2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,200 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 37 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

A Get Hawt New Year

This past year, I participated in my friend Jen’s Get Hawt blog party with a group of other people who had different weight loss, diet, fitness, and otherwise health-related goals. I was training for the Susan G. Komen 3 Day For the Cure, so the timing was perfect for me. I was walking a lot, eating better (or trying to), and I was looking better too (just on time for my wedding).

An update: since The 3 Day, I have done nothing. At least from a physical standpoint. I have gone back to drinking more pop than I should, and I have gained back whatever I lost during the initial challenge. All the muscle tone I had gained is gone, and the fat is back. In fact, this week, I have hit my all time low (or should I say high) as far as my weight goes.

Starting next month, Jen and I are going to lead another Get Hawt Challenge. She had a great pre-quel post where she was brutally honest about where she’s at.

I don’t know that I can be that open, but let’s just say I am currently at a weight I haven’t touched since I was pregnant. That is something that hugely disgusts me!! I look in the mirror, and I see the extra fat, I see my skin breaking out like a teenager, and I wonder what the heck is happening!?!

What’s happening, is that my Mom was right (again). She told me that when she hit 32, her metabolism quit working the same. When I was 32, I looked awesome. I got divorced, I was busy, I was so thin, my massage therapist jokingly asked me if I wanted a sandwich. Here I am, just 2 years later, over 20 lbs heavier. That’s a lot of weight to put on. My metabolism slowed down at 33 – WAY down!!

What am I going to do about it? Well, for starters, I started stepping on a scale. I used to avoid them as much as possible. I figured maybe being aware of what I weigh would help me. I created a spreadsheet where I will track my weight every day. I started a few days ago, and confirmed my suspicions that our scale was broken. It was going up and down by over 5 lbs in a day, sticking on numbers, and even starting off the 0 mark. Today, I went and got a digital scale. The number that showed up was about 5 lbs. higher than the number on the other scale. You know what that’s called? Motivation! So, now that my numbers are a bit skewed, it should start showing some consistency.

My husband got me a game for the XBox 360 that I’ve wanted for a while: Your Shape, Fitness Evolved. It shows a silhouette of you. It mimics your every move, like a shadow that doesn’t change with the location of the sun. I do NOT like what I “look like” on the screen. The sad thing, is that I know it’s pretty accurate. I am going to start working out with the game. I am looking forward to seeing the progress as my outline gets smaller.

I am not going to pretend to go on a diet, because I know I can’t restrict myself. I am going to be more aware of what’s going on with my body, and of what I put into it. Between tracking my weight, watching my figure shrink, and focusing on exercise, I should be looking and feeling better soon. My goals are mainly in regards to how I look and feel. It’s not about numbers. That said, I wouldn’t mind dropping about 15 lbs or so.

Of course, I’ll be posting my progress. Hopefully, it’s all good! If you’d like to join us in supporting each other’s efforts, please let me or Jen (@JenniferMcCown) know.

It’s a Small World

Many times in the past couple of years, I have run into situations where I said “huh – small world”! Following are some examples.

The first one I can recall, took place a little over 2 years ago. I had been spending quite a bit of time talking to my husband (@StrateSQL) on facebook. We were not yet dating, just rekindling an old friendship. One day, I got a direct message from this guy Eric (@sir_zman), who I went to high school with, asking how I knew Jason. When I wanted to respond that he was my boyfriend, but couldn’t because it wasn’t yet true, it made me think maybe it should be. Anyway, Eric knew Jason through the SQL Community. Last month, I saw Eric at the SQL Saturday event I was helping at. It was pretty cool. Always nice to reconnect with people in a non-high school reunion setting. Those can be a bit uncomfortable.

A few months’ back, this woman who I followed on Twitter sent me a DM. She asked me if I had worked at a certain preschool back in 1999-2000ish. I said yes. It was then I noticed she had changed her twitter handle from @SQLDevGAL, to her real name (@DianeMcNurlan). I realized about as quickly as her next message, that her daughter was in the first classroom which I was an Assistant Preschool Teacher in. She then sent me a picture she had recently come across of me from back then. What’s a bit weird about the whole thing, is that I started following her as a member of the SQL Community. She now lives in CA. There’s no way I would have made that connection had she not found that picture and realized it was me.

The next connection came a couple months ago, when Jason and I went to Lifetime Fitness to add me and the kids to his membership. I got there a bit before Jason did, and started chatting with the Membership Coordinator, Russ. He looked so familiar, but I couldn’t quite place him. Then it occurred to me, I used to play cards with him and a group of other people at the Community College I attended. We’d all play for hours (we may or may not have played right through classes some days).

The chance meeting with Russ brought together an even more bizarre connection. Probably a year or more ago, I noticed that a few of my facebook friends from high school were replying to a friend of my ex-husband’s. Said friend of the ex, Kevin, and I had remained facebook friends. I asked him how he knew Angela. His answer, he knew her from college in Duluth, MN. OK, fair enough. Then I asked him how he knew this other guy, Kelly. They apparently used to be roommates.

Somehow, in seeing Russ at Lifetime, we figured out that he also used to be roomates with both Kevin and Kelly. It doesn’t surprise me too much that Russ and Kelly used to live together, as they were both part of the card group. What I couldn’t quite connect is how Kevin ended up friends with the other two. They had met Kevin through another friend that had passed away a few years back in a snowmobile accident; also a member of our card group. It was sad to hear that the other guy had passed away; he had been a nice guy.

A more recent small world chance meeting, came at karate and dance class. I run into people there from high school, etc all the time, since it’s in the town I grew up in. The very first day, I ran into my old gym teacher. Anyway, I was at karate with Michael one night, and started talking to one of the moms (who was also a Dance Mom). This woman, Linda, also works at the dance studio. The more I’ve talked to her, and gotten to know her, the more random connections we’ve made. One such connection – her brother-in-law graduated with me. Another? Said brother-in-law was married to the cousin of someone I went to high school with (who’s daughter is in my daughter’s dance class).

The most recent small world connection actually started last year. While at a dance competition last year, I started talking with a Mom from Lake Area Dance (the studio my daughter currently attends). I asked that mom a ton of questions, and she had nothing but good things to say about the studio. My conversation with her was a large factor in choosing that studio. I digress… I have been trying to figure out who it was I had talked to last Spring. A few weeks back, we finally made the connection. In talking more with this mom, I realized that her son was in the grade behind me in school. While we weren’t really friends per se, we had a lot of friends in common, and were sometimes found in the same location. He was a really nice guy. His “little sister” is only a few years older than Grace, and has ballet with her.

So, why the heck did I bother to write this post? I don’t know… One of those “there have been so many random connections, it seemed worth writing down” moments, I guess. The older I get, the smaller the world actually seems.

Shock and Awe

A dance studio posted an awesome video of some girls dancing at a competition. I was watching it, and started following some of Youtube’s recommended links. I watched a video of 3 girls dancing to “My Boyfriend’s Back.” It seemed to be a Salt N Peppa-like version, and was danced by 7 year olds. The girls were quite talented. While their talent impressed me, I was a bit uncomfortable watching the whole thing. Here were these cute 7 year old girls, shaking their booties like video girls. I am not a prude, but I struggle a bit with some of the moves I see. Where do you draw the line with dance moves? At what age do those moves become ok?

As a Mom of a 10 year old, I would feel very uncomfortable with my daughter dancing like that. Most girls that age are not mature enough to differentiate between how they act while they dance on stage, and how they should act in real life. Their on stage “character” spills over into their day to day behavior, and they may not even realize they are being inappropriate. I know that the older my daughter gets, the more competitive she will likely become. I also know that the moves will likely become more and more risque. That, unfortunately, is a reality of having a dancer in competition.

As a past dancer, I understand. While things are much different than they were when I danced competition, the girls who dance “like little sluts” as I have heard some people say, are doing what their choreographers give them. Let’s face it, sex sells. It’s cliche, and true. Sexy moves may get higher scores, even at competitions judged primarily by women; even when the dancers are only 7 years old. Their choreographers know they are talented, and they want them to win. They give them dances that will score them points. They put them in costumes that make it easy to see all their moves (and often show off their bodies). Both male and female instructors alike can be guilty of it.

My husband attended his first dance competition last spring with me. He was appalled by the skimpy outfits, extreme amounts of makeup, and sexy moves these young girls were doing on stage to earn a trophy. As he said after I showed him that video, “They are giving these little girl moves that are only seen in strip clubs… and dance studios.” It is ridiculous…

Here’s my question, what can we as parents do to make any changes in the expectations for these girls? IS there anything we can do, short of pulling them from a sport that they love?

Why I Blog – #Meme15

There’s been conversation among bloggers as to what got them started publicizing their thoughts in the first place. My husband, Jason Strate (Twitter|Blog) posted a challenge called #Meme15. He challenged people to write about how/why they started blogging, and why they continue. Here’s my contribution:

Blog
I started blogging as a way to share ideas with parents and teachers. We have all had moments when all of the sudden, something works like magic. I wanted to be able to share those kinds of moments and hear about those of other parents and teachers. There are also those moments we might not be so proud of. Something we think might work great (either a lesson plan or otherwise) fails in a major way. Sharing those times with others can help us find ways to make it work better next time.

The more I blogged, the more diversified my topics became. I found myself writing about travels, my kids, dance, and just life in general. I wanted to be able to include pictures of my kids, but didn’t necessarily want those mixed in with the posts meant for parents/teachers. I ended up splitting my blog into two separate sites. I’m still not 100% sure that was the right choice. Either way, I just keep on writing posts when I can, and putting them on whichever site seems to fit the topic. I am still writing on a variety of topics, and enjoy being able to put my thoughts out there.

Baking Christmas Memories

Ready to bake some goodies.

Last Friday was my annual cookie baking day. I had Christmas music playing on Pandora, the Christmas tree plugged in, and I am made lots of goodies for our family Christmas party. Every year, I look forward to making all the goodies with recipes from various friends and family members. As I mix up each batch, I think of the person who that recipe came from. I think of so many memories (both happy, and some, not so much).

I started with some beer bread. I used a box mix for this, and used Honey Weiss beer in it. Thought it might add a little extra flavor. It turned out great, but I’d rather make it from scratch. If anyone has a recipe for beer bread, I’d love to have it!!

I went on to banana bread. I made one loaf without chocolate chips, the rest with. The banana bread recipe I use is from my ex-sister-in-law. It was her husband’s Grandma Wills’ recipe, and is hands down the best banana bread recipe I have found!

Banana Bread
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup butter (softened)
1 cup eggs (about 5)
2 cups smashed bananas (about 5)
2 tsp vanilla
4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup milk

1. Cream butter and sugar, then add eggs, banana, and vanilla
2. In a separate bowl, mix all dry ingredients together
3. Add 1/4 cup milk to butter/sugar mix. Then add 1 cup of flour mixture. Keep alternating between 1/4 cup milk and 1 cup dry ingredients until all mixed together.
4. Grease and flour pans (will make 2 lg loaves, or 3 medium).
5. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 1 hour. It’s ok to have all loaves in at the same time.

Notes: I like to add chocolate chips (full size or mini) to mine. I add them at the very end before I pour the batter into the pans. Sometimes, I will even fill one, then add chocolate chips, to make both kinds.

Next, I got the sugar cookie dough made, and put it in the fridge to chill until all the kids were here.

Vanilla Sugar Cookies
2 1/3 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1. Mix together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside
2. Beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time. Beat in vanilla.
3. Gradually add in flour mixture until well blended.
4. Knead dough into a disk shape, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 2 hours. It will help to sprinkle flour in the plastic wrap first, to prevent sticking.

Preheat oven to 350 F

1. On a floured surface (I use powdered sugar instead, or a mix of both), divide dough in half.
2. Using a floured rolling pin, roll out dough, and cut out cookie shapes.
3. Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes
4. Sprinkle hot cookies with sugar, or let them cool and decorate with frosting and sprinkles…

I then made Russian Teacakes. The recipe I use is from a cookbook a friend of mine, Suzy Goodsell, made for her family several years’ back. She collected all the favorite recipes of everyone in her family, and had the cookbook published. Suzy was the leader of some women’s ministry groups I was involved with a long time ago. She is an amazing woman who is now fighting lung cancer which has spread to her brain. I always think of her when I make these delicious cookies.

Russian Tea Cakes
1 cup butter, softened (sometimes you may need to add an extra Tbsp or two if the dough isn’t sticking)
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cups finely chopped pecans
1/4 tsp salt
More powdered sugar – in a bowl to roll them in when done.

1. Mix butter, 1/2 cup powdered sugar, and vanilla.
2. Stir in flour, nuts, and salt, until dough holds together.
3. Shape into 1-inch balls, and place about 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
4. Bake at 400 F until set, but not brown; about 10-12 minutes.
5. Roll in powdered sugar when still slightly warm.
6. Roll in powdered sugar again when cool.

After those were done, I made Ginger Snaps. I have tried gingerbread and ginger snap recipes in the past, but never quite found one I liked. Then came Molly Lee, one of the parents at the child care center I worked at in WI. She is a total sweetheart whose blog I follow. Last year, she published her Ginger Snap recipe. I decided to try them, and they are awesome!! At our Christmas party, people were gobbling them up!

The last recipe I had time for during the day, was my Grandma’s Spritz Cookie Recipe. This was a Christmas favorite when I was growing up. When she passed away, I got her electric spritz cookie press. It’s still stored in the original box that she’s had for who knows how long. It far surpasses anything I have found on the market since. Every year since her passing, I have made these cookies for my family. My cousins have told me how much they appreciate my baking them.

Grandma’s Spritz Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp almond flavoring
2 1/2 cups flour

1. Cream butter and sugar together.
2. Blend in egg, salt, flour, vanilla and almond
3. Knead dough in hand until soft
4. Put dough into cookie press, press cookies onto pan
5. Bake 8-10 minutes at 375 F

Some people like to add food coloring, or “paint” them with flour or egg whites and sprinkle them with colored sugar after baking them. I prefer to keep them white, and use my grandma’s frosting recipe to decorate them when they are cool. I usually keep a dozen or so out for the people who just want the taste of the cookies and/or the diabetics in the family who don’t need the extra sugar. The kids and I have always enjoyed decorating these with the frosting and colored sugars. They are delicious with a red hot on the center of the poinsettias, or the tops of the trees.

One day of baking - success!

Grandma’s Frosting
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 Tbs milk
1/2 tsp salt
6 Tbs softened/melted butter
Vanilla and almond flavoring to taste (don’t need much)

Combine all ingredients for a smooth, yummy frosting. Great for spritz and sugar cookies!

After the kids went to bed, I made Puppy Chow. I had never even heard of puppy chow before a family event at my ex’s. It has become a staple in my Christmas time goodies. Many people make it year round, but I reserve it for this time of year. The recipe I use came from a box of Chex cereal. They call them “Chex Muddy Buddies.” Thanks to the web, you can find the recipe on the official website for Chex.

Notes: I usually use half Rice Chex, and half Corn Chex. I have found that if your chocolate chips are older, they will not melt as well. The same is true with peanut butter. If it’s not fresh, it’s not going to have quite the same flavor once it’s heated up.

I also like to make Rosettes. I have not had time to make them yet this year, but they are best made within a few days of serving them. When I was a kid, my good friend, Kristen Cairl, used to make these at Christmas time, and she taught me how. It was something I looked forward to making with her.

In order to make rosettes, you need a special iron. As an adult, I walked into a Scandinavian store in Elk River, MN (just to see what they had). I was so excited to find a rosette iron with the recipe on the back! I have made them every year since. They are a rare cookie that not many people make any more. People tend to get excited when they see them. By the way, the rosettes they sell in the store are NOT NEARLY as good as home made. To me, they don’t even taste like the same thing.

Rosettes
2 eggs
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
Powdered Sugar for sprinkling

1. Beat eggs, sugar, and salt slightly.
2. Add milk and flour.
3. Beat until smooth.
4. Heat iron well in boiling oil, dip into batter. Be careful not to let batter cover top of the iron.
5. Dip batter coated iron into hot oil until nicely browned.
6. Serve sprinkled with powdered sugar.

A couple of notes: your house will smell like oil for a day or two afterwards if you do not have good ventilation. I would recommend making these near a window and/or a hooded vent. I have experimented with both shortening and vegetable oil. The oil seems to get the best results.

I would love to hear the traditional goodies you make!