Here is my picture for the week that would have been on Tuesday but I can't seem to get it all done that day, lately. As I said in my last post, I am now doing Project 52 instead of 365 due to a crappy camera battery.
This is how much CLEAN laundry has been waiting to be folded. I hate laundry with a passion. Mostly because my dresser drawers are so shallow that barely anything fits in them. It's easier to keep it all in basket. But I'm happy to report that ALL of this laundry has been folded and put away or hung up. And I'm getting better and folding as I get it out of the dryer. Someday we will be fully organized.
I grew up in church. A Baptist church. Lent was never talked about, from what I can remember. That said, I've never participated in Lent.
I've been wanting to get involved in something, felt a tugging.
I usually ignore that tugging. Mainly because I don't know how to get involved.
Until recently.
I saw a twitter/blog friend Alyson Costner talk about the Blood Water Mission's 40 days of water. Basically you give up drinking your latte's, soda's, teas, any beverage. You drink only tap water for 40 days. You take the money that you would spend on the beverages and keep track of it. At the end of the 40 days you donate that money to the Blood Water Mission to help get clean water for Africa.
This appealed to me for 2 reasons.
1. I don't drink enough water and am addicted to caffeine.
2. It's so easy to take water for granted. We have such easy access to clean, drinkable water.
We don't have to walk for miles to get water that is filled with bacteria that will make us sick.
I challenged myself to this. Thank you Alyson for clarifying some of the questions I had.
I am still in the first week of this and I'm not going to lie, IT'S HARD! Especially when you are at someone's house and they offer you a drink or when you take a drive somewhere and you're tired. I so wanted to stop for some coffee on my way back from my friend Christy's house. It was hard to resist.
Now I have found one thing that helps a little. CHOCOLATE COVERED ESPRESSO BEANS. I eat a few upon waking. The first couple of days I had major headache and was cranky. I am so over that now and keep telling myself that this is going to help others.
I'm not sure that I understand Lent really but I think this is a start.
Ok, we all know that I have totally spaced with Project 365. So now that I am way behind on my picture taking (I hate to admit that and I blame it on my camera) I am going to switch from doing daily pictures to weekly pictures.
My camera is not holding a charge and I have yet to get a new battery for it. I can charge it fully, then use it for an hour at the most and then the battery indicator is flashing at me. Some day I will have an awesome digital SLR camera. I gotta find that job first which isn't going very well. I thought nurses were in demand. That is a whole other post.
I will post my weekly picture on Saturdays now. I would do it today but I am taking care of a sick little girl and I am exhausted from being up most of the night with her. She is on the mend though, going on 7 hours with no puking! Woo hoo!
How many times did you sneak raw chocolate chip cookie dough? Of course it never made ya sick right? I'm sure you had the thought in the back of your mind that you could get sick. But the taste of chocolate chip cookie dough is worth getting sick over, in my opinion. Well fear no more folks. You can now make cookie dough truffles that has raw cookie dough in them WITHOUT the egg! So now you can eat as much of the dough as you want while making them. I did! Not going to lie.
Be prepared when you have other people try them. You may want to tell them in advance that there is no egg in them. I took them to a church function and watched a younger gal bite into one. She just about spit it out and had the most disgusted look on her face. I heard her say to her mom "I think this is raw cookie dough." I had to jump in and explain it. I have to admit though, It was kinda funny though because this girl was not a very nice person.
Here is the recipe for these fabulous and evil things. I got it from Erica's Sweet Tooth Blog. This chic has some amazing recipes on her blog. I have also made her homemade peanut butter cups, also fabulous, but more importantly super easy to make. I did not dare to even attempt to make these into hearts, I am not that talented. I also used regular chocolate bark to cover cookie dough balls, then I ran out so I used pink candy melts. I topped them with valentine themed imperials before the chocolate set.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Hearts
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour 1 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 1 cup room temperature butter 3/4 cup granulated sugar 3/4 cup packed brown sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla 1/3 cup milk 1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips 1 bag red candy melts
- Beat butter and sugars together with an electric mixer until light and fluffy - Add milk and vanilla - Stir in flour, baking soda and salt and mix on low speed (or by hand) until incorporated. - Stir in chocolate chips - Cover and chill dough for 1 hour - Form dough into hearts or balls and arrange on a baking sheet lined with waxed paper. - Place sheets in freezer and let chill for 30 minutes - Melt chocolate candy coating in a double boiler or in microwave according to package directions - Dip cookie balls into candy coating to cover. Tap fork on side of pan to remove any excess coating, and return to waxed paper-lined baking sheets.
Ok I admit it. I did not take a picture every day for week 6. How lame is that? I can't even remember what I did on Wed and Thursday. Hmmm. Maybe it's just as well, I think I bombarded you with pictures last week anyway.
What have you slacked on this week? For me it's not just Project 365.
Please don't judge me for what I am about to confess to you. Please.
I can honestly say that I have been putting a lot of time into cooking and looking for a job.
Speaking of cooking, I have a new recipe to share with you!
I guess I do have to make that confession huh. Oh, alright I have a few confessions.
DUM DA DUM DUM.....
#1: I have about three baskets of clothes that are clean....just sitting in baskets. Yep. Sitting there. I hate folding laundry. I can't tell you how many times I've tried to organize it. It always ends up in disarray.
Slacker
#2: I keep telling myself and others that I am longing for a relationship with Christ but I haven't picked up my bible. I did start going to church and to an Alpha class which is AMAZING. But, I have yet to pick up the bible, other than Sunday mornings in church. Even then I don't bring it with me. I mentioned in Alpha class that it scares me and I don't know where to start. Why should I let that stop me? The bible is God's love letter to us, I should want to dive right in. But I let fear get in the way.
Slacker
#3: The dreaded work out and diet. Here again, I keep telling myself that I am going to work out and eat better. I bought a juicer. Remember that post where I said that I was hooked. Yeah, it lasted a couple of weeks.
Slacker
Ok, I think that is enough embarrassment for me for one day.
Do you have a favorite bible study that you have done? If so, please share it.
I ask again, what have you slacked on this week? How will you turn it around?
Please feel free to start a discussion on this.
And, here is a picture of that new recipe I found and made. Stay tuned.
Mackenzie was checking herself out in the mirror after I did her hair. Another hair pretty from the awesome Bee bops and lollipops. She is all ready for her Valentine's Day party at school!
After I took my NCLEX-RN exam I was told that I could get results 48 hours after the exam. Leave it up to me to start at 24 hours! Well last night I started getting a little ancy in my pancy. I kept checking. I checked at midnight and then again when I woke up at 4am. Nothing posted.
Matt woke me up before he left for work and he was out the door before I could look. My heart started pounding. It was 6:45am. I checked the website and it gave me the option to pay the additions 8 bucks to see my results. It's either that or wait a few more days until the dept of health shows me as active. Of course I'm not going to wait even longer! I paid the 8 bucks and this is what I saw.
I am back! I took my nursing board exam today and it was the cruelest exam ever. No joke. I will find out on Friday if I am an official RN or if I have to take it again.
The first thing I have to share with you is another recipe from my 1,000 Vegetarian Recipes cookbook. Wild Mushroom Sauce. This sauce is so good, the cookbook has it listed as Tortellini with Wild Mushroom Sauce but seriously, this sauce will taste good over anything.
In a 2-quart sauce pain, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add shallots and cook until tender.
Add mushrooms and stir until softened.
Add broth, water, marsala wine, thyme, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes.
In a 1 1/2 quart sauce pan, melt the butter over medium-high heat.
Stir in the flour until well absorbed.
Stir in the mushrooms and broth, stir until mixture comes to a boil.
Add the cream, parmesan cheese, and parsley.
I'm telling you this sauce is amazing. Such good flavor. It was great over cheese tortellini and I'm sure it would be great over chicken, or anything else, if you would prefer that.
If you try this, let me know what you thought about it and how you chose to serve the sauce! This is a definite new favorite of mine!
