Me, in my very stern "teacher voice" to a child who had obviously left her Listening Ears (and all sense of decorum) at home today:
"Are you seriously lounging on that basket with your pants down??"
Ah, the joys of working with toddlers.
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Fix Your Thoughts
Before this weekend started, I was already mentally preparing myself for the work week ahead. Vacation is looming...in less than 3 weeks I'll be in New England living it up with some family. We'll be sightseeing, relaxing by the beach and just generally having a leisurely time. Countdowns to vacations are almost impossible...you wait and wait and wait impatiently for the time to come, so much so that you flirt with neglecting the time you're currently living. At least in my experience.
So, anyway, I was bummed about this upcoming week. Four work days in a row, which was going to seem atrocious. Next week I'll only work 3 days with the 4th of July holiday smack in the middle of the week, and the week after that I'm only working 3 days because then we're leaving for vacation. So this 4 day week seemed like a giant mountain to climb, at least as of this Friday night.
By today, I'm realizing how truly blessed and lucky I am to have these kinds of problems. The "problem" of having to work 4 days in a row at a job that I love with people I love in order to get close to a vacation many people would be happy to go on. Things like what transpired this weekend make me realize that, in the lottery of life, I somehow got very, very lucky. I need to stop complaining and start loving everyday. I think I tend to do that anyway...I'm a generally happy person, but I am certainly guilty of wishing time to pass more quickly or complaining about the things I should be happy about, like having a job.
Before I go any further, let me stress that everything and everyone is okay. Saturday was a bit of a mess though, involving two separate 911 calls (one for a close family member, and one I made on behalf of something I saw.) It was a stressful day filled with predetermined plans getting flipped upside down, lots of worry and anxiety, and some seriously sad moments. Last night I slept horribly, dreaming about the incident where I made the 911 call. I awoke with a back ache and tense muscles...I'm sure that in even my deepest moments of sleep last night, I was stressed out from the day.
And again I stress, everyone is okay. It was just one of those cosmic messes of a day that come around every so often, and that actually make you look forward to a Monday. My thoughts right now are "Back to the routine on Monday, what a relief from the chaos of the weekend." I also feel positively silly for having been already exhausted with a week that hadn't even yet begun.
In the middle of this week, I'll get to see one of my dearest friends, Meredith. She recently moved to Texas with her family, and her visits home are such a joy and so much fun. We're having dinner together on Wednesday night and I'm sure I'll be reminded of how lucky I am to have her in my life.
Meredith gave me a card for my birthday with a beautiful quotation from St. Paul's Letter to the Philippians on it. I love it so much that I keep the whole card on my fridge. I thought it was appropriate for this blog post, and for this weekend:
I resolve to try to find the lovely and admirable qualities in each and everyday. It won't be easy and it won't always happen, but I'll try. Sad that it takes a weekend like this was to jolt you back to the simple truth of how lovely our world is. And how lucky we are to be a part of it, at least for this brief stretch of time.
Looking forward to seeing you, Mere! :)
So, anyway, I was bummed about this upcoming week. Four work days in a row, which was going to seem atrocious. Next week I'll only work 3 days with the 4th of July holiday smack in the middle of the week, and the week after that I'm only working 3 days because then we're leaving for vacation. So this 4 day week seemed like a giant mountain to climb, at least as of this Friday night.
By today, I'm realizing how truly blessed and lucky I am to have these kinds of problems. The "problem" of having to work 4 days in a row at a job that I love with people I love in order to get close to a vacation many people would be happy to go on. Things like what transpired this weekend make me realize that, in the lottery of life, I somehow got very, very lucky. I need to stop complaining and start loving everyday. I think I tend to do that anyway...I'm a generally happy person, but I am certainly guilty of wishing time to pass more quickly or complaining about the things I should be happy about, like having a job.
Before I go any further, let me stress that everything and everyone is okay. Saturday was a bit of a mess though, involving two separate 911 calls (one for a close family member, and one I made on behalf of something I saw.) It was a stressful day filled with predetermined plans getting flipped upside down, lots of worry and anxiety, and some seriously sad moments. Last night I slept horribly, dreaming about the incident where I made the 911 call. I awoke with a back ache and tense muscles...I'm sure that in even my deepest moments of sleep last night, I was stressed out from the day.
And again I stress, everyone is okay. It was just one of those cosmic messes of a day that come around every so often, and that actually make you look forward to a Monday. My thoughts right now are "Back to the routine on Monday, what a relief from the chaos of the weekend." I also feel positively silly for having been already exhausted with a week that hadn't even yet begun.
In the middle of this week, I'll get to see one of my dearest friends, Meredith. She recently moved to Texas with her family, and her visits home are such a joy and so much fun. We're having dinner together on Wednesday night and I'm sure I'll be reminded of how lucky I am to have her in my life.
Meredith gave me a card for my birthday with a beautiful quotation from St. Paul's Letter to the Philippians on it. I love it so much that I keep the whole card on my fridge. I thought it was appropriate for this blog post, and for this weekend:
"Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right and pure and lovely and admirable. Think about these things that are excellent and worthy of praise."
I resolve to try to find the lovely and admirable qualities in each and everyday. It won't be easy and it won't always happen, but I'll try. Sad that it takes a weekend like this was to jolt you back to the simple truth of how lovely our world is. And how lucky we are to be a part of it, at least for this brief stretch of time.
Looking forward to seeing you, Mere! :)
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Summer is Here and I'm Making Cookies!
Yesterday marked the official beginning of summer. I'm sure I don't have to tell anyone this. Facebook was abuzz with status updates talking about it, it was on the news, it was everywhere you turned. I'm happy it's summer too, but not nearly as happy as I was back when I was a kid. That stands to reason, of course. Now I don't have 12 weeks off from school to do nothing except for sleep in and swim all day. Now, it turns out, I'm the adult in charge of putting sunscreen on the kids in my classroom everyday. I supervise their play on the swings, on the climbers and in the water tables. Through their eyes, I can remember the joy of summer.
Seeing this joy helps me appreciate it more. Because now that I'm an adult, summer has just become too hot for me. I don't like the heat or humidity. Sometimes I feel like the middle of summer is just as bad as the middle of winter because, either way, I'm trapped inside the house. I've come to love the more temperate times of the year...spring and fall. To me, there is now nothing better than when a long, hot summer comes to a close and a crispness fills the air. I can return to the kitchen and make stews, soups, applesauces and other fall favorites. The sliding door can remain open without allowing hot steams of air to come into the house. And, in spring, there's nothing better than seeing those first flower buds poke through patches of snow. And being able to unzip your winter coat for the first time in months when running errands. And actually going running without possible collapse from heat exhaustion.
I do favor spring and fall much more than summer or winter. But I'm going to try to savor summer this year too, instead of spending another beautiful day indoors and impatiently longing for fall.
It might be 91 degrees out today (and this is up North, so I can only imagine what it is down South) and firing up the oven is the last thing I want to do. But that doesn't mean I can't make cookies!!!
These cookies are a family favorite from my dad. My dad was born and bred in the South. He lived much of his life in Dallas, then went to college in Nashville. He returned to Texas for some grad school and his first job, and then moved up North. As a result, I grew up eating a lot of Texas and Southern-style cooking. Each year when my grandma would visit from Dallas for Christmas, she'd bring homemade tamales with her, a gift from her next door neighbors. I'm pretty sure I'm the only kid I know whose grandma brought tamales! Growing up, we also ate lots of spicy foods, and to this day I crave spicy things. Jalapenos? Those are almost like baby food to me. Bring them on, I say! Cobblers, pecan pies, you name it...they were a fixture growing up in our house.
Oh, and Fritos. Apparently it's a common thing in the South to create recipes using these corn chips. The headquarters of Frito-Lay are in Texas, so I'm guessing that's where this tradition comes from. I've had Frito Pie growing up (which is now enjoying a renaissance of sorts due to recipes from people like The Pioneer Woman....though we never, ever had our Frito Pie in a bag. Always layered and baked. Maybe hers is an Oklahoma variation?) But my favorite Frito recipe is Frito Cookies.
These cookies consist of 2 ingredients: A Bag of Fritos and a bag of Chocolate Chips. The result is divine, especially for anyone who craves the exquisite combination of salty and sweet. And they're perfect to make in the summer because they don't require any baking and they can be stored in the freezer.
The Unbelievably Simple Recipe is as Follows:
At this point, they are ready to eat! You can keep them out at room temperature at this point, or you can store them in the refrigerator. My husband and I opt to keep them in the freezer...they are just soooo good super cold.
Happy Summer!
Seeing this joy helps me appreciate it more. Because now that I'm an adult, summer has just become too hot for me. I don't like the heat or humidity. Sometimes I feel like the middle of summer is just as bad as the middle of winter because, either way, I'm trapped inside the house. I've come to love the more temperate times of the year...spring and fall. To me, there is now nothing better than when a long, hot summer comes to a close and a crispness fills the air. I can return to the kitchen and make stews, soups, applesauces and other fall favorites. The sliding door can remain open without allowing hot steams of air to come into the house. And, in spring, there's nothing better than seeing those first flower buds poke through patches of snow. And being able to unzip your winter coat for the first time in months when running errands. And actually going running without possible collapse from heat exhaustion.
I do favor spring and fall much more than summer or winter. But I'm going to try to savor summer this year too, instead of spending another beautiful day indoors and impatiently longing for fall.
It might be 91 degrees out today (and this is up North, so I can only imagine what it is down South) and firing up the oven is the last thing I want to do. But that doesn't mean I can't make cookies!!!
These cookies are a family favorite from my dad. My dad was born and bred in the South. He lived much of his life in Dallas, then went to college in Nashville. He returned to Texas for some grad school and his first job, and then moved up North. As a result, I grew up eating a lot of Texas and Southern-style cooking. Each year when my grandma would visit from Dallas for Christmas, she'd bring homemade tamales with her, a gift from her next door neighbors. I'm pretty sure I'm the only kid I know whose grandma brought tamales! Growing up, we also ate lots of spicy foods, and to this day I crave spicy things. Jalapenos? Those are almost like baby food to me. Bring them on, I say! Cobblers, pecan pies, you name it...they were a fixture growing up in our house.
Oh, and Fritos. Apparently it's a common thing in the South to create recipes using these corn chips. The headquarters of Frito-Lay are in Texas, so I'm guessing that's where this tradition comes from. I've had Frito Pie growing up (which is now enjoying a renaissance of sorts due to recipes from people like The Pioneer Woman....though we never, ever had our Frito Pie in a bag. Always layered and baked. Maybe hers is an Oklahoma variation?) But my favorite Frito recipe is Frito Cookies.
These cookies consist of 2 ingredients: A Bag of Fritos and a bag of Chocolate Chips. The result is divine, especially for anyone who craves the exquisite combination of salty and sweet. And they're perfect to make in the summer because they don't require any baking and they can be stored in the freezer.
The Unbelievably Simple Recipe is as Follows:
Frito Cookies
1 Regular Sized Bag of Fritos (crushed, not pulverized)
1 Bag of Milk Chocolate Chips
Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring each time, until melted. Pour the melted chocolate chips over the crushed Fritos. Use a spoon to cover and coat each frito. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto a cookie sheet. Place the cookie sheets in the freezer to set the cookies, about an hour.
At this point, they are ready to eat! You can keep them out at room temperature at this point, or you can store them in the refrigerator. My husband and I opt to keep them in the freezer...they are just soooo good super cold.
Happy Summer!
Friday, June 15, 2012
The Ability to Surprise Yourself
One of the greatest things, I think, about being an adult is discovering that you truly do have the ability to surprise yourself. You grow, you evolve, you try new things. For the most part, I was the same "type" of person for my first 20 or so years. From 20 to 30, I changed a lot, as anyone would. But I feel like I've grown in absolute leaps and bounds since turning 30. Considering I'm only just now 31, that's a lot of change. Here are a few of the evolutions I never thought would take place, especially when I was a teenager:
~I am now a bona fide Morning Person. I used to hate, hate, hate Morning People when I was younger. I couldn't understand waking up early when you had no place to be. Back in college, I worked part-time at a shoe store. The store opened at 10 am, and do you know I would actually have to set my alarm for 9 in order to get up and get there on time? And I remember hearing the alarm, rolling over in disgust to turn it off, and being like, "Ugghhhhhhhhhh...it's 9 am." Whaaaaaat?? Times have certainly changed. What facilitated my change was of course my job. Believe me, it wasn't my choice to start waking up super early everyday. After college, I started working from 7 to 4. It was horrible. It took about 2 years for me to get acclimated to waking up so early, but now that I've done it (and now that I work 7 to 545) it is totally my routine. It's part of who I am. Even on the weekends, my eyes still pop open at 5:45 AM when I should be getting ready for work. I still go back to sleep, but I'm invariably up by 6:15 or 6:30, which I considered hellaciously early back in the day. The only time I would've been up voluntarily at 6:30 am when I was 21 would be if I had an early morning plane to catch or I was on my way to the hospital for an outpatient procedure. I mean seriously. Fast forward 10 years to age 31, and here's what I've done so far this very morning, on my day off: Woke up at 6, ran a 5K (more on this crazy development in a second) did 2 loads of laundry, went out for coffee, vacuumed the whole house & started this blog post. It's official: I am a morning person! Totally surprising that I became one.
~I can run. This is a simple sentence, but I feel it bears repeating: I can run. As a kid, I was completely averse to running. Presidential Fitness Test time in grade school? I wanted to die. I remember having to run laps around the gym and thinking "Wtf?" only in 8 year-old terms. Not only was I never a runner, but I was never athletic. This was the case all the way up until I was 30. I exercised regularly by going on long walks and using the elliptical. A couple months after I turned 30, my boss introduced us to the Couch to 5K program. We did it together and ran a 5K after several months of training. You're probably expecting me to say I fell in love with running then and there. I didn't. In fact, I hated it even more. My husband and I completed the program and the 5K, and I was pretty sure I crossed "Run a 5K" off my bucket list and would never run again. That winter, I was on the elliptical everyday doing 8 to 10 miles. Apparently I built up a ton of endurance doing this, because on our first warm day in March, I decided to go for a run just to see what would happen. Turns out I busted out 2 miles like it was nothing. Mind you, at the height of my training for the 5K, 2 miles practically killed me. Somehow, running became easier for me. My pace quickened and it became fun. Now, I run when I can to decompress. I love it because I think about everything when I'm running, but sometimes I think about absolutely nothing. I run anywhere between 3 to 5 miles and the feeling afterward is heavenly...I see what people mean when they talk about a Runner's High. I've gone from someone who HATED running to someone who bounds out of bed on Saturday morning, laces up her running shoes and busts out a long run. I know, I don't understand it either.
~Last but not least, since turning 30 I have become crafty. This blows me away perhaps more than my other two evolutions of becoming a morning person and discovering that I love running. I was always the kid who sucked at art in grade school (probably because it was Product Art and not Process Art. Now that I'm a teacher, I see the enormous value in letting kids create whatever the heck they want, not forcing them to glue different pieces of construction paper together to make a penguin.) I owe this craftiness to my mother-in-law. She is a very gifted seamstress and always makes things. She's even made wedding gowns for people, which I still find incredible. Last year, she offered to teach me to sew. I expected this to be an exercise in futility....something that would result in her frustration and my increasing desperation as I kept trying to do something that clearly my hands wouldn't allow. Come to find out, she is a wonderful teacher. I have to chalk it up to that, because the fact that I learned how to operate sewing machines and make quilts, blankets, throw pillows and heating pads can only be attributed to having a good teacher. A confession: I suck at cutting fabric. I can't cut anything straight (that includes construction paper at work) and I don't see myself really improving in that area. Also, my hand-sewing? Horrific. I need to take a lesson from Bonnie because she once sewed an entire quilt exclusively by hand. I needed to italicize that part because it is truly remarkable, shocking and overwhelming to think about. But regardless of my personal short-comings, I can still do it. Pre-cut fabrics are my best friend. When I was 15, or 18, or even 21 or 25, if you told me I'd be firing up a sewing machine and creating things, I honestly wouldn't have believed it.
Sometimes I reflect on how much I've changed since I was younger, but especially how much I've changed just since turning 30. I love it. I'm a different person than I was then, that's the simplest way to put it. It's a wonderful thing when you realize you're always changing. I can't wait to see what I'm like when I'm 40! (let's rephrase that: I CAN MOST CERTAINLY WAIT to see what I'm like when I'm 40...gag. I'm sure that day will be here soon enough though!)
~I am now a bona fide Morning Person. I used to hate, hate, hate Morning People when I was younger. I couldn't understand waking up early when you had no place to be. Back in college, I worked part-time at a shoe store. The store opened at 10 am, and do you know I would actually have to set my alarm for 9 in order to get up and get there on time? And I remember hearing the alarm, rolling over in disgust to turn it off, and being like, "Ugghhhhhhhhhh...it's 9 am." Whaaaaaat?? Times have certainly changed. What facilitated my change was of course my job. Believe me, it wasn't my choice to start waking up super early everyday. After college, I started working from 7 to 4. It was horrible. It took about 2 years for me to get acclimated to waking up so early, but now that I've done it (and now that I work 7 to 545) it is totally my routine. It's part of who I am. Even on the weekends, my eyes still pop open at 5:45 AM when I should be getting ready for work. I still go back to sleep, but I'm invariably up by 6:15 or 6:30, which I considered hellaciously early back in the day. The only time I would've been up voluntarily at 6:30 am when I was 21 would be if I had an early morning plane to catch or I was on my way to the hospital for an outpatient procedure. I mean seriously. Fast forward 10 years to age 31, and here's what I've done so far this very morning, on my day off: Woke up at 6, ran a 5K (more on this crazy development in a second) did 2 loads of laundry, went out for coffee, vacuumed the whole house & started this blog post. It's official: I am a morning person! Totally surprising that I became one.
~I can run. This is a simple sentence, but I feel it bears repeating: I can run. As a kid, I was completely averse to running. Presidential Fitness Test time in grade school? I wanted to die. I remember having to run laps around the gym and thinking "Wtf?" only in 8 year-old terms. Not only was I never a runner, but I was never athletic. This was the case all the way up until I was 30. I exercised regularly by going on long walks and using the elliptical. A couple months after I turned 30, my boss introduced us to the Couch to 5K program. We did it together and ran a 5K after several months of training. You're probably expecting me to say I fell in love with running then and there. I didn't. In fact, I hated it even more. My husband and I completed the program and the 5K, and I was pretty sure I crossed "Run a 5K" off my bucket list and would never run again. That winter, I was on the elliptical everyday doing 8 to 10 miles. Apparently I built up a ton of endurance doing this, because on our first warm day in March, I decided to go for a run just to see what would happen. Turns out I busted out 2 miles like it was nothing. Mind you, at the height of my training for the 5K, 2 miles practically killed me. Somehow, running became easier for me. My pace quickened and it became fun. Now, I run when I can to decompress. I love it because I think about everything when I'm running, but sometimes I think about absolutely nothing. I run anywhere between 3 to 5 miles and the feeling afterward is heavenly...I see what people mean when they talk about a Runner's High. I've gone from someone who HATED running to someone who bounds out of bed on Saturday morning, laces up her running shoes and busts out a long run. I know, I don't understand it either.
~Last but not least, since turning 30 I have become crafty. This blows me away perhaps more than my other two evolutions of becoming a morning person and discovering that I love running. I was always the kid who sucked at art in grade school (probably because it was Product Art and not Process Art. Now that I'm a teacher, I see the enormous value in letting kids create whatever the heck they want, not forcing them to glue different pieces of construction paper together to make a penguin.) I owe this craftiness to my mother-in-law. She is a very gifted seamstress and always makes things. She's even made wedding gowns for people, which I still find incredible. Last year, she offered to teach me to sew. I expected this to be an exercise in futility....something that would result in her frustration and my increasing desperation as I kept trying to do something that clearly my hands wouldn't allow. Come to find out, she is a wonderful teacher. I have to chalk it up to that, because the fact that I learned how to operate sewing machines and make quilts, blankets, throw pillows and heating pads can only be attributed to having a good teacher. A confession: I suck at cutting fabric. I can't cut anything straight (that includes construction paper at work) and I don't see myself really improving in that area. Also, my hand-sewing? Horrific. I need to take a lesson from Bonnie because she once sewed an entire quilt exclusively by hand. I needed to italicize that part because it is truly remarkable, shocking and overwhelming to think about. But regardless of my personal short-comings, I can still do it. Pre-cut fabrics are my best friend. When I was 15, or 18, or even 21 or 25, if you told me I'd be firing up a sewing machine and creating things, I honestly wouldn't have believed it.
Sometimes I reflect on how much I've changed since I was younger, but especially how much I've changed just since turning 30. I love it. I'm a different person than I was then, that's the simplest way to put it. It's a wonderful thing when you realize you're always changing. I can't wait to see what I'm like when I'm 40! (let's rephrase that: I CAN MOST CERTAINLY WAIT to see what I'm like when I'm 40...gag. I'm sure that day will be here soon enough though!)
Sunday, June 10, 2012
24 Hours in Buffalo
I need to take a moment to catch my breath. Since my last post a week ago, I worked an insane week at my job. As Thursday night rolled around and I celebrated it being over, I was also gearing up for a mini-trip to Buffalo, where my mom's side of the family is from.
My husband, his father and our brother-in-law planned a camping trip for this weekend. I considered the various things I could do for the two nights when I was home alone without him. As I was texting with my cousin Kim and she proposed a visit, I realized what a great idea that would be! I figured it would be fun to drive a little over 3 hours by myself each way (a good way to listen to Sirius Radio and decompress) visit with family and enjoy the culinary delights of Buffalo. (of which there are many!) The visit was officially on the books, and I looked forward to it for a couple of weeks.
On Friday afternoon, I left. The drive there was way less tranquil than I imagined, probably because the entire freaking stretch of I-90 in Ohio consisted of ridiculous traffic configurations due to construction. When you consider that the biggest portion of the 3 and a half hour trip takes place in Ohio (2 hours) it become a nuisance of indescribable proportions to drive through it. Sadder still was me realizing that we'd have to endure the obnoxious travel through Ohio and back next month when we drive to Maine for a family vacation. Waaah!
Things momentarily improved when I braved a completely torn up exit ramp and main street in Erie, Pennsylvania to take a break and hit up the first Tim Horton's of the journey. I am unreasonably obsessed with Tim Horton's, going back to when I was a kid and we visited Buffalo all the time. My obsession blossomed in college, when I went to school in Buffalo for 3 semesters before transferring home and discovered with great delight that I could partake in an Iced Capp and Canadian Cream whenever I pleased (which was often!). It seems grossly unfair that Tim Horton's has outposts in Erie, Columbus and Detroit, but bypassed Cleveland completely. My husband and I even discovered a Tim Horton's in some random spot outside of Toledo when we were cruising the roads on the way to the Turnpike after a graduation party. Not fair that Cleveland doesn't have a location! Or maybe it is, because clearly I would go there everyday. In 24 hours, I had a total of 4 Iced Capps. All absolutely delicious.
Once I arrived in Buffalo, my aunt, uncle and cousin took me out for Wings and Weck. I looooove the fact that you can order a Roast Beef sandwich (served on a kimmelweck roll, which I have yet to see or hear of outside of Western New York) with a side of...wait for it...chicken wings! I mean, if we're being totally candid, I would eat that combination at least once a week for dinner, if not more. Probably another great reason why I don't live in Buffalo. Because while chicken wings exist outside of Buffalo, they are sad imitations of the real deal. And Beef on Weck? Good luck hunting that down outside of New York. I was in foodie heaven.
We dropped off my uncle and then went to the casino, where I deftly blew $20 bucks in the span of 30 minutes. After this short sojourn to the slots, we drove by the lake. I snapped some fun pics:
On Saturday, I slept in. Usually Saturdays at home are my "long run" days which supplement the Power 90 program we're doing. I typically run about 3-5 miles from 6:30 to 7:30. This time, I woke up at 6:30, rolled back over and slept for another hour. It goes to show you how much of an old lady I am when I tell you that waking up at 7:30 made me feel like I was waking up at noon! Mostly because I am always up before then, but also because I knew that I'd typically be busting out mile 4 around that time if it were a typical Saturday. It was nice to play hooky from all that, at least for a day!
Then, we went to East Aurora, which has huge sentimental value for our family. Our grandparents lived on a horse farm in the town, and the town center was quaint, cute and lots of fun. Shockingly, it remains that way to this day. We shopped at Vidler's 5 & 10, which is the coolest store in the history of the world (officially declared so by yours truly) and had lunch at a restaurant that used to be a Train Depot. Even though it was June, and even though, 4 hours down the highway in Ohio it was 90 degrees and hot, it was a cool and rainy 65 in Buffalo. It felt like fall. My aunt, cousin and I slurped French Onion Soup by the fireplace as if it truly was October or November. It was glorious.
Before I went home, we stopped by my grandparents' new home in Alden. I am so, so lucky to have my grandparents. They are both 85 and have been married for 64 years!! They are the most loving, fun and funny people and they've been that way throughout my whole childhood.
Another set of cousins lives down the street from them and they stopped by to visit while I was over. My cousin Laura Beth got engaged two weeks ago, and holy geez, is her ring absolutely ginormous. We talked about her upcoming wedding (most likely taking place within the span of a year) and then I drove home.
I returned back to my lovely kitties. I watched some of the Concert of the Queen on TV while reading. Before I knew it, today was Sunday and I have another week of Monday-Thursday to look forward to/dread. I love my job (something I am unbelievably lucky to say) but Fridays off are tough!
Next weekend, I'll catch my breath. We'll bake for Father's Day, I'll go to a couple of farmer's markets on Saturday and the rest of the time will be time to do nothing. Can't wait for it!!
My husband, his father and our brother-in-law planned a camping trip for this weekend. I considered the various things I could do for the two nights when I was home alone without him. As I was texting with my cousin Kim and she proposed a visit, I realized what a great idea that would be! I figured it would be fun to drive a little over 3 hours by myself each way (a good way to listen to Sirius Radio and decompress) visit with family and enjoy the culinary delights of Buffalo. (of which there are many!) The visit was officially on the books, and I looked forward to it for a couple of weeks.
On Friday afternoon, I left. The drive there was way less tranquil than I imagined, probably because the entire freaking stretch of I-90 in Ohio consisted of ridiculous traffic configurations due to construction. When you consider that the biggest portion of the 3 and a half hour trip takes place in Ohio (2 hours) it become a nuisance of indescribable proportions to drive through it. Sadder still was me realizing that we'd have to endure the obnoxious travel through Ohio and back next month when we drive to Maine for a family vacation. Waaah!
Things momentarily improved when I braved a completely torn up exit ramp and main street in Erie, Pennsylvania to take a break and hit up the first Tim Horton's of the journey. I am unreasonably obsessed with Tim Horton's, going back to when I was a kid and we visited Buffalo all the time. My obsession blossomed in college, when I went to school in Buffalo for 3 semesters before transferring home and discovered with great delight that I could partake in an Iced Capp and Canadian Cream whenever I pleased (which was often!). It seems grossly unfair that Tim Horton's has outposts in Erie, Columbus and Detroit, but bypassed Cleveland completely. My husband and I even discovered a Tim Horton's in some random spot outside of Toledo when we were cruising the roads on the way to the Turnpike after a graduation party. Not fair that Cleveland doesn't have a location! Or maybe it is, because clearly I would go there everyday. In 24 hours, I had a total of 4 Iced Capps. All absolutely delicious.
Once I arrived in Buffalo, my aunt, uncle and cousin took me out for Wings and Weck. I looooove the fact that you can order a Roast Beef sandwich (served on a kimmelweck roll, which I have yet to see or hear of outside of Western New York) with a side of...wait for it...chicken wings! I mean, if we're being totally candid, I would eat that combination at least once a week for dinner, if not more. Probably another great reason why I don't live in Buffalo. Because while chicken wings exist outside of Buffalo, they are sad imitations of the real deal. And Beef on Weck? Good luck hunting that down outside of New York. I was in foodie heaven.
 | |
| Wings and Weck. I mean, seriously. |
We dropped off my uncle and then went to the casino, where I deftly blew $20 bucks in the span of 30 minutes. After this short sojourn to the slots, we drove by the lake. I snapped some fun pics:
On Saturday, I slept in. Usually Saturdays at home are my "long run" days which supplement the Power 90 program we're doing. I typically run about 3-5 miles from 6:30 to 7:30. This time, I woke up at 6:30, rolled back over and slept for another hour. It goes to show you how much of an old lady I am when I tell you that waking up at 7:30 made me feel like I was waking up at noon! Mostly because I am always up before then, but also because I knew that I'd typically be busting out mile 4 around that time if it were a typical Saturday. It was nice to play hooky from all that, at least for a day!
Then, we went to East Aurora, which has huge sentimental value for our family. Our grandparents lived on a horse farm in the town, and the town center was quaint, cute and lots of fun. Shockingly, it remains that way to this day. We shopped at Vidler's 5 & 10, which is the coolest store in the history of the world (officially declared so by yours truly) and had lunch at a restaurant that used to be a Train Depot. Even though it was June, and even though, 4 hours down the highway in Ohio it was 90 degrees and hot, it was a cool and rainy 65 in Buffalo. It felt like fall. My aunt, cousin and I slurped French Onion Soup by the fireplace as if it truly was October or November. It was glorious.
Before I went home, we stopped by my grandparents' new home in Alden. I am so, so lucky to have my grandparents. They are both 85 and have been married for 64 years!! They are the most loving, fun and funny people and they've been that way throughout my whole childhood.
Another set of cousins lives down the street from them and they stopped by to visit while I was over. My cousin Laura Beth got engaged two weeks ago, and holy geez, is her ring absolutely ginormous. We talked about her upcoming wedding (most likely taking place within the span of a year) and then I drove home.
I returned back to my lovely kitties. I watched some of the Concert of the Queen on TV while reading. Before I knew it, today was Sunday and I have another week of Monday-Thursday to look forward to/dread. I love my job (something I am unbelievably lucky to say) but Fridays off are tough!
Next weekend, I'll catch my breath. We'll bake for Father's Day, I'll go to a couple of farmer's markets on Saturday and the rest of the time will be time to do nothing. Can't wait for it!!
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Orange Creamsicle Bars and Summer Oldies
Though this blog is new, this will most likely be my last post for about a week. I work 4, 10 hour days a week at work, and while I sometimes I have a day off in the middle of the week, this week I'm not off until Friday. I used to think Fridays were the best days to have off, but after 5 years of experience being on this schedule, I can heartily affirm that a day in the middle of the week is much, much better. Friday will be super sweet when it gets here and I can sleep in, but the flip side is that I will desperately need to sleep in because I will have just worked 40 hours in a row with 12 two year-olds. Ack! It's exhausting. And Monday through Thursday my schedule will look like this:
~Wake up at 5:45 AM
~Arrive at work at 7
~Work til 545 PM
~Arrive Home at 630.
~Eat Dinner
~Exercise, doing either the Sweat Cardio or the Sculpt Strength daily DVD for Power 90
~Watch TV or read
~Go to bed by 10
It will be impossible to do things like catch up on phone calls, write blog posts, run errands or pretty much anything else that deviates from the above schedule!
But before I get ahead of myself, I should explain the title of this post. This weekend, in addition to making a potato salad for my darling niece Charlotte's first birthday party (minus the hard-boiled egg, which can alienate a lot of people, myself included!) I also came across an intriguing recipe on Pinterest for Orange Creamsicle Cookies.
The problem is, though I love cooking and baking, I am absolutely hopeless when it comes to making cookies. (a notable exception is Russian Tea Cakes, which I will most likely talk about around Christmas!) My cookies burn on the bottom, they spread across the entire baking tray and meld into each other no matter how far I initially place them apart, and I get freaked out by the clutter of 3 or 4 cookie trays constantly going in and out of the oven, plus the cooling racks I need to set up to allow them to cool properly. Too much work!
I used this recipe almost exactly but turned them into Blondies. After mixing together all of the ingredients per the recipe, I added some milk (just a quick splash or two) to moisten the batter to make it more like blondie. I then poured the batter into a well-greased square glass pan and baked everything for about 20 minutes. The result was heavenly!! The bars truly do taste like Orange Creamsicles without being fake-tasting, because the flavor derives from real orange zest and vanilla extract. I'd be embarrassed to admit to you how many of these my husband and I ate since I just made them last night!
I also stressed myself out this morning about taking a picture of them to put on here. I used to blog before, on a wonderful little collaborative effort with my beautiful friends. While it was fun and I discovered I enjoyed blogging, a lot of times parts of it felt like "homework" to me. Like, whenever I would make a recipe, I had to take a thousand photos of it. Then there was the whole hassle of downloading them, uploading them, captioning them on the blog. This morning I literally took down my vintage dessert plates and matching cups from the 50s and was poised and ready to stage a photo of the Orange Creamsicle Bar looking quite summery and delicious next to a fabric napkin when I realized, hey, I don't have to!! This isn't a lifestyle blog or a how-to blog...I read those everyday and I'm copying what they do! This blog is mainly a record of my random thoughts and daily events. I'll add pictures and photos when I want to (more like as soon as I figure out how to use iPhoto. After being a PC user all of my life, we recently switched to Apple products and I'm now super confused, which is far from normal because Apple products are much more user-friendly. I guess it goes to show you how much of a dud I am with technology!!) but I won't conduct elaborate photo shoots of all the stuff I make.
Suffice it to say, the Orange Creamsicle Bars? They look just like blondies. And you should make them. :)
Okay, and finally, the Summer Oldies part of the title to this post. If you have Pandora, do yourself a favor and create a station called Summer Oldies. I love, love, love this station. I play it all the time while cooking, baking and canning. I've always loved music from the 50s and 60s and this station plays the best of the best. You really do feel like you're out at the beach or the pool or, better yet, on summer vacation as a kid. A lot of that, for me, comes from the fact that we listened to Oldies when I was a kid. It brings back memories of my childhood, even though I was born 20 to 30 years after some of these songs came out!
Clearly I'm a very wordy person. I guess I wrote a novel in order to compensate for not writing again for awhile! Here's hoping everyone has a great week and a lovely start to their summer!!
~S
~Wake up at 5:45 AM
~Arrive at work at 7
~Work til 545 PM
~Arrive Home at 630.
~Eat Dinner
~Exercise, doing either the Sweat Cardio or the Sculpt Strength daily DVD for Power 90
~Watch TV or read
~Go to bed by 10
It will be impossible to do things like catch up on phone calls, write blog posts, run errands or pretty much anything else that deviates from the above schedule!
But before I get ahead of myself, I should explain the title of this post. This weekend, in addition to making a potato salad for my darling niece Charlotte's first birthday party (minus the hard-boiled egg, which can alienate a lot of people, myself included!) I also came across an intriguing recipe on Pinterest for Orange Creamsicle Cookies.
The problem is, though I love cooking and baking, I am absolutely hopeless when it comes to making cookies. (a notable exception is Russian Tea Cakes, which I will most likely talk about around Christmas!) My cookies burn on the bottom, they spread across the entire baking tray and meld into each other no matter how far I initially place them apart, and I get freaked out by the clutter of 3 or 4 cookie trays constantly going in and out of the oven, plus the cooling racks I need to set up to allow them to cool properly. Too much work!
I used this recipe almost exactly but turned them into Blondies. After mixing together all of the ingredients per the recipe, I added some milk (just a quick splash or two) to moisten the batter to make it more like blondie. I then poured the batter into a well-greased square glass pan and baked everything for about 20 minutes. The result was heavenly!! The bars truly do taste like Orange Creamsicles without being fake-tasting, because the flavor derives from real orange zest and vanilla extract. I'd be embarrassed to admit to you how many of these my husband and I ate since I just made them last night!
I also stressed myself out this morning about taking a picture of them to put on here. I used to blog before, on a wonderful little collaborative effort with my beautiful friends. While it was fun and I discovered I enjoyed blogging, a lot of times parts of it felt like "homework" to me. Like, whenever I would make a recipe, I had to take a thousand photos of it. Then there was the whole hassle of downloading them, uploading them, captioning them on the blog. This morning I literally took down my vintage dessert plates and matching cups from the 50s and was poised and ready to stage a photo of the Orange Creamsicle Bar looking quite summery and delicious next to a fabric napkin when I realized, hey, I don't have to!! This isn't a lifestyle blog or a how-to blog...I read those everyday and I'm copying what they do! This blog is mainly a record of my random thoughts and daily events. I'll add pictures and photos when I want to (more like as soon as I figure out how to use iPhoto. After being a PC user all of my life, we recently switched to Apple products and I'm now super confused, which is far from normal because Apple products are much more user-friendly. I guess it goes to show you how much of a dud I am with technology!!) but I won't conduct elaborate photo shoots of all the stuff I make.
Suffice it to say, the Orange Creamsicle Bars? They look just like blondies. And you should make them. :)
Okay, and finally, the Summer Oldies part of the title to this post. If you have Pandora, do yourself a favor and create a station called Summer Oldies. I love, love, love this station. I play it all the time while cooking, baking and canning. I've always loved music from the 50s and 60s and this station plays the best of the best. You really do feel like you're out at the beach or the pool or, better yet, on summer vacation as a kid. A lot of that, for me, comes from the fact that we listened to Oldies when I was a kid. It brings back memories of my childhood, even though I was born 20 to 30 years after some of these songs came out!
Clearly I'm a very wordy person. I guess I wrote a novel in order to compensate for not writing again for awhile! Here's hoping everyone has a great week and a lovely start to their summer!!
~S
Friday, June 1, 2012
Away We Go!
It's 8:30 at night on a Friday. I worked 10 hours today with 2 year-olds at my job as an early childhood teacher. I currently have 6 pounds of potatoes boiling on my stove top (I'm making a potato salad for a large group of people for an event this weekend, not for me to personally indulge in... although stranger things have happened with my dietary impulses...) and I'm downing a vanilla protein shake after completing a Sculpting workout with my husband involving horrible weight resistance bands and way more push-ups than any human should ever attempt to bust out. Naturally, I thought this would be the perfect time to start a blog! :)
More details will follow shortly about who I am and who Bonnie is, but for now, the above paragraph does a fairly nice job of summarizing how many of my activities and hobbies crazily intersect. Working as a teacher, working out (a new-found daily routine of mine) sewing, cooking, baking, watching too much TV and reading...these are the main components of my day. I'll be blogging about them, as well as occasionally about the people who come along with me for the ride. Looking forward to it!
So...here you go, Bonnie!!
More details will follow shortly about who I am and who Bonnie is, but for now, the above paragraph does a fairly nice job of summarizing how many of my activities and hobbies crazily intersect. Working as a teacher, working out (a new-found daily routine of mine) sewing, cooking, baking, watching too much TV and reading...these are the main components of my day. I'll be blogging about them, as well as occasionally about the people who come along with me for the ride. Looking forward to it!
So...here you go, Bonnie!!
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