Don't Worry, Be Happy

Ha! No Sunday night blues for me tonight! On Friday afternoon I finished school and was able to leave almost immediately and enjoy my two week break.

Don't get me wrong, this didn't just fall upon my lap because I am so awesome. I had to stay late almost every day this week frantically correcting papers, entering grades, and putting together my report cards. On Thursday night at 6:45, I let out a loud "Whoo-hoo!!" to announce to the janitors that I was finished with my report cards. Too bad they were busily vaccuuming to relish in my great accomplishment. Oh, well, I would rub it in everyone's face the next morning at school.

Second quarter is thankfully one of the best quarters, littered with a week long fall break in the beginning, Veterens' Day, Thanksgiving break, and Christmas break. It's glorious! However, I felt like I was hardly at school this quarter. It was the start of my first trimester from you-know-where: I had a few doctor appointments, a three-day ELL conference, and I took a mini-vacation to San Diego with Casey. My students would ask me if I was going to be at school for the whole week and would groan when I would start my sentence with, "Wellll...."

Poor babies. Really, I felt terrible for not being there. I've always prided myself with being present at my job. It's far more annoying to put together sub plans than to just tough out a sick day, which I hardly ever was...although, I am guilty of a rare "mental health day," but who isn't?

From my out-of-character absenteeism and no energy after coming home, my stack of papers kept creeping higher and higher. Again, it wasn't like me to let this happen. I felt like a hoarder. My stack of papers was my embarassement and humiliation, but when I looked at it, it was almost too much. Where do I even start? Spelling tests? Vocabulary assessments? Writing was totally out of the question, way to overwhelming to pour over each paper. So there they sat, hidden in the corner of my room.

Then the email came from Ms. Sandy, the school's secretary. "School Master is open to enter your grades for report cards. Report cards are due to me on Monday, January 4th." OMG. I couldn't believe it, had I slacked the entire quarter only to find out the day we return from winter break I have to have everything properly graded and entered into the system? I never want to be the one that authority has to tsk, so I told Casey the last week of school not to expect me home until late each night. There was no way I was going to come in over my break and do this like so many other teachers were planning to do.

And I just did it. I sat there with my stack that started over mid-calf, I pulled out the easy things to grade and enter, then the things that take more time, then the writing, and finally reading centers. It took ten hours over a three-day period. But that Thursday night I was extremely proud of myself. I corrected things thoroughly, I entered them properly, and I even wrote very specific, positive, and constructive comments for each of my students. (This is actually a really big deal, there are some teachers that only write one or two sentences that are very generic. I always think about each child and their home..."How do I put this delicately?" is my ultimate question for those tough cases.)

Now I am happy. I am not worried. Bobby Ferron and I will sing his song together and I will have a huge smile on my face the entire time. I will listen to the Vikings as I type this, I will stay up late to watch some trashy shows on E!, and I will wait patiently for those sweet little kicks from Baby H. That's the only thing I want to worry about.

Did I learn my lesson? Maybe...sometimes these things happen and at least I know that I have a little fire in me to get the job done right, just not the way it probably should have been done!

I Remember When...

..exactly one year ago I received a text from my brother at one in the morning, telling me that Trena was in labor and was going to have the baby around five. I quickly called my mom and dad and sister so we could pray, pray, pray for a healthy delivery. We were so excited for our "first" to be born. Not even an hour later a picture message came through on my phone and the most beautiful image of sweet Colbie swaddled in her little bassonette filled my tiny phone screen. I screamed and woke up Casey (who let's be honest, was possibly still drunk from going to the Vikings/Cardinals game). I was officially an aunt!

I love that I was one of the first people to hold her, that I got to see her second diaper changed, and that from the start I knew she was perfect! Colbie has brought so much joy to our family and we love her!

Happy first birthday to a precious little doll!

My First Sorority: Baby Baby Baby

Look, I'm writing again! I just needed to give myself that pat on the back! Now that I can openly talk about the belly that I was once hiding like a celebrity, I feel like I have so much to say but I can't think of it all!

Life has been good. Creating life has not been so easy. From week 6 until week 11, I don't even know the person that I was. I was taken over by an alien. Seriously. I don't even know how I got through the day. Let's be honest, some days I didn't without a long nap and a good cry. Despite the fact that I could sleep on command, every type of food made my skin crawl and I constantly felt like throwing up, but awesomely enough, I couldn't do it! There I would sit with that feeling always sitting in my stomach every day and every night. Then I would wake up every once in a while feeling normal and get really scared that something was wrong and pray that I would feel like poo, so at least I knew I was still pregnant. I didn't even know if that was normal, but apparently it is.

Which leads me into my next thought. Pregnancy probably has not changed since the beginning of time: most women feel icky, some do not, some babies survive, sadly, others do not. However, since my mother gave birth to me, she had to rely on faith that her little baby was okay and that God was in charge, she just had to do her best staying healthy. She had no ultrasound, no Downs Syndrome tests or Trisomy tests, and she certainly did not have the latest edition of What to Expect When You're Expecting to check to make sure it was normal when changes were taking place.

However, one thing is for certain when someone new is having a baby: you are invited into a sorority of women who have shared the same experience.

I. Am. Profoundly. Lucky.

I am surrounded and supported by the most beautiful people, and it's really not limited to those who have had children, either. Before getting pregnant, I had heard stories of other women having all sorts of issues with unsolicited advice being given, jealousy amongst family members and friends, or scary stories of pregnancy.

I can say that none of that has been true. Despite the fact that I felt super icky, which was no one's fault, just normal hormonal changes, I have had the most positive pregnancy. To start, the grandmas couldn't be more excited. To feel like we are giving a gift to two women who do so much for me and Casey is a wonderful feeling. My sister-in-law Trena and I are a month apart with our due dates. One would think that there may be animosity and spotlight stealing (as read and heard about before), however, there couldn't have been more joy. We are a support system for each other and I rely on her to answer those weird questions for me.

During this time, I have found out that a few other close friends are due with babies around the same time. Too cool. Again, another group of women to talk and laugh about those funny things going on "down there."

I have wonderful friends that have had children and are another place that I find new advice, baby items, and maternity clothes (thank you, Jenny, Heather and Trena!). Even my friends with no babies are so excited and will do anything to help. My sister-in-law, Steph, loves to talk about all the parts of pregnancy and babies and I couldn't love her more for her excitement to be an auntie!

My mom certainly did not have the internet when she was having her babies. It seems like I can google anything and someone has felt it, questioned it or experienced it. One place that was surprisingly not-so-supportive, yet set up to be the ultimate source of support for pregnant women, was the Baby Center website. It was the site that was recommended to me by a few formerly pregger ladies. It is great for getting the week-by-week information and little newsletter posts about how to eat, why we need to brush our teeth, etc. Then one day I looked at the posts that people write or ask questions about their pregnancy or raising their children. Some comments and questions were the same things that I thought about, too. I didn't leave comments, but I would read other people's opinions. Today I decided to look at my next week's baby information and looked at the current postings that others left. I was horrified to read the entries and comments that these mothers left about any subject. Many were very confrontational and accusational in their tone. It was horrifying to read! I even read some of them to Casey, who just shook his head. Yikes!

I decided that I was too lucky of a girl to get myself wrapped up in that drama. One of the first pieces of advice that was given to me was to avoid stress and stay positive. You know my sensitivity issues, so that did not seem like a place for me to get involved. I would take the important information that the site gave me and call up the women in my life, who I knew would give me a loving and supportive answer to my question when I had one. Some answers a book or a website can't give me, sometimes I just need a good friend, a sister, or a mother to reassure me that everything will be okay and if it's not, they will still be there, too. I wouldn't call that place a support system, what I have is a support system...the most rock solid, loving, supportive system a girl could have. You all make me say, "Yay for babies!"

A Dinner so Easy, a Caveman Could Do It

Up until about a year and half ago, I was not into cooking. But my mom told me a little piece of advice and it's stuck with me. I will let you in on her golden nugget because it obviously worked well for her: If you always have a good dinner waiting for your husband when he comes home from work, maybe he'll agree to let you stay at home all the time! In January, my mom just retired from working at Alexandria Technical College for about thirty years, so we can see how well this theory really worked.

However, I think cooking takes a little push from a few directions. My mom is an awesome cook, we had a family every dinner every night and still continue to have them when I am home. She made us eat all kinds of food and was definitely not a short order cook. If it was in front of us, we ate it. I thank her for making me open to all kinds of food, I am definitely NOT a picky eater. That is one thing I love about myself; have me over for dinner and I'll eat whatever you cook. I may not always like everything, but I'll always eat it. I can say the same for my sister and brother, there's not much we won't eat or at least try.

My other push came from my sister-in-law, Trena. Talk about an awesome cook! I love visiting their house; she has containers filled with yummy food that I gorge myself on. Trena loves cooking and baking and I love enjoying the things that she creates. She has always wanted me to get into cooking, too, but for many years I just couldn't get excited about it.

The final influence came from my other sister-in-law, Steph. When this girl got married and received all her kitchen gadgets and beautiful serving ware, she was pumping out the most amazing three-course meals! Her husband commented to us when she was busy making dinner that he thought she was such a good cook and everything she made was awesome. (I don't know if he relayed that information to you, Steph!)

After seeing the starry look in Tim's eyes talking about Steph's cooking, I decided that perhaps I needed to step up my game if I was going to keep Casey happy. I can't even remember what we ate before I started really cooking...turkey burgers? Spaghetti? Toast? Cereal? Salad? I'm seriously drawing a blank.

Last summer is when I really started cooking. I took down the 6 cookbooks that were given to me by Trena and my mom and made my list. I planned out 5 meals for the week and had a lot of crazy things that I needed to buy. $90 later, I was walking out a little stunned with the cost of some of these items. The spices, the fresh produce, the oils, the vinegars, etc. However, after being a "pro cooker" as I like to call myself, I found out that many of those things are only bought a few times during the year, not all at once!

It became a fun thing to surprise Casey with a new recipe each night he came home from work. He looked forward to coming home and would call me every time he left and asked what I was making. It would be waiting, piping hot when he walked through the door. Stuffed peppers, portobello mushroom burgers, baked ziti, and maybe a turkey burger (some food is always so good!).

At Christmas 2007, Trena gave me the Eat Clean Diet and the cookbook to go with it. Very enlightening book with lots of information on food and the kinds of food we should be eating. It made me re-think the way I was cooking and although I don't follow the book religiously, I am a lot more conscientious about the foods that I do eat. Tosca Reno would probably tsk, tsk some of my eating habits, but what's the fun in food, then?! Then this year at Christmas, my mom bought me a subscription to the Clean Eating Magazine (with a little push from Trena). It is awesome! It is filled with tons of recipes and every one is healthy and has lots of nutrients, fiber, and protein. It's food for all kinds of eaters. I have made meat and potatoes, pizza, potato and egg salads, pasta, desserts, and all kinds of interesting concoctions of food. The best part is that the recipes are pretty easy, fairly inexpensive, and totally delicious and nutritious. I highly recommend the magazine to anyone that enjoys healthy cooking.

Tonight I made something VERY yummy and it was really easy and there are lots of leftovers--wait, I just looked in the fridge, Casey must have dipped into it for another helping--I mean some leftovers! It's from the Eat Clean Diet Cookbook and it's called Wild Rice Summer Salad.

Here's how you make it:

In a sauce pan cook 1 cup of wild rice. (Basically boil 2 c. of water, then add wild rice, cover and simmer for about a half an hour or until cooked, drain)

Cube 2 chicken or turkey breasts and cook in a little olive oil, salt and pepper in a pan.

Mix in a big bowl:

1 bunch of green onions chopped

1/2 c. cooked endamame (I just heated up the frozen kind.)

2/3 c. no salt added sweet corn

2 or 3 Roma tomatoes chopped and seeded

Then add the chicken and wild rice. Add either fresh or dried tarragon and basil--I do a few shakes of each and mix.

For the dressing mix and whisk in a separate container:

1/4 c. or so of light rice vinegar

1 Tbsp. or so of toasted or regular sesame oil

1 garlic clove pressed

Add the dressing and some sea salt and fresh cracked pepper. I added a little more rice vinegar bc I like mine a little more acidic, but that's just me.

Here is a picture of the leftovers:

It was so easy, in fact I talked on the phone with Stacy the entire time I was cooking it! It serves 6 and has only 202 calories per serving...so of course I had a little more. I am very full and satisfied. I just hate feeling like I want to eat more when I get done with dinner. It also gave Casey that starry look, which is always the goal! (No work, no work!)

I hope you enjoy it!

Taking the Ass out of Assertive

I just did something assertive, but it didn't make me feel empowered, I felt like the first three letters of that word. It was something that really needed to be addressed, but it didn't make it any easier.

So, glass half full side of me says, "Yea! I just got my oven fixed and now I can bake and cook things! No one's hurt or dead and I am still on summer vacation!"

The glass half empty person says, "That shouldn't have been a big mess like it was. It was a simple thing to get fixed and it wasted way too much of my time and energy."

I will back up a month, if you remember a previous post, my poor oven wasn't working and after my exploding grill, I put my foot down to get the darn thing fixed! I went on the internet and Googled appliance repair+Chandler, AZ. I found several companies in the area that seemed legit and called them all the next day. I found one that I thought would be a good deal and they were very friendly on the phone. I forgave them when they lost my appointment and was able to get over it when the repairman came the last fifteen minutes of the four hour window they gave me. It wasn't their fault when the cost of the repair was much more than we anticipated.

But when I was scheduling the appointment to get my oven fixed, this is where I felt I was getting jerked around. I called them and was told they would call me back, which they never did. When I called them the next day, they apologized for not calling, but said they would call me back in fifteen minutes. I'm sure it comes to no surprise when they didn't call. Six hours later, I called them, and they informed me they lost my invoice so they didn't know what I needed fixed. It was quite frustrating, because I felt roped into using their business, I had invested $89 for the repairman to come out, which would also go towards the cost of the repair. I let the owner know that I what I had been through, and he quickly put my appointment through and found a part close by so they could get their sooner. I appreciated the haste in which they were working, but had a feeling that it wasn't going to end well.

The repairman was supposed to come today between 1 and 4. I got up really early to work out, I quickly ran my errands, and came home to clean my house, especially the kitchen. I quickly took a shower and got ready and at 1:05 I was ready for him to come. I waited, and waited...and waited. Finally, at 3:45, I gave the company a call, because maybe I had written down the wrong date. But it was the right date and the repairman was running 30 minutes behind. I said that it would have been nice to get a phone call letting me know, since I had been waiting for three hours. He responded in a sarcastic way, saying, "Yeah, I guess he shoulda."

I hung up the phone frustrated and upset. Casey said that I should call back and let them know I was disappointed with their business and maybe get some sort of discount. I completely agreed and hung up the phone with him ready to give them a call.

My assertive paralysis set in right away. What do I say? How do I say it? How would I want someone to talk to me with the same complaint? How do I let them know I'm frustrated? How do get my point across without coming across as being a you-know-what? Is my argument valid? What could they say to me that would cancel out my complaint?

As a teacher, calling parents for negative reasons invokes the same paralysis. Most of the time, it works out fine and parents are very supportive, but sometimes it can turn into a heated conversation, where I end up putting out the flames with my submissive and nonconfrontational personality. Sometimes, it's just not worth an argument or a bad rapport with a parent, because then for sure we will go nowhere with their child.

This situation seemed like I should be able to make a valid point. I rehearsed what I was going to say (which is what I often do when I am going to call a parent) and dialed. The owner was unavailable at the time, but he called me back a few minutes later. I was friendly and asked him how we was doing. Then I let him know my disapointment with the service that we had been receiving from his company and explained my reasoning. I must have been so friendly, because he went into great detail about changing ownership and how the old manager is going through a brutal divorce, etc. Did I really need to know this information? This wasn't the direction that I needed to be going in. I'm letting him make up excuses for the way he is running his business (I felt those same emotions from making parent phone calls, many excuses...), but I needed to stand my ground. I told him that it must be a very difficult thing to go through a divorce, but his personal issues shouldn't be affecting the way he runs his business and into my home. I also let him know that I felt that paying full price would be agreeing to the service they provided. I told him I thought that after all issues we had, a discount would seem appropriate. He immediately became defensive because now we were talking money. Yet another set of hoops he would have to jump through and things he would have to review in order to give a discount.

To end all of this madness, I let him know that I was going to put a poor review on the internet, so when people are looking up his business, they will read about the things that happened to me. "Do what you need to do, I guess" is what he responded, in a very snarky way. Then I told him, that people should know about the experience I had, and as a business trying to maintain new customers, they need to re-evaluate the way they ran their company. He agreed, but I guess it was in a way to shut me up. We ended with him reviewing the issues that I had and talking it over with the other owner to decide if they can give a discount.

It's sitting funny. I felt like my arguments were valid, I wasn't mad about the price, just disappointed with the service and felt that paying full price didn't seem right. I know you are hearing it from my point of view, and in my mind it seems right, but why am I feeling so crappy? I don't like when people talk like that to me, and I know I'm hypersensitive, but should I have called? Do you think he is still thinking about it, too? Did he go home and tell his wife about the crazy woman who is practically harassing him at work? I told him about 3 times that I'm not the type of person that complains, but....

Have you ever had these same emotions? How do I get over it?

Home Again, Home Again!

You may or may not have noticed that I haven't been writing the last two weeks. This also may or may not have made your day. The first week of hiatus I have no excuse, I was just plain lazy bones magoo. However, the second week I have been traveling all over state interstates and county roads of Minnesota. And so with great excitement, I will do my Minnesota call:

She's baaaaaaaack!

Every year I like to escape the heat of Arizona and spend time with my family back in Minnesota. Sometimes it is a couple of weeks, other times it is over a month. This time it is exactly three weeks. Before I came home, Minnesota was in a bad drought, however, since my plane took off last Tuesday afternoon, the weather forecast has had rain almost every day. (The kind that the farmers like, as said by numerous people in Alexandria.)

No bother, I like the rain. These are the highlights that I have enjoyed thus far on my vacation to Minnesota:

• Staying with my in-laws, Jim and Mary.


• Driving down to the St. James/New Ulm area for my friend, Kylee's wedding with my sister.


• Spending the night in Shannon's apartment in St. Louis Park.


• Waking up early and meeting Stacy and Julie at Lake of the Isles for yoga in the park.


• Trying to convice a mentally ill, possibly drunk, homeless man named Thomas, to move from the middle of our semi-circle right when the class started.


• Moving the class a little further down from Thomas when it was clear he wasn't moving, and practicing the most rejuvinating yoga on a gorgeous non-raining Saturday morning.


• Having brunch with Stacy, Shannon and Julie at Common Roots in Uptown.


• Visiting my 89-year-old grandmother and 91-year-old grandfather at Knute Nelson Nursing Home.


• Sleeping in "the cave" of a basement for many hours in a row without waking up.


• Spending time with my mom, dad, and sister, since we are all home. I don't feel nearly as lonesome!


• Visiting the Perinos in their new house.


• Playing with the next-door-neighbor kids.

This brings me to my next item, my neighbor kids. They are some of the sweetest children to have living next door. After playing for about an hour with them yesterday, I went inside to start dinner. We heard a knock on our door (actually it was several consecutive doorbell rings, a few knocks on the front door, then some on the garage door, followed by some yelling through the door). They were so excited to give us invitations to a picnic they were planning for the next day. It was going to be from 2:10-2:55 in their front yard, there was going to be lemonade, frozen Kool-Aid freezies and some other snacks, followed by games.

After visiting our grandparents today, Shannon and I pulled into the driveway at exactly 2:10. It was just as they planned. A blanket was spread on the ground, there were Oreos, lemonade, fruit salad, chips, Fruit Roll-Ups, and the highly anticipated Kool-Aid freezies (we were informed that there was enough for everyone to have two). We sat down with the kiddos and feasted on our delicious snacks.

We cleaned up the picnic area and played the following games in the following order: Everyone's It tag, Four-Corners, Annie Annie Over, and DuckDuck Gray Duck. It was a hot, muggy, super sticky day. We were all sweating profusely, but it was a wonderful time. It's interesting that as a teacher, I can't enjoy my students like I do my neighbor kids. For one thing, I have 25 to look after, they don't always play by the rules, and it seems that some sort of drama will always play itself out, no matter how structured you make a game. I just love being able to say to my neighbor kids, Well, that was a lot of fun! I'm going to go inside now, but I'll see you tomorrow! They can play as long as they want on the front lawn, ride their bikes a million times on our driveway, and I feel happy as a clam...they make me love kids again!

I hope the rest of my vacation continues to be as peaceful as it has been so far!

A New Set of Tea-th

At the end of December, I read an article in my Clean Eating magazine that recommended drinking tea to get extra antioxidants, etc. and in general be a way better person than I was currently being. Of course, I completely bought into this theory, this comes a week after I just got done bragging to the dental hygienist that I never smoke or drink coffee and very rarely would I dream of drinking tea or pop. Everyone in the office stopped what they were doing and all clapped for me and I stood up and took a bow for being so awesome. Or they just thought I was another Mormon. Either way, my dentist calls me one of his favorite patients. What a great set of teeth! he exclaims every time I open my mouth for him to admire.



After reading the article, I must have blanked out my conviction of "rare tea consumption" and wondered what I was missing out on. I could be a way healthier person if I drank tea--what does a dentist and a hygienist know anyway? The very next morning, I filled my electric tea kettle a little higher for the usual oatmeal and the rest into a giant mug with a bag of green pomegranate tea (it just sounds so healthy, doesn't it?). After the water temperature was low enough to not scald my tongue, I sipped this tea, already feeling more alive and excited for life.



I think this feeling was not so much health, but a shot of caffeine zipping through my system. Since I don't drink pop very often, caffeine will kick me right up a notch and I can't be stopped. I decided that I would start drinking tea every morning at school, because it would wake me up a little and I would have an amazing amount of pep--as if I needed any more.



That Monday we returned to school, I filled up my travel mug and headed down the highway to Casa Grande. I figured out that I couldn't drink the tea until I got to school, it stayed very hot in that mug for a long time! It was exciting to start on a new health adventure.

These are the side effects that occurred when I started drinking tea:

• My appetite was suppressed enough to last until 11:00 without starving (This usually started around 10:00--what can I say? I eat breakfast at 6!)


• I had to go the bathroom 3 times before 9:30.


• I had numerous stains on my jacket from constantly spilling walking from my car to school.


• My students were convinced that I was hiding something in that mug, because I was a lot more smiley.


• And to my deepest horror, I developed (even with the use of straws) brown stains in between the crevices of my front teeth that were pretty noticeable and I was pretty sure my teeth had a new tinge of yellow.

Here's the deal, my parents spent thousands of dollars to put braces on my teeth, replace a gazillion retainers accidentally thrown away, and fill cavities with the porcelain, not metal, fillings. I really try to hold up my end of the bargain by going to the dentist twice a year and brushing and flossing each day, and smiling the biggest smile in every picture. This seemed to be working out well, until I started my new habit.

My vanity got the best of me, and I decided that I could not drink tea anymore. It was not worth these so-called health benefits that I was clearly not feeling. So I quit, but my stains still remained. My smiles were not as smiley as they once were, I was feeling a tad more self-conscious about this little issue.

Yesterday, I had my 6-month teeth cleaning. I was so embarrassed to tell the hygienist about my problem and had to eat the words that I had proclaimed so adamantly to everyone six months prior. The hygienist happened to be very cool and went through and cleaned the heck out of my teeth. 30 minutes later, I was looking into the hand held mirror at perfectly white(ish) teeth with no stains! It was amazing! I gave her a hug and a promise to never to drink tea again! Again, everyone stopped what they were doing and clapped for me, I took my usual bow and exited the office stage right.

Reader's Block

This is what I call my reading ailment. I have about a 20 or so books in my nightstand drawers, lined up on shelves, or tucked away in boxes. I'm about three quarters of the way through each one, then I either find another book that I want to read and start reading that or just decide that I don't want to finish the other book. It's quite a bizarre habit I have found myself in!

I don't know if it's because I don't want a book to end, I'm scared to find out what will happen to the protagonist in the story, or if it's just not that great of a story, but there is something that compells me to put the book down and walk away.

A perfect example of this is currently I have two books that I am reading. I was almost finished with The Bookseller of Kabul and decided to take a trip to the library. Knowing that I am almost done with this book, I decided to see if another book I was interested in reading was available to be checked out. This book, of course, is The Book Thief. Wouldn't you know, Sunset Public Library had two of them ready for me to choose from.

The "back-up" book on the nightstand.

I immediately kicked The Bookseller of Kabul to the side and started in on the new goods. My new book has over 500 pages and is roughly 2 1/2 inches thick. I have about 1/16 of an inch left of the book (or 20 pages) and immediately put it down. I just can't finish it. There is no other new book waiting in the wings. The Book Thief is an awesome story and I have stayed up until 1 in the morning 3 times this week to keep reading it. I have given myself reader's elbow (like tennis elbow, but a little smarter) and my eyes are a bit bloodshot from flashlight reading so I don't wake up Casey. I have learned so much from the characters, I have cried about 3 times, and now want to go visit Germany. But I don't want to finish the book. This would mean it's over. This beautiful book will end and I have no hope that I'll find another book just as good as this one.

I felt the same way with A Thousand Splendid Suns. I didn't want it to end, either. I was completely swept off my feet with the story, it was so despairing. I had roughly 20 pages left and didn't touch the book for 2 weeks until I could separate myself from the story and not have that feeling of anguish when it ended. Sometimes, during really good movies, when I'm weeping my eyes out, I have to remind myself that it's only a movie because I am empathizing way too much with the characters. I am a producer's dream!

This "hyper-sensitivity" is not always why I can't finish a book. Sometimes the book is just not that interesting. I read most of it and feel Yawn-fest 2009 coming on, so I chuck it to the side and say it will be my "can't fall asleep" book. I will only read it when I need to fall asleep fast. Three pages, (flash)lights out.

I really like The Bookseller of Kabul. It's an interesting story. I've learned a lot about the Afghani culture, but my empathy has turned into anger with how people in war torn countries must live and of course the way women are treated. I often shut the book because it's almost too much too handle. It was the same feeling I had with Three Cups of Tea. It was a hard read, but very empowering. I always need a book to read and if I finished these books, then what would I read? I'm like the very hungry catepillar, eating through everything! It's comforting to have these books waiting for me when I finish the others.

I do have an update to report! In the middle of writing this post, I made myself go finish The Book Thief. It was so good and my eyes hurt from crying. I knew that would happen! I kind of did it selfishly because tomorrow I want to go to the library and get a new one and again, chuck my "other book" to the side!

The finished book is ready to be returned!

A Mistake and Something New!

I realized that I accidently left out the first part of the first paragraph on the previous post. As a teacher, I ram into the children's brains that they need to have a good "hook" to keep their audience interested. It probably seemed as though I dropped the ball, however, it was a technical error by yours truly. I have since then corrected the error and added new photos to better accompany my story. I love my new camera and it sure does help illustrate my point!

Anyway, on the topic of taking pictures, being home during the day I got to witness something really cool! Back in October when we were home for a wedding and my fall break, Casey's mother gave us a little pod. It was the size of a walnut and was filled with little seeds inside. We were to put it in the windowsill and let it dry out. Then we were supposed to plant it in a pot until it started to sprout and soon plant it in the soil of our yard.

I was quite skeptical that we would actually be able to do this, but Casey must have his mother's green thumb (she is an amazing gardener!) because that little pod sprouted quite quickly in the pot. Soon after, we put in new curbing, grass seed and baby plants in the backyard. Casey also took the little plant and dug a hole for it to hopefully continue to grow.

At first it got a little brown, but Casey kept feeding and watering that little plant. He made that little plant thrive! Yesterday,we noticed that the plant had a huge bud on it. We had no idea that it was going to sprout flowers and were curious as to what it would look like. Today, while I was outside with the cat, that bud opened up into this:

Good job, Casey! Unfortunately, when he came home from work, it was already closed up. I definitely appreciated it and now you can, too!

Girl Meets Grill

Lovely! It's summer outside and in many parts of the country people are making the most of the warmer temperatures. One of the lovely activities of a normal American summer is that people start grilling. They dust off their old Webers and begin to grill burgers, chicken, hot dogs and other lovely grill-able meats.

I am a hater. I hate the grill.

No, I'm not anti-American. The grill and I are very sick of each other. Perhaps I should explain. Roughly two months ago, we were entertaining Casey's parents at our house for a couple days during Easter break. I wanted to show off my newfound domestic skills, because just recently I had learned to cook. Please don't laugh, it's a really big deal.

I decided that I was going to make my favorite vegetarian chili. It was a stove top type of recipe, but does call for a head of roasted garlic. (If you've never had roasted garlic, you are missing out on the best addition to any meal!) The garlic does need to be cooked in the oven for about 40 minutes until it's cooked through and soft, then I squirt the little garlic cloves into the chili, the very best part of the dish!

While waiting for my garlic to finish cooking and for my in-laws to arrive, a loud BOOM! came from the oven. Casey's parents were right on time as I was pulling out the garlic, checking for damages, and cursing the oven to you-know-where. After a few attempts to heat the oven back up, we concluded that the oven was indeed not working and the little raw Pillsbury croissants would need to be tossed.

Our oven is fairly new, we just bought it last Christmas of 2007. It was my little buddy. It was there when I made my blessed sweet potato fries for the first time and when I made soggy Panko-flaked chicken (it wasn't its fault, I had made it wrong). I love the oven and the memories we have shared in my cooking journey.

Casey was quite positive that he would be able to fix the oven himself. He ordered the part from Sears and spent a Saturday afternoon trying to put it in. When I came home later that day, he was angry at the oven and said that it was such a tedious process and he couldn't figure it out. I can't blame him, I would have no idea how to fix/replace any part of an oven.

I have now had to go to our second form of cooking: the grill. We have a really nice grill that Casey's parents gave us as a Christmas gift last year. It is stainless steel and has a big propane tank. We love our grill and use it often throughout the year. Since the oven incident, I have now grilled chicken, turkey burgers, turkey sausage, steak, and portabella mushrooms. I have roasted vegetables, garlic, and sweet potatoes. I have warmed quesadillas and bread on that grill. There is nothing that I wouldn't try at least once.

And frankly, I'm getting sick of it. As I said before, many areas of the country would absolutely love grilling all these things because they would have the opportunity to be outside. In Phoenix, it is 5 degrees shy of hell in June. I don't want to go out on the patio anymore, I don't want to continuously burn things because I can't smell the food with the all doors shut, and I don't want a dusty trail of footprints from the sliding glass door to the kitchen!

Today...today...today...this was the last straw. I almost met Jesus today and I think he would have been just as surprised to see me as I would to see him. I went outside on my usual jaunt to the grill, with Ruby hot on my heels. I turned the crank on the propane and twisted two of the knobs to let the gas flow in, I bent down to pet the cat for about a minute and realized that I had not ignited the grill. Without even thinking, I pressed the rubber button and BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMM! Fortunately, the grill cover was down and shielded the majority of a huge blast of fire. The force of the explosion pushed me back and sent Ruby running for the door. I quickly turned off the propane and turned the knobs. I opened the cover to let it air out. I was so scared! Many thoughts went racing through my head. I could have burned myself badly or burned the house down! I couldn't believe how dumb I was and what a crazy lesson I just learned.

Most people would have been a little leery to start the grill back up again. I chose to face my fear head on and kept my little lesson in the front of my brain. Besides that, I was hungry, Casey was going to be home soon and my food wasn't going to cook itself. After today, I put my foot down and said that we needed to get the oven fixed because I wanted to live to see 2010. It was agreed upon and I'm so excited to call a repairman to fix my little oven. Besides that, I think we just ran out of propane today.

Cereal Killers

In this tight economy, I can imagine many households having discussions about their financial situations. Tension usually arises when couples have to come to the tough reality of a budget. In fact, many marriages dissipate because of the disagreements about how to spend money. Casey and I have both kept our jobs and are very thankful that we do not have that extra stress of figuring out how we are going to pay our mortgage each month. This does not mean that I'm not immune to the weekly interrogation of "What Did You Buy at Target?" or any other odd fill-in-the-blank store. These conversations can get me pretty heated, because of course I needed the newest lash enhancing, super pumping mascara from Maybelline and also, tank tops were $7. I don't make any huge purchases, but enough where a $30 bill soon turns to $50 one and enough where Casey is a bit frustrated with me and I hear the old, "Just take it easy with your spending this week."

However, my trips to Target don't ruffle feathers like this one other thing in our household does. We have this bone that we pick each week, same issue, roughly same time of week. One opens the cupboard excited and hoping to find the Crunchy Raisin Bran box for a morning bowl or a late night snack, but soon discovers that the box has been killed. What?? We just bought the box not even a day ago and all the cereal is gone! How can two people eat an entire box of cereal in a matter of 24 hours?

Accusations start being hurled between the two of us: How many bowls did you eat? Not nearly as much as you do when you sit with the entire box while you watch TV! Oh, well, that's funny, your so-called-bowls are about 3 serving sizes when you fill the entire thing up! I can't believe you ate the whole box! I can't believe that YOU ate the whole box! Great, now we're stuck with plain Cheerios until we go shopping next week, because I'm not buying any more. Awesome. Yeah, real awesome. Don't talk to me right now, I'm still really mad about not having good cereal.

Many of you may be wondering what the big deal is about Crunchy Raisin Bran. Isn't raisin bran in general gross? Yes, you would be correct. This is why I buy plain Cheerios and plain raisin bran each time I go to the store. We will not gorge ourselves on those cereals because they are boring, healthy and have no taste. As your may or may not know, I don't buy treats anymore because I will eat an entire half gallon of ice cream in one sitting if given the opportunity (see previous post) and certain cereals have proven to be a little bit of a problem in our household.

It started when I bought Kashi Go Lean! cereals in many different flavors because they were tasty as well as healthy and high in fiber. Did I mention that they were REALLY high in fiber? As in, I thought my stomach was going to explode from the inside out after one week of eating it. I couldn't pin point why my belly was turning itself over and I was in the most extreme pain of my life from the hours of 2-9 at night. After finally putting 10 grams of fiber + one already regular digestive system together, I subtracted the culprit and I finally could return to yoga or any other public place.

With the exit of this awesome cereal, I needed something to fill the void--healthy and tasty. I've always been a lover of cereal from the time I was a child. However, we had some rules when it came to picking out our cereal in the aisles of Pete's County Market. We could never choose a cereal that was over 10 grams of sugar, which terribly limited our selection of the cereals that we really wanted to eat. Cinnamon Toast Crunch was an all-time favorite, Frosted Mini-Wheats was always right up there, too. I would always beg my mom to buy Frosted Flakes or Count Chocula but I would get the inevitable "No." It seemed like everyone else was enjoying the likes of Cap'n Crunch and Fruity Pebbles, and the closest thing that we came to sugar cereals was Froot Loops at my grandparent's house. Finally in high school as the only child left at home, my mom let me choose whichever cereal I wanted and I went directly for the most sacred cow of cereals...Lucky Charms. It was my morning breakfast and late night snack from September of 1998 until April of 1999. I stopped eating it in April because one morning I accidentally poured orange juice on my cereal without realizing it and totally ruined my love and affection for Lucky Charms.

However, I did not lose this love and affection for other cereals throughout the years. As pretty health-conscious adult, I can't bring myself to buy those untouchable sugar cereals now, it's very Freudian and psychological. So, Casey and I have tried to fool ourselves into thinking, if it has a healthy sounding title, then really, how bad can it be for you? I would never dream of touching the Sugar Smacks, but Crunchy Raisin Bran sounds soooo much healthier. If we were to compare the nutrition labels on the aforementioned cereals, I wouldn't be surprised to find out that they have an equal amount of sugar and both really have no nutritional value.

Since I do the majority of the shopping, I will get to pick the coveted "Special Cereal" for us. For a while it was Crunchy Raisin Brain, sometimes Frosted Mini-Wheats, and a couple of times Honey Bunches of Oats. See? They all sound really healthy, however, they have something that our boring cereals do not: a light coating of sweetener somewhere. This is enough for me and Casey. This would be the one and only item in our house with an artificial sweetener, besides the peanut butter, which is a whole other blog in itself. It has become the most desired product in our kitchen. A person needs to strike while the iron is hot! If it's in there, you better eat it, because you have roughly 24 hours before the goods are gone.

Yesterday, while at the grocery store, Albertson's was running a special where their generic Cheerios, which are actually way better than the original, were a dollar per box! So, of course I bought 2 boxes, but to top that off, the generic apple cinnamon Cheerios were also a dollar. Oooh, a healthy sounding name, but I know that this is very deceiving and will become THE cereal to eat in our house. Surprisingly, it's been 24 hours since I bought it and more than half of it is left. A miracle! Casey told me today that he felt sick this morning and could barely stomach toast. I think that's the only reason I was able to sit in front of the TV tonight for my late night snack! I give it until tomorrow night until we have the next victim of the Cereal Killers!

Mean Jeans

Trying to find a good pair of jeans is one of the hardest tasks that I have put myself through in the past few weeks. I don't know what it is about jeans and why it so hard to find a pair that does exactly what it is supposed to do.

The perfect pair of jeans for me needs to be dark, because Stacy and Clinton from "What Not to Wear" say frequently that dark denim camouflages a wide thigh and I definitely do not need my thighs to look any wider. They also need to have a straight leg, nothing flared and definitely no tapering which is very self-explanatory.

There can be no rhinestones or random buckles and chains. There should be no sign of glitter anywhere, although my second grade little girls make it look so cute!

They need to come up high enough so my "pencil holder" won't show when I bend over, but not too high to make the dreaded muffin top. They need to be long enough to skim over the tops of my shoes, but not too long where they drag on the floor. The pockets need to be normal and a classy stitched design is always welcomed.

They need to make my legs look long and my derriere look small, yet round. They need to go with every shirt in my closet, too.

They can't stretch out too much when I wear them 8 times in a row without a wash. And they need to bounce right back when I do finally break down and do it.

Is this too much to ask of a pair of jeans? The poor sales clerk at the Gap took out 12 pairs of jeans from my dressing room until I finally found a pair that met most of my needs. They were a little long, but following the advice of my dear TV friends, I took them in to my tailor and they are getting altered as I write this.

I wonder if I will ever find the PERFECT pair of jeans right from the rack. I don't wish for world peace; I wish for a lovely pair of jeans for all women to enjoy each time they put them on! Amen!

The dishwasher drives me absolutely nuts! I love it, because it is a temporary place to put my dirty dishes so I don't have to think about them for a couple of days. And when I have rearranged the top and bottom rack to fit as many dishes as possible, it is awfully convenient to put in some Cascade and turn the dial and go to bed.

The next morning when it's time for work, Casey needs his bowl of cereal and toast. I need multiple pieces of tupperware and spoons for my breakfast and lunch. We open the dishwasher, take what we need and move on with our days.

However, getting home after being gone for 12 hours we transport our dirty dishes from lunches and breakfasts and place them in the sink, as the clean dishes are still sitting in the dishwasher. We cook dinner and one of us has the daunting task of doing the dishes.

Casey dislikes taking the dishes out of the dishwasher so much that he will wash all dishes by hand to avoid having to unload. But at some point we NEED to get that thing unloaded and I silently think that I was the last one to do it and Casey really needs to start carrying his weight around here.

I wander into the kitchen later on at night, wanting to get my spoonful of peanut butter, no spoons, so I open the dishwasher, grab the spoon and of course nothing else. I come back a little later to pack my lunch, no tupperware the right size, go into the dishwasher, grab what I need and carry on.

Finally, one of us breaks down and decides to be the martyr and unloads the darn thing. All the while non-verbally displaying our discontent to the other by loud bangs of the plates, throwing of the silverware, and shuffling of the tupperware cupboard. You can't unload a dishwasher without another person there to feel sorry for you, right?

So it's Saturday, the dishes are sitting nice and clean in their little racks, ready to be put back home in their special spots in the cupboards or drawers. A sink full of breakfast dishes is waiting patiently to be placed in the dishwasher. Casey has gone to play softball, so what is a girl to do??

Friday!

I have been on a hiatus from my blog for a few months...as my brother told me, he can tell when I am back at school. I think I was putting too much pressure to write amazing tales. So now I'll keep them short and sweet and more like a journal of things that are happening!

I'm so glad it's Friday. This was the first week back from vacation. I had a great week with my students. They were lovely and wonderful. I love my new reading class, so bright and eager to please. I get to give out awards this afternoon to students who worked extra hard for good grades and I can't wait to make their weekends. But I am looking forward to MY weekend. It makes the hard work I put in this week balance with the time I get to see Casey, friends and family. I also love my yoga class on Saturday mornings and the five dollar footlong from Subway that I split with Casey for lunch.


I wish to you all great and balancing weekends! What makes your weekend good? Is there something that you look forward to? I would love to hear your thoughts!