Monthly Archives: January 2014

Following My Call…maybe

22 Wednesday Jan 2014

Posted by in business, choices, decisions, events, Nuestras Manos, planning

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

A friend from college, who also went on to law school and became an attorney but hasn’t practiced in a while (phew), recently posted on Facebook that she has started her own event planning business.  I’ve felt, and people have told me, that this was my missed calling.  I do love planning events, I love keeping organizational spreadsheets, check lists, binders, etc.  So, I’m thinking of putting together a little website and see if anything will come of it.  I’m not quitting my day job, but would be nice to get a little extra money on the side doing something I enjoy (on top of The Merry Ministers).

I’m having trouble deciding what to do with the name, though.  I don’t want to combine it with The Merry Ministers since I feel they are really two separate things.  We also still have the Nuestras Manos website that we used when we had the camper business.  I could use that name and just revamp the site.  But I’m not sure if I want to stick with that name or not.  I absolutely fell in love with the name my friend picked for her business (“Mason Jar Wishes”), and I’m wondering if I should try to come up with something different, or use Nuestras Manos, which would still have a neat story behind it.  The official name would be something like Nuestras Manos Event Planning, or Nuestras Manos Events, or…you know..something like that.

whats-in-a-name

AHHHHH WHY IS LIFE SOOOO HAAAAAARD?!

Just kidding.  It’s not THAT big of a deal, but if you wanted to weigh in to help me make my decision, I would be very thankful.

Work Project: Keep Plant Alive

22 Wednesday Jan 2014

Posted by in plants

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , ,

church plant

See this little plant?  It’s a leftover from the flowers bought to decorate the church altar for Thanksgiving.  I don’t know what happened to the rest of them, but I was able to shift this one around and prevent it from getting thrown out (I think they were just waiting for it to die on it’s own before they threw it out..little did they know I kept watering it!).  I know it doesn’t look like much now, but when it was in bloom it was really beautiful.  I’m trying to see how long I can keep it alive.

See, Jeff and I haven’t been the best at keeping plants alive.  The longest plant we had was a Lady Palm that we named Bui.  We didn’t even know it was called a Lady Palm until we murdered it.  I mean, cold-blooded, completely-forgot-to-water-it-in-the-middle-of-a-heat-wave, murdered it.  And that’s that we loved it.  When we discovered that we had killed it, I had some serious doubts about our ability to care for the child that was in my belly at the time.  I also had some intense feelings of grief.   I know, I know, it was just a plant.  But it was our only surviving plant from when we lived in our apartment, and she was truly beautiful!  We did some internet searching to figure out what kind of plant she was, and finally found her at a local nursery, where we also found out how expensive she was.  That’s when I really wanted to kick myself in the ass for killing her.  We won’t be able to buy a new Lady Palm until we both get a raise.

But I digress.  The point is, I’m not the best at keeping things alive.  I definitely didn’t get my mother’s green thumb (have I every told you about the time we helped my mom move and filled up a whole U-Haul truck just with her plants?  No? So this one time my mom was moving and we filled up a whole U-Haul truck just with her plants.  That’s it).  Sorry, I’m feeling rambly tonight.

So, I don’t have much hope for this little guy, or gal, but I sure am giving it my best!  I’ve already trimmed all the dead stuff off, gave it a good cleaning, and so far managed to keep it alive for a couple months.  I’ve even moved it around a few times trying to figure out the best location for sun bathing.

Let’s hope it doesn’t join Bui anytime soon.

Any suggestions on what I should name it?  Or will that just make the loss more difficult?

Bernie.

22 Wednesday Jan 2014

Posted by in work

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , ,

Bernie has coffee at our office every Monday morning.  Well, when he’s not visiting his daughter and grandchildren back east.  Bernie with his suspenders and New Jersey accent.  Bernie with his grandpa smile.

Bernie’s Lutheran.  I work at a Catholic church.

So what’s Bernie doing having coffee at our office every week?  His wife worked in our office for years, while Bernie attended and worked at the Lutheran church across the street (I love this about them).  Every Monday morning, Bernie would join his wife and the rest of the staff for coffee.  After his wife passed away, he decided he still wanted to keep his Monday routine and come to the office for coffee.

Back when I started working here in April, I remember Bernie saying that one of the worst thing about adjusting to life after his wife passed away was eating meals alone.  I was struck with his honesty, and how matter-of-fact he was about it.  It is what it is.  It made me sad.

But his smile makes me smile, and I’ve gotten used to chatting with him during our Monday coffee sessions.  Hee always asks about Jake.  He even brought me a little angel figurine that used to belong to his wife, and told me it was for Jake.  Sometimes I wonder if he’s just trying to slowly get rid of some of the things that might be the most painful to see around the house.  Regardless of the why, I thought it was really thoughtful and know it’s something I’ll treasure for a long time.

Bernie went back east for Christmas, and last week was the first time I’d seen him in over a month (if not more).  I couldn’t believe how excited I was to see his face come through our door.  My heart genuinely felt happy to see him.  Some people can bring joy to your life, just by being them.

That is all.

 

Bacon!

08 Wednesday Jan 2014

Posted by in Motherhood, parenting

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

Whenever I’m coming home with Jake, I inevitably have a ton of stuff to carry into the house, on top of the car seat and baby.  At first I tried to be wonder woman, because I CAN carry all these things by myself, but then realized I had a very able and willing helper at home that could come out and easily help me unload everything.

So I started getting into the practice of texting Jeff when I was around the corner from the house, asking him to come outside and help me unload.  These texts were usually “can you help me unload,” or “please come outside” or something to that effect.  I always wanted to simply text “help,” since it’s nice and short, but then I’d think to myself “he’s gonna freak out and think something’s wrong,” which would prolong the text conversation and I’d already be home (“no, we haven’t been in a horrible accident…”).

So last week I came up with a perfect solution: I came up with a codeword!  And what better code word than “bacon”?! One of these days I might even bring home some bacon (either real bacon, or the metaphorical-mega-money kind–I’m sure Jeff would be happy with either one).

Cooking: Pinterest Recipe Success!

07 Tuesday Jan 2014

Posted by in cooking, food, recipes

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

Yesterday I decided to try a couple recipes from Pinterest (rather than my usual AllFoods.com), and I was pleasantly surprised!

I went with a Lime Cilantro Chicken, which turned out deeeeee-licious!

Quick-Lime-Cilantro-Chicken

I still can’t believe how happy I was with this, especially considering how easy it was.   I was a little weary of the cumin and chili powder, but the lime and cilantro are the flavors that really jump out once it’s all cooked.

For a side dish we made Crash Hot Potatoes.  Ours did not look nearly as beautiful as these (they cooked unevenly and did not squish quite this perfectly at all like this), but they were so, so good!  We used a seasoning called Herbs d’Provence, or something like that, which already has a mixture of great herbs and spices.

smashed potatoes

 

One thing to keep in mind is that these take a while.  You have to boil the potatoes first (which depending on how many you’re making and how much water you’re using, could take a while), and then you back them for an additional 25 minutes or so, so plan accordingly–we didn’t and we were starving by the time we ate.  Ha, maybe that’s why I thought everything was so good!

I’m pretty sure this chicken would go great with rice instead of potatoes, but we’d had rice the night before so I decided to switch it up.  Added a salad on the side, and ta-da, dinner is served!