I sold my soul....

or at least it felt that way when I signed the master promissory note for my student loans. Last Friday, I officially finished high school, and I registered for nursing school at Provo College. Their program is nice because it is condensed into 27 months instead of 4 years. Also they accept 70% of their applicants while still following the same criteria as UVU and BYU, both of which only accept 8-10% of the applicants. March will be spent recertifing for my CNA license because I let it expire about eight years ago. Then come May I will officially begin nursing school, I am terrified! My friend Reecie will be going through the program with me, so at least I will have a study partner!

Egg noodles

So this year I have a goal of learning new cooking techniques, and adding a few new recipes that are entirely from scratch. So I rolled up my sleeves and delved into the world of noodle making. They are SOOOO easy and SOOOOO good. I don't think that I will ever make chicken noodle soup with store-bought noodles again. Give it a shot you will love these noodles to!

moving day!

No, we did not sell our house, it is actually off the market currently. However we still spent last weekend moving...sort of. We cleared out all our belongings from the basement, and condensed our upstairs belongs (thank heaven that we have a garage for storage!). Why might you ask? My BFF and her husband and five kids moved in. The g family has been good friends for over a decade so we are thrilled to have them. Space wise we are doing really well, a lot better than I expected. Since our dining area in the kitchen is so tiny, we converted our office upstairs to a dining room and I am really leaning towards permanently knocking out the wall in favor of that arrangement.
Having so many extra people in the house has been a little crazy as we have been adjusting, especially with Mark in school and me looking into starting a speciality program next month, but we love their kids so its been a blast so far!
A special shout out to Nathan and Kai for all the help!

Sauerkraut and Latkes

In an attempt to reconnect with my German heritage I decided to make a German meal. Out came the sauerkraut, bratwurst...and I made Latkes!. I had never made Latkes before and I was impressed with how easy they were! I served them with warm applesauce and sour cream. Yumm-o! Find the recipe here. I have to say that I changed it up a bit. I omitted the eggs, added a few tablespoons of lemon juice to help with the oxidation, and I switched the onion for a whole carrot (grated of course). They were still delish! I did all the shredding and grating in the food processor to make it quick and easy.

Whew! It's almost over!

Perhaps I am becoming jaded, but I honestly have to say that I am glad that the holidays are almost over. I think year after year I become more disgusted with the commercialism of the holidays, and this year I am especially happy to have them over with. I'm just tired this year and I definitely did a lot less than I normally do. I really didn't do any holiday baking this year, and my Christmas shopping was rather limited because of deciding to get Mark one large gift instead of several smaller ones. Perhaps I'm a scrooge......

Keeping in mind that tomorrow is New Year's Eve, I figured that I should share my resolutions with you (Even though I'm afraid to call them resolutions for fear of dooming them to failure).
1. I have a goal (and a plan!) to increase our emergency fund to a more appropriate amount during 2009.
2. We will get around to removing all the tree stumps left from when we cut down trees this past summer.
3. I plan on expanding the vegetable garden and planning things differently so that I don't run out of interest in gardening before July.
4. I am going to stop buying Bread from the grocery store. I know this one seems kind of silly...but homemade bread is better for you. Plus, there is nothing that quite says home like hot fresh bread, and a wife in a cute pink and black apron...LOL. The apron is a long story!
5. I am going to begin line drying at least 75% of our clothes. It's better for the environment, cheaper, and our clothes will last longer. I am only aiming for 75% because I can never seem to keep up with laundry. It seems like I am always trying to scale Mount Washmore.
6. I am going to be a better friend, sister, daughter, wife. I don't have a plan for this one yet, but I'm going to find a way somehow!
&. Mark and I have another goal that we will start working on in February. We will keep you posted then!

Dear Santa

I know, I know, I;m a little old to believe in Santa We just have a little tradition here at the Carney house of writing a letter to Santa the night that the Christmas tree goes up. So here goes:

Dear Santa,
We really have tried to be good this year, but no one is perfect. We know that we have spent too much money and wasted too much time, but you just gotta have some fun!
This Christmas season our list is easy (at least it should be for you!). We simply want:

Christmas with Amy's family for next year since it can't happen in 2008
Help in deciding if Amy should go back to school or wait a bit
An immersion blender
The patience and love to be better help meets for each other
Peace on Earth
Our kitten to stop climbing the Christmas tree
Martin to arrive home safely from Florida
For that one last dream to come true (you know the one)

Have a good flight,
Mark and Amy

Blogging for Change

I have a challenge for all of you out there in blogdom.....Make a difference this year. Make someone's Christmas mean more than ever before.