The Parable of the Jello Jigglers

Even though I didn't notice it, a lot of my identity formed at a young age.  I've loved sewing since I was 6 or 7, always wanted to be an interior designer and I loved cooking dinner for my family even in elementary school.

One year for Christmas I got my first cookbook and my first set of measuring cups!

A treat I liked making was Jello Jigglers.  It was super concentrated Jello so that it would hold it's shape when cut with cookie cutters and the like. 

One day I asked my mom if I could make jigglers.  She agreed after making me (and my brother too maybe?) promise to clean the kitchen before I began.  I worked hard, cleaned the kitchen so clean that not a crumb could be found.  Then we carefully boiled the water, measured, stirred the entire five minutes until my arm felt it was going to fall off, poured into the molds and waited.  Jigglers take like ten hours to set up.  But our patience paid off and they turned out great! 

A few weeks later, remembering that fun experience, I asked my mom again if I could make them.  She reluctantly agreed, but no promise to clean the kitchen was made.  This was great!  All of the fun, none of the work!  I measured, stirred and poured, and ten hours later I had grainy blobs that tasted okay, but they just weren't as good.  What happened? 

I honestly will never forget that.  By working for something first and earning it I put forth my best efforts and carefully crafted my jigglers.  The second time I took it all for granted and slopped together a mess.  The lesson was clear: Hard work pays off. 

What taught you to be a hard worker?

Wanna watch the Bachelorette with me? Week 8

Hometowns this week!!!  Aubrey and I both live in Salt Lake so to say we're excited about a potential hometown in our own hometown would be an understatement!  Let's hope that Brooks doesn't let us down like Jef did and take Des to a hidden family ranch in another city.

Zak's Hometown
You can tell from Des's excited face/voice that she has no idea what Zak is describing from his dream.  No one does, Des, no one does.

Zak drives a snow cone truck?????  I just fell in love with him. 

Oh dear, the penguine is cute from my safe chair in my living room, but masks scare the freaking heck out of me in person.  I would have had a melt down right in front of the kids.

Zak is more tan (tanner?) than his sister.  #orange

I love that they're actually eating.  I feel like we never see them actually eat dinner!

I can't help but think his family is hoping to get a reality TV show out of this when they start singing like the Von Trapps.

Zak gave a journal and now the locket with the ring!?!?!  He's like the best gift giving boyfriend ever. (Sorry babe)

And THAT is going to be a hard date to top my friends.

Drew's Hometown
Drew says his family has never seen him like this before.  I'm assuming it's because he usually dates men.  (Sorry!  I've been thinking it for so long, I couldn't not say it any longer!)

The sweetness of Des meeting Melissa brings tears to my eyes.

Ever since Sean's hometown with Emily, nieces and nephews are trying to get famous.  Drew's are cute though.

He hasn't said those "three magical words in that order" yet.  He has said "Love you I" and "You I love" but we all know that isn't the same.

Drew's "I love you" is one of the less awkward I love yous of the season. (I'm looking at you, Chris)

Drew says next time he sees his family he will be an engaged man.  I think he meant he would be engaged to a man.  (Sorry last one I promise!!)

Chris's Hometown
Chris should wear baseball Ts more often.  This is the first time I have found him attractive.

His dad starts spouting poetry.  So it runs in the family I see.

OMG, I would marry into a family with a chiropractor.  I don't know why everyone thinks this is weird. 

Chris says he can see himself with her.  That's because he photo shopped their pictures together on his computer.

Chris tells his mom, It's not the real world, but we hug.  I don't have anything to say about this, it was just a weird comment is all.

Brooks's Hometown
Here's where Adam (my husband) made a smoothie.  No DVR means I missed this part, so I hope it wasn't important!

So, Brooks has wine?  I thought his family was Mormon?  Maybe it's just for him and Des.

All my excitement and I miss it all because of a smoothie!  (Just kidding I saw most of it I just didn't have much to say about it.  Oops)

Back in LA/Rose Ceremony
Des's brother just seems like a jerk.  She can say he has her best interest at heart all she wants, but it sure looks like he's just playing up his own insecurities.

Eek!  I honestly have no idea who she's going to send home.  The Bachelorette rarely surprises me, so well played ABC, well played.

Des says there's nothing holding me back from finding my husband, and we see her brother creepily peering around a corner.  This is starting to look like a murder mystery.

Break ups are so draining.  I can't imagine doing so many in such a short period of time.

Roses go to:
Brooks
Chris
Drew

Going home: Zak.  I'm floored.  I guess of all the guys they maybe had a lesser connection, but his hometown date was just SO AWESOME.  Zak, are you confused?  I'm right there with you bro.

I'm excited to see what Aubrey said!  Go check her out too!!

Breastfeeding vs Bottes

Do you remember this scandalous picture?

When it came out almost a year ago, there was a lot of outrage from moms that did breastfeed and moms that didn't breastfeed.  It stirred up a LOT of controversy.  But my reaction surprised me.  I was like, "Eh."

When Olivia was born (in March 2011) I planned to nurse her, but one week after her birth she still wasn't gaining weight, in fact she continued to lose it.  I went to a lactation specialist who helped me get her latched correctly and gave me some tips on increasing my milk supply.  After taking fenugreek for a week I had doubled my milk supply but it still wasn't enough to support Olivia.  My lactation specialist told me I had done all I could do (in so many words) and that I should just enjoy nursing as bonding time.  Each feeding I would nurse first, and then give her a bottle.  After ten weeks I couldn't take it any more.  I quit nursing and it was if Olivia didn't even notice.

I was crushed.

I became very vocal for women who couldn't nurse.  Which is why I was surpirsed that the Time magazine cover didn't stir me up.  Are You Mom Enough????  Are you mom enough to give your baby formula and feel like a failure when you know it's best for them?  But at the time (May 2012) Olivia was just a couple weeks shy of being weaned off bottles completely, and so it was really in my past.

Then Axel was born.

Now, let me tell you, we are pretty poor.  I didn't want to work away from my children any more, so living on less income was a sacrifice I was willing to make.  And that was my driving motivation behind breastfeeding Axel.  Olivia cost us about 80-100 dollars a month in formula.  I was scared it wouldn't work, but looking back I noticed a LOT of mistakes I made when trying to nurse Olivia.  I learned from them, educated myself and went forward hoping for the best. 

Nursing Axel was a totally different ball game.  Soon it was going great!  And I hated it. When I took Axel for his two week check, I seriously almost hoped I would be told to supplement.  Nursing was HARD.  But I stuck with it, and now, four months later, I'm glad I did.  There are things I love about both nursing and bottles, and loooooong story long, I decided to share.

Bottles:
-You know how much your baby is getting.  Babies need 24-32 ounces of milk each day.  I have no idea how much Axel is getting, I just know that he's happy.  The problem comes with trying to get him to night wean.  I worry he's getting a good portion of his milk during the night and I'm not totally sure how to make sure he's getting a full amount of calories during the day.

-I know how to sleep train a formula drinking baby.  This goes along with the first one.  It's easy to control how much a baby eats during the day and slowly reduce the amount they're getting at night until they no longer need calories during the night.

-More independence from your child.  We went on an over night trip when Olivia was three months old.  I missed her like crazy, but it was just what I needed to feel like myself again.  I couldn't do that with Axel.

-What I eat doesn't matter when I bottle feed.  Nursing I have had to stop eating dairy and soy (which are probably not that good for you anyway, but still hard because ice cream)

-Easier weight loss.  Some people would put this under the breastfeeding pros.  Not me.  Any time I try to lose weight my body clings to calories even more and I gain, OR my milk supply drops.  So it would be much easier to be bottle feeding and just worrying about my body all by myself. 

Breastfeeding:
-Free.  Seriously the biggest factor for me sticking with nursing this time.

-No need to pack bottles.  I have loved packing the diaper bag and simply throwing my nursing cover in.  No need to measure out formula, fill bottles with water and worry that we will be gone longer than planned and run out. 

-No mixing formula in the middle of the night.  It's easier for me to kind of stay asleep when I don't have to walk out to the kitchen to mix and heat a bottle.

-No washing bottles.  I feel like a huge portion of my life was spent doing this when Olivia was a baby.

-No concern about reactions to formula ingredients.  Olivia spit up constantly until she was 9 months.  When I say constantly I don't think many people fully grasp it.  I mean like every five or ten minutes she was spitting up.  I tried a lot of different formulas trying to find one that helped.  With nursing I'm less concerned that my babies will have a reaction to something (although I do have to stop eating dairy and soy)

-Only you can do it. No big deal now that I stay at home, but when Olivia was in daycare I was always so sad when someone else fed her a bottle on the weekend because that was precious time.  Once I even demanded my mother-in-law let me feed her because I missed her.  I may not have been completely mentally stable. . . :) 

-A patient baby.  I looked everyone on the internet for evidence to support this, but I feel like nursing has helped Axel be more patient than Olivia was.  I notice this because of the way they ate/eat solid foods in their infancy.  Olivia would wimper in between bites of food because she was used to a constant flow of milk.  With Axel I can pause his dinner for a minute to take Olivia to the bathroom and he never minds.  I attribute this to the way milk flows when nursing.  It comes and goes as the baby sucks and "requests" more.  Or maybe none of this is true and it's just my children's individual personalities :)

Food Friday: Eggplant Parmesan

We get a basket of produce from Bountiful Baskets once every couple weeks.  Last Saturday we had an eggplant in our basket and on Sunday I changed dinner plans and decided to make eggplant Parmesan.  I was missing a couple ingredients so I made some substitutions and it still turned out great!  I forgot to take a picture, so you'll have to enjoy this little graphic that I made instead :)

Ingredients:
1 eggplant
Salt
1 egg
1 c breadcrumbs (I didn't have any so I put a few slices of stale bread in my food processor)
1 T Italian seasoning (I didn't have any so I used basil and oregano instead)
1/4 c grated parmesan cheese
1 jar of your favorite marinara sauce
1 c parmesan OR mozzarella (the recipe called for mozz and I only had parm, so I went with it)

Directions:
1. Begin by peeling and slicing your eggplant into 1/4" slices.  Salt generously and let sweat for 30 minutes.  Rinse well and pat dry.
2. Wisk egg.  Mix bread crumbs, seasoning and 1/4c parm cheese.  Dip eggplant slices into egg, then bread crumb mixture. 
3.  Bake eggplant slices for 5 minutes at 350 F.
4. Remove eggplant from oven and layer in a 9x9 baking dish: eggplant, marinara, cheese, repeat.
5. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 F.

This fed two adults, one toddler and a lunch for Adam the next day. . . so I would say serves 4 normal people, especially if you have sides.  I served this with fruit salad.  Green salad and french bread would also be good.  Enjoy!

Wanna watch the Bachelorette with me? Week 7

I had to remind myself I was excited to watch this week.  But like I told Aubrey last week, previews always look more interesting than they are.  I'd hate to find out that all the drama is about a sandwich.

Drew confirms that this is a place for falling in love, which leaves us all breathing a sigh of relief!  Maybe someone could provide us with a list of places that aren't good for falling in love, you know just so we can avoid them.

Catherine passes on Sean's good wishes and Des says "that's so nice."  Which roughly translated means "I hate his guts" in ex girlfriend.

1x1 Brooks
I've noticed that Brooks hasn't had the traditional freak out that most first one on oners have.  That bodes well for him I think.

Des wants to see where he's at, and let him know where she is.  I think they're going to look at maps.

Just waiting for someone to say "cloud nine".  Op!  There it is.

Back at the hotel Chris smells the envelope as if Des actually delivered it herself.  Silly boy, Des probably didn't even choose the words and that certainly isn't her handwriting. 

They've shown close ups on several cats.  Is that something Madeira is known for or. . . ?

There's cloud nine again.

I really hope Aubrey is counting the times they use the word "family" in this conversation about hometowns.  On that note, I'm glad no one sits around and counts my words.  I probably say "freak" and "dude" a lot more than I care to admit.

1x1 Chris
Chris is really really really excited.  I think it would be fin to buy the bachelor/ette contestants a thesaurus next season instead of jewel toned hoodies. 

I'm remembering when I rode a boat to a smaller island on my honeymoon, and how it was nothing like this.  Mostly I got sprayed with water and a little sea sick.

They write a poem and Chris says, "It's not too bad." Chris, it's not too good either.

They throw the bottle out into the waves.  No one burst their bubble, but I can almost guarantee you that bottle smashed on the jagged rocks with in fifteen minutes.

Des: I want like three kids.  I don't have a number on it.
Even Olivia (my two-year-old) knows three is a number.

More poetry.  Ugh.  You know what?  Chris has to be the one she picks in the end because other wise his cheesy poetry would have gotten him sent home weeks ago.  You remember this?  Watch it.  It's pretty intense stuff.


1x1 Michael G
Do we still have to call him Michael G now that Mikey is gone?  Probably not.

Des is embarrassed to say that they are exploring the city.  It's easily the third "exploring" date of the season.  So she says they're going to take in the culture and take in everything Madeira has to offer.  But then yeah, she admits it's basically exploring.

Micheal looks like his mom scrubbed him up and dressed him for church in seersucker.  He seems to be missing his bow tie though.

Des makes Michael feel like he can love again.  I've seen this movie before.

2x1 Zak and Drew
Zak says he's ready to race.  And I'm wondering how much money he spends on whitening his teeth each month.

It's a race!  (name that movie)

Drew continues to remind us he's never felt this way before.  He's like 90% sure it's love, but there's always the chance it could be something he ate.

Zak says he doesn't know where he would meet the next girl if Des doesn't choose him.  I suggest twitter.

Discussion with Chris Harrison/Rose Ceremony
Chris points out that Des has never been to Europe AGAIN.  He might as well say, "You grew up really poor." (I'm not saying you're poor if you've never been to Europe, but they just like to keep pointing that out this season, ya know.  For the record, I have never been to Europe.)

So there is like ten minutes of this show left and no drama.  What were we seeing on the previews last week?  Will it all go down during these last ten minutes?

Des hands out the roses, no one cries, Michael is very understanding and quite the gentleman. . . did Olivia step on the remote and change the channel?  I don't think this is the Bachelorette.

Next week, hometowns!  Only two of my four picks will be making it, Zak and Brooks.  Aubrey did better and she has three of her picks making it, Brooks, Drew and Chris.  Dang it, I knew Chris would go far I just didn't want to admit it!

I need a schedule

A blurry outtake of me and Olivia during the 30x30 challenge.

Okay so I've gotten to the point in this stay at home mom thing where I'm no longer just "surviving".  Axel's five months and will play alone for stretches of time, his naps are pretty regular and Olivia and I are still watching way too many hours of TV.  I wake up in the morning with no expectations and no plan, which means most of the day ends up wasted.

I thought about making a plan the night before, but that just adds to the long list of things to do after the babies are in bed, so no.  Instead, I need a daily routine, a schedule that works for us, with movable parts so I can swap out grocery shopping for library time or swimming depending on our needs.

I'm going to try waking up at 6am again.  For a while Axel's nights were so rough that I would always use them as an excuse to sleep those extra two hours.  If I wake up at 6 and do my workout (Jillian's 30 day shred, thank you Jacq!!!!!) and shower, that means we can be ready for anything.

The kids are usually up by 8 and Olivia is the slowest eater on the planet so I'll give us from 8-10 to have breakfast and get dressed and watch some Disney Jr.

10-12 will be our activity time.  Some ideas that I have include library trip, grocery shopping, walking the mall (too hot outside to go on walks for a while!), splash pad, water parties on the porch, reading books or playing with Olivia's toys.  We wont always leave the house, but if we're going to this is the best time to do it.

12-1 Lunch time.

1-3 Olivia's nap.  This is when I plan to do my chores: clean the kitchen, bathroom, laundry etc. . . 

3-4 Art/creativity.  Olivia likes playdough and oobleck.  Another fun thing I found at Target the other day was a paint with water book!  I have been looking everywhere for them!

4-5 Dinner prep/Adam comes home

And then we eat dinner and bathe babies and read stories and the kids are usually in bed by 8pm.  This is when I blog for a bit and then try to read something real, like a book or a magazine (computer and TV lights make it hard for me to get tired and fall asleep)

Maybe I'll follow this up with a "Day in the life" post.  I just love when other people do those!

I used to teach. . .

Often in conversation I throw out the phrase, "I used to teach. . . " followed by something you probably had no idea I used to teach.  I pretty much majored in like ten things.  It's very much a "Jack of all trades, master of none" kind of major.  I took classes in cooking, sewing, interior design, finance, child development, fashion and religion (not part of my major, just part of being at BYU.)

People usually look at me like I'm lying.  Now you're telling me you taught fashion?  I thought you said interior design?  And last week it was sewing!

So here is a comprehensive list of every high school class I ever taught.  I'm not a liar, but I was a very busy teacher.

Interior Design.  This was my main focus, what I spent most of my time on at Bingham. I taught 4-6 Interior Design I classes each year and one or two year long Interior Design II/Advanced Interior Design classes each year.

Student Project.  She got an A.

Fashion.  I kept this to myself during the 30x30 challenge.  I don't need that kind of pressure.  During my five years at Bingham I taught this class ten times and put on three fashion shows.

We did A LOT of sketching in this class.

Sewing.  This is my weakest subject as a teacher.  I'm pretty good at sewing, but organizing 30 students and their projects made me run around like a chicken with my head cut off.  I only taught this class four times.  Twice my first year, twice my last year.  (It was way better my last year!)

One of my favorite sewing students presenting me with a made up award.  So dang funny.

Child Development.  I only taught this class twice and it was my first year so I pretty much copied the lesson plans word for word from the teacher that taught the bulk of the Child Development classes.  But this class did give me opportunities to tell lots of stories (I love telling stories!)

Pro-Start: This is the restaurant level cooking class.  I taught it twice my third year of teaching and I told them if they ever made me teach it again they could start looking for my replacement.  I hated that class. (most of the students were okay, but the few egotistical wanna be chefs were enough to push me over the edge)

My competition team.

Adult Roles: This class basically teaches everything high schoolers need to know about being a grown up.  The 7 units include: Self Concept, Communication, Dating (sex education), Marriage, Parenting, Family Life, Finance (I hated finance as much as the students.  We all suffered together!)

Three of my Adult Roles Students taking their robot babies home for the weekend during the parenting unit. 

Whew!  Kind a fun to have that all written out!  What was your favorite subject in high school?