Such a little gentlemen

Hello my wonderful friends around the world! Thank you for joining me today in my newest blog of What the hell happened to Russhelle.

If you read yesterday's post, you know that yesterday I was feeling absolutely HORRIBLE!! I had the worst migraine, so after my blog I went straight to bed! I even missed my stories on t.v. which tells you I was out of it! ( for a female to miss her stories, she would have to be dying or dead).

Anyway, back to what I was saying, I wasn't feeling well yesterday, so when I woke up this morning, I felt a hundred times better although, my left nostrils is still stuffed up so when I got out of bed, I came into the livingroom to greet my husband and nephew. My husband was cooking breakfast, while my nephew was on the couch watching his morning cartoons. So I was telling my husband how I was feeling and I went and sat on the couch and bundled myself in a blanket.

I didn't think my nephew was paying attention to us, so I came on my iPad and started checking my emails. The next thing I know, my nephew runs to the kitchen and is talking to my husband. Now he is only 19 months old, so it's mostly babble, but it's enough to catch my attention and I ask my husband what he's asking for and my husband tells me our nephew is telling him he wants my husband to make tea for me. I was like " are you sure? It sounds like he's saying he wants juice?" My husband ask him, do you want juice? NO! He replied, teauice babba, mama teauice! My husband replies, you want me to make tea for auntie? Teauice, teauice...as he ran to the water cooler and pointed at the hot water. So my husband gets a cup of tea and starts to put hot water in the cup and as he finishes, our nephew runs and points to me, so my husband brings me the cup, but I tell him it's too hot and I'll drink it later. My nephew gets happy because he thought I got my cup of tea and he goes and climbs into his high hair and gets ready for breakfast, but when he looks at me, his face becomes concerned and he starts pointing at me and telling his uncle, mama, mama, teauice! I look at him and he's pointing at me with such a concerned look on his face ( which I think is so sweet) so my husband and I explain that the tea is too hot for me to drink right now, but I thank him for making me some tea and promise that I will drink it when it cools down, which safices him and he focuses on his breakfast.

It's moments like these that make me so proud, because this is what I always try to instill in all the children I take care of: benevolence, kindness and thoughtfulness. I know I may play but a small part in his life, but the fact that he thinks of me and wants to make me a cup of tea so I feel better, makes me feel 10000 times better than any medicine......Until next time.

What's your sign?

So I was recently at my husbands aunts house for his grandmothers birthday party, even though she wasn't there (she is out of state but the kids still celebrate together anyway) and we were all sitting around the table eating dinner when I don't remember how it came about, but we started to talk about the Chinese new year?  Oh wait, I remember now!  My husbands aunt live in a predominating Asian community and they closed down half the city for Chinese new years (HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEARS by the way)!!! Anyway, we started talking about the fair up the street and about what year it was and then we started getting into what animal everyone was?

For those of you who don't know about the Chinese calendar, there is a cute little story that goes behind it which is as follows:

"The use of animal symbols in the Chinese Zodiac dates back to the 6th Century. According to legend, the Jade Emperor, invited all the animals in the kingdom to celebrate the New Year, at the end of the first lunar month.

For unknown reasons, only twelve animals came (Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit "In some versions it's Cat," Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig", . The Jade emperor was so happy to see them that he decided to name a year after each of them. The animal would have an influence on everyone born in that year and would bestow its main characteristics on them.

These twelve animals formed the Chinese Zodiac, based on the lunar calendar, by order of their arrival, and are listed above.

All the animals lined up on the bank of a river and were given the task of getting to the opposite shore. Their order in the calendar would be set by the order in which the animals managed to reach the other side. The cat wondered how he would get across if he was afraid of water. At the same time, the ox wondered how he would cross with his poor eyesight. The calculating rat suggested that he and the cat jump onto the ox's back and guide him across.

The ox was steady and hard-working so that he did not notice a commotion on his back.

In the meanwhile, the rat snuck up behind the unsuspecting cat and shoved him into the water. Just as the ox came ashore, the rat jumped off and finished the race first. The lazy pig came to the far shore in twelfth place.

And so the rat got the first year named after him, the ox got the second year, and the pig ended up as the last year in the cycle. The cat finished too late (thirteenth) to win any place in the calendar, and vowed to be the enemy of the rat forevermore."

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_do_the_Chinese_give_each_year_an_animal

OK, now that you are all caught up on the background story, we were all sitting around the table and my husband and one of he's relatives started getting into a debate and he asked his little sister to look up the Chinese symbols or whatever and she found this one website, that just tripped us ALL OUT!!!

For each of our years, it described our characteristics down to a T! I am the year of the pig and mine pretty much said that I AM AWESOME! Which is so true :P it also described, our relationships, our career paths, who we get along with and who we don't and even told us about our partners.  I was amazed at how accurate it was, but still, I am a Christian true and true and for me, this was all just for fun and games, I put my life and future in the hands of my Lord and Saviour, but if you guys are curious about it and want to have a little bit of fun, then I took the liberty of including the link to the website we were at and hope you enjoy.....Until next time my friends

http://www.usbridalguide.com/special/chinesehoroscopes/Pig.htm

I got a package for you.....

Hello my wonderful friends!! Wie Ghets and all that good stuff?! Hope all is doing well and are happy?

Sorry if I seem a little out of it in this blog, but my head is absolutely killing me right now!! goodness sakes, I think I need 800 mg of Ibuprofen to get rid of this pain.  I don't know what happened? I was doing fine all day, then I started cleaning the house, took my nephew a bath, did some laundry, went to my brothers house and helped him with the kids while he cleaned up his house, then I rushed back home, ate, wrote some nice letters of sentiments and now here I am writing this blog.  Although I am yelling at my husband while writing this so maybe that's why I have such a headache?!





Husbands, you can't live without them and you can't live without them, can I hear an amen! heehee, anyway so what are we going to chat about today?  Oh yeah, that's right, lets talk about what this so called package I've got for you?!

As you know, I have been on the job hunt for the past year now and I know the Lord has been preparing me for something great.  I have been getting a lot of call backs now regarding my resume and I have even been fortunate enough to go on some interviews.  Quite recently, I applied to be a mail carrier and I think that I am almost in the door, because I not only NAILED the assessment test, but I am 99.9999999999% ( there's always that 1% of uncertainty) sure that I am going to pass the background test and drug test screening so my husband talked to our mail lady and she said, yeah, that I am pretty much in!! Woohoooo praise the Lord, if I am, because we have been waiting and praying for a good job to come along!!!  I am not getting my hopes up though, because I have done that too many times in the past, just to be let down, so instead I am putting my trust and faith in my Lord and Saviour that when the time is right, he will provide me with the right job. Until then, I am going to go to bed and sleep, because my head and neck are absolutely agonizing in pain.....Until next time

What will he do next?

Greetings my wonderful friends around the world and in my head! Hallo meine Fruende, Namaste and 안녕하세요 !! I hope everyone is doing well?! I just wanted to stop in and tell you all about what the hell is happening to me lately.


If you have been following me in my previous blog post, then you know so far I have been unsuccessfully looking for a new job, I have been doing A LOT of baking and I have been babysitting my toddler nephew to try to make ends meet. So pretty much it's been a roller coaster ride for me, although, I am still truly blessed and feel that the Lord is working in my life right now. :D

I bet you are wondering why I titled this blog "What will he do next?" Well, let me just tell you!!!  Siiiigggggghhhh, I just need to take a minute and catch my breath, because it's about my nephew and I need a moment so I don't pull my hair out.  

Okay, I think I'm able to talk about it now...So as you may already know, I am a Child Developmentalist (Yeah, I think I just made that word up), so I take child development VERY seriously.  Since I've had my nephew, I have been teaching him on a daily basis, working on not only his motor skills, but also his cognitive skills. Well I think, I've been doing an extraordinary job, because he has become a baby genius and he's barely 19 months old!!!  In the last 9 months that I have worked with him, he has managed to walk before he was 1, his vocabulary is 40+ words, when average children at his age only speak 12, his problem solving skills are shocking as well as his hand/eye coordination; did I mention he is already at a novice level of using an ipad?  The reason why I am telling you all this, is because he is going through his terrible 2's early!!! He wants to climb on everything, run everywhere, go everywhere and he has managed to outsmart both my husband and myself at every obstacle we tried to put in his way to keep him confined.  

Just today, we were in our classroom (oh yeah, I converted one of our rooms in our home into a classroom to dedicate more learning and advancement time with him). While I was setting up our lesson plan for the day, I closed the door of the classroom, because my husband was in the living room with the cable guy and I didn't want us to disturb him, so as I was setting up, I turned around to start the lesson and my nephew managed to quietly turn the nob, open the door and sneak out without me noticing.  When I found him, he had managed to climb up onto our high queen sized bed in our bedroom and turned on the t.v. and was watching his Disney cartoons; Aye, Aye, Aye this crazy boy.  Also, while my husband was outside, our darling nephew managed to turn the lock on the door nob and locked my husband outside.  That was actually pretty funny, because my husband is always "accidentally" locking me out of the house, so I'm glad he finally can experience how I feel! Our nephew has also managed to figure out how to by pass all of our baby safety devices, such as the door nob cover, the oven  handle covers, etc. which really worries me, since they were created to keep babies safe and secure, yet I managed to catch him opening the cover with ease and turning on the stove at full blast!!!!! Oh dear what will he do next?!!!

At any rate, my plan is to make him the next Stephen Hawkins, so I am actually starting to teach him how to read and am introducing him to math.  Am I creating a monster or a genius? I don't know, but wish me luck!!! Until next time........




      

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Going Bananas!!!

Oh hello! I didn't see you there?! Thanks for coming to visit me today; You're actually just in time for  my latest baking adventure!

 Do you ever have those times when you buy bananas and expect to eat them through the week, but they end up just going bad and turning brown? Well don't throw them out!! When they turn brown, that is actually the best time to use them in baking, because they have mostly turned into sugar and are very sweet. I actually have two bananas which should do nicely for making a delicious banana bread.





The ingredients that you will need are the following:

• 1-1/2  cups

  all-purpose flour
• 1-1/4  teaspoons

  baking powder
• 1/2  teaspoon

  baking soda
• 1/2  teaspoon

  ground cinnamon
• 1/8  teaspoon

  salt 
• 2 

  eggs, lightly beaten
• 1  cup

  mashed banana
• 3/4  cup

  sugar
• 1/4  cup

  cooking oil
• 
  

  directions:

  
  

  
  

  1. In a medium bowl, go down the list and combine all of the ingredients together.

  
  

  2. Next stir all of the ingredients together until moistened and you have a thick almost cake like batter.

  
  

  3. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and while your oven is heating,  spray your loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray ( if you don't have cooking spray, you can also use cooking oil or melted butter and with a napkin, just grease the pan). Spread batter in prepared pan. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

  
  

  
  

  4. Once baking is complete, cool your bread in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool thoroughly on a wire rack or enjoy while warm. If you want easier slicing though, a good trick would be to wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it over night, that way you can have fresh and perfect banana slices for breakfast...yum!

  
  

  My loaf came out a little dry, but to be honest this is my first banana loaf so not too bad for my first time! That's the fun part about baking, you get to learn and change things up, like what I did above, the recipe actually suggested I first put all the dry ingredients in one bowl and mix it together, then stir in two lightly beaten egg whites, Then pour in sugar, oil and mashed bananas as I slowly stir all ingredients together.  But as you can see, I said ah humbug and just added two whole eggs and everything all at once.  So don't be afraid to make this banana bread your own and try putting in your own ingredients and what not.  Well I hope you enjoyed my latest blog and below for your viewing pleasure, is a picture of my finished product. - At least it looks pretty right?!.. Until next time my beloved....

  
  

  
  
  

  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  

A little piece of Heaven

Hello my beloved readers!! Hope all is happy and well? I just wanted to stop in and see how you all are doing? I know I've been a little down lately, so I thought instead of depressing you further, I would cheer you up with a cupcake recipe that gained my heart as well as my weight!! I don't know if I told you all this, but I just love to bake. I always say the Winter is my baking season and what better time to learn and create new recipes than the baking season!!!

I actually came across this recipe on a cupcakes website, but made it my own by adding a little something more, plus I don't like to follow directions when cooking or baking, because I feel that's the time you create new recipes so I didn't measure accordingly, but even so, these cupcakes were practically gone by the time I took them out of the oven!! I made about 18 cupcakes and by the time they cooled, only four were left ( my husband and nephew couldn't get enough of them) and when I finally took a bite, it was like biting into a cloud, it was so moist and fluffy.

I don't want to keep you guys in suspense, so here is the recipe for the most delicious cupcakes I've had in awhile:

Ingredients

• 1  3/4 cup cake flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoons salt
* 1/2 teaspoon of ginger
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1 stick of butter, softened

Orange Ginger Cupcake Recipe Directions

Combine all the ingredients together starting with the dry ingredients first. Next put the softened butter, eggs, vanilla and orange juice and mix until ingredients are creamed together.

spoon the batter into cupcake liners until 1/2 full. I like using and ice cream scooper for this job.

Bake in a 350 degree preheated oven for 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Next take the cupcakes out of the oven and let cool for a minute or enjoy right away, whatever floats your boat!! 

If you want you can make an orange icing to go on top, but these cupcakes were so delicious by themselves that I felt there was no need for anything else!! Mmmmmmm all this talk about cupcakes make me want some......hmmmmmm what will I bake next?????........until next time 

Misstaken, Missunderstood and Miss....Me

Hi Friends, sorry if I'm not my chipper self today, I've been pretty bummed all day.  I don't know if it's because my aunt Flo is visiting or what, but I'm not having a great day.

Yesterday was awesome!!  I was feeling so pumped and rejuvenated!! As I have been reiterating for the last year, I have been jobless.  I have been applying to a million jobs, posting my resume, doing phone interviews, group interviews, face to face interviews and yesterday, I thought, I FINALLY got a break, but as the Lord should have it, it didn't work out.  You see, aside from looking for professional office jobs, I have also been looking for childcare provider positions, as I love working with children and have extended years of experience in that field, as well as education, being that Child Development was and is my major in College.  So to cut to the boring chase, I recently got a bite and someone contacted me regarding watching thier daughter on the weekends while she worked and on the posting it said $15 an hour.  Well you know me, I was like "HECK YA!! YOU DON'T HAVE TO TELL ME TWICE!!" and BAM, I shot her an email, expressing my interest in working for her.  We exchanged a couple of emails and yesterday we met and I found out her daughter actually goes to school in my neighborhood and the family wanted to move to where I live.  The meeting appeared to go well and the mom and daughter seemed to like me so I got excited and thought this truly was an answer to my prayers because this family was everything I was looking for; close by so no commuting to work, the child was potty trained and all I needed to do was interact with her, because she was five and pretty much can communicate if she needed anything, the only thing was that the mom said she was willing to do $12 instead of $15 and I was like that's fine (in my head I was like it's still better than nothing, $12 for 10 hours is $120 for one day of work). So I was so excited and thankful and felt like things were starting to look up for me, until......

I got a text this morning from the mom stating she can't afford me after all; what does that even mean if she was the one that set the price??!!! I am so confused, but I still haven't replied back to her, one because whats the point if she doesn't want me watching her daughter anymore and two it just crushed me when I read it.

Like I said, I don't know if it's because of my aunt Flo that I'm extra sensitive or because of this whole job search journey, but I'm so depressed today!  I just keep thinking to myself, it's okay, God has a purpose and a plan and He only did this because he is planning something really great for your Russhelle, you just wait and see, but I also can't shake the feeling of me not ever being good enough?!

I mean what do you do when your good isn't good enough and all that you touch tumbles down? (Sorry I stole this from a glee song, but this is how I'm feeling right now) I feel like no matter what I do, I can't seem to get it right and that I'm just not good enough for ANY job out there!!  The only jobs that want me, I can't except because the pay is too low and the jobs that I feel I qualify for and would pay me what I want, seem to just want to "keep my resume on file," and what not.  Aaarrrrrrggggghhhhhh!!!! I don't know what else to do, all that I know is that I can't give up and I won't give up because I can do ALL things in Christ who gives me strength and though I feel like I'm wandering in bitter darkness, I know the truth, that God is carrying me through this. Okay my beloved, I'm done venting now, thanks for listening, or reading my pain for tonight, sorry it couldn't be a happier blog, but hey, there's always tomorrow so good night young princess and princesses and may your dreams be sweet and your days be joyous!! Until next time......