Woman Crush Wednesday: Mindy Kaling

I just finished Mindy Kaling's book, "Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)".  It was great.

To be honest, I've been a Mindy fan for a while now.  I loved her character Kelly Kapoor on "The Office".  Even though she had a small part, I loved her and after reading her book I realize she stuck to the small part because she was also writing for the show.  When her new show, "The Mindy Project", started this past fall I knew I had to watch it.  I did and I loved every minute of it.  I'm now patiently waiting for September.

So I was already a fan of Mindy.  Her book made me even more of a fan.  I love that Mindy isn't a size 0 actress.  She's the size of an average American woman and from what her book says she's okay with that.  I love seeing that attitude.  I'm no size 0 either and most days I struggle with being okay with my weight so it's nice to have a role model that's not going to conform to the size 0 that most of Hollywood is.

I also enjoyed that in her book she talks about the less glamorous side of being famous and how she got there.  I have no real want or need to be famous all I really want is to own a business that sells baked goods that I have made but when you look at someone successful sometimes all you can think about is how they are successful and then you get a bit jealous (and when I say you I mean me).  You (I) tend to forget that they probably did go through a few hardships before they got to where they wanted to be.  I needed Mindy's book to do that for me.  A lot of times, especially recently, I've been pretty down on myself because I feel like I'm never going to get to where I want but after finishing Mindy's book I see that the road to success isn't all hearts and rainbows.  There are going to be times where I feel like giving up.

So to conclude, Mindy's book really gave me a confidence boost but further than that it's a great read and she's a pretty funny gal so I'd recommend it to anyone.

Happy Wednesday!

Father's Day

If you've read my family post you know approximately three things about me:

1. I love my family,
2. My dad passed away in 2005,
3. I'm a total sap.

If you haven't read my family post now you know those three things but to recap the second point...in 2005 my dad passed away.  We lost him in a boating accident and life has been different ever since.

But today is Father's Day and what better way to honor my dad than a blog post?  I'm sure he'd be proud...actually he probably wouldn't even know how to access my blog with out a well drawn or written set of instructions.

So here we go, when my dad first passed I thought that the best days to be sad about how he wasn't with us anymore were holidays, especially his birthday and Father's Day and the anniversary of the accident.  Well, I don't really think that anymore.  I miss my dad everyday but I try not to be too sad about it because I don't think he would want that.  And usually the days that I miss him the most are random days that may or may not be close to his birthday or Father's Day or any thing of the sort.  But mostly I miss him everyday.

So here's a little bit about the man that contributed to the reason I'm here, John Jay Bodnar.

He was the hardest worker I've ever known.
He worked all the time when I was a kid, I mean he did own a business but I always kind of hated how often he worked.  I'm glad he did though because I have a pretty good work ethic and I attribute that to him.

But he also made time for his family. 
 I fondly remember patiently waiting after returning from church on Sunday mornings for dad to get home in the summer time because we always went out on the boat and my mom would make the best lunch meat sandwiches with what I thought of as "special cheese", it was Munster but it wasn't something we always had in the house.  When we got older we got a pool and the boat outings weren't as frequent but he still came home early and we would hang out by the pool.

He's the reason I love roller coasters.
When I go to an amusement park I head straight for the roller coasters and it's all because of my dad.  I remember going to Cedar Point when I was like 10 and being super upset because I wasn't tall enough for the "big" coasters yet.  I then proceeded to crack my head open and I couldn't ride any rides.  But now I ride them all, my first trip to an amusement park after he passed I bawled my eyes out because he wasn't there to ride them with me but I did take my first ride on the Phantom's Revenge at Kennywood with him and I'll always cherish that.

He was always there to help me with school.
Now my dad wasn't my go to person for homework help (that was mom) but when I had a project that required building something he was there.  I remember him basically building a bird house for me in 2nd grade, I think I hammered in one nail but that was about it.  And in 8th grade he and my mom helped me build a roller coaster at the last minute for science class, I got a 100%.

I could go on and on, I have so many memories of him teaching me things or doing things with me that this post could go on for days but I have to stop somewhere so here I'll recap some of my fondest.

He taught me how to ride a bike with no training wheels.
I'm sure it was a painful process because I was very adamant that I needed to be taught right at that moment because my older friends didn't have training wheels.

We used to ride bikes together on the trail.
To this day when I go there (which isn't often)  I stop for an extra minute at a place that we stopped for a break.  It wasn't meaningful then but it is now.

We used to eat oreos and watch cartoons together.
 My mom always hated the cartoons we watched but that's what probably made it so fun to do.

He taught me how to drive a 4-wheeler.
Then I wrecked and stopped riding 4-wheelers.

He used to put me to sleep on the lawn mower.  
Now I don't really remember this but there are enough pictures and videos for me to know that this happened.

I think I'll stop there.  In short,  I have a lot of memories of my dad that I'll cherish forever. And now as I'm making new memories I sometimes hate that he's not here but I always remind myself that at least I had him for a little while.

I love and miss you Dad!

So to all those dads out there, including my own, Happy Father's Day!

The Weekend is Almost Here!

Hey all, I wanted to shoot you a heads up that Blue-Eyed Baker won't be happening this week because...

I started a new job!

Okay, so it's not that great, but it pays well.  It's just a babysitting gig for a family with 2 little girls that are sometimes adorable and sometimes not.  I won't lie and say they're angels because most kids are not angels. It has been a loooong week.  I've watched them all week 7 am to 3:30 pm and I've still got one day left. Thankfully however, there's another girl that I'm going to alternate with so we don't have to babysit all 5 days of the week.  It's a little much.

Plus I have these classes that these professors are giving a ton of work for.  Sometimes it seems like a little too much work.  Like my marketing professor gives us like 8-10 assignments due over the course of a week.  That's a little excessive but I need the class so I can complain and complain and complain but I still have to do the work.  Whatevs.

But the weekend is almost here, after one more day of babysitting I'm home free.  I can sleep in Saturday morning and do whatever I want (probably homework, meh).  And next week I don't have to babysit so I will definitely be baking.

Welp, Happy Thursday!

Summer Bloggin'

If you haven't noticed I haven't been blogging.  Summer time has proved to be a really bad time to blog, for me.  I'll gladly blame it on lack of time and motivation and things to blog about.  You can clearly see that it is Monday but this is not a "Military Monday" post.  Right now, there's just not too much going on with the whole Navy thing.  Kyle is patiently waiting to hear back from whomever he needs to hear back from and I'm just trying to enjoy our last non-Navy summer together.

So back to the topic at hand, summer blogging is hard.  I have three online classes simultaneously running right now, I have a 7:30 am - 3:30 pm baby sitting gig going on and after watching Nick Jr. for 8 hrs straight and then coming home to bull-shit for three hours about business crap I just don't feel like blogging especially when I'm half way through a book and the sun is shining.  It's been pretty rainy here for awhile.  Plus, I've got friends and family that wants to do stuff with me so sue me if I don't blog too often.

I guess my point is that my blogging habits until otherwise said are going to be very sporadic.  I'm going to try to do a Blue-Eyed Baker every week because I plan on baking a lot and I'll try to keep you all updated on the Kyle Joins the Navy Saga.  Also, if I read or see or hear something really great or really terrible I'll let you know about that too.  And if I'm feeling nostalgic or sad you'll get a whole heaping pile of sappiness that will probably keep you satiated for a few weeks (hint, hint Father's Day is on Sunday).

But until I see you again, Happy Monday and Happy Summer!

Blue-Eyed Baker: Gobs

Yesterday my little brother asked for Oreos and my mom said no, mostly because she was going to a smaller grocery store and they charge like $5 for a package of Oreos.  He got upset and then she told him to ask me to make him some.  I didn't want to try to make Oreos and I was in a cookie making mood so I made gobs (or whoopie pies) instead.  They kind of look like Oreos.

I stole the recipe from Brown-Eyed Baker because it was the first one to pop up and like I've said before all of her recipes that I've tried so far have been really, really good.

So here you go,

Gobs
Yield: 18-24 Gobs

What You'll Need:

Cakes:
2 c. Flour
1/2 c. Cocoa Powder
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1/4 tsp. Salt
1 c. Sugar
1/2 c. Shortening
1 Egg + 1 Egg Yolk
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 c. Buttermilk (I used 2% milk because I had no buttermilk and didn't feel like buying it for just one recipe)
1 c. Hot Water

Frosting:
1 1/4 c. Shortening
1 1/2 c. Marshmallow Fluff
1 c. Powdered Sugar
1 Tbsp. Vanilla

How To:

For the Cakes:

1. Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Sift together flour, salt, cocoa powder and baking soda.  Set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, cream together the shortening and sugar.
4. Add the egg, yolk and vanilla to the sugar-shortening mixture and mix until incorporated.
5. Alternating the flour mixture and liquids, add 1/3 flour mix, milk, 1/3 flour, water, 1/3 flour.  Mix well (3-5 minutes).
6. Here's the tricky part, originally the recipe I used said to drop about a tablespoon and a half of the batter/dough/whatever onto parchment paper lined cookie sheets.  I did that and it didn't turn out well.  If you look at Brown-Eyed Baker you'll see that her cakes are nice and fluffy, mine were not, maybe because of the substitution of the 2%, maybe not.  Anyhow, I didn't like how my cakes looked so I filled cupcake tins about a quarter of the way full and when I took them out of the oven I smushed down the tops.  That method worked well for me and I liked the outcome.  They also make whoopie-pie pans so if you have those I'm sure you can use them. So, if you use the Brown-Eyed Baker's method bake time is 5-6 minutes, if you use the cupcake tin method bake time is 7-8 minutes.  If you use whoopie-pie pans, well good luck!

For the Frosting:

1. Add the marshmallow fluff and shortening to your bowl, mix well.
2. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla. Mix on high for about 3-5 minutes.  Your final result will be a nice and fluffy frosting.

Finally, assemble the gobs as you would a sandwich, cake-frosting-cake.  I used an icing spatula but you can really use whatever tool you want.

My results,

I have yet to perfect my dessert photo-taking skills.

That's all for today! Happy Friday and Happy Baking!

Kennywood!

Today we're going to Kennywood.  I'm 22-years-old and I've been there at least 75 times but I'm still excited.  Kennywood rarely changes but it never gets old.


This is also one of the things I put on my summer to do list so I can check something off.  It should also be a pretty nice trip because it's not supposed to be too hot today.   I really can't tell you how excited I am.

Potato Patch fries, funnel cakes, Jack Rabbit and Phantom Here I Come!
That is all, Happy Tuesday!

Military Monday: For now I know more than you

Today I want to gloat about how I know more than Kyle.  I got upset yesterday because we were talking about the future and whenever anything about my/our future plans come up I get upset.  I've learned that this is just how it's going to be for a while.

Anywho, so we were talking about future plans and Kyle said that he probably wouldn't be assigned anywhere for like 2.5 years or so because of training and therefore I would have like 2.5 years to do what I want in PA because I "don't get to go with him through training".  WRONG! He was wrong.  I never get to say that but today I do.  He was partially correct in that I don't get to live with him while he's at OCS but I can live with him through the various stages of flight school which I am still unsure about.  When say unsure about I mean I don't know about all the various stages of flight training but I do know I can live with him if I so choose and that makes me happy because A. we can live together and B. he was wrong and I got to tell him that.  So for the time being I can say that I know more than him.  Ha-ha!  Thank goodness for small victories.

In other news, I don't think I'm going back to the bakery job.  My boss basically called me an idiot multiple times on Friday and other times earlier in the week and I'm not going to put up with that.  I don't think she's going to stop either or that this is some kind of new hire ritual because she constantly puts down the other girl that works there and she's been there for 8 months.  I don't know how you can put up with a person like that for so long but more power to you.  I however am not going to deal with her because I don't have to and I'm not going to let her ruin my enjoyment of baking by her verbally abusing me.  So I'm back on the job hunt hopefully it's short lived.

Happy Monday!