Two Cool Things

1. Read this post from my school blog.
2. Read this Twitter conversation from last night:

My favorite author in the world wrote about her dogs causing mischief. Turns out, I have a cat who causes mischief. So I wrote back to her, and she responded to me. Which some people might not care about, but I was all smiles. I love Ellen Hopkins. I've read all 11 of her books, and she is the most-checked-out author in my HS library. And she read a story about my cat. The Ellen Hopkins. That, my friends, is a powerful connection via the internet. How did we live before it? 

It also makes a case that I should try to be more witty and stylish in my writing.

Ellen Hopkins read my blog post. 

Boom.

Frosting Pie

The things you sign up for when you become a teacher....



The NHS just finished up a Coins for Cancer fundraiser. Each "building" (elementary, junior high and high school) had a friendly competition to see who could raise the most money. The losers had to take a pie to the face from the winners. Well, the fourth grade teacher was gone so I got asked to deliver the pie into the face of the kindergarten teacher. Well, she wasn't super crazy about it, and not many students know her since she is a new teacher and teaches kindergarten. So, we hatched a plan where two of the kindergarten students would come to rescue their teachers and get me with the pie. (The other kindergarten class currently has a long-term sub who wasn't really sure about taking the pie, either...) Our scheme worked out perfectly, and luckily, there was frosting in the pie tin instead of cool whip, which I don't like.

*video shot by one of our tech ladies

Oh, Pacino

I wish he was this cute and snuggly all the time!

A perfect night (except that I wanted to go to bed.)

A little water spill--imagine that.

We are working on less biting. Some days go better than others.

Explain to me how a cat can open these doors...

And bite holes into this bag of soil. There was a MUCH bigger hole on the other side that I didn't notice until I picked it up.

Then drag it through the kitchen...

And into the living room. Literally, the whole bag he drug into the living room. Out of the closet. And the closet doors were shut when I got back home. The bag is as big as he is, and heavy! I moved it before thinking to take a picture, because I was so confused about what was going on.

So, what does a girl do with a bag of soil that has several holes? Put it in a grocery sack I guess. But he was still messing with it! So into the other closet it went--the one he can't open. 

Anyone know a good cat whisperer?

Quick Post

Here's a picture of my acrostic poem that I left as an example for the kids tomorrow...love poetry month!

A New Month!

Long time, no blog. Lots of things and nothing happening at the same time. Here's my life in pictures from the last week, in no particular order:

Went to the Hawkeye women's NCAA second round game vs Notre Dame. The best part was these jump ropers at halftime! They were awesome!

Supper meets breakfast meets supper: eggs & baked potatoes for supper? Sure.

I practiced drawing this eyeball...clearly, I didn't have enough to do.

Pacino lost a whisker! He has super long whiskers...

Current favorite snack: PBJ in a wheat tortilla.

Best way to cover holes in the wall? Strategically placed artwork.

Dad made me sort through my first 18 years of living...

This was my ride on Saturday...I feel more important when I drive big things.

Found a whole shoebox full of notes from middle school. Quickly went into the trash pile.

This guy was missing me while I was gone. 

I decided that I refuse to drink anything this summer unless it comes from a jar. I also decided to start early. I made these "infused waters." Flavors: cherry/lime/mint, raspberry/blueberry/mint, blueberry/lemon/honey, orange/lime/lemon. We'll see how they turn out. I'm excited to drink them!

Have I mentioned how much I love these jelly beans?

Spent the afternoon at Coffeesmith's drinking mint tea and reading poetry. It's national poetry month, after all.

Overdue....

This post is overdue...it's mostly about Pacino, because I was home sick 3 days and didn't do much else. And when I did, I forgot the pictures!

I'm not the only one in my house who likes tea, apparently. Pacino drug this out of the mug that was in the sink to the middle of the kitchen floor. Another morning, I woke up to an apple in the hallway full of little bite marks. He also loves to lick green olives, which becomes a point of contention between us, because I don't like sharing my green olives.

He did a lot of sleeping on my lap during my sick days...

He always puts his toys in his food or water dish. Strange.

He was pretty tired of me being around so much. He didn't get to sleep as much as normal, and when he would lay down he would pass out right away. He'd also get mad when I'd start coughing.

These are some crawfish I ate while doing the amazing race in CR on Saturday. They were pretty good--but, anything breaded, fried and dunked in sauce can't be that bad.

Pacino took the toaster oven's spot in the cupboard the other morning...

Somehow, I got made captain of our amazing race team. Super fun day full of eating and drinking and weird challenges. Our team only got 15th place out of 36 teams, but we had a great time. 

This is what happens every time I cook. I have a shoulder pal.

It's not as easy as it looks to walk around with this 9 pound guy on my shoulder and still try to get something accomplished!

Passed out...

One of my brackets ends like this.

And the other one like this. 

You can guess which one I'd prefer. 

Currently, my ISU bracket is doing better than the other. Hopefully, in about 3 hours ISU will have another victory and be moving on to the Sweet 16!

People Who Love to Eat...

I know, I know. Lots of my posts have food. I'm in love with this quote, and it is going to find its way into my kitchen decor soon:

All of my favorite people love to eat! 

Ok, this isn't the greatest picture, but it is the highlight of this blog post. Tonight I made homemade onion rings--well, petals, because I used up a partially cut onion. Super simple and so, so good. So good, that I ate them before I could take a better picture than this! I bought a yellow onion (for the first time in years, because of my mild obsession with red onions) but I had a partial red one that needed used, so I opted for that. I dredged the onion petals in a flour/salt/cayenne pepper mixture, dunked 'em in egg and then panko. Sprayed 'em with olive oil cooking spray and baked at 450 for 10 minutes. Seriously delish. And, while I normally like playing around with sauces until I get it just right--this time, I bought a Miracle Whip Onion Bloom sauce. Perfect. The pizza is far from homemade, but Vito's made me two pizzas last week, since they made the first one wrong. It's finally almost finished. 

I also whipped up these babies tonight. Also, simple: some oatmeal, peanut butter, honey & chocolate chips all mixed up, balled up and chilled. Tasty little sweet treat.

The best part of going to the grocery store (one of my least favorite activities) is seeing what new kinds of tea are out there. Found these. Currently sipping the melon citrus mint, and it isn't disappointing. 

This was my lunch yesterday. (Along with the pizza...)

This was the staple of my lunch today. Still green, as Lindsay pointed out, but slightly healthier. Love the New Bo Market, and can't wait for the CR Farmer's Market this summer!

Also tested out one of my peach honey sticks this morning in my peach tea. Good stuff.

Whew, that's a lot of food.