Key Lime Pie

Yes. The Key Lime Pie :)

It was a low and somber few days in our household after the chocolate pie was...devoured! MAN was it good! Well as you can imagine, our sweet tooth was at an all time high and we had to fix that!

The question was what dessert could I make that would sufficiently follow?! 

After much debate (and with the help of Google) we arrived at the Key Lime Pie.

I should've guessed this. Hubby loves all things zesty and citrus. So I scrolled through TONS of recipes and finally found one that I liked. Who knew there were so many different variations! I really don't have a rhyme or reason as to why I chose the recipe that I did - but one thing that stood out to me was the fact that some recipes contained one (or several) eggs, and other recipes contained no eggs at all.

Now...this is totally irrelevant to this recipe, but explains my logic!

When looking for a Chocolate Pie recipe I first came across a French Silk Pie recipe. Reading through the instructions, I realized the pie was NOT going to be baked 😖. Totally freaked me out! I am already not a fan of eggs. Something about them not being baked at all in that pie made me feel like I'd taste them in the filling. Probably not true - but that's what I believed!

Needless to say, I chose a Key Lime Pie recipe that did NOT (I repeat, did not) include eggs.

Per special request, I ended up making the crust again (used from one of Ree Drummond's recipes), so that, again, added to the start-to-finish time on the pie. But it was all worth it in the end :)

If you'd like to endulge in this delicious (and NO egg needed) Key Lime Pie, you can find the recipe here: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/15880/key-lime-pie-vii/

Chocolate Pie!

So I finally decided to break down and make a Chocolate Pie! My itch for baking has been at an all-time high lately - and the thought of this Chocolate Pie situation resurfaced again.

I would guess my main hesitation is that I'm not a super huge fan of chocolate. I mean, I can eat the Founders Favorite at Cold Stone. I love bite sized snickers bars - but that's just about the extent of my chocolate love.

Well maybe things have changed! At 2am last night, there I was at the stove stirring the ingredients of this delicious chocolate pie. Crossing my fingers and hoping it would turn out right (and boy DID it!). For anyone who's made this pie - or plans to soon - you know that scary feeling just when the cornstarch is starting to take it's effect. That moment when you panic and wonder if you've followed the recipe correctly.

I had also happened to have JUST enough chocolate chips for this recipe, so my margin for error was extremely tiny.

Anyway. Chocolate Pie.

The agony with this pie is that you have to let it cool before you put it in the fridge to chill for "several hours". Add to that the fact that I also decided to make a homemade pecan crust - those several hours felt like years. I guess it was a good thing I started late at night! My plan (which worked) was to finish the pie and go to bed, and put it in the fridge in the middle - further than 2am middle - of the night when I woke up to use to pot. I know myself well :)

It was completely worth it. The last thing hubby and I did before we left for church was taste that pie. It literally tastes like a delicious, rich cup of hot cocoa! And that buttery, flaky crust just took it over the top!

I am officially a fan of Chocolate Pie; or at least I am of THIS recipe. Outside of the homemade crust that you could totally sub for store bought crust, the filling was very simple to make.

I recommend making this pie before you run your errands or complete some chores around the house to eat into the "several hours" of deadly waiting time it needs in the fridge!

Click Here for this delicious recipe.

When Do You Poop?!

Now, I'm SURE I'm not alone in this. Embarrassing, maybe slightly. But this is a major...deal! I know I've been faced with this, um, obstacle a few times; but it's never meant so much as it did to me the other day. The baby was hanging out and doing his thing, dogs seemingly occupied, and duty started to make its call! I'm not very comfortable leaving the baby in the swing unoccupied; even though it comes with a seat belt (refer to that "new mom" commercial), so what do I do?! I certainly couldn't take him in the bathroom with me - it's still a private matter to be handled alone (well, alone with Bentley; my Chihuahua)!! I also debated on just trying to hold it until my husband got home; which could be anytime between now and hours from now. Decided against that two; not a good idea.

Ugh! The things you are faced with and just don't think about when you become a mother! I guess this is a form of "multitasking"?! Maybe I didn't do a good enough job of thinking this obstacle through?! In case you're wondering, I did figure it out! With some careful planning and strategic thinking, I did handle my business!

Going Back to Work

LITERALLY the worst day of my life! I honestly didn't think it would be this hard going back to work - leaving my baby that I've been staring at for the last nine weeks. It was literally painful! I found a wonderful babysitter who actually came as a referral. Hubby and I met with her weeks ago and I felt really comfortable with her. But driving to the babysitter's house the first day back to work was probably the hardest thing I've done this year (well...other than actually having a baby!). I cried the whole way to her house, and to work, and AT work for about the first hour I was there! I'm sure I looked pitiful! My boss was super understanding - she actually tried to warn me before hand that it wouldn't be as easy as I thought it would be. I had NO problem telling her she was right!

Then to make it worse, I feel like I was behind ALL of the slow pokes leaving work! I think I got caught by every light there was! I eventually just had to give myself a pep talk to calm my nerves!

My first “new mom” freak out

I should’ve known it was coming! LJ is just over 4 weeks and I haven’t done it yet - but I should’ve known it was coming! That’s right - my first “new mom” freak out!! I had just come upstairs and out LJ to bed in his bassinet. He’d been sleep for about 1.5 hours so I knew the bassinet wouldn’t last long (secretly waiting for him to wake up so I could snuggle my little cuddle bug!). Well it happened; he started stirring and fussing and woke up. When I went to pick him up his back was soaking wet. Naturally, I checked his pamper to make sure it hadn’t leaked - then I started freaking out! LJ got his one month shot today and the one thing they precautioned was to call if he developed a fever. I had already prayed for him a couple times earlier, but honestly his sweaty back has me thinking worse. I went to his nursery to grab a new shirt and the thermometer, then came back to my room and woke up my husband. Emotions still at bay, but slowly rising. We checked his temperature under his arm and the result was right in normal range; about 95 degrees. At this point LJ was crying, probably a little cold and ready to be sleep. My husband cradled him and calmed him, then a ran to phone a friend...my mom! I told her what happened and she didn’t seem phased at all. She too was confident that he was probably just hot and to find a lighter sheet to swaddle him in. Also noted the 95 degree weather we had to today and how heat rises. I had just turned the air down before coming upstairs, so it’s completely possible that our room was still quite warm. After ending the call I wanted to check his temperature again, and it was just as consistent and normal as the first test. Suddenly, the flood gates opened and I couldn’t contain my emotions another second! I realized in that moment just how much a truly love my new baby. It’s overwhelming; unexplainable. Here this cute little “mini me” is that relies solely on you - the last thing you want to do is fail them in any way. Holding LJ in one arm, my sleepy husband came and put his free arm around me, kissed my forehead and reassured me that our now- peacefully sleeping son was just fine.

I remember seeing my dad cry one time when my brother got into a minor fender bender accident. Through his teary red eyes he said “I don’t know what i would do if something happened to one of you guys”...Surely my dad was overreacting - I couldn’t be convinced otherwise! I thought ‘what’s the big deal?! You just got off the phone with him, and he’s still flying in town tomorrow!’  Well after tonight, I totally get it. Just the thought of my son even being too hot brought me to a river of tears. 

I write this holding my beautiful little son in my arms. Gods gift is truly like no other!  Has anyone else experienced anything similar?! 

Signed,

An Overjoyed New Mom!

Kuddos to Stay Home Moms!!

Let me just start by saying I have a newly found respect for stay-home moms! I totally get it. Nothing in the world could’ve prepared me for the overwhelming sense of protection I felt the need to establish the minute my son was born. In that moment I never wanted to put him down; or fail him, or make him cry, or see him scared or hurt or sad…or anywhere in this world without me! I was one of the moms-to-be that felt like 8 weeks would be more than enough time to bond with my newborn and return to my schedule (a term in which I’m learning to use very loosely these days)! Surely I wanted time to spend at home, but surely I’d want a normal schedule back, right? WRONG! Even now, knowing my days of maternity leave are ticking away just makes me cringe. Now I will say, being a full-time stay home mom is still really not my jive; but if I had the opportunity (and financial comfort) to only work part-time now so that I could have more time with my baby – I would no doubt jump on it.

I was so prepared to love him “controllably”, not at all thinking this experience of being a new mom would overtake any sound emotion I had etched in my brain. I remember hearing how people talk about there being “no love like what you feel for your new baby”. I sort of hated the saying. Maybe because I didn’t understand it before. But now…my goodness. There is truly nothing more special, more genuine, more overwhelming than looking into your new baby’s eyes and making more promises than you can keep up with! (I’m sure I’m not the only one that’s done that!). It took about two weeks before I made it through a day without crying uncontrollable tears of joy. I’d start reflecting on my very lengthy labor experience (we’ll talk about that later!) from start to finish and just think about how good God truly is. How amazing it is that a new precious life can be created from right within woman’s body. It truly is a gift on so many levels! Even with all of the technology these days that allows you to virtually see every angle of the fetus inside you, as the song says ain’t nothing like the real thing! Months of wondering whose nose he’ll have, whose eyes, ears, hands and feet – examining my new baby in my arms was like unwrapping that gift you’ve always wanted and can’t believe you finally got!

To say I’m in love is a severe understatement. Stay-home moms, you all are my new superheroes. If I could pick anyone in the world to be like right now, it would definitely be you! I would not trade these sleepless nights, moments I try and steal for a quick shower, meals I sometimes have to prepare with one hand and spit up shirts for nothing – ok, maybe I can trade the spit up shirts! Being a mom is the best thing that’s ever happened to me, and I just wanted to share it. There’s still so much to discover, so many challenges to come and oddly I am more than excited to experience each and every one of them.

Arise Virtual Solutions - Starting from the Beginning!

So I just decided to join the Arise Virtual Solutions platform. I'd heard about this business venture years ago, but was just unsure about it. About a year ago, someone from my church starting talking about Arise Virtual Solutions  - of course when you hear a testimony from someone personally, it becomes much more believable! Even still, I let go of the thought of joining the platform. I've been searching for legitimate Work From Home positions for at least 10 years now, and all I seemed to run into were those "survey taking" options where you basically have to sign up for a trillion different subscriptions to take a trillion different surveys; and the pay is EXTREMELY minimal. Tried those. Not for me. I wanted someone that was more of a legitimate "business". Well, I'm hoping I've found it with Arise! Speaking of Business, I had to get out of the mindset that this was not a job you apply for, have an interview (or two or three), get offered the job and show up for work. By the way, if these are your expectations for Arise Virtual Solutions - keep searching!). By business, I mean investing money; not just time.

Once I because fully invested in my "interest" in Arise, I started scraping the internet and YouTube for additional testimonials, reviews of the company and tips from people who have been working the platform for a while. After creating a profile, the first choice I had to make was whether I wanted to become my own IBO (that I didn't yet have), or work under someone else's IBO (saving my $100 from forming my own). I knew right away that I wanted my own company. I did try reaching out to my church member - to no avail - in hopes of being able to sign up under her IBO. But after a few attempts, I figured the $100 invested in forming my own IBO in my state would still prove to be beneficial one day. So I went for it. It took about 30 minutes to apply for a LLC and FEIN number online, but thankfully my business was approved one week later. I must admit, received legal paperwork with my new business name on it placed a huge smile on my face! I felt important; legitimate! In my mind, I'd just officially entered the world of a true business owner; viewing my new competition as the big fishes out there!

Anyway - I was able to finish my profile with Arise as an IBO and start searching the platform for the clients that were available. Clients that I could CHOOSE to service! I'd heard from the YouTube channels that the training certification for clients were a minimum of at least 4 weeks, and that the certification courses came with a price. Again my mind went to employee world where you really don't pay money to start a job - but I had to put my business hat on and consider how the business owner of Starbucks didn't start by being given the building. He made an investment in order to start his business. I needed to do the same. I've just selected my first client and completed (and passed!) the first assessments. The client I chose also requires a background check - so I'm waiting on the results from that. Luckily the certification course doesn't start until the first of the year so I can enjoy the holiday season stress free - although I'm anxious to jump into it!

More to come...