Mutant food!

12 April 2013, 3:41 pm by Giggles
Categories: Food

I was watching a cooking show, because I do that when I get bored, and the woman was an interesting character. She was cooking some fun stuff but it soon became apparent that she had a soap box. And that soap box was to avoid all genetically modified food at all cost.

Which is not one of my soap boxes.

Every food we’ve domesticated has been genetically modified. Gregor Mendel discovered the science of genetics because he was following previously developed hybridization techniques to track traits of sweet peas. All of our plant foods have been genetically modified in some form or another by some farmer at some point. They are all a hybrid in one form or fashion. Sweet yellow corn is sweet and all yellow because some farmers used some hybrid techniques to make it both sweet and yellow.

Now, admittedly, there are instances where we’ve gone too far. In an effort to make tomatoes be all red sooner we’ve actually compromised their taste. But then we are a society that favors looks over substance in a lot of other areas too (Hollywood anyone?).

However we’ve also made plants more hardy. The tomato plant we’re growing in our yard has been bred to withstand the weather we get here. Which is great because I love garden fresh tomatoes. And some plants have been bred to be resistant to diseases that used to destroy them.

Each of us is a hybrid if you really think about it. We’re just random hybrids of our parents rather than specifically bred hybrids like our plums. And yes, I can’t wait to see what kind of a hybrid we get from combining Brett and my genes together, although I’ve been told that having kids isn’t a science experiment. (I know it’s not a science experiment, don’t worry. It’s obviously a social experiment! 😉 )

6 Shared thoughts

What regulations?

10 April 2013, 11:04 am by Giggles
Categories: Life, Science & Tech, Venting

While we were dating we discovered the beauty that is the boxed set of television series. We started watching the show “24” that way before we got married and while the DVDs cost a bit upfront, we ultimately saved a lot of money because we stopped going to the movie theater every few weeks.

Brett bought me season 1 of “Chuck” before our marriage and we have the whole series of that one now too. We still enjoy pulling it out from time to time even though we have large segments memorized.

And last year he bought me the entire boxed set of “M*A*S*H” even though he was rather proud of the fact that he’d never seen a single episode in his life. We have just over two seasons left on that one. Last year we also only went to the movie theater once, to see Pixar’s “Brave.” We kept forgetting to go see the other movies we wanted to see.

And I’m really starting to think the boxed sets for older shows are the way to go. Have you seen what’s on lately? I’ve used “sleaze and filth” as a way to describe current broadcast programming twice in the last year (Prime time television? and Sleaze & Filth – Now with Shinier Packaging!).

Back in September I said, “The FCC might lower its standards, but that doesn’t mean we need to lower ours.” And it turns out that’s exactly what they are trying to do. The FCC wants to allow random f-words and female frontal nudity on tv just because – FCC set to drop ban on f-word, nudity on television and radio stations nationwide. We have till the end of the month to tell them that’s ridiculous (and they have rather specific rules on how you can do that, so make sure you look up the rules).

From the looks of things we’ll probably be doing more boxed television series in the future and even less on-air television than we do now. Maybe next up I’ll get Brett to watch his first Star Trek episode (he’s seen a movie or two, but never a television episode).

To share your opinion with the FCC:

  1. Go to http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/upload/begin?procName=&filedFrom=X.
  2. Enter the code “13-86” in the “Proceeding Number” box and fill out the few remaining required fields.
  3. Enter your comment in the text box provided and click “Continue.”
  4. From there, review your comment and click “Confirm.”
2 Shared thoughts

Spring in Southern Arizona

6 April 2013, 3:58 pm by Giggles
Categories: Happy Things

It’s going to be hot, over 100 degrees hot, soon. But for right now it’s Spring. And there are a lot of things I love about Spring here.

I love that we start eating garden fresh lettuce in February. Of course we had to pull it into the family room with a few random freezes that month, so it’s a good thing we plant it in containers.

I love sitting on the patio in the evening with Brett and reading books. Or even better, hanging out in the hammock (which we can do pretty much every season but Summer).

I love watching the hummingbirds flirt with each other and hide in the trees and eat from the flowers on our aloe plant within an arm’s reach of me. I wonder where they put their nest this year.

Speaking of trees, I love the smell of citrus blossoms. I remember thinking orange blossom was an odd smell for lotions and things when I was younger. I didn’t understand why that was a good smell. But that’s because those lotions smell nothing like a light breeze blowing through actual orange blossoms.

I love the insanely vibrant red of pomegranate buds and blossoms. They’re so fluffy! And then later in the summer when the pomegranates pop open I can watch the birds hang upside down on them and eat the seeds.

I love all the wildflowers actually. One of my favorites are the Mexican Poppies that blanket the ground with orange and yellow. The cactus are in bloom. It’s beautiful.

I love that it cools down in the evening so much.

I love driving with the windows down and feeling the wind on my face. I even turn up the radio real loud and sing along sometimes. It makes me feel young, even if Brett says I’m not jamming out to the right young songs (okay, I admit it, “It’s the end of the world” by REM isn’t as cool as it used to be, but you have to admit it’s a great song to play loud).

There are things I love about all the seasons here. But right now it is Spring, so I’m going to enjoy what we have right now.

8 Shared thoughts

Windows of Heaven

4 April 2013, 11:09 am by Giggles
Categories: Education, Gospel, Happy Things

I’ve talked before about all the differences between Brett and I, and those differences make life a lot of fun. One area where we are definitely on the same page though is with finances. We both hate debt and we both like to save. And that makes things work very well. I had to take out some student loans when I started my PhD, but I always limited myself to the subsidized loans so I could avoid interest as much as possible. The semester after we got married we used my last loan amount to pay off both our cars (they were collecting interest, the loan wasn’t yet).

And we definitely agree that tithing comes first. I’ve seen people say they can’t afford to pay tithing. I can’t afford not to. I’ve never found money in an envelope at our door the way some people have as a blessing from tithing, but I can definitely count some other blessings from it. I feel much as the mother of Joseph F. Smith did – “If I did not pay my tithing, I should expect the Lord to withhold his blessings from me. I pay my tithing, not only because it is a law of God, but because I expect a blessing by doing it” (“Faith: The Foundation of all Righteousness,” Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph F. Smith, p. 49).

Our insurance didn’t cover much of our infertility treatment, but what it did cover was a huge help. And I view that coverage as a blessing of tithing. Our savings was even able to stretch, just barely, to cover all of our out-of-pocket expenses for the labs, procedures, and tests that weren’t covered at all. And while our cars have needed repairs, and some of them bigger than we would’ve liked, they haven’t needed anything drastic and they both still run great.

Tithing taught us both how to save and budget. Having that savings account when we needed it was a blessing of tithing.

When we did our taxes this year and saw what our refund was, I almost started crying from relief. I’m currently in the middle of the grace period for my subsidized loans and I’ve been real worried we weren’t going to get them paid off before the interest kicked in. Our refund allowed this to happen:

Paid in Full

No accountant in the world could ever work out how it happens that returning 10% of our income to the Lord means we can cover all of our necessary expenses (a frivolous trip to the beach after graduation I’d wanted won’t be happening, but a paid for degree will), but it does.

I’m all about opening the windows of heaven whichever which way I can. Tithing is one window I enjoy opening.

5 Shared thoughts

Cheap!

1 April 2013, 3:51 pm by Giggles
Categories: Quilting/Sewing/Knitting/Crafting

I remember going to the fabric store when I was little and sitting at the pattern book table, flipping through the huge pattern books, sticking my fingers in every page with a pattern that caught my eye until I ran out of fingers. I still love going through patterns, but now I do it online. It’s a little easier on my fingers. I like to go through the pattern websites and make lists of patterns I’d want to buy (double checking I haven’t already bought them, which has happened more than once).

Then I watch the sales.

When the particular brand of pattern I want goes on sale for $1 I go buy it. Which is how I ended up coming home with these 9 patterns the other week, spending a grand total of $9.72 after tax.

Having been raised by a mom who taught me to look for bargains, I’ve never really thought about how much patterns really cost, because I only ever buy them on sale. So I was a bit flabbergasted when I looked at the bottom of my receipt and saw that I’d saved $122.64! What?!? That couldn’t be right.

But the manufacturers suggested retail price for the patterns range from $12 to $16. Who in their right mind would pay that much for a pattern?! Especially since they go on sale for $1 each month. Which means they are still making a profit when they sell them for $1. Makes me wonder just how insanely high the retail value for my pattern collection is.

Last week I used a combination of sales and rewards to get a pair of maternity capris for $1.40, regularly $44. I’m good! Since I felt a little weird buying a pair of pants for under $2 at a store (I’ve paid that much for pants at a garage sale several times), I bought this cute little outfit, also on sale, for $7. It has turtles on it!

With fabric I’d previously purchased on sale, I made these out of one of the patterns I just bought and a pattern I bought previously (also for a LOT less than MSRP).

I like sales. Also, there might be a pattern to what I’m buying lately.

5 Shared thoughts

Intellectually Attractive

26 March 2013, 11:01 am by Giggles
Categories: Relationships

Last night Brett and I went out to dinner at Taco Bell in honor of Quirky Hebrew Day (trust us, the association makes sense in our heads). As we were talking, it came up that one of the first photos I’d seen of him was one he’d taken of himself in the bathroom mirror. You’ll have to trust me, but it wasn’t that great of a photo. In fact, when I did finally meet him in person (7 years ago this weekend), I was thrown off a bit because he didn’t exactly look like his photos. And finally telling him that led to me admitting that I had not been physically attracted to him at first.

Nope. He was first attractive to me in an intellectual way. Which doesn’t sound nearly as romantic as you might think (and I’m sure you’re already thinking it isn’t that romantic).

We had conversations that challenged me. I kind of like my mind. I work hard on it. It was nice to finally meet a guy who was willing to woo me intellectually (not that there had been a whole lot of guys wooing me in other ways). Pretty much all the guys I’d gone out with before had limited wooing skills of any type. And none of them appealed to me at the intellectual level Brett did.

Since those first few months I’ve grown attracted to Brett in many other ways (obviously). But he still woos me intellectually on a regular basis. He keeps me on my toes.

Brett never did say what first attracted him to me last night, but I have to believe that the fact that our relationship started on an intellectual level gave our relationship an interesting foundation for us to build on. I rather enjoy what we’ve built. I wouldn’t have it any other way. :heart:

8 Shared thoughts

This is it!

22 March 2013, 11:26 am by Giggles
Categories: Education

Several months ago I had a conversation with the nurse practitioner at our RE’s office about my research. Not an odd occurrence. People regularly ask me what my research is about. Except this time the conversation was right after a medical exam, which meant I was still sitting on the exam table, without pants. Sure I had a paper thing over me, but still, I wasn’t wearing pants. I decided at that point that if I could have a conversation about my research while not wearing pants, then I knew my stuff. And my defense couldn’t be all that bad because I’d definitely be wearing pants for it (or a nice professional skirt).

Here are before and after photos of my morning. Can you see a difference?

In the before photo I am Lisa M. G. Dennis, M.Ed. and in the after photo I am Dr. Lisa M. G. Dennis, Ph.D. I look a lot smarter in the after photo don’t I? I have a few more minor revisions to make on my document before we call it official. But for all intents and purposes it’s just paperwork and don’t trip at the ceremony in May at this point. :apple:

8 Shared thoughts