S is for Slave

I haven't been blogging, I've been slaving. Slave, esclavo, sklave, schiavo, slaaf, escravo, 奴隶, 奴隷. That's right. The past few weeks my whole existance can be explained by that five, sometimes more or less depending on the language, letter word. Gosh, now I know how Cinderella felt -- "Lauren do this", "Lauren do that", "Lauren get me some water", "I'm hungry, make me some food"...

...(entering dream sequence)...feed the dogs, do the dishes, go swimming with your sister, walk the dog, mow the lawn, make lunch, make dinner, clean my room, do the dishes, vaccuum the house, dust, quit playing the piano, find a job, get me some popsicles, pick this up, run this to the post office, get alli off to school, do the dishes...

No, that is not some sick nightmare, that is my life.

In the past week I have constantly been cleaning:

the kitchen

this room

the dining room

the living room

and (unphotographed) the other living/piano room, the guest room, alli's room, the study, and the entire upstairs (my room).

There has also been one other unfortunate job that has been thrust upon me, but I think that one will have to be saved for another post...

** A special thanks to http://www.freetranslation.com/ for providing me the translation of slave into spanish, german, italian, dutch, portuguese, chinese, and japanese.

M is for Modeling/Monster

I've created a monster. The other day I wanted to use my old camera, actually my moms old camera, a Canon AE-1. I've had it since I did photojournalism in high school. Might I add that I was one of the best sports photographers at Tomball High! Anyways, I haven't used it in forever and have essentially forgotten what a majority of the settings were, its not automatic so I couldn't just point and shoot but had to pick the f-stop and focus and everything. It was fun trying to figure it out again, but it has been half a decade and I think I've lost my touch. It was weird going to the store to drop off film, and having the suspense of not knowing AT ALL what the pictures I was going to pick up would look like. Aunt Cathy was baffled that people still even used film.

Back to the monster I created, I had to have something I wanted pictures of, I didn't want 24 images of landscape, so I told Alli that she was going to have a fashion show/modeling shoot. She pulled out her princess dresses, jewels and did her own hair and make-up and then we went to the back yard. I have never laughed so hard as I did when she started doing poses. I want everyone to know, I did not even once pose this child or tell her what to do. But I got everything from arms outstretched, to struts, to pouted lips, to smiling faces. It was way fun.

Here are some pics I took. The quality and sharpness isn't as good as the original because I scanned them in and the scanner wasn't workin too well and made the edges of some of the photos weird, so they are all cropped a lot. Feel free to come over and see the originals! Enjoy!

Below is Sampson T. Nuttall

Any ideas for the next shoot?

Love Lauren

T is for Texas

"Honor the Texas flag; I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible."

That is the pledge of allegiance to the Texas state flag. I used to have to say that every morning after the pledge of allegiance to the US.

I love Texas.

I forgot how much until I went down there last week to help watch my cousins adorable one year old, Marc, because she just had a baby.

Here is Abigail with her grandma, Cathy.

Me entertaining Marc, or vice versa.

Little Marc loves cell phones. Here he is with his mom, my cousin Stephanie, playing on my cell phone.

While I was in Dallas, I also got to hang out with my friend from Jerusalem--Mitch Murdock. We had a fun time and the most entertaining, yet stressful, cooking experience. I didn't take any pictures, but I do have one from when he visited at my house and stayed in Alli's room. This photo is creepy. Only few will understand the meaning behind this photo.

Now I'm back in Oklahoma taking care of my mother who just had surgery on her ACL on Friday. Basically, instead of getting a job, I've been a professional caretaker for the past few weeks. Haven't been getting paid, but have been provided with food, housing, and the necessities of life.

Love Lauren

PS - I'm missing my "besteez" like crazy. (Allie, imagine yourself photoshopped into this picture)

R is for Recipes

In the words of high school musical "What time is it? Summertime! School's Out - Scream and Shout!" Sadly, summertime is now over and what time is it? Time for Lauren to finally, grow up, get a job, and live on her own. I'm currently living in boring old Oklahoma with my parents as I decide on what I am doing with my life. Oklahoma wouldn't be so bad... if I had even just one friend within half a decade of my age. My only friend here, Jessie Babcock, is 15. Her mom is, well, let's just say if Jessie is 15 her mom is atleast half a decade older than me. Anyways, enough of my whining, I need to move already. Point of the blog post is that soon I will be living on my own. I will have no mother to cook my meals, no roommate who is an expert chef (Thank you Rachel Zackrison), and no sister to trade off cooking with (Love you Meredith). I need to learn how to cook real meals.

This is a real request for favorite recipes, don't send me a ton because if you do I will probably disregard them, but if everyone reading will send me a few of their favorites, it would be much appreciated. Send to laurennuttall@gmail.com, or post them as a comment so others can see them. Thank you in advance.

Here is one of my favorite recipes given to me by Rachel.



Title: Chicken Enchilladas - Rachel's Recipe

Description:This is the recipe I've made at beach week the past couple years. Enjoy!


Ingredients:1/4 cup chopped pecans1/4 cup chopped onions2 T. margerine1 4oz can of diced green chili peppers, drained3 oz. cream cheese, softened1 T. milk1/4 t. groud cumin2 cups chopped cooked chicken 12 7-inch flour tortillas1 10 3/4 oz can condensed cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup1 8oz carton sour cream1 cup milk3/4 cup shredded Monterey Jack or cheddar cheese2 T. chopped pecans


Directions:1. In a skillet, cook pecans and onion in margerine over medium heat til onion is tender and pecans are lightly toasted. Remove from heat, stir in 1 T. of the green chilies.

2. In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, 1 T. milk, cumin. Add nut mixture and chicken. Spoon onto tortillas, roll up, place seam side down in a greased 3 qt rectangular baking dish. (**I usually put a little bit of the sour cream/cream of chicken mixture in the bottom of the baking dish to keep it from sticking)

3. In a medium bowl combine soup, sour cream, 1 cup milk, and remaining canned chilies. Pour the soup mixture evenly over the tortillas in baking dish. Cover with foil and bake at 350 for about 35 minutes. Remove foil, sprinkle with cheese and extra pecans. Return to oven and bake for 5 more minutes.

************ I find that the filling mixture isn't quite enough. I usually double the "chicken mixture" (cream cheese, pecans and onions, chilies, chicken) to make heartier enchilladas. I also put some cheese inside before I roll them up. Enjoy!

Number Of Servings:6 servings