Chicken Ricotta Bowls

This a new family favorite at our house. It's also great for parties. Rather than putting the whole thing here, I'm adding the link to Robin Miller's website page for hwe fabulous chicken ricotta bowls. Chicken Ricotta Bowls

It all comes down to this...

Today's the day...my future depends on the contents of this folder.  It represents a year of hard work, stress and tears, not to mention thousands of dollars invested.  It holds the key to a new career, a new world that could open up for me, if I get in.  Its my application to dental hygiene school.

I am absolutely terrified as I prepare to turn my application in.  I really, really want this.  But I also know there are 150 other people wanting one of the 32 spots available in the program.  I'm also well aware of what getting in means...a two year commitment to a very stressful program, investing thousands of dollars, and heaping more on my plate than I can really handle - but having to juggle it anyway.

The changes this will bring to me and family are huge.  I also know what the payout will mean when I finish...a great job with very little stress, a salary triple what I now earn, four day work weeks, and getting home to my family at an earlier hour every night.

So today as I hand in my application, my stomach is in knots.  It will be months before I find out whether or not I get in.  It all depends on the contents of this folder...the application that could change my life forever.

Something Beautiful

Most people who know me know that I've been under major stress lately.  My parents are dealing the crisis of a lifetime, I'm finishing my hardest semester of college yet, there are big changes at work, plus lots of big events and church activities going on...I'm seriously stressed out.  Stress does have some good effects, though...it drives me closer to God.

I have found that the more stressed I am, the closer I get to Him.  The more I have on my plate, the more I see that there is no way I can do it all on my own.  The weaker I am, the stronger He becomes.  During stressful times, and especially during a heartbreaking situation like my parents are going through, I realize that there is nothing I can do.  The only thing I can do is put it into God's hands and trust Him.

I love these verses...Psalm 66 (10) For You have tried us, O God; You have refined us as silver is refined. (12) You made men ride over our heads; We went through fire and through water, Yet You brought us out into a place of abundance.  (NASB)  In hard times and stressful times, I hang onto that promise.  No matter how hard things get, God is here with me, and He will bring me through the fire refined as silver.

Sour Cream Cheesecake with Praline Sauce

This is a holiday favorite at our house! I also make it for a lot of church potlucks - that way I get a little bit, and the rest goes home with someone else - otherwise I would eat way more than I need to! LOL

 

Crust:

• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 4 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 stick melted butter

 

Filling:

•  3 8-oz packages cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 5 large eggs
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract

 

Topping:

•  1 1/2 cups sour cream
• 4 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

 Praline Sauce:

• 2 tbsp light brown sugar
• 2 tbsp corn starch
• 1 cup dark corn syrup
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. For crust, stir together graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter - pat into bottom and sides of a springform pan.
3. For filling, beat together cream cheese and sugar; beat in eggs, one at a time, then add vanilla; pour filling into crust and bake for 1 hour.
4. Remove cake from oven and let cool for 10 minutes.
5. For topping, mix sour cream, sugar, and vanilla until well blended; spread over top of warm cheesecake and return to oven for 5 minutes.
6. Cool cake to room temperature in pan, then cover with plastic and refrigerate overnight.
7. To serve, loosen cake from pan with a knife, then remove sides of pan.
8. To make sauce, mix brown sugar and cornstarch in a small saucepan; add in corn syrup and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thick; remove from heat, stir in nuts and vanilla, and cool slightly. Pour over cheesecake before serving.

Family Traditions

I love family traditions.  Creating new traditions with my husband and kids is one my favorite things.  Since we live so far away from our extended family, we've chosen to make holidays a special time for just the four of us.

Aside from the time off of school, work, and church, I'm most excited about celebrating our family traditions.  First is our huge Thanksgiving meal.  We've blended favorite recipes from our childhoods along with new favorites to form our traditional Thanksgiving dinner.

Another thing I'm excited about is our Thanksgiving movie marathon.  We hardly ever watch a movie, but we keep a list going of all the movies we'd like to see, and over Thanksgiving, we rent a huge stack of DVD's and have a movie marathon. 

To top it all off, we get up at an insane hour on Black Friday and hit the stores.  We do the majority of our Christmas shopping that day.  For bargain hunters like us, it's an awesome day.  We plan our shopping like a military operation!

So what are your favorite family holiday traditions?  Join in the discussion at the Confessions of a Wannabe Supermom community at the Blog Frog!

Beyond Mommy Guilt

Burnout and I are old friends.  It has been a part of my life for many years, and I know why.  There's the easy answer, and there's the real answer.

The easy answer - which, by the way, is definately not a wrong answer - is that I simply take on more than I can handle.  A type-A, "I can do it all" person since childhood, I have a hard time saying no when someone asks me to take on a new responsibility.  There are a lot of things I love doing, and I have a hard time letting go of one to make room for another.  Which is why I ended up coordinating Vacation Bible School in August while working and taking anatomy and physiology II during the second summer session of college...yeah, huge burnout.

Then you have the real answer.  When I reach down deep, I know that the real reason I'm burned out is because of expectations.  I juggle so many roles in a day - wife, mom, manager/trainer at a women's gym, student, daughter, friend, pastor's wife, and CHO (chief home officer).  Sometimes I need to drop something, but no one is willing to let it be them.  Everyone needs me right now, and everyone needs me to give 100%.

I goes way beyond mommy guilt.  I think a lot of people would be surprized to know how much of the time I feel like I'm failing.  I think a lot of moms feel that way.  I try to do it all, and do it all well, and it's simply not possible.  When school gets crazy busy, my house is wreck.  When I'm stressed about what's going on at home, it's hard to give work my full attention.  When I have obligations because I'm a pastor's wife, I feel like my family doesn't my attention the way they need to.  I feel like the guy at the circus spinning plates, always running from one place to another to keep them all spinning.  Sometimes I need to let a plate fall - but no one wants it to be their plate.

Peer pressure doesn't end when you graduate from high school or even college.  I think that moms everywhere are pressured to do it all and be perfect at it all, and that pressure is what truly leads to burnout.

Things I Won't Negotiate!

#1. Top Ten "non-negotiables" in life.

#2. Would you have plastic surgery to get or improve your job? (based off story on Good Morning America.)

1.  God comes first in everything.

2.  My family is my #1 priority on earth.

3.  Marriage is a promise to God and each other, and it's meant to last a lifetime.

4.  My family is worth fighting for.

5.  I love my kids, but I'm their mom - not their best friend.

6.  There's a lot of satisfaction in hard work and a job well done.

7.  Ministering to other people isn't an option!  It's something all Christians should do.  (I've worked with kids ministry since I was in high school.)

8.  There are very few things in life that coffee and chocolate can't make better...it may not fix it, but they sure help.

9.  A good workout can get rid of a lot of stress.

10.  Never give up on your dreams.

Chicken Packets

This is a quick and easy favorite at our house! It also works great if you do OMAC (one a month cooking) meals...it freezes really well.

• 2 cups chopped cooked chicken
• 1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 tablespoon chives, chopped
• 2 tablespoons milk
• salt and pepper to taste
• dash of garlic powder
• 2 (8 oz) refrigerated cresent rolls
• butter

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Mix chicken, cream cheese, chives, milk, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. (To freeze, simply pour the mix into a freezer bag.)
3. Unwrap cresent rolls, divide chicken mix, and place on each triangle.
4. Wrap each dough triangle around the mix and place on a cookie sheet sprayed with non-stick spray.
5. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
6. When done, spread a small amount of butter over each warm chicken packet.

How (Not) To Use Chore Charts

I'm a list person...a chart person...a person who likes to have things written down.  I feel so organized and together when I have things on paper.  I'm always checking out websites that offer free printables, looking for the best charts and listmaking sites I can find.  I've found some great resources that I use regularly.

Chore charts are a great way to keep your family organized.  The kids know exactly what they need to do each day.  You can stay on a schedule and keep your house clean and organized.  I've even found mommy chore charts with all the weekly housekeeping chores you need to do on a checklist.  I love the feeling of satisfaction I get when I can cross something off that list.

Unfortunately, I've discovered something about chore charts.  They only work...well, if you actually do the work listed.  Sure, they look great hanging on the fridge or the bulletin board or wherever you decide to hang it.  But if you can't motivate yourself to do the work on the chart, it's not doing much good.  That's where I am.  I love looking at my chore chart.  I think about what I need to do.  I'm just missing the step where I actually do the work.  So there's my goal for this week - learn to use chore charts the right way!

What I Really Want From Blogging...

I've been in kind of a transition mode lately when it comes to blogging.  Thanks to Theta Mom's post a few weeks ago on reaching your reader's expectations, and the one year anniversary of the launch of Confessions of a Wannabe Supermom, I've been rethinking my goals, my design, and the reasons why I blog.

I've thought a lot about how I came to blogging last year.  I had tried blogging before, and each time I crashed and burned within weeks, quitting altogether, only to try again later.  Finally, I decided to really research it and have a plan in place before I started blogging again.  I spent several months planning out what I wanted.  In November 2009, I started my blog on Wordpress, but being a newbie, I found myself struggling with the format, and early in 2010, I switched back to the Blogger account I'd maintained.  It took time, but slowly my blog started to build.  I started finding my blogging voice.

Now, after a year, it's time to reevaluate again.  As Theta Mom says, I want my readers to know what they can expect from my blog.  I also want readers to be engaged with me and my blog.  I want readers more than I want followers.  Don't get me wrong, followers are great.  I love mine and want to see my followers really grow.  But more than followers, I want to know that people are reading what I'm writing and that it means something to them.  I want people to identify with me and my blog on some level - whether it's a funny story about my family, something I've learned that helps them, or just the fact that we all know that as much as we'd like to, we can't be Superwoman.

I love the changes I've made so far.  I still have some tweaking I want to do, but I think I'm headed in the right direction.  I want to focus on writing about the things I'm learning, and the mistakes I'm making.  I want to share what I know about finding balance as I juggle the many roles I play in a day.  I want to somehow, in some way, help others by what I share.  Most of all, I want to have fun, and I hope to connect with some great people along the way so we can share each other's journey.