Coffee and Cocktails at the Casa

Friday, February 16, 2024

Whew! This girl is tired! I am so, so happy it’s Friday! It’s time to link up with Andrea and Erika for Friday Favorites. 

Our students get to leave school today at 3:20 for a four-day weekend. They have off President’s Day Monday and Tuesday and the teachers have two, count them – two teacher days on Monday and Tuesday. It would have been nice for us also to get a break. 

And get this…because of the district bus fiasco at the beginning of the year they took away daytime Parent Teacher Conferences on Monday in favor of a teacher workday and teachers have to do them before or after school if they want to be paid. In our district, PT conferences are an extra day’s pay and you don’t have to do them. Well, your girl wants the money, so she is doing them before and after school Wednesday through Friday of next week. 

So, I am going to be wrecked after next week. I am looking forward to two days where I can go out to lunch and have some time in my room to do some planning for the stretch between now and Spring Break. But there will be meetings! Ha! I love a meeting that could have been an email – NOT! Tired of wasting my time to justify someones’ job. 

I think you can tell by my tone that I am struggling. 

Also, remember my education post? I had 37 out of 144 students absent on Monday for a total of 25% of my students. Didn’t the Superbowl end at a fairly decent time? We don’t start school until 8:40. Are we just looking for any excuse to miss now? 

I am also feeling guilty with Tom, Jack, and I gone from the house for so long each day. Tom has come home for lunch a few days even though it’s a long drive. I am trying to get home as quickly as I can each day. 

Since the news Friday, he kind of rallied but is moving slower and more finicky about food. We are feeding him whatever he will eat – canned dog food, canned chicken, tuna packets.

So, despite the hard things, I have been working harder to look for my favorites and my blessings this week…

We have had lots of sunshine for our after-school walks!

He was pretty excited one evening on another walk on the playground behind our house – loves to find water to drink. He acts like we don’t provide water! 

I had fun on Tuesday night for Mardi Gras making our favorite Cajun dish – Couscous jambalaya by Emeril Lagasse. 

This was also a lunch for Erica and I! Also, she made a healthy shrimp gumbo for dinner and that was our lunch one day, too. 

Erica made buffalo bowls one day – yum! 

Mexican bowls one day: 

And, I made the low carb pizza bowl one day!

I feel like we are both finding some new recipes that are making lunch really enjoyable!

This is a really bad plating job, but for V Day, Tom and I picked out ready-made foods from Paul’s Fruit Market for our dinner. I had salmon and he had meatloaf and a stuffed pepper. I made potato cakes and brussel sprouts to go along with it. We were both happy. We chose to do this, so we didn’t leave Ernie. We will go out to eat when the college kids can stay with him. 

I was pretty touched that Tom stopped at the Mexican supermarket and got me these heart shaped chocolate marshmallows: 

Looking forward to eating this lunch this weekend: 

I made sure to order all the ingredients. For the last couple of weeks I have done a Wednesday grocery pick up. I kinda like it! I do find myself back in a grocery store over the weekend, but the list is pretty short. 

My dance team girls sent me this when they were missing school for Nationals. I hate that they had to miss 3 days, but happy for them to have that experience: 

They had demonstration speeches to record in Spanish! 

Ha! 

Louisville is a huge Catholic city and it’s Fish Fry time. Also, so many restaurants run fish specials during Lent. Many of my friends are either Catholic or were raised Catholic, I think! If we go out with them on a Friday, there is a good chance we will go somewhere with fish!

Here is what I wore on V Day: 

It’s time to let the Shu Shop sneakers go. They are cute but offer zero support.

The French teacher gave me a plate of Mardi Gras goodies and Jack loves a croissant, so I brought it home to him and left it for his breakfast one day:

I love the sweet texts. 

Jack has been really helpful letting Ernie out one last time before he goes to bed, but Tom and I are getting up a few times a night (mostly Tom) to let him out. It’s like having a newborn again. Well, we don’t know what having a newborn is like because we only had newbornS! Ha! 

Despite my tone about school, I had some fun teaching days this week. I had a student tell me I’m “their only happy teacher”. Please pray that I don’t become bitter because of the adults NOT in the classroom making policies or NOT making policies. Please pray for the hearts of the other teachers who are “not happy”. That made me sad to hear. 

I hope you had many favorites this week! 

Your comments are also my favorites and I can’t believe you take the time to leave me such sweet and supportive comments. You are the best!

Amy

Thursday, February 15, 2024

Well, it’s Thursday again and that means it’s time for Fashion Files with Kellyann and Jill. 

Wearing pink, red, and hearts has made getting dressed easy this week! 

Last Thursday I wore these Matilda Jane olive pants and an old favorite floral blouse from a local boutique. Favorite type of teacher outfit – super comfy but feel put together. 

On Friday I tried out my new Amazon blouse that looks much higher end. Thanks to Tanya for the rec. I also bought the pattern that she recommended that looks like Lily Pulitzer, but it is taking a long time to get here. I wore it to school with my Wit and Wisdoms and I did wear shoes! I am a sucker for a pretty blouse. They are so easy to throw on with jeans, cut off shorts, pants, anything!

Over the weekend I didn’t do much, but I wore this combo again: 

On Monday I wore an old heart sweater, Matilda Jane pants, and sneakers.

On Tuesday I wore an old black heart sweater, Matilda Janes, and sneakers. 

And, yesterday for V Day, I wore this outfit again:

So, I think I got my money’s worth out of the green heart cardigan!

I am being influenced by Natalie Mason and this Target bag – isn’t it so cute? I have to be very careful in the spring because I want all the things. 

I have a hair appointment this weekend for cut and color. It’s needed! 

What have you been wearing lately?

Amy

Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Happy Valentine’s Day! You better believe I am wearing something with hearts today!

Today is Let’s Look with Shay and Erika and when I saw the topic I thought my post would be too boring for words, but then I thought, what the heck. I enjoy reading other peoples’ routines.  

So, today’s topic is “Little Things we do Everyday”…

I am going to focus on a weekday where I go to school around 7:45. 

I almost always wake up without an alarm. I go to bed around 9:30 these days and my body wakes me up to go to the bathroom. What motivates me is coffee, though. I both hate and love this. I’m using a good old fashioned coffee pot now. 

It’s been life-changing to have this mug warmer. I sit at my dining room table and…

always start my morning with my devotional…

I also light a candle every morning. 

I then read my blog list (the blogs I read of other people) and prepare my blog for the next day. I also make sure my breakfast, lunches for Erica and I (if it’s my turn), and Tom’s yogurt are ready to go. I put frozen fruit and granola in a container for Tom every day and he mixes in his yogurt at work. During this time I do a few household tasks that will make my life easier when I get home after school. I also give Ernie lots of pets and help with his high maintenance food, but Tom is the main one who feeds him in the morning and evening. 

When it’s time to start getting ready, I apply some coconut oil to my face and jump in the shower and do a body shower only in the morning. 

I do minimal makeup, hair, and then get dressed and snap a picture each day for blog purposes. This is what I wore Monday:

I get to school and eat my breakfast, check emails, get things ready for my two different morning classes. After I teach those, I have my planning period to get ready for my third class that I haven’t taught yet. 

I get about 10 reels from Tom a day and watch about half of them. He just recently discovered these! 

So, I teach Spanish 1, then AP, then have planning, then teach Spanish 3, AP again, Spanish 3 again, and Spanish 3 again. Then, it’s time to go home! 

I walk Ernie every day right when I get home. 

I start dinner – Monday it was pizza bowls! 

Tom calls every day on his way home somewhere between 5:08 and 5:15! I’m pretty sure he is just calling to make sure he will have dinner! Ha! 

We eat together after Ernie gets another walk and his dinner. I go take my shower and then I go watch a show for just me in the basement usually. Tom goes to bed at 8:30 and that is just too early for me. I stay up another hour. 

I also usually text or talk to one friend a day to check in.

I usually text or talk to a family member.

I laugh every day. 

I like my little weekday routine. I wish I had more time at home, though.

My routine changes with the seasons a bit, but this is my current winter routine. 

Maybe you can use this post for insomnia? Pretty boring, right? 

Amy

Tuesday, February 13, 2024

Happy Tuesday! Happy birthday to my niece Nora who is Sweet Sixteen today! 

Who doesn’t love pizza? The flavor combo is just so good and it’s so customizable, right? Can I make a statement, though? Pizza is one of the harder things when you are trying to clean up your diet! 

I kept seeing pizza bowls that only had sauce, toppings, and cheese. I was like – it needs more substance. I cooked up some cauliflower rice and it really worked! Erica gave it the seal of approval at lunch. Normally I do it for dinner first, but this time I tried it out at lunch and liked it so much I came home and made it for dinner for Tom and I. 

You will need: 

I did half a bag of cauliflower rice (frozen is best in my opinion), mushrooms and onions that I pre-cooked, and 15 turkey pepperonis per bowl. I did 1/2 cup of pizza sauce, a sprinkle of the powdered type of parmesan and 1/4 cup of cheese each. I layered it all in a Pyrex dish and then broiled it in the oven for a bit to get that pizza cheese thing going on. 

Of course, you can add whatever toppings you fancy!

At school, it all had to be microwaved at once. 

I love banana peppers so I added those to mine. 

If you make it like I do, this is 6 WW points. 

If you do make it, let me know what you think! 

I also want to show you a 1 point per slice bread that I think is really good: 

It ain’t cheap, though, honey. This loaf is $7.50! 

I am finding all these holidays hard – Superbowl, Mardi Gras, Valentine’s Day, Friday, Saturday, Sunday – they just keep coming! 

Amy

Friday, February 9, 2024

Well, this week went by quickly for me! Did you feel the same? I am happy to link up with Andrea and Erika for some of my favorites that I had this week!

First of all, I think I forgot to tell you, but I made Andrea’s ham tomato cream tortellini and I plan to make the sauce again to use with regular noodles. Jack and Mason had an old friend over last week and I whipped it up and they loved it. If you are looking for an easy, but impressive meal this weekend or next week, try it! It would make a good little Valentine’s dish, too!

I have been like a lizard since the sun came out of hibernation. I have been trying to get a little bit each day. So, that has definitely been a favorite!

Also, I really love this LaCroix limoncello either by itself or with a raspberry lemonade stick mixed right in the can or in a glass with ice. 

I surprised my college kids last weekend with the Subway footlong cookie! We also had spaghetti, Ceasar salad, and Texas Toast. Such an easy meal, but definitely a favorite. We are enjoying a meal with all four of us from time to time lately!

Tom trying to fix his pants is a favorite! He is using my neck reading light!

Jack has an online chemistry of cooking class this semester and had to bake a cake. When he finished and took all of his measurements and photos to upload online, he said we could frost it. I made a simple ganache with chocolate chips and heavy cream and then topped it with mini chocolate chips. So easy and so good! 

I bought myself a frother and it doesn’t froth. What am I doing wrong? I have put skim milk and creamer in it and nothing. It heats it, so that’s nice, but I am still having to use my handheld frother. 

I am enjoying my Val mani this week! It’s a favorite to look down at nice nails.

Jennifer taught us the Youtube screensaver trick and I did it! 

Here is the one I picked: 

I wrote and posted my State of Education post on Wednesday and that was also the day I took a half day off for some adulting I had to do.

I have never taken a half day and this is the first year my district has made that an option. You can either work 8:30-11:45 or 11:45-3:30. I worked in the first half of the day, did my thing, and took myself to lunch with a Joel Gott Sauvignon Blanc and a book…

and a salad. 

I wandered around the mall and heard “Moon River” played by the piano player and teared up. 

I visited Sephora and bought two items my cousin Julie (the makeup connoisseur) had recommended to me:

LYS Beauty cream blush: 

and Rare Beauty Bronzer stick: 

I’m still using my Merit products and they are sold in store at Sephora I noticed. I won’t buy all Merit again, but I do like some of the products that came in my set. I’m still planning to go back to Seint for my foundation/contouring. 

It was absolutely good for me to take a bit of time. My kids were taken care of and it helped me to have energy to get back at it on Thursday. 

Ernie is struggling. He has hurt his back leg and we also think his back hurts. I take him on an after school walk everyday and just let him tell me how far and fast he wants to go. He always wants to go, though. Something is going on with his fur, like he is losing or getting his winter coat?

Blue skies are my favorite, too!

I also had a really nice opportunity to be one on one with Jack this week. We went to our local Spanish/Cuban place and had dinner: 

We had queso fundido, salad, and Chicken Marsala that we shared. 

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

Thank you for all of your support in regard to my Education post. You all are the best and we could go on and on, I think. I want to reiterate that I love my students and I have very few problems in the grand scheme of things. When I do have a problem, I try to tell the classes why and explain how I think it should be. 

If you had a busy week, I also posted Hello Monday here, What’s Saving Your Life here, and Fashion Files here!

Amy

Thursday, February 8, 2024

It’s Thursday and that means it’s time to show some fashion. I snap one picture before I walk out the door on a school day and sometimes, I snap a weekend photo – trying to get better about that! 

I am linking up with Kellyann and Jill today!

Goal this month is to wear all the red and pink! 

Mondays call for easy and this was easy and comfortable. I have on my bright red Matilda Janes, black ballet flats, and a black sheer sleeve TJ Maxx knit top with a Kendra Scott necklace. 

Over the weekend, I wore fun bright leggings both days.

My bright blue Hey Nuts from Amazon: 

My floral Walmarts: 

I like having pockets when I am cleaning around the house so I can have my phone and listen to podcasts. I did clean part of both days and it’s just nice to have these pockets!

Saturday night outfit was my weekend button flys, my V Day sweater, and my New Balances – I wanted to wear clogs or better shoes, but we were walking to a brewery. 

Last Friday for school I wore my new pink and white striped button up with my Wit and Wisdoms and my silver clogs. I also wore silver jewelry to match the clogs. I love this new button up and my new blue and white one. 

And, last Thursday was February 1st, so I wore my V Day sweater to school with a pink top under and I really liked how it match the sleeves and bottom trim. This made me feel better about the lack of pink buttons. A girl asked why I was dressed for St. Patrick’s Day. 

And, Tuesday, I wore my new Carly Jean Los Angeles top (it’s navy and white but looks black and white in this photo) with a consignment J. Crew sweater. I liked the navy and pink together.  

I’m happiest on days I wear color! I’m really excited to have a couple of button ups, too. These are from Old Navy and are oversized so I could have probably gone down a size. I also want to wear them open with a tank underneath. I think they would make a great swim coverup, too. 

What have you been wearing lately? 

Amy

Wednesday, February 7, 2024

My blog is most definitely not a teacher blog! With that said, I do talk about my “day job” here from time to time and you all seem to like it. I have some teacher blog readers and we are sisters in solidarity, right? 

I feel it’s important to discuss my thoughts from time to time. Important for whom? Not sure! I do like to look back on how I was feeling through this blog of mine. 

If you are new around here, I am a high school Spanish teacher in a pretty large public high school. I try to not bash my employer, my school, my colleagues, and keep it professional. I also don’t want to come here and lie to you! 

I have been really happy the last couple of weeks of school. I have taught new material and I have been in my element. My favorite part of teaching is introducing new vocabulary, verb tenses, grammatical concepts, and giving the kids ways to remember them. I like chants, jingles, sayings, and things like that. I like my routine. I like teaching the kids good study habits and organization. I’ve been tired at the end of each day, but it’s a good tired. I don’t dread going to work; I’m usually excited to start my day and check off tasks. 

I have also been trying to get the kids back into the routine of 5 day in person weeks of school. I have entered grades every.single.day and really put pressure on myself to be on top of it, so they will be, too – hopefully! I have some that will fail again for second semester like they did for first semester and that is because they barely show up or they do literally nothing when they show up. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make them drink. 

My biggest struggle personally during the week is work/life balance. I leave for school around 7:45 and get home around 4:00-4:30 depending if I have a meeting after school or not. I was spoiled by working from 7-2:45 for 24 years and even though that doesn’t seem like much, it has really shortened the time I have before I start cooking dinner. Ha! I know. I know. I got spoiled. I try to do some of the household tasks in the morning and I do very little when I get home. Just making dinner is enough most days. 

I also am really over the “extras”. We feel like we have so much more to do as teachers in 2024 to justify someones’ job in the district office. We have meetings for meetings’ sake. We have to write up rationale and talk about how we are focusing on literacy in our classroms because someone decided that was our school goal this year. Everything I do is about literacy in a language class! 

Since we have been back from Winter Break, my biggest struggle is attendance. There are three kids (not all in the same class) that I have not seen period. They just don’t come to school. Are we not pursuing truancy cases anymore? 

Parents today are not like parents of my high school time period. (“Back in my day…”) You went to school and stayed at school all day. There are so many kids that come late and leave early now. How are parents so available to pick kids up and take them in late? Parents, maybe you shouldn’t be so available? 

Also, parents seem quick to complain when they don’t check in until right before the grading period ends. They don’t come to open house, conference, and you don’t hear a peep until it’s too late, practically. We rarely get a positive email. It’s almost always a complaint. 

Also, parents, don’t text your kids during the school day unless it’s an emergency. You are making life easier for you by getting an answer right away, but you are making it harder for your kid to focus. 

Since the pandemic, kids know the buzz words to use to get out of going to school and doing work in their classes. Mental health is a very serious thing for me – do not take this the wrong way – but there are some kids who are abusing our compassion.

I have had a kid miss class for a hair appointment recently. Seriously? You can’t do that after school or on a Saturday? What message is that sending your kid? I have had kids miss class for all kinds of appointments since Winter Break. I have had kids just tell me they “needed a mental health day”. 

I have had a kid take a phone call in my class. He said it was about a job. I told him that the employer would know that a teenager would be in school at that time and would leave a message. Really? 

I know you might be thinking “Just get rid of the phones” and I agree. But, is it too late? This would require a huge commitment at the school level (and maybe the district) and I also think parents might push back. 

My school leaves the cell phone policy up to each individual teacher. Phones are just used for so many things today, so it’s both a good and a bad thing for education. My policy is that phones are not to be seen nor heard until I invite you to use it for class. Just taking your phone out and using it in class when you aren’t supposed to is not really going to be taken seriously as a behavior issue, though, if I were to write it up. Again, it would have to be a school wide initiative to crack down on phones. And, we also have Apple watches and other smart devices. And, if we didn’t have those, we still have laptops. 

And, about attendance…

My own kids only missed 3 days of school from kindergarten until senior year. Seriously. 

I do practice what I preach. I tell my students there is simply nothing better than can do for their grade than get that butt in the seat everyday unless they are too sick to come to school. 

For my own kids, I made an effort to have their dentist appointments in June and December, so they didn’t miss. When they got braces, they went to the orthodontist right next to school and we usually had the appointment right after school. A few times, they had to walk on their own and miss part of a class. 

I just feel like some parents today do not value attendance. 

I also am not sure parents understand how hard it is for their kids to be pulled out of school. The makeup work can be overwhelming. 

Let’s talk about pajama pants. No. This has become a trend since the Pandemic, I think. I keep saying to my students that if you wear pajama pants to school you are going to have pajama pant energy. We have some kids that bring and drape a blanket around their shoulders all day long. Seriously? Blanket energy?

The big headphones are in style again and some kids have them on as they walk in the hallways and come into class and can’t hear me greet them or ask a question about their day. Kids try to keep Air pods in during class. I yell “Ear Check!” 

There are just so many distractions. 

It’s amazing to me that parents don’t check our online grade program. It also tells attendance. We have kids that skip class and parents have no idea. It’s right there on the portal for you. You can see a kid marked present except for one period. The teachers are also supposed to catch this daily and write it up. You would think in 2024 the computer would flag this for us? I bet it does!

We were told that any kid that failed first semester just has to stay in our classes. There’s no place for them to go. If you fail first semester of a class that builds upon that foundation, you will not pass second semester. They let kids take an online class to get their credit if they are motivated enough and that’s taking the easy way out. The online class is much easier and they can cheat. 

There are kids who come to school with nothing. No pencil. No paper. No notebook. No book. But, they do have a cell phone and Air pods, so at least they can entertain themselves. They also might have a blanket, so that’s nice. 

Now, you may be reading this and think that this is isolated to just my school and my area. I don’t have any problems compared to some teachers. In fact, I teach all advanced classes except for one. So, imagine what a class that isn’t advanced deals with. 

For a very, very short time in this country between 2020 and 2021, teachers were the heroes. We were celebrated for trying to keep things running during the pandemic. Now, we are the enemy again. We aren’t doing enough. We are undereducated, undertrained, lazy, and the list goes on.

Teachers simply do not have enough time to do all the tasks required of them in 2024. Have you seen statistics on teachers leaving the profession? What will happen when we have no one left to teach our kids? There is simply nothing more important in our country than our education, and we are not valuing it as a society. 

It’s easy to get cynical, but I try to focus on the positive. Look at these faces! I love seeing them without masks that are smiling and interacting with their friends. I guess I don’t take this for granted anymore. 

I am close to retirement. I am not sure how many more years I will stay, but I can retire anytime. I don’t feel like my time is up quite yet, but I think I will know. I still love my subject and the kids and that’s why I am still here. With age comes wisdom, and I am freely imparting this more these days. 

I guess I didn’t realize how many words I had in me today! If I said something that spoke to you, sound off in the comments. If you disagree, keep it to yourself, especially if you aren’t in the classroom. Just kidding! See – I told you that I speak more freely these days! 

Amy

Tuesday, February 6, 2024

Dramatic title, right? Today I just want to focus on the positive things that are making me feel good, happy, productive, you know? 

The Sun!

I always say that the few warm winter days help me make it through the winter. Honestly, our winter isn’t that bad. We did have a pretty cold start to January and I don’t hate it. I like a bit of snow each winter. I also don’t mind the rain we had in January. But, after about 13 days with zero sun whatsoever, I really loved seeing the sun and then enjoying it in the afternoon when I could sit outside. 

I sat outside Saturday and Sunday in my happy place in my happy anti-gravity chair. My family first experienced this chair at a lake house in Michigan over 15 years ago. Since then, we have had at least one and usually two at my house, given them for gifts to both Grandpas, and talked non-stop about them. I keep mine folded up but available all year long. You need one! 

I sat in the sun Sunday and Friday, too! 

Yes, I will try to drop everything to enjoy a sunny day until spring comes. 

Meal prep and thinking of my future self!

I spend time on the weekend to make the week go more smoothly. I heard this concept of “your future self” from Gretchen Rubin, I think. This can just mean your future self of 5 days from now! What can I do on a Saturday or Sunday to help myself be on autopilot when I get busier? Meal planning, ordering or shopping for the groceries, and a bit of meal prep. As I run out of something, I add it to my grocery app on my phone and use that as my list. 

I start the week with 5 breakfasts and one lunch for Erica and I. Here is my breakfast pizza: 

I deal with mail and emails right away; there are lots of things I could let linger, but I try to think of my future self not having to deal with those things later. 

I also try to do my laundry on a weekday for two reasons – I know my college kids and Tom need to do theirs on weekends so I try to leave it free for them – but also, I don’t have to spend my weekend doing mine because I did it during the week.

Coconut Oil! 

I put this amount on my hand and rub it all over my face before I get in the shower: 

My face has never been softer and it just melts the makeup off if I have been wearing it. I have not had dry skin this winter. 

Room Temperature Water!

I find I drink more when I have just this Tervis Tumbler with no lid, no straw, no nothing and if the water is room temp. I used to think I needed my water full of ice but I actually think this is better for me. When I am home on the weekends I try to fill this as many times as I can. 

So, what say you? What is saving your life right now? 

Amy

Monday, February 5, 2024

Good morning! How was your weekend? 

I’m linking up with Sarah and Holly to tell you about mine today!

I started off my weekend on Friday morning with my Egg McMuffin – hold the butter, add an extra egg. Why is this so good? 

It was hard to believe it was already Groundhog Day, but I always put whatever holiday it is in Spanish on my slideshow to start class. It was super sunny, and it was easy to believe an early spring would come this year! But all the teachers and students want just a couple more snow days strategically placed this month! Can I get an Amen? 

Phil has seen his shadow since 2020 and we all know about March 13, 2020 – the day the world shut down. That is the last day we went to school until April 2021. Sorry! 

I let AP play Bananagrams in Spanish after our quiz, and I think they had fun with it!

After school, I asked Erica if she wanted to go somewhere for happy hour and we knew no one would have a patio open for us to enjoy the full sun and almost 60-degree weather, so like the rednecks we are, we made my skinny margaritas and sat in folding chairs in my driveway where we would get the best sun.

Yeah, Ernie thought we were a couple of crazy ladies!

It felt so good! 

My skinny margarita recipe – if you need it – is below! I can hardly stand a restaurant margarita anymore. They are too sweet and too artificial at most places.

Here you go: 

One to one and a half shot of white tequila, half a stick of Crystal Light lemonade, a good squirt of lime juice (I use the stuff in the bottle), stir up really well or shake in your shaker, add ice, fill to top with Fresca. Add a lime wedge. 

Tom came home and in true semi-empty nester fashion we had random dinner. He wanted something light and had tuna salad and I made a Spanish omelet for myself. I thought we would get takeout, but we were both happy to have this for dinner. 

My college kids had play practice and then came home around 9 and I watched some New Girl with them. 

I slept in until the sun was out Saturday which is super rare for me!

I will say that it felt nice to have my grocery shopping taken care of (and meal planning for most of the week done). I went on Wednesday last week and while it was painful to shop at dinner time and then come home and try to figure out dinner, maybe that is what I need to do?

For so long, this has been top priority on Saturday morning, and it has dominated me doing anything else. Man, I am so boring. Why do I talk about this so much?

Plan for the week:

Sunday – white chicken chili

Monday – spaghetti

Tuesday – apple gouda sausage with roasted vegetables

Wednesday – Clean Food Crush Spaghetti Squash Margherita

I drank my coffee, responded to blog comments, cleaned the house, piddled around, and finally got out of the house: 

I got a much needed car wash!

I did a few more errands but none of them were the grocery! 

One of them was the library and then I got to experience the sun! 

We had plans to go to a brewery and have pizza with our friends Beth and Bob. There is a little take out only pizza place next door and the brewery lets you bring it in. 

I had a flight of beer (the glasses are much smaller than they look in the photo) and loved them all! One was a cider. 

We had a really nice evening and it had been a long time since we had seen them. 

Sunday I slept in again and it was a busy morning. I did a bunch of cleaning and meal prep. I got outside in the sun again, too! Ahhhh!

What was the highlight of your weekend? 

Amy

Friday, February 2, 2024

Welcome to the first faves of Feb! Yay! I am linking up with Andrea and Erika to share some happies from the week. 

Well, I can’t say I did much other than go to school, come home, go to school, come home, but one day I went to the grocery and Jack came with me! I tried a mid-week shop and I tried Walmart Neighborhood grocery this week. Not to be dramatic, but it stunk. It was fun to be with Jack but it was very close to 5:00 and super crowded. 

Let’s talk about food favorites from the week first.

I told you all about Slender Kitchen on Tuesday and this is one of her recipes – the Beef Kofta Bowl. It’s like a Greek bowl but with beef. I had a brown rice and quinoa blend to put under this. We all loved it! 

Also, Sarah told me about Clean Food Crush and let’s just say I have a new crush! Thanks, Sarah!

Erica made a cilantro shrimp bowl over brown rice for one of our school lunches and it was really yummy! I guess I’ve never really thought about shrimp as a food you can re-heat, but it did just fine. 

I am making each of my recipes for dinner one night and for two lunches the next day for Erica and I. If Jack eats with us, that is only 4 servings so sometimes I bow out and eat leftovers or something else because I know I’m going to have it for lunch the next day. It’s working out just fine to do it this way!

My oven is a favorite again. My air fryer (giant Caphalon sitting on the counter and taking up all kinds of space) is 2 years old (I think) and it started giving me an error message. Tom and I both Googled and tried to fix it and then I said,” you know what?” I’m gonna reclaim this counter space and use my oven. I am happy to report that the air fryer setting works like a charm. 

Mason loves the taste of coffee, but it started bothering his stomach so he switched to tea long before England. We aren’t sure why it bothered him so send me your suggestions if you have a coffee that might be ok. I ordered his favorite tea from Amazon and he is so excited! He lived in Ormskirk which is in Lancashire, but Yorkshire was pretty close. 

I’m also excited to drink more tea!

I made a total impulse purchase at the grocery this week – Mean Girls pink frosting flavored creamer. I love it! 

My classroom got a little glow up! Many of our teachers have been ordering these light cover panels and you can get clouds, beach, stars, etc. We have an Amazon allowance we can spend each year now. I picked this forest canopy design. 

I also had my aides put heart window clings on my windows and they did this door design: 

High school kids appreciate this stuff more than you would think! I need to add an accent mark to the word day – oops- they forgot it!

And, at home I did my very minimal but special to me V Day decor. 

Why didn’t I put them in red? They were 5 months old in this photo for their first V Day!

I’ve been trying to use the candles I have and I found this one and at least it’s red!

My mom’s gift from England was these beautiful placemats that have a cork back on them. My mom found them on Amazon and ordered even more. She has a really long table and it’s beautiful. Don’t they look so nice the way she arranged them here? Here they are on Amazon if you are interested. 

I did a white mani (Impress press ons) for the beginning of February and then the next one I will do has heart designs. Yup, still impressed with Impress press ons! I am having the best luck when I remove the old set one day and then the next night I do a new set. I press them on, wait a bit, then I cut and file. I go to bed and do not put my hands in water until the next day. 

I really enjoy my second piercing and need to get more little earrings! Any suggestions send them my way! I really like the sets from Loft but haven’t been there in a long time!

Did you all know that Subway has footlong chocolate chip cookies, pretzels, and churros? I have a student who works there and the topic came up. This would be a fun V Day gift!

This weekend, I want to try Tanya’s scones. I happen to have all of the ingredients, including the heavy cream, right now. I had a really good scone with clotted cream and jam in Scotland. 

So, yeah, I am tempted by many foods right now! And, those little devils are going to start selling their wares in front of my Kroger soon – I just know it! Girl Scouts! 

Well, those were this weeks’ random favorites! 

If you had a busy week like me…

Monday was Hello Monday on the blog

Tuesday was my favorite website

Wednesday was my January 2024 purchases

Yesterday was Fashion Files

What were your faves this week? 

I hope you had many and I wish you a wonderful first weekend of February! 

Amy