In Like a Lion?

March 1: Now I have to get a life vest. I am a matchy-matchy person. The only ones I can find in town are blue!!! They do not match my kayak by any means. I may just have to pick one up till I can get to Omaha. My brother sent me a website to get some cool ones but they don't do returns and I am not sure I like that.


March 2: Today, I wonder what I was think trying to launch a fundraiser for softball in the middle of getting ready for prom. Crazy or stupid?? This time I am doing something totally different to try selling pasta. The pasta has many different shapes of various hobbies. A cool thing is that you can order from the website and ship it to your house. I am getting the website ready to go!

March 3: Went back and got the blue vest-it is suppose to be 70 on Tuesday and I am going to take full advantage of it on the kayak!!!

March 4: I still need my paddle so I can go kayaking tomorrow......keep your fingers crossed!

March 5: Rushed home after work hoping my paddle would be home. I pulled up and didn't see it. I got  sad, but the delivery man put it in my door! I was SUPER excited, loaded up my kayak, and headed to a spot called Powder Creek Dam/Reservoir. It was built in 2002 so very new! They built it to help with flooding and duel as a recreation function. It is located in rural Nebraska about 40 minutes from me. The Reservoir is stocked so I will be fishing in it. I bought a water proof back the other day hoping it would keep my phone and keys dry. Didn't do a bad job!!!

My new favorite photo!

Sun set from a kayak!

Trees are still visible from when they filled it
the effect on the bottom was from the bad-sorry!

I paddled around till the sun set and the wind was starting to pick up. I loaded up my kayak and headed to bowling!!!

Finishing out February

February 22:  Four months to Moose's wedding on the beach!!! Can't wait!!!

February 23: SPAM is produced in Fremont, Nebraska! 

February 24: The world's smallest police station is in Friend, Nebraska. The bad thing is I have been there to play a slow pitch softball tournament. When you get off the exit you take a left in less then 200 feet it turns to a dirt road....no lie!!!

February 25: I am also an Athletic Trainer (not sure if I have said that before) for the Sioux City Bandits. The Sioux City Bandits are an indoor football team. We won the championship last year, lets see if we can repeat. Practice started today!!!

In action!N Not the best view...

Everyone has to drink out of the cup!!

February 26: BEST DAY EVER!!!! I GOT MY KAYAK!!!! I did go with the inflatable roof rack and got the Pelican Kayak. 

There it is on my new roof rack! 

My new love!!!

February 27: My brother ordered my paddle for my kayak!!! Can't wait till it gets here!!! Thanks Toddy, I love you and miss you!!! 

We went fishing this summer, this was our "big" catch

February 28: What should I name my kayak????????? Seriously, I love to name my stuff. My Honda Accord is actually named "Truck" because it gets through EVERYTHING!!! Out in Nebraska we have tons of dirt roads and he loves to push through them!!! Please help me think of a name?!?!

February 29: Leap year!!! One week till my mom comes to visit!!!

Heart of February

February 15: Well bowling was okay to me. Bowled a 118, 127, 132. Still no 200.

Strike Zone in Vermillion. Two years ago they got automatic
scoring-big time!

February 16: Nebraska is the birthplace of the Reuben sandwich. (This is your fun fact of the day :)!)

Looks good! 

February 17: Loves a snowy morning!

On my way to work! No one said taking pictures
 and driving was illegal...

February 18: Another great morning, this beautiful one I went geocaching. I can't tell you the last time I went in Nebraska. I dropped off a trackable and picked up another!

Crystal Cove 

February 19: Totally player Mario Kart for N64 all alone today! Was a nice alone day :) Here we goooooo, watch out for the bananas!

February 20: Pondering....I know super scary....Well, it is official we can play softball at the facility at the High School. I have some work to do, I love that it is at the High School so more people attend the games. The field is not enclosed due to the flooding last year we shotgunned our season and moved it up to the High School. The field isn't enclosed, we use an orange construction fence for our outfield fence. I really want a batting cage, so now I have to number crunch and see how much it will be to get one!!

Softball field after the flood. You can see the line of "crap"
 which measure how high the water was

The softball shed, can see the water line. 

February 21: Full moon. You can tell by the sky and wild kids!

Yes, that's the moon!!! I thought it was a pretty cool picture. 

February Moves On

February 8: Prom is coming. You might think what adult cares about prom. I do! I'm in charge of making prom happen. Without me there would be no prom. Well I guess I'm a big deal to prom! Totally different from the school I went to. This year the theme is Hollywood--Rockin' the Red Carpet! Starting to get stressed....can't find invitations or tickets....

February 9: Get through today, day off tomorrow. Get through today, day off tomorrow. Get through today, day off tomorrow.

February 10: We didn't have school today due to a comp day. I needed it! Went to Omaha to pick out my kayak and roof rack. I drive an older car so I had no idea what the rack would run me, I was still kind of stuck on the inflatable roof rack, but not sure...

My first stop was Bass Pro Shop. I used to love this place growing up and wish we had one in my hometown. It was ever outdoor girl's dream. Except this time I was very disappointed by their kayak selection. They had not one with a drywell!! I asked one of the associates and he was like stunned I knew what I was looking for. So, turned off by my once love-- Bass Pro Shop--I decided to leave.

Next stop was Cabellas. I think this was the first time I had ever been in one. They had a half dozen roof racks and one that totally caught my eye- the inflatable one! Maybe it was meant to be. After spending thirty minutes looking at the section I moved on and checked out the life preservers and paddles. But they had no kayaks! Struck out again!!

Dicks Sporting Goods was my third stop. Felt like home since the first store started in my hometown of Binghamton, NY in 1948. They had kayaks!!! A good selection of them!! I found one I fell in love with ( dang it I should have gotten the roof rack) but Dicks didn't have roof racks.

The original location! Kinda old school! 

Now I can go home and research what I liked to see if others agree!!!!

February 11: Finally I can bottle my beer!!! I mixed up the corn sugar, started siphoning the full bucket into an empty one and put in the corn sugar. After all was siphoned into the bucked I started to fill the bottles. The biggest thing when doing this is SANITIZE everything!!!!!

Bottles are sanitized!

Great Color!!! 

I bottled the beer, got 53 bottles out of it. Now I have to wait another two weeks to try it. Not sure if I like this wait thing.

February 12: I have lost thirteen pounds!! Working out does pay off!!

February 13: Snow Day! Very unexpected!! First one of the year which is pretty good since I live in Nebraska.

Rick and I celebrated valentines day today due to me bowling tomorrow. Our first one together! He made reservations to a place that overlooks the Missouri River. This was actually a place we had never been. We walked in and no one was there! Either the weather helped us out or everyone wants to go out on the big V Day! Had a great dinner and ended up driving home in freezing fog. That was my first and hopefully last experience ever with that!

The flowers I got :) Looooove them.....

February 14: Happy Bowling Day! Oh and Valentine's Day! Every time I bowl I hope for a 200.....but it never comes....there is always next week!!!

February Begins...

February 1: The tales of a teacher. I always say I should write a book. I was reading a test today and it dealt with States. The student turned to me and asked how many states there were....they lost track! Keeps me on my toes and can see why I'm exhausted by the end of the day!!

Just in case you wanted to know!!  

February 2: Going with my new Pinterest rave-- I took off my fake nails. First time in two years they kinda needed to breathe. So I decided to try a newspaper nail. You will need: a clear base coat, white nail polish, newspaper, and a top coat.

Steps: 
1. Paint a base coat. I used a nail strengthener due to having fake nails for so long.
2. Paint the color white. Allow to dry.
3. Dip nail in rubbing alcohol for 3 seconds.
4. Rip a section of newspaper (2x3) is plenty for each nail. I would do this prior to painting. Once you have dipped your nail then press the newspaper on your nail and remove. The print will transfer to your nail.
5. Put a top coat on so the newspaper print does not come off!

Newpaper finger nail polish!

February 3: Date night with friends never goes as planned, but random nights are the best!! We decided to head to my old stopping grounds of Vermillion to eat at a steakhouse. I was excited to go and some of my good friends finally get to meet Rick. We headed up with another couple. Went to the Varsity first- love my old local bar. Having fun and waiting for are other four couples to get there for are reservations. We get a call five minutes before our reservation that they are running late due to someone getting called in to work. We stayed and the water was tasting amazing!!! The others decided to go to a local country club due to the crappy weather and being late for our own reservation. We decided to head to the country club on our way back a car didn't make the turn and went right into the corn field.. Yep, a corn field! I do live in the Midwest!!! We stopped but they were pushing their car so continued on our way!!! We ended up being the only ones in the county club that night. It was nice to be with friends while people waited on us and we could be loud!!! Result of the night=random night-success!!


February 4: One more week till I get to bottle my beer!!!

Stank is still waiting!!!

February 5: Superbowl Sunday! Since the Steelers are out, I watched it for the ads!! My favorite was the M & m one!!!




                        




February 6: The day after the Super Bowl should be a national holiday. Everyone needs the day off!!


February 7: Have I told you I'm in a women's bowling league?? Twice a month I drive to Vermillion, South Dakota to bowl. I have been doing it for 5 years and there is NEVER a dull moment on a Tuesday!

My shoes!!!! 

Already the end of the first month!

January 29: After a long night of brewing I had to clean up my distillery!! Took me awhile but the good thing is I have..... Bubbles!!!

January 30: Pinterest is my new love. I decided to make tomatoes covered with avocados, topped with cheese! Supposively they are one point a piece if you are on weight watchers.

Pretty yummy!!!

January 31: I think I found my kayak rooftop carrier!!! It is one of the inflatable ones. If anyone has tried it let me know!!!

First Homebrew

January 28: Well after my shipping mess up and sending my homebrew  product to school, I finally got to brew it. This is my first one so wasn't too sure about how it all would go. I read the book and thought it didn't seem that bad. Liberty Cream Ale here we go!!!

Stank is excited to brew her first beer ever!

I got a liquid yeast so you had to pop the bladder and let it swell! Well they want it to rest in temprature of about 75 degrees. I keep my house at 64 in the winter (I like it cold :)) So I put a towel on top of it and placed it in the sun to see if it would rise since I remember by dad doing that with bread while I was growing up! It worked too!!! (Forgot to get a picture)

I borrowed a pot from a lady I work with and it worked!! I think I will go buy my own. It was a canning pot and took FOREVER for the water to get up to the correct temperature.

Got my pot ready to go

I put my crushed grains in the muslin boiling bag and turned up the heat. It took a long time but finally got to 155 degrees!!!

Starting to steep

Put the malt extract in and stirred it up!!! That is how the color of the beer came to be! The bittering hops were also put in for optimal hop utilization and bittering!! They tell you not to leave your pot unattended since boil overs are messy!!

Getting some color 

Ooops...I seemed have to went to the bathroom and left it unattended. Boil over...

Ahhh man- boil over

Wort was cooled! and put in my primary fermenter and topped it off with water.

5 gallons worth

I have good color and did my hydrometer reading. It was 1.040. I tasted it and didn't taste too bad. Not really carbonated yet!! Not really a fan of room temp beer.

Looking good

Since the water took so long to boil and get up to temperature it was a late night for me. I was exhausted. I fell asleep standing up.

I was sleepy after the making

Stank loves beer. Out of the little plastic thing on top bubbles will start to form in 1-3 days!!! Sweeeet...

Stank likes the bucket-waiting for bubbles to happen 

The down fall is you have to wait two weeks to bottle!!