Semester #7

     In a lot of ways this semester has been tough. This can be evidenced by the fact that it is now halfway done and I am just now getting around to posting what classes I am taking. But, now that I am taking upper division graphic design classes, maybe that is to be expected.

1. Typography II
     Similar to Typography I, we continue to explore type, typefaces, and typographical layouts. An example of a project was to design a brochure on a period in design history. I had Art Deco.

2. Package Design
     Pretty much what ti sounds like. We design packages, mostly in the 'box' range (haven't gotten into bottles or pouches or anything crazy like that yet). A memorable project was making a paper banana (pictured below). This was supposedly our hardest project of the semester. Good thing we got it out of the way first! As a whole, I am enjoying this class.

3. Explorations of Graphic Design
     My other main graphic design class of the semester. This one is more general in application, as we are exploring various methods of design. So far we have worked on logos, icons, posters, and now advertisements.

4. Professional Practices
     This is less of a regular class and more of a weekly 'how to' seminar. We have learned about resumes, assembling our portfolios, and other bits and bobs necessary to become a graphic designer. I am also somewhat involved in the local graphic design guild.

5. Intro to Marketing
     Funnily enough, this is the only non-graphic design class I am taking this semester. Marketing is connected to graphic design and it has been interesting to learn about some of the other sides of the coin. I enjoy my teacher and the class, but am not looking forward to the two papers we will have to write this semester.

Kora's Sloppy Joes

Kora's Sloppy Joes
     This recipe came from a family friend. 10/10 would recommend.

2 lbs. ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1/2 c. celery

2 TB vinegar
2 tsp. lemon juice
3 tsp. worcestershire sauce
2 Tb brown sugar
ketchup to taste
1//2 tsp. prepared mustard
1 1/4 tsp. salt, pepper

     Brown and mix beef, onion, and celery. Drain extra fat and juices from mixture. Add additional ingredients to meat and simmer for 30 minutes. Serve on buns.

Note: For more versatility this recipe can be altered to become 'Taco Joe.' Now it can double as Sloppy Joe filling and also taco meat. Just omit the brown sugar, use less ketchup, and add some taco seasoning.

Spanish Rice

Spanish Rice
     This one pot meal is easy and delicious! Serve with tortilla chips and some freshly cut veggies or fruit to round out the meal. Bonus: it's great leftover as well.

1 TB vegetable oil
1  medium onion, thinly sliced
1/2 lb. lean, ground beef
1 c. regular rice, uncooked
1 (8 oz.) cans tomato sauce
1 3/4 cups hot water
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. mustard
dash black pepper

Heat oil in skillet. Add onions, beef and rice. Stir over high heat until meat is lightly browned. Add tomato sauce and remaining ingredients. Mix well. Bring quickly to boil, lower heat, cover tightly, and simmer for 25 minutes. Serves 4.

Mom's Chocolate Chip Muffs

Mom's Chocolate Chip Muffs
     These muffins were a staple in our household growing up. Now I regularly make them for breakfast and keep them in the freezer so they last. Just nuke them in the microwave and they're good as new!

1 egg
2 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 c. vegetable oil
1 c. milk
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 c. chocolate chips

     Beat egg in a mixing bowl. Stir in oil, milk, brown sugar, and vanilla. Sift in dry ingredients and add chocolate chips. Stir until just mixed. Fill 12 muffin cups and bake at 375 degrees for about 18 minutes, or until done.

Mini Ground Beef Crescent Rolls

Mini Ground Beef Crescent Rolls
     This recipe was inspired by a meal served at my high school. It began as an experiment, but I would say it was a success.

1 container refrigerated crescent roll dough
ground beef. browned
Optional: other fillings such as jam or cinnamon sugar.

     Open can of dough as instructed. Use a small handful of ground beef as a filling before rolling crescent rolls. Bake as instructed. Necessity is the mother of invention - I didn't have a regular baking pan, so I placed the rolls in my muffin tin. They self greased themselves and came out perfectly! Serve with a dipping sauce or gravy.

     If you are feeling adventurous, try experimenting with other fillings. These rolls can be served as a meal or snack.

Apple Crisp

Apple Crisp
     Apple crisp is a mix between apple pie and a fruit cobbler. It's great because it's easy to make and it can be whipped up quickly, even quicker if you're a wiz at cutting up apples. Plus it tastes great!

1 TB lemon juice
2-3 apples, partly peeled and chopped
1/2 c. flour
1/3 c. sugar
1/4 c. butter
cinnamon
salt

Add lemon juice and sliced apples to pan. Mix together flour, sugar, and butter. Add a dash of cinnamon and two pinches of salt. Cover apples with mixture. Bake for 40 min at 350 degrees.

Rag Wreath

     A cheery rag wreath is a great way to make your house feel like a home, as well as an easy craft that will make a dent in your scrap stash! You will need 1 wire wreath frame from your local craft store (I used an 18" one), as well as color-coordinating cotton fabric scraps. Be warned, depending on the depth of you stash you may need to purchase more fabric to finish your project out. If you are buying fabric for this project you will need an estimated 2.5 yards total.

     Once you have your wreath frame and fabric it's time to get ripping! Or cutting, if you prefer. However, with the woven nature of cotton, ripping is more accurate, as well as more time and energy efficient. If you have not ripped fabric before, it may be a little intimidating. Feel free to test out your technique on a separate piece before beginning. Make an incision into the fabric a couple inches, where you want your rip to be. This gives you a start and something to hold onto - your fabric will rip along the grain!

     Whatever your method, figure out a process, because we will be ripping a lot of strips! Your strips will need to be 1.5" X 8". I recommend ripping a long 8" wide strip and then cutting that strip into 1.5" lengths. This seemed to be the most efficient process.

My strips are in a summer-fall color scheme.

     Once you have all your strips ripped, it is time to begin tying. Using the wire wreath frame, you will have three rows of strips. Pick a starting point and first tie a strip around the two outermost wires. You'll need to do a double knot to keep the tie in place. Your next strip will be tied around the two middle wires, and your third strip on the two innermost wires. Obviously, your strips will be overlapping each other to some degree. This helps to evenly disperse the strips. Continue this pattern around the wreath.

Here is my wreath, partly finished,

     It may take a while, but the result will be worth it! When your wreath is complete and all the wires have been covered, fluff out your ties a bit and hang your new wreath proudly on your door!

Corn Dog Muffins

Corn Dog Muffins
     This recipe uses a boxed corn bread mix to make simple 'corn dogs.' It's like hamburger helper! Just add hot dogs!

1 box Jiffy corn muffin mix
1/2 package hot dogs
8 muffin liners

     Follow directions for boxed mix. Place mixture into lined muffin tin, filling liner up about 2/3 full. Cut hot dogs into appropriately lengthed segments and place in batter. Bake according to directions on box.

Note: Needing something to do with the other half of your hot dogs? Either make another batch or try out this recipe for easy Hot Dog Dinner!

Hot Dog Dinner

Hot Dog Dinner
     This meal creatively uses hot dogs for a unique spin on a one-pot dish.

1/2 package (1 pound) hot dogs, halved lengthwise and sliced
2 tablespoons butter, divided
1 medium onion, halved and sliced
1 celery rib, coarsely chopped
1/2 medium green pepper, julienned
1 garlic clove, minced
1 can (14.5 oz) stewed tomatoes, undrained
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Hot cooked noodles or rice

     In a a large skillet, cook and stir hot dogs in 1 Tb butter over medium high heat until lightly browned; remove and keep warm.

     In same skillet, sauce the onions, celery and green pepper in remaining butter until tender. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Add the tomatoes, oregano, paprika, pepper and hot dogs. Cook and stir until heated through. Serve with noodles or rice.

Note: Recipe can be altered to cater to serving amounts and taste preferences.

My Top 3 Artifacts

     An artifact is defined as something made by humans, usually for a practical purpose. Looking at artifacts is an excellent way to study another’s culture because each culture creates artifacts that are unique and special to that people group. Over the years my family has gathered many different artifacts from various cultures. For example, on our fridge we have 12 international magnets from 5 different countries. Many of the artifacts we have come from personal travels or as gifts from friends. Some of my favorite artifacts include a basket from Zimbabwe, ceramic ornaments from the Czech Republic, and a carved nativity set from Israel.

     The basket from Zimbabwe came into our family through my mother. She taught science in Zimbabwe for four years and was given the basket by a villager during her time there. She considers the basket a piece of art because it is very beautiful and intricately crafted. The bowl is made with coiled bundles of grass laced together with strips of plastic sacking. Basketry is a traditional art form that spans the entire continent of Africa. Attaining the status of ‘master weaver’ in a community requires the highest level of skill in fiber preparation, dyeing, and weaving. Most of the people who attain this status are women.

     The decorative ceramic ornaments were brought back as souvenirs from a trip my mother and I took to the Czech Republic. They are designed to look like buildings in the town square of Litoměřice, a town we visited. The ornaments are displayed on a shelf in our dining room where we can admire them and be reminded of our trip. Buildings in Europe are much older than those in America. The buildings the ornaments were inspired by are probably 400 years old. While in the country my mother and I enjoyed Czech architecture, especially the many colors. A lot of the buildings are painted in shades of pastel. At one point we visited a manor that was pink. Blocky utilitarian buildings that were built during the Communist era have now been enhanced with strips of yellow or peach.

     The third artifact is a hand carved nativity set made in Israel, with olive wood. Although it was made in Israel, my parents bought it at an international fair sales craft store in Newton, KS. We use it every Christmas and it is a central decoration. The olive tree is a symbol of Israel and has been a native plant since ancient times. Olive trees have a high endurance and fruitful capacity. It is considered a sign of peace between God and mankind. Also, many of the carvings made from olive wood use trimmings from when the tree is pruned. This keeps the trees healthy and means that no tree is damage or destroyed to make the carvings.

     These are just three of the many international artifacts my family owns. However, they are some of my favorites and portray a good variety among the three, coming from three different continents. Our artifacts remind us of our travels and of the connections we have to others around the world. They carry both cultural and sentimental significance, as well as help to decorate a diverse home.

     Note: This is an assignment done for my International Communications class at school.

My Food Culture

     I would like to think that my food culture is wide and a bit more varied than the average American. While my family eats meals that comprise of the meat and potatoes so often found in American comfort foods, we also derive inspiration from other differing sources. My food culture has been influenced by my ethnic origins, American culture, and international tastes.

     Growing up in the United States, my food background was fairly common in some ways, but in other ways it differed. My dad grilled steak and hamburgers and my mom packed us sandwiches for lunch and made casseroles. When I began to learn how to cook, a casserole was one of the first things I learned how to make. There isn’t anything much more American than casseroles. Other American or Americanized dishes that we commonly eat are hamburgers and fries, pizza, or meatloaf.

     Even though a lot of the food we eat in America has foreign influences, those influences have been watered down or altered so that once international dishes have become something traditional to America. An example of this is pizza. My family does similar things to food and recipes, like stir-fries, but there are some foods that have retained their originality. One of these dishes is kima, an Indian curry. The dish came into our family from a family friend who was Indian so the dish is fairly authentic. Another international food that has come to be a cultural symbol in our home is the Mediterranean salad, tabbouleh. It was inspired by a vegetarian restaurant in New York, where my aunt went to college. My mother tried it out on my brother and I, and we really liked it. Now, tabbouleh is a common offering from our family at family gatherings and potlucks. They wouldn’t be the same without tabbouleh.

      Another part of my unique food background hit a little closer to home. My mother's side of the family are German Mennonites. Through this group I have access to a culinary heritage unique to a specific people group. These dishes are different from average American fare, and have interesting names, like verenika (cottage cheese dumplings served with ham gravy) and borsht (cabbage soup). Dishes like bierocks (buns filled with meat and cabbage) and german sausage are common additions to our supper table and my grandmother brings zwiebach to almost every family meal. For Christmas my mother makes peppernuts (small anise cookies), but with her own twist. My Mennonite heritage has played a big part in diversifying my food culture.

     Although my food culture takes references from vastly different sources, they all combine to create one big beautiful and diverse experience. My childhood and my life now would not be the same without these foods. They have had a vast impact on my life. I am able to retain some of my ethnic roots through food, consider myself to be a true American, and am still able to appreciate foods made by other cultures.

Note: This is an assignment done for my International Communications class at school. Some of it was inspired by an assignment I did for my Language and Food class several semesters back, since they were answering the same questions.

Semester #6

     This semester I will be finishing up my junior year as well as applying to my program (fingers crossed that everything goes well). Also, if you are wondering, I have decided to put aside my ambitions of getting a Spanish minor. I guess you could say my last Spanish class quenched what desires I had left, but honestly, it was getting to the point where I wasn't enjoying it as much and was starting to struggle more. I decided it wasn't worth it and while I am glad for the learning and experiences I underwent previously, I am also glad to have that load taken off my back.

     This semester I am attempting to tackle the remainder of my general education credits. I'm pretty excited about my classes and I think this will be a fun semester (if I can survive getting through the program that is).

1. International and Intercultural Communication
     I'm not completely sure how to describe this class. It seems to be a seminar learning about how society is structured and how different cultures interact. Most of the time in class we watch related videos or have group discussions about our own personal cultural experiences. So far, it seems pretty manageable for a 300 level course.

2. Art History: Modern and Contemporary Sculpture
     Similar to my previous art history classes, this one is taking on the theme of sculpture, especially more recent works of art. The first artist we looked at was Rodin, who is most famous for his sculpture "The Thinker." This class also has the most lengthy readings of any other classes so far.

3. Intro to English Linguistics
     Some may remember that a year and a half ago, I took a linguistics course about food. Well, this class was inspired a bit from my experiences with that course. It is taught by the same professor and it is a common class for education majors, so I have gotten to see some old friends.

4. Book Design/Production
     Last semester I thought I had my class schedule all figured out. But then I found out about this class. I really love books and I didn't know when the class would be offered again, so I decided to throw caution to the wind and jump in. It took a little bit of finagling to get it to fit into my schedule but I am really glad it all worked out. We are learning how to make our own books by hand! It is also an upper-level course with a smaller class size, so that is a fun experience as well.

Ham and Potatoes Casserole

1 pkg (1 lbs 10 oz) frozen hash brown potatoes, thawed
1/8 tsp pepper
2 T onion, chopped
1 c. sour cream
1/2 tsp salt
1 can cream of chicken soup
3/4 lb ham, diced
1 1/2  c. cornflakes + 1 1/2 Tb butter for topping

Mix thoroughly thawed potatoes and all the ingredients except cornflakes. Place in 9" X 13" pan sprayed with cooking spray. Top with cornflakes. Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

Top 12 of 2018

1.) Homecoming 
     Going back to visit high school is always and entertaining and enlightening experience, but this year was made especially sweet by the time I could spend with two of my friends and how we were able to renew our relationships together.

2.) Visit to JBU 
     This visit to a potential college for my brother meant and family road trip and an opportunity to visit one of my good friends attending the university.

3.) Winter Jam and Summit
     Winter Jam was my first ever concert and I am grateful to my friends who invited me to come and made the evening a success. Also of note in the month of March, was a retreat to the Mountains with my local chapter of Christian Challenge. Although reluctant to go at first it was a refreshing getaway for me. I also began my journey in learning to swing dance!

4.) Easter Sunday
     This year I have been in the church choir, an experience I greatly enjoyed and appreciated. The Easter service at my church is a favorite and this year I got to take part in being in the choir for the event. It was also a time for meeting family and friends, as well as getting asked out for the first time!

5.) Graduations and Weddings
     May is a popular month for graduations and weddings. This year my brother graduated high school and I got to see one of my cousins get married.

6.) Summer Team
     This summer I helped out with the youth group, as a precursor to my officially joining the team in the fall. I am blessed to be with a great group of freshman girls! God used this experience to teach me about trusting Him (see my post Trust: The Word of the Year).

7.) Family Vacation to Colorado
     I have already done several posts about this, so feel free to refer to them for more details!
     Family Vacation 2018 Part 1: Colorado Springs area
     Family Vacation 2018 Part 2: South Fork

8.) Trip to Lawrence and my 21st Birthday Party
     A trip to Lawrence to see a friend's event turned into an opportunity to reconnect with one of my cousins and a friend from school/work. Also, it was my first road-trip by myself. For my 21st birthday I wanted it to be special and for it to be shared with all the important people in my life. A little ambitious, but the event went over well. We decided to tackle an Escape Room experience, something I had never done before, but was eager to try.

9.) Local Craft Fair
     This was another opportunity to see friends and look at all the amazing handmade items. I also scored a great pair of earrings!

10.) Mercy Me Concert
     This was another hi-light of my year, as well as one I actually did a blog post about.

11.) Barn Dance
     One of several Christian Challenge events I went to this year, I was able to rekindle my budding swing dance talents!

12.) Challenge Formal
     The last Challenge event for the year was a blast as always. It was made bittersweet since it will be the last one I will experience with the entirety of my small group, as my leaders will be graduating in May.

The Hidden Story Behind the Redecoration of the Living Room

     The new color of the living room walls was a bit of a controversial issue. Originally, the walls were to be repainted white. I was somewhat against this because I thought, "If we are going to all the trouble to repaint it, why paint it the same color? Why not get something new?" And so began my petition for a new paint color. I settled on a shade of green (any shade would do - just not white) as a probably candidate for succeeding my mission. At first, I mentioned the idea in jest, not believing it would actually go through. Therefore, I was surprised to come home one day to green swatches of paint on the walls. It looked like it actually might happen!

     The green color that was finally elected is similar to that of the master bathroom and a color that was used to paint some of the rooms in my paternal grandparent's house. So you could say the color is steeped in history. I think it has taken well to the space.

     Other improvements include a new fan (pictured above with the newly painted walls) that cost my father a sprained toe and new carpet for the whole house! The carpet was an even larger endeavor than painting the living room, but after living in the house for almost two decades it was a needed improvement. The whole family pitched in to sort through and pack up belongings. Although new and fresh, the color isn't much of a change this time around for we have stuck with a grey. The apple can't fall too far from the tree.