Coooooooookies

I prepared a lovely pan of cookies to be put in the oven and I cooked them until they were a "light golden brown" on the edges, you know just like the package says. I took them out of the oven and let them sit and chill for a while and I looked at them and thought they were a little doughy so I put them back in the oven and promptly FORGOT ABOUT THEM! This is like the 123438474th time I have done this. Needless to say they were a lovely shade of black. I do believe it's time for me to start setting the timer when I decide to make cookies. BUT...my St. Patrick's Day sugar cookies turned out fabulously. They are clover and little short man hat shaped with green frosting...yeah, I went there and I did that!

Here is a pic of my cookies, it's a before and after (meaning the first batch and the second batch)

Boring

Folks girlfriends a little B.O.R.E.D. but that is to be expected when one is working the day shift. Seriously nobody eats breakfast anymore...like ever. We serve incredibly delicious breakfast sandwiches but nobody wants them because of their new years resolutions and Atkins's diets and what not. Diets are bad for your health and bad for business. It seems like people these days are looking for a quick fix to all life's problems. They try every new diet because "thin is in" and they expect instant gratification and are frustrated when their new diets fail, then the next new diet fails...blah blah blah. Okay, got that out of my system.
So I was driving down the road on my way to work and there are rocks everywhere throughout the canyon. As I was swerving around the rocks, trying to avoid the cars in the other lane I thought to myself "isn't this just like life, there are always rocks that must be swerved around and cars in the other lane that must be avoided" and then I thought "haha, how smart of me to come up with such an analogy" and then I thought "wow, analogy is a BIG word, I am brilliant". But really people, it's true. Everywhere you turn there are rocks in the road of life. Whether they are financial rocks, social rocks or whatever. They cannot be avoided, they are part of learning and growing while we are here on earth. Sometimes the rocks get kicked up underneath your vehicle and poke holes in the gas tank and things blow up but it's not the end of the world. The gas tank can be repaired and your vehicle will one again be on the road. Isn't it great to know that although we have trials, there is someone who can help you through it. Friends and family and Heavenly Father can repair you and everything is wondeeful again :)

Versed: Friend of Foe?

Once again I find that I have not updated my blog in, well....a long time. Needless to say much has happened. To sum it all up: work, be lazy, work, be lazy, etc. That is all.
I recently under went a small procedure to correct some "gum erosion" on six of my teeth. The nice periodontist man and his cute assistant lady explained what to expect and how the procedure would be performed. I was told on that day of the procedure that I was not to operate heavy machinery and I was to have a responsible adult driver to chauffeur me home. So, using the meat slicer and having Tim drive me home was out of the question because the slicer should be considered heavy machinery and Tim is only 12. The day of the procedure came, Manda drove me down to the appointment while mother attended to some important matters like registering my baby sister for JUNIOR HIGH! I was called back to the room, set in a chair and told to lean back. The dentist man was there and cute assistant S was there. Dentist man started an IV, shoved some propofol and versed through it and I was OUT. Thankfully so because during the procedure the roof of my mouth was cut in two areas to get the donor tissue that was placed over each site. Apparently the drugs were metabolized through my system quickly and I kept waking up telling them I was scared and needed more medicine. Dentist kept pushing the versed which kept knocking me out. With the three hour procedure fifteen minutes from completion he pushed one more tiny amount of versed and my body said "uh, excuse me, I am SO over this" (the rebellious little fart) and proceeded to go into a seizure. I was not coherent at this time, dentist man and S brought my mom in and called 911. I was pretty bummed that I was like unconscious, not breathing and flopping like a fish in the ambulance cuz I would have been interested to know whether the paramedics were cute but that is a different subject. In the ER the docs there finally stopped the seizures, helped me start to breathe, reversed the versed and I was up and at it once again. I had no idea of course why I would be laying in the ER with my favorite jammie shirt in tatters next to me wearing a lovely hospital nightie (really, they are the new black). Anyway, I felt awkward so I made some jokes, stayed a couple hours and went home. It was not a fun experience but now I know that my body only likes teeny tiny amounts of versed.
PS the discharge nurse left an IV IN MY ARM which I did not realize until I was safely tucked away on the couch at home. Seriously? An IV? The results of this ordeal are show below. Please note that this content may be disturbing to some viewers, viewer discretion is advised.

Jan...Chicken Salad

Jan is the chicken salad lady. Jan is very nice...she has awful teeth, a raspy man voice, and very tattered clothes. I love it when Jan comes in. She comes in like clockwork on the first day of the month and the fifteenth day of the month. You see, this is when Jan receives her social security check. When she comes in she purchases her food for the WHOLE week. She buys two 12" chicken salad sandwichs, 4 bottles of iced tea and a large broccoli salad. Today she switched things up a bit and got her chicken salad sandwiches (she likes extra cheese, pickles and every dressing we have on these) and she also purchased two 12" roast beef sandwiches. She also likes the cheesecake but today we were out. She is always so sweet and she always says to me "take your time hun, it's a big order so just take your time" and it's super great!
Jan doesn't really have a lot but she is always so happy. It makes me grateful for the blessings in my life but seeing her every couple of weeks also makes me think that with all I have, I should be as happy as she is. She's good at making the most of what she has been given and I need to do the same!

Well Done

I'm going to start out my giving myself a BOOYAH BABY! That's right. Go me, go me. I'm currently giving myself a pat on the back and I'm about to tell you why. Drum roll please.....
I sang in Sacrament Meeting at church today. Yeah, shy-anxiety filled-stand in the corner-don't look at me please Cassie. That's me. I'm a new woman and she's coming out to play folks! I sang with little sista T and we did phenomenal. I would say the crowd was roaring and giving us a standing ovation but we were in church and reverence is looked upon very highly. We sang a lovely Sally DeFord song entiteld "When Mary Sang Her Lullaby", it was so pretty . After the meeting one of the members came up to us and told us that she was very touched and that we should record our song because we were so great. My head swelled a little at this moment. Anyway, one more fear conquered several million to go! It's the little accomplishments that must be appreciated. No sense wasting time wondring when I will do the next big thing. For now I am quite content where I'm at.
In other breaking news there is a GI-NOR-MUS (spelling?) I mean BIG raccoon taking up residence the the tree directly east from where we reside. I can see him if I look out the window. I thought perhaps I would name him Elmer as in Fudd. Elmer Fudd, get it? He's awfully cute but mom says not to get too close because he could attack me and kill me.

Tip of the day: do not mess with giant raccoons, they will eat you.

The Sugar Cookies...Tragic Story

My attempt at making a simple batch of sugar cookies turned into a complicated mess of nonsense. Appartenly my brain cells had ceased to function and I was no longer sane.
I had this great idea to hand out free Christmas sugar cookies to our customers at the store on Christmas Eve....spreading the holiday cheer, you know. So I proceeded to go to the grocery store with my little post-it recipe in my hand. I walked down the isles picking out the things I would need. I came to the baking soda and threw some in the cart. I got to work and ready to make the sugar cookie dough and realized that the recipe called for baking powder, I should have been wearing my glasses I guess. I decided that it would be okay for me to make the dough, put it in the freezer and knead the baking soda in later, no bueno.
After work I decided to make yet another batch of cookies the right way. The recipe calls for 1 Cup Shortening (1/2 butter). I assumed this meant 1 Cup of shortening or 1/2 cup of each. Well my father figure told me it was one of the other. So I put in 1/2 cup of butter, that is not what the recipe meant and they were not good. I was getting angry so I had my darling mother stand next to me while I made the third and final batch of cookies. I had her read the recipe while I put in the ingredients. The sugar cookies ended up being a hit although the angels turned out a little bit obese, perhaps they should lay off the sugar cookies.
Merry Chirstmas!

Long Time, No See

Well peeps, it finally happened...I got sprung from the lovely land that is known as Center for Change. I've had a rough go but I made it out alive and I'm oh so happy and healthy!

Let me recap the experience for you here: I arrived at the Center on September 14, 2009 in not so great condition. I sign my life away, get my bags and then it's off to Unit 1 while my dear mother goes with my therapist Dr. Julie to converse for a moment. I get my stuff dropped off and then Dr. Julie and my mom come back, we all talk together for a few minutes then it's time to say goodbye to my mom. She walked out the door and there I was by myself. The nurse took me, poked me, did an EKG and then checked to see how tall I was (not good news, I came it a whopping 5'2"). I did an assessment with the nurse that took like my entire life to complete and she determined that I was at a "re-feeding" risk so my heart could stop if I ate too much?!?! After the nurse was finished two of the care techs (who I affectionately call "babysitters") took me in a back room, made me strip down, of all the things! How indecent. I put on a hospital nightie and stepped on the scale, I do not know the results of my weigh-in. I met with a psychiatrist then I met with Dr. Julie then I met with the nurse practitioner Kelly who was such a dear. After that I was put in a WHEELCHAIR....did you hear me?!? A WHEELCHAIR! My heart was pretty bad and I wasn't allowed to walk. In the mornings I had to wait for a tech to roll me out to the scale and then stand with me while I showered and did my various other morning activities, most humiliating experience of my life. I was wheeled around for two weeks and then I was allowed to use my own to feet to transport myself around. However, I still had to take the elevator because stairs were strictly prohibited. That lasted for 6 fun filled weeks. The days pretty much were all the same. Food, group, food, group, food, group, food, group, food, group, food, bedtime! I was put on weight gain for 6 miserable food-filled weeks but happily I gained my weight.

That's basically my vacation in a nutshell. I missed my family and dear miss Lily so much!

Now you gotta see it to believe it. Observe the difference, which one do you like best?

I'm a changed woman people, a changed woman. I would like to take this opportunity to thank my wonderfully amazing and totally awesome therapist Dr. Julie, my awesome dietician Hayley and all my new best friends at the Center for Change. I would also like to thank my family for their support and I would like to thank Lily for her companionship and love.