THE List

One of my goals is to establish better self-discipline.  (Hence several aspects of the list.)  Any other books I should read?  What about any fun things I should add?  Day 3 of summer begins now. :)

2012 Summer List:

Physical:

·       Cardio 3 times a week

·       Other exercise (weights, abs, etc.) twice a week

Cleaning:

·       Monday – recycling (bi-weekly), dust, trash

·       Tuesday – laundry, wash sheets & towels

·       Wednesday – floors

·       Thursday – bathrooms

·       Friday – mow (if needed)

Reading:

·       Catching Fire

·       Mockingjay

·       Take the Stairs (Nook)

·       Life After Him (Nook – Kelsey)

·       Jude (10^th interrelated text)

House Projects (BIG):

·       Downstairs bathroom (paint & shower curtain)

·       Family room – curtains & accessories (lamps & table – paint)

·       Kitchen cabinets – paint & new hardware

·       Trim – paint

House Projects (small):

·       Hooks in walk-in closet

·       Organize kitchen pantry

·       Living room color scheme

·       Porch art work (finish)

·       Organize laundry room (shelves?)

·       Touch up teal paint

Miscellaneous:

·       Birthday/anniversary list

·       Freezer meal cooking day for fall semester

·       Learn how to use camera

·       Family favorite meal list

School:

·       Edmodo math modules

·       Arrange new room

May

Disclaimer:  today you are my soundboard of randomness.

Today was the last day of students.  Some bittersweet moments.  One of my recently favorite students gave me a hug.  She is a gem.  I told her to visit me next year.  I hope she does.

While my 5th hour was testing, I went through all my rosters and e-mailed the parents of those extra special students to thank them for raising such amazing kids.  I loved bragging on some of my kids, and in some cases, I think I was able to show some parents a wonderful side of their children.  I've already received some kind responses.  And I sigh.  Being a teaching is sometimes so rewarding.

I was told by a counselor today that she places kids with me who she knows need to be loved.  Hearing comments like that make me think that maybe, just maybe, I actually am making a difference in someone's life.  That is why I decided to get into teaching in the first place.

Tonight we're celebrating the end of an era.  The era of me teaching in the general classroom.  I think BBQ and a beverage of choice are in order.

Tomorrow I'm making breakfast for my in-service lunch buddies.  Much cooking to do tonight.

So here's to another summer.  Happy end of May!

I'm a prisoner...

...in my own home due to this creature perched right outside my door.

 I became brave for an instant and slowly opened the door so I could get a better picture.  But then its head moved, and I recoiled in fear.

 Truth be told: I love birds.  LOVE them.  But, I have had some unfortunate run-ins with said creatures as of lately (including watching the circle of life carry on as a feline snatched a baby cardinal right from under my nose.  Yes, this happened.). Plus I was am terrified that said bird will fly into my house and never be seen again OR (worse) that said bird will fly into my house and I will spend the rest of the evening attempting to shoo it out.

I quietly closed the door in response to my fear and took another picture behind the protection of the glass. 

I just want to know - what is going on?  Is there an egg under there?  Perhaps a baby bird has found a home in a nearby planter?  Maybe this bird heard about my unfortunate run-in with a feline and chose to seek revenge. 

Oh the exciting things that happen at our house.  Never a dull moment.

7 1/2...

The count-down is on. 7 1/2 school days from now, I will be free.

Free to cook.

Free to organize.

Free to paint.

Free to sleep in.

Free to grab lunch with a friend.

Free to make a day-trip to see a friend.

Free.

Oh how I long for freedom.

In the meantime, however, I'll bask in knowing that, hopefully, at least one student is feeling loved by me every day.  I certainly hope so.

Note to self:  don't act like the end of the year is near.  Keep giving it all you've got until the very last day.

So close...

Mondays

Years ago, we began a tradition of having Monday night dinner with any family that is relatively close (started with Daniel's mom, my brother, my now sister-in-law, Daniel, and I since I had a Monday night class in McPherson).

We now have dinner every Monday night (yes, every Monday night) with Daniel's sister's family.  (What's impressive is that we have only missed eating together twice in the past 20 months.  Monday night dinner is NOT something to be messed with.  It's on all our calendars indefinitely.  So you say you just had twins 4 days ago?  No biggie.  We'll be over on Monday.  What, we just spent 5 days together due to holidays?  Doesn't matter, we'll reconvene on Monday.)

It's just one of those traditions.

And we love it.

Tonight, however, we're shaking things up a bit.  It's just going to be Daniel, Cohen (eldest child of Daniel's sister), and I.

Looking forward to lots of Dan-Cohen cuddle time.  Which often looks like this:

 It's super adorbs.

So we'll miss you, B & T and company, but we're anxious to have time with just the big little guy. 

Happy Monday night!

Update:  Daniel and I did some light yard work this evening, so I was all grody.  I took a quick shower and when I came downstairs, little C and I had the following conversation:

C: Di, how was your shower?
H: It was nice, thank you.

C:  Did you stand up?

H: Yes, I did.

Love that kid.

Girlie Weekend: Part 2, Miscellaneous

Because it's Friday and my mind is mush, here are just a few snapshots of the weekend.

The guest of honor and her goodies.

 Giving the belly some love.

 Just being a helpful friend to Jazzy on her way down the slide.

 Our traditional purchase of nail polish (mine's in front...a lovely lavender).

 And the sad, sad farewells...

Happy weekend, friends!

News/Changes/Announcement/Etc.

Several weeks ago, I mentioned that I was going to give you some "big news."  Several weeks have come and gone, and I assumed everyone forgot.  Apparently, a few people remembered and are interested.  Allow me to elaborate!  And, just to make things interesting, allow my elaboration to be in the form of a timeline.

Let's get started.

March 2010: teaching job offered and accepted

May 2010:  college graduation (after only 5 short years...)

June 2010:  wedding (yipee! what a fun day!!)

August 2010:  begin teaching (thinking about those first few weeks is making me a bit nauseated...not the best mems)

August 2010-May 2011:  survive first year (check!)

August 2011:  begin second year (after a rejuvenating and reinvigorating summer)

September-November 2011:  genuinely enjoy job...enough to buy a house in the community

November 2011:  feeling restless at job, but not sure why (at this point, I'm still not admitting to myself that I'm vocationally dissatisfied)

January 2012:  finally admit (out loud!) that joy is missing from my vocation. Pray: God, please drop an opportunity in my lap.  I don't care what it is, but I can't keep doing what I'm doing.  I don't know why I'm unhappy, but something needs to change.

February 2012:  a colleague mentions the possibility of switching to special education (I'm certified in 6-12 English and 6-12 special education).  Huzzie's ear is talked off over the course of several weeks.  The powers that be are talked to regarding a potential switch.  Still no opening in the SPED department, so merely a possibility...

March-April2012 (here's where it gets exciting...so exciting that it deserves a bulleted list instead of only one sentence!)

• Spring break:  prayers that I will figure out what I dislike about my job.  Answer:  it's overstimulating ALL THE TIME and I apparently can't handle that.  It's exhausting standing in front of 30 people when only 5 are listening.  Love the planning, dislike the implementing.  Want to help the 5% who are not getting it, but must keep rolling through due to time constraints and class size.  Inability to relationally connect due to large class size.  
• Monday after spring break:  prayers that a certain teacher will dislike the idea of coming back from spring break so much that she decides to retire
• Thursday after spring break:  colleague (and friend) stops by my room to let me know that said teacher was so bummed to have to come back after spring break that she decided to retire (!!!!!)
• Friday after spring break:  e-mail from SPED principal announcing the opening
• Friday after spring break:  e-mail TO human resources declaring interest in the position
• Following Monday:  e-mail FROM human resources declaring that the job is mine (!!!!!!!!!)
• Next Tuesday:  paperwork signed, job officially mine, English department told, welcomed into SPED department

So that's my news.

I will be co-teaching 3 hours of sophomore English  with one of my favorite persons, 1 hour of reading, and 1 hour of interrelated English. To say I'm elated is an understatement.  I'm humbled by God's grace in this entire situation, and I'm convinced that next year will be better than this yer.

Long story, I know, but some of you asked. :)

There are more examples of how God is ridiculously awesome at orchestrating all the miniscule details in our lives, but this has gone on long enough.

Yay for a new chapter.  Yay for a change.  Yay for a new classroom.  Yay for teaching with a friend.  Yay for a smart board in my new room.  YAY for smaller class sizes.  Yay for administrative paperwork (you think I'm kidding...but I'm not...I love this kind of thing).  And yay for less grading.

Happiness all around.

Girlie Weekend: Part 1, The Food

So 4 of my gurlz came to my casa last weekend.  And, believe it or not, this is our 4th annual weekend!  We's getting cray-cray old.  To be honest, the idea of posting about this weekend had me mildly stressed...because it was so awesome and because I have so much to say (per the usual).  So in an effort to minimize my stress and to categorize my thoughts, I will be splitting up the weekend into several smaller (go with the Heidi definition of "smaller") posts.  Today we will begin with the second most important part of the weekend [second only to our conversation (cue: awwwww)].

Food.

Naturally.

We ate lots.  And it was all delish.  But before you go any further, you may want to visit a recap of last year's weekend in OKC. 

Welcome back.

Anywho, we began Friday eve with an assortment of appies (appetizers).  (Disclaimer: as has been pointed out in the past, I have no skill in taking pics of food.  That is fine.  I know this.  Maybe someday I'll desire to be better.  Now I only desire to eat...not learn new cam-cam skillz.) (Disclaimer #2: apparently I have few pics of the actual food, thank goodness, but I do have recipes!)

Tornadoes almost threatened our existence.  Fortunately, we have a basement (complete with Christmas trees "covered" in trash bags...) in which to take shelter.  And you know we couldn't leave the food upstairs! (PS - don't judge our basement. Thanks.)

 How cute is this little mommy!?

 We were only afraid of losing our food in the storm.  Or losing Katherine, who was still on her way to our house! 

 Thankfully it passed, Katherine made it safely to our home, and we were able to carry on with our weekend.  Friday night we enjoyed my most favorite cold meals of all time.  All time, people.  Sister-in-law Tammy graced my palette with this first, and my life has been forever changed.  Make it tonight and eat it tomorrow.  You will thank me.

Cold Chicken Pasta

Cook box of pasta, cool.

Add chopped raw veggies (onions, tomatoes, carrots, green pepper, etc.)

Marinate chicken: 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1/2 t ground ginger, 3/4 t garlic powder, 2 T honey or brown sugar, 2 T white vinegar, little bit of oil

Grill or bake chicken.  Cut and cool.  (Cold is best)

Poppy Seed Dressing: 1 1/2 cup sugar, 2 t salt, 3 T grated onion, 3 T poppy seeds, 2 t dry mustard, 2/3 cup vinegar, 2 cups salad oil (canola)

Go, and be blessed by this deliciousness.  We also had some yummy fruit and super yummy drinks (courtesy of the B-ster).

 Sunday morning brought us brunch on the patio.  So quaint.

 PS - I bought those 4 chairs from Craigslist and painted them yellow and the table was given to us by other sister-in-law Kelly and I painted the legs with some leftover sample paint. 

 We enjoyed banana bread French toast, bacon (who doesn't love bacon??), and leftover fruit salad.  Make the bread tonight, stick it in the fridge, and turn it into French toast Saturday morning.  Whoever you live with will love you forever, I promise. (The recipe is from a wonderful website called .eat8020.com/.  It may also change your life. I'm all about life change...or maybe I read too much Pioneer Woman and her dramatic ways have rubbed off on me...or maybe I'm just naturally dramatic...don't respond to that...especially if you hate ellipses.............)

Banana Bread French Toast

Serves 8

BREAD

4 ripe bananas, mashed

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup white sugar

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

2 tsp butter, softened

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 egg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Pour batter evenly into two bread pans (lies - it only makes one pan, unless I'm royally screwing something up) that have been prepared lightly with cooking spray.

Bake for 40-45 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool slightly, then gently remove from pans and cool fully on a wire rack.

FRENCH TOAST

3 egg whites

1 whole egg

2 Tbsp skim milk

3 Tbsp orange juice

1 tsp vanilla extract

Whisk all ingredients in a large shallow dish.

Cut each loaf of bread into 8 even 1" slices. Preheat a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Soak banana bread slices, two at a time, in batter for one minute, flipping halfway through soaking. Place slices onto skillet and cook for ~3 minutes each side, until golden brown.

Serve lightly dusted with powdered sugar or with maple syrup.

Nutrition Info per 2 slices: 196 calories, 2 g fat, 6 g protein, 39 g carbohydrates, 2.5 g fiber

And it's healthy!!

After a wonderful shopping trip, we came home for a little baby shower. :)  And we had more appies and zerts.

 And we got Sonic happy hour drinks and poured them in fun glasses.  I'm telling you, hosting a shower with only 5 people is the best thing ever. 

 Treats from Billy Vanilly in T-town.  We each picked out our own fava flaves.  How fun is that!?

 After dinner out (no pics, super sorry), we finished our whirlwind weekend with brunch on Sunday. 

 And we ate, dare I say, the most delectable quiche I have ever had.  It was truly a team effort.  One of the best parts of a weekend in a home with 4 other girlies is having 4 other sets of hands to help in the kitchen.  So fun.  Final self-timer shot:

We also indulged in fruit and yogurt parfaits (as easy as it gets) and cinnamon rolls brought by Cheri (um, so yum...Cheri, I wish you would have left more).

Without further adieu, here's the recipe that's going to make you wish it were brunch-time all the time.

Quiche

½ lb. bacon
10 oz. package spinach
1 c. sour cream (I use light)
salt and pepper to taste
2 unbaked pie crusts
1 onion, minced
½ lb. diced mushrooms
2 c. diced ham
16 oz. Colby Jack or sharp cheddar cheese
4 oz. Parmesan cheese
8 eggs
1 c. half and half (I use fat-free)
1 Tbsp. parsley 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brown bacon, drain, crumble, and set aside. Saute spinach in bacon drippings. Drain. Saute onions. Add mushrooms. Stir in ham and bacon. Combine spinach, sour cream, salt, and pepper. Add meat mixture. Mix in cheese. Divide into each pie crust.

Mix eggs, half and half, and parsley. Pour over pies. Place pies in oven and bake 45-50 minutes or until tops are puffed and golden brown. Let stand 5-10 minutes. Each pie serves 8.

It rocked my world.  But what rocked my world even more was the precious time spent with the besties.  

 To be continued...