeg, salt, pepper and garlic. Bring to a slight boil and then reduce heat to medium low. Simmer like this for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add in the broccoli, onion and carrots. Cook for an additional 20 minutes, until vegetables are tender. Using a ladle, scoop out the vegetables and put them in a blender with just a little bit of the soup. Puree the vegetables. It'll be a nice green color. Add back to the soup in the pot. Add in your cheese and stir until melted. Serve with an extra garnish of parsley and bread on the side. Delicious! 

Chicken Salad Stuffed Deviled Eggs

I'm back again with another deviled egg recipe! This time I was already making deviled eggs and was tired of the normal chicken salad sandwiches, so I decided to combine the two. This would be a great dish to bring to a party! My picky 4 year old didn't care much for it (though he will eat chicken salad and deviled eggs separately) but my 1 year old devoured it. Simple thing to make, delicious to eat.

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed

6 eggs

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

1 stalk of celery, sliced in .5" pieces

bacon, cooked and shredded 

To boil the eggs, place the eggs in a pan and pour in water until just covered. Bring to a rapid boil. Turn off heat and cover for 10 minutes. Once time is up, place eggs into a bowl of ice water. Shell should be easy to remove after tapping on counter to start a crack. Slice eggs in half length-wise and scoop out the yolk. Put the cooked yolks in a large bowl and break them up. Break out your food processor (I have mentioned I have a mini one from WalMart that was $10). First put your celery pieces in and pulse until minced. Pour the celery into the bowl with yolk. Next, put chicken into the processor and pulse until minced. Place chicken into the yolk and celery. Add your bacon and mayo to the bowl and stir well. Scoop mix into the egg whites. You can also cut a hole into the corner of a ziplock bag, add the mix and then squeeze it into the egg whites for a cleaner look.

Memory Shadow Boxes

Hey everyone! We've not been posting much the past week because we've been working nonstop on a HUGE project. I can't wait to share it with all of you! We are just waiting on some last minute things to come in the mail to finishing making the items.

I figured I would share an old DIY project to make up for it. These memory shadow boxes went up on my "Best of Times" wall that I made for my boys. Super simple to make and a lovely way to memorialize the moment that you became a parent!

You will need:

Shadow box

Scrapbook paper

Momentos from the hospital/birth

Tape

Scissors

The easiest way to get the paper the size you need is to the the back of the frame and trace it onto the paper. From there you can trim it down to size and tape to the frame back. I used a roll on tape that can be found in the craft sections. If you put the hospital bracelet like I did, you will need to secure it with glue (or tape if you may want to take it out later on). Place the items into the box how you would like them to be and put the back on. Now hang those adorable boxes up to show off to future guests! Here is our completed wall. I made some subway art with their birth stats and clocks set on their birth times.

We have gotten so many compliments on this wall when people visit. I find myself looking at the wall once in a while reflecting on those moments when my life completely changed. 

Bacon Wrapped Roasted Asparagus

Asparagus came in my Bountiful Baskets this past week. I have a confession - I have never had asparagus. I've been offered, but never took the leap of trying it. This comes from not having a large offering of food choices as a child. With these baskets, I've been forced out of my comfort zone in order to use some of the items we receive. I adore roasted vegetables, so I decided to just do that to our asparagus. With bacon, of course. Because bacon.

Ingredients:

a bunch of asparagus

bacon slices

1/4 cup melted butter

a tablespoon of brown sugar

Preheat oven to 400F. Wrap a baking sheet in aluminum foil. Cut the ends off of the asparagus (not the tips, you want those). Make smaller bundles, about 10 pieces in each. Wrap the bacon around the asparagus, leaving about an inch free on top and bottom. You can secure with a toothpick, but mine wrapped just perfectly so I could place the seam side down. Pour melted butter evenly over the bundles. Sprinkle with brown sugar. Bake for 30 minutes. The asparagus should be starting to wilt. Serve with chicken or whatever you desire! We also roasted some potatoes at the same time drizzled with garlic infused oil.

Crockpot Chicken & Dumplings - Clean Eating

I've made chicken & dumplings a million times before, but never found my "perfect" mess of ingredients. I think I have discovered what works best for our family. The best part? It's all clean. No cream of whatevers, just good, wholesome food. Perfect for the changing weather.

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

32 oz chicken broth (use your own or organic boxed)

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon parsley

2 large carrots

3 stalks of celery

(for dumplings)

2 cups of whole wheat pastry flour

1 tablespoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup of milk 

Place all stew ingredients into the crock pot. Turn on low. Mix dry ingredients for dumplings in a large bowl. Add in wet ingredients and mix until combined well. Ball the dough mix and drop softly onto the top of the stew. Cook on low for 6 hours or high for 3 hours. Check the chicken and dumplings to be sure it is cooked thoroughly before serving. Shred your chicken with 2 forks (should be super easy to do if done) and then serve.

DIY: Autumn Door Wreath

My favorite season is autumn. It could be autumn all year long and I would be completely okay with that. The leaves are turning, the weather is cooling down. Sweaters and boots come out of the closet. Fleece pullovers and bonfires. And then there is the decorating. That's the best part! Okay, maybe dressing up for Halloween and cooking Thanksgiving dinner ranks higher, but you know what I mean.

Supplies:

14" Foam wreath form

1 roll of brown ribbon

1 roll of orange ribbon

leaves and berries from a fall garland

tacky glue

Use tacky glue to secure a small section of ribbon. Begin wrapping ribbon around diagonally, like a candy cane, leaving just enough space for the second color ribbon. When you get to the end, cut and secure with more tacky glue. Repeat with second ribbon color. With the remaining ribbon, wrap around bottom (or top) or wreath and secure by tying a bow. Glue your accents on. Be sure to leave the wreath laying flat for at least an hour so that everything dries in place, or else you'll get some sliding around. You can use a hot glue gun for faster drying time, but I seem to have some bad luck burning myself and try to avoid them. Haha. I also found this cute little harvest pilgrim decoration that a friend gave to me years ago that I tied to it.

You can pretty much add whatever little tidbits you'd like to make it yours. Try adding a wooden letter to represent your last name. Some pinecones would also look cute! The possibilities are endless.

Chicken Salad Stuffed Avocados and Pomegranate Chocolates

I have never had an avocado in my life until tonight. I also never had a pomegranate until a few days ago. Since we are just now getting back into the groove of things, you get a two-for-one deal. Dinner and dessert. The dinner inspiration came from a photo a friend posted on Facebook from a restaurant she was at. 

Dinner Ingredients:

Avocados

Chicken breasts, cooked and cubed

1 stalk of celery

2 teaspoons of mayonnaise

1 teaspoon of pickle relish

salt and pepper to taste

For my family, we used 3 avocados and 2 large chicken breasts. Preheat oven to 350F and cook chicken breasts until done. Cube the breasts small enough to fit into your food processor. Cut the celery stalk into half inch size pieces and put into food processor to blend with chicken. Cut, pit and peel skin off of the avocados. In a large bowl, mix your chicken and celery (after it has been through the processor), mayo, pickle relish, salt and pepper together. I also add a few dashes of hot sauce for more flavor. Scoop chicken salad into the centers of the avocados. Goes nicely with a fresh salad!

Dessert Ingredients:

Pomegranate

Dark chocolate

Retrieve seeds from the pomegranate. There are all kinds of how-to's out there, but the easiest way I have seen from them all (and was successful with myself) is this. Cut ends off of both sides of pomegranate. Cut a .25" slit in quarters around the pomegranate. Break open. Hit the skin side with a wooden spoon and out come the seeds. Now you need to melt down the chocolate. You can do this in the microwave in 15 second intervals or use the double broiler method. Line a mini muffin tin with mini cupcake liners. Spoon in a little chocolate, spoon in some pomegranate seeds, spoon more chocolate over the seeds. Add a couple more seeds on top to make it pretty. Put in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to set the chocolate. It's messy, but delicious. I didn't use any set measurements, just eyeballed it. Some people will want more chocolate, some more pomegranate. Either way, it's delicious!  

Revamp & 12k views Giveaway!

Hey! I decided for the millionth time that I need to keep up with the blog more. I love it, so why do I keep neglecting it? Not enough content. Here's the deal - Surprising enough for me, others seem to like my blog, too. So I will be starting back up with more of a schedule to things. 

A few notes:

• We are now located at this URL http://fandomscoexist.blogspot.com aka Fandom Mama.
• Our old URL is http://writinglovediscoveringme.blogspot.com, which will now say removed.
• Comments are OPEN, even on Anonymous feature. Use with caution, as I can still find you if you abuse it.
• We have reached 12k+ views! 

With that last little tidbit, to celebrate getting back into the groove of things and the 12k views, we are doing our first ever giveaway! This time we have an 8.5" genuine polished baltic amber bracelet from Inspired by Finn. Baltic amber is fossilized tree resin that has been used for centuries in Europe as a natural remedy for many ailments and discomforts. It has high concentrations of succinic acids that are beneficial to you. When worn on the body, your natural body heat draws in the oils and are absorbed by the skin. These are worn to help with this from teething pain in babies to migraines in adults. For full information, visit Inspired by Finn. 

The giveaway rules are very simple:

*Comment with you favorite thing about the autumn season on THIS post.
*Share the blog post, please. Buttons for Facebook, Twitter, Blogger and Google+ are located at the bottom of this post.
*Follow us is you'd like, but it's not necessary. The follow button is located to the right of this post.

The giveaway will end on October 31st at 8pm EST. Good luck!

Cauliflower Pizza Crust

Football season is back. That means there will be an abundance of three things in this house: the Chicago Bears, beer and pizza. I don't know if you realize just how horribly high in carbs pizza is, but it's pretty bad. I'm here to rescue you! Totally keto friendly, gluten friendly, but most of all, delicious. It's a little time consuming and messy, but so worth it.

Ingredients:

1 head of cauliflower

olive oil

2 cups grated parmesan cheese

salt and pepper

3 egg whites

whatever toppings you'd like

pizza sauce

Preheat your oven for 400F. On a baking sheet, cover in tin foil and grease very well with olive oil. I used garlic infused oil for extra flavor. "Rice" your cauliflower. To achieve this, I put small florets in a food processor. Put your "riced" cauliflower in a large bowl. Mix in the 3 egg whites, 1/2c parmesan cheese and salt & pepper to taste. Spread onto the greased foil. Don't spread it too thin. Bake for 30 minutes. It should be slightly browned and bubbly. Now you need to flip the crust. The crust is very fragile, so I use the same method as I do for flipping cakes. Gently move the crust on the foil off of the baking sheet. Put a new sheet on foil on the baking sheet and grease with olive oil. Now flip this on top of the crust. Carefully flip the entire thing over. Now the crust should be on the new sheet of foil on the baking sheet. Use a spatula to carefully pull back the top foil. If the crust becomes split, just push it back together. Cook for another 10 minutes until this side is bubbly and browned. Now add your toppings and the rest of the cheese. DO NOT ADD SAUCE. The sauce will seep through the crust and make it too moist to pick up. Cook for an additional 10 minutes until your cheese is melted. Allow the pizza to sit on the counter for about 10 minutes, so that the cauliflower soaks up the liquid produced while cooking and has a more crust-like texture. Cut and serve with pizza sauce on the side to dip.

Kale Chips

On today's episode of "How to Sneak Vegetable to My Children": Kale Chips! These were so good. I honestly expected something bitter and weird, but they were gobbled up within minutes. So simple to make, healthy to eat. Now that is a snack I will keep around willingly. I burnt mine a little bit. Forgot to set a timer! They were still good.

Ingredients:

Kale

Sea salt

Coconut oil

Preheat oven to 275F. Wash kale. Pat dry with a paper towel. Remove the stem and break into "chip" size pieces. Place them in a single player on a baking sheet. Spritz with coconut oil and sprinkle with sea salt. Bake for about 15 minutes. That's it! 

They were tasty just like this, but next time I will try experimenting with some other seasonings. Maybe I can make some BBQ kale chips? Who knows! The options seem limitless. Three year old and Mom approved!

Crayon Art, Who Style!

All of you who know me in real life know I'm a MASSIVE Doctor Who fan. I have a Who area in my spare room, and I needed some more art in there. I have seen the crayon art all over the internet, but I am cheap and didn't want to waste a few boxes of Crayola crayons. Until I found 8 pack boxes specific to a certain color. And I found blues. Blues = TARDIS. TARDIS = Doctor Who. My head went to work and I decided to make a Who themed crayon art piece. The result is this:

I AM IN LOVE!!! I bought that tiny TARDIS at Barnes&Noble and it has just been sitting on a shelf. Now I have a beautiful piece of crayon art, complete with tiny TARDIS that lights up!

buffalo chicken - keto friendly

I don't understand why a lot of people use the excuse that all the "good" food is taken away if you make a healthy lifestyle change. That is so not true. One of our favorite things to eat is buffalo chicken. I could post up at b-dubs and never leave. Needless to say, I was THRILLED when I came across this keto friendly recipe for buffalo chicken. Not the best thing to eat when you have GERD, but I will take the few days of suffering for a really good meal. I didn't have tenders, so I just cubed it up after baking/before tossing.

Ingredients:

6 oz finely ground pork rinds

2 Tbsp parsley flakes

1 Tbsp garlic powder

 1 Tbsp seasoning salt

2.5 lbs boneless, skinless chicken tenders

3 eggs

your choice of wing sauce (I use Moore's Buffalo Wing Sauce. 0 carb)

Two ways to go about making it, depending on how fast you want them. 

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Whisk eggs in one bowl. In a separate bowl, combine pork rinds and seasonings. Cover chicken in egg and then cover with pork rind/seasoning mix. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Toss with your wing sauce and serve. 

-or-

2. In a heavy pot, warm about a gallon of vegetable oil to 350F. Cover chicken with egg and then with the pork rind/seasoning mix. Drop slowly into oil for about 6 minutes. Once cooked, set on a plate with paper towel to drain excess grease. Toss chicken in wing sauce and serve.

GISHWHES 2013 recap

As I am typing this, GISHWHES 2013 is in it's final moments. I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little sad that it is over. I have had such an amazing time this week. Some items took me far out of my comfort zone and some just further showed people how big of a goof I am. There are a few things I am certain of - I am ending this week with more friends and more confidence in myself and humanity as a whole.

Harry the Humanized Muscular Unicorn Man
Picture credit to our team artist, Bailey

Just over a week ago, I received my first e-mail from one of my teammates, Hannah. No time was wasted in creating a team Facebook page for Unicornassbutts. Many of us joined in on Skype team calls as we nervously awaited the revealing of the list. Seven days ago, our little team of 14 strangers began the journey of being involved in the greatest international scavenger hunt the world has ever seen. The United States, Canada and Mexico had to deal with our shenanigans. We enlisted the help of friends, family and strangers to complete list items. In seven days, all participants of GISHWHES collectively broke two more Guinness World Records, bringing the GISHWHES world record count to five. Not bad for something that has only been around for three years.

Team UnicornAssbutts

Just for funsies, here is a list of the records held by Misha Collins & GISHWHES:
1. Largest media scavenger hunt (2011)
2. Broke their own record for the largest media scavenger hunt (2012)
3. Most charitable pledges for random acts of kindness. Nearly 100,000 pledges (2012)
4. Longest safety pin chain.. unofficial (2013)
5. Largest online album of hugs.. unofficial (2013)

Item #28 "Dress up as a robot and go to work"
Our personal team robot, Silkia

I am having a hard time summing GISHWHES up. There is not a proper amount of words to do so. Our team not only did some amazing things, but did them so well that battle wounds were acquired. Allergic reactions, burning eyeballs, possible surgery for an ankle injury. Really, guys. GISHWHES is intense in so many ways.

Item #114 "Create a portrait of Chris Hardwick out of dried fruit"
Made by Cristina

I've gotten permission from my teammates to share about our experience. We had to wait until after the hunt to post any images or videos for the public to see. That was to protect us from other teams being cheater cheater pumpkin eaters and stealing ideas.  Some of us had some lows with being told "no" when asking for help or permission to do items, but team UnicornAssbutts takes that with a grain of salt and came back more determined. Out of 155 items, our team completed  90 of them. I thought it would be fun to see what items were favorites among the team.

Item #130 "Find a dog named Castiel and take video of you calling him"
Team dog finder, Hannah

Favorite personally submitted item
Amber - #25 "Stealth act of kindness/capture reaction secretly on video"
Megan - #154 "Change a life/veteran housewarming gifts""
Bailey - #88 "Marching band playing Carry on my Wayward Son"
Claudia - #1 "GISHWHES attempt at breaking the world record for album of hugs"
Hannah - #130 "Find a dog named Castiel and record a video of you calling it"
Melissa - #42 "Document team throughout week"
Silkia - #45 "Strike up a convo w/ homeless person and get them lunch"
Olivia - #44 "Theory of Relativity"
Cristina - #114 "Portrait of Chris Hardwick out of dried fruit"
Laura - #1 "help GISHWHES break world record for biggest album of hugs"
Brianna -  #1 "help GISHWHES break world record for biggest album of hugs"
Marley - #23 "Car Prom"
Shannon - #121 "Eat a burrito in front of laser warning sign in laboratory"

Item #60 "Create a safari animal out of feminine hygiene products"
Team artist, Bailey

Favorite overall team submitted item
Amber - #154 "Change a life/veteran housewarming gifts"
Megan - #28 "A Day in the Life of a Robot"
Bailey - #19 "Spin class in scuba gear"
Claudia - #149 "sit in a cage within a cage staring down an animal"
Hannah - #96 "Flash mob of Carry on my Wayward Son"
Melissa - tie between #45 "strike up convo w/ homeless person and get them lunch" and #24 "wooster destroying cardboard city"
Silkia - #42 "Document team throughout week"
Olivia - #40 "Cas saves souls at cross walk"
Cristina - #41 "Trash can pool party"
Laura - #42 "Document team throughout week"
Brianna - #60 "Create a safari animal out of feminine hygiene products"
Marley - #19 "Spin class in scuba gear"
Shannon - #120 "Dramatic interpretation of Death by Chocolate"

Item #25 "Stealth random act of kindness and secretly record reaction"
Credit to Amber

GISHWHES 2013 in one word
Amber - Fantastic
Megan - Abnosome!
Bailey - Hellacious
Claudia - Abnosome
Hannah - Abnosome
Melissa - FAST
Silkia - Unforgettable
Olivia - What?!
Cristina - ??¿¡¡
Laura - guilt-ridden
Brianna - Amazed
Marley - Exhilarating
Shannon - Insane

We did so much, that it's hard to choose what to show on here. Here is a massive collection of pictures from the items we did this week. More videos can be viewed on our Youtube channel here: UnicornAssbutts Youtube Channel

I hope you enjoyed seeing all of the shenanigans that Team UnicornAssbutts was up to this week.
Until next year.