Divorce

I am wondering..... Before the 1940's, husband and wife slept in the same room, but in separate beds - divorce rate was low. After the 1950's, husband and wife slept in the same bed - divorce rate is growing. Coincidence??? You decide!

I can't decide

What's worse???

1). 100 degree weather?
2). 100 degree weather with 40% humidity?
3). 100 degree weather with 40% humidity and hot moist wind intermittently licking you across the face?

I don't want to complain, because you know, I was taught at a young age (how old was I when I was at Teen Mania?) not to 'state the obvious'. Screw it!!! It is FREAKING HOT OUT and I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Some lessons don't stick. :)

All I want for Christmas...

I can't wait until Christmas!!!!! Only 118 days until Christmas. :)

Cherry Delight

Cherry Delight:
1 - 20oz. can of Cherry Pie filling (I use different fillings like Apple or Blueberry too - Comstock is the brand I use)
1/2 box of white cake mix
1/2 stick of margarine
1/2 cup of nuts of your choice

Melt margarine and pour it over the cake mix. Mix it up with your fingers so it becomes crumbly. Mix in the nuts. In an 8x8 baking dish, pour in cherry/blueberry/apple pie filling. Over the pie filling, sprinkle the cake mixture (should be kinda dry and crumbly). Bake in a 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes until heated through. Serve with whipped cream on top.

I am telling ya folks, this is the easiest dessert ever and it's so incredibly yummy. I swear ladies, make this when your husband isn't looking and he will think you are amazing. It's so easy, but the taste is amazing. My step-dad who was on a diet for most of my teenage years and young adult life would wait until the middle of the night and eat the WHOLE THING. It's irresistible. :)

Bread Recipes

Here are a couple of recipes for homemade breads I made last week:

Carrot-Raisin Bread

1 1/2 Cup sifted all purpose flour

1/2 C	sugar
1 tsp	baking powder
1/4 tsp	baking soda
1/2 tsp	salt
1-1/2 tsp	ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp	ground allspice
1	egg, beaten
1/2 C	water
2 Tbsp	vegetable oil
1/2 tsp	vanilla
1-1/2 C	finely shredded carrots
1/4 C	chopped pecans
1/4 C	golden raisins

1. Preheat oven to 350º F. Lightly oil a 9x5x3 inch loaf pan.
2. Stir together dry ingredients in large mixing bowl. Make a well in center of dry mixture.
3. In separate bowl, mix together remaining ingredients; add this mixture all at once to dry ingredients. Stir just enough to moisten and evenly distribute carrots.
4. Turn into prepared pan. Bake for 50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
5. Cool 5 minutes in pan. Remove from pan and complete cooling on a wire rack before slicing.

Yield: One loaf--Serving Size: 1/2-inch slice

Each serving provides:

Calories: 99
Total fat: 3 g
Saturated fat: less than 1 g
Cholesterol: 12 mg
Sodium: 97 mg

Review: I really liked this bread. It comes out a bit orange because of the high amount of carrot, but it was good. It has just enough sweetness without being too overly sweet. I will definitely be making this again.


Apricot-Orange Bread

1	(6 oz) package of dried apricots cut into small pieces
2 C	water
2 Tbsp	margarine
1 C	sugar
1	egg, slightly beaten
1 Tbsp	freshly grated orange peel
3-1/2 C	sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 C	nonfat dry milk powder
2 tsp	baking powder
1 tsp	baking soda
1 tsp	salt
1/2 C	orange juice
1/2 C	chopped pecans

1. Preheat oven to 350º F. Lightly oil two 9x5-inch loaf pan.
2. Cook apricots in water in a covered medium-size saucepan for 10-15 minutes or until tender but not mushy. Drain; reserve 3/4 cup liquid. Set apricots aside to cool.
3. Cream together margarine and sugar. By hand, beat in egg and orange peel.
4. Sift together flour, dry milk, baking powder, soda, and salt. Add to creamed mixture alternately with reserved apricot liquid and orange juice.
5. Stir apricot pieces and pecans into batter.
6. Turn batter into prepared pans.
7. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until bread springs back when lightly touched in center.
8. Cool 5 minutes in pan. Remove from pan and completely cool on wire rack before slicing.

Yield: 2 loaves--Serving Size: 1/2-inch slice

Each serving provides:

Calories: 97
Total fat: 2 g
Saturated fat: less than 1 g
Cholesterol: 6 mg
Sodium: 113 mg

Review: I thought this bread was ok. It seemed like it was going to be a winner, but I think it's missing some spices - maybe a dash of cinnamon or something. I will make it again because it is a very attractive bread, but I will be adding some ingredients like maybe lemon and lemon zest - and maybe even some raisins or something.

Overall I liked both breads - the carrot raisin bread had a bit more flavor. And, to know me is to know that I really like BOLD flavors in what I eat. The apricot orange bread had mild flavors. Happy Baking!!!

Let's see here...

This weekend has been fun! Here's a rundown:

*Got some stuff worked out with some people
*Had coffee with my mother-in-law on Friday
*Had an unexpected dinner over at Shawn's family's house
*Got together with other family today for lunch
*Finished my syllabus for classes that start on Monday
*Found out that teaching in the Bay Area is possible - still need prayer for this one
*Started to plan a trip to Disneyland sometime in November or December
*...and there's still tomorrow

Overall I feel pretty good about this weekend. Shawn and I desperately need a full weekend to ourselves, but spending time with family is worth it! We have sooooo much fun when we hang out with family - - - - I just wished mine lived a bit closer. :) Maybe someday.

I am awake

It is about 3:30am. A pretty normal time for me to wake up in the middle of the night. But, tonight, like many other nights are the same. I had a dream about a person from high school that I haven't thought about in quite some time, probably years. In fact, sometimes I have dreams about random people out of the blue. These are the times I know that I need to wake up and pray for that person. I kind of think that God does this intentionally, because He knows I will wake up and pray, even if it is a simple prayer. So tonight, distant friend, I pray that the Lord surrounds you with His spirit. I pray that God protects you in whatever situation you are going through in this very specific time. I pray that if you do not know God, that you will turn to Him and acknowledge that He is the One true comforter, protector and One true God.

Baking Stuff

Carrot Raisin Bread - Done!
Apricot-Orange Bread - Done!
Banana Bread - Coming soon
Zucchini Bread - Coming soon

Recipes and reviews coming soon!

If you remember

Hello all out in blogland! If you remember, please pray for me. I am in the midst of making a decision about next semester that will afford me more money, health insurance, and being part of a community that I miss greatly. I contacted San Jose State to see if they will give me a couple of classes next semester. Even though I will still be teaching here in the Sac area, I need a couple more classes but have been unable to find them. The downside, traveling down to the Bay Area once a week again! Yikes!!! But, I only want this if it's God's will. That's it!!! Don't want it otherwise. So, needless to say, please pray that they ducks fall in a line - or not - and that it's VERY CLEAR to me what to do. :)

Uh, yeah!

Today I cut my foot (don't ask). I asked Shawn to get me a cotton square with some peroxide so I could clean it out after our short hike around a beautiful lake in the area (it started to bleed again). He brought me a cotton square as asked. What I discovered a few minutes later is that Shawn wasn't paying close attention to the bottle and in fact had brought me back a cotton square with alcohol. I found that out the hard way.

End of the semester grades.....

I just finished my grades for the end of the semester.....I graded a bit too easy. I knew I was going to do this when I started the semester, which is not necessarily a good thing. But, I think teaching and grading is an ongoing process. I hit about a 3.14 average across the class when I should be at 2.7 or so. This means that I should be at a C+ average, and I was at a B- average. I need to readjust my grading for the Fall. I think I was a little take aback by the lack of ethnicity - the change in location - the differences in schools etc.... I mean really, I am not here to trip anyone up by grading hard, I just could have been a bit more polar. I have had this happen only once before - and it seems to be linked directly with how well I get along with the class I am teaching. Terrible, I know! But, like I said, it's a process. :) There should have been a few more C's in the class. I made stupid mistakes like too much extra credit, and being too soft as an instructor. Now I know! :)

Outsider

Do you ever feel like an outsider in a situation you shouldn't feel like an outsider in?

Farmers Market

Today started out as a really good day. My mother-in-law, two sisters-in-law and two nieces headed down to Davis to go to the Farmers Market. We had a lot of fun shopping for fresh picked peaches, pluots, plumbs, nectarines, purple basil, and melons. We also picked up some baked goods, tamales, cheese curd (for Shawn) and something from Pakistan (I think) that was incredibly yummy! For lunch today I had one of my amazing nectarines and a pluot. Oh, so good!. I haven't been to a farmers market that good since we lived in the Bay Area. I am definitely going back again. I spent entirely too much money, but it was fun nonetheless. Us girls had a good time just talking, checking things out, sampling items, and generally just having a good time. I'll tell ya something - I have been incredibly blessed with a really cool family - on both sides. I am a lucky girl!

Britney Spears

Britney Spears reality must be incredibly difficult. I watched a couple of videos on TMZ.com of her simply trying to leave in her car, and it was madness. Literally, police were there trying to clear the area so she could pull her car out and drive away. In another video, her body guards were trying to get people to clear so the poor girl can get into her car - camera flashes constantly going off. It seems like she is never alone. Most people can go about their daily lives without inconvenience. Everywhere this poor girl goes, she is bombarded by people who want a glimpse of what she's doing. If she sucks on a lollipop, the world knows. If she gets a coffee drink, the world knows, if she stubs her toe it makes the evening news. I know that people say that she's a trainwreck and that her career is over (Hollywood hopes). Think about it - - - everyday, every minute of everyday she is under the microscope. Can trust virtually no one! And as far as a career, what is she going to do? Work in an office somewhere? The girl is in a huge transition period in her life - she's young, a fairly new mom, trying to keep up a career that she possibly doesn't want anymore - but honestly, what other choice does she have?

I watched those videos and I literally started to cry (and that's not an easy thing to evoke in me). Her reality is so far from my own, which, I am incredibly thankful for. I have choices! I can go to the grocery store with no one recognizing me. I can suck on a lollipop without a group of people following after me. I can get in my car without a swarm of people around me. I can leave a building without random people touching me constantly. Alas, she cannot. I don't blame her in the least for trying to figure things out. She is young, but her life is changing.....divorce, kids, career, family etc.... My heart goes out to her. I can't fathom the things she goes through constantly, and how much she probably feels like she is stuck in between a rock and a hard place when it comes to life. Hollywood is cruel. If she tries to fade into the background and live her life, there will always be a news story of what Britney Spears became. There will be no rest for her. And, who is it that created this in her life? Well, when you get catapulted into the spotlight at such a young age, you rarely think about what that's going to look like in the future. All you care about is becoming the next big sensation. That's what she was - the next big thing. But, when you take one step out of line, there are a million people waiting to judge your every move. Like I said, my hear goes out to that poor girl - and all of the young people in Hollywood. They know not, the full extent of what they are involved in....and when they finally do figure it out, it's too late. Their lives are wasted and they are discarded like a used paper cup. It makes me sad!

Strawberry-Lemon Marmalade - DONE!!!

The title says it all!

I'm fairly shallow

I know this sounds terrible, but I am willing to put myself out there in blogland anyway. On Sunday at church I was unable to concentrate on the message because the person giving the sermon was such a terrible public speaker. I ended up writing Shawn a couple of notes, reading my bible and sat there in general amazement that someone could get up in front of so many people and deliver a sermon like that. He even READ HIS PERSONAL STORIES from the myriad of pages he prepared. I cringed the whole time. I know, I know - I SUCK!!!! I should have tried to look past it - but come on people, this is what I do for a living. I'm just sayin'. I am going to try to work on it....my life is not my job, it's just something I do. Repeat 1,000 times and proceed.

Jam

Red Top Peach Jam.......DONE!

Blueberry Lime Jam........DONE and DONE!!!!!

We've made plans

I only have about 2.2 seconds before I need to get in the shower so we can go to church - but last night we spent quite a bit of time with Shawn's step-dad and brother (the youngest brother). They came over for a couple of reasons - the biggest though, to plan where our hot tub is going to go. Apparently we are cementing a large area of our backyard - as if there wasn't already a sea of cement back there. But, with Shawn's grand plans, we are going to end up with an amazing deck that leads right into our new hot tub, which should be delivered within the next few weeks. I will, of course post before, during and after pictures. :) Off to church!!!

Our Old House

I keep up with the housing market in our area, and just for kicks, the area we owned a townhouse in up until about a year and a half ago. So, here's the verdict: We purchased the townhouse in May of 2004 for $340,000.00 - - - - - - we sold it in November 2005, a mere 18 months later for $480,000.00 (and, before you ask, almost all of the profit was turned around and put back into this house - we do not have a huge chunck of money sitting in an off shore account or anything) - - - - - the lady who bought it from us sold it just a couple of months ago in June of 2007 for $458,000.00 - - - - - yikes!!! It always kind of sucks when you loose money on a property deal. I pray that she is doing ok financially.

Hmmmmm, it seems like we bought at the right time and sold at the right time. God is amazing isn't He? I have issues with trusting God - - - I have for years and years, and it only got worse after my father's suicide. But, here's the thing: no matter what, God is still faithful. How else do you explain that we only looked at houses 2 times before we found the townhouse we purchased in the Bay Area? I walked into the house, and 10 minutes later walked out, hugged Shawn and said, "buy that house for me, that's the one I want". I 'just knew' that the townhouse was the one. And, after we purchased it we found out that the person who was selling it had just lost her mother to cancer I think - but here's the kicker - she was a Teen Mania intern just a year or two prior. We bought our house from a Teen Mania intern. Very cool!

On top of that, about 18 months later I got EXTREMELY antsy living there and told Shawn that we needed to sell the townhouse because I was no longer comfortable there. Due to a set of, what I recognize now, as God ordained situations, we sold the townhouse for the price of $480k - a price which God had given me even before we had the house appraised and evaluated by our realtor.

THEN - it gets even better!!! We, at the same time was looking for houses in Placerville because we knew this is where God wanted us. I found a house that was in dire need of work, a task that Shawn and I thought we were up to at the time, and I knew that this was the house we needed to buy! And, one more time, God told me exactly how much we were going to pay for it. I don't want to get too much into detail here - but there is no way I could have known either of those prices....AND....when we went to purchase the house we are currently in, we offered something different than what we paid for. We offered $370k for it, but, NOW GET THIS, our realtor in Placerville calls me and says, "I know you said that $370k was approved, but I feel like we can get it for $365" - - - uhhhhhh, the price that God had told me a number of weeks before that. How cool is God????

All in all, looking back on it, God was the chess master in this situation. I can see looking back how faithful and amazingly coordinated His steps were for the purchase and sale of the townhouse and of course for the purchase of this home. I am amazed!!!! We bought at exactly the right time and sold at EXACTLY the right time in the Bay Area. Had we waited, like we were counseled to by a number of people, we would have lost quite a bit of money.

I find that God works in the most amazing of circumstances. God knew, of course, that this is something that would get my attention. I am sitting here hoping with everything within me that things work out here in Placerville for us. I need more work, Shawn needs to make more money at his job ventures, yet I still question whether everything is going to work out. Seeing our house purchase, sale and purchase, I would say it's gonna all work out just fine. But I have never been one to be satisfied by the unknown. I wonder if this is something I should work on??? Uh, yeah - I think so. I need to trust God, because ultimately He, and only He is the chess master in my life and in Shawn's life. Regardless of the moves He makes, even the unexpected ones, He is still in control. And, the best part about it is that He always wins the game. Check mate!

Overall

Here's what my observer said (she is a Dean of one of the departments at Sierra College): "High energy, thought provoking, comfortable classroom atmosphere. Instructor very approachable & creative; students all engaged. Great critical thinking provoked by student activities, Carol-Lynn GOOD model of excellent public speaking. Carol-Lynn did a terrific job of alternating student group work/projects with standard lectures; broke up lecture with questions to students. VERY GOOD instruction."

She only gave me one suggestion ..... it was about the overheads that I used in the lecture. She said that the font needed to be bigger and also mentioned that I should include less information on them. (This is the 'improvement' comment I always get when I am observed....yet I haven't changed a thing about them in a couple of years). Teee heeee heeee - my thinking here is that I should leave something crappy so they have something to critique....LOL! I will probably change them soon.

My students all gave me absolutely amazing comments for the qualitative part of the review ....and the quantitative part was really good.......all except for one student. There is ALWAYS one student in the class that absolutely HATES me - and it seems like this class is no different. I even told the class on the first day that they may not 'get me' right off the bat - but most will love me and one or two will absolutely hate me. Looks like I was right on!!!!!

I am off to bed now.

I know...

I know it's my job - - - but I don't wanna go tonight. I am tired. Tired of all the questions. Tired of lecturing. Tired of driving 2 hours a day. Tired of preparing. Tired of being 'on' for 3 hour every night. Just tired of it! Only one more week to go and then I'm done. I can't wait!!!!!



Quick update: When I got to work (school) today I received my review of intstructor performance. The person who observed me gave me an amazing review - - - she's a Dean and said that I.....me.....yep, that's right - was a GREAT instructor. My students rated me extrememly well and left me some of the nicest comments I have ever heard. Apparently I am a challenging instructor - but a really really really good one. :) I can sleep happy tonight!