Monday, October 3, 2011

To Write Love on Her Arms

I just wanted to take a second to tell you guys about my favorite charity: To Write Love on Her Arms.

This following is taken from their website:

"To Write Love on Her Arms is a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide. TWLOHA exists to encourage, inform, inspire and also to invest directly into treatment and recovery."

Although I have never been drepressed, addicted to anything, intentionally hurt myself or attempted suicide, I know people that have. One of them is my very closest friend. And it absolutely breaks my heart.

While I am totally aware that I do not have many readers, my hope in posting this is that somebody might stumble upon it and that it may help them in their struggles.

My reason for telling you about TWLOHA is their great need. They are currently participating in a contest to win a million dollars that will go towards helping people that are struggling and who really, REALLY need it. I just wanted to ask if you would please, PLEASE go vote for them.

To vote, you'll need to go {here} and "like" Chase Community Giving on Facebook and then click the green "VOTE" button. You will be asked to allow the application and then you're done. It takes all of 5 seconds!

Also, the contest ends in 2 days, so hurry!

For more information on TWLOHA, here is their website: {Click me!!!}

Thank you in advance for any who are going to vote and for those who already have.

xoxo,





P.S. -- I have a couple of projects that I'm going to get done within the next couple of days that I'll post about. I'm so excited!!

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

PW Iced Coffee, Lauren Style

Disclaimer: All of the following photos were taken on my phone. A certain preschooler I know got into my purse and opened my perfume and it made its way into my Nikon. It still works, but I have to figure out how to make the pictures NOT look like they have dried perfume all over the lens. :)

Onward! Let me just start out my saying how much I am in love with coffee. Seriously. I. Love. Coffee.

When I first moved back home two years ago, my parents used instant coffee. I could deal. I did the instant thing until Last Christmas, Mom got a Keurig and I had my first cup of REAL coffee in a long, long time. I fell back in love. So, I started buying my own K-Cups. Seeing as how I am not able to function on less that two cups a day, K-Cups aren't practical for me, especially since my income is so limited and K-Cups are so, well, expensive. I stopped buying the K-Cups.

One day, I rediscovered the Gevalia coffee maker stashed in an upper cabinet. And asked Mom if I could use it. It turns out they were out of K-Cups and they had some Gevalia coffee stashed in the back on the pantry. So, for the next couple of weeks, we used the Gevalia coffee. When we ran out, they bought more K-Cups and I bought a pound of regular ground coffee for the coffee maker. The past three weeks, I have been trying different ratios of water to coffee and even bought regular filters (Gevalia makers use a filter that is cone-shaped when used). Apparently, this coffee maker is partial to only Gevalia coffee and if clearly of the devil! Just kidding. Maybe. Not really.

So, as an avid follower of Pioneer Woman's entire LIFE (not kidding, I'm kind of her stalker), I decided to try her iced coffee recipe. Except I didn't have cheese cloth or a fine sieve. Whatever. I made it work!

For the original recipe and photo tutorial, click {here}.

This following is my take and (not really) variation on it. I only had about a 1/2 pound of coffee left from all my experimentation, so I worked with what I had and did some math to make it work for me.

The supplies I used were:
*an emptied wine jug (I washed it twice to get all the wine smell out of it) - yea, repurposing!
*funnel
*measuring cup for dippin'
*paper towels
*large tub
*hot water
*ground coffee
*wooden spoon
*TONS of patience

Before I went to work last night, I put the grains in the bottom of my large tub and covered them in hot water. P-Dub says to use 2 gallons, but I only used 1, since I had only roughly half a pound. I didn't grab a picture of it because:
1. I forgot.
2. I was in a hurry to get ready for work.
3. I have a 2-year-old that was climbing on the counter.

After I had started the process, I didn't even think about blogging about this. It just kind of hit me. I was thinking to myself, "Look at me go! Ree would be so proud!" And then WHABAM! I thought, "I should blog about it!" And here we are. Moving on.


So, I just let the grains soak overnight until I was ready to deal with them this morning. I was pretty excited about it, but I did manage to get all my laundry folded and put away.

I just stuck the funnel in the top of the jug and smooshed (that's a technical term) the paper towel to fit the funnel. Then, I would just slowly dip the measuring cup in the sludge (also technical) and then would pour it straight into the funnel. Ree recommends using the sieve and cheesecloth, but I had neither. My process worked well until I tried to squeeze the extra liquid from the paper towel into the funnel with my hand. The paper towel of course ripped and a few grains fell into the jug. I then fell to the floor, screaming, "NOOOOOO!" and cried for an hour. Just kidding. Kinda.

After I recovered from my meltdown, I just grabbed a wooden spoon and squeezed the extra coffee from the paper towel like that. Easy. And grain-free.

Can I just take a second to say how much I hate the word "grain." I loathe and despise it, but it's the only word I can think of to use for it. I could use granule, but I hate that word even more. What a conundrum. Anywho.


This is what filtering the coffee looks like. Gross, right?


Almost done!!


I was pretty bummed that I didn't get more out of it, but I'm sure I'll have it filled next time whenever I use a whole pound.

So, there you have it. Stick it in the fridge until it's cold. Or you can be like me and immediately pour a glass. Not addicted. Not at all.

Whenever you're ready, add ice and creamer of your choice and enjoy. Yessss.

And for those of you who are anti-coffee, here's a picture of my insanely cute child sleeping! :D






















xoxo,

Monday, September 26, 2011

A Whole Lotta Emotions

The only thing that I have been able to think about for the past few days is how incredibly blessed I am.

When I got hired on at Cracker Barrel, I was disappointed because the last thing I wanted to do was wait tables again. I knew that it was hard work and that the hours weren't great and the pay hardly worth it. To be completely honest, I haven't made nearly as much as I've wanted to, but I've made what I've needed to - enough to pay almost all of my bills off and enough to be able to afford what Mikayla needs. I've also met some great, Christian people that have become good friends.

Back to my point: I have been taking God's provision for granted. I have been getting impatient with Him. It's true that I am still short of being able to buy a car and it's true that I'm nowhere near being able to afford for Mikayla and I to live on our own, but I know that He will provide all in His timing. Just when I think I'm being as patient as I can be, He says, "Nope, now you have to wait on this."

Patience has NEVER been my strong suit. I hate that I'm like that, but I'm working on it, with God's help, one day at a time. I have noticed that I'm getting better with it. One night back in April, I just let go. I cried and pled with God to just help me because I just couldn't do it anymore. I was frustrated and hurting. I felt a little nudging in my heart and I finally realized that I had been a control freak and I just needed to let go.

Even though I still get impatient sometimes, all it takes is a little prayer and a good cry (haha) and I feel so much better. I'm still struggling with some anger and hurt because of my past, which ties into being impatient, but I know that God will help me through everything.

Also, my train of though isn't completely coherent, so I apologize for the randomness of the stories and whatnot.

:)

xoxo,

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Since redoing my layout, template, and pretty much every other detail of this spiffy little blog, I have decided to do a kind of "about me" post to kick things off. Mainly because I don't really know what to write about first. So, enjoy learning some completely random things about me!

My name is Lauren Michal and I am a Jesus freak. I am a single mama to one gorgeous little blessing named Mikayla Layne. We call her Moo. It's a long story. :) I am 22 years old and am currently working at Cracker Barrel. I live at home with my mom and stepdad, Eric, and my little brother, Adam. My sister, Sarah, is away at college and I miss her a whole lot. :( I don't watch a lot of TV. Really only football or baseball games. Laughing is my favorite, especially when it's Mikayla-induced. I'm working as hard as I can to become independent and almost have enough saved up to get a car!! Yay!

I don't really have a plan for this little spot of the internet. I just kind of want to randomly post things that keep my family and friends updated. Y'know, personal revelations, something funny that Mikayla did (which will probably take up most of the posts - she's pretty hilarious), ranting about work/my situation, my thoughts on the message at church this week or comments on something I saw that day. Whatever. It'll just be mishmash and it'll be mine.. all mine! :)

Anyway, I hope I at least make you guys giggle every once in awhile. I've been told quite recently that I'm not as funny as I think I am. But even if you don't laugh, just know that I did.

xoxo,