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!