Pressing On

Today I started really getting ready to leave.

Well that's how my day started.

I got up, found out that Reagan's flight had been canceled (wha?!) so I talked to her and got that squared away (all good now) and got out of bed. Sat down for my morning bowl of cereal while I watched tv and continued following the Casey Anthony Trial (I'm invested in this thing now, no backing out) and then went to get the clothes out of the washer/drier from the night before.

I had done about 4-5 loads of laundry yesterday. My goal was to have everything washed before I left. Well...the washer/drier quit working. It was busted. I unplugged it. Flipped the breaker. Got nothing.

Before I called the leasing office to put in a maintenance request I wanted to make sure the apartment looked nice enough to have someone come in. In other words get the underwear off the kitchen table and put up all the laundry I'd done up...well except the last load that quit before it was dry so that load is hanging in the doorway to the closet.

But I didn't let it stop me, I was hugely productive today.

I finished off cleaning the apartment, called the leasing office, had lunch and watched the trial, after it was over, I took care of our rental insurance (ya know...since we have 2 months left), went to the leasing office and let them know we'd be moving out at the end of July, then went to WalMart and had my oil changed, all my fluids checked, had my tires checked, and bought the rest of the snacks for the trip.

Came back and started baking. Made delicious fudgey brownies, and delicious chocolate chip cookies. After that I called it quits in the kitchen for the night (might I add that the kitchen is still clean after all the baking!?)

So I sit down to eat my measly smart one dinner (I wanted spaghetti but didn't feel like dirtying up dishes and space was limited with all the baking.) After I was about halfway through my measly smart one I reached for something and in the process caught my fork and catapulted the little bowl, food and all, all over the place. On the floor, on myself, on the couch...

I have made it about 2 days without loosing it, today I felt one coming on...I've been busy all day and have successfully fought the urge to curl into a ball and cry for a bit...but this...this broke me.

I had a nice cry and then sucked it up and started working on my sister's owl hat.

I honestly might let myself cry a bit more later just to get it all out of my system. It's not just missing Lincoln that's doing it...it's that I'm going to miss our apartment, California in general, and having our own space...

Alright, moving on. Goodnight.

I'm Not Whining!

I finally got off the couch today!

Don't get me wrong, I've been hugely productive the past couple of days...just the wrong kind of productive. That kind of productive where you do anything but what you're supposed to do.

Since I dropped Lincoln off on base I have made two elf hats, a lace hat with a flower, a bear hat with no pattern, and finished a square for a blanket I've been working on.





So today I watched the game, watched the Casey Anthony trial, and was texting a bagillion people during my afternoon and swore to myself I wouldn't start another project until I cleaned the house. My reward for myself would be that I get to make this hat tonight after I finished.

So I finally got off the couch after the trial wrapped up for the day and started in the bathroom which is always the first room I clean when I clean b/c it's easy. Anything in there probably belongs there so it just needs to be put up, everything gets wiped down, washed, etc and when you're done it sparkles and shines.

That's where I am right now...After being in the bathroom for so long with so many fumes I needed to escape so here I am, taking a break and coming down off the fume high.

There's a load of towels in the drier, more laundry waiting to go in, dishes soaking in the sink, trash ready to be taken out, and I watered the plants that have been a bit neglected the past week. Next up will possibly be the living room just b/c it's the next easiest and really just needs to be vacuumed and dusted.

Looking forward to cleaning the kitchen b/c after it's clean I get to mess it up again and start working on baked goods for the trip to Texas.

My goal is to leave the house clean so that when Lincoln gets back it's clean and it'll be easier to start packing and getting ready for the big move... as of now the idea is to rent a 14' truck and pack everything up ourselves and make the drive. It saves way too much money for us to do it ourselves that it would be silly to hire movers at this point.

And it begins...

I dropped Lincoln off for training in the Cali desert yesterday morning at 4:30 am which means we were awake at 3:15/3:30 and left the house at 4.

I am no morning person, it takes me a while to function appropriately so it wasn't until I drove off that it semi-hit me that I wouldn't get to see him till July...and it wasn't until I walked into our too quiet apartment that I realized I wouldn't be coming back to our apartment until July. And even in July, we'll only have a couple of weeks before he leaves for 6-ish months.

It's a lot to take in in just a week. I know it comes with the territory but at some point there's a decent courtesy that doesn't come with our contract with the military.

After months and months of them telling us Lincoln would NOT deploy, there was NO way he was deploying, get comfortable you're not going anywhere...

Then *BAM* they rip the rug out from under us and everything changes. Everybody else deploying has had almost a year to prepare, get their families settled, make plans for whatever...we got less than 3 months to rearrange our lives.

I get that we're not the only ones, I get that there are people that have it harder than we do, I get that it's his job...but I think the military forgets that this little decision they decided to make on a spur of the moment is something that changes everything for us.

Sometimes I get the feeling that we're just disposable pawns in this game.

Did I mention that he's not even going to do his job...he's just going to fill a spot left by some high tech guy who is taking a break. Lincoln's not even qualified to sit at this guy's desk but he can fill a spot on a list so he's going.

But I'm being supportive, Lincoln is excited about the deployment so I'm excited for him. The base he'll be at in the big big desert should have good communication abilities so we should be able to talk often. Luckily we're in a flexible enough position that rearranging, though it's a hassle, is doable. Also we're lucky enough that this all falls around the beginning of the school year so I'm still hoping to find a teaching job around our hometown so that I'll be able to keep myself busy.

The downside to finding a job will be that I'll be anchored in Texas when Lincoln gets back to California around February... but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

The Finale to Feast Week

I never buy "junk food." In fact it's almost a problem b/c whenever Lincoln gets home from work and wants a snack just to tide him over till dinner there's never anything unless we have leftovers from dinner/lunch.

But when Lincoln told me how our lives were going to be flipped upside down a week ago I decided to buy junk food, and sweets, and crackers, and chips, and cookies, and anything else that caught my eye grocery shopping.

I also got lots of things to bake to keep me busy. One of those things was cheesecake ingredients so we'd have a dessert our last couple days together for a while.

I absolutely love that Lincoln likes the cheesecake b/c he hates all of the ingredients that goes into it :) In fact he was a trooper just to try it the first time and was surprised that he liked it.

This is that copy recipe of the cheesecake factory cheesecake and it's fantastic. It has all of the qualities of cheesecake that I like and NONE of the ones I don't like.

For this go round I tried using cinnamon sugar graham crackers for the crust instead of plain ones. It was a nice touch, subtle but nice.

We managed to eat half of it this past week which means I'm left with half a cheesecake to devour.


Quite honestly I was going to whine and cry for this post...but it's late and I'm just not able to function much right now. Maybe tomorrow.

Surprise Trip to Texas Part 4 (Finale)

After Sunday things kinda slowed down. Monday I ran up to the school and felt like a celebrity for a little bit. Nobody knew I was in town or knew I was coming. I kinda felt like Norm walking into the Cheers bar. "Caaaseeyyyy!" After that me and mom ran to Burleson so I could get the last thing of yarn to finish her blanket and she wanted some of the most comfortable flip flops ever from Kohls.

Tuesday I reserved for time with dad. We went out to the ranch and if you haven't seen it yet we had a run-in with a bull snake. I was literally following dad step for step which is the habit I have when I'm not 100% familiar with where I'm at or not sure of my footing. I wasn't really paying attention until I just had an inkling to look down and *BAM* there's a five foot bull snake right at my feet.

Me being in flip flops and shorts I wasn't near as prepared as dad was to take on the bull snake nor did I even pause to find out what kind of snake it was. All I knew was snake + country = bad news.

After I said a dirty word (these were harsh circumstances and I was hugely embarrassed after I regained my composure and realized I'd said a dirty word) I took off running in the opposite direction as fast as my flip flopped feet could carry me.

Dad of course being a dad freaked a tiny bit and asked what was up at which point I pointed at a "stick" right behind him and screamed SNAKE! He'd literally stepped right over it, how he hadn't stepped on it is a miracle b/c he very well might have given us both a heart attack if that had happened.

Then dad being dad did what he's done my whole life when it comes to dangerous animals....he played with it. There's a video on youtube of it here if you haven't seen it.

Wednesday was pottery day with the girls:


A trip to town just isn't complete without a trip to the Art Barn. If you're in the area and you haven't been yet, go. Especially if you have kiddos, it's pretty much the cutest thing ever and so many projects you could do and incorporate the kids. Handprints, footprints, make them into reindeer, snowmen...it's endless!

It took a while but I've finally gotten Allison to stop looking at the camera when she sees me taking a picture :) Sometimes I want an "impromptu" picture

Kayla painted the cutest piggy bank ever! (see picture above) I swear...upon the move back to Texas I may have to make one for someone. Kayla does a good job selling cute projects, she always does a great job, I'm jealous.

I didn't paint anything this time, just finished off my mom's blanket. My main reason was that I wouldn't be there to pick it up...little did I know.

That night I went to church with mom and supervised as they fed the youth at FUMC. Mom is a queen at cooking for an army :) Even tacos made in bulk are super tasty when made by the Yubetas.

Thursday I ended up hanging out with dad who stayed home sick. He made a super tasty breakfast (he's where I get my love of a big American breakfast) and then decided to go see Thor in 3D.

Thor = hot sauce

It's like Brad Pitt and Russell Crowe got together and morphed their perfect DNA into one ultra perfect human. It's not right how pretty this guy is.

I liked the movie, kind of the same lines as Iron Man. Little bit of humor, little bit of action, top it all off with attractive people and BAM you've got a blockbuster success.

Friday I had lunch with the Wheat people, said my final goodbyes, and then had dinner with Lincoln's parents at El Fenix in Burleson. I did NOT order a margarita...I didn't want to feel like a total lush :)

Saturday sucked...I made sure to have a very specific plan so that I would let my emotions get the best of me and end up staying somewhere longer than somewhere else. So dad cooked breakfast then I headed to mom's for an hour and a half, then I went back to dad's for an hour and a half when Lincoln's mom came and picked me up for the airport.

My flight left at 3. I grabbed lunch at Burger King before taking off and wolfed it down pretty fast due to the fact that the chick behind the counter "accidentally" threw away all the tickets and it took forever to get my food.

The flights were relatively uneventful except for the landing into Phoenix which SUCKED!

I swear the guy would dive and then level out, dive and then level out. It was like we did our decent in a stair-step fashion. I was about to lose my lunch by the time we landed. I wanted to get out and kiss the ground! But there wasn't time so I walked like a mile to my connecting flight (the Phoenix airport is much bigger than I was expecting.)

On this plane there was this super cute couple (for the sake of the story, they were both young and white) that had four (I'm assuming) adopted little kiddos (all around probably 4 years old) with them of all different races. Each kiddo had their own character backpack that perfectly suit their little personalities. While we were waiting for the flight there was an argument amongst the kids about how one of them had drank Lizard Juice (a Sobe drink that had a lizard on it.) And the one who had drank it was just disgusted that it was Lizard Juice and no matter how they tried to explain it he was just mortified that he had drank Lizard Juice.

It was pretty much the cutest thing ever and I wanted to take their picture and make a big poster for "LOVE."

As we approached Cali I couldn't help but smile at the mountains. One even had snow on it still.

When we got closer to the airport there was this thick blanket of clouds coming off the ocean that stopped right at the mountain line. It was like the area was filled with clouds, kinda cool. Should have seen it as a sign instead of a "welcome back, Casey! Cali missed you! Here, here's some clouds, enjoy!!!"

Lincoln was waiting for me at baggage claim with clean clothes and everything :) We went and got take out for dinner and came back to the apartment where I literally almost cried b/c the apartment was spotless! He had cleaned everything and had even done laundry AND vacuumed!!!

We then we ate our weight in BBQ, watched our shows and I crashed early.


I know this was long but that is officially the end of my Mother's Day Texas Trip!


As for now...Reagan will be here in a week to hang out for a day and then make the cross country road trip with me back to Texas where I'll stay for the month of June while Lincoln is out doing his pre-deployment training which he leaves for on Monday.

I have spent the better part of the week eating whatever I want and encouraging Lincoln to do the same. I've made tasty dinners, bought junk food, even made a cheesecake for dessert tonight. I'll do what I can to spoil him rotten before he leaves for the terrible desert.

Surprise Trip to Texas Part 3

Mother's Day times 3

The first part of Mother's Day was spent with mom. We did the church thing where she dropped me off in the nursery with Aint Karen who promised to take care of me and give me the Heimlich if I choked on the popcorn we were having for snack.

I made some new little friends who asked me if I was in Sunday School with them now. By little friends I mean they were like 2.

After I successfully made it through Sunday School without choking on my popcorn we ventured to "big church" where I was able to chat with a couple of old teacher friends from Wheat. Love getting to see people...sad to see first hand what this budget business has done to everyone...

After church we had a lovely lunch at mom's and then I jet off to the in-laws for their get together. Got to visit with Lincoln's parents and the sister-in-law and of course Em. I've apparently lost my immunity to the Texas heat b/c after about 5 minutes outside (literally the walk from my car to their backyard) I was done and hid out inside until it cooled off a bit.

Then after everyone departed ways out there I headed back into town to hang out with dad and Dianna.

Having three sets of parents in the same town is exhausting but I'm never at a loss for family :)

Surprise Trip to Texas Part 2

On Saturday after I got to Texas we went to my step-sister Rachel's graduation. Here she is walking across the stage.

After graduation we headed off to a tasty tasty lunch at Jaliscos (a Belton institute, you must eat there.)

And then we headed to campus to take some graduation day pics. I've been missing UMHB lately so I roamed around and took some pics for myself to remember campus by...little did I know then that I'd be back in the state in just three weeks for a much longer stay than I'd ever anticipate. I'd give anything to have to miss Texas a little longer....

A Post about UMHB would not be complete without the chapel

Surprise Trip to Texas part 1

First, all credit goes to Reagan who thought all this up.

I flew out on Wednesday May 4th. This ticket will forever be engraved into my head b/c it was 89 dollars to fly one way to Austin on American...with a layover in Dallas. A one way ticket straight to Dallas cost 130. Makes sense, right?

Nope, didn't think so.

Anyway, I did blog on that Wednesday (conveniently left out the part where I was about to get on a plane) and I blogged Thursday (conveniently leaving out that I did so from my sister's couch in Austin rather than our couch in San Clemente, CA.)

My sister had to work Thursday so I laid around her tree house apartment crocheting and watching movies feeling a bit like Anne Frank in hiding. We went out to eat that night for Cinco de Mayo and had a super tasty margarita.

Let me throw in there that I'm 26 and I rarely drink. Super rare....like in the past 4 years I've maybe had 4 drinks. That is until I had a craving for Mexican food and margaritas way back when I posted about it. Since then I've had many margaritas, I've found a new love of them. It's stupid it took me this long to figure out that Mexican food and margaritas were made to be together, not uniting them at a meal is an offense to them both.

Back on track....we drove to C-Town Friday morning. Silly how you can miss the nothingness of Texas when I live around mountains and beaches.

When we pulled up in the driveway, Reagan went in to get mom and show her the rental car she had gotten. When mom came out she stood on the porch for what seemed like 5 minutes looking right at me sitting in the car. I waved to see if she could even see me, I thought maybe the glare or tint on the car was blocking the view.

Once she realized it was me her mouth fell open and she started crying...which made me cry...and Reagan cry. It was a joyful mess.

After visiting with mom for a while we went and met dad in Burleson for a late lunch at Olive Garden. It wasn't a crying mess but he looked pretty confused for a second before he put it all together.

Surprise accomplished.

There's "Good" News and Bad News

So I get back to California and I had about 12 hours of awesome before things spun out of control...

First of all, my trip to Texas was awesome. At first I thought about back-blogging my trip and filling in all my absent days but I think I'll just push forward and talk about the trip in the coming days. I consciously decided NOT to blog b/c I really wanted to focus mainly on visiting friends and family....and Lincoln convinced me not to take my laptop and blogging on the iPhone and iPad just isn't my favorite thing (plus I can't upload pics from my camera.)


I'm pretty sure we've updated our immediate family about this news so I'll go ahead and blab.


The "Good" News is that I'll be back in Texas sooner than I would have expected...much sooner...like in a couple of weeks.
More "Good" News is that Lincoln will definitely be able to be in Texas sometime in July.

The Bad News is that it's because the military has changed it's mind once again and he will be deploying in the fall for 6 months. With the deployment also comes pre-deployment training that he leaves in a week for and will be gone around 5 weeks.

If you haven't been following the back and forth we've been doing with the military lately the short story is that he was deploying, then he wasn't, then he jumped through hoops to try to deploy, but was denied, then jumped through MORE hoops getting approval from even higher ups, and was denied, and then after everything possible had been done and we had given up trying, the "final word" was given that he would NOT be deploying, and there would be no way he was deploying.

Until last week apparently when they yet again changed their mind...three months before he leaves for the big desert and two weeks before he leaves for the local desert.

I'm really glad I went with the iPhone 4 now b/c I'll be needing that facetime capability (which was part of the reason we got it months and months ago...but then he wasn't deploying...and now he is)

Luckily he'll get to see Em in July (hopefully) but sadly...I guess I should get used to this being our prime means of communication...I don't miss webcam dates...I much prefer being in the same room.

I promise that I will get over the Debby Downers... it's just that I tried to be supportive, I tried to be the ideal military wife and all that jazz but after being through the ringer and the back and forth for 6 months now I'm afraid I've lost my pizazz. It'll take me a couple of days to adjust to yet another change to our entire life.

For now, here is our plan:

When Lincoln leaves for the local desert I will pack a suitcase and drive back to Texas for 4-5 weeks (basically the month of June) until he gets done at which point I will fly to California leaving my car in Texas.

Lincoln gets pre-deployment leave in July sometime, and whenever that is we will move all of our stuff back to Texas. Whether we do this by hiring movers or renting a truck is still up in the air...we'll have to sit down and punch numbers and think logically and try to pick the most fiscally responsible route available.

After we move all our stuff back to Texas we'll probably just rent out a storage unit and store our stuff until something else develops.

Lincoln will then go back to California after he gets to visit with family. Whether I fly out for the "going away" ceremony is also still on the table...Lincoln assumed he'd just leave me in Texas but I don't love the idea of not being there when he leaves...but I also don't think I would help the situation if I were there...I'd probably make it all worse by being a crying emotional mess.

So, since I will be back in Texas "permanently" I am also looking for teaching jobs in/around Cleburne. If I can find a job I'll probably try to find an apartment in the area and when Lincoln's deployment is up in February he'll come back to Texas for a visit and then finish up the rest of his contract in California which is up in July. If I have a teaching job I'd finish up the school year, possibly do summer school if the opportunity is there and visit Lincoln in California when opportunities arrise. We'll definitely have to do some juggling...but having a job will help out in the long run so hopefully I can find one.

This plan is completely in rough draft form considering we've had all of 24 hours to really think it through...anything could change at this point but this is all ideal.

Milestone Reached

If crochet were a video game, I would have just advanced to the next level, or won a crown, or coins, or something equally awesome.

I can now do 17 rounds by memory!!!

That's one whole square without referring to the pattern.

Go ahead, be jealous.

Somewhere Only We Know

So I'm going to pull my age down a few more notches and probably come across as an 8 year old instead of the usual 12 that Lincoln says.

I ran across this trailer a couple months ago I guess and happened to think about it a minute ago and decided to pull it up.

I'm no Winnie the Pooh fan, I've never been huge on the whole thing but there's nostalgia there. A true timeless tail that generations after generations have enjoyed and will continue to enjoy. When the song starts playing it pulls on my heart strings a bit b/c the song is quite fitting in my mind.

If you haven't heard the words here you go, think about it as you watch and that darn floating red balloon...it seems silly how sappy I get when I watch this video.


I walked across an empty land
I knew the pathway like the back of my hand...

Is this the place we used to love
Is this the place that I've been dreaming of

Oh simple thing, where have you gone
I'm getting old and I need something to rely on...

If you have a minute why don't we go
Talk about it, somewhere only we know
So why don't we go somewhere only we know

In Which I Work on Restraint: Part 2

Judging by how many hits my blog got immediately after I posted yesterday I'm sure a lot of people were disappointed that they didn't get to hear some crazed rantings. I was actually surprised I managed to hold it all in. I did go off the deep end every now and then but would go back and erase whatever I put and take a deep breath.

I don't like to voice confrontational opinions on Facebook b/c it's an automatic way to have your page bombarded by a lot of people who would rather holler and scream about something they don't understand than take a step back and actually TRY and see someone else's point of view.

So I do it here, because if someone has made it this far, they have voluntarily clicked a link or typed in the address to find the page. It doesn't pop up on the News Feed right in your face where you can't really ignore it unless you ignore the person entirely. People have told me over and over to just click ignore or unfriend people that say ignorant things, but like myself, people don't go off the deep end every day. Those people I DO unfriend. Most people air their ignorance every once in a while when something gives them a window to jump out of.

So I took 36 hours to calm down so that when I do decide to jump, my head is clear enough to say what I want to say as clearly as I want to say it.

So here goes...deep breathe.....and jump


When the news that Osama Bin Laden had been found and killed reached our home via Facebook we immediately stopped what we were doing and turned on the news to get reliable details. After listening to the same story over and over we decided to go back to what we had been doing and check back later when things had developed a little more.

After the initial shock of the news coming out of nowhere, reality set in...everyone seemed to be throwing parties and celebrating and acting like the war was over. I looked at Lincoln and jokingly laughed, "So does this mean your unit isn't deploying in August?"

Of course the answer is no, they're still deploying, the war still goes on.

Someone said I'm just being a realist, others would probably call me a Negative Nancy or tell me I'm raining on their parade. I get that it's a big big deal, I'm glad they finally found the guy but at the end of the day he is only one out of many. In fact he's probably only one out of many men that were involved with 9/11. Don't get me wrong, he's a bad bad man and I hope that the world is a better place without him in it but looking at the big picture it started to feel like an endless battle. One down, thousands to go...and how many more will step up to take his place?

It then hit me that his death was probably going to upset a lot of people...which in turn would cause retaliation. I mean, if they're willing to kill innocent people it seems that they'll definitely be willing to make special plans to avenge the death of one of their great leaders. So my paranoia kicked in and I started thinking about all the little "Be On The Lookout" e-mails base has sent out lately about little things that might be big things.

The last thing I want to vent on is the thing that really set me off the night of and is probably the reason I had to take the full 36 hours to calm down before I started stepping on toes.

First, I hate chain statuses on Facebook. They go around and around and around and apparently if you don't follow the masses it means that you don't love Jesus, or you hate children, or you don't love America enough.

The latest status to make it's way around is this one:

"Just to make my opinion very clear... Obama did not kill Osama... it was OUR "US Soldiers" who have been fighting for Us from day one... and I refuse to listen to anyone give Obama the credit for something our men and women of the Military put their lives on the line to accomplish!! Mission Accomplished by our SOLDIERS!!!!!! Repost if you Agree!!!!"

Obama is the President of the United States, Commander in Chief whether you voted for him or not, that's how it goes. He's like the basketball coach. He may not be out on the court passing the ball and making shots or taking elbows to the face but he's involved with writing and calling the plays. Does anybody get all up in arms when someone congratulates a basketball coach on a successful season or a fantastic win? Were they on the court? Did they make the final shot that won the game? No, but he's the guy at the top, he's the face of the nation, he's going to get some credit, so get over it already.

I haven't heard a single person that has congratulated Obama for the victory and then leave it at that. They've also branched out to include the armed services, the Bush Administration, and even the Clinton Administration. I don't think anybody is under the misconception that Obama single handedly tracked Osama through the desert and took him out. But in the end, he was involved with making that final decision to go in and take him down, he pushed the button, made the call.

Don't get me wrong, a great deal of the victory and appreciation belongs to the men and women in uniform that go and do what most of this country isn't willing to do. Anybody willing to take a bullet for my freedom gets my respect.
I spend way too much time on this website keeping track of the deaths of military service men and women. I say a prayer for their families and send a thanks out that b/c they were willing to die I get to live in a free country. Lincoln doesn't love how much time I spend on it b/c it generally puts me in a funk.

But it seems that no matter what happens, ignorance, arrogance, stupidity, and whatever else you want to call it always come out. Hate breeds hate. If we can't put aside our differences and find SOMETHING to stand UNITED against then we're going to fall. For ONCE I'd like to be able to see all of my Facebook friends agree on something without having to turn it into Bush against Obama, Republicans against Democrats, Liberals against Conservatives.

Why couldn't we all just be happy that Osama bin Laden is gone?

At the end of the day we're all Americans and I think it's about time we wake up and realize we're in this together.



And let's go ahead and throw out there that it really upsets me that people are spouting off Bible verses to try and back up their hatred and disrespect of the President and pretend that it's okay.

Here's a verse, out of the mouth of Jesus:

Matthew 22:36-40

"Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?"

Jesus replied, "'You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments."

I don't really think it gets clearer than that. There are ways to voice your opinions without getting ugly about it.

I'm done....for now.

Muffin Tuesday: To Nutella, or Not to Nutella

My sister-in-law requested that I try out some banana Nutella recipes to see if they were worth her wrangling Em and making muffins, so I went on the hunt.

I found a recipe that seemed promising here but when it came time to make them I didn't have the sour cream that it called for so I did an experiment.

The experiment: Take my beloved Banana Nut Muffin Recipe and take out the nuts and then swirl in some Nutella at the end.

The results:

I did half without Nutella b/c if it came out bad I didn't want to ruin ALL the tasty muffins.

And the other half got a dollop of Nutella on top and I swirled it around with a chop stick.


Now, I tried both of them....many of them. My conclusion, if you like chocolate and bananas together the Nutella makes these kind of taste like a chocolate covered banana. Now me, I absolutely love the banana muffins as they are so adding Nutella took away from the pure banana of the others.

I think the other recipe would be good to try if I can remember to get sour cream next time I'm at the store. More of a balance between the two worlds instead of the ones I made that have a LOT of banana (which is why they are so tasty.)

Now I don't often tell people what to do...but if you like banana nut muffins, or just banana, MAKE THESE MUFFINS! I swear, they are absolutely amazing, you will not regret it. I think the secret that makes them different than others is the chunky bananas that get folded in at the end so that there are little banana pieces in the final muffin.

Seriously. Make these. Sooo good.

In Which I Work on Restraint

I am going to try to make it through this post without going off the deep end and calling out all of the idiotic and ignorant comments by stupid people on Facebook over the last 24 hours.

Off to a good start.

Today is Muffin Monday but I didn't make muffins...I am going to make them in a minute and have Lincoln take them in the morning for a rare Muffin Tuesday. After searching and searching for a Banana Nutella muffin recipe I think I am going to merge two things together and see how it comes out. I haven't been crazy about any of the recipes I've seen so it seems like the best solution....only time will tell.

I would comment about Osama Bin Laden being "brought to justice" but that would only end in some political rantings which would ruin my goal for the post.

So I shall end this.

The Family Cookbook

By the time I am done with this book it will be a priceless family heirloom.

It's one of the first things I picked out at Accents in the C-Town mall. It was probably one of the only things in that store that I knew I had to have.

First of all, it's super cute.

Second, you can expand.

Third, it was exactly what I needed to write down those precious family recipes that aren't documented

I've started writing down recipes that I find online so that I can find them again. Most of the time I Google a recipe and find one I want to try, it's really hard to stumble upon it again. It's amazing how one little word can throw off the entire search results.