Consider the corn, consider the...pasta?

What if the two of them just combined? The answer: corn pasta.

This odd creation came into being out of a need to use up the little food that we have left in our pantry. As you may know, we are moving to Japan (no, I am NOT making this up) in about 12 days. There is not a lot of room in our checked luggage for foodstuffs, so we have been trying to use it all up prior to departure. We also haven't been doing much grocery shopping, so we have been kind of stuck with whatever is left in the pantry. Yesterday, we had a couple of TV dinners in the freezer, a huge bag of rice (which somehow found its way into our house when it was thought that the whole world was going to run out of rice), and some corn (we bought a case of canned corn at a case lot sale at the commissary about a year ago and are finally using the last cans). The TV dinners were definitely not going to feed us, so we decided to add rice to make it stretch. After adding some spices, Jill decided that it was still not enough and remembered the aforementioned canned corn. She added it to the mix and, after we quit laughing about how strange it seemed, we sat down and ate it. It actually wasn't half bad. Give it try the next time you are planning a move across the world.

In other food-related news, I think you should view this. It took me back to the early 1990s when hair was big and commercials were...well, just a little weird. You can view it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tkl4Y0sxerQ
Well, back to packing. In the immortal words of Kip, "Peath out."

Randomness

Sometimes when I am stressed out or feeling down Cliff will do this thing where he very conspicuously pretends to be inconspicuous and crawls underneath tables, blankets, etc. only to pop out the other side like the picture above. It always makes me laugh out loud. It will take me half a second to figure out what he is doing and then I see his face smiling up at me from wherever he is "hiding" and my heart just melts :) He is so cute.
This is him underneath our coffee table. He really had to crawl to get himself under there. Sometimes he crawls under our quilt on our bed starting from the foot of the bed only to pop out of the top when I am waking up in the morning. I just think it is hilarious.
So we were going to a going away party for one of the missionaries in our ward who had been there for 11 MONTHS!! and this is what we saw on the street signs!!!
Cliff and I had to take pictures. We are so AWESOMELY nerdy! :)
C'mon, admit it. It's pretty cool.
This was the street they lived on: Elvenking! (Intersects with Wilderland) Basically the entire neighborhood was named after places and things from The Hobbit. Most of you know that Cliff and I are some of the biggest LOTR fans that you will ever meet. In fact, we are taking our LOTR dvds with us in our suitcase because we don't want to chance them getting lost or stolen. Yes we are that nerdy.
Ok first off - I am NOT pregnant right now but I have some of the weirdest cravings sometimes! Right now my favorite snack in the world is wheat thins, cream cheese, and dried fruit. I can't live with out it! It may sound strange but don't knock it 'til you've tried it!
Dried pineapple, mango, and papaya on a wheat thin with cream cheese = heaven on earth. These snacks are addictive!

I know this has been the most random post ever, but sometimes that's what you get with the Mays. Life is too short to always make sense!

Finished!

Finished baby quilt!!!
What the other side looks like!! (Flannel on the back - very cozy :) )
The binding!!

So, as I mentioned a while ago, my mom has taught me to quilt recently. She came down to Jacksonville a couple of weeks ago to help me with some projects and give me some tips and pointers. This baby quilt that I am making for a good friend is the result of her lessons!! I finally made an entire quilt by myself!! I probably called her a bajillion times on the phone to ask her questions... but she wasn't here to help. I had to figure things out on my own!! So 3 spools of thread and a broken walking foot later... you have the finished product! I'm sorry to go on and on about this but I was afraid that after all of her lessons that I would get over to Japan and be completely lost. This "trial" run has given me more confidence. Now I feel like I can troubleshoot and solve my sewing issues without the Mama G around.

The 4th of July at Cumberland Island

Ruins of Dungeness
Wild horses by the ruins
Horseshoe crab on the beach
In the maritime forest
Inhabitant of the maritime forest... These "little" guys were everywhere and ranged from about 3/4 in to 3 inches in length. This is one of our larger finds and it made its web about a foot above where we were hiking. YIKES! You would look up into the canopy and see dozens of these spiders at varying heights above you. I got into the habit of keeping my eyes straight ahead... Ignorance is bliss, right?
Another picture on the pathway.
The horses came right up to us! It was kind of disconcerting at first to hear them neigh and stomp their hooves so close to us but we got used to it. They leave the visitors alone as long as you don't try to pet them or anything.
Salt marsh near the beach. The Horses drink the brackish water. Our guide informed us that this has lead to poor health and the horses on the island only live about 10-12 years. That's not very long at all when you consider that most horses have a life expectancy of about 30 years.
Crossing the Dunes to the Beach.


This fourth of July Cliff and I decided to skip the fireworks and enjoy America's natural beauty by way of Cumberland Island National Seashore. I had been there when I was about ten and had always wanted to go back. There is just something incredibly mysterious and beautiful about maritime forests to me. I love the ways the spanish moss blankets the trees like lace and the forests just seem so untouched by man. Raw natural beauty. We got to see a lot of wildlife and because we chose to hike rather than chill at the beach the whole day, (like everyone else that came over with us,) we felt like we had to the forest to ourselves. Here's a list of some of the wildlife we were able to see:

-Wild horses
-Wild Turkeys - they were huge!
-Dolphins (on the boat ride over)
-Monarch butterflies
-Banana spiders (Nephila Clavipes)
-Tarantula hawk wasp (these strange creatures sting large spiders to paralyze them and then drag them into a burrow and attach their larvae to the spider. The young feed on the spider when they are born. We saw two of these wasps dragging away ginormous wolf spiders that appeared to be "stunned" while we were hiking. Totally fascinating and totally disgusting.
- Horseshoe crab
-fiddler crabs
-wood peckers
- deer
- Black turkey vultures
-peregrine falcon
- armadillo... being eaten by the vultures....

And there you have it! Nature; the good, the bad, and the GROSS!! ;) Hope everyone had a good 4th!

Elephant swimming

We'll see if this works.... I've never tried to upload a video before. If it does work, please ignore my lame narration. I think I said the word "crazy" about 50 times.

Mama G Comes to Visit!

My mom and I
Fireworks at the beach on base. My mom and I got to eat cotton candy! I LOOOVE cotton candy but it is too sugary for Cliff so I don't get it very often. My mother was very nice to treat me to some :) The three of us had a great time. The fire works were awesome and they had a live band there that played some fun music too. We met up with Stephanie and Rob after the fire works were over and my mom demonstrated her dance moves for all of us.
Here she is at the Zoo feeding the giraffes. I think I got my love of zoos from her. I will have to post some more pictures from the zoo later. We got to see one the bull African Elephants go for a swim and it was too cool.

I always have so much fun when my mom comes to see us. Cliff does too ;) (They tease each other a lot.) She is just so goofy that you can't help but have a good time when she is around. I am going to miss all of my family when we move but I am really going to miss my mom. Although we didn't get a long very well back when I was in high school, she has become one of my best friends since I moved out of the house. Funny how that works...

She has been such a tremendous influence in my life and I will never forget how she fought for me when struggled with a brain tumor and so many other medical problems back in high school. When I fell away from the church she never gave up on me and she was there when I came back. She is sooo incredibly talented, (sewing, quilting, stained glass, gardening, cutting/dying hair, etc....) and loving. I hope that I can be as good a mother to my children one day as she has been to me.

Sewing Spree

A few of the projects that I have been working on! There is a baby quilt I am making for a friend in the top left corner that has a cute Noah's Ark print, a couple of rag dolls that I sewed up in about an hour, and the summer place mats that I am working on!
Finished place mat! This is the first project that I have done ENTIRELY on my own. My mom taught me how to quilt and bind it but I actually did everything this time. (She quilted the last project after I had pieced everything together.) I know the quilting design in very simple but I am really excited that I didn't need any help!
Here is what the back looks like. The fabrics were coordinating.
My little dolls! Very mod, right?

I am really excited about sewing when I get to Japan. Apparently quilting is a big deal over there! I'm really grateful to my mom for this past weekend's tutorial. She came to down to hang out with Cliff and me and taught me a lot about my machine (her old Bernina,) and fabrics, quilting, binding, patterns, and much much more. I am beginning to gain a little confidence in this new hobby and not a moment to soon! It's crazy to think that Cliff and I will only be in the States for 1 more month!