CUPCAKES!!!

I have decided that I want to cook cupcakes, and not just the regular ones, from a box, but from scratch, work on decorating them with more that just icing from a tub. Josh bought me a cupcake book from the grocery store and I thought, why not try and make some of these? They are fairly simple, they look yummy and have a little in the way of decorating and a little in the way of baking. I am going to attempt to make a batch a day- so if you are a local friend, be ready to have some cupcakes dropped on your front step. I want to practice, but not get as wide as a house while doing it.

So today, while it is the 2nd day of summer, I made my first batch.
pink velvet cupcakes.
It is all completly from scratch.

So here we go:

The ingrediants- well most of them. I forgot to show the eggs. But otherwise it is all there.











Here is the batter. Does it not look too die for! It taste delicious! Not that I tried any.











Here is the finished product: Is it not beautiful!











I wouldn't feel right if I made you think that I made those and they were all that beautiful. I had my fair share of poor looking ones. But they all tasted the same!

Lent

I grew up in a town with 4 options for a church of my religion. The Spanish speaking one, the ultra conservative one, the ultra, ultra conservative one and the last one, sort of a middle of the road, medium sized church. We went to the latter. We never spoke of lent in my church. I knew about it because the rest of the churches in my town were Catholic. However, lent was never brought up. I never had to choose what to give up, I never had to make the sacrifice.

A few years ago it became “all the rage” to give something up for lent. I felt like all the cool Christians were doing it. I felt like they were doing it to be cool, to make a statement, to rub their Godliness in others faces. I know that I was probably wrong in that, now that I am so much older and wiser. Insert sarcasm here.

Yesterday was Fat Tuesday and while we were making our dinner I mentioned that we should give something up for lent. It had been on my mind for a few weeks and since yesterday would have been the day to decide if we would participate, I mentioned it.

Josh immediately said, “You should give up Freebirds and Papa Murphys!” I almost died on the spot. He had me pegged. Because we had never participated in lent before, we discussed with the children the basic idea. We should sacrifice something small to say thank you to Jesus and God for giving up something SO very BIG. Emily immediately replied with, “Wow, Mom, use God against me.” We all had a good laugh at that one.

So after we sat for dinner we discussed several options for the kiddos to choose from. Some of the options were candy, computer time, Wii time, texting, brownies, soda and homework. It was decided after much debate that the kids would give up soda and Josh and I would give up Freebirds and Papa Murphys. It was an interesting time of conversation in our house around the dinner table, one that I enjoyed and am glad I have to reflect on.

So this year, we are participating in lent. Because we should be able to give up something that we enjoy for 40 days. The Lord gave up so much more than that for us.

The Plastics

I love having friends.

Now, I know this sounds ridiculous, but I love having friends.

Friends who will text you two days out and say, “hey- you up for lunch and shopping at Goodwill on Friday?”

That is the text I got from Jane two days ago and could hardly wait to have happen.

Candice, Jane and I are friends from school. We all work together and have created is amazing bond over the last two years that rivals almost any other friendship in my life. We are always together. If you can’t find one of us where we “belong” you need to just look in the others rooms. We are the bobby triplets of the high school. In a lot of ways I equate us to the Plastics on Mean Girls. Not that we are mean, but we all have our roll, just as they did in the movie.

Regina: Candice- She is the queen bee and she is always planning and plotting.

Gretchen: Me, because, I have SO many secrets in my hair and I want so much to be loved.

Karen: Jane, she rounds us out and is as sweet as pie, but is a little slow sometimes.

We are the Plastics, but in a nice way. We aren’t out to get those around us, we are not going to take anybody down. But we all three fit into those rolls so perfectly it is almost scary.

Well us three went out for a little lunch, goodwill shopping and Dairy Queen with Jane’s baby. He is almost too cute for words. I ALMOST want another one, but after what I did to myself this week we won’t be having anymore babies. And it was the best time. We gossiped about school and talked about babies and talked about each other and our lives. And we laughed. I laughed so hard that people at the tables around us were looking at me, but I didn’t care. Because when Candice starts in on about the truck driving women her husband works with, it is to die for. I almost wet myself. Luckily I had not had that much to drink. It was SO much fun. The three of us have such a great time with each other and we complement each other so well. Like when Candice told the waiter no guacamole on my dish, because I forgot to tell him- that is a good friend. I miss having them around on a daily basis and laughing and having a great time.vIt almost makes me ready for school to start again, ALMOST.

Surgery

I am alone in my home right now.

I sit here in my room alone while my insides begin to heal.

My family has headed out to see a movie to allow me some quiet time.

I can’t sleep.

So, I will write.

I am not sure I have thought provoking or fantastical to say, but I have had the urge to start writing again and I think I will start putting it all on “paper” again this summer.

This morning I had minor surgery. I had been diagnosed with menorrhea. This means that I have excessive, horrific, painful menstrual periods. This had begun probably four to five years ago. It was becoming more and more of a problem so I began to see doctors about it and found out about a procedure last summer. But, I waited and didn’t do anything about it. A year passed and things got worse. So I was on it again. I made the appointments and took care of business. And today was the day.

I was scared.

Really scared.

But I wasn’t really sure what I was scared of. Just that I had a sinking feeling of doom.

I went into the hospital and was scared. But as I was waiting for all of the people to come and see me and for all the nurses and doctors to do their thing I began to feel a wash of calm come over me. I knew at that moment that the prayers I had said and those my friends and family had and were saying were “doing their job.” God gave me a calm. And suddenly I was ok. Then… they came in and gave me valium. HA! I thought, if only you had been here 15 minutes ago! But then, I would not have been reminded that I am not the one in control. That the doctors and nurses are not the ones in control. No, God is the one in control. And He will always find a way to remind you of that.

Weekend retreat

This last weekend, I attended a ladies retreat with the women from my church. It was a wonderful time of fellowship and renewal. I went to the retreat excited to hang with my good friend Erica and her buddy Francis. We were going to hang out and really just have a good old time. I went with the expectation that I would enjoy myself- have some good time away from the stresses of my life for a while, but not really walk away from the weekend a different person. I thought that my spiritual life would not be greatly affected – whether this thinking was right- wrong or indifferent, that is what I believed.

Boy, was I wrong.

I was SO thirsty and didn’t even know it.

Friday night I was enjoying myself while we were worshiping and I asked God to let me gain something from the weekend. I opened my heart up and asked that He open my heart and fill it up with all things good and joyful. He heard me loud and clear. He opened my eyes, my heart and my soul and filled me so full of him that I can barely breathe now I am so full.
The theme of the retreat was Homecoming, and it was fun and heartwarming. I had gotten myself into a rut in life, just living day in, day out. Still doing all that I thought I needed to do, but feeling like something was missing- but not really knowing what was not quite right. I couldn’t ever really put my finger on it, except that I was really weighed down by the everyday life. So, when I opened up and let him fill me and it is such a wonderful feeling.

In fact, just last night I grabbed my Bible and flipped it open to a random passage and this is what the Lord led me too: Ephesians 2:1-10

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive in Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised up with Christ and seated is with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this is not from yourself, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advanced for us to do.

Did you read that? Really, really read it? It is AMAZING! I had to slow down, read it out loud to really HEAR it. I read it 4 or 5 times last night just soaking it all in. I think this may be my new favorite passage.

Know that God is has covered us with grace and that he knows we have all been in those trenched, but he there waiting for us. I am so glad to be home.

My classroom

I have been spending my time this week attending the first of my three weeks of training that I am required to have prior to the beginning of the school year. I was released early today around lunch time and I headed out to my school so that I could take a look at the class room I might be placed into, hopefully get my schedule and find out exactly what I will be teaching and finally take some of the materials home with me in order to start completing some of my lesson plans prior to the school year starting.

I was shown the room that everybody thinks I will be occupying.


The room is in the middle of being painted and cleaned out prior to the beginning of the year. I am excited to have such a huge room and I am really glad they got rid of the blue paint on the wall and painted it "Navajo" as I was told by the nice painter, Joe, that was in the room working. This is not for sure my room, but the councilor and my teaching partner seemed to think this is where I will be placed.

I also was given my tentative schedule. I will teaching 5 sections of the same class: Personal and Family Development and 1 section of Housing/Interior Design. There are 8 periods and I will have 2 conference periods, 1 each day as we are on a block schedule.

And I brought home tons of books. I brought home as many as I could carry in one trip.



I know it will be hard and over whelming and I know I will cry, but I am SO excited!

Changes are coming

I recently was looking back at my blog posts from when I left my previous job and took the job I currently have (for 6 more hours). I was looking to see if I had written a grand farewell to this job kind of piece, I mentioned that I had found a new job and that I was excited about the new opportunity and such but nothing like the post I had written in my head over the past couple a weeks about this job I have now.

But then, as I was looking at the posts I came across this picture:



And I immediately thought of the picture I had just posted earlier this week:



And I got mad at myself.

Really, really, really mad.

Because that sweet little boy has grown three years in my time with the Evil Company (EC) and I missed a lot of it because I spent my time angry about my job. I missed first days of school and Kindergarten recitals and parent/teacher conferences because of EC. I have been mad for the last three years, and you know what? That makes me mad! I missed so much of my babies childhood because of my situation.

And that day I vowed that I was done being mad. I know that this next year will be hard. I will be angry, I will be frustrated, I will feel unappreciated, I will cry. But I will not let it allow me to miss anymore of my children’s lives. No job I could ever hold will be more important that the one’s I already have, Christian, Wife and Mother.

With that said, I am SO stinking excited at the gigantic change that I am making right now. It is scary and nerve-wracking, but I know it is the correct choice, because I have no regrets of leaving EC. None, zero, zilch. I feel like I had to work at this place, I had to have these experiences, I needed them to grow as a person. But I also know that my time here is done. I have no reason to think this is a mistake. And I am ready to wake up again and start living my life, as a happy, joyful person.

I can't promise this won't become a craft blog

So I went to the WalMart today and bought some fabric. I made some aprons. I am absolutely no expert, but I am having a lot of fun learning and can't wait to try something else. I don't know what that will be, but the work week is starting, so there will be little time for sewing. The only problem I am really having is it hurts my back more than sitting at the computer for 8 hours a day. Oh, well, muscles will be built.

Here are the aprons I made today. Emily was going to model both of them, but she went next door and got sopping wet so she went straight to the shower and I wanted my picture then. Jacob reluctantly modeled it for me.

Here is my first attempt. I like it, but I need longer ribbon. I really think this would make a better child's apron, simply because the ribbons around the neck are so small. And look, that's Bessie in the back ground. Just plain dead.



Next is my second attempt. With no pattern, I was just winging it with my extra fabric. I really, really like this one.



Over all I am very pleased with my efforts. Too bad the bathrooms didn't clean themselves while I sewed. Hmmmmm....

Look Ma! I can sew!

After trying and failing at threading the sewing machine which belongs to my MIL (who is currenlty in California, therefore little help with the whole threading thing) I finally begged Josh to pick up the instruction manuel. He did and I have had success!

Since I will be teaching this to students in approximately 5 weeks, I figured I needed to figure the whole sewing thing out. It has been quite a while and I have never been much of an expert.

Once I got started I thought, "I should blog my experience, because that's what I do."

Look, here is the machine, threaded properly with my material waiting to be sewed. I will be making two baby blankets. One which is humongous, perfect for the modest breast feeder and a smaller one, which was made from my left over material.


Here I show you my fabulous stitching.


This one shows you how focused I am. I am really getting after it.


Final product:




I am impressed with myself because I actually did it. They are not perfect, but will help keep somebodies baby warm this winter. And I gave myself the confidence that I can in fact to the job I have been hired to do: High School Family and Consumer Science teacher.

Old Bessie

Well, it appears that “Old Bessie” may be down for good.

On Sunday, as I was driving to drop Emily off at camp, Josh was driving to work. Only he didn’t make it. About halfway the car started over heating and he had just enough time to get her off the highway before she just plain stopped. After towing her back into town, and getting an estimate for a new engine ($4000!) we have decided it is time to let her go. But she has been good to us, for 7 long years. We bought her right after Jacob was born, because we thought we needed a bigger car.
I thought I would show her off in the best way that I can.


Hanging out in the car wash.

Running to the car with our friends.

Reading the Bible in the car.

Just being silly.

Sleeping.

Riding our big boy bike next to her.

Wearing ridiculous hats while driving her.

Carwash again. See, we took car of her.

Working on her.

Taking the dogs for a ride in her.

Going to Six Flags in her.

She even went to Kentucky!

Being dramatic while riding in her.

Celebrating the holidays with her.

Just being Jacob while in her.

Sleeping after seeing the Cheetah Girls.

Lounging in her.

She even made it through the huge ice storm 18 months ago.

What is really odd about the whole situation is- it is really like almost loosing a family member. We have owned her for so long and she has been with us through think and thin.

I am sad to see her go, and even sadder to think about what we are going to do about it.

Goodbye Old Bessie, its been fun.

If you would like to be bored to death, please read the following.

Clever title, I know.

I have been absent from the old blog due to nothing. I haven’t been at work, so there has been little time for my brain to set to neutral, until today.

I am back in the office after a week “on the road” traveling. Only the traveling I do now is local, so I don’t think it really counts. Last weekend we had Jacob’s birthday party, which I believe was a smashing good time. But I also just love to hang out with Amy. Even the husbands got along better than normal. Jacob had loads of friends over and hot dogs and tacos to eat and a fabulous cake. He actually turned 7 yesterday, but since his plane to New Mexico to visit the grandparents leaves at 7:30am – that’s like a 4:30 wake up (Thanks Dad.) we had his party early rather than late.

He received his beloved Nintendo DS for a gift. I haven’t seen him since. Oh, just kidding, I saw him that one time on Tuesday when he came up for food- but not since.

No kidding, the kid is addicted. We have had to set some serious time restraints for the use of the system. Otherwise we might never see him.

Last night we went to eat his birthday dinner at a local Mexican joint of his choosing. We arrived early in order to miss the rush, which also was during Happy Hour. During Happy Hour they have free taco meat and queso at the chip and salsa bar and the kid ate 2 bowls of meat before our food came out. Of course then he only ate 1 taco.

After dinner we headed over to the always lovely Target in order for him to spend all of his birthday money. He had received quite the hall this year and it was burning a hole in his pocket. He purchased a new game for his DS, something Mario, I honestly don’t remember what it was. I do remember telling him that he could NOT buy the same game he already had for his DS for the Wii. Talk about a waste of money. He also purchased a Indiana Jones lego set and a Webkins earlier in the evening. He left the store with $10 still in his pocket. Or my pocket, because he always looses his money.

Emily spent her allowance that she had been saving for over a month on a camera. It is a small, cheep digital camera, but she is thrilled with her purchase as well.

I bought…. blush. I dropped mine about a month ago and have been dealing with the powder mess for long enough. It really was quite the exciting trip.

But speaking of Emily, I am reminded that I have been sneaking into her room at night and peaking into her notebook and finding beautiful drawings. Just fantastic. I think I am going to head over to Hobby Lobby this week while they are in New Mexico and see if I can find her a real drawing pad and some good color pencils. Right now she is just using a Number 2 pencil and notebook paper. These little drawings she is doing are better than anything I could ever do, much less at 9 years old, so I definitely want to encourage this gift she has discovered.

It's what we do

Here is what my day consisted of:

Tunes:


Tickets:


And reinforcements:


And videos of our adventure:

BFF Beatdown

Amy and I worked on this Sunday afternoon in response to another pair of bloggers...

So without further delay:

Cookie Jars are my passion

Amy’s post today has inspired me. I have not continued my Disney World posts because I have them half written at work, and I am “traveling” this week and away from the office. They will continue on Monday.

I love to make cookies. I love to eat cookies. I maybe swayed by Amy’s post today to actually make cookies this evening. If I do, I will use her recipe, even though I have a pretty darn good Peanut Butter Cookie recipe myself. Only mine comes from a cook book. But it is mine and I know exactly how long to cook them to keep them from burning, yum.
I enjoy making cookies, and my favorite has always been Peanut Butter Cookies.
However, I thought I would take you all on a journey of my cookie jars.
First was this one.Look behind my crazy daughter, it’s on the counter in the back ground. It is shaped like an old victorian house. I wish I had taken a good picture of it, but this was as good as I could find.

I bought it in an outlet mall in the late 1990’s and loved it. I was in Kentucky with Emily, when she was an infant and when I found this I knew I had to have it! I spent all the spending money I had brought with me in order to buy it. I loved that cookie jar.
It broke in the move to the house we live in now.
Next my mom bought me this next cookie jar, it’s from “the cracker” as we call Cracker Barrell in my house. I have nearly the entire line, because I fell in love with it, my mom was in town and it was on sale. Score times three.


BUT, my absolute favorite cookie jar is this one:


It was my mother’s while I was growing up. This cookie jar rarely didn’t have cookies in it. She was the best mother ever, and always had a fresh batch of Peanut Butter or Chocolate Chip cookies waiting to have for dessert or an afternoon snack. I oftentimes tried to get into the cookie jar with out the help of my parents. It was a heavy lid for me with my small arms and hands. I dropped it more than once. But my Dad could fix everything, even the cookie jar lid that had been broken time and time again.

And after I had moved into my home now, it made the trek from New Mexico and now has a place of honor on top of my cabinets next to my Fisher Price playhouse and my Winnie the Pooh snow globe.

***I almost dropped it again, while taking it down to take the picture. I still blame the small arms and hands.***

NKOTB-Part IV

As you all know, I am quite the NKOTB fan. I have written about their come back tour time and time and time again. Well, I received, via email, because I am THAT special, the (hopefully just the first leg) tour schedule.

9/20/08
Montreal, Quebec
Bell Centre

9/21/08
Toronto, ON
Air Canada Center

9/23/08
East Rutherford, NJ
Izod Center

9/24/08
Uniondale, NY
Nassau VETERANS MEMORIAL Coliseum

9/26/08
Boston, MA
TD Banknorth Garden

9/27/08
Atlantic City, NJ
Borgata Hotel and Casino Event Center

Sat
10/4/08
Chicago, IL
Allstate Arena

Anybody want to go to Boston? Or how about Chicago? Because they are not coming to the South, or at least those dates have not been released. And gracious, I need to know if they will be coming here, or if I need to start looking at plane tickets and hotel rooms.

Am I crazy?

I don’t think so.

At least I am not like Jen, from the 7th grade, who was determined to marry Joey. And I mean, determined. Not like an enthusiastic fan, but more almost like a stalker. She was the crazy one. I wonder who she did marry, because it wasn’t Joey. I don’t think he ever married anybody. I may have to Wikipedia that.

Al Gore, I will tell you about the REAL inconvenient truth.

Blah, blah, blah, global warming. I have my own thoughts on global warming, and what we as humans need to think/do about it. They are similar to Amy’s, if not even a little more non-earthy.

But I hate me some Wal-Mart.

You see, every time I walk through those electric doors I just hate myself a little. I am never happy when I leave, always angry and yelling at the kids. The lines are always SO long and the help leaves a little to be desired. And the prices, they are not that much cheeper. Before this weekend, I couldn’t tell you when the last time I went to Wal-Mart was. It had been at least 6 months. I usually can last on my ban of Wal-Mart for about that long, until I decide to give it ago again.

Last weekend I had dropped of Emily at dance class and after lunch I needed to pick a few things up for our up-coming trip. Lots of random things, which I could have pickled up at other stores, but honestly, it would have taken longer than the hour I had to do it in. So I told Jacob we had to go to Wal-Mart. He responded with, “No, mom, I am staying in the car.”

I have passed my hatred for the Wal-Mart onto my offspring, isn’t it wonderful?

I tell him, tough, we have to pick up things like goggles, a pink tank top, iron on transfer paper, sharpies, shorts and crayons. It has to be done at Wal-Mart, we don’t have time to go to Michaels, Target, Kohls, JCPenny, and the outlet mall. We just have to do it.

“Don’t make me go in there” is his response to me.

I had to pull the mom card to get him out of the car.

We walked into the giant supercenter close to my daughters dance class and got to work. We made it out alive, with $100 less in my checking account and a lot of stuff that could have been purchased somewhere else, but darn it Wal-Mart, you are too convenient, too available and too affordable, and that is the real inconvenient truth.

I have fallen!

I have been absent for a week or so, due to the craziness that is my life. I have actually been working (I know, its s shock, even to me) while at work, in order to complete the work necessary so that I can take my much anticipated vacation in less than 2 weeks. Any time I have that I am not working I am obsessing over ever little detail you might not even think warrants a thought.

I was talking to Amy the other night about my trip, not something that I torment many people (except my husband) to even a fraction of the amount of time I actually think about it. (I am SO excited!!!) She mentioned, as I finally let go of my fear (you know, the fear that someone will think you are a freak) and began to spill all the information and excitement out onto her and she told me that she knew I would go off the edge at some point. And I had finally done it. I had fallen off the edge.

But really, I hadn’t.

Yes, I had fallen, but many, many, many years ago.

You see I have had a love affair with Disney since, well, forever.

I remember listening to the Jungle Book with my mom on a RECORD(!) in our living room when I was in early grade school. Dancing around and acting like an elephant with my mom, is one of my greatest memories. Plus, those are some jamming songs. I mean, who doesn’t know Colonel Hatahways March?

I remember seeing The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast as a high schooler and being mesmerized. I was not too cool to go see a “cartoon” with my friends, in fact we readily saw all things Disney in high school. My only disappointment was Pocahontas. And what a disappointment that was. But that is another post altogether.

Even for my 18th birthday I received a Winnie the Pooh playset. I had that set for years, until children. (Need I say more?) I also received a Winnie the Pooh snow globe from my parents that is still proudly displayed in my kitchen, many years later.

My first job was with The Disney Store. I worked there for 2 years, and I loved it. I so enjoyed it, except for the horrible uniform, but we won’t go there. I bet my parents have a picture of me in that uniform somewhere. That is there nature, to take pictures of me in all my uniformed glory.

I even “left” my husband and first born when she was 18 months old for the summer in order to work at The Walt Disney World in Florida. Now, mind you, I needed an internship in order to graduate from college, and that was the only one who picked me. I was so sad. ;) I enjoyed those three months more than anybody might really know. Not because I was away from my family, but because I spent 6 or 7 days in a park. If I wasn’t working, I was most likely figuring out a time to be in the park. There were times I would get off from my job at the Crystal Palace and get changed and head back up and ride a few rides in the evening before heading home. Where else in the world is that an option?

Josh and I even took a cruise/park trip there almost 9 years ago for our first anniversary. It was wonderful. I loved spending that time with him, there in a place I loved so much!

You see, I had fallen for Disney before I even had a chance.

I guess I had just held my obsession in for a few years and she (Amy) had forgotten about it and now I was leaking it out and it was oozing all over the place.

And it is all over the place. I am planning like crazy.

With less that 2 weeks until we leave, it is just about all I can think about. I love the planning, probably as much as I will love being in the park. We have picked the perfect time to go (I hope) and the kids won’t be missing things with school. I even measured Jacob last night and he is tall enough for everything! That is super exciting! I dream about it, think about, worry about it. There are so many details that I don’t want to forget, at the same time I am trying to get lots of regular life things accomplished as well. You know, like laundry and dishes.

March 4, 2008

I voted today, did you?