Goodbye Old-School Food Zapper!

Just over a year ago, when we were about to move out of our sub-lease for the summer, our wonderful neighbors--The Underwoods--gave us an old microwave they didn't need anymore. Yep. They gave it to us for free. We knew when we got it that it wasn't the perfect microwave. It was starting to get old and didn't have all the zapping juice necessary to heat things at full power. So, no popcorn, no baked potatoes, and it took twice as long to heat the normal frozen or canned foods. But we didn't care! We were so glad to adopt this little appliance into our family. It definitely beat not having a microwave at all!Well, this little guy served faithful and held up (for the most part) for another whole year!! We'd been using it since the end of August 2008. Well, the other night, when Trev went for his second frozen burrito, the poor thing had just had enough. It got really hot, started smelling funny, and just *blip* stopped heating. Well, this had happened before when I attempted to cook baked potatoes in the microwave. After a good 8 minutes of heating, the poor thing gives out, only to resuccitate itself a couple hours later. "So," I said, "give it a little while". And, sure enough, it was working again the next morning! But this time was a little different... it still made a funny smell and began to overheat. I feared the worst: Our little old-school microwave had finally reached the end of its good, long life. *Sniffle*

So, what's a girl to do when her microwave dies? Why, find a shiny new one, of course! So, I headed out to BB&B with gift cards and came home with this slick little piece of plastic and metal:Ohhh! Fancy! It has beepy buttons! AND a digital clock! Now I will no longer have to sneak around the corner to check the clock in the living room to see if I'm running late in the morning while chowing down on cereal! Wahoo!

Well, despite the perks, I'm really gonna miss my old school food zapper! :( It has a place close to my heart--serving the Shipps so well for over a year! It's sometimes fun to make-do with "ghetto" things. Those are the quirks you remember most, you know? I told Trevor I wanted to offer it to some other couple who would put it to more use, but he reminded me that it really wasn't worth anything anymore, and that we would just need to throw it away. With a twinge of sadness in my heart, Trevor and I marched our little appliance to the dumpster, and softly dropped it inside.

I hope that little white microwave brings joy to other appliances in the landfill. And then I hope, once it's gone for good and forever, that it has a happy eternity in appliance heaven.

Alright - I know. I need to get over my odd attachment to inanimate objects. I'm working on it, okay!?

*Sniffle*

I LOVE Fall!

I really do love fall! It's such a fantastic season! And this fall has not failed to impress me! All starting with our drive through the canyon last month to see the wonderful colors, and now those colors have reached the valley! It's so nice to drive and be surrounded by bright yellows and reds, but still with subtle hints of green trying to hold on until the last moment possible. What I'm most upset about is that I haven't taken the time to snap photos of any of these wonderful colors!

So, in the spirit of fall, I felt like grabbing a couple new fall decorations to enliven my home. Here's my newest little find: a fall bouquet to dress up my little kitchen table...Oh! And I cant forget to mention that Trevor and I made a trip to the pumpkin patch in Springville last week to pick out our Halloween pumpkins! The patch had only been open 3 days, so we didn't have to choose from the leftovers!! :) And, as you can also see in the picture above, I got a mini pumpkin and some colorful gourds to put in a basket to make my kitchen table even MORE festive for fall!

With fall comes the crisp, cool air. And with this cool air comes my desire to cook warm, hearty dishes that warm you from the inside out. Last Sunday I made a delicious corn chowder:
Yesterday was a really fun day as well. It was such a beautiful day, and I'm glad I got to take advantage of it! First, I went to Jana's baby shower. I'm SO mad I forgot to take pictures!!!! I really need to get back in the groove! But it was wonderful to chat, see all her cute little baby spoils, and eat delicious food--including my all-time favorite pumpkin chocolate chip cookies! Yet another perk of fall!

After the baby shower, I went to meet up with Trevor, who was playing tennis with a friend! It really was a beautiful day! After watching him play tennis for a bit, Dave and Heidi invited us to go play GOLF!! Well... I've never actually played golf before. Sure, a little driving range here or there, and a lot of putt-putt, but never actually played a full course of golf. But, hey, why not? You've got to have a first time sometime, right? I actually did okay, I think, for my first time playing. But, it wasn't without it's frustrating moments. My favorite part was that Dave had found this wonderful pink ball when he was playing earlier and he gave it to me to use!! I'll try to keep it forever because it's my favorite:Well, after golf, I went to hang out with Meghan and Jana a little more. Meghan and I went to Taco Bell to get the new Blackjack Taco, which I have currently become obsessed with. It really is SO good. Haha... what a funny thing to love so much! The whole day really was wonderful, just taking full advantage of a wonderful October day and crystal blue skies.

I hope your weekend was just as happy as mine! Happy Autumn!

Trev's New Toy

A couple of weeks ago, Trevor decided to move on from his desk job at PMI to give him more time to work on schoolwork as well as his parking enforcement business. However, for the last year he had been using a nice Dell laptop issued to him by the company. So... of course, when he left, he had to turn in the laptop. Sure- he still had his old, slow HP laptop to work with, but he knew that old dinosaur just wouldn't cut it for the things he needed it to do. Only way to solve the problem? Buy a NEW laptop! :)

So, after work one day, I met him down at Best Buy to check out the computer he thought he wanted - a pretty nice HP laptop. As I was there with him, I thought the HP laptop would probably be okay, but I noticed it still was just a big, heavy thing. AAANNDDD I've had my eye on those Mac computers for a while now. So, using my female persuasive powers, I led Trevor over to the Mac computer section and helped him realize that he really did want a Mac. :) And he really did want one, I mean, who doesn't? :) So, a laptop, the Word suite for Mac, and a mouse later, Trev was all suited up for his new life with his darling little laptop!As soon as we got home, he was on the sofa, booting it up! And it talked to us! And it's lightning fast! And has a WEBCAM!! WoOoOo! So I've been experimenting with the world of Skype and Gmail Video Chat!
It really is such a darling computer. I love the little apple. Haha. I am SUCH a nerd. But hey - I have a darling husband to go with it!