X-Men stylist wanted

Caden comes up to me this morning and asks, “Mom, can you make my hair look like Wolverine today for school? That would be awesome.” Ummmmm, ‘kay. I’m not sure how that look goes. And what in the world? Where did wanting to look like Wolverine come from?? I explained to him that it probably wouldn’t work well anyway  because he’s still a few years away from the scruffy face and major sideburns. But I did my best pseudo-Wolverine do possible. He was happy.

I also made breakfast for Caden this morning. Yes, MADE. Not “poured out of a box” breakfast that we normally have during the school week because Caden is a notoriously slow child in the morning. He’s a Child of Night, definitely not of the morning. So we typically have about 10-15 minutes to get food in him before heading off to school. 

But not today! Today I felt like Super Mom as I whipped him up some eggs, bacon, and toast with freshly squeezed orange juice (well, I didn’t freshly squeeze it…but somebody from Florida’s Natural did I’m sure). Don’t get me wrong, I really do love to cook but it’s really more of a time thing. Plus, I think from fasting all day yesterday I wanted something a bit more substantial than my traditional Frosted Mini Wheats. 

The Guy can cook up a mean breakfast – that is his speciality. I cook eggs better now because of watching him. He has it down to a science and man, do they taste good! Caden has very much appreciated the tutelage he has offered. He’s told me many a time over the past few months that my eggs “are so much yummier” and I take that as a big compliment. I have a picky eater for a kid and I’m dating a picky eater. These people are critical of everything; I have to do it right or suffer the roll of the eyes and exasperated sighs. 

So there you have it. I’ve become the coolest mom ever today because I somewhat styled a hairy beast and churned out a breakfast of champions. I think I will add those skills to my résumé.

I’m avoiding that chocolate chip

I’m doing a little fast today. That sounds kind of funny. A “little” fast. Nothing about fasting is little, you give up food and drink for an entire day. That’s a whole heckuva lot! I mean, I have stayed away from my yummy Great Harvest Pumpkin Chocolate Chip bread, my delectable and creamy lemon yogurt, that Jolly Rancher I found in the corner of my desk…yeah, I am avoiding temptation. And yet finding it because I hate Jolly Ranchers – so how did one get on my desk? Damn Satan.

I am not fasting to lose weight so throw that out of your hat. I actually work with a girl who fasts four times a month just for the sole purpose of losing weight. Let’s just say that it’s not exactly working for her. Starving yourself one day and then binging the next doesn’t really shave off the poundage. Lining up Ho Ho’s on your desk as a treat post-fast doesn’t seem very productive, either. I am amazed that she still hasn’t figured that out. 

No, for me, I just decided that I am going to fast to get a little closer to the Spirit and hopefully gain a little peace in my life. I used to be able to not fast for more than four hours. I would get incredibly faint and weak and collapse. But during my “poor years” when I was literally scraping by ($1.50 for lunch – it bought me 2 slices of bread, a 25 cent sample of peanut butter, free jelly, and a 65 cent carton of milk at LDS Hospital for a year and a half), I learned how to maneuver around those reactions and train my body to not become a limp noodle. 

Now I have a Stomach of Steel. Ta da! Ooooo! Watch it stomp the cravings right out of existence! Marvel at its ability to quash tummy rumblings! All in the name of getting a little more focused, finding a little more clarity. 

Plus, fasting boosts my concentration because I have to let go of thinking about breakfast, lunch, and dinner and focus on other exciting stuff…like, work. And Caden’s sports. Oh, and painting! I am painting away, yes indeedy. And still more work. And did I mention Caden’s sports? And work. See? I am so focused already. Hmmm, what was I talking about again?

Fasting. Yeah, it’s a good thing.

My day is better

I happened upon this image when looking for something else on my laptop. 

(California, Dec 2007)

Oh my gosh, how much do I love that toothless grin?

It made my whole day just immediately better. A Monday’s a Monday but  now I can survive the rest of it thanks to this little picture.

God bless sunshine

Does anyone else feel like the clouds have finally parted and the arrival of Spring has been a long time coming? I can hardly stay indoors these past few days because the warming air is like a siren call to me. My bike is getting tuned, I can run outside without my nose running too, the flowers are blooming, the trees outside my front door have dainty white blossoms kissing their branches. Sigh…it’s just so nice.

After the dreariness of winter, weather like this makes life seem rosy peach and wonderful all over again. Spring sports have just begun to take over my life again [example, my schedule this week: M - soccer game, T - baseball game, W - baseball practice, soccer game, Th -  baseball game, F - soccer game, Sat - baseball practice] and I’m enjoying watching the kids stretch and run and get down and dirty in the grass and dirt. Even though I hate dirt/grass stained pants, I love seeing Caden’s knees all streaked with dirt and green. That’s being a kid. 

I’ve also got Spring Cleaning Fever. My garage is under attack at the moment and I am on the assault. I’m starting to organize everything and put it away in moving boxes because I think that might help my house sell more quickly. That’s my hope, anyway. I’ve had no less than 11 different showings of my house in the past two weeks and am just waiting for someone to say, “Yes! This is the place I’ve been looking for!” And then I will simultaneously be thrilled and distraught over finally selling and saying goodbye to the first home I’ve ever owned. I talk to my house all the time (yes, The Guy, I know I’m crazy…but I’m sure that my house has feelings) and tell it thanks for being a great place to live. I figure if I fill my home with love someone at some time will feel it and surely want to move on in.

Besides sports, running, and house schtuff, I am also back to painting again for the first time in about four years. FOUR YEARS. That’s embarrassing considering I spent 3 1/2 doing it everyday for hours to get my undergrad degree. It’s been so wonderfully fantastic to be doing it again that I should paint you a picture of my joy. Instead, I’m kind of toying with making a few images that The Guy may be able to use in his business. Heck, I may be needing to find a new occupation in the next several months and why not turn back to what I love to do? Plus, painting just is a release that I haven’t been able to experience in such a long time. It’s hard to explain how much the opportunity to create makes you feel – unless you do it. It doesn’t have to be painting or anything artistic. Just finding that RELEASE is what’s most important.

Also, on a side note, I have to profess my admiration for the Miss California contestant from the Miss USA or Miss America pageant or whatever it was. I didn’t hear about her now famous response to the gay marriage question until the day after but I have to hand it to her. When faced with a huge pressure situation like that, she didn’t back down from what she believed in. No matter where your opinions lie on the subject, that girl deserves some hearty praise. She could’ve easily responded in a manner that would’ve appealed to the judges and maybe potentially earned her the crown. Instead, she expressed what she felt and held true to her personal beliefs. Why should she be villified for that? When did it become a crime to stand up for your beliefs? All I have to say is that I have a lot of respect for that girl. She didn’t fall in line with so-called “popular” opinion just to fast-track her potential career.

But back to the lovely subject of Spring…ahhhhh.  I bought snapdragons to plant on my front porch and it gives me a cheery je ne sais quoi to think about that. Speaking of flowers, I plan on going down to Thanksgiving Point for their Tulip Festival. WOW. If you have never been, prepared to be awed by the acres and acres of color. 

Heart to run

It’s a Monday. Yippee skippee! So thrilled to be beginning a whole new week of fun and joy and meetings and soccer games and baseball games and running and writing and leaping tall buildings with a single bound and showing my house again and again and again. Whew! That’s pretty much what I have to look forward to this week. And I am totally  up for it.

Although, I feel a bit sleep deprived so I would like to make that up somehow. Since last Friday night, I have not really slept well – at all. Tossing and turning, tossing and turning. I wish there was some magic switch by the side of my ear where I could just turn off my brain for a night. No thoughts. No dreams. Just absolute stillness. 

Friday night was awful, I think I maybe slept two hours IF that. Not a good thing when you are getting up at 5:30 in the morning to go run a half marathon. Sleep is your friend, your buddy, your secret weapon to feeling refreshed and ready to go. Instead I flipped and flopped, stared at my phone, counted veins in my hand, ran through a gamut of emotions, and then found myself sitting on my stairs at 5:15 rocking back and forth and asking, “Should I really be going to run 13.1 miles this morning when I feel so…so…weird? And completely emotional?” For about 45 minutes I debated on what to do, and then realized I would absolutely regret it if I didn’t go (even if I did feel like an empty shell). 

And I did it! I rode TRAX up to the starting line, just about hyperventilating the entire time because people were jammed in there like snakes in a can ready to pop. Hi, I’m Angie, and I’m a claustrophobe. Hell to me is taking a 22 minute train ride with 8 people smashed right up against my person (personal space! where in the *@#% is my personal space?!??!) which removes all politeness from a situation (you can’t help but bump somebody somewhere inappropriate because there’s no room to move), no air flowing ANYWHERE (windows?  we can’t crack a few people?), and the smell of sweat, energy bars, and sunscreen permeating what little oxygen I am left with. Needless to say, I practically LEAPED out of that car when we arrived up by the U.

I found my friend and co-worker George at the starting line. Well, actually he found me and we gave each other a hug and wished each other luck. He was doing the half marathon too, and we started to discuss what we’re all dealing with at our company right now. We both got a little emotional at one point because it’s just a constant weight on your mind, an elephant load of stress sitting on your chest and shoulders as you try to figure out what to do. George was battling with the fact that he would be leaving his mother here in Utah to move to Arizona. I told him I was battling with the fact of not knowing if I might be getting married or moving and leaving family and friends behind. Thankfully for George, he has made the decision: he and his partner are moving to Arizona. He gave me another hug and said he hoped I could have peace and clarity in my decision making process soon. I smiled and tried to not let the tears that clouded my eyes escape and reveal just how hard this whole situation is for me.

Running this half marathon was more of an emotional battle than anything. Well, except for that last 2.5 miles. THAT was physical. Who in the heck changed the freaking course so that at the END of the race you climb up State Street all the way to South Temple??? Oh my gosh, I wanted to smack somebody. (I’ve done the half once before and the marathon, and the old route is BETTER). All I knew about my run Saturday was that I needed to run to boost my spirits, to clear my head, and let go. 

I took the approach that this was just a training run and I was going to keep a  slow and steady pace all the way. Which I did. As people passed me and I wanted to start pushing myself harder, I kept having to remind myself that I needed the time in my head and I should go S-L-O-W. Getting a specific time was not my goal; finishing was. That and adding mileage to my weekly training.

Running always does me a world of good. Even though I didn’t have some great epiphany this past weekend, it did help relieve some stress. If I can only get around to sleeping better…

p.s. This song keeps playing over and over in my head. The lyrics are exactly how I feel lately. Plus, I just love this song (and am really trying hard to learn it on my baby blue guitar).

Batter up…and down the break room

I seriously work at a cool place. I get to be the “activities coordinator” for my site and pretty much plan whatever my little heart desires…as long as it is within budget or I can do my best negotiating (read: pleading) with the sponsoring manager to go outside my budgetary boundaries.

This morning, we had a pancake breakfast going on in our lovely break room. I cajoled a couple of colleagues to bring in their griddles and act as line cooks for an hour. I told them it was going to be easy breezy to whip out a few flapjacks and serve ‘em on up to an adoring and hungry crowd. They bought in and we had a lot of fun as we started popping out fluffy pancake after fluffy pancake. I love pancakes. Them’s good eatin’. 

Of course, my creative side can never stay still too long, even when it comes to pancake cooking. Round is so boring. Pancakes can be any shape/size you want! So I started with the traditional Mickey Mouse variety for a couple of Disney diehards. Then I wrote “Intel” in batter which was quite the hit. I also made square pancakes, triangle pancakes, a snake with chocolate chips in a diamond pattern, loads of yummalicious chocolate chip pancakes, pancake holes (you basically leave a hole in the middle as you pour a ring or square of batter), initials, and one sports car. 

Yep, I work hard at making my office a fun place to work…at least for the next few months. I recommend trying it if you have space at work. The mix is el cheapo and you just get syrup and butter and voila! Pancake party! Plus, what better way to entice people to work than the homey deliciously wonderful smell of pancakes cooking in the morning? It would’ve been great to have the fluffy buttermilk pancakes my dad can cook up. But buttermilk was not on our shopping list. 

My work day is already going great thanks to a little chocolate chip “A” that I made for myself. 

If you’ve never tried buttermilk pancakes before, give this baby a go. They are yum-um-y!

The Best (No Kidding) Buttermilk Pancakes

Ingredients

·         3 eggs, separated

·         1 2/3 cups buttermilk

·         1 teaspoon baking soda

·         2 teaspoons baking powder

·         1/2 teaspoon salt

·         1 1/2 cups flour

·         1 tablespoon sugar

·         3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Directions

Beat the yolks until pale and smooth.

Beat in the buttermilk and then the baking soda and mix well.

Sift in the dry ingredients mixing as you add; make sure the batter is smooth.

Add in the melted butter and mix well.

Beat the egg whites in another bowl until stiff.

Fold into the batter until no bits of white are visible.

Let batter stand about 20 minutes before making pancakes.

Make sure your griddle is really hot (the old water droplet test).

Ladle batter onto griddle; turn when buddles form across the cakes and allow to lightly brown on the second side.

Serve with warm maple syrup and sweet butter.

Note to self: Motel 6 is ick

I was just thinking. Just thinking about a bunch of different things. Populating my head with memories. Memories flooded with you. Some make me smile, some make me say “huh”, and some make me laugh out loud.

Like, I was just remembering that time driving through Oklahoma at 2 a.m. in the morning and not knowing where in heck we were supposed to turn and where we needed to go and my eyes – my eyes! – they could hardly stay open at all. The weight of sleep was pressing them down and you were passed out in exhaustion and I didn’t dare wake you because you were so very tired. And the van was making rumbly-creaky-swaying-rattling metal noises. But I knew something was wrong. Weren’t we supposed to be in New Mexico and not Oklahoma? I was befuddled.

So I pulled off the freeway to smack myself into lucidity and you slowly stirred and slurred, “Hmmmph…are zwee yehhr det?” I casually mentioned that no, in fact we were in Oklahoma thanks to a GPS route malfunction (didn’t want to go through Colorado, thanks) and I was so tired and you were so tired and we couldn’t think straight about what to do and sleeping in the van just wasn’t going to work for two people. There was barely room for one around all the pictures piled up from the trade show. And we needed sleep. At least for a couple of hours.

So we found that skeezy Motel 6 which was the only place around for miles and neither of us had ever stayed in a Motel 6 and didn’t know anything about it other than Tom Bodett owns the chain or is the spokesperson for the chain or can be found at any one of their 6,000 motels at any time of day. The light was left on for us. But the room? {Shudder!}

It was a place to lie flat and still for at least four hours before we had to move on again but oh my goodness what a place. I had to hide in the van because they charge PER PERSON for a room and since we would only be there for four hours why pay twice the rate? We just needed it for a moment, not for an entire evening. So you sauntered on in to talk to the slightly pervy white guy working the counter at 2:30 a.m. in the morning at a dingy motel and came back out walking the “quick, let’s go before he sees us” walk that is a clear indicator of someone with something to hide.

We took the van to the back of the building and with the faded plastic room key in hand climbed to the top level and walked and walked until we found our room, bedecked in a bullet-ridden metal door. No, just kidding, no bullet holes; just multiple dents and it was surprising the door could close at all. I was skeptical the room key would even work but tra la la the door opened – and I immediately wanted to close it again.

The carpet was older than the dust on the boots of the cowboy walking to the ice machine in the middle of the night. I didn’t dare take off my shoes and headed in to the bathroom. I gasped at the mildewed tile and hole-in-the-wall showerhead that we would soon discover in 3 1/2 hours shot water out of it’s mineral clogged head similar to a BB gun shooting tiny pellets. I think acid rain would’ve felt better.

And then there was the bed. I took one look at the bed, pulled back the threadbare wool blanket underneath the functioning “coverlet” and gasped at what unholiness I saw. Or rather, what “hole-y-ness” I saw. “People sleep in beds like this?” I exclaimed softly. The sheets were faded and perhaps had a threadcount at one time of 120 but was now probably something more like 6. Which, of course, accounted for the multiple holes and stray lines of fabric. 

“We’re not sleeping on THAT.”

I headed out to the van, grabbed the three blankets and two pillows we had stashed in back and proceeded back up to the Room from Hell to cover a bed with fabric that could be trusted. I wrapped my body like a cocoon in one, afraid that any air exposure to the elements that were surely harmful in this tiny square cement box might do me in. You were so exhausted that the moment I handed you your blanket, poof! You were gone, out like the electric “L” in the Motel 6 sign.

As soon as I was sufficiently covered, the blackness of sleep took me over and I didn’t remember a single thing about my dreams that night which is highly unusual for me (as you know). Before we knew it, your phone alarm was off and ringing and disturbing us from dead-exhausted sleep in the ickiest room ever in the middle of absolutely nowhere. 

The weather was awfully eerie as we left, hazy-ish and rainy-ish and kind of something complete inhuman and ethereal. Later that day, we discovered a twister came roaring through that very town. I hope it hit that Motel 6.

I just pulled this memory today. And it made me laugh. And shudder. But mostly laugh.

And all because it just started with a thought of you.

Feed me (it’s Tax Day) for free!

Your check is in the mail. You’ve dealt with the angst of saying goodbye to more money. And now you are wondering how in the world you are going to pay for lunch today because the government just took your last dime. [or maybe you are one of the lucky ones who got money back - you can buy lunch for the rest of us]

What to do, what to do…

Well guess what? Today, many businesses are offering a tax break or even FREE food all in celebration or in popular commiseration that you’ve just done your civic duty of paying Uncle Sam. I’m sure part of the reason why a few restaurants and businesses are doing this is because of the economy but speaking as one tax paying citizen, I appreciate their efforts to alleviate the “pain”.

I know where I am going to today – Maggie Moos for FREE ice cream!

More free/discounted food today:

• PF Changs – 15% off your tab today; go grab some yummy lettuce wraps
• Cinnabon – free sweet bites from 5 – 8 p.m.
• Tacos Del Mar – go to their site to get a coupon for a free taco
• T.G.I. Fridays – free gift cards; $5 gift card for $15-20 purchases, $10 gift cards for purchases over $25
• Maggie Moos – free single serving ice cream cones served from 12-8 p.m. in what they are calling their e-cone-omic ice cream stimulus package
• Chick-fil-A – if you buy lunch there today, you can bring your receipt back by April 30th to get the same meal for free (depends on participating restaurants)
• Papa Johns – get a large cheese pizza with up to 3 toppings for $10.40 when you activate a coupon online using the code “1040″

A Kind Life

If there is one thing that I hope I accomplish in this life, it’s to treat everyone with kindness. Even those people who can sometimes rub me the wrong way. I honestly believe that killing someone with kindness is more effective than being antagonistic. In fact, not responding in a heated way generally wears people down so much they eventually just give in to my mellow persuasions. Well, some of the time…

I was struck this morning by an article I read on Deseret News that profiled a man in Alpine who has started a website promoting charitable acts of kindness. The site is called goodwillpaidforward and this is how it works:

• You buy a sheet of 10 laminated tags for $14.95 
• Each tag has a specific code on it; you log on to the site to activate your tags
• Once activated, you are free to do something wonderful for someone else and give them a tag
• Tag recipients can log onto the site and put where they received the tag and what happened – and then pass it along again

To date, over 11,000 acts of kindness have been tracked on this guy’s website. It has been featured on MSNBC and the contagiousness of goodness just seems to keep rippling outward. 

You don’t need tags to get started on doing something kind for someone else. But the cool thing about this site is you get to see how a tag gets shared from one person to another, a veritable wave of good deeds that you set fire to. 

Just a couple of years ago, I was the lucky recipient of an act of kindness. I had been dreading for several weeks the announcement at work of impending layoffs, all due to the fact that I was the youngest on the team with the least experience at my company and therefore a prime target for the chopping block. I had only been there 5 months which meant I would be ineligible for any severance pay or other benefits as I would’ve been short of the 6 month requirement to receive such things. When the Black Day came and I ended up surviving the cut, I was so thrilled (and relieved) that I took Caden out to eat that night at Wingers. (when you have a 5 year old, that’s what constitutes a nice dinner)

Sitting down at dinner, Caden asked rather loudly, “So, why are we eating out again?”

“Because we’re celebrating that I still have a job!”  

“Oh…okay. Can I have the mini corn dogs?”

As we sat there enjoying our dinner, I noticed just across from us a middle-aged man and his two teenage daughters. The man looked at me a couple of times, smiled and nodded, and being polite and friendly, I smiled back. Halfway through my dinner, they left and he caught my eye again and said with a knowing smile, “Enjoy your dinner.” I didn’t think another thing of it until we finished our dinners and the waitress came over and asked the sinful question, “Have you saved room for dessert?”

“Oh, no, I think we’re all right, thanks.”

“Well, you can have it for free you know because your dinner has been paid for. That gentleman who was sitting over there took care of your tab and said you should get a dessert to celebrate.”

“He what?”

“Your dinner’s paid for. Would you like a dessert?”

I sat there in stunned silence for a moment as the reality of what this total stranger did for me sunk in.

“Oh, and he told me to give you this.” She handed me my tab receipt and scrawled on the bottom of it was a message. “Congrats on your job! Get dessert to celebrate.”

I was so overwhelmed at his kindness and generosity, tears sprung to my eyes and I wished I could’ve had the opportunity to thank him in person. It made the great news of the day even sweeter and little does he know the impact that gesture made in my life that day. So many times I have often reflected on that moment and said a quick prayer in my heart that he gets blessed a hundred times over.

Dessert reminds me now that good deeds are not dead…which is why I can justify getting them from time to time. 

Goal for the week? Accomplish an act of covert kindness to somebody at random. And then repeat.

Why I want to go to Europe

Who doesn’t love a little Sound of Music? Better yet, who doesn’t love a little SofM in the middle of a train station in Antwerp? I dare you not to smile while watching this:

I love watching the face of the average passerby as their expression changes from one of total surprise to amusement to a total embracing of the situation.

You may have seen the “original” train station dance which was a commercial for T-Mobile. 

This is why I want to go to Europe right now. Because apparently people break out in random acts of dancing. Happy Friday!