Just Call Me Chef

I feel like I have been a baking/cooking fool lately...I have found these two fantastic websites that I keep testing their recipes.  Some are great, others well I should try again - they are still edible and taste great, but they don't look as great as the pictures online.  I also find things I want to try from watching Diners, Drive-ins and Dives  and Best Thing I Ever Ate.  These shows don't give recipes but I will go online and find something similar to what they put in the dishes and then tweak the recipe to my liking.  They say if you change 1 ingredient it is a different recipe ...so if I ever do a cookbook (not likely) they will really be my recipes, right?  In reality I am just perfecting theirs...hehe.  :)   

So, here are some of the things I have been up to....

Halloween time brings fun ideas..

cupcakes surrounded with twix or kitkats and topped with m&ms!  

brownie graves

Next I made  roasted Eggplant balls...such a great alternative to meatballs!

 Pillow Cookies anyone?  

What is better than a chocolate chip cookie stuffed with a brownie?  

Nothing!

Bacon Jam on sliders in a puff pastry!

Bacon Jam is FANTASTIC!!!  Sweet and savory!

Christmas brought baking...

Classic sugar cookies (the only thing I took a picture of)

Shortbread

Ooey Gooey Bars

Chocolate Chip and Raspberry bars

Blueberry, white chocolate and caramel oatmeal cookies

Pillow cookies

Oh, I am sad I didn't take a picture of all the baked goods...the boxes we gave to people were so yummy looking with all the goodies in them! 

 I am also sad I didn't take a picture of the Cheesburger Soup we made...

cheesey, burgery, yummy...and so good with fresh lettuce and tomatoes mixed in right before eating!

My mom has also been making homemade bread, mostly artisan bread...last night we had cream of mushroom soup in a homemade bread bowl...yummy!

Finally, an update

Ok yall.....first MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! Second, it has been a CRAZY first half of the school year. It has flown by so fast, I just can't believe it is already Christmas break - oh I mean Winter break, blah I hate having to be so PC sometimes. These first 18 weeks have disappeared into thin air...I hope the next 18 do the same! :) But I am wishing life will be a little less hectic... is this possible? I hope so!

At the moment I am completely enjoying the peaceful break with my mom. Christmas morning with the rest of the family was enjoyable and the afternoon has been restful. This next week I am going to enjoy time with some of my best friends in the whole world and with my mom, then it is back to Jackson.

I will have several post about the last few months to catch everyone up!

What should I be?

Halloween...do I want to dress up?  This is the question....


Maybe I should be Dorothy....

what do you think?

Super Stars in my Family

This afternoon I received an email from my cousin Marte in Norway.  She was telling me that the children's book she has been working on is almost done.  She now has an illustrator and they are working together to bring the story alive in pictures!  Her illustrator is using manipulated photographs along with drawings to illustrate the book.  Marte is using people she knows and loves to be the characters in the book.  Her daughter, Tinde, is the main character and her son, Torn, will also appear in the story.  In the email, she said she has a character that is the owner of a kiosk where Tinde will get her breakfast and orange juice in the mornings.  She said the character is happy and always smiling and she said it reminded her of me.  So, she asked if I would like to be in the illustrations!!!  Of course I said YES!  Marte is emailing me pictures of the way I need to pose.  I will get someone to take my pictures and I will email them to her.  They will then cut the photos and paste them in the illustrations.   So cool.   When the book is published in Norway, I will get a copy and scan the pages in so yall can see them. 

Other super stars are in their family as well.  Marte's husband Lars is in a TV commercial for the company he works for...GET ( it is the Norwegian version of Tevo).  

Here is his TV commercial...

Tonights dessert....Easton Corbin!

Wednesday night the 151st Mississippi State Fair opened at 5:00 pm. And guess what? I was there to hear the official countdown to the gates opening...lame I know. I was excited. I was going to my first state fair...ever! Seriously, I have never been to the Mississippi State Fair or any other state fair.

My friend/co-worker, Monica, and I decided to go and have 'fair food' for dinner. Everyone talks about the fair food. I personally was thinking "what's so great about fair food?". I got my answer Wednesday night. We started to walk the midway and looked at all the different vendors (and try to make up our minds). Our first stop was the biscuit booth...yum! Hot buttery homemade biscuits with maple syrup in them! Oh my mouth wants one now! (ok I have to say that I think they also tasted so good because they were FREE!!) Oh I have to tell yall that there was one very interesting booth - the Krispy Kreme donut booth. They were selling donut burgers - imagine a donut, a beef patty, bacon, cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, topped with another donut. I never saw anyone eat one but I would like to. I can't imagine those flavors all in my mouth at once. OH the beef, it what's for dinner booth had a beef sundae...ummm, I couldn't tell what was on it from the picture, but again not on my menu for the night. So, second stop was the roasted corn booth. Yumm-o! Hot roasted corn on the cob (still in the husk) dipped in melted butter. Ok, my mouth is watering for one of these too. I shouldn't look at the picture anymore. As we were walking we were harassed gross carnies. (ok some weren't too gross, but some were) We took a break from dinner to play Skeeball....
and check out some of the rides...

Then it was time for some more fair food....corn dogs and funnel cake!
Here is a picture of the Italian sausage with all the toppings...it smelled so good, but it looked like heartburn city!
There is a free petting zoo, so we checked that out and then enjoyed the setting sun on the midway!




Then it was DESSERT time! Now, I had an alternative motive to going to the fair this night. The free Easton Corbin concert was what drew me in. I will be honest, the food was pretty good...WAY over priced though. I was disappointed in the rides. Some of the carnies were creepy. People watching was FUN! Will I go back? Maybe if all the girls from work want to go to the Boys II Men concert next week (I saw them in High School), but I will eat before I go, well maybe I will get some more corn (it was the best).

Now, for those of you who don't know who Easton Corbin is, he is a new country singer and is being call 'a young George Strait'. He's pretty much fantastic. The concert was fun. He played for an hour and a half and we were able to get right up by the stage. The lighting was dark and my ancient camera did the best it could! Here is Monica and I before the concert started and some shots of Easton.






Oh also for those who don't know who Easton Corbin is....here is his video to

"A Little More Country Than That"

The Happenings

Ok, sorry it took me awhile to realize that my last post was appearing in webdings...my mom kept telling me and I kept saying, it looks normal to me! and it did on my computer! So, the last post was about mid-term and that was really 4 weeks ago...the first 9 weeks ends next Wednesday! Good news, I lost 9 kids last week and gained 1. Now I am at 27 (which is state limit and in reality still TOO MANY kids in a kindergarten class). I did lose some of my lower ones so now I am only stressing about 9 kids, but we are making improvements! I was truly surprised today as I was giving a 9 weeks test and I was calling out letters for them to write - and one of my low ones got ALL of them! YES! at mid-term he only knew 3 letters! I wanted to do the happy dance.

Tomorrow I have a parent teacher conference about something that I am not happy about. I have twins in my room and this past Friday, they went home and told there mom that Ms. P (my assisstant) and I cursed them out and told them not to tell their mom. Really?!?! I was speechless when my principal called me in to ask me about it. Now let me give you a little history of the twins in the past 8 weeks....2nd week of school they tell their mom that everyone picks on them and no one plays with them - lie - I had the mom come observe and twin #1 was picking on two kids while she was there and during recess they played with most of the kids on the playground....3rd week of school twin #2 tells mom that Ms. P and I won't let him use the bathroom and said we said that we don't care if he pees on himself or not - lie - I explained to the mom that the students have free use of the bathroom in our room throughout the day and we go as a whole group after lunch, we only ask the kids if they can hold it if they ask during carpet time (which is when I am giving whole group lesson and I don't want kids constantly up and down - because if one goes they somehow all need to go) - now, if a kids says they can't hold it, we let them go. I don't want pee or other stuff on my carpet or anywhere in my room - gross- if I wanted to deal with human waste I would have a different profession. Now the lies had stopped until last week when on Wednesday twin #2 went home and told his mom Ms. P called him an a@#hole. Really? When did happen? P and I are together ALL day...if I had heard this I would have said something...so again - lie. Are we seeing a trend here?

I am quite upset about this whole thing. First where do the lies end? They are only getting worse. I don't want to talk to either of them in fear that they will fabricate what I say. I don't even want to give them a high 5 in fear that gets twisted around. So now I am getting to the point where I want as little interaction with them as possible...and they are in my room for 27 more weeks. What do I do?

Here is another problem with this situation. My principal told me to set up a conference with them mom so we can get to the bottom of this... done. When I asked my principal to sit in on the conference for another set of ears and support..her reply "Why don’t you plan to meet. We can strategize about who would be good to sit with you." (Reply taken from email from principal who told me to email time and date of conference to her). Really? is that beating around the bush, why don't you just tell me no? Ok, blow to the stomach taken...you don't support me or care. Not really surprised. Monday I asked the assistant principal...her reply "I really don't want to, find someone else if you can". Seriously? another sucker punch. Ok neither of my administration support P and I in this situation. So I asked the guidance counselor who was more than happy to sit in on the conference. I was talking with a friend about this and she said to call the superintendent and have him sit in on the conference... I would do that but DW (principal) would make my life a living you know what. She is a beast. That is being nice. I really don't want to rock the boat because DW has been known to not give good recommendations to those who do. I want/need a good recommendation because I am not renewing my contract next year. (That's my plan/thought at the moment - nothing set in stone - no final decisions made yet) Maybe not the smartest move in a down economy but I can sub (not in JPS) and move home if need. (My mom might groan a little, but she would be REALLY excited to have me back home- she misses me). I am also starting my move towards my masters... LSU looks like my school of choice (that's Louisiana State University for those not from the South). Leaving this school is a good thing - I am pretty sure - just thinking about it makes me feel a little less stressed. You know it's getting bad when a veteran teacher (20 years) wants to transfer to another school in the district.

So this is my delimma ...feedback?

MidTerm Already!!!????

I don't know where this school year is going, but it is flying out the window already! We have been in school 4 weeks now and mid-term is this coming Friday! I seriously feel like all I have done is give placement test...with 35 kindergarteners this does take forever! Good news on the number of kindergartners I have this year, they will get me down to 27 (state limit) hopefully in the next 2 weeks and not the end of October like last year...well, that is what they are saying, but I won't hold my breath!

Over all this year is going a little better than last year. The kids still TALK so much, it makes me wonder if they open their mouths once they leave the classroom at the end of the day. For some of them, probably not - they are sat down in front of the TV/video games and have no interaction with a live human being until they come to school the next day. After talking with the other kindergarten teachers, as a whole this is the most chatty bunch yet.

This year we have found that the kids don't know:
1) how to write/spell their names (much less know their given name - please if you give your kid a nickname, teach them their given name - I can't call your baby ReRe, NeNe, "D", LeLu, etc - also, spellings...hello throwing some letters together and saying it spells Sam when there is no S, A or M in the spelling, the people at the hospital should have slapped you! For example in Mr. B's class there is a little girl named LeAnna but it is spelled: Lajhadienne ... I am serious as a heartattack.)
2) their alphabet (yes they can sing the song, but can they pick out an A? No!)
3) letter sounds ... how can I teach reading/spelling when they don't know the letter sounds?
4) numbers ...again they can count to 50, 100, etc but do they know what the #1 looks like? I have had this discussion with several parents already, and they just don't believe their baby doesn't know their numbers and letters.

So with these 4 major issues, I am (and the other kindergarten teachers) having to start from the bottom and build the foundation. Unfortunately the pacing guide doesn't factor this in so it is flying through the race and we are still trying to make it to the starting line.

Well, tomorrow is a kid free day, but it is parent/teacher conferences...I would much rather work with the kids. Some of the parents I have this year, oh my. That is all I can say. It should be interesting and I may have some stories to tell.

I will have pictures of my new class for you soon! They really are cute, when they want to be. Thanks for letting me get on my soap box there for a moment!

You know I am ....

a SUPERFAN!!!!


Sara the Saints Superfan!


(click to check me out!)

Did you know I have a dream of standing in the endzone and putting my hands in the air when the field goal is good? Well it is and right now this is as close as I am going to get...but that could change soon, you never know!

Are You Ready For Some Football???

It's that time of year again! Regular season starts tonight...Saints vs Vikings!


WHO DAT!?!?!
Geaux Saints!!!

Weather is beautiful, Wish you were here

At the beginning of July, I was able to take a little weekend get-a-way with two of my best friends from high school. We marvel at the fact that we have been friends for (oh I will give away my age here) 17 years now (that includes 4 years of high school ... I'm not that old, yet!). Leanne, Paula, and I, along with Paula's mom and sister went to Destin, Florida. Oh white sand beaches, sun, and fun!

Unfortunately, the first day of our trip was filled with rain due to feeder bands from Hurricane Alex. The second day we were graced with sun in the morning, so we quickly at breakfast and Paula, Leanne, Kristina and I headed to the beach. It was a beautiful morning, not too hot (it was only 9 am) and not too many people, yet. We are early risers and like to enjoy every moment of our vacation! There were huge wavs that crashed on the shore - I love that sound! However, the red warning flags were flying. Thanks Hurricane Alex! But that did not discourage us, we went in the water regardless. I know we are fearless and a little nuts. Kristina and I ventured out more than Leanne and Paula. I was knocked around and down by the waves. The undertow was crazy strong and it pulled my swim shorts right off me! Luckily I had on my swim suit bottom and I grabbed them as they reached my ankle. Oh the waves also sucked my brand new sunglasses right off my head! But some fish is totally rocking them right now, I just know it. Good news is I was able to go to Kohls and buy the exact same pair.

During the trip we shopped 'til we dropped - I bought 5 new pairs of shoes! We also ate wonderful food at fun restaurants. And Leanne, Paula and I took a picture holding an alligator! We had a wonderful time, made many great memories and are planning our next girls trip!

Make sure you squeeze the throat tight Leanne!

Crashing waves

Lunch at Fudpuckers - Me, L, & P

I always get myself into crazy situations

Natural alligator wrestler

Boats on the bay

Just me!

Leanne

Paula

Kristina and me -I am getting knocked down my the waves - notice my hair!

Carefree!

Me and L

P and L

L and K

They have pins in them for a reason

After a long day of shopping for vacation clothes, Leanne, Paula and I went to Target as our last attempt to find Paula a bathing suit. We were successful! After that was accomplished, we headed towards the pharmacy to get some baby Tylenol for Libby ( she had some shots and was a bit grumpy). The baby meds were on the isle with the pole, which just happened to have a fire extinguisher on it. Now I was was innocently resting my hand on the handle of the extinguisher and then I started playing with it.

***Let me make my plea to say what happened next WAS NOT intentional - all I am saying is if the extinguisher was regularly inspected, it would have been found that the pin was not in the extinguisher and the following event could have been prevented***

As I was saying before the side note, I started playing with the handle and suddenly there was a loud woosh noise and some smoke. Leanne, Paula and I all jumped and when we noticed what happened, we quickly left the isle - not for guilty reasons, but because there was this cloud of extinguisher smoke and it was filling up the whole isle. The pharmacist saw it and gave us the glare of death. Please note that Paula and Libby took off and left Leanne and I. However, as Leanne and I walked past the isle towards the checkout, some workers were there and here is their conversation...
1: What happened?
2: Someone set of the fire extinguisher.
1: Well that was genius!

Now, as the title states, they have pins in them for a reason, and that reason is to keep geniuses like myself from being bored and playing with the handle. If the pin was in the extinguisher, this NEVER would have happened, so it really isn't my fault. The blame should be put on the person that pulled out the pin.

While in Destin, Leanne and I had some fun taking pictures of me and a fire extinguisher in Target. Please note that the pin is in this one and when I squeezed it, nothing happened.

I love when the doctor says to stay home

During the last week of school, I woke up Tuesday morning (1 a.m. to be exact) with a fever of 101.9, gross. It didn't break until 4 a.m. and I got an hour of sleep before my alarm clock went off. I was feeling better so I got dressed and went to work. (I was trying to be the good employee and not call in during the last week of school) Once I was at school, my body was feeling achy, but I was feverless. I went and talked to the school nurse (luckily, she was at our school that morning!) and she recommended that I go see a doctor, so I did. After swabbing for this and that and drawing some blood, he decided I had a viral infection and was contagious and should stay home at least two days or longer if I was still running a fever on Friday...sweet! Well, I called and talked to my principal to let her know and I headed home to lay on the couch, drink fluids and monitor my fever. The doc said I would not be contagious once my fever had disappeared for 24 hours...luckily, the last time I had a fever was Wednesday morning. Now here was my problem: do I go back to work on Thursday since I was no longer contagious or do I stay home another day (I had a doctors excuse) and go to the state championship high school baseball games with Leanne and fam to watch Sumrall and later that evening with my cousin Jen and fam to watch my shortie (Bryce) play with St. Stanislaus? HELLO!!! No brainer...follow the doctors orders! I had a blast at the ball field all day (seriously 10am to 10pm) The only problem, I got sunburned. I avoided my principal as much as possible to dodge any questions.

The out come of the games...South State swept the championship games!!! Way to go Sumrall, Petal, St. Stanislaus, Long Beach, Richland and St Alyousos (I butchered the spelling of that one)
Molly
Lucy Goose
Sumrall - 3A state champs three years in a row!
Bryce tossing the ball
St Stanislaus 4A state champs!
Liv, Bryce and Bryce...proud sister and daddy
my shortie!
(who is taller than me, and still growing - but I will always call him shortie)