Salty Frog

2010-03-19T09:36:00.001-07:00

My blog is moving...again. I will still post on here occasionally, but most of my blogging will be done at www.juliejwrites.blogspot.com. Why? Because every author needs a writing blog, and I recently learned that one of my novels is being contracted for publication! I'm extremely excited. Please follow my new blog to come along on my journey to becoming a published author.

Pictures!

2010-03-18T07:03:00.000-07:00

My cat found a place to stay warm:

I crocheted this hat for a little girl's first birthday. I'm happy with how it turned out.

My son likes to have his picture taken, and he likes to pose for the camera. He has this look on his face in almost every picture we take. Funny kid!

Extreme Bullets

2010-02-18T12:14:00.000-08:00

A lot has happened in the last several weeks. So much it would be hard to wrap it all up in a blog post. So, here's a quick rundown:

* Extreme Makeover: Home Edition took over my life for a few weeks. I work for the builder who was selected to build the home. We had a month of craziness while trying to plan for it. Then, the week of the build was nuts. It was an amazing experience that I was honored to be part of but involved many long hours in the cold and the mud. I missed my family like crazy.

* Kevin is training for a marathon. I'm so impressed and proud of how well he's doing and the dedication he has had.

* I've been crocheting and knitting like crazy. I have a long list of things I want to make. My favorite thing is to search for patterns at www.ravelry.com. When I get stressed out at work, I sneak over there and add a few patterns to my queue.

*One of my latest things is to listen to the Bible while I knit at www.DailyAudioBible.com. It's the perfect way to end a stressful day.

* I can't wait for spring. Seriously, the cold is starting to get to me. J can't wait to be able to play outside and go to the park every day.

Fingerless Mittens

2010-01-26T19:03:00.001-08:00

Busy Bees

2010-01-25T08:01:00.000-08:00

Wow. Our world has gotten a little crazy lately. Last Friday, I left for a retreat with my 6th Grade Girls. I had a blast playing dodge ball, running in the giant inflatable obstacle course and dressing up like Flo from the Progressive Commercials and dancing like I was one of the Junior High girls. I did not have quite as much fun staying up all night when 2 of the girls were rolling around in pain with some kind of stomach bug. But all-in-all we had a good time.

When I got home, Kevin had left for Vegas on a business trip. J and I were on our own all week, and I was working a lot. My company is about to build an Extreme Makeover Home and the amount of work that goes into it is mind boggling. I'm extremely excited to be a part of it.

On Saturday, I drove to my hometown to see family, and Kevin returned home from his trip about the same time I got home. Now, I'm back at work and as busy as ever.

I finished my fingerless mittens, and I've started a crocheted blanket for my nephew. I'll post pictures soon.

My first knitted hat!

2010-01-09T18:33:00.001-08:00

What I've been doing lately...

2010-01-06T06:53:00.001-08:00

Lots and lots of knitting and crocheting. I taught myself the basic crochet stitches by watching youtube videos. Then, I noticed my local yarn store was holding a knitting class. It has been so much fun, and I think I've knitted or crocheted every day since I learned. I've made 3 scarves, a baby blanket that is almost finished, and the photo is a hat I'm working on.

My Great Orator

2009-11-04T13:51:00.001-08:00

We're hanging out on the back porch, and my 15-month-old is telling our two dogs a story about the time he got in trouble for playing with the smoker. It goes something like this.

J holds his finger in the air.
"Blahblahblahblah. BlahBlahBlah. BlahBlah. Blahblahblahblah. BlahBlahBlah. BlahBlah."
Points to the smoker.
"EH EH EH!" (Which means "No! No! No!" to J.)
"Blahblah blah blah blah."

Then, he offers the dog his pacifier.

Crazy week

2009-10-31T19:26:00.000-07:00

We've had a whirlwind week. My husband's uncle (who was also a very dear friend of his) and his grandfather both passed away on the same night last week. It has been incredibly difficult for the entire family.

We flew to Kentucky for his grandfather's funeral and brought J along. Flying with a 1-year-old was an experience I'll never forget, but he did great. Then, we flew back to Oklahoma, dropped J off with Grandma and jumped in the car with Kevin's parents, grandma and sister and headed for Albuquerque.

Our sister-in-law was in the hospital a couple of hours from our home having a baby. We stopped by on the way through to see them, but thought it would be many hours until she had our nephew, and we needed to get to New Mexico that night. When we got about 10 minutes from the hospital, we got a call that the baby was coming. We turned around and made it to the hospital just before the baby was born. It was so wonderful to be there.

After 16 hours in the car to Albuquerque and back, I'm so happy to be home.

Now, we're trying to get back into our normal routine, but we're also dealing with the loss of two amazing men. We will miss them so much.

Amazing Video by Dove

2009-10-22T13:18:00.000-07:00

Cat Food

2009-10-21T15:03:00.000-07:00

J was playing as I did laundry today. When I looked up to check on him, he was gone. I yelled for him and went through the house looking for him. He toddled into the bedroom laughing, and I couldn't figure out where he had been. Later, when I carried a load of laundry into the laundry room, I found this...

He has discovered the cat food. I just hope none of it made it into his mouth. I have no idea what he was doing with my white shirt - trying to hide the mess he made? Who knows?

This picture makes me smile...

2009-10-19T13:51:00.000-07:00

30 Day Shred

2009-10-15T13:02:00.001-07:00

Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch...

That's the sound of me trying to sit down in my desk chair after two days of this:

Jillian Michaels is kicking my butt!

Top Chef - Beginners

2009-10-14T19:24:00.000-07:00

I'm not much of a cook. As I've mentioned, I love cooking shows. They make it look easy on tv, but it just doesn't work out when I'm in the kitchen. Therefore, either I stick to the basics - spaghetti sauce from the jar, tacos, grilled chicken, something from the freezer section or sloppy joes (did I mention I was a cafeteria lady?) or Kevin's in charge of dinner.

Over the summer, Kevin did most of the cooking out on the grill. I would pretend to help by putting a bag of frozen peas in the microwave, but, really, it was all Kevin. Last week, he smoked ribs for our entire small group. If I had to cook for a group, I panic - or I get take out. Now, that the weather is turning cold, it's time for me to start cooking again. Since, dinnertime is my son's grouchiest/neediest time of the day, I decided that the crock pot might be the way to go.

Today, my new slow cooker cookbook arrived in our mailbox. It's a little daunting going through the recipes, but I determined to find a few that I won't mess up. So, wish me luck. Actually, wish Kevin luck. He's the one who's going to have to eat my experiments.

If you're interested in crockpot recipes, a blogger made something in the crockpot everyday last year and blogged about it. http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/

25 Random Things About Me

2009-10-04T13:22:00.000-07:00

I've posted this before in other places, but I thought it would be a good way to introduce myself to anyone who doesn't know me. Like #24 mentions, I love lists. So, here are 25 random things about me.

1. I'm 29-years-old. I'm married to my awesome husband, Kevin, and have a wonderful 14-month-old son.

2. I love anything sour. My favorite is cutting a lemon in half, pouring salt on it, sucking out the juice and then, turning it inside out to eat the inside. My sister loves this as much as I do.

3. Hippos scare me. I watched a show once about how aggressive they are. I used to think they were cute - now I think they're just mean.

4. I had a job at OSU where I read textbooks on tape for students with disabilities. One of the first books I had to read was for a sex education class, and our office was basically one big room with the other employees working silently at their desks. Awkward!

5. The first time I had really ever driven on an interstate or in a city was when I was going to college. My roommate used to yell, "Gas not break! Gas not break!" to me as I merged.

6. I'm still an overly cautious driver. My husband will tell you I drive like a grandma.

7. I like to follow the rules. I always read the directions first. It takes me forever to put something together because I like to read over everything first, then put it together EXACTLY like the directions say. I'm sure this drives Kevin crazy.

8. I met my husband when I was working in the cafeteria at a church camp. I knew he really liked me if he could see past the apron and plastic gloves (I don't think I was wearing a hair net the day we met).

9. Every single day that I'm at my office, I have my space heater blowing directly on my feet.

10. I almost always enjoy watching a movie for the second time better than the first time. I get really nervous the first time and can enjoy it more when I know how it ends.

11. Kevin is way better at picking out our son's clothes than I am. I like to leave him in pajamas all the time, so Kevin picks out his clothes for church.

12. I absolutely love watching the Food Network and other cooking shows like Top Chef, but I really don't cook much.

13. Kevin and I LOVE Christmas movies. We watch them constantly from Thanksgiving to Christmas. Elf, White Christmas, Christmas Vacation are some of my favorites.

14. I co-lead the 6th grade girls at my church. They're silly, loud, fun and just all around great girls.

15. When I had a baby, I've learned not to be judgmental of other parents. Parenting is hard, and for the most part, I think people are doing the very best they can.

16. Growing up, I used to go "help" my dad with the farming a lot. Really, I would fall asleep in his truck until he finished all the work and woke me up to go fishing.

17. When I was little, I was a major tom-boy - fishing and playing outside. I'm more of a girly girl these days.

18. I love to read chick-lits. Although, I haven't had time to read many of them lately.

19. I love coffee ice cream with Heath Bar in it, and I love any kind of dark chocolate.

20. The first thing I did after having my son was drink a Dr. Pepper. I've been trying to cut back on the soda, but it's so hard!

21. I change all of the diapers in our house because I made a deal with Kevin that I would change diapers if he would clean out the litter box. I HATE cleaning out the litter box. Baby poop is much better than cat poop.

22. I wish I was a more organized person. I try, but I'm really a mess.

23. One of my favorite chapters of the Bible is Psalm 84. It's so beautiful! 1 How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD Almighty! 2 My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. 3 Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young—a place near your altar, O LORD Almighty, my King and my God.

24. Even though I'm not organized, I write a lot of lists. Now, I keep them on my blackberry. I have about ten of them right now - to do, grocery, someday, call, etc.

25. I love God. I love my family. And I love my friends. I feel really blessed to have the life I have.

Thrift Store Shopping

2009-10-03T19:19:00.000-07:00

I love shopping in thrift stores. I haven't had as much time to spend digging through the racks ever since I had my son. So when my mom offered to keep J for a few hours today, I headed to the thrift store, and I found some great stuff.

Sorry about the lousy camera phone photos, but here is a look at what I found.

An OU shirt, a pair of Gap boyfriend jeans, a hoody from Forever 21 and a pair of shorts. My favorite find is...

This pair of brown Converse high tops for $5. They're in great conditioner, and I can't wait to wear them!

No Poo

2009-10-01T20:21:00.000-07:00

There is a lot of great information on getting started on the Curly Girl method. It all started with the Curly Girl book by Lorraine Massey. The CurlTalk boards on naturallycurly.com are full of information. There are also plenty of blogs that talk about the methods. Click on this link for a more detailed description.

I'm going to give you my short "No Poo for Dummies" version of what you need to know to get started.

Basics:

* Sulphates, which are found in almost all shampoos, are too harsh and drying for wavy/curly hair.

* Silicones, which are found in many conditioners and gels, cling to curly hair and weigh it down. These ingredients end in -cone, -conol and - xane.

* Terry cloth towels and brushes also damage curly/wavy hair.

* There are some great, affordable products you can use that don't have sulphates or silicones. You don't have to spend a lot of money. Reading labels can take practice, but there are plenty of lists online that list Curly Girl friendly products.

Things you'll need to get started:

1. A light conditioner with no cones for the co wash. (Like Suave Naturals Coconut Conditioner or VO5 conditioner)
2. A thicker conditioner with no cones for the rinse (Loreal Pro Vive Nutrigloss for medium to long hair, that's wavy/curly - that last part is important. The bottle has to say it or it's not Curly Girl friendly.)
3. A long sleeve t-shirt (An awesome camo t-shirt like the one I use, if you're lucky ;) )

What to do:

1. Shampoo your hair with your old sulphate shampoo one last time to get all of the cones and product buildup out of your hair.

2. Wet your hair. Take a blob of the cowash conditioner and use it to begin washing your hair and scalp like you would with shampoo. Use the pads of your fingers (not your nails) to massage your scalp. Because you aren't using a harsh shampoo, scrubbing your scalp with your fingers will losen the oil and dirt. It takes me about three blobs of conditioner to finish the cowash.

3. Rinse

4. Take your thicker "rinse" conditioner and comb it through your hair with your fingers. Keep adding it until your hair feels saturated. I use a couple of large blobs of rinse conditioner.

5. Rinse (I rinse upside down with cold water)

6. Add a little of your rinse conditioner (or a cone free leavein conditioner) to the bottom of your hair as a leave in.

7. Scrunch in a cone free gel.

8. Use a long sleeve t-shirt to "plop" your hair. Search "plopping" on you tube and you'll find plenty of videos on how to do it.

9. Let air dry or use a diffuser.

10. Experiment! Experiment! Experiment! Every head of hair is different. Find what works for you.

6th Grade Wisdom

2009-10-01T09:56:00.000-07:00

When I volunteered to lead a 6th grade girls small group, I had grand ideas about what I would teach them. Turns out, I'm the one who has received the education. Here are the things the girls have taught me over the past few months.

* Stories are important. I've never heard anyone who loves telling and hearing stories as much as this group of girls. We could easily spend our entire group time (and we have) taking turns telling crazy stories.

* It's good to have moments of silly. Life doesn't always have to be so serious. Silly is fun.

* Be kind to people because you never know what they're going through. Sometimes a girl will be grumpy at group, and later, I'll learn that they have some pretty heavy stuff going on at home. Don't take things personally and have patience with people. It may even make their day better.

* Don't be afraid to try something new - it just might be fun. I don't know how they talked me into laser tag, but I had a blast.

This has been one of the most humbling and educational things I've done in awhile. They're great girls, and I'm lucky to get to spend a couple of hours with them every week.