Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Mission: Accomplished!

I've had the pesky "2008 Things to Do" in my sidebar since late last year. Since it isn't 2008 after the next few hours, a few things gotta change. That is one of them.

2008 Things to do

  • Read, Read, Read - Done!
  • Start Reading Workshop in my classroom Due to circumstances beyond my control, this one did not happen. I HATE it that I'm not trusted to do what I believe is educationally sound for my students. That's another post.
  • Keep my cool when my daughters push my buttons! Better than in the past.
  • Keep a reading list Done! This will be saved to a Word document for posterity. I've counted the number of titles! Are you ready? I read 155 different books this year, not including re-reads of old books. Wow!
So, all in all, this has been a successful year. My new goals for 2009 are in the sidebar now. Let's see if 2009 is as good to me as 2008!

Happy New Year everyone!

Monday, December 29, 2008

As promised

Some pictures from our Christmas Feast:
Our Alton Brown Turkey -
Yes, I may have prematurely slapped on the Turkey Triangle - but a pale turkey is better than a dry, burned one! Also, Alton, can you PLEASE add the turkey triangle to the print recipe?!?! Had an argument with my husband over the necessity of the triangle. Which is what sent me to YouTube. It is worthwhile to go on YouTube and watch Good Eats episodes of Alton making the turkey. Very helpful to see him do it and then do it yourself. :) Very helpful for making pesky husbands GO AWAY too!
My Sweet Potatoes and Pioneer Woman's Whiskey Glazed Carrots
I was not pleased with the way the carrots turned out. Will try again at New Year's feast.
Our table - Yes the heathen brought his can of pop to the table instead of putting it in a glass!

Family Portrait
Erin on left, wearing red and black dress. Katy on right, wearing red dress and pink pants. Take immediately after dinner to capture the tryptophan-induced calm :)

The mess! Finally got all those dishes done - 4 days later!
And this is just PART of the mess. At least this year I got to use my fancy new kitchen. Remember that craziness?!?!?!

Time to get ready for our New Year's Ham!!!

Sunday, December 28, 2008

So pretty

You can't miss the new background, eh? I just love it. And it was so easy. :) Have seen it a few places, most notably, at Aime's blog: Life With The Boys.

Not meaning to plug anyone, just can't help but be excited about my pretty new background. Yay! Everyone around here is asleep, so I can't even show it off!! Poodle!

Off to bed where I can gloat and grin in my dreams all night long.

I'll try to post the pictures of our Christmas feast tomorrow. We finally put the leftover turkey in the freezer today. Ahhhh :)

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Ohhhhhhhhhh

My belly is so full. My fridge is so full. But it is all SOOOOO good.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the academy, Alton Brown, Pioneer Woman, and Carnival Cruise lines. Without your help today's meal would have only been a pipe dream - instead, you helped create the BEST, most INCREDIBLE turkey and fixin's dinner anyone ever had.

I'll keep my pants with the blown out waist on my mantel as my trophy.

I'm off now, to digest and enjoy the tryptophan haze.

Pictures, recipes, and details will follow at some point. When the left-overs are gone. *burp* Excuse me....

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Christmas Menu 2008

I'll be WAY too busy later tonight or tomorrow to post this, so I'll document it now for posterity. This is the most all-out I've ever gone for a holiday. Here goes...
  • Alton Brown's Roasted, Brined Turkey
  • My Sweet Potatoes and Marshmallows
  • Strawberry Bisque
  • Pioneer Woman's Whiskey Glazed Carrots
  • Crescent Rolls
  • Mashed Potatoes
  • Keith's Stuffing
  • Chocolate Chip Pie
  • Apple Pie
  • Chocolate Chip cookies
  • Sugar Cookies
  • Santa Face Cake
I feel like I'm forgetting something. But I'm too tired to go look at the list in the kitchen. Most of this stuff is either ready to heat or not my job. (ha!) Keith is in charge of his stuffing and the mashed potatoes. All the other stuff is heat and serve (or serve cold!). The turkey is brining, the breakfast breads are thawing and rising, and all treats are tucked away out of the way of mice and ants. :)

Merry Christmas to all - and come help me eat all this food!! What were we thinking?!?!?!

Ready, Set, Cook!

I'm off to the races. Last night I made the chocolate chip cookies and sugar cookies. The sugar will get decorated today.

Already this morning, I've made my sweet potatoes (minus marshmallows), two 8" cakes (1 for tomorrow, 1 to freeze), and the brine for the turkey. I'll put the bird in to soak tonight before going to bed. Next up is the pies - chocolate chip for me and apple for Keith.

Cakes are out and cooling. Time for pies. But first, a breathing treatment for Katy. She is so much better today!

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

It's beginning to look a lot like....

cold and sickness season! Around here anyway. Everywhere you look - medicine bottles, boxes of tissues, *used* tissues, cough drops, and nebulizer parts.

I'm feeling much better. My last dose of Prednisone will be tonight. I think I've successfully beaten this cold.

Erin has a sinus infection and will be on a z-pack for 3 days. Thankfully, no fever - just icky nose and snot.

Keith is recovering from the same bug as the rest of us. He is still sucking on cough drops but seems to be recovering well.

Katy - poor Katy. She has her 6th and 7th ear infections since September! She is on a 10 day course of super-drugs as well as nebulizer treatments every 4 hours for the cough. Her doctor and I think she may be developing asthma symptoms. We'll see how the treatments work and go from there.

And the kicker is - Katy will be getting tubes in her ears sometime in early 2009. She has an appointment with an ENT for January 16. I'd better put that day off into the system ASAP, so my principal knows I'll be gone. No way will I miss a major doctor's appointment like that!

Anyway, aside from the sickness around here, we're gearing up for Christmas! I'm going to start cooking this evening - and all day tomorrow too. I'd like to have as much done as possible before Christmas day!

I'll post tomorrow with details of our feast and festivities!

Happy Holidays Y'all!!

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Nasty Cold

I'm thankful to be sick now and not Wednesday, but get real! I'm ready for the cough, snot, and other unpleasantness to GO AWAY! My nose is sore and I'm tired of running for a box of tissues at the drop of a hat.

I've been surfing a lot and found a few new, cool blogs. One is having a cool giveaway to Carrabba's Italian Grill. Yum. Check it out!

Bargain Briana

Enjoy! She makes it easy to enter too and you can enter more than once! Coolness.

Not much of that around me right now... the snot chases the coolness away. :(

Adios!

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Yum

There is currently torture being committed in my home. And I am the one doing it.

To myself! ARRRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrgh!!!

I'm making chocolate chip cookies for tomorrow's faculty meeting. The first 40 are for the meeting. Then the next 20 are for meeeeee!

The smell right now is so not fair. I should go make the first 20 mine.

But what if I burn some? I've got to have the back up, the plan b (and c, d, and e since Keith bought 5 packs of cookies!)

And of course, I can't eat just one and "pay it back" out of "my" batch. Ah, the pain and suffering I go through.

Sure hope my colleagues appreciate it!

**Hip Hip Hooray!!!** Only 3 days until no more kids for 2 WHOLE WEEKS!!!!

Friday, December 12, 2008

What is that glowing orb, up in the sky?

The one surrounded by blue stuff and fluffy white things.

Oh, yes, it is the sun! How I've missed you!

We got out at recess today and walked the track. Joy! I loved feeling the sun on my face...

Until the wind sliced like a knife across whatever bare skin it could find.

Must remember to dress like an Eskimo at all times!

Wish I had a picture of it to enjoy the next time we get 3 straight days of rain (or worse!)

Thursday, December 11, 2008

I was afraid of this

Now that NaBloPoMo is over, I've fallen off the blogging bandwagon. I need to keep it up. I'm going to add a tracker thingy in the sidebar to track how many steps I walk every day. I am wearing a pedometer again - and some days are WAY better than others. Today is the worst of all. We've had rain for 2 days straight so no recess. I didn't realize how much walking I do on the playground. Must have recess tomorrow - even if it is just walking on the track.

I'll leave you with a test-time funny. We were testing Tuesday and Wednesday, just local stuff to see where the kids are at. Anyway, on the reading test, there was a recipe. Out of 20 kids, at least 8 asked, "Do we have to read this page?" and "We can skip this part, right?" How do you respond to that?!?! There were 8 questions on the very next page in the booklet about the recipe passage.

Lord help us as we begin looking forward to the EOG. Where do I go from, "Do I follow the directions of the recipe or what?"