Free Time Spheee Time

Now that Jordan and I are in Oklahoma I have a lot of free time on my hands. I've been looking for a job like crazy, filling out multiple applications daily, emailing multiple people on craigslist with my resume and references, and interviewing over and over again only to get turned down over and over again. They always ask "How long are you going to be here" or "How long do you see yourself with this company" and I can't lie so when I tell them we'll only be here until the end of August I get shut down. I've even had people tell me that I'm "over qualified" for a position and I just wanna slap them and say "NO I'M NOT" but talking to my dad last night he made me realize that this is a kind way of saying "I see that you have a degree, it's not worth my time to train you when I know you can get a better job somewhere else and I don't wanna waste my time when you are just going to leave me once you're bored".  Now I understand.

Yesterday after leaving another disappointing interview I was feeling a little depressed...I started talking to myself saying I was going to make this a summer for me.I would take all of my spare time and do a bunch of random things like going to the pool and tanning, reading books for the first time in years for fun and not assignment, blogging, and developing skills/hobbies.

In high school I was too busy playing to learn to cook, I never wanted to learn to couchette or sew, I'm not artistic by any means and can't paint so when I went to Hobby Lobby to look for a hobby I got a little depressed: this was the place I was turning to develop skills and talents and everything looked so overwhelming. I found a book called "What's New, Cupcake?: Ingeniously Simple Designs for Every Occasion"

It has so many cute cupcake designs such as hamburgers, the ducks shown above and these cute apples below. I ordered it from amazon because it was so much cheaper! I cannot wait to get this book and start designing these cupcakes! 

I started reading water for elephants, I now want to go to the circus, which is coming to OKC in a few weeks soooooo much! I'm not very far in it but I take it out to the pool with me and read it while relaxing.



And I bought a whole bunch of scrapbooking supplies because I haven't put a single picture of Jordan and I in a scrapbook since we started dating. I figure I have a few things to keep me preoccupied now.

I'm also learning how to cook not only cupcakes but meals as well. I'm trying all sorts of new recipes such as BBQ Beef Sandwiches which Jordan Loved, meatloaf, cheesy chicken and the list goes on and on. Tonight I'm making meatballs and I hope they turn out! I have already started learning to make bread, it's not perfect but it's getting better every time!

I also  made pretzels the other night! They were SOOO fun to make and super easy! I was leaving the mall the other day (after an interview of course) and saw the little pretzel shop...a pretzel sounded so good but I was so annoyed I didn't feel like stopping. I was going over different recipes at http://annies-eats.net/ and linked onto another blog http://www.thecomfortofcooking.com where I found this recipe...once I mixed the dough together and let it rise I didn't think they would turn out, I'm still learning how to use yeast and I didn't think I had the water warm enough to really activate the yeast but I decided I would try to make them anyway...this is how things turned out!

First I separated the dough into 10 different pieces and rolled
them out into straight lines

I then twisted them by following an online tutorial...mine aren't perfect but they'll get better.

I put them in the oven for 7 minutes and this is how they turned out!

Instead of using kosher salt (what was called for in the recipe)
I used cinnamon sugar because this is what we had.

I was very happy with my finished product, but there was one problem, i didn't roll the ends thin enough and the middle of the pretzel was doughy since it was thicker due to the twisting. Next time I will twist the ends thinner than the middle so that the twist will bake all the way through, I think I'm going to turn the oven down a little bit too and cook them longer. Let me know how things go for you if you try this recipe out!