Monday, March 28, 2011

A Beautiful Quiche!

I did it!  I have wanted to try making a quiche for awhile now.  My friend Kalee shared a recipe with me and I made it my goal to make one by the end of this month.  Well, I bought the rest of the groceries I needed on Friday and Sunday afternoon I finally got brave enough to make it.  It wasn't really that hard actually.  It took some patience because things had to be done in steps.  But when it was done I was so super proud of myself, plus it was delicious!  I froze part of it to have later since it is just me and I would get tired of eating quiche if I had it every meal of the day until it was gone.  (Or maybe not, because did I mention that it was delicious!)  I was shocked at how good it turned out and how it wasn't nearly as hard as I had thought it might be.  I don't have much else to say about it.  I am just really proud.







Ta-da!  There it is.  Gosh I feel like such an accomplished chef.  I guess making quiche doesn't really go with my health goals, but it goes with my trying new things goals!  You can make it too, I'm sure of it!!  If you want to know how just ask and I'll tell you or I'll direct you to Kalee's blog so you can learn from the pro!

Thursday, March 24, 2011

I figured out how to put pictures on my blog...who knew it was so easy?

I could make list after list of people I think are awesome and why.  Especially the people I put pictures of on here.  I want to write a post about them.  But tonight I don't have the words.  I've had a long day and still have much to accomplish before I go to bed.  However, I have a few random things to say.
*I recently updated my Facebook so that it says I speak Spanish.  All my (new) siblings speak Spanish and I didn't want to be left out.  I decided that the dozen or so things I know totally count so now I am claiming it as a language.  I hope they don't have Facebook languages spoken police who are gonna come demand that I speak Spanish for them or remove it from my page.
*I am baking a quiche this weekend!  I am mega super excited.  I'll let you know how it goes.
*I love Jesus, but I don't always like His plan for my life it seems.
*Being healthy is REALLY hard.  Like, really really hard.
*I miss these people terribly...



I originally called this post people who rock because of the fabulous pictures I figured out how to post...the people in them rock for sure.  I was going to write about them and why they rock...but I am too tired.  So I changed it and added a line cause it didn't make sense anymore.That's all I've got right now.  Back to the chaos.  :)

Monday, March 21, 2011

Sunday Thoughts on a Monday

I started organizing these thoughts yesterday, but never got around to putting them down...so here I am spending my beautiful ONE DAY of Spring Break writing.  It's ok, I have to get it down to help me organize my thoughts, so it's worth it to me.  And besides, I will still have plenty of time to "relax" after I write.  Writing makes me feel better.  It ranks up there with painting in my world.  I wonder if others have things that make them feel like that.  Like no matter how bad things are you can always find peace in those things.  Like an outlet I guess.  For me they are writing and painting and sometimes music.

Anyways, back to the original post.  Sunday mornings.  I work at a church where I am the secretary and the Sunday school teacher/Children's Ministry Coordinator.  There are times that I love my job there and there are times that I wish I didn't have to go.  Well yesterday, I had one of those moments where I loved being at church.  The strange thing is that it was before anyone was even there.  Those are my favorite times at the church.  I enjoy the time that I am there getting the church (building) ready for the church (people).  Really I don't do much to get the building ready.  I turn on the lights and make the bulletins and get the Sunday school rooms ready.  Sometimes Ben is there getting things ready in the sanctuary.  He is usually getting the computer ready or working on his sermon or whatever he is doing I don't really know.  If I am working in my office and I open the door I can usually hear him singing REALLY loud in the sanctuary while he is getting things ready.  I love it!  It makes me feel like my church is the safest most peaceful place on the planet.  It makes me feel closer to God than almost any other time I am in that building.  In the truly quiet, restful moments.  Yesterday while I was sitting in my office waiting for the bulletins to print and drinking cinnamon roll cappucino I was thinking about how I can have more moments like that.  I don't know what the answer is for sure I guess.  But now that I know I want those moments I guess I just have to recognize them when they happen and appreciate them. 

Ok...lots of jumbled thoughts.  So now I am going to return to my wonderful one day of Spring Break.  I am putting music on my computer and watching Pretty Little Liars on ABC Family.  Haha.  I'm so cool. 

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Lazy Saturday Afternoon

I love days when I have no obligations and I hate days when I have no obligations.  They are good at first because I can sleep in if I want to.  Sleeping in for me usually is not the same as sleeping in for other people.  today I slept in until 8:00am and I was thrilled!  Then I can just wear sweatpants and lounge around all day long.  This starts out as a really good thing.  Time to relax and think.  But then I start to think to much.  And I start to make lists (either mental lists or actual pen and paper lists) of things I need to do.  Then my day is no longer relaxing because I am worried about EVERYTHING.  I have tons of things that I should be accomplishing today.  Problems that I should be tackling head on and finding a solution to.  But I find real life to be too overwhelming right now.  So I hide in the excuse of having a lazy afternoon.  Later one of my favorite people (my friend Charline) is coming over for the evening.  We will cook something and watch a movie I'm sure.  It will be a lazy evening...but it will be in the company of a good friend.  So you see, days like this are both good and bad.  It's finding the balance in them that I find tricky.

Now a few totally random side notes.  My BFF for life is right this very second arriving (or close to arriving or just arrived) in NOLA for a week long mission trip with people from her town.  Her and her mother and a friend of her mother's left Friday to drive down.  They are committing the next week of their lives to helping people rebuild and continue to heal from destruction.  I find it amazing that so many years later people are still in the process of rebuilding.  I read that so many of those people have accepted sub standard living conditions as their new normal.  That they have lost the drive to try and recapture what their life was before.  The "new normal" has become acceptable to them.  Well I can think of no better people to help them than my BFF and her mom.  I'm excited for the opportunity they have to be a part of restoring pride to people's lives.  Even if it is just the ability to have pride in a freshly painted and scrubbed clean house.  I am so proud of her.

And random side note number two.  I want to cook a quiche or a tart.  My friend Kalee writes about making them.  I always think when I read it "hey I could probably do that".  But then I don't even try because I get scared.  Well I am going to try.  That is my goal for the month of March is to cook either a quiche or a tart (or maybe both) before it is over.  Wish me luck!

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Little Miss Sunshine

When I was in the first grade my teacher was wonderful!  She made me believe in myself and let me know that it was ok to not be like everyone else.  She taught me to love reading.  She taught me about being a part of a class community...before that was the latest trend in education.  And she called me Little Miss Sunshine.  Always she called me that.  The day I graduated high school I got a card from her calling me Little Miss Sunshine.  When I was in college I would get cards from her that said "To My Little Miss Sunshine".  The week I moved home from college she greeted me at church with a hug and a "Good Morning Little Miss Sunshine".  I know that she cared about me and my education.  And did I mention that she (in conjunction with my mother of course) taught me to LOVE reading. 

A few weeks ago that teacher who I love so dearly passed away.  I sat behind her daughter at church and tried to think of things to say.  A way to express how much her mother had meant to me.  How my love of learning and my eventually becoming a teacher was thanks in part to how wonderful of a teacher her mother had been.  And all I could say was good morning how are you?  (Words are hard sometimes.) 

I have thought about it a lot.  I want to be the version of me that deserves to be called Little Miss Sunshine.  And I want to give my students memories that will carry them through their lives so at the end of mine they can say that I touched their life the way Mrs. Carter touched mine.  Great teachers are never forgotten.  They are remembered always in the lessons they leave behind.