We Chase a Lightning Storm?

Earlier this semester we decided to have an adventure to the drive inn. We learned that there was one just here in Rexburg, which was a lot more convenient then going all the way into Idaho Falls like we used to, so we decided to go check it out. The movies playing were Night and Day, and Shrek 4. We weren’t too excited about the movies, but excited to buy snacks and get out for the night. Once we got to the drive inn we got an amazing spot right up front, and got all settled in. Well as we were waiting for the movie to start we realized that a lightning storm was coming in. We’ve had a lot of lightning storms this summer because it would be so hot during the day and cool down so much at night, so this really shouldn’t have been anything new. However as the lightning storm got closer we realized just how intense it was. Almost every three seconds there was a flash coming from some part of the sky. By the time the movie started the storm was almost to us, and we couldn’t even really see the screen because the flashes were so bright. Before we knew what was going on the storm was directly over us, pouring rain and sending lightning all over the sky. By this time we were completely distracted by the storm, and had forgotten about the movie entirely. As the storm started to pass we debated about whether to follow the storm, or try to figure out what was going on in the movie. At first we did stay at the movie and try to catch up on the plot, but we soon realized that it was hopeless and decided to chase the storm to try to get some videos. At first we just kind of followed the storm, not really paying attention to where we were, until we started paying attention to the signs around us and realized we were a lot closer to the border of Wyoming than we should have been and only about 30 miles outside of Jackson. We were a little worried at first, but decided to turn left (because the totally solves everything) and kept going on our way. We got in a minor argument when Larissa told Kelly to look for a street to turn on, and Kelly decided to say something right as we were passing the sign, not giving Larissa enough time to slow down and turn. Kelly then refused to help anymore because Larissa obviously wasn’t listening to Kelly anyways. Eventually we turned around and took the turn that Kelly found and ended up finding a couple good spots to stop and get some awesome videos and decided we should probably start heading back. Well about that time we realized we really had no idea where we were, or how to get back on the main road, so naturally we decided to drive around aimlessly. Eventually we came across a sign that said we were in Driggs. Great, we’re in Driggs!!!! The only problem was that we didn’t actually know where Driggs was in comparison to Rexburg. This really bothered Kelly. Larissa has lived here her WHOLE life….and she doesn’t know where Driggs is?! Surely we must be completely lost in some other universe and would never find our way home! Kelly’s freaking out resulting is Larissa’s freaking out, and right when we were both on a verge of a brake down, we found the highway. Just like that, right in front of us. We turned left, which again we figured had to be the right way to go, and soon saw the sign that we were over 45 miles outside of Rexburg. Oops. We got back to Rexburg mildly annoyed with each other, but safe none the less. Although it was a lot of fun, and we did get some amazing videos, the whole getting lost part was not the best idea we ever had.

We Decorate?!?!

A new semester means a new chance for decorations, and we LOVE decorations. It has become a tradition with us that we try to come up with the best decorated apartment on the floor, and we strive to achieve it. Fall semester we had a hot man wall. It was pretty awesome until the boys got offended and so we had to move it into the hallway (and it is still in the hallway for you girls that ever need a pick me up  ), and created a quote wall instead. Winter semester we added on to the quote wall, and everyone loved reading the quotes and trying to figure out what they meant, even though they were usually wrong and we would never tell them what they quotes really meant, it was still always fun. So as we were starting our spring semester, we knew we had to do something amazing. Larissa had gotten online and found some cute decorating ideas with scrap book paper, but we knew that wouldn’t be enough, that was too easy. Once we met our roommates and talked to them, we decided to duct tape the walls in colors that would match the paper. We were going to have the coolest apartment EVER. Well of course we made the scrapbook paper a big deal and it was really quite stressful trying to make sure that all the colors were completely random, which probably took about an hour, and then trying to tape them onto the wall was a lot harder than we had planned on. In fact, the rows ended up being crooked, but by the time we noticed, we were so sick of the paper that we just left it like that. Once the roommates bought the duct tape we went to town on the rest of the walls!

The vision with the duct tape was to do a plaid type pattern, crisscrossing the tapes and colors. In our heads the idea was perfect, and should have been pretty easy. Boy we were wrong. We realized that the crisscrossing look involved a lot of weaving the tapes under and over the other pieces of tape, and tape isn’t the easiest thing to work with. It took us a week to get the entire front room done, and were very thankful to have it done. It really did look amazing. We loved it, and it was definitely unique. However, as time went on, the tape grew to be more of a trial rather than a prize to show off. Larissa was getting headaches from staring at the bright colors, and every tape that wasn’t perfectly straight was slowly driving us crazy. Finally one day towards the end of the semester we just couldn’t do it anymore, and we ripped all the tape off. The problem is we left the tape up ALL semester, which made it kind of glue itself to the wall. When we ripped the tape off we took a good share of the paint with it. Oops. Now it almost looks like we have stripes on the walls where the paint is gone. We’re going to have to buy paint, and hope that it’s enough that the managers don’t notice too much. Although it really was a fun idea, and we did get a lot of recognition for the bright colored duct tape, the consequences are outweighing the benefits now. Dang.

We Try to Pop Popcorn?

Popcorn! Who could mess up popcorn!? …We can. It was a Friday movie night at our apartment, and we decided we both desperately wanted popcorn. The only problem was that all our microwavable popcorn was all gone, and we’d never made popcorn over the stove, though we’ve heard that it works. We did however have popcorn kernels, because we had made caramel popcorn with some friends a few weeks before. They had made the popcorn, but we didn’t actually see how they made it. But none the less, we decided to try. How hard could it be, right?! Well first off, we didn’t have any vegetable oil, so we used olive oil. Not our smartest move. You see, olive oil is a more expensive than vegetable oil, meaning that it’s a lot nicer. This would usually be good except for the fact that olive oil doesn’t boil like vegetable oil does. At all. But of course we didn’t know this, so Kelly put olive oil in the bottom of the pan, and put some kernels in and let them be. We remembered our friends would shake the pan….but we weren’t really sure why they did that, or how often you were supposed to do that, so we were just kind of guessing. After about 15 minutes of staring at the kernels we knew we had messed up somewhere. The kernels were beginning to turn black, and started smelling funny. Kelly picked the pan up, and told Larissa to get a bag or something to put the burned kernels in so we could try again. Well right as Kelly tipped the pan to dump the kernels into the plastic shopping bag, it occurred to both of us that those were really hot kernels, and would probably… Ya, you guessed it, they burned right through the plastic bag, sending burning hot kernels ALL over the floor. The dance that we were doing was probably very amusing as we were trying to get away from the hot kernels, and not step on any that had already landed. Once we caught our breaths from laughing so hard at our own stupidity, we picked the kernels up and mopped the floor because of the oil, and had to try again. The second attempt wasn’t quite as bad as the first. We got a couple to pop but not nearly enough. After disposing of the second batch of kernels in a better fashion than we did the first batch, we tried again, determined to prove that we can make popcorn. This time it was Larissa’s turn. Kelly couldn’t take the pressure any longer, and stormed out of the kitchen, swearing she would never make popcorn over the stove EVER AGAIN. Third time’s a charm apparently, because for whatever reason it worked. We got the kernels to pop, and the popcorn actually tasted pretty yummy.

We have since then purchased vegetable oil and have made popcorn on numerous occasions, although Larissa still has to make it because Kelly refuses to do more than a couple of shakes. The popcorn idea in and of itself wasn’t a bad idea, but because we were void of any real thought process, we made a HUGE mess. Again not our brightest idea.

We Try To Make Our Food More Exciting?

Our first attempt of trying to do something unique with our food was our first semester together. In our apartment that semester our fridge was quite a site to see. On the top shelf we had 5-6 different gallons of milk, all labeled with the names of whom they belonged too. After one day of playing with food dye, we all decided we should dye our milk different colors so we wouldn’t have to label the containers anymore. Brilliant idea right?! It really was a good idea, until the next morning when Larissa pored herself some cereal, and realized the milk was turning her Captain Crunch green!! That really freaked her out, and she had to eat the cereal with her eyes closed. That kind of worked, but of course she made a mess in the process. We realized that when we cooked we would change the color of our meal depending on who’s milk was used…that was too much for us so we bought a half gallon of regular boring white milk JUST for cooking. As Larissa came to terms with the fact that the green milk gave her cereal a weird, green hue, Kelly started feeling funny, and swore it was because of the massive amounts of food dye she was consuming. Larissa assured her that the food dye couldn’t make you sick (if it could it wouldn’t be allowed to be put in food) but Kelly was still set on the idea that the milk was trying to kill her, so she wouldn’t allow us to dye our milk anymore, and we had to resort back to labeling the cartons, and they have boring ever since.

Our next creative attempt was when we decided to grate a whole bunch of potatoes, so that when we wanted hash browns they would be all ready to go. In our minds this was an exceptional idea, and we were quite proud of ourselves for coming up with it. Kelly then spent the next 45 minutes (but if you ask her it took forever and a day) trying to grate the potatoes while Larissa diligently…watched. (Larissa’s quite a bit shorter, and it’s harder for her to grate the potatoes into the pan. She has to stand on her tiptoes) Once Kelly felt like there was enough for both of us, we put the potatoes in a zip lock baggie, and threw them in the fridge. Well about 5 days later Larissa decided she should probably check on the hashed potatoes to make sure that our idea was in fact, as brilliant as we thought it would be. Well to our surprise the potatoes had turned black, and all mushed together. It was basically one of the most disgusting things we had ever seen, and they smelled kind of funny too. Not our brightest idea.

Both experiences were good ‘what if’ moments. Yes, the milk was still edible, but having everything green did get very disturbing after awhile. And with the potatoes, we did waste an entire potato trying to be more efficient, and learned that day that refrigerating potatoes is not the same as freezing them, and since then we have not tried to grate our hash browns in advance.

We Try To Fry Ice Cream?

Alright so we were having another Mexican night and needed a dessert to go along with the theme. we had this bright idea to try frying ice cream. Kelly had only tried fried ice cream once in her life, and that was at Garcia's in Idaho Falls for her 20th birthday last December. We got online, looked up EVERY possible recipe we could and found the one with the cheapest ingredient list and the simplest instructions, and ran to the store. To make fried ice cream you first have to freeze individual ice cream balls. Once they are frozen you dip them in a beaten egg (EWW!!! Kelly has to do this part because Larissa can't handle the sliminess of it) and then cover them with the cookie/cereal/sugar coating. You then repeat this process 3 or 4 more times. Once the ice cream balls are thoroughly coated with yummyness, you drop them into a pan of blistering hot oil. I know, scary right? It was a great idea, except for the fact that Larissa decided to fill the pan too full of oil, so it almost boiled over, creating a small flame on the stove. Of course Kelly FREAKED out and got the baking soda down, just in case things got too intense. You see, an old roommate told us of the time she tried to make fried ice cream and created a grease fire...Kelly didn't feel like dying that day. But when all was said and done, the fried ice cream wasn't too bad (except for the first one, which we sadly burned because we were busy screaming about the stove being on fire). Not our stupidest "What if" moment, but a memorable one none the less.