Sitting back

Well, I have become lazy and therefore I have not posted in a while.  Sorry folks.  Something about it being dark a little after 5, cold weather and no ambition that have not combined well for this lady.  Hello winter pudgy, you are here faarrr too soon! 

The few things I have been productive on were a door decoration, and winterizing my apartment (aka putting plastic on the windows, flannel sheets and heat pads are on all beds)

My door decoration was inspired by Pinterest, of course. It was fun, time consuming and it hurt...a lot.  You see, I realized after I had begun that I would need a lot of hot glue.  I burned my fingers sooo much.  However I survived and my door is sooo cute. 

What you will need:
Twine
letter of choice- to big it will take a ton of twine, to small and it will be difficult to cover
hot glue
ribbon
felt for making flowers.

Now in additional news.  I have a movie review for all of you.  Disney's movie Brave was a whirlwind of emotions for a children's animated movie.

 However, I loved it! ( partially because I secretly want her bright red, curly hair)  I definitely think I will be considering buying it if I ever have a daughter someday.  It focuses on the difference of a little girl and her mom and how in the end all are views are correct when taken time to look at the deeper meanings.  Also it was my first time ever going to a $1 theater, which was actually $2 due to inflation. :)

Even bigger news.

 

This crazy kid, not me people, is moving back to Iowa.  Wooohooo!!  Even better and bigger news the reason he is moving back to Iowa is because of a job, which is 20 min. away from me!!  Yup watch out surrounding area, we may be old but we still have some of our crazy left in us.  However, those crazy activities need to be done prior to 9 pm.  I have a bedtime now. :)

 

 

So in conclusion.  I may be feeling "lazy" However, it might just be content being confused for lazy.  OR the end of my 24th year of life may be kicking my butt and really preparing me for year 25 aka...old age ;)

Cooking

Today I decided to cook!  I have been pretty good at eating eggs and salads or takeout for the past...way to long to remember.  Today I decided enough was enough and I would put on the oven mitts and get to work.  Ok you caught me, I really was doing anything possible to avoid correcting papers.  Which I found one more thing to do, blog about my cooking!!!  Anyways, a friend of mine had been telling me about the cauliflower crust pizza.  Here is the recipe I followed. Which is from a blog here... http://www.eat-drink-smile.com/2011/04/cauliflower-crust-pizza.html

Cauliflower Crust Pizza

Serves 2; Adapted from Your Lighter Side.

Ingredients:

1 cup cooked, riced cauliflower
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp crushed garlic
1/2 tsp garlic salt
olive oil (optional)
pizza sauce, shredded cheese and your choice of toppings*

Directions:

To "Rice" the Cauliflower:
Take 1 large head of fresh cauliflower, remove stems and leaves, and chop the florets into chunks. Add to food processor and pulse until it looks like grain. Do not over-do pulse or you will puree it. (If you don't have a food processor, you can grate the whole head with a cheese grater). Place the riced cauliflower into a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 8 minutes (some microwaves are more powerful than others, so you may need to reduce this cooking time). There is no need to add water, as the natural moisture in the cauliflower is enough to cook itself.
One large head should produce approximately 3 cups of riced cauliflower. The remainder can be used to make additional pizza crusts immediately, or can be stored in the refrigerator for up to one week.
To Make the Pizza Crust:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray.
In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup cauliflower, egg and mozzarella. Add oregano, crushed garlic and garlic salt, stir. Transfer to the cookie sheet, and using your hands, pat out into a 9" round. Optional: Brush olive oil over top of mixture to help with browning.
Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes.
Remove from oven. To the crust, add sauce, toppings and cheese. Place under a broiler at high heat just until cheese is melted (approximately 3-4 minutes).
Enjoy!
*Note that toppings need to be precooked since you are only broiling for a few minutes.

 I forgot to buy pizza sauce when I got groceries today.  Epic fail!  So I went to Dollar General to get some, they don't have pizza sauce.  So I used Alfredo sauce with Rotel diced tomatoes with green chilies for my sauce.  Pretty sure that is what made my crust a bit soggy.  But anyways it tasted good and I will try it again!  Hope the weekend treated you well and the week even better!

Things I'm loving this week and Please don't judge me :)

I'm going to be very creative here and do a bit of a twist from my previous post. 

Things I'm Loving and Things the Rest of the World Should be slightly concerned about

#1 The Fall crisp weather mixed with the Pumpkin Spice Latte and Chai I have been having this weekend!
#2 My new nonstick skillet that I splurged on yesterday- guess who had perfect pancakes and now grilled cheese (ish) tonight.  Ahh I am a flipping master again!
#3 Blue Bunny Chocolate and Salted Carmel Ice Cream is officially my favorite fall flavored Ice Cream. 
#4 Michelob Ultra Light Cider- Brush your teeth and then drink this stuff.  It tastes just like a green apple, enjoy this fall flavored drink while reading....(see #5)
#5 The book Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me and other concerns by Mindy Kaling.  She is Kelly Kapoor from The Office and now the new comedy The Mindy Project.  She is hilarious.  Want a fast/ fun read check out her book. 

Now onto part two of this post.  Things the Rest of the World Should be Slightly Concerned About.  Aka....the please don't judge me portion.  :)
#1 the expiration date on my Turkey Bacon in my fridge.  Yes it probably should go, No I have not gotten sick yet...yet.
#2 The fact that most of my meals consists of things in my fridge thrown together.  For example:
Tonight's meal was grilled BLT with cheese and jalapeno.  Yes, first I made my slightly expired turkey bacon, then I buttered both of my slices of bread and quickly assembled my cheese, jalapeno, bacon, tomato and lettuce with the top slice of bread.  (all while singing "Hammer Time" Since speed was clearly very important or so I thought).  It turned out tasting ok, however the lettuce was a bit soggy, probably won't ever try it again. 
#3 I was going to eat Chili, made a few weeks ago and then frozen, but REALLY wanted to use my new skillet again.  Oh the simple things in life. 
#4 I enjoy watching Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader, and get VERY competitive while watching it.  Comparable to when the elderly watch Wheel of Fortune. 
#5 I am very close to not giving a hoot about this upcoming election until each candidate tells me where they stand on adding Ice Cream to My Plate, formerly known as the food pyramid.  I've eaten so much ice cream that I now think it's a food group!

Things I'm loving

A lot of blogs I read have had these posts.  Things I'm loving right now.  Today was a great (slightly sleepy) Wednesday so let me share why. 

#1 fall leaves outside my window.
#2 Treats in the break room.  We had Danish Kringle, candy corn, and fire hot Cheetos, what a great day that was (not for my waist but oh well.)
#3 No cross county practice on Wednesday. The town has church night on Wednesday and since several middle school students participate in confirmation class, we aren't allowed to have middle school sports practice after school on Wednesday, therefore, day off to catch up.
Which leads me...
#4 Kids working hard.  Had my first kid stay after school to do homework today.  I didn't have to assign it to him, or chase him down after school.  I came in at 3:25 and he was sitting in a desk waiting to have homework help!
#5 New Girl, The Office and Glee have started their fall seasons.  My DVR will fill up fast with these shows and I get such good laughs all week!
#6 Being exhausted because you feel like you have accomplished so much!  Today while washing my face I realized the folder that I thought I lost yesterday was just put next to another folder, which is why I didn't see it yesterday.  Sure enough got to school today, looked for the folder, yup exactly where I remembered it was while washing my face.  Seriously, teacher's get three months off in the summer because our brains are always on for 9 months straight 24 hours a day!

#7 Six beautiful babies born this summer!  I swear there was something in the water last year because six of my friends in this town had babies born from May- Sept.  Today the last beautiful boy was born.  I guess this means I might need to stick around til these kiddos are in 8th grade so I can tell them all "I remember the day you were born!" 

Thus concludes the things I am loving.  I could go on forever but will keep it to a short list of 7.  I think that means things are pretty good in these parts.

Happy Wednesday!

Home, home on the range

Certain times of the year I get emotional.  (If people know me this isn't really just certain times of the year, I was blessed with a very empathetic heart, pretty sure from my mom, that even if I see someone crying I will tear up right away.)  I still from time to time shed a tear or two when I leave home to make the trek back to reality.  The times when I get most emotional is usually from fall until about February.  Why? I think it's because that's when life slows down just enough for me to think.  Never a good thing.  Or also because this time of the year I feel has the most nostalgia connected to it.  Anyways enough about how I sit at home, with a hot cup of cocoa get caught up in dreaming, remembering and wishing, then say enough is enough go run!

Here's the real story...

Last night I had a great night with all my friends here.  We went out to a local bar and grill for a friends 26th (gasp- we are getting older) birthday.  The whole gang came out at some time to celebrate!  The parents of friends showed up, the new parents and babies came, the happy couples that we all secretly hope we will get to share in a wedding celebration showed up, and all the singletons came too.  One of my friends had a heart to heart with me, asking how the school year is going, how I'm liking living here this year. (They all have a fear that I will be leaving them soon for some other adventure).  I gave him my usual answer of everything is going great! 
And the conversation continued a little like this:

Me-"The kids in school are working so hard, they have their moments/ days but we all do and they are middle schoolers- they will have their moments.  Cross Country is fun, I'm learning a lot about being a coach, when to push, when to stand back."
Friend-"Good, glad to hear!  You appear to be in brighter spirits than a few weeks ago." 
Me- "Oh yeah, I needed to take a trip home.  Refresh my spirit."
Friend- "Really, that's all it takes!  Well don't you worry Krystal, we will make this home for you so you can be happy all the time!"

Honestly I have no doubt in my mind that these wonderful people will help make this home.  I know I have said this before but I am truly blessed to have an awesome home- family, friends, support, life up North and also have an awesome home- adopted families, friends, support and life here.  What more could a girl ask for?

And finally as the evening came to a close and there was a pretty pathetic and longest dart game ever going on.  I was sitting next to another friend, we surveyed the crowd and his statement was, "I love my friends." We attempted to cheers to it but I didn't have a drink- epic fail on my part  Instead we just sat in silent agreement with smiles on our faces. 

They say home is where your heart is.  Before I guess I always looked at having a bit of a broken heart, because part of it was up North and part of it here.  Now I see the division as a good thing.  Each part of my heart can grow and love on people in my homes. 


A side note- some things in me will never change.  I was discussing who I could ride in the tractor with and for harvest.  A friends family farm a lot of land.  Sure sounds like fun!  Wait..what color tractor??  Yellow, but it has a Deere motor.  I guess it will work, at least it's not red! :)

Extra Curricular Activities

Reason #.... why I enjoy coaching cross country.

Day 1 of practice- "Coach when are we doing intervals, oooh and hills I love them?!?!?" 

Day 4 - 6:30 am practice- "Well kids we are doing intervals today." --* Insert groaning and complaints here____________--*  Kids were looking forward to class, just so they didn't have to run anymore. 

Day 6- Kids are soo talkative.  Stretching while attempting to count in several different languages during warm-ups. "Well today we are doing hills!  Hospital Hill five times!!" --* Insert groaning and complaints here_________--*  Kids were too tired to even count in English while stretching during cool-down :). 

Our first meet will be on Monday.  Not sure how many kids will be asking to do hills or intervals anymore this season. 

Reason #... I can run everyday in the off season and only feel it in my legs once every few days.  Something about running with middle schoolers, pushing me and making longer/ better strides.  My legs have been sore/ stiff nearly every day.  I. LOVE. IT. 

Single Moments

I was encouraged the other day to start blogging again.  So here goes nothing.

I would do a recap of everything that has happened since March, but that would be a very random, blah post.  Instead let me focus on the one reoccurring theme that has been brought up or laid on my heart. 

I'm ready for something big!  I pray for the opportunity, for that "Bam!" moment when I am nearly knocked over because that "Bam!" moment was the one that I was most certainly created for, put here, at that moment to be who I was created to be.  Unfortunately I've been struggling with the question of who was I created to be?  I get down on myself because the rest of the world around me is changing careers, traveling, getting married, having kids and I sit in my own little world doing the same humdrum activities that I always do. 

This summer I took several opportunities to get out of my own little world.  Bluegrass festivals, farmer's markets, part- time job, sweet corn festival, demolition derby's, trailer races, Hy-Vee Triathlon, Ragnar running series, horseback riding, river floating, river riding, Ragbrai, new towns visited and old towns memories cherished.  Every single moment showed me one thing, there is a world of people out there who are all waiting for a "Bam!" moment or even just a moment to be happy, content, relaxed.  As long as I am being that person that could potentially make someone's day happy, content or relaxed, then I guess I don't need to search for that "Bam!" moment.  Just by remembering everyday I am here to BE a Child of God I can sit back and relax.  "Bam!" moments are what movies and books give us.  God gives us BEing moments.  Every single day he gives us moments to be like him, loving and caring towards everyone. 

While I still would welcome something big in my life, I've learned to be content this summer with every single little moment.

"Live every moment with Love in your heart, Grace in your step, and Gratitude in your soul."