New Blog

Goodbye Blogger! I'm moving to Wordpress for cuter layouts and improvements I have yet to understand.

Please update my web address in your blog reader: http://mrsdexter.wordpress.com/.

Poor Fitz!

Fitz has had weird toenails ever since we got him. I worried about them breaking, but the vets never said anything, so I just told myself I was worrying too much.

Today, Dexter and I were getting ready to leave on our anniversary trip to Chicago when Fitz yelped and we saw that one of his nails had broken off and the "quick" (inside) was exposed. We took him to a vet and helped hold him while the vet tech clipped the nail super short. He gave a miserable howl through the muzzle they put on him. I was thankful to be holding his back end because apparently it was not pretty up front.

Now he has a bandaged foot, pain medication, anti-biotics, and a mommy and daddy who are leaving him for 2 days. His mommy feels really bad about that. I'm hoping that his pain pills make him sleepy so he'll sleep away the time that Keriann is at work. Poor Fitz!

For the toast-lovers in my life

"Life as we know it and perhaps love itself is virtually impossible without the toaster. Toast, which is to say warm, delicious bread, slightly crisp where it wasn't to begin with, is more than anything the food of deep affection. Symbolic and simple. Unassuming, unpretentious, unbearably kind. The last thing one can eat before they cannot stand food at all. The first thing one considers when hunger returns. It requires almost no attention on the part of the person offering it, and is, for many people, the stuff life is made of."

-Susan Wiegand, Cooking as Courtship

Recent Events

October 2008: Started looking for a job.

December 2008: Graduated from college.

January 2009: Started subbing.

January - May 2009: Scoured the internet for ESL jobs in Iowa.

March - April 2009: Applied for ESL jobs around Des Moines and Iowa City.

May 4, 2009: Got a call to interview at West in IC. Was shocked to get this interview and no others since I have more elementary experience.

May 8, 2009: Interviewed at West with 4 fantastic teachers/administrators. Wore my fabulous interview suit thanks to mom and dad. Slouched. Wondered, "Why did I just say that?" as I answered questions. Was told the hiring process should be wrapped up by next week. Told friends and family, "If I am offered this job, it's all God working."

May 14, 2009: Missed a call from the West administrator while subbing. Called her back and told her all the times my kids would be out of the room. Called her afterschool. Called Dexter. Called my dad to learn about what one does when one is offered a fancy grown-up job. Convinced myself that she might just have a follow-up questions or be polite enough to tell me the position had been filled. Felt like puking.

May 15, 2009: Missed a call from the same West administrator while subbing in the same classroom. Breathed deeply and prayed I'd figure out what she wanted before the weekend. Called her back. Was offered the job. Tried not to pee my pants or seem to excited. Asked for the weekend to give her a final answer.

May 15-18, 2009: Prayed like a maniac.

May 18, 2009: Accepted the job. Thought, "Maybe we should move over there."

May 18-June 8, 2009: Thought about moving. Weighed rent vs. buy. Thought, "There is no way we would get approved for a mortgage."

June 9, 2009: Realized most leases begin in less than 2 months and decided to act. Went to the bank to find out about mortgage possibilities. Almost started laughing when banker told us we were preapproved. Noticed banker seemed much more at ease after finding this out. Celebrated by taking Fitz to Dairy Queen. (We celebrate EVERYTHING with DQ this summer. Things like, "It's nice out," or "Yay, we're not at work anymore.") Drove around westside IC and looked at homes from the car window. Picked up fliers for homes and threw them in the backseat when we realized how much they were. Called about an FSBO condo. Saw it that day. It was beautiful, but didn't have a good place for puppy potties.

June 14, 2009: Got a tip about an almost-on-the-market condo! Thanks, SV!

June 15, 2009: Saw the condo. Wasn't big on the light pergo floors or the white painted cabinets. Wasn't big on it being much more expensive than others in the neighborhood. Realized it was actually a bargain since it was uncommonly large for the neighborhood. Thought, "What do we do?!"

June 16, 2009: Decided we needed a realtor.

June 18, 2009: Met realtor. Chose homes to see.

June 18-22, 2009: Nearly hyperventilated in anticipation of seeing houses. Saw them. Some were easily rejected. Was faced with the decision: like-it/cheaper/smaller vs. like-it/expensiver/bigger. Made an offer on Bigger. Spent the evening upstairs where our phones get reception waiting for a call. Realized at 9:45 that we'd missed a call at 8:30. Nearly hyperventilated again.

June 23, 2009: Received counter offer. Was irritated. Calmed down. Made counter-counter offer. Received and accepted counter-counter-counter offer.

June 23, 2009 - Present: Doubted decision. Didn't matter since acceptance was legally binding! Regained faith in decision. Repeat. Thought, "Something must be done about those white cabinets!" Thought, "Our lovely walkout basement will be so empty!" Thought, "DISHWASHER!" Thought, "My rug will look nice on the light pergo." Started pondering how to decorate in all my (mental) freetime.

Tomorrow: Inspection and radon test.

Pedal for Nepal

A friend of mine has an uncle riding RAGBRAI for a good cause. "Uncle John" and his two friends are raising money for the Nepal Home for Children, a Christian missionary organization that provides vocational training for children in Nepal. They hope to find 2,000 people to donate a penny per mile ($.01 x 500 = $5) so that they can raise a total of $10,000.

If you're interested in giving and/or praying, here is a link to my friend's blog where you can find more information. Here's the link to the actual site of Pedal for Nepal.

Delicious Dinner!

When I suggested foregoing the peanutbutter-chocolate stuffed french toast that was on the meal schedule for last night so that we could make strawberry-rhubarb crisp for dessert, I just about had a mutiny on my hands. And the mutineers had a point--it was pretty good. You do need a tall glass of milk/tea/something else to go along with it, otherwise you may choke every few bites because your esophogas is coated in peanutbutter. We didn't make the jam syrup because I'm not a fruit-chocolate person (except about these), we left off the whip, and used smashed up full sized chocolate chips.

What surprised me most about dinner, however, was how good the "good-for-you huevos rancheros" were. Depending on how crisp you get your tortillas (the crispness of mine was determined by how many other things I was doing at the time that each particular tortilla was on the pan), you can eat it like a taco or like you're eating the plate your meal came on. I think we probably put on more cheese than the recipe called for, but we didn't use sour cream, so I think it was still pretty healthy. I didn't make the salsa from scratch like the recipe said because I was tired and because I bought a large vat of salsa the other day that I need to use up before it goes bad.

Here's what our huevos rancheros looked like--not as pretty as Rachael's, but this is actually food and not food-photo props. (Seriously, my cooked canned black beans never look shiny and cute. Maybe it's because I overcook them or because I bought them at ALDI.)

Menu Planning Wednesday

Since I graduated, I've been doing a really bad job of meal planning. This has resulted in too many trips to the store, too much money spent, too much eating out, too much convenience food, and too little nutrition. We joined a CSA with another couple, and since I'll need to plan meals that include whatever comes in my box each week. I follow this blog:

and every Monday, or Sunday night, she posts her meal plan for the week and uses a widget (am I using that word correctly) so that her readers can upload links to their own blogs. So, her website is a source of about 300 (or more) meal plans every week.

We get our box from the CSA on Wednesday nights, and since grocery ads come out on Wednesdays, I decided that I'll be participating in Menu Planning Wednesday throughout the summer. This was my first week, and this is what I came up with. I'm not planning to post all the recipes, but if something looks interesting, let me know!

Thursday: Stir-fry bok choi (from CSA), carrots, onion, edamame, soba noodles; canned pineapple

Friday: Boca burgers, salad (lettuce from CSA) with homemade vegetarian caesar dressing (no anchovies), beer bread

Saturday & Sunday: Eating on the road on the way to Des Moines--probably Subway or PB&honey sandwiches

Monday: Tofu nuggets, scalloped potatoes, salad

Tuesday: Peanutbutter-chocolate stuffed french toast, eggs, fruit

Wednesday: Leftovers OR if there aren't enough, we'll make what I planned for Saturday before I knew we were leaving (a healthified version of huevos rancheros, iced raisin biscuits, and a veggie purchased from the farmer's market)

We're also making yogurt in the crockpot for breakfast, "healthy" oatmeal cookies for snacks, and some quinoa and black bean salad for lunches.

Did I mention that my little sister is staying with us for a few weeks and she does dishes? That's awesome.