January 13, 2009 will be memorable for many people, including my roommate and several friends from church, because it was the day they went to the Celine Dion concert. For me however, it will be the day I found out about whether or not I have celiac disease.

What is celiac disease you ask? Well according to the Celiac Disease Foundation, celiac disease is “is a lifelong, digestive disorder affecting children and adults. When people with CD eat foods that contain gluten, it creates an immune-mediated toxic reaction that causes damage to the small intestine and does not allow food to be properly absorbed”. Their website also states that Celiac Disease is not a food allergy - it is an autoimmune disease. That was good to know especially since I thought it was just a food allergy to wheat. I was going to list all of the symptoms of celiac disease, but they’re kind of gross. If you want to know what they are you can go here: http://www.celiac.org/cd-symptoms.php

Now why would I be worried about whether or not I have this autoimmune disease (not food allergy!)? Well for the last couple years I’ve been having this crazy pain in my right upper rib cage. The best diagnosis I have gotten so far is from my BFF (yeah I used again. Don’t hate, hater!) Heather K. who has diagnosed me with an angry weasel stuck in my rib cage. I have been to three primary care physicians, had two x-rays of my rib cage, been to two chiropractors, had one ultrasound, and one nuclear medicine test and I still hurt every day. My current primary care physician referred me to a gastroenterologist who then tested me for the only thing I haven’t been tested for yet which was celiac disease.

Yesterday I had a voicemail from the gastroenterologist’s nurse with no specifics on whether or not I had celiac disease. This freaked me out a little…ok maybe more than a little…and I called her back but was never able to reach her. So this morning after convincing myself that I could live without gluten for the rest of my life (yeah right, who am I kidding? No more pasta?! Eek!) I called the doctor’s office back and finally got ahold of someone who informed me that I was celiac disease free! Luckily, I am not the 1 out of 133 people who have celiac disease. So I wonder if I really do have a weasel stuck in my rib cage?

Go here for some yummy gluten free recipes: http://www.glutenfreeda.com/top5.asp!!!

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This post was submitted by Heather Cobb.

January 20, 2009 will be a day not easily forgotten by anyone in the United States. It will be one of those days we will all tell our children and grandchildren about. It will be one of those days we remember exactly where we were. Yes, that’s right, it was the day that Aretha Franklin rocked out the most amazing hat I have ever seen!!!

At 9 A.M. I found out that we would all be meeting in the conference room around 11 A.M. to watch Barack Obama become the 44th President of the United States and the first ever African American President of the United States. Around 11:30 I wandered into the conference room to watch the inauguration with my fellow coworkers. Here are my top five memorable moments of the Inauguration:

5. The Supreme Court Justice messing up Obama’s swearing in. You know Obama had been memorizing and reciting that for weeks and when Chief Justice Roberts changed the wording around it totally threw Obama off. Poor guy.

4. President Obama (elect at the time) walking in looking very serious and majestic followed by Vice President Elect Joe Biden waving at everyone and looking like a complete goofball!

3. Sasha Obama not closing her eyes and looking around during the invocation. I thought, “Yes! A fellow ADDer in the White House!”

2. The classical piece “Air and Simple Gifts” arranged by John Williams and played by Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Anthony McGill, and Gabriela Montero. During the performance by BFF, Heather K., texted me and asked, “Can I get the soundtrack to this inauguration?” I’m not sure if she can, but everyone can watch it again on YouTube here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GoRIQ9cwG8

And number 1…drumroll please…

1. Aretha Franklin’s blinged out bow hat!! I want one! Maybe I can incorporate it into my going away outfit at my wedding!

I, however, did not appreciate people booing President Bush and singing, “Hey hey hey goodbye!” to him. I feel that it was very disrespectful. No matter how much we disagree with the actions a leader has taken we should still be respectful to them.

Ok, I’m getting off my soapbox now to talk about the other part of my memorable Tuesday…..POTS!

Adam, my fiancé, and I attended the Nashville Bridal fair several weeks ago and registered for any and every prize we could! So far we’ve been pretty successful. The first thing we won was a Rachel Ray cooking pot from Kohl’s. Then we got a phone call about how we had won two free vacations. Yeah, we knew there had to be a catch, which there was. We had to come listen to them attempt to sell us the world’s most perfect pots for about an hour, but we didn’t have to buy anything to win our vacations.

So Adam and I sat in a hotel conference room for an hour while someone tried to sell us and several other couples very expensive pots. We thought about buying them because we both like to cook and it would be a good investment, but we ended up walking away with our free vacations and no pots. Well, earlier this week, I received a phone call from an online bridal registry company informing me we could win an all inclusive trip to Jamaica. At times like these I defer to Adam because I’m a huge sucker. I mean, I cried in Africa when the men in the marketplace were trying to get me to buy overpriced items by telling me they hadn’t eaten in days. So what was the catch this time?

I found out a few minutes later when Adam called me and told me someone would be coming to my apartment Tuesday to cook food for us and try to sell us….you got it….POTS! And not just any pots….waterless cooking pots AKA the world’s most perfect pots (basically the same thing they were trying to sell us at the hotel). These pots can save you money, cook most foods in under half an hour (including steak and pot roast), can be used to stack cook (as in you can cook rice in one pot and put another pot with broccoli on TOP of the first and both will be cooked within 15 minutes), and anything else you ever wanted your pots to do. He cooked us dinner and I’m not going to lie…it was the best corn I have ever eaten and he didn’t use any seasonings or butter (which makes them the healthiest pots in the world too).

So yeah…Adam and I gave in and bought us some lifetime warrantied waterless cooking pots. So be warned, you will be invited by me at sometime to come to my house and be fed by a salesperson because there’s a really awesome food chopper I want which I can get as a hostess gift! I hope your Tuesday was as memorable as mine! Oh, and keep your fingers crossed that Adam and I win the Jamaica trip!

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January 27, 2009 will be remembered by me as a learning experience.

Lesson #1: QUERIES, REPORTS, AND FORMS:
Most of my Tuesday was filled with learning more than I ever wanted to know about the computer program Microsoft Access. If you have absolutely no idea what program that is you can go here for more info:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/access/default.aspx

As a research associate, Access is a pretty important part of my job, specifically the data entry portion of my job. The Access training I attended was on both Monday and Tuesday and was taught by a guy who looked like the love child of Anderson Cooper and Billy Bob Thornton. Tuesday’s portion of Access training was spent learning about creating queries, reports, and forms. So before I bore you all to death about Access let’s move on to the more important and more memorable lesson of the day.

Lesson #2: PILATES HURT. PILATES HURT A LOT!!!!
I have never done Pilates or participated in a Pilates class before. Monday night at the YMCA at 7 p.m. I walked into Studio A not sure what to expect. I soon found out that Pilates is much harder than I knew. So I didn’t actually do Pilates on Tuesday, but I felt the Pilates on Tuesday. I felt them A LOT. My abs hurt when I sat down. They hurt when I stood up. They hurt when I slouched. They hurt when I sneezed. They hurt when I laughed. By Tuesday night, Adam had to help pull me up whenever I got up off the couch. I now appreciate my abdominal muscles much more because I didn’t realize how much I used them during the day. After how much pain Pilates caused me you’re probably thinking I won’t go back, but I guess I like getting my butt kicked because I plan on going back next week. We’ll see how bad I hurt next Tuesday!

One month of memorable Tuesdays down and 11 to go! Hope your January Tuesdays have been as memorable as mine!

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Children in China

On Tuesday February 24, 2009, I adopted a Chinese orphan. Ok, I didn’t really adopt a Chinese orphan like when the Bluths adopted Anyong from Korea in Arrested Development, but I am now officially supporting an orphan from China through the Peachtree City church of Christ.

I feel very strongly about mission work in China. According to the CIA’s World Factbook, in 2008 there were 1,330,044,544 people living in China! To put that in perspective, a little over 300 million people live in the United States and about 6.5 billion people live in the whole entire world. That means that a very significant portion of the world’s population lives in one country. China. This country also is ruled by a communist government, which makes it difficult for Chinese citizens to practice Christianity.

The Peachtree City church of Christ has set up a wide variety of mission works in China. One of their largest works is helping care for orphans in China. I believe they currently have five care centers set up throughout China. They also help financially support children who are in foster care. A second work this church has set up is their medical missions work. This works focuses mainly on giving medical care to children with cleft palates and to children who need open heart surgery. They have a yearly medical mission trip that Adam and I are hoping to help out with in the near future. The church also recently had the opportunity because of the Olympics to set up the Beijing church of Christ. For more information on this church’s work in China you can go here: http://www.ptccoc.com/china.html

JCBCCC Building

So what motivated me to help sponsor an orphan in China? Like I mentioned before, I have felt very strongly about mission work in China for awhile now and I found out about the program to sponsor orphans through a friend who was my roommate at the time. She had been helping sponsor an orphan in China for awhile, so I asked her all about it. Not long after, the preacher from the Beijing church of Christ spoke at the church I attend because the church helps financially support the Chinese mission work. Seeing the pictures of all the orphans who needed help and hearing some of their stories pretty much sealed the deal for me and I decided once I could financially help out, I would.

So starting on March 15th I will have the wonderful opportunity to help out a young girl who is in 4th grade. Her father passed way from heart disease and her mother abandoned her to go to Vietnam. I will get updates on how she’s doing and can even build a relationship with her by corresponding with her through letters. I’m super excited about this opportunity and will be praying that it all goes well!

I really encourage everyone reading this to strongly consider helping out this mission work! You can co-sponsor an orphan for as little as $20 a month or fully sponsor an orphan for $35 a month. For more information you can call 678-423-4396 or contact Pat Brown at patbrown5@charter.net (she is the secretary for the China mission work).

The pictures included in this blog are pictures of the newest care center building and the orphans who are living there! Even if this is something you aren’t interested in helping out with, I really encourage you to resolve to do something this year that will help out someone in need!

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This is my friend Chrystina. She is an expert cheesecake maker. She has made cheesecakes for family, friends, weddings, and even royalty (ok…not really on the royalty, but they would enjoy them if she did!).

This is me. I am an expert at doing the robot; however, I have never made a cheesecake.

Tuesday March 10, 2009 was memorable because my friend Chrystina, the expert cheesecake maker, came to my apartment and taught me how to make Oreo cheesecake. Chrystina informed me that the Oreo cheesecake was the first cheesecake she ever made and she has never had a complaint about it. Here is the Oreo cheesecake recipe:

What you need:
1 pkg Oreo cookies
¼ cup (1/2 stick) butter or margarine, melted
4 pkg. (8 oz each) PHILADELHPIA cream cheese, softened (I was told by the cheesecake expert that it does make a difference which cream cheese you use. You must use PHILADELPHIA cream cheese if you want a good cheesecake. MUST.)
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup sour cream
4 eggs

Directions:
Heat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
Line 13×9 inch pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over sides. (We used a springform pan and did not put foil in it.) Process 30 cookies in food processor until finely ground (Chrystina did this for me before she came over.) Add butter; mix well. Press onto bottom of pan.

Beat cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla in large bowl with mixer until well blended. Add sour cream; mix well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each. Chop remaining cookies; stir 1-1/2 cups into batter. Pour over crust; top with remaining chopped cookies.

Bake 45 min or until center is almost set. Cool completely. Refrigerate 4 hours. Use foil handles to lift cheesecake from pan before cutting to serve (since we used a springform pan we ran a knife completely around the edge and then opened the pan).

Being the cheesecake expert she is, Chrystina also gave me some general rules one must remember when making cheesecake. They are as follows:

1. After you put the cheesecake in the oven DO NOT open the oven until it is done baking or evil flying monkeys will be set upon you.
2. Bake the cheesecake 5 minutes less than the directions say (i.e. 40 instead of 45 min for above recipe).
3. Let the cheesecake cool 100% before refrigerating or you’ll have the Grand Canyon of cheesecakes.
4. Cover the cheesecake but not too tightly when it’s refrigerated. If you do not cover it it’ll taste like other things in your refrigerator (i.e. almost spoiled milk, pickles, old spaghetti sauce, etc.). If you cover it too tightly you will cause lots of cracks to occur in your cheesecake.

This is the cheesecake I made with assistance from Chrystina. It was very yummy!!

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So I have obviously been slacking off on my Memorable Tuesday blog writing. I haven’t been slacking off on having Memorable Tuesdays though. So here’s a brief rundown of Memorable Tuesdays #11-15.

Memorable Tuesday #11: March 17, 2009 was memorable because of a Bible study I attended with some of my new friends at the Granny White church of Christ. The Bible study was over Psalm 42 and was very enlightening. This Tuesday was also memorable because my fiancé, Adam, finally finished reading all the Harry Potter books! Now I can talk to him freely about the books without ruining any of the plots for him (like how Neville and Professor McGonagall get married)!

Memorable Tuesday #12: March 24, 2009 was memorable because I had a last minute change of plans. I was going to attend another Tuesday Bible study, but I got sick and stayed at home instead. My friend Ashley and her dog Tootie Pants came to visit my sickly self. We watched the Twilight movie because Ashley hadn’t seen it yet. We both agreed that the book was better. Adam, who was forced to watch the movie for the second time, decided he had seen the movie two times too many and that they used too much “spinny cam” in the movie. Adam did however discover a very yummy pizza place called Jet’s Pizza! When he went to pick up the pizza he sent me a text message that claimed the pizza weighed at least 15 pounds! It’s our new favorite pizza place!

Memorable Tuesday #13: March 31, 2009 was memorable because I got to celebrate the previously mentioned Chrystina’s birthday at the Cheesecake Factory (she’s a cheesecake queen!). This Tuesday was also memorable because I got to unfortunately file my first ever insurance claim for a car wreck. The previous day I caused a fender bender after dropping a Taylor Swift CD and briefly looking down to see where it had gone. Everyone was ok and I have good insurance coverage, so it all turned out ok in the end!

Memorable Tuesday #14: April 7, 2009 was a memorable Tuesday because I met new people and ate at a new restaurant (well, a new restaurant to me). I accompanied my friends Ashley and Kylie to a dinner with a couple other girls at Davinci’s Pizza. It was nice meeting new people, and the food was good. Jet’s Pizza is still my new favorite pizza place, though.

Memorable Tuesday #15: April 14, 2009 was a memorable Tuesday because my car hates me or cars in general hate me. While driving down I-65 to an appointment for work my check engine light came on and my car began to jerk (or as a friend suggested it started to “dry heave”). Luckily, I knew what the problem was since Adam and I had the same experience only a couple months ago. So, I pulled the car over and ended up right under the Demonbreun bridge. I attempted to call Adam, but he was impossible to wake up since his phone was on silent. I then called Giana, my friend/co-worker, who picked me up and took me to where Adam was. After waking Adam up and explaining to him the predicament he helped me take care of the problem. There’s obviously a leak in the car’s transmission since the exact same thing happened to me only months ago and it was because the car was low on transmission fluid. Of course, by the time we got back to my car its battery was dead because I had left the lights on (that’s such a me thing to do!). We gave my car more transmission fluid and Adam and his dad are going to try and fix the car this weekend. It’s just one more car issue to add to the many I have had in my life. Maybe my resolution for next year should be to go to car mechanic school.

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