Our Mushroom "Farm"

If you haven't figured out from my recipe blogs, we eat a lot of mushrooms in our household. I often use them as a low protein substitute for meat. For Christmas this year, my creative and thoughtful father bought us mushroom kits.

For the past few months, we have grown our own white button mushrooms. It was fairly easy to "assemble" (mix the dirt/spores). We water it every now and then and have fresh mushrooms every couple of days. The mushrooms were WHITE...I didn' t know they actually came in real white...but they do. They last a long time since they are much more fresh than store-bought, and they tasted great.

If you want to try this at home, I will warn you- you MUST harvest on a regular basis. We left the kit alone in our guest bedroom for a few days and had 2 lbs. of mushrooms that had grown past the appropriate harvest time. It was sad to toss them, but we still had plenty more left.

Mushrooms grow in a bag inside a box
(sorry the picture is fuzzy)

Our second kit, the portabellas, did not produce much...so far we have 3. But the first kit provided plenty of mushrooms (I can't imagine what we would have done if we had double the mushroom harvest...we already have much more than we need! )

I'm not entirely sure where my father purchased our kit, but there seem to be many available online. For those of you that like mushrooms, they taste so much better and were so easy to grow. We may have to get another kit and start growing year-round.

First harvest, very large fresh mushrooms

I'd love to figure out how to make our own "kits" (aka mix our own spores/dirt/compost) to save money...if anyone reading knows how, feel free to share. Meanwhile, we will stick to the kit!

Swimsuit Shopping

Today I got a catalog in the mail that actually made me want to buy a new swimsuit.
In fact, every time I get this catalog, I want a swimsuit.

After years of struggling trying to find modest swimsuits that didn't look granny-ish, I finally found the brand that works for me. As a youth worker, I need a suit (they hate when act "old" and don't actually get in the pool). And as a church youth worker, I need to make sure my top half is contained. As a 30+ woman, I need to make sure my thighs are contained. :)

 See the example of the modest shorts style in the center

 I promise I'm not being paid to "sell" you these suits, I just felt like Athleta is a secret that almost no one knows about. I need to share.

Not only do they sell modest bottoms (actual short length with a loose fit), they sell bra size tops. Plus they are all actually lined with support (they lift and and have thick lining).They also sell most tops/one pieces in tall sizes, a must have for my tankini tops. If you are one who likes a little more skin to show on your suits, they have those too. But their suits still have the supportive tops and are much better quality. I actually ended up with two tops and two bottoms of the same suit, so I can mix and match.

Now, not all suits are bra-size tops, but many are. Not all the shorts are loose...some are the tight fit style that most places sell. And a few of the prints are kind of...well...let's just say not my style. But they have some great options...just be sure to read the details if you are looking for a particular style.

I was really hesitant to order a swimsuit online, but they have free returns. After spending many hours EVERY summer trying on suits and ending up in tears and frustrated, I decided it wasn't much of a risk. I am so thankful my friend Grete shared the "insider information"with me. My swimsuit shopping has been tear-free ever since. I hope this helps some of you enjoy the same "tear-free" shopping.

P.S. They have other cute stuff, but I have no idea if it's great. Athletic wear for me is rarely needed and is usually a t-shirt and basketball shorts.

Children's Museum

It's been forever since I blogged, mostly due to the blessing of a teaching job this year. There are tons of things I could update on...and I will as time permits. But for some reason, the first thing I wanted to share with the world is what a great experience we had at the Austin Children's Museum.

We took our niece and nephew there about a month ago with low expectations. Honestly, we were just trying to fill time while babysitting them.

Before we even entered the museum rooms, the kids were given an opportunity to participate in a woodworking project. By kids I mean both of them and tons of others, some barely old enough to walk. The staff members helped the kids measure, saw, drill and assemble a wood frame. The craft was nothing fancy, but it was amazing to see the kids challenged to attempt a project with power tools normally not for kids. My niece especially was so proud and excited to show her father that she could use power tools.

In case you are freaking out, the younger kids only held a hand or two on the tools while the staff members worked. But it made her feel like a "big kid" and was so much better than some of the cheesy paper/glue/glitter type girly crafts she was used to.

The rest of the museum was great too. It was educational if you cared to read the information with the kids, and entertaining either way. It was so much better than killing time with a movie!

We probably won't go back again due to the fact we don't live in Austin, but it really encouraged me to find challenging projects and activities for the kids when we babysit next time. It's so easy to pop in a movie or play a video game, but so much more rewarding to see then learn and create. I'm excited to see what we can come up with next time - I'm thinking sewing, but maybe even another project with the power tools.

CaminoPro COMPLETE Fruit

First of all, let me say that since my last review of the Peanut Butter flavored bars, I've decided I love them. Cambrooke is brilliant. If you didn't see my edit on that review, the "fresh" bars (not mailed in 100+ temps) were creamy and amazing. I'll have to wait until temp drops to order more.

Fruit Bar in the Car- great for on the go

That being said, I was not a fan of the fruit frenzy bars. I saved this one for a road trip to the city. I figured it would be great for a formula on the go. And it was very convenient. The flavor was good...it tasted like some sort of cereal bar with white chocolate coating.

However, I slightly overreacted to the texture. No one told me it had crunchy somethings inside. I'm not entirely sure what it was (fruit? nuts?) I am sure many people will like this bar...for the record I just don't do textures well. If you like fruit flavor you will probably like this bar. But personally, I'll stick with the peanut butter :)

chunky texture things- eww :(

New York City Trip

New York City is one of my favorite places to visit. This year, we were not planning on going, but we actually had a need to be in Philadelphia and learned it was MUCH cheaper to fly to NYC and take a train...so needless to say we are now spending the first few nights in NYC.

Every time I've been to NYC I've come across all sorts of free things...but I didn't know about any of them ahead of item. One summer I found movies showing in the park and a free Broadway Night concert. One year I was even there for the Olympic Torch parade. All of these were surprises I found once there. This year I decided to plan ahead and realized I can search for many of the events online.
NYC may be known for being expensive, but the summer parks have tons of free events, concerts, kids activities, and more. You can even find a morning yoga group in the parks. And I found free kayaking, fishing, and canoeing as well!

We will probably still try to catch a show and eat at some fun places. (Junior's Cheesecake is a must) but we love the idea of filling in some of the time with free activities. And I can't even imagine how great this would be if we had kids along with us - they have tons of daytime art and kids shows that would help a walk in the park be much more exciting for kids.

This is the best search I've found...you can enter in the dates of your trip and even search for free...or if you want all events (not just free) you can search that as well. I'm not sure how many we will end up trying out, but I'll update when we do to let you know if they were exciting/fun/worth the time. Hope its helpful for those of you wanting to do a trip to NYC without spending tons each day on activities.

NYC Parks - Free and Low-Cost Events

Mail SPAM?

Today I got 4 of these in the mail...I usually get 2-3 a week, but these all arrived together. This is not the first time I've had 4 at once either. I buy from them once a year only (for Romania supplies) and that is all. Pretty sure the hundreds of magazines they send each year cost almost as much as I spent (it wasn't much) I assume it pays off in the end, but really? How many different covers can you have for the same products featured in different ways? I'm not a marketing genius, but this seems off.

Same stuff in each one, as always.

Saving money

This post on saving money has been moved to my new blog. Click here for the original post, Saving Money Part I.  I also have an updated post with more info and tips that you can find here: Click here for Saving Money Part II. 
Sorry for any confusion!

New (free) Blender

Living on a budget and being new to the "homemaker" world, it amazes me what things now excite me. Today I met a goal- I saved up tons of stamps from my grocery store (and collected my mother-in-law's as well) and was rewarded with a free blender. Tonight we are making some more homemade ice cream then testing out the blender for some milkshakes. And now to save up for the less exciting electric can opener!

DIY Seasoning Mixes /Spices

A few months ago, I had the beginnings of a good idea. I found a great recipe that needed garlic salt. I had both salt and garlic powder. But no garlic salt. I wasn't about to run to the store and get some. I knew I could make my own, so with some quick googling I found the ratios. The ratios provided a bit more than I needed, so I decided to just save the extra in one of those fancy spice rack jars that had been empty for years.

A few days later I was making burritos and finishing of a packet of taco seasoning and thought the same thing. It smelled like a combo of all the spices I already had. I found a "recipe" for the seasoning via pinterest, and it was exactly the same. And then, of course, why not make some cinnamon sugar topping just because. 

I've been using each for months and finally decided to put labels on them. (My husband didn't know what is what and I'm not sure he liked my "open and smell" technique to tell them apart from some other spices I had unlabeled. I whipped up some labels on address labels via Photoshop/Microsoft word, and now they are complete.

Ratios/Recipes are below. And yes I need to make more garlic salt and cinnamon sugar. And just a little confession or two....I don't measure my taco seasoning in the beef - I just shake til it looks/smells good. And I gave the "normal" cinnamon sugar ratio, but I totally just go by taste - lots of sampling needed that way. I think I prefer a bit more cinnamon then it suggests. Hope they work for you. Let me know any other ideas for spice/seasoning mixes if you have any. (Always needing a great Italian one).

Finally a great use for my spice rack set's empty jars

TACO SEASONING

1/4 cup chili powder

1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 to 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (to taste)
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp paprika
2 tbsp ground cumin
3 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

Use about 2-3 tablespoons in place of the packet taco seasoning.

GARLIC SALT

3 parts salt

1 part garlic powder

(for example, 3 tablespoons salt and 1 tablespoon garlic powder)

CINNAMON SUGAR 

1/4 cups sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

Homemade Bread

EDIT*  Click here for the recipe


This phase of my life includes no job. I'm looking, but living in a small town makes it difficult. However, it has been a hidden blessing learning how to make things from scratch to save money. I've made lots of recipes so far, but the one I was the most afraid of attempting was bread.

After much research online and delay for fear of how it might fail - I created this:

It looks like actual bread!

No holes in the bread!

I used the recipe on the back of my bag of whole wheat flour. (Gold Medal)


I read stories about how loaves turn out odd shaped and/or have holes in the final product. With some quick online research while my dough was in its first rise, I found this tip page. I rolled the bread just like she said and it turned out pretty normal looking. It was a little lopsided, but who cares.

It tastes great. It definitely tasted the best the first day. But it still tastes better than store bread even on day 4. Yes, it took a while to make, but time is something I have plenty of these days. Now that I've given it a try, it actually would not be hard at all to make some loafs on weekend for the entire week (assuming and hoping I have a job someday soon).

Taming the Frizz

Anyone of you who actually knows me knows I have crazy thick hair, wavy - not curly, not straight. It's been a struggle my entire life to tame my crazy mane. I have tried so many different products throughout the years and finally settled on the amazing. I found S Factor smoothing lusterizer for my straight hair. Now here is the problem...$$$$$$$$$$

Living in a small town I have found quickly that its hard to find my hair stuff and good deals. I used to buy via Ulta buy one get one free sales. Walmart has no such deals. Not to mention our budget has changed a lot, so pricey products are no longer an option. I went on a hunt for the perfect CHEAP product, a scary adventure considering the many bad hair days and wasted partly-used bottles these trials to. But it was all worth it.

Pantene Medium-Thick Straighten and Smooth Creme

Pros: price is a lot less and tames frizz well, doesn't leave glittery-looking stuff on your hands like S Factor does
Cons: Does not smell nearly as wonderful as S Factor (but it doesn't smell bad either)

2011 Reflections

All in all, I'd say 2011 was a pretty amazing year...perhaps one of the most exciting of my life so far. I was very blessed this year. TONS happened, but here are the highlights:

got engaged and married

changed my name

added some great in-laws to my life

plus got niece and nephew

saw tons of family and friends I hadn't seen in years at showers and wedding festivities

got tons of new stuff via wedding gifts

quit my job that I had for almost 6 years

bought our first house

moved to a small town

made a lot of new friends

learned how to cook real meals (aka meat)

went to Romania

went to NYC

went to Colorado

went to California

went to Playa del Carmen for our honeymoon

AND got the most amazing husband in the world that at a little shy of 4 months of marriage, I still fall more in love with each day.

Last year, I was very content with my job, apartment, singleness, and just about everything else. God had other things in mind. Now that my life looks NOTHING like it did a little over a year ago, I have no idea what to expect in 2012, but looking forward to the unexpected!

The best of small town living

So I was all ready to blog every single day...or close to it. I already have the next blog or two half written.But the holidays distracted me. And then I got sick. It was a nice reminder of how much my life has changed. I had text messages pouring in from family and friends asking if I was pregnant. It seems from now on, instead of compassion, any sickness I feel will now be met with excitement. (For the record, it was food poisoning, not a baby)

Married life has lead to many changes. Most have been easy to adjust to. The most difficult has been moving to a small town. But here are my favorite things about small town life.

5. High School Football - We only managed to go to one game this year, but the entire town seemed to be there. It's not just football too. We can go to any game, concert, play, etc and see tons of people we know. The kids are treated like celebrities in our small town paper.

4. Parades - My first weekend here was the 4th of July parade. I was actually in the parade! Since then, we have had many events. The school homecoming parade drew out a huge chunk of the town. The most recent, Christmas Stroll and Parade featured floats and shops with free hot chocolate and cookies. I can definitely get used to this. Each parade we head to the square just us and then run into tons of people we know. It's a great time to say hi to everyone and just enjoy a change in activities.

3. Quiet - The first night I lived in the house by myself, I just laid in bed amazed at the sound of...NOTHING. Literally, I could hear nothing. It was so strange. It was hard to sleep. I lived by the train tracks in the city for 10 years and no longer even noticed the train whistles. Car alarms constantly went off in my apartment complex parking lot. How on earth can one sleep in silence? Luckily, our ceiling fan makes a low ticking sound that helps for now. But I've now become accustomed to the quiet. We live in a cul-de-sac and hear no cars other than the neighbors. No headlights shine in our windows ever. We live close enough to the small airport that we actually hear more small airplanes overhead than we ever hear cars in a day.

2. Traffic - I have hit a few traffic jams since moving here in July (aka 4 cars in a line at a stop sign during "rush hour"). It is amazing how I used to be able to only travel from my apartment to the mall only a mile away in 30 minutes during the Christmas holiday. Here in my small town life, I can travel across town in 10 minutes even during "rush hour". The nearest mall may be an hour away, but that's only 30 minutes more than traffic in the city was.

1. The Sky - "The stars at night are big and bright..." deep in not-really-the-heart of Texas. Not even sure where the heart of Texas is, but I do know where I am the sky is amazing. We received a pair of binoculars for a wedding gift and learned that we are actually able to see Jupiter and its moons clearly almost every night. Thanks to star-guide apps for our phones, we have been able to see the Andromeda galaxy and other great things as well. With the help of our neighbors telescope, we have been able to see all the clear details on the moon (and even take this photo through the telescope). It's been a while since we ventured out with the telescope, but even with the naked eye we see amazing things in the sky each night - it is simply beautiful.

Update on my life

It has been a while since I last updated.Things have changed a bit:

Wedding Tickers
Story coming soon...

Can't pay my bills b/c can't remember my fav actor 3 years ago...

Ok so the title is misleading, but could really happen.
I rarely complain on my blog. In fact, I am not very opinionated. But it is that very factor that causes this complaint. Today, while setting a password for PayPal I encountered once again a problem with security questions. Who on earth decided you can ask OPINION questions as security questions? What if I forget my password next year and all my favorites have changed! What if I don't remember what my favorite was years ago when I set up the account. Security questions need to stick to facts. It would be one thing if I was signing up for Facebook or something "fun"-but these silly questions are the security questions for my credit cards. My finances can be effected by my memory of who my favorite cartoon character was 3 years ago when I signed up for the online account.
Below are a list of real security questions from one of my credit cards that I cannot seem to answer. I had to pick three. I resorted to the only three that seemed like the answers cannot change over time. "What street did you grow up on?" "Who was your high school mascot?" and "What was your mother's maiden name?" which is difficult because I can never seem to spell it right! Here are the rest...
What is the name of your favorite childhood friend? Um, I had more than one
What is your favorite book? Changes
What is your favorite cartoon character? No idea
What is your favorite flower? Any people give me
What is your favorite movie? Changes
What is your favorite sport? Changes
What musical instrument do you play? Ok, not opinion, but I played two, so which would I put?
What was the name of your favorite teacher? Had more than one fav
What was your first pet's name? Had two first pets - at the same time
Where did you meet your spouse/significant other? No spouse for me but what if I were to answer this one while dating someone then need my password a year later when I have a new guy in my life?
Who is your favorite actor? Changes
Who is your favorite author? None (I'm not a very dedicated Literature teacher)
Who is your historical person? Um, never even thought about this.
Who is your favorite musician? Changes

Everyone Keeps Sending me this survey...

My 25
1. In college, I used to dress up in a purple toga to cheer on LT and my Horned Frogs
2. I told my college advisor I would NOT take English classes because I would NEVER teach English no matter what.
3. I am a certified English teacher :)
4. I actually love my job most days – my at-risk teenagers completely fascinate me and break my heart all the same time
5. Every two months or so I want to quit my job and move half way across the world
6. I love writing and if I wasn’t a teacher or missionary, I’d be a journalist
7. I really don’t like reading the news online – I’m old fashioned and like to flip through the pages
8. I don’t currently subscribe to any newspaper because my neighbors kept stealing it and I just gave up and no longer read the news at all
9. I am non-confrontational, hence why I gave up my newspaper subscription
10. When I get mad at someone, I cannot stay mad very long. I always forget I am mad when I see the person because I am so excited to talk to them. Half the time they don’t even know I was ever mad
11. At least once a day, a quote from Friends enters my head. Usually, its when I’m around people who have no clue, but I love when I can just say the line and the other person understands me completely. I have a few friends and even a couple students who know all the lines too
12. I can actually watch any show. I will never turn off a movie or TV show in the middle, no matter how dumb it is. I like to know what happens. If I turn it off in the middle, I will dream about the ending, sometimes even months later.
13. LOST is the best show ever
14. I ate my very first real pizza slice last week and it was amazing
15. I’m not supposed to eat meat, but I have a weakness for pepperoni
16. I am a computer nerd - I could be on my computer all day and never notice the time go by
17. I rarely ever cry, but when I do I really cry
18. One of my favorite things to do is shop and SAVE more money then I spent. I love to go to sales or TJ Max and find really good deals. I can almost always tell you the price of anything I am wearing.
19. I don’t understand the obsession with shoes. I have the basics and even they stress me out. If I could, I would wear flip-flops or my Sketchers every day. But the fashionable side of me refuses.
20. When I was in seminary, I was a bad dresser. My DVR was set to tape What Not To Wear. I’d watch while I read my homework. One day I saw I sweater I owned on the things NOT to wear. I cleaned out a lot of stuff out of my closet that same day and since then was very careful about what I buy. Oddly enough, I still have that sweater for some reason. Haven’t worn it since though.
21. I also have no idea how to use makeup. I try something and if I like it, I continue to do the same every single day. I just have no idea how to change things.
22. Accessories make very little sense to me. I don’t understand how to match things. I like them on others though. I have TONS of jewelry I never wear.
23. I’ve lived in TX almost 10 years and rented the entire time because I really can’t commit to live here another year, even though I will probably live here forever
24. I want to live in Romania and New York City for at least a year of my life
25. I’m pretty sure this is the first one of these surveys I have ever done. The only reason I did it is because people keep tagging me on theirs. So I’m tagging all of you back.

The World is Your Stage...and Facebook is the ticket vendor

I work with teenagers. Whether in school or church settings, they have all become completely obsessed with online profiles. The church ones flock to Facebook, my school ones to MySpace. And all this leads to problems. High school drama takes a new extreme. And worst of all, the world revolves around you and your profile. I've had small chats with many teenagers and peers who struggle with this, but a recent article said it well. The educator, sociologist, and theologian in me were all intrigued.
Relevant Magazine published an article called "The Problem of Pride in the Age of Twitter" by Brett McCracken. Part of me wishes I had written this article first! But he did a better job than I could have. Mine would have been more "sociological".
McCracken focused on the idea that we are obsessed with defining ourselves via play-by-play status updates and "....communication is no longer about learning things from people or sharing experiences; it's about knowing what they're doing and how they're feeling, or at least how they want the world to perceive them as such" Enter the drama.
It reminds me of the sociological concept of the looking-glass self. It was a term coined by Charles Cooley in 1902...that's over a hundred years ago. Apparently the problem is not new. Encyclopedia.com explains, "an individual's sense of self is derived from the perceptions of others. Just like the reflections in a mirror, the self depends on the perceived responses of others; or, as he himself puts it, ‘each to each a looking glass reflects the other that doth pass.'" It continues to explain,"The looking-glass self has three components: the imagination of our appearance to the other person; the imagination of their judgement of that appearance; and self feelings, such as pride."
If these explanations don't make sense, google the term. There are TONS of web pages dedicated to explaining it. Basically, the idea is that we think the whole world is watching us. The idea is that I am an actor on a stage, and everyone is watching my life. The way the "audience" perceives me defines who I am. So I strive to present myself the way I want the audience to see me. Of course, the audience is fictional. Or is it?
In Cooley's day, the audience was almost completely in one's mind. I remember walking through high school with a bad haircut thinking EVERYONE was watching, judging. They weren't. The Internet - Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, and Blogs have finally given the self-conscious teenager (as well as everyone else) an audience. Ever freak out because a "bad" picture of you was tagged? Or spend hours posing for a cute profile pic? Written a blog or status update just to get empathy? Created a YouTube video to show off? Why? Because you want people to think of you as attractive. You want people to understand where you are coming from. You want people to see you shine.
When it all comes down to it, things haven't changed much since Cooley created the theory in 1902. Thanks to the Internet, everyone is welcome to be part of the audience. But I think most the audience still only consists of a select few. I have over 400 friends on facebook. I sometimes read updates on my newsfeed, but don't really care about most of those. The problem is that we THINK everyone cares. We insist people comment on our walls, blogs, status updates, videos, etc because we really want to know how people perceive us and that people care.
This blog will be "readable" by over 400 facebook friends and anyone who finds it via google. My pride could tell myself "All these people will be transformed by my amazing words". Reality is that only a few will read, and even fewer comment. And that's ok.
McCracken's article concluded that the problem of pride is not new to the church but "Technology has only exacerbated it. In times like these-when it's easier and more alluring than ever to be or feel important-Christians must remember that we're not called to be viral superstars. We're called to be living sacrifices. We're not instructed to make ourselves look as good as possible in front of the largest audience we can; no, we are instructed to deny ourselves and humbly follow Christ." What do you think?

Self-Check Out

The other day I had an odd experience at the grocery store. It all started when I walked in. For some reason, I set the alarm off walking in. I paused, shocked, and looked around. No one seemed to want to check me or my large purse. I realized their were no baskets so I would need to go back outside to get a cart. On my way out, the alarm rang again. Really weird. But no one even looked my direction. My way back in I didn't even pause at the alarm...obviously no one cared.
Then for the next odd part.Remember when grocery stores had express lanes? Ten items or less allowed you to bypass those with a cart full of items. But someone had a great idea to create a self checkout line. It must have sounded like a good idea on paper...they don't have to pay anyone to scan the groceries. We feel special because we get to quickly scan groceries. Up until a few days ago, my only annoyance with them was the constant "skip bagging?" alert every time I bought a light weight item. But was this really a good idea?
I was at the store at a peak time 5pm on a weekday to pick up a few items. Since express lanes no longer exist and too many people were buying a months supply of groceries, I opted for the self checkout. They had 6 "lanes" total, so I did not mind the four people with almost empty carts waiting in front of me. The "supervisor" was busy wiping down a few of the "lanes" that I quickly realized were not turned on. Only 3 were on and open, only 1 for my line. Even though the store was packed and lines were growing quickly, the others were not turned on. But they were very clean when she was done with them. The few people in front of me were obviously annoyed. I saw the women a few people in front of me had flowers and I wondered how long that would take to scan and price check. To my surprise, the flowers scanned find. But it was a different story for the bottled water. The "supervisor" walked by them without helping. After repeated attempts to scan the water, the women just shrugged their shoulders and placed the water in their basket anyway. They smiled at each other and laughed awkwardly. These otherwise innocent 40 year old women had to resort to stealing! (Ok, they did not have to, but those behind them in line were not willing to wait for the supervisor to come back and help them, so no one told on them).
The next person had even more trouble. The supervisor had to enter her code three times. Not one time did she check to see why she was entering the code. I think it was an innocent mistake, but I am pretty sure the man did not scan one of his three 12-packs of cola.
I waited 15 minutes for my turn to purchase my seven items, and as I walked out the doors, the alarm went off again. I could have fit almost anything in that big purse of mine. No one stopped me or even looked my direction, so I just kept on going. I couldn't help but think how I could have saved 15 minutes and a few dollars had I just filled my purse with the items and walked out. Or waited in my line but skipped the scan for my higher priced item. Of course, I would never, but I wondered how many do fall to the temptation, or at least how many people "forget" to scan an item or two. I can't help but wonder if the stores really are saving money with these "self-check out" lines. In my fifteen minute wait alone in one line the store lost at least $10. I never knew a grocery store employee to make $10 every fifteen minutes. Perhaps they should rethink the system.

**Searching my purse later, I found that I had a DVD in my purse that I had been showing in my class that day...I'm guessing it set off the alarm.

A MacBook Odyssey...a story of epic mishaps

It has been one month and twelve days since I have been able to access my own computer. Now it is time to blog again, but first let me explain. See if you can solve the mystery...
Years ago, about two years ago to be exact, there was a teacher who was so excited that she was no longer a poor seminary student. She decided to celebrate by ordering a MacBook which even came with a free i-Pod. She was so excited. When her MacBook arrived in the mail, she turned it on ready for excitement. But shortly after turning on, the MacBook shut off. She turned it on again. It shut off again. And again, And again. She new something must be wrong. Luckily, Apple has excellent service so they decided she should send it back and they would fix it. So she did. It was a motherboard problem, about $1000 paid for by AppleCare.
A week later, her MacBook came back. It was just as she imagined...all the fun of a Mac but portable. A few months later though problems started again. This time the young teacher did not want to wait for the mail, so she took her MacBook to the Apple store, an hours drive. After $1000 of repairs again paid for by AppleCare, she had her MacBook a few weeks later. Six months later this happened again. And again. $5000 worth in repairs later, this teacher was done. She was headed out of the country and took it in for one last repair at the beginning of the summer. After that, she would DEMAND a new one. After another costly repair, always free to her, she left for two months. The poor MacBook made it through life in Romania with minimal problems, but the teacher annoyed everyone with her dominance of electrical outlets. The MacBook only worked when plugged in. It died at random if it was ever unplugged, but at least it worked. The two months in Romania required much emailing and online chatting during breaks. She might not have survived without it.
Upon returning to the US, this teacher slept for two days, then finally when she woke up she turned on her MacBook. She was so excited to see her Romanian friends online, but in the middle of a chat, her laptop shut down never to turn on again. So she took it to a local shop and called Apple asking for a replacement. Apple said they only give replacement if a computer has had at least three major repairs, so it was unlikely. But after careful review of the sage of her MacBook repairs, they appologized for the many problems and gave her exciting news. Stuart from Apple would send her a new one as soon as possible! All she needed to do was print off the labels online and mail it. As soon as FedEx scanned the labels, a new laptop would be overnighted.
Well this teacher was really excited, but with the school year beginning it was hard to find time to mail the old laptop in. The computer store offered to store her hard drive for free for a few days. Everything was perfect. She was bragging about the new laptop already. She printed the labels and taped up the package. She was a little worried that she had not used enough tape - what if the paper she wrapped the box in came loose? Surely it wouldn't, but all they needed to do was scan the label anyhow. She looked online for drop of places that had a pick up time the same day, Pack N Mail was the winner. As soon as work was over, she sped over to the store. The young twenty-something behind the counter said FedEx already picked up that day. She said that was odd the internet said otherwise. He said oh well. He said to leave the package on one of the side counters where customers packed their boxes while waiting for their turn. It seemed like a weird place to put her package. He did not bring it to the back with all the other packages. The teacher thought that was fishy, but said nothing. Then the young worker printed a small receipt off his computer. He said FedEx would not scan the package until tomorrow. She was annoyed, but what could she do?
The next few days, she kept checking for the scan online. Stuart emailed that he had noticed she printed the labels but no package was sent. She was very confused. She called PackNMail. They said not to worry, they found the package in their system but FedEx must have had trouble scanning it. It was ground shipping and would arrive in a week. All she had to do was wait. So she waited, two weeks. No package. She called FedEx and PackNMail. Now PackNMail had NO record of the package in their system, even though they had before. This was suspicious. FedEx agreed and said to file a claim. The teacher was very glad she saved her receipt. Unfortunately, FedEx said since Apple paid for the labels only they could file a claim. A small little company like Apple computers was not about to file a claim against FedEx for a package they had never seen shipped. So began the battle. One tiny sheet of paper was the only evidence that the computer was ever sent. Apple was not sure what they wanted to do. Stuart updated the distraught teacher almost every week. They were on a first name basis and he even recognized her voice when she called. The teacher was growing worried because the receipt was a month old and starting to fade to nothing. That slip of paper was the only thing she had, worth $1000 to her. She sent it to Stuart one last time. Finally, Stuart emailed saying good news, updates will ensue. The teacher was excited, but puzzled with what kind of person would use the word 'ensue' . Though Stuart no longer updated her, later that same day a FedEx tracking number was e-mailed to her. The next day, she had a brand new MacBook. The computer store put her old hard drive info onto the new MacBook. Now the new teacher has a new laptop that looks the same only runs a million times faster. No one will every know what happened to the cursed original MacBook, but now no one seems to care.

Erin's Goals (November 1996)

During my sophomore year of high school, one of my teachers had us create a booklet of our goals. We had to create a one year goal, five year goal, and a ten year goal. I remember thinking it was a silly assignment because who knew what life bring. While home in Kansas, I stumbled across my booklet.
My one year goal was simple - good grades and physical fitness.
My five year goal was to be in college at K-State or Colorado State. Ok, the college changed to TCU but I would call that exceeding my goal.
My ten year goal was the most interesting. I remember writing it thinking it was so far into the future. Ten years from then was last school year, my first year teaching English full-time. I wrote in the booklet, "My ten-year goal is to have a job of either a journalist or a teacher...I think having either job would make my life seem more complete and allow me to have fun and enjoy my work..." I wrote this book a few weeks before I became a Christian. It amazes me that God took me down that same path, one He had laid on my heart even before I knew Him. It is somewhat odd to me that I didn't put anything about a husband or family...I am pretty sure at the time I thought that 26 would be too soon for marriage and a family. My idea of a complete life was having a job I love.
During the years that followed college, I had no desire to teach or write. I struggled with what I wanted to do with life. Its funny that I constantly wrestled with something I had apparently figured out in 10th grade. I am proud to say I achieved all my goals.
(Now perhaps its time to set new ones...one, five, and ten years.)