We heard back from the doctor about the ultrasound today. Everything was "normal." Yay!
I also had a great interview with Astra Zeneca today. Just before Christmas I put a resume in to be a pharma sales rep -- kind of a see if I can do this type of thing. I think it went well, and I hope that as opposed to going through the rigamarole of having a 2nd interview and such that I just get offered a position. Hopefully, at least I get a call back by Friday. :) It would be great to not even have to start the term teaching, though at this point I don't see how to get around it. I've dragged my feet by not doing my syllabi, well, I did a lot of the stuff at the end of last term, so I haven't looked at the stuff in two weeks or so -- and let me tell you, it feels great!!
Right now Chris and I seem to be playing "share the sinus infection". I get it and as it clears up, Chris starts to get sick. Then as Chris is starting to feel better I start to feel sick again. Joy. I hope this cycle doesn't continue for long.
We are also trying to get back into the swing of work and school (which is work for us these days). It is going interesting, but as I said, I really really really hope that I get the pharma sales rep position. So, if you're the praying kind you can put that on your list. It would honestly answer so many questions we have and put us on much more stable footing, and I wouldn't have to teach or make any more coffees. Though right now making coffee isn't the difficult part, it is putting up with the drama from having a staff mainly of women who while nice, smart and great, never really left high school in terms of how to deal with other people. I didn't like dealing with people like a high schooler when I was in high school, when I taught at high school, so why would I want to deal with it now? Plus, the cafe being associated with a church makes it ripe for political maneuvering. I don't want to play politics. I want to do my job and be done with it when I go home for the day.
Anyway, off to shower and bed.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Saturday, January 1, 2011
01/01/11
Well we rang in the new year while sleeping. We've both been kind of sick for a while now, so sleeping seemed like a more prudent option than going out and hanging with people. Both because we didn't want to get anyone else sick and because we were just flat tired. Our trip to OK went well for Christmas. We got back Wednesday night and I got to be at work at 530 on Thursday morning! Yay! Not really, it was quite difficult to get up, but I did manage to make it to work on time. I'm amazed at how much changes in the cafe in such a short amount of time. I really want someone with some business sense to take over soon. Either that or I can find a different job. I still have my interview on Jan 4, and look forward to it more every day. Pray for me (and us all) that I do well and get asked back for a 2nd interview, and eventually offered a job.
Thursday afternoon we also had our ultrasound. It went well, but we have a stubborn baby. I'm sure that no one is really surprised by this if you know both Chris and me. We didn't find out the gender, so everyone will have to wait until May. It was positioned against my spine, as apparently my spine and back may be easier to expand than my abdomen wall. While it was moving around a lot, it wasn't really going anywhere or turning like the tech wanted. She wanted to try and get a profile picture that is the classic ultrasound baby pic, but no dice. Our picture instead looks very alien-esque as it is the frontal picture showing eye sockets and such. I'll photoshop labels for the different parts and try and get the picture up soon. The heartbeat was strong and there were 2 arms and 2 legs, so at this point that's what we're happy about. Apparently my spine is also a piano for the baby which is why I keep having weird tingling down my legs and into my feet. We're going to see a chiropractor about the last bit, hopefully soon.
We are also starting the new year with a new recipe. I bought some gluten free oats a few weeks ago and there is this great recipe for peanut-butter, chocolate chip, oatmeal cookies. They are quite tasty and Chris thoroughly enjoys them. To introduce oats back into my diet is going to be a challenge, so we'll see how it goes and hopefully I don't get too ill. Since introducing oats alone is a bad idea, putting them with chocolate and peanut butter seems like a good alternative. I have to be careful about how many I have a day though, so hopefully Chris doesn't decide that they need to be his before I get a good re-introduction of oats into my system. The recipe for those of your curious:
Preheat oven to 350.
1/2 c butter
3/4 c brown sugar
3/4 c white sugar (I used vanilla sugar since it wasn't a large amount of sugar)
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 c peanut butter
3/4 c chocolate chips
3 c oats
cream butter and sugars. Add baking soda, eggs and vanilla. Add peanut butter. Add oats. Add the chocolate chips. Make sure to mix well after each addition (duh). Drop on cookie sheet and bake 10-14 minutes depending on sheet and oven. They'll be a dark honey brown color when ready to pull out. Cool. Enjoy. Made 4 dozen.
I did alter the original recipe some when I made this, and all the alterations are in the recipe above, so don't worry about the original as far as I'm concerned. This recipe is easily done as gluten free or not gluten free depending on the ingredients used. I was also a bit concerned about the lack of a binder (like a gum or gelatin) but it was okay because of the eggs and peanut butter. Also the oatmeal helps soak up some of the moisture as they cook which helps keep them from spreading out too much I think.
And since they are all now out of the oven I can say I've successfully made all the recipes I've tried this year. :)
I hope that everyone else has a great New Year's Day after recovering from your New Year's Eve. I also hope that this year brings lots of blessings for you. I also hope that you do have an eventful year, just that the year is a good eventful, or at least the good events out number the bad events.
Thursday afternoon we also had our ultrasound. It went well, but we have a stubborn baby. I'm sure that no one is really surprised by this if you know both Chris and me. We didn't find out the gender, so everyone will have to wait until May. It was positioned against my spine, as apparently my spine and back may be easier to expand than my abdomen wall. While it was moving around a lot, it wasn't really going anywhere or turning like the tech wanted. She wanted to try and get a profile picture that is the classic ultrasound baby pic, but no dice. Our picture instead looks very alien-esque as it is the frontal picture showing eye sockets and such. I'll photoshop labels for the different parts and try and get the picture up soon. The heartbeat was strong and there were 2 arms and 2 legs, so at this point that's what we're happy about. Apparently my spine is also a piano for the baby which is why I keep having weird tingling down my legs and into my feet. We're going to see a chiropractor about the last bit, hopefully soon.
We are also starting the new year with a new recipe. I bought some gluten free oats a few weeks ago and there is this great recipe for peanut-butter, chocolate chip, oatmeal cookies. They are quite tasty and Chris thoroughly enjoys them. To introduce oats back into my diet is going to be a challenge, so we'll see how it goes and hopefully I don't get too ill. Since introducing oats alone is a bad idea, putting them with chocolate and peanut butter seems like a good alternative. I have to be careful about how many I have a day though, so hopefully Chris doesn't decide that they need to be his before I get a good re-introduction of oats into my system. The recipe for those of your curious:
Preheat oven to 350.
1/2 c butter
3/4 c brown sugar
3/4 c white sugar (I used vanilla sugar since it wasn't a large amount of sugar)
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 c peanut butter
3/4 c chocolate chips
3 c oats
cream butter and sugars. Add baking soda, eggs and vanilla. Add peanut butter. Add oats. Add the chocolate chips. Make sure to mix well after each addition (duh). Drop on cookie sheet and bake 10-14 minutes depending on sheet and oven. They'll be a dark honey brown color when ready to pull out. Cool. Enjoy. Made 4 dozen.
I did alter the original recipe some when I made this, and all the alterations are in the recipe above, so don't worry about the original as far as I'm concerned. This recipe is easily done as gluten free or not gluten free depending on the ingredients used. I was also a bit concerned about the lack of a binder (like a gum or gelatin) but it was okay because of the eggs and peanut butter. Also the oatmeal helps soak up some of the moisture as they cook which helps keep them from spreading out too much I think.
And since they are all now out of the oven I can say I've successfully made all the recipes I've tried this year. :)
I hope that everyone else has a great New Year's Day after recovering from your New Year's Eve. I also hope that this year brings lots of blessings for you. I also hope that you do have an eventful year, just that the year is a good eventful, or at least the good events out number the bad events.
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Happy Christmas!
Well, we're now in the beautiful southern state of Oklahoma. The locals (i.e. family) keep trying to convince us that 30 degrees is cold, and we keep telling them that it is a heat wave for us. Maybe we'll start listening to them though as we're both starting to feel the colds that are going around. I've been having trouble with congestion for about a week, while Chris seems to have it starting. Oh joy.
We made it down to OK with relatively little problems. We had the typical construction zones and the Illinois State Police shut down the highway right outside of the Joliet refinery. Who knew that a tandem trailer dropping the second trailer in front of an oil refinery could cause such havoq? I mean, they had the bomb squad out, about every highway patrol there, the hazmat team...and we got diverted around a really neat lake. We got to watch a very pretty sunset at 4:15 pm as the sun came through the clouds and washed over the snow. I've got a few pics on my phone that I'll add once we get back to Chicago later this week.
Since it has been a few weeks I'll catch everyone up --
the term ended well for me at Westwood. I successfully managed to get most of my students through earth science despite their best efforts of not passing. I also managed to successfully get everyone through my physical science course, though those students honestly tried to fail. I had one student go on and on about how I needed to give everyone the 10% of the grade from the quizzes that everyone (save one student who actually did the homework) failed. I figured that since I let them use the homework they did on the quizzes taken directly from the homework that it was their choice to fail that 10% because I honestly couldn't have made it any easier. They have asked me to teach there again, and at this point it looks like I'll be teaching a section of Earth Science and a section of Physical Science starting in January. Hopefully though I'll get a new job and be able to quit both the cafe and Westwood. Keep praying that it happens because I have an interview on January 4. Hopefully I'll get a second interview and then offered a position. :)
Chris finished up the term well. He managed to get all of his stuff done in a timely manner, which is good seeing as the university is starting a remodel of one of his rooms. He then had all of last week off (yay! for not having to be at the train station at 430am) and has all of this week off. They have closed the campus in all reality for this week, so he really couldn't go to work if he wanted to.
Christmas has been good for us. It is nice to see family, though everyone seems a bit disappointed that I'm not quite sporting a sizable baby bump yet. As opposed to looking incredibly skinny I just look like I've put on a few pounds. I've got a few pounds yet to put on, that the doctors and us are trying to work on putting on. We did go to the OB on Tuesday last, and the heartbeat was nice and strong. We go for the ultrasound this coming Thursday, so we'll see what comes of that. We're really looking for a healthy baby, not sure about the gender thing yet. Back to family though, everyone is quite excited for us, which is fun. Having not seen everyone for about a year though makes this time here sweet. We miss those we've lost this past year (or two) and are excited about the new additions to the families through marriages and babies. Families are truly amazing units of people, and ours are definitely blessings. Anyway, we're now ready to start our day with more family and maybe do some baking and cooking (like that's unusual for us). Yay Braums!!
We made it down to OK with relatively little problems. We had the typical construction zones and the Illinois State Police shut down the highway right outside of the Joliet refinery. Who knew that a tandem trailer dropping the second trailer in front of an oil refinery could cause such havoq? I mean, they had the bomb squad out, about every highway patrol there, the hazmat team...and we got diverted around a really neat lake. We got to watch a very pretty sunset at 4:15 pm as the sun came through the clouds and washed over the snow. I've got a few pics on my phone that I'll add once we get back to Chicago later this week.
Since it has been a few weeks I'll catch everyone up --
the term ended well for me at Westwood. I successfully managed to get most of my students through earth science despite their best efforts of not passing. I also managed to successfully get everyone through my physical science course, though those students honestly tried to fail. I had one student go on and on about how I needed to give everyone the 10% of the grade from the quizzes that everyone (save one student who actually did the homework) failed. I figured that since I let them use the homework they did on the quizzes taken directly from the homework that it was their choice to fail that 10% because I honestly couldn't have made it any easier. They have asked me to teach there again, and at this point it looks like I'll be teaching a section of Earth Science and a section of Physical Science starting in January. Hopefully though I'll get a new job and be able to quit both the cafe and Westwood. Keep praying that it happens because I have an interview on January 4. Hopefully I'll get a second interview and then offered a position. :)
Chris finished up the term well. He managed to get all of his stuff done in a timely manner, which is good seeing as the university is starting a remodel of one of his rooms. He then had all of last week off (yay! for not having to be at the train station at 430am) and has all of this week off. They have closed the campus in all reality for this week, so he really couldn't go to work if he wanted to.
Christmas has been good for us. It is nice to see family, though everyone seems a bit disappointed that I'm not quite sporting a sizable baby bump yet. As opposed to looking incredibly skinny I just look like I've put on a few pounds. I've got a few pounds yet to put on, that the doctors and us are trying to work on putting on. We did go to the OB on Tuesday last, and the heartbeat was nice and strong. We go for the ultrasound this coming Thursday, so we'll see what comes of that. We're really looking for a healthy baby, not sure about the gender thing yet. Back to family though, everyone is quite excited for us, which is fun. Having not seen everyone for about a year though makes this time here sweet. We miss those we've lost this past year (or two) and are excited about the new additions to the families through marriages and babies. Families are truly amazing units of people, and ours are definitely blessings. Anyway, we're now ready to start our day with more family and maybe do some baking and cooking (like that's unusual for us). Yay Braums!!
Friday, December 10, 2010
Well, the term is basically over for both Chris and me. Chris has been doing clean up of the labs all week, and has been successful. He hasn't killed either of his minions, and comes home more relaxed for the most part. I'm slowly getting to the point where all my grades (except the finals) are done. I'm getting sick of students asking what they can do to "not fail" my class -- when I tell them that they should have done the work all term, they just look at me. I think I'm going to tell them, "well I'd really like some blue diamonds set in platinum for Christmas" just to see what kind of response I'd get. I think most of my students would laugh a lot, but there would be a few who took me seriously, and I'd probably get in trouble.
The cafe is going well. We're slowly picking up business. We tend to have busy enough Thursdays that I've threatened to not go in until after 1 simply so I don't have to deal with the girls. There are way too many females working at the cafe though, and life is hitting most of us hard. It isn't too much fun, so I simply try to go, get my stuff done, and then leave.
I joined the YMCA here last week so that I can start swimming. Having been a graduate student I got to use the UIC pool during the winters, and realized that I really miss swimming when it is cold outside. So I've now swam several times and like getting back in the water. I think I'll do some more cross training though with riding stationary bikes and whatnot -- i'm just not brave enough to go bike riding when we've got snow on the ground.
We did get snow this week -- twice! They've had to plow both times, so we've gotten at least 2 inches both times. We're supposed to get about 6 inches this weekend depending on the lake effect snow that happens. We made a snowman last Saturday -- Chris made the bottom, I made the middle and top. So, its part Chris, part Carolyn & 100% a baby snowman. It was small enough that I could carry it up and perch it on our balcony.
Last Sunday we also went to the MSI for our yearly Christmas tree visit. The Museum also has the Jim Henson muppets exhibit. It was really neat because they also had a gingerbread MSI with all the Sesame Street characters outside it. The main tree in the rotunda was also decorated with ornaments to look like different muppets. We'll go back soon and see the special exhibit, we've just got a few friends who'd like to go, so we're waiting on them. Not sure how much longer I'm willing to wait. Here is a picture of Big Bird at the MSI and Chris with the Kenya tree.
The cafe is going well. We're slowly picking up business. We tend to have busy enough Thursdays that I've threatened to not go in until after 1 simply so I don't have to deal with the girls. There are way too many females working at the cafe though, and life is hitting most of us hard. It isn't too much fun, so I simply try to go, get my stuff done, and then leave.
I joined the YMCA here last week so that I can start swimming. Having been a graduate student I got to use the UIC pool during the winters, and realized that I really miss swimming when it is cold outside. So I've now swam several times and like getting back in the water. I think I'll do some more cross training though with riding stationary bikes and whatnot -- i'm just not brave enough to go bike riding when we've got snow on the ground.
We did get snow this week -- twice! They've had to plow both times, so we've gotten at least 2 inches both times. We're supposed to get about 6 inches this weekend depending on the lake effect snow that happens. We made a snowman last Saturday -- Chris made the bottom, I made the middle and top. So, its part Chris, part Carolyn & 100% a baby snowman. It was small enough that I could carry it up and perch it on our balcony.
Last Sunday we also went to the MSI for our yearly Christmas tree visit. The Museum also has the Jim Henson muppets exhibit. It was really neat because they also had a gingerbread MSI with all the Sesame Street characters outside it. The main tree in the rotunda was also decorated with ornaments to look like different muppets. We'll go back soon and see the special exhibit, we've just got a few friends who'd like to go, so we're waiting on them. Not sure how much longer I'm willing to wait. Here is a picture of Big Bird at the MSI and Chris with the Kenya tree.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Random Lack of Motivation
I'm sitting at a computer trying to come up with a powerpoint for my physical science class tomorrow. It is over earth science stuff so it should theoretically be easier than making pie, or cinnamon rolls in my case as pie is ridiculously easy for me these days. I have less than no motivation to actually do it though. It doesn't help that my class refuses to do anything I say and I'm quite sick of putting energy that I simply don't have into them. For example, I told them the first day that they would have homework assignments that they needed to do. I would not collect the homework assignments, but there would be quizzes and all quizzes would be direct homework problems. Plus if they had done the homework, they could have the homework out while they took the quiz and USE their homework to help them on the quiz. I have 2 of my 20 students who have caught on. They regularly get 85% or above, while the rest don't even get 10%. The "rest" are also curious about how to improve their grades in my class. We have 5 class meetings left and they are just now wondering what to do to improve their grades? One of the girls who regularly does the homework has actually started asking her classmates why they don't do it since they keep failing the quizzes. You know it is bad when the students are asking other students why they are being stupid.
The other really hard thing about coming up with this presentation is that approximately 1/3rd of the students have had or are taking earth science with me. We spend three weeks in Earth Science talking about rocks, so spending any time at all with rocks in physical science seems like a complete waste of time to me. They didn't learn the material in the three weeks that we spent on the material in Earth Science so why would I expect them to learn the material in the one day physical science stuff? I suppose I'm just super cynical right now, but this really isn't rocket science.
Anyway, I should go start because I know that the quicker I get started the sooner I'll be done. Maybe I'll be done and go to my small group tonight. This might be some motivation if I felt some deep connection with them, but I'm quite disappointed as of late because I don't really. We've been meeting as a small group for a bit over a year now and neither Chris nor I really feel "more connected" to them. We'll see where this leads, but it doesn't help my motivation to only go to sleep and forget to do anything else. I'm almost curious what my physical science class would do if I turned up tomorrow and simply told them that I forgot to prepare anything for class.
Well, off to start banging my head against a wall to see which is actually a harder substance.
The other really hard thing about coming up with this presentation is that approximately 1/3rd of the students have had or are taking earth science with me. We spend three weeks in Earth Science talking about rocks, so spending any time at all with rocks in physical science seems like a complete waste of time to me. They didn't learn the material in the three weeks that we spent on the material in Earth Science so why would I expect them to learn the material in the one day physical science stuff? I suppose I'm just super cynical right now, but this really isn't rocket science.
Anyway, I should go start because I know that the quicker I get started the sooner I'll be done. Maybe I'll be done and go to my small group tonight. This might be some motivation if I felt some deep connection with them, but I'm quite disappointed as of late because I don't really. We've been meeting as a small group for a bit over a year now and neither Chris nor I really feel "more connected" to them. We'll see where this leads, but it doesn't help my motivation to only go to sleep and forget to do anything else. I'm almost curious what my physical science class would do if I turned up tomorrow and simply told them that I forgot to prepare anything for class.
Well, off to start banging my head against a wall to see which is actually a harder substance.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Carolyn Free Cinnamon Rolls
Update on the mac-n-cheese: no one could really tell it was made with rice pasta. The only thing anyone said that was bad: maybe make it with bacon in it next time. Oh well. Can't be perfect, but if it was that close I will be making it again.
Today I made cinnamon rolls successfully. I made them back in March once. And I sort of have made them a few more times, but they always end up being more cinnamon struessel muffins of some sort rather than cinnamon rolls. After working in the cafe and selling everyone plate sized cinnamon rolls that smell amazing, I've decided that I need to make cinnamon rolls again. I think I've figured out the problem. The really cool thing is that they'd be easy to do dairy free, as well as the everything free that they are starting out.
Recipe:
1.5 C Rice flour
1 C Tapioca flour
0.5 C Yuca flour
1 tsp gum
1/8 tsp gelatin
2 TBSP sugar (i used vanilla sugar since I thought it'd be interesting)
1 TBSP baking powder
3 eggs
1/4 C oil (or butter if you don't want to do dairy free. Butter works best)
Add TBSP of milk until moist like a pie crust dough (I used rice milk and it turned out really well)
For the center:
6 TBSP Butter
1 C sugar
2 TBSP cinnamon
For the icing:
2 C powdered sugar
3 TBSP vanilla
2 TBSP Milk
For the dough -- add ingredients in order making sure to mix well after each liquid addition. When done then roll out dough on a floured surface (or parchment paper since I don't like to use excess flour that costs $3/lb). Mix the center ingredients together and then spread out on the flat dough. Roll to create a log. Cut into pieces using a sharp knife. BAKE IN A MUFFIN TIN at 350 for ~10 minutes. (The muffin tin helps keep them together as well as make them into muffins if things haven't gone well.) Ice when you take them out, or when you are ready to eat them.
Today I made cinnamon rolls successfully. I made them back in March once. And I sort of have made them a few more times, but they always end up being more cinnamon struessel muffins of some sort rather than cinnamon rolls. After working in the cafe and selling everyone plate sized cinnamon rolls that smell amazing, I've decided that I need to make cinnamon rolls again. I think I've figured out the problem. The really cool thing is that they'd be easy to do dairy free, as well as the everything free that they are starting out.
Recipe:
1.5 C Rice flour
1 C Tapioca flour
0.5 C Yuca flour
1 tsp gum
1/8 tsp gelatin
2 TBSP sugar (i used vanilla sugar since I thought it'd be interesting)
1 TBSP baking powder
3 eggs
1/4 C oil (or butter if you don't want to do dairy free. Butter works best)
Add TBSP of milk until moist like a pie crust dough (I used rice milk and it turned out really well)
For the center:
6 TBSP Butter
1 C sugar
2 TBSP cinnamon
For the icing:
2 C powdered sugar
3 TBSP vanilla
2 TBSP Milk
For the dough -- add ingredients in order making sure to mix well after each liquid addition. When done then roll out dough on a floured surface (or parchment paper since I don't like to use excess flour that costs $3/lb). Mix the center ingredients together and then spread out on the flat dough. Roll to create a log. Cut into pieces using a sharp knife. BAKE IN A MUFFIN TIN at 350 for ~10 minutes. (The muffin tin helps keep them together as well as make them into muffins if things haven't gone well.) Ice when you take them out, or when you are ready to eat them.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Mac and Cheese
I believe that this winter I'm going to get fat, despite the fact that I'm working on growing a parasite. I'm kind of supposed to, but I may go a bit overboard. Tonight I'm attempting to make a mac'n'cheese bake thing. Chris liked how I started the sauce -- with 2/3rds a stick of butter melting to sautee the onion. Then I added some milk and LOTS of cheese. I added some Muenster, Brie, and white cheddar cheeses. I purposely made it kind of runny since I didn't cook the pasta before pouring the cheese sauce over them and putting them in the oven for 45 minutes. We're about 10 minutes away now, and it looks tasty. I just took the cover off so the cheddar I topped it with can brown a little.
I got the idea from a magazine today that a lady at work as reading. It had all these "roots" in it, and so I vaguely remembered it. I've been wanting to try making my own mac'n'cheese for a while now though, so that kind of gave me the extra push that I needed to step out and do it. :)
So far this week has been good, and it was SHORT! I have to work Friday and Saturday, but that's okay. Chris doesn't so we only have to get up kind of early on Friday morning, and we'll get to sleep in until 430 or 445, so that's almost an extra hour of sleep by not having to get Chris to the train. Hopefully the cafe will pick up the pace some. It was quite dead today, as in we got a total of about 20 people in the seven hours we were open. Oh well, we'll have slow days. Overall the cafe business is picking up, so that's helpful.
I got the idea from a magazine today that a lady at work as reading. It had all these "roots" in it, and so I vaguely remembered it. I've been wanting to try making my own mac'n'cheese for a while now though, so that kind of gave me the extra push that I needed to step out and do it. :)
So far this week has been good, and it was SHORT! I have to work Friday and Saturday, but that's okay. Chris doesn't so we only have to get up kind of early on Friday morning, and we'll get to sleep in until 430 or 445, so that's almost an extra hour of sleep by not having to get Chris to the train. Hopefully the cafe will pick up the pace some. It was quite dead today, as in we got a total of about 20 people in the seven hours we were open. Oh well, we'll have slow days. Overall the cafe business is picking up, so that's helpful.
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