My Sophomore Dorm Room

Welcome to my sophomore dorm room!  I am living in the same building that I lived in last year, actually just the room right next to where I was last year.  The building that I am in is an all girls dorm and is one of the older dorm buildings on campus.  I have a new roommate, Tessa, this year, who I met in my learning community last year.  But, right down the hall are some girls that I met in CRU last year, Soup (one of my roommates from the den), and another food science major that I met last year as well.

Above, is my little area for living.  I didn't go out and get anything new, everything is from last (besides we needed a microwave, so I got that).

This is my roommate's area.  She brought the futon and has a lot more decorations than me.  Everything she had is also from last year... it is crazy that all of our things sort-of go together.  They are all in the same color scheme, lots of orange, yellow, turquoise, and pink.

Each night before bed, I like to journal and every morning, before I even get out of bed, I read my devotional from my Jesus Calling book and the Bible passages that go along with it.

The closets in our building our AWESOME!

On the floor of my closet, I keep my shoes, my utilities basket, and this year I invested in little vacuum (it is a Eureka cordless, rechargeable vacuum and so far it has been great!).

I love the old, hard-wood floors in our dorm room.

At night our room gets real cozy with the lamps and Christmas lights on.

Sorry for the not-so great pictures.  These are all just phone pics, but they seem to be extra blurry.  It still gives you an idea of what my room is like though.

Summer Birthday Celebration

Each year, around labor day, my family has relatives over to our house to celebrate any August and September birthdays.  Really this is just a good excuse to get together.  We have a late Sunday lunch, cake, presents, and a good time together.

On the menu was:

pulled pork with BBQ sauce on the side

calico beans

 broccoli cauliflower salad

chips

fruit

veggies

Just a week before, we got a puppy!  My sister had fun showing it to all the relatives.  The puppy, Zoey, got lots of attention.

We took some fun pictures...

The kids wanted to do a scavenger hunt - really they just wanted money to be hidden to find (I guess, a late summer Easter egg hunt).  So, I put the scavenger hunt on, with a little money hidden with some of the clues.  The first few they got right away, but they got harder as they went.

I made an Italian Cream Cake and chocolate cupcakes.  My aunt also made a gluten free almond cake.  I decorated the Italian Cream Cake by putting some freshly cut flowers on top - I simply put a little extra frosting on top of the cake and piled on some flowers (I cut the stem real short).

Tilli is turning 9, Sarah turned 12...

and Jakob turned 14.

Grandma getting some puppy love.

Recipe | Chocolate Caramel Oatmeal Bars

I like having a treat in the afternoon... just like my mom.  Lately, bars have been my go-to treat.  They are quick and easy, especially for in the summer.  Either my mom or I would make a pan of bars, slice the pan into 12, wrap each one in plastic wrap, and freeze them.  This worked great because it is all portion-controlled and the bars were always ready to go - and, ready for me to pack with my lunch for work.

Now that school has started, I also love having bars.  Since, I am not able to bake as much, I can have a bunch of individually wrapped bars in my little freezer at school, ready for me to pull out (like each day!).  Having a little treat to enjoy each day gives the day a little something to look forward to.

  

The original recipe calls for caramel candy cubes, melted and mixed with cream.  If I were to use pre-made caramels, I would want some high quality caramels, not any that I could purchase near me.  Since melting together the caramels and cream essentially makes a caramel sauce, I decided to try using my homemade caramel sauce.  It worked great!

Chocolate Caramel Oatmeal Bars

48 soft caramel candy cubes*
1/2 cup heavy cream*

2 cups old-fashion oatmeal (I do about 1 1/2 cups old-fashion and 1/2 cup quick-cooking)
2 cups flour
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 sticks butter, cut into small cubes
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I do a heaping cup)


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a 9x13 pan with parchment paper.  Place caramels and cream in a saucepan.  Cook until caramels are melted, stirring occasionally.  Let cool.*

Mix together the oatmeal, flour, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt.  With a pastry blender, cut in butter until the mixture resembles course meal.  Press AT LEAST half of the oatmeal mixture into the pan.  Bake at 350 degrees until the crust just starts to set and to brown around the edges, about 20 minutes.

Let cool for 5 minutes.  Sprinkle with chocolate chips and drizzle with caramel mixture.  Gently press the remaining oatmeal mixture on top.  Bake for 20 - 25 minutes, until pale golden.  Let cool completely before cutting into.

*Instead of melting together caramels and cream, I make my own caramel sauce.  I drizzle the bars with about 1 cup of it.  I use this salted caramel sauce (you will need to make a double batch).