A lack of...

Posts. Time. Excercise. Organization. Sleep. Energy. Coffee.

This week has been very exciting and very busy. Which is why there are no recent posts. I don't know what makes me feel worse; the fact that you, my readers, have not had anything to help you pass the time, or that I have not had a creative outlet for the past week. Probably both. Regardless, I am back. And I think I have my new schedule down so I may post more regularly.

So here is a quick update:

1. I started my new job on Wednesday and I love it! I could write a whole post about it, and probably will soon, so for now I will just say that I am very happy to be an EA at Axtell Park Middle School.
1.a. Thanks to my new job I got to buy some new clothes.
1.b. And a new lunch bag.
1.c. I think I will always love school.
2. I transformed some clip-on earrings into real earrings for my mom to wear to my brother's wedding (which is merely 20 days away).
2.a. They're really pretty.
2.b. And dangly.
2.c. And not boring. ;)
3. My parents are in town for tonight and tomorrow. They came down "on their way" home from visiting Lynk up at NDSU.
3.a. Sioux Falls is nowhere near "on the way" home.
3.b. I am glad they are here.
4. I have begun another wonderful project, but cannot really say much about it just yet.
4.a. As soon as it is complete I will be very eager and happy to tell you all about it.
4.b. Patience.
5. I am pretty sure my total weekly consumption of coffee was a single cup.
5.a. Not sufficient.
5.b. This week will definitely be a different story, or I may not make it to the weekend.
6. My parents brought with them a few essential items, including, but not limited to: my coffee maker, a bag of coffee, and my sewing machine.
6.a. Be prepared for some fun projects and some extra energy.
6.b. I am not sure how these missed my list the first time they brought stuff down, but I am definitely glad they made the trip this time!

My eyelids may not last much longer. They're being pretty defiant. And I don't think my mind can lie to them and tell them they're not tired much longer. I think I have written the majority of this post with my eyes closed (thank you Jr. High keyboarding class).

I hope all of you had a blessed week and that your weekend is going well! :)

A joyful run

I only have <4 minutes to blog, so here goes my attempt at speed blogging. If you come back later and the post is dramatically altered, please accept my perfectionism.



This is carved into the sidwalk in front of the house.
I love that not only is the home that I am living in old,
there are lots of fun things that hold history and
meaning to add to its beauty.



I went on a run today. It was a wonderful run. I honestly don't remember the last time I enjoyed my run that much. Actually, maybe I do. It was probably before I tore my ACL. That was a year and 3 months ago. I guess when I tore it I didn't really realize what that meant for my physical activity even post rehab and being cleared for all activity. It makes things lots less fun.



Leaves covered the sidewalks in places,
causing me to step on them as I ran
adding to the lovely fall-feeling of the day.



 

But not today.

Today my run was wonderful.

The sun was shining, but there was a crisp fall feeling to the day.

This run was not particularly great because of the time or distance I accomplished, just great because of the way it felt.

I acutally probably had a terrible time considering I slowed down to take a few necessary pictures along the way...

It was fun getting to run around the neighborhood and take in all of the fun old and some new homes along the way.

Hopefully the rest of my runs in this new neighborhood of mine will feel equally rewarding.

I really like brick homes. Just so all of you know.
So this one, with a fireplace, I could look at all day.





Doors open and close

Today I woke up with a list of things that needed to be done. I am not going to sit here and tell you that I did them all, but the most important things have been checked off the list, which makes me feel like I was somewhat productive inspite of the little nap I took in the early afternoon hours. If I hadn't stayed up until 3 "organizing" my room, I could have stayed awake.

Regardless, I did make some phone calls as well as recieve some phone calls that ended with me being offered and accepting a job. I was actually offered the job Tuesday, but I was working when they had called so I did not return the call until this morning. The first job offer was from Axtel Park Middle School for a position as an Education Assistant in cluster classrooms working with learning challenged students. I liked the job description and was very interested, but I felt that I needed to know for sure about the Memorial position I interviewed for on Monday. So I began by calling the principal there to see how far along they were in the hiring process. She informed me that I would know by the end of the day whether the position would be offered to me, which lead me to calling H.R. and asking them for the day to make sure I made the right decision. As I waited I sat in bed praying and apparently I was very comfortable because I fell asleep. When I woke up I had a voicemail offering me the E.A. position at Memorial working with Special Education students as well as mainstream kids. Once again, I sat and thought and prayed on what to do. Both positions were very desirable, same benefits, same hours, just a little different job description and clientell. Within an hour or so, H.R. called me back. I still wasn't really sure which job I was going to accept and which I was going to turn down, so I was hesitant to answer. When I did answer, though, I was told that the Memorial position had been cut. If that's not God closing a door for me, I really don't know what is! So, I accepted the position at Axtell Park. I am excited for the opportunity to grow and to learn personally as well as the wonderful opportunity to make an impact in these students' lives! I have already filled out all of the paperwork and by next week am expected to be in the classroom with the students!

On another note, I made some enchiladas for dinner tonight. At first I was skeptical of the sauce that accompanied them, but as I ate them it definitely grew on me. I think they turned out pretty well for a new recipe. I will post more on that tomorrow.

Also an exciting discovery is the fact that caramel apple suckers come in multiple flavors! Who knew?!? Not only is there the usual Green Apple flavor, now there are Red Macintosh and Golden Delicious! At life group I had a Golden Delicious and it was pretty tasty. I took home a Red Macintosh one and plan on testing it out tomorrow. I will let you know how I feel about it.

Anyway, just thought I would send out a little update. I hope everyone's week is going well; only two more days until the weekend! Take care!

The perfect cinnamon rolls

The recipe for the most delicious cinnamon rolls, the ones I made Saturday, is below. I put the recipe for the cream cheese frosting that I made to have with them rather than the original icing recipe. Like I said, I do not doubt it was good, I was simply in the mood for cream cheese frosting.

I hope you enjoy making these as much as I did! :)

Ingredients:

For the DOUGH-

1 Cup Milk

4 Tablespoons Butter

3-1/4 to 3-1/2 Cups of All-Purpose Flour

1 (.25 ounce) package Instant or 'Rapid-Rise' Yeast

1/4 Cup white sugar

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

1 Egg

For the FILLING-

1 Cup Brown Sugar

1-1/2 Tablespoons Ground Cinnamon

1/2 Cup Butter (1 stick), Softened

For the CREAM CHEESE FROSTING-

1/2 Cup Butter (1 stick), room temperature

8 Oz. Cream Cheese (1 package), room temperature

1 Teaspoon Vanilla

2-3 Cups Powdered Sugar

Method:

1.  Heat milk and 4 tablespoons butter in a microwave safe bowl on high for 1 minute and 30 seconds.  Stir and set aside.

2.  In a large mixing bowl, whisk together 2 cups flour, yeast, white sugar, and salt.  Once milk mixture is warm (not hot!), add it to the flour mixture along with the egg while the beater/paddle attachment is running.  Beat for about 1 minute or until well combined.  

3.  Switch to the dough hook.  Add remaining flour until dough is soft and sticky and barely leaves the sides of the bowl.  Continue to let the dough knead for 5 minutes or knead by hand on a floured surface for 5 minutes.  Allow dough to rest on a floured surface for 10 minutes.  

4.  Combine filling ingredients in a small bowl.

5.  Roll dough into a 12" by 14" rectangle.  Spread filling mixture over the dough using the back of a spoon or your fingers.  Roll the dough from the longer side and pinch edges closed.

6.  Cut the roll into 12 equal pieces and place them in a greased 9" by 13" pan.  Cover pan with a clean kitchen towel and let rolls rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes.

7.  Bake rolls at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until light golden brown. 

8.  While rolls are baking, mix the butter and cream cheese for the frosting together (with a mixer if you have one), until the mixture is smooth.

9.  Add in the vanilla and mix.

10.  Slowly add the powdered sugar while mixing until desired sweetness and texture are achieved (I used 2-1/2 Cups).

11.  Spread frosting over the warm rolls and enjoy!

p.s. My computer is being stubborn at the moment, I will fix the fact that there are no pictures of my cinnamon rolls on this page momentarily. Sorry.

Food. Football. Fun.

Many fun things have happened today. From beginning to end, the day was filled with wonderful flavors (either scents or tastes), wonderful people, and wonderful experiences.

My parents got in last night around 7:30 and came downtown to visit me, and eat, at Chedd's. After they were all done eating, Trey took them for a stroll along Phillips to look at some of the cool sculptures downtown. Luckily, I worked with one of my favorite and speedy co-closers and we were out of that place shortly after 9 o'clock. From downtown, we headed over to Falls Park to take a nice evening stroll by the Falls. It was fun to see them at night and to share the view with three lovely people made it even better. From the Falls we decided it was time to unload the trailer full of my stuff into the home I would soon call mine. We unloaded the whole trailer into my new room and called it quits for the night. But it was very comforting to know that all of my belongings would not be stolen from the trailer while we slept! By the time we got back to the apartment, sleep was just what we did. I set my alarm, brushed my teeth, told my parents and my boy goodnight, said my prayers and I was in dreamland.

At 7am, my alarm began to play. For those of you who don't know me, you should know, I am definitely not a morning person. I don't think I am particularly cranky in the morning, I'm just not alert. I am not really interested in much for the first half hour to hour that my eyes are open. And, to be completely honest, I may set my alarm with the best intentions of getting up to do something special, but when it goes off, I generally hit snooze at least twice; sometimes three or four (and by four I mean five) times at which point my alarm turns off altogether. It's almost like my alarm is giving up on me, really. This morning, however, I was out of bed at precisely 7:02am! I was in the kitchen and preparing to create some cinnamon rolls. Some cinnamon rolls that would make all other cinnamon rolls inferior for the rest of my existence on the earth. I also made sure the pot of coffee was beginning to brew; I wouldn't have made it very far if there wasn't a promise of some coffee this morning!

BEFORE

AFTER

YUM.

THEY WERE PERFECT!!!! Seriously, I am in love with this cinnamon roll recipe. Of course, it didn't hurt to have good company to not only eat them with, but to visit with while we waited (somewhat impatiently) for them to be done. The smell as those cinnamon rolls were baking was almost unbearable! I wish I could have boxed it up so I could smell it every day!

My source for the recipe is Miss Julie, a.k.a. "The Skinny Cook." She used a different icing than I did. Her's is an actual icing while I modified it to make it the cream cheese frosting. Either one would be lovely, I'm sure!

After we each ate our share of cinnamon rolls, we got ready for a 7th grade football game. Trey coaches a middle school team and we all thought it'd be fun to go watch and support the O'Gorman Knights! The best part, they were playing the Mitchell, Kernels! Not only is that exciting because I went to school in Mitchell, it is also exciting because Wade and Monica's son, Kevin is on the 7th grade team, so I got to see them there too! Trey's dad, and grandparents also enjoyed the game with us. It was a lot more fun watching the game with people I knew than it is watching by myself. I do like going though. Afterall, what is fall without some live football?

Mitchell got an early lead and was up 13-0 in the first half, but before we knew it, O'Gorman scored a touchdown followed by an extra point to bring the game back within a single touchdown. The Knights scored again to tie the game 13-13. Come the end of the 4th quarter, the score remained tied. This meant overtime! I promise, I have never been more excited about 7th grade football in my life. Each team received an additional 4 downs to see who would walk away with the "W."

The Kernels were up first. They managed to score a touchdown on the 3rd down, but couldn't muster out the extra point conversion. Then came the Knights. They ran a successful first play to gain 8 yards, which meant there were only two measly yards to the endzone. The Knights pushed through the line and got their touchdown! Finally, it came down to the extra point; the question in everyone's mind was, "can they get across that line again?" Sure enough, the Knights pulled it off and won the game by a single point!

I cheered. Everyone cheered. The band was even there and played the fight song. It put the cherry on top of the perfect ending. The boys were ecstatic. My whole being was filled with happiness. I like when that happens.

Wade and Monica had to leave before the end of the 'B' game, so I offered to let Kevin stay in Sioux Falls and hang out with us for the afternoon since he wasn't getting to go to the DWU game like he had planned. So we took Kevin under our wing for the afternoon. And MaryChar arrived just in time for lunch!

After the games were over, the 9 of us went out to eat at Old Chicago. It was wonderful. The people, the food, once again, I was filled with happy.

We all parted ways a little after lunch. Trey and Kevin went to the apartment to get cleaned up, MaryChar and Rich II went to Sam's Club. Dutch and Char headed back to Yankton. My parents and I went to the antique store.

I got a new lamp. It is really cool. I did not take any pictures of it, yet. I will though! It is too cool not to share!

Some relaxation time was much needed. The 'rents and I headed back to the apartment to rest with the two boys for a bit. We had all had a very busy morning, afterall.

Wade and Monica came back. And they brought more fun-loving people! Chane, Brandon and Andrew rode back from the DWU game with them, so they all came in to see the apartment and visit for a little while. This somehow morphed into them tasting some cinnamon rolls, playing football, and engaging in wonderful conversation! I am glad it did! MaryChar, Lynette and Rich II were next to arrive. And finally, Austin's plane landed in SF so he got a ride over to the apartment! So many wonderful people all in the same place at the same time. It brings a smile to my face just remembering the happy afternoon. We played catch out in the grass for a long period of time, all the while laughing, smiling, sharing stories and just absorbing everything that was fall about the day. It seriously could not have been designed more perfectly in my head.

Although all of this was fun, I knew there was still work to be done. As the crowd  dwindled, the party moved inside, and football was being displayed on the television, I decided it was probably time to go start organizing all of my bins and bags that consumed my room. First, we went to Walmart to pick up some of the essentials and then we grabbed a bite to eat with MaryChar, Nate, Trey, Mom, Dad and myself. We ate at Chevy's. It was very tasty! Shortly after our plates were cleared, Trey, my parents and myself headed over to the house to begin the organization process. And that's exactly what I have to keep reminding myself, it is a process.

Some people hate moving. I honestly can say I don't. I am not going to sit here and tell you I love it, because that would be a lie. But so far, I have not had a terrible moving experience. Granted, my  mom did all of the packing of my stuff this time around, so I probably didn't get the full experience... but I have packed my own stuff multiple times as well as helped others pack for a big move, and I have never despised it. I am excited about this move. I think it will be a fun little place to live (for now). I couldn't have done any of it without the help of my parents, though! They really are the greatest!

So, after this long, fun-filled day, I am ready for sleep.

I ate another cinnamon roll as a bed time snack (that's okay, right?), typed this blog and now it is off to the bedtime routine.

As I lay in bed to fall asleep I will be thinking of all of the wonderful people God has placed in my life and how blessed I am to share perfect days with them. The love I have for these people is beyond explanation.

I hope all of you had as joyful of a Saturday as I did. Goodnight.

Aloha, Friday!

So it's Friday.

So another week is over.

So I have to work in 40 minutes.

So my parents are coming for the weekend.

So they're helping me move into a new place.

So I spent the whole day cleaning (deep cleaning).

So I am planning on making some delicious cinnamon rolls.

So all of this stuff is actually really exciting and by putting two letters in front of every sentence I am making it seem like it's not a big deal.

It is a big deal.

All of it.

Well, maybe not the working part.

But the rest of it is definitely exciting.

I am excited.

I love my parents.

I also love cinnamon rolls.

And baking.

So making those in the morning will be excellent.

I better go so I can make sure that my personal shopper buys all of the necessary ingredients for my wonderful breakfast (to be).

Now, if I could just get him to stop singing Bieber...

My parents and I at my DWU graduation.

SO EXCITED TO SEE THEM!

I am thankful for the people who have graced my week with their presence as well as the ones who have filled my thoughts and prayers. God bless!

Apple Pie

I made an apple pie (finally) 100% from scratch.

I actually made it on Sunday night. I was just reluctant to post about it until I tried some of it. I didn't want to admit my failure. Turns out I didn't fail. The pie was acutally pretty great! Two things I would change- 1. the apples I used were not super crisp, so once they got into the pie, they were pretty mushy; 2. I prefer cinnamon ice cream with my apple pie and all we could find was some vanilla- it seems as though nobody sells cinnamon ice cream here. Schucks!

I followed this recipe from Martha Stewart. I am typing this post quickly as I prepare for bedtime prayers and some much needed sleep, so forgive me for being so brief.

This is what my pie looked like-

I didn't do the round cut outs because I was struggling to keep the crust together. I had to use a blender to make it rather than a food processor which I think caused my crust to be not as successful as Martha's (it has nothing to do with the fact that I do not get paid to bake and she does).

Anyway, just thought I'd share my first completely homemade pie with everyone- I will definitely be making another attempt soon!

Goodnight!

My Saturday (in photos)

This weekend I got to play with a camera. :) 

Not just any camera, though; a Nikon D3100. Trey, being the thoughtful man he is, brought it home for me from school. I usually get stuck taking pictures with my phone's camera or my beat-up digital, but not this weekend! So below are some pictures from Beaver Creek Nature Center, where we went hiking this Saturday evening. 

I know 40 pictures is a little excessive, but I had to choose from 200-ish. I got a little camera-happy.. Originally there were over 400...

 A fun little bench.

 I want to live there, in that little cottage home.

With this super awesome old door...

 Which has really big hinges...

(I was in love with the camera. We hadn't even gotten on the trails yet and I had over 100 pictures. Needless to say, Trey was a little put out with me. He just wanted to walk the trails..)

Finally, the entrance...

 I loved these black berries!

 There were lots of bees on these pretty white flowers.

 We got to cross this cool bridge.

We found this by the river; Trey thought it looked like a mask.

 A mossy fall-forest-floor.

Sunshine.

 I could have stayed here forever.

 My favorite scene of the day, for sure.

 So glad I had a great camera to capture this- I could never put into words how gorgeous this meadow was!

 We had to test out the timer before we left... Success!

...after multiple tries of course...

 Driving into the sunset.

 I liked this barn so much, I made Trey pull over so I could get a good picture.

 We climbed this huge hill...

 So we could see this...

October is welcomed with open arms!

I hope everyone else had a good first of the new month!