Jan. 29

I'm looking ahead to Groundhog's Day later this week.  I saw a cute groundhog made out of a heart, and decided to try it my way.  Here it is.

It's all made from a sheet of 9 x 18 manila paper.  I've seen it made by cutting the hearts for the head, ears, teeth and nose from colored construction paper... brown for the head and ears, white for the teeth, and black for the nose.  However, I like to let the kids color their pieces for projects.  I decided to use hearts for the eyes as well.  We'll make it Thursday.  Cutting the hearts will give them good practice for Valentine's Day sacks next week!

Jan. 28

I love my family!  I managed to get both brothers to my parents last night for family dinner.  First time since Christmas we've all been together.  One brother did salad, the other brought steaks, and I did stuffed potatoes and a pound cake.  Oh, and I brought rolls.  The cake was a new recipe for me... from a Paula Deen cookbook.

It's one of the prettiest pound cakes I've ever made, and it tasted as good as it looked.  The potatoes were pretty good, too.  Here are a couple that were leftover.

You can see the cheese and the bacon bits.
After dinner, Dad showed us the scar from his knee surgery.  I took a picture of it, too, to send to my daughter.

He is recuperating very well.  He should be good to go in another month or so!  So happy for him.

Jan. 27

Why is it that the cuter the shoe, the more it hurts your foot? I ordered some new boots earlier this month, and I wore them today... and my feet cried all day.  But they sure are cute!

Jan. 26

I spent a couple of hours tonight working on a Water Cycle foldable.  I'm hoping to do it with my class tomorrow.  What took me 2 hours, might take them 30 minutes!  lol  Here's what mine looks like... stay tuned for theirs!

The Front

The Inside

Jan. 25

When I was shopping Sunday morning, I found a bread crumbs and cheese mix for chicken.  I thought it sounded good, so I picked it up.  I thought I'd use it to make chicken Parmesan.  I decided to make it last night, but by the time the chicken thawed and I got it made, it was late and I wasn't up to making it all.  So I just ate some of the chicken, and it was good!  But tonight, I cooked some pasta, heated up some sauce, and had my chicken Parmesan.  And I made enough so I can have leftovers for lunch tomorrow!  :)

Jan. 24

Well, it's "that" time of the month...

All paid till next month!  :)

Jan. 23

Sunday night I finally got around to using one of my Christmas presents... a gel nail kit from my precious daughter.  Now that I've done it once, I think I'll do a better job next time.  lol  It's really hard to get a picture of your nails, and have the polish color come off close to what it actually is... this is the best I could do.

Jan. 22

Today is the first day in a long time that I could just relax and do nothing.  I do nothing a lot, but since I had done everything yesterday, today I could relax and enjoy it.  So I watched a lot of TV and worked jigsaw puzzles on my Xoom.

I got up early this morning and did a "roll & go"... that's where you roll out of bed, throw on clothes, and go to the store early, before the crowds and anyone you know.  I picked up a bone for Bailey, almost as big as she is, and she carried it around and chewed on it all morning.

Tonight she got out her bee hive.  She drug out all three bees, but she spent a LOT of time with one in her mouth, running around looking for a place to hide it.  She must have been sucessful... I can only find two of the three now!

Jan. 21

Honestly, I don't intend to make this blog entirely about food!   However, I DO enjoy cooking, especially on the weekend when I have more time.  Besides, I thought you'd rather see pictures of food more than the stack of assessments I put into the computer today!
So tonight I whipped up some fried chicken.  It was pretty good, too, if I may say so myself!

Jan. 20

Friday night, and another night of brisket.  Of course it's pizza night, which means another bbq brisket pizza.  Yes, I know I made this a couple of weeks ago, but this time I'm going to show YOU how to do it, too.  
The first thing you need is THIS pizza crust.  It is delicious!

Next, brush it with olive oil.

Then, instead of pizza sauce, I brushed it with BBQ Sauce.

Then add the chopped brisket.

And then the cheese.  For this pizza, I use cheddar cheese.

Then bake.  I bake mine on a pizza stone.  I put it in the oven when I preheat, so when I put the pizza on, it's nice and hot.  Ten minutes later (or a little longer if you like crunch crust, which I do) you have a delicious pizza!

(The pizza stone makes for easy clean up, too.  Once it's cooled, you just wipe it off with a dry paper towel!)

Since I had to chop brisket for the pizza, I chopped a lot of it, and put it to small containers to freeze.  Now I'll have it to use later.

Jan. 19

Nothing new with brisket tonight.  I had some leftover from last night... still VERY good stuff!  So, instead of food pictures today, I'm going to share some pictures of some pretty great stuff from my second graders (7 & 8 year olds).


This first one was from a CSCOPE assessment.  Student were asked to use "let's" correctly in a sentence.  This one missed the mark a little.

The next examples are from a packet we did on Martin Luther King Jr.  I asked them to write and tell me their dreams for when they grow up.

This was the front of the packet.

She wants to be an astronaut and have a rock from Saturn.

He wants to be a surgeon and  fight for his country so his family will be proud of him.

His dream is to be a married, drive a train, have a house and a red and gray car.

She wants to travel by plane, sea, or land and recycle trash.

She wants to get married, have 8 kids, and work with animals.... either as a zoo keeper or a vet!

And maybe my favorite written message of all time...

I love you.  (You) are the best teacher in the world.  (This from one of my dyslexic students.


You gotta love kids!

Jan. 18

Okay, tonight was fabulous, if I may say so myself!  I found these in the pantry...

I drained and rinsed the black beans, put them in a pot with the corn and the tomatoes (juice and all with both), and started the heat.  I started the rice, and while it was cooking (in the microwave) I chopped up some of the brisket.  I added it to the beans, corn, and tomatoes, along with a cup of water.  Once the rice was cooked I added it and let it cook together for a few minutes.  And that was it! The perfect one pot meal for a cold evening.  

I didn't even add any seasonings!

Jan. 17

I have brisket... LOTS of brisket.  Now what to do with it?  I have several things that I've done with it in the past that I'll be doing this week, but tonight, I wanted to try something different.  So I took a can of crescent rolls, about a tablespoon of bbq sauce, brisket, and some cheese.  I separated the crescent rolls into triangles.  I spread each triangle with a little bbq sauce.  After rolling a couple, I found it easier to sprinkle the cheese on first, and press it into the dough a little so that it didn't fall out.  Finally, I added a piece of brisket.  I folded over the wide end of the crescent roll over the brisket, pressed, then rolled it tightly.

Once they were all rolled, I placed them on a cookie sheet, baked at 375 degrees for about 12 minutes.

They were very good!

Jan. 16

I cooked a brisket today.  Well, I cooked a precooked and sliced brisket today.  I didn't realize how big it was until I opened it.  And I really didn't realize until I took it out of the pan and found a small brisket under the top brisket.  So this week, I guess we'll be seeing how many things I can find to make with brisket.  

Jan. 15

When I was at my parents on Saturday, I thought they were out of butter.  Well, not out of butter, but out of homemade butter.  Well, not really homemade butter, but homemade butter spread.  It's something my mom came up with, and now we are never without it, if possible.  So when I thought they were out, I made some.  As it turns out, they weren't out, and now they have plenty!

It's really easy to make.  Equal parts butter (soften to room temperature) and Light Tasting Olive Oil, and a pinch of salt.  Just throw it all in the food processor and blend until well blended.  Then pour it into containers and refrigerate.  This butter is soft and easily spread.  And it freezes well!  

Jan. 14

I spent some time with my parents this afternoon.  I had a couple of movies for us to watch, but there's a problem with their DVD player.  So we watched a movie "On Demand."  Melissa had this list of movies to watch that are expected to earn Oscar nominations.  So we decided on "Tree of Life."  Dad slept through most of it.  Melissa and I watched every minute of the 2+ hour movie.  


This was the best part of the movie.

My dad makes the World's Best popcorn!!!

Jan. 13

I woke up this morning to a bit of a chill.

Yeah... no heat.  

Bailey found a way to keep warm... her fleece hoodie.
$120 later...

Every penny worth it!  Thank Ken Parker Service, Inc..

Jan. 12

Well, I'm playing catch-up again.  Got in bed Thursday night and realized I hadn't taken a picture.  So I picked up my phone and snapped a picture of Bailey, who's seldom ready for bed!

Jan. 11

I've done it!  I finally posted pictures on my blog!  I'm caught up now.  Hopefully I won't get so far behind again.

Jan. 10

OH MY GOSH!!!!  I LOVE my new pillow!  It's wonderful!  I actually woke up refreshed this morning!  I enjoyed it so much, I'm in bed before 10:00.