Magnificent Obsession

Christmas

2011-12-29T11:31:00.001-05:00

Blah, Blah, Blah, haven't posted in forever...blah, blah, blah...

Now that we got that out of the way...

Holy cow the year is almost over!! Christmas was...bitter and sweet, but not really bittersweet as the bitterness and sweetness didn't come together.

The sweet: My Grandma, Aunt and Uncle, and sis and her crew were all here over Christmas. We had a great time. D and the boys came over on Friday and stayed the night. (It's been crowded! We had people shoved everywhere, but it was fun!) Friday night my family and I gave our gifts to D and boys and I opened mine from D. (Awesome purple Pumas, some spicy chocolate, and the promise of a date night to a place he's been wanting to take me.) I got the boys bows and arrows I had purchased on Etsy, and Saturday morning we all went out in our PJs to play with them. So fun! We also did some fishing (though we caught nothing) and just general hanging out and playing. In the evening, we all went to a Christmas Eve service at my parents' church where N fell asleep in my lap, and S fell asleep on D's shoulder...guess we wore them out!) After service, we had dinner at Sonny's BBQ. D and boys went home that evening, and the rest of us went back to my house to watch Christmas in Connecticut.

Christmas morning, we all got up and got ready for church and had a big, yummy breakfast. My family all went to my parents' church, but I met up with D's family at another church in town. After church, I exchanged gifts with D's family and then headed home to open presents with my family.

Christmas evening we had a big dinner with lots of family. Some cousins that I don't get to see very often came over for a few hours, and it was great being able to catch up with them. D came back that evening after dropping the boys off at their mom's. He and I stayed up watching Firefly with my Sis and Bro-in-law after everyone else went to bed.

For the most part, it was a really nice Christmas...except...it wasn't...

The bitter:
About 4 months ago, we got the news that my mom's brother had cancer, and that even with treatment, he would probably only make it another 11 months. They tried treatment for a little while, but the cancer continued to spread, and he began to go downhill fast. Last monday my mom got the call for the family to come (My Uncle lived in Tennessee), so she and my dad drove up there early Tuesday morning. It looked like they might be gone for Christmas, and I was depressed about both my uncle's condition and the idea of my mom and dad not being here for Christmas. After a couple days, they decided that since my Aunt had her children with her and there was nothing they could do, they should just head home for Christmas. On Christmas Eve we got the call that he had passed away. I've never seen my mom hurting so badly. She keeps saying, "I just want to wake up from this bad dream." I'm going to miss my uncle. He's the one who used to live with us...back when I first started this blog. It's so hard to imagine him not being alive and well and full of fun. But as much as I hurt for me, my heart breaks a million times more for my mom who has lost her beloved big brother. The funeral was yesterday, and she and my dad are up there now. I know that my uncle is with the Lord, and that he is no longer in pain, but losing him will leave a huge hole in our family. I always expected that someday he would officiate my wedding as he did for my sister and so many of my cousins, and now he can't. I'll miss his crazy, amazing ability to do accents and his chocolate "medicine" and all the other little things that made up his wonderful personality.

Life is so hard and painful, and yet there is so much joy and happiness and love in it as well. I guess we have to take them all together. We don't have a choice about the pain...it comes without our consent. Strangely, it's the good that I think we have to choose...choose to be mindful of it and not allow ourselves to be lost in grief and sadness...choose to let it in...let ourselves love without fear. Maybe Christmas is a good reminder of that...Christ came in this sweet and precious way...a tiny baby to loving parents. Yet, that wasn't the end of the story. There was pain and hard work and love and friendship and a cruel death on a cross that, in the end, brings us life. We can't pick out pieces of it...it all goes together.

Anyway, if you are out there reading this, please say a prayer for comfort for my family. We sure could use it. And I hope that everyone had a very merry Christmas.

Etsy Shop

2011-08-31T13:59:00.000-04:00

I have decided to open up an Etsy shop. I have been crocheting a lot lately, and I have so much to work with that is just left over from other projects and not being used. I figured why not give it a chance. Right now the shop consists of crocheted jewelry and appliques, but I plan to make and add more items soon. I would love for you to check it out!

Cheeeeeeeesecake!

2011-08-23T10:51:00.000-04:00

Several weeks ago, I was asked to make a peanut butter cheesecake for a friend's birthday. After much searching through recipes, I finally decided to go with this one. Let me assure you that it was an excellent choice. As with most good cheesecake, it wasn't cheap or quick to make, but it was worth every penny and minute I put into it. (The birthday boy seemed to enjoy it as well!) It has an Oreo crust covered with a layer of chocolate fudge and peanut butter cup pieces, a thick and rich peanut butter cheesecake filling, chocolate ganache spooned over the top, and finished off with some peanut butter icing and a peanut butter cup. If you are a fan of cheesecake, peanut butter, and chocolate, I'd say this is definitely one you should try out!

Flutterbys!

2011-08-22T20:30:00.001-04:00

*All pictures in this post were taken by my mother.*

A few month ago (actually, about 4 months ago) a Groupon came around for a local butterfly conservatory. It wasn't something I was familiar with, but the deal looked really good. I was able to purchase a one year membership for up to 7 individuals. I believe I paid about $11 for it. It needed to be activated by October, so D and I decided that we should finally use it this past weekend. We took the boys and both of our mothers on Saturday morning.

Passion Flower (or as the boys call it, an Alien Flower)

I hadn't really expected much...a few butterflies and flowers maybe, but I was actually pleasantly surprised. It wasn't large, but it was very nice. They had a decently sized greenhouse full of beautiful flowers, plants, ponds, and a large variety of butterflies. The staff was very knowledgeable. The woman on duty showed us the different stages of the life cycles of several different butterflies and allowed the boys to pet some of the caterpillars. She then took us into the greenhouse and gave us lots of information about the many different butterflies we were seeing. At one point she even caught a butterfly and let the boys take turns holding it.

I think everyone really enjoyed the experience. The heat eventually started to make the boys ready to get out of there, but they enjoyed seeing all the butterflies and flowers as much as the rest of us did.

They also had a very nice gift shop which we all enjoyed. There were several amazing pieces of artwork and jewelry using butterfly wings that I think most of us would have liked to have been able to purchase had the prices not been so astronomically high. There was an ice cream shop that we did not visit and a cafe that we looked into, but decided we weren't ready for lunch yet. The menu sounded delicious though. I'm looking forward to being able to go back since we all have a year pass now.

ABCs of Me

2011-07-12T14:38:00.000-04:00

I was skimming through blogs at work (they have put me in the office today with little to do aside from giving teachers bathroom breaks and answering the phone), and I came across this little ABC of me thing. ...figured I'd fill it out. :)

A. Age: 29

B. Bed size: Full

C. Chore you hate: Hmm...Folding fitted sheets. For this reason, I only own one set of sheets. I wash them and put them right back on the bed.

D. Dogs: Scared of them. As a child I was terrified of them. I'd scream and hide behind my parents. Now I try to deal. Sometimes I do better than others...depends on the dog.

E. Essential start to your day: D usually calls me after he drops the boys off at school when he's driving to work. It makes it soooo much easier to get myself out of bed. :)

F. Favorite color: Various shades of teals, aquas, or blue/greens

G. Gold or silver: I like both. I'm not going to pick.

H. Height: 5'6"

I. Instruments: My degree is in voice. I took about a thousand years of piano lessons, but I'm pretty awful at it.

J. Job title: Childcare Professional

K. Kids: Of my own...none. I'm pretty in love with D's boys though, and I think we all know that I'm the world's greatest Auntie. ;) Oh yeah, and there are all those ~~demons~~ sweet little darlings I work with every day.

L. Live: Yes, I live. Specifically, Florida. More Specifically, Southwest Florida. Even more specifically, at my house. ;)

M. Mom’s name: Valerie

N. Nicknames: Jenn calls me Chad. I don't really have any other nicknames.

O. Overnight hospital stays: Other than directly after being born, none so far.

P. Pet peeve: People not being respectful of other people's time...showing up late, not being where you say you will be when you say you will be there, etc...

Q. Quote from a movie:“For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in our turn?”—Mr. Bennet, Pride and Prejudice (Actually, I believe in the movie he said, "What do we live for..." this is the book quote, but the point is the same.)
For good measure, I'm throwing in a TV show quote that I love."There’s a lot of things you need to get across this universe: Warp drive, wormhole refractors. You know the thing you need most of all? You need a hand to hold."- 10th Doctor, Doctor Who

R. Right or left handed: Right

S. Siblings: One younger sister and an older brother-in-law.

T. Time you wake up: Usually around 8-8:30

U. Underwear: Confession: I own approximately 40 pairs of underwear from Victoria's Secret. It's kind of absurd, really.

V. Vegetables you dislike: This list keeps getting shorter!! I am still having some trouble stomaching summer squash and zucchini. I am learning to tolerate them though. There are still several veggies that I haven't worked up the nerve to really try.

W. What makes you run late: Being dependent upon other people. It is very, very rare that I'm late on my own.

X. X-Rays you’ve had: Teeth are all I can think of right now.

Y: Yummy food you make: Everything I make is yummy. ;)

Z. Zoo: I LOVE ZOO! (inside joke) See previous post for zoo memories. Also, this past year D and I and the boys had a pass to the Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa, so I have lots of nice Zoo memories. My favorite Zoo animal is the giraffe.

Elephants, Flamingos, and Memories. Oh My!

2011-07-12T10:18:00.004-04:00

Last Thursday evening, D and I spent several hours doing some cleaning at his house. In the process, we ended up throwing out a bunch of stuff from his counter tops and cabinets. Included in that were these little guys.

D has had them sitting on his counter since April 17, 2010. They were never going to get used and were taking up valuable counter space, so I suggested it was time for them to go. D is pretty sentimental about stuff, so he didn't really want to let them go. However, he agreed that it was time. I suggested we take pictures first since they were a good memory from a fun day. I took the picture, put them in the trash, and then remember. I already was aware that these bottles had been bought on the day the four of us went to the Naples Zoo. However, it wasn't until after I put them in the trash that I remembered that the trip to the Naples Zoo was the first thing I ever did with D and his boys. He had bought the first one for the boys to share. The second one had been purchases because N, who was 3 at the time, had grabbed it off a refrigerated shelf while we were getting lunch and had put it in his mouth before we realized it.

That really was a fun day. I wouldn't really say it was a date. Other friends had been invited to go as well, but I had been the only one to come. I already liked D at that point though. I was crazy nervous at first...I almost didn't go because I knew no one else was going. I ended up feeling really comfortable with D and his boys though. I was pretty thankful for my friend, Jenn...she was the one who told me I was being a moron for not going and convinced me to change my mind. Thanks, Jenn. :)

I am not sure if I would have thrown them away if I had been thinking clearly at first. I am glad I took a picture though.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Skin Deep

2011-07-09T13:17:00.000-04:00

I read several blogs and subscribe to several youtube channels that deal with the subject of hair and or makeup. I started wearing makeup when I was 15. My mom started me out with Cover Girl. (I still feel like a teenager when I smell that stuff!) However, we soon discovered that it made my face breakout horribly. Now, as I look back, I can't remember if I had skin problems before that time or not. I should look at some old pictures and try to find out. I do know that ever since that time, my skin has been pretty bad. I get fairly severe breakouts all along my jaw line and chin on a regular basis as well as random other areas that show up now and then. Several years ago (wow, actually, I guess probably around 10 years ago...time flies!) my grandma started buying me Proactive to help with my skin problems. I used it right up until this year, and I believe it helped a little, but never enough. I finally decided this year to stop using it. I think it may have helped more in the past than it did anymore. It wasn't making enough of a difference to justify having her still spending all that money on me. I have been trying drugstore brands the past few months. I've switched back and forth between Aveeno and Neutrogena products and a Witch Hazel astringent. My skin hasn't improved with these products, but it hasn't seemed much worse with them either. I with I could come up with something that would really clear my skin. I am almost 30 and am sick of this! I know I could go see a dermatologist, but A. That is expensive and B. I have an overwhelming fear of doctors.

Back to makeup...
As I said, I watch/read a lot of hair and makeup videos/blogs. I love eye makeup. I think it's fun. I'm not great at it, but it's something I enjoy playing with a bit. On the other hand, I find lately that I'm very frustrated with the foundation/concealer/primer/powder aspects of makeup. I watched a video today about covering spots on skin. The girl in the video did an amazing job of covering the model's skin and making it look great. However, she used 8 products (not including brushes) to do it...all the while talking about not wanting to put a "blanket" of makeup over the girl's entire face. Eight products?! Who the heck can afford or has the time to use 8 products to cover their skin before even getting to the eyes, lips, and contouring portions of the makeup routine? A simple bottle of drugstore foundation is around $10-$12, and I don't think these products were ones you'd find on the shelf at Wal-Mart. It is so frustrating! And on top of this, I'm starting to wonder if I'm actually making my skin worse with the stuff I'm using to cover it up. Am I spending a ton of money to clear my skin plus of a ton of money to cover my skin with stuff that is causing me to have to spend more money to clear it back up? I don't know. But I think I'm going to try to find out. I have decided to go at least one full month without any kind of foundation, concealer, or powder on my face. I actually started this about a week ago. I know that my skin goes through stages throughout the month, so I feel like I need to let it go through all of them before really deciding. I can tell you that it hasn't been easy already. I feel like a lazy bum or something. I feel like I'm *supposed* to be putting on all this makeup...like it's my duty as a woman to slather my face with 50 bazillion products. Isn't that a little silly though? Didn't God give me this face?

Anyway, I guess I'll see how things go. I know that I'll be tempted some days to put on some foundation, but I'm going to try really hard to leave my skin alone (aside from keeping it clean and moisturized). If my skin is just as bad at the end of the month, I will probably go back to covering it up. However, I may find that I like the freedom of it. My hope is that my skin will clear up at least a little, but I have my doubts...we'll see.

Family, Friends, Fireworks, and Fun

2011-07-05T14:09:00.005-04:00

This past week and a half has been crazy busy, but in a good way.

Early last Saturday morning, D and I took the boys up to stay at my sister's for the weekend. I have been missing my nephew and nieces like crazy, so it was great being able to spend some time with them. We hung around the house, went out for BD's Mongolian Grill, played at an awesome park, walked around a beautiful garden, and visited a church up there. It was a very relaxing, fun weekend.

Last Monday night, my cousin Kirk and his wife and 3 teenagers came down to stay with us for the week. It had been a year and a half since I had last seen them, so it was fun being able to hang out and catch up.

I took a couple days off work while they were here. We shopped and talked and cooked and played games and tried to swim (it rained most of the week) and played with sparklers out on the dock.

It's kind of funny how my relationships with all three of my cousin's kids have grown over the years. I was 10 when Kailey, the oldest, was born, but somehow we have all always seemed to have more of a peer/friend relationship than I have had with most of my older cousins. At least, that is how it feels to me. Perhaps they are just indulging their ancient cousin. ;)

This Saturday, D, the boys, and I met up with his family to watch a big Fireworks display.

We sat in a Rib City parking lot and played with our 130 glow sticks for a few hours while we waited for dark.

The fireworks didn't start till after 9:30, but we had fun waiting. The display was well done, and we all enjoyed it.

Sunday was spent mostly relaxing with my cousins. D was supposed to come over with the boys, but wasn't able to because their mom ended up asking D to drop them off at her house so she could have a chance to do fireworks with them. Instead, he came over early Monday morning to meet my cousins before they went home.

Monday, D's sister, BIL, and nephew came over to swim in between the raindrops In the evening he picked up the boys, and we went over to his parents for dinner. People in their community put on a pretty spectacular fireworks show. We sat in the backyard and watched as the neighbors all around burned up thousands of dollars for our enjoyment. I have seen professional fireworks displays that were not as amazing as the ones shooting off in his parent's neighborhood. We stayed out for a couple hours watching them and playing with sparkers and eating popsicles and dropping pieces of them down my shirt...oh wait, that last part was just me...

~Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Father's Day

2011-06-19T23:45:00.001-04:00

I am so very thankful for my amazing Daddy.

I am also thankful that he is no longer sporting that mustache.

Happy Father's Day!

2011-05-27T14:33:00.002-04:00

I don't talk a lot about my job here. I think the biggest two reasons are that I don't like to use my blog as a place to complain and that when I am not at work, I don't really want to think about work. Today, I feel like talking about it.

Aside from the 7 months I was a nanny and 3 months afterward of unemployment, I have worked in the same childcare facility since I came home from college in 2004. Actually, the summer before that I worked here as well. In my years here I have seen a lot. I have worked with every age group. I have been a lead morning teacher for every age as well as an afternoon teacher or aid for every age. I have had classes full of kids that were fun to be around and who made me actually enjoy coming to work. I have had classes that were a little rambunctious, but who were still controllable. I have had classes that were so difficult, I would usually find myself breaking down in tears at some point in the day at least once a week. I have worked with awesome teachers who were great at what they did and were wonderful co-workers. I have worked with totally incompetent or lazy or just flat out obnoxious teachers. I have been around wonderful parents who lovers and appropriately disciplined their children and lazy parents and complaining parents and ignorant parents and mean parents and neglectful parents. I have seen abused children and unloved children and spoiled and pampered children. I would say I have seen it all, but I know I have not. There will always be new craziness to surprise me.

My class this year would fit into the category of classes that make me cry. Sometimes it is tears of anger. Other times just simple frustration. Somedays I look at these kids and become terrified about what kind of world they are going to make as they grow up. So many of the children in my care come from homes that are beyond dysfunctional. They have been abandoned by one or both parents, they live with people who are too lazy or stupid to be bothered with them. They have parents who refuse to deal with behavior issues and pretend that they don't exist. They are shuffled around from school to baby sitters. They have parents in prison or rehab or worse. They have seen more ugliness in their few short years than I have seen in my nearly 30 years. Even the ones who come from "normal" homes are often spoiled rotten and mean.

I started out this school year as the lead teacher in the early 3 year old class. My year began well enough. I had a few behavioral issues, but nothing I couldn't handle. Things never stay the same for long in a daycare though. Kids leave and new ones come. Some move up to other classes as younger ones move up into mine. By wintertime this year, my class was becoming something I could not handle. I was angry all the time. I was literally afraid of some of the kids in my class. They would hit me and throw things at me. It was impossible to get anything done or really even have any fun because all my time and energy had to go into crowd control. I felt like a failure. My boss finally suggested moving me to the afternoons when there is less schooling and things are a little more relaxed (plus 2 hours of it is nap time). It was a relief to me. I wouldn't have to worry so much about teaching and getting assessments done on kids and writing lesson plans. I felt like I must be completely incompetent though. Was it just me? Was I too stupid or lazy to do the job? Still, I thought the change would make me like my job again. I thought it would ease the dread I had felt before coming to work each day. It worked...for awhile.

I met the new teacher who would be taking my place. She seemed great for the job. I thought she would do better than I did. I watched as she got started. I talked to her each day when I came in to take over for the afternoon. She was struggling, but she was making it. She had lots of good ideas and for awhile they worked. However, with every passing week, the strain was showing more and more on her face and in her voice. The gimmicks that had helped for a few weeks were losing their novelty for the kids and the behavior problems were increasing. So was the size of the class. New kids were moving up and bringing all new struggles with them. Because of our school policy of always being positive when talking to parents, things were not being addressed at home. The classroom was utter chaos. She was given an aid to assist in the mornings, but even that really didn't help. This morning she walked out...left her class with the aid, got in her car, and drove off.

I feel bad for her. I don't blame her for doing it. I have wanted to do it a million times. Even my easier afternoons are beginning to be almost more than I can handle. I thought it was me. I thought I was a failure. I think the truth is that this group of children is nearly impossible to work with. Today one if the children threatened to get a gun and shoot me in the face. The language that comes out of the mouths of these children would be better suited to the proverbial sailor. They refuse to obey. They do whatever they want. I, as the teacher, am left with very few options. Time out doesn't work, and let's face it, if they don't want to sit, they aren't going to sit. I can't hold them down and work with the rest of the class at the same time. I feel so helpless. I want to love these children and teach them, but without discipline, I can't accomplish anything.

I know it isn't considered PC to spank or discipline a child, but seriously, letting them do whatever they want is not helping them. It is turning them into selfish delinquents. I know I am not a parent, but I am also not ignorant about what raising children entails. I see the consequences of parents' lazy, selfish, or fearful choices every day. I see the children who they are hurting. These children are angry. They don't understand boundaries. They have no respect for authority. They are mean. Is this the kind of adults we want them to be? It terrifies me to think of it.

Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him. ~ Proverbs 22:15

Do not withhold discipline from a child. If you punish him with a rod, he will not die. Punish him with the rod and save his soul from death. ~ Proverbs 23:13-14

The rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a child left to himself disgraces his mother. ~ Proverbs 29:15

Now, please understand that I am not, in any way, advocating child abuse. I am simply asking for discipline...a spanking, a loss of privileges, whatever works for that child. Just do something! Love your kids, play with them, teach them to respect others, hug and kiss them, tell them how amazing they are. Don't shove them off as someone else's problem. Don't just leave them to their own devices and hope for the best. You won't get it, and it makes my job really hard!!!!

-Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

PIE !

2011-05-26T01:32:00.001-04:00

On Tuesday, I made my very first pie. Well, I should say, my very first, totally from scratch, successful fruit pie. Pie crusts have always scared me. I think I might have made one years ago that was a failure, but for the most part I have avoided them. I'm not sure why, really. I think that maybe my mom always talked about how difficult it was to get them right, so I kind of just assumed I couldn't do it. I like making things from scratch, especially when I'm baking. Cutting corners in my desserts is not really my thing. I've used pre-made pie crusts a few times, but I've mostly just stayed away from pie because I didn't want to make something that wasn't really mine.

Anyway, for my Bible study group on Tuesday, I was responsible for dessert. I was going to make a peach cobbler, but the peaches at the grocery store weren't ready to eat. Blueberries were on sale and looked good, so I figured I'd just do a blueberry cobbler instead. I looked at recipes for a long time, but didn't come up with anything that really looked or sounded all that great to me. I'm not exactly sure what led me to think of pie, but somehow my mind when there. Most of the recipes I found called for the berries to be cooked down before adding to the pie, but that wasn't what I was going for. I was using fresh berries, and I wanted them to be as close to fresh and whole as possible. I finally found this recipe to use for the filling. Since I was apprehensive about the crust, I decided to look for a step by step instructional recipe. I ended up using the all butter recipe from this site. It actually turned out to not be that difficult. I think the real trick was using the frozen butter.

I think my pie turned out pretty good. I had fun with the little hearts, and I like the way it looks. David said it tasted "spectacular." I'm pretty sure I can trust him. He never minds telling me when he doesn't like something I make. I like that about him. It makes the compliments so much more worth getting when you know someone really means them.

I think I'm going to have to make more pies. I have, however, come to the conclusion that I need a bigger food processor if I'm going to do so. I wonder if I can hold out for Christmas...

7 Bits of Randomness

2011-05-04T09:12:00.000-04:00

1. There is a bridge in my area that has been being worked on for what seems like months now. The sound of pounding and clanging metal echos across the water.

2. There is a huge brush fire burning in another county, but today the smoke has reached us and it's permeating the air.

3. I need an oil change.

4. I really should get out and jog this morning, but I don't want to.

5. Strictly speaking, it's my car that needs the oil change.

6. I really like Mochi ice cream, and I wish I could find a store near me that sells it.

7. Happy Star Wars Day. May the Fourth be with you.

Beach Fun

2011-04-29T10:43:00.001-04:00

This week was spring break in our county. On Monday, D and I both took off work to take the boys to the beach. We met up with a lady from our church and her little girl, and we headed out to Captiva for the day. We spend the morning playing at the beach...swimming, building sandcastles, and collecting pretty shells (Captiva and Sanibel beaches are covered in shells. It's actually kind of hard to walk in the water because of all the shells. They sure are beautiful though.)

Our friend's husband works at a little Mexican cantina on Captiva, so we went there for lunch. Man, was it yummy! I'm so glad I eat Mexican food now! I had a delicious burrito, and for dessert we all shared a plate of fried plantains...sooooooo good!

It was really nice to take an extra day off after vacation before going back to work. You know how people always say, "I need a vacation to recover from my vacation!"? I feel like I actually got to do that. I got home on Friday night, but didn't go back to work until Tuesday. I really felt rested and ready when I finally went back to work.

California Trip

2011-04-29T10:26:00.001-04:00

I spent last week in the Sacramento area with my BFF. I'm not going to give a highly detailed trip account, but I will share some pictures.

We spent one day in the Foothills of the Sierras visiting some old mining towns...

Walking on some short trails...

And seeing the breathtaking views of the Middle Fork of the American River.

Since it was getting close to Easter, we decided one day that we would have some fun coloring eggs.

My last full day there, we took a trip out to the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield.

It was a nice trip. As you can see in the above picture, my friend is pregnant. We have been friends since we were in 5th grade, so it was good to be able to be around to share a little of this special time with her.

Oh, here is a picture of the view from the plane window on the way home.

2011-04-16T17:42:00.001-04:00

This morning, D and I took the boys to the beach. It was a gorgeous beach day - warm and sunny without being blazing hot. We made sandcastles, swam, and searched for shells. A few years ago, if you'd told me that I would enjoy a day at the beach, I'd have looked at you like you'd lost your mind. I still don't think I would want to spend a whole day there, but I find that I really look forward to a morning at the beach with D and the boys.

After the beach, we met up with D's parents for lunch at Hurricane's. I had some delicious Mahi tacos. (Fish tacos and mornings at the beach...I really have started branching out.) We took the boys over to a playground for awhile after lunch and then hung out at D's parents for about an hour before D took me to the airport.

That is where I am now...airport. I should be boarding in about 30 minutes for my flight out to California to visit my best friend for a week.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

My Birthday Present

2011-04-13T14:30:00.004-04:00

D made me this beautiful ipe crochet hook for my birthday (if you don't know what ipe is, that is OK. Before I met D, I hadn't heard of it either. It is a kind of wood...very heavy.) I had admired some lovely wooden hooks at JoAnn's one day, so he decided to make me my own. I finally got around to taking some pictures of it.

I used it today for the first time to finish off this baby afghan I have been working on for a friend (probably obvious, but the pink background is the afghan I just finished.)

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2011-04-10T08:30:00.001-04:00

Yesterday, while hanging out with D and his brother-in-law, we stumbled across a little classic car show in a shopping center parking lot. There were, of course, several attractive cars. However, most of them were a bit too sporty for my taste (though naturally the guys were drooling over them.) Personally, I fell for this one.

I can't tell you much about the car as I'm not much of a car girl. I just know that I thought this thing was beautiful.

The paint color and shiny chrome and the shape...everything about it was gorgeous. I think I need one just like it. ;)

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Pretty Flowers and Pretty Girls

2011-04-08T13:39:00.007-04:00

First of all, look at the beautiful flowers I got last night from D. :) I just hope I can keep them alive!

I have really been enjoying having my sister and her kids staying at the house with us.

We have spent more time in the pool in the past week than I have in probably the past couple years! All three kids can kind of fend for themselves a bit in the water now (with the help of water wings and/or a floating seat for the girls.) I can get in the pool in the morning for some exercise while my older niece gets in with me and follows me around in her princess water wings. It has been so much fun.

I think I am going to be heartbroken when they move next weekend. :(

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The Journey to Liberation From Chicken Fingers

2011-04-07T14:13:00.001-04:00

In 2010, I posted a list of 4 New Year's resolutions. The first two (learn to sew my own clothes and knit myself one garment) I didn't follow through on at all. I would still like to learn to sew and knit better, but it just isn't enough of a priority for me right now. The resolution about getting more exercise is not one I did well on last year. However, this year I am doing much better. Perhaps I will talk about that on here soon, but for now, onward to the one I was actually successful with last year.

My resolution to try new foods and blog about them is one that I feel like I did really well on. I wasn't consistent on the blogging end, but I believe the trying part was more important anyway. I had started the year by trying 2 new things a month. And while that was pretty good, I found that I was just picking and choosing till I found the "just right" thing to try. It did add a few new foods to my diet, but it wasn't really pushing me to step out of my comfort zone. I think what finally pushed me was being with D. He let me know from early on that my finicky eating was a problem for him. He is raising two young boys, and he wants to train them to eat what is in front of them. Me sitting down with them and turning my nose up at things was going to be an issue. Not to mention the fact that it is boring and limiting to hang out with a picky eater all the time. I knew he was right. After all, it was already something I knew was a problem and knew I had to work on. I decided to work harder.

It hasn't been an easy transformation at all, and I still have a long way to go. There are certainly still many things that I am too afraid to put in my mouth. Still, the improvements I have made have been freeing and even exciting. It is so much easier to eat at someone else's house now or go out to eat with people. It is fun to look at a menu and actually have to make choices because several things look good instead of 1 or 2. I know I am still a picky eater, but I am no longer the kind of picky eater who belongs on a TLC special. (Can't you picture it? "Extreme Picky Eating" premiering Sunday night at 8:00. Why isn't this a show? Or is it, and I just missed it?)

I eat hamburgers now. In fact, I love them. I eat peppers and peas and rice and Lima beans and black beans and cooked carrots and onion and even the occasional tomato chunk in something. I like guacamole and I actually enjoy eating some kinds of fish. I can eat at a Mexican restaurant and not just have the boring cheese quesadilla. I like burritos and enchiladas and tacos and taco salad.

I am finding that sometimes I just have to suck it up, open my mouth, stick in the food, and give it a fair shot. It is still hard sometimes, but when D or my mom or my sister looks at me and says, "good for you, Lauren!" or "I'm so proud of you!" it makes it a lot easier.

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Burning Question

2011-04-06T13:59:00.001-04:00

Dear Friends, I need answers. There is a question plaguing me. Perhaps I am just not meant to solve this mystery, but I am asking for your help anyway. Here it is...
What in tarnation is it about the word "poop" that so thrills the soul of a 3 year old boy (or let's face it, a boy of any age)? What is it that makes them want to put it in front of any word they can think of (examples include "poop fingers" and "poop crackers") and then scream with laughter over it. I simply cannot understand it. Is there anyone, anyone at all who can explain this to me. D tells me that I cannot understand because I am a girl. Perhaps I should just leave it at that...accept that it is a mystery of the opposite sex that I will never be able to wrap my head around. Still, the question torments me.

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Salted Caramel Tarts

2011-04-05T11:19:00.002-04:00

So far, having my sister living here has been kind of fun. Last night we made fish tacos and salted caramel tarts together. For the tarts we used this recipe.
The recipe itself is not all the great as it lacks in detail, however, the tarts turned out pretty good. One weird thing about the recipe is that it says to serve it warm and does not mention chilling the completed tart. We were making the tarts for today, so ours needed to be chilled. I am not sure how you could have eaten them without chilling them though. They would have been a runny mess (unless our substitution of half and half instead if cream made the caramel more runny than it should have been.)

We used a few broken pieces of dark chocolate candy that we had on hand and mixed it with some semi-sweet chunks and chips.

We ended up making two 10 inch tarts and one 4 inch tart.

The 4 inch tart came out of the fridge this morning for testing and was very yummy.

This picture was taken this morning of the chilled tart. The funky spot is from where the foil stuck to it. I can't say it is an attractive dessert, but it sure does taste good!

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Weekend Fun

2011-04-04T14:09:00.005-04:00

Since I have decided to get back into blogging, I figure I will jump right in with a post about this past weekend.

Saturday my sister and her family and D and his boys were all over at my house for the day. (My sister and her family are living with us for a couple weeks. My BIL has taken a job in a city a couple hours north of us, so they will all be moving up there in about two weeks. :( My heart is sad to think of my nephew and nieces not being close enough to just drop by and visit them, but I know they have to do what they feel is right for them. I am also glad that it is only a couple hours drive, and we will still see them.) D and the boys came over in the morning, and I made homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast. (Sooo good. I made them the night before, let them sit unbaked in the fridge overnight, and then took them out for an hour or so in the morning before popping them in the oven) We spent the day fishing, swimming, grilling out, eating, and watching movies. It was a very fun, relaxing day. In the afternoon, D and I loaded up the older 4 of the 5 kids in his van and took them to a local park to play for awhile. The weather was beautiful...warm and sunny, but breezy enough that it never got too hot. The kids all had a great time playing together, and we even caught a few fish off my dock. S caught a very pretty Sheepshead...he always seems to catch something fun. (I have a couple really cute pictures I wish I could post here. Maybe I will work on a way to blur faces or something.)

Sunday I went with D and the boys up to Lakeland for his nephew's birthday party. I met them at their house before church, and we went over to target to buy his nephew a Thor hammer. After church and a quick stop at Burger King we hit the road for Lakeland. The party was at a family fun center with arcade games and a huge bounce house/maze/playground thing. The kids had a blast, and it was fun watching them play.
After the party, D's sister suggested BD's Mongolian Grill for dinner.

It was AMAZING! I had heard of Mongolian Grills before as several members of my extended family rave about them. I had even been to one years ago, but I was so picky then, my Aunt went next door and got me chicken tenders. I don't think I even went up to see the grill or what they had. Silly me! I was missing out. Thankfully I have started branching out a lot more in the past few years (though in some ways D's boys are more adventurous than me. Last night I wached N, who is 4, eat a squid. Seeing him sit there with the tenticles hanging out of his mouth was both disgusting and hilarious) and was able to truly appreciate how fabulous this place was last night. I piled my bowl with Tuscan chicken, peppers, corn, onion, red potato, pineapple, nuts, sesame seeds, pasta, egg, sauces and spices. Watching the guys throw it on the grill, mix it all up, and throw their utensils around was an experience in and of itself.

I think I would have enjoyed it even if I hadn't liked my food. Thankfully though, I loved it! I can't wait to have a chance to go back there again.
After dinner we started the two hour drive back home. N was asleep before we got back. I think we were all pretty worn out by the end of the day, but everyone had a great time. It was the first weekend in awhile that we have been able to just have fun. The past couple months were filled with busy, "productive" weekends. It was really nice to be able to hang out without stress and "gotta get _____ taken care of" hanging over our heads.

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A Return To Blogging (Hopefully)

2011-04-04T13:39:00.001-04:00

Sometimes I really miss blogging. I think part of the reason that I haven't blogged lately is that I feel like I have to first catch you up on the past year or so. Well, I am not really going to do that. It would be too time consuming and too crazy. I will tell you the following:
There's this guy, let's call him "D" for now, and his two amazing kids who we will refer to as "S" and "N" for the time being. (Jenn, you fabulous commer-upper of nicknames, help me out with some titles for these guys, please!) I spend a lot of time with these three boys and am, in fact, pretty stinkin' crazy about all of them. I don't plan to go into great detail about my relationship with D on here, but it is likely that he and his boys will factor into many posts, and I thought it would be best if anyone reading had a general idea of who they are. For reference, you can see D a couple posts down. He is the one in the Scooby outfit. I don't plan to post pictures of his boys on here unless I decide to ask him if I can and he lets me. However, if you are my friend on FB you can see lots of pictures of them there.

I plan to start blogging more again (I hope). I enjoy looking back on my posts and remembering different things I did and how I felt at different times. I doubt I am going to forget this past year, but I am still a little sad that I didn't document it better.

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Life Is

2011-03-12T22:10:00.001-05:00

...complicated. My praying friends out there who occasionally check in here, please keep me in your prayers. I'm confused and frustrated, and I want to be in control of life...including the choices of others. Please pray that I will be able to let God be in control and trust him no matter what comes in my life, and that I will make choices that will please Him and not drive me away from Him. I'm not at a point where I want to share a whole lot here, but I would really appreciate prayer. I could also use a hug if anyone has one to spare.

Patty O'Green

2010-11-01T15:03:00.001-04:00

Several weeks ago I got an invitation to a Halloween party. It's been awhile since I've actually had a reason to dress up for Halloween, so I wanted to come up with something creative. A good friend of mine had gone to a party earlier this year as Rainbow Brite, and looking at her pictures on Facebook inspired me. At first I considered actually dressing up as Rainbow Brite, but then I thought about my Patty O'Green doll I'd had when I was little. The Rainbow Brite Color Kids are a little more obscure than Rainbow herself, but I thought it would be fun. It took a while to find/make all the pieces, but I had a lot of fun doing it. I even went on ebay and bought myself a Patty O'Green doll and the Sprite that went with her.

Belated Blog Birthday

2010-08-26T14:32:00.000-04:00

It has just occurred to me that I'm nearly a month past my blog's second birthday! Oh bloggy, I'm sorry I neglected you on your birthday! I can't believe how old you are getting. I hope your birthday was marvelous!

Tomato, Tomata...Let's Not Call the Whole Thing Off

2010-08-26T14:21:00.003-04:00

Remember that New Year's Resolution I made to try new foods...one food a month? Well, I pretty much sucked at it all year. However, this month I've actually done pretty well. I'm a little proud of myself, so I figured I share. :D

Let's see, this month I've tried the following:

Cooked zucchini and peppers in a pasta dish. I can't say that I really enjoyed this, but I choked it down. The zucchini I hated. The peppers weren't horrible, but I don't love the texture of them cooked. I'm told I should try roasted zucchini and not let zucchini from a freezer pasta bag make this decision for me.

Sloppy Joes, or more specifically, Manwich. I did eat sloppy joes occasionally as a child, but I hadn't tried them in many years. They were decent...probably not something I'd make myself, but certainly something I could eat again if that was what was for dinner.

Black Bean Salsa. My sister made this, and it contained a bunch of scary new things! Cold black beans, TOMATOES (I have a horror of tomatoes, but I'm TRYING to get over it), cold corn (I LOVE corn, but I was wary about it not being warm), peppers, and I don't even know what else. I only had a bite of it because my sister was making it for later and I was just trying it out. I actually was pleasantly surprised on this one. I think I'd eat it again!

Tomatoes. I keep working on this one. The day my sister made the salsa, I tried a tiny bite of a tomato by itself. I discovered that it really isn't as gross as I imagined it would be. I can't say I'm converted yet though. I also tried another one today in a sandwich. Normally I'd get a sandwich and ask for no tomato, but I decided to suck it up and eat it the way it was meant to be. Again, not too bad. Still...pineapple would have been better. I'm not sure what my deal is with tomatoes. I have no issue with tomato products, but somehow the idea of actually biting into a tomato has always grossed me out. Tomatoes are everywhere though, and I feel like I need to get over this.

Crab Rangoon. If I'm being totally honest, I didn't really give this a fair chance. I should have taken a second bite, but the first one was hard enough. I don't think I really even tasted it so much as just downed it to get it over with. I really should give this another go...we'll see.

I don't want to be the pickiest person you know. I don't want to turn down food when I'm a guest in someone's house. I don't want to make it difficult for people to eat out with me. In this area of life, I'd like to just be...normal. I'm not sure if I'll ever truly get there, but I'm going to try to improve. I'm going to try harder than I was before too. I'm discovering that it's usually not really as bad as I expect it to be, and even when it is bad, it doesn't hurt me to try. I have a long road ahead of me on this, but I'm determined to keep at it.

Break Time :)

2010-08-18T15:08:00.000-04:00

Yo ho! Long time, no blog! I make no apology for my long absence. First of all, I doubt anyone actually cares. Second, real life should come before blogging anyway. :)

I'm taking a break from writing lesson plans. I hate writing lesson plans. It's been so long since I've had to do them! I think the last time I had to write them was probably in November of 2007! I've gotten spoiled by my put-no-thought-into-it afternoon schedule. However, starting Monday morning, it's back to being a morning, lead teacher. I'm taking over the younger 3 year old class for this new school year. In some ways I'm excited about the change. Other things I'm not looking forward to so much. I'll be getting more hours and will have 3 afternoons off each week...both good things. It will be nice being able to get things done after work. Technically, I could have done things *before* work with my current schedule, but let's face it...Lauren likes to sleep in when she can! I got so lazy! This new schedule will force me to get up and going each day. It will also be nice to feel like I'm actually a teacher again instead of basically just a "babysitter." It's good to have a little purpose in life. :) The lesson plan thing I'm not so much excited about. I think it's my own fault. It probably could be a lot simpler than I make, but I just can't seem to help myself. I think once I get back into the swing of it, it will get easier. The other thing I'm kind of not so thrilled about is the fact that I will *have* to start going to bed at a more reasonable hour each night. I'm not going to be able to function in the mornings at work if I'm staying up till 2 AM. I'll adjust though.

Life seems to be full of changes right now. Some great, some crazy, some weird, some stressful; but all of them are certainly more interesting than being that girl I used to be who spent all her vast amount of free time sitting in her room at her computer. I am barely home anymore, and I don't mind it a bit. Having a life is fun. :)

Well, nap time is over in my classroom. Time to put away the lesson plans and curriculum books and start changing diapers. Aren't you jealous!?

Happy Star Wars Day!

2010-05-04T13:50:00.000-04:00

May the 4th be with you. ;)

I can't believe how long I've neglected my blog. I don't think I've ever gone so long without blogging before. I skipped the entire month of April! I wish I could say the blogging dry spell was over, but I kind of doubt it. It's not that I'm not doing anything or have nothing on my mind. It's just that the things on my mind aren't really things I care to blog about at present. I'm sure I'll be back eventually. :)

As far as all those resolutions I made go...well, sigh...I'm not doing so good with any of them! I've not really be knitting or sewing. I started working out and was doing really well for awhile, but then I lost focus. I need to get back into it. I was really enjoying it. The food...well...yeah, I suck. Trying new foods is SO HARD for me. I don't really understand why that is. I haven't given up totally on any of my resolutions. I will try to get back with all of them...especially the working out and trying new foods. I think those two are the most important.

Anyway, I'm still alive and doing very well. Someday the more regular posting may resume. :D

Deep Fried Tummy Aches

2010-03-15T16:05:00.004-04:00

Normally I'd be in the process of changing diapers right now, but sometimes life doesn't go as you expect. So, here I am blogging instead. We'll get to the why later (and no, I didn't lose my job or quit or anything crazy like that.)

Saturday, my friend Keli and I and a bunch of her friends drove to Plant City for the Strawberry Festival (or, you know, "Skrawberry Festable" depending on who you are.) It was a fun day and, weather wise, a GORGEOUS one. I could be wrong, but it seems like it was the warmest it's been all year. (I'm so pathetic, in the fall I complain about it being too hot here, but as soon as Christmas is over I'm wanting the warm weather again!) The festival itself was enjoyable, but nothing really thrilling for me. The best part was just being out in the nice weather and enjoying the company of others instead of sitting around in my house all day. Had I been there by myself, I might have spent a little more time checking out the craftier sections of festival. However, we spent most of the time in the ride/food areas. Seriously, when I go to something like this, I cannot help but be amazed at our American fascination with fried food.

There really is nothing we will not cover in batter and drown in sizzling hot oil, is there? From strawberries to candy bars to even deep fried Pepsi

(yes, I actually saw this though I did not partake). I limited my deep fried intake to chicken and potatoes, though I kinda wish I had passed on the potatoes and had a funnel cake instead!

Anyway, I came home Saturday night tired and slightly sunburned, but happy. Unfortunately, my stomach decided to revolt on Sunday morning. I woke up feeling a bit queasy and figured I'd just eaten too much junk on Saturday. I made it to church and through lunch (though I couldn't eat much). I came home, took a nap, and woke up several hours later feeling horrible. I spent the rest of the day in bed with a fever (which makes me believe that I caught some kind of bug and it was not just too much bad-for-me food), tummy ache, and body aches. This morning I was starting to feel better and my fever was gone, but I was still weak and achy, so I decided to stay home from work and let myself fully recover. No need to be passing out at work or passing around sick germs to my kiddies. So, here I am in bed with my computer instead of eating fishy crackers with hungry two year olds.

(Yes, the sign in that picture says Krispy Kreme Donut Burger. Check it out, but beware. I think I had a heart attack just looking at it.)

Because I'm Worth It ;)

2010-03-03T00:27:00.004-05:00

*Looks at the calender.* Oh hey, lookie there. It's March 3rd! Happy Birthday to ME!

Back To Disney

2010-02-24T02:50:00.006-05:00

I kind of feel like I've neglected the blog this month. Blog, are your feelings hurt? I'm sorry. :( Or maybe I'm not. Suddenly and unexpectedly I seem to have found myself landed in the middle of a semi-social life. I love you, blog, but you aren't as fun as hanging out with actual people.

At any rate, I'm here now to tell you about yet another trip to that oh so magical land we call Disney World. I'd been wanting to make a trip to Disney for awhile. The last time I was there was last September, and call me spoiled, but that is TOO LONG! So, a few weeks ago some friends and I decided it was time to make a trip. I booked us into the All-Star Movies Resort, bought my new season pass, and Saturday morning we headed up to Central Florida. :)

We spent Saturday morning and early afternoon at Animal Kingdom. Oddly, though I'm not exactly what anyone would classify as an animal lover, I really do enjoy Animal Kingdom. Somehow it always seems more peaceful and relaxing there than it does at the other parks. The different themes throughout the park are also done so well. It's just fun to walk around and see everything. This trip we even got to see a baby gorilla (or "bagrilla" as the little one in our group called them) who had been born not even 24 hours before! For a gorilla, it was really very adorable.

Saturday afternoon we checked into our resort. I hadn't visited or stayed at any of the "value" resorts at Disney before, so I wasn't sure what to expect. However, I was pleasantly surprised. The staff was very accommodating when we asked to change to a room with two beds (ok, so we booked a room for two people and then put 4 of us in it...hey, it was cheaper that way!). The movie theme and decor was very cute and fun. The pool area, while lacking the slide that most of the more expensive resorts there have, was fun with a giant Sorcerer's Apprentice Mickey fountain shooting water into the pool. The food court and gift/convenience shop offered lots of choices. Everything was very comfortable. I would absolutely stay there again.

Saturday night we ate a late dinner at 1900 Park Fare in the Grand Floridian. It was a character dining buffet with Cinderella, her step-mother and sisters, and Prince Charming. It was probably not something I'd want to do again, but the food was good, and the experience was special for the 3 year old girl who was with us. After dinner, my one friend and her daughter headed back to the hotel while my other friend and I went over to the Magic Kingdom for a few hours.

Sunday we spent the morning at the Magic Kingdom. We had planned to head over to Epcot for the afternoon, but we all decided we were done with the parks for the day and spent the afternoon at Downtown Disney instead. We had lunch at T-Rex (very fun restaurant!) and ended the trip with dessert at Ghiradelli.

Now I've had my Disney fix and should be good for at least, oh, another month or so. ;)

What Is Love?

2010-02-05T23:12:00.000-05:00

Each day of the week I have a different list of people that I pray for. On Fridays I pray for my family. As I worked my way through the list today, thanking my Savior for each of these people He has blessed me with, I was struck by the incredible examples of love that I have been given throughout my life. Not just that my family has shown love to me as their daughter, granddaughter, niece, etc. Any essentially functional family loves their own. What I mean is that they have shown me true, godly examples of what love is really about.

I think about my dad's mom. What an amazing woman she is. She will take anyone who needs a place into her home. I've seen her take a homeless man who was found living in her church and give him a roof over his head and a new start in life. I've watched her take in so many that others would have little or nothing to do with. She never seems to concern herself with what she will get out of it or whether or not they will ever pay her back or even whether or not she will be safe. She just gives of herself no matter the cost and no matter the individual. Each week she drives her van to pick up food to take to her church food pantry that she runs. My Grandmother is in her 80s. She has arthritis and carpel tunnel syndrome, yet week after week she's there. She is carting and carrying and lifting and praying and SERVING. That's what she does. And you know something, in all my years, I've never really heard her complain. I've never seen her attempt to get something in return. She just gives and gives and gives until there should be nothing left. And yet, she is so rich! She has so much joy and love and life and energy.

I consider my mom's mother. Over the years, we've all teased her and laughed a bit at her because she can really be very ditsy at times. In a lot of ways she seems so very weak, so very incapable. I know the truth though. This woman is STRONG. As a child, I watched as my grandfather's mind and body were taken away by Alzheimer. I saw my grandmother take care of him at home for as long as she possibly could. I saw her stand by his side when he had no idea who she was, when he would threaten to throw her out of the house because she was a stranger in his eyes. I saw her visit and sit with him every single day at the nursing home once she could no longer care for him on her own. She could have said, "No, this is too hard to watch" and moved on with her life, but she never did. She stayed there by his side until he went to be with Jesus. She did it because she loved him. She loved him when he could no longer feed himself and when he lost control of his bladder functions. She loved him when he had nothing left to offer her in return. In my eyes, that is real love!

I see now one of my aunt's going through this same thing with her husband. He still lives with her and he still knows who she is, but everyday he declines. She has to help him to the bathroom and dress him and remind him that the food in front of him is for eating. I see the pain in her eyes when she looks at this man who was once so strong and so intelligent now struggling just to figure out how to sit in a chair. And yet, she presses on, and I know she will continue to do so. Why? Because she knows what it means to love.

Today as I prayed, I think I saw that I still have so much to learn about love. Love isn't always pretty. It's not really about warm fuzzy feelings. That is certainly part of it, but it's not the whole. Love is work. It's sacrifice. It's giving when you may get nothing in return. I look at my life and see so many areas where I fail at love so often. Areas where I need to be practicing love every day. When my mom says something that I don't like and I snap at her, when I'm harsh and ugly with the children in my class, when I know someone needs my help but I make an excuse because I just don't feel like it, when I talk about someone behind their back (as though I am so much better! What rot!), and so many other things.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8a
Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast,
it is not proud. It is not rude,
it is not self-seeking,
it is not easily angered,
it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil
but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts,
always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails

It's a familiar and often quoted portion of Scripture, but there is a reason for that. It's important! Imagine what kind of world we would live in if we all truly learned to live by these verses!

Lord, show me how to love like that!

Crocheted Curlers

2010-02-02T14:52:00.003-05:00

At the risk of ending up on What Not To Crochet (viewer beware before clicking that link, it's not always pretty, it's sometimes scary, and it's often not child friendly...sure is funny though), I give you the crocheted curler. Am I crazy? Perhaps. However, when I put these in my hair at night instead of the old sponge rollers, I actually get to sleep pain free. Frankly, I think pain free nights are totally worth the few hours and scrap yarn used to make a set of these. :D I've considered buying the soft pillow rollers before, but to get enough for my hair would cost more than I really care to invest. I've tried rags, but I have a hard time rolling them up and tying them. These were quick, easy, and free (since I used leftover yarn) to make. They were inspired by these knitted ones that I found while looking for ways to use up yarn. I tried to follow the knitting pattern, but knitting 6 little stitches over a set of DPNs is a little beyond my beginner knitting skills. I quickly decided to come up with my own crochet pattern and whip some up that way instead. I don't have a strict pattern for them, but the basic idea is as follows:

I used a US size F hook

Work 6 sc in a magic loop (more if you want a thicker curler), do not join
Sc in each sc around until you reach about 3.5 inches
Sc3tog, twice
6 Foundation single crochets, join end to the end of the curler body to make a loop. Finish off.

I have found that the loop stretches out as you use it, so make the loop smaller than you think you will need it to be. I made mine with various amounts of single crochets, and in the end I think the ones with fewer (around 6) worked out better than the ones I did with more. You could also stuff your curlers before you sc3tog if you want them a little firmer. I chose to leave mine hollow inside, and they work fine. I think that if you decide to make yours bigger, it would probably be a good idea to stuff them. Mine are fairly thin, so they hold up well without anything in them.

I cannot set my hair wet because it will never dry if I do. I did try these out with a wet set, but, as usual, a good 10 hours later they were still wet when I went to unroll them. This happens with sponge rollers as well for me. I can't say how they will work on other people. If your hair dries easily overnight in rollers, these may as well. For me, I just mist a little diluted Lottabody setting lotion on each chunk of dry hair before rolling it up.

January Resolution Update

2010-01-31T16:20:00.004-05:00

Well, it's the last day of January, so I figured I should update on those New Year's resolutions I made. Here goes.

1. Sewing

I haven't worked at this skill at all over the past month. It's one of those things that I need to be able to set aside a substantial amount of time to work on, and I just haven't done that.

2. Knitting

I've learned this month about cables, knitting on double pointed needles, making bobbles or popcorn stitches, and working from a chart. I have made wrist warmers and a Dalek wash cloth..germs must be exterminated! Still a lot to learn, but I feel like I've made some good progress in this area.

3. New Foods

My absolutely fabulous and amazing friend, Jenn, told me I needed to try taziki. I'm glad she did. I love it! Soooooo good with carrots and celery. It's pretty low calorie and it's been helping me eat my veggies a lot more often. I also re-tried cottage cheese. I used to eat it all the time until my sister and friend convinced me it was gross (considering how few foods I liked at the time, I think this was uncalled for on their parts!). For the past decade or so I've been too grossed out to eat it, but I finally decided to give it another try. Turns out, I still love it. I needed another form of calcium in my diet, so I'm very happy to be eating cottage cheese again.

4. Exercise
I'll admit that I'm not doing so great here. I have been playing Wii Sports Resort, and some of the games on it are a pretty decent workout. However, I haven't been playing it or doing anything else consistently. This is still an area I need to work on.

Picture Post

2010-01-24T21:22:00.000-05:00

Just a bit of a random picture post here. I finally got around to dumping the pictures from my camera from the past month or so.

My niece loves to wear Auntie Lauren's "pretties" in her hair.

We had my nephew and nieces for about a week after my sister had her wisdom teeth out (one reason why there hasn't been much blogging lately). My nephew started to get a little stir crazy, so I took him to a nearby park to play one evening.

My dad got a package in the mail all wrapped in huge sheets of paper. The kids had a blast coloring all over it. Then this little monkey decided to rip it to shreds.

But really, isn't she a cute little monkey!?

Gorgeous sunset behind the house one night.

There's no place like home!

Blog World, I Don't Think We Are In Florida Anymore

2010-01-09T22:36:00.000-05:00

Have you met my scarf? When I made it back in November for my trip to Tennessee, I had no idea that in January it would become my new best friend. (The scarf, btw, was loosely inspired by this one that Rose Tyler wears in season 1 of Doctor Who.)

People, it is COLD here in Florida this weekend! Just a couple hours north of me it SNOWED today. I was out shopping this afternoon, and I swear the temperature gauge on my car never got over 39 degrees. I'm loving it! I'm knitting myself up a pair of fingerless gloves, and I've pretty much kept the finished one on all evening. I can't wait to get the second one done. I may have to sleep with them on tonight. I'm not used to this kind of weather anymore. :D

Speaking of the fingerless gloves, I have now learned how to knit cables! Guess what. It wasn't even that hard! I also have been practicing working with double pointed knitting needles, and I've found that those aren't really all that complicated either. It seems like, for me, the most complicated thing is sizing. I think I need to start making gauge swatches. For some reason, this is something I've never really done. I have a tendency to rush headlong into a project and just hope that it will come out the right size. I won't be able to do that if I am making things to wear. At any rate, I'm excited about the things I have learned, and I'm discovering that I really enjoy knitting.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T12:31:00.001-05:00

It's 2010 now. Gonna take me awhile to get the hang of writing/typing that. I've messed up typing it several times already.

I don't always make a new year's resolution. Sometimes I just can't think of one. Sometimes I can think of things but figure, why bother...no one sticks to them anyway. But you know, one year I did stick to it. One year I decided it was time to lose some weight, and I did it. I lost about 80 lbs over the next year and a half after that. If I could stick to that, why can't I stick to something else? I CAN! So here they are. Maybe if I use my blog to keep myself accountable, it will be a little easier to not let them slide.

1. Learn to make my own clothing
Now, this is something I know a little about already. I have made a few things over the years, but I'm not good at it and I can't do it without a lot of help. My goal is to keep working on this skill over the next year and get myself to the point where I can make myself an outfit without stressing out my mother with all my pleas for help and temper tantrums.

2. Knit myself at least one garment
This cannot be something like a scarf or hat. I has to be something that requires me to learn new techniques. It will be something along the lines of a sweater I think. We'll see.

3. Try at least 1 new food each month and blog about it.
I'm not talking about putting foods I already like together in a new way. I'm talking about either a totally new food that I've never tried or a food that I've tried in the past but didn't like and never tried again. At first I was going to make it 1 a week, but I know myself well enough to know that this will be very hard for me. I want something I can stick to. If I try a minimum of 1 a month, that will be at least 12 foods I've tried by the end of the year. This may not seem like a big deal to the average person, but for me it is. If, by the end of a month, I haven't blogged about something new I've tried, get on my case about it! Please!

4. Get off my butt and get moving!
Exercise is such a cliche resolution, but I really do spend way too much time sitting around...computer, reading, sitting the floor with kids, knitting, crocheting. I need to get up and move. I'm hoping that some of the new Wii games I just ordered will help with this, but I also am going to be looking for some other activities to get me out and moving. There is only so much I can take of working out in my room.

So there they are. Anyone else making any resolutions this year?

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-30T18:54:00.003-05:00

I hope everyone had at least as wonderful a Christmas as I did this year. :D Over the past week our house has be bursting at the seams with relatives. We had my grandmother, both of my dad's sisters and their husbands, and my cousin with his wife and 3 teenage kids all staying in our house. Not to mention my nieces and nephew who were here for most of the week as well. It's a good thing we all get along!

I don't know what Christmas morning is like in your home, but in mine it is quite the ordeal. We had to wait for for my sister and family to show up to begin the real festivities, but we started early with breakfast and just hanging out. Once the entire clan was together we read the Christmas story, Grandma led us all in a time of prayer, and then we got down to the business of opening presents. Every year we make rules and decide we aren't going to go crazy, but no one really follows the rules, and inevitably the gift opening takes us a least a couple hours. This year I had crocheted and knitted gifts for each member of my extended family (you can see my cousins sporting their Lauren-Made Winter Wear in the pictures), and I really think all my hard work paid off. Everyone really seemed to love their gifts (and if they didn't, they should get Oscars for their performances on Christmas morning!)

As for me, I had some awesome gifts this year. One of them really shocked me. I'd been dropping hints about wanting a Kitchenaid mixer for a long time, but I knew mom hated the idea of having another appliance in the kitchen, so I really wasn't expecting one. I think I half gasped and half screamed when I opened one up. I haven't had a chance to use it yet, but I'm really looking forward to trying it out. I also got a Wii this year and some games to go with it as well as DVDs, gift cards, jewelry, and knitting needles. Yeah, I know, I'm spoiled.

All the family has gone home now. I'm a little sad, but there is something nice about having your home to yourself again. It's also nice to still have a long weekend ahead of me.

So again, to all my friends who read this, I hope you had a very merry Christmas this year. Also, if you have a moment, leave a comment and tell me what your favorite gift was this year.

5 More Sleeps!

2009-12-20T01:04:00.002-05:00

Excuse the picture. There is no purpose to it whatsoever. Sometimes I have a little too much fun with Photo Booth, and I do hate posts with no pictures. :D

After about 3 months worth of crocheting, I'm finally done with all my projects. I have checked off every item on that crazy list I had. It is time to get down to the business of enjoying the season. I have a little shopping left to do, but I'll get it done. I'd get it done faster if I could figure out what to get my sister, but whatever. The weather is finally cooling down a bit. The house is beeeeeeeeautifuly decorated (my mom is so good at turning the place into a Christmas wonderland). There are yummy goodies overflowing the refrigerator and pantry. It's early early Sunday morning. Sunday the 20th of December. It's Christmas week! Merry Christmas! Tomorrow (well, later today really) my Grandma and my Aunties and Uncles will be flying in for the week. Monday my cousins come. I love this time of year!

What Is The Point?

2009-12-17T01:20:00.002-05:00

I have a to-do list that gets longer every second. Do you think blogging is on it? Nope. Yet, here I am. Somehow it helps to de-stress when I blog, and I need all the de-stressing I can get right now! I'm am so looking forward to this week being over. Next week all the family will be here and, as my mom said, we will be able to stop preparing for Christmas and just enjoy it! For now I'm busy with baking, shopping, cleaning, crocheting, wrapping, making trips to the post office, working, etc. Some of it is fun, some is not. All must be finished by the time I go to bed on Saturday night.

The trouble is though, I'm so busy with getting ready for Christmas that I'm forgetting about what Christmas is really about. Last night, while trying desperatly to get my room clean enough to find my floor and furniture, I uncovered my Bible hiding under a chair. I gazed in horror as I tried to remember when the last time I read it was. Even know I cannot say for sure. I just know it's been far too long. How on earth can I expect to have a truly Merry Christmas if I am neglecting spending time with the One who's birth I claim to be celebrating? It cannot go on. None of the rest of it even matters really. The baking and the shopping and all the projects I have going on are worth very little if I have forgotten the reason behind the whole thing. And so, I am going to do my best to keep my eyes fixed on my Savior as I go through the rest of this season (and the rest of my life!)

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

I want to be like those shepherds! I want to leave the busyness of what I am doing to go spend some time with my Savior, so I can return to my work glorifying and praising God.

I am glad I chose to blog tonight. This wasn't even close to the topic I was going to discuss, but somehow listing all those things that I'm so worried about getting done made me stop and think about what really matters to me.

Thanksgiving Weekend

2009-12-15T13:34:00.004-05:00

I believe it is high time I posted a bit about my trip to TN. Here it is in pictures.

A good friend of mine was traveling up with her sister and niece to visit their other sister and some relatives in Chattanooga. They invited me to go along.

After a 12 hour car ride on Wednesday, it seemed like Thursday morning was a good time to get out in the fresh, chilly air. We all headed into downtown Chattanooga to see the sights...starting with a playground.

We claimed we were going for the sake of the 3 year old we had with us, but I think we big people had more fun than she did!

After the playground, we headed over to...

Pardon me boys, is that the Chattanooga Choo Choo?

Why yes, it sure is! This was a total thrill for my vintage loving heart.

Thursday night was, of course, the big Thanksgiving dinner (no pictures). It was different for me to have Thanksgiving with someone else's family. It was nice, but there were a few items that I like to have on Thanksgiving that were missing. I also missed my family a bit. Overall though, it was a good dinner.

After dinner several of us loaded up in the Hummer and went to see New Moon. Again, no pictures, but it was a good time.

Friday we did more sightseeing in the area.

I so enjoyed seeing all the fall colors! How I miss that down here.

My friend and I drove up in the mountains to see the views and the big, beautiful houses up on the ridges. Occasionally we'd pull off at a Civil War site to walk around and take pictures.

If I had to pick, this drive would probably be my favorite part of the trip.

It was so beautiful up there! The area where I live is lovely, and people come here from all over the world to enjoy it. I really do love home, but it's so nice to get an opportunity to see something different...something I don't see every day.

Another highlight of the trip would have to be these cupcakes from Gigi's Cupcakes. If you are ever in Chattanooga, you need to check these out. I had a peppermint cupcake and a peanut butter cup cupcake. The cake itself was delicious, and the frosting was amazing. As you can see in the picture, there was a TON of frosting. I'd say it was at least 3 inches high! Soooooo yummy!

Friday night, my friend and I drove back over to see the Choo Choo all lit up for Christmas. It's actually a big hotel now. You can either stay in a traditional hotel room or in an actual train car. I'd so love to do that some day.

And isn't this tree just gorgeous!? I loved the effect of lights on the bottom, leaves in the middle, and bare branches at the top.

Saturday morning we headed over to the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area, and stopped for breakfast at the Apple Barn and Cider Mill. I should have taken a picture of my plate of food. I couldn't even come close to finishing it. I could have made 3 or 4 meals out of it.

After breakfast, we walked around there for a bit and went in the gift shop. I bought some of their apple butter and pumpkin butter. Yum!

Gatlinburg is a fun, but very touristy place. I preferred the more natural parts of the area. In the above picture we had stopped off on the roadside to see the trees and the little creek that was running by the road. It was so lovely.

We explored the Gatlinburg area for most of the afternoon. Basically, it's the same old tourist stuff you expect to see in a place like that...souvenir shops, candy stores, old timey photo places, etc. The best part of all of it was the Sky Lift.

We rode up the side of the mountain in a ski lift.

I expected to be a little bothered by the height, but because your feet are always dangling just a few feet above the ground it doesn't really seem that high.

From the top we took some pictures of the view.

On our way out of Gatlinburg we stopped at the Christmas Place Store

The sign says "Incredible" and really it was. The store is packed with Christmas decorations. I felt a little bad that my mom couldn't be there with me. She would have loved it. However, if she had come along, we'd have probably never gotten out of there.

I bought myself a tiny, purple, sparkly Converse-like sneaker for my little tree. I'll try to get a picture of it to post later. It's adorable.

On Sunday, the weary travelers piled back into the Hummer at 5 AM and headed south toward the sunny state we call home. I had been a little hesitant about going on this trip. It was my first Thanksgiving with someone else's family, but I had a wonderful time. I'm so glad I decided to go!

Reunited!

2009-12-14T21:03:00.000-05:00

The computer is back at home now. They ended up calling to tell me that they had found $900 more worth of damage on it. The service guy wanted to know if I wanted them to go ahead and fix everything or just ship it back to me. Apparently they can't just fix it in part. It has to be signed off as Apple specified or something. There was NO way on earth I was going to be paying over $1000 to get it fixed. Good grief, for that I could have purchased a new lap top. I was going to have them just ship it back to me, but the guy suddenly decided that they would just fix it all and wave all the fees including the original $310 they were charging for the initial problem. I'm not sure why they did this, but I'm pretty sure they have won my loyalty. I now have a computer in perfect condition at no cost to me. I'm good with that. It's good to have my old friend back, but honestly, I got so much more done while it was gone. It's kind of amazing how much time I waste on this thing. Speaking of...better go! Lots to do before the family all arrives for Christmas.

Blackout

2009-12-03T19:48:00.002-05:00

Well, I am still alive. My computer, however, is not. Over Thanksgiving weekend I went to Chattanooga with some friends (will probably be a post about that in the future) and while I was there the screen on my MacBook decided to die. It is currently being sent off to be fixed. Hopefully I will have it back by the middle of next week. As a side note, the girl at the Apple store told me that I was described in the notes (apparently they write discriptions of who is in the store) as the girl in the plaid shirt with the pretty 1940's hairstyle. That made my day and slightly raised my opinion of "Mac people." (I may own a Mac, but I am no Mac snob. I have had just as many problems with my Mac as with any other computer I have ever owned. They are nice machines, but seriously, you'd think they werre perfect and fail proof the way the Mac people talk.) Anyway, I am over typing from my phone, so see ya when the computer is safely back home.

It's Beginning To Look A Little Like...

2009-11-06T23:39:00.000-05:00

Is it Christmas time yet? I can't decide. Last year by this time I had all my Christmas decorations up, and I was listening to Christmas music and watching Christmas movies. So far this year I haven't really done any of that. On the other hand, my bedroom floor is currently strewn with top secret Christmas gift projects and there is a Christmas tree up in the living room. We got a pre-lit Christmas tree from some friends, and Mom pulled it out tonight because she thought one section of lights was out. She had planned to spend the evening searching for the offending bulb, but it turned out that she just hadn't had it plugged in properly, and the lights work just fine. Therefore it is up, and up it shall remain.

So anyway, what to do now? I have lots more work to do on Christmas presents, and it would be nice to get a lot out of that out of the way before the season is in full swing. things do get busy. Pulling the Christmas decorations out of the closet sounds like fun, but also a lot of work. Or perhaps I should just go to bed. Ha, sure.

'Twas the Night Before Halloween...

2009-10-31T01:37:00.001-04:00

and, no, I will not be continuing on in poem form. I'm afraid I am simply not that talented. Instead I will give you my night in pictures.

After that trip to the pumpkin patch last week, I had a pumpkin hanging around waiting to be given a face. I wanted to have my nephew over to "help" me with it. I knew I'd be home alone tonight, and since tomorrow I won't have to go to work, I figured it would be the perfect time to have him over for a little one-on-one Halloween fun.

I picked him up at his house. He wanted to wear his costume, so we had my sister take a picture of the two of us together before we left. And so, Iron Man and the 50s girl began their night.

By the way, this is the skirt I made yesterday.

After getting ourselves a little dinner and watching Finding Nemo, we got into our aprons to do a little baking. I really should make him his own apron. Perhaps a Superman one. He shouldn't have to wear this Christmas one all year, but it's the only one we have that really fits him.

Personally, I love any opportunity to wear my apron, but I especially loved wearing it over my new circle skirt!

(From this point on, all pictures of me were taken by my nephew.)

I wanted to do some fall shaped cookies that we would be able to decorate, so we went with gingerbread cookies. I have a fabulous recipe for gingerbread cookies, but makes a lot more cookies than I wanted to do tonight, so I used a recipe I found online. Honestly, it wasn't worth sharing with you. However, we had a great time making them, so that's what counts, right?

Sifting is Fun!!

I don't know about you, but personally I want to kiss that little dot of flour right off his face!

"Am I a great helper?"

Yes you are, Iron Man. Yes you are!

The cookie dough had to spend some time in the fridge, so "we" moved on to pumpkin carving. I had scooped it out this morning because I knew he'd have no patience for that. I barely even have the patience for it! (As a side note, have you ever seen your pumpkin seeds sprouting inside your pumpkin? I never had before, but many of them were in this one.)

Iron Man was very insistent that the pumpkin's face be made mostly with triangles this year. As there really wasn't much he could do to help with the carving, he stayed back watching, offering suggestions, and jumping around in must-not-stop-moving-or-I-will-fall-asleep mode.

I showed Iron Man the picture of the pumpkin we did together last year, and told him how he had chosen the name Rock Pumpkin.

Apparently he still likes the name. This year our pumpkin is named Pumpkin Rock.

Once we got our pumpkin mess cleaned up, it was time to cut out and bake our cookies.

As you can see, Iron Man had, by this time, changed into his Lightning McQueen PJs. (I admit that this was very much against his will, but it was getting rather late.)

The late hour kept us from decorating our cookies. That will have to wait till tomorrow.

We finished the night with Yertle the Turtle, a drink of water, and a tearful hunt for a replacement stuffed animal for the bunny he'd accidentally left at home.

Goodnight, little man!

Random Thankfulness

2009-10-30T02:08:00.001-04:00

Because it beats the heck out of grumbling! :D

I've gotten a good jump start on making Christmas presents this year
I started and finished making a skirt today...my first completed clothing project in years! (Pictures to come later when I have someone to take them for me)
Tomorrow night I get to spend some special one-on-one time with my nephew
I got a little bit of extra time in at work today
A very good friend is coming to visit for a few days next week
Some family members that I haven't seen in several years are also coming to visit next week
I Love Lucy
Laughter

Laura

2009-10-23T13:48:00.006-04:00

A few nights ago I watched the movie Laura, staring Gene Tierney, for the first time. Great movie, a little strange, but very good. Gene Tierney's hats and hair in this movie are incredible. Where can I get myself these hats!? Of course, would I really wear them? I'm not sure I'm brave enough. Why don't women wear hats anymore!? And oh this hair! That I would wear if I could figure it out. It's gorgeous!

Pumpkins!

2009-10-20T20:59:00.016-04:00

This evening my mother and I took my nephew and oldest niece to a pumpkin "patch" at local church. We are pretty short on fall fun around here, so anything we can get is pretty exciting. The kids had a great time picking out their own pumpkins and looking at all the silly scarecrows the church had made.

According to my nephew, small pumpkins are for little people and big pumpkins are for big people. He picked out a small one to take home. My niece picked out one that was a bit bigger and carried it around with her the whole time we were there. Well, except for right after we paid for it. Then she threw it in the trash! Luckily, the trash was nearly empty, and we were able to save her pumpkin.

As I am a "big person" I picked out a big pumpkin to be carved at a later date.

When we got home, my nephew chose to paint his pumpkin instead of carving it.

We got out an assortment of paints, but he was only interested in the red. The drip from the eye was not intentional, but I think it adds a nice, creepy factor!

If I lived somewhere up north, I could have gone to a real pumpkin patch. There would have been fall leaves and hot apple cider and I could have worn some of those cold weather clothes that I love and never get to wear. But you know, my niece and nephew would have been here, and I wouldn't have been able to share the experience with them. As much as I miss the fall, I'd miss them a whole lot more!

"Some Music Needs Air...

2009-10-19T13:47:00.000-04:00

Roll down your window." ~ Clair Colburn - Elizabethtown

What is it about a chill in the air that makes music sound so much better? When the weather turns a bit cooler, I love nothing more than getting in my car, rolling down the windows, and blasting the music. It doesn't seem to matter what kind of music it is. It all just seems to come alive when I'm breathing in that fresh, cold air. Yesterday afternoon J. S. Bach and I drove through town with the contrapuntal sounds of The Art of Fugue invading every other open windowed car on the road. In the evening, as I drove over the home of some friends, it was the music of Grease that was blaring from my speakers. That night, Josh Groban and I sang our way home while the windy night air from the open moon roof made me shiver in a way that I love at this time of year.

By tomorrow we will be back into the mid 80s, and as the temperature rises, so will my windows. The music will once again be played at a normal volume, and the air conditioning will come back on. It is a sad story, but what can be done about it? This is home, and I must accept it. Still, I will be anxiously awaiting the next cool front. And I think I will spend the waiting period making some long skirts. I don't seem to have the proper clothing for this cooler weather!

Now This Is More Like It!

2009-10-17T13:47:00.002-04:00

Yep, that's me...outside. If only every day in the Florida fall were more like this one! It is in the 70s today here. It's breezy, it's sunny, and I can breath when I walk outside. In fact, I even have my windows open (a good thing too since my room reeks of roach spray...had a little run in with one last night. Bleh!)! Considering it's been in the 90s here lately, I am absolutely loving this weather. It will only last for a few days, but I am going to be thankful for it while it lasts. I walked around outside for awhile. You know, I'm not much of an outdoor girl, but when I do get myself away from the laptop and out the door, I always end up discovering all over again that it really is rather beautiful here. Sure, I miss the fall leaves and the cool weather and the opportunity to wear sweaters, but really, on a day like this, Florida is a very nice place to be.

I took a few pictures as I wondered around outside today.

These are the Mangrove roots and trees that are supposedly holding Florida together or something like that. They are highly protected.

And this is a bit of the view from our dock behind the house. It was windy out there, and I was almost chilly enough to want long sleeves! For me, that's a thrill. ;)

And just for the fun of it, here is a hairstyle I came up with yesterday. I'm having a bit of trouble with victory rolls and some other authentic techniques. I think it is in part because the ends are getting kind of scraggly. I am in serious need of a haircut. Still, I'm having lots of fun playing around with hairstyles lately.

Thank You, Superman!

2009-10-14T14:31:00.000-04:00

It absolutely blows my mind that this picture would not exist if it were not for a TV show that went on the air 16 years ago. When I started watching Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman back in my younger years, I couldn't have possibly known the profound impact it would someday have on my life. Who knew that I would someday rediscover this show on DVD and that it would lead me to the insanity of the world of online fandom. How could I have guessed that through that fandom I would meet some of my best friends. (Now, those of you who may be interested in this fandom world, be warned that is not all rosy and wonderful. There is drama in this land...drama like you would not believe. But that is not the topic of this post.) Well, those thoughts may have never entered my young mind, but 16 years and 26 days after the airing of the pilot episode, I found myself picking up Jenn (my dear fellow fandom-dweller) and her adorable little 4 month old from the airport and bringing them back to my house for a week of fun in the Florida sunshine. And a great week it was too! Though this was not the first time we had met in person (in fact, it was the 3rd) it was the first time we ever actually sat down together and watched the show that was responsible for our meeting in the first place. What a blast that was! While our hearts are always true to our show, I think that both of us had lost some interest in it lately. Somehow watching it together brought back a bit of that old spark. It was such fun to swoon together over the romance, snark over the absurdities, and drool a bit over our Superman. It made the show come alive in a way it hadn't been in far too long. Of course, we did not sit around and watch Lois and Clark all week. There was cheesecake, the beach, shopping, talking and laughing into the wee small hours of the morning, swimming, baby giggles, and even a few mosquito bites (OK, that part is not so much great but certainly worth it).

It was a little sad to send her and that precious little man home yesterday morning. I am missing them both already!

Shine

2009-10-05T13:56:00.001-04:00

I'm a feeling totally overwhelmed and honored right now. Awhile back I entered one of my Lois and Clark videos in this contest on youtube, and I just found out that I tied for first place in one of the categories! I love making my videos, and it's always nice when people leave comments and feedback on them, but I certainly never expected to win anything with any of them.

Here is the video if anyone cares to watch it. The promt was that the video should use clips from every aired season of the show and needed to showcase each main character (anyone who had ever appeared in the opening credits) for every season. I had a great time making this one, so I'm very excited about winning. :)

Yo Ho, Yo Ho, An Idiot's Life For Me

2009-10-01T14:41:00.001-04:00

Well, I just about gave myself a heart attack. I was sitting here in my classroom as my class napped, and I was pondering what to do with the squash I had roasted before leaving the house this morning. Suddenly: PANIC! "Did I leave the squash cooking when I left the house? I don't recall turning off the oven!" Just as I was getting ready to leave the house today a heavily accented someone came to the door inquiring after our coconuts (these people come by every so often and ask if they can have the coconuts off our trees in the backyard. They do the work of getting them down, and we let them have them. Not like we use them anyway). Had I forgotten about the squash in my struggle to understand this woman on my doorstep? My mind was filled with visions of flames leaping from the oven and our sprinkler system dousing the house and ruining all the furniture. I imagined arriving home to a charred, smoke-filled kitchen. I tried to imagine how I would tell my parents when they got home from their trip to find the their home in ruin. What could I do?! I am at work. Even if I were to go home, it would take me another 30 minutes to get there. At this point my mind began to head back into sane territory and I realized that I needed to call my parents so they could call our neighbors (I don't know their number) who have a key to the house to go check for me. I waited anxiously to hear back the news that my parents were going to kill me, bring me back to life, kick me out of the house, and kill me again. I waited for what seemed like 45 minutes (I think it was probably closer to 5) and finally heard that, no I had not left the oven on and that our neighbor was kindly putting the squash in the fridge for me (not sure if I left it in the oven or on the counter, but either way it was very nice of her to help out).

I feel like a total moron! Granted, not as much of a moron as I would feel if I actually HAD left the oven on, but still...how embarrassing! Sigh...at least I have ginger cookies.

Fresh Ginger Cookies

2009-10-01T13:17:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to do a quick post to share this recipe for ginger cookies with you all. They are made with fresh ginger, and they far surpass the Betty Crocker gingersnap recipe I shared sometime last year. The only things I changed in this recipe were using whole wheat flour that I sifted twice and making the cookies slightly smaller than what was called for. Honestly, you can't even tell they were made with whole wheat flour. These might be my new favorite cookies! I will tell you, the ginger flavor is very strong in them, so if you aren't a huge fan of ginger these may not be for you. Personally, I can't get enough of them!

Whole Wheat Acorn Squash Muffins

2009-09-30T14:25:00.001-04:00

Sunday afternoon, while walking through the produce section of the grocery store, I was overcome with the urge to bring home a winter squash. It may not feel like fall outside here, but that doesn't stop me from wanting to pretend and eat fall foods! I picked out a nice Golden Acorn Squash, and took it home with me.

I was going to be spending the afternoon in the kitchen making potato soup, so I figured I'd look up a recipe to make use of my squash. I really want to try out this one, but I knew I didn't have the time for a yeast bread. Eventually I came across this recipe for Acorn Squash Muffins. I wanted to use whole wheat flour instead of white because, well, that's just the kind of girl I am. I also was a bit disappointed by the lack of fall-ish seasoning in it, so I added a bit of that to the mix. Then, as I combined the ingredients I discovered that it was FAR too dry. I couldn't even get all the flour to work into the mixture. I had something of a looming disaster on my hands. I recalled seeing a comment on a squash bread recipe elsewhere about someone adding Chai concentrate to their bread, and I thought, "Hey, why not? It's a mess anyway!" Well, my friends, they turned out pretty good! I took them with me to my Bible study group that night, and have been told that they were pretty tasty. So, I'm going to write down my version of the recipe for you in case you ever care to try them.

2 1/2 cups sifted whole wheat four
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
2 eggs, beaten slightly
1 cup mashed acorn squash
1 Tbsp. margarine
1 cup sugar

1/2 cup liquid chai concentrate (Or somewhere around that. I just added it in at the end until the batter was wet enough to incorporate the flour.)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease or line muffin pans. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice in large mixing bowl and mix. Add eggs, mashed squash, butter, sugar, and chai and beat until mixed - the batter should not be smooth. Fill muffin cups almost to the top by spooning in batter. Bake for about 15 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Remove from the oven and serve warm.

Sorry I didn't get any pictures this time. I never thought they would turn out, so it didn't really occur to me to take pictures until it was too late. My mom wants me to make them for her, so I'll try to take some pictures then and add them to the post.

Late Night Movie Inspiration

2009-09-23T14:48:00.006-04:00

Last night I had every intention of going to bed early so I could get up and accomplish things this morning. I have a room to clean, laundry to do, and fabric to cut out. No time for wasting my whole morning in bed. This, at least, was my grand plan. Instead I found myself watching The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer on Netflix Instant Play somewhere around 2 AM. If you haven't seen of the films Shirley Temple made as a teenager, you should! Gone are the little girl ringlets, the tap shoes, and the short dresses. In their place you find several lovely 1940s hairstyles and some fabulous outfits.

I think this hairstyle is adorable, and I'm going to work on recreating it for myself. I'm not sure if I will be successful. I can do braids on other people, but I have a hard time getting them tight enough on my own hair. Still, I will attempt it!

I am also a little envious of these outfits. I'm not sure that they'd even look good on me as my figure is no where near as slight as Shirley Temple's was. They are beautiful though. I especially love the belt detail on the black (I suppose it could really be any dark color) dress and the way the skirt on the other is high in the front and lower in the back. Again, not sure I'd be able to pull them off, but they look great on her!

Images from RKO Radio Pictures, INC's The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer.

First Day of What?

2009-09-22T13:12:00.010-04:00

Ah, yes, the first day of Autumn in Florida.

Nice cool temperatures...

Leaves turning to beautiful shades of orange, yellow, and red...

Children rushing out in their jackets to jump in the piles of fallen leaves...

Sigh...I miss the fall! I miss cider mills and getting your pumpkin from the pumpkin patch instead of trying to find one that isn't rotting in the giant, cardboard box at Walmart. I miss sweaters and jackets and leaves under your feet. Come January, Florida will once again be the place I love the best, but right now it is far from where I want to be.

To those of you who live in places where the leaves are changing and the air is cool and the doughnuts and cider are calling, I am trying very hard to not hate you. ;)

One Small Dream Come True

2009-09-18T13:30:00.009-04:00

For several years now I have been envisioning the perfect apron. It would be long, have big ruffles on the shoulder straps, and have a bib wide enough to cover my front (so many aprons have such skinny bibs!). The trouble with all of this was that I could never find one. I have looked everywhere I go that sells aprons, but have never been able to find anything like what I really wanted. Oh, I found other aprons that I loved, and a few weeks ago I even found some awesome retro apron patterns that I plan to make for myself, but I could never find THE apron. Well, Monday night my mom and I went to one of the few Wal-marts in our area that still sells fabric. We were flipping through pattern books when suddenly, there it was. MY apron! And to make it better, it was a McCall's Easy Stitch and Save pattern, so it was even relatively cheap! With pattern in hand, I went on a hunt for the right fabric, and, wonder of wonders, found it in the $1 section! I bought it, took it home, and started cutting out my pattern. Now, understand, while I have made a few articles of clothing in my life, it has been many years, and none of them were done without a great deal of help with my mother. I was determined that this time I would figure it out for myself. Naturally, that didn't work out as planned. Mom had to be called in for consultation many times, but I did do the work all on my own. None of this letting her grab it up to do it for me stuff. No my friends, I did the work on this one all by myself and with very little screaming and yelling. Only once did I throw up my hands and threaten to quit and burn the wretched thing (and trust me, that's a big improvement over my usual modus operandi! Jenn, Kate, and Collin, you have NO idea how many times your quilts were threatened with being sacrificed to the fire gods). Anyway, the apron is done now (though I need to put in new button holes as the straps are a bit too long for me). My dad got some pictures of me this morning. He thinks he is a world class photographer, but frankly, well, he isn't. I fiddled a great deal with the pictures to get them anywhere near decent. But, without further ado, I give you Lauren's Dream Apron!

It is far from perfect of course. I messed up here and there, and as I said, the straps are too long and need to be adjusted, but I am thrilled with how it turned out. I wanted to wear it to work. I wanted to wear it forever! Right now, as I sit at work while my class naps, I am longing for the time when I can go home and put it back on. Crazy? Perhaps. I'm OK with crazy. :)

Oh, and for good measure, here are some close ups of my hair today. If you are interested in watching any of the tutorials that I've been basing the looks off of, go check out Casey, Aya, or Lisa on youtube.

Note that the ribbon matches my apron. ;) Oh, I am having way too much fun with all of this!!!

Picture Update

2009-09-11T10:52:00.008-04:00

I just wanted to update today with some pictures.

My niece is waaaaay cuter in my knitted hat than I am. ;)

And here is today's 1940's hairstyle. I curled it with a curling iron and then attempted some victory rolls.

I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out...not sure if they will stay in though. I guess we will see. I figure if they can survive a classroom full of toddlers, they will be able to survive anything!

Could Someone Spare Some Focus?

2009-09-11T00:44:00.015-04:00

It's been too long since I've posted anything. I feel rather like I'm being pulled in 57 different creative directions right now. Of course, I'm the one doing the pulling! And what happens when I want to do so many things? Well, I end up focus-less and doing nothing, and that is not cool!

I've been working a lot lately on my vidding. I have completed several Lois and Clark videos (see the youtube link in the sidebar if you care to watch) in the past few weeks, and I'm working on a new one for Doctor Who that I am pretty excited about. I've learned some new techniques and effects that I'm having a lot of fun playing around with. I have about a million video ideas in my head right now, and I can't wait to get going on all of them.

I recently decided to get over my fear of knitting and give that a whirl. I started by watching some youtube videos and reading some online tutorials. Once I got the hang of the basics I hit the library for some knitting books. I ended up making myself a hat that I will probably never get to wear in this Florida heat, but I'm still pretty proud of it. I want to start working on something else, but I think I'm still hanging on to some fears that I really can't do it. Sure, that hat was simple, but can I really tackle a more complicated project. The truth is, I probably can, but I just hate to fail! I especially hate to go out and spend money on yarn and then fail. I guess I need to do some more small projects with the scrap yarns I already have. That way I can improve my technique before going on to more difficult projects.

For awhile I was crocheting like crazy, but the fact of the matter is, there are only so many little dolls that one girl needs! ;) I'd really like to find some patterns for things that are more useful, but I haven't found many that I think are worth making yet. I did see a pattern for a clutch that I may make this weekend. It's a fairly simple pattern that could be fun to do on the long car trip I have ahead of me...but more on that later.

I really, really, really (is that enough reallys?) want to start working on improving my nearly non-existent sewing skills. I mean, sure I can use the sewing machine. I can piece a quilt, and I've made a few fairly simple things in the past (with a ton of help from my mom!), but I would love to be able to make some of my own clothing. I'm totally in love so many vintage clothing styles, but I don't love digging through piles of nasty clothes at a thrift store in hopes of finding that one great treasure. My preference would be to simply make my own clothes based on those styles. I suppose I just need to get some cheap fabric and some simple patterns and dig in and start practicing, but as I said with the knitting, I HATE to fail. That fear of failure thing is a huge issue for me, but that's subject matter for an entirely different post.

To go along with the subject of vintage clothing, I am now also going to be trying out some vintage hair styles. Last night, quite by chance, I discovered youtube video tutorials on 1940s hairstyles. I watched several of them, and said to myself, "Self, we can do this!" (Ok, I don't actually talk to myself like that, but you get the idea.) So, this morning I decided to try out a 40s style. It would have turned out better if I'd had the time to curl my hair, but I still like how it turned out. I'm pretty sure this will not be the last time this sort of hairstyle graces my head!

Anyway, so many projects, so little time...wait! What am I saying?! I work 25 hours a week, and about half of those hours are spent sitting in a room with sleeping children! I have loads of time. I just need to get going!

Speaking of going, I'll be heading up to one of my favorite places this weekend! Time for a little Disney trip! I'm going up with some friends from church for Night of Joy. We will be leaving sometime around the crack of dawn on Saturday morning and coming home Sunday afternoon. Yay for Disney!!

ETA: I am so jealous of all these blogs with beautiful, professional looking photography! I apologize for my crappy web cam pics, but really, it's the best I can do for you right now. ;) Perhaps I should hire my photographer sister to start taking my pictures for my blog.

Clark as The Doctor

2009-08-06T00:47:00.002-04:00

Clark, my Build-a-Bear, has been wanting a 10th doctor outfit for awhile now. As Build-a-Bear Workshop does not seem to think they should make this wonderful outfit, I had to figure out how to do it myself. I thought about sewing it, but honestly, I'm not so great at that and I had no idea where to even begin. I'm a little handier with yarn and a crochet hook, so I decided that would be the best way to go. I've never done anything like this before, so I kind of just made it up as I went along. The "pinstripes" are a bit more exaggerated than they should be, but hey my bear doesn't mind. I used two different methods to get the stripes. If I were to do it all over again, I'd probably use the second method (like the pants and sleeves) I came up with for the whole thing. It went a lot faster and the stripes were a little less obvious that way. However, my mom liked it better the first way (how it is on the jacket). I like both, and I don't plan to do it again, so whatever. I also made him a little sonic screwdriver to go with his new outfit. Now I just need to figure out how to get a shirt and tie to go under the jacket and get him some shoes. Also, I may someday decide to to make the overcoat. We'll see.

Happy Birthday!!

2009-07-31T10:16:00.002-04:00

No, it's not my birthday. That was back in March...I had cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory...mmmmmmmmmmm...OH, sorry...supposed to be blogging here, not drooling over the thought of cheesecake. Anyway, today my blog is a year old. When I started, I never really dreamed I'd keep up with it. I started it after I found out I was losing my nanny job. I think it was meant as an outlet for some of my frustration, boredom, etc, while I was unemployed. However, I think I've done a good job of keeping it up over the past year. It's nice to be able to look back at my year and remember what I've done or thought or felt. I wonder what this next year will hold and if I'll continue to keep up the blog. I don't really want to know though. Spoilers and all. ;) Better to be surprised.

Happy birthday, my blog! Have some cake...chessecake that is. :D

Family Time in Branson

2009-07-30T12:40:00.008-04:00

Before I forget everything I did on my trip, I think it is time to blog about my family reunion in Branson, MO last week.

*As a side note, I've decided to not forward this blog over to livejournal as much of it does not transfer well, and I really don't feel like putting much in the way of personal information over there. From now on, it will mostly be crafting or fan related posts that I put on livejournal. Most of it will still be posted here as well.*

A week ago Saturday (the 18th), my sister, youngest niece, and I flew into Branson MO for our family reunion. My parents were already there with my nephew and older niece, so the flight was relatively easy with only one little one. I must say, I wish I had taken pictures of the Branson airport. I've never seen anything like it. It is, without question, the tiniest and cutest airport I've ever seen. The terminal looks like the inside of Bass Pro or like some kind of frontier amusement park.

I won't go through a daily play by play of the trip, but I'll give you some highlights from it. Sunday we went up to Springfield for the day and I got to see the Evangel campus and eat at Cheddar's, Andy's, and Lambert's. YUM!! The campus at Evangel looks amazing. I can't believe how much improvement has taken place since I left. I saw it last year, and it looked great, but it's even better now. The only sad thing was seeing the last of the barracks gone. It was the old Fine Arts building, and I have to admit, it made me teary that it is no longer there. It's a little piece of Evangel history that will live only in our memories now. However, the campus does look MUCH better without those old, white, falling apart barracks.

Andy's was amazing, as always. Oh how I have missed that wonderful frozen custard! I went three times durring the week. I managed to convince my cousins that they could not come to southwest MO without going to Andy's Frozen Custard. They seemed a bit skeptical that it could be that good at first, but once they tried it, they were hooked. It really is great stuff. If you ever get the chance to go to one, don't pass it up.

On Wednesday we went to Silver Dollar City. I have to say, as much as I love that place, it was a bit of a let down. There were just so many people in our group, and the constant splitting up, looking for each other, waiting for each other, etc kind of took up a lot of the day. However, I still had a lot of fun, and I got to make my traditional rag doll and go on my favorite ride (one of those rides where you all sit in a big tube and get wet). I also discovered a new favorite ride. I had been on it before, but it had been closed for renovation, and it is very different now from what I remember. I remembered it being kind of a log flume ride where you get in your little raft thing and go through a sort of a slide and get a bit wet. There is still a slide you go through, but now (this, in my memory is different from before, but it's been years so I could be mistaken) you get into a blow up raft instead of a solid boat like raft, and you get SOAKED. I am not exaggerating at all when I say that if I had jumped, fully clothed, into a swimming pool, I could not possibly have been wetter. It was the kind of thing you'd expect to find at a water park, but not the sort of thing you usually see at a theme park (at least the ones I've been to). We were all shocked at how wet we were. I'm very glad I had thought to bring along flip flops to wear on the water rides because slogging around all day in wet sneakers would have made me very cranky. As it was, we had a blast.

For me, the real highlight of the week was just spending time with my cousins. We haven't had a big group of us together in a very long time, and this was the first time being together where there wasn't an obvious separation between the "older" and "younger" cousins. We are all adults now, and we just had a wonderful time bonding with each other. There are more of us now too, so it was fun getting to know the significant others of some of my cousins and spending a little time with some new "step"-cousins. One afternoon we got a group of us together for a little shopping trip, and another day several of us drove to the Branson Strip in search of some putt putt golf and our second trip to Andy's (well, 3rd for me.) We all just loved being together and remembering old times and making new memories. We are all determined to get together a little more often now.

There was a time when I had said I wasn't going to take this trip. I thought I'd prefer to take vacation time to go visit friends instead of spending a week at a campground with a bunch of relatives that I hardly know (my grandpa was one of 10 kids, so the family reunions are HUGE and full of my mom's cousins who I barely know. There were 99 people at this one). But I'm so glad I did go. I still don't know or really care all that much about most of those relatives, but the time spent with my own 1st cousins and aunties and grandma is a memory I am very happy that I have made.

Another Doctor

2009-07-30T11:09:00.007-04:00

(click images to view larger)
Yesterday I had an unexpected day off work. Toward late afternoon I started to feel that I needed a project that didn't involve sitting in front of my computer, so I pulled out my bag of yarn and went to work. I ended up coming up with my own pattern for this little 10th Doctor doll. **Spoilers for season 4. Highlight to read. (This is to keep Jenn from getting spoiled...sorry Jenn, you need to watch!)** This is the Meta-Crisis doctor from the end of season 4. In the show, his shirt is actually closer to a maroon color, but I worked with what I had. I am very glad that this particular version of the doctor doesn't wear a tie as I didn't enjoy making the tie on the last doctorr. He's smaller than the original one I made, and I think he turned out a little better. I put him next to the Puffs tissue box, to show his actual size. I'm quite fond of him. :) I plan to make a little Rose to go with him as well. In fact, as I just found out that I'm not working today either, I think I'll be making her this afternoon.

New Video

2009-07-08T18:46:00.005-04:00

Another new Doctor Who video. Yeah, I'm a little obsessed with making them right now, but hey it's fun! At least it's better than sitting around and contemplating how boring my life truly is. ;)

Happy 4th of July

2009-07-05T00:06:00.002-04:00

Well, it's actually over now, so I guess this post will show up as being on the 5th. However, I haven't gone to bed yet, so I'm still counting it as the same day.

As a child, this day was one of my favorites. We would be in Michigan and would head up to my Grandma's farm with our church family for a weekend of fun, games, bonfires, fireworks, "haunted" houses, tire swings, and fellowship. Those were great times, and some of my favorite memories are from those days. It's not so exciting anymore, but it was still a good day. We have my nephew and nieces over this weekend. My parents had been invited to spend the day with some church friends, so they took the girls with them and left me home with my nephew. We went swimming, made peanut butter cookies with peanut butter chips, played with his toys, and I even introduced him to Doctor Who. ;) That started with me showing him some youtube videos of Daleks. At first he thought it was like R2D2, but then he discovered that they could talk. He informed me that he needed to have a toy one and that he needed to watch them on the TV. I picked out one of the Dalek episodes for him to watch, and he loved it. He did hide his face in the couch cushions a few times, but he assured me that he was not scared. By the time my parents came home with his sisters, he was running around the house yelling, "EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!" and "Allons-y!" (ok, it doesn't actually sound like allons-y when he says it, but I know that is what he was trying to say.)

Remembering Cole

2009-07-04T23:26:00.008-04:00

I plan to enter another post on my holiday, but I felt that this should be separate.

In 2005 I was working at the preschool in the afternoons in a toddler class. There was one child in particular who wormed his way right into my heart. He had adorable, brown, curly hair and a smile that lit up the room. You couldn't help but love this little guy. He was as sweet as could be. On July 4th of that year, I was at home spending the holiday with my family when we got a call from the church prayer chain that he was in the hospital, and it wasn't looking good. Soon after, we received another call that he had passed away. It was just a virus, a stupid, common virus, but it had attacked his heart. There was nothing that could have been done for him. A year and a half old and he was gone. I'm not sure that I've ever known pain like what I went through at that time. I've lost loved ones before, but never like this. Never a small child...so sudden, so unexpected. The week after that is kind of a blur. I remember that being at work was horrible. Everything reminded me of him. His blankets were there, and they smelled like him. I remember crying a lot. I dreaded going to his funeral and seeing his tiny body in the casket. His parents had asked me to sing for the service, but I knew I couldn't hold it together long enough to make it through a song. I sobbed all the way through the service and then cried more at the grave site. I remember telling my mom that I couldn't imagine ever being happy again. It just wasn't right. He was so young...so precious. And if I was in that much agony, what must his parents be going through? I can't even begin to imagine.

Life goes on though. No matter how much it feels like it cannot or should not, it does. The funeral must have brought me some kind of closure. As hard as it was to see that tiny body, I think it helped me. I started to cry less every day. I started to laugh and enjoy life again. I remember feeling a little guilty about that sometimes, but I know it was right. It has to be that way. We cannot stay tied up in the pain of the past. We must go on with life because life keeps going on. He has a little sister now. I had her in my class this past year. She has his curly hair and his talent for sneaking into your heart.

Little Cole, you are loved and missed and remembered. I know that you are with Jesus and that someday we will see you again.

Retrace

2009-07-04T21:26:00.004-04:00

Another Doctor Who video. I finished it last night. I'm not sure how I feel about it. There is so much that I'd like to change, but I'm still trying to figure out this editing program. The song is Retrace by Anberlin. I am loving Anberlin. I hadn't even heard of them until they came up on one of my Pandora stations recently, but they are great. Don't be shocked if there are a lot of Who related posts in the near future. I kind of tend to obsess over things. ;) If you don't care about Doctor Who, just ignore the posts. Seriously though, it's a great show. Give it a chance.

Vidding Again

2009-07-01T20:11:00.004-04:00

Introducing my very first Doctor Who Music video! Apart from the frustrations of trying to work with a new editing program that seemed to enjoy crashing, removing clips at random, and adding ghost clips to places where I couldn't get rid of them, I really enjoyed making this. It's my first completed video in, I think, nearly a year. I've been dying to get back into vidding, but computer frustrations and lack of inspiration of kept me from it. Doctor Who has provided me with fresh ideas and desire, so hopefully I can get this program figured out and get back into the swing of things.

No need to watch if you aren't a Doctor who fan (though if you aren't, you should be!). Also, it has lots of season 4 spoilers in it, so don't watch if you are still working your way through the show. If you are a fan and you have already seen the show up to date, then go ahead and enjoy. :)

Man of Steel...err...Yarn

2009-06-27T23:19:00.006-04:00

I've made another little friend for my collection. I adapted him from another pattern from Snuffykin, this one for the 9th doctor. I didn't really keep track of the changes I made, so I don't have a pattern for it. I kind of just figured it out as I went along. Perhaps if I ever make another one I'll keep track of what I'm doing and write out a pattern.
Yes, his eyes are brown. I am aware that traditionally Superman has blue eyes, but my personal favorite Superman (as played by Dean Cain) had brown eyes. Therefore my little Superman has brown eyes. The S Shield is kind of a mess. Embroidery is not my strong point! However, I'm happy with my little Superman.

Whovian Crafting

2009-06-24T13:18:00.005-04:00

I have now managed to get my mother into Doctor Who. I started watching them with her on Sunday, and she is now halfway through the second season. Yesterday she sat at home and watched it for about eight hours. I'm so proud of her. ;) The only reason she even stopped was because I told her I'd like her to wait so I could watch some of it with her. Obsessions are always more fun when they can be shared with others.

And speaking of my Doctor Who obsession...

Meet my new friends. :)

While looking for a Doctor Who overcoat pattern for Clark, my Build-a-Bear, (I have not yet found a pattern, so Clark sadly cannot dress up as The Doctor) I came across patterns on Snuffykin's Live Journal for crochet dolls of The Doctor and Rose Tyler (snuffykin, I don't know you, but thank you so much for these awesome patterns!) I've been crocheting for years, but I had never attempted anything like this. My crocheting experiences have mostly been limited to doilies and a few afghans. I decided that I would give it a try. I am so glad I did! I had a lot of fun making them, and I'm pretty proud of the way they turned out.
Now, if only I could figure out how to make a TARDIS and a tiny sonic screwdriver!

"Allons-y!"

2009-06-18T20:11:00.006-04:00

"I'm the Doctor. I'm a Time Lord. I'm nine hundred and three years old, and I'm the man who's going to save your life and all six billion people on the planet below. You got a problem with that?"

Well, here we go again. I have a new obsession. I'm officially in love with this show. Over the course of the past week I have watched the first three seasons, and I have started the fourth. I have wept, laughed out loud, and jumped around clapping like a fool over this show already. I'm not sure why I have such a propensity for getting myself absurdly emotionally involved in the lives of fictional characters, but I do, and I'm OK with that. :)

Friends

2009-06-03T14:44:00.005-04:00

Friends are wonderful, aren't they? I have to admit that, in general, I'm pretty lonely. I have my family and my friends that I talk to online, but I really don't have a lot of people that I can just hang out with. I'm not saying I don't have any, but the truth is that I spend a whole lot of time by myself. Now, don't get me wrong, I enjoy having alone time and I love my nightly chats in the online world, but everyone needs to have people around that they can call up to go shopping or to a movie or meet for dinner or just whatever. (And I'm not gonna lie, it'd be nice to have man!) Anyway, today I got the chance to break out of my lonely shell and spend the morning baking cookies with an old friend. I hadn't seen her since before Christmas, but she got in touch with me a few days ago to see if we could hang out. It was such fun to be able to have a face-to-face conversation with a friend over some raw cookie dough (yes we baked some of it too!)

I wish there were more opportunities for times like that. Growing up, there were always people to hang out with. I had my church friends that I saw nearly every night for some activity and my homeschool friends who were always hanging out at our house. It's harder now. People grow up and move away and get married and start having kids. It's a good thing...the way it should be, but it makes it hard to hold on to those great friendships or to make new ones. I live in the land where people come to retire. There just aren't that many people my age around, and most of the ones that are around are married with kids. It's not that I don't enjoy spending time with couples and their children, but it's just not the same. They are at a different place in their lives than I am in mine. It's not my desire to whine about my life. For the most part, I love my life. I'm happy, I'm employed, I'm healthy, I have a wonderful family...life's not so bad. It's just a little...lonely.

Lauren: The Phlegmatic Choleric

2009-06-01T14:45:00.009-04:00

Personality / Temperament for Lauren

Test taken on June 1st 2009

Personality: Phlegmatic Choleric

Melancholy Strength:3 Weakness:6

23%

Phlegmatic Strength:10 Weakness:9

48%

Sanguine Strength:1 Weakness:0

Choleric Strength:6 Weakness:5

28%

Interesting. I actually took this test (click me) twice. The first time I was a little higher on Melancholy than Choleric. Both times I scored VERY low in Sanguine, and after reading the description, this does not surprise me in the least. Reading the strengths and weaknesses of the different personalities actually showed me a few things about myself. Obviously, not all the strengths or weaknesses apply to me, but many in the Phelgmatic personality do. While reading the descriptions (both on that site and on others), I kept saying to myself, "That is SO me!"

The PhlegChlor (Click me too!)
(I've highlighted in green the things that most remind me of myself.)

The most active of all phlegmatics is the PhlegChlor. But it must be remembered that since he is predominantly a phlegmatic, he will never be a ball of fire. Like his brother phlegmatics, he is easy to get along with and may become an excellent group leader. The phlegmatic has the potential to become a good counselor, for he is an excellent listener, does not interrupt the client with stories about himself, and is genuinely interested in other people. Although the PhlegChlor rarely offers his services to others, when they come to his organized office where he exercises control, he is a first-rate professional. His advice will be practical, helpful, and – if he is a Bible-taught Christian - quite trustworthy. His gentle spirit never makes people feel threatened. He always does the right thing, rarely goes beyond the norm...

The weaknesses of the PhlegChlor are not readily apparent but gradually come to the surface, especially in the home. In addition to the lack of motivation and the fear problems of the other phlegmatics, he can be determinedly stubborn and unyielding. He doesn't blow up at others, but simply refuses to give in or cooperate. He is not a fighter by nature, but often lets his inner anger and stubbornness reflect itself in silence. The PhlegChlor often retreats to his "workshop" alone or nightly immerses his mind in TV. The older he gets, the more he selfishly indulges his sedentary tendency and becomes increasingly passive. Although he will probably live a long and peaceful life, if he indulges these passive feelings it is a boring life – not only for him, but also for his family. He needs to give himself to the concerns and needs of his family.

No man in the Bible epitomizes the PhlegChlor better than Abraham in the Old Testament. Fear characterized everything he did in the early days. For instance, he was reluctant to leave the security of the pagan city of Ur when God first called him; he even denied his wife on two occasions and tried to palm her off as his sister because of fear. Finally, he surrendered completely to God and grew in the spirit. Accordingly, his greatest weakness became his greatest strength. Today, instead of being known as fearful Abraham, he has the reputation of being the man who "believed in the Lord; and he counted it unto him for righteousness."

So much of that really is me...the good and the bad! It's not my desire to have boring life and to live in fear. I am, in some ways, glad that I am stubborn, but I know that I need to work on not being so stubborn about silly things. I don't believe that I have to be defined by my personality type, but I think it's helpful to look at it so that I can see some of my strengths and weaknesses. That way I can start finding ways to use my strengths and to surrender those weakness to Jesus Only then can I, like Abraham, let my struggles be turned into tools to be used for the glory of God.

If you are bored, go take the quiz, and come back and let me know what your personality is. ;)

Welcome To June

2009-06-01T14:04:00.005-04:00

Seems hard to believe that we are so far into 2009 already. May ended bittersweetly for me, bringing both death and new life. My uncle passed away last week. It was rather unexpected. He had been struggling with some breathing problems for some time, but it hadn't seemed serious until fairly recently. It's hard to believe that my Aunt, only a little older than my own mother, is now a widow. It's even harder to think about my cousins, who are 19 and 24, being suddenly left without a father. I cannot imagine the kind of hurt they must be feeling. Any readers who might think of it on occasion, please remember this family in your prayers. I know that there are tough times ahead of them all, but I also know that God is faithful, and will give them the strength and peace and courage to press on.

On a happier note, one of my very close friends gave birth to a precious, baby boy on Saturday. She and her husband have been through so much to get to this point, and I couldn't possibly be more thrilled for them! You would have thought it was my own child or family member when I heard the news. I was alternately laughing and weeping with joy. I know God has some great things in store for this new, little family. Jenn, you are all in my prayers every day. Congratulations!

Weekend at Disney

2009-05-20T19:50:00.011-04:00

Now that I have been home for a few days and seem to have recovered from my exhaustion, it seems like a good time to blog about my trip to Disney. This is a little absurdly detailed and more for my own memory than anything else. Feel free to not read or to skim or just look at the pictures. :D

This past Monday was my nephew's birthday, so my sister, brother-in-law, nieces, nephew, and I all went up to Disney for the weekend. Friday afternoon we hitched up the camper, piled in the car, and headed off to that most magical of places...Fort Wilderness Campground. ;) I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before, but Fort Wilderness is part of the Disney resort system. It's a campground so a bit rustic, but still with the feel of being a part of the Disney magic. I love staying there. We got up there Friday night, and I decided to hop on a FREEZING Disney bus and go over to Epcot on my own to enjoy the extra magic hours. I stayed there for a couple hours and rode on the Test Track and Mission Space.

Saturday morning I put my one year old niece in her stroller and headed back to Epcot to enjoy it by day. The Flower and Garden Festival is going on right now, so the landscaping was especially fun. Disney goes all out with their Character topiaries! A lady stopped and offered to take a picture of us in front of these giraffes (my favorite animal!) We went on a couple rides (Journey into Imagination with Figment and the boat ride in Mexico), walked around a bit, and then headed over to the Boardwalk resort to have some lunch. By mid-afternoon when I finally got her back to the campground for a nap, she was totally worn out. She was so sweet the whole time though. She's such a happy girl!

Saturday afternoon I took my
nephew over to Downtown Disney so that the camper would be quiet while the girls took a nap. He really liked Downtown Disney and eve was good enough to let me take pictures of him...a rare thing indeed! He built a race car at the Lego store and then got to race it against the other kids' cars. He was so proud of himself for winning! After a couple hours, we headed back to the Boardwalk to meet the rest of our group for dinner at Spoodles. If you ever get a chance to go you should. I tried butternut squash ravioli for the first time...sooooo good. Saturday night I was wiped out and feel asleep at 10:00...very out of character for me.

Sunday morning I went by myself to Animal Kingdom and rode Kali River Rapids and Dinosaur. Somehow I never seem to get very wet on those river rapid rides. Everyone else on the ride with me can get soaked, and I'll be practically bone dry. I don't really understand this. I met up with my sister and her family for lunch at the Rainforest Cafe, then went over to explore the Animal Kingdom lodge for a little while. I met back up with them for dinner at T-Rex (very cool place) in Downtown Disney.

Monday was my nephew's actual birthday, so he got to go into the Magic Kingdom for free. My sister and brother-in-law didn't have or want to get tickets, so it was just the two of us. We had a total blast. He loved everything...even the Pirates of the Caribbean which he said he was too scared to go on because of the "waterfall" (a small drop). He decided that now that he's bigger, he isn't really scared anymore. At the Pirates gift shop, I bought him these rubber pirate handcuff things, and he made me wear one end and him the other while we stood in the lines. He said it was so I wouldn't get lost. It would have been a perfect day had it not been for the deluge we got stuck in. At one point I was carrying him with the umbrella stuck between us while trying to push his stroller. Finally I gave up, had him sit in the soaking wet stroller, gave him the umbrella to hold over his head, and just walked through the rain. My shoes and socks were soaked. It didn't matter though. We both had a great time and the rain didn't stop us from doing any of the things we wanted to do. By 2:30 we were headed back to Downtown Disney to meet up with everyone else and head for home. We were tired and wet, but we had a great trip, and I can't wait to go again in (hopefully) the fall!

Lemon Ginger Muffins

2009-05-06T21:41:00.010-04:00

I found this recipe the other night on Simply Recipes., and I just knew that I had to try it. I'm a huge fan of ginger, but I'd never actually used fresh ginger before. I was very excited to try this out. As I cannot seem to ever follow a recipe strictly (whether by accident or by design), I did make some changes. They were minor. I'll include them here in green.

(Mini) Lemon Ginger Muffins Recipe

Ingredients

3 cups of all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup 1/2-inch cubes of peeled, fresh ginger
1 large lemon (I ended up needing about 1.5 lemons to get enough zest)
1 cup sugar -divided into 1/4 cup and 3/4 cup

10 Tbsp unsalted butter (1 1/4 stick), softened
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cup plain yogurt (I used half plain yogurt and half vanilla yogurt. I'd like to tell you that this was an inspiration that came to me, but the truth is, I just accidentally didn't buy enough of the plain and happened to have the vanilla already in my fridge. I liked the way it turned out though!)

Glaze
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 cup confectioner's sugar (powdered sugar)
(I added a little cinnamon to the mixture. I will also say that I don't think this glaze is fabulous or really worthy of the muffins. It tasted a little too powdered sugary for my taste. I kind of think I like the muffins best plain.)

Method,

1 Adjust the oven rack to the middle-lower part of the oven. Preheat oven to 375°F.

2 Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside.

3 Using a vegetable peeler, peel off the lemon zest from one large lemon (avoid the white pith). Coarsely chop the zest. You should have approximately 1/4 cup of chopped lemon zest. Add this zest, the cubed fresh ginger, and 1/4 cup of sugar to a food processor. Pulse until a paste forms.

4 In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and remaining 3/4 cup of sugar together, beating until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating until incorporated after each one. Beat in the lemon zest and ginger paste.

5 Beat in one half of the dry ingredients until just incorporated. Beat in one third of the yogurt. Beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients. Beat in a second third of the yogurt. Beat in the remaining dry ingredients and then the remaining yogurt. Again be careful to beat until just incorporated. Do not over beat.

6 Use a standard 12-muffin muffin pan. (I used mini muffin tins. 1 3/4" x 3/4" size) Coat each muffin cup lightly with olive oil, grapeseed oil, or a little melted butter using a pastry brush. (Used cooking spray...worked fine) Distribute the muffin dough equally among the cups. Bake until muffins are golden brown, about 25 to 30 minutes (My mini muffins came out perfectly at 12 minutes). Test with a long toothpick (we use a thin bamboo skewer) (<-not my note. I used a toothpick) to make sure the center of the muffins are done. Set on wire rack to cool.

7 While the muffins are cooling, in a bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and lemon juice for the glaze. Add more lemon juice if necessary. While the muffins are still a bit warm, use a pastry brush to brush the glaze over each muffin. The muffins will absorb some of the glaze, so you add more glaze to each muffin if you like. (Since I wasn't crazy about the glaze, I didn't add it to the muffins. I left it in a separate container for people to spoon on as they wished).

Makes 12 muffins. (I got 69 mini muffins out of this recipe)

I found these muffins to be delicious, light, and almost creamy in texture. I will certainly be making them again!

ETA: No, I do not own enough muffin tins to make 69 muffins. I own enough to make 24 mini muffins at a time. I just made them in shifts.

What Could Be Better?

2009-05-02T15:08:00.002-04:00

Little blast from the past that I just HAD to share.

Trampolines and Forgotten Lunches

2009-04-26T14:10:00.009-04:00

After a fun weekend of babysitting, I'm very happy to be able to say that I'm back in my own house and back online! Really though, I did have a great time with the kids. We got through the weekend without any major catastrophes and very few tears. I do have to confess that I forgot to send the kid's lunches with them to school on Friday! Thankfully, they have an account or something set up at school and were able to buy hot lunches. I felt like such a moron though! Their mom had even packed their lunches for them already. All I had to do was stick them in their lunch boxes and send them on their way. It just totally left my mind as we were going out the door. Oh well, the children did not starve. Other than the lunches and a some bedtime, "I miss my mommy" tears, everything went smoothly. Saturday, we spent the afternoon at my sister's house for her birthday party. I took a little video of them playing with my nephew on my sister's trampoline. Pardon the wind sounds. ;)

A Nanny Weekend

2009-04-24T11:38:00.006-04:00

Friends, I must admit the truth. I'm completely and utterly addicted to the internet, or more specifically, social networking. I'm babysitting this weekend for the family I used to nanny. They, unfortunately, do not have internet in their house except on their laptop which the parents took with them. It's only been one night, and I'm already going crazy! I didn't know what to do with myself last night after the kids went to bed. Naturally, this is ridiculous. I had books to read, TV to watch, computer games to play, music to listen to, and any number of other things that I could have done to keep myself occupied. All night though, I couldn't help but miss all of my friends here in this online world in which I have made myself at home. I ended up going to bed around 11:30 (my normal bed time is closer to 2:30 AM), but I really didn't sleep well despite the fact that I was sleeping in the most comfy bed ever. It's kinda hard to sleep at 11:30 when you are used to being up for another 3 hours after that!

In spite of my internet/sleep deprived night, I did have a good time with the kids before they went to bed. We ended up playing guitar hero, and I had lots of fun rocking out on the vocals. I'm dreadful on the guitar, but as that was being occupied by one of my charges anyway, I didn't need to bother about it. I had taken Clark with me (my Build a Bear) and all his clothes, so the kids had fun dressing him up in his various outfits. The kids went to bed at nine and insisted that they always go to sleep with their TVs on. I'd like to think I was being played here, but I actually believe that this was true. The boy, who is older, insisted that his favorite show was on at 10, and he just had to watch it. I gave in, and let them watch TV. It wasn't worth the fight, and I'm pretty sure it really is the norm for them. I needn't have worried about them staying up too late. When I looked in on them at 9:45, they were both out, and I turned off their TVs.

The morning ran smoothly. They got up in plenty of time to get ready for school. Today was their picture day, so I got to have some fun with the curling iron on the little girl's hair. After a quick trip to Chick-fil-a for breakfast and then dropping them off at school, I had grand plans of going back to the house and doing a little cleaning. My body, however, seemed to have other plans. I ended up going back to sleep for about 2 hours. I think I needed it. I am now sitting at a restaurant and making use of some lovely free WIFI before going to work. Hopefully tonight I'll get a little more sleep!

Warm Again

2009-04-06T22:58:00.010-04:00

I have returned from my fabulous trip to Washington. It was freezing (It actually snowed while we were there. I was not properly attired for such weather!), but SO fun. It was great getting together with friends and seeing new places. I saw Pike Place, shopped in Downtown Seattle, ate at the Cheesecake Factory, made my first trip to Whole foods, saw the Olympic Peninsula, went up in the Space Needle, and even got to enjoy an apple chai at the very first Starbucks.Of course, the best part was just being with friends. I miss them already!

Part of the purpose for this trip was a baby shower for Jenn and the little one she is currently growing. I'm excited to finally post what I've been working on for so long for her gift. It was our mutual love of that flying man in the red boots that brought us together in the first place, so it seemed appropriate that the gift should reflect that

I am now back home in the land of sun and warmth. As sad as I was to leave my friends, it is nice to be wearing shorts and flip flops again!

A Prayer Request

2009-03-24T22:09:00.005-04:00

Hey friends, those of you who are praying people, I'd like to ask you to pray for someone I love very much. My cousin, who is in her mid-teens, has RSD (also known as complex regional pain syndrom). It is a very rare, but serious disease. I won't go into detail about that, but you can click the link if you want to know more about it. Anyway, the past year or so they had gotten the RSD under control for the most part, and she was doing really well. However, it seems that it has left her with a serious eating disorder. She is now in the hospital once again. She is down to 80 lbs, and they are trying to get her stabilized. They can't give her a feeding tube because it brings on the symptoms of the RSD (basically, SEVERE pain...as in, if a breeze blows across her body, she screams in pain). Please keep her in your prayers, she has been through so much over the past few years from this disease. She also has been left nearly (for awhile totally) legally blind from this. I know she can use all the prayer she can get! Thanks.

One Short Day In The Emerald City!

2009-03-19T23:48:00.005-04:00

I just got back from seeing Wicked for the 3rd time in three years. The ticket was a birthday present from my parents, and I went with three of my friends. The production was, once again, phenomenal. Marcie Dodd played Elphaba (interestingly, when I saw the LA production, she played Nessarose), and she was absolutely the best Elphaba I've seen yet. I can't really say about the rest of the cast as much of it tends to run together in my mind. However, Marcie certainly stood out. Every Elphaba I've seen has been amazing, but this one had me awed. It was such a fun evening. We all met at Olive Garden beforehand for dinner and then drove over to the theater together. It's always fun to have an occasion to dress up and have a night out with the girls. :) We got a lady to take a picture of us by the sign as we walked out. It's not the best picture, but it's the only one I have.

Thinking Through What I Sing

2009-03-18T21:09:00.004-04:00

Tonight I was listening to my Ipod in the car on the way home, and the song Hungry came up. I was singing along as I usually do, when I came to the words, "I'm falling on my knees, offering all of me. Jesus You're all this heart is living for." I turned off the ipod at that point and thought about those words..."offering all of me." Now, I can't speak for others here, but I wonder, how many times do I sing along with a song in my car or even sing in church, these same kinds of words without really thinking about what I'm actually pledging to God with my lips. Offering ALL of me...what does that really mean? Holding nothing back from him. Everything is, as Elisabeth Elliot would say, "material for sacrifice." That is not easy! Those little fears that I want to hold on to, my comfort, my time, my money, those little "harmless" sins...EVERYTHING. It must all be offered to God. It sounds so easy until He shows you one of those things that you need to offer...one of the ones you really wanted to hold on to. "Oh Lord, really, you want that?! I kind of wanted to just hold on to that one leeettle thing!" But no, I must offer it all to Him. Of course, in the end, when I do relinquish that thing, I always find that it wasn't worth holding onto anyway...that He pours out much greater blessings on my life than that silly little thing I was holding on to. Still though, when it comes to the point where I know I must surrender it, it always seems so hard...sometimes impossible even. But, "I can do everything through Him who gives me strength." (Philippians 4:13). Praise the Lord that He gives me that strength!

Fruit Tarts

2009-03-15T20:51:00.011-04:00

It has been entirely too long since I've been able to post a new recipe that I've tried, but I have one tonight. I volunteered to make a dessert for my parents' small group Bible study that meets at our house every other week. I was looking at recipes online this afternoon, when the idea of a fruit tart popped into my head. I found a Paula Dean recipe for one, and decided to try it out. It was YUM, and everyone seemed to love it. The recipe is for one, but I doubled it to make two. I also did not have tart pans, so I had to make do with smaller pie pans. It made the crust much thicker, but I really liked it that way. Also, the cook time for the crusts was at least doubled for mine. It also took me far longer than 2 minutes to get the glaze to thicken...not sure why. I think my favorite part of it was arranging all the fruit on them. It was like a little art project. :D

Goodbye, PirateDiva

2009-03-12T01:59:00.003-04:00

I have been considering a name change for my blog for some time now. Frankly, I no longer feel much like a Pirate, and I have no desire to be a diva. Daily, the Lord is teaching me and working on my heart about laying down myself and surrendering all to Him. This is inconsistent with both a Pirate and a Diva. I have mulled over several different names, but have been having trouble coming up with something I liked. Tonight, as I lie here not sleeping, I have come up with a name. Perhaps, by light of day, I will change my mind...we shall see. For now you have it...Magnificent Obsession. I took this name from (surprise, surprise) a Steven Curtis Chapman song (yes, I'm aware that it is a also the name of a book and movie, but my magnificent obsession aligns better with the song).

Lord, You know how much
I want to know so much
In the way of answers and explanations
I have cried and prayed
And still I seem to stay
In the middle of life’s complications
All this pursuing leaves me feeling
like I’m chasing down the wind
But now it’s brought me back to You
And I can see again

This is everything I want
This is everything I need
I want this to be my one consuming passion
Everything my heart desires
Lord, I want it all to be for You, Jesus
Be my magnificent obsession

So capture my heart again
Take me to depths I’ve never been
Into the riches of Your grace and Your mercy
Return me to the cross
And let me be completely lost
In the wonder of the love
That You’ve shown me
Cut through these chains that tie
me down to so many lesser things
Let all my dreams fall to the ground
Until this one remains

You are everything I want
And You are everything I need
Lord, You are all my heart desires
You are everything to me

You are everything I want
You are everything I need
I want You to be my one consuming passion
Everything my heart desires
Lord, I want it all to be for You
I want it all to be for You

The End of a Lauren Year

2009-03-02T14:05:00.003-05:00

Today is my last day being 26. The year has certainly had it's low points, but as I look back on it, I mostly recall the good ones. I have had two jobs this past year and loved both of them. I have been blessed with another niece. I have had the opportunity to spend time with many of my family members. I finally got to meet the wonderful friends that I had gotten to know so well through the internet. I was able to travel and visit with some of my best friends. I have been healthy. I have reconnected with some friends that I hadn't spoken to in years. I believe that I have grown closer to my Heavenly Father. Yes, 26 was a good year.

I have no idea what 27 will hold. It could be a year of fun and amazing things, but it could also be a year of sorrow. I cannot know, nor do I need to. All I need to know is that no matter what it holds, my Savior will be with me and will see me through. My prayer is that I will be faithful to him in all that I do.

See you at 27! :D

2009-02-28T02:13:00.002-05:00

Lord, more and more
I pray Thee, or by wind or fire,
Make pure my inmost heart's desire,
And purge the clinging chaff from off the floor.

I wish Thy way,
But when in me myself would rise
And long for something otherwise,
Then, Holy One, take sword and spear and slay.

Oh, stay near by,
Most patient Love, till, by Thy grace,
In this poor silver, Thy bright face
Shows forth in clearness and serenity.

What will it be
When, like the lily or the rose
That in my flowery garden blows,
I shall be flawless, perfect, Lord, to Thee?

- Amy Carmichael

Proud Auntie...Again!!

2009-02-24T22:43:00.005-05:00

This morning, around 4:30 AM, we welcomed a new life into our family. My sister called us last night around 6:15 to tell us that her water broke and she was waiting for her husband to come home and take her to the hospital. My mom, dad, and I met them there and began the long night of waiting. I've gotta say, my sis is tough! When contractions came, she simply screwed up her face a bit. When she got her epidural (which she later said was very painful...much more so than her other two) all she did was let out a small gasp or two. She did great. My dad eventually took my nephew home and put him to bed, but my mom and I stayed all night waiting to meet our new little girl. I feel asleep a few times in the hospital room during the wait (actually, so did my sis and her husband!) and by the time she was ready to start pushing I was exhausted. However, it was all worth it to be able to be there to meet my niece as soon as she arrived.

8lbs, 20 inches of beautiful perfection! God is amazing!

Surrender

2009-02-24T22:37:00.005-05:00

I Surrender

Lord I know you see this fear in my heart of what my future holds
I feel you softly ask if I can trust You more and give you control,
So I kneel before you now and I offer everything
Come and be the Lord of all, all I am or ever hope to be

I've been living for myself, and now I want to live for You alone
Come and help me when I'm weak, and when my path seems so unknown
You will be beside me still; I know You want what's best for me
So when I want to take control, Lord please come and help my unbelief

I surrender; I surrender to the One Who loves me more than life
I surrender, I surrender here is my heart I open it wide-
To the One Who cannot be unfaithful
I now offer You all that I am

I surrender, I surrender from this day on I'll be in Your hands.

Lyrics by Leslie Ludy

The subject of submission and surrendering has been on my mind a lot lately. I feel like I have spent most of my life giving God conditions on what I will and will not do. “I am willing to do this certain thing for you Lord, but don’t ask THIS OTHER THING of me.” “I’ll do this thing, Lord, but only if…fill in the blanks” Is this an acceptable attitude for a Christian to have? I think NOT! I am created by God to do His work. I was redeemed from the punishment of death through the shedding of the blood of His Son. I have chosen to belong to Him. It is not for me to give Him conditions; it is simply for me to obey. To some of you, this may seem absurd. Why should I feel the need to submit my life and give up my own desires, to do the bidding of someone else…someone you many not even believe exists? Why? Well, first of all, I full believe…no, I know…that He does exist. I also know that He loves me, and that His love is perfect. I know that what He has for my life is so much bigger and better than what I could plan on my own. Perhaps not easier or as popular, but abundantly richer and more fulfilling. I am still rather uncertain of what God’s plan is for my life, but I know that I don’t have to know or see it all now. I must live each day as it comes and walk in obedience to what he asks of me today.

Fun, baby post to follow. :D

Fear and Conviction

2009-02-22T01:31:00.006-05:00

Let not our longing slay the appetite of our living.
- Jim Elliot

Have I put my life on hold? Am I waiting for a life that I've mapped out for myself to finally come along, or am I living each day to the fullest for my Savior? Is too much of my time wasted in meaningless nothing? There is a world in need around me. Why do I squander away my days in idleness?

...under conviction...wanting to know His will but possibly afraid to seek it.

...should be sleeping.

Something Crazy

2009-02-20T13:48:00.004-05:00

Today I was struck by the lyrics of Steven Curtis Chapman song (I'm amazed at how often that happens).

He's got a Bible and a megaphone standing on the corner
And everybody's saying he's crazy
Well does he really think anybody wants to hear what he has to say
He's not screaming at anybody in fact he says
It's a love story that he's trying to tell them

And he knows he may look a little strange
But he just smiles and says that's okay
'Cause you know sometimes love makes you
Act that way

And it's crazy when love gets a hold of you
And it's crazy things that love will make you do
And it's crazy but it's true
You really don't know love at all
'Til it's making you do
Something crazy

I know a lady in Uganda, forty kids call her mama
And everybody thought it way crazy
She used to drive a Beamer, but I've never seen her
Any happier than she is now
I've met them all around the world, they're the boys and girls
Filled up with the love of the Father

And they know it may seem a little strange
But they just smile and say that's alright
'Cause love puts everything in a different light

And it's crazy when love gets a hold of you
And it's crazy things that love will make you do
And it's crazy but it's true
You really don't know love at all
'Til it's making you do
Something crazy

Something crazy
Crazy
Crazy when love gets a hold of you
Crazy, crazy
Crazy thing that love will make you do

Well, some might say it's a crazy thing
To believe in a man who would say he came
From heaven down to earth because of love

But I just smile and say that's okay
'Cause you know sometimes love makes you act that way

And it's crazy when love gets a hold of you
And it's crazy things that love will make you do
And it's crazy but it's true
You really don't know love at all
'Til it's making you do
Something crazy

So, today I am pondering these lyrics. I often feel far too complacent in the life I am living, but I don't want to be complacent. I want more...or maybe it's that I want to want more. I want to be more and do more for Jesus, but fear, uncertainty, and a general lack of direction seem to be standing in my way. It's certainly something to pray about.

Happy Balentime's Day!

2009-02-15T22:17:00.007-05:00

I cannot say that I love Valentine's day. What single girl does? However, this one was not so bad. I spent the day with my two favorite little people, and was often wished a "Happy Balentime's Day, Auntie Lauren!" (Of course, I was still being offered the same wish on the way to church this morning. Someone refused to acknowledge that "Balentime's" day was, indeed, over. Honestly, one day a year is enough.) We all enjoyed watching my niece practice her newly found walking skills, and my nephew and I had some Valentine fun fishing for "red snapper" in the swimming pool with his Superman fishing pole.

My poor sister, who has been having pretty major contractions for the past month, was hoping that she was going to be induced yesterday when she went to the doctor. However, she had not dilated enough for them to do so at this point. It should be anytime now though. Possibly in the next few days. We shall see. In the mean time, I have a feeling that the kids will be staying with us for a while. Not that I mind. How can I complain when I just got tackled to the ground with kisses by a 3 year old dressed as Superman? ;)

E-LEC-TRICITY! EEEE-LEC-TRICITY!

2009-02-11T13:50:00.005-05:00

What could be more fun than some good, old-fashioned static electricity!?

For those of you not in the know, the post title is a nod to School House Rock.

Saving Memories

2009-02-11T13:39:00.004-05:00

Transferring old videos to DVD is not a fun task. Don't get me wrong, seeing all the old footage is great fun, but the actual process is slow and very time consuming. I am currently working on getting all my College videos made into DVDs, but things are not going smoothly. Sometimes I'll burn a disc and it will work fine, but the next time everything seems to freeze up and it never finishes. It's not even like I'll be done after that. I still have to do all the years and years of Betamax home movies! This seems like it should be a simpler process. Perhaps it is for someone who isn't trying to figure it all out as they go. At any rate, I feel like I'll be working on it forever!

I think this painstaking process will be worth it all in the end though. We have so many videos that I would hate to lose. Those old beta tapes will not last forever, and neither will the beta player! (I think it's kind of amazing that it's still around now! We've gone through scads of VHS and DVD players over the years, but have had that same beta player my whole life...maybe longer...and it is still working. Kinda makes me wonder why those didn't become more standard.) As painful as this all is, I am kind of looking forward to watching some of those old tapes as I go through them. Lots of good memories!

Up To The Apple Juice!

2009-01-28T21:20:00.003-05:00

My nephew and I decided to do a little kite flying today. It took him a little while to get the hang of it, but we both had a great time.

Now, I'm sure that most of you are familiar with the Mary Poppin's kite flying song, but I will teach you all a little variation on it that my sister and I made up with a friend when we were kids. Ahem....

Let's go fly a kite
Up to the highest height
Let's go fly a kite
And mail a letter!

Up to the Apple Juice
Up where the air is clear
Oh, let's go
Fly a kite!

Naturally, this makes no sense whatsoever, but we certainly enjoyed running around singing it when we were kids!

A Trip Back In Time

2009-01-27T09:57:00.007-05:00

This past Saturday I attended the Alafia River Rendezvous with some friends from church. The people who put this on stay there for a week and live as though it were pre-1840s. The day we went was a public day, so we were able to walk around and visit the various stores, crafts, foods, and dwellings of those who were taking part in it. We have gone each year for the past three years, and it's always a lot of fun. I enjoy seeing all the people dressed up in clothing from various time periods pre-1840s. I've always loved old fashioned dresses, and every year I am so tempted to buy one. However, I realize that I will have little opportunity to wear it, and as they are a bit pricey, I usually pass.

I did buy this fan as well as a snood. Two years ago I bought a straw hat (which I later shaped), a feather, and a hat pin. Here you can see me wearing all of these items. I bought a sword for my pirate outfit last year, but it did not seem appropriate for this picture. I have no idea what I will ever do with any of these items. The hat has been sitting on the pediment of my secretary for two years now, but at least the feather and hat pin on it match the colors of my room! The snood is really, very comfortable, but I'm not sure I want to see all the crazy looks people would give me if I wore it in public!

Most of the food they have at this thing is fried, so for lunch I had a deep fried pizza followed up by a funnel cake. Healthy, right? I do generally eat pretty healthy, so I don't feel that bad when I occasionally splurge. At any rate, it was deep fried pizza or go without lunch for me, and going without lunch was not a good option. In the picture, I am eating my deep fried, cheese pizza. The fry bread was pretty good, but the inside was just OK. It certainly isn't the kind of food I get excited about eating. However, the funnel cake was all I had hoped it would be. YUM!

25 Things

2009-01-23T13:30:00.004-05:00

I did this for facebook, but I thought I'd go ahead and post it here too. Why not, right?

The rules were to write 25 things about yourself and then tag 25 other people to do it too.

25 Things About Me

01. I became a Christian at the age of 4 while getting ready for bed in the bathroom with my mom and sister.

02. I have lost about 70 lbs over the past 2 years and, so far, have managed to not find them again.

03. Last year (2008) I attended LAFF (Los Angeles FoLC (Friends of Lois and Clark) Fest) with people I had formerly only known through the Internet, and I had a blast! (See, I’m not ashamed of attending a Superman Convention!)

04. I can occasionally see dolphins playing in the water behind my house from my living room window.

05. I saw Pirates of the Caribbean At World’s End 6 times in the theater.

06. I LOVE being an auntie!

07. My build-a-bears are possibly better dressed than I am.

08. I own Superman sheets (not on my bed…they are for my air mattress. I would use them on my bed, but they are too small. I DO use the pillowcase though.)

09. I can watch a show like Bones and not be at all bothered by the mangled and nasty dead bodies, but start talking about drawing a little blood (even if it’s not my own) and my face turns white as a sheet, and I have to leave the room. In fact…I think I need to go lie down now.

10. I cannot EVER remember how to spell “restaurant.” Spell check had to fix that for me.

11. I send an email to Santa every Christmas

12. It is entirely possible that I am the pickiest eater you have ever met. (I’m getting better though!)

13. I am afraid of dogs.

14. I love it when a song makes me cry

15. I have read the book Rilla of Ingleside at least twice a year since I was a preteen (I have been known to get to the end and flip right back to the beginning to start over). It never gets old and I still cry every time.

16. I took piano lessons all the way from kindergarten through college, but I still can’t play.

17. I have twice had a melt down in the middle of JoAnn Fabrics while trying to decide on whether or not I really wanted to purchase certain pieces of material.

18. I used to tape and save every episode of Full House

19. I haven’t been to Disney World since October, and I’m starting to go into with-drawl. (Someone go to Disney with me!! I have a pass, but no one who wants to go!)

20. I love children, and I would really like to adopt several someday

21. I love to sing, both by myself and in front of people

22. I made my own calendar this year because I’m a fan of too many things to have the same basic thing on my wall all year.

23. I was an “unsocialized” homeschooler from 4th – 12th grade, and yet I have 181 Facebook friends. I must not be THAT socially awkward.

24. As a child I had two bunnies named Bun and Bun (my Dad named them) but they were wild and we had to eventually let them go.

25. I hate chalk and refuse to touch it.

The Chair Scooter

2009-01-22T10:53:00.005-05:00

Have I mentioned before how much I love being an auntie? ;) I guess maybe I have. This little girl gets more and more precious every time I see her, and I see her a lot! My tired, pregnant sister hands over her kids pretty easily these days. When my nephew was first born, it took her forever to let us watch him. With my niece she let us have her a lot sooner. We have been speculating that with the third one she may just have us take them all home with us right from the hospital. :P Ok, so that isn't likely, but I'm guessing it won't take very long for her to be dropping them all off on our doorstep for a night or two. Not that any of us mind. My parents love being hands on grandparents, and me, well, have I mentioned that I love being an auntie?

This picture shows my niece in her favorite spot in the house. For some reason, she just loves the sound of the wooden stool legs scraping against the ceramic tile. (For those of you not familiar with this sound, think fingernails on a chalkboard). It can be annoying, but she is just so cute and sweet and happy when she is doing it! We usually let her have her fun for a minute or so before we move her away from them. Yes, she is weeee bit spoiled, but look at that face! How could you not spoil her?! She is very good natured though, so I don't think it's gone to her head...yet.

Things are pretty quiet on the handbell front right now. The children's director at church has asked me to hold off until February because of some renovations happening this month in the Children's area of the church. At least this gives me a little extra time to prepare.