I updated my résumé over my Christmas vacation. (Did you know it is spelled "résumé" not "resumé?" At least that is what spell-checker is telling me. I always thought it was the latter....) Anyway, not the most enjoyable goal-completion on my list, but I made myself do it.
I don't think I can write an interesting blog about updating my résumé so I'll leave you with the only half-way funny résumé cartoon I could find... At least it is an ode to my favorite show "The Office."
I actually first made this recipe for a Nebraska football game this fall and I've made it quite a few times since. I just kept forgetting to take a picture. I finally remembered to get a shot of the ingredients when I made it for our Super Bowl party this past weekend and I just have to share the recipe with you! This dip is A-MAZ-ING. It is so addicting, we have started referring to it as "crack dip" around the Goertzen household.
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| Buffalo Chicken Dip |
| Ingredients: |
| - Approx. 2.5 lbs of cooked chicken breast (shredded) |
| - 16 oz. cream cheese |
| - 1 cup ranch dressing |
| - 3/4 cup Frank's Buffalo Wing Sauce (only use Frank's!) |
| - 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese |
| Combine cream cheese, ranch dressing, and wing sauce in mixer. Add chicken and stir until chicken is coated. Spread in 9x13 pan and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes until bubbly. Cover with shredded cheese and bake an additional 10 minutes. (I have also just thrown this all together in the crock pot after mixing the ingredients all together to keep it warm for parties.) Serve with tortilla chips. Enjoy! |
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Here's a quick picture of our Super Bowl party...we crammed 19 people into our living room!
And if you take a picture on my camera at said Super Bowl party without me knowing about it, then you deserve to have it posted on my blog. You're welcome Paul.
Whew!
We made it through week 4 of the Hundred Pushup Challenge and, boy, was it a tough one. We did our week 4 exhaustion test Thursday evening. Here's the update on how we're doing!
| Trevor: | |
| Initial Test: | 39 |
| Week 2 Exhaustion Test: | 39** |
| Week 4 Exhaustion Test: | 58 |
| Steph: | |
| Initial Test: | 2 . . . HA! |
| Week 2 Exhaustion Test: | 16 |
| Week 4 Exhaustion Test: | 31 |
**Since Trevor could do 39 pushups on his initial test, it told him not to start the program until week 3, therefore he didn't actually repeat the week 2 exhaustion test.
So we definitely have improved! To be honest, I can see how Trevor is getting closer to being able to do 100, but I just don't see how in just two more weeks I should be able to go from doing 31 pushups to 100! Seriously!??! Right now, I'm just trying to focus on the current week and not look ahead. I just keep telling myself that I'm still staying on track with the training program. I had to be able to do 31 pushups to move onto week 5 and that's what I did. Thirty-one on the dot.
I will have to say that I am impressed with how quickly your body adjusts and improves. I like having a training program. I would have given up long ago if I had just set out to do 100 pushups haphazardly. I probably would have quit on day 1 when I could only do two!! The program gives me affirmation that I'm improving at a reasonable rate.
So has anyone else gotten motivated to jump on the band-wagon with us?!?
When I'm out getting stuff for my own stockpile, I often go ahead and buy some things that are free with the intention of being able to donate them to charity.
A family at church asked for donations for a family that they knew from Africa that had just recently moved to the Kansas City area. They needed some help getting started with some of the basics. I was more than happy to donate a lot of my freebies to them!
I went through my stockpile and was able to donate the following:
| 2 packages of diapers |
| 9 children's bar soaps |
| 2 packages of baby wipes |
| 2 bottles of baby wash |
| More feminine supplies than I care to list…. |
| 1 bottle of baby lotion |
| 2 women's razors |
| 3 bottles of shaving gel |
| 6 bottles of shampoo/conditioner |
| 4 bottles of body wash |
| 3 deodorants |
| 2 bottles of lotion |
| 1 bottle of hand sanitizer |
| 9 toothbrushes |
| 9 tubes of toothpaste |
| 1 dental floss |
| 2 children's mouth washes |
| 1 bottle of Children's Tylenol |
| 3 packages of Band-Aids |
| 2 bottles of Excedrin |
| 1 bottle of Robitussin cough medicine |
| 1 Lysol Freshmatic |
| 1 box of Q-Tips |
| 8 bars of soap |
| 1 spray bottle multi-purpose cleaner |
| 2 bottles odor neutralizer |
| 1 bottle salad dressing |
| 2 packages of Easy Mac |
| 2 jars of Peanut Butter |
| 1 package of Russel Stover Chocolates |
| 1 can of soup |
I love that I can save money for our family and help someone else out at the same time!
Our debt-load is once again a little lighter! (I didn't have a picture to go with this post, so I had to put something on here. I never like reading blogs without pictures, so I just can't post without SOME sort of picture.)
When we went up to Nebraska for the New Year, we surprised Dad with a repayment of our 0.00% APR student loan. I think Dad went ahead and paid over-and-above the amount each of us girls got for college during the semester I went to Greece. I was determined to pay Dad back when we began our Dave Ramsey plan, but Dad told us to enjoy the 0% interest and get our other loans paid off first. We told Dad we were going to pay him back after off our car was paid off in February 2009, but as you can see we did this ahead of schedule in October 2008! We knocked out one more student loan in November and then made it our goal to pay back Dad's loan in December.
We were really excited at the end of the year to look back on our progress in 2008. I hesitate to share the actual numbers since it's kind of personal, but I always am motivated by reading other people's accomplishments when paying off debts. Maybe this will motivate you that it can be done! Just an FYI - none of this was credit card debt - just student loans, a car loan, and a 0% mattress loan. I always feel like I have to preface that we didn't do anything irresponsible...we just went to a private college! We began the Dave Ramsey plan in January of 2007. You can tell we got a little bit more serious in 2008! Here are the stats of our debt payoff (not including mortgage). Yes, I did pull these amounts from an Excel spreadsheet - I am a true accountant!:
| Amount of Debt Paid Off in 2008: | $22,297.44 |
| Amount of Debt Paid Off in 2007: | $15,833.27 |
| Total Loans Paid Off Since We Started | $38,130.71 |
I can't believe we paid off that much money in two years! It feels like you are getting nowhere at first, but once you get the debt snowball going, it really does pick up speed!
I lied. I am going to post some pictures. I'll leave you with a few pictures of Trevor and I during our semester in Greece.
(Side note- These pictures aren't from my camera. I did not even have a digital camera in Greece in 2003. Actually, only a couple people had digital cameras at that time. That makes me feel so old for some reason. I can just hear my kids saying some day, "You didn't EVEN have a digital camera! Wow, you're really OLD! How did you take pictures? What is this stuff you call 'film'?")
In front of the Parthenon
Right after our Engagement...
On this Island....
During this Sunset!
I think it was so TOTALLY worth having some loans for this experience....
Thanks Dad!
My arms are shaking as I type this.
Trevor and I are currently on week 3 of the Hundred Pushup Challenge and we just finished up our sets for the day. I thought I'd give you a little update on how we're doing so far!
| Trevor: | |
| Initial Test: | 39 |
| Week 2 Exhaustion Test: | 39** |
| Steph: | |
| Initial Test: | 2 . . . HA! |
| Week 2 Exhaustion Test: | 16 |
**Since Trevor could do 39 pushups on his initial test, it told him not to start the program until week 3, therefore he didn't actually start the program with me until week 3 and he didn't repeat the week 2 exhaustion test.
So even someone as pitiful as me can improve!! Sixteen still feels a long way from 100, but it's still quite an accomplishment considering I could barely eek out two on the first day.
My original plan was to do "girly pushups." You know, the pushups that you do on your knees that eliminate about half of your body weight? But when I did my initial test, I could do 25 pushups and the program told me not to start the training until week 3. So that gave me the motivation to see if I could do regular pushups. I will be SO impressed if I can actually do 100 REAL pushups!
Stay tuned to see how we do....
It's been a busy last couple of weeks so I haven't gotten around to posting the pictures from Christmas yet. So here goes:
Allie had lots of fun opening presents!
She really enjoyed doing "check-ups" on everyone with the doctor kit that we got her.
Friday after Christmas was very warm for Kansas. When we were out for a walk, Dee Ann commented that it felt like there could be a tornado. Lo and behold, that night we woke up to what sure sounded like a tornado. We all came out of our rooms wondering what was happening and headed downstairs in a hurry! We found out later that it was actually a microburst ahead of the storm front with 80 mph winds.
Trevor's parents had quite a few shingles ripped off of their house and the school next door had it's roof ripped off. Only in Kansas could it thunderstorm one day and snow the next!
On Saturday we went to Trevor's Uncle Dave & Aunt Deb's for a Kraft Christmas get-together. We of course had to get a picture of all the great-grandkids!
Do you know how hard it is to get 7 kids this young to sit in their chairs and take a picture? Here's a little video of the chaos. I think it's almost funnier to listen to the adults' attempts to get the kids to sit still and look at the camera!
All the Kraft grandkids...
....plus spouses.
All the Aunts & Uncles....
Piercen...
The newest addition, Nick....
It is so nice to get together with Trevor's family since I didn't grow up with that many cousins living near me. Everyone has so much fun together!
For New Year's we went up to Nebraska to hang out with Mom, Dad, Kim, Justin and the girls. We had a great time at the church New Year's Eve party and watching Nebraska win their bowl game!
We gave the girls their Christmas presents too. Somehow the only picture I took of the whole time in Nebraska is of Victoria playing with her tub toy we got her. It's kind of like a Mr. Potato head for the tub- there are lots of pieces to make silly faces that stick to the tile. I even had a lot of fun making faces with her!
Here's Victoria with the face she had me make of her. Do you see a resemblance?
We had a great Christmas and I hope you did too!
