our Honeyversary

Happy 3 year Anniversary to us!!!!

Aaron slept in till he woke, I didn’t wake him nor did he set an alarm.  Not a big deal, it’s the first day of our vacation!  I on the other hand of course got up with my alarm.  I figured I’d go ahead and keep getting up so as to not throw my body off when I got back since it’s not a week long and we’ve got things to do while we are gone.  While he slept I did the usual as well as packed my bag.  

We left around elevenish and stopped to get a bite to go at Sonic in the Boro.  

We got to Chattanooga a little b/4 two and headed downtown.  Fortunately we found some free parking behind our first stop the Choo Choo.  

That place was kind of a bust.  We looked at the train cars and I went into the shopping places.  I bought a pretty pair of earrings for Carolyn and some stamps for me with the thought that I’d use them either to scrapbook or to play with kids.  I like the idea of scrapbooking, but of course hate the waste of paper.  And beside who will actually look at the books?  Me?  Aaron?  Guests?  Children?  Family?  Do you scrapbook?  Who looks at yours?  

Then we stumbled upon their free shuttle and used it at our will through out the day.  We went to Warehouse Row first.  Man what disappointment!  There were only a handful of stores and it was like shopping at Green Hills combined with Cool Springs on the Atlanta Trip!  Nice building space though.  

From there we took a leisurely stroll down the streets and took several pictures of some amazing art pieces.  

Then we ended up at Bluff View Art District.  Man talk about a gorgeous place!  Aaron and I both took several pictures of several places in the little block.  There just aren’t any words to describe how amazing this little nook is.  To me this is like the Volcano National Park we visited on our Honeymoon – an unexpected delightful stop.  Now that I mention that I find it amazing that two of the most beautiful spots we’ve been were free.  

For dinner we rode the shuttle back to The Terminal.  WOWZA was this a tasty little place.  The service sucked ass, but food was great.  I ordered the lamb burger (lamb w spices topped w caramelized onions and feta aioli on the side) we sweet potato FF.  Aaron had the chicken pocket thing (pizza crust around chicken, bacon, onions, and BBQ sauce w cheese).  The chicken was a bit dry (I think they cooked it all the way and it cooked some more when they put it in the oven to cook the dough and melt the cheese).  The sucky server took a while to greet us, didn’t know their house wine, nor did she know how the aioli was made.  Regardless if we lived here that’d have to be a place to visit regularly if we ate out often, or I’d at least recommend it to people.  

I’m done for the day, I love that the first day went so well and was relaxed.  

Here’s to another wonderful year with my fabulous husband…

I'm learning the new LP

Today was C-R-A-Z-Y!!!!

The morning was fine, kids listened and played.  I took more pictures w the borrowed camera.  

My CCT3 and I were supposed to have time set aside for us to chat over our LP’s for next week since I won’t be there to put anything together and only got an hour while the kids were asleep.  I’d asked for two, but I’m thankful for the one.  I wish it’d been at a different time considering we could have done the same thing in the room, but gotta be grateful for the little things.  

Today was the first day that I’ve been the most involved in planning the LP’s.  It’s mainly b/c after we get back from our honeyversary my CCT3 will leave on Wednesday and won’t be back till the following Tuesday.  That kind of sucks! I’m sure there will be lots of alcohol consumed next week.  

I’ve also asked if I can work her schedule while she’s gone, we’ll see.  

By the time I got off all I wanted to do was go home and relax, but hubby needed to go to his parents so I went too.  I’m thankful actually.  Dickie helped me tweak the camera, download the pictures, and then format the memory drive.  There are a few that I really like and some I’m sure I’ll trash. 

Best part of today was knowing that tomorrow is our anniversary and I’ll be off from work the next three days.  

Hope you’ll come back and check in on me to see if I keep up with the entries over our honeyversary…

I'm learning a new gadget, maybe

Today was a pretty normal day, nothing bad, nothing great.  Oh wait a minute, I had a horrible nights sleep!  I mean awful, no good, rotten, terrible, night.  I think I may have gotten a total of three hours at max!  Aaron was exhausted yesterday and had to get up early this morning so he went to bed as soon as we got home last night and I stayed up and watched three episodes of NCIS, 45 min each!  Then I woke up around three or so and couldn’t fall back.  I laid there and pretended to be the ocean, which for those who know me, know that was a task.  Of course I woke up when hubby left, but actually managed to fall back asleep, not soundly mind you, but asleep, in time for my alarm to go off.  I reset it and gave myself an extra half hour since I had set it for an hour early anyways.  

Well I got to work a few minutes earlier than usual and checked my emails (nothing exciting) and opened/started/connected a southwest online account to our card so I can book us a hotel for this upcoming week/end.  I didn’t actually book it yet b/c I was worried about getting the points.  I know some things you register have to wait until the next business day to be in effect so I’m gonna do it ASAP in the a.m..  

I had a lot of fun playing with Dickie’s camera!  I got a few pretty amazing shots for an amateur.  When I showed them to the OT she critiqued me like a teacher!  Too cute, she said that her teacher would count off b/c I’d cut the feet off in one of the shots.  How unfair the kid was swinging, feet included is hard!  I can’t wait to see what Dickie says about some of them, esp my fav. shots.  At some point I hit some strange button and it made the shutter do something weird.  I took it to Monkey’s LT and she got that part fixed, but I’m pretty sure she may have messed with something she shouldn’t have.  I was going to take it over Dickie’s this evening to ‘fix’ the problem, but he didn’t answer his phone when I called.  Instead I brought it home and played with the settings while reading the instruction manual!  I think he’d be proud.  

Aaron said he’d be home around 7:30, but it’s nine-ish now and he’s not home.  I hope he’s safe and guess I’ll give him a call.  But b/4 I do here’s my eats for the day:

Bfast – peach passion fruit yogurt from these guys.  It was okay.  Nothing to rave about, lots of peach flavor.

Lunch – crab and seaweed salad

Snacks – 2 tangerines, 1 kiwi, lots of chocolate and a handful of craisins

Dinner – left over steak, baked potato, grilled veggies + some heated up summer sausage via venison and mashed cauliflower.  The heated up sausage was okay.  It was better w bites of grilled onion.  

I also had a cup of hot tea, but didn’t finish it.  

I enjoyed playing with the camera the most today.

I’m glad you stopped in to read about my day…

Honeyversary planned - check

So I think I got our anniversary vacation (which hubby and I have termed Honeyversary) all planed out!  

That’s what I spent my day doing at the IL’s on the net.  We are def. going to Chattanooga.  I found a hotel for 36.00 a night, king bed, no smoking, free wi-fi and complimentary bfast.  We are also going to Incline Railway, Ruby Falls, and Rock City.  I’ve also booked a fall leaf cruise tour and admirals dinner cruise with The Southern Belle.  I’ a bit worried that it’s going to be a bust like the dinner cruise on the catamaran on our honeymoon, but Aaron says do it.  

I also found a couple of restaurants I want to try and eat at: Aleia, The Foundry, and Public House.  I also want to go to Buff View’s Art District, and Warehouse Row.  

B/4 net searching I tidied the guest bedroom just a little so I can pack on Tuesday.  

I’m glad that I got our vaca planned.

What would/will you do for your next anniversary?...

husbands bday treat

Nothing much to tell you about today other than the BBQ festival was a big fat bust!  

Please tell me what you think when you hear ‘festival’?  I think lots of food and food themed things.  Upon reading about this one it mentioned that it was ‘invitational only’, which means that all the competitors had to win others and be invited to try to win the title.  With that being said I thought this festival would be all about BBQ and sampling.  Yup, I was wrong!  The only things we got to taste was all the way at the back and not even a full ounce.  The best things were lamb chops and pulled brisket from Sam’s Club!  All the BBQ we wanted to eat we had to purchase.  The cheapest item was 7.00, a sandwich.  

The first thing we bought, the sandwich, was way tooooo sweet!  How that place could have won titles I have no idea.  Later I got three ribs.  They had a good taste and were tender but the outside was way too charred.  Aaron got BBQ nachos and I liked that meat the best.  

We also walked around all the little booths and I managed to skirt out of there without buying anything!  

Another topic that was bogus was online the site said you only had to donate to get in, not ay a set fee.  Well when we got close we found out we had to pay 10.00 to park at the school and get shuttled over.  By golly there went 10 of the 30 I was going to donate.  Then when I noticed we had to buy food I decided not to donate at all, just count my 10 for parking b/c I know the school got that.  

Back home we had pizza for dinner with his parents and watched a movie I’ve never seen b/4.

That’s it folks, the high today was just spending time w the hubs.

I’m glad you popped in…

Fall Fest and they've learned!

Man what a whirlwind of a day!  TGIF rings more truly today than it has in a while.  We had all 14 of our children present and accounted for!  The a.m. was okay.  I’m actually proud of the little guys.  Usually as they all sit down to eat lunch at least half of them start whining about needing help or milk or straw or well you get the point.  Anyways my CCT3 and I always tell them ‘there are (no of children) and just two of us teachers, you have to be patient and wait until we get to you/your needs, but we will as soon as we can’.  SO today they were ALL PATIENT!!!!!  It’s the first time the kids have sat down to eat and actually just ate and waited on us to give them the assistance they needed!  

When I got back from nap was when it started to go a bit downhill.  One of our parents showed up with their kids costume at about ten till two, two is when we get them up.  Well the parent hung around until we went outside, an hour later!  Not really a big deal and I totally understand why (it’s a divorced family and this week was moms week; this was the dad).  It was actually kind of nice that he stayed till we went out b/c it was much easier for the kid to transition.  The frustrating part was all the other kids showing out and not listening! 

After nap I got to change all the kids into their costumes; we had two buzz lightyears, a pirate and a firefighter, a dragon and batman.  We also had one Minnie Mouse.  The ED came and changed her son into a Jack the Pirate from Neverland (which I’ve never heard of, of course).  

When we back in from the playground I felt awful.  I’m not sure what was wrong and there’s not a perfect way to describe it, I just physically plummeted; had trouble breathing and was a bit dizzy and couldn’t enjoy the new books at all.  I ate an apple and drank a bit of water and felt a bit better, but it took almost an hour or so.  

Luckily a couple of the other workers came and took my kiddos to play with the ponies and play all the games so I just had the one little guy left.  His mom showed up around 4:30 ish or so and then I walked around and helped direct other parents to the workshop and tasted some chili!  I felt so bad, my room’s chef wasn’t my favorite, which means I didn’t vote.  I felt awful putting money in somebody else’s bucket!  I also consumed a hotdog and a half, several sweet potato chips and apples slices, one cookie and two kid sized pieces of cake.  Let’s just say I’m STUFFED!!!!  I brought hubby some chili and hotdogs home to eat and didn’t even want a bite.  When he offered I inhaled the scent and it turned my stomach.  

In case you noticed my hubby is home today!  He didn’t really have to work at all, I got a msg this morning around seven that he was headed back.  There was lots of rain in KY so they couldn’t work on the roof and headed back.  He got home around noon or two, I can’t remember and then went to his parents to check out some things to do for our anniversary.  He wants to go to Chattanooga and ‘play’ around there: aquarium, boat tour, incline rail, rock city, ruby falls, things like that.  I hate the thought of going without any deals since I’ve been using them so regularly.  So now we are watching our show and just relaxing.

Not gonna do my eats b/c of the tastings, but I did okay for the most part, other than the gianormous hotdog bun my hotdog was on.  

The best part was my hunny is back home and we get to spend the day together tomorrow.

Hope you had a great TGIF…

a nice easy day

Today was another non impressive sort of day to journal about, but I’m really proud of myself for keeping it up almost for the entire month of October.  

There wasn’t much worth mentioning in my emails or blogs.  We were a bit low today, two kids were out.  The two kids out weren’t necessarily ‘problem children’ but the room ran much smoother.  One of the kids seems to add fuel to another little guys emotional fire and the other child out has some severe temper tantrums that are really loud.  I will mention the roughest part of the day was after nap w our little lady who still crawls.  We put her in her walker during afternoon outside play and after walking about ten minutes or so she just started to scream and we couldn’t figure out how to get her to calm down.  I took her out of the walker and walked holding her arms to the door and she stopped.  Later while I was out and had to come back into the room she was riled again. And then when I tried to talk to her as well as when I had to change her diaper.  My CCT3 cracks me up, she commented several times about how she commends me for being patient enough to handle the high pitch sound b/c it just rattles her!  A bit more humor b/c she wants to specialize in Children with Autism.  

During my thirty minute paperwork time I reorganized the old teacher’s notebook w all her kids’ goal sheets.  Upon looking at it the kids didn’t have August goals nor October sheets!  DAMN, now I really need to look at it!

The DR okayed me to take a 30 minute lunch on Mon and Tue of next week so I could take one hour less of vacation time and chat w the other teacher b/4 leaving b/c she’s out the following week exact same days.  

I finished the aprons for our parents today.  I wish I’d taken a picture so I can post here, maybe the school will and I can snag the shot, we’ll see. 

After work today I was going to go to the IL’s and play on the net, but while talking to the hubs I found out that he has to work on Sunday so I’m just going to go over there then instead.  

That’s it, now for my eats:

Bfast – banana bread oatmeal

Lunch – tuna w seaweed salad and fresh ginger

Snacks – kiwi, mandarin oranges (about five cheese-its), and string cheese

Dinner – half chicken breast, mashed cauliflower, roasted zucchini, and garlic bread stick (only b/c it was leftover).  

Short entry huh?  My high today: knowing that hubby comes home tomorrow.

Hope this didn’t bore ya too much…

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY HUNNY!!!! (and a new found love)

I almost didn’t do a journal entry for today, but decided I should b/c there are a few strange things that happened this evening which I’ll tell you about later.  

So my CCT #3 traded shifts w me and I got to work the 7:30 to 4:00 shift.  And since I still hadn’t picked up the hubs an actual gift I got up at 5 and was out of the house by a little after 6.  It was strange driving that early, it was still dark out and there were very few cars on the road.  I broke down and got him another bubba mug since it should be getting cool anytime now (maybe?).  I also picked up a few grocery items some for dinner and others for bfasts for me.  I got out just in time to get to work w about five minutes to spare.  In that time I copied the recipes for a parent (fish ideas) and got ready for class.  Since I don’t open everyday I don’t know all the routines and really need to remember to send the kids potty/change their diapers.  I just assume that the kids come in clean and know when to go potty on their own, but the don’t! 

The day was kind of easy.  The kids were not entertained at all during circle time and it was absolutely dreadful!  Other than that not a problem.  I’m a bit worried about tomorrow though b/c one of the ‘boys’ comes back and I’ve noticed that the little guy who has anger management/emotional regulation issues hasn’t been too terrible since the other guy has been out.  Guess I should point that out to my CCT3.  

When I got off hubby had just gotten to his parents to peruse the net for anniversary trips so I had plenty of time to get dinner ready as well as prep lunch and take care of the dishes.  I started the meal by nuking tatos to get the inside done and rinsed mushrooms while waiting.  Once the tatos cooked in the middle I put em’ in the toaster oven with the broken mushrooms sprayed w EVOO and topped w cracked salt.  On the skewers I laced mushrooms, onions, and yellow squash.  After getting the veggies on I took care of the dishes.  That side of the veggies got nice and toasty b/c I learned after preheating the grill you gotta turn the heat down, b/c preheat is hotter than high!  WOOPS!!!  After turning the heat down and moving/rotating veggies I got the steak on.  To prepare the lobster tail, that’s right lobster tail (for those who know me know I don’t care for it b/c it’s always rubbery), I slit it down the thick part, wedged some butter, fresh dried tarragon and Italian parsley in the slit and grilled.  The package said to grill on the bottom for bout 5 minutes, flip, grill for bout 4 more minutes and call it done.  I did that and it was PUUUURRRFFFECT!!!!  Now I’m a fan, but only if I do it at home.  So to recap my hubby’s bday dinner: steak, lobster tail, veggies, baked potato, and garlic bread.  I had mine w a super yummy glass of ? Shiraz and he had Angry Orchard.  

Now that dinner’s over, and Aaron’s had his phone conversations (w/ brother to wish happy b-day and boss to find out his schedule – 7 a.m. tomorrow then headed out of town till Friday) we are watching Texas Killing Fields, which is much stranger than I thought and I’m not sure why I wanted to watch it.  

Okay now the weird things: I got a msg from Caryn about purchasing the advocare stuff, but I just got the info yesterday and haven’t had any time at all to view it.  Maybe when I was selling TW I wasn’t pushy enough.  She didn’t mention anything about the card I wrote her and I wonder if she remembered it and read it?  The other strange thing was Lindsay called while she was at her 31 meeting and I’m not really sure why; I couldn’t understand/hear much of what she said w all the noise in the background.  

Are you interested in my eats?: 

Bfast – egg, cheese, and veggie scramble.  I used the liquid eggs from Wal Mart and like them much better than the Aldi’s version.  The fluffed more like real ones.

Lunch – chicken salad sans greens

Snacks – 2 apples, an orange, and tons of veggie sticks

Dinner – Kiwi and the afore mentioned meal

I think I did pretty well except for those evil veggie sticks!  

I loved having a special dinner w hubby and glad to see him smile when he opened his present.

Thanks a bunch for wishing him a happy one too….

my husband and his needs

There wasn’t too much that happened today worth remembering.  It was my first day to work till 5:30 and take an hour lunch which was kind of strange.  I’m lucky and my CCT #3 is going to switch schedules w me tomorrow so I can get home early to make hubby a bday dinner.  I just hope I remember to take the steak and lobster out of the freezers.  

We had a new kid start today.  He’s a little man that used to come here when he was around two (he’ll be four in December).  He was only here for a couple of months and wasn’t too consistent.  T was also hard b/c it was the first time he was away from home.  I was worried mom would be a little bit uptight but she wasn’t as much as I thought. He did well, played with his friends and took a good nap.  There weren’t any ‘problems’ either.  It also helps that we were low in numbers, but we won’t be when he comes back on Wednesday.  

At the beginning of my lunch I went to Caryn’s meeting about her new business (link Advocare).  I’m really torn about whether or not to invest time, money, and energy in it.  I’ll have to take time and check it out.  The sales rep said I should just trust em’ b/c of all the people backing it but I still want to look into it all.  I tried their energy drink, tasted good, but didn’t’ necessarily give me extra energy.  

My hand is really bugging me again.  I wish I’d journaled about it when it started and what I thought was the cause of it, but alas I didn’t!  Guess that’s it; other than my foods (I know so inconsistent lately)

Bfast – blueberry grk yogurt w banana

Snacks – apples and 3 pumpkin spice cookies

Lunch – tuna w seaweed salad and ginger

Dinner – left over grilled/roast chicken, sweet potato, zucchini, and bell pepper.  For dessert a cup of pumpkin pie yogurt.  

I do want to remember about the talk hubby and I had after typing last night.  He needs affection more regularly.  I did well when I got home today and he thanked me for it.  I’m also entering it today b/c we talked about him ‘getting this way’ at least once a year and he wondered if it was near his birthday or not; so this way I’ll be able to look back and see when it happened.  I just have to remember it was this day when I go to look. 

The best part today was cuddle time w the hubs.

Hope this is a nice week…

Battle of the Food Trucks; IMO

I’m not sure what was wrong w me today but I couldn’t get energy up to do anything.  I woke up nice and early, did my regular routine, and chatted w my dad.  We didn’t talk for long, max of 30 mins..  

Aaron got up around ten which is early for him on a weekend.  We laid around and watched our current show and were supposed to go to his parents around noon or so, but I didn’t even feel like checking my emails or blogs!  I let him know and he thought I had a fever.  Which is strange b/c I was actually laying around w an ice pack on my head and a heating pad under me for my neck/shoulders.  

We did go to Battle of the Food Trucks and enjoyed ourselves.  There weren’t as many tucks as there should have been b/c when the company rescheduled they didn’t confer w the truck owners and the majority of them had prior obligations.  

Sugar Wagon: cookies sandwiched w ice cream (my fav was the red velvet w white chocolate) and Italian sodas.  

Hoss Loaded Burgers (we got the first ones off the grill); red, white, and blue (burgers stuffed w blue cheese topped w hot sauce and a bit of ranch dressing on a sweet bun) and some chili spiced fries.

To Dine For: shrimp and grits (which I voted for and I don’t even like them) and two desserts – praline cheesecake and chocolate mousse.  *I actually voted for this place for savory and sweet.  The mousse was a bittersweet chocolate and LOVED it*

Jonbalaya: French dip and Sprouts (the meat just tasted like pot roast and the sprouts were good but not evenly ‘dressed’.  My serving didn’t have any bacon or balsamic vinegar.

Movers & Shakers: three milkshakes – chocolate, raspberry, and caramel.  The raspberry was weak and the caramel was just vanilla w a drizzle of caramel sauce.  

Riffs: Koren BBQ meat over kimchi fried rice.  It tasted okay.  The meat was a bit chewy and the rice wasn’t really ‘fried’.  

About thirty minutes b/4 voting an ice cream truck showed up, but they didn’t have two of the flavors I wanted to try (mocha and pb), but they did have a tasty Pumpkin Caramel (no caramel flavor really) and Orange Cream.  

Riffs won 1^st and Jonbalya won 2^nd for savory.  Sugar Wagon got 1^st and TDF got 2^nd for sweet.  I was shocked a bit b/c Aaron, Colin, Lindsay, and I all put both our pieces in the box for TDF.  I knew Riffs would win just b/c of who they are.  I told Colin (or maybe Daniel) that Grilled Cheeseier (sp?) could put poop on a sandwich and win if they ad been there.    

I actually enjoyed several ‘free’ beers; Yazoo’s Dos Peros on draft.  We had several tickets given to us and the dudes ‘pourin’ em’ kind of sucked and didn’t know how to do it w/out lots of head.  

When we finally got back home we finished our episode and watched a movie (Zookeeper).  It was funny and had several actors/esses that I didn’t know were in it.  Hubby ate two bowls of cereal and I enjoyed a glass of wine.  Hopefully next year will be better and have more trucks.  

I loved just being w Aaron all day while doing much of nothing and knowing that he was okay with doing nothing too.  

Did you or have you gone to this Battle b/4?....

more creativeness

GOLLY BILL this was another really long day.  Woke up 4:30, 5:30, and finally got out of bed at 6:30.  Relaxed until time to go make jewelry.  I liked it.  A bit frustrating, but really neat.  I don’t like all the shit the girls I went w gave the lady/owner/instructor.  Yes she was a bit rude and odd, but she did have surgery on Monday and I’m sure was on painkillers esp considering she couldn’t turn her neck one direction.  Out of the seven of us five of our earrings messed up, two were good (at least I think five since only three of us redid them).  I’m not too sure I like the way mine turned out, but live and learn.  I hope to go back and do other pieces.  

B/c of the mess up, we didn’t get done and out of there till close to two and then went to eat at Cheddars.  After late lunch Carolyn and I went to Ross’ where I bought some more presents and some amazing green with purple snowflakes winter warm gloves for myself.  

I was home for about twenty minute’s b/4 heading out for my ballet.  I liked it.  There were a few tidbits I learned and didn’t know about as well as a couple of things I want to look into (the blue critters at the wedding). 

This is brief, but it’s after ten and I’m ready to get horizontal.  The whole day was pretty amazing, no best really.   

Thanks for checking me out today….

a new friendship?

Once again I’d like to apologize if this is too short or doesn’t make much sense.  It’s after ten, I’m pooped, and I’ve got alcohol in the system, not enough to feel buzzed but I’m sure enough to blow on a sensor ya know what I mean? 

So my day was easy, we had two kids out and another one left early (right b/4 nap ended).  Oh I didn’t do anything for the sweetest day this year and I feel kind of like an ass.  I should at least stop and get my hubby a slice of nice cheesecake for tomorrow huh?!?!   He’s got choc. covered m-mallows so no need for them, unless peeps gots halloweenie kinds out! Sorry completely off subject there, lets turn back.  I was supposed to take an hour lunch since I got off ten minutes late yesterday, did I tell you that?  The PC always comes in at 5:01 and then I get to leave.  Usually I don’t till bout five after b/c I explain things to her, I should really say something to the DR but I don’t got guts enough! Anyways yesterday she came in at five after and said I could leave but then the younger kids came in and the PC left the room as well as the teacher for the younger kids and the DR was in there but she was picking up her kids and talking to a parent MASS chaos for a moment.  The baby room AT scheduled a parent meeting on her own without passing it through admin and so everything was thrown off.  Okay now back to the hour lunch that didn’t happen.  There was an intake at one that should have been short since the kid has been here before but pulled out b/c of health.  Well that damn intake took 45 minutes!  So I took 30 min. b/4 the meeting and 15 after.  The perk of lunch today was that IBM volunteered and brought the good BBQ again.  This year his dessert was a pear cobbler with raisins or craisins and was amazing!  He usually does apples which I don’t really care for.  Maybe these were apples but smaller, hell IDK, but it was good!  

B/4 leaving today I suckered into being the chili table ‘volunteer’; which basically means I gotta get peeps to eat and vote!  It’s in one week, think about me, and wish me luck (also hope that our room gets the most dollars & I promise no sneaking money from one jar to ours).  Also I’m going to work 8:30 – 5:30 next week and get an hour lunch everyday.  I’d asked if I could still leave early on Tuesday since it’s Aaron’s bday and all.  Now that I think about it I wonder when we are doing the dinner w his parents?  Guess I should ask in the a.m..  

So I got off a few minutes late and stopped to chat w a parent in the parking lot b/4 heading out.  I asked the mom if she’d gotten the assmt I did on her son and she did but didn’t have any concerns since she thought he was a baby genius.  WHOA was I not in the right mind set for that comment.  She put me on the spot and slipped the statement ‘unless you do’ but then skipped right over it thankfully, b/c I didn’t know how to even say it tactfully.  I know that I should wait and just re-evaluate him, or at least he should be re-evaluated, in six months to see if there is growth or if he’s just stayed six month behind.  His scores weren’t enough of a delay (gotta be 25%) to be flagged.  His was only 21%.  Well that talk put home a little late and I decided to do a bit more to get ready than I had planned.

I was just going to put my hair in a bun and toss on clothes and run, but my face felt icky so I decided to do a mask which had to set for 20 minutes and I decided to play with my hair while it set.  I loved what I did and hopefully can recreate.  I just made some loose waves and then did a messy bun.  The loose hairs were curly and the bun had more body to it.  My face felt much nicer afterwards, but it put me a little bit late, just by about 15 minutes.  I grabbed a banana and hit the road.  I tried to msg the girl I went w, let’s call her Foxie, but the no I had was disconnected.  When I got to her place I found out that I’d somehow changed one number in the field.  Well we stood around and chatted for a min w her roomie while she finished her glass and then headed out.  On the way she informed me, not rudely just making it simple hear, that we had to leave by nine so she could get home and then back out to the bar for the show w her roomie.  I was a bit bummed but tried not to let it show.  I joked w her though just a bit.  I know she didn’t want to really go to the show, but I kinda wonder if it was one of those ‘make-a-plan-afterwards-just-incase-what-you’re-doing-isn’t-really-that-fun’ moments.  It was the first time we’d done something together outside of work so it’s like a ‘first date’.  Anyways I enjoyed the tasting, and of course know I’d enjoyed it more on my own b/c then I could do it more leisurely.  B/c we were on a time constraint and she isn’t really a wine drinker I only got to taste one or two wines every other table or so.  She didn’t want to wait in long lines and didn’t taste at every table.  I did find some yummy ones as well as some for mom and Carolyn.  Also I finally got to sample the Irish Cream Whiskey, and holy moly spchgoly! That was some wonderful stuff!  Nice and creamy and nutty.  Now I’m gonna have to buy me a bottle!  The food was a bust.  All I ate was a mini taco, about eight cheese cubes, and two pieces of bread.  NO CUPCAKES :’( Next year I’ll eat something more substancial b/4 hand if I go with somebody.  Also parking was a beeyatch!  Hopefully I’ll go early or remember to park across the road (that’s right we went against the grain and parked across the road at a closed business and walked!)  However, it wasn’t as smart as we thought b/c the damn glasses were all the way at the freakin’ back of the event!  So next year I need to find out where the check in counter is and park closer to that.  Additionally I should bring my own glass, the one from this year, and start where-ever I walk in and then pick up the token glass when I get there.  It was crazy!  Over all I enjoyed it and can’t wait for my next one that I’m doing on my own! 

Okay, that was way longer than I thought, let’s hope it makes sense!  The best part of my day was hanging w Foxie and drinking some vino!

HAPPY TGIF TO YOUUU!!!! 

a lot of info

You’ll be glad to know, at least I hope so since I am, that my ‘original’ bfast casserole recipe turned out to be a pretty good hit!  Here it is, simply basic and healthy:

For a 13X9 pan:

2lbs spicy sausage

1 qt (32 oz) liquid eggs

5+ large potatoes

S & P, onions powder/bits (optional)

Night before eating: 

Brown sausage in skillet, let cool, and store.  Grate potatoes, rinse starchiness away, let drain.  (Now here’s where the tweak will come in.)  Cook potatoes ¾ of the way done, let cool, and store.

*hubby steamed them so they were soft which made it extremely challenging to get the crispy layer on top that I wanted.  I was thinking about cooking them in the skillet, but since he was doing me a huge favor in doing all the prep work I wasn’t going to complain.*

Morning to eat:

Since my hash browns were soft I toasted them in the oven first, at least tried to anyways by coating them with spray EVOO, S & P.  And turned/mixed every so often till I had to take them out for the main part to go in.  I did it on 250 for bout 10 mins total.  

While toasting tatos, place sausage in dish.  Pour l. eggs over in small amounts and mix after each addition.  Once all sausage is covered evenly just slowly drizzle l. eggs over till you think there’s enough (I still had about half a cup of eggs in the carton).  Pull tatos out of oven, do not cover to keep warm; that damn steam keeps em’ soft!  

Turn heat up to 350, put casserole in, and bake for 10 mins.  After that the eggs will, should be at least, set on the edges w a jiggly middle, now turn the pan 180 and bake for five more  mins.  Hopefully your eggs should be set 9/10ths of the way and you can now add your tatos to the top.  Since I had soft tatos I cooked a bit longer, but if you don’t go ahead on toss that sucker under the broiler for a few minutes to get them extra crispy.  If you did have the soft tatos bake for a few more mins then toss under the broiler.  

Now you can serve!  I topped half of it with cheese and it melted on the way to work since the dish was hot and covered.  I’m sure if you topped it with cheese you could let it rest in the oven till eating and it would melt just fine.  

I thought it turned out really yummy, even though it looked weird, stupid browned tatos and cheese made a weird combo after it started to cool.  It tasted yummy though and I wish I’d had a bit more heat to add to it.  I also made Aaron a small one for himself and he ate it for dinner tonight.  He added extra cheese, more salt, and srichia!  That made it!  

Also the OT asked if it was healthy.  I said I guess, it’s just three basic ingredients no extra additives and cooked in our healthy cookware.  She said she try it and took a two bite serving.  Later when I asked her she said ‘it’s crunchy, but it was okay’.  I was confused b/c it was supposed be crunchy!  Well when I got home and saw the dish the sausage was made in I was thankful for the expensive ass cookware!  Since the sausage was cooked in the colander piece all the fat drained down into the water and it was disgusting!  That’s not even a strong enough word for how gross it was.  It kind of look like the chicken fat that separates to the top when you make homemade stock, but was a wired orangy color and super greasy.  I told Aaron about it (the OT’s healthy one) and his comment was ‘well you could let her know that she could have been eating this and it clog her arteries’.  Additionally I used our awesome cookware to make a beautiful piece of chicken for dinner.  There aren’t too many dishes out there on the market that can make a chicken breast from frozen, cook it perfectly, and not dry it out!  I didn’t have to thaw the sucker!  It does it w pork too! 

Okay, now that I’ve over described my first part of the day let me tell you about the imbecile I was behind on the road and hopefully this makes sense.  I was at a light, in the lane to turn left onto a road behind the ass.  The car sat at a green light through me honking five times at him!  If you’re thinking he was waiting on the oncoming traffic to pass you’d be wrong; THERE WAS NO ONCOMING TRAFFIC!!!!!!!!!  The only traffic on the other side of the road was all turning right at the yield sign.  WTF!?!?!?!?!  This week has shown some pretty stupid people on the roads!  

Now I have to admit that my food choices weren’t all that great today: two pieces of casseroles and ¼ of a bagel to start with.  Then some fresh fruit.  And later a half a donut, that lead to a downhill spiral: two more donuts, ¼ of a sub, Snickers and Kit Kat mini, choc pretzel, and some muddy buddies.  Back at school a few grabs of cheese cubes and grapes!  Dinner consisted of half chicken breast (huge 7 oz one btw) and some steamed broccoli.  Then several pieces of chocolate.  

I think I figured out how to tie my scarf to wear tomorrow night to the wine tasting!  It took me umpteen tries but I think I’ve got it down and I hope I remember till tomorrow!

Oh yeah, my dad started dating some new chick, at least he is starting to.  He told me that he was going up to see her this weekend and it’s the first time they’ve met.  I think it’s a bit strange that it’s the first time and the chick already invited him to come up and stay!  Weird?  

Ummm, I think that’s all for the day.  The best part was realizing all that bad grease was still in my skillet instead of in my body! 

Glad you read and hope you’ll try the bfast casserole on your own even though it’s basic but delish…

decisions, decisions, decisions?!?!?!

There wasn’t anything really eventful that happened today.  The only out of norm was my emails when I checked them this morning.  Since the Food Truck battle was postponed on Sunday I got an email about the rescheduling; which happens to be on Sunday the 21^st from 3-6!  Part of me thought that would happen as soon as I got the text from Lindsay at 12:05 on Sunday!  The even more laughable bit of the email is that it was emailed within minutes of me getting my reminder email about the ballet on Sunday, as if I could forget!  So now I have to decide what to miss: ballet, food truck, or pumpkins with the Jenkins?!?!?!  I hate to miss any of them.  I know when I bought the ballet tickets it said that I could change dates if need be, but this ballet only performs over one weekend and I’d really like to see it.  I can’t change it to Friday nite b/c of the wine event I’m going to.  If I change it to Saturday nite I miss the pumpkins again!  I really wish there was a Saturday matinee!  

On another note my CCT (#3) is very upset up the parent and her slandering comments on FB.  She is going to talk to the DR and then the EDR of the entire school.  She wants to make sure that we as teachers as well as the school are safe against bad judgments.  

The grapevine OT stopped in and told me this morning that she talked to the mom and mom was okay with what happened she was just upset that nobody could tell her exactly what it was.  It really pissed me off b/c she never even asked!  Supposedly she didn’t even listen to all my voice msg either!  I say supposedly b/c OT said all mom heard was ‘I don’t know what happened exactly’; man there was soooooo much more to the msg than those words!   Well she had another chance to bring it up this afternoon at pickup, but didn’t.  We stood around chatting about her child’s day for a good five plus minutes.  

Lastly, at least I think so, I’ve pow-wowed w dad, Carolyn, & hubby and may have come up with a new recipe!  I’m not going to tell you what it is, just in case I don’t get to make it or it’s a flop, but it’s a bfast item based of a dinner casserole!  We are having a goodbye bfast/brunch for our therapist at work on Thursday and I want to bring something to eat that’s substantial and not just fruit or carbs.  Aarons going to start it tomorrow afternoon since he decided it’d be fun to do a double date with Dave & Hayleigh at Ru Sans.  

Best part of my day was just sitting around and talking w Aaron b/4 watching the tube.  It was nice to just be together.

Thank you for letting me vent again…

my soapbox...

There are two things I want to remember about today: the not so nice parent and her FB posting and Amanda giving out another open invitation to hang at her place often.  

Which one do you care about most?  Want to hear first? 

I want to tell you about the first one of course!  So on Thursday of last week one of the kids had an accident.  She has special needs I’ll let ya know.  She can get around on her own and we let her explore freely so she can do what she wants.  She LOVES to slide! Love being an understatement here; she crawl the entire length of the jungle gym to get to her favorite slide many times during a thirty minute period.  Since she initiates the play and can’t do it the ‘correct’ way (sitting up, on bottom, feet first) I’ve been letting her go her way (on belly face first).  Well that day she climbed the big steps while I stood behind her to make sure she didn’t fall off since there is no safety rail, just rails for upright kids to hold onto.  Once she got to the top she went down the slide of her choosing.  As she got to the bottom she skidded her face on the turf and got turf burn on her eye/cheek bone.  She also bit her tongue and it bled.  My old CT (second not original) did the doctoring.  I filled out an accident report, had it signed, and called and left mom a detailed message.  Grandma picked up that afternoon.  I didn’t think anything about it (hence there’s not mention of it on last Thursday’s post).  

Okay now fast forward to two o’clock today.  My CCT (third one) asked me if the DR talked to me about the incident.  Shortly said, the DR heard through the grapevine that the mom is upset but hasn’t mentioned it to her and she wanted to get details.  Well I tried and tried to talk to the DR, but the grapevine came in and let me know that it was her who told the DR and then showed me the FB posting.  Man was it an awful picture!  It really looked like we drug her across the ground by her feet!  Not only did it look awful but the mom said some pretty rude, disrespectful, lowdown comment to go along with the picture; something like ‘look what happened to my little girl at school yesterday, the teacher said she was “right there” but doesn’t know what happened.  How can she be “right there” and not know?’  Then there were all these other mean comments about video surveillance and reporting and that teacher doesn’t know who her auntie is and don’t let it go without asking questions and many others.  At one point the parent defends the school; the DR called it back pedaling.  However if the parent is going to back pedal she should remove the damn thing!  

The reason I’m so upset (not enough emotion in that word) is that the mom didn’t even ask me what happened!  I left the message saying call back if you’ve got any questions, but she didn’t.  Nor did she ask any when she dropped off this morning.  Nor did she ask the grapevine who she’s friend with!  

I know the reason why she said ‘the teacher doesn’t know what happened’ is because in my msg I told her ‘she was going down the slide and I don’t know if it’s b/c she was going fast, or the height of the slide, or if she just didn’t hold her face up like she usually does’ (at least that’s what I think I said – I sure wish I could hear the msg).  

To make it even more comical/poetic (not sure which word to use) on my way out the door, literally I was going out an exit, the mom was arriving and wanted to come in the door I was leaving instead of going to the front.  Well of course I stopped and chatted with her b/c I almost always tell her something about her day no matter how insignificant it is.  AND SHE STILL DIDN”T SAY ANYTHING!!!!!!!!

Oh I forgot to mention that when she dropped off this morning my CCT said a comment about how it doesn’t look too bad today, a perfect opening for mom to ask questions, but nothing was said.  

So this all went down over the long weekend and today is over so I wonder what tomorrow brings?  The DR said she was going to call and talk to her and had three routes she could take:

Oh I saw the boo boo when I dropped off…….

I’ve seen what’s on FB………

The OT stopped in to let me know you were upset……..

I wonder which one she’ll use and of course would love to hear the conversation.  The only reprimand I’ve gotten so far is that I need to be more detailed on my accident reports, but that she (the DR) is sure that I left a detailed message and would have given many more if I’d been given the chance.  

WOWZA can’t believe all that took up a whole page!

Now onto my second remembrance of the day;   When Amanda came in to pick up little man she mentioned that we could come by anytime since they are home now to stay.  Tonight they are carving pumpkins.  I told her next time I had a down night I’d msg her to see what they were doing.  I love the idea of just chillin w em’, but it feels strange to txt her and see what she’s doin b/c of the mommy/parenting thing.  Not sure why, it just does.   Maybe I’ll delve more into that on another day.

Also there was a an amazing groupon today: two day all in cheese making course!  Two days, eight hours each day!  It’s 150.00 valued at 425.00.  I thought about calling the lady and talking to her about it.  The event only happens a couple times a year and this year it’s this upcoming weekend which I can not do b/c I’ve got sooooo much going on.  I wonder if I call her and ask to get the same deal if I just pay her would she do that, since that way she isn’t out any money paying groupon.  Cross your fingers.

High today was that even though all our children were back they weren’t ‘off the chain’ like I thought they’d be since it’s been awhile out of routines.

Thank you for letting me get all that off my chest….

going with the flow = more $ spent

Man today was kind of a bust! We were supposed to go to the Battle of the Food Trucks and I of course had our whole day scheduled around it!  I wanted to go to the Chili Festival, but didn’t win the tickets :’(   

So I got up and did my regular Sunday morning routine; sort of.  Did some laundry, the dishes, and put away some clothes.  After hubby got up we went to his parents so he could look at his 401K stuff and I checked my emails and blogs as usual.  I had suggested we swing by 100 Oaks b/4 the battle and he said we could so instead of going to the battle we just shopped until around 5 or so.  I actually only got a belt!  I say that b/c we me checked stuff for a good while.  I saw soooo many boots at Ross’ that I really wanted!  I also took awhile looking at glasses, scarves, x-mas like stuff, and purses at Burlington.  Then at the shoes.  I was really trying to find a pair of black flats that I’m in love with at a decent price and that’s comfortable.  I still can’t believe I spent 40+ on that other pair.  I’m a bit worried they look like old lady shoes rather than cute.  

After fun shopping we popped into Wal Mart for a few essentials and dinner: a market pizza and then headed home.  The pizza was a 16” pepperoni and sausage w four cheese that was 11WW+ for 1/6 of the whole.  I added zucchini, onions, and bell pepper to my 1/3 and ate half.  I also crumbled up some fresh dried basil and it was amazing!  I love how something so simple can make such a huge difference.

I guess the best part of my day would be that I finally decided to keep the 36.00 purse!  I changed all my stuff over into it.  

Hope your Sunday was relaxing before the week…