Busywork

Despite life not going quite the way I planned with getting a job and making lots of money, I have been keeping myself busy. The young women presidency was released but I was re-called to be the 2nd counselor again. I was pretty happy about that as I have really enjoyed my Beehives. They are so much fun to be with and they say the funniest things. Here are some of the things we have been doing recently:

Making Babysitting Kits: Actually, I feel like I may have taken too much on with this idea. I spent a lot of time typing up different forms and info sheets. I also painted the girls' names on their bags and created some foam stick puppets as an example of the craft we were doing to include in their kit. That night was a lot of fun and I relived a lot of my own babysitting memories that had been stashed away since I was a teenager.

(The stuff on the bags that looks like dust, is actually silver glitter.)






Tomorrow night we are painting simple pictures with acrylics. This is the example painting that I made to help fuel their ideas and to make sure the girls could do it in less than an hour:



Along with all the church calling stuff, I have also decided to bring a piece of the wedding business out here and see how it does. I am starting a chocolate fountain catering business and I have found some awesome kitchen space to rent. I am really excited about it, as I don't have that much competition. I just made the website live last week and am working on marketing strategies right now. You can check it out at: Elegantly Edible.

I have also been cooking a ton. Mostly to save money, but also because I have the time to do it. I've been working on some of our favorites and perfecting the recipes. I have created the most awesome chicken enchiladas ever and am working on some other new recipes. For Valentine's Day I decided to surprise Alexander by making his favorite German food. I made homemade spaetzle(cute little noodles) which he adores and costs a lot to buy at the store. The noodles were perfect! I was so proud of myself. I also made bratwurst and German potato salad. Here is a pic of Alexander's plate:



I also resurrected my Asian cooking and made my famous Thai red curry and some chicken tikka masala,served with basmati rice:



Last but not least, this juicy pot roast, complete with steamed carrots, roasted red potatoes, and divine white asparagus, served with a homemade gravy. I have to admit, I was in Sunday dinner heaven ;).


I've made a lot of other things, but I won't bore you to death with a play-by-play of our eating habits. Tonight I am making a green chili chicken salad that is an attempt to copy Bajio's salad (which we don't have out here). It's not exactly the same, but it does help quell my cravings.

I'm still applying for lots of jobs, and crossing my fingers that by some miracle one is offered to me. There is some potential with someone in the ward who is pushing the prestigious Nelson Atkins Museum to hire me, so hopefully that pans out. I would love working there! In the meantime, we welcome any prayers and extra cash you can give. Just kidding about the cash, the prayers would be nice though.

Alexander is doing an amazing job in school and is constantly impressing his professors. He is becoming known as an excellent scholar and has been excelling in all his classes, despite people saying that he has too heavy a load. I keep telling him that he has to get all A's so that he can get a high paying job and take me to Europe. I think he owes me ;).

Ketchup

Have you ever felt kinda empty inside but you don't know why? It's sort of like a hollow sadness. I have been feeling that way today, like if one more little thing were to go wrong, I might just sit down and cry. The funny thing is, not too much has gone wrong today, so I don't know why I feel this way.

So the bridal fair is this week and I have been crazy trying to get my act in gear. A couple of weeks ago I ordered a vinyl sign from online and I have been waiting to get it for the past week. I had already sent them an email last week and made 3 unanswered phone calls, so today I sent them an email saying that if I didn't hear from them by tomorrow I would take legal action against them. Apparently that scared them as I got both an email and a phone call in which I was told that the store had closed and they were issuing a full refund. Yeah right. Whatever. It was only $30.

I made ketchup today. My Great Grandmother, Grandma Ellen, to whom I was very close, used to make this homemade ketchup that I grew up loving. I was 12 when she died and I had a very difficult time adjusting to eating food without that wonderful condiment. I have a special fondness for eating it with the traditional breakfast Grandma Ellen used to make when I slept over (which was nearly every weekend for 2 years). We would eat fried eggs, toast, bacon, oatmeal with raisins, and orange juice and we always had ketchup with it. When I got married I decided enough was enough and I found the recipe and started bottling it. I was amazed when it tasted exactly how I remembered it. This is the 3rd time I have made it (cause I keep running out!) and all day long the house smells like spices and it brings the sweetest memories of my childhood. Someday I will also learn how to bottle her version of dill pickles and green beans (not together), but for now this is good.

Caution: Wet Floor

My husband is always very worried about me. Every morning as I leave for work he reminds me in a very sober tone, "Be careful". Every day I give him another reason to be worried. To some it would appear that I have very poor luck, but really I am just very clumsy.

Some accidents are worse than others. For instance, every day I stub my toe on the scale by the bedroom door and I usually walk into the wall when I'm trying to walk through doorways (I'm still not sure how that happens). However, it gets worse. Three weeks ago I sprained my wrist while planting my flower garden. Who does that? Last week as I was trying to fulfill my latest dream of being a caterer I fell victim to my stupidity again. What happened was that I was getting a pan out of the oven and unknowingly used a hot-pad that had been set in water. As I felt my right hand thumb burning I was about to drop the pan, but instinctively I reached with my left (and unprotected hand) to catch the pan. Well, as my fingers touched the searing pan (it had been in the oven for 10-12 min at 400 degrees) I dropped the pan and yelled at the top of my lungs.

Luckily, the food didn't fall on the floor, but my hand was covered in second degree burns and I quite possibly woke the neighbors. Sadly for my husband, it was 2:37 a.m. and I woke him up so that we could go to the store to get something to wrap my hand and hopefully find something to stop the pain. Let's just say that was a night when my husband had wished he had been around to offer parental supervision. The way my life goes, something really exciting and painful is sure to happen again soon, so be on the watch out for my latest escapade. :)

A New Adventure

Today I decided that I tend to seek after adventure. Just anticipating doing something new thrills my inner child. My good friend Al has introduced me to my latest adventure, catering. I have decided that this might be something that I can actually do and enjoy doing. Al even gave me a name for my business. When she brought it up I'm sure she had no idea what a whirlwind of excitement it would cause. Unfortunately, I was not blessed with any patience, so I want everything to happen NOW. I want to buy a place for my business NOW. I want to start advertising NOW and I want to start cooking NOW. I still don't even know if it's even possible but I'm excited to take the ride. Wish me luck, maybe someday I will make something of myself.

Desire is transformed into drive when a dream creates a passion for action. --Dr. Robert Anthony