At Least It's Pretty

We took DH out for his birthday tonight. I asked for a drink that was fun but didn't have alcohol. This is what I got. Pretty and tasty. It would have also been great with vodka. Lol.

Friday Poem

I saw this today and thought it was pretty awesome.


Advice from a Caterpillar

                                    Amy Gerstler

 

Chew your way into a new world.

Munch leaves. Molt. Rest. Molt

again. Self-reinvention is everything.

Spin many nests. Cultivate stinging

bristles. Don't get sentimental

about your discarded skins. Grow

quickly. Develop a yen for nettles.

Alternate crumpling and climbing. Rely

on your antennae. Sequester poisons

in your body for use at a later date.

When threatened, emit foul odors

in self-defense. Behave cryptically

to confuse predators: change colors, spit,

or feign death. If all else fails, taste terrible.

 

That's my life

Yup, I'm a stereotype. I was barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen. Klassy. :)

An Interesting First Day of Vacation

It's my first day of break. Yay!!!!!! Seeing as it's Saturday, I went down to the shelter to volunteer like I usually do. Today though, there was a cute cat at the shelter. They found it in a tree outside. The issue came with the fact that today is also St. Patrick's Day. Let me tell you, getting out of there was an adventure. I snuck out between the start of the race and the beginning of the parade. It was still almost impossible to get to the highway.

Then I got to Babies R Us. They were running a special on diapers, had an extra 50% off on clearance clothes, and I wanted to pick up a shower gift for a friend. Before I went in the store, I looked over and what did I see? A lady, she looked about 6 months pregnant, smoking a cigarette! Who does that?!?!?!

Finally I went to Costco to pick up a few things and then came home to take a quality nap. The dogs and I got a good sleep in while listening to NPR until a MASSIVE thunderstorm rolled in. Seriously, it was crazy! I was just glad my pups were home with me instead of on the street. I feel so bad for all those homeless animals out there.

And that, my friends, is how I started my break. The plan for this week is to get the nursery all cleaned out. My mom is coming in town to help and I'm so excited to get time to spend with her! Plus it will be great to feel like I'm making good progress for the baby.

Confession

I hope the Cardinals lose in the coming weeks. I'm so ready for baseball to be over.

Fall

I have a complex relationship with fall. I love the colors, foods made with pumpkin, the return of winter squashes. I'm even excited to be back in the classroom. However, my love of all these things is often overshadowed by the knowledge that winter will soon be here.

For now though, let's appreciate some lovely fall things that I've been enjoying in the past week.


Need I say more?


Pretty house stuff


Football of course

How about you? What are your feelings about fall?

Jilly's

Cupcake Wars. Do you watch it? I did for a while, and then I stopped. In fact, about two weeks ago I deleted all the recorded episodes on my DVR and took off the scheduled recording. The bakers were just too annoying. Then, seriously, like three days later I heard that the head pastry chef from Jilly's was going to be on an episode! So, I scheduled the DVR to record that one show. Great call on my part.

The show was fun to watch (the theme was space,) and I enjoyed it again after taking a break. The formal is very strict, so it does get old after a while. The first round is always a challenge to use crazy ingredients that have to do with the theme, the second round is 50/50 taste and decoration, and the third round is always making 1000 cupcakes and a show piece. Formulaic.

Well, the chef form Jilly's was fun and after she show, I was dying to try the cupcakes they had made. So when my friend Andrea came in early from Chicago we decided to do lunch. She is also an amazing baker, so she was eager to try the sweets.



The place was packed! But, Chef Casey was there! (Chef Dana was cooking in the back, and let me tell you, his French Onion soup is to DIE for!) I geeked out and took a picture with him.



(I'm wearing the Hawaiian shirt for the last day of school.)

I took a dozen cupcakes to go to Andrea's BBQ tomorrow. They should be amazing.



From left to right:

Raspberry Fizzion
CAKE: Chocolate-Raspberry
STUFFING: Raspberry Jam
TOPPING: Chocolate-Raspberry Ganache, Raspbery Buttercream, & Raspberry Fizzy Candy

Space Monkey
CAKE: Banana-Toffee
STUFFING: Toffee Dulce de Leche
TOPPING: Caramel Cream Cheese Swirl & Chocolate Astronaut Ice Cream

Meringue-a-Tang
CAKE: Almond-Orange
STUFFING: Tang Gel
TOPPING: Tang Meringue, Tang Gel & Silver Cookie Rocket



Top Row:

The Reese's

CAKE: Vanilla cake baked with Reese's Pieces
STUFFING: Peanut butter and ganache
TOPPING: Chocolate & peanut butter buttercream swirl with Reese's pieces

Bee Sting
CAKE: Vanilla
STUFFING: Honey lemon curd
TOPPING: Lemon cream cheese, toasted almonds and a lemon candy dust

Island in the Sun
CAKE: Pineapple
STUFFING: Oven-Roasted Pineapple Compote
TOPPING: Freeze-Dried Mango Pieces & White Chocolate Sunray

Bottom Row:

24 Karat(Carrot Cake)
CAKE: Carrot
STUFFING: Whipped cream
TOPPING: Vanilla cream cheese, toasted coconut & white chocolate shavings

Twisted Pink Velvet
CAKE: Pink velvet
STUFFING: Caramel
TOPPING: Cream cheese, caramel buttercream and pecan praline

Then another Island in the Sun.

Reviews to come.

Still Here

I admit, I was sad losing Jerry. However, there have been some funny stories in the last couple weeks, and I plan to get back to posting soon. I've certainly been thinking about wanting to share them.

Let's start though with a story of my day. I forgot to bring the DVD's that were due to the library today. Ooops. I just checked the fee schedule. Yeah. $0.25 per DVD per day. I think I can swing $0.75 when I drop them off tomorrow. Thank you County Library.

First Game of the Year

I went to my first baseball game of the year on Monday. A friend of mine from volunteering gave us her corporate tickets. Sweet! It was a beautiful night, but COLD!



Check out our awesome seats.

Ryan Howard at bat.


Lance Berkman warming up.


Yadier Molina.


I didn't get any of Pujols though.

On the geek front, did you know they have developed a new way of pouring beer? They do it from the bottom. The cups have a magnet on them so that once they finish filling, the magnet drops down to seal the base. Sweet huh? Here's a video.



When I asked the lady if I could film her doing it, she said that everyone does and she's famous on YouTube. Those cups must be expensive though. I thin they should let you buy your first beer and then bring your cup back for refills for 10% off or something. Cool technology nevertheless.

Terror is One Way to Start the Day

I teach AP Bio and Anatomy. We are currently doing dissections, and the kids wanted to get a better feeling of where structures would be in humans, so I brought in the anatomy manaquin Tuesday afternoon. As I walked in Wednesday morning, before having my first cup of coffee, I caught sight of her out of the corner of my eye. I jumped about 10 feet in the air before I realized what it was.

Giveaway

I haven't posted about any bloggy giveaways lately because, well, there haven't really been any that interested me. However, Alyssa linked me to one today!

Stephany is giving away cute return address labels. Check it out. While the ones she is offering are adorable, I have a different favorite.

These!


So yeah, you should go enter.

How can you complain when this is how your volunteer shift starts on Saturday morning? So cute! (Yes, he's sleeping ON the desk.)

My Friday!

Ok, so today is Thursday, but there is no school tomorrow, so it's kind of like Friday.

My students take their AP on Monday, so that class (2 sections) is basically over. I'll do one more small project with them that won't take outside grading, but really, that's it. Woohoo!

I'm covering my last unit in Anatomy too. In other words, I really only have one more test to grade this year. Phew.

I'm helping organize a charity event for Stray Rescue tomorrow night. A is going to help too since it's at an antique gallery. This will be his first event! I'm also making bandanas for all the adoptable dogs who will be there. Here are my dogs modeling the first couple. Henry is not happy he's wearing one for girls. :)



(Yuck, you can see the gross linoleum floor in our kitchen. Blech.)



Who knows what the rest of the weekend will bring, but I'm feeling light and free. Next week will be easy, they weather seems to finally be turning, and, well, life is just good right now. And I still feel hopeful. Do I need to start being cranky again? I have few enough readers as it is. Can you imagine if I have nothing to complain about?

A Rainy Random Post

Sheesh. Will it ever stop? That's really the most common topic of conversation these days.

I'm healing but my biggest problem is listening to my body and taking a break when I get tired. Not lifting things, especially Henry, is the biggest problem.

AP season is upon us. My seniors have their last day of school on Friday, so there is definitely an interesting feel around campus. Because the AP exam is a week from Monday, I can feel the end too. The thought of just having two classes that are real work is such a nice feeling.

I got to see my old foster dog when I picked up the dogs from camp today. He looks GREAT! I'm so happy that he found such an awesome home.

Overall, I'm feeling really hopeful. I had a very non-scientific, but somehow very meaningful dream about our desires for a baby. I came away feeling so hopeful and positive. I'm trying my hardest to hold on to that feeling. (Obviously the end of the school year helps too. Ha!)

Let's see. A's been sick, and he oh so kindly appears to have given it to me. Boo.

Work is crazy, but in a good way. This time of year is trying and fun all at the same time. AP's are winding down as we prepare for the exam in May. The seniors have gotten in to college and now get to decide where they will go. They are a little wild, but I am blessed to work in a school with legitimately good kids.

The dogs are good, and my favorite shelter dog, Rocksanne, was leaving for her adoptive home yesterday. You go girl!

A friend announced she's pregnant. It's interesting that the last few people I've found out about have really upset me. But I'm not at all upset about her. I mean, I still REALLY want to be pregnant myself, but I just know that she's a good person and will make a great mom. My happiness far outweighs my selfishness. (I didn't think I'd be able to do that.) Plus, I can be sure she won't kill any of her pets just because she has a kid. That helps.

Now, I have to finish with a couple pics of my last walk with Rocksanne. I know I look terrible, but I was trying to figure out how to take the picture AND hold on to the 100 lb mastiff while sitting on the corner of Market and Jefferson.

Friday

I did my own nails last night! I haven't really done that since college. I like them, but another top coat might be in order. The humidity is making them dull.


Also, we are doing the heart rate lab in AP Bio today. It's always a favorite among the kids especially on a Friday afternoon.


Happy weekend!

Happy Birthday!

It's Robert Bunsen's birthday and Google is celebrating. Pretty cool, huh?

Confession

I am a big recycler. If it is glass, plastic, paper, cardboard or whatever, I will try to recycle it. This includes my toilet paper tubes.

I mean, they're clean and just cardboard after all. What I seem to have a hard time doing is getting them from the bathroom to the recycle bin. I don't live in a mansion or anything! So explain to me why I have 3 of them sitting on my bathroom shelf right now?