Dana's Daisies

Living away from family, friends, and civilization has given me time to develop interests I have, like being crafty. I have gotten my craft on pretty seriously lately! The main thing I have been making is fabric flowers for girls to wear in their hair. I definitely struggled at first, I have an entire pile of "not good enough" flowers.

Over time I have made a decent amount of flowers that I am proud of. I wanted to try and sell some so I went into the floral shop in a local town named Tioga that also is a small boutique and asked the owner if she would be interested in selling them. She was interested and she told me to bring in a display for her to put up. This was a daunting task for me. I wanted to look professional and not have it be obviously homemade so I took a lot of time and effort putting off the actual assembling of the display. I finally put together something am pleased with and attached all the flowers that had made the "cut".

I didn't want to just have the flowers in a basket because I wanted them to be easily seen, thus drawing people's eyes to them. They are now in the Tioga Floral shop and we will see if anyone else actually likes them! If anyone is interested in me making them some just comment and let me know! I can make lots of styles and colors, just regular clips, smaller ones on bobby pins, or do head bands.

Chinese Chicken

I love food. All kinds of food, but chinese food is easily my favorite. I crave it regularly, and would it regularly but we live in the middle of nowhere. The closest place to get chinese is over half an hour away, which makes this recipe perfect because I can have chinese food in the comfort of my own home. I learned how to make this chicken my freshman year of college and have been making ever since. Today I didn't have work, so I actually had time to make it. This batch turned out the best it ever has and I savored every bite. As I was eating it I thought about how everyone that I've made it for has loved it, which led me to think I should share the deliciousness with others, so here it is.

You will need Panda Express orange sauce (which you can find at almost any grocery store in the oriental food section), chicken, canola oil, egg, milk, flour, two bowls, a cutting board, and a skillet.

In one bowl mix

- 1 egg

- 3 tablespoons of milk

In another bowl mix

- 1 1/2 cups of flour (you may need more or less depending on how much chicken you use)

- seasoning (pepper, season salt, red pepper flakes, or whatever you want)

In skillet heat

-canola oil

Cut up/ dice desired amount of chicken (I normally do 2 or 3 breasts)

Soak chicken in egg/milk combo

Toss chicken in flour mixture

Fry the battered chicken in the oil until cooked and crispy then put into a glass casserole dish

Pour desired amount of orange sauce on chicken and cook at 375 degrees in oven till sauce boils

Serve on white rice

Last Six Months

So I totally suck at blogging and haven't done it for over six months! I decided that since more than likely no even reads it I can have some fun with it and kind of turn it into an online journal. Now I am going to condense six months into a reasonable couple of paragraphs.

Jesse and I have moved ourselves, fritz and our giant 5th wheel trailer out to Ray, North Dakota. The town's population I believe is less than a thousand, but for us this is a step up. Granger, Wyoming only had a population of150. I know because I looked it up on Wikipedia :) The nearest "big" city is Williston, ND which is about 35 minutes away. That is where we have to go for just about everything. They do have a Wal-mart which means that it is actually civilized haha! This wal-mart is pretty intense. Imagine wal-mart on black friday; the shelves empty, waiting in line for over half an hour, grabbing things out of the boxes that are still in the aisles not put away. This is Wal-mart for us every day!

Jesse still works for Rocky Mountain Trucking, as a right hand man. He does just about everything, but technically his job is to deliver sand to rigs that are fracing. I attempt to understand what they do but I get hopelessly lost and give up.

All you need to know is that Jesse drives a semi truck and then uses a high pressure blower to get the sand out of his trailer into theirs and then he goes and does it again.

I work at the gas station that is less than a minute away from our trailer. The Gas-N-All is pretty "fabulous" and when it says All it means all. We have gas, a restaurant, a movie rental business, etc. We used to have a tanning bed but weirdly enough it didn't get that much use. I worked as the morning cook for about a month before I couldn't stand waking up at 4:30 everyday and working 10 to 11 hour shifts anymore. I really didn't like cooking for 30 plus people on a grill that is only two feet across (that is really tiny just so you know). I work nights now,

so my job basically consists of making pizzas and selling beer. I know after hearing this you are super jealous of me, especially with all the super hotties that come in from the oil field and hit on me saying really classy things like "dang girl, you're beautiful! You want to come out drinking with us when you get off" or after I say, "I need you to sign this," they say, "I'll do anything for you!" Oh yeah love the weirdies!

We have gone back to utah a few times so far, and now that winter is here we will be down almost every month for snowmobiling. If you didn't already know that is Jesse's passion in life. We love getting to see family and wish we had more time when we are there to see all our friends, sadly we only have 5 or 6 days and 2 of them are spent in traveling. One of the main highlights of the last six months was our great vacation to West Yellowstone, that we took a few months ago, it was such a blast.

We saw all the geysers, went zipling, went to the wolf and grizzly bear experience, and just got to hang out with each other while seeing the beautiful natural wonders that Yellowstone has to offer. It was so much fun and I can't wait for our next trip, but this time I think we'll shell out the money for an actual hotel instead of a crummy cabin that didn't have a real mattress hahaha!

Being up here has definitely been a challenge. We don't always get to see each other since our schedules don't always match up, but we are out here to work hard and make money and that is exactly what we are doing.

It says it in the name...Why Wyoming!?

Jesse and I have been living in Wyoming for a couple of months and it has been interesting to say the very least. We live in a fifth wheel travel trailer, which is actually pretty decent even if it sounds crazy. Pictures show what I so ineptly describe, but it is basically a really nice really really small apartment. Living in college dorms prepared me well for this.

The beginning was extremely rough, we had no water or sewer for about a week because it was so cold that our pipes were frozen. During that week out here in the middle of nowhere Wyoming without certain basic necessities, I called my sister Michelle and told her all about it. Her response was, "Dana, do you know what you are doing?" I replied, "Complaining?" She told me in a dragged out response, "You...are...making...MEMORIES!" At the time I was gonna smack her, but now it makes me laugh hysterically. It will definitely make for a great story when one day our kids say that they have it hard.

Granger, Wyoming has been a serious culture shock for me. The town has one commercial store and that is the bar, which doesn't do me much good with the whole no drinking thing. There is a post office (which is a trailer), fire station, one room library, and Town Hall. The town is super classy, which is shown well by the many run down homes and the boarded up old Catholic church that ten or more people live in and park their fourteen cars in front of. Let's not forget the amazing roads throughout town that add a lot of character, it is like you are on Mr. Toads wild ride.

Until recently we didn't have internet or cable and still have nearly no phone service, all in all not much to do here. I started talking daily walks when the wind would allow it (the wind in wyoming is intense). I felt disbelief when on my walks I would get maybe a hundred yards away from a herd of antelope or have to turn around because I was afraid my dog would go chase after the flock of sheep being herded by a cowboy straight out of a cheesy western film.

I'd be lying if I said I have been loving every moment of this experience, but it has definitely been an experience. I already feel like I've grown as a person and matured by dealing with a situation that wouldn't be easy for anyone. I am making the most out of being here. So now I will reflect on the good in Granger. Jesse and I have spent so much time together since being out here. We hang out, watch movies, make delicious meals (since there is nowhere to eat out), we have gone 'digging' in his truck down by the river, we have gone on bike rides out in the prairie and played at the park. Also we spend a lot of time with Jesse's boss and his wife. They have been extremely good to us, and since his boss challenges us to wii games all the time, my wii skills have become something to admire. Before we moved to Wyoming I would have said I was extremely close with my husband and loved him very much. I did not think that I could get closer to him or love him more, but the time out here has proven that wrong. We have had to deal with a lot and we love each other so much more now, and I know now that we can do anything as long as we are together. I know that sounds oober cheesy, but I believe it's true.

P.S.

Whoopi!!! I didn't think things could get better, but now we have something new to look at from our back window. Can you guess what it is....give up? It is a port-a-potty! This place is just so classy.

Update

Since I have no idea if anyone actually reads this blog and I'm pretty lazy I haven't added anything new recently. Obviously awesome things are constantly happening in my life and I have amazing things to say that everyone should want to read about, sooooo eventually I'll really update my blog :) for now know that I'm still as awesome as ever. Oh and Jesse and I are moving to the middle of nowhere Granger, Wyoming in the very near future. This is the closest "establishment" to where I'll be living. Sad, huh?

Fritz Fisher

We have a new addition to the Fisher family already. I have been obsessed with the thought of having a puppy for a very long time, and I somehow convinced Jesse into getting one. We did a lot of looking around and finally found the perfect lil guy on a website called CAWS (community animal welfare society). We met him and instantly fell in love, he really is the cutest puppy I've ever seen. Fritz is part chihuahua and part ? You would not really guess chihuahua when you see him, but I think it means he'll stay small and I'm happy about that. Fritz is ridiculously scared of everything at first, but we force him to do a lot. We have him meet lots of people and dogs, and we took him swimming at Bear Lake (he's a natural) this last weekend. We held him right above the water and before he even touches it he starts swimming, it was so funny Fritz had all of us laughing for a while. He is like a baby because he likes to be craddled and he is an Attention Hor! Jesse is head over heels for Fritz, he loves him and is sad because Fritz loves me more and follows me everywhere. As with most puppies he has some incidents, but so far he's been a great puppy and we think will turn out to be a great dog.

Pinatas!!

For Jackie's twenty-first birthday she wanted to have a fiesta, so a fiesta she had. My mom got her two pinata's - a 2 and a 1 (21) this was awesome, only problem was she never used them. Being the genius that she is, Jackie gave them to me for my twenty-first birthday three years later. I also did not use them...until the other day. My twin nephews Carter and Kenji were punching them so I thought "Why not!?" I took it outside and hung it from our swing set and told Halle and the boys to get a bat. They showed up with a woody-buzz bat and two ping pong paddles! I found that immensely funny. They tried to go at it, but luckily I stopped them before they destroyed it and forced them to play by pinata rules. We blindfolded them and spun them around and they started swinging their lil hearts out, it was loads o' fun. I took my turn as well...of course! I had to spin lots more because of my obvious advantage and wasn't allowed as many whacks. Despite my obstacles I came out the victor! The best part of the whole thing was how nasty and old the candy was. Yet this did not keep them from eating as much of it as they could. It was a lot of fun and I was smart enough to save the other half of the pair of pinata's so we can play another day.