Tell that to my frying pan...

I just finished watching Tangled with Mads for like the 15th time, and I'm pretty sure it is the best Disney movie ever. I just love it...love the tower, love the evil mother, love the floating lights, love the ending...I cry every time. It also has good songs and some good quotable lines so that doesn't hurt. Just sayin'.

Awesome Sauce!

Dear Sure-Jell,

I made some freezer jam this morning. A.K.A. Awesome sauce (Parks and Rec fans? No? Ok.) Well anyway, we were out. And you just can't enjoy a good PB&J sandwich without freezer jam. So I made my usual special concoction...mixed berry. While I was making the jam, I read your instructions and glanced through the recipe options provided with the pectin. I thought again what a shame it is that you scare people from making experimental jams with your threats of set-failure if one deviates even slightly from your recipe. It is so sad that most people probably heed your warnings and will therefore only ever experience boring jam...like strawberry, raspberry, apricot or blueberry. If only they knew that your plain recipes can be manipulated and transformed into jam that can only be described as awesome sauce. One day, while NOT precisely following one of your recipes, I discovered the most excellent recipe for berry jam that sets every time and is magically delicious. I have included it below, and if you feel so inclined, you may include it in your recipe collection.

Sincerely,
A girl with some seriously amazing jam on her counter.

Berry Jam (yield: 6-7 cups)

4 cups crushed mixed berries (any combo of strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries). I use frozen berries...the best ones are from walmart...you need 2-3 bags.
1 box sure jell for low sugar recipes (pink box)
3 cups sugar
1 cup water
6-7 small tupperware containers

Thaw the berries if frozen(overnight in fridge, or microwave). Crush with a potato masher. Set aside. Put sugar and sure jell in a large pot. Add 1 cup water. Stirring constantly, bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil and stir 1 minute. Remove from heat. Quickly add berries to the hot pectin mixture and stir until well mixed. Using a ladle, put jam into tupperware containers, leaving a little space at the top for expansion in the freezer. Put lids on and let sit at room temperature for 24 hours. Freeze for up to a year. Yum!

Somebody's got a case of the Mondays

I heard once that the most common day/time of the week for people to have heart attacks was monday morning...because most people would rather die than go back to work after the weekend. I don't know if that's true, but lots of people hate Mondays. I am not one of those people. Monday might be my favorite day of the week. There are several reasons why I like it. It is definitely my most productive day...I work the hardest and feel the most accomplished. It is cleaning day... I do laundry, and try to clean every room in the house. I got the idea of a "cleaning day" from one of my old college roomies (Marlyce). She blogged about her cleaning day once a few years ago and I thought it sounded good...and monday seemed like a good day for it since our house usually gets the messiest over the weekend. I must admit, I don't clean it perfectly every week, but I try...and it feels so nice to actually have most of your house clean at one time...even if it only stays clean for a couple of hours. Then I don't get so stressed out about how trashed the house gets sometimes since I know it will all get cleaned again on Monday. This also makes my weekend more enjoyable, since I don't worry about doing chores on saturday when I would rather be playing! Monday is also the day I regroup after the weekend...I recommit to all my goals (to-do lists, exercise, eat better or whatever) and basically start over. And it certainly doesn't hurt that monday night is also soup night...so dinner is really easy to plan/prepare. The list could go on, but I've got some laundry to fold! So here's to the coolest day of the week...Happy Monday!

Work it, OWN IT!

Working out is cool. It makes you feel good, look awesome and have energy (or so I've heard). Shortly after I had Madi I was talking to one of my mother-in-laws friends. She was telling me that she got married at 30 and had her 5th child at age 37. At the time, I was 28, had one child, and was SO tired I thought I would probably die of exhaustion if I had any kids past age 32. I asked her what her secret was...and I was a little surprised by what she said. Get ready for some words of wisdom...she said, "I learned that an hour of exercise every day was more important than an extra hour of sleep." Hmmm...sounds counter-intuitive to me. I sleep or sit around doing nothing when I'm tired, and exercise when I feel like I have enough energy. Apparently I've been going about this all wrong. So time for a change...

I've decided that I am going to work out. I don't hate to do it. I'm just lazy. And I am out of the habit. I have plenty of time to work out. PLENTY. Just ask my iPad. So this is me making a commitment to work out every day this week for at least 10 minutes. And to all the marathon runners and workout queens who are rolling their eyes right now --I know, 10 minutes is lame. But I've heard somewhere that when you make a goal, you should make it doable-or you won't do it. I've also heard that it takes 21 days to make a habit...so after I've made it a habit, I will increase the amount of time I spend doing it (if I feel so inclined). And hopefully by starting slow I won't kill myself --can't work out consistently if you are dead. Anyway, I am happy to announce that I have already done my 10 minutes for the day! Wahoo! I am feeling the benefits already...I feel less like an old grandma!

Since aerobics is generally my workout of choice, here is an awesome video clip of the first aerobics I ever saw...it was on KBYU or one of those channels and Mom used to try to do this in the living room when we were little. Hilarious. I feel bad for people who didn't grow up in the 80's cause it ruled. Not only did they work out, they made it look cool. If only I was confident enough to rock the leg warmers...

I'm just like you!!

New blog, new blog, la la la la la la (picture me dancing around and singing). In honor of my new blog, I'm going to need 3 new followers immediately. You three know who you are...so hurry and go click that followers button over there on the sidebar...I'll wait...(this is me waiting.........whistling......humming.....still waiting......). Thank you! Now you can stalk my every post, just like I do yours! I was getting a little jealous of your team blogging awesomeness, and last night I was getting a little sappy, listening to my latest favorite obsession...Lady A. I wanted to post a youtube video for everyone to enjoy, so I just decided to make another blog...just for occasions such as this one. Of course, I had to make that lovely header...so I pushed replay on this song...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs9X8NhQJF4

...wished youtube had a repeat button, cursed that I didn't save my header file so when the program crashed just as I was finishing it up--had to completely redo it... but 4 hours later, voila! A new blog! Oh, I maybe might have listened to this song like...42 times? Seriously, I started keeping a tally sheet at one point...it only had 13 ticks on it...but I didn't start the tally until hour 3. Hmmm...well if anyone is wondering, I have the whole song memorized, and I will be giving a free concert...all day long today. Pretty sure at some point today Jeff will say, "Cynth...can you stop singing that song?" It is awesome though.