Awesome vs. Not Awesome

Gosh, you blink and it's been a whole month! Holy cow, a whole month has passed? I swear I just made that post last week. Where does the time always go?

Let's play a game. We'll call it Awesome vs. Not Awesome. As you see each little anecdote, you can decide how my last few weeks have been. (I might give some hints. :) Keep reading and you'll understand...and there may be a wee touch of sarcasm in there...oops.) Here goes:

Allee (my puppy) went through her first heat cycle (gross), then she got spayed. And they didn't give her any pain medicine to go home with and she was in lots of pain. And she got sick. Everytime she would stand up she would sneeze about thirty times (no exaggeration). So this required several trips to the vet. She's doing MUCH better now. Thankfully. Sick puppies are very, very sad. :(

My kitchen flooded. My landlord/maintenance decided, as this happened on a Saturday, it "wasn't an emergency," so they told me just not to use the sink or dishwasher (so, basically don't use the kitchen) and they'll fix it "early next week." So a full week (of not being able to use my kitchen and having a dishwasher full of standing water) and a nasty-gram phone message later, they finally sent maintenance over. He didn't understand why exactly it happened (or, truthfully, what had happened, despite my repeated attempts to explain it), but he tinkered around for a bit, got the dishwasher to drain, and told me I could use my kitchen again and hope it doesn't happen again. (So far, so good. Phew!)

Got a letter saying my lease is up at the end of next month. So my options are renew for a minimum of seven months, which seems like a long time based on the massive uncertainty going on in my life, or go month-to-month and have the rent go up $125/month (NOT awesome). Eeek. I don't know what to do. I have about six days to figure it out.

Had many, many fights with car people (as did my poor dad...he's amazing), and seven weeks and several thousand dollars later, I have my freaking car back. So far it's still working. *Fingers crossed.* Note: My parents are awesome. Car people, especially Jiffy Lube=notsomuch.

Allee gave me a black eye. More on that later.

Had my first attempt at snowboarding and ended up with a massive, nasty bruise on my knee. :) (Kind of awesome.)

Still no word on that whole "no money to pay Jen for her job come September" thing. Also no real news to report on any other opportunities, but my eyes are open.

The colon/semi-colon key fell out of my keyboard on my laptop. I think Allee may have had something to do with it.

As a direct result of my black eye, we have discovered the beauty of the dog park. Allee requires a bath after virtually every visit, but a tired puppy is worth it. She's friendly and fearless, so her new best friends are a St. Bernard, a German Shepherd, and a Great Dane. And every single person under 5 feet tall--she cannot get enough of playing with kids, and every kid she meets loves her, too. :) (Although, don't worry, she likes adults, too.)

Stupid relationship drama. Ugh.

So, other than that, I've just been working a million hours (except this week, because it is spring break in Portland, which means I still have to work, but since I have nothing to do, really, I can take advantage of all the extra hours I have and just work like 3 hours a day) and trying to make sense of my apartment. Let's just say life has been a little...well...less than awesome. But I'm over it. (Trying to be anyway.) And I've decided to learn Spanish. :) We'll see how long I can follow through.

So there you have it. Of course, I'm sure I left some stuff out, but whatevs. Don't worry, if you're better at writing often than I am, I've been keeping up on your blogs even though I don't seem to ever write on mine. :) Thanks for keeping me posted. I'm still trying to do better. :) Loves!

Did you know...?

...that myspace has FREE karaoke? Seriously!! It's awesome. We did it with some of our kiddos as a pre-spring break party and it was a BLAST!! Try it sometime...all you need is a microphone! :)

San Antonio!!

I just realized I never posted about San Antonio!! Basically it's because my camera forgot to come along on the trip (boo!) and I was waiting to get photos back from my co-worker (which still hasn't happened), but here's the run-down:

It was AWESOME!! :) I went with Scott and Zack, two of my co-workers (one of whom I like tremendously, the other drives me crazy), for a training for a few days. We had a really great time. We hung out, saw the Alamo, went to an INCREDIBLE training by an amazing woman named Dr. Gale Gorke, my friend Sarah got us free tickets to the San Antonio rodeo (she works for them) so I got to see her and chat for awhile, we ate TONS of amazing Mexican, Tex-Mex, and BBQ...overall, it was just pretty fantastic. The only downfall was the VERY Portland-like weather we were hoping to avoid but apparently brought along with us to Texas. Oh well. For my first trip to Texas, it was wonderful!

So much deliciousness in one little pan.

My sister and I were talking on skype yesterday, and she said, "You know the brand of sauce called Classico? Have you ever seen their Roasted Red Pepper Alfredo Sauce? It's delicious." I just started laughing, because I had been grocery shopping just the day before and Classico sauce was on a crazy good deal, so I bought several jars, including 2 jars of the Roasted Red Pepper sauce, because it sounded awesome! :) (We must be sisters or something, huh?) We've both become pretty good cooks, so I definitely trust her judgement on things like this. Anyway, she went on to tell me about a concoction she'd put together that was delicious, and I decided it would be dinner today. Let me just tell you, she was RIGHT! This stuff was INCREDIBLE. And it is your lucky day, because I will share this deliciousness with you (or the recipe for it, anyway!). You can thank Amy after you've died and gone to heaven because of how awesome this tastes. :) Pardon my lack of amounts--just throw in however much you want and call it good!

Ingredients:

Chicken

1 can of diced tomatoes

Lots of fresh spinach

Your favorite pasta

1 jar of Classico Roasted Red Pepper Alfredo Sauce

Cut up some chicken and cook it with some garlic (and salt and pepper, if desired) in a big frying pan.

When the chicken is cooked, add a can of diced tomatoes (I used the kind with garlic and onions, but you could use plain or whatever). Simmer.

While you're doing this, boil some water and cook up a batch of your favorite type of pasta (maybe the gnocchi I told you about below?!).

Add a huge mound of fresh spinach to the chicken and tomato pan--and I really do mean BIG. It will wilt and shrink down A LOT (to practically nothing, really), so don't be afraid to heap it up pretty high.

Once the spinach is starting to wilt, stir it up a little bit and it will keep wilting.

After the spinach is wilted and stirred in and the pasta is cooked, add the pasta to the pan with the tomatoes and chicken and spinach.

Add one jar of Classico Roasted Red Pepper Alfredo sauce. Stir it up and let it simmer.

You can serve as is, or with a little bit of cheese.

Enjoy! (Promise...it's delicious, and pretty healthy!)

Instant Potato Gnocchi

(Note: I did not take this photo. This is not our pasta. We did not make this. But it was a pretty photo. And it kinda looks like what we ate...except ours was prettier. Maybe next time I'll take a photo. In the meantime...this is more or less what gnocchi looks like, in this instance served with pesto sauce, in case this is new to you.)

Make this pasta. Make it for dinner. Tomorrow. (I'd say tonight, but it's already past dinner time.) You will be happy you did.

Yesterday I went over to my good friend Leah's house to spend a lovely afternoon with her and her little sweetheart 6 month old, Joey. Leah and her hubby, John, are borderline foodies--this is great news if you get invited over for a meal (the food is ALWAYS fantastic)--so I was excited to hang out and have lunch with Leah.

When I got to her house, she said, "I think we're going to make gnocchi with pesto and shrimp for lunch...how does that sound?" And I thought it sounded awesome...but I've made gnocchi before with a college friend who is literally from Italy (thick, beautiful accent and all), and it is a time-consuming, somewhat lengthy process. As I had arrived at 1:00, I was a little skeptical, but I was up for it. Then Leah busted out this recipe and it was AWESOME! It took a fraction of the time, was super easy, and it was DELICIOUS! And she shared it with me, so I shall share it with you. :)

*Note: in case you are unfamiliar, gnocchi is a potato based pasta--it is delicious and your kids will like it, too. :)

Instant Potato Gnocchi

1/8 tsp garlic powder -OR- 1 clove garlic

1 cup water

1 egg

1 tsp butter

Mix all these things in a food processor.

2 c. instant potatoes (yep, the kind in a box)

1 c. *flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. parsley

Mix these ingredients in a bowl, then add to food processor. (*Note: Leah's husband, John, is a no-gluten kind of guy, so we used rice flour, and it worked and tasted just as good.)

Pulse all these ingredients together.

Flour hands, then knead dough (you can sprinkle it with more flour as necessary until it stays together but is not super sticky). Roll the dough into ropes. Cut ropes into bite-sized pieces (about 3/4" or so). Flatten with fork tines (you don't HAVE to do this part, it just makes them look cuter and cook a bit quicker.

Dump the little balls into a pot of boiling water. When they float to the top, they're cooked! :) (Usually takes 3-5 minutes or so.) Skim them off the top, serve with sauce of your choice, and ENJOY!!

These are delicious. We ate them with fresh, homemade pesto (made from the basil from Leah's herb garden on her deck--I told you they're foodies!), shrimp, and fresh tomatoes--unbelievably delicious! :)

Stay tuned for my next post if you need another idea for how to serve these delicious little guys. :)

I LOVE the Olympics!!

Am I the only one who can't get enough? I sooooooo wish I could be there, and it is even harder because Vancouver is only a short drive away! My family and I ALWAYS watched the Olympics, and every two years when they come around, I am literally glued to the TV every minute I can spare. I love the athleticism, the stories, the competition, the national pride...all of it! Here's the dumb thing...I live in the same time zone, but NBC is showing things on a time delay so they can show them on prime time. SUPER lame. I was so bummed because I was on a plane all day Friday and thought I would miss the Opening Ceremonies (definitely one of the best parts!), but luckily for me, I happened to be flying Frontier and they have those little 3"x4" TV screens in the back of the seats that stream Direct TV for $6, so on my flight from Denver to Portland, I paid the money and got to see the 1st half of the OC since they air the East Coast broadcast. :) Then, it just happened to work out that I got to see the 2nd half when I got home and they were showing the West Coast time delay. :) So for that instance, super handy and awesome, otherwise, this time delay thing is annoying. It means my family and friends in the Mountain Time Zone see the events that are happening in my same time zone 2 hours earlier than I see them (because of the way their prime time works vs. our prime time). Pretty lame, NBC. Nevertheless, I LOVE THE OLYMPICS!! My bedtime is freaking midnight these days because I can't pull myself away! I feel like I can't get anything done because I don't want to miss anything. And I love every minute of it. :)

The Never-Ending (Funding) Story.

So, as most of you know, I have this job at a non-profit where most of what I do is considered "abstinence education." For the sake of political correctness and non-controversiality (is that word?), we typically call it "positive youth development," largely because, yes, we teach abstinence education, but more than that, we teach kids about making good choices, fostering healthy relationships, and avoiding risky behavior like drugs, alcohol, and yes, sex. It's a good job and I've learned a lot in the last year and a half that I've been there. I work mostly in middle schools, primarily with 8th graders, which is not my favorite age group for sure, but they've challenged me and taught me a lot (namely because I literally work with thousands of them each year). Off the top of my head I can give you more statistics than you've ever wanted to know about teen media usage, STDs/STIs, teen pregnancy, pornography, and the population of Canada (33 million, in case you weren't listening during the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics), among other things. My co-workers are entertaining and fun and passionate about what they do. Many of them have become good friends.

All that being said, it has recently come to our attention that we're about to lose our funding. We are funded largely by federal grants, 2 in particular. We knew that one would likely be running out this coming fall due to President Obama's stated opposition to abstinence-based education. We also knew it was a possibility that we might lose the other one, but we thought it unlikely since it comes from a separate funding stream, one that doesn't have to be voted on by Congress each year like the other one because it is a research grant through a specific office. However, with Mr. Obama's new budget, he has cut all funding for education having to do with abstinence, so we are also losing that grant, which was the larger of the two. As you can guess, this means the amount we're losing goes into the millions. (For the record, this is not a political statement for or against President Obama, it's just fact.) This means that, unless my friend Steve, our development director, can magically come up with over a million dollars by September (through grants, donations, etc.), up to 20 of us could be affected by that. (Read: laid off.)

So, yep, that includes me. Luckily for me, I'm not one of the seven newbies hired this fall, so if seniority means anything, I think I fall smack dab in the middle, around number 10ish (although I have no idea if that means anything at all). We've been specifically told we don't need to go looking for new horizons just yet (but let's be honest...if you got an e-mail that said all that, wouldn't you be a little nervous? Let's just say there are lots of possibilities flitting around in my little head). The truth is, the work we do is good and important work (believe me, you wish your children would be hearing the kinds of things I say to these kiddos when they hit 8th grade), and it will be a shame if they can't find a way to keep doing it. Our director has specifically said they won't accept or try for a grant that asks our organization to go against our principles (let's just say we've been told the money currently going toward our grants and others like them will be "reallocated" to other "pregnancy resource agencies" who will then, in turn, award grants to organizations to do pregnancy prevention work...which doesn't necessarily fall in line with the values of our organization, if you get my drift), so it's nice to know she's unwilling to bend in that way. And she is quite good at finding funding and figuring out ways to keep the organization afloat. Nevertheless...

Anyway, if ya'll could keep this whole situation in your prayers, that would be super fantastic. And if you have any great ideas for me, should I find myself without a job come September, my ears are open. :)