um

i saw this advertisement on the side of my screen today.

it makes me uncomfortable.

protruding man parts in shiny spandex.  

SO UNCOMFORTABLE.

apparently it's for green-screen filming.  which makes sense.

BUT STILL.

sunday funday

i teach the 5 year olds in church on sundays.

i love them.  since i was in kindergarten, i've wanted to be an elementary school teacher.  so this kind of allows me to live that dream (in a very part-time, 2-hours-a-week way).

a lot of the time when sunday rolls around, i'm less than enthused to teach, i don't feel like i prepared enough, blah blah blah...but then i see the excited, shining faces before me (seriously, does anything shine like a child's face?  so much light) and i start the lesson and i remember that i love it.  i love their enthusiasm, and their fixation on food ("Did you bring us some treats today??"), and their insight, and the way they interpret things, and their unabashed sharing of every thought that crosses their minds.

"my mom said that if you steal, and it's not from your sisters, you can go to jail."

"um, teacher, when i went to the other church last week, we already had this lesson.  i don't want to play the choosing the right game again."

"i'm hungry."

tap tap tap.

"i'm hungry."


"this is a picture of me and my friend at school, his name is david, and these are Jesus' footprints."

"look i'm drawing a RAINBOW!"


today the lesson was "Come, Follow Me" and we talked about Jesus teaching the fishermen (Simon, James, John), the casting of the nets, the overflowing of fish, the "fishers of men".  then i asked the class why the men chose to follow Jesus and become his disciples.

one of my most enthusiastic contributors piped up, "So they wouldn't be KILLED!"

um...kind of.  anyone else?  haha.

then someone else said, "Because they knew that Jesus was good and was teaching true things and that if they followed him they would do good things."

i love children.  they don't make me nervous.  and i can sing in front of them.  (my cutoff age is about 6 though.)

tesla during kipper time.  pretty chill.

and good old sirius.


tomorrow's plans include a trip to costco (woohoo!) and the first meeting of the cooking club!

speaking of which, i have some chocolate mousse and two salads to make.  off to the kitchen with me, then.   :/

have a lovely evening.

summer breeze

it was warm out today, probably in the 80s.  very nice.

at least nice enough for nudity, apparently.

tesla and sirius enjoyed some couch time this morning.  tesla was again kind enough to suggest that sirius was probably in dire need of a blanket.

my 2nd attempt at sprouted grain bread.  it didn't turn out, but i have hope.  at least the dough looked like actual dough!  (my first attempt, a few years back, was a complete and utter fail.)

dinner last night.  whole wheat crust topped with pesto, zucchini, bell pepper, and manchego cheese.

tonight's dinner.  spring rolls adapted from this recipe.  i liked the collard wraps better, although it's probably my fault for not drying the cabbage leaves off thoroughly enough.

we dipped them in this peanut sauce.


you can see i'm attempting to cook actual meals again.  but i don't know, all this fanciness might have me burned out by monday.


what did you have for dinner?

how's life?

i got a pack of various neon colored socks at walmart.  (i need new socks on a regular basis...mine are always surprising me by busting out with these gaping holes all of a sudden)

i had a dream last night that stacy and clinton showed up.  it was pretty much the best day of my life.  and then the next day they came over and told me that i wasn't going to be on the show after all because my personality didn't translate well on television.  (??)  sad day.


i have been loving this lately.

it makes my lips feel so luscious.

i found this under the sink in the-bathroom-formerly-known-as-desmond's-bedroom.  hallelujah!  this stuff was my lifeline in high school.  i look upon it with a great deal of fondness.

it melts my heart when tesla says, "oh, thank you mommy!" without being prompted.

i also love how he attacks his sandwiches with vigor.

sirius.

brown sugar blueberry cookies.

trying on daddy's "muckle-cycle" helmet.

tesla.

desmond.

tesla saw sirius sleeping and gave him a blanket.  i like to think that sirius appreciated the gesture.

little desmond.

how was your week?

grown up

although i've technically been an adult for several years, i don't often think of myself in those terms.

every once in a while, when i'm doing something incredibly responsible and grown up like writing a check or listening the "you're on hold" music on the phone (seriously who picks that stuff?) or making a doctor's appointment, i'll feel this swell of pride at my accomplishment.  i mean, writing checks!  who am i?

(an ADULT, suckas!)

but apparently the image i project does not say "responsible mother of two."  apparently it says "teenager who is skipping school or possibly may have dropped out."

i think i mentioned that one time when my mom and i were at the mall, and the boy in the cupcake shop asked why i wasn't in school.  (HIGH SCHOOL.)  i told him that the two children in the stroller were, in fact, my sons and not my little brothers.  and that i was not in high school.

and then today, when i was checking out at costco, the guy ringing up my stuff looked at the boys in the cart and said dubiously, "are they...your children?"

i answered in the affirmative while trying to extricate my card from my wallet (i seriously need to find a new wallet) and the girl behind him who was loading my cart commented, "you look young."

i smiled and said, "i am young, but probably not as young as you think i am.  i'm 23."

they both looked a little shocked and then the guy said, "well, you look really young."

i'm not complaining.  a youthful appearance isn't a bad thing, and it's definitely something i'm hoping i can cash in on when i'm 50.  i guess i'm just curious as to what i look like to other people.  because i feel like i look my age, but apparently, i don't.

(and i was even wearing GROWN UP CLOTHES today!  a skirt!  a cardigan!  metallic flats!)

tuesday thoughts

-silas and i (mostly silas) are starting a cooking club next week!  the first meeting is at our place, to kind of get a feel for who is going to come, what people are wanting out of it, etc.  i'm excited.

-i skipped the gym yesterday and today.   3 reasons:  (1) complete and utter exhaustion  (2) the boys have coughs (lame but they sound sick so i don't want to get the evil eye for dropping them off to mingle with the other kidlets) and (3) the a/c has been broken for the past several days.  spin class + no a/c?

AND THAT'S WHY THAT NO WORK.  (10 points if you can remember what movie that's from)

-ladies--i have a question for you.  this question would fall under the category of TMI, just so you know.

it's back again.  the "i feel like i'm dragging my body through quicksand" weariness.  is this a period-related symptom?  i haven't really had a regular period for over 3 years so i don't remember what it's like.  i didn't think i had a monthly cycle anymore but the last few months i've noticed a day of (really really really) light spotting at around the same time each month.  (although this month was more than a week earlier than i was expecting.  so maybe my theory's off)

reading the above paragraph, i realize my question may not have been clear.  haha  :)  basically, do  you get dead tired when it's that time of the month?  i'd heard of girls experiencing anemia-related fatigue from blood loss, but i don't think the drop of blood i'm losing every month or so is really depleting my iron stores.  and the exhaustion doesn't seem to come at the same time as the spotting.

last night i was curled up with some cramping and a backache (working my way through season 2 of Downton Abbey, holla!), so that made me consider that it might be related to the monthly cycle business.  but like i said, i don't really have one, so i don't know if this is it or not.  anyone with an IUD have any stories to share?

-sorry if that was too personal.  i'm probably going to regret putting all that out there on the internet.  buuut...what is the media for if not the propagation of uncomfortable overshares?

-did you know that sometimes i can't tell my sons apart in pictures?  it's true.  guess who?

okay, that one was easier.  it's tesla.

but for the longest time (until silas pointed it out the other day), i thought this was desmond.

and i even took the picture!  silas was like, "he's wearing underwear.  it's obviously tesla."

i guess i have always wanted twins.  :)

-on a completely different note, i'm thinking of starting adult ballet classes.  (and by "adult" i mean "for people above the age of 9", not dirty ballet.  speaking of dirty ballet..i saw a "pole dancing monthly" magazine in barnes & noble the other day.  interesting.)

i haven't signed up yet, i'm still "thinking about it", but i think it might be fun!  or i might hate it.  but i'm hoping it will make me graceful and flexible and basically awesome.

awesome like desmond's face.

pizza with the boys

over the weekend i had the brilliant idea to let the boys make their own pizzas.

i envisioned a pinterest-worthy experience, wherein the boys would cheerfully load up their pizzas with creatively sliced veggies, and then proceed to devour their creations (with gusto!), resulting in a veggie victory for me.

yeah...not so much.  tesla refused to let a single veggie touch his pizza (cheese all the way!), and although desmond happily snacked on veggie niblets, he threw a high chair tantrum when i took his pizza away to put it in the oven.

"desmond!  relax!  i have to cook it, okay?  you'll get it back in ten minutes!"


but it was still fun.  and i'm proud of myself for letting them do something that had big messiness potential.   ;)

the set up.  

rolling it out.  (with a lot of help from mom) 

 tesla's pizza--no plants allowed.

...eating the dough.

 desmond's pizza.  made by me, obviously.  he didn't understand why i kept replacing the toppings he was eating.  he also didn't understand that this wasn't the final product, hence the tear show when i took it away for cookage.

basically this is something that they'll enjoy a lot more in a year or so.  but they were pretty happy with the final product.

yeah, we had pizza 3 times last weekend.  i know you think i'm kidding when i say i could eat it every night.

i'm not.

hair

so i've been secretly wanting a pixie cut for well over a year now.  i go back and forth in my head wondering if it will look cute or like mom hair or will i look like a boy or will it make my head look too small for my body...you know.  all the usual stuff.

i haven't made a final decision yet, but here are some cuts i'm loving.

(most of these were pulled from pinterest and i couldn't find the original links.  apologies.)

i'm envisioning a slightly longer pixie, with lots of layers and definitely some volume.  i don't want it to look masculine from the back (shaved), and i want long pieces framing my face and over my ears.

long hair has always felt feminine to me, but i think short hair can showcase femininity in a completely different, more confident way.

plus, you know, when it's 115 degrees outside EVERY SINGLE DAY for several months...long hair sucks.

i'm serious.  i've seen several arizona bloggers with gorgeous long hair, and i wonder how they aren't wallowing in absolute misery.  (this is where the ubiquitous blogger bun comes in.)  but seriously.  do they not leave the house?  do they do all their shopping in the dead of night?  even with my hair the length it is now, i feel like i have a heat-trapping curtain surrounding my face and neck.  bleh.

have you ever had super short hair?  i've had several friends with pixies of varying lengths, and they looked amazing.  me gusta.

[recipe] barbecue chicken and bacon pizza

say hello to my favorite pizza.  (and my shockingly grimy cookie sheet)

i'm not going to try to sell this to you.  it is not healthy.  not in the slightest.   but it is DANG GOOD.

make it sometime.  you will thank me.


barbecue chicken and bacon pizza

you need:

poached and shredded chicken thighs
shredded mozzarella or favorite pizza blend
about 1/4 of a red onion, chopped or sliced into thin moons
barbecue sauce (get a good one.  it's a big deal here.  i like sweet baby ray's hickory and brown sugar)
a few slices of thick-cut bacon, cooked and broken into pieces (we take them off the heat just before they're fully cooked, as they'll crisp up a bit in the oven)
the best pizza dough recipe (below)

roll out your dough into a semi-round shape.  it's okay if it looks like an amoeba.

spread a generous layer of deliciously sweet barbecue sauce on top of your dough.  i like to lay it on thick.

top the sauce with shredded chicken and onion pieces, as much or as little as you want.  sprinkle a layer of cheese over the sauce, chicken, and onions, and then top it with bacon pieces.  (if you prefer to blanket your cheese on rather than sprinkle it, this is perfectly acceptable.  encouraged, even.)

bake for ~10 mins in the oven.  check it at around 8 mins and use your judgment after that.  it's on your head if you burn it.


the best pizza dough i've ever made
adapted slightly from here

2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1/4 tsp. granulated sugar3/4 cup warm degree water1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 c vital wheat gluten1/2 tsp. salt


in a medium-sized bowl, dissolve sugar in water, sprinkle yeast on top.  allow to sit for 5-10 mins, 
until it starts to get foamy and look alive.
add flour and vital wheat gluten to the yeast mixture.  sprinkle salt on top.
mix with a spoon until dough comes together, then turn it onto a floured surface and knead for a 
couple minutes.  toss it in the air a few times.  it's pretty fun and this is a good dough for it.
shape as desired and top with the delicious combination specified above.  or, you know, anything else.
bake in a 450 degree oven for 8-12 mins.




p.s.  this is intended to be a thin-crust dough.  it's fantastic.  you can probably roll it out thicker or let 
it rise or mess around with it, but it's excellent (and super easy) as is.

some gems