Recipe: Blackened Salmon

My little sister came in town for the weekend. So I bought a few salmon filets on Friday just in case we needed a quick dinner. Luckily for me, we didn't use them so I was able to use them tonight!

This recipe was so simple, so quick, and so delicious! I have never cooked salmon on my skillet before and I was impressed with how they turned out.

Blackened Salmon

Ingredients:

2 tbsp. paprika

1 tbsp. chili powder

2 tsp. light brown sugar

1 tsp. pepper

1/2 tsp. salt

4 (6 oz.) salmon fillets

- In a small bowl, combine all ingredients, except salmon. Rub mixture on both sides of salmon.

- In a large nonstick skillet, cook salmon over medium heat for about 4-5 minutes on each side or until desired doneness.

Makes 4 servings.

From Holly Clegg's trim&TERRIFIC Gulf Coast Favorites

The rub added a sweet, tangy flavor to the salmon. It was so easy to throw together and just as quick to cook. I will be cooking this again and even trying it out with other fish! Did I mention its only 223 Calories a serving?

Pineapple Cream Pie Recipe

While I was visiting my Grandma this past weekend, she made these mini pie desserts and I just had to share the recipe!

Don't these look so yummy?!

Pineapple Cream Pie

Ingredients:

1 small graham cracker pie crust

1 20oz. can of crushed pineapple, drained

1 large packet of instant vanilla pudding mix

1 8oz. container of whipped cream

-Mix together the drained pineapple and the dry pudding mix

-Fold in the 8oz. of whipped cream

-Put in the pie shell and refrigerate

Pretty easy right?


I made a few modifications. I used the mini graham cracker pie crusts, they come in a 6 pack. Also, you could buy your own graham crackers and crush them up then place them in dessert cups. 


I only had a can of pineapple chunks, so I used my PC Mix N' Chop to crush it up. 


To make this healthier, you can buy sugar free vanilla pudding and whipped cream!




 

Night Out with the Girls!

"If there were no schools to take the children away from home part of the time, the insane asylum would be filled with mothers."

Since Little Miss is not old enough to attend school....see where I am going with this?

Being a mom comes with lots of conflicting emotions. Sometimes I feel so suffocated I just want my own space with peace and quiet for a few hours. Then when I get what I want, I instantly start missing Little Miss.

Lately, I have been getting that suffocated feeling. I honestly haven't had a moment to myself. Little Miss has been in the bed with me, taking showers with me, I haven't even been able to use the bathroom unattended! Usually she is not in the bed with me, but there have been a variety of reasons here lately that have caused her to end up in bed with me. Anyways, a girls night without the kids was just what I needed.

Before deployment started, a few of us wives bought tickets for all the concerts coming here as part of the Country Megaticket Tour. Last night was the first of six concerts, Sugarland! I saw them live last year at Bayou Country Superfest and they were AMAZING so I was very excited to see them again. They are so interactive with the audience and have lots of energy, plus they sound as good live as they do on the radio! They didn't disappoint last night either, they were just as awesome as they were last year.

I was able to tailgate before the concert with some of the girls and then we went inside the venue to scope out a spot on the lawn seating. We met some friends already on the lawn and set up right next to them. We all hung out during the opening acts, which were pretty blah actually. Two acts I have never heard of and the second one was not good at all. Anyways, while we are waiting for Sugarland to take the stage this woman comes up to the 6 of us and asks if any of us have a Twitter account. One of us did. Then the woman tells us, if you tweet the band then I will give your group these free tickets for the pit.

Huh? Can you say that again I don't think I heard you right. FREE tickets to the PIT, like close enough to touch the band? Shut up!

Yup, we got a free upgrade to the pit. So then all of a sudden we were shoulder to shoulder in front of the band. I have never been that close to a live performance before.

Yah, we were that close!

Best. Concert. Experience. Ever.

I think I can speak for all of us and say that we had a great time, we were dancing around with the other fans and teasing the poor guy in front of us that was as still as a statue...I think he had a good time too, eventually! I had so much fun, I feel like I was able to recharge my battery. It was a much needed time-out from being a mommy and a house-wife.

The next concert is with Lady Antebellum, Darius Rucker, and Thompson Squared. Maybe we'll get lucky again and get free tickets to the pit, if not I am sure we will have a blast on the lawn!

To top it all off, I came home and the cleaning fairy had made a visit :)



 

Weekend-ish Getaway

Sunday was my 6th wedding anniversary, the 5th anniversary I have spent apart from Hubs. Instead of sulking about it, I decided it was time to take a road trip. Little Miss & I went to visit my Grandmother. She lives around Asheville and I LOVE the area. Its a very pretty drive too. 

 I just wanted something to keep my mind off the fact that once again Hubs and I couldn't celebrate our anniversary together. There is always next year, right?

Anyways, the visit to NC was great. Little Miss enjoyed running around and touching all of the breakable things. I think she enjoys hearing me tell her NO all of the time. 

In between teaching my daughter about her boundaries, I was able to have some great conversations with my Grandma. I was telling her how different this deployment has been for me and the group of ladies that I started it with, are starting to get orders off the ship. So it is hard to see my friends leave especially when I don't know if I will ever see them again. My Grandma shows sympathy for my situation, then points out something: When she loses friends, its because they are no longer alive or their spouse has passed away and they go to live with family. So unlike my situation, they are not a phone call or email away. They aren't able to Skype or send a message on Facebook.

Why am I feeling as if my friends are going to drop off the face of the earth just because I won't see them on a regular basis anymore?

She also points out that people come into and out of your life. But with really good friends years can pass but once you get back together it is as if you have not spent a day apart.

Isn't my Grandma smart?

I will try my hardest to remember this conversation in the upcoming months because this deployment isn't going to get any easier, especially when my friends are starting to move on and I am getting left behind.

 

Tutorial: Felt Rosette Wreath

Since I have been stuck resting my leg at home, I decided to make a wreath that caught my eye on Pinterest. I had lots of red, white, and navy blue felt left over from the Felt Ruffle Wreath project so I decided to stay with the patriotic theme for this wreath too.

Supplies

Felt

   Since I am using 3 colors, I only needed 1/4 yard of each 
   color.

Wreath Form

   I use the 40% off one full priced item coupon at Michael's
   so I can get this 18 inch wreath for $2.99! 

Hot Glue

Scissors

   I use my Olfa Circle Rotary Cutter to make the circles 

   easily, but you will still need to scissors to make the spiral. 

Ribbon

   You can use whatever you want to embellish the wreath,
   I chose to make a bow.


First I made all the rosettes. I would just sit on the couch as we were watching TV to do this step.

You need to cut your felt into circles. Mine are about 4 inches in diameter.

Then you will cut the circle into a spiral. Make sure you keep the spiral the same width all the way around, this will make the rosette nice and flat when you roll it up in the next step.

Then you roll the felt into a rosette starting from the the center of the original circle (the end that is between my thumb and pointer finger).

After you roll lots and lots and lots of rosettes, you can start gluing them onto your wreath.

I bought the hay wreath from the craft store, but this time I kept it in the plastic wrapper to prevent all the hay from getting all over the place! 

Before you start gluing, decide on a pattern. 

These are very easy to glue down, just a small outline of glue is enough to hold it in place!

Just continue all the way around! At the end, I did have to go back with scissors and trim down a few of the rosettes so they were flat. 

It looks so nice on my door! But since I still have my Felt Ruffle Wreath, I am going to give this wreath to my step-grandmother when I visit her!

Doing the "Right" Thing

In life, we are faced with some tough decisions. Some of them easier than others.

Have you ever seen that show, "What Would You Do?"? In this show, they place hidden cameras and actors portray a questionable situation to see what bystanders will do. They had an episode in a bridal shop where a bride found "the dress" and when the salesperson realized the bride was getting married to another woman, she basically ripped the dress off the bride and told her she would not sell her the dress because she was a homosexual. Another episode, this very obviously skinny girl was trying on bikini's for her boyfriend and he was critiquing her, telling her she was fat! 

What would you do if you witnessed those sorts of situations?

I came across a story in my News Feed this morning about a wife that knew her husband was a murderer (he confessed to her) and how she chose to keep it a secret, until now. 
What would you do if a loved one or close friend committed a crime and confessed to you?


My parents and church taught me to always do the right thing, both morally and legally. The times that I have strayed I have been caught, paid for it, felt tremendously guilty. As I grew up, I sadly realized that even though you may do the right thing it doesn't always end up a happy ending like they teach you as a kid. Though I do my best everyday to live my life in a way that others can be proud of, it bothers me that others can do all sorts of wrong and get away with it. Even if they are reported to the proper authorities! That is not how they depict it on TV or in the movies. You are supposed to report the bad guy, they get caught and thrown in jail, and the world is rid of one more menace to society. 

Why is that not the case in reality?

Celebrities and socialites showcase this better than anyone else. It sets a bad example for our society, what it tells young people is "As long as you have money and/or fame, you are exempt from the rules." I have also noticed that if you have the right "friends" you can get away with breaking the rules. All I can do is shake my head and stand by waiting for Karma to catch up. If we all followed the rules, the world would be a better place wouldn't it?

Always let your conscience be your guide, I believe a very wise cricket once said that. So even when doing the "right" thing may not give me the fairy tale ending I hope for, I am going to keep it up. Eventually everyone will answer for the wrongs they have done, if not in this lifetime than in the life thereafter.

I hope I can teach, by example, to my daughter the importance of doing the right thing even when its not the cool or convenient option. Because she is going to be faced with tough choices and I want her to have the confidence to stand up for the little guy, to report the crime, to rat out the wrong-doer.


 
 

New DIY Projects!

After being stuck inside for days now, I decided we had to get out! Target has some amazing deals going on right now so I ran a few errands then headed over there. 

I have to admit, I do thoroughly enjoy the upside to being gimpy: I get to use the electric shopping cart!

We cruised through Target and thank goodness it was pretty empty because I am definitely not a professional electric buggy driver. Luckily most of the display are on wheels, hehehe.

During deployment, I generally get on a home decorating kick and make-over a room or two. Last time, I vamped up the living room. This time I want to change up the master bedroom and bath. I already did all I could to the bathroom, I bought an awesome new shower curtain for $10 at TJ Maxx and a matching rug for $3 at JC Penny. I really want new bathroom towels but I haven't found any that are the quality I want and in the desired price range either. I like to take my time and shop around for the best deals, especially since I like to change things up fairly often!

Anyways, Target is clearing out some of their 8 piece bedding sets and I found an amazing one for $50. That is a great price for a king sized bedding set. The set included the comforter, bed skirt, 2 throw pillows, regular sham, and euro shams. I loved the grommet design and the colors, it just looked so trendy. Also, I think Hubs will like it too. Not like he is here to give his nod of approval though...

So I came home and immediately put it on my bed. It looks great! I need to buy pillows to fit the euro shams though. Then I realized something: My window coverings don't match!

I hate shopping for curtains and now that I have a sewing machine, I can just make them myself! I have been perusing Pinterest and found a few tutorials I like, I definitely want lined curtains. What I am thinking is navy blue curtains with a painted silvery/white grommet design on the top third and leaving the rest unpainted, with a silvery/white silk ribbon separating the painted portion from the unpainted portion. I don't want to do the painted grommet design on the entire curtain because I think it would be overkill since the comforter is that same design. This is #3 on my list of to-do's.

I also bought a jersey sheet set for Little Miss, it was so cheap that I couldn't make it for that price! Plus, it matches her bedding perfectly. Now I just need to make the throw pillows, that is #2 on my list.

Last night I started making felt rosettes for my next wreath. I plan on doing a big tutorial when I am finished! Here is a sneak peak of what I have been working on, lots and lots of felt rosettes!

If you want to see all the stuff I am working on, check out my "Upcoming Projects" board on Pinterest!

How Do You Say "I Love You"?

With all the emails Hubs and I exchange during deployment, I find that saying "I Love You" gets rather monotonous. While I mean it with all of my heart every time I say it (or type it), I worry that the meaning gets lost when this phrase gets so casually tossed around in today's society.

To change things up, this deployment I am sending Hubs an love quote each day. I feel like at this point, none of my material is original anymore! Poets, authors, and songwriters do such a great job I decided to borrow their words. 

“The reason it hurts so much to separate is because our souls are connected.” 

“I love you, not just for now, but for always, and I dream of the day that you’ll take me in your arms again.” 

“While I sleep, I dream of you, and when I wake, I long to hold you in my arms. If anything, our time apart has only made me more certain that I want to spend my nights by your side, and my days with your heart.”

“The best love is the kind that awakens the soul and makes us reach for more, that plants a fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds. And that's what you've given me. That's what I'd hoped to give you forever” 

“Sometimes you have to be apart from people you love, but that doesn't make you love them any less. Sometimes you love them more.” 

Those are a few of my favorites, I believe they are all from Nicholas Sparks. What I have been doing is looking up quotes online and putting them in emails in my Drafts folder so I can simply send one of the each day.

I find it interesting how other people describe love and the things people do to express it. I think it is important to tell the person you love how you feel as often as possible, but also in many different ways. It kind of spices things up! I am also thinking about sending actual love letters to Hubs, I didn't do that last deployment so maybe something to new to surprise him.


What ways do you show someone you care if they are thousands of miles away? I want to hear your ideas!


 

When Life Hands You Lemons...

I went to the Dr. yesterday to get my leg looked at and he said I have to stay off of it for 2 weeks! Ughh...

To make myself feel better, I decided to make a list of reasons why 2 weeks stuck at home isn't a bad thing:

More potty training!

Perhaps I can get Little Miss to understand the difference between "big girl panties" and diapers. She has no accidents when I let her run around bare bottomed, but as soon as we put on the panties she wets them. Now I have lots of time at home to work on this.

More crafting!

I can make more bows and more wreaths and perhaps make a pillowcase dress for Little Miss. Except today I ran out of hot glue, oops.

I can finally start reading The Hunger Games on my Kindle!

I haven't had the chance to sit down and read them yet, now I have no excuse not to.

I can catch up on trashy reality shows!

Today my TV stayed on Bravo, so I caught up on RHOC, RHATL, and Shahs of Sunset. 

Lots of quality time with Little Miss!

The past few days have been rough for her, she realized that Daddy isn't coming home for a long time. Last night on the car ride home from the Dr., she tells me, "Mommy I miss my Daddy.". I turn around to tell her how much Daddy misses her, only to see tears rolling down her little cheeks. It broke my heart to see her crying. I am frustrated because I don't know how to make her understand and I am pretty sure that she is too young to understand time. All I can do is assure her that Daddy loves her and misses her, that he will be home eventually, and show her lots of pictures. 

My triceps are going to look awesome after being on crutches for 2 weeks!

I can get really creative with my care packages!

Time to get my Pinterest on to find out some cool themes for care packages. I wonder if Hubs appreciates them as much as I like making them...

I guess I could cook some more and post a few recipes for you guys, I haven't done that in a while either.

So I am going to try my hardest to focus on the positive here. Its only 2 weeks and it could definitely be worse! 

Are We Ever Really Alone?

One of the things I hate the most about deployments: Being alone when I get hurt. If Little Miss gets hurt or sick, I know I can handle it. But who is going to take care of me if I get sick or hurt? Last deployment I was lucky and didn't have any mishaps, this time not so much.

Remember I mentioned how I pulled my quadricep muscle last weekend? Remember how excited I was that my muscle healed up quickly and I was able to go to spin class?

Last night I pulled my quadricep again only much worse this time. Its a funny story now, but last night I was pretty panicked. I suffer from Night Terrors. My mom has them and so did my great-grandmother. It is like a nightmare times ten. They are very realistic to me; most of them take place in my bedroom and I see people or things that aren't really there, but to me they are real.

In last nights episode, something was attacking Little Miss & me in my bed. Both in my terror and in reality, I am screaming. Usually at this point Hubs can wake me up.

But no one is here to wake me up and stop the terror from escalating.

After the screaming comes "sleep walking". Though I didn't really walk, I just started crawling around my bed trying to fight off the invisible intruder. It is all so real to me. I am sweating, my heart is racing, and I am fighting hard. That is when my quadricep *snaps* and I wake up mid-fight with one of the most intense pains I have ever felt.

When you wake up from a Night Terror, you are very confused because you don't fully realize what happened. At this point, all I know is my leg is hurting so much I am crying and I am panicking. 

No one is here to help me. 

I can't even put weight on my leg to walk. I am seeing white spots as I crawl down the stairs to get an ice pack. I crawl back up the stairs and I start panicking even more: Do I need to go to the ER? This pain is too intense to sleep through, who is going to watch Little Miss? What if I really tore something and I need surgery? WHO IS GOING TO TAKE CARE OF MY LITTLE GIRL IF I CAN'T?? (See how this is escalating?)

I call one of my friends with a medical background, thank goodness she is a night owl. She offered to drop everything and bring me to the ER if that is what I really want. As we sit there and talk it out, she tells me what I need to do for my leg. I start to calm down. I start to think clearly. I decide to sleep on it and see how I feel in the morning. My leg isn't swollen, there is no bruising, so there are no immediate signs of a tear.

I woke up this morning feeling better, I could really use a pair of crutches though. Today I realized that one of my biggest fears during deployment, being alone and getting hurt, is not really a problem anymore. I have a great support system here and if I ever hurt myself that badly, I have people here who will pitch in to help us out.

One of the great things about being a milispouse: You are never really alone!

Today I Learned How To...

Today has been a pretty awesome day, I think things are finally starting to look up!

OHH, I want to thank Jen over at New Mommy Confessions for featuring my blog as her Blog of the Month! First of all, I am so flattered that people actually read my blog and secondly, I am excited that Jen is sharing my blog with her followers :) If you haven't checked out her blog, she is a fellow milispouse and SAHM. She is so funny, does lots of giveaways, and puts out great military information as well!

So 3 days ago I managed to pull my quadricep muscle so I have been icing it, wrapping it, and staying away from the gym. Which really sucks because 1. I am a gym junkee and 2. I enjoy the hour or so each day that Little Miss and I can spend apart. Distance makes the heart grow fonder folks (even if its only a few walls separating myself from my daughter!)! 

However, this was the perfect excuse for Operation: Potty Training. Little Miss has been running around for 3 days without a diaper and she has been doing very well, no accidents! But wow I have gone through an entire container of Lysol wipes. And everytime she makes her business in the potty, she gets up and dances! Which is super cute until there are droplets of pee on the floor, she is just air drying right? The only time she wears a pull-up is when she is sleeping or when we leave the house. We haven't made the transition to "big girl panties" yet, that is going to happen tomorrow wish us luck...

Since we have been cooped up in the house, I have started doing educational activities disguised as crafts and games *insert evil laugh* Yesterday we did painting and worked on our colors. Today we did an "Alphabet Bugs" game. I taped all the letters on our big glass doors and we sang our ABC's, identified the letter, and tried to put them in order. We made it all the way to "J" before Little Miss had enough. I can't force her to learn everything I want her to, things need to be fun at this age or else she may not enjoy learning later on! Keep it light, have fun with it.

The weather was cooperating so I decided to finally wash my car. Last July when we bought the RAV we paid extra $$ for Car Armor on the inside & out, and it has been so worth the money. Little Miss's messes wipe up with ease and all those nasty bugs and scratches come right off the exterior! After we bought the car, I diligently washed it every week. Well, then winter came and it was too cold for me to do that anymore so today was the first day this year I busted out the sponges and bucket. 

Then I did something new: I WAXED THE CAR! That is just one of those things Hubs always has done. Gotta love being a military wife, you learn how to do all sorts of handy things while your SO is deployed! Last month I learned how to restring the weed-eater, this month I wax the car, next month I may just possibly conquer the world! Everyone will get a million dollars and their own house and will be happy all the time...because I said so  :)

After being so impressed with my car waxing skills, I decided it was time to test out my strained quadricep. Good news, I made it through spin class with only minor modifications. Yippee!

Alright guys, I have a small confession to make: Even though I work out regularly and I eat right, I still feel guilty when I eat anything not considered "healthy". I want to conquer this love/hate relationship I have with food, so during my self-inflicted lock down I came across this weight loss app called Lose It! I have never kept a food diary and I want to have a better understanding of the balance between the amount of calories I consume and the amount of calories I burn. This app is amazing and very user friendly. You just put in your information (current weight, height, goal weight) and it comes up with what you caloric intake should be each day. You simply enter in what food you eat, your exercises, and it crunches all the numbers for you!

So today I warmed up on the treadmill then did spin class, I came home, entered the numbers online, and realized I burned off all the calories I consumed! Holy cow. This means that I can eat a few of Little Miss's seasoned potato wedges (with my turkey burger wrapped in romaine) and not feel guilty. For me, that is a huge break through. Bye Bye Guilt! Not that I am going to go out and eat a carton of chocolate ice cream now. But the numbers show me that with a healthy diet & a good workout, I can indulge a little bit and still be okay.
 

Its a challenge to look at my before & after pictures and not be terrified that I will put back on all the weight. I am at a healthy weight that I am happy with, now I want to be stronger. Like I want to look GI Jane-ish, minus the shaved head. Not scary muscly like Madonna though. I want to look as strong as I feel! Life has thrown quite a bit at me in the last 2 years and it have forced me to learn & grow. 

Overall, one of the best days I have had since deployment began! One month down folks :)

Lessons Learned and Cranberry Pineapple Muffins

Major holidays are always the hardest time to be so far away from family, especially when Hubs is deployed. I have been kind of bummed about it all week. I tried to make myself feel better a few ways:

"Do you know how long it would take at the gym to burn off the junk you would eat on Easter if you were at home with family?!"

"Do you really want to deal with Little Miss being on a constant sugar high from all the candy Grandma & Grandpa would give her?"

The important stuff like that. HaHa!

While I am sitting around wallowing in self-pity, a few unfortunate life events happened to friends. Boy oh boy, did I feel like jerk. My thoughts and prayers have been with my friends constantly. I can't imagine the amount of strength they must have to endure what has happened. I am here getting all worked up over being away from family on Easter and there are people out there having REAL problems. Time to get over yourself Shannon and focus on the positive, be there for the people in your life that really need you.


So this morning I woke up, said a prayer for my friends, put a smile on my face because I was excited about spending the day with my daughter. I was so happy I made muffins!

Cranberry Pineapple Muffins

Makes 12 Muffins

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup quick-cooking oatmeal

1/4 cup plus 1 tbsp sugar, divided

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp plus 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon, divided

1/4 cup margarine

1 egg, beaten

1 cup skim milk

1 cup fresh or dried cranberries, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup unsweetened crushed pineapple, drained

1/2 cup chopped pecans, optional

Preheat the oven to 400. Line a muffin pan with paper cups, or coat it with non-stick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, whole wheat flour, oatmeal, 1/4 cup sugar, baking powder, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, and margarine with a pastry blender or fork until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. In a separate small bowl, combine the beaten egg and the milk; add to the dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened. Gently fold in the cranberries, pineapple, and pecans. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, filling the cups three-quarters full.

Combine the 1 tbsp sugar and 1/4 tsp cinnamon; sprinkle evenly over the remaining muffin batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove immediately from the pan, and cool on a wire rack.

From "The New Holly Clegg Trim and Terrific Cookbook"

All You're Ever Gonna Be is Mean

Remember those mean girls (or guys) in school that seemed to take pleasure when they made you cry? I remember coming home every day from 6th day crying and wishing I never had to go back to school. I was told when I get older, adults don't behave like this, it will get better. I wish that were true...

 
Well, it has come to my attention that some bullies never grow out of this behavior. Or even worse, people that were picked on in school become the meanies when they grow up! That makes no sense to me; if you know how it feels to be tormented by your peers why in the world would you inflict that pain on another human being?

Maybe I am too simplistic. Maybe I just take the golden rule seriously: Treat others the way you want to be treated. Maybe I am just too naive.

When you do a Google search on "Why do people bully people?", you get over 3 million results.
 

"It provides them with a sense of power...It's a way of pulling your core group closer and putting someone else out of it."

"The simple reason is it shows that they have power over others. The reason that they do it repeatedly is that they are getting away with it. Nobody is calling them on their bad behavior. When they aren't called on it they think, 'Well, it must be O.K.'"

I came across one article that jumped out at me and listed the sort of adult bullies out there, I picked the 2 that are the most common:

1. Verbal Adult Bully: Words can be quite damaging. Adult bullies who use this type of tactic may start rumors about the victim, or use sarcastic or demeaning language to dominate or humiliate another person. This subtle type of bullying also has the advantage - to the bully - of being difficult to document. However, the emotional and psychological impacts of verbal bullying can be felt quite keenly and can result in reduced job performance and even depression.
2. Secondary Adult Bully: This is someone who does not initiate the bullying, but joins in so that he or she does not actually become a victim down the road. Secondary bullies may feel bad about what they are doing, but are more concerned about protecting themselves.

Ahhh unfortunately we all know people like this, don't we? Personally, I try to avoid them but I do understand and sympathize with those that choose to join in (but I do NOT condone it!).

So as adults, how do we deal with a bully? Unfortunately there is little you can do about an adult bully. After you report the abuse to the proper person (supervisor, etc.), all you can really do is ignore the bully and try to avoid them. That may mean going into hiding, okay maybe not hiding but trying to avoid situations and conversations about the bully because we all know how quickly gossip travels...

Adult bullies are often set in their ways, they are not interested in working things out, and they are not interested in compromise. Adult bullies just want power and domination. They want to feel as though they are important and preferred, and they accomplish this by bringing others down.
 
There is very little you can do to change an adult bully, just do your best to be the bigger person. Unless you can document the bullying, there really is nothing you can legally do about it.

Sounds pretty hopeless right? It doesn't seem fair, if you are the victim you should be able to scream the truth from the tops of buildings! You should be able to make the bully feel as badly as you do because they are doing wrong, because they are the ones acting out of line and behaving like an angsty teenager. But that is not the "adult" thing to do, damn it I hate being a mature adult sometimes.

There are going to be people in your life that you aren't going to like but you are going to be placed in social situations where you are forced to be around them. This applies to family too! Try your hardest to make the best of it, put on a big smile and act like nothing is wrong because honestly why would you care what someone like a bully thinks of you? When it comes down to it, if you live your life the right way people aren't going to believe the rumors and the hype. 

Live your life your way. Do your best to treat others the way you want to be treated. What goes around comes around and I believe if you are a good, honest person then the truth will shine through.   

Crafting Craziness & Raspberry Lemon Muffin Recipe

This is what I have been up to this morning: Raspberry Lemon Muffins! Did I mention they are only 148 Calories each? They turned out pretty good but I can't wait until I can get fresh raspberries at the farmer's market, then they will be amazing!


I have decided that since I like crafting so much, why not start selling what I make to earn some extra fun money? Nothing big, just something to do in my spare time. So I have started stockpiling bows, pacifier clips, wreaths, and baby blankets. 


As I am making all this stuff, I start thinking about how am I going to sell it all....Do I sell it on Etsy? Do I just sell it from my blog? Any advise would be greatly appreciated!


Okay, off to do more crafting and share the muffin recipe:

Raspberry Lemon Muffins

Makes 12-16 Muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup sugar

1 tbsp. baking powder

1 cup skim milk

1/3 cup canola oil

1 tsp. lemon extract

1 egg

2 egg whites

1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries (if frozen, no syrup)

1 tsp. grated lemon rind

Preheat the over to 425. Line a muffin pan with paper cups or coat with non-stick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, and baking powder, mixing well. In a small bowl, combine the milk, oil, lemon extract, egg, and egg whites, blending well. Add to the dry ingredients, stirring just until the ingredients are moistened. Carefully fold in the raspberries and lemon rind. Fill the prepared pan three-quarters full with batter.

Bake 18-23 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool 5 minutes; remove from pan.

From "The New Holly Clegg Trim and Terrific Cookbook"