Prayer for my daughter as well....

Tina Fey's Prayer For Her Daughter

First, Lord: No tattoos. May neither Chinese symbol for truth nor Winnie-the-Pooh holding the FSU logo stain her tender haunches.May she be Beautiful but not Damaged, for it’s the Damage that draws the creepy soccer coach’s eye, not the Beauty.When the Crystal Meth is offered, May she remember the parents who cut her grapes in half And stick with Beer.Guide her, protect herWhen crossing the street, stepping onto boats, swimming in the ocean, swimming in pools, walking near pools, standing on the subway platform, crossing 86th Street, stepping off of boats, using mall restrooms, getting on and off escalators, driving on country roads while arguing, leaning on large windows, walking in parking lots, riding Ferris wheels, roller-coasters, log flumes, or anything called “Hell Drop,” “Tower of Torture,” or “The Death Spiral Rock ‘N Zero G Roll featuring Aerosmith,” and standing on any kind of balcony ever, anywhere, at any age.Lead her away from Acting but not all the way to Finance. Something where she can make her own hours but still feel intellectually fulfilled and get outside sometimes And not have to wear high heels.What would that be, Lord? Architecture? Midwifery? Golf course design? I’m asking You, because if I knew, I’d be doing it, Youdammit.May she play the Drums to the fiery rhythm of her Own Heart with the sinewy strength of her Own Arms, so she need Not Lie With Drummers.Grant her a Rough Patch from twelve to seventeen. Let her draw horses and be interested in Barbies for much too long, For childhood is short - a Tiger Flower blooming Magenta for one day - And adulthood is long and dry-humping in cars will wait.O Lord, break the Internet forever, That she may be spared the misspelled invective of her peers And the online marketing campaign for Rape Hostel V: Girls Just Wanna Get Stabbed.And when she one day turns on me and calls me a Bitch in front of Hollister, Give me the strength, Lord, to yank her directly into a cab in front of her friends, For I will not have that Shit. I will not have it.And should she choose to be a Mother one day, be my eyes, Lord, that I may see her, lying on a blanket on the floor at 4:50 A.M., all-at-once exhausted, bored, and in love with the little creature whose poop is leaking up its back.“My mother did this for me once,” she will realize as she cleans feces off her baby’s neck. “My mother did this for me.” And the delayed gratitude will wash over her as it does each generation and she will make a Mental Note to call me. And she will forget. But I’ll know, because I peeped it with Your God eyes.Amen.

-An excerpt from Tina Fey's new book -Bossypants, 2011

Halloween done!

So, it is all a crazed landslide now...after Halloween, it always happens. Next, is Thanksgiving, Christmas and in my family Birthdays in my household, for everyone except me. The kids, had a blast this week-end they looked so cute in their costumes, we hit every festival known to man in our subdivision. After, gorging themselves on candy they managed to pass out before 10 PM, dreaming of Candy wonderlands and a world in which it is Halloween everyday.

I realized this week-end, how much I missed being home. My kids are goofballs and I have to admit, I love that about them. Silly, random-ness that, I see so much of myself in them. The good stuff, innocence, and just the Hello, world! It's me and nothing can stop me, I can do anything! The best version of ourselves is in our kids, I do believe that.

That window of opportunity (before they are jaded byt the world, as they get older) is great, this age is getting in some respects, easier! (I dare say it) Where, mom and dad are the coolest things since sliced bread and the notion that we are, in-fact funny. We had a lot of fun as a family, which I am grateful and lucky to have.

I Also, found out today, that it is going to cost an arm and a leg to start my small business. Of course, I specialize in food and you need a million licenses, certifications and money to get started. Nice. I put in a call to SCORE to see if they can help me navigate through all of this. I told my husband, let's just get a divorce and live together, that way we have a million tax breaks, insurance for the kids, help with school, financial grants to start new businesses etc... He said yeah, right, it would just give you an excuse to really leave...lol All, joking as side, I can't work three jobs for much longer and need to really focus on the cake business.

Another day, at government. Not, a too bad day, tonight, dinner? I have no idea...But, here is a re-cap of dinner Saturday night....

Homemade Pot Roast:

1 Chuck or Bottom roast
Emerald Seasoning (to taste)
No Salt added Garlic & Herb Seasoning (to taste)
Kosher Salt
Cracked Black Pepper
1 packet of Onion Soup Mix
1 box of beef broth
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 small can of tomato sauce
1/4 stick of butter
Canola oil
Celery
Carrots
Onion
3 cloves of Garlic


Dry the roast, by patting it down with a paper towel. Season roast and melt Butter with canola oil in a shallow skillet. Sear all sides of roast, place in crock pot. Add veggies, soup mix, tomato sauce, mushroom soup and beef broth to crock pot. Set on low for 6-8 hours.


Gravy:

1/4 stick of butter
3 tablespoons of all purpose flour
Drippings from crock pot

Melt butter into a saucepan add flour and cook for one-minute. add dripping bring to a boil. Take roast out and separate with fork, pour over gravy and serve.


Roasted yellow and red potatoes:

1 lb of yellow and red petite potatoes quartered
1/2 of stick of butter cubed
House seasoning to taste
3 tablespoons of oil

In a shallow roasting pan coat quartered potatoes in oil and sprinkle seasoning. Add cubed butter around pan. Roast in the at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes. Serve, with sour cream and chopped fresh parsley.


Make a green salad or Vegetable and serve....

Long week and Dexter....

So, I know it has been a while. But, here I am again. It's been a hell of a week, busy, shitty, that sort of thing. (I always feel like, I am a downer on here) Oh, well it's my blog and I think I get inspired to write when I am not in a cheery mood.

Anyway, my house? Busy. Why? I work too much and we are getting ready for Halloween. The kids are going to look so cute though and Gabe is going to be my little monster. After a crappy week of course food is my comfort. I think, I am going to start posting recipes and would like to get your responses or reviews, if you try them (all four of you). Since, I started my cookbook again (thanks Sue for this idea) I am going to start posting my recipes.

Here it goes. So, Wednesday night during our season catch up of Dexter (which I love by the way, thanks Dena for getting me hooked!) I was craving something comforting since, lunches have consisted of PB&J because of lake of money to eat out.

Here was the menu:

Honey Glazed Pork Chops, Grits, Sweet Potato Casserole & Country Green beans:

Sweet Potato Casserole:

• 2 cans of sweet potatoes in syrup
• 2 tablespoons of pumpkin pie spice
• Cinnamon to taste
• Nutmeg to taste
• 3 table spoons of brown sugar
• Pinch of kosher salt
• Half and half
• 3 tablespoons of butter
• Marshmallow cream
• Pecans (Crushed)
  

Empty sweet potatoes with liquid into a medium saucepan. Boil, uncovered until heated through and strain. Add half & half, butter and spices to the pot and beat with an electic mixer until creamy. Place in a medium casserole dish, top with pecans and marshmallow cream. Bake in the oven at 375 until top is golden brown.

Country Green beans:

• Two cans of cut green beans
• Ham (cubed) 1/4 pound
• Half of a small sweet onion minced
• Salt and cracked pepper to taste
  

Empty all ingredients in a sauce pan, over medium high heat for 15-20 min. Serve.

Honey Glazed Pork:

• 4 to 5 Bone-in Pork chops
  Emerald Essence Seasoning (to taste)
• Salt/Pepper (to taste)
• Garlic Salt with parsley (to taste)
• Garlic herb rub no salt added (to taste)
• Honey for Glazing
• 2 Table spoons of butter
• 2 Table Spoons of Canola Oil

Pre-heat indoor grill/grill pan on medium high, add butter and oil. Season Pork chops and grill for 4 minutes per side or until Brown and crispy. Flip only once (you know when it is ready to flip when, you see blood from the bone, starts to surface.) Take off grill place on platter to rest. While hot, drizzle with honey over the top.

Honey Grits:

• 1 cup Quick Cooking Grits
• 3 cups of Milk (Yes, I make mine with milk, it's creamier)
• Pinch of salt (kosher)
• 2 tablespoons of butter
• Honey (to taste)
• 3 tablespoons of sugar
  

Bring liquid including butter to a slow boil, reduce heat to med-low. Add grits, sugar, salt and honey, until thick. Bring to slow boil, adjust grit consistency, by adding dry grits or more milk for desired thickness. Serve .

Let me know, what you think and leave a comment or two. Bon Appetit!

Back from Vacation...

So, we are back from vacation. Back to the old grind so to speak. We took one of those “stay-cations”, seems like in this economy, everyone is taking those instead of going away. I was thankful for the break, needed it very much so. But, could very well take another week off; we did the stay at home thing, while venturing off on the week-end to the beach and over to Busch Gardens with the kids. I had a taste of what it would be like to be a stay at home mom for once. The shear joy of dropping ones kids off to school and picking them up while having the day to get stuff done that normally sits around the house not done because I NEVER, EVER have time for, was in fact, very refreshing.

There I was in line among the sea of SUV’s and Mini-vans. I felt like, I was in high school all over again. Awkward and not in “the club” amongst the stay at home mom click. I really feel that way even more so now, since I signed up for the PTA newsletter. Don’t get me wrong, very informative, but, ladies let’s get together and volunteer for this or that. Seems to me it’s another upper west side Ladies’ luncheon or my kids are in this something or another. I do care about my kids just really not into the whole Volvo driving soccer mom-ish thing. Where you are so engulfed with your kids you don’t have your own identity. Or, you try to live vicariously through them that you push them into everything you may or may not have failed at? Is that a bad thing to say? Anyway, it was nice for the time being to slow down and get to do the things with my kids that I clearly miss out on. I think it was nice for them to have me home as well. House was clean all the time dinner was cooked and ready we had a schedule down without rushing around in the morning because I was too exhausted to prepare the night before.

I am really thinking about this whole stay at home bit and going back to school thing. If only I could afford to do something about it. Being the planner that I am, with always a timeline on hand; I did manage to get a tad organized on the subject while, on my down time. We will see I imagine I cannot go on like this forever.

Busch Gardens was fun, Michael and I went on Thursday so we could get our roller coaster fix and then took the kids back again on Saturday. I think I am getting old or like my parents, which I was kind of bummed about. I can’t take roller coasters like I used to. I felt dizzy and sick which sucked ass! It could be because I was sick with a cold the first half of the vacation, I am just going to safely assume, in all outing denial that it was because of the cold and not because I am approaching a down hill turn into adulthood.

Busch Gardens with the kids was actually not too bad. Aside, from the mishap of not bringing their Birth Certificates, for the free passes (which I personally thought was ridiculous, who brings a certified birth certificate to a theme park?) It’s not like my son is growing a beard or anything. Disney is better at that sort of thing, if they are in a stroller, off you go. But, they were nice and let us in the park. Jaden my youngest could not get on a ride because of being the tiniest amount shorter than her twin sister.

Let me tell you about my girls, Madison looks like me but, Jaden is me. She argued with the park attendant saying that she and her sister are twins and that they are the same age…etc… She called the guy stupid and crazy and pointed out to him that he smashed her ponytail down while measuring her! I know she was upset but, I couldn’t stop laughing, clear as day, I tell you. We later got some cotton candy and she got over it. But, it was Hilarious! I have my work cut out for me, I can see that already…….

Cute....

Got his little thing from a friend at work and thought it was funny…..true and funny….Thanks Tracie!


When I stand up for myself and my beliefs, they call me a BITCH. When I stand up for those I love, they call me a BITCH, when I speak my mind, think my own thoughts , or do things my own way, they call me a BITCH, when I refuse to tolerate injustice and speak against it, I am defined as a BITCH. I means I have the courage and strength to allow myself to be who I truly am and won’t become anyone else’s idea of what they think I should be…….if that makes me a BITCH, so be it; I embrace the title and am proud to bear it!

B=Babe
I= In
T= Total
C= Control of
H= Herself

B= Beautiful
I= Intelligent
T= Talented
C= Charming
H= Hell of a Woman!

Long time, no blog...

Well, I have been exhausted lately, could be because I now work two jobs now. But, you know, it could be something else, not really. On my quest, to pay off the debt, I have accrued over the years, to get me on track to start school soon. I have to say, at the very least, I have worked my tail off, these last few months.

Hence, not having time to blog in quite a while. I am sure all four of you have just gone stir crazy not hearing about my exciting life [insert sarcasm].

But, let’s recap the events that have happened……hmmmmmm…. I am crazier, which is a given, but, I am on some happy pills now, so, hopefully, I am less neurotic (well, prob. not.) I have managed to re-open my financial aide application; I have not finished and hopefully finish it, this time around.

Aside, from the usual drama that goes on at work from time to time, it is about that time, I am back to hello? Krystal? What are you doing? Get motivated, you’re better than this! I have noticed it comes around about every three months, which is weird in itself, but, whatever. I am sure there are some diagnoses, or weird thing about the planets aligned, full moon, BS that explains, the end of times, sort of thing or something.

I have been doing a lot of soul searching, getting things in order financially (aside from working to death) and trying to get on a plan for school. Michael and I have gotten better for the most part, we are very much a team now, I think my crazy pills are working…lol (actually they help me sleep, which is a huge plus, turning off the mind of an insomniac, is no easy task) So, better night sleep, better Krystal in the morning.

I am also learning to let some things go in my life. Not, be such a perfectionist, which, actually, I have more peace about these days, or I just don’t care anymore. Especially, people that are shitty, not fully conquered letting those kinds of people go, but, I am working on it. Like, the saying goes…there is a reason why they don’t make it in your future…yeah, learning that one, again the hard way but, learning, if it doesn’t kill you…right?

A perfect end to a perfect Birthday....

May, I be the first to say wow! I am twenty five and it feels awesome. I am sure, as I start to "get up there", it won’t be so awesome but, my birthday was fabulous! A, huge, huge, thank-you to all of my friends and family for making it so, special for me. What topped of the celebration, for me were of course the friends, that met up for dinner; lot’s of laughing and good times. But, more importantly the French restaurant my husband, took me on, Friday night. I was in my element and I recommend this restaurant, to anyone, that remotely, enjoys good food.

To re-cap our experience, we walked in greeted by the chef, was sat, at a quaint table, by the window. As, I sat down, I looked around at the mahogany wood flooring, red walls and huge double doors, that divided the restaurant into individual rooms. There was a huge rustic, chandelier and out side with the half draped windows, I thought, I was literally in New York City. People were bustling by, and twinkle lights just coming on because dusk was falling. I was absolutely beaming. Michael looked over at me, with total satisfaction, that he scored and I just let him have his glory. The pallet cleanser, was a croustini, all assembled perfectly on a oblong, white platter. Served, in little clear glass cups , was a sour cream, with a red wine vinegar reduction ,with chives. De-lish, I might say. I ate the stuff right out of the glass, it was so good.

While, waiting for our meal, I took it in. Men were seated next to us, enjoying the "finer things" in life, ordering the pork shank ,braised in honey and wine by the bottle. It reminded me of the movie: Titanic, in the brandy room, congratulating, themselves ,of being masters of the universe. I smiled and laughed at their comments, they made to each other, as they got tipsy.

By, that time, our food came. There, were perfectly decorated, white plates. It was almost too pretty to eat; the portion was not tiny by any means. Which I can appreciate, like that commercial, I am not paying for elf food. Michael had the chicken of course and I had the Bouf Bourguignon (aka: braised beef stew with red wine and root vegetables.)

Michaels, chicken, was in a mushroom sauce with rice pilaf and I had the al gratin potatoes. Delicious and rich! The meat fell apart and the chicken, was perfectly seasoned in this rich cream sauce; down to the homemade, French bread that, I overindulged in ,with butter.

But, what I really want to talk about is the dessert. I wanted all of them, I really did. They all looked so good. We decided on, the floating island and a bread pudding made with brioche with homemade ice cream. The floating island was a meringue floating in a vanilla sauce with toasted almonds on top. When you get down to the middle, there was a chocolate truffle. To die for! The brioche was a decadent, crusty, sugary good-ness, around the top and edges, with a drizzle of raspberry sauce, whipped cream and homemade French vanilla ice cream. We inhaled it served, with espresso and cream.

As, we finished our meal ,left and went to the car I immediately sent a text to Sue and said: I am in heaven and I am taking you here for your birthday. So, a five star experience and twenty five is going to be great!