Goodbye 2013

Goodbye to a year spent not blogging on a regular basis. Other than this minor un-success, it was a very, very good year (when I was 29, it was a very good year). Major ups led the way all year, starting with my first official "real" job as a reading support teacher. It was really the luck/blessing that led to many other great things this year. I learned so much about teaching reading through those small group encounters that I felt very ready for the next real gig that started this school year. Same school, actual classroom with students that are my charge, all day, all year. So far it has been a whirlwind. Not easy in the slightest and there were days at first where overwhelmed was just part of the norm. I am not yet to out of the overwhelmed zone, but that may always be the case; I don't love stress, but I am driven by feeling stressed. I find higher pressure makes me feel like a high performer. And I can always manufacture stress where there is none; that's just how I roll.  So we shall see what the second half of this first, first grade adventure holds for me. 

Along with professional success, there were a few personal triumphs. Most importantly, my beautiful sister made me an aunt by having the sweetest, cutest baby imaginable. No seriously, sometimes babies go through weird potato baby phase, and Sebastian was never there. He has just resided in the land of adorableness his entire infancy. He will soon be one (Jan. 20) and I can't wait to see what crazy baby shenanigans he has in store for his family. 

2013 was a banner year for my running activities. I racked up about 1000 miles in training, in no small part because of the marathon I completed in Pittsburgh this year. My time was pretty boss for my first one out. I do not foresee a full 26.2 for 2014; I am already signed up for Pitts half and the Paul Ritchey half. I am committed to making my first year of full time teaching a success, which has eaten up more of my time and energy (physical and emotional) than I could have predicted. Along with the big race, there were many other smaller races I took part in this year. My 5k time dropped considerably from 2012, and I look forward to figuring out a training plan that will continue that pattern. My sister brought the baby for Applefest and in hindsight I would have made him a "baby's first Applefest 5k" onside or something to commemorate the occasion. I won two small local races, providing me with the strange but fun feeling of running through the winners' tape (swimmers don't do that and they don't know they've own until they are done and have recovered awareness enough to check out times). No tris this year but perhaps we shall see them return with 2014. 

The husband and I reached 2 years of marital bliss and we celebrated with a grand tour of southern CA and the island of Oahu. Our catalyst for the big trip was to take part in the uber fancy wedding of my sister and her hubby. We maximized seeing people potential by hitting up L.A. to see Pete's son and then after a lovely drive up through Big Sur (scenic splendor galore!) we spent some time with Pete's daughter and her husband in there home near Palo Alto. I ran in L.A., Honolulu, Maine, and in PA; I think running in four states in a year for this home-body is quite a feat. On the HI leg of our journey, we successfully circumnavigated all of Oahu that we could without violating our rental car agreement! What a place to see. 

So here we are at the end of another year. I did not go to my 10 year high school reunion. I retired (maybe finally) from the chaotic restaurant gig. Things were good. Very good. I am very excited that more good things are ahead in 2014. 

My Classroom is Getting There

I have some more things to complete for my first ever, first grade room to be complete(ish) (I am starting to find that the classroom set up is more of an organic living thing that will change and adapt as there are 18 little bodies coming into it and being there a chunk of the day modifying it to their needs).  I am beyond excited.  Excited only touches the tip of the iceberg of feelings that I have been surfing through over the past few weeks.  I am trying my best to be not nervous (or at least to channel that nervous energy to have a great first week), however I have never felt so fretty in my whole life.  I am constantly thinking about the process of getting ready and what needs to be done and what we are going to do this year in my first grade room.  I have high hopes and am pumped to see where the year goes.  The rest of the first grade team is a superb crew who has been supportive and fun to work with in the planning and preparation stages.  I cannot wait for day one! Woo and hoo!

Happy Anniversary!

 

Whirlwind Packing Weekend

This week has kicked my butt; for that matter, the month of June has been a very busy, very stressful month.  I was satisfied with Junior Silver C's.  Then there was only one week between it and the big CA/HI vacay (seriously, two more days-where did the time go?).  So much has happened this week, lots of it good-there is plenty of good news to be shared soon.  I worked a bunch because my employers really care about me and wanted me to have ample chance to make some dollars before I departed.  In the midst of all of this was Fourth of July festivities, a deck-luncheon, a concert, meeting with friends, and fireworks.  I am taking a few minutes to just take a breath and get ready for the big trip. 

How Is the Food Co-op Cooking So Far?

So I pulled the trigger and decided that this was the summer we would try the NWPA Growers Co-op.  I had looked for a couple of years at it and just couldn't commit to the program.  Basically we are signed up to receive a small veggie share, a pound of ground beef, and a dozen eggs once a week and a whole chicken once a month.  The convenience of the pick up location was what sealed the deal for me.  We literally walk five minutes down the street, get our weekly lot and walk the five minutes home.  Sometimes we get a veggie or herb choice, but most often our share is predetermined by what has just been harvested by the farmers.  It has been a foodie-experimental summer trying to figure out what to do with our food stuffs.  Here are some things that I have tried so far:

Quiche two ways:  The eggs have been the toughest to use up.  I can do scrambled and omlettes every once in a while, but the few mornings I do eat breakfast, it's almost always oatmeal (my new thing is tossing craisins and walnuts in my rolled oats with a touch of brown sugar-delish).  I am just not in the habit of feeling satisfied if I eat eggs.  I enjoy tossing things into the eggs to liven them up, so I checked out a few quiche recipes and so far have tried a couple.  The first was a crustless mini-quiche that was baked in cupcake tins.  I added sun dried tomatoes and diced radishes and basil pesto, topped them with some shredded cheddar.  Quiche is easy in that it is basically scrambled eggs but baked.  However, I quickly have learned that eggs are basically the glue of the food world; they hold everything together.  This meant that despite my generous coating of shortening on the tins, the residual egg was not impressed with soaking in soapy water nor by my weak dishwashing rag.  It took several cleanings to get the sticky stuff out of it.  The second time I did mini-quiche, I used muffin liners.  Much easier!  My fo-real quiche was done using a pre-made pie crust and it also had sun dried tomatoes as well as ricotta cheese and spinach.  This was a pretty tasty bite. 

Rhubarb:  The rhubarb has been our surprise favorite of the summer.  I first did a rhubarb muffin recipe I found on the co-op website (they are helpful with things like what to do with your stuff).  Those did not last too long-very tasty.  The next thing was a strawberry rhubarb pie/tart.  You can see in the picture of the first version of this I folded over the extra edges of the pre-made pie crust (I have since tried making my own pie crust and still am learning how best to do that).  We ate the whole pie in under 48 hours.  A second pie has been made with my own pie crust.  Since we will be obese if we continue eating pie at this rate, we have frozen the remainders of our rhubarb to save and make at another time.

Swiss chard:  This stuff looks more intimidating than it really is.  Tastes great after being sauteed in a bit of olive oil and garlic and tossed in some pasta.  The Chubby has really benefitted from all of these veggies with thick stems; they get cut and instead of being tossed, the Chubby gets a nutritious bunny snack.  He has also gotten the collard greens we received last week, because I just wasn't in the mood to find a way to cook/eat them that isn't the traditional way of soaking them for hours in ham stock (blech).

Zucchini (green and yellow):  With the green zucchini I knew I would make zucchini bread, because delicious!  That business lasts about as long as the pies.  The yellow zucch got sliced and quartered with garlic scrapes and onions and grilled in our grilling basket.  A little garlic, salt, pepper, and olive oil were just enough to really make this mix a delightful dinner.

Radishes:  I was really hesitant on what to do with these.  From my childhood I remember my mother eating them raw while sipping on Black Velvet, which honestly sounds really sophisticated and mature (seriously, no sarcasm).  I am not sure if my taste buds are just not yet mature enough for raw radishes, but no thanks.  Even when baked in the quiches, they still had a strange bite to them that I was not super fond of.  I found a swell recipe though that I tried that mellows our the peppery bite yet maintains the radish crunchiness that I do find appealing.  First I sliced them (using my mandolin, because prepping food should involve an overly-fun yet dangerous slide-like knife) and then wrapped them in foil with a little butter, garlic pepper, and garlic salt.  The recipe said the foil pouch could be cooked on a grill, but since we were match-less this week after leaving them out in the rain, I let the pouch bake in the oven until the radishes were mostly transparent in color and were softer.  Really it was a very tasty way to eat them.

Herbs:  These have also been tough to use, mostly because I am not super familiar with how and what to use them with.  The rosemary has been tossed into the most recent batch of na'an (Indian grilled flatbread) and I cut and used a bit of the sage in the swiss chard and pasta.  A lot of herbs can be made into dressings or used on meats, but I haven't had meat since 2007 so I will let my husband experiment and attest to the herby-meat business.

Potato gnocchi:  We did not get potatoes in our veggie share; we just had them from the most recent batch of clam chowder Peter made.  Potatoes always find their way to a dark place in the house that we forget about until they start to smell and we notice more fruit flies in the house (fist waving at freaking potatoes).  Why can I not buy them one or two at a time at a reasonable price; why must we buy a bag!  Before we departed on our west coast tour, I wanted to mix up and freeze gnocchi.  It was a process to be sure!  First came boiling the potatoes then peeling the still hot spuds.  I do not have a ricer, but I figured the Kitchen Aid grinder I had would work just fine (it did).  Then mixing in flour and finally adding in the egg yolks were the final ingredients added.  Then came my least favorite part.  I never like how flour makes my hands feel and gnocchi dough needs kneaded and then rolled out with plenty of flour and made into a thin rope that is then cut and frozen.  My hands felt like a caked sticky mess when I was finished.  I have not yet cooked or tasted them to see if they hold up or not so I don't know if this adventure was a success or not.

So it has been a learning experience, some wins, some draws (next time collard greens!-you will be cooked into something).  I feel good about the challenge to do something that stretches me a bit.  Any suggestions with what to do with all of these eggs would be appreciated.  I am thinking maybe a mayo-less egg salad of some kind.  How long do hard boiled eggs last?  Oh, goodness!  

Junior Silver Cornets and Pinterest Snack Making

So many of you may have known that along with my running and teaching and waitressing, I also dabble in trombone playing and have been banding it up with the Franklin Silver Cornet Band since the summer of 2001.  When my sister-in-law, who pioneered the Junior Silver Cornet summer program eight years ago, decided it was time to vacate the spot of coordinator I jumped into the slot eagerly excited to keep it rolling again this summer.  It was a new set of organizational challenges I had not yet managed, but with much support and my keeping at it, we wrapped up our two week program successfully last evening with a concert in the park (yay for the rain hitting the road at the right time so we could do the whole program).  You read about many of our rehearsal stories/see our pics/videos over at the Junior Silver Cornets Blog. 

One of my goals that I set for myself was to be true to my commitment to eating mostly healthy foods.  I didn't explain this to parents or our students because I am not sure how exciting it would be to them (I'm not sure how many of may faithful family members who read this care about my commitment to healthy snacking either but you know it's a part of who I am or at least try to be).  I originally intended to have two days of marginally healthy snacks followed by one day of a fun, more dessert like snack (repeating that pattern again the second week).  I scoured the Pinterest for easy to make healthy kids snacks.  I needed it to be easy enough that I wasn't up all day and night between rehearsals making extravagant snacks for nearly 50 kids, but not so easy that I could have just opened a bag of veggie chips and be done.  This was a learning opportunity and I wanted to make the most of it.  Here is what we came up with for this week and how they were received by the various snackers:

  Day One:  My decorating scheme/idea was rainbow colors.  All the groups were assigned a ROY G BIV color (with pink included because I had more groups than rainbow colors).  My husband patiently helped me fold and fluff tissue paper flowers (because a year without tissue paper flowers would be unfulfilled).  For the first day's snack I was set on these rainbow fruit kebobs.  And I went with the fruits in this Pinterest picture.  Some I had seen with mandarin oranges.  We couldn't find a reasonably priced whole pineapple so I settled for the jarred in juice pineapple.  The kids were reserved the whole first day about everything (eating, playing, talking) so I wasn't surprised when they were hesitant to the snacks.  However, they were kept refrigerated for the second day and by then the kids had warmed up to the fruit idea and much of my fruit was used up.  This snack also proved great when considering gluten and peanut allergies which I had to take into consideration.  Having left over grapes throughout the program (I bought too many) gave the kids some options during their snack time as well.  Ease of assembly grade: B- (the fruit needed cleaned and cut the previous evening and then during the first part of rehearsal I had two snack assistants helping me skewer the fruit in a kebob assembly line).

Day two: Veggie Pizza.  Okay this I have seen many places and always love to eat and thought "hey, this business is just baked crescent rolls with cool stuff spread on top, easy-peasy!"  Wow, was I mistaken on that assumption!  When you show up to parties and this is there, if you like it, find the person who made it and thank them; they worked hard on it!  First, I had to master rolling out crescent rolls which were giving me fits and being sticky. While that business was baking I made the ranch topping (a hint for making it more healthy without taking away the taste, replace the mayonnaise with greek yogurt-same amount called for in the recipe-yay protein not fat) in the mixer then chopping the veggies.  I am generally opposed to buying already chopped/processed foods because I have all of the tools/ability to do it myself.  I fiddled with my mandolin slicer and spent a bunch of time on broccoli (tastes so good-why is it such a pain in the ass to chop up!).  Probably the most trying part was spreading the ranchy topping on the cooled crust.  I hate spreading stuff that won't and having to curse and fight until I'm like, "that's it, that big blob of goo can just stay there!"  I managed to push through this process (I have run a marathon, why am I fussing over spreading cream cheese!) and finished topping it.  Its reception was mixed; there was plenty of fruit left from yesterday that I saw about half the kids snacking on fruit and the other on veggie pizza.  With day three's snack being funfetti cookies the veggie pizza had no second chance at snacking glory.  It was not going to keep over the weekend so leftovers were taken to work where it received good reviews.  Ease of assembly: D

Day three: Funfetti cookies.  These were not a new venture; I have made these a few times.  They are so popular at this point that Pilsbury has created a funfetti cookie mix.  DON'T BE FOOLED-you can make the cookie with the cake mix and not spend the extra monies they want you to spend on a cookie mix.  It takes one box of mix, 2 eggs, and 1/3 cup of oil to make a batch (2 dozen or so depending on the size).  It is super easy.  Making several batches took longer and I put the funfetti icing/sprinkles on them when they were cooled, but they are not challenging and very delish.  If you are looking for an easy cookie that will be well received at parties or picnics, this is the winner.  I took several trays of cookies to rehearsal and returned with less than a dozen leftovers.  Ease of assembly: A- (it's summer; baking things brought down the grade a tad)

Day four: Corn dog muffins.  I saw the picture and thought this would be fairly kid friendly and easy.  Although hot dogs are far from healthy, these were a small piece of hot dog in a corn muffin.  Reviews for these were mixed.  There were many leftovers, however, I made many (the box of mix will say it makes 6 muffins but it really makes more like 10-nearly doubling the amount I had planned on making).  They were munched on during day five and six (easy to reheat, although the corn muffin dries out with each reheat).  There were about a dozen after the last day of rehearsal which we just pitched because they were drier than sand.  Cost-wise these were the most affordable snack.  Boxes of mix were 2 for $1 and hot dogs are always a bargain because they are made of stuff people shouldn't eat (but kids love them and who can deny them a small piece of deliciousness).  Ease of assembly: B+ (again baking in the summer equals blerg).

Day five: Peanut butter and jelly "sushi".  These may have been my favorite to actually eat and seriously, why isn't the tortilla wrap pbj more of a thing?  It is genius!  These were made at the church during rehearsal on day four and then cut and plated on day five.  We didn't do all of the classy PBJ combos listed on the pinterest link but there are some fun possibilities to try if you are adventurous and enjoy artisinal PB and J.  Assembly-wise, not super difficult but messy, especially when cutting and they should be served with plates/napkins because the jelly gets crazy!  Kids enjoyed these, especially the strawberry version (because strawberry jelly is always better than grape-clearly).  Ease of assembly: C+ (but the taste A+)

Day six:  Banana PB Vanilla Wafer sandwiches.  These were my favorite to make but not eat (I loathe bananas).  Look at how adorable they are!  They look like the world's cutest sweetest hamburger.  Since this was the third day of the week I at first wanted to go with more of a dessert-y snack, but when I found this, it was too cute to pass up trying and when the plates were clear after that snack break, I knew I clearly had made the correct choice in going with these.  They took some work and I was thankful to have two snack assembly helpers working with me to get these together.  They will take more sprinkles than you think they will.  And your fingers will get messy with banana goo and PB, but you will love making these adorable snack masterpieces.  Ease of assembly: B- (but again, all of them disappeared, so a snack worth the work).

There it is, two weeks of kid-snacking glory. So worth the work and experimentation.      

Time for a haircut

So it is getting to be that time again; time for some kind of haircut.  With the short hair thing going for almost two years now, it is hard to change up something that has been working pretty well for my face shape.

I remember taking the original Emma Watson pic to the salon

and saying "yes, that short."  I have never been super attached to my hair and I have always felt comfortable experimenting with it whether it be color or cut or even perming it within an inch of its life (how jealous I was for a while that my sister got the gorgeous curls).  I think this is the longest I have let it be just one style (minus time growing it out for a wedding).  I have really dug the easy maintenance of the pixie cut over the past couple of years.  I literally can count on one hand the times my hair has been blown dry since August 2011 (and those were the times I went to get it cut and they felt the need-I do not use my hair dryer at home).  I buy bottles of shampoo/conditioner maybe once every other month.  My hair is business ready with just a shower, a finger fluff, and a comb (I find I like doing my make up so much more than doing my hair and now have much more time to do so).  It is a breeze for running and sporty ventures; no need to find a ponytail holder to fight with that leaves my hair lumpy and sad later, no shoving strands up into a swim cap only to have bits and pieces fall out as I go anyways.  With a haircut like this I do get to the extra fluffy phase and get the itch to run to the nearest place with scissors and say, "get it back to normal!."  But I also go through this wavering thought that I might want to grow it back out to a short bob or something and that getting it cut short only prolongs that process.  This is where I am now.  It comes really quickly; those professionals aren't kidding when they say six to eight weeks max for trims and upkeep.  I try to push it but while the front looks fine, it is the sides and back that get thick and bushy beyond reason.  So I am caught, I need to go and do something, but I am torn with what to do.  Do I stay with the same cut routine or do I venture out into new hair style territory?  I have been searching for pixies with longer bangs.  This may be a reasonable compromise for now.  It has longer soft bangs in the front but is still easily cared for and styled as my super short pixie.

 

Here is one picture of what I may go with.  I found this on Pinterest (of course) but I love how long and over the forehead the bangs are but how the back is super cropped and the ears are cut out.

Something like this might be fun too, it also has really short sides and long, over the eyes bangs.  The thing with bangs is they always take extra attention and can have their crazy days too.  I did blunt bangs for a while which was fine if I was willing to wash, style, and not touch them less they become greasy hot messes by lunch.  It is a conundrum, one which I am done trying to put up pictures as I write because Blogger and it's nonsensical picture jumping is being an super d-bag (seriously, stop cutting and pasting stuff where I don't want it to go!).

 

 

24 hour Break

Yes, I let a week go by-blerg-I know.  It has been a crazy busy week with Junior Silver Cs happening (you can check out our business and happenings at our blog, Junior Band Blog).  This has been a learning experience for me.  Things are going swimmingly well and I hope next week we have a fun, musical time and that the weather controls itself so we can play at Bandstand Park.  In the absence of band stuff this weekend, there is work and date night with my husband. 

I am fretting today over the school in the fall business; it may seem silly because it is still only June and there is lots of time for school districts to see that I am worthy of a full time gig, but in my mind July is shot with the Big Trip.  I would love for schools to expedite this process so I can go to Hawaii knowing where I will be at the end of August.

This site has been floating around a few days and it is worth taking a look (Why I Need Feminism);  there are some old hat ideas (not that they are less worthy, but they are snippets we have heard before) and some really interesting thoughts and bits of information for me to chew on.  I was really caught by the guy who said he needed feminism because he's sexist and he knows it; how honest.  We all have baggage and things we need to work on and hopefully there are people out there who will be examples for us and help us despite of our social shortcomings.

23 Songs for 23 Months of Marriage

Happy 23rd month anniversary to my most wonderful husband!  I am overwhelmed by how great the past 23 months have been and look forward to each and every day that we have ahead of us.   Here are some of my/our favorite romantical songs we cannot get enough of.  

1.The Only Exception-Paramore

 2. Marry You-Bruno Mars

3.Not With Haste-Mumford and Sons

4. Brighter Than The Sun-Colbie Caillat

5. Faithful-Go West

6. Feeling Good-Michael Buble

7. Lucky- Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat 

8. Your Love is My Drug-Ke$ha

9. La Vie En Rose-Louis Armstrong (From Wall-e)

10. Something Salty, Something Sweet-River City Extension

11. I Do-Colbie Caillat

12. I See The Light-Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi (From Tangled)

13. The Nearness of You-Norah Jones

14. The Way You Look Tonight-Adam Levine

15. I Won't Say (I'm in Love)-From Hercules

16. Somewhere Only We Know-Keane

17. I Will Wait-Mumford and Sons

18. Hello, Hello-Elton John and Lady Gaga

19. Make You Feel My Love-Adele

20. For Once in My Live-Michael Buble

21. Call Me Maybe-Carley Rae Jepsen

22. Kiss is On My List-The Bird and the Bee

23. Can't Help Falling In Love-Ingrid Michaelson

 **All of the videos are courtesy of youtube**