20 Questions for a 2011 New Year’s Reflection

1. What was the single best thing that happened this past year?

Adopting Jasmine and watching her and Tölpel learn to love each other.

2. What was the single most challenging thing that happened?

Losing a sense of security that everything would be ok - between the tornado and the pitbulls, I really felt like I lost a childhood innocence of safety that was really hard for me.

3. What was an unexpected joy this past year?

Promotion at work!! :)

4. What was an unexpected obstacle?

Some depression unexpectedly made an appearance this year. I'm moving past it, but it was difficult just realizing that something I thought I conquered 4 years ago was coming back.

5. Pick three words to describe 2011.

growth, change, surprise

6. Pick three words your spouse would use to describe your 2011 (don’t ask them; guess based on how you think your spouse sees you).

growth, mother (of the dogs), peacemaking

7. Pick three words your spouse would use to describe their 2011 (again, without asking).

graduation, job, change

8. What were the best books you read this year?

A Song of Ice and Fire books 3-5... Or The Wheel of Time books 1-4. I've really enjoyed my fantasy novels this year.

9. With whom were your most valuable relationships?

my sister, my mom, my husband. And several dear friends from church.

10. What was your biggest personal change from January to December of this past year?

Making the decision to leave the church that I love. While we haven't fully transitioned to our new one yet, letting go of a place we love so much and don't want to leave, and surrendering to where God seems to be leading was really hard for me.

11. In what way(s) did you grow emotionally?

I'm learning some determination and perseverance.

12. In what way(s) did you grow spiritually?

I'm learning to pray and trust God. I like control, but I'm slowly learning that it's really better when He is in control.

13. In what way(s) did you grow physically?

Out, around the waist, mostly. :)

14. In what way(s) did you grow in your relationships with others?

Several good friends have moved away (or already lived far away) and I feel like I've done a little bit of a better job keeping up with those friends and treasuring them.

15. What was the most enjoyable part of your work (both professionally and at home)?

Professionally - when I have a really difficult bug and I finally solve it. There is no greater feeling. At home, cooking a really delicious meal.

16. What was the most challenging part of your work (both professionally and at home)?

At work, dealing with frustrations brought on tight deadlines, miscommunications, and never working face to face with people. And home... finding the time and motivation to keep the house running etc.

17. What was your single biggest time waster in your life this past year?

facebook

18. What was the best way you used your time this past year?

learning to do some creative things in my freetime (gifts, webdesign). I'm very much learning, but enjoying the right brain outlet.

19. What was biggest thing you learned this past year?

What other people think is not the most important thing.

20. Create a phrase or statement that describes 2011 for you.

The difficult things are the things that taught me the most, so I shouldn't run from them.

Christmas Gifts Part 1: Personalized Mugs!

This year for Christmas, I decided to make my gifts. Having recently discovered Pinterest.com, I had plenty of ideas... I just needed time and patience. So craft number one was these awesome personalized mugs! They have names on one side, and chalkboard goodness on the other.

Given that I currently have Crafting Level 1, It was a massive battle of trial and error. Armed only with a picture on pinterest of a vase and an idea of the mug in my head, I set out.

Version 1 - First, I tried Elmer's glue. However, Elmer's glue is no where near thick enough, and I ended up with a droopy mess. I washed the mugs and then I wrote the names on with a glue gun. Then painted over it with chalkboard paint. They took awhile (I kept having to redo the names) but eventually, I came out with a beautiful product. Until Jacob took his to work. The heat from the coffee melted off both the glue AND the paint!

Back to the... er... chalkboard.

Version 2 - I did a lot of internet research (the very best kind.) And found that you have to cure a ceramic - this entails putting a painted mug into a cold oven, heating to 350, baking for 30 minutes, and then letting it cool. Ok, problem one solved, but a hot glue gun is going to certainly melt off during the curing process. I tried it just to make sure - and yes. Big melty mess.

Jacob had some ideas but in the end, after much trial and error, and a little exasperated sighing (ok, I was screaming something about "stupid mugs, why did I even think I could make something?!!!") we used puffy paint! (aka fabric paint).

I was very pleased and I hope all those who received them liked them. Plus, I leveled up to Crafing Level 2!

Recommended Read: O Christmas Tree

Jacob humorously shares about getting our first real Christmas Tree and some thoughts on tradition here :).

A Guest Post: Couponing 101

Last night, my friend Erika taught a Couponing 101 class to my sister and I. My sister is a complete newcomer to couponing and I have tried previously - even having some small success at a Harris Teeter Super Doubles. But we both learned a lot! I asked Erika to write a guest post for the blog. Thank you so much Erika for teaching us your couponing ways!

Here's what I've shared with others who have asked for help. Isn't cut and paste a wonderful time saver? :) There are a few things you have to learn in order to make coupons work for you

1) Don't buy something just because you have a coupon for it.

If you're not sure you'll use it don't buy it. Also make sure that the store brand isn't cheaper than the name brand even after the coupon.

2) Learn all your local store coupon policies.

• Some stores here have double coupons (give you twice the face value off) up to a certain amount. A lot of times that means that even though that particular store is a little more expensive, the items still work out cheaper since the coupon is worth more.
• Also know how many of a particular coupon they'll take. There's nothing worse than digging items back out of the bags because they won't take more coupons. Here, Harris Teeter and Lowes double up to $0.99 face value (so a 75 cent coupon is worth $1.50) and Kroger doubles up to $0.50 face value coupons. Harris Teeter and Lowes will also only double 20 coupons per day. None of the other local grocery stores double coupons that I know of. Harris Teeter takes 3 identical coupons (if you buy 3 items obviously), Lowes Food takes 4 and Kroger only takes 2.

3) Learn the store's sale policies.

When items go on sale for buy one get one free, most of the grocery stores in let you buy just one at half price instead of having to buy two. Plus, because you are paying for both of them instead of one being free, they'll let you use a coupon on each item if you do buy 2. This particularly saves waste when it's an item that you just can't use 2 of.

4) Always try to match up the coupons with sales.

That's the way you can end up getting lots of items for under $1. Granted, if you're out and you have to buy it, use the coupon, but it obviously will save you more if you can buy the items on sale as well. For me this does mean that I might visit 3 different stores in a week, but I'm only buying a few items at each store that are on sale and am in and out in 20 minutes or less.

5) The biggest way to save money is to try and build a stockpile.

Almost any item that you buy will go on sale every month or two. So, if when a non-perishable item is on sale for a good price you should buy enough to last you a month or two, so that you won't have to buy it again until it's on sale. It's took me several months and a bit of extra money up front, but now I rarely buy things that aren't on sale except milk and some produce.

6) Be willing to try new things/brands.

While I do have certain items that I'll only buy a certain brand, when I was willing to start trying new brands of soap, deoderant, shampoo, etc I was able to save a lot of money by buying what was on sale. The drugstores make it fairly easy to get most toiletries for under $1 each if you match sales. Also be willing to try new types of produce. What ever is in season is soooo much cheaper than everything else. You just have to be open.

I have two blogs that I follow and both of them will tell you what's on sale for good prices where and what coupons line up with the deals. It means that I don't have to actually go through all the fliers each week to find the deals. The majority of the work is done for me.

• I use the Smartshopper on the WRAL website
• and the Centsable Saver Blog on the N&O website.

I will also say that I get 3 papers every Sunday so that I have lots of coupons to use when there is a sale. I know it sounds a little excessive, but since I only pay a little over $2 for the first copy and the extra copies are only $1 each, it's very easy to have them pay for themselves. I only have to average one coupon a week from each of the extra papers for them to pay for themselves. I don't know if you currently get the paper, but it's where I get a majority of my coupons. You can sign up for the extra papers for $1 through the N&O website and they come delivered to your door with your other paper.

Well, I know that was a ton of information and I hope it helps. If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask.

"Hey MB, what type of music do you like?"

This is a tough question for me.  I grew up with a Justin Timberlake shrine in my bedroom... and then rebelled against my "pop queen" self and proclaimed loudly that I really liked "Hard rock, like Metallica and stuff."  As I got older, I determined that my tastes are pretty specific, but generally, my go to answer is "I like music with really interesting lyrics."  This is easier than elaborating, but I thought it would be kind of fun to elaborate here on some of my "interesting lyrics".

So without further ado, a sampling of MB's all time favorite music:

Silly

1. Profanity and Unicorns by Rhett and Link (0:57)
2. Stuck Inside Your Head by Jeffery Dallas aka Julian Smith (2:04)
3. Word Disassociation by Lemon Demon aka Neil Circierga (4:06)

Sweet

1. Gracie by Ben Folds (2:40)
2. Nothing Matters When You're Dancing by Magnetic Fields (2:56)
3. Two Become One by Bill Mallonee (4:20)
4. The Hazards of Love  (the entire album is a beautiful and deeply symbolic story, but this is the beginning) by The Decemberists (4:19)
5. Long Legged Guitar Pickin Man by Johnny Cash and June Carter (2:38)

Moo Cows

In our home we have two identical "moo cows". They both have equally had their stuffing ripped out of them, and have equally bit and chewed. It matters not, because this always happens.

They fight over every thing, but the "moo cow" thing is the most funny/frustrating (depending on how I'm feeling.) Even if I hand them each one toy, they both want whatever one the other one has. Oh my doggy children.

Anti-Microwaves: How to Reheat Pizza

I hate microwaves. I hate microwaving food in general.  Its one of the reasons I rarely eat leftovers and we have the constant struggle of whether to take or buy lunch.  Microwaves leave food gross.  So when I find a suggestion of how to reheat food, not in the microwave.... I take it!

I found this on (take a guess, yup!) Pinterest!  I would add, that when he says "on Medium heat" he means it. I put mine on high because it was taking several minutes and i was HUNGRY.. and I got a little burned.

But I also got deliciously melty crunchy pizza.  Delightful!

So go here to the foodwishes blog for great instructions on reheating pizza.

Recommended Blog: Pansies!

Tracy, the wonderful florist who did my wedding flowers has a great blog post out about potted pansies.  Even though the holidays are here, winter always leaves me longing for green grass (or weeds in our case), flowers and fresh veggies in the garden.  The idea that it's time to plant pansies makes me very happy!

Read away! (And hire her if you have a wedding coming up. She's excellent!)
http://springwellgardens.blogspot.com/2011/11/diy-for-spring-weddings-think-pansies.html

Amazing Frosting Tip

I am a new convert to Pinterest.com (and I adore it).

This means that I see lots of neat ideas, crafts, tips, and articles each day, and I share them there. However, i just saw a video linked from Pinterest that needed immediate sharing on my blog. If you use frosting tips and bags EVER... watch this video.  (Here's the source)

Cross Culture at Home

Last weekend, I went to a bridal shower for my friend Keerthi, and thrown by my friends Niha and Gagan.  It was an amazing experience!  I have learned so much about India from Keerthi and several of the other friends who were at the shower, but this felt somehow different.  Well, mostly, because of all the beautiful saris!!!!  I love clothes from India!

I mostly spent time with some new friends, Vedika and Marisha who are the wives of two of my coworkers. We had some really fun conversations. Vedika is a Hindu, Marisha a Muslim, both born and raised in India, and me a Christian, but from the US. We had some really fun conversations about religion and culture.  And of course, about the difficulty of being in a new country away from all your friends.  As I start trying to figure out what the future holds for me, I start really empathizing with these sorts of conversations.

Then we ate a giant plate of delicious Indian food. I proudly went to tell Keerthi how brave I was and how I didn't even cry because it was too spicy. She said "yeah, I told them not to make it too spicy." :p Oh well!  It was delicious, even if I wasn't as brave as I thought!

Then, after some really fun shower games, Arti sang some beautiful songs for Keerthi to celebrate this time in her life. They translated them for me too so I'd understand, but I was just overwhelmed by the beauty of her voice filling the room, unaccompanied.  Then there were some mild attempts at dancing... now... I'm not good at American dancing, but Indian dancing requires a grace and confidence that I simply do not possess.  But boy was it fun to watch the others!

It was quite possibly one of the absolute coolest things I have ever done. Thank you Keerthi for letting me part of this day!

My coworkers

Carpet Magic!

This weekend I came home and the whole house smelled like dog.

Jasmine had an accident, but more than that. The whole bedroom just smelled like dog, the living room smelled like dog, the couch smelled like dog... And I was just not happy about it.  Especially since, now that we're treating Tolpel's allergies, he actually smells like a nice regular dog instead of a stinky dog.

And it had been a long weekend, so there was much crying and sighing as I looked around unhappily.

I've been reading a lot of blogs and articles lately about natural cleaners (including Heather's Natural But Normal blog), so I thought "Hey, let's see what some baking soda and vinegar can do."  Amazing things. That's what it can do.


Amazing thing number 1: Stink remover!
I sprinkled baking soda on my rugs, on my carpets, and on my couch. Then I sprayed the couch down with a half vinegar, half water solution and rubbed gently with a cloth.  For the floors, we had borrowed my mother in law's wet vac (and still haven't returned it, oops!), and so I put vinegar in the "soap" part and wet vaccuumed the floors. My house smelled like vinegar for about an hour, but afterward, everything was neutralized and my house looked great!

Amazing thing number 2: Spot remover!
I had 3 main spots areas I was concerned about.
 - A food spillage spot on the couch that had been there since we got married (so 2 years ish)
 - A previously sticky spot that was on the rug when we moved in (and had resisted a whole slew of cleaning chemicals)
 - A dark spot on the carpet where mud got ground into the rug and carpet cleaners didn't help.

All I did was rub some baking soda into the spot, spray thoroughly with vinegar/water solution, and watch it bubble. Then I scrubbed a little with an old toothbrush and MAGIC, all gone!  No discoloration of the fabric, but perfect spot remover.  I was honestly stunned.

Anyway, I share these things because I am NOT Martha Stewart. I haven't bothered to clean my carpets since we moved in, and I only vacuum when I have to. I hate cleaning, I hate knowing what cleaning supplies I even need... Having a spotless house is a large and impossible waste of time.  So when I figure out something quick, easy, cheap, that works on stains that I haven't bothered to get out in 2 years... well, that's something worth sharing with the larger community. :)

Kitchen Tricks

As much as I love cooking, I can get easily overwhelmed by complicated meals.  I have started doing a few things that I'm sure every cooking 101 class covers... but here are my favorite cooking tips!

1. Read the recipe first.  Not all recipes are equal. Sometimes they aren't obvious that the 2 tbsp of butter are divided.  Sometimes they have that treacherous word "meanwhile". *shudder*. A quick read of the recipe before you start makes sure the "meanwhile"s don't defeat you.

2. Prep the food!  If you need 1/8 cup onion chopped and 1/2 cup bell pepper chopped, chop before you start! I only recently started doing this, and the onions would start burning while I furiously chopped peppers.

3. Relatedly, the most amazing "prep bowls" in the world - a muffin pan! Isn't this ingenious?! Only one dish to wash!

4. When measuring multiple scoops of something, count while pouring each scoop clockwise.  Let me explain.  Say you need 2 TBSP of sugar, but you only have a tsp clean. Fine. You need 6 tsp.  No big deal.  But inevitably around tsp 4... Or was it 5?  Oh no, you've lost count.  When I do this, I put tsp 1 at the "12 o'clock" and the second tsp at "1 o'clock" in the bowl.  When I lose count, I can actually see where I am by where I just dumped my last tsp.  Brilliant!

Does everyone already know these? I feel like I'm the last one coming to this party.  And share your awesome tips with me!

Dinner Diva

That's right, I'm back!

Just a little sampling of the meals I have made in the last few weeks.  Apparently I am completely sick of fast food and have really missed cooking, because I was pretty adventerous the last few days.  Here are my last 3 from-scratch meals:

1. Pineapple Southwest Chicken (previously blogged about.)
2. Stuffed Portabello Mushrooms
3. Chicken Fettuccine, homemade savory herb bread, fruit salad

Monday's meal was pretty involved for me, but the fruit salad was extremely quick and the perfect end to the heavy (delicious) fettuccine.

Mary Beth's Fruit Salad:
Yields 8 servings:
1 apple (honey crisp or other sweet variety), chopped
1 orange, chopped
1 cup pineapple, chopped (leftover from my southwest chicken)
1 TBSP agave nectar (a low glycemic index sugar substitute that is the consistency of syrup so it sticks it all together.)

Stir. Enjoy.

Nutrition
- Calories: 33
- Fat: 0.1g
- Carbs: 8.4g
- Fiber: 1.4g
- Sugars: 6.5g
- Protein: 0.3g

Kinesthetic German

A few weeks ago, I decided to learn some German words through experience.  I made German food!

Einen Sauerbraten - sour meat or sour roast which I have been marinating for 2 days. (It can marinate up to 10.)

Eine Kartoffelklöße - potato dumplins. "Kartoffel" must some how be related to potatoes or mean potatoes, because there is Kartoffelsalat, Kartoffelpuffer, Kartoffelsuppe...

It was DELICIOUS.  Although, 2 people (one from Berlin and the other who has German parents) recommended that in the future I purchase Panni brand mix for the Kartoffelklöße.  I think I;ll try that, because they turned out kinda wet.

Anyway, if this is what German food all tastes like, I'm going to be just fine there. Yum!

Good Fences make Good... Pet Owners

Jake and I have rescued two neighborhood puppies now. Fortunately, both dogs knew where their house was, so I just walked near them, and they showed me home, and then I knocked on the door. Both owners were totally startled that their little babies had gotten out.  I have to say.. this kinda shocked me.


Jacob and I have had 3 dogs. Our first, Tölpel, was adopted him from the pound right after we got back from our honeymoon. He's the sweetest dog in the world. But he was a runaway. They found him on the side of the road, and after trying to find an owner for a year, they finally turned him over to the pound. That's where we found him.

Then we got Kunos. He was a Basset-hound-Labrador mix and he could just steal your heart away with his adorableness!  Also a runaway.  We took him to try to find the owners so he didn't have to go to a pound or rescue. I posted information on every website, every shelter, I could find to find this dogs owners. Unfortunately, he ended up eating a large amount of fabric and we couldn't save him, but he warmed our home (and brought quite a lot of excitement, having two male dogs in the house!!) for a time.

And now, of course, we have little Jazz who's mommy wasn't taken care of... she was in a 100% kill shelter before PawfectMatch rescued her and then gave her to us.

But with respect to the first two dogs - both were runaways.  Or in the case of Tölpel, I suspect he was a wander away - he doesn't really run unless there's a rabbit.  Both of those sweet sweet dogs should never have come to our home. Both should have had long lives with their original owners.  And how many dogs in our own neighborhood have almost had the same fate of life in the pound, hoping someone would rescue them?

Jake and I chose to get Jazz from a rescue instead of the pound.  When we realized how many dogs are euthinized, we thought a going to a rescue would really save 2 dogs, because now they have room for another one.

I guess the point is, not everyone wants pets.  Pets are not people. I get that. But if you're going to go through all the trouble to HAVE a sweet and loving pet...

1. Please don't leave them unsupervised in the backyard where they could possibly dig under a fence or run through an electric fence. Know where your dog is.  I'm not saying none of ours have ever made a bolt for it. But we were there and went and found them.
2. Please keep your dogs up to date on their vaccinations and microchip them. That way if they do ever get away, they can be returned to you and won't end up in a pound!
3. If you are thinking of getting a pet, please consider a shelter.  In this area, I know of http://catangelsnc.org/ and http://www.pawfectmatch.org/ which are both great shelters, but there are so many great shelters and so many wonderful pets needing a home.  And it's in these shelter's interest to find a pet that matches your personality and activity level, because they want this to be a permanent arrangement.

Blog posts on the cutting room floor

I often start blog posts and never finish them. I don't like the way they're going, or I might rewrite them a day later... I just went through and deleted all my drafts out of blogger.  I thought you'd might be interested in the blogs that never came to fruition.

• CAAAAKKKKEEEEE
• Yummy and cheap-ish foods
• Grocery Mission
• work work work
• Pathetique!
• Age
• Just a day in the life
• Random acts of Culture
• Mawwiage... that dweam within a dweam
• Saving Money
• Too much Structure!!
• Life and Death
• What?? An earthquake?? Here??

Unplugging

I've been considering unplugging once a week... It seems like such a good idea.  No facebook, no twitter, no obsessive texting.  I am ALWAYS online.  Here are the main reasons why I'm hesitating...

1. I need my computer and the internet for my job. I'm a programmer for crying out loud. This means unplugging could only potentially happen Saturday or Sunday.
2. I use the internet for EVERYTHING. I don't even have people's phone numbers.  I facebook message or email. I actually get kinda nervous if I have to use the phone.
3. I love asynchronous communication.  I love that I can say something to you and you'll respond when you get a chance. No awkward pauses, no feeling like you're interrupting someone.  I am terrified of giving that up.
4. How could I do anything? I use my gps to go everywhere. I use google to find where I want to go. I only cook out of recipes online.  I only watch shows that are online. Even when I'm camping, I use my phone to track how long I walked so I can plug it into my diet tracker... and speaking of.. I use weightwatchers online!

But with some proper planning and determination, I still might be able to work around these issues.  I don't know... Would you unplug once a week?

Southwest Chicken Recipe

I saw this recipe on FrugalFlambe, which I *highly* recommend.  (click "FrugalFlambe" to go to the recipe) It's one of the food blogs I read regularly and the recipes are easy and tasty!  I have a few modifications and notes.

Firstly, this recipe really wasn't expensive.  We even used fresh pineapple and fresh cilantro but you could easily sub canned pineapple (which the original recipe actually calls for) and dry cilantro.

• Pineapple substitutes: Either 1 (15 oz) can of pineapple or one cup of fresh diced pineapple.
• Cilantro substitutes: 2 TBSP of fresh cilantro or 2 tsp of dry cilantro

Secondly, it was really tasty!  A really amazing combination of sweet salty and spicy.  Jacob rates my dinners on a scale of "once a week", "once a month", "occasionally" and "wasn't that a nice experiment".  This recipe got a "once a month" because he felt that the novelty of the combination would wear off if we ate it more often.

Thirdly, and this is very important in my house... no leftovers! Well, technically I had like one chicken tender left over but I ate very light tonight. Normally this would have been just perfect for us.  I will note, I would either half the chicken or double the salsa.  The full chicken recipe would yield 4 servings. Even with it halfed, I was still wishing I had just a LIIIIITLE more salsa. Yum!

New puppy!

I know I haven't been so domestic diva-ing lately.  (but will be coming back soon, I promise!)  To be honest, I've been just trying to survive.  Jacob started a new job a few months back, and then his softball season picked up as well as several other responsibilities... and then we got a new puppy!!

Everyone, meet Jasmine.  Or Jazz as well call her.

Having a puppy is a very new experience for us.  Suddenly we have middle of the night potty breaks, lots and lots of chewing, and puppy jealousy!  Tölpel, who has always been very obedient and somewhat uncaring of toys now wants whatever toy Jazz has.  And she will take whatever he has out of his mouth if she can. Even when she has an identical bone already.  But they are so loving and we are really enjoying it.  And the two of them are really starting to get along.  They play together and even cuddle sometimes.  

  

And "mommy" and "daddy" are loving it!

Recommended Read: The best kind of cross-cultural blog

I have a friend, Erin, (I think I've mentioned her before) who is teaching in Honduras currently.  Her blog is excellent, but I especially love her posts about the little things. The food they made for dinner. That scorpion they killed in their apartment. The little shop they visited.  How seeing the poverty makes her feel.

Anyways, if anyone ever goes to a foreign country, please blog more like Erin.
http://erinwitheverything.blogspot.com/2011/09/scorpion-files.html

The Accent Game

I was reading Carrie's blog which linked me to Ashley's blog and they did this accent video blog. I thought it sounded fabulous, so I'm going to try it.

The instructions are to say these words: 
Aunt, Route, Wash, Oil, Theater, Iron, Salmon, Caramel, Fire, Water, Sure, Data, Ruin, Crayon, Toilet, New Orleans, Pecan, Both, Again, Probably, Spitting image, Alabama, Lawyer, Coupon, Mayonnaise, Syrup, Pajamas, Caught 

And answer these questions: 
What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house? 
What is the bug that when you touch it, it curls into a ball? 
What is the bubbly carbonated drink called? 
What do you call gym shoes? 
What do you say to address a group of people? 
What do you call the kind of spider that has an oval-shaped body and extremely long legs? 
What do you call your grandparents? 
What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket? 
What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining? 
What is the thing you use to change the TV channel? 

Thank You Darling Friends.

I've been having a rough few weeks for a variety of reasons... Last night I spent some time catching up with two dear friends, Olivia and Megan, and it really helped. A lot.  So thank you to all my dear friends who make this song true in my life. (Language warning: song contains curse words)
 
 Cooler Than You - by Ben Folds

Nerds go wild, indeed.

Bathroom Cleaning Magic

I really hate cleaning the bathroom. But my hubby hates it more. And I hate doing dishes... so... I do the bathrooms. But I'm constantly looking for things to speed up that horrible process. I think I've found my 3 secret weapons.

Secret Weapon # 1: A true (cheap) all-purpose cleaner
A friend of mine, Erika, told me that the thing that slows you down the most in cleaning the bathroom is that constant switching of cleaners and rags as you go. If you find something you could actually use on all surfaces, including the mirror, etc, it would speed you up considerably.

I use a 50/50 mixture of water and white vinegar in a spray bottle. It's cheap, easy, and it works! Much better than my other non-bleach cleaners for sure! And yes, your bathroom does temporarily smell of vinegar, but as soon as it dries, the smell is gone!

Secret Weapon # 2: Magic Mold fighting cleaner
Another friend, Heather, started a blog called "Natural But Normal" that I've been reading. I asked her for a suggestion for a cleaner that could fight my mold and mildew problem that I'm constantly battling in my shower. She had a couple suggestions, but the one that has worked the best is a tea-tree oil based cleaner. I bought this tiny bottle of tea tree oil at Trader Joes, and you use 1 tsp of oil to 1 cup of water in a spray.

Not only does it battle the mold better than my bleach-based cleaners, but since it's natural, I actually just keep the bottle in the shower and spray down the curtain every morning right after I take a shower. Quick and easy!

Secret Weapon # 3: No more gross washclothes
When I first got married, my mother in law told me to try used dryer sheets as a cloth when cleaning the bathroom. They're so thin, so I use gloves when I'm using my regular cleaners, but not with my vinegar solution... They are soo easy to use and can really do a lot of the scrubbing for you, because they just have so much grip. I always keep a box of them when i pull a load of the dryer and just grab 1-2 when I need to clean the bathroom.

And I gladly welcome any other suggestions that save this diva time doing stupid stuff like cleaning and give me more time to do stuff I want to do. Like cooking and eating and messing around with my computer.

Today I realized: Mind over Matter

There is a particular situation in my life that I am somewhat unhappy about, and occasionally think of actions I could take to escape the situation.

Last night I had a terrible nightmare/stress dream about it though. And I realized that you can't escape something you carry with you in your dreams.

I think this is one reason why God wants us to forgive (although his patience with us is an even better reason). There reaches a point where you are only hurting yourself by holding on to something. By stressing about something, worrying about something, being angry about something, all you can do is hurt yourself.

And that is why I will choose to let things go. Again.

Vacation Adventure: The Sea, The Sky, and Man

Note: This is another post which was made while I was off adventuring

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Yesterday we went to the Chicago aquarium. Jacob took a lot of great video - that works better for fish, I think. They move. :) [insert video]. We had a really fun time. I kinda felt like a kid, seeing the polar bears and the penguins and the jelly fish (Which are much less scary when they are in their tanks and unable to sting you while you swim.) And we got to see the dolphin show, which was very cool. (By the way, if you're planning to visit Chicago, go ahead and get the CityPass. We saved so much money and many hours in line.)

Next we went down to the beach - I really enjoyed people watching there. People are the same everywhere, and I could have stayed there for hours making up voices for all the tourists and locals wandering around.

Then we went up to Hancock Tower at night. What a gorgeous view of the city. I was really glad we did that.

Then today we spent several hours in the Chicago Art Institute. While I could have stayed forever in the medieval, renaissance art (particularly the religious art, and into the impressionists) after a few hours of Monet, El Greco and Cranach, Jake and I were exhausted. We found the van Gogh section and spent a little time there before wandering into Modern art to find Picasso. Picasso is really fun, but what art spirals into as a result of the modern changes is confusing and intimidating to me. We left the museum soon after to take a break.

We then went up in the Sears tower (Or Willet Tower, since they renamed the silly thing...) to see a view of the city during the day. We had a lot of fun at both towers trying to find all the locations we knew (Jacob

obviously knew most of the area, whereas I could only find the couple of places we'd visited.) This is me pinching Jacob's undergraduate school, Moody Bible.

The Lunch Problem

So I have this little problem. I *hate* packed lunches. Well, it's more complicated than that.

1. I *hate* microwaves. I always reheat leftovers in a pan or in the oven because I absolutely despise microwaved food.

2. I *hate* eating the same thing multiple times in a row. I always freeze half when I make a large number of servings of something because if I have to eat it more than 2 times in a row I go kinda nutty. But only buying enough to make 1-2 of some lunch item isn't especially economic either. Gotta reuse ingredients for more than one meal!

3. I reallllly like buffalo chicken wraps which are available in my lovely work cafeteria on Wednesdays. This doesn't really help my wallet or my diet.

So, I'm wondering... anyone have any ideas for me? I'm not too picky in terms of ingredients, it's just the manner of preparation that's tricky.

For now, I'm going to try...
1) A BLT on pumpernickel bread.
2) A cucumber sandwhich on pumpernickel bread (http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,161,134177-253194,00.html)
3) A chicken fiesta salad (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chicken-fiesta-salad/detail.aspx)

The Primary Difference Between My Sister and Me

We have similar physical appearance. We are both smart and have technical degrees in male dominated fields. We both love Broadway and are a bit romantic at heart. We can both get incredibly silly and goofy.

But after dinner with some friends last night I said, "hmm. I think I'm going to go play video games. Should I fight Jedi or a robot? Or I could read my fantasy novel."

She said, "You're crazy. I'm watching Bachelor Pad."

Vacation Adventure: God, Sports and the Arts

Note: This post was typed while out of town, so I thought I would just move the publish date until I was safely home from my adventure.

Sunday July 24, 2011

[insert picture] What a specatcularly spectacular day we had!First we went to Jacob's old church, Covenant, where I about converted myself to Presbyterian. What a gorgeous and soul-refreshing place. Jacob and I were much ministered to through the gorgeous surroundings, the lofty echos of song, and a wonderful sermon about fear, control and faith.

The next landmark of the day was the most AMAZING Cubs game EVER. Anyone who says

baseball is boring has never been to a game like today's. (Which includes me, I'm afraid, before today.) They made a baseball fan out of me! I like it better than even hockey and basketball!

And we rounded the day off with a live performance of Romeo and Juliet by Shattered Globe. Amazing. The characters knew mulitple roles and the audience voted for who played who. Quality, especially since the actors were screaming their lines to be heard. I was quite impressed, amused, and moved.

Dinner of Champions!

More vacation posts coming later, but first, Dinner!

I had one of those days. The kind where I'm both physically and emotionally tired, I need a nap, and I haven't cooked in about 2 weeks and we don't have much food in the house, but Jake won't be home for an hour, so I should probably attempt to make something.

So I went to my very very favorite website, allrecipes.com. A quick search for main dishes with chicken, sort by rating, a glance over the ingredients, and bam, I'm whipping up a batch of "jerky chicken."

It was incredibly fast. I had everything on hand, even though my spice rack is half empty. I subbed some of our cayenne peppers from the garden for the habeneros, and took a nap while it marinated. A little trick I've learned - if you cut the chicken into smaller pieces, it marinates faster AND cooks faster. Magic!

Jacob loved it. I asked if this was a "once in awhile" or an "every week" recipe and he exclaimed "3 times a week!". So I guess it meets approval. And anything I can make in 5 minutes, a 30 minute nap, and then throw in the oven for 15 minutes is a-okay with me.

Domestic Diva Version of Jerky Chicken.

1. In a large bowl or ziplock, combine the following: (I didn't measure anything. No little measuring spoons to clean and who cares if it's exact, it's a marinade!).

• some chopped onion. A few tablespoons
• 3 tbsp brown sugar
• 4 tbsp soy sauce
• 4 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 2 tsp thyme
• 1 tsp canola oil (or sesame. or olive. or whatever you have.)
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/2 tsp ground allspice
• 1 habenero. Or 2 cayennne peppers. Or something spicy.
• 2 -3 half chicken breasts, cubed

2. Marinade for 30 minutes or so. Nap. Or facebook.

3. Broil for 5-10 minutes. Yay meat thermometers. Try not to die a horrible uncooked chicken death.

Vacation Adventure: Traveling

Note: This post was typed while out of town, so I thought I would just move the publish date until I was safely home from my adventure.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

What an adventure we've had getting up to Chicago for vacation!

We left Friday afternoon and made really good time, until we hit the terrible rain. We passed one place where the opposite direction was totally closed because it was under several feet of water (our side was fine). And then we got a flat. There was a terrible road and we hit a couple bad batches before the tire blew. We immediately pulled over and changed to the donut, and then drove to the closest hotel. I was exhausted and started crying, and Jake got me to bed and made an appointment with the mechanic in town the next day. Just as we were drifting off to sleep he said, "Huh, I think Dustin used to live about 30 minutes from here. We should see what he's up to" and sent a late night text. (Dustin is one of Jake's roommates and very close friend's from college.)

Then this morning, we were getting our tire fixed when Dustin texted back. Instead of 30 minutes, he lived 5 minutes down the road! He drove right over and we had a really wonderful breakfast catching up with him. I'm so glad that if God's going to give us a flat tire, it could allow us to spend several hours with a friend. :) That was the best flat tire I've ever gotten, for sure.

Then we drove up to the city. It was another 3 hours before we arrived at our gorgeous, comfortable, clean, happy hotel with working A/C and legit Wi-Fi. (We've stayed in some doozies before and this was a wonderful and much needed change.)

We walked around the city for several hours today, and then met up with our friend George for amazing Lou Manatti's deep dish pizza. The service left something to be desired (They were rushing us) but the pizza and the company was awesome!

I'm sitting here in my bed now - exhausted and very happy. My diet is fairly shot for the day, but I had an awesome time and am really happy for this delightful vacation!

Magical Brains

When I was younger, I used to think my dad had super powers.

There are all these great stories... like one time, my mom lost a piece of jewelry (I think it was a necklace) and they had searched high and low for it. They went to bed that night, and my dad had a dream about the necklace being under the seat of his car. They woke up, went to the exact location, and found the necklace.

And other time, he had this dream about a girl he was helping on a train... the girl was from country A, and was trying to escape over the border to country B, and dad had to help her - and for some reason, this dream was extremely vivid, especially the locations involved. The next day, on the radio, my dad heard that the border between these two countries was closed, and that no more people were allowed to seek refuge in country B.

I used to wish and pray often that somehow I would inherit these magical powers. Just one magical dream that turned out to be true.

Then I went to college and my brain started doing it's own peculiar things...

Freshman year I took a 8am, MTWHF, Calculus 2 HONORS class. It was a terrible class, and I could barely stay awake, much less understand any of the material being taught. I would often come home to realize that I had continued taking notes while I fell asleep, so I was often trying to find the derivative of "grandma" or else my

notes

started

going all

over

the page.

barbecue sauce.

Later I started having programming dreams. Once I dreamed I was a word in the spell check program I was writing at the time - and I kept falling through the code until I got stuck. I woke up and found the problem with my code was the exact method I got "stuck" in.

Before a health final, I woke up about 2am and yelled out the formula for resting heart rate, which I had been dreaming about quite vividly.

So while I am starting to realize that perhaps my brain is processing amazing amounts of information at night, and finding creative solutions to problems... but I prefer to think that I did, in fact, inherit the magic brainpowers, and these lucid moments between wake and sleep are when I get a glimpse of just how powerful my magic is.

The Pitbull "Incident"

This past weekend, Tölpel and I were attacked by 2 pitbulls. In my front yard. It was a horrifying experience. Jake was out of town, and we were going to the farmer's market. I had my hands full, and the leash wrapped around my wrist when these two pitbulls came from nowhere and started sniffing Tölpel. I got pretty scared and started to try to walk away. At this point, both dogs jumped on Tölpel and started biting his neck. Tölpel began to try to fight back, while screaming (you know, that awful high pitched noise they make when they're hurt)... and I cannot drop the leash. He can't get away.

I'm screaming "GET OFF MY DOG GET OFF MY DOG" at the top of my lungs and against everything I know that I'm supposed to be doing in this situation, I reach behind the head of the more agressive pitbull and pull him off of my dog. I quickly grab Tölpel and hold him. The pitbulls are surrounding me, trying to nip at Tölpel's feet, and the neighbors are all looking.

My neighbor from 3 houses down, Neil, has come running at this point with some sort of pitchfork/shovel thing and he tells me to take the dog inside. "I can't" I said through tears. "This one is following me." He comes and waves his pitchfork at the dog. The dog doesn't run away, but it distracts him enough that I bolt for my front door. I found my keys and got a bleeding Tölpel inside the house. By this point, the pitbulls have scattered. Neil comes and makes sure that I've gotten in the house ok, and tells me to make sure that Tölpel is ok.

I start checking Tölpel all over, but I can't find where he's bleeding from. It's not bad, and surprisingly none of the skin on his neck is broken (where most of the biting was). I called Jacob and my dad, and they tell me to call animal control. At this point, the doorbell rings. Neil had called the police.

The police officers informed me that they had caught the dogs, found the owners, and animal control was going through the vaccination records of the pitbulls. They realized that the blood was coming from Tölpel's ear, so they had me turn it over for them, and then they took my statement and ran my id and sat with me until animal control came. She informed me that the pitbulls were from responsible pet owners who had thankfully had the dogs vaccinated. We looked at Tölpel and decided he didn't need stitches, and a small scrape on my arm and determined it wasn't broken skin. She let me know what to do if either of our conditions changed, and she filed her own report on the whole situation.

We're both fine - Tölpel's ear is almost healed. And he seems to have forgotten about the incident - although he was certainly upset and behaved a little strangely the rest of that day. He got a big bone for being such a brave boy. I have been really struggling with fear though. Fear of going in my own yard. Fear that the dogs will be back in my yard when I get home at night. I've talked to Jake about it, and he put things in pretty good perspective - "For a girl that's been through a tornado and a pitbull attack in the last month, you're remarkably unscathed."

And after hearing some other horrible dog stories lately, I realized that the owners weren't lying when they said "They really are sweet dogs; we can't believe this happened." Of course, I didn't know that at the time, but in hindsight - they didn't bite me. They didn't break the skin where they were biting Tölpel. They didn't attack me when I picked Tölpel up. No one required stitches or plastic surgery.

Jake came home early and he and my brother in law repaired our fence, so that I could feel safe at least in the backyard. And I'm making Neil a cheesecake.

Guest Post: Train Up a Cuke in the Way it Should Grow

As many of you know, Mary Beth and I began our foray into vegetable gardening last summer. It was an experience, indeed. We both brought a good deal of knowledge to the bed, the result of good parenting I guess. Nevertheless, we made a few blunders.

One in particular concerns the effective utilization of support when growing cucumbers. "Wait. Do you mean to tell me that a vine which produces, on average, 5 1-2lb fully mature cucumbers needs something to grow on?" Well, it wasn't quite like that.

Last year we were convinced that running a string from the fence to the deck, which had multiple strings running vertically, would suffice. Suffice it to say, it didn't. Before we were able to train the tendrils to grow up the hanging strings, they had already spread themselves out and started producing cucumbers. Ever try lifting 10lbs of cucumbers while untangling the vine from 5 other cucumber vines without destroying vine, leaf or cucumber? Had you happened to mosey on by the Diva household (I guess since I am guest blogging I must accept the terminology) on this occasion, you might have wondered if an anthropological explanation for the Diva and her man playing twister in their garden exists.

I digress. Much like a child we have learned that it is easier to beat the cucumber into submission early on...I mean carefully train... This enables each plant to soak up the sun, not crowd one another out, and produce lots of tasty treats.

I write this somewhat tongue in cheek. As the picture indicates to the observant gardener, we may have planted too many too close. But, in the case of my parents, sometimes it takes two attempts before the third turns out perfect.

When is it really too late for cookies?

Last night, around 10:30pm, I saw a friend on facebook post how she really just wanted a homemade chocolate chip cookie and to read a book.

Me: Jacob, is 10:30pm too late too make a batch of chocolate chip cookies?
Jacob: It is if you want to go to the gym tomorrow.

Me: ...

Diva Beauty Products

Who cares what makeup can do for you if you have 3 hours to get ready in the morning? What I want to know is, what can I do quickly, when I overslept but I have a big meeting, or the (future) baby kept me up all night, or I have a meeting at church and I just spent 8 exhausting hours in the office... What are the magic products that can make a huge difference in a short period of time. To me, this is the very definition of a diva beauty product.

So let me tell you about some of my favorites. (And as per usual, no one is paying me to do so. But I would gladly accept any and all forms of bribery and payment.)

Studio Gear Eye Primer.

This little tube of eye primer goes for about $15 bucks at my local Ulta, but is pure magic. And a little dab will do ya. I originally purchased at the suggestion of my (then future) sister-in-law for my wedding, but every time I wear it, people comment how nice I look. No one can ever quite put their finger on it, but to go from tired to complimented in about .2 seconds, it is well worth your money. Your eye shadow stays on longer, but more importantly it is smoother and you don't look tired anymore! I have found this makes the biggest difference of all my makeup. This is the tool of a true diva.

Hair Snood (Bow)

I'm sure all the truely fashionable people of the world are cringing over this, but for the rest of us mere mortals, this is my favorite diva tool. I can go from still damp, not really curly not really straight hair, throw it up in a pony tail and tuck it in this snood bow and I get compliments on how classy I look every time I wear this. So either I look super classy or people don't know what else to say about my awkward bow, and they go, "Oh Mary Beth you look so...... um.... classy! (but I really mean weird and old fashioned." Ah well, I choose to believe that I'm one classy lady! My favorite place to find these is the GirlsAreUs etsy.com shop (in case you are unfamiliar, this is a website that allows people to sell handmade crafts.) And you can't have the one in the picture, because I just bought it.

Bragging on Hubby!

I don't know if anyone here follows Dr. David Allen Black's blog, (who is one of Jacob's former professors from Southeastern Baptist Seminary, where Jake just received his Masters of Divinity) but Jacob got bragging rights today by winning a contest. (See June 7th, 2011 at 4:18pm) He also got one of Dr. Black's books and a shout out for his own blog, including a recent piece he did about religious education entitled "Has Christian Education Failed Us?"

Husband, you have grown so much as a teacher, a preacher, and a blogger in the last few years, and I am *so* proud of you. :)

A Sort of Guest Post: Wisdom from my Mom

My mom sent me an encouraging email concerning one of my previous posts about learning (at least 1 of the 7 remaining hours of the day.) I tried to cut it down, but there were just too many delightful bits, so here it is for everyone to benefit from:

My dearest daughter, of course you are learning something in the 7 hours you have left. You are learning whatever you are watching on TV -- that may be comedic timing or cultural awareness or the narrative structure of science fiction. When you play a video game, you are developing problem solving and fine motor skills, strategies for engaging learners, and the nuances of games other computer nerds of your generation obsess over -- which is sort of like learning to play golf in your profession. If you want to network professionally, you have to have social skills (albeit rather asocial ones) and credibility as a proficient in defeating the powers of darkness with your superdy-duper nanosonic lazerblastofistomacator. And if one of those does not exist yet, you are learning that it does not exist yet, which is important for when you develop your own game app for those little toys you guys carry on your belt clip, pretending that it's a phone. When you try out Martha Stewart's latest tips for your kitchen, you are learning what you should or should not try to pull off for an important luncheon with your future daughter-in-law's parents. When you gravitate toward learning things that you love, you are learning what you love -- which is a valuable thing to know.

When you were a wee bit younger and still unaware of the world beyond my womb, I read War and Peace and Charlotte Bronte's Shirley and her Villette and Anne Bronte's The Tenant of Wildefell Hall -- because I wanted to and I could and I didn't have to apologize for sitting around the house doing what I loved to do, which is read. Of course, I did feel somewhat guilty for wasting my days, but over 25 years later, when I was taking a Victorian literature course for the master's degree I had finally decided I had time to go after, we had to read Charlotte Bronte's Villette and Anne Bronte's The Tenant of Wildefell Hall -- and even though I didn't remember much from either book, they began to come back to me as I re-read them and loved them all the more for the skills I had developed through years of doing all kinds of other things -- and I have been constantly amazed at how the little nothings of my life have turned into valuable bits and pieces that begin to come together in my middle age (or is that already gone?) in very rich ways.

So learn a new programming language because that is what you love to do and give yourself permission to garden and try a new recipe and decorate your home -- and if you discover that you are better at some of those things than others or that you love some of those things more than others -- so what? I am still very proud of the fact that I can make a beautiful ice ring with pansies in it and that I once took pink cream cheese rosebud mints on a silver tray with a white lace doily underneath to a church social, and someone said, "Oh, I knew you made those. You are just the sort of person who would bring something classy like that." (Of course, I'm actually just the sort of person who would bring a bag of BBQ Lays and a Diet soda, but it was a moment of triumph to seem otherwise for one brief shining moment.)

Well, I know you well, my dear, so I'm fairly certain that you won't read to the end of this message, so I can end with confidence admonishing you as I should. Mary Beth, what are you doing with your life? Get your butt out of the computer chair and go do something, for crying out loud. Why haven't you learned Russian and Serbian yet? You could meet someone in Germany who speaks those languages, and it could be very valuable to be able to communicate with them, and if you don't, you will lose a valuable networking connection. 97 indeed....you always did hang out with friends who had no aspirations. I always knew that Jessica ------- girl was trouble....

Have a great week. I love you.

Mom

So I decided to spend an hour studying the the narrative structure of a multi-episode story arch of Dr. Who.

Diva Garden Year 2

I haven't really blogged about the garden this year - mostly because it started out as an utter failure. All our seed pods rotted, we had to buy some plants at the farmer's market, and then the tornado hit, and it's been so hot that everything is dying... and yet...

The flower garden in the front yard looks great, and our butterfly bush is working. There were easily 20 butterflies on it this past weekend.

The garden is really starting to look good. It looks like we'll have potatoes, red onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers, cayenne peppers and maybe a handful of bush beans. I'm really glad we decided to space the plants out this year. We're having a lot higher success rate.

My lettuce mixture is also doing nicely and i think I'll be able to start using the greens soon in salads, yum.

Even the composter that Jake and I designed and built is going really well. Look at all those worms and all that black gold! (I'm hoping Jake will write a guest post with our design plans for this compost along with what we learned.)

But most importantly are the blackberries. Now, you should know that blackberries, while being one of my favorite foods are a rare delicacy in the Domestic Diva household. They are just too darn expensive! But look at this gorgeous bush we planted last year. It is completely taking over. So please little birds and vermin, please do not eat my blackberries.