Work Conversation...

My neighbor teacher (the one I like) asks...."How bad were my kids yesterday while I was out?"

I reply, "They were not that bad considering it is almost the end of the year.  I took David to make things easier."

Here is the note she got....

"We had a pretty rough day, Lightcap (counselor) and Christ complained."

Christ, huh?  It was supposed to say Christa....that was pretty awesome!

Guess who came home with an empty container that housed my key lime bars?  Oh yeah!!!

Cornhole

As part of Teacher Appreciation Week, we had a Cornhole tournament.  I have never played before in my life.  I got to take eight of my kids out to watch while I played.  Elizabeth was the photographer from my room for all the mayhem. 

I only made ONE point for my team during corn hole.  I had a lot of fun, but this is a game that requires more skill than I have.  My kids were so encouraging, it was precious.  Jerry says, "You can do it.  Do it for the chocolate Mrs. F."  That was the ONE shot I actually got!

Cooking Update

The Peanut Butter Blondies were a TOTAL flop.  I don't know how I messed them up, but they were like goo and I way overcooked them.  They should not have been this way.  I am not sure how I messed them up.

The Maple Apple Chicken was out of this world!  I would have never thought the combination of maple syrup (1/2 cup) and Italian dressing (1/3 cup) would have been a good combination.  It tasted heavenly.  Next time, I am going to use this sauce as a marinade.  The security officer at our school is an amazing cook, and even runs a catering business on the side, he said I did a great job with this dish, I just need to cook the apples longer.

HH and I both liked the stuffed shells with sausage.  I did decide at the last minute to not include the spinach.  I used meat sauce, so this dish had a strong hearty taste to it.

Tonight I will be making the key lime bars for work tomorrow.

Tale of Two Different Tastes....

For HH's birthday, he wants to go to WW Cousins.  In his opinion, they have the best burgers in the world.

For my birthday, I want to go to Jean Farris Bistro.

He commented that it was his simple taste that would allow us to be able to afford my birthday meal!

School Stuff

I try not to talk about school stuff too much on this blog.  Today, and the past few weeks, my heart has been very heavy.  I have to be somewhat vague, to be protective of this child as I write here.  This child takes some heavy adult meds, and when he has these meltdowns (uncontrollable sobbing, rambling on with hurtful comments to me, etc) I can tell they are beyond the child's control.  The frequency of these meltdowns has increased greatly in the month.  At first, I thought the student was a really strong willed child, which I've dealt with before, but then I started to notice this child's differences.  I can see the inner turmoil when I deal with this child, and it is scary and sad for me. 

We are now reaching the point in the school year where things are going to go so fast, it will be a complete blur! 

Flashback

I was getting HH some fast food this afternoon, when I stopped and put some trash a bin similar to the one pictured above.  I remembered how much I used these bins as a means to clean out my car.  Sadly, most of the trash I would put in there would be bags from fast food establishments.  I am glad that fast food is not a part of my life.  If I continue to keep this part of my life closed, it will not become a part of the life of my (future) children either.  I will set them up for a much better healthy lifestyle than what I had.

Merit Based Pay

I realize that most people who read my blog are not teachers, but I urge you to read this short blog post by Queen's Teacher about this issue.

I work in a school that is tough.  I love working there, but we do face a ton of outside obstacles.  We have kids who enter kindergarten not even able to recognize one letter from their own name.  I'm not trying to make excuses, but we are not exactly on equal playing fields when it comes to student performance.

Recently at dinner, my husband was having a conversation with my friend's husband, and in twenty minutes HH was able to persaude this man to see why merit based pay would be very harmful to teachers.

My Thoughts On Pepsi's CEO Indra Nooyi

"If all consumers exercised, did what they had to do, the problem of obesity would not exist."
 - Indra Nooyi (Pepsi CEO)

Well, I am glad to know it was just that simple!  Silly me!  One thing I've learned on my journey is that 2 + 2 doesn't always get you 4.  I do acknowledge that everyone can do some things to help them in their health journey, but I also acknowledge that many people have a much tougher way to go genetically speaking.  Many people have to move heaven and earth for just a few pounds to come off, while others can drop one thing from their diet and lose twenty-five pounds.

Well, this comment has really ticked me off enough that I am going to take action.  I know I am one person, but I can feel better about where my money is going.  I am going to boycott Pepsi products.  This comment was very insensitive, and just plain wrong.  I looked up all the products I am going to need to boycott:

* Frito Lay
* Tropicana
* Quaker
* Gatorade

Good News!  PepsiCo's Indra Nooyi Solves Obesity Crisis

Week That Only Happens Once In a Blue Moon (For a Teacher It Seems)

I should be home by 5:30 Monday through Wednesday night this week!!!  How am I going to celebrate?  By cooking, of course!

Maple Apple Chicken

Italian Sausage and Spinach Stuffed Shells

Pesto Tomato Ravioli

To Continue on with my baking challenge of 2010 I am making:

Peanut Butter Blondies with Milk Chocolate Frosting


To Take to Work for Cinco De Mayo Celebration (for staff):

Lime Bars

An Observation

For some reason this message didn't post from my phone, so here is a repeat....

HH and I are with the boys from Canada watchign them while their parents are at the Derby.  I have often used this family as a "model" of how normal people deal with food.  I've known them for six years, and they have had no weight problems.  They seem to handle food as a means to live, but not live to eat. 

My newest observation is that they have one basket of fruit out, but other than that all food is put away.  Nothing is on the countertops for you to view.  At my home growing up, we always had food out on the countertops (such as cereal boxes, pasta, hamburger buns, etc).  It was always visible.  HH and I have several things of food out because we don't have enough cabinet space. 

So does leaving food out on your countertops serve as a small contributing factor towards those who end up being overweight, and those who do not?  Is out of sight really out of mind?  HH thinks there is a link, he talked about how he had forgotten that we had sour cream and onion pringles because they were put away in the cabinet. 

I would love to hear your thoughts on this!