Ah, the joys of teeth

Well, I went to the family dentist today. After about six or more numbing shots and an hour of drilling the dentist sat up and announced that he couldn't finish the root canal! He said my tooth was too hard an that he would have to send me to a specialist. He also said that this speicallist would be quite pricey. So, he patched me up and after even giving me a shot in the nerve of my tooth (through the hole he drilled) he didn't give me any pain medication. So, I went home, with some rather bad news. That my tooth was not fixed after taking a 1/2 day off of work and we would have to spend more time and money at another doctor getting it fixed. So, that is the news.

Please continue to pray for my meeting tomorrow with the Manager from Primerica. I need guidance and direction for what questions to ask (even though they are all written out) and I just really want to follow God's will. So, now that I am a bit loopy from some pain medication graciously given to me by my father, I think I will go crash on the couch.

White Flour

Here is an article that I read in a new book called, You are what you eat by Paul Chek. It is all about white flour. I am all for eating natural foods, not unnatural foods like margarine and artificial sweetners. Bring on the butter! Anyway, I am cutting out white flour and trying to stick to whole grains only because white flour is more processed that whole wheat flour. Anyway, I know that I probably can't cut out all white (processed) flour and sugar but I am at least going to cut back! Here is an exerpt from the article I read:

While there is little argument that whole-grain cereals and breads are more nutritious, provide more fiber and aid detoxification, care must be taken to avoid consuming ill prepared or processed grains. As you are surely well aware, we have not only deviated far from our ancestral dietary, but we are in the era of highly processed foods. Food manufacturers have clung to public misperceptions with regard to white foods, particularly white breads, white rice, white sugar and white table salt, all of which are commonly referred to as white death by most nutrition experts and naturopathic physicians, and for good reason!

White flour contains only 13% of the chromium, 9% of the manganese and 19% of the iron that is contained in whole wheat. Due to the fact that many of the B vitamins are concentrated in the outer parts of the grain, white flour is deficient in B vitamins (6).
White flour does not contain the germ of the wheat, which is a potent source of vitamin E, resulting in a high potential for vitamin E deficiency in those who’s diet is inadequate for vitamin E sources and/or comparatively high in bread-stuffs (7).

Research shows that since as long ago as the 1950’s, conventionally farmed American grains have been low in protein quality and quantity. So much so in fact that whenever the US tried to give its surplus grains away to countries with starving populations, they would not accept US grains if any other country was offering theirs; they had found that the deficient US grains did little to maintain or improve the health of the starving (8).

After 130 years of consuming highly processed grains in the form of breads, pastries and cereals, chronic disease states are rampant among most industrialized nations, with the greatest prevalence in England, which has the greatest consumption of white flour, white sugar and tea per capita - the US is in a strong second! Not surprisingly, we appear to be continuing another trend that began with the introduction of the steel roller mill - a declining birth rate. As you can see in the diagram, the more bran and germ millers extracted from flour, the lower the birth rate per 1000 people there were in England between 1872 and 1945. Today, things are not much better. Artificial insemination is a big business and, if not for advanced medical technologies, we would be losing a huge amount of babies that wouldn’t have survived even 100 years ago.

Planning Ahead

I have started reading a very interesting book. It is called "Healthy Parents, Better Babies." Now before anyone jumps to conclusions, no I am not pregnant and we aren't planning it for a while. However, I have recently heard quite a bit about Preconception plans (some take years)and how much they will greatly improve the health of children, mainly because many women don't realize the first few weeks they are pregnant (not to mention how much it will improve our health as well). So I decided to look into it. This book is packed full of very good information for both "prospective" parents. I am only on the first section. It is all about vitamins and minerals and what each one does for development and how much you need and how much is too much. Very interesting. One of the main things the book stresses is that it is important to cut out white flour and white sugar out of the diet, so I am going to try. These things seriously take away the body's ability to absorb essential nutrients. Anyway, just some new information I am learning. Also, zinc is very important. Well, that is my new interesting fact. So I guess I am starting on this plan by cutting out or trying to cut out white sugar and white flour. So I am eating whole grains and things with natural sugar (honey, fruit, etc). We'll see if I can stick with it.

Monday's

Well, work has been a little bit of a struggle these past few days. The boss has been gone and there have been some things going on with other employees. Anyway, I can't say to much about that. I keep thinking that I need a change in "career" if I am going to stay sane. We'll have to see what Thursday brings. I am thinking that if the job is attractive, I may go ahead and take it. It seems as if I would only be going to Wichita until my training period was over, I guess we'll see. I need to weigh all my options since we would probably need to purchase another car if I drove to Wichita each day, or Andrew would have to get the old beast up and running again.

Andrew is applying to Baker University (their online program). Their program is an MBA with an emphasis in Computer Information Systems. He sent in his information today so I guess we will just wait to hear back from them. The price is very reasonable so that is another attractive feature of the university besides the fact the program seems suited just for Andrew.

Well, I'd better go and do some sort of a workout to try and pretend that I am getting skinnier with all this exercise and lack of food! Woe is me!! :)

Comments

Well folks. I am taking the comments off my blog for just a few days. I got a very strange comment from someone that I don't know. So, I am going to try and delete it but until then I am going to just remove all comments. This saddens me because I really enjoy checking my blog, periodically during the day for comments from friends and family so I will try to find out quickly, how to remove unwanted comments. Thanks and I hope you keep commenting, once I bring the comments back!

Monday's Post

Well, not much is going on, which is why I haven't posted anything. Andrew hasn't heard back from the Cincinnati company. My informational meeting with Citigroup isn't until Thursday night. It sounds like I could have a job with them if I wanted too. I appreciate the advice you gave me, Amy. If there is anyone's advice I want on job matters, it is yours. You are the only person I know who may be president one day!! I need to find out more about the job before making any decisions. Please pray for us on Thursday as we go to that meeting, and for me on Friday, as I have my root canal done. We have a baby shower/cookout for some of our friends on Wednesday night. I have lessons Tuesday night. I usually have lessons on Monday's but my student will be gone this week, so I will have a free night tonight.

It is so hot in my office right now that it is making me very sleepy. I can see the cool comfy couches in here and I just want to nap, oh well.

Oh and P.S. Andrew is apply to a Master's Degree program today. I guess that is big news!

Thanks and Time for More Decisions

I just want to say thanks to all the people who comment on my blog. It really brightens my day when I check and I see one more comment on the page, so thanks!

Whew! Now, on to the decisions. Ok, here is the whole story. The other day Andrew was searching on the internet and found a company in downtown Cincinnati looking for a webmaster. He sent his resume. They emailed him and asked for a phone interview so he set the time for Thursday at 1 p.m. Then on Wednesday of this week, while at work, I received a call on my cell phone. It was a lady from Citigroup, a financial corporation, actually the largest corporation in the world. She said that someone had recommended me for a position with them. She was wondering if I was interested. I told her that I was happy where I was at, unless we were to relocate to Ohio and then I would need to be finding a job. She said that was no problem, since they were a global company, she was sure she could get me a position there as well (the offices are in Sharonville). Anyway, she asked if she could come by for a preliminary interview on Thursday after work. So, Thursday became the day for interviews.

Andrew said his interview went very well. Several things were very attractive about the job but the main thing was that it was a small business, only about fifteen people, and he liked the job description. So the person who interviewed him said that he would give him a call if they were interested in a second interview, possibly in person.

So, then I had my interview about 5:30. The lady came by our house. The interview went very well. She said that I seemed like the kind of person they were looking for and that she was interested in continuing the process, if I was. I just wanted to find out more about what I would be doing and such. So we are both going to an informational meeting next Thursday in Wichita. There were a lot of attractive things that she said about the company: The pay, the flexible hours, the possibility for advancement in the company, the success of the company. So, anyway, here we are at the crossroads again. We will probably have a week or so to wait before we know any further but I tend to be one to think ahead and plan ahead and here are a few things that we are thinking.

1) I could take this job now and commute to Wichita part-time and leave my current job. I would be making almost twice as much money but I wouldn't be working with friends and at my alma mater.
2) We could just wait to hear back from Andrew's company and if they want to hire him then I could simply take a job with them in Ohio and not start the training here.
3) Or wait for a church job to come along.

Anyway, I realize many of these things are very premature but I like to think ahead and ponder every possibility. Well, that is the latest news in our lives! We will let you know if we hear anything more.

Recipes here at last!

Andrew has encouraged me to post some of our new recipes on here. We have had lots of new things these past two weeks since I have been planning things out. I won't put them all on there, since that would be long, but I will put our favorites. Enjoy!!

GYROS

1 lb Gound beef
2 slices semi dried (day old) bread
2 Cloves garlic, chopped fine
2 Tbls Fresh parsley, chopped
1 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Pepper
1/4 tsp Ground Greek Seasoning
1/4 tsp Ground cumin
1 Egg, beaten

TZATZIKI SAUCE(Yogurt cucumber sauce)
2 Small Cucumbers, Peeled, Seeded & Diced
1 1/4 cup Yogurt
2 Tbls Olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
4 Garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbls Fresh dill, chopped
White pepper
Salt

TZATZIKI SAUCE 1) Combine yogurt, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and pepper in a bowl. Cover and refrigerate for one hour. 2) Blend yogurt mixture with a whip until smooth. 3) Dry cucumbers by patting with paper towels.4) Add Cucumbers and dill to yogurt mixture.5) Salt and pepper to taste.
GYROS 1) Mix lamb and beef in a glass bowl. 2) Crumb bread into meat mixture.3) Add Spices and mix well. 4) Stir egg into meat mixture.5) Form mixture into 2 large patties and place on a medium hot grill for 5 minutes per side or until the Gyros is cooked through. Serve sliced gyros on warm pita bread with fresh sliced tomatoes, onions and Tzatziki sauce (Yogurt cucumber sauce)

*We really enjoyed these. The Tzatziki sauce is especially good!!

Grilled Ginger Fish
½ cup soy sauce
1 teaspoon fresh gingerroot, grated
¼ cup brown sugar
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dry mustard
6 fish fillets
In a large plastic bag, mix everything except fish. Add fish to mix and refridgerate for 4 to 8 hours before serving. Turn often. Heat grill to medium temperature. Grill fish until donw, but not dry, basting with marinade frequently. Fish will flake easily with a fork when cooked.

*I don't particularly like fish but this was especially good and fairly quick and easy to make if you prepare ahead of time. I ate every bite of my fish. This will be a keeper for us!!

Cheesy Bean Casserole
1 cup chopped onion
2 (15 oz) cans chile-hot kidney beans, drained
2 (14 ½ oz) cans no-salt added whole tomatoes, drained and chopped
½ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon pepper
1 cup shredded reduced-fat sharp Cheddar cheese
Coat a nonstick skillet with cooking spray, place over medium-high heat until hot. Add onion, saute until tender. Stir in beans and next 3 ingredients. Cook 3 minutes or until thoroughly heated, stirring well. Spoon mixture into 4 individual baking dishes or 1 (8-inch) square baking dish, sprinkle with cheese. Bake, uncovered, at 40 for 5 minutes or until cheese melts. Let stand 5 minutes.

Cornbread:
1 (7.5) package yellow corn muffin mix according to package directions using ½ cup water. Pour batter into an 8-inch ovenproof skillet coated with cooking spray, and bake at 400 degrees for 16 minutes or until golden. Cut into wedges.

*This was just as good as leftovers. It was also very easy and quick to make.

Black Bean Quesadillas
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1 – 15 oz can black bean, rinced and drained (I may prepare my own not from can)
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
½ package frozen corn
12 flour tortillas (Whole wheat)
1 cup Cheddar Cheese, shredded

In a large skillet, add half the oil and saute the onion and garlic until soft. Mix in beans, bell pepper, tomatoes, and corn. Cook until heated through. Place a tortilla on a plate or flat surface, sprinkle some Cheddar cheese over the tortilla. Spoon some of the bean and vegetable mixture over the cheese. Top with another torilla.

Heat remaining oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Place quesadillas in the skillet and heat and flip until both sides are browned.

*I made these at lunch once and didn't have the red peppers. They were still delicious. I made the leftovers later in the day for a few of Andrew's friends who were over playing a game. I left the bean mixture out of the tortillas and just fried up the tortillas when they wanted some. They were still very good. Aren't I a good wife??! :)

Greek Chicken Pitas
Cooking Spray
1 pound chicken breast tenders
1 teaspoon Greek Seasoning
½ cup hummus
4 pita bread rounds
1 cup romaine lettuce
2 plum tomatoes, sliced
1 small cucumber, cut into strips
¼ cup crumbled basil and tomatoe flavored feta cheese

Coat a large non-stick skillet with cooking spray, place over medium high heat until hot. Sprinkle chicken with Greek seasoning, add to skillet. Cook chicken 6 to 8 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring occasionally.

While chicken cooks, spread hummus evenly over pita rounds. Arrange, chicken, lettuce, and remaining ingredients evenly on one half of each pita round. Fold pitas over filling, secure with wooden picks.

*These were easy as well. Pretty much all you have to cook is the chicken. I made these on the night that I have voice lessons at 6:30 and I still had plenty of time to prepare for my lesson.

Enjoy! I will post again when we have more favorites!!

Worst Day Ever

I must say that I am having one of the worst days ever. I have messed up several times on an international students I-20 form and several other things have gone wrong. There is also someone here that is not treating me very nicely or with any sort of respect but really do I deserve it if I can't get this stupid form right? Anyway, I just wanted to say that I am having a BAD day. I'm sure it will only get better, though. We are going out to eat with my parents for their anniversary. Should be fun. Anyway, just in case you were wondering if my day was good or bad so far, as far as days go, it is quite BAD!!! I love weekends (and I usually love my job so this is odd.)

Without Harvest

My summers don't consist of harvest anymore. My summers don't feel like summers anymore either. I think both things are connected. Sure, I see farmers harvesting but it just isn't quite the same. Many of my summertime memories consist of riding the combine with Grandpa or Dad and they would graciously let us listen to our Adventures in Odyssey cassette tapes. This was before or after we would swim in the horse tank. I remember the heat of the summer day and the smell of the grain while riding the combine. I also remember Grandpa getting handfuls of wheat from the bin for us to "chew" like gum. Grandpa and Dad would share their suppers with me. Harvest suppers are always the best. You may think that sandwiches and tea are good but they are never as good as when you are eating them on a combine or truck. I don't know why that is! I also would get to ride along in the grain trucks to take the wheat to the elevator. I always liked that as well because it was fun to see the grain being dumped out of the trucks.

Now each part of my year just feels the same. There aren't calves being born in the winter or wheat harvest in the summer, or corn harvest in September. In many ways I miss farm life, I don't miss the struggle of it and the fear that is brought by hail, tornadoes, heavy rain, and storms in general. The good memories of my children farm life will always stay with me. Life is definitely different now that harvest isn't in my life.

Teeth

Well, I went to the dentist today. I actually drove an hour to go to my old dentist. I probably past several dentists offices on the way. I got some bad news while I was there. I am going to have to have a root canal done on my tooth. I knew that there was another tooth bothering me besides my wisdom teeth. Ah, I can't believe it. The good news of the day is that I am going to an oral surgeon to have my wisdom teeth taken out. That way I will be all the way under and not tramatized by the yanking out of four HUGE teeth while I am still awake. One has to be cut out, anyway. So, I make an appointment tomorrow for the root canal and then as soon as possible after that I will have my wisdom teeth out. I hope this is the last time for a long while that someone has to mess with my mouth! Any words of advice on root canals?

Questions

So, I asked Andrew last night, why I didn't get many posts on my blog. He said it was because I didn't ask enough questions. So I thought this would be fun to do. I will ask questions and if you want, you can post your answers on the blog. Be sure to put you name. (you can cut and paste)Ok, here it goes:

1) What is your favorite television show?
2) What did you have for breakfast?
3) How many brothers and sisters do you have?
4) If you could live anywhere, where would it be?
5) As a profession, if you could do anything, what would it be?
6) What is your favorite thing about yourself?
7) What is your least favorite thing about yourself.
8) Who is your favorite celebrity and why?
9) What would be your ideal vacation?
10) What is your favorite book currently?

Enjoy! I would love to hear some answers. I will answer them myself in a later blog.

More of me to love!

Ok, so I will admit that the title for this post wasn't my idea, it was Andrew's. This morning I decided I was feeling sort of skinny so I thought I would weigh myself. Big mistake. Five pounds heavier! I am just not sure what I am doing wrong. Anyway, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I have planned out every single meal for a week. This way I won't be tempted to stray and say, "Oh let's just get a pizza." I also have all the ingredients for all the meals. Nice! I was very distraught over my weight gain so I decided to email my food list to my trusty advisors. Thank you to Mom and Jennie for your valuable input in my weekly diet! Anyway, my day ended nicely. I went to Hutch in search for some nicer work clothes (presidential candidate is coming to campus and I don't have many nice professional summer clothes) and I found a very cute outfit that fit nicely, for once. It is a black skirt with purple flowers and a purple button up shirt. It isn't everyday that I can find something I like at the mall. The only downfall from the day was that I discovered the Old Navy outlet store is closing! Bummer! Andrew approved of the outfit and said it wasn't too old ladyish (which I have a tendency to do, maybe because those are comfortable). Anyway, I will keep you up to date and see if planning my meals out works. I have now exercised 5 times this week. Well, I am going to turn in now.

Help, my nostril is burning!

So, picture this. It is Tuesday evening. I have a terrible headache so I am trying to sleep a little before my voice lessons. I sleep from about 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. (eating dinner in there) and the lessons are at 7 so I am rushing around trying to get ready before the girls come for their lesson. My sinuses still ache so I decide to head into the kitchen for a snort of saline solution in each nostril. I reach for a white bottle that looks just like my nose spray, screw off the top, and have a huge snort in my left nostril! Whew! Burning, burning, stinging. I can't get it out of there fast enough. In my haste to prepare for my lessons, I accidentally grabbed a bottle of Grapefruit Seed Extract instead of my soothing Saline Solution Nasal Spray!! I continued to blow my nose and spray the correct solution until it felt better. Needless to say, I forgot my headache with that burning sensation in my nose. I went on with my lesson. My nose is still giving me fits today (congestion, bleeding, dryness, etc). I guess that is what I get for snorting Grapefruit Seed Extract! :) I promise, I'm not blonde!! :)

The Nightstand ate my brush!

Well, I had a very blonde moment yesterday that I just wanted to share. I was reading in bed just waiting for the Axis and Alies game that was going on in my kitchen to finish when I noticed that my bottom drawer of my nightstand wouldn't close all the way. It is the drawer in which I keep my underwear. I thought that a particle of clothing simply fell behind the drawer (between the drawer and the back of the nightstand) and that I could fish it out with my hair brush. Wrong! I dropped my brush back behind the drawer. (my ONLY hairbrush I might add). The back of the nightstand was pretty sturdy and I couldn't figure out how to get the drawer all the way out. So, I humbly walked into the kitchen and asked Andrew to come in there when he got a chance because "my brush was stuck in the nightstand." I got quite a few laughs and chuckles from the crew of boys playing a board game in the kitchen. Anyway, he couldn't get the drawer out either because of a stop. I ended up getting a screwdriver and taking off the entire back of the nightstand (I'm glad I did) to discover that my hairbrush was there as well as my favorite bra. I'm glad I took the time to do that. So, that was my funny adventure for the evening.

I will post again soon with another recent adventure with household items!

Likes and Dislikes

I like going camping.
I don't like going camping in the Kansas wind when it breaks our tent.

I like the 4th of July because I get to see family and Sterling Lake fireworks.
I don't like the 4th of July because of neighbors firing fire crackers until mid-night.

I like camping by a lake.
I don't like being stupid and not putting on any sunscreen! (ouch)

I like having cable TV.
I don't like having the SciFi channel.

I like coming home from camping to sleep in my comfy bed.
I don't like coming home from camping to unload the car, wash bedding and clothes, but away food, store camping supplies, etc.

More later . . .