40 by 40 Friday: Crossing Off The List

I did it!  After almost a full year of staring at my 40 things I want to get done before I turn 40, I have finally done it!  I am officially crossing off my first item!  Yay me!

Item #14 - Learn how to make the perfect pie crust.  Over. Done with.  I finally was able to feel like I had accomplished this one.  Like I said in my Thanksgiving post, I did make a pie crust that turned out pretty good, but I wasn't happy with the rolling out process.  I felt like it was still too hard and crumbled just a little too much as I was working with it.  So after getting some hints from friends and FaceBook friends and watching some YouTube videos, I pulled all of those tips together and made it.  I made a pumpkin pie and brought it to school for all the teachers and administrators to try.  I received rave reviews.  I heard things like "the crust is so flaky", "the crust tastes wonderful", and "can I get your recipe?"!

So without further ado, I will attempt to give you the perfect pie crust recipe by pulling together all of those tips I found and piling them up here for you.  I'm not going to reprint the recipe itself as I found that part on pinterest. 

The Recipe

 

The Perfect Pie Crust

 

 

How to Roll Out Pie Crust

 

 

In addition to the recipe and the video, I also had a hint to add a tsp of vinegar to help break down the gluten and make the dough easier to roll out.  I'm sure I will revisit this over and over again as I incorporate new hints and try new recipes, but for the purpose of crossing it off my list, i think the reviews on Thursday are enough for me to pass this test.



Author Thursday

I'm going to try to read at least one book per week and do a weekly book review for the book I read that week.  I may include some updates on my own writing on this weekly post.  If you have any suggestions or recommendations for me, please feel free to share in the comments below. 

amazon.com

 

The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks

I have been carrying this book around in my purse for months meaning to start it whenever I had to wait in a doctor's office or wait for a carry out dinner.  It never happened.  So when I decided I needed to start reading a book a week to make my goal by my 40th birthday, I started looking at home for books I already had.  So technically this one falls under the "New York Times Best Seller List" as well as the "Finish books in my current collection List".  Killing two birds with one book!

I must admit that this is the first Nicholas Sparks book I've read.  While I have seen some of the movie adaptations, I have never actually picked up one of the books.  I don't know why it's taken me so long.  I lived in North Carolina for over 4 years and considering most of his stories take place in that beautiful state, I probably should have been a fan from the beginning.  I have to say that I really enjoy reading authors who write about places I've been or lived because it is so much easier to get a good "movie" going in my head. 

The basis of this book is a marine, Logan, in Iraq finds a picture of a woman and he starts having near misses in combat.  While others around him are killed, he continues to be saved from gunfire and explosions.  One of his friends convinces Logan to go find the woman in the picture because she is his lucky charm.  Logan's search sends him to a small town in North Carolina where he finds Beth, the woman in the picture.  He doesn't know how to tell her about the picture, but they begin to fall in love.  This is made more difficult by an ex-husband, Keith, who's family pretty much "owns" the town.

I enjoyed Mr. Sparks' descriptions of the towns and it brought back the memories of the hot, sticky southern summers as well as the beauty often inherent in those small historic towns.  Beth also has a son who is more into music and reading than sports and video games (every mother's dream right?).  She is a teacher and Sparks' description of that part of her character pleasantly surprised me.  It made me think that either his wife is a teacher or he has a teacher in his family as he is spot on about the demands of that job, especially in the beginning of the school year.  There were so many aspects of this story that were parallels to my own life that made it easy for me to relate to the characters' emotional states. 

The love story is not so fantastic that it is unbelievable and I appreciated the PG-13 rating of Mr. Sparks' writing.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not a prude.  But I am a Christian and when I can find a good love story where I don't have to get bogged down in the specifics of the sexual encounters, it makes for a much smoother reading.  I don't even think I read one cuss word in the entire book.  It's refreshing to find a writer who can tell a story that is relatable and thoroughly engaging without being crass and too sexual.

 

Updates on Jobs and the 40 by 40 Bucket List

I took a look at my blog posts this morning and realized that I have not updated in a while.  I forgot to tell you that I got a job!  That's right, a teaching job!  That's why my life has been so crazy lately and I haven't had time to do much of anything.  I am just now settling down into a routine and am getting caught up on all of my ambitions. 

About the New Job:

So I got a job teaching my favorite subject, SCIENCE!  And I didn't even have to take any extra tests to do it.  My official title is Science Specialist.  It is a half time elementary school position and it is a job that doesn't really exist in most elementary schools in America.  Basically, I teach Science to the entire school.  There are roughly 300 students in the school and I will teach most of the 1st-6th graders twice during the year.  I have the added bonus of either a teacher or a volunteer working with me in most of the classes.  I even had a parent volunteer to help me get materials ready and she comes in at least once a week to help with that.  Although it's technically a non-continuing contract, most of the teachers who have had this position in the past held it for several years before moving on to other things.  I hope that means I can keep it at least until K is in school full time (3 years from now).  So for right now I am working 3 days a week which gives me Mondays to myself and Friday's with K (preschool is only M-Th here).

About the Bucket List:

I did create a good pie crust yesterday, but I was not entirely satisfied as the rolling out part was much harder than I would like.  I have had a couple of suggestions from other friends and have found some ideas on the internet.  Basically, I think I overworked it a little which made it very hard, even after sitting on the counter (after an hour in the fridge) for over 20 minutes to warm up.  The end result was pretty good.  The crust came out all flaky and yummy.  I think I'll try again next week and take a pie or two to work for the other teachers to enjoy.

 

 

How about you?  Do you have any tips for the perfect pie crust?

 

 

Thanksgiving and The Bucket List

I was looking at my journal this morning and realized that it's been almost a year since I made my bucket list. These have been popularized on blogs all over as women come close to a decade birthday. I created my bucket list with the intention of attacking it and trying to accomplish it in little bits before my 40th birthday. I had over 2 years after all. How could I NOT accomplish 40 items in more than 100 weeks right? Fast forward to today and I am now just a hair over 62 weeks until my big 40. I was looking at some of the things on the list and realized that in order to accomplish the book lists (yes, there are TWO separate items relating to books), I would have to read at least one book each week now to get those two crossed off of the list. While I have done some things toward accomplishing several items on the bucket list, I have not actually finished any of them. Today, that is going to change (I hope)! One of the items on my bucket list is to learn how to make the perfect pie crust. I have struggled with this for years. I love to bake, especially around the holidays. But the pie crust has always eluded me. I found a recipe a few years ago that suggested using a food processor, but I didn't have one so I just put it on the shelf for "to try later". Well, today is later. Being Thanksgiving, it is time to get into the kitchen and experiment again. Last year, for Christmas, my sweet hubby gave me a large food processor so I am going to try the recipe for food processor pie crust. I have pinned the recipe, the butter is chilling in the fridge and I am ready to get baking. Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day! What recipes will you be trying new this year? P.S. I thought I would leave you with the list since I haven't posted the entire thing on the blog yet. 40 by 40 Bucket List 1. Finish my book. 2. Run a marathon. 3. Lose all the weight onece and for all. (Right now, I'm thinking 80 pounds?) 4. Look good in a bikini (and actually wear it in public!). 5. Finish K's baby blanket (she's 3 now!) 6. Learn how to knit. 7. Pay off all debts (except student loans and mortgage if we happen to get one in the next year). 8. Buy a house. 9. Take some prerequisite courses for PhD. 10. 11. Read at least 12 classics I never got around to reading in high school. 12. Complete A's baby album. 13. Complete K's baby album. 14. Learn how to make the perfect pie crust. 15. Sell my teaching stuff online (sold some books already back in August). 16. Read or get rid of any unfinished books in my current collection (sold some in June). 17. Learn and start using the art of Feng Shui. 18. Try Zumba! 19. Buy a red dress that I look sexy in. 20. Go to an opera (preferrably in the aforementioned red dress). 21. Submit my book for publishing. 22. Start and maintain a saving account with more than $1000 in it. 23. Learn Italian. 24. Learn how to wear a scarf (and start wearing them at least once a week). 25. Knit a cable knit sweater. 26. Complete our wedding album. 27. Transform my wardrode (and start dressing everyday). 28. Sew all the projects I started in the spring of 2011. 29. Get my passport. 30. Visit Canada. 31. Take a ballroom dance class. 32. Buy a pair of knee-high boots that fit my calves. 33. See Andrea Bocelli in concert. 34. Read 50 books on the New York Times Best Seller List. (I think I'm up to 4 for this list from this past year. I read Micro by Michael Crichton and The Hunger Games Trilogy). 35. Have dinner in the Space Needle restaurant. 36. Learn how to swim (for real!) 37. Spend (at least) one night in a 5 star hotel or a bed and breakfast. 38. Fix my grandmother's ring. 39. Write an article and get it published in a magazine. 40. Build something with wood.

Stop the Insanity!

You know the old saying: "doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result is the definition of insanity". Well, it's time to stop the insanity (am i the only one who still gets the picture of Susan Powter in my head when I hear that phrase?) Today I made another small change. I noticed that I am always hungry as soon as I get to work around 4 or 5. Of course it doesn't help that I work in a restaurant that serves delicious burgers. I always end up eating either at the beginning of my shift while it's slow or at the end of my shift when I'm done. Both times come fraught with problems. Eating at the start of my shift makes me full and sluggish. Eating at the end of my shift causes me to eat very late.
Today I decided to eat something healthy before going into work. I opted for a big bowl of steamed broccoli and a bottle of water. We'll see if this curbs my appetite while working with the Yumm! Burgers. :)


UPDATE: Epic fail. Does it count as "progress" that I ate a kid size burger instead of the regular size? Oh well. I'll try again tomorrow.

Small Steps

It has been difficult the last couple of weeks to get up and get fully dressed every day. Summer time will do that to you. Especially when you are a mom. My one saving grace is that I feel like I have made at least one small step in the right direction. I have started grooming my nails and have kept them groomed and painted for two weeks now. It all started with a Pinterest fascination and my 4th of July nails. Since then I have repainted them twice and kept them looking nice and clean in between. Somehow having my nails done makes me feel just a little more fabulous.

How about you? What small steps have you taken to make yourself feel better?

Fabulous Fourth (Pinterest Inspired)

One of the down sides of being in the restaurant business is that you usually have to work on holidays that most people with "normal" jobs have off.  It is on days like that I really miss my teaching job and long for the future when I will be back to a "normal" schedule.  So I decided that if I couldn't celebrate the way I wanted, I could at least decorate myself a little for my shift and bring the patriotic to my guests.

Enter Pinterest.  Oh, how that site is addicting.  Here are some pins that inspired my look.

source

source

And here are the looks I created after being inspired by those pins.

To create the eyes, I found a fat navy blue eyeliner by Wet N Wild and a sparkly blue and sparkly white eye shadow.  I couldn't find red so I just got a bright red lipstick and dabbed a little of that on the crease before applying the two shadows.  To do the nails, I just used an OPI red I already had and bought a Sally Hansen blue.  I also found a nail art stencil with stars and a nail art pen in white.  It took me a painstakingly long time to do my nails so I'm really trying to come to grips with the fact that I will have to remove this nail polish soon. I got a lot of compliments on my makeup and nails last night.  I even got really good tips (was it the patriotic bling or just sympathy for having to work on a holiday?).

How long do you thing it would be appropriate to leave on the red, white, and blue nails? LOL

Franny