I love words

If you've followed my blog for any length of time, or even if you just happened upon it, you know, or shall come to know that I love words! LOVE THEM! and any new one that I can learn and share I will. Usually I get hooked on them by the way they sound when I hear once they leave the speakers mouth. There's no rhyme or reason to it, but if I've never heard it before and I like it's sound, and especially if it seems like I can use it in a future sentence I'll learn it.

This habit started very early on in my life, I think back in 1st or 2nd grade, when after pestering my mom for the meanings of words she introduced me to Merriam-Webster's Dictionary. It's safe to say my verbal life since then has never been the same. Looking up the meanings of word also has come in handy when a dear friend of mine, now residing in TX, would ask me the definition of a word and I could usually give her the definition off the bat. Words, especially if they're edifying, just make life better. So yes, if you guessed correctly I have a new word. I heard it this morning on Good Morning America when Dr. Oz was describing an excuse a patient was giving him as to why he was not exercising, post heart surgery.

Cogent (koh-juhnt)
Part of speech: adjective
Etymology: Latin cogent-, cogens, present participle of cogere to drive together, collect, from co- + agere to drive
1. Convincing or believable by virtue of forcible, clear, or incisive presentation; telling.
2. To the point; relevant; pertinent.

So at least the patient was being honest with the Dr. and not trying to feed him a line. Most Dr's are astute enough to weed through the excuses anyway. You're fooling no one but yourself when you try to snow the Dr.

New Budget Friendly Christmas Ideas

Can you believe how fast this year has gone! I surely can't, and with just a little over 4 months away from Christmas it's time to start planning, at least it it for me. Back when I lived in Maryland I found much joy in spreading the purchases of my Christmas presents out over a period of time and have since tried to continue implementing that practice into my life. Why? Because I hate feeling rushed and burdened with having to go to the mall when it's a mad house during November and December. Having worked in a mall during the Christmas season I've since tried to avoid it at all costs. Sometimes this practice hasn't worked, but mostly that's due to my lack of foresight with the impending holiday, but when it has it's made the month of December much more enjoyable for me. Plus, as an added bonus, when those last minute parties and gifts come up, because you know that they always do, buying that unexpected gift, or food to prepare, doesn't end up breaking the budget that you've so dutifully established for yourself.

Last year, unfortunately it was a bit late, I posted a blog with some ideas that I had come across online, click here to take a look. The reason I'm posting it again this early is because I was inspired when I started looking up other budget friendly ideas today. This one is probably the best, especially if you have children, or are a Sunday School teacher, or have some fun friends that you want to share memories with, or. . .well this present idea is just perfect for all people, small and big kids alike.

How about making your own coloring book from the photos that are stored on your computer and that are taking up more hard drive space than necessary (I'm guilty as charged). Seriously, it may take an afternoon or two, but what a great idea to share memories with others. So here's the how to . . .

Go to this website About.com and let the computer guru work you through the Photoshop magic.

Don't have Photoshop? No worries. Go to Paint.net and get their program for free. The titling of the categories is slightly different, but with just a few extra steps and a little perusal of the categories you can work the same magic from Photoshop, but without the hefty price tag.

It's also easy to make a story out of it, by simply adding some text to the page. This can turn out a bit light depending on how dark you've had your layer turn out, but it could still work if that's what you want.

You can bet that I'll be using this more when I have something to color for my Sunday school class. I hate having to sift through mediocre coloring pages that only halfway capture the concept of the story that I'm trying to teach.

I'm really such a big kid at heart and love to color. It's very relaxing and creative w/o being expensive. I'll be posting more as I find them and as we get closer to the date, I just had to share this one now, but hope that you all have a budget friendly, blessed, and Happy Christmas holiday set before you.

Frittata for 1 or 2

I'm sure we're all guilty of this scenario, especially if you're single and like to bake...

It's time for the grocery shopping and you enter the market with your perfectly planned list and set to work checking off the items as they are recovered from their homes on their respective shelves. Then you make it over to the isle with the eggs. Naturally you know that you're going to need at least a dozen for the latest item that you want to bake, and maybe some extra for a breakfast or two, but then you forget about them in the fridge and the next time you need to you need to use them you have to go out to the market again, because they are no longer good to eat. You can usually buy a half dozen, but then there is not enough and you have to go back out anyway to buy some more, all the while thinking to yourself that you should have bought a dozen to begin with.

In addition to that there are many times that I'm guilty of over buying veggies in order to maintain desire to stay healthy. OOPS!!!

Well I hope with this post to help resolve these issues for those of us who don't want to feel like we're wasting money. I'm adapting it from the recipe that I saw this morning on Good Bite, so as to suit my needs with what I have on hand. While the notion of a Frittata may sound extravagant, I assure you that it's so easy you'll wonder why you didn't ever adopt this into a regular menu to begin with.

Now I'm not the cook that will make you feel guilty for using whatever ol' cheese you have on hand, by all means I know what it's like to do with what you have, but cheese is definitely warranted for this dish and so I decided to make a special trip to a local store that has specialty cheeses, and it was so worth it. I didn't have to add any salt to capture the savory flavor of the dish, it was all encapsulated in the cheese. Use what you have, but if you have access to a specialty store I recommend utilizing them. A good shop owner will be able to give you recommendations based on their own usage of the products and help you figure out what flavors will pair well together.

So here it is. . .

Ingredients
Whatever vegetables you have
Olive oil
1 tsp. garlic (optional; to taste)
6 eggs
Cold water
1 cup cheese (or more to taste)
Basil (optional; to taste)

Take whatever vegetables you have in your fridge and chop them up. I used Zucchini, Tomatoes, & Shallots for this one. Saute veggies in a a small pan with bit of olive oil, and garlic if you like (abt. 1 tsp). While veggies are cooking pre-heat oven to 400 deg. and then crack open 6 eggs, use 3 whole eggs and 3 egg white, add about a TBSP of cold water (for more fluffy eggs) and mix it up with roughly a cup of cheese and some basil to taste. After a few minutes the veggies should be tender now add the egg mixture and allow the egg to solidify on the bottom of the pan (this should only take 1 or 2 minutes). Put pan in the oven for about 15-20 min. Once it is firm, and slightly brown on top, take out of the oven and plate and serve.

Cast iron skillets are always recommended first, but I don't have any of those so I used my regular non-stick and that worked fine. Non-stick skillets are OK for oven use up to 450 deg.

Seriously it was so easy I will totally be doing this again! Obviously you have to change the ratios if you wanted to make a size that would serve more people. This size will give you a couple days of left overs too. I had a slice for breakfast this morning and it was yummy! I also feel really good knowing that I'll waste a lot less food now that I'll be able to put this in my rotation.

Just As I Am

Just as I Am, Without One Plea

By: Charlotte Elliott

Just as I am, without one plea

But that thy blood was shed for me

And that thou bidd’st me come to thee

O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

Just as I am and waiting not

To rid my soul of one dark blot,

To thee, whose blood can cleanse each spot,

O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

Just as I am, though tossed about

With many a conflict, many a doubt,

Fightings and fears within, without,

O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind;

Sight, riches, healing of the mind,

Yea, all I need, in thee to find,

O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

Just as I am, thou wilt receive,

Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve;

Because thy promise I believe,

O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

Obviously you can tell the inspiration that serves as my new blog title. I changed my layout because I had an extra column added to make it 3 columns, instead of 2, and then my cherry layout no longer fit the columns.

The title changed because last night on my ride home from the county fairgrounds I heard a version of this song on the violin that just caused me to stop and ponder the lyrics unlike I had at any other time.

This hymn was written by Charlotte Elliott. Charlotte was born in England in 1789. About the age of 30 Charlotte became an invalid (sort of ironic that I happen to be writing this blog at my age of 30 then). I couldn't find out the exact reason why, but of her condition Charlotte wrote, "My Heavenly Father knows, and He alone, what it is, day af­ter day, and hour af­ter hour, to fight against bodily feelings of almost over­pow­er­ing weak­ness and lang­uor and ex­haust­ion, to re­solve, as He en­a­bles me to do, not to yield to the sloth­ful­ness, the de­press­ion, the ir­ri­ta­bil­i­ty, such as a bo­dy caus­es me to long to in­dulge, but to rise ev­ery morn­ing de­term­ined on tak­ing this for my mot­to, “If any man will come af­ter me, let him de­ny him­self, take up his cross dai­ly, and fol­low me.” Luke 9:23"

More of her story can be found at this link.

And so this is it . . . Just As I Am, which suits me quite well since I make no pretense to be anything other than myself and who the Lord designed with perfection, Psalm 139:14 ~ I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

It's a bird, it's a plane, NO it's Carolyn skydiving!!!

As promised my adventure in skydiving took place on August 1st, and let me tell you it did not disappoint. Really, it was way more exhilarating than bungee jumping and at least I got to stay dry, unlike white water rafting. However, I suppose that I should start at the beginning for those of you that are reading about my adventure for the first time.

I started blogging a little over a year ago, but the real fun of it cam about when I decided that my blog needed more direction and so in that year, the last of my 20’s, I set to work on a list of things to accomplish before I turned 30, and it all started with my expressed desire to go skydiving. My friends, and more of you out there in the blogosphere, started getting on board and followed my exploits, and although progress was being made, the expensive dream seemed unattainable (I don’t know why I like the expensive pastimes? Chalk it up to fine taste). Then, as fate would have it, my wonderful circle of friends got on board and collected the money for me to take my trip, or jump, out of the airplane and bestowed it upon me for my 30th birthday on May 1st. However, the full circle of accomplishment was not completed until Saturday afternoon, when I took my body and flung it out of an airplane at 14,000ft. Ahhh, victory is mine, with a little help from my friends.

I suppose my infatuation with jumping has been with me since I was a child. I always loved going as high as I could in the swings at the playground. Sometimes the air would catch me just right and my bum would loose contact with the seat, causing me to feel a sensation of weightlessness (that I wish I could still attain), but no matter how it felt going up it would always result in a monstrous jump into the sand before me. It was a challenge to see how high and how far I could launch myself into the warm tingly grains below my soaring legs. It wasn’t usually a land that would place me flat on my feet, the few times that happened stings of pain coursed through my legs. Proper landing etiquette for this feat usually involves a bent knee dismount, but I digress. A few times I attempted this same glee in the bark box on the school playground, but splinters always make the landing unpleasant, as well as the fear of getting caught by the yard duty personnel. To many times I found myself planted on the bench for a recess or two do to my disobedient spirit. My friends were often not the encouragers of such behavior, although they always did seem to enjoy the show, punishment and all. The only time I did not enjoy having to jump was when a 6 year old stuck on a chair lift at a ski resort up in Northern, CA. Why the people down below thought that was a good idea for me to jump from that high, with skis on, is beyond my level of comprehension. Suffice it to say that my poor Dad became the subject of his daughters over dramatic wrath (just for the record Dad, I don’t hate you). But those events, as well as my bungee jumping and whitewater adventures, don’t come close to living up to Saturday’s experience. NOT EVEN CLOSE!

This is gonna be another monster post, but it’s so worth it, hang in there with me and the videos at the end will be well worth it.

Let’s start at the beginning. . .

I was super tired having stayed up quite late over at Kali’s while a group of us talked on the phone with Amy discussing her impending wedding and subsequent details. I had planned to go to bed early, but 4 girls on a conference call doesn’t bode well for an early evening, besides it’s not like we get to see her every day. As usual though for Whidbey Island the day started out gloomy with a marine layer that had set in over the cove that evening.

A Beautiful Whidbey Morning

Then after arriving at Nicki’s and fueling up on coffee and gas, we set out on I-5 to Skydive Snohomish, out at Harvey Field. Leaving the Island I knew that the weather would improve and I couldn’t have been more pleased with the 80 degrees and clear sky’s that we were blessed with, a great day for extra altitude! Nere a cloud was to be found.

Now me being the ever, or over, punctual person that I am we arrived at the field about an hour and a half early, that includes Nicki taking a wrong turn into a corn field. The gift of direction something that should not be taken for granted. It’s a good thing that gravity was working in her favor during the dive, I would have hated for her to take a wrong turn going down LOL. In any case we arrived safely and in high humor.

We opened up a door w/a class taking place:P

While Nicki, Kali, Maggie, and myself were waiting for our cheer team to show up (Team Kiesel, Sherri, and Vickie) we sat around watching other skydive videos. Some were of other weekend warriors, like me, but most of them looked like they were made up of the licensed instructors. Neither were disappointing though. In fact it only charged me up even more. I supposed that’s part of the marketing of the experience itself. Our crew finally showed up, just a little after noon, and Bro. Kiesel was totally in his element.

Making new friends

It was cool to see how excited he was for us, probably reliving some of his own jumps vicariously through the conversations that he was having with some of the other divers that were nearby. Filling out the paper work was of course an obligation, lest we find ourselves in less than ideal conditions post jump, i.e. splat.

Do we really look scared? I don't think so

Naturally Nicki and I were well aware of the risks involved (her Dad is a jump master after all) and that we were pretty much risking our lives. However, we did have a little chuckle over how detailed the waiver was. Really though, if you consider the days that we live in, the owners really do have to watch out for their own interests. Law suits happen over way less risky life experiences and if that were to happen it would really ruin the outlook for other prospective divers and instructors alike. Total bummer! So for all you future divers our there, here is a little of what you can expect to sign away…

1. Your right to sue should something go wrong, no longer exists.

2. You are acknowledging that in no way have the divers exploited the fact that this is a safe sport. It’s quite the contrary.

3. Hopefully you also have insurance that will cover any injury that will happen, because you’re outta luck if you don’t.

In spite of knowing all that we were still committed. After all the first rule of diving is to HAVE FUN! Not that we really needed that fact enforced, we were already psyched up, but some people can get really sober and serious when it comes to doing extreme and so it’s extreme and so it’s always a good reminder whenever reiterating why it is that someone chooses to do this. I mean no one that I know of chooses to do this to be a dud about the whole experience. It’s supposed to be fun so embrace it!

Manifest Operations
Signing our lives away

Diving Equipment

Let the games begin
Landing practice

After a “How to video” and a short physical lesson on how to execute the jump and landing Nicki and I suited up and met our instructors and the other ladies that we would be riding up with, Ginger, and Tannis (who was jumping in celebration of her 60th birthday…who knows maybe that will be me again in 30 years;))

Jump Suiting Up

Two wild & crazy gals

My instructor was Vlad, a German man that was so cool he didn’t even bother to put on a jump suit. Khaki’s, a white T-shirt, and a parachute were all he needed on that day. Awesome! I, being a person with a creative vision as well, also enjoyed his motivation behind the camera. He was very efficient with his time and manner, but always keeping the fun and energy up.

No...that's not a proposal......

Vlad'sgetting the gear ready

Hi 5in Vlad

Right before we headed onto the plane he asked me who I wanted to have jump first, me or Nicki? Hmmm. . . People who know me would probably think it odd for me to actually have to think about this since I’m usually first in line with things, a natural leader like that, but not having any idea of what I was really going to experience I decided that Nicki could go before me, the sacrificial lamb so to speak. But I knew she wouldn’t mind either way, and so that’s how our jump order worked out the way that it did. Honestly I’m glad because it was really cool watching her fall out of the plane. One minute she was there and the next…poof…she was gone.

Bye Bye

Nicki loads up

Here we go....

I don’t know what I imagined, but the plane was smaller than my minds eye came up with in previous imaginations of the day. However, with only 8 of us in there it didn’t seem like it was that cramped at all.

DISCLAIMER: The 6 inch rule does not apply in this situation. So if you have issues with being that close to someone, I highly advise that you request for someone of the same sex (if they’re available). I didn’t think that far ahead, but it also didn’t bother me. They were very professional. I just wanted to make sure that whoever was assigned to me knew what he was doing. And he did; obviously, I’m alive and typing right now.

Butterflies started turning in my stomach the second that the plane started down the runway. Exhilarating butterflies, coupled with moments of tranquility, knowing that there was no way out now. . .not that I would want one. Nicki was just as cool and cerebral as she always is, very even keel. On the way up Vlad was asking me how high I thought we were, I was way off, what felt like only the possibility of a few hundred feet in the air was actually about 3,000, altitude was gaining on us fast. So all the way up he kept letting me know how high we were. With each inclining altitude new butterflies were added. I wasn’t psyched out, but rather psyched up:). I was also able to see an aerial view of Whidbey Island from the air craft. Amazing, is the only word that comes to my mind as I relive the memory in my mind. From the air it doesn’t look like it’s an hour and a half away, but merely a hop, skip, & a jump away (pun intended).

Vlad made the final adjustments to our harnesses, checking their attachments, and then the door opened…

A gust of wind came flowing into the air craft and all that I could hear was Vlad’s voice and instructions that were nearly muffled by the wind blowing in.

Scootching towards the door, the other divers in front of me started disappearing…poof they were gone. The butterflies intensified. Even Nicki, who is usually calm and collected, got serious at the last minute.

As I approached the door, wrapping my leg around the under belly of the aircraft like the video said to, I looked out on the horizon…it was just blue as far as I could see, and then Vlad told me to wave to the camera, where shortly after he pushed us out of the plane. Unlike with bungee jumping there is no lurch in your stomach, due to the fact that when you jump you’re jumping from a moving object, unlike with base jumping where it’s stationary. I’m sure there’s a physics person out there who can explain it in more detail (Isaiah, Noah, Steve. . .any takers), but that’s the jist of it in lay mans terms.

Man O Man, it did not disappoint!!! Freefall was about a minute in long. I lost my breath pretty soon after exiting the plane due to whooping it up as much as I did on the way down. I was trying to remember everything that I had been instructed on, like making sure my body arched and that I was looking out at the horizon. The smile on my face would not go away, which made for some pretty interesting, and funny, facial distortions. But catching my breath because of it all was a little harder. I was very happy that I had not had breakfast that morning.

It was the longest minute of my life…seriously. It even beat the minute I was stuck in the gas chamber at boot camp. But just when I thought I wasn’t going to be able to finally catch my breath Vlad opened up the canopy and with a jerk or air, back up we went. That didn’t hurt, like I thought it would either, just a little tension around the hips and chest, which Vlad actually loosened up on a little bit, before handing the reigns of the parachute over to me.

He had me making hard lefts and rights that were sending me into fast spirals towards the ground, but the coolest was when he had me move my arms down simultaneously and I was suspended in mid air. You can’t tell from the video at all because I’m trying to describe it for you all, but once you do that everything goes silent and it gets very still. It was AMAZING to just stay there floating like I that. Vlad was pointing out Nicki to me across the sky from me, “HI Nicki”. . .I was waving and shouting like she could hear me, but naturally she couldn’t, nor, come to find out later, was she reciprocating. But that’s to be expected, we’re both different and the experience, similar as it was, was unique unto ourselves. Even the instructors that we ended up with were right for our personalities. Nicki’s instructor Jordan was just as laid back as she was, while like I said earlier Vlad was very animated and into the process from start to finish.

Alas gravity needed to execute her force on the fun we were having. And handing the reigns back to Vlad he took us down to the ground below, but not before singing me a little ditty of “Happy Birthday” upon our decent (sadly that was edited out of the video, but it’s also kind of nice that I get to keep it for my own memory).

Is that a parachute?

Nicki comes in for a landing

Here I come
Going over to say Hi to Nicki

Normally for a post like this I would wax eloquent with my illustrations, trying to help you all out there to try and understand what an experience like this would be like, however, there just aren’t words. You must do it for yourself if you want to know what it feels like. How it feels to pummel towards the earth for a full minute without anything but the ground underneath you. How the velocity with which you fall will take the very breath out of your lungs and contort your cheeks into mere flaps in the wind. How looking out on the horizon and gazing down upon the earth, that you hover above, can be one of the smallest, and most humbling, feelings in the world (Psalm 8:4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?). Really there’s no rush of adrenaline that can compare, nor words to encapsulate such an experience. Maybe the videos below will do it some justice.

The feed back that I’ve received so far from my You Tube post has been nice, and I’ve posted all of your comments below, but feel free to leave more, now that I have the whole post up.

If you’re considering taking a skydive yourself, and live in WA, I highly recommend the crew down at Skydive Snohomish. The planes all looked like they were in good condition (no duct tape holding anything together) and the instructors were all professional and enthusiastic (who wouldn’t be after getting to jump out of planes for a job). Really, even if you haven’t considered it, or have been a nay sayer for years, you should probably consider it. Nicki and I got Kali from a statement of “I wouldn’t jump out of a plane unless my life depended on it”, to a 90 degree turn of “I’ll consider it” (when we get her in the plane we can cheer over the 180 degree turn). I was never more mellow than I was after jumping out of the aircraft on Saturday. Now if I could bottle that feeling and sell it I’d be rich! But for now I’ll just have to settle for saving for another jump;)

A big thanks again to all my wonderful friends that helped donate their hard earned money to such a fun experience and helping my 30 list come full circle. You are all the best and I don’t know of anyone that has better friends.

Our Cheer Team