Genesis Moments - A Writer's Journey

Fight the Frump Friday - Superglue cure

Yesterday, I fought the frump by cleaning my house before my first ever cooking demonstration (a must-read since it was so much fun).

BUT, in my piles, I found a couple of quick TO-DO's and so I decided to take a minute out of a hectic cleaning schedule to, hmm, lets say . . . superglue a colorful stone back in a barrett that had fallen out. It was one of my favorite barrettes (even though the haircut I received the day before would eliminate its use for months to come) and I thought this minute was as good as any to glue it back in - a day when I would need my hands to demonstrate food in a public forum.

So, I get out my super glue and have the pieces assembled, only to realize quickly that the tiny superglue bottle I had retrieved was already open and now the two middle fingers of my right hand were stuck together with the stone in the middle and nothing was on the barrett. Could be a lovely look -- NOT.  I am thinking Noooooo - any day but today. I can not end up in the hospital today. Tomorrow maybe. . . not today. So, listen close people in case you are EVER faced with this dilemna:

ACETONE (fingernail polish remover) removes superglue.

And yesterday, it was my godsend! In fact, now that I am thinking about it, I just got the new bottle last week since I was out of remover. If I had been as low on remover as I was just last week, I wouldn't have had enough to get the superglue off. (And if I hadn't been so panicked I would have taken a picture for you).

I have no news for you this week - probably good - I get too cynical about it anyway.

Have a great weekend! But first go to Fussypants's to find out who is going to be hosting Fight the Frump Friday after she delivers her new baby!

Showtime!

You are now behind the scenes of a cooking demonstration in the making.

Fifteen minutes until the guests arrive. The consultant (me) has set out her tools, measured ingredients, chopped and diced pre-made recipes to highlight and has her script ready to go. The flipboard about product quality and warranties is on the display table. The guest/host specials are ready to pass through the crowd. Prizes fill apron pockets and I am set! This is going to be one for the books - my life as a cooking demonstrator. They'll let anyone in if they let me!

I feel like I have just entered into the twilight zone with my new bobbed hairdo, my handy jean apron and my plastered on smile ready to go. Direct Sales Marketing here I come. When I decided to go this route, there were many options from make-up to jewelry. When you decide to do direct sales, you have to consider a couple of things: is the quality of the product something you want your name on?, is the commission worth the effort? and what do you want in piles lying around your house to be distributed, to own and to sell? No, high end cookware is want I want right now and high end cookware is what I am going to get-- and I have a long wishlist.

Oh no - the doorbell is ringing already and I just sat down at the computer. See you after the show!

------

Wow - how totally fun was that! What an incredible high to a social extrovert like me. (MUST HAVE PEOPLE) I had about 12 ladies come to my house to see what I was cooking up.

When my guests arrived, I had a sizzlin' summer salad layered in the trifle bowl and the watermelon-peach salsa in the simple additions double server with sun chips on the side. Drinks ranged from wine to soda to coffee. Most took the coffee. They had to be awake to see this one.

When everyone had arrived, we began the demonstration. All was going well with the microwave lemon cakes (though warnings about microwaving food were echoing in my head that I had just heard recently). Everyone got a product description and when the tool was used, they read their part and some were called up to use the product themselves.

Then came the sour cream. And, feeling quite clever, I decided to show them how the nifty measure-all cup squirts the food into the bowl. Yes, ladies and more ladies, it missed the bowl. And, that's where the nifty classic scraper gets it all up and back into the bowl. I almost could not stop laughing to finish the demonstration. Must have been nerves.

Then, came the lemon juicer. Awesome little tool. First 1/2 lemon - no problem. Second 1/2 lemon - great. 3rd (for a double glaze recipe) - got help from my daughter and had to finish the job that needed brute strength. Fourth 1/2 lemon, feeling confident, SQUIRT right into the eyes. And again, I started laughing -- with very blurry eyes and had to get control of myself and my audience. Okay, we are having too much fun and I haven't had a glass of wine yet.

My daughter decided to help! (Note the commandered Pampered Chef apron on her-- She's so cute. What a little helper.):

So, all the ingredients made it into the recipe this time and everyone seems pleased with the result. Guests promoted the products themselves with their own stories and Pampered Chef tales. One guest had even sold it before and brought me a cool pink t-shirt with the logo on the side. Another friend sent a table cover with the logo on it earlier that she had found at a garage sale last weekend. Yet another friend brought flowers. Everyone has been so supportive and part of making it just so much fun.

Before I belabor the point, I now have dishes and cookware that ALL go in the dishwasher (except the knives and stoneware) and I look forward to being cleaned up in minutes from my party. Note THE AFTERMATH:

When do I get to come to your house? You actually think I am kidding, don't you? Have cookware, will travel.

First Ever Cooking Demonstration

Tonight is my FIRST ever cooking demonstration for a real party of people (not just my kids, not just my recruiter) and I am running around cleaning like crazy since it is HERE at my house!

I have the catalogs all labeled and tucked in their folders with pens, drawing slips and order forms. The dishes are washed (at least the ones being demonstrated -- not last night's dinner - gotta go do that now). I have my list of recipe ingredients to go get today! I am going to be making microwave lemon cakes. On the side people will be able to sample the already created new summer salad and watermelon-peach salsa. I will find out which recipes I can share with you someday but many are available in the new recipe books.

You might get sick of me talking about Pampered Chef but I am so excited to start representing such a quality product and getting more of them in my kitchen! There are just so many good things to pick from. I will post my website when I get one but for now if you want to browse their online catalog at the above link and want anything, please let me know! In a week or two, I should have my link up and you will be able to go in directly to their secure server and order anything. If you have ever thought about selling their products and having your own flexible business for extra income by being out only a night or two a week, I recruit from afar too!

I have been having some conversations with other direct sales marketers and I have to say that I picked Pampered Chef because as Lydia in the Bible wanted to represent the finest things (purple cloth and Jesus), I want to be a representative of the finest thing I can find that fits into our family lifestyle, is flexible and fun! I am already contracting with my girls to earn a little money to help me and the whole family has benefited from the recipes.

If you know their products and have a favorite item or recipe, please share!

I promised to post a MAX YOUR MENU post but feel free to add more tips here on how you stretch your leftovers over a week with the same or different meats. When I get a nice selection of comments, I'll group them by food type.

Walkway to Nowhere

To find out about this picture, read this post. For more Wordless Wednesdays go to 5 Minutes for Mom and to the official WW HQ.

Woman's Home Companion Cook Book & Today's Max Your Menu

Since I just read that the theme for Works for Me Wednesdays is What Doesn't Work for me, you must know that cooking in general doesn't work for me and I am on a quest for more organized, frugal and cleverly prepared meals, and thus the following post:

This last week, I was browsing in an antique store and came across the 1945 printing of the Woman's Home Companion Cookbook, with the page on pancakes clearly stained from repeated use during recipe making.

Here is what an entry in the front of the book reads:

WARTIME POSTSCRIPT

"As this edition goes to press our country is still at war. Rationing is in force and shortages of many foods have developed. In a fine spirit of patriotism American homemakers have adapted themselves to the changes. Their minds are open to new ideas: foods they have never served before are now appearing on their tables. So, though you may have to wait until the war is over to try some of the recipes in this book, there are literally hundreds which will add interest and novelty to your wartime menus. If, for example, you haven't enough sugar to make Fruit Torte, there's a delicious Cabinet Pudding using only two tablespoons of that precious ingredient; if you can't obtain a sirloin steak, there's an appetite-teasing T-bone Steak, Family Style; if your busy schedule doesn't allow time to make yeast-raised orange bread, there's a quick one that uses baking powder.

Refer to the chapter on nutrition often. It will tell you how to plan means that will keep your family in top health. A healthy nation is the best contribution our homes can make to our war effort."

BUT, my favorite page is how to have a dinner party without a maid! How great is that. I demand a reprint. I LOVE this gem and will have to bring you some recipes and more tips as I try them.

This Thursday, I will be starting a weekly post called "Max Your Menu" where I would love your input into what you have done with a particular meat to make it stretch your budget. For example, this week, let's say ground beef is the theme of choice. Tonight I browned 4.5 pounds of ground beef. I separated out 1.5 lbs and made Sloppy Joes (or the meat & canned sauce mixture on hamburger buns). Tomorrow I hope to make tacos and we'll see about the next night.

How do YOU make leftovers stretch into new and creative ideas through the week? Leave your comments here and I'll post them on Thursday. In fact, maybe by then, I learn how to do linkies so you can post your own menu stretching recipes and link them in!

Thanks!

God Bless Claritin D and Places of Rest

Tonight, my mind wafts out of the Claritin D haze back to earlier tonight to a raging sinus headache that laid me up and forced me to come to terms with my late thirty-something development of allergy symptoms that crop up at least once every spring and fall. I avoided admitting that fact today until I could barely move and my physical reflexes slowed to a deliberate medium. Taking the medicine that has to be checked out at the pharmacy sometimes makes me shaky when it is not what I need but think it is but tonight it must have been the right thing because I feel actually sane now after hours of barely functioning through dinner, dishes and laundry piles. I don't get the normal stuff like a runny nose and itchy eyes - just powerful headaches behind my eyes that I realize clear up with sinus and decongestive medicine in no time after suffering for hours.

"Mommy tea'd herself," came the clever input from the peanut gallery at dinnertime when I grabbed the full new tea jug from the refrigerator while everyone at the table watched it hit the ground and bust all over my cream sweats. I'm telling you that raging headaches do nothing for the reflexes. I have officially given up for the night and can barely sit here but needed to bring you evidence that a place of rest does exist. And, that going away is a wonderful respite to the mind, even if it probably brought on my extreme allergy symptoms.

This last weekend, my little family went up to our cottage to help with spring clean-up. Another camper remarked, "Why isn't this as fun at home?" Well, because teamwork always is more fun and it is even more fun to catch up with these summer dwellers who you see periodically through the summer but then disappear back into their own lives for about seven months. This opening weekend gives you little chance to cover such a timespan but you get the highlights and and its nice to see everyone.

My husband had fun last year spearheading the cleaning of the property line and found old supports for a walkway that used to take travelers from the train (whose tracks are now long gone to make way for progress). His own mother's father came up this path to meet and fall in love with her mother once upon a time. It felt like stepping into one's own personal Bridge to Terabithia (after the popular book and movie).

Here's a snapshot I was able to capture over the weekend. When the mind has time to rest, the creative juices start to flow again. Below this picture is our cottage (the first on the left) and my little teapot (given to me as a housewarming gift by another gracious camper) which I use I make my hot water to wash dishes. We get our water from a natural spring well which is cool and clean and incredibly refreshing. Hot Water Wash Recipe = 1/2 water jug of cold water in stopped up sink or wash basin, 1 kettle full of boiling water poured over dishes and a generous dollup of dishwashing soap.  Nothing like going back to the days of old to loose a few pounds (between trips to the well for water and trips up or down the hill to the modernized public restrooms).

The sounds down in the woods are filled with trills and squeals, warbles and woodpeckers and though only about 1/2 mile from civilization make you feel you are in the middle of the rain forest (only I have never been there so it is probably totally different) or at least in the middle of nowhere. Everything is sooo green.

There is much more to tell on this topic but I will have to spread it out through the week because it is now past bedtime and I get to finally rest for the day.

New Header - Thanks DCR Design!

Thank you DCR Design for my new header! If you can't see it, clear out your "cache." Let me know if you need more info. on that!

Fight the Frump: Critique or Criticism

And, she curled up in my lap and cried and cried. My nine-year old had a rough day and I didn't know it until around bedtime. Coming home from school, she busied herself with friends and then the TV, avoiding me apparently, though I was too busy to notice until late in the day.

The recess cheerleading coach (read "bossy kid who started her own playground squad and is now telling everyone else what to do or they are OUT") had Laura doing 25 pushups because she couldn't hold up her part of the pyramid they were attempting.

"I wasn't concentrating that day." wailed my little pumpkin. "And, then she makes me hold a split for 20 seconds." Wow, this kid is going to be leader and go-getter but right now she's just a playground bully.

Stepping back a minute, I thought -- this kid is just doing what her gymnastics coach does to her when he or she sees a problem. The girl saw that Laura couldn't hold up the pyramid and therefore prescribed push-ups to strengthen her arms. Maybe this kid will be a doctor. She cleverly saw a problem and set about fixing it. Now, because she is not a coach and has no medical training at the ripe age of 10, I'm not too happy about this little situation but I have to give the kid some credit. SO, I told my daughter that I would 1) call the teacher if it got worse, 2) she could tell the kid NO (easier said than done), or 3) she could do the few pushups that actually would help her arms in her own gymnastics and get stronger for the team. It's not like it was a hundred or anything. She would have to own that decision but I would be there whatever she decided. This is definitely a situation to watch.

On that note, when you are making a concerted effort to fight the frump, there are three categories of people who surround you:

1)    People who help (fitness trainers, makeup artist, hair stylists, etc)
2)    People who think they are helping (well intentioned people that speak before being spoken to or "specialists" who think one answer fits all)
3)    And people who are no help at all (those who just are way off base in their advice OR tempt you down the wrong path altogether).

When you go asking for help whether at the makeup counter or the Y fitness team, you might get the help you need and then you might not.

When I went to the mall, I came out looking a little like this: Tammy Faye (God rest her soul)

I had to hurry to the aid of a loving Mary Kay rep to tone down my look and accent my best features with makeup rather than create a mask of goop.

Then there's the time I went to the Y and had a fitness trainer work with me and the woman was very helpful and gave me numerous tips. BUT, when I went on my own, a very nice and helpful gentlemen gave me a tip to keep my knees from getting extra stress to which a cynical remark formed in my head which fortunately did not reflect in my "Thank you" comment back or my smile. I had to squelch a serious "Who rang your bell, Twinkletoes?"

What is it about unsolicited comments? It is hard enough to take the asked-for advice without arguing and complaining but when people make comments without us asking them, it is really hard to receive them with grace. I was truly grateful for the man's tip and YET, that cynical attitude just creeps in there in nasty little way sometimes.

For example, I want to be the best cooking demonstrator I can be. Do you think I took my husband critique of my mock performance well? I don't think so. Now, I was told that trying it out on friends and family is harder than in parties and shows since your loved ones are less careful in their "critiques" BUT . . . . And, he says not to argue if I want advice. What if I AM right? I'm just supposed to sit there and not defend my technique? Alright, moving on.

I guess the most important thing in receiving critiques is to not look at them as criticisms but to take what you need from it and learn and throw out the rest with the leftovers. Sometimes you might be throwing out the whole bag of rotten chicken. Other times, you might be just cutting off the fat to get to the meat. And then there are those stellar times when you can just take it out the package, throw it on the grill and bask in the smell. (Sorry - can you tell I am hungry? - not for criticism so throw me a sweet comment today and I'll send one back!)

OHHHH, I can't let a chance to give news from the news today. It would have been from the treadmill today but I have a sick kid so I turned around in the Y parking lot and decided to come home. THIS IS NEWS FROM THE REAL NEWSPAPER! Shock of all shocks. I read the news instead of watching it. On that note, who saw CSI last night?!  Did you see the Mythbusters guys in the background giving thumbs up to Grissom? How fun was that?

News from the News: PA is going to solve its tax problems with slot machines, locals are hocking jewelry to pay for gas and everyone agrees Hillary is a tough person (and other hard hitting news like that rather than the actual issues they are talking about.). Lord, take me home!

Have an awesome beautiful weekend. I am going away where there is no computer, no running water and the bubbling brook by our window lulls to me sleep (when it doesn't make me pee which sends me up the hill in the middle of the night to the public restrooms) but you will certainly hear more about cabin life as the summer comes so I won't go into that now. God Bless.

Now go check out Fussypants for more Fight the Frump Friday posts!

 

 

Caught on Film

I was really going to take a break from blogging today but I had to get down on "paper" what happened the day I acted as a main character in a student film so I don't loose details with my failing mind. It was nuts.

Where do I begin? After getting the part in one e-mail after being told I didn't have it in the first e-mail, I was thrilled. This really sounded like it could be fun. I was just helping out a student finishing her video project for the quarter. So it was REALLY a service project (don't grimace just yet). I would be the nice hostess of a party where a gossipy obnoxious guest tries to ask me personal questions which I deflect and nicely get her out the door. Sounds easy, right? Done that plenty of times. (No, I am not talking about you, J. I always enjoy your company.)

All week, I would waft between what the "heck am I doing" and "wow, I have a real peace that God has a purpose here" and "my husband in the script had better not get too close and personal -- I am happily married after all and want to keep it that way."

Saturday morning arrived and I gathered my things. I fixed my hair and makeup thinking that there would be people on set redoing hair and makeup anyway but I would start the process.

I should have had some inkling on how the day would go by the sheer amount of traffic and difficulty I would have getting there. I get a call that they are running about an hour late and to come later. I pulled my SAHM Suburban into a very WASP Starbucks to get the classic low-fat blueberry coffee cake and a latte to kill a few minutes. Finishing up, I got back in my vehicle and headed in the direction of the house procured at the last minute by the friends of the cameraman since some girls with a house backed out at the last minute. I offered my home but the college students didn't want to go that far from school.

So, I drove into the big city, past the tall buildings, past clean gentrified rowhouses and pulled off at the exit on the map. I begin to notice warning signs that I might not be in the best neighborhood in town, verified later by sheer shock on people's faces when I said where I had been not to mention a cop asking us at the end of the day if we knew where we were. I apparently had come to the armpit of the city and just prayed that God's purpose would reveal itself without any bodily injury.

I pulled up to the address mentioned, noting the barred windows and gang-like groups down the street. I was early but after awhile a taxi pulled up and two young college girls hop out with expensive looking equipment and head towards me. This was my new director. They had not been to see the place before bringing all of us here and had that "Nothing can touch me" look on their freshman faces. Ahhh, I was worried now but I had come this far and wasn't going home. Apparently these freshmen had decided to get real actors through the public classified website I won't mention here instead of using their friends like other students had done.

We entered a renovated home after getting the key from a really very nice neighbor and found ourselves immediately in the armpit of the armpit. Someone had lovingly redone the floors and walls and old wooden touches but these absent occupants were obviously college boys with nothing better to do on the weekend than to drink beer and completely wreck the place. It was a mess and I don't know what I was even looking at in ashes on the coffee table. Yikes, forgot the Purell and Clorox wipes today and I was the "hostess" of the party in this place?  On its worst day, I have to say with some pride my house will never look like this.

Next, the girls realized they had brought the wrong kind of camera and the tripod from school was broken. They would have to go get the right items from a friend who had finished his project for the day. While we waited, I got to know the other 3 actors, never letting on my complete lack of experience. I was acting like an actor after all and fulfilling my high school dreams of being a lead in the play, which I didn't get.

One actor was a writing teacher at the school - nice guy with stories of working in Soho and serving coffee to movie stars. One woman was a "real" actress trying to get a break. She had done exciting stuff like a dead body on one of the major TV shows and regaled us with tales of complete body makeup and stopping her breathing for four long minutes to look completely gone from this world. She was doing this project to add to her demo reel to give to real producers and get her big break. Yeah, me too (haha).

The fourth actor was a fifties-something gentleman who was actually an emergency room technician and played around with bit roles while his teenage daughters had fun doing more serious stuff. As I got to know him, I became aware of at least one of the reasons God had brought me to the armpit of the city and that was to share Jesus with a hurting man who had just separated from his wife and was completely distraught over it. But we'll get to that later.

Needless to say, there was no makeup or hair person and so what we came in with is what the camera recorded. I did change once but of my own decision to do so. This was quite the grassroots effort but I applaud the girls' ingenuity (just not the location choice) and hope they got an "A." I am not sure I ever want to see the end result except through squinting eyes if at all. Improv was the name of the game and we fortunately made it through all the lines with much laughter, lines whispered off screen for us oldies to remember, lines taped to the cabinet out of view, and tripods tied with a shoestring.

But back to the older actor -- when a scene was being shot in a different room, I got a chance to hear this man's stories and he apologized for letting his dissolved marriage come up like it does everywhere he goes. I had just shared with a room of little girls the night before about sharing Jesus and being proud of it. What example was I if I didn't bring it up with this man? I asked simply, "Are you a praying man?" which led into a deeper discussion. I was able to share with him my hope as a Christian. We discussed the results of not having God front and center in one's life. He said that he watched a particular tele-evangelist on Sunday mornings whose name I did not recognize. Amazingly, I just happened to be flipping channels the next morning and there was the very man talking about fighting the Goliath in your life with faith in Jesus. I prayed that though I may not know everything about this speaker, perhaps the actor was listening and receiving more encouragement to turn to God in his troubles. I hoped that at least more seeds were planted in this man's journey who so obviously needed help.

After feeling like the best discussion of the day was over, we still had three more hours of shooting which went quickly -- fortunately. I was ready to go home. I began to think that maybe this new interest and new contacts could led to a video used in the pregnancy counseling center where I volunteer or perhaps in another ministry. Wouldn't that be cool?

After it was over, we all hugged goodbye and I hightailed it home -- back to my safe home, safe world where everything was familiar again. But, as I watched the speaker the next morning talk about David defeating Goliath and how David was not David without the Goliath he slayed, I was convicted of the Goliaths in my life. I won't go into them here (wouldn't want to scare anyone) but hearing David come up again I recalled reading Psalms 119 earlier in the week and reflecting on David's own ability in creativity and leadership and yet how Psalms 119 is mostly about meditating on God's laws. I think one of my Goliaths is flippancy and details - not focusing seriously enough on one thing and just not being serious enough at all. My prayer for this week (and today is National Prayer Day) is to take the word of God more seriously in my life and heart and walk in truth, not acting like I am living a Godly life but REALLY living it. I want to hear an AMEN on that one!

"TO" Stop sign

I needed an object lesson last week (See the Worn Out Stop Sign) but the picture was too good not to bring back up for Wordless Wednesday and it worked great for my Bible school lesson so it'll have to be my Works For Me Wednesday post too! I am taking a short cut today but oh well! Gotta multitask these day. Go check out Rocks in My Dryer for more Works for Me Wednesdays and 5 Minutes for Mom for more Wordless Wednesdays! Oh don't forget the Wordless Headquarters!