Five Favorite Fall Things

It's time for some fabulous fall things that I love.

1. Fall mugs and beverages. This is one of my favorite mugs, it is a pumpkin that my Godmother gave to me when I was in college. I also love hot apple cider and pumpkin coffee in any way, shape or form.

2. Fall cooking. I love roasting vegetables. This includes squash of all kinds.

3. Fall baking. I suppose I could put this in with number 2 but it is really it's own category. I mean, pumpkin muffing, pumpkin cheesecake, apple crisp, apple or pumpkin anything... for example, Apple Dumplings.

4. The clothes. I love wearing sweaters and boots and scarves, etc.

5. Leaves changing. This is one of my all time favorite things. I love when the leaves change colors and the drive to work is so much prettier when the leaves are bright red, orange or yellow. 

http://gardentherapy.ca/the-fall-foliage-of-vermonts-green-mountains/

What are your favorite things about fall?

Writing Focus

The Common Core focuses a LOT on writing. Our County, focuses a LOT on writing. Our curriculum includes two full days out of every 7 day cycle of Writing is Fundamental. So many of my students were struggling with writing a draft today and figuring out what to write.

Then it hit me. My mom, who just cleaned through a TON of stuff that was hiding away in the attic, had sent me home with a ton of my writing journals and pieces from elementary school. Why not use these as some examples to show my students what writing, real, messy, edited, writing looks like. I am going to bring it in to show them but I did scan a few pieces to email to a co-worker to share. I apparently had a very creative imagination as a child.

Take a look:

Good luck deciphering my hand-writing! 

Is Life Too Busy?

One thing that I have been learning is to cherish the little moments. With this year being so busy, school is starting, two grad classes, a new baby in the family, balancing the hubs new job, small group, etc... the list keeps going. I have often wondered if I am too busy lately. I know I have a lot going on but I feel like I don't know how else to live.

These little moments I have found include simple things like my most recent coffee discovery, Gevalia Chocolate Mocha. This make my morning better. Right now I am sitting on the couch, in a nice cool apartment because the windows have been open all night, with a cup of coffee in hand, writing this blog. To me, there is nothing really better.

I also made my own coffee creamer. It is SO simple I can't believe I've never done it before. All you do is take I can of sweetened condensed milk (14 oz.) and 1 3/4 cup of milk or cream (I used whatever I had in the fridge). You can also add any flavorings you like (I used almond extract and cinnamon). Then, you shake it up and store it in your fridge.

Last night, I made quiche for the first time. I cheated and bought a store bought crust but I figured its okay. I've done so much on my own this week, including homemade tomato soup (post and recipe coming soon). It was so easy to do, I found a recipe online for a basic quiche and added my own ingredients. I can't believe there are only 3 or 4 eggs in the whole thing! I added cooked bacon, cheese and broccoli. It was so good. The hubs ate 2 pieces.

I have found a way to balance it all and perhaps find the time to recharge by cooking and enjoying coffee. How do you find a break in the rush of life?

Visiting My Elementary School

One of the most fun experiences yet has been being able to visit former teachers of mine. This is partly because my parents still live in the same house I grew up in but also because I know how much it must mean to former teachers of mine to know they have made a difference. There is something to be said about being a teacher and I have a greater appreciation for just how much these people who were like another set of parents really did for me. They cared so deeply about me as a person and saw that I could turn into something. My teachers impacted me so much.

One of the most influential people was my first grade teacher. Walking into her room today, although different in many ways, not much has changed and it was like stepping back into time. She touched me and brought out my love for reading. Stepping into her room, I was transfered back to learning to read and all of the fun things we did. She truly loved me. Not just loved as a student in her class but loved as the person I was and would become.

While being home, I have found old school projects and remembered completing them while in her class. We completed this "All About Me" book. It was a HUGE undertaking. We spent the entire year working on it and growing with the book. I now appreciate just how much effort something like that can take from a teachers perspective. You have to really be organized and invested in your students. I was blessed to have her as a teacher of mine.

Another thing that my 1st grade teacher did was to give out books throughout the year. We got books at Christmas and for birthdays, and I'm sure for other reasons, but we were given books of our own to take home and have. She still does that today.

This teacher cared so deeply enough that she made sure my sister and I made it safely out of the building and to the car and waved as we drove off. She was just so thrilled that we had come back to visit.  I guess the whole point is, what little way could you touch a teacher that you had or someone who influenced you and just let them know what a difference in your life they made? I think if we did more of that, the world would be a much better place.

A Walk Down Memory Lane

Last night, after I got back to my parents after hanging out with my best friend, I decided to go through a box of memories I had been keeping and just stashed away for some odd reason. Perhaps so of the best moments were when I found notes written back and forth between myself and a boy in 6th grade... Those were some funny notes, "Why do you like me?" kinds of things filled my memory.

I was also came across a paper that my two best friends and I at the time had made. It said, "We promise to be best friends forever" followed by our signatures. This made me chuckle at how much life has changed since I was 12.

One of the best parts of this excursion was that I found letters the hubs had written to me when we were engaged and I was living at home. These made me smile and I kinda fell in love with the hubs all over again. It's funny how certain things just spur memories and bring back the feelings you had with them.

One of the bloggers I follow (Crafty Healthy Mommy), just posted a letter to her 21 year old self. After reading the random letters I had, I thought that one of these days it might be fun to write a letter to my 12 or 15 or 17 year old self. Perhaps even a letter to my 22, right before I got married self. It doesn't seem like it has been too long but life has really been showing me a lot lately. I have grown up and have moments where this whole 'adult' thing doesn't seem so bad now. I mean, really are we ever fully 'adults'? What does that even mean!?!?!?!

All of this to simply say, memories and moments in life do help shape who we are and make up the thread that holds us together as cloth, but we are not limited or confined to our memories. I am thankful after re-reading those letters when I was 12 that I am not forever stuck as my 12 year old self. That would have been awful!

Another thing that I have done since being at my parents, is kinda look at some old bikes that were in the garage. I had thought that maybe one or two would be salvageable to bring home so the hubs and I could ride off into the sunset together... I mean ride around town for fun, but the bikes may be more work than they are worth and it might be better just to save up for a new one. Well, that's what the guy at the bike shop said. Anyone want to buy some old, need some TLC, bikes?

Today I will leave you with this:

Family

With the end of the school year only days away, I have been able to enjoy much more time with family. I married into a great family and a few decided to move closer to us. It works out well, as we see each other fairly regularly. Memorial day was one of those days.

We decided after we ate to take the kids to the park. There is a park pretty close to our apartment and it is a decent size so it is perfect to keep the kids busy. While at the park, we were watching the kids play, and talking to each other. While standing and watching the kids, a little boy came up to me. He started to grab at the camera I had. I bent down and showed him how to take a picture. His parents came over and were very apologetic, not that I cared, and he left. A few minutes later, he came running back. It was really cute. Again his parents were apologetic.

Later that evening, the hubs made a comment to me that got me thinking. He said, "What did that kid want? He must have just known you love kids."

The reason this got me thinking was because that is really what I want people to see. I want people to see my passion for kids and my passion for them to learn something. I hope that is something that is always visible to others. Here are some pictures from that day.

Discovering Honeysuckles with mom :)

Playing baseball. He LOVES baseball.

The picture my new friend took.

The End of the Year

Things have been SO crazy lately. I have been neglecting the blog, sorry all. I'll share some highs and lows for the week.


Highs:

1. My mom sent me a box of cereal. This has turned out to be one of the best gifts for right now. It is comfort food...
2. My 6th graders are practicing for GRADUATION! So exciting. They are so sweet lately.
3. My final meeting for the department for the year is tomorrow and they will FEED us!


Lows:
1. The hubs is working a lot, which is kinda a high because more work = more $$
2. I've had a headache off and on, since Sunday... creeping into a migraine...

New Favorite Show

Recently I was looking around Netflix trying to figure out what I should start watching, I had been watching Crossing Jordan, but the death and murders were getting to me. I found this show, Wild at Heart. This show is about a family from England that end up working and running a game reserve for wild animals and an animal hospital. This show is pretty good. I like it because there is a plot but it isn't violent or gory. It moves pretty quickly too.

I recommend looking at it and watching some if you have some spare time or are looking for something to watch.

Remember That One Time When...

I tried to feed the hubs raw chicken?  Oh wait, that was the other night...

So I was inspired this week to make some stuffed chicken. It sounded really good, like REALLY good, thank you Pintrest... I was inspired by this recipe for Cajun Chicken Stuffed With Pepper Jack and Spinach. I decided to switch out some of the ingredients and make it differently...

I decided to make a mixture of spinach, 1 small container of Greek yogurt, and feta cheese (mostly because that is what I had at home). I cut the chicken breasts almost in half and stuffed this mixture in them. Then into a glass pan they went and into the oven.

We sat down to enjoy dinner. (I was going to post a picture, but the camera wasn't working) About halfway through the chicken, I realized it was REALLY difficult to cut, like cutting raw chicken difficult to cut. I looked more closely and realized, wow, this is NOT cooked enough! I made the hubs stop eating and into the microwave the plates went for a few minutes to finish cooking.

In the grand scheme of things, this is not that big a deal. I suppose we didn't really have that much chicken that was under cooked and it wasn't raw, just under cooked. And I have been lucky, there has only been about one meal in our two years of marriage that was TOTALLY inedible and that was really because I wouldn't let the hubs even touch it. He probably would have toughed it out because he is just that wonderful...

Anyone else had a cooking faux paux? It can be hard to come back from... Especially when you are not used to things not working out...

Life Lately

Things have been crazy! It got me thinking... how do you keep your marriage going when the two of you are on completely different schedules?

Let me explain. The wonderful hubs has started working nights 4 nights a week until he finds a full time permanent gig. I am so thankful that he has chosen to help support us this way and it is wonderful that he is able to. While he's been working nights, he also decided to continue to work temp jobs. The past few weeks he's been working this temp job that has an hour and a half commute as well as working the night shift. Now, if that's not enough, throw in continuing to attend church and small group, while balancing family life. He is pretty busy. I love him so much!

Now, while the hubs is busy with all of that, I am working a full time job teaching, tutoring two different kids outside of school, doing grad school, and taking care of the house, all while trying to spend time with the hubs.

A few weeks ago, I decided, mostly after picking up Fridays We're In Love, (where a young wife writes about dating her husband) that we need a date night. I know the hubs has wanted to find time for us to be together and focus on our relationship, as we're still newlyweds and readjusting to living together again, so, next we had to decide what day to have date night...  This actually came pretty easy as he works four nights a week, and I tutor 2 nights a week and we have small group one night a week. We picked the one day we both were free.

Last week was our first date night. It was my night to plan so I decided we would go classy. I chose to make shrimp scampi (I had two packages of Campbell's Skillet Sauces, you will want two).

So, I decided to cook some shrimp, make some spaghetti, and toss a salad. When I got home from work, the hubs had a surprise for me. After a short scavenger hunt, I came upon 2 cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcake! So good!

So, I made the hubs set the table before I started cooking as I had to get our activity ready. I decided that we would ask each other questions that I found online, mostly fun questions for couples. This turned out to be pretty great. I found a cute mason jar, decorated it, cut the questions into strips and stuck them in the jar.

We ate dinner and just enjoyed being with each other. It was nice to just sit an enjoy a meal together. After dinner we spread a blanket out on the floor, sat down with some candlelight and dove into the questions. This was my favorite part of the evening. It was nice to sit and be able to just have a conversation about life.

What do you do to keep your marriage fresh? Any fun, cheap ideas for date night?

Saving Diva

Since I got married 2 years ago,  I have become a self proclaimed saving diva. Now, don't expect that I am going to write about how to save hundreds of dollars a year and be one of those crazy extreme couponers. I just like to save money. Perhaps its become more important since the hubs is no longer a full-time employee.

A little background on that... We got married and moved to Maryland with no jobs. I know, looking back it was kind of crazy. Well, I was hired on as a teacher after about a month while the hubs continued to be unemployed. He did temp jobs and some private contracting but no luck finding a full-time permanent gig. Then, he was offered a position on a political campaign in January.  The kicker? The job was in Massachusetts. I know, being newlyweds this sounded.... um... great? Well, not exactly and it didn't make sense for me to relocate with the hubs as this job was temporary, so thus started our 11 month separation.

While we were both unemployed, I got pretty coupon savvy. I mean, to the point where I stock piled toiletries and have not paid full price since we got married. Most of the soap, body wash, shampoo, conditioner, even laundry detergent, has been free or a few cents. Then the hubs went away to work and I got all the money sent home to me... I got pretty good at spending. This is when I decided to start graduate school. Let the bills start flowing!

When the political hoopla was over, in November, the hubs arrived back home. This is when he started, yet again, his search for full time employment. Well, now we had student loan payments, graduate school, savings, life all happening. Couponing and saving started again.

SO, with ALL of that said, here's how I do it. (Keep in mind I am not a magician nor do I think I do this the best possible way. All I can tell you is that this works for me.)

1. I buy my meat at Costco and freeze it. I only make a trip to Costco about once every 2 to 3 months. But, the quality of meat is worth it for the price.

2. I clip coupons whenever I remember. Really, the best way to do this is to follow Hip2Save. This woman, Collin, posts deals and tells you what coupons you need to get the best deal. I use this for Target trips and when I need to buy toiletries. This is how I get almost free and free stuff.

3. I take advantage of sales at the grocery store and do not buy out of season or processed stuff if at all possible. I have found ways to make homemade english muffins and all kinds of other things, thank you Pintrest!

4. I cook and freeze. This means that yes, I do cook a new meal almost every night (I HATE leftovers). And then we have food to eat either for lunches or I freeze things. I have frozen anything from soup to lasagna. If only I had a deep freezer.... yes, my freezer looks crazy and has things JAMMED in there... it happens though and we make it work.

5. We don't go out... and I mean we don't eat out, or buy fast food, I have even given up Starbucks... I know, for some this sounds crazy but it means having more money to pay the bills.

6. We make a budget. Perhaps this should be number one since it is what dictates where all of our money goes for the month. In January, we did Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. This was eye opening and really taught us some great tips on how to be smart with money. I STRONGLY suggest looking into it. Yes, he is a Christian and yes, he teaches about money with a Christian perspective. BUT (and this is a J-Lo BUT as the hubs would say), he provides really great information about how to handle money from day to day life all the way to saving for retirement. We learned SO much.

I think these are all the money saving tips I've got but I'm sure I will come up with more. I got a sewing machine for Christmas so I am trying, somewhat unsuccessfully, to make some clothes of my own and revamp some thrift store finds...

Not Stupid, Just Different

Perhaps I'm just jumping onto the blogging band-wagon but I think that I should start doing something with everything that is going on in my head. Here I will discuss my life which at this moment includes, being an Elementary Special Education teacher (hence the name), going to grad-school, tutoring, being a newlywed (how long does that title last?) and deciding to lose weight and eat healthy. Wow, I'm tired just from writing that... do I really want to add blogger to that list? Well, it's a no pressure kind of thing, if I do it, then great, if not, not harm done!

So, if you're still reading by now, I guess I should start an actual post. Last weekend I had the stomach bug that has been floating around. During this wonderful weekend bound to the couch, I had a lot of time to read and putz around online. I came across this blog Crafty Healthy Mommy. I read the entire blog from the beginning. As I was reading it, I saw so much of myself and decided, hey, if SHE can lost half of her body weight, why can't I? So I decided that I was going to make sure that I became a much more healthy me. What better way than to blog about it? That's a great way to keep me accountable!

The next thing that hit me was that I am not only a special educator (hence the name of the blog), who has to create a ton of her own stuff, but I tutor privately which means, I have gotten pretty creative. There are a ton of people out there making money by just putting their ideas on the blog-o-sphere. Why don't I do that?

So, there you have it, at least two things that have provided me with an idea to start getting myself out there. Now comes the hard part, deciding to get myself out there and sharing this with the family? Facebook? Do I want to be anonymous or do I want people to know it's me? That shall be the question for today.