Coffee and Cocktails at the Casa

Monday, August 23, 2021

Here you are again, Monday! I am linking up today with Heather, etc. here.

The weekend was full and went by super fast! It was a hot one, too.

Friday after school I had a patio happy hour with two friends that I met when my kids were in elementary school. We hadn’t seen each other in a long time. Cool thing is that this year I have both of their youngest kids in one of my class! One has a senior girl and the other has a senior boy.

Beautiful patio and yard and a delicious drink that I enjoyed too much – Deep Eddy orange vodka and orange La Croix.

I stayed way longer than I thought I would but it was so fun! I came home and Tom had eaten leftovers so I finished off my skinny pizza dough with a couple of breadsticks.

Note: Last week I did grocery pick up on Thursday after school so I really enjoyed having that done and having fresh food for the weekend. I came home from school Friday, made an appetizer, and went to one of the ladies’ houses. So nice!

I went to bed around 9:00 Friday night – because teacher tired!

Saturday morning I was up and at ’em, though! I made my breakfast veggies – zucchini, onion, mushrooms – and a funfetti cake made with only non fat plain Greek yogurt and water. Recipe coming tomorrow.

Tom left to help his parents for the day and I was so happy to have a Saturday with no errands! No errands because grocery was done and that’s what Amazon is for, right?

I had plans to go to the Paristown Flea – every third Saturday and this would be my third in a row. My flea buddy is Elizabeth, my next door neighbor teacher.

But, first, I had something so cool to do before meeting Elizabeth. This is Diane, a local blog reader. Isn’t her outfit super chic? She ordered a Savanna Jane dress from Ebay that didn’t work for her and wanted to give it to me.

Her house was beautiful and and I got to meet her husband and sweet dog, too.

How generous! I have wanted this dress so badly but it wasn’t in my size at my local boutique. I looked at the Amazon version and didn’t think it went up to a large enough size for me, either.

Thank you so much, Diane!

I met Elizabeth at 11:00 and it was already super hot!

She found this cute button down with a t-shirt square sewn on the back.

She had a bloody mary and I had something really good – it was orange, ginger beer, and a few other things. I really was on an orange kick with my cocktails.

And, we got the giant pretzel again to split.

We ran into these four senior students of mine! I love that they are doing fun things like this!

I only bought a plant. Isn’t she cute?

After leaving the sweltering heat of the market, I got a call from Mason. He woke up feeling sick that morning. His roommate had vacated the dorm room and thought Mason should get tested for Covid. Their college is 99% vaccinated according to my other son but still…we are hearing of mild cold symptoms for some vaccinated people.

I don’t know about your area, but it is very hard to get an appointment to get tested here. Plus, I didn’t want him to wait in a germy area. My school offers drive through testing after school from 3-7, but that is only on the weekdays. And, he said his college didn’t do testing on the weekends, either.

I remember seeing home kits at Walgreen’s and Lindsay mentioned keeping some on hand. I went and bought two 2 packs (they had about 8 left) and drove to Mason’s dorm. That is the nice thing about being close.

We did it in the back of the car with the hatch open while both wearing masks. It was really pretty easy. Both of my kids were tested several times last school year, so they know the drill. I had to put 6 drops of a solution in this card and Mason had to swab each nostril and do 5 circles. You put the swab into the test card and wait 15 minutes.

We were both nervous, but he was negative! I hope it is accurate and I am trusting that it is. He wanted to come home so he did and I gave him medicine and he slept for 3 hours. He woke up in a great mood and feeling so much better.

While he was napping, Tom and I had tickets for the Women’s Cup soccer match at our new stadium. Our team was playing Germany (Bayern Munich) so that made it more fun.

Leiderhosen and Birks on this fan!

It was a really exciting game but we won!

When we got home I cooked a late dinner for Mason and we watched Gilmore Girls and I stayed up late!

Sunday Jack came home! We went to Target and the library and then ate dinner together. They went back to campus after dinner. They still had stuff to load up and take to their dorm rooms.

Back to life, back to reality.

How was your weekend?

There has been so much sadness lately in the world. I don’t take it for granted that I can do this.

Amy

Friday, August 20, 2021

Happy Friday! How was your week? Mine went by surprisingly fast; it was our first five day week of school so the students and I were super nervous! The last time we had a five day in person school week was March 9-13, 2020!

It was a good week! I really like my students! I have about 40 of the same students from last year (they went on from Spanish 3 to AP) and the other 100 are new to me. I taught them my routine this week. I am very routine oriented – we do certain things on certain days of the week. I really think it is a good thing – or at least it works for me – I hope!

I am linking up today with Andrea, etc. right here today.

Monday night was the last dinner as a family of four before the boys left for college on Tuesday. I got takeout from Shiraz, our favorite mediterranean place. Rice, chicken, salmon, sidewinder fries, and roasted veggies and pita is what we always get.

I had a salad with salmon because I was being healthier.

I made a plan of boxed brownies.

So, move in this year was very underwhelming. They were taking a car to keep on campus this year so they loaded it up and only took one trip and loaded my car up the night before. They drove earlier in the day and I came after school with a load. Tom was going to come, too, but the unloading took like 5 minutes for my car. Jack is in the same dorm as last year second semester and just down the hall from where he was last year so he said I did not need to go in. Mason moved just across from Jack with his roommate in a different dorm but he had to hurry to get somewhere after we unloaded. So, I was on campus for a very short time. No pictures were taken, sadly. I think Tom and I will ask to see the rooms this weekend.

Everything is made so much easier since they are close to home. Mason plans to come home to get more stuff this weekend and I think Jack does, too. They are minimalists, too. So, for this year I have only spent $120. In addition, their college is now including textbooks in their tuition without raising tuition.

A year ago, move in day looked like this Facebook reminded me!

We are watching Kim’s Convenience with the boys, but taking a pause until they come home. So, Tom and I started watching Champions on Netflix. It’s cute!

The house has been quiet. I think I am doing much better this year.

I scheduled a Kroger pickup for right after school last Friday and then again yesterday. I think I like having fresh groceries for the weekend and I love doing the pickup right after school and before I get home.

So, for now I will only be doing Kroger. A Trader Joe’s run might be in the near future, but I’m not sure. I did see that their fall stuff will be out September 7th, so that will definitely go in my calendar! They do fall really well!

My youngest sister’s birthday was last week and I sent her this headband and

this top. She said she loved both items! I believe Sophie of The Big Boo Cast recommended the headband and I can’t remember who recommended the top. My sister doesn’t shop much for herself so I like to pick out things for her.

Ernie loves string cheese and ice cream. We used to always get him a frozen dog treat that my Kroger stopped carrying. I asked an employee and he said this was the replacement. Ernie approves.

This weekend I want to do this – a faster method for stripping your towels. Mine are in bad shape, but with a Master bath not done and a hall bath not done or started, I don’t want to buy any until I have made color decisions. I will probably just get white, but you know. Carolina Charm posted this and I had been wanting to order the Tyler Glamorous Diva Wash for a long time!

Yes, I am excited to do laundry!

The lunches that my co-worker Erica and I are doing are so good! Look what Erica made one day this week. Actually we both cook on Sunday and just pick one meal we want each day.

This was zoodles (zucchini noodles), chicken, diced tomatoes, onion, and a bit of olive oil and cream cheese. I told her it was restaurant quality! She also made chicken salad wraps and skinny margarita pizza this week and I made roasted veggies and sausage one day and burrito bowls one day. We are eating well.

I splurged you all! I thought I deserved this after 3 days of school – ha! It could be an expensive year, right? This was recommended by Kelly of Kelly’s Korner. It came with the leopard and I ordered the Gucci-ish strap. This is exactly what Kelly did. I”m a copy cat.

Well, that was quite a hodge-podge. What were your favorites from the week?

Happy, happy Friday and happy weekend to you!

Amy

Thursday, August 19, 2021

A few weeks ago while at Aldi, I picked up something interesting. I thought Tom, Jack, and Mason would enjoy them. I didn’t read the directions while in the store.

When I went to make them it said I was supposed to fry them. I haven’t been doing much frying in the name of healthier living, but decided to go with it. Then I got the idea that those of you with air fryers could do this! Or, maybe you already have!

I opened the tube and it looked like cinnamon rolls! In fact, I re-read the name on the label.

So, you can totally do this with your normal, everyday cinnamon rolls.

Cut the pinwheels into thirds like so.

Carefully fry them in vegetable oil on the stove until golden brown. Using tongs, remove and put on a paper towel lined plate.

Squirt or spread frosting on the warm donut sticks.

Do you all have a weekend breakfast tradition? This would be a fun addition to that! I did try a bite and it was yummy! But, what fried food isn’t? Lol!

Let me know if you try this but especially let me know if you try it in your air fryer!

Take it to the next level by making your own icing. They never give you enough and it tastes a bit artificial, you know?

Thanks for reading!

Amy

Wednesday, August 18, 2021

Hello and happy hump day! I am happy to link up today with The Style Six here and who is ready for my school attire? Lol! I don’t know how exciting this will be!

If you are a loyal reader – thank you! – you know that I created a “staging area” in my closet for the things I wanted to wear right away. This consists of my summer dresses and skirts and things that will look or feel too summery soon.

I am a high school Spanish teacher and rarely sit down. We have to wear masks this year and my mask chain was the best thing I bought for back to school! I love it.

Day one – Target Knox Rose dress that I bought last spring.

Day Two: Old LulaRoe skirt (I have several of these) and new TJ Maxx blouse.

Day Three: My floral dress.

Saturday outfit: TJ Maxx blouse and cut offs.

Monday: another LuLaRoe skirt and hot pink top from consignment.

And, yesterday: Matilda Jane pants and blouse from local boutique.

And, that is it! What is your favorite? What should I pass on?

Thanks for reading!

Amy

Tuesday, August 17, 2021

Well…I got my first taste of fall air last weekend! It was so nice Saturday evening and Sunday morning. But, it will be in the 90s and stay pretty hot for awhile yet. Or, we have fickle weather and it will go back and forth until fall comes to stay.

Like many of you all, I love fall clothes. I also love fall colors! In Kentucky and definitely further south, I think it is worth the effort to have a “warm weather clothing but in fall colors” section of your closet. Also, if you are one that runs hot, it can be helpful to have a few pieces in this category. What do you think?

Here are some of my things that may work for me in the coming months.

This was $6 at Old Navy a few years ago and it works under a couple of my kimonos, too.

This was all the rage in blog-land a few years ago and is from Walmart. I love a fall plaid!

This is really old from Anthropologie but I really like it. I have a cream light cardigan that can go over it.

This is new from TJ Maxx and it is really light weight.

This is a few years old from Steinmart and I like the leopard but in a short sleeve.

I love this kimono I ordered from an online boutique. It is super light weight.

And, this is my Umgee kimono from Amazon that has serious Pioneer Woman plate vibes. I still love it. It is super light weight, too.

This kimono is very old and it is LuLaRoe consignment. Love the material and the colors.

I love browns, tans, mustards, and olives but I don’t like to wear them in other seasons!

These lightweight things can often work until the end of November!

Do you have this section of clothing, too? Maybe scan your current closet and see what could work for you in this realm?

I am anxious to start looking at new fall offerings in stores and online. Are you?

Thanks for reading,

Amy

Monday, August 16, 2021

How was your weekend? Mine was good but went by quickly! I am linking up today with Heather, Tanya, and more here.

We had a full week for teachers last week but students only came for three days. It was the perfect amount for the kids, I think. I have absolutely no photos from Friday! But, I did schedule a grocery pick up for right after school and it was so nice to have food for the weekend and that chore out of the way. For dinner, I made fried rice for the fam, cauliflower rice for me, and heated up a few random leftovers. I was in bed by 9:30!

Saturday morning I did my breakfast vegetable prep so I could have that for breakfast. I had eaten faux Egg McMuffins all week at school.

I enjoyed a leisurely morning of chores and just taking my time.

Jack and Mason had shopped for their college supplies Thursday and I was tickled at how they shopped. They were very smart about buying some things to split even though they are in different dorms. You ever have those moments where you can’t believe your kids are that old and can do what they can do?

I ate my breakfast and did a bit of list making and organizing.

We had plans for some family time on our last weekend with the kids at home. We headed downtown to the Frazier History Museum because Mason had an exhibit there from high school.

Cover your eyes, kids! That is in front of our 21C hotel.

Our downtown is so pretty.

The museum looked so different since I had last been.

It is now the first stop in the Urban Bourbon trail – the distilleries that are in the city. There are lots outside of Louisville, too.

After the museum, we headed to our NULU district. I love this area. We really like Royal’s Hot Chicken.

I ordered an amazing potato dish and only ate half.

After eating, we went into Revelry Boutique.

It was a fun day!

That evening, Tom’s sister and brother in law had a small river party at their boat business.

I made a Ranch Water but used a raspberry Bubly. It was good!

They had a really good singer!

I brought sushi – veggie roll – because I didn’t want to eat cookout stuff. Jack and Mason had sushi at home, too.

This hardly has a flavor but I really like it. You have to like sparkling water, though.

Sunday morning felt awesome! I spent some time on the patio with my coffee, my breakfast, and my new book!

This is so cute so far…. and it has a yellow cover!

I did my meal prep – egg casserole and veggies for breakfast, burrito bowls for lunch, and roasted veggies and turkey sausage for lunch. I may not cook anymore this week because we are having a special dinner for the boys and then they move in on Tuesday. Tom and I will have these two meals and Totino’s pizza for him/Skinny pizza dough for me one night.

I did about an hour of school work. I needed to do more, but I also needed to have fun and feel like I had a weekend!

Then, Mason headed out with friends and Jack did some college packing and laundry while Tom and I saw Free Guy. I liked it. I can’t decided if I liked Jungle Cruise better.

We came home and I read a bit more and we heated up some leftovers for dinner. I think Sunday will always be leftover night to use up restaurant food or home cooked food from the weekend. It seems to work well.

What was the highlight of your weekend?

Amy

Friday, August 13, 2021

Fridays mean more to me now!

Time for another edition of Friday Favorites here with Andrea, etc. – the things from my camera roll that made me happy this week!

My niece Mia has a new phone for high school and is taking Spanish for the first time. Her twin brother Miles is, too. Their Spanish teacher aunt loves this! It’s so fun to be able to text with my teen nieces and I want them to love Spanish like I do.

My co-worker and I are making meals for each other this year. She brings two lunches a week and I bring two lunches a week. We will do our own one day or we will take turns doing a third day.

I purchased a mandolin vegetable slicer to make really thin sweet potato slices for this sweet potato lasagna. The sweet potato slices are the noodles! It is so yummy! I used jarred pasta sauce, can of tomatoes, ground turkey, cottage cheese, egg, and a small amount of mozzarella. The sweet potato and tomato really work well together. My co-worker Erica loved it and I’m glad because I want this to be in our regular rotation.

The other meals I made (I did three this week) were Mexican quinoa and egg roll in a bowl. She did an adult lunchable – chicken, hard boiled egg, greek yogurt dip with veggies, and fruit and buffalo chicken dip and celery. We have eaten well at school this week and that is always a favorite.

Next week I plan to do roasted veggies and chicken sausage and burrito bowls.

The fall stuff is really coming out! Fall is always a favorite. I always am a bit sad for summer to end and I don’t love winter, but I love having four distinct seasons. It makes me happy!

My sister in law knew that I liked the High Noon pineapple so she thoughtfully brought me these flavors to try. It’s on the agenda for this weekend!

And, she brought me this pumpkin spice coffee for when I’m ready. How long can I wait? We will see!

My blog reader and friend Kim thoughtfully sent me a Starbucks e-gift card to get me through my first week at school. How unexpected and kind!

So, I need to pay these two acts of generosity forward to someone else!

For my breakfast this week, I assembled 100 calorie whole wheat English muffin sandwiches.

Gosh, it makes me happy to have my breakfasts and lunches prepped. Sorry I talk about it so much!

On Wednesday, we were back in our classrooms with full classes! My smallest class is 16 and my largest is 26, so that is pretty good. It feels so normal again, if you don’t count the mask. The halls are crowded! I guess we just aren’t used to that. This is so much better than virtual. Kids need to be in school! I pray that we are able to continue this year.

Day one – ready to go!

Year 28 in a mask!

What were your favorites this week? I hope you had many!

Amy

Tuesday, August 10, 2021

I was revising my syllabuses/syllabi for my classes – remember those from college? We also do them in high school. They contain the teacher information, expectations for the class, how the students will be evaluated, etc. I got to thinking that I needed a syllabus for myself.

I love, love, love being a teacher. When I am in the zone teaching something and the students make connections, it is surreal. But, the teacher life can be a very lopsided and unbalanced life. The school year is super intense and then we get summers off.

So, as I embark upon a new school year, I have some expectations for myself. I encourage you to do this, as well, whether you are a teacher, a parent, or just use the school calendar as a re-set.

-Know myself and don’t try to change myself. I am not as productive later in the day. I like to arrive at school early and work until I start teaching at 8:31. First period is my planning so I have about 1.5 hours to work.

-Make time for my morning coffee and quiet time at home before leaving. I like to get up leisurely and enjoy this time.

-Meal prep is something that makes me feel ready to start each week. Take the time on Sunday to do this.

-Pack my lunches the night before. Lay out my clothes the night before. Basically anything I can do the night before helps my morning self. I remember once Jack and Mason got the idea to just sleep in their school uniforms to save time in the morning. Ha!

-People before paper. This is something I repeat to myself quite often. I came up with it a few years ago. I love being productive but people are more important. If a student comes in my room, they take precedence over the papers I’m working on.

-Our principal sends a weekly memo every Sunday morning around 9 a.m. I am going to try to wait until Monday morning to read it. Why should I give up my Sunday – even if it is just mentally? I wish he wouldn’t send it on Sundays, to be honest. I can’t control that, but I can control when I check work email.

-Continue to keep work email off of my phone. I don’t get any work email notifications on my phone. I turned off Google Classroom notifications on my phone. I need to remember that I control my technology.

-Being outside is so important to me. The best thing about virtual school was the increased outside time I got last year. Walk after school and spend some time each afternoon or evening reading for pleasure outside.

-Try to do one fun thing each week and one fun thing each weekend.

-It’s o.k. to be routine oriented, but it’s also o.k. to veer from it sometimes.

-Take my showers at night. My mantra is “no wet hair in the mornings” because wet hair takes too long to fix.

-Keep margin in my schedule. Do not overschedule myself. For me, just going to work will be all I can do some days and that’s o.k.

-Use online grocery pickup and plan to pick groceries up right after school once a week.

-Say “NO”. I have learned that it’s ok to simply say, “I appreciate you thinking of me for that job but I am not able to at this time”. You do not need to have diarrhea of the mouth. You also do not have to feel bad for keeping margin in your life.

-Give myself grace. I have not had a normal school year for awhile. I will be exhausted from the schedule and the mask wearing. We only taught in person for 8 weeks with Wednesdays at home last year. This year I will teach from 8:31-2:20 with a 20 minute lunch break. I have 6 classes in that time period.

-Make time for what matters. This is different for everyone. You do not have to justify what that is to anyone and I don’t either.

-Take my personal days. I only took one day off of any kind last year. You can’t pour from an empty cup, yada yada ya.

-Don’t take myself too seriously.

-Sometimes I should go talk to someone rather than sending an email.

-Avoid negativity. Don’t cause it. Don’t get involved in it. There is one teacher I avoid because everything is negative.

What would be on your syllabus?

Amy

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Wednesday, August 11, 2021

Today is the first day of school! I am linking up with The Stylish Six here. Today’s post is short and sweet.

So, I have moved most of my shorts to a higher shelf now because I won’t be wearing them as much. I will probably only wear my denim cut offs and of course, I wear my lounge and exercise shorts year round. My biker shorts with pockets on both sides are my clear favorites so I will mostly be wearing those!

Friday night for the play in the park, I wore my drawstring denim shorts and this Target blouse from a couple of years ago. I also wore my lace up metallic gold sandals. It was pretty hot for the play’s first half but then it cooled off. I wished I had worn a dress or light pants because my legs stuck to the bench. But, I had not been able to wear the shorts or the top comfortably last summer so I am having fun fitting back into a few things.

For boating on Saturday I wore the only suit I’ve worn this summer – the hot, hot pink Aerie tank – and I pulled out an old cover up that I love. I wore my Amazon hat from this season. The cover up was too small last year, too.

To get my hair done Saturday, I threw on one of the Walmart dresses.

I created a staging area for my school outfits. The idea is to again see how many unique outfits I can wear. After wearing something, I will hang it in a different area. I am feeling the dresses and the blouses with a skirt or pants the most right now. My swing dresses and kimonos have been worn so much that I am kind of tired of them. The building is hot right now. Last April it was a refrigerator. I’d like somewhere in between, please!

I also have printed pants in this mix. I chose to wear my fun printed pants for the teacher days Monday and Tuesday with a solid color top. Many teachers go super casual with t-shirts and jeans or denim shorts, but I still dress pretty professionally on these days.

And, I purchased a mask chain off of Amazon here. Last year, I would take it off and lay it on my desk or I would forget where I put it. I think this chain is lovely and I do have a chain this style from Kendra Scott. I think I’m going to like having this.

What have you been wearing lately? Is it time for “real clothes”?

Thanks for reading,

Amy

Tuesday, August 10. 2021

Here is just a quick photo dump of recent meals I’ve been eating. This kind of post always helps me when I get in a rut!

This was a lunch:

leftover baby broccoli from the night before, a tiny baked potato cooked in the microwave with spray butter, salt, and pepper, veggie burger wrapped in a low carb wrap with mustard, tomato, pickle, and lettuce.

Tilapia with cajun spice, potato rounds cut from my new mandolin and cooked in oven with Pam olive oil spray, and the first go round of the baby broccoli.

Dessert – heated up Fiber One brownie with fat free Reddi Wip.

Burrito bowl – corn, beans, chicken, tomatoes, sauteed onions topped with an aioli made with lime juice, ranch powder, and non-fat Greek yogurt. I do not miss the rice. This is so good!

I made a snack type lunch of tuna salad, chicken salad, and buffalo chicken dip.

I have been eating lots of strawberries topped with Reddi Wip.

Tilapia, corn on the cob, tomatoes, zucchini, potatoes

A snack of popcorn (I put kernels in a paper bag and use the microwave popcorn setting then top with spray butter), veggie straws, string cheese, and strawberries. I cannot buy veggie straws because I have no portion control. I love them! Do you have foods that you just can’t buy?

A lunch of buffalo chicken dip, celery, and leftover broccoli.

Tom and I bought Magic Spoon cereal – the four variety pack. It is very expensive so we will not buy it again. I tried it twice and I hate it. I think it has the weirdest after taste. Tom ate all of it but was meh about it. He said that we could probably find a low sugar cereal in the store. He is not Keto but tries to watch sugar – kinda. He says he does but… He works out 4-5 mornings a week and rides his bike 30 plus miles on the weekends. He also does some paddle boarding. We bought this to try and I will let you know. Anyone try this? Anyone have another suggestion?

Cereal is another food that I just have avoided for now. I love cereal and would probably eat too much.

Bon apetit!

Amy