Zucchini Bread

I don't like zucchini, but I love zucchini bread.  I made 4 loaves last week when someone gave me a HUGE zucchini from their garden.  It is so moist and yummy.

Here's the recipe I use:

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 1/4 cups white sugar
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups grated zucchini
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Grease and flour two 8 x 4 inch pans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl.
3. Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well. Stir in zucchini and nuts until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pans.
4. Bake for 40 to 60 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan, and completely cool.

In case you want the nutritional info: 

Amount Per Serving Calories: 223 | Total Fat: 10g | Cholesterol: 26mg

You can freeze the extra loaves you make and they taste just as good.  I do like mine warm out of the oven with butter on it though.  Mmmm mmmm good.

A Good Read

I read "The Shack" by William Young over the weekend when I wasn't busy playing roller derby.  What a great book!  The author had a way of expressing beliefs that didn't get religious at all and made it all so simple while telling an awesome story of love and forgiveness.  I don't call myself religious but I do believe in God and Jesus.  I believe we should love each other and forgive the things we don't like about other people. 

This book told about how humans like to have control and independence which is why we try to follow rules and judge each other.  The book went on to explain that if we forget about the rules and judgement and just let Jesus live in our heart and learn to serve people, in other words not thinking of ourselves and just loving others, we will have true peace.

I know the peace the book speaks of.  I haven't always known it because I haven't always believed in God.  I made the choice to believe in Jesus and let him into my heart and ever since I have felt a peace no matter what else is happening in my life.  I have learned that living for someone other than myself really does help me feel good about myself and my life.  I am not afraid of any problems coming my way because this world is not what I am living for and I can just let the problems go to God.  I also have experienced the power of prayer.  Believe it or not but no one can convince me otherwise.  My dad is all the proof I need.  He is here today because many people were praying for him and he received a new heart the very next day after I prayed about it unselfishly with my daughter.  I asked God to give my dad a heart that was filled with His love so that my dad would be filled with His love.  I did not ask God to give him a heart so I could have my dad longer.  I just want my dad to know the peace that I know.

Back to the book, I cannot express all the awe I experienced while reading it.  I really think you should read it for yourself, even if you don't believe in God.  It is a great story regardless of your beliefs.  It will captivate your heart, mind, and soul unexpectedly I am sure.

Post Tournament Bruises

Well it was a blast!!!  We played our hearts out, learned a lot, and had a great time while doing it.  We lost our first bout to Minnesota, who then went on to place 2nd.  Congratulations to MN girls!  Our second bout was played against Brew City who won that round.  A little more bummed about that loss because we could have done better but we did fight the whole time.  Brew City has been to regionals before so more experienced and I think that's what you have to have to make it there.  Our final bout was against Arch Rival (St. Louis) and we won 169-112.  We also learned a little bit in that game too.

We went in the tournament in the #10 place in the region and came out #9 so we are ahead of where we were going in and that's all that matters.  We also had a great time at the after party and had reason to celebrate.  Our team worked very well together and everyone put their heart and soul into the games we played. 

Today I am very sore, I feel like a couple of trucks hit me, although I am sad to say I cannot name those trucks.  I wish I would have taken an extra day off work to recoup and sleep.  I have MANY bruises but no serious injuries, although my teammate Sharon Misery did hurt her knee during our second game and is probably going to be out for a while.  :( Heal fast sista! 

Overall an awesome experience and gave us a goal to aim for next season. 

Mom Guilt

I am leaving my kids for 5 whole days.  I know I will have fun and be busy but I always miss them and feel guilty for leaving them that long.  They will be in good hands with my mama but I also worry about them giving her too much trouble or something.  They never have but I still worry.  Isn't that a mom's job?  I guess if I didn't I would think I was a bad mom.  I will of course call them daily but it's not the same as being able to reach out and hug them when I want to.  My daughter doesn't help with the guilt trip when she says things like, "Don't go Mom, stay here," which she said Monday night at dinner when I explained to her that Daddy and I would be going out of town and that she would have to stay with Grandma.  Ugh!

After September I will be taking a couple of weeks off derby to spend some quality time with my kids and my husband so I can feed the guilt monster.  That monster is really roaring after this derby-packed, new job-acquiring year.  I tell myself if I wasn't in derby I would be working a second job and wouldn't see my kids any more than I do now but it only pacifies the guilt for a little while. 

While I feel the guilt, I know that being involved in derby has helped me cope with other areas of my life and has taught me how teamwork can work in a family too.  If I didn't have that outlet, I probably wouldn't be as happy and positive as I am today.  My kids would probably notice me becoming stressed and bitchy if I didn't have derby.  And they are getting older and getting involved in things for themselves which is good for them.  If I waited until my kids grow up I would be too old to play and life is about having fun and being happy right?  So I am living life and I will take the happiness derby gives me over the mom guilt any day.  I just have to learn to balance it better.  :)

Gearing Up!

I cannot believe regionals are 3 days away!!!  North Central Regionals in case you didn't know.  Thunda on the Tundra in Green Bay is the place where the top 10 teams of the WFTDA North Central Region will come together to bout it out for the top 3 spots to go to the national championship held in Chicago in November.  Friday the first bout starts off at 10 a.m. between Arch Rival (St Louis, MO) and Naptown (Indianapolis).  Then the Omaha Rollergirls will play Minnesota.  Next up will be the Mad Rollin Dolls from Madison, WI, playing North Star (Minneapolis).  Then the bouts following these will be determined by winner/loser double elimination.  The tournament continues through Sunday and promises to be action packed!

I am so excited it is all I can think about.  I have started packing and making food to take with me.  I am taking food so that I can spend my money on derby stuff instead of buying food that is probably not good for me anyway.  I wish I could take my kids with me too but they will be there in my heart.

Whatever happens there, I feel so lucky to have even been invited to play there.  Our first full WFTDA season and we can say we made it to regionals.  That is not an easy thing to do either.  We worked hard and we made it.  If we did that, then I think we can do well there too!  Let's go get 'em girls!

She Fell and Couldn't Get Up

I thought I would have to wait until my mom was 80 to worry about her falling.  But no.  Yesterday I was talking to her on the phone when I heard her say an expletive and then I heard crashing and her crying out.  Then she didn't answer me.  That worried me like never before in my life.  I was at work so I put her line on hold and on another line I called 911.  I was panicking when I started talking with them but they told me to calm down and I did and I told them what was going on.  I then saw the light on the line my mom was on go off.  Then she called me.  I put the rescue peeps on hold and switched over.  My mom said she fell and her back went out and she couldn't get up but she did not want the ambulance to come.  So I clicked back over and told them that she said she was okay and not to go to her house.  She didn't want me to get out of work and come either.  She just had me call her neighbor who went over and helped her get her pain meds and get into bed.

I worry about my mom more and more with each passing year and even more so when stuff like this happens (this is not the first time).  I had my husband check on her when he got off work and I checked on her again on my way to derby practice.  She looked like she was in pain and I told her she should go to the doctor but she said no to that.  Stubborn woman!! 

My mom has a heart condition and that makes me worry even more.  She is so important to me and I fear the day she is not here with me.  I think about my friends and my husband whose moms have passed and how lost they must feel when they think of them.  I am grateful that I still have her and I try to make the most of the time we have together.  I need to make some time to go over and visit her more often.  Move over derby, I want my mama! 

Hush Dogs

My kids have a way of helping me escape guilt and everyday life stress.

I ate terribly yesterday.  I need to stop that behavior immediately to prepare for regionals next week.  I had a breakfast at home.  Then it was someones last day working here so another person brought in donuts.  Of course I had one.  I ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch.  Then I had a cupcake later and a cookie too.  As if that wasn't bad enough, after work I had Long John Silver's for dinner.  Even though I felt guilty about that, I loved the bonding time I had with my daughter there. 

I wanted Chinese food but recently had been craving Long John Silver's.  When I asked my daughter if she wanted Chinese food for dinner she said she wanted Burger King.  So then I asked her if she wanted hush puppies.  She has had them before and LOVED them so of course she said yes.  That's how we ended up going to LJS.

Before we went to LJS (but after our discussion about dinner), I had an appointment and when we were leaving there she said, "Come on Mom, let's go get hush dogs."  I tweeted this to my social networks later because of how cute it was.  One of the comments I received was, "Maybe they just grew up."  So I am thinking of this giant hush puppy, the size of a softball.  Would they really be so tasty then?  I don't think so.  They would probably be more like taking a bite of dough rather than the crispy, buttery taste you get eating one.

My daughter said LJS was the best place to eat when we were sitting at our table.  She was so excited she got a free strawberry freeze drink with her meal.  I love the way kids make life interesting and fun.  Never a dull moment with kids' thoughts and how the little things matter more than all the guilt and big things we have to deal with in life.  To hush dogs!