It's been a a long, long time....

...since I have blogged. I came to realize that my blog was boring me and I am sure that no one was even reading it....it was just like all of the other blogs that did something like that before me, except that those were original and mine was not : ) Oh well. Maybe I am not really a blogger? Anyway, here's what I have been up to...

The summer was pretty uneventful and Pampered Chef has not taken off like I hoped it would. Not to say that it won't, but as of right now it hasn't. Went back to work the first week of August, and I have an awesome new coteacher this year. We have a great staff in our classroom and the kids are fine....but I am discovering that inclusion is a hard-fought battle with kids with moderate-to-severe disabilities, and it breaks my heart that it is 2009 and we are still fighting. I am also discovering that preschool is my true passion, and I think I will write a book about modifying preschool curriculum to meet the needs of all children. For now I will continue to pray that God will keep me in His will and direct my path as I figure out what He wants for me....

Philip is working hard on his music and I want him to be successful more than I want myself to be. He has waited and worked for so long, and he is so faithful...and God has blessed him with so much talent. I know that it is going to happen, but my prayer is that it will happen for him sooner rather than later...I know that most days he feels he is languishing at work and it is hard for me to know that he is so unhappy.

On an up note, we are going to see Metallica Monday night : ) Fun, just like old times when we were dating or first married...out of town concert...late-night Waffle House stop....sleeping in the next day....except that I have to go to OPEN HOUSE at work that night! The perils of being a grown-up...oh well!

Summer eat-in Challenge, Days 6, 7, and 8...Among other things

Haven't had much time to write the last few days. Sunday was my Pampered Chef party. It was a lot of fun...I had 15 guests (!) and made $451 in sales at the party. The orders online from friends who couldn't come, from Philip's coworkers, and from a coworker of Diane, my sponsor/consultant for this party have equaled $797 so far with 4 people still planning to order. I think I will be able to get lots of cool stuff to start my business. I am uber-excited to get going. I just can't shake the feeling that this business is what God has been leading me to. I have 3 parties booked so far and 2 on board to schedule, along with at least 2 more party prospects and 1 possible recruit. Woot woot!

As for dinner, it has really been kind of pathetic the last few days! Sunday after church I heated a can of chili to make one of my faves-chili pie, or a Petro (I miss that place) or whatever YOU call it-chili with corn chips, cheese, tomato, and sour cream...although I didn't realize I was out of sour cream. How did that happen? I always have sour cream! Philip mixed it up a little and chopped up his last 2 Hebrew National hot dogs into his chili (gag! I hate hot dogs!). That man is never happier than when he gets to have a hot dog or 2, since I never, ever, buy them. That is the only reason he looks forward to my nephews' (or any other child's) birthday parties! Sunday night we went to Cracker Barrel with my fam, where our server misinterpreted my order of "fried chicken tenderloins with dumplings and mashed potatoes on the side" as "chicken and dumplings with dumplings and mashed potatoes on the side." !!!! I bet the people in the kitchen were scratching their heads, much as I was when I was brought a plate of dumplings....with a bowl of dumplings. Huh? Then the poor server (a "rising star"-apparently Cracker Barrel speak for "newby") took my entire plate back to the kitchen instead of just bringing me some chicken tenders....so I didn't even get to eat my sides while I waited for my meat. Fun!

Yesterday was my PC cluster meeting. It was at 6:30 p.m. on the opposite side of town, so I attempted to get dinner ready for Philip before I left. I was making Pad Thai, and the noodles were not softening like I wanted them too. Long story short, Philip ended up making his own Pad Thai, and I ended up not getting to eat dinner and feeling like a sorry excuse for a wife, although he reminded me that he is perfectly capable of taking care of himself. I love him! Lucky for me, I had just polished off my bag of Kettle Chips. I knew there was a reason I couldn't stop eating those things! Not really a good dinner, though.

Tonight-Bible study and panko-crusted shrimp with twice-baked sweet potatoes, from my new cookbook, Cook Yourself Thin.

Summer Eat-in Challenge, Day Five

We slept in (a little) today then made pancakes (not from a mix!), bacon, fruit (strawberries, kiwi, and peaches), and coffee for breakfast. After a little bit of running around, we had some Pillsbury spinach and cheese Savorings and Kettle Chips for a snack (along with Jones Soda-mmmmmm).

For dinner tonight we went to Logan's...then we came home and worked in the yard and cleaned the carpet...then had ice cream!!! Not a healthy food day, that's for sure. That's okay. We can all have a cheat day every now and then!

Tomorrow-Pampered Chef party. Breakfast-oatmeal??? Lunch-who knows. We'll dig something out of the fridge or the freezer....

Summer Eat-in Challenge, Day Four

Today....groceries at Publix. Bought mostly stuff for my party on Sunday, so I did not really save a lot since most of what I needed was not on sale. I bought ingredients for Cran-raspberry Fizz and Virgin Mojitos (both Pampered Chef recipes). I also came to the conclusion that I am too much of a food snob to ever be one of those people who can go to the grocery store with my circulars and coupons and get two carts full of food for $0.75. Oh well. I will keep trying anyway : )

I spent the rest of the day cleaning the basement, which is where we are having the party. Thank God I had put my chuck roast in the Crock Pot as soon as I came in from Publix, or I would have given in to the temptation to go to Krystal tonight instead of eating from my own kitchen. Mashed potatoes, balsamic carrots, and mushroom gravy completed the meal, and I had leftovers to put in the freezer.

Tomorrow I have to vacuum and clean my carpet. We will probably eat out for dinner tomorrow night, but we will cook breakfast in the morning: pancakes, bacon, fruit, and coffee. I love cooking breakfast on Saturday mornings. I also need to make a Greenlife run tomorrow so that I will have Irish oatmeal to make for breakfast on Sunday....

Summer Eat-in Challenge-Day Three

Today I totally overslept. I set my cell phone alarm for 8:00-P.M.. Of course, I did not realize this until I woke up at 8:45. Urghh. I hate when I do things like that. Oh well. I didn't have anywhere to be early....but I had hoped to get some stuff done. Apparently, it was not in the stars. After being lazy with my breakfast and coffee for a little while, showering, and doing my Bible study for the day, I went to visit my friend Sabrina and her 9-day-old son Grayson. SO CUTE. I took the leftover Ro'tel dip from last night and we had that for lunch. I came home, almost hitting a turkey-that's right, a TURKEY-on the way home. It was pretty funny. I worked out for the first time in 2 weeks-so bad!

For dinner tonight I decided to do spinach salad with hot bacon dressing instead of grilled chicken caesars. I had forgotten to get the chicken out of the freezer and I did not make it to Publix to get sourdough, so the only bread in the house is double fiber whole wheat-good for toast and sandwiches, but not croutons for caesar salad! I did, however, have baby spinach from a buy-one-get-one-free special on Earthbound Farm salad, bacon, eggs, and mushrooms. I cooked the bacon, then drained it on paper towels and poured out the drippings into a bowl. I cooked half a container of mushrooms (another BOGOF deal) into the pan and cooked them till soft. I put the spinach in a bowl and topped it with crumbled bacon and the cooked mushrooms. I put 3 tablespoons of bacon drippings in the pan, added 1/2 teaspoon of dijon mustard into the pan, and then whisked in 3 T. of red wine vinegar. I poured it over the salad, put the salad in bowls, and topped them with sliced boiled egg. I served a grilled cheese on the side. Yum! By the way, I got my spinach salad recipe from The Pioneer Woman. She rocks!

After dinner I went to buy a dress at Ann Taylor Loft. Guess what? Sold out of my size! I was not happy...but I did make it over to Fresh Market to buy some gourmet junk food-Kettle Chips and Jones Soda....

Tomorrow's dinner-chuck roast, mashed potatoes, and brown gravy with mushrooms (assuming I make it to Publix tomorrow).

Sorry. My life is pretty boring....

The Summer Eat-in Challenge-Day Two

Today was grocery day. I slept in (a little, anyway) and was lazy watching the Today Show while drinking my coffee in bed. I met my mom and sister for lunch at Chick-fil-a then went to Target to buy some Method cleaning supplies to use as door prizes at my Pampered Chef party on Sunday. By the time I got home, I was not in the mood to make a grocery list! I did it, though, and managed to save a little over 30 dollars, paying $49 for $82 worth of groceries. Not too bad.

For dinner, I made Ro'tel dip in my Crock Pot. I used Velveeta bought with a coupon, the store brand version of Ro'tel tomatoes, some leftover taco filling that I had in the freezer, and some baby spinach to add some nutritional value : ) I threw it all in the Crock Pot on high before I put my groceries away, then let it heat while I put everything away and did some cleaning. After about an hour, we had a yummy dip for the chips we bought the other night to eat with our frozen pizza. The problem with Ro'tel dip is that I can't stop eating it. The good news, though, is that I got on the scale this morning and discovered that I had "miraculously" lost 4 lbs. since Saturday. I don't know what it is that my body does not like about traveling, but it really does a number on me. Geez!

Dinner tomorrow night: Grilled chicken Caesar salad????

The Summer Eat-in Challenge

My job is stressful. Some nights it is hard to come home, work out, and cook dinner. This results in way too much eating out. The sad thing is, I love to cook. I own every kitchen gadget and appliance known to man (okay, maybe it's not that extreme) and more than 30 cookbooks...but when you are tired, dinner out just seems easier.

Unfortunately, eating out is not free, or even cheap. Even a fast food restaurant sets us back about $10. It is also unhealthy, especially when you consider that the eating out is often accompanied by a lack of working out, because I am SO tired. This=5 pound weight gain in the last few months. That may not seem like a lot, but when you are 5'3", this can mean the difference between your "skinny" jeans and your "not-so-skinny" jeans. And since I just lost a bunch of weight last year, my "skinny" clothes are pretty new. I do not like the idea of having to "upsize." Finally, eating out is really kind of gross. I HATE fast food, except for a few exceptions (Chick-fil-a, Zaxby's, Krystal-yes, KRYSTAL) and even casual dining restaurants kind of gross me out these days. I like knowing what's in my meal.

So, I have decided that now that vaca is out of the way and I am off for the summer, I will start a summer "eat-in challenge." This means that I will cook dinner EVERY night, with a few exceptions-on Saturdays, we may cook breakfast/lunch and go out for dinner; we eat dinner at my parents' house on Sundays; we will probably go somewhere really nice for our 8th anniversary (yea!) in July; and if we do a weekend trip or something, cooking is obviously out. I want to try to cook as many different things as possible, but my main goal is just to cook a meal at home every day. I have also decided that frozen meals (pizzas, Bertolli meals, etc.) count. They are not ideal, but they work in a pinch. We are label readers, so we try to choose the healthiest frozen meals, and it's definitely less expensive than eating out.

So, the challenge starts tomorrow. Wonder what's for dinner....

Hair Through the Ages (aka Work with What God Gave Ya...)

I have had many interesting hair "looks" throughout my 3o years....for the first 9 years of my life, my hair looked like this: (Just as an aside, check out the teeth! Awesome. Nothing that 5 years of wearing a retainer couldn't fix-I guess I should just be glad I didn't have to have braces...) Of course, being 10ish, and given the fact that I was a preadolescent (tween, if you will) in the late 80s, I just couldn't leave well enough alone. So, bad perm + puberty=6th grade class pic...

Wow. I am really putting it on the line right now. See the retainer? As you can see, I was very cute as a 6th grader....but wait, it gets worse. Here is my attempt at making it better:

Yep, I sported that super-sexy bob for two years, then in 8th grade I went for it and chopped it ALL off. That's what happens when you let your mom talk you into haircuts. I quickly tired of that, though. So, in high school, I grew my hair out. Now, this was the 90s, when everyone wanted stick straight, flat-as-a-board hair. I was no exception. I tried and tried, and failed miserably. A stylist once begged me to let her put mousse in my hair and scrunch it to see if I had natural curl she could bring out. I told her no, it would just frizz, it was just wavy....blow it straight. You can see for yourself how THAT worked for me:

Senior yearbook picture

Senior Cap and Gown Picture



So, the summer before I started college, a friend talked me into chopping it. This was the age of "the Rachel", the choppy layered cut inspired by Jennifer Aniston's character on Friends (one of my all-time favorite shows, by the way)....so a few incarnations later, this is the best I could come up with....

Chi Omega composite picture, 1998.

Not terrible, but this was after 20 minutes of blow-drying and then another 20 of straightening....

This was "Running out the Doors" 1999. One of the last hurrahs for my straight, short hair. Because this was about to happen:

Wait for it......

I had a roomie with curly hair. One day, I got ahold of her gel. I was bored, my boyfriend (now my wonderful husband) was at work, my roommates were all out somewhere...so I washed and scrunched. And that happened. What? Where have you been hiding, curls? To think of all the horrible injustices I suffered at the hands of my blowdryer and straightener...and my hair could have looked like this? I remember that there was a girl in my graduating high school class that had great curls and I used to think, "If my hair would look like hers I would wear it curly." Because even in the super-straight 90s, natural curl was okay. So, the days of Five-Minute Hair were born!


Somewhere along the way, though, a super-dry summer led to some not-so-nice-thoughts about my hair, as the dry ends crackled and frizzed. I sought a way to make it better. A pretty short search at Books-a-Mill (my favorite place) let me right to Lorraine:

Ahhhh, Lorraine Massey, my hair savior. She is a stylist with naturally curly hair. She opened my eyes to a new way of doing things, and she turned on my "curly girl pride." Very few people know about my VERY SPECIFIC hair routine, and when I tell people, I am pretty sure they think I am mildly insane. But it works for me, and I get many compliments on my hair. And except for Saturdays, I still have Five-Minute Hair. And it looks like this:

My routine: Most days, I wet it down....work conditioner through it....rinse out most but not all of the conditioner (I use Sunsilk in the green bottle)...squeeze it with a towel then scrunch it from the bottom with a towel....scrunch in a generous amount of Fructis Curl Scrunch gell...and that's it. On Saturday....I (1) wet it; (2) put conditioner on the ends; (3) massage shampoo into my scalp only; (4) rinse; (5) put Aussie 3-minute Miracle in it; (6) rinse; (7) put Sunsilk conditioner in it; (8) rinse most but not all of it out; (9) towel-scrunch, gel, go....

Yep, that's right. I only shampoo my hair once a week. I must have dirty, smelly hair, huh. Nope. I have done this for years. Five years, to be exact. My hair does not smell bad. It smells like my conditioner. You see, curly girls usually have very dry hair, and our American way of shampooing every day makes that even worse, because the detergents in shampoo dry it out. So rinsing with water and conditioning are plenty good to keep your hair clean through the week.

I swear I am not crazy.

And I don't stink.

And, one more thing. I straighten my hair on very rare occasions. I have a much better straightener now than I did back in the day. I can go from curly to straight in about 20 minutes, no blowdryer involved. But still, this is too damaging and too time-consuming to do on a regular basis (remember, I have Five-Minute Hair now), plus it's JUST NOT ME. So, if you see me with straight hair, PLEASE do not tell me that I should wear it like that all the time. God gave me curls, and I plan to work them for the rest of my life. It's one of His (many) gifts to me, and I love my curly hair. I love to spread the "gospel of curls."

I had a lot of fun making the cake for Tanya’s shower. I made sure to document every step of the process. Before I get started, I just want to say that my inspiration was a cake in the book The Whimsical Bakehouse by Kaye Hansen and Liv Hansen. My cake did not look just like theirs, but I got the idea from there. Very cute!

First, I drew the animals on parchment paper. I decided to free hand rather than use the templates from the book...

Next, I traced the animals in chocolate.

Then, it was time to fill them in. I used wafer chocolate and colored it with candy colors...

Finally, they were done. All in all, it took about an hour.

I decided to make a cake that was two tiers-one eight-inch and one nine-inch. Both were two chocolate layers and one yellow layer with cookies and cream filling and meringue buttercream icing. I didn’t take pictures of the cake-making process...too much of a pain, what with all that icing....but here’s the finished product....


Oh my gosh! I know I made this, but it turned out so well. Yes, Mr. Giraffe got a broken neck...and he and Mr. Zebra lost their tails...but the cake was a hit!

The shower was wonderful and Tanya got lots of adorable gifts! I wish now that I had thought to take a picture of her with the cake...

Coming back to life....

The last few months have been crazy. New job with lots of new responsibilities, and a giant learning curve. I keep dreaming of a life where my creative outlets make my living for me....but December and January were a blur of data sheets, signature pages, and tears. My shoulders get tense just thinking about it. Not even Christmas break felt relaxing, mostly because all I thought about was assessment and how I wasn't getting anything done....

I turned in my portfolio assessments on 2/9, and then I told my Philip, my very understanding (thank God!) husband that I felt like I was coming back to life. Work is still very stressful, but I am determined to learn how to do what the school system is paying me to do while I am on their watch and do what I want to do when I am on mine.

I have been decorating a lot of cakes lately. In a few minutes I am going to start on a safari cake for a a baby shower for my friend Tanya, our SLP at work. I am looking forward to using a new technique to make the animals. I have also made several button rings and a "bling" ring, which is a very cute technique where you make beaded dangles and attach them to a ring with special loops. Very swishy and adorable. I can't resist wearing all of my new things before I post them on my Etsy page.

Well, off to make lions, tigers, zebras, and giraffes.