My Friday-Day in the Life 2013

So last week Ali Edwards was doing a week in the life.  Photography everyday moments all week long, and documenting it on her blog, she will then scrapbook those pics.  Very cool concept.  I was in no way ready to commit to a whole week but I thought it'd be fun to do for one day.  So that's what I did.  It was not a completely typical Friday, but it's a good glimpse into my life. 

Friday with The Sexton's...................................

Every successful morning starts with clothes that have been laid out the night before.  I've taught Perry this.  He's almost to the point where he doesn't need a reminder, but not quite. 

Perry's breakfast

I eat bacon almost everyday, that my awesome husband makes for me. 

On days that I work early I'll usually eat egg muffins that I just heat up when I get to work and a piece of fruit. 

This is not typical, but this day I had pumpkin chai made with almond milk, in my new spill proof coffee mug I got from target.  Usually I'll just get a cup of IKEA coffee. 

Perry got a new backpack this year.  He's got a new LL Bean backpack whenever he's transitions to a new school.  Next new backpack will be for college. 

We are fortunate that Perry's bus stop is at our driveway. 

I now have to periodically use reading glass's.  I have a notebook I keep with me at work.  This one was missing for a whole day, which completely stressed me out.  It was found on Friday and I was oh so happy. 

My job consists of a sea of cardboard on flat carts all-day everyday.  Oddly I love it. 

We had a discussion as to if we had aged over the past 4 years.  Picture being held is from my 40th birthday party 4 years ago. 

Catching up with Rick is often my favorite part of my day.  Love this guy. 

We often share our left overs.  You can see a little bit of Kristi leftovers.  I only shared my olives. 

Only junk mail today when I got home. 

We usually have pizza on Friday.  This Friday the boys weren't going to be home, so Perry and I ate leftover chili and I had some left over humus after they were gone.  Kipper thought he'd like to have some too. 

 

The boys sent me pictures from their campsite.  They went and played glow disc golf, and camped at Winton Woods.  I was actually kind of lonely in my quiet house.  I knew it was time to go to bed when I started to fall asleep in my recliner. 

It was fun documenting my day.  It was hard work to remember to take pictures all day long.  I couldn't do it for a whole week, I'd probably lose my mind.  It'll be fun to look back on the events of a somewhat typical Friday. 

 

My Morning in Court

So I know, one should just make it routine and renew their tags on their birthday or even the beginning of your birthday month.  Well I am not that organized.  And I am the queen of procrastination.  So much so 3 months went by, and guess what, tags were expired.  I was never nervous I would get pulled over, it never crossed my mind I'd get in trouble.  And well I didn't get in trouble.  My sweet innocent husband did get in trouble though.....in my illegal vehicle.  Ahhhhh snap.  So we gave up all processed food in January.  We occasionally indulge, but for the most part we don't eat processed food.  And rarely eat out anymore.  Unless its the weekend or we're on vacation.  Well Ron has given in  to the draw of diet Mt. Dew, and decided he was going to drive my illegal vehicle to get him a 20 oz.....and got pulled over for expired tags.  (should've reconsidered on that pop consumption.)  The officer told him if he showed up in court on the given date and had renewed the tags the judge would probably just throw it out.  So the man whose name was on the ticket thought that meant the owner of the car, and not him whose the law breaker.  So I was going to go by myself,  and I was like, um your names on the ticket, and told him he should go with me.  So he went thinking he was just supporting me.....um duh.....his name was on the docket.  And they were rolling through alphabetically.......we are Sexton.......I could spend the whole day in the court room listening to thugs and thieves.  At one point Ron was like you are loving this aren't you.  And he was correct I was.  Fascinating how dumb people are.  Got to see a 30 something chic go to jail for stealing a pair of Nike's from Kohls.  And then the dude who got busted years ago for drug possession and had to do a drug test every Friday, and was in trouble for "failure to report", tried to get sympathy that because he had to be there every Friday he lost his job. 

 

This is a generic photo, as no cellphones allowed in the building.  Judge Campbell is an excellent judge.  When it was Ron's turn, he plead guilty.  He stated it was his wifes car.......and she said "you're going to throw your wife under the bus...?" And laughed.  She then mentioned that husbands are suppose to renew all tags for all vehicles because that's what happens at her house.  (she was kidding.....) She asked if the tags were renewed.  And they are.  He left with no fine and no court costs.  And an entire morning full of thugs and thieves, and a whole lot of entertainment.  Can you just go to court and watch?  I'm serious, that's fun. 

Another interesting fact I learned today from Judge Campbell.  90% of traffic accidents are cause because someone was making a left turn.  So all the people I know who avoid left turns, I know many.  You are smart people.  Apparently UPS drivers are not allowed to make left turns.  I'm intrigued, I might have to follow a UPS truck just to see this. 

 

Whole 30, I didn't die....and neither will you.

Accept for doing Weight Watchers a couple times, with no real success other than losing 10 lbs in the first week and calling that a success and gaining it all back a few weeks later, I've never really attempted a weight loss program.  Woops....not actually a weight loss program, although the result is weight loss, it's not why we did it.  We did it, to change many habits and not just our eating habits, although that was the primary focus. 

It started with a year end message at church.  You can see that message here.  Where both Ron and I.....more so Ron, had some "ah-ha" moments.  I could relate to much of the story being shared.  Being overweight, relationship with food.....I'd heard it a million times....but this time was different.  There was a God aspect to it that I hadn't given much thought.  I am fully aware that ultimately God is in control of EVERYTHING.  But does that mean I am willing to surrender EVERYTHING to him?  Ha Ha Ha.....NO.  Does that mean I recognize when God is trying to talk to me, often screaming at me.....and I hear him.....UM NO.  Theres just somethings in life we hold onto with both hands with a very tight grip.  A lot of people aren't willing to admit food has a crazy strong hold on us. 

Enter the book.....It Starts With Food.  I'm not much of a reader.  Since giving birth, I've probably read maybe 10 books in the past 15 years if that many.  And when I do read I am a sloooooow reader.  This book I plowed through because it was fascinating and I could relate to it and the science stuff about food was not in anyway over my head.  Ron read it to, and once we completed it we both agreed to give the Whole 30 a go.  Ron never agrees to anything this crazy, or this restrictive. 
When I say restrictive I mean RESTRICTIVE.  I knew we wouldn't go hungry, but giving up food that had such a stronghold on us was going to be a challenge.  And I'm a women, and you know what happens to women and hormones......they don't go away now matter how healthy you are eating. 

We rid our home of all non-compliant whole 30 foods.  After a couple weeks we referred to those foods as "poison".  The first few weeks I stocked up on meat and veggies from Whole foods and trader joes.  I soon learned that wasn't necessary.  I soon learned to find almost everything I needed on the outside edge of Kroger.  It's true all the processed foods are in the middle.  Basically Whole 30 is Protien, veggies, fruit and healthy fats.  Go to the website for more details.  After the first week, it became easier and easier.  We just had to learn to read labels, prep a head of time, and we pretty much couldn't eat out during whole 30.  We did only 2 or 3 times, and that was to a Steak House, and to Chipotle. 

Our results.  Our relationship with food has completely changed.  We aren't being as strict as the whole 30, but we are eating the same way pretty much.  We almost never eat sweets.  We don't eat pasta, or rice.  I've not bought a loaf of bread in nearly 2 months, probably won't until we go camping.  I've actually stopped missing bread.  (truth) We rarely snack at night and if we do, it's fruit, and in small amounts.  Occasionally I'll have a teeny tiny bowl of popcorn from Perry (he was only whole 30 at dinner time) seriously he's a 15 year old boy.....he probably would have lost his mind. 
Ron has lost 25 lbs and I've lost 23.  We haven't started working out.  We wanted to get out eating in check before we conquired physical activity. 

What else has changed?  I love Mango's!  Ron's eaten spaghetti squash and didn't die.  Ron's learned how to cook his own food from scratch.  He's learned it's not hard to bake some chicken, and he loves salad.  We learned that by reading the labels you learn that all processed food contain a whole lot of CRAP.  And it's shocking how much food contains some sort of soy......ugh including teabags???  We are probably done with processed food for forever.....I may never buy Helmans mayo again ever.....or Miracle Whip.  Homemade Mayo is easy and way better. 

Whole 30, 1 Week in......WHO FARTED?



We made it through 7 days of clean eating and did not die. Today was the first day I didn't feel like I was fasting or being deprived of food. I was never hungry like you would feel on a diet. Just craved things we can't have. The only time I've felt hungry is when I waited to long in between meals. Today was a good day. It was sunday, and I was off. Which rarely happens. We had all kinds of family time church, shopping, and then home. Plus we ate at a resturant for the first time in 7 days. Which is a miracle. Not a whole lot of safe food out there in the world. After some research we found we can have chipotle. Very restricted chipotle, but it was good, and satisfying and for the first time ever, after eating at chipotle I didn't feel like a giant brick was in my stomach 20 minutes after eating. 

 

We are heading into week 2. Our fridge is stocked with all fresh food, we know to plan ahead.  So now we shall see what week 2 shall bring.  Funny thing while at chipotle, I was thinking as I was eating my clean chipotle......dude I totally have not farted in 7 days, why is that?  People who are close to me....I mean like really close, those I would fart in front of.  It's a small group I promise, know well.....it's not like they don't do it too, it happens people.  Lets just say they would be in shock.  I never claimed to be much of a lady.  Geez....I did actually end up farting once this evening, but it was the first time in 7 days I swear.  And I haven't since.  Also funny, while discussing this with the man I kept saying the word "fart" and he was like....."it's such a nasty word...." wait what?  Good grief, it's not like I said the word POOP!!!!  We'll discuss that next week......that's another interesting topic.......HA HA HA HA HA......NOT....some things are way too personal. 

Thoughts about life right now.......

Happy New year! We are off to a pretty good start. We started eating healthy this week. Not just healthy but whole 30 healthy. Go here http://whole9life.com/ to see what that means. We aren't being all strict on the man child. He's 15 so baby steps before you take away his waffles and popcorn. Day 3 is tomorrow Ron's struggling with breakfast. I made some omelet muffins he didn't like. Gotta find something we can eat that's quick and easy.

2012 Year in review Instagram Photos

1. ATC's, 2. picnic, 3. IKEA- Me, 4. Fun with P, 5. Herbs, 6. Me and Alex, 7. Socks, 8. C-bus, 9. Scouts, 10. Zombie, 11. Ice'd Green Tea Latte, 12. Fun Chucks, 13. Old Uniform, 14. Pumpkin Crunch, 15. Sauerkraut Festival, 16. FACETIME, 17. Election 2012, 18. Thirty-One, 19. Last of the Hostess, 20. Winefest 2012, 21. B-Dubs, 22. Thanksgiving 2012, 23. Sweet Potato Pie, 24. Romance, 25. Apple Obsession, 26. Christmas 2012, 27. Cat, 28. Christmas 2012, 29. Christmas 2012, 30. Christmas 2012, 31. Christmas 2012, 32. Video Gaming, 33. UGH, 34. Shoes, 35. Metro Ride, 36. Bubble Tea
2012 Year in review Instagram Photos, originally uploaded by Yoda0419.

Thought this would be fun for my blog. I created a year in review with some of my instagram photo's. It was a great year according to instagram. 2012 had it's fair shair of heart ache, but for the most part it was a good year. No complaints. God has been good to us!

Bacada Frittata



First Watch Bacado

my favorite oatmeal

So first watch is my favorite resturant to have breakfast at.  I always get the same thing.  I get the Cranberry Walnut Oatmeal, with a side of sausage.  Some of my friends make fun of me.  I've heard "all the yummy things First Watch has and you're gonna get Oatmeal?'  Yes, yes I am because they put magic into their Oatmeal that's why.  First Watch is famous for the Bacado omlet, it has bacon, and avocado in it, along with cheese, red peppers, onion......I've never had it at First Watch.  My bestie, Abby made it for me when I visited her in Cbus in march.  Not even sure if I would like it, but convinced if she added her magic, I'd like it.  She studied up, to make sure she got the ingredients just right.  Made the Omlet, along with sliced potatoes with onion, and it was perfect.  Thats what a good friend does. 

 

So my other bestie Weezer and I are visiting Abby in Cbus together and spending time having a girlie weekend.  Just hanging out cooking and doing girl stuff.  Abby had mentioned she wanted to make us a good yummy breakfast and I mentioned the Bacado she had made before......so the planning commensed. 

Bacada Frittata

Abby came up with what we are now calling a

Bacada Frittata....it was genius.  Ingredients to follow. 

preheat oven at 350

1 Avocado

7 Eggs

1 Cup of Monterey Jack Cheese

1 Onion diced

1 Red Pepper diced

1/2 lb of bacon

1/4 cup of Milk

1/4 cup of butter
tomato to taste
sour cream to taste

Mix up eggs, milk, and veggies.  Pour into a buttered casserole dish, mix in half the cheese.  Sprinkle crushed bacon and rest of cheese on top and bake for 55 minutes. 
Garnish with chopped tomatos, slices of avocado, and sour cream

I wanna be a groupie....

Specifically a Coldplay groupie!!!!!  So it's been almost a week, and I say something about last weeks concert almost daily to someone.  I'm still slightly abuzz about my experience at that amazing Coldplay concert at the United Center in Chicago last Tuesday. 



I MEAN SERIOUSLY DOES IT GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS?

So lets back up a bit to maybe like 5 years ago, maybe even 6 years ago.  My friend Connie and I would debate on who loved Chris Martin more.  Clearly it was me.  We both agreed, he wasn't all that attractive, it was his amazing talent that made him so damn SEXY.....however now that we've been 6 inches from each other, he is a nice looking fellow, and way better looking in person.  But I digress, I'll get to that in a minute.  Connie and I discussed going to a Coldplay concert 6 years ago, but when we started investigating there was a tour going on, but when that was over they weren't going to tour anymore......WHAAAAAT?  We had missed our chance.  So we gave up......then last year Connie and I went to Nashville, TN to see U2.  It's clear we had now hit the big time, we were rich enough we didn't have to wait for our favorite bands to come to us, we could travel to them.  That's when we realized....Hey Coldplay is touring again, we must go to them.  So we made plans to see them in Chicago. 

We threw down a big wad of cash on some stub hub tickets and booked a hotel.  It's nearly impossible these days to get decent tickets if you don't get them the day they go on sale....crazy ticket scalpers.  So Connie was in charge of tickets, she got 5 rows from the floor on the right side of the stage....sounded impressive.  Then she got them in the mail and they were for the Wednesday, not Tuesday.  We are grown ass women with tight schedules, she has 3 girls who play soccer, girl scouts, I have boys scouts....our schedules are very tight.  So she contacted Stub Hub, and they agreed to replace the tickets with Tuesday tickets, the seats would be as good if not better.  So when we got them, they were 9 rows up from the floor, and said obstructed view??  How are these better?  Plus we were kind of nervous as these were some random person's tickets who sold them to Stub Hub, and they were e-tickets...what if they were printed more than once.  So we were all kinds of nervous before we got to the United Center.  Once our tickets were scanned we were able to relax.  When we arrived at the United Center we were handed a wristband....no idea what that was....I put mine on after all it was pink, Connie was skeptical, so she put hers in her pocket.  It soon became clear what this was.  After I texted someone who had already been to the concert the week before.  So soon our super cool bracelets turned into awesome led lights that blinked in sync with the music.....WHAAAT?  How flipping sweet is that?  Coldplay you are genius!!  So already I was super excited about what was about to go down. 

                                                                                    

So we suffered through really bad opening acts.  And waited anxiously for Coldplay to take the stage.  Just before they turned the lights off and our magical bracelets lit up, I glance to my left.  I had noticed the section of seats shrouded in black drapery.  I initially thought this as some sort of sound board or something but no one had shown to run said sound board.  Then we noticed a security dude on one side, and a few mic stands tucked under this shrouded flat surface.....hummmmm....puzzling....thank you technology, I texted my friend Shane again with a photo of what was next to me.....





I think he was as excited for me as I was for myself.  They would be playing 4 songs from that stage....as an encore....I'm sorry what did you just say????  Did I read that correctly?  I immediately jumped up, and ran to the bathroom, because clearly I needed to empty my bladder because otherwise I was certain, the moment Mr. Chris Martin took that tiny little stage I would have wet myself for sure.  We could barely contain ourselves during the first part of the concert.  Thank God for instagram, and pictures and videos.....Before we knew what was going to happen Connie had offered to switch seats with me as she was closer to the main stage and we had to look to the right, and she's taller than me, so she was being thoughtful as she can see over me.  Then when we found out what was about to go down RIGHT NEXT TO ME, she asked...."wanna switch seats now???"  Ha Ha....NO!  Now before they took the itty bitty stage I had plans to be polite and thoughtful and after they did 2 songs I was going to switch so she could be close too...all of that did not happen because as soon as they were that close we lost leave of what was right and wrong, and normal and polite.   We couldn't even take decent pictures we were so starstruck.   

We weren't sure how anyone could ever top U2, the 360 tour was unbelievable.  Their budget was huge, and they put on an amazingly visual performance.  Coldplay, came very close to topping that.  They were able to make a very large venue, become very intimate.  The fact they were feet than inches away was a huge surprise, and a sweet hook up. 



It is again going to be super hard to top this one.  We seem to pick super awesome concert venues.  It's clear we have excellent taste in music.  And men since we both love Bono, Chris Martin and most of all our lovingly supportive husband that put up with our crazy roadtrips.  Wait till we decide to spend a whole summer traveling around following Coldplay with random stops at Rubber Stamp conventions.  OMG.....how awesome would that be? 

Theres a video as an example of how cool our bracelets were.  I could upload a bunch of photo's but I'll psot a few more videos.  At the start of the concert during "Hurts Like Heaven" they started shooting off confetti cannon's, and the confetti rained down all over everyone. 

The pictures of this are amazing.  Many of which I stole from strangers on Instagram.  I'll post just one, but thank you strangers for all your great pictures.  Feel free to steal mine. 

I seriously haven't stopped listening to Coldplay since last week.  I'd talk about it nonstop if people would let me, but I was quickly losing friends.  Connie needs to live nextdoor so we can just chill over coffee.....no wait wine, Oliver Soft Red, each night and listen to coldplay. 

Thanks everyone for putting up with my super Geeked self over the past week.  Now that the story is blogged sufficently I'll shut up already.....maybe. 

Sigh......

I love COLDPLAY!!!!!

Jodi's Dutch Oven Cake

I once had a recipe I found on the internet that told me how to make a cake in a dutch oven.  We used that recipe on one of our annual memorial day camp outs.  The recipe has since been lost, and I never remember to search the internet for it, so I decided this past memorial day to just wing it.  Tried to remember what would go in such a cake.  I was able to pack most of the ingredients, but forgot the the dutch oven.....FAIL....but we were in luck the friends we were camping with are Trailer campers, therefor they have way more storage area than us tent campers and they happened to own a dutch oven they had used once or twice.  The only ingredient we were missing was a can of pop.....in the past I had used cherry limeade, but try to find that in the stores now....it's rare.  Plus we never take pop when we camp, but tada Lisa and Tony (those trailer campers I spoke of) had a can of diet orange pop.  I winged it and made a fantastic cake.....it burn on one side but we were able to get enough not burned to satisfiy everyone. 
So we  planned another camping trip this past weekend to Mammoth Cave with Lisa and Tony, and their daughter Lauren requested some Jodi Cake......no pressure....as I didn't write any of that down, so I planned to wing it again, this time being more strategic, and plan it to be even healthier.  This time I consumed nearly an entire bottle of Oliver Soft Red Wine, the wine didn't go in the cake but me having drank almost the whole thing possibly made me a better cook.  I'm sure of it.  It also encouraged my creativity to create a blog post Pioneer Women Style so other could make this cake also. 

We'll call this Jodi's Dutch Oven Cake.  This is a camping recipe, but you could easily throw this into a 13x9 cake pan and bake it in the oven if you are not a camper.  I shot for making this almost sugar free.  The only sugar was what was in the cake mix, the rest was sugar free.  We have here as follows:

1 8 oz can of fruity pop of your choice (diet)

1/2 stick of butter 

1/2 cup of splenda brown sugar blend

1 box of cake mix

can of mandarin oranges no sugar added

can of cherry pie filling no sugar added (or any fruit of your choice)

1 egg



This is the liner in the dutch oven

We are going to load all these ingredients into one of these.  This is a cast iron dutch oven to be used in a camp fire.  It's an amazing piece of equiptment, but requires quite a bit of maintence....thankfully we have friends who take care of theirs, since we've neglected ours.  It requires oiling, which we forgot to do to ours.  Because you can't really wash these things the Dutch Oven Liners are amazing!  So I highly recommend picking up a box of these Theres quite a few in one box so provided you and cooking in a dutch oven every night 1 box will last you a long time. 

Ok the oven is prepped and ready to go.  Side note......my other friend Weezer went camping with us too.  While preparing to go camping and thinking if we had additional people to feed we might need another dutch oven so I asked her if she had a dutch oven.....she said no they did have a convection oven though and wondered if that would work????  Ha Ha Ha.....I don't think I'd put that in the fire.  Ok so lets make a cake already!

Dump the cake mix in a large bowl. 

add your egg and can of pop stir until well blended.

I greased the bottom with a little bit of butter and then, pour this concoction into the dutch oven.

Then add your can of cherry's

drain the juice of the mandarin oranges, and pour them in on top of the cherry's.  No need to mix.

Sprinkle in the brown sugar splenda blend.  I did not measure I just eyeballed what I thought would be a good amount.  Same with the butter cut of pats of butter and sprinkle them over top the mixture.  again no mixing. 

Then put on the lid and check and prep your fire. 

You'll want any large pieces of wood moved to the side and a good base of white and red coals on the bottom those will be under your oven.  You'll also want to move some coals to the side that you will place on top of the dutch oven. 

This will create even cooking. 

approximate cooking time, depending on how hot your coals are should be 35 minutes.  Check often, starting at the 30 min mark add 5-10 minutes if it doesn't look done.  It's done when the edges are brown. 

Let it cool for a good 10 minutes as it will be very very hot. 

Serve and enjoy.  We are thinking about making campers ice cream next time to go with our yummy cake. 



God Art......SOS 2012

sketchbook doodles

 If you are a friend or you read my blog, you know that I love my church.  I have been involved with SOS for over 12 years, maybe longer I've lost track.  Rarely do I venture away from my comfort zone of being on the evening prayer team.  Years ago, they didn't have it, so I was forced to find another way to be involved so I took photos of outreaches, but eventually found my way back to the prayer team.  This year months before SOS, Carolyn sent an email to a bunch of people in regards to an onsite experience they were creating, and needed volunteers who would like to be involved in the planning process.  Rarely do I answer these calls for volunteers, as I work retail and my hours are unpredictable.  I agreed to go to the first meeting just to see what it was all about, and if it was something God needed me to do I'd make it work.  There was a whole lot of brainstorming that went on.  For the most part I am not a big fan of brainstorming, I survived that process.  The time frame was laid out and the frame work was presented.  And a suggestion of something creative the kids could do, to fill some time while they waited their turn to go on the prayer trail.  Through a series of brainstorming ideas we landed on Broken Tile Mosaic......as soon as those words were out there.....I could literally think of nothing else.  My head was instantly full of ideas, and my wheels were turning immediately.  Apparently this was obvious, and I suddenly was in the throws of a whole lot of creative planning.  And this time filler activity grew from a time filler to an important activity, with speaking points and everything for the onsite experience.  The best part, I agreed to plan this all out, and I was going to be gone 2 weeks prior to SOS......which is the important time when they pull everything together.  I made this clear ahead of time.  I was responsible for what the image would be and what supplies would be needed......and how to construct it all.......IMAGE????  This gave me a bit of a panic.  I don't draw.  After some prayer I really felt like the image should be original.....and not some photograph we redesigned.  Except I don't draw.  Although I have people in my home who draw very well.  Welcome.....my talented.....very understanding husband.  He is not a huge fan of me interrupting his usually low key life, with whatever craziness I got going on.  I let him know I needed a picture and for what.......I got "the look", and I smiled my sweet......"you're gonna do this", smile.  I told him the theme of SOS, and the direction we'd kind of like to go in.  And I said now go draw something......and then I prayed.......a few days later he sent me a few doodles from his little at work sketchbook. 
I have never made a mosaic, or even tiled ever in my whole life.  I still haven't.  Ha Ha......I watched videos, and read on the how-to.....and then instructed others.  It was a fun, slightly stressfull process, and very rewarding.  And after it was all said and done, I can clearly see God's hand all over it.  It was a great experience to listen, hear and act on what God was saying.   My husband was gracious enough to plot out his image on graph paper so it could be translated into mosaic.....much like color by number.  I also gave him the task of......... we need something to hold this, and how will they be attached.....with a huff....he went to work on construction plans. 

All this was completed a few days before I left on a 2 week vacation for California.  I was a tiny bit scared when I left just because it turned into a giant project with a lot of details and I was terrified I had forgotten something which I probably did.  Somehow the folks at VCC pulled it off as they always do with large insane projects.  Because of being gone for 2 weeks, and my work schedule there was no way for me to be at SOS during the day and to be involved in the process.

So for those of you who weren't there basically 200 kids per day went through the onsite experience there were several stations.  The mosaic was one station.  In small groups throughout the day they'd have talking points and then they'd creat a 12x12 section of the mosaic.....not knowing what the big picture would be, only what their section was.  The last station was a worship type experience where the big picture was put together so they could see. 

I was amazed, and happy they pulled it off.  Big thanks to a ton of people.  I know it was a lot of work.  They turned out to be the exact image God put in my head.  Great job to the 800 teens who didn't even know what they were creating, and allowing God to use them to make some super awesome God Art!!!

Also a big thanks to Carolyn for pulling it all together when I left.  And the onsite team for pushing me to do this, it was a lot of fun.  Oh and thanks to my work place for tolerating my long lunches every week for several weeks. 

California

I went to California.  Which I really need to blog about, but SOS, just finished and I feel the need to blog about it first.  I just didn't want you to think I was neglecting my most amazing time in California.  Not to worry, after I blog about SOS I will blog about California and give it the attention it deserves. 

My Life is Hilarous!!!

First of all Summer Break officially starts tomorrow and already my living room is full of, nerf weaponry and wooden swords.  What the HECK?  He's 15 now, when will this end.....wait, some of those weapons are my husbands so apparently this will never end!!  As I was typing that he walked in with this fancy guns.....it's a vintage Star Wars gun that belonged to Ron when he was a kid. 

It's like he knew what I was talking about.  So now it's time for CONFESSIONS OF A CULINARY GENIUS.  I love Tater Tot Casserole.  I've evolved many recipes into one I use often and it's become my own.  I always think about making Tater Tot Casserole when I don't have Tater Tots.  So the last 3 times I've gone to the grocery store with no list....I've bought Tater Tots, so we now have so many bags (3) they have to go in the extra freezer.  So last week I decide I'm going to cook dinner before I  went to work at 2pm, so Ron and P would have dinner when they get home.  (I am generally not that nice, but something came over me that particular day)  I procrastinated long enough that by the time I put the casserole in the oven I had enough time to shower and get to work.  So I put it in the oven and went to take a shower.  The timer went off 5 min before I had to leave.  I take the casserole out of the oven and was like.....ummmm...why does it look so short, and wierd....well it's because I FORGOT THE FREAKIN' TOTS that's why?  So it was totless Tater Tot casserole.  I declared it was the Holy Ghost reminding me a diabetic like myself doesn't need all those carbs.  I texted Ron and explained it was a new creation, it was "Add your own damn Tots, Tater Tot casserole.".  I personally ate it without the Tots, it was decent, but when you shouldn't have carbs, you crave them even more.  Sigh......

Summer Vaction Begins:

When I got home from work today I asked Perry what he was going to do on his first day of Summer Vacation tomorrow........He proclaimed....."I'm going to sleep really late and play video games all day....dont' judge me." Ha Ha Ha Ha.....Don't judge me, where did he ever hear that from. 

Tater Tot Casserole Recipe

preheat oven at 375

1 lb of Ground Beef

1 regular size bag of Tater Tots

1 can of cream of mushroom soup

1 onion

2 cups of shredded cheese

couple handfuls of Orgnaic frozen green beans

1 cup of sour cream

1/4 cup of milk

salt and pepper to taste

Brown ground beef with chopped onion, throw in the green beans when the meat is almost completely brown.  This will soften them up a bit.  Drain grease.  Mix in soup, sour cream, and milk.  Pour that into and 8x11 pan.  Top with half the cheese, put on the Tots, and another layer of cheese pop in the oven and bake for 30 min or until Tots are brown and crispy. 





 The man totally ate that totless casserole all week.  He never did add any tots. 

Mobile Blogging

I've had this ap for a while and haven't used it. So here goes blogging via the iPhone. So I didn't win the Mega Millions. Although that $1 ticket made for all sorts of fun dreaming and fun conversations.

Perry was being mean to me so I told him if I won he wasn't getting any. He quickly apologized. Then when we didn't win, he said "what do we need all that money for when we gave each other",and then he kissed my cheek.

I sure do love that kid!

Death?

I've been in desperate need to blog lately, but really have had no words.  In the past month I've had 6 different deaths that people close to me have been dealing with.  Crazy....there was another I learned of today, and decided, that's enough I'm stopping at 6, and I'm going to now stop counting.  The month isn't over.  Wondering has it always been like this and I just haven't noticed? 

No crazy kid stories to tell.  He did have to start putting on deoderant everyday last week.  He came home from school, and gave me a hug, and I was like "WHOA, DUDE......!"  You can not be that kid!  So I show'd him where his deoderant was, informed the man that, that simple hygene procedure would need to be put into their morning routine stat! 

I ventured to Cbus for my birthday and Abby made my favorite cake.  We had a nice time hanging out!

This is probably the lamest blog post I've posted in a long time, but I posted which is a giant miracle. 

Confessions of a Night Owl

I haven't written a good kid related blog post since Confessions of a Meat Hoarder, so here goes.  My precious child, has not missed a day of school since 3rd maybe even 2nd grade.  He's never sick, and if he is it's usually the sniffles, and can still go to school.  He's had perfect attendance for many years now. 

Today I wasn't scheduled to work until 1pm.  So I could sleep in.  Which I intended to do so.  Until I recieved a frantic phone call from one of Perry's teachers.  Perry had fallen out of his chair and layed on the floor and would not get up.  Sounds super scary.  I attempted not to panic, I said is he ok?  She wasn't sure as it wasn't in her class it was his other teachers class, she was going to head to the nurses office and see if he was ok.  She was going to call me back.  It was 7:30 am, not my favorite hour of the day.  So I got up, still not panicing, although slightly concerned.  Went into Perry's room to investigate, found his ipod and his iphone under his pillow.  These are the items that are suppose to be given up each night when he goes to bed.  I did not follow through the night before (parenting 101-fail) so therefor, no policing happened and I'm certain his illness is called SLEEP DEPRIVATION.  Wasn't certain of the diagnosis, until I went to the school and picked him up.  The school nurse called and said he was definately out of it.  So I went and got him, was greeted by his super concerned teacher.  Perry is well loved and his behavior is very predictable.  He is funny, very polite and well mannered and never gets in trouble.  So for him to just fall out of his chair and not respond was a bit concerning.  My diagnosis was spot on, the boy was exhausted, because he had not slept.  He came home and slept for 3 more hours.  His lack of sleep had truly made him sick.  He got up to the ultimate punishment, you could tell he was very tired, so he was forced to shop with me, with no ipod or phone, and guess what they are on lock down for an undetermined amount of time. 

This is his phone and his ipod both in there lockdown prison, AKA my dresser drawer.  Someone will be going to bed super early tonight.  I think I'll let the public decide.  How long should I leave these precious items in their prison?  Keep in mind he does not need his phone to communicate, we still have the house phone and he is not social so he is never without one of us.  He did however attempt to plead his case to get his phone back.  He said I sure hope I'm not lost somewhere without my phone.  I asked, where will you be lost?  He said the forest.......Ha Ha...cuz we here in the suburbs are surrounded by "the forest" that he is forever getting lost in. 

Perry being an only child he gets away with more than the average child, because I have nothing to compare it to, it's learn as you go parenting.  Funny todays Fairfield Middle School announcements email included an attachment warning about the risks of insufficient sleep.  I'm pretty sure they sent that right after I left the building. 





IKEA Life Improvement Project

In the summer of 2006, I was part of the United Way campaign with my place of employment, which was Ohio National at the time.  As part of the campaign we got to visit some of the facilities United Way supported.  One of those places we got to visit was The Stepping Stone Center.  I remembered the name Stepping Stone Center from when I had worked at Kings Island and I was in charge of their picnic when they came to Kings Island.  And I thought the name of the place was cool, but had no idea what they were about.  So with Ohio National we got to tour the facility and meet some of the people who got to take part in some of their programs. 

Fast forward to 2010.  I was approached by my boss at the time Shane at IKEA, that they were doing a contest for a nonprofit organization to win $10,000 dollars for their organization to use however they would need.  This is called The Life Improvement Project  Why me?  I thought.  The organization had to fit the IKEA values of helping kids, and could not be offiliated with a religious establishment.  This was a challenge for me as I am so involved with Boy Scouts (a scout is reverent) and my church, I had no idea of one that was not religious based.  It's who I am......Then I remembered......The Stepping Stone Center!  And so the investigation began.  They met and far exceeded the criteria for this project.  And so began the building of the presentation.  This was no easy task.  I recruited some work peeps to help, we arranged a tour of the facility, and then we had to write up a proposal using 500 words, and how we would spend the money.  Touring and hearing about all the work they do was the best part.  Meeting some of the kids and adults they help to learn basic life skills was humbling and rewarding.  As a parent of a child with special needs, I can appreciate the work that they do for kids with Autism, and behavioral problems.  I am fortunate to be in a school district that has programs to help kids with special needs and learning difficulties, and that Perry has learned to cope with his limitations that he's able to stay in a regular school.  Many kids don't have that priviledge.  Stepping Stone Center had programs who help kids who are unable to learn in a regular school enviroment.  They have teachers who are able to work with kids one on one to help them learn in a way that is most comfortable for them.  This is huge for kids with severe autism.  And what happens to these kids when they become adults?  It's hard for them to get a job, or learn normal everyday life skills.  Stepping Stone Center is equipt to help with these concepts.

 Heres a Group shot of us and some fo the Adults

Here is the Desk area in one of the program areas that could use some organization

Heres a Student in the school age building writting his name on the project board.

Last year we made it to the final round but did not win in the voting round, where only 5 projects were rewarded the $10,000 dollar grant.  This year we submitted our project again, and this year each of the 36 stores in the US get $10,000 for a project that wins at their store.  My friends and I have been feverishly begging for votes.  In creative ways......it's been 2 weeks, and I am just now posting to my blog.  Tomorrow is the last day of voting. 

Please help us win this year!

Text to: 62345

Message: Life97