Like a Bridge Over Troubled Waters...

Last week was a hard one for me. Filled with life drama, job drama, dramadramdramallamadrama. I had been hit with to much allatonetime and my brain didn't know what to do with it.

I fretted for a while, worried a bit, freaked out some, and then...I gave it to God.

"like a bridge over troubled waters, I will ease your mind."

I gave him my worries and concerns, and I realized how much He has given back.

He has provided me with a loving family, who mourn with me, and rejoice at the upcoming opportunities with me, and talk me out for Liquid Comfort.

He has provided friends who have genuine care for who I am, how I'm coping, how I'm not coping, and love to LOVE me(and give me hugs, which I desperately needed, and still need...but not as much).

He has given me a chance to look at other salons. And a guarantee that my former employment, and schooling will not be scoffed at. He has given me a talent, and eye for color and beauty.

A list of Salons, the names of their owners and numbers, and recommendations from the Gugliottis.

He has given me a heart for people. (And on occasion, their drama.)

He has given me hope. He has given me love. He has given me peace. He has given me freedom.

And though I am still sad, and asking "WHY?" to a bunch of things, I am accepting it all, and learning to do so with a glad and open heart.

I feel vulnerable and a bit confused, but I'm learning that that is a part of life and there are ways to use those feelings.

Today is, hopefully, the day I start calling salons...and you know how I feel about phones....

Let the hunt commence! ONWARDS!

steaming hot, liquid comfort

The day I graduated Cosmetology school I also got a job at a wonderful, high-end salon. I was not promised many hours to start, actually just the opposite. A few hours a week while I training, which could take up to three months. would start as a receptionist and work my way up to an assisting position.

I have to admit I wasn't thrilled about the desk part of the job. The phones really. I hate phones. Talking on them is an annoyance of mine. Unless I really know you, I'd much rather talk to you face to face than over some town-crossing wires. When it comes down to it, I just like to look at the person when I talk to them. I like to see their face, their eyes, their expressions and body language rather than trying to guess and imagine what their reaction might be. It's just easier for me. I am awkward on the phone. I know this, and I know why. I have accepted that, and that is why the phone answering part of my job really was my least favorite.

I worked there for about a month, just a few hours a week, sometimes getting called out due to a slow day at the salon. I swept floors, I stocked shelves, I straightened magazines. I made and confirmed appointments, learned my way around the computer system, and eventually became almost comfortable on the phone. Even though I was dying to get to the other side of the big, curved, blue wall that separated the stylists and hair doing from the receptionists, I told myself to be content. It was hard, but I started to accept it. If I wanted to be on that side of the blue wall I must first work through three months of desk training.

I also learned how to make espressos, and cappuccinos and that may have been my favorite part. :)

Behind the desk, I was able to see every one's schedule. I noticed that the Stylists that were working were booked up like it was the end of the world and everyone and their twice removed relatives couldn't leave this earth without good hair! I don't blame them. The art I saw walking out the salon doors was amazing, and I was jealous that is was on their head and not mine.

But I also noticed that the 2 individuals with Assisting positions had a few free hours a day... One of my friends from school was working with me. She was just bumped up from Reception to Assistant and was following the manager around, looking to something to do when she wasn't helping me at the desk, or shampooing a client.

It became evident that hours were scarce, but I didn't think on it. I was just happy to be into the first salon I had applied to, the one I had wanted to work at since I first started school.

But yesterday, just as I was finishing up, I got called into the office where I faced the salon manager and one of the owners. They don't have hours. They just don't. Especially in the weeks after the Christmastime holidays, it's very slow. They were disappointed. I had come highly recommended (in the areas of cosmetology), and they knew that I was the type of personality much more comfortable cutting off some one's hair than talking on the phone, but they weren't going to see that side of my personality, they didn't have enough hours.

I was given a list of Salons, their #'s, and the names of some of the owners. Apparently they had made some calls and told them about me, recommended me. "You really need to be in a salon where they start you off assisting. That's your strength, your talent. And we can't offer you that, not now." I smiled,nodded, and agreed where necessary, trying to keep the tears down.

"I wish we could keep you! But I can't promise you hours we don't have, it's not fair to you."

It was hard for everyone in that room. They wanted to keep me. I wanted to stay. But...hours...

I left calm and collected, being told that they'd have me coming in for the next couple of weeks.

I made it to the car, my eyes were stinging....I turned the key and cranked the tunes. I managed to keep my face free from salt water until I had made home and into my dining room.

Later that evening my mother took me out for some comfort. Starbucks. - She knows me well :) - and so we sat down in the big, abused, comfy, trademark-green, starbucks chairs, and watched the silver lane trafic go by, chatting about the days events over steaming beverages with fancy names like: Caramel Mocha Hot Chocolate, and Dirty Chai Soy Latte...

Steaming hot, liquid comfort warming our chilly hands. A pleasant way to end a devestating day.

And so -

Let the search for jobs begin...again...

" ... it's a dangerous business, going out your door...you step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's not knowing where you might be swept off to."

I've left my front door, I've been swept off by the wind. Now let's see where it'll take me and what adventures I'll have, shall we?

Comment faire du pain delicieux

Last week, on one of my days off, my mother grabbed me on her way out the door and suggested I make bread to keep me busy. I haven't made bread in a really long time, and normally I'm not the one making it, simply the hander-of-ingredients. But there I was, no work to do, house to myself, and not much food hanging around to munch on(that's a good thing really.). So I got out the recipe. This isn't your normal bread recipe though. It was given to us by one of my mom's friends who was also my French(/math/science)tutor, Mrs. Jones.
Not only does Mrs. Jones speak multiple languages, solve mind boggling mathematical equations, and understand physics and the higher sciences, she also cooks amazing food!
Upon entering her house numerous smells of deliciousness smack you in the face, demanding to be noticed, yet hiding somewhere in her kitchen just out of reach. And it's all healthy stuff...well mostly :)
Today I will share with you my day of making this amazingly healthy, satisfyingly delicious, 10 grain bread, and hope that you make it yourself so you can enjoy a slice of mouthwatering goodness, too. :)


FIRST: Gather Ingredients
Oatmeal

• 3 cups of BOILING water
• 2 cups of oats (just the normal oatmeal kind, unless you want to use fancy ones)
• 1/2 stick of butter

When these 3 ingredients are mixed together, you are to let them sit for 20 minutes.

• 2/3 cup of honey
• 1TBSP salt
• 1 cup very warm watter(about 115 degrees)

Porridge

• 3/4 cup "Bob's red mill 10 grain hot cereal"
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 cups water (room temp)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 3 TBSP yeast
• 7-10 additional cups of flour (for kneading, I used about 9 or so)

Directions!

*Make the oatmeal -

pour 3 cups of boiling water over the 2 cups of oats and 1/2 stick of butter. Let this mixture stand for 20 minutes.

*Make the Porridge-
bring all the ingredients(from the porridge list) to boil and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. Let cool to a warm temperature. (I normally make the porridge while I'm waiting for the oatmeal...)

SET YOUR TIMERS!

sitting, waiting, smelling, sitting, waiting, smelling.

this is your 2/3 cup of honey, 1 TBSP salt, and 1 cup(8 oz.) of very warm water. (I used the water that was left over in my tea kettle from boiling for the 3 cups of water for the oatmeal...)

When 20 minutes is up, add the Honey, Salt, and Very Warm Water to the Oatmeal mixture and stir.

Grab the porridge and bring it over :)

2 1/2 cups of flour, 3 TBSP of yeast.

Add the Porridge to the Oatmeal and stir together, then add the 2 1/2 cups flour and 3Tbsp yeast.

Knead the flour and yeast into the wet mixture.


Then...

Stir in the first couple cups of the extra kneading flour. When gets so hard to stir that you wish you had a circus strong man to help you, dump the dough out onto a clean and floured counter. Flour is your friend. Remember that.

Stir in the 7-10 cups, one at a time, kneading until most of the stickiness is gone.

Grease your empty bread bowl, don't be stingy with your pam, or butter, or whatever your non-stick substance of choice is, and return the dough to the bowl.

You're gonna want to flip the dough a couple times to spread the grease around.

Let it rise until it has doubled in bulk, takes about an hour. Cover the dough with a tea towel, or something that isn't fuzzy, and place somewhere warm. Under a light, the back of your stove (if the burners are not on!)etc, away from cold.

Now's a good time to watch this video, since you've got an hour to wait :)














Almost there!






There we go! Try for the 'Muffin-Top' effect.

NOW GO PREHEAT YOUR OVEN TO 350 DEGREES!!!

Now punch the dough in the center, knuckle dusters are not necessary, and pour onto counter.

Cut the dough into four even sized loaves...

and place them in thoroughly greased pans.

Place in your preheated-to-350-oven...

and bake for 45 minutes.

When the timer beeps I suggest you check the loaves. In my oven, this bread is done in exactly 45 minutes, but it may be more or less in your oven.

Remove the baked bread from the oven and slather the tops in butter.

As you can see, I just unwrapped the other half of that stick of butter we used at the beginning and applied it, like so.

When it's cooled enough, tip it out of the pans and eat away.

My favorite is to toast a couple slices, spread some butter on them, and then dribble honey on top. Most delicious! Now go! Try! Enjoy! And have fun!

This is good eats my friend.

And never brought to mind... - Festivities Part 2

Christmas morning, wake up early....

Potato Pancakes. It's what's for breakfast. :)

Definitely not your normal Christmas Morning breakfast, but who said my family was normal? Besides, they are quite delectable.

One of the best gifts I received was the Queen's Greatest hits collection...

Can you guess what we listened to while unwrapping presents? ;)

Oli and El playing with the new Wii Resort game. I think they were fencing, and it was pretty funny to watch them "Thrust, perry, LUNGE!" at each other. It was very dramatic.

Owen, of course, received a few Lego sets (both the night before - from Grama and Grampa - and day of, from us...) and all were completed within minutes of opening

New Years Eve - Morning.

My mom and I met a friend of ours and her daughter at the gym at 7:30ish...I pretty much only agreed to go with the promise of coffee afterwards. I thought they meant a run to DD but was most pleasantly surprised when I found out that Starbucks was the ultimate destination.

I tell ya: If someone took me out to Starbucks every time I went to the gym I would be going much more often than I do now....which...isn't often at all...

...moving on...

This one really should be last, but got loaded in the wrong order. New years eve I had a gathering of friends at my home and one of them brought the infamous game of Quelf, which just happens to be really random and one of Owen's favorites. That, coupled with the fact that he adores the guys who were there that night, made him a very happy camper. Unfortunately we never got around to playing this wacky party game which made the little boy rather upset. He ended up asking my friend Hedge, owner of said game, if he could borrow it....so the next morning/early afternoon my family sat around our family room footrest in our PJs and played Quelf - for most of them it was their first time.
It will not be their last.

P.S. - Hedge, we'll get Quelf back to you...someday...I promise.

New Years Eve. Before the friends arrived at our homestead, I noticed that my father had taken some of the sparkling wine out of the cupboard over the fridge - wine that had been there when we moved into our house 8ish years ago - and put it in our refrigerator. What I did not notice was that later on some sparkling apple cider was also placed alongside the wine in our fridge - both had very similar packaging.

Now my family always has bottles of wine on the counter - not a lot, just a couple - and our basement is becoming a wine cellar. For whatever reason this 'amount of alcohol' was noticed and joked about throughout the evening. Only 2 of the guests were even over 21 so they could've had wine if they had wanted.

So, midnight came and went, we all watched the ball, and numerous couples kissing while wearing blue foam hats that were endorsing Nivea, "Kiss and Be Kissed!" is what they said.

("They're just following directions..." - Hedge

This quote actually made me laugh because it reminded me of something I read recently in the book I mentioned previously, Mud and Poetry, it says:

"Genesis can be read literally. But I think it's a story, not a dissertation; and as such, we should read it as a story, a true story. I think that if science says humans are 98% the same as all other mammals, we shouldn't argue back with scant scientific evidence. why not give them, as the Bible does, poetry? Tell them you know that, genetically, humans are mostly the same as any other mammal, but that your belief that we are not the same is not based on scientific or historic proofs, but because the Bible tells us God shaped a man from warm clay with his own two hands; because he bent down and kissed him.

God breathed his life into us.

I am not a human being because I have a vascular system; I am a human being because I have been kissed, and (Lord help me) I will give kisses!")

We all meandered into the kitchen, and my dad grabbed a bottle of sparkling something out of the fridge and handed it to me to open. I was confused...
"If we were going to serve alcohal to minors...shouldn't we have done it earlier on in the night? Not when they're about to drive home?"

Now it was my dad's turn to be confused. "That's cider."

"OH..."

So we popped the cork and filled the glasses. He did bring out the ancient wine, for himself, and poured it into a glass. There was a collective "Ew." as a brown liquid flowed from the bottle.

"Yeah," my dad said. "That should be clear."

He took a sip, offered it to Hedge - who reasonably declined - and then dumped it...

Gross...

And thusly, with hugs, and 'happy new years!', and goodbyes, our new years activities ended....

to read, or not to read...is that a question?

Hello people of the blogging kingdom, it has been a while. How were your holiday festivities?

Our Christmas here was small, but I came away with a few gems. One of them is the book that I am currently reading.

[MUD&POETRY

love, sex, and the sacred

by Tyler Blanski

"Singer songwriter Tyler Blanski lends a poet's perspective to what a single, Christian person...finds compelling and sacred about sex, love, God, and everything in between. Humans are both mud and poetry, Blanski tells us, living out of both biological and emotional needs, base desires and soaring aspirations. His memoir reveals a young Christian wrestling with this age-old truth."

PRAISE FOR MUD&POETRY

"Can a young single Christian guy write a great book about sex and marriage? Tyler Blanski has done it! This book is fun but practical, very well-written, with a wonderful lyrical rhythm. Even an old fart like me, married for thirty-two years, found it helpful." - Nate Larkin, founder of the Samson Society and author of Samson and the Pirate monks(and an old family friend :)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

"Tyler Blanski grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He graduated from Perpich Center for Arts Education(2002); studied at the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Oxford, England(2005); and holds a bachelor of arts in Christian Studies from Hillsdale College(2006). He is a co founder of Venite Ministries, a Christian spiritual formation resource and retreat center in Minneapolis, and co founder of the Couch Society, a theological forum and journal.

In addition to Mud and Poetry, Tyler has written three other books (including a book of poetry) and released two albums: Think Out Loud: Music Fighting Homelessness and Out from the Darkness. He lives in Uptown Minneapolis, where he manages a small house-painting business, Rembrandt Home Painting; participates in the communal life of an Anglican church; and writes. For more information, visit Tyler's websites: www.mudandpoetry.com or www.tylerblanski.com."] - From the back and inside of Mud&Poetry.

I'm not all that far into the book, but I'm hooked on his writing style. He's personal and humorous. Almost like an old friend you're very comfortable with who is just sitting in a cushy, overstuffed chair in your living room having a nice cuppa coffee with you. I like how he talks about his subjects, that always seemed to be viewed as really taboo, with curiosity, and musings that are just...normal, almost in a thinking-out-loud sort of way.

Not much, but there you go. I wanted to share, so I did. Go read it. Think about it. Chew it over....You don't have to like it, but I thought you might like to see what I'm reading. :)