Effective, influencial, strong

So, to jump right in, what am I doing with my life to influence the lives of the people around me? What am I doing for other people to show them God's love? How am I raising my son to be a strong, christian man?

I want to be a woman of influence, a woman of character, God's character, His Princess. I want to be a person who doesn't crumble under the pressure or the whims of the world. I want to stir things in people, I want to stir people to do great things. I want to do great things for His glory, not for mine. I want to start so many ministries, but haven't gotten completely plugged into a church yet. I want to work with teenage girls, to help them become women of God, I want to start a food ministry, bringing meals to people who are recently out of the hospital due to pregnancy, surgery or illness, or to people whose spouses are deployed. I want to start a ministry that focuses on military spouses, male or female. I want to do things with my photography, with my art, my poetry. I want to glorify my God with the talents he has blessed me with. And I'm going to start at home. He has blessed me with family, with a home, with the ability to cook and clean. Everything that I do, is for the glory of God. Not the praise or nod of approval from my husband. I need to change my perspective, I need to change how I think, how I go about doing things.

My worst fear is being ineffective. Ineffective wife, christian, mother, woman etc. I want to be effective in my community, with my friends and family. I want to cause change, I want the people around me to be better because I'm in their lives.

So, wish me luck, and pray for me as I learn to be an effective woman of influence.

Waiting Diatribe

Ok. So. I was shopping in Walmart. I seriously only needed like 5 things. A 20 minute trip. Well was I sadly mistaken! Almost an hour and a half later I leave, what happened, you ask? Well let me tell you! I get money orders for rent our car payment and personal loan because with our debit card we get air miles for using it. So, I'm in line waiting for a the teller to open up (there are about 10 people in front of me) and after about 10 minutes they say that their machine for printing money orders is down but to check back in a few minutes. Well I go and get the things I need, check out and come back to the line. Again, they say the machine isn't working, however if we want to get a money order to use the kiosk and that should work fine. So I go over to use it, and of course everybody behind me was now in front of me at the kiosk. So I wait, then its my turn and I push all the correct buttons and swipe my card. My card goes through, it says processing. Then it says "Could not print money orders go to customer service". So I go stand in line at customer service. It takes them 15 minutes of going back and forth to the money center before I stop one of them and say "its really not a big deal to just give me a refund is it? I'll get the money order somewhere else" She looks at me like I've just spoken in chinese, then says "that might be a possibility". So while she looks into this possibility I wait. And wait. And wait. It appears the problem is that if she gives me a refund from her drawer her drawer will be short because the transaction wasn't initiated on her till. So they have to find someone who has the keys to the kiosk so they can take the cash from the kiosk. And I'm waiting again. Finally they get someone to open the kiosk, and then it takes 10 minutes to count out the cash. Granted it was something like $1200 but seriously? Anyways, so they give me the money and I say "Do you guys have an envelope or something I can put this in so I don't have all of this loose money in my purse?" Again I must be fluent in Chinese and not have known about it because I'm getting dumbfounded looks again. They look at each other, then around the counter briefly and say "ummm, no I don't think so, but I guess I could give you a piece of paper to fold around it if you want". Yes. I want. Give me. No, I did not say that, just thought it.

So I leave Walmart and drive to the grocery store, which I wanted to be at an hour ago because its the first of the month and everybody and their cousin gets paid on the first of the month. Well, the sad excuse for a parking lot was PACKED. So I circled around and waited for someone to come out, then someone did. I followed them to their car. I turned on my blinker and waited patiently for them to finish. Then she disappears. I'm thinking she's putting her toddler in the car. So I wait a bit longer, and look around. SHE'S WALKED ACROSS THE PARKING LOT TO THE LOT SALE and yes, she saw me. And No. She did not even HINT that she wasn't not in fact leaving. Hag. Then I get into the commissary and OHMYGOSH you would have thought nobody had bought food since January! The way our store is set up, produce on one side, icecream in the last aisle with the check out lanes starting where the produce ends. The line to check out was from where the produce ended ALL THE WAY TO the icecream aisle. There are like, 15 aisles from there to where I ended up. Waiting. Again.
It seemed like I was going to be waiting all day long. I know its a gross exaggeration, but a 2.5 hour trip ended up taking 4 hours. Thats a lot of freaking waiting.

Is this my life?

There are days, when I look around and think, is this really my life? Dirty laudry, dishes, carpets, dogs, my kid, something always needing to be cleaned, made, or fixed. Some days I fantasize about my life, had I made different decisions. Where I would be, what I would be doing. Some days I wish it was just me. Nothing and nobody to worry about being fed or clean. Some days I really want to be selfish and just think, worry and do things just for me.
I'm not unhappy with my life by any means, and I love my family and being a stay at home mom. Every once and a while though, my thoughts get the better of me. My life is amazing, I have a husband and son whom I adore. I am able to stay home with my son and be with him every day. I have a family who loves me, and friends that support me.
Sometimes though, I wish there was more to it. I truly miss school, learning new things, writing papers. And while I don't have to be in school to learn new things, it is still something I miss. In the future, I do plan on returning to school and getting a degree so I can teach hgh school english or history. In the future, we will buy our dream house and have another baby. Hopefully we won't still be in Tucson.
In the mean time, I will watch my son play in the back yard with the dog, teach him words, colors numbers and how to behave like a gentleman. I will maintain a home and cook delicious food. Manage a budget, and pay the bills. I will fix the toilet when it runs, and get grease out of my husbands shirts. I will paint my toes and curl my hair. I am a woman, a wife, a daughter, a sister, and a mom. This is my life and I love it. Most of the time! :)

Wake up America!

Dear America,

When I open the paper, and am scared
When I turn on the news and am mortified
when I listen to the radio and am saddened
I realize that this is not good. I understand that we all want the same things; prosperity, financial security, access to food, safety, the ability to love and be love, to protect the very ones we love. We all want freedom, and many of us are daily fighting for that freedom. The freedom to say whatever you want, to do whatever you want and to be whatever you want. We all want the same things, the same basic priciples of life. The things that we are guaranteed in the writings of our founding fathers. The pursuit of Life. Liberty. and Happyness. These are things that we all want, regardless of the ways that we go about procurring these things.

But. When our government is lying, cheating, stealing and running our country into the ground financially, spiritually, emotionally and any other way possible it is time to stand up!! Do something!! We as American's need to take a stand for what is right, for what our founding fathers took a stand for so long ago. We must not forsake everything that our ancestors fought for, because it is easier to look the other way, because it is simply easier to go along with the current. America, wake up! Look around you! What kind of legacy are we leaving our children?

Easy 5 Layer Ice Cream Cake

So, yes I describe this cake as being easy. However it is a little time consuming, and needs to be made at least 24 hours in advance, so keep that in mind when making it.






You will need:
1 box of brownie mix (or homemade brownies, make enough for a 9x13 pan)
3/4 pkg of Oreo cookies
1/2 stick of butter
1 carton of cookies n cream ice cream
caramel sauce (store bought or home made it doesn't matter)
Maraschino cherries (about 10, but up to you how many you want)

Bake the brownie mix according to box instructions. Even if you are making a smaller cake, you want the brownie mix thin so use the 9x13 pan.

Crush the oreo cookies.

Melt the butter.

Pour the butter over 3/4 of the cookie crumble mix, stir and press into a lightly greased cooking pan of choice.

Bake @350* about 10 minutes, until you can smell the chocolate in the air (no more than 15 minutes)

Let the crust and the brownies cool completely. At least 2 hours.

Let the icecream soften until spreadable.

On top of the crust spread an even layer of icecream. Put the brownie on top of the ice cream layer. Top the brownie with another layer of icecream. Top with remaining cookie crumbles and caramel sauce.

Put in freezer for 24 hours so it is well set.

Pull out of freezer 20 minutes before serving, and garnish with cherries right before serving.

** I used an 8x8 pan with this recipe. I will be using a 9x13 pan this weekend, and plan on doubling the recipe, with the exception of the brownie (which should already be 9x13 size)

Eh, Life.

So. I have always prided myself in never having received a ticket. I've been driving for almost 9 years now, and no ticket. Until last week. It had been a long day, church and then to my husbands parent's home for an afternoon with them. On the way back (an hour car ride) I was kind of zoned out and then FLASH FLASH FLASH. Silence in the car. About a minute passed and my husband looks at me and says,"you know those flashes were for you, right?" *sighs* "yes. I thought so. " I got my ticket in the mail yesterday. 62 mph in a 50 mph zone. A whopping $226 is due. So I got a ticket, and not even by a real cop. Sucks. So because of my zoning out while driving, and that our rent deposit is due this coming month, we have $0. Time to scrimp. Hopefully it won't be so bad. We've been looking to sell our couch and buy a new one, so if that pans out we can buy a couch thats less than what we're selling ours for. (Its memorial day weekend, everybody is having a sale). So we'll see.

My lovely toddler has also learned some new words. Such as "stop mama". Great. just what I needed. Now he's putting words together and using them in defiance. Fantastic.
Anyways, so I'm looking for some easy, cheap recipes (always am, not just because Camera Tickets suck) So send 'em my way!

Adrienne

his food vs. her food

Ok. So I'm trying to lose the last 4 lbs of baby weight. 4, not an insurmountable number. Except that I can't do it! I'm maintaining it, apparently. I do Pilates (ok, so I own Pilates dvds...), I walk over a mile a day 5-6 days a week, I try and eat fairly healthy, and still nothing.
So here is the paradox. Eat healthier and spend more money on groceries, thus having to work out slightly less. Or. Eat how I do now ( well rounded meals, and usually fairly healthy) and work out more. Here is the second problem.

I.HATE.WORKING.OUT.

Seriously, I derive zero pleasure from it. I'm hot and sweaty afterwards, and because my toddler is in fact, a normal toddler I have to wait until he takes a nap to shower. This normally wouldn't be a problem, except that he naps at noon, and I work out in the mornings. Its Tucson, working out anytime past 10am is just plain stupid unless you want heat stroke. I hate being sticky for that long. And lets face it, after dinner nobody wants to work out.

Third Problem:
(Yes I'm full of them tonight aren't I?)
My husband loves the good food. (read: fried, gravied, cheesed etc...) I like lighter foods, stir fry with chicken or shrimp (the loser is "allergic"..read-doesn't have the balls to try it even though he can eat every other shell fish...), I like stuff unfried, ungravied and while I love..love...cheese I don't feel the need to have it slathered everywhere...most of the time I don't anyways. I like plain grilled chicken with grilled veggies. (Its really good if you put your chicken and veggies (peppers, onions, snap peas and potatoes) in a foil wrapper with Italian salad dressing on the grill for 25-30 minutes...healthy and zero clean up!) He doesn't really like the healthier, lighter stuff. I partly blame his parents, but seriously, his mom is a good cook I can only blame them so far!!

So, how do I make healthy, low-cost meals that appeal to my picky eaters? Any suggestions welcome. Note: probably won't pay much attention to work out advice. Just fyi ;)

Seriously?!

Ok, I understand the world does not revolve around me...my own personal and yes, somewhat exclusive world does. With the exception of Logan...most days. And apparently ALL of the flippin' neighborhood dogs who find it fine to bark all night long. Or at least until I fall asleep.
What is wrong with people? If your dog is incessantly barking at NIGHT bring it inside, put it in the garage. I DON'T CARE. But get it out of your backyard, and away from OUR adjoining yard.

Also. The toilet is running and I can't figure out why. Yes. I did try and figure it out but not having a plumber's license couldn't find the source. So I have to call the Property Managers office and complain about something else again. And yes, they know me by name as soon as I give them the address. Sad no?

On a bright note, I got a box from my mom today, which had a brand new purse, some stuff for Logan (new toys=at least 30 minutes of stillness from the movement monster), and jelly belly beans. My favorite jelly beans ever. I love my mom. :)

Book Review: The Sleepeasy Solution: The Exhausted Parent's Guide to Getting Your Child to Sleep from Birth to Age 5

First of all, these 2 authors are amazing! I am finally a well rested, happy mother again! My son had H1N1 last summer when he was 7 months old, then afterwards had chronic colds and ear infections so it really messed up his sleep. On top of that my husband deployed to Afghanistan, and I moved back with my mom. So my little guy had a lot of stuff going on all within 2 months. Well ALL of these changes really confused his sleep cycle. He was waking up every 2-3 hours, and staying awake for anywhere between 1-4 hours. I was getting very little sleep, and thus was tired and cranky and he was tired and cranky. We were not a happy pair! Finally, after my husband came home, and we got settled into a regular routine as a family again we started to attempt sleep training. What a disaster that was! We tried rocking him to sleep, feeding him a nice snack before bed, having a sturdy routine, etc. The worst was letting him cry it out. Well he cried, and cried and cried...then threw up continued crying and started gagging/choking on his own throwup. We didn't try that again. Finally, I did an online searches about getting babys to sleep, went onto different blogs etc and stumbled upon this book :The Sleepeasy Solution: The Exhausted Parents Guide to Getting Your Child to Sleep from Birth to Age 5. Amazing. When they say results in less than 1 week, they mean it!

I read a couple of different chapters, (the ones that most applied to us), and started applying them. We started a new routine, snack, brush teeth, rock and sing 1 song, read 1 book then say a prayer and down in the crib. We let him cry for 3 minutes, then went in gave him a hug held him until he stopped crying then laid him back down. I was prepared to do this for hours. 45 minutes later he was asleep, and only woke up once! When he woke up, I sang him his song and laid him back down and he slept until 6:45 am. It was the most sleep both of us had gotten in weeks! The 2nd night he only took 30 minutes to fall asleep and didn't wake up at all, 11 straight hours of sleep! He was such a different baby that day! He was happy, and loved life, gave me lots of love, and was having fun again. (I must admit, I was the same way!). By the end of the week, he was falling asleep in under 5 minutes (we didn't even have to go back in his room after laying him down the first time!). He sleeps so much better now, even for his nap he goes right now, and now he even points to his room and says "mama ny ny" (his way of saying night night) when he's ready.

Jennifer Waldburger and Jill Spivack (the authors) truly take in the feelings, frustrations and fears of the parents. They help you decide what is best by giving you different options and different ways of combining methods and techniques to have a truly personalized sleep plan for you and your baby. This is my baby sleep bible! I recommend this to anybody who has even a slight sleep problem with their baby, with growing, teething, new environment etc...this book has tips for getting great sleep during all of these milestones! Love it!

Chocolate Milk

My husband and I drank chocolate milk last night together. Our kiddo was asleep and suddenly I wanted some chocolate milk. I felt like a little kid again, and it was great! We gulped down our milk just like our parents always told us not to, but somehow the chocolate milk tasted better when gulped. I won't tell my kids not to gulp their chocolate milk! If I had a straw I probably would have blown bubbles too...you know, to keep the chocolate all mixed up in the milk for greatest chocolate to milk ratio, as well as chocolate milk to chocolately bubbles ratio. :)

What is real romance?

Ladies, let me ask you something. What is romance? How is romance normally portrayed?

Most people see romance as Hollywood portrays it. Candlelight, chocolate, flowers etc. A lot of people see romance as sex. I've come to find that our expectations of the men in our lives are unreasonable because of the expectations Hollywood gives us, that authors of romance novels give us. We want the constant surprises, the love letters, the flowers, being swept off our feet, the sweet words whispered in the dark after hours of passionate yet loving love making. We want the sex Nora Roberts gives her characters, the passion portrayed in the Notebook, and the surprises/tenderness from P.S. I love you. Yet, we don't understand why our guys don't give us that! Well my friends, its because its unrealistic. Thats not romance, not REAL romance, not real love.

Romance is honesty with each other, romance is having a good time sitting together on the couch doing nothing. To me, romance is him taking out the trash or doing the dishes without being askd because he knows it helps me. When he goes to the store, getting my favorite soda or candy bar. Doing little things just because he was thinking about me. Getting a random text while he's at work that he loves me...When he does things for me, without being asked its great. It makes me love him more. When we are playing with our son and he looks at me and smiles or winks, thats romance to me. Romance is just being happy together and trying our damndest to have fun despite whats going on with finances, with family, with everything outside of ourselves. Its being together. Romance is being crazy, doing the dishes together and getting into a water fight, its the simple things in life. Ha, its wearing flannel pajamas at 8pm on a friday night and loving it. Its everything that Hollywood isn't.

Now, ladies, don't get me wrong! I'm a sucker for flowers and chocolates and the surprises and great sex etc...definitely. I have just come to expect the realistic from my guy. I know that sometimes he'll come home with a bouqet of my favorite flowers. I know that when he knows I'm having a bad day, he'll cook dinner AND clean up afterwards. When I'm up in the middle of the night with our son, he lets me sleep in the next morning if he's home. You don't have to give up getting pretty flowers or surprises all the time, just look for romance in the little acts that he does. Look for romance in the everyday things he does.

Little, daily acts of love are worth more to me than the grand gestures.

You got steamed...

Rewind 2 weeks. My son is playing outside with the dog while I get the wonderful task of dishes. He must have thrown some of the dogs food out into the yard (we live in Tucson, our backyard is rocked). My oh so brilliant dog licked up the food taking some rocks with him. We wake up in the morning to find doggie puke with rocks in it all over the bedroom floor. Yay. So my hubby gets the steam cleaner out to clean it up (Yay for him doing it without my having to ask!!) .

Fast forward to yesterday. My son, whom I love and adore, spilled his juice all over my beige rocking chair...No big deal right? Get the steam cleaner and its a quick clean, dinner is in the oven and should be ready by the time I'm done with this. Wrong. I am so very wrong. I pull out the steam cleaner and, oh no. The water from 2 weeks (!) ago is still in there. Not the clean hasn't been used water. The doggied puke water. Yuck yuck yuck YUCK. So now I'm cleaning the water tank out and "what is that? It shouldn't be green...oh my gosh its MOLD". So now, what was going to take about 10 minutes has turned into me sanitizing the water tank. So I'm bleaching the water tank, and the stove chime goes off telling me dinner is now ready and I'm up to my arms in puke infested bleach water and dinner is ready. I pull the dinner out of the oven and then return to the water tank. Thinking my son is in the living room with his daddy I'm not paying any attention to my surroundings. Suddenly he's crying and is right next to me! He has burned his hand because he was trying to reach the top of the stove (he didn't catch the pan, but the metal part of the stove was over-warm, no harm done to the fingers!). So. I run his fingers under some cool water (his fingers are barely pink), finish rinsing the stupid water tank and dish up his dinner so it can cool. While its cooling I throw the cushions in the washer (I've washed them before no biggie) and we sit down to eat dinner. Later after the monster is in bed I go to put the cushions in the dryer. "Wait, what the heck?! The washed ATE the cover of the cushion and cut part of the foam". I walk into the living room and tell my husband "next time empty the stupid water tank, I'm going to bed".

I need a large glass of wine.

Vaseline Debacle

OK. So my husband and I are sitting in the living room watching t.v. and our son is running back and forth down the hallway like a half crazed marathoner. He's got some toys in the kitchen so we don't worry too much when its been a 2 or 3 minutes since we've seen him streaking down the hallway.

We are stupid.

My son comes down the hallway COVERED. in. Vaseline...the walls, his hair, my brand new bedroom furniture have just been greased to a nice shine by my 15 month old's grubby little hands. Those hands by the way are COMPLETELY covered in giant globs of Vaseline and poor baby, looks like he's about to cry because he can't keep his fingers from slipping on each other!

We don't know whether to laugh or get upset. (We ended up laughing, by the way!). So we clean him off..and people Vaseline is NOT easy to get out of a squirming toddlers hair. So lots of soap and water and 30 minutes later we're cleaning off our furniture. Of course we told him to show us where he got it, then told him no, that its not yours to play with blah blah blah...

The next day I find him trying to get the Vaseline out again. I have now hidden the Vaseline and consequently can't find it. Go figure :)

Of course we are laughing about it now. What parent couldn't laugh about it, I think its part of parenting being able to laugh and make jokes about stuff like that. Otherwise we'd all be in mental institutions and our parents would be raising our kids. Anybody else shiver a little bit at that lovely image??? If we can't be in a padded room, we might as well be laughing at the stuff that could put us there!

Men and Dependability

First and foremost, I love men. I have 3 important men in my life. My husband, my son and my dog. Men are great. Most of the time. There comes a time though, when things need to get done, and not a man in sight. Interestingly enough, even my 16 month old son and my 2 year old pit-mix disappear when the to-do list appears. Coincidence? I think not!

Now, I am not one to nag or pester about doing things. Rather I'm the one who if I'm the only one working, everyone else in the house knows that I'm working. Doors are closing louder, pots and pans are banging around. I tend to get a little OCD when I'm mad and inevitably the entire house is clean by the time I've decided to not be mad anymore.

All of this being said, there are only few things I want from a man: consistency, dependability and for God's sake pick up your own socks! :) Not a long list. Not even a tough list in my opinion.

Being a dependable, strong man are highest on my list because as a woman I feel that's what is needed first in a man. As a collective whole, I believe women want to know what to expect from the men in their life, they want to know when he says "yeah I'll change the oil", or "yeah I'll pick up the dog crap in the backyard", their engine isn't going to blow and they aren't going to be stepping in dog feces because he didn't do it when he said he would. It all comes down to follow through, and do it on a regular basis.

Men: We want to believe that we can depend on you. Not just to do the things we ask you to, but to do the things we don't ask. If you see that something needs to be done, and we're busy, step in and help without being asked! Major brownie points, FYI. We want to depend on you, your strength and wisdom. We want to know that when we do ask you to do something, or you say you're going to do something, that it is going to be done in a timely manner. It doesn't always have to be done right away. But a week later? Too late, and I am now doing it myself, and am mad. Chances are dinner will not be cooked, and don't even think about anything happening in the bedroom tonight!

To me, when follow through is lacking, you are telling me "you aren't important enough for me to do what I am saying I am going to do". Maybe you just forgot, maybe you were really going to do it later. But guys, seriously, dishes in the sink 2 days after you say you're going to do them isn't either excuse at that point :). Guys,we want YOU to be our go-to friend. Our fix-it man. We don't want to go to friends and family to get things done. We chose you, and we need you to be consistent and dependable. The need isn't just because we want it done, the need is because every time you follow through you are being a man of your word, and best of all you are being an honorable man. Do what you say you're going to do when you say you are going to do it! And if you need perks, you get dinner cooked and something may be happening between the sheets tonight!