English Toffee

A yummy, EASY holiday treat :) 

English Toffee

From: mom

Time: 10-15 minutes

Ingredients

1 lb butter (yum!)

2 C. sugar

1 T white corn syrup (Karo brand)

¾ C. sliced almonds

6-12 oz (one bag or a little less) of semisweet chocolate chips

*candy thermome

Instructions

Spread almonds evenly onto the bottom of a nonstick, ungreased jelly roll pan.  Toast in the oven 350 for 5-10 minutes (watching carefully to avoid burning.)

Take the pan out of the oven and put on heating pads nearby so that it’s ready to have the toffee poured into it when it’s finished.

Using a heavy 3-4 qt. saucepan, cook the above ingredients over medium-high heat.  Stir constantly with a wooden spoon.  Use a candy thermometer to watch the temp.  Cook until the mixture reaches 310 (hard crack).  You can remove at 308 to avoid burning!

Pour toffee mixture carefully onto pan.  Spread out evenly.  Sprinkle chocolate chips and as they melt, spread over toffee mixture evenly.**  Cool toffee in the refrigerator (I place the pan on hot pads in the fridge).  Once cooled, break into pieces.  Can store in fridge for several days.

**I’ve seen people add sprinkles to the top while the chocolate is still melty.  Yummy & pretty

Peanut Butter Chocolate Bonbons

Peanut Butter Chocolate Bon Bons

From: mom

Time: 30 minutes prep (ish??)

Ingredients

2 C. sifted powdered sugar (you sift first, then measure)

1 C. graham cracker crumbs

¾ C. chopped pecans

½ C. flaked coconut

½ C. butter

½ C. peanut butter

½ C. semisweet chocolate chips

3 T shortening

Instructions

·      In a large bowl combine powdered sugar, graham cracker crumbs, pecans & coconut.

·      In a small saucepan, melt the butter and peanut butter (medium heat – slowly; stir once it gets liquidy). 

·      Once completely melted, pour peanut butter/ butter mixture over the coconut mixture.  Blend until the mixture is moistened.

·      Shape into 1” balls (being careful not to make them too big)

·      In another small saucepan over LOW heat, melt chocolate pieces with shortening. 

·      Dip the peanut butter balls individually into the chocolate/shortening mixture to coat.

·      Place balls on waxed paper after dipping.

·      Refrigerate before eating J

·      Store tightly covered, between layers of waxed paper in the fridge.  Do not freeze.  (They keep a long time in the fridge.)

Herb Roasted Potatoes

Blogging has fallen to the wayside, but we're having friends over for dinner this week and I'm whipping up this easy side dish, recipe courtesy of my mother (aka: chef extraordinaire).  Just thought I'd share in case you need an easy, tasty, cheap side dish :)

Herb Roasted Potatoes
from: mom
time: 10 minutes prep; 40 minutes in oven

Ingredients

¼ c. olive oil

1 ½ T. fresh lemon juice (I use lemon juice from a bottle sometimes... shh! don't tell! :))

2 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. dried thyme

1 tsp. dried marjoram

½ tsp. dried oregano

¼ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. pepper

2 ½ lbs small potatoes cut in half – or small bite sized pieces (washed)

Preheat oven to 400.  Combine all ingredients except potatoes in a LARGE bowl.  Stir to blend well.  Add potatoes to seasoning in large bowl, toss to coat well.  Transfer to large rimmed baking sheet; spread into a single layer.  Bake until brown and tender, about 40 minutes.  They turn out best if you turn them halfway through cooking.  

I'm serving them with marniated pork tenderloin (which takes about 10 minutes MAX to prepare, although you marinade and cook for a while).  Yum!

Enjoy :) 

anticipating

i can't quite find the words to articulate what these posts (below) make me feel... it's some combination of excitement, expectancy, hope, trust (in the Lord), and honor. but regardless of the fact that i can't articulate it well to you, i can feel in my heart - God is blessing us with the privilege of becoming parents. What a responsibility given to us, and yet it will lead us right back to him. I can't imagine how yet, but perhaps in 8 weeks, and then 8 months, and then in 8 years, i'll understand a little bit better.

 treasure the moments
teaching children truth

justified by faith

Our pastor is teaching through the book of Romans this year in church.  Thank goodness because there is a lot to learn from the book of Romans.

One thing he articulated while teaching through Romans 4 (an explanation of how Abraham was justified by faith alone) last weekend that I've been thinking about all week is this:

There is credible historical evidence for the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  And we could debate that and discuss it if you'd like.  But once you've examined the evidence, you'd see the proof for those events.  And believing the proof for that isn't really faith.  However, I can't prove to you that what God says about Jesus' death & resurrection - that God accepts Jesus' blood as payment for your sin and it covers the debt completely and God therefore declares you righteous - I can't prove that part to you is true.  That part, you have to believe by faith.

faith-filled (and excited for Romans 5),
Renee

p.s. click here to link to the page where you can listen to or download the sermons from the series so far

stories from the classroom

Kindergartener (with very concerned, slightly agitated tone): "Mrs. Cook, why is your tummy getting so much bigger?"
Me: "because there's a baby inside and it's getting bigger."
 [background - all kindergartners in the room comment on how their mommies all just had a baby or are currently having a baby.] 
 Still concerned kindergartener: "well, when is it coming out?"
Me: January
kindergartener: "how?"
me: okay boys and girls, show me how you find your seats.

----------------------------

So I'm sitting at a table in the hall on the night of parent teacher conferences and this sweet 2nd grader comes up to the table with her parents. She waves shyly at me and then leans down under the table and waves (presumably to my baby in my stomach)?  :)

 ----------------------------

So I'm wearing a belt with an outfit somewhat like this

 looking, of course, much more pregnant than the skinny lady in this picture.  and this kid raises his hand & asks, "uh, mrs. cook. why are you wearing a belt all the way up there?"  and before I can answer, another kid responds "it's to hold her baby in."
i just left it at that.

----------------------------

2nd grade music class.  we do the same 3 activities at the beginning of every class:

practice a rhythm pattern on the board

the kids echo patterns i sing with solfege (you know, do-re-mi... i just make up different little tunes and they sing them back with the solfege.) 

then we sing a scale.

they love echoing back the patterns as they get trickier and trickier and they love singing the scale.  (I play this accompaniment on the piano... not sure why it's so enjoyable but they always want to sing it just one more time.)

anyway, yesterday in 2nd grade we learned our last solfege note in the major scale - ti. 

(order going up: do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti-do).

so up until now we have been singing a "5 note scale" where they sing do-re-mi-fa-sol and then go backwards.

well yesterday we practiced lots of patterns with "ti" and then I sang for them [drum-roll please] the major scale.  And they were so excited. and we sang it 5 times. and then just one more because they begged. and after the sixth time, a girl raised her hand.  when I called on her she said, "I don't know if anyone has already told you this but you have the most beautiful singing voice in the whole world."  and after i said "thank you," all the kids chimed in agreeably.

sometimes these kiddos are just too sweet.

more shower pictures :)

i posted about a baby shower a little while ago and i forgot to include these pictures! :) 

 cousins

love these beautiful friends!!

and these ones!

trying to take a picture

having more success

let's take one where we're all touching the bump...

I babysat this sweet girl from the time she was about 1 or 2 and she was the flower girl in our wedding a couple years ago.  can't believe how grown up she is!

so so so blessed :)

saturday morning links

For whatever reason, I woke up at 5 am on this fine saturday morning.
So, it is 8:30 and I have read the Bible, eaten 2 breakfasts, sent my husband off to take the GRE, chatted with my mother-in-law, read some of this book that I'm loving, stalked my 3 month old niece on facebook and browsed the world wide web.  happy saturday to me :)

a couple semi-fun things to click on:

Fun for a party
pretty & unique shower theme
different advent calendar
bad advice


and a quote i stumbled on...

“How sweet the name of Jesus…the rock on which I build, my shield and hiding place, my never failing treasury, filled with boundless stores of grace.” ~John Newton

links & shower

I haven't been reading too much on the internet these days, but here are a couple links worth heading to.

A good answer
Feeling out of place.

In other news, I went to Chicago for a baby shower this weekend.  My mom and 2 of my dearest friends hosted.  It was beautiful - full of fun & love.

Fall/ Pumpkin theme - my favorite! (can you see those awesome decoupaged pumpkins!?)

A diaper cake :) 

My mom made SO many mini pumpkin loaves - favors!

Cute welcome sign!

MIL and mom

people were so generous! we were certainly 'showered' with gifts 

my dear friend Rachael

Mom (Grandma Cathy) made baby a "very hungry caterpillar" quilt!! 

 My mother in law (Grammy) made a beautiful crib quilt.

Mary

 Guest appearance - this guy has guts walking into a house of ladies.  He was picking up Mary and I got to meet their new baby girl, Alyssa :)

Kristen led a sweet devotion about parenting and motherhood.  Now this is a girl who loves Jesus! 

A bow hanger from Rachael :) 

and the award for most fun wrapping goes to...

We opened gifts on and off throughout the event

I can't quite articulate all I was feeling-
overwhelmed by seeing almost every single person I love all in one place at one time.
very loved and blessed.
very grateful for people's generosity.
so excited to see 3 friends who came in from out of town just for this! :)
thankful this baby girl is going to be surrounded by people who love her. 

On pregnancy

Perhaps it's a side effect of pregnancy brain, or just a growing season of life, but there are so many thoughts swimming around in my head these days, it's hard to know how to put them in writing.

Truth? I'm becoming more prone to sitting on the couch with a cup of coffee and sharing them with the Lord because he knows the deepest thoughts of my heart better than I know myself - He doesn't need me to articulate clearly, and he can reveal to me the innermost parts of my own soul. 

I can't quite explain this - maybe every pregnant woman goes through it - but there's been a change in how I am excited to meet this baby.  In the last week or 2, the level of connection has changed - as if all of the sudden, I "get it." 

She is in there... my precious daughter.  Growing until she's ready to make her debut and then, for about 20-ish years, she is entrusted to Ben and me to raise and train and teach.  Woah. 

She can hear me.  When I pray for this baby, she's real.  Not just a figment of my imagination or a 'someday' baby anymore.  She's there.  She's coming.

12 weeks (plus or minus a few days) is not that far away.

I am SO glad I have seen someone give birth.  I thought it would be weird and gross but it was beautiful and amazing and it was like the real-version of reading the books that tell you what's coming... much quicker and easier to just see it :)

This baby girl is already so loved.  Not just by me but by all these other people.  People have been showering us with love, gifts and prayers.  At times I am so overwhelmed by the way God blesses us through others - it's all I can do not to just weep and sing His praises all the live long day.  [Keep in mind I'm more prone to tears these days anyway.]

Thinking, waiting, hoping, praying,
Renee

I heard something sad today.

Hi.


I've been doing more teaching and less blogging lately, but this is something I wanted to get in writing so I can look back and be reminded on the days when I forget what this life is all about.

I heard something sad today.

I was on the phone with the parent of a student who is... difficult, to say the least.  This 5th grader acts defiantly, slacks off although he's smart, thinks he's in charge, and on and on.  The thing is, those characteristics (especially the issues with defiance and authority) are generally (key word, generally) seen in children who lack positive parental authority and influence. 

Truth- all of us are born with a will and a sinful nature. 
Truth - parents are the God-given structure and authority meant to rear their children.
Truth - having the school be the primary teachers to children about authority and roles is not ideal.

But, this 5th grader has seemingly loving and involved parents.  (Granted, you never know what goes on at home.)  They are supportive of the teachers, involved in his education.  They seem to follow through.  They expect him to listen and obey authority.  They have consequences when he doesn't.  Seemingly, they're doing the best they can.  In fact, I called this student's mom last week after an issue in music class, and because her son continued to be defiant and refuse to change his attitude/ actions, she immediately stopped what she was doing and drove up to the school.  Now that's commitment.

Today, I talked to this 5th grader's dad on the phone.  Towards the end of our conversation, I said "Thank you for your support.  We'll get him on the right track."

And the dad replied: "Well, I just don't know.  It's like, I think we're doing the right thing.  We're trying our best and it just feels like we're failing.  I guess we'll have to change our methods."

His tone was so sad, so defeated.  [After a weekend of no privileges for issues in school last week, the kid beat another student up today and got suspended.]

When we hung up, I thought to myself, that family just needs Jesus.  The ultimate solution.  Complete and perfect wisdom and love found in Jesus Chris.
And it's really as simple, and as complicated, as that.
These kids I see day in and day out - whether mom and dad are on drugs or at home working stable jobs, whether they are homeless or have a house to call home, whether they are in foster care or with their biological parents - each of them desperately needs the deep deep love of our wonderful Savior.

Yes, learning to be successful in school will serve them well.
Yes, a great teacher and education can be a temporary, but life-altering, influence.  That's why I teach.
 
But when I hear somebody sound that defeated, that frustrated... it's sad.  I hung up the phone with that student's father and said a prayer.  Because I believe that prayer can change things.  Prayer changes people.

Trying to keep in the forefront of my mind - see these children how God sees them, shine a light, pray often, love always.

Links

Click here for good thoughts for the first day of your week. 

Some thoughts on the campagin 

A great resource for Bible study.  Ironically, this blogger is also quoting the same woman that the previous blogger did.

When to speak up.

Interesting history of a book that's up there on my list of favorites.

3 clues and a routine

3 Clues
hot cross buns.
loud and squeaky.
4th grade.

Anybody know what I'm getting at?

Yes, the recorder.  that beloved instrument that we all learned to play in grade school.  And yes, I earned a college degree to teach children how to play that thing. 

I currently have three 4th grade classes ranging from 26-29 students, whereas in my student teaching experience, I had 2 4th grade classes of about 14-15.  The routines my cooperating teacher, though they worked wonderfully for her, just wouldn't work for my double-sized class.  I had this vision [dramatic] of all the eager 10 year olds walking in and doing their little jobs to set up for recorder class... quick, efficient, least amount of chaos and time-wasting as possible.  So I came up with this system to assign them teams and jobs and procedures.

Lo and behold, it is working!! So here it is.

My class sits in 3 rows of 8-10, divided by an aisle like this

             X  X  X  X  X         X  X  X  X  X
             X  X  X  X  X         X  X  X  X  X
             X  X  X  X  X         X  X  X  X  X

Each half of the row is their own 'team' and I pre-determined colors and shapes: red triangles, orange diamonds, yellow stars, green squares, blue circles, purple plusses

[Side note - when I announced the team names/ colors, I was so surprised by how excited the kids were.  The first class period when I was explaining the system, I said "so this team is the red triangles..." and that row cheered.  It cracked me up!! Then I went on... "you're the orange diamonds."  They cheered - "oooo! diamonds!! orange! yay"  haha it was so funny and surprising! You might have had to be there to appreciate their level of excitement.]

In our district, the school provides recorders for kids to borrow and keep in the classroom (ugh, don't even get me started).  So each kid has a recorder number that is theirs for the year.  We'll still clean them every few classes, but somehow this is WAY less gross to me than the teachers that let all the kids in the school share recorders and clean them after every class. ew ew ew.  And yes, I've seen that. 

my recorder army

 Anyway, the things I wanted the kids to be able to do on their own were:

• Pass out the recorders
• Keep track of sheet music
• Set up music stands 
• Get new materials and pencils to borrow (rather than bringing their own pencils... which means they ALL forget pencils and have to go back and get them). 

So I came up with 5 jobs, which are of course more exciting because they have fancy military names:

GROUP GENERAL – This person is responsible for making sure everyone else in the group is completing their jobs well.   This person is also responsible for substituting for any absent group members and helping the absent group members catch up on what we did in class while they were gone.   

RECORDER CAPTAIN – This person is responsible for getting recorders for each group member every day and for cleaning them up at the end of class.  The Recorder Captain must make sure nobody leaves the classroom with their recorder.

FOLDER LIEUTENANT – This person is responsible for passing out each group members’ recorder folders every day and for filing them at the end of class.  The Folder Lieutenant keeps track of who is taking their folder out of the classroom each class period.

MUSIC MAJOR – This person passes out pencils for students each day and collects them at the end of class.  This person is also responsible for passing out new materials each time they are acquired.  If someone is absent when we get new materials, the Music Major also puts the new materials in that person’s folder.  If the absent person has their folder at home, the Music Major makes sure the student gets the new materials when they get back.

STANDS SERGEANT – This person gets music stands for the group.  There always 2 people per stand.  If there are 5 people in your group, one person gets his own stand.   

On day one, I briefed the whole class with each job and showed all the kids how to do it.  I made each job sound really important and we discussed how they should pick jobs based on their strengths.  If they are a person who is very organized and has a good memory, they'd be a good folder lieutenant.  If they are cautious and work quickly, they'd be a good stands sergeant.  If they have great attendance and are good at helping other people learn things, they'd be a good group general.  Etc...

Then, I passed out one job description sheet per team

Each team discussed who would do what job - all people being in agreement was a requirement - and filled out the form.  Then, each kid cut out the small strip with his or her individual job description and taped it inside their recorder folder.  (I provide manila file folders which are kept in team hanging files in a file crate in my classroom.)  The kids filled out the bottom portion of that sheet and gave it to me - lest there be any disagreement later about who was supposed to do what.

This whole process took almost 40 minutes and we had 10 minutes left to pass out recorders, learn how to play one note, and clean up.  They left class that day SO pumped.

For the following class period, I demonstrated each person's job procedures and walked them through it one job at a time (for both set up and clean up).  For 2 more classes after that, I just had the kids do their job one at a time.  But, by the 4th day of recorder, they were able to just come in, go straight to do their jobs, and be set up within 3-4 minutes.  The part that takes the longest is getting the stands because they're stored in this annoying rack. 

A couple final thoughts...  I love that this procedure/ process is teaching them:

• Working in a group with people who aren't necessarily their friends (we've already had some trouble-shooting with this.  I can't believe the drama starts in 4th grade!) 
• Responsibility
• Routines are good
• Efficiency
• Doing your job well because it impacts others instead of just doing the bare minimum
• Being okay when they don't get what they want (inevitably, there was some disagreement over jobs.  It was good to help them work through that - especially since a lot of my students are missing major coping skills.  More on that another day.

I love that I hardly do anything to set up for recorder - so much less of a headache for me.  I am not even remotely tired after teaching 4th grade because they do all the work :)

They are still at the age where everyone wants to help the teacher and have an important role.  I have noticed a huge change in their attitudes towards each other and towards my classroom since the first day of school.  (Granted, there are other reasons for this adjustment too.)  But I really think they love feeling important and a part of their own learning.  I mean, who doesn't love to feel like they are important!?

And the teacher in me loves that they enjoy doing the work, learning the 'instrument' (can you call it an instrument?), practicing hard, and showing off their mad skills. 

It's going to be a fun recorder-filled year in 4th grade. 

Slow Cooker BBQ Ribs

A few months ago, we had a 'home style BBQ' going away party for some friends - Mac and cheese, green bean casserole, and of course, BBQ ribs.  Somehow I volunteered to do ribs (moment of weakness?) which I had never made before.  But every decent wife has to learn to cook ribs sometime, right?  I heard of doing them in the crockpot, but I have to admit I was super nervous.  Generally, while I hope recipes turn out good enough to eat, I'm not that disappointed if they are a flop.  But since everyone was so excited for ribs, I felt a little pressure to make sure they were tasty.  I had NO idea what I was doing.  I scoured the reviews on all recipes.com and asked the guy at the grocery store for help picking out the ribs.  haha

I finally landed on a crockpot recipe and just decided to go for it - worse case scenario, they are ruined and we order pizza.

They turned out awesome!! The meat literally fell off the bone (which apparently is a good thing!?) and people were raving.  Phew.
 
So, here's the recipe.... 

Ingredients: 
4 pounds pork baby back ribs
salt and pepper to taste
2 C. BBQ sauce*
1 C. ketchup*
1/2 C. packed brown sugar
2 TBSP vinegar**
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 dash hot sauce (to taste)
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder

*original recipe called for 2 C. Ketchup and 1 C. Chili sauce but all the reviews said that was too "ketchup-y." 
**original recipe called for 4 TBSP vinegar but all reviews said that was way too much and they cut it back a lot.  I don't remember how much I put in, but I'm just guessing 2 TBSP or less is probably enough.

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Season ribs with salt and pepper, place in a shallow baking pan.  Brown in the oven for 15 minutes, turn and brown another 15 minutes.  Drain fat
3. In a medium bowl, mix together all other ingredients (sauce).  Place the ribs in the slow cooker (I cut them into mini-slabs of 3 or 4 ribs each).  Pour the sauce over ribs - turning to coat.
4.  Cover and cook on low 6 to 8 hours, until ribs are tender.

I vaguely remember putting them in the oven before the slow cooker, but maybe not for the entire 30 minutes.  Honestly, I don't remember :) Happy experimenting! 


p.s. here's a link to the original recipe on allrecipes.com

paint chip mobile

I've been spotting cute DIY mobiles made from paint chips all over the internet.  I can't decide whether to do one color or multi colored.

source

If I did multi colored like above, I'd probably use these colors...

source

OR.....

source

Thoughts?????

Pray AND...

I've been wanting to share this for a while now, but wasn't quite sure how.  So here it goes.

At the beginning of June, we had a sudden realization that we were heading into a season where finances would be tight.  And by tight I mean, income just would not pay the bills.  It happened because of a series of events at one time - I took a new job and would be cutting back on piano.  But wouldn't receive the new job's pay for a couple months.  Ben is paid on a 10 month stipend for his work for the university so he wouldn't be getting paid.

Can I be honest?  My first instinct was to pray AND budget budget budget!  [note - 'pray AND do something' is not always the best sign of faith.  Next time step one will be - just pray.]  I knew the Lord would provide and I like budgeting anyway (spreadsheets, numbers, it's just fun to me.  weird, i know.)  so I just kept redoing it over and over.  Cutting back wherever possible.  Okay, we'll eat rice, frozen vegetables and pasta for 2 months.  Okay, we'll cancel they gym membership and the $8 netflix account.  
As my awesome budgeting skills did not seem to be solving our problem, I felt slightly overwhelmed.  And I realized ... while I had prayed, "okay, Lord, I know you're going to take care of this," my actions immediately following that prayer (trying to solve the numbers myself) proved that I didn't really trust him.  I needed some faith.  And that little verse I've heard in church so many times came back into my mind - faith comes by hearing, hearing the word of God. 

So I went in my room and opened my Bible to Matthew 6 and started reading.

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where theives break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your trasure is, there your heart will be also.  The eye is the lamp of the body, so if your eye is healthy, the whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad your whole body will be full of darkness.  If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!  No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other or he will be deovted to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and money.  Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.  Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?  ANd which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?  And why are you anxious about clothing?  Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore, do not be anxious saying "What shall we eat?" or "What shall we drink?" or "What shall we wear?"  For the Gentiles seek after al these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.  But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you.  Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.  

Let's just say, that passage I had heard oh so many times made me weak in the knees.

{more to come tomorrow}

quitting coupons

i gave up on couponing.
it wasn't an executive decision... it just kind of happened.
the main reason is that we don't really eat food that has coupons.

fresh food doesn't have coupons (produce, deli meat, chicken, beef, etc...)
generic brand snacks don't have coupons (crackers, chips, salsa, etc...) and the store brand is almost always cheaper than the name brand even with a coupon.  or it turns out to be the same price and i'd rather not waste the time.
most dairy doesn't have coupons (milk, eggs, cream)

the exceptions to my 'no couponing' are... i keep an eye out in the weekly papers for paper products and toiletry coupons because we have brand preferences (i.e. cleaning product, toilet paper, shampoo, razors, etc...)  If I'm really on my 'A' game, I try to combine a coupon with a sale price.  I do almost all shopping at walmart b/c they'll match other store's prices and I can use my coupon there so then I don't run around town like a crazy lady.

The other exception is once in a while a coupon means a treat like really good ice cream or OJ or coffee or something we're kinda picky about.  I'll spot a coupon for some specialty coffee roast and pick that up because it happens to be a dollar cheaper. 

One other reason I stopped couponing... it made my grocery list mysteriously longer.  I'd be looking at coupons and think, oh yeah, we do need that pasta sauce or those pillsbury crescents.  Then I'd forget I bought those b/c I had no recipe for them and... wasted.

I'm sure there is a way to coupon where you save money but it just wasn't workin' for me, so meh, I let it go.

oh, I should mention...I love retail coupons.  as in, I hardly ever walk into old navy or kohl's or the gap without a 20% off coupon because you can ALWAYS find them online :) and what's not to love!!

are all the children in?

i've heard this poem mentioned twice lately and i have it on my mind...

I think as the night draws nigh
Of an old house on the hill,
Of a yard all wide and blossom-starred
Where the children played at will.
And when the night at last came down,
Hushing the merry din,
Mother would look around and ask,
"Are all the children in?"

 

'Tis many and many a year since then.
And the old house on the hill
No longer echoes to childish feet,
And the yard is still, so still.
But I see it all, as the shadows creep,
And though many the years have been
Since then, I can hear mother ask,
"Are all the children in?"

 

I wonder if when the shadows fall
On the last short, earthly day,
When we say good-bye to the world outside,
All tired with our childish play.
When we step over to Jesus' Land
Where mother so long has been,
Will we hear her ask, just as of old,
"Are all the children in?"

how to walk into the room

disclaimer: this is a teacher-y post.

one thing i learned from both of my (awesome) cooperating teachers during student teaching is.... procedure, procedure, procedure.  and every good teacher i have ever seen has lots of procedures.  (why didn't they teach me this in college!?)

procedures for...
sharpening pencils
walking in
walking out
sitting down
standing up
passing papers
moving to the floor
writing your name

because when you have 25 6-year-olds in a room, well, you can imagine...

i have noticed there is a serious lack of music-teacher blogging going on, so maybe I'll somehow be able to use this to connect with others.  (i think media/tech + music teacher doesn't necessarily go together, understandably.)  hence, the teacher-y post.

so for teacher-y people who read this blog (or my mom who is kindly interested in everything i say - or at least pretends to be) I will describe some procedures I use in elementary music.

how about something basic like walking in the room? (oh yes, walking needs a procedure. haha

 K-2 enter in their straight line.  They walk their line through the room until everybody is in through the door.  I call people who look 'ready' to be in music class to go to their seat.  (I call them one by one.  This helps me learn names too!)  For the first SEVERAL music classes we watch each person or 2 walk to their seat and I point out all the right things they are doing (walking as opposed to running; walking around the chairs as opposed to moving chairs out of the way; not moving their seat out of it's spot in the row, etc...).  By now, all the kids have learned how I would like them to walk to their seats in my room.  It is safe and efficient.  Procedures mean minimal time-wasting.  Of course, this whole process sounds like it 'wastes' a lot of time, but in the long run, it is VERY beneficial.  It takes 5 minutes the 1st day of class when I have to learn their names and assign seats.  Other days it takes 2 minutes.  By the 6th or 7th week of school, it will take 30 seconds.  So worth it.

3-5  For the first few music classes, they did the same line procedure.  (one by one with me pointing out the way they should walk to their seat.)  This was to help me learn names, and because you just can't take for granted that they will enter your room like people (as opposed to crazy hyenas.)  In some classrooms, they are allowed to run to their seats, so I explain the first day the way I would like them to come to their seats in music every time.  If I see somebody do it wrong (by choice or accident), I simply say "the correct way to go to your seat is _______.  Please go back and try again."  After the few few music classes, we have 2 days where they stay in their line and I shorten the procedure to this: "please look around the room.  think about where your seat is.  when you walk to your seat, please be polite to those around you and careful not to mess up the beautiful rows of chairs.  give it a try."  and they all go at once.  this usually works out great and i shower them with praise.  for the next few class periods, i greet them in the hall, remind them of the walking-to-your-chair procedure and tell them they may head to their seat when they enter the room immediately.   Eventually, they can just come in and sit down the way I'd like them to.

step-by-step directions + practice, practice, practice = good procedure.

a 3rd grade teacher observed her kids stacking the chairs in my room to make room on the floor and said 'wow! that is a well oiled machine!"  she might as well have given me a christmas present :) that was HIGH praise :) it made my day!!

i love procedures. 
you? 

painted dressers

I've been toying around with nursery ideas, as I mentioned a couple days ago and one thing I'd like to do is a paint a dresser that will function as a changing table/ storage/ dresser.

These are some fun ones I've seen on the internet in all my time-wasting research.

from young house love - stained a $30 craigslist dresser and added a white top!  cool and classy but I probably will end up painting instead of staining.  one day when i'm fancy and have lots of time, i'll stain so it looks pretty like this.

i LOVE the color of this one! so cheerful :)

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loving the yellow

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I also like varieties of turquoise/ teal/ aqua/ what-have-you

not a very good shot but you get the idea.... source

this one is a good color but I really love how pretty the dresser is 

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again, not the best pic, but you get the idea.

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so what do you think? green, yellow, turquoise, other??

I'm hoping to do pale gray walls but we

flag waver

I have a friend who describes himself on facebook as "Flag Waver. Door Opener. Sail Pointer. Light Shiner."  Somehow I stumbled across that description the other day and it got me thinking...
How do I describe myself? 
What is most important about me that I want others to know and see? 
And, if I describe myself as, for example, a light shiner, would others agree or disagree? 
It's not that what others think about me is so important.  Rather, it is important that my understanding of who I am and what is important to me is equivalent to what I portray to those around me.  Lord help me not to be fake - to think I'm a light shiner and door opener and yet everyone around me would raise their eyebrows and mutter to themselves "more like a light killer, door slammer in your face."


God has declared me righteous, precious, his child.
I also have roles as wife, teacher, daughter, friend, sister, and mother-to-be.
But I want to be careful about not letting roles define me.  I want to be who God has made me and do what he has called me to do in every role, regardless of when or where.  I want to be a "flag waver.  a door opener.  a sail pointer. a light shiner." 

These thoughts are still roaming around in my mind but I have nothing more to say about them right now...

Pensive,
Renee

priorities

i am so thankful to have a job.  a job doing something i love that i feel i am gifted to do... teach.
it is definitely the right thing for us for this season.

but there are things in my life that are being neglected so i can do work well.
and it's okay.  it's part of life.  give and take. you can't do everything.

some things that aren't happening lately are...
cleaning - beyond a quick clorox wipe after cleaning up after dinner
cooking - this is important.  we can't eat crap all the time. i'm working on finding the energy to cook after dinner.
reading books - miss it.
reading blogs - i'm okay with it.
crafts - meh it's a nice idea but SO not important


things that are top priority even though i'm working full time (and by 'top priority' i mean, i am learning how to balance and make work happen around these things that God has called me to do well in.) 

husband

bible study

budget

family

friends

needless to say, my 'to do' list is long and things get crossed off very infrequently.  on the other hand, it creates simplicity in a way... get up, go to work, come home, see my husband, go to sleep.  & repeat.  there's not much time for wasting and weekends are such a fun treat.  

changes are hard to process sometimes.  i'm not sure what to think about it all yet. just taking life one day at a time, choosing joy always, working hard, and relying on the Lord.

fall is around the corner...

in no particular order, top 10 reasons fall is my favorite season

10. perfect weather - cool, no humidity, but not too cold

9. sweaters

source  and no i would not spend a fraction of that on a sweater...

8. pretty leaves

7. cute boots & other fashion goodness. this might be my favorite season for fashion.  layers are necessary but it's not too cold.  

6. caramel apple cider 

i love the stuff at starbucks but this season i'm going to try to make it :)

5. my birthday

4. college football [yes, honestly, i enjoy watching the games.  it's a relaxing way to spend a saturday afternoon.  although i'm okay not to spend thursday and friday and saturaday AND sunday watching football. haha. plus my husband is SO SO happy.]

3. back to school

2. thanksgiving

1. this year, fall means we are that much closer to baby girl coming :)

what's your favorite season?
are you excited for fall?