Yesterday I got an email from a gentleman on Match.com who owns his own business. Yet his email had no punctuation other than periods and didn't use any pronouns. It literally said "name (and whatever his name was. I've forgotten already.)" Instead of saying he was interested in me he just used the word interested period. Maybe I'm a snob, I don't know. But if you don't use punctuation, capital letters, or pronouns I'm not going to respond. It could be that I'm a teacher and grammatical errors drive me crazy. I can't even text without using punctuation. This email is suppose to make me interested. It is suppose to entice me to respond and want to get to know you better. Shouldn't you make it your best effort? I tell my kindergarteners all the time they need to do their personal best (or as one child said personal breast). I have to expect the same out of the guys I date. Then that could be why I'm still single and don't have the best luck with dating.
So I'm talking to the Rocker again. I'm not really sure how I feel about it. I liked talking to him and then we went on the date and it was way awkward. As I've been talking to him more, I think he's being more himself. It is possible in an effort to best his best foot forward, he was trying to hard and it scared me off. I know. How can you win with me? I just said that a guy should do his personal best when dating me and then penalized one for trying too hard. There's a balance that has to be found between the best version of yourself and still being yourself. These profiles on match.com are suppose to make people interested in you. They should be the best qualities that you possess. But that kind of sets you up for failure. Your flaws are overlooked and hidden and then they pop out unexpectedly. I can't really be with the perfect guy. I need someone who makes mistakes and cusses every once in a while. I think guys read my profile and see a Christian girl who teaches kindergarten. They think that means I don't ever make mistakes or cuss or do anything bad ever. Not true. I screw up all the time. So what I'm learning is it is really hard to present yourself on these sites and basically everyone just goes with looks anyway. Even if they say the don't.

baking and dating

So I finished up my sourdough bread experiment yesterday. Overall I think it was successful and I feel an enormous amount of accomplishment. I made that bread from scratch completely. Starter and all. It doesn't look as pretty as I would have hoped but it tastes good. The reviews have been good for those I've shared it with at school. I'm pretty proud of myself for successfully making bread. I'm not sure what my next cooking adventure will be. I'm thinking maybe homemade pasta or gnocci next.
I haven't heard anything from the dad since I emailed him last. He told me to find him on facebook and I haven't. So maybe that is the key. I did hear from the rocker last night and we're making tentative plans to hang out next weekend. I'm not really sure how I feel about him. I'm not sure we have much in common but the first date was so awkward maybe a second will be better. I don't really have anything to lose. And even better yet, he'll be in Gatlinburg so I won't have to travel. I was thinking about match.com last night. I think I've been winked at, at least 40 times but I've only had contact with maybe 5 guys and from that only 2 guys I've been on dates with. I'm not sure what that says about the success. Of course I've only been doing this for about a month and everyone says you should give it about 3 months. So I'll continue to put myself out there and see what happens. At least life isn't boring.

Is is holy?

What an amazing weekend! I had the best time this past weekend at Resurrection with our youth. We took 18 kids which is a record high in the past three years. The biggest issue was where to put them all when it came time for bed. The speaker Justin Lookadoo was amazing. He had a great message that appealed to all the kids. His biggest question he asked was Is it Holy? It gave me a lot to think about when it comes to my own behaviors. Am I being holy? He also shared his experiences with being a foster parent. His point was to talk about God's love for us but I related to it on a different level. I've been thinking for a while about becoming a foster parent and it was great to hear his and his wife's story. It hasn't been all smiles but they have gotten so much out of it. After the last session on Sunday, I waited in line to tell him how much I enjoyed his message. I was so impressed when he gave me a hug and asked how things were going. He had remembered me from earlier in the week when he came to our youth group. I think that was amazing when I didn't really talk to him that night and he had met so many people. Our youth weren't always the best behaved but they behaved when it counted. They were all attentive to the message and answered the call to get back right in their relationships with God. I'm so proud of each of them for coming on this trip and loved the opportunity to meet some new kids. I'm looking forward to this coming weekend when we go to Divine Rhythm with college kids and young adults. It's my turn to be filled up.
I was thinking Saturday night about how much God has been doing in my life. This was my third resurrection and it was so different from the first. I have changed and grown so much in my relationship with God. I am a lot closer to God and I feel like I have a greater knowledge about spiritual things. I also have become so much more involved in the conference. It was nice to have friends that I've made this past year there and to see them. I've been really trying to discern what God is calling me to do. I feel like I'm being called into full time ministry. I just haven't figured out what that means. Part of me feels like maybe I'm in full time ministry as it is being a teacher at the local elementary school. I have the opportunity to do things that I wouldn't have if I didn't work here. God is so amazing and I'm so excited to see what he has in store for me.

Challenges

There is something that I just love about making something from scratch. You have nothing and then you've created something as a labor of love. That's how I felt about the Chocolate Mousse Caramel Tart. It was difficult to make and took a long time. But I felt so good making it and got a lot of satisfaction out doing something challenging. I'm afraid I overcooked the sugar when making the caramel. I also think I got too impatient and folded the chocolate in before it was ready. But over I was satisfied with the result for my first try. I did discover I was better at piping things using a zip lock bag with the end snipped than a pastry bag with a tip. I'm pretty excited about my sourdough bread starter I've been working on. I thought it wasn't working very well but after doing a little research, I discovered it was going well. I can't wait to bake some homemade bread on Sunday afternoon. Hopefully I'll be able to keep my eyes open long enough on Sunday after the busy weekend to make it.
So I'm emailing a new guy from match.com. He's a dad. I think that I'm ok with that. His son is almost 5 and I love that age. We'll see if it actually goes anywhere. But I am going to keep trying to put myself out there. It isn't easy to put myself out there. I am unsure about how dating works and if I really like dating. There is part of me that is relived that I have a lot going on this weekend and next weekend. That means I get a break from the awkwardness of dating. I just get to spend the weekend with 20 teenagers. Should be fun!

You wrestled a crocodile?

So this coming weekend in Resurrection, a large youth function in Gatlinburg sponsored by the Holston Conference of United Methodist Church. This will be my third year taking a group and I am so excited. We are taking at least 14 kids which is the largest group we've taken so far. The most amazing thing happened yesterday. Josh, our youth director, somehow wrangled the speaker for Resurrection to come speak to our group. It was awesome! He's 6'7" and makes Josh look like a small guy. He's hilarious but has such a great message about the amazing things God does. I'm so thrilled about this weekend and the possibilities. The experience is sure to be life changing for some of the youth were taking. The past two years I've been really proud of the groups we've taken. They don't cause a lot of trouble. They listen to the speaker and are into it the whole time. I'm sure this year will be much of the same. I can't wait to see what God is going to do this weekend. Please be in prayer for all the kids from around the area that are going to be there and the leaders that are taking them. I know I'm going to need some prayer.

But ummm . . .

I was watching my favorite sitcom How I met Your Mother yesterday and it had this whole drinking game around one of the characters saying but umm and it's been stuck in my head ever since. Silly, I know.
My date with the rocker was a little rocky. It started out he was going to be 15 minutes late and I was right on time. Then the plan was to watch the UT game at a bar. Well the place turned out to not have a tv so we had to relocate. We ended up at the chop house which is a good date place. The nice guy took me there on our first date. The actual date was really awkward. I'm not sure that we have a lot in common and we had very little to talk about. We met at about 7:50 and I was at home by 9:21 and there was about a 20 minute drive to get home. I'm not sure I'll see him again and that will be ok. Back to match.com to find another match. I haven't given up hope yet. At least I'm getting some entertainment.
I finished the book The Gospel According to Sydney Welles. It wasn't a deep and meaningful book or anything like that. Just a pink book as I call them. I noticed that all those chick lit type books where there is love and career battling it out, the career never comes first. In fact, in a lot of those books the women quit their jobs and find something else to do. It's kind of weird if you ask me. Why is it that we think it has to be love or a career? Can't you have both? I'm starting to sound a bit like Carrie Bradshaw. Too much Sex and the City watching. Anyway, I've moved on to the sequel to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which is called The Girl who Played with Fire. So far it is intriguing. I think it will be a good read. My only complaint is the chapters are really long. I hate to stop reading in the middle of a chapter. So when chapters are long, I can't read a chapter and then go to bed quickly.
My attempt at making a sourdough bread starter is not off to a good start. It rose some the first day but my house has been too cold for anything to happen since then. I'm not really sure what to do. I can't find a warm place to put it and it isn't doing anything. Oh well, I'll keep working at it.

Love and Rock N Roll

So tonight I'm suppose to meet the rocker. I'm a little nervous about this like I would be before any date. I'm never sure what to wear and I'm never sure how it's going to go. Maybe it's because I don't date a lot. I've been on more dates in this month than I went on last year. We're suppose to watch the UT game at a bar/restaurant. Should I wear something orange for UT? Do I wear what I had on for work today? It is too many decisions. Then my next worry is what if I don't really recognize him. I've seen a picture but what if I can't remember what he looks like or he didn't actually put a picture of himself on there. This is tough stuff to worry about. I'm not sure that I really like dating. It's fun to meet someone new and there are lots of possibilities but then there is the stress of figuring out if they are going to call again or if you even want them to call again. Then if they do what happens next. I want a boyfriend so I guess that I have to date to have one.
I'll be sure to let you know what happens on this exciting date.
Hopefully it will be at least entertaining. I have a plan in case things don't go well or I need someone to intervene. Luckily a friend and her boyfriend live really close and they are on alert for a 911 text if needed.

Becoming domestic

I didn't have an exciting weekend. In fact I had a rather dull weekend, where I spent a lot of time becoming domestic. I baked challah bread and discovered I need new baking pans. The recipe was really easy to follow from Annie Eats and the result looked great. My only problem was my baking sheet burned the bottom of the bread. As long as you don't eat the bottom part. But this endeavor got me thinking about making bread in general. So I consulted my favorite all purpose cookbook, The Joy of Cooking and did some reading on bread. My next bread making challenge is going to be sourdough bread. I made the starter yesterday. My biggest problem seems to be that it isn't warm enough in my house. I need to do a little research to figure out what to do about that.
The next baking challenge I'm facing is the Chocolate Caramel Tart from Annie Eats blog. I plan on trying this one out today. Of course I'm going to have the challenge of figureing out who will eat it. I"m thinking the youth will be a good crowd to ty it out on. And I do have my top secret #1 taste tester.
My other domestic task this weekend was finishing my blanket. I'm pretty proud of it. It isn't perfect and I definitely messed up quite a bit at first but I finished it. It's only my second blanket of that size and a pattern I had trouble mastering. I'm ready to start a baby blanket for my new neice or nephew but since I don't know the gender I need to wait. So my next project is going to be a teal fuzzy lumberjack hat. I'm looking forward to making it even though I have no desire to wear one.

I have a new interest from match.com. He seems nice maybe a little too smooth but in an entertaining way. He was a drummer in a rock band that toured for 7 years which is pretty interesting. So at least it has potential for a good story. We'll see. I still haven't given up all hope on the nice guy. He has potential for long term that I'm not sure rocker boy does. But in the way the world works rockers win out over nice for interesting dates. So we'll see what happens.

Blahs!

So today I have a case of the blahs. It could be that I had to actually get up and be at school on time today and I slept horribly last night. I just feel blah. I have no plans for the upcoming long weekend and I'm a little bummed out about that. No potential for a date or even any friends to hang out with. My plans include finishing my blanket I'm crocheting, finishing the book The Gospel According to Sydney Welles, and making Challah bread. Exciting stuff, huh? I kept hoping that maybe the nice guy would've gotten his stuff together and we'd go out again but no word on that yet. I have found yet another recipe from Annie Eats that I want to try a chocolate Mousse and Caramel Tart. Just sounds so yummy! But with no one to make it for, I guess I won't be trying it this weekend. I'm having a hard time fitting in my jeans so I don't need to be eating that alone. I probably should add exercise to list of things I plan to do this weekend. I have every intention of starting to walk/run soon. I did do an exercise video on Sunday. It was a three mile power walk with Leslie someone. It was pretty good except for the fact that my lungs hurt for two days after it. I'm still suffering from inflammation in my lungs from before Christmas when I went to the ER. So now that I'm recovered for the time being I should probably attempt that video again.
Anyway, nothing exciting or entertaining going on today. Just a case of the blahs! Hopefully I will be over it before the weekend is over. I should have pictures and a report on how the blanket looks and how the challah bread was.

"I don't own a uterus!"

So I didn't intend on writing something everyday. I thought this would be something I would do once a week. It turns out I have a lot more to say than just once a week.
Last night at youth, the conversation turned to babies and led to the title of this blog. "I don't own a uterus." The youth director said he didn't own a uterus which was why he couldn't have a baby. But apparently I do own a uterus. I don't really think of my uterus as something I own. It is more just a part of me. It got me thinking about back in the day when Men "owned" their wives and the wife's job was to produce a heir. I bet those men thought they owned their wives' uteruses. I',m thinking any man who thinks he owns my uterus should think again. If anyone was to own my uterus, it would be me.
I'm getting into this whole cooking and trying new recipes. I was looking at the blog Annie Eats (http://annies-eats.com/) yesterday and found a recipe of Challah bread. I fully intend on trying to make it this weekend. I don't know who will be eating it though. It looks like the nice guy I met and I aren't actually going to see each other again anytime soon. I just don't get it. He seemed interested and continues to text me. He just doesn't seem to have time for me. And I've had enough of guys who don't have time for me. My life is full of guys who don't have time for me because I'm not as important as all the other women in their lives. No more of that for me. So I guess I'm back to trying to find someone on match.com. I'm not sure I've even been contacted by anyone else that looks promising. Maybe I'm too picky but I don't plan on changing now. 28 is not a good age to change. I'm set in my ways. I like what I like. Anyway, I'll be sure to let you know how the challah turns out. It looks like it'll be good and the recipe doesn't look that hard.
I started a new book the other day. It is called The Gospel According to Sydney Welles by Susi Rajah. It's typical light read with a romantic story but then it has a the twists of emails from Sydney to God. She's an agnostic who's been assigned to promote the Catholic church. So far it's got me hooked. I needed a little bit of a light read after reading the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and before reading the sequel, The Girl Who Played with Fire. I never have a shortage of things to read. I would be willing to bet I have no less than 40 books sitting on the table by my dresser waiting to be read. If only there were more hours in the day.
Still haven't been a full day of school since Christmas break. Today we were an hour late which is closer to a full day. It has definitely made getting up for school easier since I've gotten to ease into it. The day I have to be here at regular time is going to be rough. It has been nice getting up not to early and still having time to get ready in the morning, read my Bible, and get a chore or two done. Oh well. There is bound to be more snow soon and the whole process will start over. Until then I'll just try to teach my kids their letters, words, and some kind of math skill. It's been hard to get anything done with the shortened days.
Until tomorrow. Maybe I'll have some exciting news to report on the dating front. It's doubtful anything fantastic will happen but I can always hope for entertaining. Hot tub, anyone?

Finally back at school

So today we finally went back to school. We were two hours late but at least we went. I really don't want to go to school in the middle of June. Plus I was ready to see my sweet Kindergarteners. They were glad to be back. That's the great thing about Kindergarten. They love going to school. They enjoy learning new things and listening to stories. It makes life as a teacher great.
I finished Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larson. It's a great mystery and thriller if you like that sort of thing. It was originally written in Swedish and has been translated into English. That makes some parts of it a little difficult to read but it was a fascinating story. I would highly recommend it.

I thought I would post the recipes for the foods I talked about in my last post.
Cashew Chicken
Ingredients:

• Chicken Breast


• 1 can of Golden Mushroom Soup


• 3 tbs soy sauce


• 1 package of frozen stir fry veggies


• 1/2 cup of Cashews

Directions:
Place all the ingredients in a crock pot. Cook on high for about 4 hours. Cook on low for 7 hours.
Serve over rice. Egg rolls go well with this recipe too. I'm partial to the Chung's Frozen ones.
Chocolate Truffles

(See the picture above)

This was my first time making these and it was so easy. Who would have thought some decadent, elegant dessert could be easy to make.
Ingredients:

• 4 oz of semisweet chocolate


• 1/4 cup of butter


• 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream


• Heath bits

Instructions:
Place the chocolate and butter in a bowl. Place the bowl over a saucepan of boiling water. This creates a double boiler. Be sure that the water doesn't touch the bowl. Melt the butter and chocolate together. Stirring as it melts. Take off heat once it's mostly melted. Add the heavy cream and mix well. Place in the refridgerator for about 8 hours or until hardened.
I used a melon baller to scoop the chocolate out. Use your hands to form into balls. The heat from your hands melts the chocolate. It is very messy and looks kind of gross but it's fun. Roll the chocolate balls into the heath bits that you've poured out on wax paper.
Store in the fridge. Bring out about 2 hours before serving.

I plan to try the truffles out on the nice guy I met through match.com. I'm hoping that it's true what they say about the way to man's heart is through his stomach. I'm also planning a delicious meal of balsamic chicken with brown butter ravioli. We'll see how that works out. If it turns out I'll be sure to post those recipes as well.

The most exciting thing to happen in this whole snow day debacle and returning to school is getting to see the ultrasound of my sister's baby. It was pretty exciting to hear the heartbeat of my niece or nephew. I'm so excited about being an auntie, it's almost ridiculous. But whatever, I'll be a great auntie.

5 Snow Days and Counting

After two weeks off school for winter break, we haven't returned for a full day yet. We've had 5 snow days in the past week and half and the two days we went to school we didn't go the full day. I'm starting to go a little stir crazy. I enjoy my time off but I'm missing my little ones. They are funny and sweet. Going to work gives structure to my day and my life. I have watched 2 full seasons of Friends, 2 Elvis movies, and other random shows on tv. I have worked on crocheting a blanket. I have made cashew chicken and chocolate truffles. I have read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I am ready to return to work. It could be that I don't have internet access at my house that is contributing to my stir craziness. I can't surf the web for random things to entertain myself with. I also can't check match.com for any new matches. I decided to try online dating about 2 weeks ago and I've already met some interesting characters. Some nice ones but the majority of them have one thing on thier minds. HOT TUBS! I'm fairly certain if you mention wanting to spend time in a hot tub before I've even met you or better yet tell me that hot tubbing is a hobby, we're not going to meet. Hot tubs = sleazey. Maybe I've just watched too many episodes of the Real World that involve sleazey happenings in a hot tub. I'm trying to be optimistic and put myself out there. It isn't easy but at least it's pretty entertaining.
I'm starting this blog as a place to write about the random things in my life. It might not be entertaining to anyone else. But I need something to use my brain on. So check back for more. I hope to include pictures of my projects I'm working on, recipes that I've tried, and funny stories from my kids and attempt at dating.