I’m No Super Hero (JK, never thought I was even close.)

I recently had a conversation with an old childhood friend. They were impressed that I had lost so much weight and wanted to know if I would be a sort of role model for their daughter. Uh – I thought it was an attempt at sarcasm on their part so LOLed. But they were not joking.

Me in 2008

Me, today (July 2012)

I can see where my weight loss and mere survival in life to this point may be impressive – but most people have not been around me for the past 20 some years of bad decisions and poor choices that I’ve made … Divorced 2x, unemployed (temporarily), over filled the oil in my lawn mower & now I hope my neighbor mows my grass for me (thanks Tim) … So while I am EXTREMELY flattered, I have to say that YOU need to be your children’s first role model.

My kids in 2001

My kids in 2009

I think we are too hard on ourselves for mistakes we made in the past – this is human nature. But, making mistakes is how we learn. Hopefully anyway. So you’re not perfect. You screwed up small or big time. Everyone does at some point. It’s dangerous to stay trapped in the fog of self-loathing. (That’s how my weight gain began.) When we do, we make more bad decisions and become way stressed out – it’s a dangerous spiral downhill from there. Every day we can make the choices to be healthier, to be nicer, and to look for the silver lining in everything that happens to us. And – we can start at any age: whether you’re 12 and are motivated by a church retreat or 45 and see an old friend who impresses you to change your lifestyle …

 I love these lyrics: So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains and we never even know we have the key.

Awesome, right?!

Gandhi said, “If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. … We need not wait to see what others do.”

So be the change you wish to see in the world. Those are some truly inspiring words!!

Yummy Pancakes!!!

Tonight I was clever and decided to get ahead of myself by making extra pancakes for the boys to grab when they’re hungry – they are forever complaining that there is nothing to eat in the house!!! Well, I saw the recipe on some Greek yogurt that I bought (0 fat & tons of protein) & thought it looked very easy. It was & I got some “extra” time tonight & quit playing Solitaire Blitz on Facebook long enough to make a batch!

Greek Yogurt Pancakes Original Recipe: 

12 oz vanilla yogurt
1 ½ C all-purpose flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
¾ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 egg
¾ C milk

 Combine dry ingredients. Whisk together wet ingredients. Pour into dry mixture and stir until just combined. Over med-high heat, scoop ¼ C batter onto skillet per pancake. Flip when bubbles appear. Cook until golden brown.

My notes: I doubled the recipe (I freeze the extra pancakes for later in the week – or later that night where my teenage son is concerned). I also let the batter sit for 5-10 minutes after I finished mixing it. It was too thick for my liking so I added some (just eyeballed it) more milk. I also added 2 TBSP of sugar & 2 TBSP lemon juice to make them light & fluffy. I added 1 TBSP of vanilla (remember the batter was too thick for me) and eyeballed a little bit of cinnamon – the vanilla & cinnamon were strictly for taste! By doubling the recipe, I got about 30 pancakes out of this batch. I bet they’ll be gone by tomorrow!!!
 Source: Chobani

Long Time ...

Well, seeing as how my last post was in February of 2011, I thought I’d better post something new! Lots has changed in our life … I won’t go into detail, you can send me a message for that. I’m reading 2 books right now, one on Photoshop & one on Lightroom. I’ve decided to get back into digital scrapbooking since my teaching contract was not renewed – now I have LOTS of time, huh?! Until I get my bearing here are some pictures that I took recently on my trip to Montana! Gorgeous country, my photos don’t even come close …

Buyer's Remorse

Buyer’s Remorse. You ever have that? I slightly remember that feeling – but because of my money situation I can say that’s a feeling I’ve managed to cut out of my life! :) Yay for me, right?



Well, I’ve discovered that you can still have Buyer’s Remorse as it pertains to other areas of your life except it’s called cognitive dissonance. (That’s just a fancy word for Buyer’s Remorse.)


(Like the Cardinals sacrificing a top prospect for a short-term need when they sent rising 3rd baseman Brett Wallace to the Athletics for Matt Holiday.)

According to Wikipedia (and we all know the information on there is 100% true), it can be caused or increased by worrying that other people may later question your decision or claim to know of better alternatives. Hmmm – is there any one in your life that’s really good at giving advice? Just saying … Who isn’t insecure about some of the decisions they make? We all feel cognitive dissonance then. We’re all in the same boat!

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Except I wish that I would learn that lesson before I make the mistake. I seriously wish I had a crystal ball to consult before I make any major decision. That and the Coffee Ground Lady at my beckon call would be nice! ;) It seems to me that past decisions and the result would stick in my mind so I wouldn’t go down that road again … I guess I’m just stubborn – or insane as a friend kindly pointed out to me. I guess he was semi-right – I seem to be making the same choices, expecting different results. But in my defense I am always hoping for a different result, hoping things will be different this time … Hope is a major factor in many of everyone’s’ decisions so prior knowledge and friendly advice often goes out the window! :(



Unfortunately, lapses in judgment allow us to learn a lesson. My advice to you – try on clothes before you leave the store, do some research on major purchases, and don’t be afraid to take chances. Remember, we learn best by doing for ourselves! :)

Pampered Chef Ice-Cream Dipper for Sale!

This blog post is WAY overdue! I was reading through past posts and I saw my top 10 list from July 2009! OMG, how quickly things can change in a years’ time!! Even though my life is so different now, some of my top 10 has not changed – and that’s a good thing!
Still on my list of top 10 things I can’t live without are:
1. Home – though I have moved into town now & miss my old house REALLY bad, I still have a roof over my head & more importantly, my own bathroom & closet! :)

2. Family – for those of you who didn’t know, I left Scott back in January. The divorce is pending, but I’m not divorcing his mom, his sisters, or my nieces & nephews! I love them & am so glad they’re still a part of our lives. Of course I still have my kids – I cherish them greatly – most of the time. :P (You know how life can be with teenagers!)



3. Love – I’ll just stick with the love from #2 right now. No need to complicate things …
4. Good Food – not so much into food anymore. I lost quite a bit of weight & food now doesn’t look as appealing and mouth-watering as it used to. I still like good food, but it’s just not on my top 10 list of things I can’t live without.
5. Computer – mine crashed back in March & I thought I was going to die!!! No Photoshop?! No digi-scrapping goodies?! OMG – I went through some serious withdraw!! Since then my brothers have come through & gave me their old CPU to use. It has none of my usual programs on it, but I can still email and get on the internet. I plan to get my old CPU fixed and back up & running in February – I just can’t afford it now & it’s become less & less of a priority. Getting basics like bread, milk, and eggs are more important.
6. Hi-Speed DSL – well I sort of could leave that one on my list. I’m a bit spoiled, but no longer need the super fast speeds, as I have no one playing Xbox 24/7! But I do miss those fast downloads & have quit playing almost all my fun games on Facebook because it’s too damn frustrating with all that lagging!
7. Ice Cream – same as #4. I’d replace this item I-can’t-live-without with my elliptical! Thanks Nick – always have to thank my little bro! :)

8. Pizza – same as #4, I rarely eat it anymore but anything prepared & delivered to me should make my list! :P
9. Air conditioning – uh, ya, still NEED this. No question!!
10. Pampered Chef Ice Cream Scoop – yes, it’s ultra convenient, but I’m not as big an ice-cream eater as I was last year. I have 2 of these scoops – does anyone out there in digi land want my other scoop?!

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Ahhh – what a question! Do you remember the plans you had? I remember mine and remember that my plans changed from year to year: once I wanted to be a police officer, the next year I wanted to be a nurse, and then again I changed my mind and wanted to be a teacher! Well, none of those things happened. I ended up kind of doing all three things in one job (but I did not become Larry)! Talk about multitasking …!

Once I got to high school I decided on one career I really wanted to go into – but I didn’t dare tell anyone. See, I grew up right outside of Washington, DC – where most people are “successful”. I saw the other kids I went to school with as destined to go to college, get higher degrees, become doctors & lawyers (which many did become), and be “successful” like their parents. So I just kept my dream to myself – no one needed to know that what I wanted to be when I grew up was a good mother.
That was what I thought about – doing something good for my family, I’d be a stay-at-home mom. I loved the days I’d come home from school and mom was there to greet us. She sewed our costumes for plays at school. She was always the leader for our Girl Scout troops at school. Mom had the time to teach me to sew & cook, she had the patience required with 5 small children, and she was our first teacher! Of course I remembered things from my kid point of view – but it made an impression with me and so that’s what I wanted to do.
Life has a way of happening. The SAHM career was not going to work out for me. I was a stay-at-home mom for 6 months, after I got out of the military, and it was the busiest I’d ever been! It was clear though, that I’d have to go back to work - we just needed that additional income. So I had to get a job outside the house because there is no salary in being a SAHM.
I went back to college and got a degree in Family & Consumer Science (aka – Home Ec). The courses were exactly what I wanted to know more about and I had some experience in them already. Being a Family & Consumer Science Extension Agent is close to being a full-time mom. I just have MANY more kids to take care of! LOL! The pay is not great, but it’s better than what SAHMs get! ;) And – I can retire from Extension someday – can’t do that as a SAHM!

What did you want to be when you grew up? Did things happen the way you planned? Are you still working on that dream? I feel like I still have time to become whatever I want, when I grow up! LOL!

Toilet Paper Roll or World Peace?

I do know that there are more serious things in the world today to be very concerned over; to stress about; to strive to solve - but I HAD to vent about my toilet paper roll predicament. It’s not that I’m a narcissist – it’s just that the solutions to this problem won’t take a bajillion dollars and the wisest of politicians & negotiators to solve. This one has a simple solution; it’s a real no-brainer!

So this is what I came home to one day after work:



No biggie, you say. Just put the new roll where it belongs. I agree. If the last person would have done that when the old roll ran out I wouldn’t be angry!! But no – for as long as we’ve been married, my husband rarely has done that. I’ve been keeping track of this behavior since this August and he has not once changed the roll of toilet paper! I’ll see variations of the toilet paper roll in a similar position – but never in the right place! This is really not the end of the world, and not the thing to make an argument over, just small behavior that indicates a person who won’t take the time to make things right. What else does this say?



For the record, this is how it’s supposed to look when one roll of toilet paper runs out and a new one is required! No excuses now. There’s a great visual, just in-case you had no idea …



So, like I said, the wisest politicians & negotiators weren’t called in and I didn’t spend a bajillion dollars either. Don’t you wish every problem was this easy to solve? Who wants to bet that the next time the toilet paper roll needs changed I’ll be the one doing it?