Totfest 2011

Was a success.  This is the third year we have celebrated Totfest.  To look back on Totfest 2010, just follow the link!  I very quickly went over how it all came to be, but I think I will give the extended version here.

So, the origins of Totfest:

Once upon a time there was a girl, and there was a boy.  This girl and this boy had dated, then stopped dating, and then slowly they were able to become friends.  Except then the boy thought maybe he would like to date again, and the girl said no.  Then the boy asked again, and the girl said no.  This continued for a while until the boy started to date a different girl.  The girl was also dating someone new.  The girl put space between them because her new date was not a fan of the girl and the boy spending too much time together.  And then the girl came to realize that she missed her friend and wanted to see him again.  She didn't know what to do about it except ask.  So she sent him a friendly message suggesting they spend time together in the near future.  The girl expected to hear back "Yeah ok, we will."  Nothing definite, but something to work with.  Instead the boy asked, "Doing what?"  The girl was surprised and didn't know what to respond with and for some reason the first thing that popped into her head was "Tots."  And the boy agreed.  The girl knew then that there was something special about this boy she may have overlooked in the past.  On a typical Thursday night, the girl went to the boy's apartment and they began to cook some tots.  Then the boy wondered, "What would these taste like fried?"  So they tried it.  And totfest was born.  To make the evening more exciting, the girl brought many sauces to dip the tots in, some delicious, some surprising, and some downright gross.  But they enjoyed each other's company and a tradition was born.  Shortly after the first Totfest, the boy and the girl dated again, and then they got married and vowed to celebrate Totfest together every year.

So, it may seem on the outside like something completely unhealthy, and overindulgent, and strange, but deep down, there is a story behind Totfest that is very important to us.  And really celebrates an important day in our life together.  Plus, we both really like tater tots.

Totfest 2010 introduced hot wings to the menu.  2011 brought us fried mushrooms and twinkies.  I only fried one twinkie because, well, it turned out gross.  You have to freeze them before hand, apparently so they can't soak up so much oil (being spongecake).  And I didn't freeze them long enough.  So we just ate regular twinkies for dessert.  This was also the first Totfest in which outsiders were invited.

Evan said this about the future of Totfest:  Totfest should be like MTV.  It started out as just music television, but now it has branched out to much much more.

So, Totfest will branch out to become more like friedfest, and will be amazing.  He also said that one day he wants to have so many people over he has to contact food vendors to buy tots by the boxful.  We'll see about that one!

Our original fryer (which Evan found in a foreclosed house when he was cleaning out foreclosed houses) died and we had to rush to get a new one.  Luckily they are not expensive.  Also, we have an outlet on the patio so we could fry OUTSIDE and not have to have our apartment smelling like hot oil for the next month.  HOORAY!

Isn't our new fryer perty?

And the poster for Totfest 2011, complete with Sigmund Freud mascot:

Until next year!

Sunday

While sitting in Sunday School, the teacher was talking about a scripture story and saying something along the lines of, "They didn't get it all at once.  They didn't just wake up one morning and stop being hungry. It came little by little."
Evan then leaned over and said, "I'm still hungry."
As he often skips breakfast, especially in the pre-church scramble to get out of the house on time, I asked skeptically if he had eaten anything this morning.  Thinking, if he didn't eat anything then can't be still hungry, just hungry.
He answered, "Yes!" meaning of course.  How could I ask such a silly question?  "Oh!" I said, surprised because I didn't remember him ever stopping in the kitchen.  I was ready to drop it when he smiled and said, "Two cookies."  Of course he ate the last two cookies on the pan from last night.

See, I managed to hurt myself yesterday in a friendly game of volleyball.  So I put myself in bed for a few hours when we got back, then moved to the couch for the rest of the night while Evan cooked dinner, and dessert and worked on his schoolwork.  And since I was laid up and not planning to do any housework, the dishes sat there.  With the last two cookies out all night, making the perfect breakfast for my husband to eat while he ran to throw his wrinkled clothes in the dryer.  We own an iron, but rarely does it get used.  Another story.

And that is a typical Sunday morning for the Andersons.

Are all Arkansans this personal?

Side note before I start, Arkansas is pronounced are-kin-saw.  I'm sure you know this.  The term for people from the state, Arkansans is pronounced are-can-zans.  You might have known this too.  If not, it was an educational experience. Now on to my original thought.


Dear random person from Arkansas I met three minutes ago,

Sure, we are still kinda newly weds, we've only been married for 18 months.
No, we don't have kids yet, we've only been married for 18 months.
If and when we do plan to have kids, I promise you will not be the first person we tell.  There are at least a dozen people ahead of you in that line.
My husband is in school, I work.  In fact, I have a degree. A Master's Degree.  Crazy world isn't it?  Women going to school and then working and supporting their husbands while they go to school.  Crazy.
Yes, I nanny.  Yes, it's a big family.  Actually, it's a lot of fun.  They are well behaved and fun to be around.  And, they pay well.
Yes, I like Arkansas.  It was hot, but it cooled off and now it looks lovely outside with all the trees changing color.  Also our bowling team won the tournament last night.  The UCA Graduate students finally dethroned the UCA psychology faculty as bowling champions.

Thank you for chatting with me, it was nice getting to know you.

Sincerely,
The Andersons

Updating

I have lost the blogging inspiration.  I'll try to be better.

Evan is still going to school and working as a graduate assistant.  I'm still a nanny.  We are slowly but surely adding life to our little apartment.  We add something new to the decor every few weeks. It's more fun this way.  At one point we were trying to decide on color schemes and themes for each room and trying to find things that all went together so that we could do it all at once and put it up. What I've found is that this is much better.  Everything has fallen together nicely without any strict rules about what is/isn't allowed in each room.  Maybe I'll post pictures someday.

We got callings at church (Woohoo!) Evan is Elder's Quorum Secretary, and I am Relief Society Secretary.  Apparently this was not planned, it just happened this way and was seen as a funny coincidence.  It does make it easy to collaborate though, if the need arrives.

As part of turning out apartment into a home, I got a tablecloth and napkins to use when we have guests over.  We have a bar/counter we eat at, no real room for a table.  So it's nice to be able to change it a little and make it look different than the rest of the kitchen counter.  And I learned how to fold the napkins into a cool silverware envelope (thank you google) so it looks fancy.  We've done that twice now.

Now that you are updated on the mundane in our little life, I will leave you with a trinket from my childhood.  I learned this song in elementary school, and occasionally will sing it and get strange looks.  Thanks to Dirty Jobs, there are many more people around the nation that have heard of a geoduck (pronounced gooey duck).  However, I will bet there are 2 states tops that would ever play this song.  And really, I think Washington is the only state you can find them so that number should be 1.

Proud to be a Washingtonian!

I've been waiting for something before updating our blog.  But really, lots happens all the time, I just don't sit down to write it.  And then I think, 'Well, once I put the pictures on the computer I'll do it.'  Then I don't. Then the stories pile up and I don't want to start because I'm, afraid I'll forget a good story.  So I'm starting now!

So here is a little of what we've been doing:

 Evan has been watching College Football, and the US Open while playing The Legend of Zelda.  I came home one Saturday to this.

 We bought Dominion!  We have definitely missed game nights, and our friends in Richmond.  Evan traded in a bunch of his super nintendo games and got a surprising amount of store credit.  So we were able to get Dominion as well as TWO new Wii games.  Exciting.

 I've been baking- a lot.  Here is a carrot cake I made. From scratch. 

 It was delicious too.  This is an after dinner shot.  (We had the missionaries over, so don't think we ate that all by ourselves.  Though I would have.)

 And some cupcakes I made.  Again from scratch.  With buttercream icing.  I didn't like the icing, too light or something.  I prefer the thicker sweeter frostings. But still good.  Those would be vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate.  And it was a good excuse to use the cupcake stand we got for our wedding.  

 The biggest news since our last update?  WE HAVE FURNITURE!  We were waiting and waiting for the funding and to find something we loved- because, we plan to keep it for at least the next five years.  Hopefully longer.  And guess what?  I even did before, during, and after pictures.




BEFORE:

DURING:

AFTER:

I'll say, having furniture turns the whole place around.  All of the sudden we have a home, not a room.

A Saturday with the Andersons

As regular party people, we keep ourselves pretty busy- with all the partying and all.  Like, last weekend, Evan managed to shoot the ceiling fan with a Nerf gun and get three consecutive darts to stick.

I was impressed.  I was even more impressed that the camera was able to capture the magic.

 One Dart

 Two Darts

Three Darts.  Or it should be, one fell off before I got it on camera, but since two darts were on one blade and now they are on different blades I hope you can find my story believable.

You know, Evan is pretty skilled with a Nerf gun.  I never really thought of them as a weapon of accuracy, but dear Evan has made it into one.  I can't tell you the number of times I've come home to find all of our darts unloaded on a single target in a straight little line.  Especially once he mastered hitting the lamppost from across the room.  Six little darts evenly spaced in a column down the post.  Amazing.

Of course, we do occasionally do fun things.  Last night we went to the first football game of the season. GO BEARS! I didn't get any pictures of that unfortunately.  We also play volleyball on Friday nights with the spanish branch at church.

 Central Arkansas may not be the most progressive city in the nation (I mean, honestly, there is no law requiring any type of headwear for motorcycle riders, the ATMs still have black and green screens, and you can pump gas before you pay)  but it is homey!

New Things

I was reminded that I haven't updated since our AC was out.  Since then, the AC has been fixed, we've been staying every night in our apartment and we even got CURTAINS!  It is super exciting.  We still don't have any furniture, but that's ok.  It will come.

Evan started classes yesterday, and he said he liked it!  He is also working for the department as a graduate assistant, mostly making copies and shredding papers for now.  He will get to teach a few times (yay!) and he is looking forward to that.  Evan also wants to get into some research with another professor, so overall looking to be extra busy this semester.  I think he is just overjoyed to be back in school and not working part-time in a position where his day was dictated by the mood of the 14-year-old he was assigned to.

I have been just working with my family.  They get cuter every day.  Tonight is the birthday party of the second child.  She is now officially 8 years old.  And full of the diva attitude.  So I will be attending as designated ice skating adult.  Mom cannot skate, dad is out of town and girl #3 (who is just shy of three years old) is fearless and ready to run across the ice.  So I get to be catcher.  YEEHAW! I think it will be great fun.

We are settling into the area nicely, starting to make friends, and regular appearances at events.  It is wonderful to finally beginning to feel like we are home.