Sunday Ramblings

Today has been exhausting. Due to our trip yesterday, I've had to cram 2 days of housework into one. And, due to my laziness, that one day actually turned into one afternoon. What this has actually meant is that I've had to recruit The Hubs' help. He has, not completely unwillingly, been my cohort in clean today! We managed to get everything we wanted to do done.

In addition to our cleaning, I made an awesome meal this evening (even if I do say so myself) and my mom came and had dinner with us. I made baby green lima beans, rice and tomatoes, roasted sirloin steak, deviled eggs and cornbread. A very Southern meal, but incredibly tasty. Both The Hubs and my mom loved it. The Pog even appreciated it because there was enough left over that she could get a little (not enough to bother saving the leftovers, but enough to give the pup a treat).

The only downside is that I had intended to make a Mars Bar (Milky Way) Cheesecake for dessert and also one for The Hubs to take to his play practice tomorrow but time got away from me and the cheesecake was not meant to be today. It'll have to wait until either later in the week or next weekend. As a treat to you readers, though, I'll share the recipe with you at the end of this post.

During my internet travels this last week, I have encountered two posts I wanted to share with you. In their own ways, they are awesome and definitely worthy of your time to read.

The first one is part of a new feature from Jjiraffe called Faces of ALI. Her inaugural post for the feature is an extremely moving, detailed profile of Courtney Cheng who blogs at Bodega Bliss. I'd be lying if I didn't tell you there were tears streaming down my face while I read this. Jjiraffe manages to capture the very essence of the ALI community in the words she uses to describe Courtney's journey. A fabulous new feature I look forward to reading more of.

The second post I read that had me returning for second and third looks was actually from April of last year. Its a post of slow cooker recipes that can be made ahead of time and put in the freezer! These recipes look awesome and I'm really looking forward to trying some of them! In fact, her whole site had me completely enthralled and I'm sure I'll be spending a little time investigating everything there is to see over the next few days.

I found the last article via Pinterest. I'd never taken a look at it before, but I think I'll really like it. That is always assuming I'm ever able to create an account. I requested an invite and got a response telling me I was on their waiting list. That was about 4 days ago. Anyone have any idea how long you generally have to wait to get your invite to join? I hope it's soon. There were a load of recipes and craft ideas on there I'd love to try out!

Anyway, I promised you a recipe, so here goes:

Mars Bar (Milky Way) Cheesecake

1 package Graham Crackers (3 packages per box)
1 stick butter – melted
¼ oz gelatin
¼ cup boiling water
½ cup super-fine sugar (not powdered)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 ¼ cups heavy whipping cream
9 oz cream cheese
2 Milky Way bars or 6 minis

Crush Graham crackers and mix into melted butter. Press into a pie dish (can use disposable). Refrigerate.
Dissolve gelatin in boiling water.
Beat cream into soft peaks
Beat cream cheese, vanilla, super-fine sugar and gelatin together.
Fold chopped Milky Way bars into cream and fold both into cream cheese mixture.
Pour over base and refrigerate.

Serves 8

Hope you enjoy it! And, have a great start to your week tomorrow!

10 on Tuesday - Summer Camp Edition

I've decided to kill two birds with one stone and combine my 10 on Tuesday with Calliope's Summer Camp. Forgive me for this, but it seems the only way I'm going to start getting caught up, lol!

1. Day 1 – Provide a photo or sketch or dramatic rendering of the space where you normally blog
   
   Ah, yes, my blogging space. Let's see....no photos and no way to sketch it in right now, so....
   
   My blogging space
   Is a comfy place
   This much I speak is true.
   My blogging space
   Is a cozy place
   Even when I'm feeling blue.
   It keeps warm, it keeps me snug
   And offers a place to lay my head,
   Because, you see, my blogging space
   Is my very comfy bed.
   
   And that, my dear friends, is why David Bottoms* has no worries about losing his prestigious title ;D
   
   



2. Day 2 -What were you like in high school? What extracurricular activities, if any, did you take part in during high school? Did you consider yourself a writer?
   
   I was a toned down version of the me of today in high school. I was quieter. I wanted to be more popular than I was and I always felt a little bit second-best. I didn't date, not because I didn't want to, but because no one asked. However, I did have lots of friends and I was considered by others to be popular (Ick. That just sounds so unimportant and airheady now.) I was in Drama Club (in fact, I was president of drama my senior year of high school), FBLA and Y-Club. I participated in Model UN. I was on the Literary Competition Team. I played tennis and did cheerleading my junior and senior years (I was the mascot for most of those - that's what you get when you're the "fat" one on the team). I liked to read a lot and I worked a lot. I think that pretty much sums the me of high school fame up.



3. Day 3 - What are your guilty pleasures?
   
   Hmmm...my guilty pleasures? Well, I love Glee. Not sure if that counts as a guilty pleasure, but some people think its a little sad. I love, love, love (and have had to give up) Little Debbie Snacks Nutty Bars. So good, but so full of calories! Of course, I love to put off doing things that need to be done in favour of crocheting or playing online. Not sure what else I could claim, though. Food for thought.



4. Day 4 – What has most surprised you about being an adult? What have you learned about yourself through blogging?
   
   What has surprised me most about being an adult is that life isn't like it seems in the movies. Winning the lottery is rare. Bills come daily. Dream jobs rarely come along. Childhood friendships rarely last long-term. Families don't always just oops! happen. If you plan it, it's unlikely to work out the way you plan. Patience is a necessity, not just a virtue. People will act the way they want to, not the way you want them to. You always want what you can't have until you have it, then you often no longer want it. The grass is usually greener on the other side, but when you move onto greener pastures, they usually enjoy a freak drought. And, that when you get to an age where you can stay up as late as you like or eat whatever you want without someone in authority nixing the plan, your body no longer cooperates. You're too tired to stay up past 10pm and any ice cream or candy bar you eat goes straight to your hips.
   
   What I've learned about myself through blogging is that I'm whiny, cynical, self-pitying, obsessive about certain subjects, long-winded, self-absorbed and often rather bitchy. I've also learned that I love to start projects, but rarely have the staying-power to complete them, I'm contradictory in the things I want and struggle to make my mind up to stick with one decision and I suck at beig a steady blogger and commenting on other people's posts. In a positive light, I do believe I have a knack for commentary =D



5. Day 5 -What do you prefer to do on your birthday?
   
   My birthday is around Thanksgiving so, in the years when it doesn't actually fall on Thanksgiving, The Hubs and I usually take an annual trip to Helen, GA. It's beautiful up there! Helen is an Alpine Bavarian village. The restaurants all serve German food and German beer. It's just so awesome! And, since we usually go right after Thanksgiving, we get to see all the Christmas lights up. I just love it! In the few years that we don't go to Helen, we spend time with family. I think I have only ever worked on my birthday once in my entire lifetime! I try to arrange it that way most years, lol!



6. Day 6 – When was the last time you tried something new? What was it and what was the result? Have you ever done something just so that you could blog about it?
   
   Hmmm...difficult one....I think the last new thing I did was when The Hubs and I went to the beach in beachwear. For most of my life I have lived less than two hours from the seashore. However, I can not swim and I am a chicken, so I had never ventured to the beach. Last year, The Hubs took me to Tybee Island near Savannah, GA to wade in the ocean, but we weren't in our bathing suits, so it wasn't really a proper beach trip. We rectified that in April this year when we set out for Fernandina Beach, FL. We had a great time! I love wading into the ocean! Still very afraid of the water, but at least I went in up to my thighs. The worst thing that happened was that the sand was nearly washed from under my feet several times.
   
   I don't believe I've ever done anything just so I could blog about it. I'm not saying it'll never happen, I just don't think I have so far done something just to give me something to blog about.



7. Day 7 – What’s your favorite thing to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner? Do you read food blogs or would you ever consider writing one?
   
   Oh, yum! Well, my favourite breakfast dish, if prepared correctly, is Eggs Benedict. It is just scrumptious! Lunch and dinner I'm pretty easy about. My favourite kind of food is Italian, but as long as it's something I enjoy eating, I'll eat!
   
   I do occasionally read food blogs, usually to get recipes, but it's not a frequent thing. I do have a recipe blog, but I haven't updated it in ages!! I probably should get some of my recipes down and post them. I love to oook - I'm actually a certified catering specialist, although I don't want to do it for a living. I really love food, I should read more food blogs. In fact, I think I'll look some up soon!



8. Day 8 – If you had to teach something, what would you teach? (If you DO teach, when did you discover your love for teaching/the subject?) Do you think blogs can play a role in education?
   
   Interestingly enough, the degree I'm currently working on is to teach. My major is in Social Sciences with an education concentration and my minor is in history. I want to teach history for high school students. I love history! I just find it so interesting! I hope I can instill that love into my students when I finally get into my own classroom.



9. Day 9 – What is the most important lesson you learned from your own mother (or other primary caretaker)? What do you imagine the name of your Grandmother’s blog would be and what would she write about?
   
   The most important lesson I learned from my mom is the value of hard work. My mother is an extremely hard-working woman. There have been times in my life when she has held multiple jobs at once. When my dad got ill when I was a teenager, my mom just took it in stride and worked that much harder to keep us afloat. She taught me to have that same work ethic. I've held a job pretty much continuously (with the exception of the first few months after I moved to England when I was not allowed to work in the UK and the first few months after we moved back to the US while I was looking for a job) since I turned 15. During my junior and senior years of high shool, I actually held four jobs (at the same time) and took honours classes. I even managed to keep A's in those classes! I worked every morning before school at a local donut shop, Wednesday afternoons at our local paper putting the inserts into the center of the paper, Saturday mornings doing the same thing for the local free shopper paper and the rest of my time in the layaway department at Walmart. I'm proud I was able to manage all of that and still keep good grades. I hope I'm able to instill the same work ethic in my children without it being so necessary for survival for them to work like that.
   
   As for what either of my grandmothers may have called their blog, I'm really not sure. My dad's mom died when he was 9 years old, so I never met her. My mom's mom died when I was 4, so my memories of her are vague. I'd like to think her blog would be called something like The Life Value of a Good Green Bean. She made the best green beans! That much I do remember.



10. Day 10 – Share your favorite recipe (or two) (see! You CAN be a food blogger!)
    
    My absolute favourite recipe is one for a Mars Bar Cheesecake. However, I can't currently find it, so you'll have to make do with my second favourite recipe ;D I'm too lazy to type it all out again, so you'll have to travel to see my recipe for French Onion Soup.
    
    

Well, I know I'm not caught up yet, but at least it's a start! Keep watching this space for more Summer Camp fun to come!

*In case you have no interest in reading the burble on Wikipedia, David Bottoms is the Poet Laureate of Georgia.

Y is for Yum!

Good recipes are always yummy! I may have posted this one before (can't remember) but I'll share it again anyway because it's one of my favourites! I love French Onion Soup and this is a great recipe for it. Hope you enjoy it!

Difficulty: Medium

Serves 4-6

• 6 large red or yellow onions, peeled and thinly sliced


• Olive or vegetable oil (olive oil is better for taste, but I usually use vegetable oil because its much less expensive and the difference isn’t that great)


• ½ teaspoon sugar


• 2 cloves garlic, minced


• 8 cups beef stock


• ½ cup dry white wine


• 1 bay leaf


• 1 teaspoon dry thyme (I generally use dry Italian herbs because I always forget to buy thyme and I have this in the pantry)


• Salt and pepper to taste


• 8 slices (or however many slices you have enough soup to go over) of toasted French bread


• 1 ½ cups grated Swiss Gruyere (I use regular Swiss cheese) with a little grated Parmesan cheese (I use fresh Parmesan, not the dry kind)

1. In a large saucepan, sauté the onions in the oil on medium high heat until well browned, but not burned, about 30-40 minutes (or longer – I usually cook them for about an hour). Add the sugar about 10 minutes into the process to help with the caramelization.



2. Add garlic and sauté for 1 minute. Add the stock, wine, bay leaf and thyme. Cover partially and simmer until the flavors are well blended, about 30 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Discard the bay leaf.



3. To serve you can use either individual oven-proof bowls or a large casserole dish. Ladle the soup into the bowls or casserole dish. Cover with toast and sprinkle with cheese. Put into the broiler for 10 minutes at 350 F or until the cheese bubbles and is slightly browned. Serve immediately.

I make what I want to have in one serving with the toast and cheese, then put the rest of the soup in the fridge. When I’m ready to have it again (I always use it within a week of the original preparation to avoid foodbourne illnesses), I take the soup out, make fresh toast then repeat step 3. Hope you enjoy it!

That Time of the Month Again!

Now, I bet you thought I was going to say AF had finally showed up, right? Nope! But it is time for IComLeavWe again! So welcome to the visitors and regulars alike!

A bit about me: I'm Lynn, 31 years old, married to The Hubs for 7 1/2 years, two furbabies (really four, but two of them live with my mom), no kids, PCOS sufferer, 6 1/2 total years of TTC, 1 1/2 of those on medicated cycles, no pregnancies, one failed adoption, enough cynicism for a lifetime, first visits with RE planned for May 5th (work-up with PA) and May 12th (with Dr. to get recommendations and plan).

Want non-IF related details about me? Work in a hospital full-time as the supervisor of central scheduling/insurance verification, like my job but would really like to teach language arts or history, working on my BASS Ed, maintaining a 4.0 GPA after a year and a half, recently inducted into the Honors Society at my university, love to cook, am a Certified Catering Specialist but never wanted to do it as a profession, love to read, love to write, love music (especially classic rock), adore singing, think the Beatles, the Doors, the Who and Fleetwood Mac are the greatest musicians ever, love to scrapbook, love to crochet, think Rob Pattinson is the sexiest man alive (only because Jim Morrison is dead), long to one day produce the novel I know is bursting to get out but so far hasn't found the right outlet, would love to get involved in a charity helping underprivileged families, am a Republican through and through with a true dislike for the current president (sorry if you like him! no offense to you but I just don't care for the man), am a serious animal lover (although I'm not a vegetarian - I know, I know!), love to make friends, love to blog (but don't manage it as often as I'd like), lived in England for 3 1/2 years, love my British husband whom I met online dearly and long to be a mother more than anything else in the world.

There, I think that about covers it. If you want to know more about me, feel free to have a plunder through my archives.

Now I have a favor to ask of you, my lovely readers. I am currently collecting recipes for a fundraising cookbook compilation to help fund our fertility treatment and/or adoption fund. If you would like to contribute a recipe, please email me at wistful (dot) girl (at) gmail (dot) com. Please include the recipe and a short blurb about yourself and how you know me. Any contributions you make will be greatly appreciated!

As a thank you for all your contributions in advance, I will leave you with a horrifying yet strangely hilarious anecdote about my day. As stated earlier, I work in a hospital, albeit in an office where my contact with patients is mainly via the telephone. I do, however, have an enormous window to the outside in the office I share with my co-worker. Today we were both sat at my desk discussing a work related matter when we noticed a male patient standing outside our window right by the entrance to the hospital. Said patient had rolled his IV pole outside so he could smoke a cigarette. What had caught our attention was that he kept leaning close to our window and peering into our window. I must pause here to denote that our window has a black out tint over it, meaning that, while we can see out quite clearly, seeing in is not possible. So, to this patient, it appeared to be an empty room. My co-worker and I concluded our coversation and she rolled back over to her desk and picked up her phone, turning her back to the window. I returned to my computer screen with the window behind and to the left of me. Suddenly, I noticed a shadow cover the window. I turned to see what the patient was doing only to find him relieving himself right outside my window! And I mean it was all hanging out! Right outside the entrance to the hospital with patients coming and going and in full view of our office! I was horrified! I spun around and screamed "He's peeing!" My co-worker looked at me as if I had lost my mind and asked me what my problem was. I explained to her what I had witnessed and we both had horrified hysterics. The rest of my day was spent trying to forget the image that is now forever burned into my head.

Go on. Laugh. You aren't the first to do that today! Hope you have a fabulous week!

New Projects

First of all, let me say a huge THANK YOU to all my lovely commenters who were so supportive of my last post (and of all my previous whiny posts)! I feel much better today and a large part of that is down to you. It is so great to be reminded occasionally what awesome friends I have!

Now, on to a more pleasant post today. I have recently started two new online projects. The first one is pretty much a solo project, but may prove useful to some of you :D I've started a new recipe blog called Notes From a Wistful Kitchen. It currently has only two (delicious!) recipes on it, but I'll be adding more over time. I LOVE to cook and am even a Certified Catering Specialist and Line Cook, so I think I do a pretty good job, even if I do say so myself, lol! So, I thought I would share some of my very favourite recipes with you.

The second project is a more widely reaching project. Recently I've seen several posts about meet-ups that bloggers who were local to one another have had and I was feeling very envious of the face-to-face support they were able to give and receive. I was chatting (read whining) to The Hubs about this and he suggested I start my own local meet-up group for those in the Southeast Georgia vicinity. Thus was born Southeast Georgia IF Bloggers. So, if you're in or near the Southeast Georgia area and would be interested in meeting up with fellow IF bloggers face-to-face, head on over and join us! So far there are two members: myself (of course :D) and Kym from I'm a Smart One. We'd love to have more members! Right now it looks as though we'll probably try to arrange one meeting per quarter next year (more if enough people join and want to meet up more often) and we'd love to have you if you're near enough!

Okay, so I feel I've offered more than a rant today, lol! Maybe its because Christmas is right around the corner or perhaps I'm just a little light-headed from the flu I feel coming on (again - I had it over Thanksgiving and I can feel it starting again.....btw, did I mention I had a flu shot?!?!), but I more light-hearted than I have since the fall through of our adoption. Maybe the wounds are starting to heal a bit.

Anyway, I hope you're all having a great last few days before Christmas. I'm hoping to leave work early tomorrow and then I won't have to be back until Monday, yay! What's everyone else's schedule looking like this week?