Ice Donuts

Password: spin
Saturday revealed every road and every parking lot in ice. It was awesome.
Spin from Anna Zenk on Vimeo.

Evolution of the Sled
Password: driveway
Evolution2 from Anna Zenk on Vimeo.

Ice Cold

Two days ago it was in the 80's and I was wearing shorts. Last night we had an ice storm. Welcome to Texas. Businesses are closed. School is cancelled. And most people are staying home. I am taking this cold quiet day to blog a bit!

Recently the back yard got mowed. It took me three hours. Consequently, I decided to give up and skip a strip calling it my Texas Prairie. And now I kinda like it amongst all the ice. I am thinking of making it a permanent lawn feature. Heh.

And that is as far as I venture out today. Maybe when Adam gets home we'll go out and rescue people who are stranded in their cars. Even as I type I am listening to my neighbor trying to get up his driveway….This is only the second time we've been able to use four wheel drive in Texas. Worth it? Absolutely.

Please Have a Seat

Lack of seating has made us a little stressed out lately. We have a couch which sits three. So when we have another couple over we pull out a lawn chair to watch movies. When our Home Teachers come over we pull out TWO lawn chairs so we can face them. It's been a little frustrating and a little off-putting I think to company. Who would want to come visit us when there's no where to sit?

Pinterest notified me one of my pins when down 45% in price, so we acted hastily and bought this chair from Overstock—free shipping too! And that's our Christmas to each other, a place for your bum.
Chair image here.

It's a little nerve wracking to purchase a piece of furniture unseen—and now that we have it I wish it were a little more modern and smaller/shorter—but I like it well enough and Adam is 100% satisfied. So we are excited!

Then the need for pillows stressed me out until I remembered I have several pillow shams that haven't sold yet and they are perfect! So now I get to keep and use them eeee!

Isn't it weird how a room comes together when you have to add things one piece at a time? I'm sure if I were to do a whole room at once it would look completely different. An interesting thought isn't it grasshopper?

There's something on your face…and I lOVE it!

It's time to document: THE BEARD

There's no real reason behind it; just a series of new haircuts, Duck Dynasty, and pins of beards on Pinterest all lead to "I think I'm going to try it." He started it in September, and now his beard has its own brush and products.

When he started I thought, "Whatever." But I can't believe how…ahem…SEXY it is to me! Adam was talking to me while driving and I was off in lah-lah land swooning over his cute wiskers and new long-on-top hair cut. You know in those movies when a hot person walks past and everyone stops just to stare and said person moves in slow motion? Yup. That was me. I just sat and stared. Didn't hear a word he said, just sat there with a stupid grin—all I wanted to do was reach over and stuff my hands into his face.

I am seriously thinking about printing this photo in gigantic proportions and hanging it in my office so I can stare at him ALL DAY.

Here are some out-takes so when we are old we can laugh.

Turkey Day Turned Rib Day

It was just us this year with Adam's oldest sister. We did nothing fancy but concentrated on the food instead. I got all the shopping done a week ahead of time (I love it when I don't procrastinate!) And food prep started a day before and the morning of…it was truly a stress free day.

We like turkey but we've never had an AMAZING turkey dish—so we decided to eat something we could get a little more excited about. We decided on ribs—surprisingly enough we've never made them before.

I know, I know…posting pictures of thanksgiving food on a plate is soooooo cliche…and even worse when it's not styled. But hey. I want to remember what we ate so here we go.

• Tamarind Baby Back ribs - from Food and Wine AMAZING. Recipe Here.
• Sweet and Spicey Coleslaw - again, pretty good! Recipe Here.
• Corn on the cob
• Baked Sweet Potatoes with browned butter marshmallow sauce for the Mr and Sister.
• 20 Minute Buttery Rolls (I don't know how they got that name, they take more like an hour and a half)
• Strawberry Pretzel Salad - another tradition for the Mr and Sister which consequently I really like too.
• And a multi flavored root beer pack to choose from.

Dessert included your choice of
• English Apple Pie with sweetened cream. Recipe Here.
• Coconut cream pie with pat in the pan shortbread crust.

What are we thankful for this year? Adam mentioned a good job. As did his sister. Yes. We are very grateful for jobs. Without them so much would be different. And it's nice to have a job that we can "stand". And I recently I have been feeling thankful for good teachers in my past—and good examples I have to look up to in my present. These things help shape us and I am grateful.

So….we ate. We watched a couple of Christmas movies, had dessert and then sent Sister home with a ton of leftovers. (Who consequently couldn't thank us enough for doing ribs instead of turkey, score!) Later Adam said he couldn't help with the dishes because his stomach wouldn't allow his arms to reach the sink! Bah hah! So we did clean-up the next day.

Vegetarians

October was a little different for us. We decided it might be "fun" to go vegetarian for the whole month. (We kept eggs in the diet and got rid of milk.) I have to say it was actually quite easy. Neither one of us noticed any significant changes in the way we felt or in our waistlines. I'm sure if we'd done blood pressure and cholesterol levels there would have been changes though, impossible not to have been.

Unfortunately, I was way too busy to have any energy to plan new vegetarian dishes, so we resorted to a lot of familiar food. So, I kind of want to have a do-over. (Of course that's silly, we can eat vegetarian whenever we want. Heh.)

We made it all the way to the 25th, then the night before Adam's race we splurged and got meat on a pizza and of course that killed it for the rest of the month. And again, I personally didn't notice much of a change after we started eating meat again. (Digestion WAS much easier when we weren't eating meat.) So, that's it. Just wanted to record this somewhere for when Adam can't remember when we did this or for how long. (Because I have a perfect memory and don't forget anything. Ever.)

What spawned this idea in the first place? Adam saw Forks over Knives for the first time…there's some extremely compelling data laid out. Watch it and see if YOU don't consider the vegetarian lifestyle even just a little bit.

Modern Sliding Barn Door

Ultrim Finishes was hired to put together a sliding barn door. Firstly, they assembled a 9 x 4.5 foot frame with wiring to keep everything tight.

They used straight white pine and cedar boards for the paneling, and lots of brads and wood glue. The corners/edges were mitered for a nice finish. So yes, the beast is double sided.

Now the fun part. The client wanted a weathered/distressed look but didn't want to pay for reclaimed wood. To make new wood look old, the guys would have scraped and beat up the wood with hammers and chains, but the client didn't want that at all. So we (yes, I got to do a little) experimented with some faux painting/staining techniques—which like true artists we totally made up.

Lastly, the door received two coats of Polyurethane matte coating.

The next day the guys delivered the door. The client hadn't seen it in person yet, so everyone was nervous. But as soon as the guys unwrapped it she loved it! No changes necessary. So they spent all day installing it. The door is so heavy I couldn't even help lift one side. But on this track, the client could easily slide it back and forth with one arm.
(Sorry, the image is taken with a camera phone so it's a little distorted and unclear.)

And now you know what's been happening into the late nights in the garage the past few weeks.

Making the Switch

The hubs finished his last day at Lockheed Martin this Wednesday. The job was certainly a blessing and was definitely the right move to make when we did. (I don't know if we mentioned because of the economy crash Adam was watching is construction company whittle away to almost no-one, which worried us. So when the job at Lockheed presented itself we felt urged to take it.)

Anyhow, we will miss the every other Friday off and the three week vacation plus two week Christmas vacation *sniff. And although Lockheed has it perks it also has the pitfalls of old fashioned thinking/management and with that comes the impossibility of moving up in the company unless you've had tenure—which is so backwards to me. If a company wants to survive it's not about seniority! It's about rewarding forward thinkers. Rewarding—thus encouraging—those who put effort into making the company successful. But that's government for you, and that's why Lockheed has a problem retaining this generation.

Well, Adam is ready for more responsibility—more opportunities for growth.
He's going back to Key! It sort of just "happened" through casual conversation with the secretary and kablam! His old manager unexpectedly sent him a text saying Adam would be a perfect fit for a position opening up. It's so nice to be wanted isn't it?

He's off taking his drug test this very moment and his first day back is Monday! Back to construction! And I have to say, he is very excited to be back in it. When we were discussing the switch it came down to him being able to do something he likes. I say, if it pays the bills—go for it! I am so happy to have him in my life. And it is exciting to see what he is doing with his.

Apples Anniversary

Celebrating our engagement anniversary. You all know the drill. Dinner (this time at Chuys…SPICEY!), window shopping to let things digest, and then a short walk to the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory to get the traditional caramel apples. I feel like we JUST did this—can't believe it's been a year already. I heart this tradition.

Dallas Allstate Half Marathon

After the race we noticed little QC codes on their numbers. So we scanned them with our phones and both Dafni and Adam's statistics came up. It was awesome. It listed time, pace, how many other people of the same gender or age came in before them etc. I thought that was way cool.

Brandon and I were able to cheer Adam and Dafni on around the 4th mile and then around the 9th mile (I think.) Brandon estimates we trekked over 5 miles through the city to meet them at those points. (So we got a workout too! Go us!)

At the 9th I was very pleased to see a large group of people cheering the runners with encouraging signs and clapping and shouting. Instantly I felt ashamed of myself for having just "watched" them as they ran past us earlier. How rude! Next time I will have a sign and be shouting encouraging words while I wait.

I love this photo below. Dafni getting a kiss and Adam grinning at me—it captures a bit of "real life" at just the perfect moment.

I don't know why but watching people cross the finish line made me very emotional. What a thing to do! Running long distance is such a physical AND emotional thing. And then to watch two people I care about cross the line? They've been training and talking about this for 9 months. And then suddenly to watch them meet their goal…there are no words! I loved hearing the announcer call out their names as they finished. What a thing to be congratulated by name. Well done Allstate. Well done. And Adam and Dafni too.

Password: welldone

Marathon2013 from Anna Zenk on Vimeo.

Dance Birthday

Yes, Adam DID have a birthday this year. My apologies for not sharing the celebratory images sooner.
We had friends over and had pizza (made with a yummy bacon spread), cake, and did some x-boxing of the dance sort. Later some friends from church made maple bacon cupcakes, with crunchy bacon sticking out from the frosting for Adam—which he devoured.

Check out Adam's birthday dance.
Password: dancecake

Dance Cake from Anna Zenk on Vimeo.

Dance Cake from Anna Zenk on Vimeo.

Committed

My friend Dafni "won" a free website design from a photographer who put up a contest on her blog. (This photographer decided she wanted to get into designing websites in conjunction with her photography. So she decided to design four FREE websites to get her portfolio started.)

Unfortunately—and may I say, as predicted—she had no idea what she was getting into. After Dafni had already purchased a domain, spent time finding a Word Press template and going through several rounds of logo designs with the photographer—we could tell said photographer might be stalling. Sure enough a few days later Dafni received an email saying the project was a "bad" fit and that she decided she "didn't have time" to do web design after all. This left my friend with no logo, a non functioning site, and a few months of lost time = "lost money" during the interim.

First, I am absolutely disgusted with said photographer. What she did to my friend was completely unprofessional and lacked integrity. Had she any honor she'd have found some way to finish her commitment or offer some compensation (I'm not talking monetarily here.)  No harm, no foul. If I were to liken it to HER own profession, would she EVER say "sorry, I got in over my head…working on your wedding photos is too much work and you were a bad fit anyway. I'm not going to give you your wedding photos after all." Can you imagine? I don't care if money wasn't exchanged—find a way keep your commitments or compensate one way or another.

So what's an Anna do? I've muddled through Word Press once before so I figured I could muddle through again. So this is what I've been working on for the past several weeks. After rounds of design and code tweaking (still a few issues to iron out but…)—Dafni has gone live!

Again, some rough, rejected logos. She wanted something clean, organic, feminine but not girly.

I am actually glad for this experience. I have been feeling sorry that I didn't go into web design earlier and take more courses for it. Not knowing how to write code, use Dreamweaver, Flash etc. pigeon holes me. But after working on this site, I am reminded that I don't like it. I think I went a little crazy actually. Can you see my eye twitching? I'll design a website sure…just don't ask me to build it.

Above is a mock up of the landing page.

Ultrim Finishes

Adam decided to start a business with a friend—legally it's called a joint venture, it's not a partnership. (Had to clarify for all you Dave Ramsey fans out there.)

Lot's of brainstorming and throwing out names like "Nail'd it" and "Kilwood" finally landed them a keeper in "Ultrim Finishes."

They've registered with the sate, signed legal documents, and it's been official for a couple of months. It's exciting! I'll be posting some of their projects soon. One of them is currently taking up parking space in our garage….

Naturally I was roped into doing their logo. The guys wanted the mark to be simple, bold, and feel west coast—almost west coast skater. SO MUCH WORK goes into creating a mark, it's a shame no one ever sees the ones that get kicked out and don't make it to the final rounds. So I figured I'd put up some of the rejected ones—it's kinda fun to see.

Below is one they picked. Ultimately I think it was a great choice, it's strong and very versatile too. We've printed off a couple hundred cards and the guys are working on getting the word out. Here's to the entrepreneurial spirit!

Donating to the Ronald McDonald House

Our youth wanted to do a service project at the children's hospital—but I ran into a considerable amount of difficulty setting it up. There were certain age requirements, paper work to fill out, employees who worked at the hospital couldn't figure out who to talk to…so I changed gears and called the Ronald McDonald House. (Place for families to stay while a loved one is recuperating from injury or illness.)

They make donating so easy!!! So for youth group we put together care packages for kids. We had four stations set up.

• A cat ear making station.
• A Batman mask making station.
• A stuffing station (we stuffed the rest of my left over inventory of plushies)
• And a drawing station (they wrote and drew on the paper gift bags)

We also included other items in the gift bags like stickers and glow sticks.

I found it necessary to throw together a couple of "How to" papers for the Batman and cat station. They're almost too easy. I hate putting directions to waste so I posted everything here and here.

Adam and I delivered 17 gift bags two weeks later. We wheeled them in, signed their book and that was it. No paperwork, no appointment, nothing. So completely easy.

At the time I wasn't sure if the kids liked the activity it or not, but subsequently I've heard good things. So yay!

Little Herb Garden

Since last year's garden was a failure, I decided to go with herbs this year, and it went very well! We've had fresh rosemary, thyme, sage, and as you know plenty of basil. I've really liked it…it makes me feel French and sophisticated every time I go out in my apron to clip some for a meal I'm cooking.

Just after taking these photos I harvested the herbs and dried them on a very low setting in the oven. (I dried them on silpats…and now my cookies taste like rosemary, so I won't do that again.)

This has been our first year growing sage and I have to say, I liked it. I started it from seed. It's not a quick grower, but that's ok. It smells wonderful.  I've put it in some mayonnaise with a little lemon juice and used it for a sandwich spread (which Adam practically eats alone). It was divine. And we use it in homemade ground turkey sausage. But other than that I don't really use it. Do you have any recipes where sage is the spotlight? I'd love to try it.

Crappy Week

A few weeks ago we experienced—quite a bit of crap. (Warning, this article is NOT for you high society readers.)

Church
During youth group at church one of my girls comes rushing in all flustered and animated and quite loudly states, "Guys, the bathroom is disgusting! Someone pooped all over the toilet and it is smeared everywhere…in two stalls! I didn't even go to the bathroom because I was too busy throwing up!"

You can imagine the face everyone in the room is making at this point. I look around to realize NO ONE besides me is going to step up to investigate, nor offer to clean it up. This thought takes me back to my bathroom cleaning days in college and I think "Well okay then, we can't just leave it—I have experience with poop smears...I'm going in!"

I borrow one of the girl's hair ties to keep my hair out of my face (well let's face it, out of the toilets while cleaning) and head for the janitorial closet—which to my dismay has NO plastic gloves in stock. NONE. So I shove my arms into a couple of trash liners and tie them around my armpits. I dive into the bathroom stalls armed with every kind of cleaning spray I can find and about a million paper towels.

I'll spare you the finite details. Let's just say the problem isn't as bad as my friend has described. But yes, there is poop involved. I go ahead and clean ALL the stalls and doors/handles while I am there. It takes me a half an hour to return things to normal.

Next time I will ask for help. Next time I will get the youth involved—teaching moment! (But please don't let there be a next time.)

Babysitting
The day before the stall incident, Adam and I watched a couple of girls and the family dog at their house. We took them out on a wagon ride to get the girls' wiggles out, give us something to do, and allow Rosie, the dog to take care of business.

While we were out Rosie DID NOT take care of business. A half hour after our walk, We discovered a LARGE, fresh present piled on the hardwood floor. She must have been saving it up, I've never seen this much come out of a dog before. The girls thought it was hilarious! A lot of giggling and chastizing of the dog ensued.

Later we were playing hide and go seek.
And I stepped in another present.
With my bare foot.
It was wet and squishy and now smeared into the carpet.

If you think the girls were laughing before—you should have heard them now. One of them could barely talk. My foot did not think it was funny.

The part of me that does not like babysitting, and the part of me that does not like pets, held hands and in affirmation said "See? THIS is why."

Marathon
Adam ran a marathon at the end of the week. Before starting the race, while it was early and still dark Adam decided he better take care of business. You can imagine how dark it must have been in his unlit port-a-potty. So to be safe and take care of anything he couldn't see, he wiped down the seat with some toilet paper before sitting.

Upon standing Adam realized his leg was a little wet. Upon further investigation he sickeningly discovered he'd SMEARED someone else's crap all over the toilet before SITTING in it! Evidently someone had  "hovered" and MISSED! Are you gagging yet? He was. And furious!

Pouring his entire water bottle all over his leg he commenced to consume ALL the toilet paper to wipe himself down…fighting reflux the whole time. You can bet he washed his hands three times over. Too bad he still had to run a three hour race with an "infected" leg. Shudder.

We did not stay to hang out in the city after the race. It was a shower or death.

Epilogue
At this moment, I don't know of a better time to say "Shit happens."

Get Away

Last weekend we escaped. And we both had a legitimate excuse to dump our responsibilities for 24 hours which was wonderful. It was un populated. It was quiet. Password: Camping is like... (include capitals and spacing)

Camping from Anna Zenk on Vimeo.

Too bad a sudden downpour with frightening lightning and hail ended our bliss on the beach a few hours too early. We escaped, but not before EVERYTHING was drenched and shoved into the back of the car in a sandy sopping heap....Can't have it all.

Superheroes in Excellence

Giving my girls the opportunity to come up with the Young Women in Excellence theme, one of my Mia Maids wanted it be Superheroes. So I threw together a spreadsheet of ideas and the President got it approved. (You should have seen how excited my Mia Maid got when we told her the idea was a go.)

So we got to makin' posters and writing out parts.

We had the girls liken an assigned value to a superhero and then tell how we show that quality in our lives as well. For example: Batman continued to show faith in the citizens of Gotham, knowing they make the right decisions even though all evidence pointed otherwise. As Young Women we show faith by ________________.
I was impressed, many of the girls were extremely thoughtful in applying their values to their hero.

I put their part on the back of their superhero's icon—this made an engaging visual for the audience to look at while the girls read.

We have table cloths in each value color...so we repurposed them for the evening as capes. Aren't the girls awesome for playing along?

The treat idea below was fun, however, the candy was WAY overpriced. We could have stuck with colorful popcorn and rice crispy treats and been just fine.

This project is cross listed on the Thousand Phases site along with the idea list and outline for this theme.

Keeping it Reel

A couple of weeks ago we hitched a ride with Adam's dad to Utah—he needed to go for business and wanted to fly fish too. (Adam's dad used to SKIP his college classes to go fishing. And since there is NO fly fishing in Texas he was determined to make it happen.) So we all took the whole week off, packed into the car and started out on our 24 hour trip.

We stopped in Nebraska at Adam's grandma's house. It's a quiet place, out in the middle of corn fields. After hunkering into a bed in the nice cool basement we heard thumping on the glass window. I figured it was a june bug, and then realized it was too loud and thought maybe a frog was smacking his sticky little body upon the glass. Pulling the curtain back, I was surprised to see a baby bunny hopping up and down trying to get out of the window well. Adam woke his dad who pinned it down with a hoe so Adam could jump in and catch it. Have you ever heard a rabbit scream before? Poor thing was scared to death. But a few moments later, he scrammed.

The next morning we left before sunrise to start our 15 hour trip to Utah. After such a long drive we all went fishing the next day....based on this shot wouldn't you say it was worth it? I love this image Adam captured. I am STILL trying to contain myself and refrain from adding a rainbow in the background to help it reach perfection.

I fished for one and a half of the four days we were there. Both times were after rainfall, so both days were a bust for me—no fish. I learned when the water is muddy, the fish are full and can't see your fly hit the water anyway; good luck catching anything. But I DID catch a tree, several weeds, a couple of rocks, a stick or two and an old t-shirt and also a mild case of stinging nettle. Gah! I always forget what it looks like until I'm sitting in it.

The last day of fishing we woke early and hiked into Lower Fish Creek...most of the hike was along train tracks. A lot of them. I have decided I hate train tracks, they are impossible to walk on for long distances. I'm sure you know the spacing of the ties are too close together for a normal stride so you are either taking short marching steps or huge dancing ones...or slipping all over the rocks. Guh. Don't tell the guys but on the hike back I wanted to cry—or at least take a REALLY long break. Maybe visit with a cow or two before moving on....perhaps ride one....

Of course Dad was the most successful in number of fish caught.

This is my brother-in-law.... an in-law like me. He's new to this fly fishing thing too. But HE caught a fish. (Yes those are socks hanging from my hat. They needed to dry.)

Adam says he caught the largest fish. But admits he needs to learn how to hold it for the camera.

Mom came too and decided she wanted to have a go at the river. She now has her own weighters.

Since I was in the area, I called up Dwynne and surprised her. I asked if she wanted to go on a date with me. She thought I meant a date on Skype. NOPE! "What's your address cuz I'll be there in an hour!" Of course she kept asking me if I was serious. So we spent the afternoon and evening together.

The next day Dwynne picked me up after lunch and we drove to Natalie's house and knocked on her door. She opened the door and kept smiling and blinking. It was funny to watch the gears turning as she struggled to understand. So I just kept smiling at blinking back at her until she'd figured out it was me.

We all hung out. I spent the night. The next day we went to see my Aunt which was great, and then at the end of the day Dwynne took me back to stinky, fish smelling Adam.

It was a long trip but totally fun (and VERY busy!) We haven't been back to Utah since Adam graduated (so weird to be there with all those memories). Thanks to Mom and Dad who rented a van so we could go along.

Wedding Dress and Modesty Activity

In church we talk a lot about the importance of dressing modestly. Events like a wedding are no exception to the rule. However, it's extremely difficult to find a gown that has sleeves, and isn't cut too low in the front or back.

Thinking it would make a great activity, I thought we could discuss this dilemma and different, stylish ways of making an immodest dress work—like adding a fancy bolero for example. Then as a bonus we asked the women from church if we could borrow their wedding dress so the girls could try them on! (We also displayed photos of the women in their own dresses which was fun to see.)

We set up a platform with a mirror and curtains, invited a photographer to come (thanks Dafni), and had a table full of accessories for the girls to choose from.

Some moms came and had a blast watching their own girls try on their old dress. It's too bad there aren't more occasions to pull out and wear a wedding dress.

Then, as a surprise I also made a "wedding" cake to eat after.

Activities like this are a lot of work, but I want them to be memorable. I also want the girls to have positive experiences to back up the values we are teaching them. The evening was so fun!