Goals for 2011

• Lose the 5 lbs I gained over the holidays...and keep it off.
• Get on a regular work out schedule. I say this every year. The first half of 2010, I did a great job of this! In April I logged 1,000 minutes of exercise. The second half of the year...I worked out like 5 times. Not good.
• Participate in the Brew-to-Brew run (and hopefully some other 5K, 10K, or marathon relay runs).
• Make at least 3 recipes from my "Top Chef" cookbook.
• Continue to cross off items on my 101 in 1,001 list...in particular the "Buy a House" one.

What are your goals for the new year?

Shopping Spree

I'm a girl and I love to shop. I love buying new clothes and shoes and whatever else I find that tickles my fancy. James and I have been saving money to buy a house so I haven't really been able to shop for clothes lately. Sad, I know.

Well, for Christmas this year I made out rather well with gifts from my students. I got a $10 Starbucks gift card, a $15 Target gift card, a $25 Visa gift card, and a $200 Town Center gift card as my class gift from my very generous class. With all these gift cards, I had no choice...I HAD to go shopping today!

And now...my livingroom is covered in bags. My purchases today included:

• K-State Christmas decor
• K-State t-shirt
• pair of jeans
• 2 sweaters
• 3 pairs of shoes
• 2 bras
• a coat
• 2 scarves
• pair of mittens
• 4 games
• wall calendar
• pair of sunglasses

Again, I don't normally go "all out" like this so I have to say...today was lots of fun!

Recently tried recipes

Here are the links to some recipes I have tried this past week.

Oreo Truffles (made with white chocolate, of course!)

Mint Chip Cookies (I used Andes mint chunks instead of mint chips)

Braided Burrito (made with ground turkey)

French Toast Casserole (Next time I think I may do a light layer of cream cheese and strawberries on top)

Sausage and Egg Casserole (I gave the crescent rolls a 7 minute head start before adding the rest of the ingredients)

Panera's Broccoli Cheese Soup (less carrots next time)

And in case you were wondering...

Yes, my apron is the same one Charlotte wears in Sex and the City 2.

Christmas Deliciousness

As it always is, Christmas this year was full of yummy deliciousness. The food festivities started with our Annual Secret Santa Christmas party that I do with my girl friends. Our spread included cheesy death corn casserole, chicken empanadas, stuffed mushrooms, caprese bites, tomato zucchini salad, some yummy dips, cookies, a Kentucky Derby pie, and lots of wine.

The next food extravaganza took place at our friend Nate's house. He had us over the eve of Christmas Eve. I brought over a bunch of the Christmas cookies I had spent all day baking and he had tons of homemade Christmas candy and cookies. It was total sweetness overload!

Christmas Eve James and I headed to McPherson to do Christmas with my family. That night we kept things simple and did chili, cornbread, and cinnamon rolls. I spent that afternoon prepping a couple casseroles which I threw into the oven Christmas morning for breakfast. I took my chances and made two things I'd never made before: a sausage and egg casserole and french toast casserole. They both turned out great if I do say so myself (note my adorable new apron).



Then for Christmas dinner my mom made a Christmas ham, prime rib, cheesy potatoes, green bean casserole, cranberry salad, and strawberry pretzel dessert. And Nicole brought a strawberry rhubarb pie. We definitely weren't short of food AT ALL!

This morning we did Christmas with Rory and Jen. Rory made us biscuits and gravy for brunch.

I feel like this past week I've done nothing but EAT EAT EAT! Everything has been so delicious but I think it's time for me to get my butt in gear and start working out again. Why wait until the new year?

Random Act of Kindness

Last weekend I was making stuffed mushrooms for a Christmas party with friends. I was running late and had just gotten back from the store and realized that I needed an egg. I didn't have time to go back to the store so I did what they did in the olden days...

I went over to my neighbor's and asked if I could borrow an egg. This was kind of a big deal for me. I don't know my neighbor's name and we've never really talked aside from saying "Hello" in the parking lot. Her son plays outside a lot and really likes our dog though...so I wouldn't say we're COMPLETE strangers.

Anyway, she happily let me have an egg and thus saved my stuffed mushrooms.

So today I spent all day in the kitchen baking cookies. I made:

• Chocolate Andes Mint Chip Cookies - made with chocolate cake mix and chunks of Andes mints
• Peanut Butter Caramel Surprises - peanut butter cookie with a hidden Rolo in the middle, topped with roasted marshmallows
• Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Chip Cookies - peanut butter cookie with both chocolate and peanut butter chips
• White Chocolate Covered Oreo Truffles - crushed oreos mixed with cream cheese and covered in white chocolate (one of the tastiest things I've ever eaten in my life)

So my cookies have now cooled and I made a cookie plate with a Christmas card for my neighbor. It's my way of saying "thank you" for the egg.

Little Miss Sunshine

Just now I was finishing the last of my present wrapping and singing "The Drummer Boy" at the top of my lungs. Kahlua starting giving me a funny look so I got in her face and sang to her. She looked at me in the same way Olive looks at the pageant guy who's singing to her in "Little Miss Sunshine". Kind of that "Stop singing and get away from me" look.

It made me smile.

2 hour crying session

Communication is important. Whether it's in your job, your romantic relationship, or just your day to day contact with people...your life can be very directly affected by communication (or lack there of) with those around you.

Right now, I'm feeling really horrible about myself.

My grandmother has Alzheimer's and despite my family's best efforts, she was recently moved into a nursing home facility about 3 weeks ago. Prior to this, my family (parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc) was taking turns giving her around-the-clock care. A couple months ago I signed up to come for a few days to help take care of her.

When I found out she was no longer going to be living at home, I assumed I wouldn't be needed for the three days I had originally been scheduled for...since she was going to be receiving care from the nursing home staff. I knew my grandparents would still enjoy frequent visitors, so James and I were planning on stopping by to see them on Christmas Eve before going to Margie's.

I just got a call from my uncle wondering why I wasn't in Junction City with Grandma and Grandpa. He told me I still scheduled to be there for the next three days to help keep my grandpa company. I, of course, start crying because I feel terrible. I really had no idea they were expecting me to be there. And because I thought I didn't need to be there, I had made appointments to go look at houses this week.

So now I'm left to decide whether or not I should drop everything, cancel my appointments, and head to JC or if I should stick with my original plan of going to visit them on Christmas Eve. I hate to let down my family by not going, but if I do go then James and I will have to take separate cars to McPherson this weekend...which means 6 hours of driving alone in possibly bad weather. The other option would be for me to drive the 2 hours to JC today then come back (2 more hours) to get James on Christmas Eve then drive the 3 hours to McPherson together and then the 3 hours back Christmas night. But that seems pretty unreasonable as well...

So basically, I don't know what to do. I've been crying about it for the past two hours.

Water for Elephants trailer

"Water for Elephants" - one of my all-time favorite books. I really hope the movie doesn't disappoint me. Release date is set for April 15th. Can't wait!

This is really cool

Itchy McItcherson

Last night my body decided I hadn't had enough of feeling horrible and that it wanted to give me yet another slap in the face. As if a month of suffering from a severe sinus infection followed by 3 days of the stomach flu wasn't enough...it turns out my body made the choice to reject the antibiotics I've been taking for the past week. I'd already missed 1 1/2 days of work from the stomach flu and then...just when I thought I might actually be able to start eating real food again and maybe go back to work, I look down and I see that my arms are all red and splotchy. I took a couple Benedryl and called my sister, Maggie, who is a nurse. She told me I should be fine, as long as the reaction didn't spread to my face and cause my lips/tongue/throat to swell. She said if I started to feel anything around my lips or tongue to go to the ER. At this time James kind of started freaking out because my entire face was bright red and I told him my lips felt a little bit tingly. I assured him I'd be fine and that I was going to go to bed. At that point the rash was mostly just on my arms.

I woke up around 4 AM and felt itchy all over. I stripped off all my clothes because they were hurting me and I went to the bathroom to see if the rash was still there. At this time it had spread to my entire body...from head to toe. And it itched SO BAD! So I scratched and cried for a while in the bathroom then took a couple more Benedryl and went back to bed...and somehow ended up going back to sleep.

I woke up again around 6 AM and though my stomach felt better, I knew I couldn't go to work in this condition. So I went up to the school (again) to make early morning sub plans. As I left the school, I called and made a Dr. appt. They couldn't get me in until 11:00 so I went home, called my mom and complained about 30 minutes, then writhed in pain for a while and finally fell asleep again.

When I woke up, I had just enough time to take a quick AGONIZING shower (seriously painful), dry my hair, and head to my appt. Luckily, for the first time ever, I didn't have a long wait and was able to get in within a couple minutes. I kind of wonder if it was because I looked like a leper. A male student nurse from JCCC took my vitals and informed me he was following around a nurse for the day. At that point, Anita (my nurse) came in. People...if you ever go to College Park Family Care on 112th Street, you should see if you can get Anita as your nurse. She is the best! After seeing Doc, we confirmed that my skin rash was very likely due to my antibiotics. Doc pitched my old bottle in the trash, added the Sulfa allergy to my file, and prescribed a new antibiotic (Zithromax), a steriod (Prednisone), something for my stomach/allergy (Zantac), and suggested a new everyday allergy medicine (Zertec). On top of all that, he said I'd have quicker relief if I got a Prednisone shot while I was there. I agreed to it, since I was feeling miserable. So Nurse Anita came back in. She informed me that the student nurse volunteered to administer the shot, but she wouldn't let him. She told me she "had my back". So she gave me a nice big needle in the butt and then had me lay down for 20 minutes, during which time she brought me a "blankey" and "tucked me in" so I could be comfortable. She told me she had a daughter about my age and that she would feel just terrible if this ever happened to her daughter. She said since my mom lives 3 1/2 hours away, she'd be my mom for the day. Seriously, good nurses are the best!

So now...I'm home. I've taken my meds (as well as a Benedryl topical cream) and though I'm feeling better than I was earlier, I'm still rather itchy. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. At least my tummy ache has let up (knock on wood)!

Marion makes the news

My hometown of Marion, KS has a population of around 2,000 people. In a town this small, things don't get too exciting. However, recently Marion has been in the news. The husband of one of my sister's former classmates was recently arrested for stalking members of the Westboro Baptist Church (Fred Phelps and his crew). Ryan Newell is a retired war vet whose time in the military was cut short when he suffered a severe accident over in Afghanistan and lost both of his legs. He's been in the news before when "Homes for Our Troops", a non-profit organization built a new handicap-accessible home for him and his family. The articles I've read have stated that Newell was arrested for following members of WBC while armed with an M4 military assault carbine, a .45-caliber Glock pistol, and a .38-caliber Smith and Wesson pistol in his car. Newell has been arrested and his bond has been set at half a million dollars.

Below are some articles about Newell:

War vet charged with stalking church that protests soldiers' funerals
Veteran charged with stalking protesters
Felony charge for vet accused of targeting Westboro

And now, members of Westboro are coming to my hometown this weekend to picket at 5 different churches in Marion....one of them being the church where I grew up. These people are sick. What bothers me the most about this is the fact that young children will be leaving Sunday School that day seeing people with signs that say "God hates fags", "Your pastor is a whore" and "Thank God for dead soldiers". It disgusts me.

Ryan Newell's community prepares for Westboro protest

Grandma and Grandpa Taylor

My Grandma Taylor has been battling Alzheimer's for almost 3 years now. Through the amazing support of my grandpa, parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins Grandma has been able to live at home with my grandpa all this time. She requires around-the-clock 24 hour care. In addition to my grandpa constantly helping with her, we also have a calendar of other family members who come help out, usually for a week at a time. Most of my family has used up all their sick time at work to try and be there for Grandma. I had added myself to this calendar to help out for a few days before Christmas

I got an email today from my Aunt Bonnie. My grandpa's health hasn't been too great lately and he finally made the tremendously difficult decision to admit my grandma into a nursing home. Tonight will be her last night at home.

My heart goes out to my grandpa. I don't think anyone can love as deeply as he has my grandma. He is truly one of the most amazing men I've ever known and after almost 70 years of sleeping next to his wife, he will go to bed alone tomorrow night. It just breaks my heart.

I love both of these people so much and I hope for the smoothest of transitions for them during this very difficult time.

Xmas Card 2010

Seasonal Chic Noir Christmas Card

Get custom photo Christmas cards online at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

DMV....arghhh!

Ugh! I knew I had a tag renewel that I needed to take care of and didn't really think of it until this weekend. Turns out I'm 4 days late and now can't do it online. GRRR!!! Now I have to go to the stupid DMV which has incredibly unaccommodating business hours. 7:30-4:30 M-F? Really?!? Frustrated!

December is here!

The hubby and I decided to celebration the beginning of our favorite time of year with a steaming cup of hot cocoa...made with milk, a shot of Kahlua, and topped with Cool Whip and Ghirardelli's Peppermint Bark shavings. Delicious!