How to turn your yellow silver plated flatware ... silver again!

I can't resist.  One more blog post!  I was just so excited about the results of my experiment, I had to get it out in the open for everyone so they can be just as excited as I!

My mother gave me this beautiful silver plate flatware.  I LOVE it!  When we moved to Cali, I threw my old stainless flatware into the "giveaway" bucket, and broke out my silver plate to use full time.  What I was not willing to negotiate on is the fact that I would put it in the dishwasher.  I don't think hand washing fully cleans silverware, so I've put it in the dishwasher despite Mom's instructions not to.  3 months later, my frequently used silver plate has turned this horrible dark/gold/yellow color.:(

So, I turned to my trusty Google search engine to try and figure out WHAT I can do about it.  Lo and behold, I found a "recipe" that was to my liking.  This advice varied from place to place, but I felt strongly about the mix so I went with it :)

1.  Line a baking dish with aluminum foil.

2.  Bring a pot of water to barely bubbling.

3.  Pour water into dish

4.  Dissolve 1tsp. each of baking soda and salt

5.  Drop silver plate into the water, allowing the pieces to touch each other.

6.  Watch your brown/yellow/gold silverware turn silver again!  Random note; it stinks when this is happening, I suppose due to the chemical reaction taking place.

7.  Remove utensils from the water, rinse, and dry!  You can leave stubborn pieces for up to 5 minutes, but mine pretty much all turned silver again instantly.

A close up of one particularly bad piece:

And, a close up when it's clean again!

SO SIMPLE!  I can't believe ANYONE would actually spend money on silver polish knowing this little trick.  Not to mention the fact that polish is TOXIC!  Salt and baking soda.  Hot water.  Foil lined pan.  DONE!  I'm so excited to have silverware again!  From what I read, it's citric acid and bleach that causes the silver to turn.  I JUST bought a new box of dishwasher detergent, and this one does have the citric acid, but no bleach (my last gel packs did), so I will see how that affects the silver.

Life as I know it

Sorry to update the blog for a third time in one day, but I'm feeling the words flowing from my finger tips!  I'm so psyched and excited, I just had to get it all out!  First and foremost, I am so excited about our new church.  We have FOUND a church home here in Sacramento!  And bonus:  it's closer than any church we've ever attended :D  The name of it is Verity Baptist Church.  Yep, Baptist.  Why is this surprising?  I mean, I grew up Baptist.  I attended the First Baptist Church of Woodstock for my entire childhood, and then went when it was ... ahem, convenient as an adult.  It's an awesome church.
http://www.fbcw.org/

My husband, however, grew up Pentecostal.  Long hair, skirts, speaking in tongues and all.  He's no bible scholar, but he has definite ideas of what is Right and what is Wrong, and I don't, so during our 14 year marriage, we've gone to a wide variety of churches, but never really finding a church home until we found Truthway, about 2 years ago.  Our church relationship began when David struck up a deep and quick friendship with the pastor, and it helped that the pastor is a Really Good Pastor.  So, for 2 years, we faithfully did not miss a single Sunday unless we were on vacation.  Then the pastor decided to move around, Truthway was no more, and the rest of that is a long story.  And of course, we moved here to Sac.

David has always enjoyed movies and videos about the End Times.  The book of Revelations and all that.  He found a Youtube movie called After the Tribulation that just blew. his. mind.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dvv2HPYdhMA

This movie led us to Verity Baptist Church and pastor Roger Jimenez.  Let me tell ya ... I have learned more in 2 days than I have in 34 years.  It's amazing.  HE is amazing.  He IS a bible scholar; I think Pastor Jimenez has the bible memorized, no joke.  The message is delivered STRICTLY from the bible.  Every single statement he makes is backed up fully by the bible, with multiple scriptures to illustrate his points.  Amazing, I've literally never met a pastor like him.  The service is a full hour of the Word, and I actually enjoy and follow every second of it.  So praise God!  I'm so excited to have this to look forward to, and I'm really enjoying learning more/understanding the Bible.

Second:  I GOT A JOB!!!  And my husband has a 2nd interview tomorrow for a job himself, so happy!!  As y'all know, I was going from an outside, teaching position to an inside, office position.  It has been SO hard finding something.  Every single interview, not even exaggerating, has had a minimum of 14 other applicants there as well, resumes in hand.  And they're all so much more qualified than myself; let's face it, I just don't have inside office experience.  In fact, the position I got was a long process to get there.  It began in a room with 13 other applicants (14 of us in the room).  The office manager spoke to us as a group, the doctor spoke to us as a group, then the office manager came back in with paper and pen and quizzed us on the doctor's details.  5 questions.  We were all dumbfounded, I can promise you that!  I must have gotten all the questions right though, because 8 people were dismissed right away, BOOM!  The 6 of us that remained were ushered into the back where we had a 1 on 1 interview with the Dr. and OM.  She informed me there was another round of group interviews that evening, then she would contact me if she wanted anything else.  About a week later, she asked me in for a "working" interview, where I literally worked 8 hours, being taught the job.  I felt ok about it, but I knew I had worked a little slow, just to make sure I didn't make any mistakes.  Another week later, I got a call to come in for a SECOND interview, which was this past Friday.  Again, I worked all day, this time feeling like I really rocked it.  Today, I got the call that she's offering me the position.  PHEW!  So happy and excited, glad it finally has happened.  We NEED some income, our finances are stretched so tight right now we can't breathe.  Hindsight being 20/20, we would have spent a LOT less money in the beginning of our time here, but we both TRULY felt like we would have jobs within 2ish weeks.  We had NO idea 3 months later we'd still be sitting here on the couch watching daytime TV.  IF we ever decide to move again, we have certainly learned a lesson!

So, please have prayers that my husband lands this job tomorrow; it literally is right across the street from our apartment, he could walk there if he wanted to.  The pay is good, the job is good, he really wants it.  Please pray I pick up quickly at my new job.  Even though I did well Friday, I still have a LOT to learn, new people to get to know, and patients to get to know ... it's going to be tough, but I know I'm up to the challenge.  God is good, I feel like we're slowly figuring out our new life, and things are progressing forward:)

Useful Pinterest stuff, part 2!

I will continue to post these updates as I do more cool stuff via Pinterest!  I'm telling ya, it's amazing how easy some of the tricks are, and how much time/effort they save.  I've only got a hand full of things this time, but trust me ... they're worth knowing!

1.   Cleaning your George Foreman Grill!  I've read this also works with a waffle iron.  Simply place a damp paper towel on the grill after you're finished using it, and close the lid.  That's it, walk away for several hours.  The damp towel acts like a steam cleaner, and when you open up your cooled grill, ALL the nasty, cooked on gunk is wet and ready to come off.  I use the wet paper towel to scrape the softened yuck off the grill, then clean it up with a dry paper towel.  Clean!  Perfect!  My plates DO detach and I can put them in the washer, but I feel like the dishwasher strips off the non stick surface, so I try to clean it up without running it through the washer.

2.  Tying your running shoes in such a way as to eliminate heel slippage.  I made my very own Pinterest pin using this blog!  Here it is: http://yourenotgettingyounger.blogspot.com/2013/09/how-to-keep-your-shoes-from-sliding-up.html

3.  Freshening up your garbage disposal.  I've lived in my apartment for 3 months now, and have noticed an occasional less than fresh odor wafting up from the disposal side every now and then.  My only extra word of advice to this pin is to slice up your citrus fruit small before dropping it in (I used a lime).  I put it in cut in half like the article suggested, and my disposal didn't grind up the peel.  When I put in a small, quarter sized piece, it "ate" the whole thing.  http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/how-to-clean-yo-2-136771

4.  This recipe for sweet potato souffle is so fabulous!  It was light and fluffy, sweet and savory, but way lighter calorie wise than your typical Thanksgiving side dish.    http://www.marthastewart.com/331745/maple-whipped-sweet-potatoes

5.  Home made brownies.  SO good!  http://afewshortcuts.com/2012/05/homemade-brownie-mix/

6.  Finally ... I confess, I haven't actually done this one yet, but I'm sure it will work well:  http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2012/06/how-to-clean-and-shine-your-microwave.html

Please feel free to share any pins that work great for you!  Comment on the blog, or shoot me an email at dakotawyatt2002@yahoo.com

How to keep your shoes from sliding up and down!

So, do your sneakers ever rub up and down on your heel?  Even though you're pretty sure the size is just right, still, you get that annoying heel slippage.  That has been my problem with every single pair of sneakers I've ever owned (dress shoes too, but I don't know what the solution is for dress shoes!).

Enter:  Fleet Feet running store.  I was frustrated enough with wasting money on running shoes that didn't work to finally give in and get "professionally" fitted at a runner's store.  Yes, the shoes cost me $110.  BUT!  It's 148% worth it to finally have shoes that fit my foot correctly, and to have learned a nifty little trick called a "runner's knot".  The way I move, only my right shoe generally slips up and down.  Why?  I have no idea!  But ever since I learned how to tie my shoes this way, I have had NO heel slippage and hence, no 'hot spots'!  Here's how to do it:

1.  Make sure your shoes are laced all the way to the 2nd to last hole.  You will then thread your lace back through the last eyelet like so:

2.  Pull the lace so that you've made a small loop, then go ahead and put your shoe on.

3.  Next, thread right over to the left loop, left over to the right loop.  Make sure to thread through the loop.

4.  Now, this is the most important step; tighten the laces down and out, NOT up towards the center.  If you pull up towards the center, you will tighten the shoe across your instep, which is NOT what you want.  When you pull the laces OUT to the side, you will literally feel the shoe snug up towards your heel.

5.  Finally, tie your shoes like normal!

This way of tying my shoes has saved my feet.  I no longer have any heel slippage, causing blisters or hot spots.  Also, my toes don't go numb because my shoes are the correct size, not a size too small because they're slipping all over the place!  My heel is pretty narrow:

But my foot is wide:

Hence ... I have a hard time finding shoes that fit!  Hopefully, this post will help you learn the "runner's knot" that has saved my feet!

Oh, my aching ... chin?

For those of you that never really exercise, you should search around for Insanity/crossfit/T25/P90X/etc.  And just try ONE workout.  Oh.  Emm.  Gee.  I've committed to getting back on the T25 bandwagon after making sure my side is 100%, this time wearing shoes AND taking the modifier option every now and then, as I would certainly consider myself to be "out of shape" at the moment.  This is day 3, hump day, and I started on Monday.  Every muscle in my body hurts, including places where I didn't think you HAVE muscles, eg. under my chin.  Talk about PAIN!  But it's that GOOD pain, that pain that says I'm kicking butt and working out.

I can't remember if I've really talked about the T25 program; it's developed by the originator of Insanity, Shaun T, and it's basically a 25 minute version of an Insanity workout.  Now, if you're new to my blog, you may be wondering what Insanity is.  The Insanity program is what helped me shed 45 lbs last year.  Changing up my eating habits helped to kick start my weight loss, but Insanity shaped and sculpted my body until my size 14 clothes quite literally fell down to my ankles.  A cute dress I had that had always fit pretty well hung so comically on my freshly toned arms, it looked ridiculous, so I chunked all of those clothes into a bag and took them to the donation bin.

The problem with Insanity?  Well, for someone with a pretty strong lazy streak, it is near impossible to keep up forever.  It's a 60 day program, 6 days a week for 40-50 minutes the first month, then 6 days a week for 50-60 minutes a day the 2nd month.  It has you sprinting, doing moving pushups, walking planks, "V" push ups, burpees, suicide climbers, jumping jacks, jump rope with an imaginary rope, "power jumps" where you leap as high in the air as you can and slap your thighs, lunges, "shoulder burners", basketball jumps ... any sort of torturous gym exercise you can remember, that's what Shaun T has you doing.  It's a GREAT program ... and I found myself spending more time dreading what was coming then actually dreading the workout once I was in it ... but it was HARD to make myself push play on the computer.

T25 is modified Insanity exercises, 5 days a week, only 25 minutes.  Unfortunately, the time sacrifice is in the warm up and the stretch and the cool down, arguably the most important parts of a workout routine ... hence me straining an oblique muscle after doing only 2 days.  So today will be day 3, which I have not yet done, and I will get back to whipping my body back into shape.  Running is great exercise, but your body gets used to it ... at least mine does.  I think for ME T25 is a more sustainable workout because it's ONLY 25 minutes, and it's 5 days a week; something I can commit to by getting up half an hour earlier each morning and knocking it out.  There is a 25 minute stretch workout in there that I will fit in when I feel as though I need it (like right now!).

I LOVED my toned up body.  Problem is, it requires WORK to keep it that way.  I relaxed and let that slide; I am going to WORK to get it back again, and then I will WORK to keep it forever.  It's SO easy to allow yourself to get bitten by the lazy bug and start to slide back into old habits of making excuses like, "I've been married 14 years; why should I kill myself to look good?"  or "I'm married with a kid, who am I trying to impress anyway?"  You know what?  I'm not trying to impress anyone, I'm trying to be the BEST me I can be, and the BEST me is not fat and flabby.  The BEST me doesn't snack on m&m's all day and stuff my face with Ritz crackers at every opportunity.  The BEST me doesn't drink regular soda, or even diet soda.  The BEST me loves myself and tries to take care of ME by eating well and taxing every muscle I can to firm it back into submission.  Don't wait until Monday to change your habits.  START TODAY!  Drink water, chill on the refined sugar, and move your body!  It's simple.  I'm following my own advice!  Hope the rest of your week is great:)  OH!  And ps, David and I have found a new church to attend, I'm very excited.  Pastor Jimenez is the pastor, and he LOOKS about 25, but I think he's actually around my ageish.  Very passionate, great sermon, great Bible study.  Excited about what Sunday brings!

The masks we wear

The me most of you see most of the time!  Not ashamed.

The fist mask; actual foundation!  I almost never wear foundation!

The final layer; hair and accessories.  Time to be a go getter!

I've been thinking about masks.  About personas.  When I was teaching, my boss and I joked that we were "Queen of the first lesson".  What that meant, is when a person was coming for that 'trial', we knew it.  And unless some horrible unforseen circumstances came along to throw a wrench in the plans, we could charm in a new client probably ... 95% of the time.  Now, that's not to say we were conning people.  I was good at my job, no doubt.  But like every single working person in the entire world, some days I operate on less than 100%.  But if need be, I could put on my happy face and put everything else that was going on, away.

Looking for a job has been emotionally draining for me.  Stressful, of course.  But even to pick up a RETAIL position, which I'm sorry ... retail is a brainless job ... you have to take these "personality" tests.  And I just don't think I GET what they're after.  I am a quiet person, I like to be alone, and unless I'm selling a "first lesson", I feel like an awkward social giant.  But these personality tests make it so you can't be yourself; you have to sell this cut throat/go getter/I'm better than all my peers personality to be considered for RETAIL.  It's crazy!

I'm going to be honest ... Sunday, out of sheer desperation, I fasted for 32 hours.  It was hard, I was *this* close to passing out while washing my hair.  I prayed harder than I've prayed for some time.  And I began to read the Bible for the first time.  What is it about my inability to find a job?  Why can't I even get hired by a GROCERY STORE?  Are there really that many people in Natomas that are job hunting?  Are my skills as a talented riding instructor so inadequate for anything that I'm incapable of filing paperwork in alphabetical order?  I've put in so many resumes in so many different positions, I've lost count.  When you have to have the conversation about what to do in case nothing comes along ... it's defeating.

I took a few pictures this morning as I got ready for a job interview; no makeup, makeup, then hair and makeup.  For the people that know me in person, I'm a no makeup kind of girl 90% of the time, and that's who I am.  I'm ok with that!  I don't hide who I am, I'm real.  But as I put on the foundation this morning, it's like I was putting on another personality, one who doesn't take no for an answer.  One that's a go getter, LOVES to chat people up, and never worries whether her breath smells.  And after I fixed my hair, I thought about how to really sell myself, and what I needed to do to make it happen.  Because that's what I'm here to do; MAKE IT HAPPEN.  What is IT?  For me, IT is the ability to live where I want, vacation where I want, and have the things I want.  Last year, it was about achieving the body I want.  This year, it's about achieving the LIFE I want.

Make no mistake, I WILL make it happen.  I have renewed my faith in God, and things are finally beginning to move for me.  Tomorrow, I have THREE job interviews.  Wow.  It is super hard for me to go through my closet and find nice looking big girl clothes to wear, lol!  I've had 20 years to build my "barn" wardrobe, I don't have much of a selection of "business casual", but I'll throw something together.  I will find a job where I don't have to have my mask on; I have a feeling the right one is waiting on me at 2:00 tomorrow afternoon, all I have to do is sell that "first lesson", and then I can fall into the place where I'm meant to be.  I'm not ashamed to go out totally bare faced, not a drop of makeup on; that person is good enough to be employed.  I WILL persevere:)

Really. There's just not that much going on.

Kody and I on the hike down Mt. Lassen to the steam vents.  SO COOL!

Mt. Lassen

Sorry the blog has been a little on the quiet side.  On the up side, I've gotten in LOTS of TV watching with the hubs.  We watched 3 seasons of Suits, finished up the current season of Game of Thrones, watched the entire House of Cards series, and have blown through the first 3 seasons of Breaking Bad (currently working on season 4).  I buzz around the apartment, washing sheets, washing and putting clothes away, cleaning bathrooms, cleaning the kitchen, and vacuuming.  Oh the lavish life of the unemployed!

Sigh.  Out of sheer desperation, I'm driving out to Roseville tomorrow to walk through a barn and speak with the owner about "teaching some english lessons".  He barely charges for the lessons; $25 a pop so I don't really expect much to come of this.  I can't work for free, or work to break even.  I save a TON of money by sitting here on the couch; it's amazing how much money we're NOT spending, but by taking on a job, all of a sudden you're paying for gas again, so it's got to be worth it.

I've come to value my morning runs because it's really the only time I get out of the house.  I know David is dying of boredom too and it sucks for him because he doesn't run, and doesn't even like to walk so it's not like we can go find a trail to hike together or something.  Kody doesn't mind, he's a total homebody.  In fact, he gets grumpy if "forced" to be gone all weekend long, lol!

In a teeny modicum of good news, I had an "interview" yesterday for a job, and David had an actual interview today.  Of course neither of us will find anything out until next week, but it's something right?  I've gotten to where I HATE taking those personality assessments.  I totally second guess everything and try to infer exactly what type of answers the company is looking for.  We all know I'm an introvert, but I DO give excellent customer service and have no problems speaking to a crowd ... so I find it hard to pick answers that are truthful, but also that don't portray me as a shy wall flower.  Oh well, just trying to keep the faith, and know I am doing EVERYTHING in my power to get hired.  When it's the right time God will move and make it happen, but until then, it's JUST as bad as sitting around waiting on Tiki to sell.

Sorry, not wanting to vent.  Just wanted to update.  I've always sworn to post the bad with the good, and right now it's not that great.  The good is we still have NO doubts about our decision to move.  We KNOW we will be ok, God will make sure of that.  We would NOT have gotten all the way here if it wasn't part of the Plan.  I'm so happy and grateful to be here, sitting on my couch here in beautiful, sunny CA:)  Will be heading to the pool in about 20 minutes, SO GRATEFUL for that little detail:)  I'm thankful to be able to be with my boys and spend lots of quality time with them.  I was so exhausted back in GA, driving upwards of 2 1/2 hours 5+ days a week, dealing with IEA shows, busting my tail 5 days a week for a horse I didn't even want to ride any more because I was so exhausted ...dealing with the stress of business falling off in my lesson program ... it wasn't good.  David was so unhappy in his job, things just were NOT great.  I feel like this unemployment gap has given us the time to decompress and rest up; now it's time to get back to it!  I think we as human beings like to be productive, and sitting on the couch watching TV is not productive for anything.  Hoping like heck our prayers are answered soon and we get the money ball rolling.  Thanks for reading, any and all prayers are appreciated :):D