Blogging

The Flap about Snap–A Recap

April 24, 2012 · 18 comments

in Blogging, Good Things, Photos of Jennie, Things We've Done

Last weekend I went up to Utah for the Snap Conference: a get together for bloggers who craft or DIY. Before I get into how fun it was, let me apologize for not contacting anyone who lives in Utah. It was a quick trip in and out. I plan on coming back to Utah this summer and will hopefully see every friend or relative I have. Let’s move on.

How much fun did I have? A ton. This has got to be the nicest and friendliest bunch of people anywhere. I stayed with two other Austin bloggers, Kristen Duke, who woke up at the unhumanly crack of dawn early every day to teach a photography class and Lorie from Be Different Act Normal. Kristen is quite possibly the most outgoing person I’ve ever met and Lorie is hilarious. It made for a fun hotel room.

Classes were offered. Among those I took were SEO which means Search Engine Optimization. Also known as How to Get Google to Like You. I wrote things down but I have no idea what they mean. The guy who taught the class was Dutch and had really cool blue and tan saddle shoes.

Also somewhat mindblowing was the class on Photoshop. I can do a few things in Photoshop–zit removal and such–but I need to improve my skills tremendously.  The teacher, Amanda Padgett, happens to be brilliant and a very good teacher. I am an utter dunce at most things computer-related but I learned how to do a bunch of super useful and generally awesome things in Photoshop Elements. By the end of this year my pictures are going to be so stunning you’ll cry!

The other classes were more crafty; things like party planning and flower arranging. One of my favorite classes was about growing your handmade business. I don’t have a handmade business and the main thing I learned was that I never want to have one. What a pain! I also enjoyed a class about developing your own style taught by, among others, Shelley from House of Smiths. She is one of the funniest people ever.

I forgot to take any pictures but fortunately Kristen did and I stole this from her blog.

This is a photo of Kristen Duke, Kirsten from KoJo Designs who is simply gorgeous in real life, me (contrary to appearances I am neither pregnant nor obese; just wearing a flowy shirt that wasn’t behaving itself), and Heidi from Sew.Craft. Create (who is way cuter in real life).

Such a fantastic trip. I feel energized and excited to get back into a creative groove. Now I just have to put this stuff away (remind me again why I thought it was a good idea to unpack in the family room):

The Importance of Not Being Jennie

March 4, 2012 · 21 comments

in Baby Names, Blogging, Craziness (jennie's), Good Things, Serious

JenJennJennyJennieJennifer

We are everywhere.

Unless you are one of us you do not understand the trauma of being one of three girls with the same name in every class you’ve ever been in. You don’t comprehend the pure suckiness of always having to follow your name with an initial because Jenny C. is one side and Jenny F. is on the other.

Sure, our mothers claim that they had no idea, none at all, that the name was so mega-popular. In my case I was named after my great aunt Jennie (Jennie was in the top ten in the 1870′s. Weird!).  But none of that matters when people are trying to figure out which Jennie’s phone number is written on the stall of the middle school bathroom.

It’s kind of a non-name, like having beige walls in a house. You don’t even notice them because they’re so not interesting; so dull; so bland.

In high school the Jennie situation got completely out of hand. In our class of 90 girls there was me, Jennie Davis. Then there was her, also Jennie Davis. So it came down to middle names: her Lyn to my Hildegard.

Yes, that is right. My middle name is the clunkiest of clunkers. The name they give Hippos in children’s books.

When you have one name that is the ultimate yawner you start to love the brazen uniqueness of something completely wacky. I started going by Hildie off and on because of high school. Mostly just to make it easier for myself. Also because I loved being the only person with that name.

Oh yes, except for my mother, Hildegard. She has always gone by Lorie (not sure where that came from) to differentiate herself from her mother. Also Hildegard. It’s the name of an oldest daughter of an oldest daughter of an oldest daughter*. Here are the three of us shortly before my grandmother died (I’m the baby, obviously):

Hildegard means something to me. I was thrilled to get rid of my last name when I got married but there was no way I was getting rid of Hildie.

So what’s the point of all this?

I’m dumping the name Jennie.

I can’t stand it. It’s just not me. Or rather it’s just everyone.

I’m sorry if you think this is completely bizarre. I’m simply trying to explain to you the reason behind it. I will probably remain Jennie in real life. I mean, it’s not like I’m having a mid-life crisis or anything. It’s only that on the interwebs, where you are nothing more than a name and a tiny avatar picture, it’s kind of hard to figure out which Jen/Jenn/Jenny/Jennie/Jennifer goes with which blog. If I suddenly become famous and have to be Hildie all the time, that’s fine too. I am just as much Hildie as I am Jennie.

So, hi there, my name is Hildie! What’s yours?

 

*I gave Hildegard to my oldest daughter too. But I gave her a buffer middle name in case she couldn’t handle it. So India Jane Hildegard she is.

I had to throw in this cute picture of my grandmother Hildegard waitressing in her hometown of Vienna, Austria.

How To Get an Avatar Picture That Will Appear on Most Blogs

October 4, 2011 · 8 comments

in Blogging, How-To

Hello and welcome to my newest blog feature: How-To Tuesday (or maybe I should call it “How-Tue Tuesday”. No? Too obnoxious?) I am going to spill my brain every Tuesday and show you how to do something that might just be new to you.  I’ve got a few ideas up my sleeve but if you have any requests, just holler (via comments, of course).

This first How-To Tuesday is especially for my mother. It is how to get an avatar. No, Mom, not like the James Cameron Movie. You will still be living on Earth. Sorry to burst your bubble. I’m talking about an avatar as in the little picture next to your name when you comment on a blog.  Most commenters to my new WordPress blog are faceless. This happens pretty often if you comment on blogs other than those on the Blogger network. You guys, the world wants to see your loveliness! Here is what you need to do:

Go to Gravatar. Register and upload your photo. In about three minutes you will have a universal picture that will show up all over the blogosphere when you comment. It is super easy and quick.

There are a few blogs that don’t recognize Gravatars, but for the most part you’ll be all set.

From now on I want to see the gorgeous faces of all you witty commenters!

Welcome to my New Blog!

September 12, 2011 · 16 comments

in Blogging

Due to internet trickery, I have probably forwarded you to my new blog without you even noticing. But if you are looking at this in your Reader you should click on through and take a look around. The Blog Fairy has done a lovely job designing this blog for me. It’s just what I wanted*. I’ve had the same blog design since I started blogging almost four years ago. That’s the internet equivalent of living in a split-level built in 1983 that still has goose stencils on the kitchen walls. OK, not really. But I felt like it was time for a change. I also made the big move to WordPress from Blogspot. Exciting, no?

My mother made the header by hand (there are people who actually still do art on paper! With pens and pastels! Crazy!). It’s me (on a super good hair day) and all the stuff I love to do. Thanks Mom! It looks great.

I hope you enjoy your stay here for a couple of minutes every week!

 

*She even put a bird on it! Look at the cute little bird favicon on the address bar! Adorable!

Catch me while you can!

August 19, 2011 · 7 comments

in Blogging, Good Things, Photos of Jennie

Take a look around. This blog as you know it will be evolving soon. The Blog Fairy has worked her magic and the grand unveiling of my new blog (at a new location, no less!) will be happening presently.

I have a cute new picture, courtesy of The Lucky Red Hen (who is sort of a magician considering how I looked in real life that day.) If you’re in Seattle, you should check her out!

Photobucket

This shot is oh so appropriate:

Photobucket

I also have my Facebook page here . I really need a few more people to like so it can be a grown-up’s page with its very own name.

I’m trying to get geared up for my life of delicious freedom which will begin at 8:20 on Monday morning. That is the moment when every single one of my children will be at school.


For seven hours.

I plan on dedicating a little more time and devotion to my blog. As well as spinning around in a field of wildflowers shouting, “wheeeeee!”

Face this!

August 9, 2011 · 1 comment

in Blogging

I finally have a Facebook page for this blog. Go ahead and like me. All the cool kids are doing it. Or rather, they will once they read this post.

Uh, sorry folks

July 4, 2011 · 4 comments

in Blogging

My computer has been freaking out lately. No, “freaking out” is incorrect. It’s more like my computer has been having seizures. It doesn’t like the internet most of the time. But then sometimes, it will let me get on the internet for a day or two. But then for five days it won’t. Mister, with all his computer savvy tried to remedy my problem. But eventually I just got The Shrug and an “I don’t know what you did to it.” Like I would ever do anything to jeopardize my relationship with the interwebs! I’m like a crack whore who can’t get her pipe to work.

I’ve been relying on my iphone to get the most vital info (like tweets from Nathan Fillion). But my blog has been sorely neglected. I even lowered myself enough to try to blog from my kids’ computer. But that requires me to sit at a desk (horrors!). Plus all my photos are on my laptop so I’m rather helpless, you see. And then I have kids sitting next to me the entire time demanding they use their computer for doing vital things like rearranging the furniture for their various Webkinz. Can you believe the trials in my life?

I’ve got some great posts this week, though (if the internet gods can be appeased), including my adventures in making crackers (for real. That’s not some euphamism), What else we do in Austin (alcohol-free version), and the amazing plan to keep my kids occupied this summer.

Stay tuned.

The weather, The church and Cranberry Beef tacos.

January 20, 2011 · 8 comments

in Blogging, Church, Misc., Recipes, Yum

I have written nearly five different blog posts over the last week. Long ones. But I’m really disliking all of them so they will stay tucked away in my Drafts folder for now. You know how sometimes you want to eat something but nothing sounds good? It’s like that. But with words.

I also took some pictures. I have two cameras (well, three if you count my iphone). One fancy Nikon that makes me feel like a photography poseur every time I take it out (photography remains a puzzlement to me no matter how many books and tutorials I read.) I also have a trusty little Fuji that I still like a lot even though it’s four years old which is like four decades old in the point-and-shoot world. Most of my pictures were on that camera. And it has a dumb little connector that I must have to download pictures onto my computer. Guess where it is? Wrong! It has actually vanished into thin air. So no pictures.

Here’s what I will tell you: it has dropped 11 degrees in the last hour. I don’t like that sort of thing. It makes me edgy. Like a big storm is a-brewin’. Which it probably is.

I’m Mormon. I may mention that a lot but Mormonism is kind of different than many religions because it is NOT a Sunday-only kind of church. It takes a big time commitment. Also, we don’t have a paid clergy which means that your average Joe-blow is in charge of everything. Including the sermons on Sunday. Everybody gets a turn standing up in front of the congregation and talking about an assigned topic. Usually a husband and wife will split the duty. Also, a teenager or two will have a little mini-sermon at the beginning. One guess as to who will be speaking this Sunday. Me! And my assigned topic is fasting. Fasting! Which is not exactly my favorite thing to do. (Surprise, surprise.) My husband gives lessons every morning to the teenagers of our congregation (yes, the teenagers go to church every morning before school. See the above mention about Mormonism being a big time commitment.) He’s really good at throwing together something really thoughtful and interesting. Not me. I’m just hoping most people will zone out during my talk, which is usually what I do.

I made flour tortillas for the first time on Tuesday and not only are they really easy, but they are frighteningly good. Like, so good my kids were just eating the pile of them after we were done with our tacos. Speaking of tacos, this is one of my most favorite recipes. It requires zero cooking skill but is outstanding. People always ask for this recipe. Honestly, these are more like wraps than tacos, so call them whatever you want. They are good enough to serve to company, but easy enough to make them for your family dinner. One warning: this meat needs to spend all day in a slow cooker (aka a Crock-Pot), so plan accordingly. These feed about 4-6 people.

If I were a super blogger I would post pictures, but Pioneer Woman I am not. So you’ll just have to use your imagination.

Cranberry Beef Tacos
1 1/2 lb. beef chuck steaks (not a chuck roast. Totally different.)
1/4 cup lime juice (bottled is fine)
1/4 cup chili sauce (I had no idea what this was the first time I made these. Turns out chili sauce is a condiment near the ketchup.)
1 packet of Taco seasoning (or 2 Tbs if you use the big Costco canister)
Can of whole cranberry sauce
fresh green onions
fresh cilantr0 (must be fresh!)
tortillas (I like flour but corn is fine too)
2 cups shredded cheese (cheddar is good, but mozzarella would work in a pinch.)


Put the steak in the crockpot. Let it warm up while your making the sauce. Combine lime juice, chili sauce and taco seasoning and pour over the steak. Flip it a couple of times so the steak is slathered with sauce. Then put the lid on and turn the heat to low for 7-8 hours. If you forget to start it early in the day (which I do about half of the time), you can cook it on high for 4-5 hours. It will be fine.

When it gets closer to dinnertime, you’ll make the sauce to be served on the tacos. Many kids balk at the idea of putting sauce on things. I totally understand being a sauce-hater most of my life. But this sauce is different. It’s sweet and yummy. It makes me so mad that a couple of my kids won’t eat it that sometimes I will mix a bunch of it in with the meat just so the taste is there.

Sauce
In your blender put:
Cranberry sauce
3 green onions (cut off the roots first)
4-6 stalks of cilantro (it’s one of the rare herbs where more of the taste is in the stem than in the leaves. So just throw the whole thing in.)

Puree until smooth. (This makes A TON of sauce. You can use it as a marinade for something else later on.)

After your meat has finished cooking it will just fall apart. Use a couple of forks to shred it. (I do it while it’s still in the crockpot. Mix it up with the juices in your slow cooker and transfer it to a bowl. (If you have sauce-a-phobes, stir in about 1/4 cup of sauce at this point). Otherwise you will:

Spread a spoonful of cranberry sauce on a tortilla, top with shredded beef and some grated cheese. Roll up and swoon.

Me, bragging but not bragging

December 18, 2010 · 14 comments

in Birthdays (everyone else's), Blogging, Craziness (jennie's), I'm Not So Great, IMO, Making Stuff, Serious, Why Jennie's tired

The whole blogging thing really puts me in a weird position because the basic idea is that I show people my life. The very idea is egotistical. Like most women I want to show you my life and impress you. But I also don’t want to be one of those people who is obnoxious with this perfect veneer who makes you feel super depressed about your own life. It’s been a real quandry for me.

There are a few blogs that cause me to dry heave with their perfection. There is no mention of husband/wife tension, super messy closets, the dog who keeps pooping on the living room carpet, crappy dinners involving ramen and paper dishes and a mantel that is not decorated cutely. I like to keep it more real. My husband drives me crazy a lot, 50% of our closets are scary (especially the master closet! What a total nightmare. It’s the dumping ground for everything we don’t want people to see.), our dog occassionally poops on the stairs (!?!), and I have been known to feed my kids really sad dinners. Last Sunday I completely forgot to even make dinner (we’d been grazing all day) so I just gave the kids string cheese and put them in bed (there was some teeth-brushing as well, so don’t go calling the bad-Mom cops just yet) and my mantel has the same candlesticks it always has. The only Christmasification I’ve done is to add stockings. Big whoop. I also haven’t developed a super cute way to display my Christmas cards. Instead they are scattered in various piles around my kitchen which is in massive disarray. (Athough there are also no pictures anywhere on my blog showing me not looking gorgeous. I’m pretty vain, so there never will be either.

This is my problem: how real do I make my life for you readers? I think anyone who knows me in real life can attest to this blog being pretty true. There is definite editing, though. If take a picture of my kids I shove the basketful of unfolded laundry out of the background. And if I snap a picture of something, I do wipe the dust off of the table first. I don’t want to humiliate myself, after all (although I usually just dust that one little spot where I’m taking the picture).

But I am good at things. I’m not a one-trick pony. I can bake and cook and sew and craft and paint and refinish and write and knit and do nice makeup and make soap and play the harp. And I have six kids on top of it all. I would like to brag about those things. But I don’t want to be

that blog

The one you hate but you read anyway because you just can’t help it. I’m not that blog, right?

It’s a good thing I don’t care more about photography because then you’d really see it all. Half the time I just don’t feel like taking pictures of the stuff I’ve done and I still don’t get f-stops and white balance anyway. The other half of the time I think of all the time it takes to do the picture, edit/resize it, upload it then put it on the blog. BOOOORING. No self-respecting blogger is going to post bad pictures, though, so instead I just skip it altogether.

Let’s talk about the last two weeks. Much busier than normal. I managed to

–Sew four skirts for me and my three daughters.

(People, learn to sew! Aside from cooking, it will make the most difference in your life.) Then we got our pictures done and I spent a while photoshopping our bags and shadows and swapping York’s head because the boy is incapable of smiling. What is it with teenage boys?

–Make 30 bars of soap. And I didn’t take a picture of a single one.

–Bake about 6 dozen cookies for various parties and such. Which isn’t really that many when you think about it.

–Spent several hours cutting out snowflakes which has to be one of the most relaxing, zen things I’ve ever done. Those I did take a picture of.

There’s about a zillion tutorials out there so I’m not going to do one. Here’s a tut that I like that has lots of details. This site is also super cool because you can cut out virtual snowflakes and see what they look like. It’s handy when you’re trying to wrap your mind around design concepts. It’s also guaranteed to occupy your kids for quite a while. The important thing to understand about snowflake-making is that most of the paper is going to be cut away. You will end up with really weird things that look like this before they are unfolded.

Oh, and use some nice sharp scissors. After I took these pictures I used my 40% coupon at Hobby Lobby and got some super sharp and pointy little scissors. My latest snowflakes have been way more detailed.

–Made several jars of foot creme. It’s really thick and moisturizing. It was a real S.O.B. to make but I think the creme will be great to put on rough body parts. These will mostly be for gifts. Also for gifts?

–20 tubes of lip salve. I need to do labels today. So not in the mood but I need to get this stuff mailed out pronto.

–Supervise the annual “making of the Gingerbread houses”. One of my least favorite parts of motherhood.

–Later today I will also be making some body lotion. The place where I get my supplies is seriously backordered which means I’ll have to craft lotion from the things I already have. Could be a little iffy. Again, it will require more label-making. Ugh.

So you see I have been a busy little beaver. I could turn each of these activities into a gorgeous blog post. Part of me thinks I should do that because if some people hate it they can just not read my blog any more. I need to step it up and be a big girl blogger. I am a force to be reckoned with, you know. But part of me thinks it’s obnoxious and braggy and it is a lot of extra work (is that wisdom talking or just laziness?)

Between all my craftiness and mothering I will just have my little existential crisis about the dichotomy of blogging over here in the corner.

Baby, I’m a . . . STAR!

February 26, 2010 · 26 comments

in Blogging, Other People, Photos of Jennie

Well, not really. Not even close. But I did get to do a TV show yesterday for BYU TV. It was all about “Mommy Bloggers” (their choice of words, not mine). I represented the semi-dorky, unknown, small-potatoes blogger. While the other guests (Mindy from The Mommy Blog, Daphne from Cool Mom, Kadi from Girly Gazette) represented the saavy Moms who have business-fied their blogs.  All three have the trifecta of womenhood: they’re funny, smart and pretty.

BYU flew me up, got me a rental car and hotel room. Even so, I showed up thinking it was just going to be some sort of rinky-dink operation run by goofy college students.  How very wrong I was.  First of all, they had a lovely gift basket waiting in my hotel room (you know how I am about gifts, remember).


I was very fortunate to get my old hairdresser and friend, Shellie, to do some highlights and give me a little trim that day (very daring, no? Can you imagine what a debacle that could have turned into? But I trust Shellie. I have been loathing my hair lately as it super flat and limp and makes my head look like a coconut. Shellie fixed me right up.) Then Cherise, the make-up/hair lady at the studio got her hands on me and WOW! I magically had sexy hair and fantastic make-up.


That’s not me, by the way. I did not go blonde and suddenly become a size 0. That would be Kadi. Normally when I see a woman with a gorgeous bod like she has I just turn up my nose and think to myself, snottily, “well, let’s see how good she would look if she had six kids like me.” But Kadi has SEVEN kids! Holy Toledo. I would hate her but she’s too funny and normal. 

This is me several hours later (some of the magic has been lost, but you get the general idea):


Do you like that shirt?  I made it. I needed that color of shirt since it makes my eyes look green (not really, but please humor me).  I couldn’t find one that was just right so I was left to sew something.  Desperate times call for desperate measures, folks.

Then it was on to more serious things like running several wires and electrical things under my clothes including a microphone wedged into my cleavage. I hope those are disposable because I’m sure mine smelled like boob sweat by the end of the night.


I was most enchanted by the ginormous doors on the soundstage. They were like 20 feet tall.


We had a quick run-through on the set, which was gorgeous. It looked like a super cool family room. I think we should have all gotten to pick our favorite prop to take home as a souvenir. (Notice my blog header on the screen behind me. That kind of freaked me out. Like “who am I and what am I doing here?”)



The host of the show, our very own Oprah, was Rebecca Cressman; Yet another talented, funny woman.  I haven’t ever met any other TV hosts, but I can’t imagine anyone nicer or more professional.  During our interview she asked me lots of questions but it was all pretty much a blur and I don’t remember much of what I said. Except for one part when Rebecca asked where I like to blog and I said “the toilet”. As the words were coming out of my mouth my mind was screaming “shut up, Jennie!!!”. Rebecca assumed I meant “in the bathroom”, but I really meant I like to blog while I’m going to the bathroom. I tried to pretend that’s not what I meant, but you know the truth (I know some of you are thoroughly grossed out. Sorry. But I have to take advantage of the lock and the fan. Those are a mother’s best friend. And I have very regular bowels. And I like to multitask.)

As part of our interview we talked about why Moms blog and if there really is a true sense of knowing each other even though we don’t actually know each other. (Of course. Duh.) They “surprised” me by bringing on Kacy, one of my blogging friends whom I have never met.  


Kacy liked me enough to go out to dessert afterwards. We Mormon girls sure know how to party! 

Today I woke up and watched some TV in bed while I ate breakfast. I love to eat in bed at hotels because I don’t have to worry about crumbs. Somebody will change my sheets when I make a mess. So I brought a bowl of Lucky Charms back to my room, but I forgot a spoon. So I ate them with my fingers. It’s really hard to eat cereal and milk with your fingers. Try to avoid it if possible.

Summation: I had a great two/three days. Doing a TV show was a really fun experience, I ate every single meal with someone I loved (except the Lucky Charms), and I hit the Easter decoration jackpot at Tai Pan Trading.

Oh yes, the show will air during the new TV season in September (I’ll be sure to let you know so you can all hear my dumb voice). You’ll be able to watch it if you have BYUTV on your satellite or cable line-up. And the answer to the question everyone has asked me (“why did they pick you?”): I have no idea. Especially since there are so many bloggers out there who are funnier/more interesting/have done it longer. I’m pretty sure they just felt sorry for me.

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