Here For A Good Time

Here For a Good Time

Good message Mr. Strait, good message. I am feeling MUCH better today. Very little worrying. Virtually no dizziness. A little weird heart blips but not too bad. Feeling good and having a more positive outlook. Can't complain! :oD

Mama said there'd be days like this...

Going off lexapro sucks. I really thought that when I was through this rough patch of life and ready to stop medication I would be bouncing back like the old me in no time. Not the case. I took my last lexapro a week ago tomorrow and I have been feeling like crap for the last few days. I feel light headed and dizzy. I'm tired and a little weepy. I feel like my heart is doing weird things. Stuff looks different. I know that sounds weird and I don't know how else to explain it. I kind of feel like I'm in a fog. Emotionally I know I should be happy and I am for the most part but these feelings are freaking me out and making me worry. I'm not supposed to google any more so I had Brian do some research....and I did a bit of my own just now....don't tell :p. It says that feeling this way is to be expected. I talked to Kim and my nurse. Both said it is normal and it will go away in a couple of weeks. I WANT IT TO GO AWAY NOW! I'm scared and worried I'm having these feelings because it means I should go back on the medicine. But I really think I don't need it. I know it's alright if I do, but I feel so confident I can do it on my own. I'm sure that once this withdraw is done I'll feel great. I'm going to the dr. at the end of July for a physical. They said that would be a good time to check back in and decide if I still need the medicine.

I know I've been through a lot in these past few months and I'm on the upswing now. Things are great. Brian is great. My family is great. My friends are great. I have a new job that I am really excited about. It's just going to be a crappy couple of weeks of not feeling well. I just need to remind myself of that. It's nothing to read into or stress out about. It's time to be positive and be a possiblitarian. I CAN DO THIS!

Sweet Summertime

Man I love summer. I've always said fall is my favorite season because I love the colors, but I really do think it's summer. I love the sun. I love the warm weather. I love being OUTSIDE. Especially on the water. Which is why today was awesome! Went on my dad's boat for the first time this summer and it was great. Spent the day swimming, snacking, drinking, and tanning. Just like this:

And then when I came home Brian had made this:

Fish tacos! He's the best. He couldn't go boating today because he's been working on this paper for work NONSTOP.  Thankfully he will be  done this week.

Today was a good day. :o)

Got a J-O-B!

I accepted the position with Auburn Washburn today! I will either be teaching 2nd or 3rd grade at Pauline Central. I'm so excited and relieved. Now I can enjoy the rest of my summer! I'm looking forward to what the future will hold. Glad that I will be getting to have a new experience and learn and grow as an educator. Definitely a boost in my confidence as a teacher and my confidence in my ability to over-come a difficult situation. Everyone said that things would get better and I tried to believe that things would get better. And they did! It's really true.  You do have to be a possibilitarian. No matter how dark always see the possibilities. They are always there!

What a day!

I've been really stressing lately about this whole job thing. Been spending pretty much my whole time filling out applications, contacting principals, and waiting for interview calls. And today it all paid off! It figures the day I get my unemployment paperwork in the mail is the day I get TWO job offers! First this morning I got called by the principal of Pauline Central ( a k-3 school in the Auburn Washburn district). My friend Sarah teaches 2nd grade there and she gave me a heads up about an opening. I emailed the principal and told him I was interested last Friday. I had an interview with them today that went really well. This afternoon I got a call from the Auburn Washburn HR person asking me to come in for a final interview to discuss benefits and salary. I also got a call from the principal of another school I interviewed with. I had an amazing interview with them and thought I had the job, but they called me last week and said they offered it to someone else. Well it turns out that person called today and said they don't want the job. So she called and offered it to me! Now I have 2 jobs to choose between! I've worked on making a pros and cons list and talked to all of my important people to help me make the decision. I'm going to see what they say at the final interview at Auburn Washburn tomorrow before I make my decision.


I just can't believe it! I had myself convinced that I was going to have trouble finding a job and it was going to drag on forever. I was really worried that I would be going on our vacation in July still not knowing. I had no idea this was going to happen. It feels really good. But scary at the same time. I was being a total Debbie Downer earlier. I was thinking about how great it is that things are working out, but wondering what would go wrong next. It's like I'm preparing for the bottom to fall out already. It's so ridiculous. I should just be happy about what's happening and know that everything is going to be okay. Right now I'm trying to hold on to that feeling and focus on that. No worrying about what might happen. Life is good. Things are good. And that's how they're gonna stay!

Recipe 2: Bratwurst and Saurkraut Pizza!

So I know what you're thinking. "Bratwurst and Sauerkraut pizza?!? Gross!" But I don't think so. Brian and I were inspired by a Iron Chef Hot Dog episode this weekend and thought, "Hmmm...We like pizza. And hmmmm....we like bratwurst....let's combine!"

 Here we have brats, sauerkraut, and Beer N' Brat Horseradish Mustard.

I knew I wanted to go with a more thick and chewy crust this time than our usual crust. To get more of a bun feel. So I did what I always do. I googled. I found this. Thick, chewy, fast, and easy pizza crust? Right up my alley. It definitely needed a little more kneeding than what she described but it worked.

Next we cooked up our brats on the stove. Would have been nice to grill them but too much work.  They weren't cooking very evenly on the stove so we decided to finish them off in the oven. They were a little underdone when we took them out but we figured it wasn't a big deal since they would cook for 15 minutes on the pizza.

While Brian cut up the brats I spread the mustard on the crust.

Then I used a fork to "sprinkle" sauerkraut on top. Brian topped the kraut with the sliced bratwurst.

 I thought we were done and ready to bake but Brian said, "No! We need more sauerkraut!"

We baked it at 350 for 15 minutes. Here's the final product!


















We really enjoyed making it!

And Brian really liked it!


Over all I thought it was pretty good! Next time I would like to add more bratwurst. We only used 3 this time and I think we should use all 5. I definitely call this experiment a success!

Dang I told you I wouldn't be consistent with the 30 Challenge!

It's been 6 days since my last post. And that was recipe 1! But I have an excuse. I had job interviews on Thursday and Friday, and I'm hoping that means good things are coming. The one on Thursday went alright. They said they would let me know Friday if they were going to call me in for a follow up on Monday. I never did hear from them. But the one on Friday was FABULOUS! It was the most comfortable I have ever felt on a job interview. And they liked me a lot. They said if they didn't have other people to interview they would offer me the job right there. I like them a lot too. I was super impressed with their school. I should know something by the end of this week. I just hope they didn't interview anyone they liked better!

So besides the job interviews keeping me from the challenge I also was out of town this weekend. Brian and I went with his mom down to Cherokee, Oklahoma to visit his grandparents, and boy was it interesting. I met them once before when they came to Kansas City to visit, and I had heard lots of stories about Brian's grandma being a "collector" but I had no idea. I had been warned that she would talk me ear off and try to send me home with things and that her house was full of stuff. And not just the house they live in. They have 8 farms in the area and 3 or 4 houses! All of them full of his grandmas collectables! One of which is an "antique store." I say this in quotes because it has never sold a single item. She just keeps things there. With a sign out front saying antique store. She sure is a character. But this house! It's over 100 years old and it is packed full of stuff. Old stuff. Ever surface has some wacky antique displayed on it. And she knows the story behind every. single. item. And she will tell you the story behind every. single. item.

I told Brian his grandparents are like tv show or movie grandparents. Such characters. His grandpa is your typical old farmer guy. Gets up every morning and goes to the local coffee shop to get his breakfast and coffee and catch up on the town gossip. Then he goes out to check his cows and do other farm duties. He refers to a handicap tag as a " cripple sign". Hilarious!

Besides her collecting and story telling his grandma has lots of interesting quirks. She says things like, "Isn't that interesting?" and "Lawsy! Oh my!" all the time. It is known among Brian's family that you should avoid eating Grandma's cooking and that there are times you need to clean out the fridge when you visit. I swear I saw a can in their pantry that was from before I was born.

On late Saturday afternoon Brian's mom and grandma were going to run out to the store to pick up some things for a salad for dinner. They asked if we wanted to go. I said sure and looked at Brian. He  shook his head and said no and walked inside quickly. I was confused. Why didn't he just want to take this little trip to the store? The town is so freakin' small there's no way it would take long.  Well I learned quickly why. With his grandma a trip to the store is never a trip to the store. Before going to the store we would be going out to one of their other houses so she could show me her collectables out there. AND! to the cemetery. So I could see what every one was talking about decorating last weekend for Memorial day. And it was....interesting. She showed me her wall of "Indian" art. And her "beauty spot" tile in the middle of the kitchen. She told me the history of the house and of all the items in it. Then we drove through the cemetery where I learned about all the people she knew buried there. When we finally made it to the store and I thought we would just pop in and get a bag of salad. Not true. I had never walked through a grocery store at a slower pace. And it's not because she can't move quickly! We just had to mull over every single item before purchasing it. And it's not a big store! Like I said before. Character!


Yesterday afternoon she insisted they drive me out to the salt plains to see what that was all about. It's basically a big field of salt. Like instead of dirt there's salt. The only one in the world! It was pretty cool looking. I'll have to post pictures later. We also drove out to another farm to check on cows. They were cute. Saw a couple of babies.


And now we're back home ready to start another week. I'm going to be waiting to hear back from jobs. Maybe applying a few more places. On Thursday I'll be going to hang out with my friend Mara. Also Thursday I'll be going to a Lawrence Humane Society volunteer orientation. I decided I needed to do some volunteer work to occupy myself. This sounded fun. I also might spend some time purging things we don't need that are taking up room. Seeing all of the things in Brian's grandma's house really inspired me to get junk out of ours!


I will also have a new recipe for you this week! Brian and I were watching a lot of food network at his grandparent's this weekend. It's funny what we watch when we are in a house with cable. It's almost always food network. Anyway they had Iron Chef hot dog challenge on and it inspired us to try our own new recipe. We are going to be making a brat and sauerkraut pizza! I know it sounds gross, but we think it's going to be really good! It won't be like your typically pizza. No red sauce, no cheese. We'll have homemade crust, a mustard sauce, and kraut and brats. I'll let you know how it goes! And if anyone has any recipe suggestions for my challenge I would appreciate it!