Friday, May 12, 2023
It’s Friday and time to link up with Andrea and Erika!
Here are some of my favorites from the week!
Got my old email back- not sure what I did that was different, but I was able to get back in. Now, I am transitioning to a gmail account. I was right that I was not missing anything important in my old email account, but it’s good that I have access again.
Jen showed Mother’s Day gifts from the.enneagram.com for her type and I looked up my type – 2. Yes, I do love all of these things!
I have been wearing my natural nails lately. I don’t love having them bare, but they are really loving this “rest”.
A photo of a wet (from the morning dew) photo of Ernie came up in my Facebook memories. We got him when our kids were in 4th grade. I had an arrangement to work 2nd period until an hour after school back then. I did this from my kids’ k-5th grade. They were on a 9:05 to 3:45 schedule and I was on a 7:40-2:20 schedule and then when they started middle school we were on the same schedule. I was able to drop them off at 8:40 and still get to my 2nd period on time and then I did the after school detention. I loved this arrangement and it also enabled me to walk Ernie when it was light out.
Ernie and I would walk to pick them up from school, also, as I still got home in plenty of time to do that. Teaching is the least flexible job ever, but sometimes you can look for creative solutions like this. My motto has always been to ask the question and the worst you are going to hear is “no”. I didn’t enjoy doing detention, but it was a means to have that schedule.
My school is changing start and end times next year. We are going from 7:40-2:20 to 8:40-3:20. I guess it will be nice to have a little more time in the morning, but I am not excited about losing an hour after school. I am trying to have an open mind and maybe I will end up liking it. I didn’t think I would like having last period planning this year, but it turns out that I have loved it!
I read this book so quickly. I really liked it! Are you a COHO fan? Colleen Hoover has become so popular with the teen girls, by the way. Her books do have mature content so I would think they are best for 17 and up? Some of my girl students and I have been talking about her books. Someone is letting me borrow Ugly Love soon. I think they are watching Netflix shows with the same mature topics and maybe even worse than what is in COHO’s books. Teens today know SO MUCH MORE than I did at their age.
Then, I started this one and will probably need to take a COHO break for a bit. The weather has been amazing! I come home from school, walk Ernie, and then read for a bit, start dinner, read a bit more. It’s giving me life to be able to sit outside and soak up some nature.
I made a really good dish based on Slender Kitchen’s one pot orzo – I changed the noodles to these cool ones from Trader Joe’s and I left out the cannellini beans. I think the beans tasted odd with pasta last time I made this. The dish also has chicken, spinach, sun dried tomatoes, and chicken broth. This was Sunday dinner and Monday’s lunch for E and I.
This seemed significant! It’s hard to believe that 500,000 views have been made to this little old blog and that people have read my drivel.
I found the Cheese Gal chablis and I absolutely love it! It is a really good crisp, white wine for this time of year. I enjoyed a glass one evening this week on my patio. I am trying to deep dive into whites and see what I like. I am not a fan of chardonnay but this is a type of chardonnay – but unoaked – according to the fabulous wine guy at Trader Joe’s. Seriously, I have found my wine guy. He is so knowledgeable and patient and approaches me like he wants to hear my tales of what wines I like and don’t like. I also have a wine guy at the Kroger wine shop and he is a former co-worker’s friend. It really doesn’t feel like I live in a big city!
Speaking of that – it is kind of a running joke with my kids and my friends that I see a current or former student everywhere I go. You can run but you can’t hide.
After I scheduled my Hello Monday post on Sunday, my weekend continued. The day was dreary, cold, and rainy but we walked Ernie at a neighborhood that has a farmer’s market and a co-worker’s wife sells slices of cake. Tom picked out pineapple upside down cake and chocolate mint cake – 2 that I would not have picked so that was good so he could eat them.
Ernie had so much fun going on an outing with us and then he sat on a patio while we ate Waldo’s Chicken and Beer chicken sandwiches for lunch.
I think we need to do this more. We have so many dog friendly patios.
I got a spur of the moment invite to Mojitos late Sunday afternoon with my two college besties. The three of us have not been together in a long time – both of them have college kids that just came home, too, and one of them has an 8th grader doing all the 8th grade end of year stuff and the other has a high school senior who just made a college decision so there has been a lot going on.
We had a pitcher of passionfruit mojitos and…
plantain chips and guacamole,
and split a fish sandwich and flatbread. It was so nice to catch up and have a fun thing to cap off my weekend.
Another dinner this week was a favorite. I made a simple teriyaki sauce of:
1/4 cup soy sauce, 2 T water, 2 T. brown sugar, 2 t. sesame oil, 1 t. sriracha sauce, 2 garlic cloves minced, 1 T. ginger minced (I buy the tube). I had already cooked chicken that I put in that sauce on the stove for a bit along with some already cooked shrimp. I built bowls with rice, broccoli, pickled carrot, cucumber, and then the final step was a sauce made from 1 t. rice vinegar, 1 t. soy sauce, 2 t. sriracha sauce, and 3 T. mayo.
It turned out really good and I am just loving all the Asian inspired recipes lately.
Did you miss my Amazon post Tuesday or my Fashion Files yesterday? If so, I hope you will check those out.
I hope you had many, many favorites this week! Can you even believe we are at mid-May already?
Amy
Coffee and Cocktails at the Casa 
I have Heart Bones sitting in my pile of books… I typically Like Colleen’s books but they can be hit or miss for me. That pasta dish looks delicious!
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Heart bones was a hit for me! Read it in 24 hours!
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Okay so I picked up Heart Bones this morning and despite going grocery shopping and out to dinner and for a few little walks and things today I just finished it. I definitely enjoyed that one a lot!
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Right? I read it in one day and change too because I couldn’t put it down! Glad you liked it.
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Congrats on the 500k! Wowzers, Amy!!
They are talking about changing school times here for next year too – I have even heard about the possibility of year round. I agree with you, I’d rather have the extra time in the afternoon.
I have not read an actual book in quite some time, I have been reading my Amazon freebies on my kindle, I need to get back to ordering some books from the library. For some reason I have been sooo busy I cannot find time to read, how sad!
Have a super weekend!
xo,
Kellyann
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Thank you! I don’t want year round and there is no talk of that here. But, it’s almost year round as I finish on June 2 and they want us to start Pds end of July. Say what? The start date gets earlier and earlier and I don’t see our test scores going up because of it.
I think some aspects will be nice. Maybe I will say yes to doing more things during the week. I am pretty strict about being home no later than 7 now! It will help me to have more time to work out in the morning, too.
My reading is all based on me getting outside after school. I only have about an hour or so, but I think it’s my favorite hour of the day.
I hope you have a great weekend!
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I was also on a Colleen Hoover kick recently, but I’m back to other books. Would you believe I’m reading 3 books at once? I am and it feels strange, but 1 was about to expire, so I had to hit pause and start it before it’s whisked away from me. What a great week! I love baby Ernie. Is there anything better than a puppy? I think not. Your Asian inspired dinner looked yummy! Dinners were hit or miss for us this week, because I was so worn out at the end of each day. We have had #allthethings going on this week and also next at school. It’s enough to make me 🤪. I hope you have the best weekend!
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I am taking a break after 3 this year. I have a 4th but it will wait because it was a gift from students for teacher appreciation. How sweet, right? I sometimes get into a new book before finishing the last one because I know where it’s headed. Puppies are great! I get it – my dinners are not very inspired and I basically have no motivation for anything.
Now you really know how/why I get to the end of May so depleted. I do have Tuesday off for election day and I am taking one last personal day so I am trying to learn how to better balance and use my days.
I hope you do, too!
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I’m an Enneagram 2 as well! Yeah! Knew I liked you 😉 Yes I would agree on teen girl content- I am a big Colleen Hoover fan and I saw Diana had one of her novels the other day and I was like what!? That is too mature and I got a “mom all the girls are reading her books-she’s great”- insert eye roll emoji here- sigh 😉 Have a great weekend Amy!
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Yes! 2s unite! I agree that your daughter is probably a little young but there is also the school of thought of your teens watching and reading under your roof so you can have a dialogue about it. But now your daughter will be even more curious!
You too!
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Happy Friday! I love plantain chips. Yay on 500k, I was so happy when I reached that milestone from my little ole hobby. You rock. I am so sorry about the start time change gosh darn! Have a beautiful Mother’s Day weekend.
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You too! These are the best plantain chips! I love how they cut them long ways. It’s a cool milestone but I really don’t look at stats much. I would love to learn to make a little bit of money as I am close to retirement, but we will see. I don’t want to sell my soul. The change might be good – the jury is still out.
You too! Hope you get some pool time!
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Congrats on 500!!
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Thank you!
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That’s good news that you got your email back. Your nails look really pretty, it’s good to give them a rest sometime.
That is a big difference to the school start and finish times. My girl does near enough the same time starting at 8:50 till 3:30 and it’s good for us.
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Yes! Thank you! I am actually buying a shiny nail buffer off of Amazon to make them look better natural. Maybe this is a new ME! Ha!
I like your daughter’s schedule. I think kids need balance and maybe it’s more about efficiency and not time in the seat, you know?
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Congrats on 500k! That’s amazing 🙂 that’s so cool you were able to have that schedule when they kids were young (& you got the extra Ernie time). I was .7 for three years and I loved the extra morning time with the kids. I have finding that wine on my to do list haha. I hope you have a great weekend.
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Thank you! It was a great work/life balance. I don’t think we can be .7 but that sounds great!
I hope you do, too. I have a feeling we are both hitting Trader Joe’s if you didn’t already yesterday! Let me know if you found the chablis and what you think!
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