My pub church provided a meal for another congregation in town this morning. The menu was red beans & rice, mexican cornbread, and apple cobbler. Yummy.
The cornbread, which I had basically made up using some recipes I found and smashed together, was a big hit…
You can make it too!
Mexican Cornbread with Sausage (serves 160)
6 pounds of pork breakfast sausage, cooked and drained
24 boxes of Jiffy Cornbread mix
24 eggs
12 cups milk
112 oz. creamed corn
72 oz. canned corn
28 oz. chopped jalapenos
28 oz. chopped green chilis
24 cups shredded monterey jack cheese
Mix it all up. Pour into lightly greased pans. Bake at about 400 degrees until it pulls away from pan and a knife inserted comes out mostly clean (time depends greatly on the size of pans used).
Enjoy. 
Originally published at www.withinwithout.org. You can comment here or there.
LOVE.
Some friends came over to see her and I had this conversation with their 2 year old.
Sarah : You have fat boobies.
Me: Yes, I do! Do you have fat boobies?
Sarah: No, I have cute boobies!
Me: Are you saying my boobies aren't cute?
Sarah: *nods head*
Me: I bet some might disagree....
About 72 hours until I head out to Alaska. Have you been there?
What’s the best thing to see/do in the Fairbanks/Anchorage areas?
I arrive on the “longest” day of the year, June 20th, and it’s my understanding that the sky will not fully darken for the entire week I’m in the state. Thank goodness for shaded windows.
I’m off to bed - I badly need to reconcile my sleep debt.
Originally published at www.withinwithout.org. You can comment here or there.
I’m working on some french bread right now… I’m in the rising/resting phase and feeling a bit nervous about all the shaping/pinching required for this kind of bread. I think it will take yummy though, so I’ll just follow instructions and hope for the best.
Hard to believe I’m less than 2 weeks from my trip to Alaska (June 20-27th). Looking forward to it, but know that I have so much I need to get done before I go. Work has been busy and emotionally draining as we’ve been working through a recruitment selection process for my most direct colleague (person with the same job as I do, but with a different staff to supervise).
The whole process has really brought me back mentally to my own job search from last spring/summer. I never liked the knowledge/feeling that you answer a bunch of questions that people you’ve never met before ask you and then you leave the room and they start chatting about what they liked and didn’t like about what you said. I understand the job search process is about finding the right fit - both for the candidates and for the institution, but I can’t help feeling a bit uncomfortable with how judgmental it all is, and how critical I become when in the midst of the process. I’m just ready for it to be over and thankfully the last candidate is on Tuesday and then we meet as a committee to make a decision.
Poor Clementine has some ear mites and HATES the drops I have to put in her ears. When I’m able to pin her down and do it, right afterward she runs faster that I’ve seen her move before across the house shaking her head and scratching at her ears the whole way. It’s actually pretty amusing to see her attempt to all these things at once. I can relate though - I hate the feeling of water/drops in my ears. Blech.
So some pictures:
Here’s the happy bride and groom from the quickly planned & executed wedding I mentioned in my last post. Wedding photography = not my thing. I think I’ll keep my day job. 
The flowers were purty though!
When I went to California in early April…. with my loves JC and Chris. Oh how I miss my people (not a surprise that we were out at the karaoke bar…)
In knitting news, I’m making these socks for Katie (because they came out so small only her child’s size 3 foot would fit them). I’m completely finished 1 and about half way through the second. I recently finished another big knitting project but it’s a gift so it’s under wraps right now. More details soon (if I remember to take pictures and then post).
And finally… please : No throwing dynamite off the cliff.
Originally published at www.withinwithout.org. You can comment here or there.
Did you know that cockroachs fly?
Or that sometimes they lay on their backs dead, but when you go to scoop them up to throw them away, they suddenly spring back to life?
Or that they are way more interesting to cats to play with than the toys cat toys than the balls with bells I buy at the store?
Seriously. The bugs are getting to me.
I’m also about to have some housemates. Excited about that.
Went to Ohio. Saw my family.
Went to Austin. Played with friends.
Two friends here just got married. I was the ringbearer, and a bridesmaid AND the photographer.
I have some pictures later.
xo
Originally published at www.withinwithout.org. You can comment here or there.
Oh yeah. Remember I used to write here.
Soon, I hope. I’ll be back. It’s been…. busy. Life is full. I’m thankful.
Originally published at www.withinwithout.org. You can comment here or there.
Hahaha… found this while poking around in old journal entries on my LiveJournal….dated early May of 2005:
So today he added me to his “facebook” friends, which is this ridiculous online networking thing at Universities that I mostly stay away from, because all my students are displaying alcohol in all of their pictures and I just don’t want to see it.
(And oh man…. I found a bunch of other stuff that I want to reflect on as well, but suffice it to say - I was dealing with all the same things in 2005 as I am now in 2009, but I was much better writer then).
Originally published at www.withinwithout.org. You can comment here or there.
Oh yeah… I finally finished reading The Shack last night (after starting it pre-Christmas)… it’s really compelling. I need to find a book group to discuss it in more fully. Any takers?
Originally published at www.withinwithout.org. You can comment here or there.
Now that I’m back from my travels to Seattle, I’m realizing that I have a lot of other trips I need to plan for over the next 2 months. I suppose I wasn’t thinking through it all when I committed to all of these things, but as long as I can avoid missing too much work, I think I’ll be okay.
April 1-5th - Santa Clara… for a dear friend’s wedding and general visiting with people I love and places I miss.
April 18-20th - Las Vegas… I have tickets for a show on the evening of the 19th with friends from Waco. I’m trying to figure out how to get back Monday morning so I can still work a 1/2 day. It’s not seeming very feasible. 
April 24-26th - Columbus… Conrad girl’s weekend with my mother and my sister-in-laws. I need to make this work, but flights have gotten pretty expensive (why, oh why didn’t I book when it was $205 RT??). I’m thinking I might have earned enough miles on Continental to be able to book that way by then… and I really wish I could take more time off and spend it with friends in Columbus, but that’s not looking likely since April is the season of bringing candidates to campus, and I need to present for all of that.
April 30th - May 3rd … Over the Rhine plays in Texas… Dallas, Houston, Austin… trying to figure out how to swing a weekend with people to see the shows.
[I’m thinking my tax return isn’t going to be going to a new TV any longer… bigger fish to fry, so to speak.]
Originally published at www.withinwithout.org. You can comment here or there.
Out of my loneliness stupor of last night…. (I mean, wouldn’t it be great if loneliness motivated oneself to pursue community? usually for me loneliness paralyzes me in depression, but anyway)…
Had a great evening out with Caryn and Michael exploring the downtown Waco “scene.” It’s a bit quiet right now since Spring Break extends through this weekend, but with the recent win-streak of the Baylor Men’s Basketball (Big12 Championship Game tomorrow, huh?!!) there were a few people out and about. We had dinner at one restaurant, dessert and drinks at the “fine-dining” establishment called The Green Room and then after dessert headed to Austin’s on the Avenue, which is a newer place in town that is trying to be an upscale college bar, from what I can tell.
I’ve decided that Waco is not the place to try to get a good cocktail… and I’ll stick with beer when I’m out here I think. Too many disappointments…
Anyway, we had a great time, I was reminded of what great community and friends I really do have here in Texas and we even got to meet the “Miller Lite Girls.” They gave us some scratch off tickets to win a trip to Vegas so I dutifully scratched off my ticket and texted the code to the given number. Caryn caught me in action and honestly… I’m not as excited about this as the picture might suggest.
So, I’m home now and thinking about what I need to accomplish over the coming weekend:
1. Get rvthereyet.org back online and ready for my mother to update and use.
2. Vacuum and clean the house.
3. Read (finish The Shank er… The Shack and start New Moon).
4. Watch Big Love, Season 3 on HBO On Demand at Caryn’s House
5. Box up and send birthday gift to Tammy (oops!)
6. Send baby gifts to Sonny, Ashley and bambino.
7. Relax.
I think it’s a reasonable list.
I also want to bake some bread…. hopefully something appropriate for sandwiches - I have some ideas.
Originally published at www.withinwithout.org. You can comment here or there.
So, where was I?
Just returned from a week in Seattle for a conference. It was great… I learned a lot… I saw a lot of people I enjoy… and I got lots of hugs. It was also exhausting and so even though I arrived back in Waco almost 24 hours ago, I feel like I’m just now starting to gather my thoughts and piece back together what my life was before I left last Wednesday and what projects I was in the middle of, etc. So far tonight I have munched on some ChexMix, watched last week’s episode of Lost (woah!) and considered reading The Shack (which I’m about 50 pages into right now). I think I’ll get to the book next, but I wanted to comment briefly on the other book I read this past week, Twilight.
Now, I know a lot of people have read and LOVED these books, and I’m not in anyway saying that I don’t like it, but there’s something that seems to bother me about the character of Bella. She just… boring and somewhat lifeless. In fact, the only thing interesting about her seems to be that Edward loves/hungers for her.
When I think about this… I can’t tell if it is written that way to make me identify with Bella - as if I should think that I’m pretty ordinary as well, and that the only thing that would make me all that interesting would be if a beautiful man(pire) would fall in love with me? Or perhaps, to mix current pop culture references… Bella is the exception, and not the rule.
In any case, toward the end of the 1st book (which is as far as I have read), she expresses this deep longing to become something she is not so that she can be a part of a certain community. This I’m intrigued by and hope it remains something of interest in the next book because I think that in some ways, this is a universal feeling … this longing to be a part of something. I don’t think it’s just coincidence that the author chose for Bella to be from a family that is disjointed and non-communicative - she was set up, as a character that had no community to start with - of course she wants to become part of the first one she sees and finds to be attractive.
Anyway… thoughts to be continued once I secure a copy of the next installment of the series.
Some of my favorite things I did in Seattle….
1. Dinner at 13 Coins with Jason.
2. Yarn shops, happy hour, Trader Joe’s and late night beverages with Rachel.
3. Dinner at Dinette with my dear, dear, friend Kurt as well as an old friend (hadn’t seen her for 10+ years) Alison. (This was exceptionally wonderful since we three knew each other so many years ago - it felt like an unexpected reunion - each of us so different from what we were once, but still that thread that connected us and brought us back together).
4. Karaoke at Crescent Lounge. (Including the lovely experience of a woman nuzzling her head in my chest while I was singing … Kurt, by the way, was laughing hysterically in the back of the bar at this point).
5. Tons of great professional networking, mentoring and learning through sessions and keynote speakers (Bertice Berry was particularly wonderful). But anyway, you aren’t interested in that part of things.
6. Last afternoon in Seattle on Tuesday, lots of sunshine, multiple americanos and a trip to the Olympic Sculpture Park with Ben (whose company I truly enjoy and wish I could share more often), ending with an evening back on Capitol Hill seeing the nightlife and finally the NASPA talent show, which is always entertaining.
7. Making new friends, (even some fellow twitterers!), and generally enjoying having less structured schedule in my life for a few days.
Now I’m back and honestly feeling a bit melancholy … it’s so much closeness with so many amazing people in such a short time, and then to come home to a big empty house - I hate the symptoms of post-travel-depression.
Sorry if I’ve missed something important that’s happened in your life in the last week. Send me an email or something… internet was not the easiest while I was away and I’m not sure I can catch up on everything I missed.
I’m off to take an AdvilPM, then lay in bed reading. Sweet dreams, everyone.
Originally published at www.withinwithout.org. You can comment here or there.
Katie and Alicia came by to hang out, help make and eat pretzels, and use the laundry facilities as well. I love when my home is full of the buzz of people. Mid-afternoon, Michael showed up with his pickup truck to help me pick up the dining room table I purchased a few weeks ago and Laverty's. (Just in time, too, since I have a crowd for brunch tomorrow). While getting the table, I found some chairs as well, and bought those since my old black chairs, while pretty, are showing their instability.
We got the table assembled and even figured out this crazy fold out leaf that basically hangs under the table when not in use. The table probably needs some work... or at least a table cloth but for now it's doing the job it needs to do and it didn't take the cats long to find it. :)
It's been such a great day, I really don't want it to end... luckily, tomorrow promises to be a great day of new and old friends as well. And since I didn't get to the grocery today, I'll need to get up in time to get myself there... so as soon as I pull the bread (for the french toast in the morning) out of the oven, I am off to bed!
Here's what I did: (with thanks to Smitten Kitchen)
Soft Pretzels
2 cups hot tap water
1 tablespoon
2 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
5 to 6 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons canola or other neutral oil
1/4 cup baking soda
2 tablespoons sugar
1 large egg
Coarse sea salt
1. Pour warm water into large bowl and stir in 1 tablespoon in sugar. Sprinkle with yeast and let sit until foamy (about 10-15 minutes).
2. Add 1 cup flour to yeast, and stir with a wooden spoon until combined. Add salt and 4 cups flour, stir until combined. Transfer to a lightly floured board, adding more flour if needed, and knead for about 10-15 minutes or until smooth and elastic.
3. Pour oil into a large bowl & coat sides. Transfer dough to bowl and coat all sides of dough with oil. Cover with a towel, and leave in a warm spot for 1 hour, or until dough has doubled in size.
4. Heat oven to 450°F. Cover two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. Punch down dough to remove bubbles. Transfer to a lightly floured board. Knead once or twice, and then divide dough in half, then in half again, and again, and finally one last time. You now have 1/16th of the total dough. (Keep all the other pieces under plastic as much as possible). Continue working with 1/16th of the dough at a time.
5. Roll one piece of dough at a time into an 18-inch-long strip. Twist into pretzel shape (haha.. this was a challenge!) and transfer to prepared baking sheet. Cover with a kitchen towel. Continue to form pretzels until you've used all the dough. Let pretzels rest until they rise slightly, about 15 minutes.
6. While the dough is resting, fill a shallow pot with 3 inches of water (I used my dutch oven, but a straight sided pan would probably work, too. Bring to a boil. Add baking soda and 2 tablespoons sugar (use more if your pot is particularly large and you have a lot of water. Drop the pretzels in the simmering water 3 or 4 at a time. Poach 1 minute on each side (I just learned last night that pretzels are "poached). Use slotted spoon to remove from the water and move them back to the baking sheet.
7. Beat egg with 1 tablespoon water and then "brush" pretzels with egg. (I don't have a brush, we used our fingers). Sprinkle with salt. Bake until golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool on wire rack, or eat warm. EAT THEM WARM!
Yummy!
It's kindof funny... how when I eat something so many times outside of the house... it's actually surprising that when I try to make it at home, it really tastes the same. SO MUCH the same. In these pretzels... the slight sourness of where the dough was resting on the parchment paper, the chewy and spongy inside, the doughy center, and the salt on the top that almost seems surprising with it's bursts of flavor. Eating these pretzels was like biting into a childhood memory.
You should try this at home. Let me know if you do!
I want so badly to write about my life & things that are happening, but everytime I start, I think about one of the following:
1. The other people involved with things I’d be writing about and how I’d hate to invade someone’s privacy.
2. The people that might read this whom I probably wouldn’t exactly want to (but at the same time, I’d be writing so that I could get feedback, so I wouldn’t want to just make it “private”)
3. The people that might read what I’ve written and decide I’m too crazy/emotional/whatever.
So how can I write what I need to say, even if it ends up being totally obscure, without offending anyone? I guess I can say that I’m realizing how important communication is to me and how much I desire to be understood and listened to. Or I can say that I probably should’ve known better … or I could say that I’m finally now really seeing how interpersonal culture and expectations between people is so different here than what I’m used to. A whole different set of assumptions are assumed.
Anyway, if you’re reading this and you think it’s about you… you can probably assume that some part of it is, and many parts of it are not. It’s been an emotionally complicated 10 days or so… there’s more than one act in town.
I suppose I need an anonymous blog. Somewhere I can vent without the world knowing who I am…
I’m heading home now to take a shower and wash the day off of me.
Originally published at www.withinwithout.org. You can comment here or there.
This has been amazing to be a part of. Not so much the experience of being involved in the planning, but more the act of experiencing the authenticity and genuineness of people around me being willing to address the issues of questions about their faith. I am blessed. And so thankful to not be alone with my thoughts.
If you’re in/near Waco, please join us next time… date to be determined.
Also in Waco…
And now… I’m headed out to watch The Ordinary Radicals with some friends.
Originally published at www.withinwithout.org. You can comment here or there.
There are flowers all over my house and I love it!
Originally published at www.withinwithout.org. You can comment here or there.
I’m so glad I don’t usually commit to doing particular things on weekends. This allows me to just go wherever my mood might take me with those blessed 63 hours between 5pm on Friday and 8am on Monday. This weekend, with St. Valentine’s Day smack in the middle, has been particularly adventuresome and delightful. Friday night I headed to Lorena, Texas with some friends for their Build-a-Bouquet Chocolate Stroll. Each store was handing out a different type of fresh cut flower and at the end you had a nice bouquet of all different colors. Very nice evening.
Later Friday night I started some laundry and when I went to move it to the dryer, I pulled the lint screen out to clean it, but all the lint that had been stuck in there slipped down in the chute and instantly the dryer started making a nasty buzzing sound and started to smell like smoke. Since then I’ve been attempting to fix this problem (and I have been successful) trying all sorts of methods such as:
- duct-taping a garden hose to the end of the vacuum to try to suck the lint out.
- using tape on the end of a wire hanger to pull out the offending junk.
On Friday night I tried to disassemble the back of the dryer, but I didn’t really have the right tool, and I wimped out after I’d taken out about 20 screws. This afternoon I tried again (realizing that actually I *did* have what I needed because my cordless drill was the right hex size without using any of the attachments) and was successful at getting into the fan to check things out. Turns out it wasn’t the lint that was the problem anyway (or at least not anymore), but a foam bumper thing that surrounded the fan was loose and must’ve been getting caught or rubbed by the fan blades. I stuck it back to the edge of the fan with some adhesive (wallpaper adhesive) I bought in the fall and after reassembling the vent chute and all the back panels, everything seems to be back in working order. I’m actually quite proud of myself.
Saturday during the day I decided to go for a drive, and ended up in Hillsboro and then Cleburne, Texas. Picked up some fun little treasures at used junk/antique stores in each town and took a few pictures.
Hillsboro town square (perhaps the courthouse?) :
Sign outside Bill’s Books in Cleburne, Texas :
Bill’s Books in Cleburne was a funny place. The building smelled terrible of cats and was likely a health hazard, but there were SO many books in the place, and I picked up some fun old knitting titles, one that was published in the 40s. I assume the guy that took my money (he charged me $5 for all three books, even though they were marked $4, $5, and $7) was Bill. I could tell he was a nice guy and it made believe his sign that if I needed him, he would be there with any book I might need.
Saturday night I had a bit of a mishap with my button “collection”, evidenced by the picture I posted last night. Oh goodness was a mess, and so sad since Katie and I had just 2 weeks ago sorted all the buttons by color and they looked so pretty… needless to say, they are all just in one drawer now. When they all fell, it was like it happened in slow motion and there was just nothing I could do about it. It reminded me so much of that Sony Bravia commercial from a few years back:
I’ve vacuumed three times and I’m still finding buttons in places that I swear I’ve already looked.
Made some challah again last night and Katie and Alicia came over for french toast this morning. It was so yummy! Added some vanilla to the bread, which I liked, but I only had instant yeast instead of the regular active dry yeast and I didn’t like working with it as much. It hardly rose at all and then in the oven got huge! Seemed unpredictable.
In case anyone is still reading… you should know that I’m 2 steps closer to being a true Texan now.
1. I bought a basket in the shape of Texas.
2. I subscribed to Texas Monthly.
When in Rome….
Originally published at www.withinwithout.org. You can comment here or there.
….and now I’ve experienced it first-hand.
This afternoon, I indulged in a pedicure with Caryn and then headed to the Gap store in the mall because she had to do some shopping. Since I tend to buy things when I walk into stores (which is why this was my first real trip to this mall ever), I found two tops and a cute bag to buy.
As I went to the checkout counter, I noticed the woman checking people out seemed older than the typical Gap employee…maybe my parent’s age. She asked me if I wanted to apply for a Gap credit card and told me I would save $10 on my purchase (25%). I honestly don’t know why, but I said yes. (I really never fall for this store credit card business).
Anyway, I was giving her my address information verbally since my Texas license actually has the address of the first apartment I had here in Waco. “2316″ I said … “Parrott Avenue … spelled like the bird, but with an extra T at the end.” She smiled and said… “Oh yes, I used to live on Parrott Avenue… at twenty-three six…….teen? wait, that’s what you just… I used to … you live in that house? We lived in that house! We LOVED that house.”
So really, the woman that checks me out, at the Gap in the mall, owned my house before the people I purchased it from! She went on and on about how much they loved living there, and how wonderful the neighbors were, and how she loved all the herbs in the gardens, and how they had plans made for a garage, but never built it, and how they wanted to stay but needed a place for her mother-in-law to live…. She called the property her “little slice of heaven” which is so perfect, because that’s how I feel, too. She seemed so happy to know that I loved the house, too.
Told her it’d be great if she’d stop by, if she was ever in the neighborhood, to tell me more about how the yard looked before they sold the house. We just kept chatting and chatting, poor Caryn just waiting patiently for us to finish, and some people behind me in line waiting to check out as well. There are so many things I wish I had asked her now…. perhaps I’ll need to go back to the Gap again sometime soon.
Then this evening, I went out to see “He’s just not that into you”… it made me laugh hard a few times. Not bad for a romantic comedy, really. To finish off my run of 4 movies in 4 days, I have plans to see Revolutionary Road tomorrow. So see…. I’m stimulating the economy.
Originally published at www.withinwithout.org. You can comment here or there.
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happy2beso- The girl with the weight of the world in her hands
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