Friday, December 10, 2021
Happy Friday to all! But, time slow down – we are at 15 days until Christmas! Eeeeeek! I am linking up today with Andrea,etc. right here.
I had to laugh at Tom using 2 leaf blowers at once and I posted this on social media saying “Can you tell Tom is a twin Dad or what?” I have so many funny pictures of him holding both boys at once.
Our weather has been crazy!
It went from high 60s Sunday to really, really cold on Monday. Sunday evening I turned on the patio lights for a bit.
My decor is almost done. It is very simple and minimalist this year. I just don’t have a lot of surfaces for stuff and I really don’t like a lot of stuff. I decided to stop doing what I thought I should do and only doing what feels right for me and my home.
I want lights and candles and cozy. I like to put more time into gift shopping, cooking, and baking.
I have also taken the time on weekday mornings this week to turn the lights on and burn a candle. Why save those simple pleasures for just the weekends?
I used the skinny pizza dough this week to try a small buffalo chicken pizza using the buffalo chicken dip, a bit of cheese, celery, and some added buffalo sauce. Um…. yum!
I also made a normal one. Has anyone tried the dough from My Bizzy Kitchen yet?
Tom won a really big project for his company and I wanted to celebrate him. I have been using my retro Target plates that I just love and I put some Arizona tea…
in a champagne flute. He thought it was sweet!
I made the pink meringues! This is a family recipe that screams Christmas to us. I made them for Spanish Club for our cookie exchange.
Erica and I (another Spanish teacher and my meal prep partner) have had a week of amazing meals!
We had Greek bowls with cauliflower rice, chicken, cucumbers, tomatoes, feta, and tzatziki one day.
One day we had mushroom chicken, broccolini and potatoes.
The Spanish Club cookie exchange. Each person brought 24 cookies and I gave them all a container from The Dollar Tree – some were poinsettias (native to Mexico) and some were snowflakes. They wore a rubber glove and chose one of each type of cookie so they went home with 24 different cookies. It was a big hit!
We also made cards for hospitalized kids as shared by Andrea. I emailed the contact and asked if we could do them in Spanish and they were very happy to have us do that!
It warms my heart to see kids give up their after school time to do stuff like this. It sucks to have to do this in masks but it is our current reality and I feel that I need to model the attitude of “we are doing life normally except for the mask”.
Our local catholic schools dropped their mask mandate this past Monday. What are schools in your area doing? I am in a very large public school district so I fear we will be in masks for a long, long time. My sister is in Ohio but she thinks we might even be in them next year. At what point will we consider that the damage by being in masks too long might be worse? Honestly, I don’t know the answer. I guess it is a small thing, but is it? I’m just thinking out loud here.
I have been having this as my morning snack. I open a laughing cow and sprinkle a bit of everything seasoning and then dip a few celery sticks in. I love it!
I think I have learned to never order a skinny margarita or any margarita out because I think mine is so much better. After last weekend, I think I have learned the same about avocado toast. I have this as an afternoon snack many days after school. I hope you don’t find these two statements to be bragging; I just really love my versions!
What were your faves this week? I hope you had many!
Amy
Coffee and Cocktails at the Casa 
I agree with you – your skinny margarita is the best!
Glad you did what felt right for you and your home as far as decor this year. It’s easy to get caught up in the hype on social media and be “influenced” but it’s so much better to do YOU.
Our schools dropped the mask mandate. Everyone thinks FL and especially our governor is crazy. But I support him. We got our booster shots this week and I feel like personal freedom and responsibility are important. Our hospitals are not over flowing with patients. There will be new variants of Covid coming out all the time, like with any other virus. I don’t want to live the rest of my life in a mask. Enough is enough. Rant over, sorry Amy!!
Hope you have a great weekend!
xo,
Kellyann
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We made pizzas this week too; for some reason though I did something wrong this time and had to add quite a bit of extra flour at the last minute because it was SO sticky (it was a rainy/snowy day so I was thinking maybe just the moisture in the air or something?). It ended up tasting just fine in the end so I didn’t worry about it. I turn on all our tree/garland lights every morning and if my son’s up first he does it instead. I love the lights and try to enjoy them as much as I can all season long. I second Kellyann’s opinion 100% but think our schools will require masks for quite some time too. I do fear that wearing them all the time especially for things like gym/sports can not be healthy and I feel like people are less likely to LOOK at one another and engage now that we’ve been using them so long.
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That is weird! I know that my meringues mess up if too wet outside.
I love that your son turns it on! So sweet!
I agree with you – we need to be weighing the benefits versus the risks.
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The cookie exchange is so fun! I love that they wrote cards too. Warms my heart 🙂 your meals look delish this week! Congrats to Tom! Have a great weekend.
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It was so sweet! We have some great kids that make me want to bring my best everyday! We had our best week of meals ever I think. Thank you – Tom was so happy!
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Skinny margaritas – the others are so sweet after you get used to the lemonade and Fresca.
Masks – No masks in our district this year. We have about 100 kids in each grade level. In our middle school, about 3 kids choose to wear masks and 3 paras. No certified staff, but we are all vaccinated and getting boosters. We rarely have more than 5 students in quarantine usually from a family contact. We have a larger school district coming to visit our middle school today and I know they wear masks. Will be interesting to see what they have to say.
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Exactly, Lisa! I can’t stand that artificial sweet taste anymore. Wow – that is pretty amazing and so weird how so many handled it differently. That will be interesting!
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You are not bragging at all, I feel the same about avocado toast! I’d rather order something that I don’t typically make at home. We just got home from a week in Texas and I put up my tree and a few decorations before I left, now that I’m home I decided that I’m not going to add anything else, it’s a low key year I think. I also plug in the tree lights first thing in the morning and leave them on all day, the season passes so quickly! Your students are so sweet to take personal time to make cards, truly the Christmas spirit!
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Thanks! I am just the same – I cannot make sushi and I love restaurant salmon and salads. That is so nice that you did it before you left. Less is more, right? They are so sweet – most of the time! lol!
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When you asked for our favorites this week I was like “Is it Friday!?”, that’s how crazy it is right now… We have an alternative Christmas school party tomorrow on the schoolyard. Outside is good, but things are turning worse over here (again…) and many parents are concerned… So am I, but I am more concerned about the fact that I need to work on a Saturday!
Thank you for sharing funny pictures, home decor, school kids and food – no one does great mixes like you! 😀
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Ha! 6 days a week is too much to work, girl!
You are so sweet! You may become my International Fan Club President – a promotion from my Swedish Fan Club President.
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You make my day! I need to remake my membership cards! 😀
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Haha!
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All the food looks delicious, and congrats to Tom! I have scaled back my decor over the years and feel like I am at a happy medium now. I still have the favorite sentimental things out, but I’m trying not to add to it each year. This year, I bought a new snowglobe, but got rid of one that had seen better days. It is just amazing how different the approaches to masking etc are throughout the country. In our Tx district, we have been mask free this school year…3200 students at the high school and 85,000 in the district. I especially think masks are damaging to younger elementary students. We also don’t have any kind of mandatory quarantine or vaccines. The only place masks are required are the airport, doctor’s office and broadway shows. I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
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Thank you on both accounts! I have, too. I just like it simple now.
It really is crazy how different our approaches have been. I want everyone healthy mentally and physically. I get so sad when I see a small child in a mask. I am not as sad seeing high schoolers for some reason.
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How can I get in on the meals? LOL They look so YUM! Our schools have been mask free most of this school year. We haven’t had any cases in the schools since around September. Have a great weekend!
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I wish you could! Thank you! That is amazing about your schools. I really don’t know the answer! Hope you had a great one!
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