Forty Two is More Fun Than a Game of Dominoes

I am not one of those people who dread birthdays as they get older. In fact, it's just the opposite.  I still look forward to and get just as excited about my birthday as I did when I was a kid.  The days slowly creep along until October 11 finally arrives and tahdah!  I am older!  What a miracle!

I thoroughly enjoy each card, greeting, and hug.  Birthdays are the best when you work at an elementary school because the kids are just as excited as you are.  Their precious offerings of drawings, cards and songs send me over the moon.

I suppose a few things have changed.  I no longer present my family with a list a mile long of outrageous requests of presents and parties.  In fact, I find myself wanting to simplify and missing most what I used to take for granted.  If I had it to do over again, this is how my birthday list would read:

1. the EARLY morning phone call from Mama, my great grandmother reminding where she was "__" years ago.  At the hospital waiting on me.  Mama was always the first to wish me Happy Birthday. 

2. being serenaded by my granddaddy.  His version of "Happy Birthday" was the only song he ever sang.

3. Nanny's chocolate cake with seven minute icing.

These are the gifts I treasure now and miss the most. 

This year was absolutely perfect!  I left school in birthday bliss and picked out my own cake and then picked up some steaks and went home and cooked for my most favorite people -my family!  Yes, I cooked my birthday dinner.  To some that may sound strange, but it's what I love to do.  Then some girlfriends came over, we had more cake, and watched "Say Yes to the Dress" & "What Not to Wear".  (Providing our own sugar-induced commentary of course)

Birthdays to some are just another day. To others they are a day to dread. To me they are a day to celebrate.  With all that is going on in this world, the fact that you are here another year is a miracle. 

In the words of Brother Grady, my beloved pastor, "We're all gonna die." So we might as well get out and enjoy life especially birthdays!

Love & Blessings! (and Birthday Cake)
Puddin'

Mama, me, & Dutch on my 5th birthday.

this is my take on steak and potatoes...
Birthday Steak and Fries
go to a GOOD BUTCHER if you have one and have them cut you a 11/2"-2" rib eye
let it sit to room temperature and rub it with kosher salt and pepper and olive oil on both sides  (it's a good cut of beef so it shouldn't need anything else)
heat your grill on high and then turn to med high
grill steaks for 5-6 min per side or desired doneness
DO NOT LEAVE ON GRILL UNATTENDED
allow steaks to rest 5-10 minutes before slicing

fries:
preheat oven to 425
1 russet potato per person
slice with a food processor or mandolin
soak in water for 10 minutes and dry thoroughly
toss with olive oil, kosher salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and pepper
lay in one layer on a sprayed sheet pan
bake 15 minutes and then turn and bake 10 minutes more

*Save Room For Cake!

Finally Fall

Howdy Y'all
I borrowed that phrase from one of my favorite Texans - Big Tex.
Like Big Tex (a huge plaster statue who stands sentry over our great State Fair) I've had a rough go lately.  Unlike Tex, I did not spontaneously combust!
But October is here and things are looking up!

I just love October and let me tell you why!

1. Fall is my favorite time of year.  We really don't have fall in Texas but when those temps dip down in the 80s, I am in heaven. Yep the 80s are fall in the Lone Star State and we often are still wearing shorts when we carve the turkey. True that.

2. The State Fair - Texas holds its State Fair for three weeks from the end of September through the middle of October.  It is sensory overload in every sense- midway games, rides, exhibits, museums, new cars, concerts, Broadway musicals, waterless cookware, and Vitamix salesmen. You run the gamut just to get to the Holy Grail - Fletcher's Corny Dog Stand. There's only one and they are worth every ungodly ticket charged (so much so, that I go back several times before returning home). I don't need fried cupcakes or fried PB&J's just my Fletcher's please.  I'm a simple girl.

3. Football. I know football begins in August but it gets REAL in October. All of those fancy uniform wearing games are over and we can get down to business:)

4. The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown is back on TV - enough said. The world could use more Charlie Brown.

5. Daylight Savings is approaching - call me weird, but I like it when it's dark at 7:00.

6. It's my birthday this month- I won't tell you when, but I love birthdays.  Not for the presents, but because each birthday itself is a present.  (I also love cake)

7. Families (or at least mine) starts to slow down a bit.

8. Leaves, Pumpkins, and Cider!  One of these days, I will take a trip up north and experience a real fall, but for now I have decor courtesy of Hobby Lobby and Scentsy!

So good-bye and good riddance September. This year you were a real booger and I am more than ready to see you leave.
October, I thought you would never get here!

So Happy Fall Y'all!
Love & Blessings,
Puddin'

Here's a great recipe for those "cool" fall days of watching football and the Great Pumpkin!

Spicy Pulled Pork
4-6 lb pork butt
2 yellow onions, peeled and halved
2 cans Barq's root beer
1 can chipotle peppers in adobe sauce (chopped and sauce reserved)
1/2 cup brown sugar

in a dutch oven, place the roast that you have seasoned with salt and pepper on top of the onion halves
top with chipotle peppers in sauce, brown sugar, and root beer
cover with foil then lid
place in a 300 degree oven and cook for 5-6 hours, basting every hour.
remove roast from pot and shred and return to pot ( you can skim fat and remove onions if you wish)
serve on warm buns with cole slaw and sweet potato fries

He's the Strong Silent Type

I honestly knew from the beginning what I was getting into, but he was cute so it didn't bother me.  Bobby wasn't much of a talker, but I was - we were a match made in Heaven!

He looked like my seventeen year old version of the Marlboro Man!

In fact, if I had to be honest, I took him home for the first time just for the shock value. He was to first boy I had ever taken home to meet Mom and Dad and he was 21 with a mustache and a motorcycle - this was going to be good!  Well, they loved him then and they love him now - they take his side on everything.

I often tell people that Bobby says ten words a day and that's just about true.  Half of those involve asking about what's for supper and the remaining are usually about golf and cars.  This week, his budgeted vocabulary got him into a bit of hot water and it all began on Tuesday with these three words,"Going to ER." 

Yep, that's all I got - three words.  You see he has a really great cell phone that can do many wonderful things - if he will carry it with him.  So by the time I track him down, he has become a cardiac patient and we are on our way to a whole new world. I will not bore you with the details, but he is much better and still has a ways yet to go.

One side note, the nutrition class was enlightening.  He will listen to a COMPLETE STRANGER tell him what his wife has been trying to tell him for years!  I kid you not, at one point, I swear I saw a tear roll down his cheek at then mention of how pizza is toxic.

I thought our nutrition class went really well.



Now just when I thought we had come to an understanding and had schedules figured out, I went back to school.  I was zipping back to the hospital one afternoon after a  great day spent with kiddos and I thought I would call and see if Bobby needed anything and this is what I hear...
"You just missed the cardiologist."
WHAT!!!!!!!!!!! he had never come before 7:00p.m. before.

breathe 

"What did he say?"

"He said I need an MRI of my brain"

WHAT!!!!!!!!!WHAT!!!!!!!!!!WHAT!!!!!!

that's it?
no explanation.
he obviously thought it was cool that someone wanted to look into his noggin.

Once I came back to earth and arrived at the hospital, I learned in the words of Paul Harvey "the rest of the story".  That husband of mine is really going to need to be more generous with his words or there will be two cardiac patients in our home!

Well, we are entering a new chapter.  Things are changing and that's OK. Friends and family have really come through for us and we don't know what we would do without them.  We will change and adjust and we will get through it all together, because while he may be a man of few words, I love the three he never fails to say, "I love you."

and we will LIVE happily ever after!

I cook for therapy and boy do I need some therapy after this week!
These cookies are AWESOME!  They taste wonderful, make your house smell divine, and are HEART HEALTHY!

pumpkin chocolate chip cookies

 

1 can pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)

1 cup splenda

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

3 cups wheat flour

2 t baking powder

2 t cinnamon (I add more:  1/2t nutmeg and 1/2 t allspice! )

1/2 t salt

1 t baking soda

2 t vanilla

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1-2 cups chopped walnuts (optional)

 

combine: pumpkin, eggs, oil, splenda, cinnamon, and vanilla

combine: flour, powder, salt, soda

 

mix together and add chocolate chips and nuts

 

drop by spoonfuls and bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes



"I am a bear of very little brain..."

"I am a bear of very little brain and long words bother me."

This is one of my favorite "Poohisms".  Pooh has long been one of my favorite characters.  As an only child he was not only my favorite toy but my closest companion.  As I discovered his un-Disneyized literature as an adult, I realized that Pooh and I see the world in much the same way and there is nothing wrong with that.  With that being said, there are things  that I will simply never understand, so allow me to share a few with you...  (this is a fun and light piece, not intended to incite riots, so sit back and enjoy)

Big Universities vs Small Universities
I LOVE my school.  (key the Beach Boys "Be True to Your School"). I am a Lumberjack through and through, I bleed purple.  In a land that demands to know if am am affiliated with longhorns, raiders, or aggies, I thrill at completely throwing them off their game when I state that I am a dual degree holder from Stephen F. Austin State University-AXE EM.
So the latest trend in college football is to match up bigger schools with smaller schools as one of the first games of the season.  To which I reply REALLY???  I mean miracles could happen - but it's highly unlikely (just like George Straight could show up at my door- he could, but he's not) Then I investigated.  It seems that the larger schools pay a great deal of $$ to the smaller schools for the privilege of playing them.  So I guess we now know who the real "winners" are.

Tofu & Sushi
Have these folks that eat this stuff ever had a good rib eye or fried catfish? 

Polygamy
Seriously, I can barely handle the ONE God blessed me with.

Skinny People
I love skinny people, I just don't understand them.  There are skinny people who think they are fat-SERIOUSLY, get you a double digit size then we'll talk.  There are skinny people who can out-eat an offensive lineman - I watch them with my mouth open in awe.  There are skinny people who exercise before work AND after work. Well I do that too - I put my Spanx on and take them off. Honey, that's exercise.

Denim
As you might can surmise from the above comments, I don't wear jeans often, but when I do I can promise two things.  One is that the pair that I am wearing aren't so big that in the words of my daddy "it looks like a family of sharecroppers could move in there with ya" or so tight that the aforementioned Spanx would need be worn on the outside.  SO why the baggin and saggin and the skinny jeans? Can't we find a middle ground people? I won't even talk about the ripped to shreds jeans.
Now, I will get on my soap box here for a brief moment.  I do like to look cute and while not exactly skinny, Omar isn't sewing my clothes in his tent shop yet.  It is my personal opinion that nothing is cuter than a denim jacket to pull together an outfit or a cute denim dress or tunic with a leather belt. Don't even get me started on chambray. But if you work in a denim-free zone you are SOL.  Again, it is just my personal opinion. But I studied many years so that I would not have to be a field hand; so in no way would I embarrass my employer by dressing like one.

House Hunters
This is one of my favorite shows to watch.  However, it always amazes me when the hunters are these young (early 20s) newlywed couples looking for their first home.  They want 4-5 bedrooms, huge bathrooms, entertainment space, granite, stainless, "I'm not sharing a closet", on and on..... Then they state the budget and it's anywhere from $250,000-600,000 and I am like whoa!!!!  Don't these kids have college loans?  Were there last names Buffet or Trump?  Times have changed - when we first married our major decision was whether or not to fry the bologna.

Well, there may be a lot that I don't understand, but there are a few things that I do...
1. I am loved
2. I am saved
3. I am forgiven
and if I wake up in the morining, I have 29 little smiles waiting on me to teach them to read- I'M BLESSED

who could ask for more!

Love and Blessings !
Puddin'

Say Hello to My Little Friend

We all have those things that make our lives just a little bit easier.  I will confess to you all that I love a crock pot.  I love them so much that I own two - I have even given them names!

Meet Sheldon. He's technical, scientific, and handles the recipes that require a bit more finesse with timing.  Sheldon turns out a killer pot roast and his chicken is out of this world!  I never have to worry about my food being over-done with Sheldon on the job.

 

 

This is Penny.  She's a bit more simple and straight-forward than Sheldon. You just turn her on and let her go.  Penny's the go-to gal for beans, chili, and soups.

No matter the make or model, you cannot go wrong with a crock pot.  They will not heat up your kitchen and you do not have to baby-sit your food to prepare a wholesome meal for your family.  I cannot begin  to describe the pure joy of coming home from work and having dinner already complete!  One of my favorite things is the clean up.  I have discovered the crock pot liners on the foil aisle of the super market.  These little beauties make clean up a breeze - just toss the bag and wipe out the crock!

If you don't have a crock pot, what are you waiting for?  If you do, does it need a companion? 


This is one of my go-to Crock Pot recipes that is a family favorite...

Chicken Taco Stew

Layer the following into your slow cooker in this order:

3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (frozen is fine)

package of taco seasoning

package of ranch dressing mix

can of pinto beans, undrained

can of yellow hominy, undrained

can of diced tomatoes

can or Rotel tomatoes + Rotel can of water

 

cook on low 8 hours then remove chicken and shred before adding back to pot

serve over Fritos, tortilla chips, rice, or corn bread (my family's favorite)

top with shredded cheddar cheese, green onion, diced jalapeno, sour cream

 





Stressed Spelled Backwards Is...

Desserts! (trust me, we will get to that later, but first the stress!)

School started for the teachers, administrators and staff in our district this week.  It has been a wonderfully lazy summer and I was so ready to see my school "family".  With that  comes my OCD need to please everyone.  I take the t-shirts, games, and prizes way too seriously.  All in all everyone enjoyed them and no one showed up at convocation topless - yea me!

The week went by really smoothly.  We even had a keynote speaker that told us what we were doing right!  Gotta love that.  Then Friday rolled in like my mama's old pressure cooker. It had a job to do even if it blew up the place in the process.  Proceed with caution! Every time I turned around, I had a new student ( I even got a new student as I was walking to the parking lot AFTER Meet the Teacher Friday night.)  Where do they come from? This seems to be happening in epidemic proportions in our schools this year.  Our teachers are troopers and the utmost professionals.  Basically-we rock! This is just one of those years and I know that it will all work out - it always does.  I just want it worked out already.

All of the lack of control found me in nesting mode Saturday. So up at the crack of dawn, I was off to tackle Wal-Mart.  Yes, by this point, I had probably lost my mind.  I was home by 8:30 and determined to make a week's worth of HEALTHY lunches.  I may need to explain that when teachers are given a week of inservices, they will generally eat out every single day and not make the healthiest of choices.  I whipped up a batch of gazpacho and a grilled veggie couscous salad.  The kitchen was clean, laundry done, and house spotless by 3:00. Yea me!

The gazpacho is easy, just put all of those veggies in your food processor and let 'er rip! Then I season with a little balsamic, salt and pepper.

For the Couscous salad with grilled veggies, I prepare the couscous according to the directions on the package only I add a veggie bouillon cube.

Next, grill your favorite veggies.  I used 2 zuchinni, 2 red onion, and 2 red bell peppers. After slicing, I seasoned with salt and pepper and brushed with olive oil.

 After the veggies are cooled enough to handle, chop and toss! 

 

Voila! Lunches are ready!

Feeling a little cocky, I did my nails and got caught up on the DVR.  My euphoria was short lived when the hubs woke up in the middle of the night with bronchitis!  I love my macho man, but illness of any type can transform him into the neediest creature I have ever seen.  So I did what any loving wife would do... I drugged him up, went to church, came home redosed him so that I could write this blog before I ride this summer off into the sunset.

Now for the best part- DESSERT! You can't have all of those healthy (but yummy) lunch items and leave out a sweet treat.  I mixed up a quick batch if snickerdoodle bar cookies.  Bobby ate three before he realized that snickerdoodles do not contain Snickers candy bars :)

These are insanely delicious and easy (bonus - your home will smell AMAZING!)

 

Snickerdoodle Bars

preheat oven to 350, grease a 9X13 pan

soften 1 cup butter

let 2 large eggs come to room temp.

using a mixer, cream butter and add 2 cups of brown sugar, eggs, and 1 tablespoon of vanila

in a seperate bowl combine: 2&2/3 cups AP flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt

Add dry ingrediets to butter mixture and spread into the prepared pan

before baking, sprinkle with a mixture of 1/4 cup white sugar and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, allow to cool slightly before cutting

 

Love and Hugs!

Puddin'

Happy

This week one of our favorite television shows began a new season.  Never in my wildest dreams would I have pictured myself a Duck Dynasty fan but I am and I'm proud of it- JACK!

In honor of the Robertson clan and their catch phrase "Happy Happy Happy", I would like to share the following list....

The Top 10 Things That Make Me HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY!
(note: these are in no particular order and are mostly FREE so give them a try!)

1. Hugs!
I love hugs - getting hugs and giving hugs.  If you know me, this is no surprise.  I'm not sure when or how this came about - my family is not particularly huggy.  But I am bonafied  - so come over here and give me a hug.

2. The smell of clean laundry.
I love to do laundry.  The optimal time is when I can sort, wash, dry, fold, hang, and iron all while a good movie is playing.  I just have to get a big sniff of clean towels or my hubby's t-shirts.  The smells of fabric softener and bleach is intoxicating!

3. Puppy Breath
It's like crack ( I would imagine)  Only to be rivaled by round puppy bellies.  Bliss!

4. Coffee
I have been a coffee drinker since the age of five.  My Nanny said if I were going to drink it, then I would learn to drink it right - hot and black. Don't really understand the latte love, just give me my Community brand dark roast please.  Love the stuff! 

5. Good Hair Days
When they happen, enjoy them!

6. A Clean Car
It may just be the OCD in me and I'll own that, but I love driving a clean car.  So much so that I try to figure out who is driving out to the farm to pick up mom for church so I know just how long mine will stay clean.  I'm sure they make pills for people like me.


7. The Smell of Rain
There is nothing that compares. 

8. Snuggling with my furry children.
There are precious moments when Holly (the dog) is at my feet, Mully (the cat) is behind my head, and his brother Bogey is in my lap.  Yes, I usually need to be somewhere. And I am usually wearing black.  They love me and I am crazy about them.

9. Love Notes
Bobby is a man of few words and those words usually have to do with dinner, golf, or guns.  However, every now and then, he leaves me a post it with a sweet I love you.  Nothing better.

10. Shop Talk
I love sitting out at the shop with my dad. We sit on old milk crates and solve the world's problems and just cut up. Folks say that we are two peas in a pod - pray for my mom!  No other place that I would rather be.

These are just a few of the things that make me happy! 
Praying that your week is full of may happy moments - treasure them!

Love and Blessings!
Puddin'

 

Hard Lessons

As I write this, we are two weeks away from the start of my twentieth year in education.  It doesn't seem possible.  Still, the beginning of a new year brings excitement, anticipation, and eagerness.  I have missed my kids so much and cannot wait to see how they have grown.

The first weeks of school are always about routines - establishing and practicing.  Theoretically, all basic skills and procedures should be mastered during this time so that the "real learning" can begin to take place.  We practice walking in the hall, raising our hands, heading our papers - basic things that we will do many times each day.  Piece of cake? No.  There will always be a special few continuing to do the Electric Slide on the way to lunch rather than walk down the hall single file or yell out the answer in the middle of a test.  However, most will catch on quickly so we progress.

As we progress, some lessons prove harder than others.  In second grade, regrouping was always a challenge. Drawing pictures, using manipulatives and repeated practice were helpful, but they were hard lessons.  As a dyslexia therapist, I work each day with extremely bright children who struggle to read.  They often come to me defeated and lacking confidence. As we go through the years, I can see pride and confidence ooze from them as they beg to read.  Success comes even when lessons are hard.

Students aren't the only one learning hard lessons.  Teachers face them too.  Although they don't involve regrouping or reading, some things are just a bit much to wrap your head around (even with a college degree or two!)  We can't understand how some in the world view education by numbers while we see education as faces.  We can't understand how not everyone loves our children as much as we do. Children should be treasured, not abused or forgotten.  Yes, even as grown ups, there are hard lessons.

Tomorrow, there will be a memorial service for a former student.  He was the brightest of the bunch and his smile lit up our classroom.  His family loved him and his siblings and they were very involved in our school.  He went on to achieve academic and athletic greatness in high school.  He volunteered and helped others as a coach and a mentor.  Bad things like this should not happen to good kids.  I guess that it's just another one of those hard lessons.

When the bell rings on August 26, I will be ready.  Ready to see my kiddos again. Ready to start a new year off.   Some of the lessons will be easy, some won't be. But one thing is certain, I will hug my students a little tighter, listen to them a little longer, and try my best to help them through the hard lessons.

Love and blessings!
Puddin'

Sweet Sweet Summertime

August snuck in on me this week. I knew that it would - just didn't expect it so quickly.  August is the month that I buckle down and try to get all of my summer to dos done.  As I sat and thought about all that I still needed to do before the school bell rings, it dawned on me that this will be the first summer that I didn't spend with my grandmother.

Growing up in the country, spending summers with Grandmother and Granddaddy were always a big treat.  It meant going to the big city and all that Arlington, Texas had to offer...McDonald's, Six Flags, and air conditioning.  That's right, I said air conditioning.  Our big farm house had no AC and mama thought window units were tacky. When I arrived at Grandmother's I was prepared for Artic glory!  Many summers, I packed sweatshirts  because it was so cold in that house. Grandmother would tell me that I had better soak it all up before I had to go home.

Those weeks were so special to me.  I had my grandmother's undivided attention and she taught me so many things.  We would shell peas and make hot sauce.  Under her tutelage, I learned to bake bread, cinnamon rolls and dressing.  She would teach me hymns as we sat on the swing - we didn't always have the words right but that didn't matter.  "Bringing in the sheets" was a perfectly good hymn.  Grandmother taught me to do needlework and to crochet, things that I still enjoy today.  These were the things that kept me still as I would also have to endure hours under her hair dryer as Grandmother was determined to put curls in my waist length hair.

Even as a baby I'm afraid to move or I'll lose the curl!

Grandmother never drove a car, so going anywhere was extra special.  One day each summer, Granddaddy would drop us off at Six Flags on his way to work at General Motors.  We spent the entire day riding the train, the log ride, and the merry-go-round. We were not dare devils.  The most fun for us were the shows - the Crazy Horse Saloon and the Six Flags Review.  Grandmother always thought that I would star in one of those shows when I grew older. 

Six Flags wasn't our only summertime adventure.  Grandmother and Granddaddy would load my cousin and I up in the car and off we drove to Ft. Worth.  On the way, we would roll down the windows to smell the air as we drove past the Mrs. Baird's bakery.  Our destination was the Fort Worth Zoo.  Once there, we rode the train and ate snow cones before heading home.  It was years before I learned that there were actual animals at the zoo!  You see, it was so hot and the animals were smelly that Grandmother thought it best not to mention that there were animals to be seen.

As I grew older, summers became busier but I always found my way to Arlington.    Grandmother's house never lost its allure.  We still shelled peas and crocheted. Once I married, those weeks-long visits became day trips but they were just as special as ever.  Over the last few years, Grandmother's visits were bittersweet.  She was never the same after we lost my Granddaddy.  Her mind and body became weak but her smile, while rare, was still a treasure.

Bobby & me with my grandparents on our wedding day

Grandmother was called home last December and I haven't been to Arlington since. I count my many memories and our times spent together as precious. So this afternoon, before the craziness of back to school sets in, I will visit Grandmother again.  I'll turn the AC down to freezing, throw on a sweatshirt and flip through the photo albums one more time.  I may even make something special for supper as I sing "Bringing in the Sheets!"

Like me, Grandmother only had summers off. She was a cook at Hill Elementary School for many years.  She loved the kids and the teachers and they loved her in return.  She was called the Cookie Lady as she did all of the baking. (Yes, there used to be real cooking happening in school cafeterias)  One of the favorites were her Coconut Oatmeal Cookies.  I just may be bringing these to my teaching family this year.  Grandmother would like that.

J.L. Hill Coconut-Oatmeal Cookies
1/2 C sugar
1/2 C brown sugar
1/2 Crisco
1 egg
1 C flour
1/2 t salt
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1 C rolled oats
1/2 C shredded coconut
1/2 chopped pecans
1 t vanilla

Cream sugars and Crisco.  Add the egg. Shift flour, soda, salt, and baking powder together and add to sugar mixture.  Add oats, coconut, nuts, and vanilla.  Drop by tablespoonfuls onto a cookie sheet and flatten slightly with your finger.  Bake at 325 for 15 minutes.

Love & Blessings,
Puddin'

Be Careful Little Eyes...

I feel like I need a I bumper sticker that reads, "I survived VBS". 
Yes, another Vacation Bible School is in the books - and it was wonderful.  I cannot wait to see my babies show the congregation their songs, moves, and memory verses during services tonight.
This year, a few things were changed - and change is good.  Our VBS was held Friday night and Saturday morning/afternoon.  This worked really well even with the big storm that blew in during Friday's activities-bounce houses can go airborne.  I usually work with the music - it's my love and I feel comfortable there.  However, this year I was assigned memory verses - yes, God got a good giggle from that I'm sure.
Our main verse was Mark 12:30 "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength."  Not only was it important for the kids to learn this verse, but I wanted them to know what is meaning is in our world today.  We did an activity called Name 5.  We sat in a circle while the person in the mush pot closed their eyes and gave the start and stop commands as those in the circle passed around a tennis ball.  Whoever had the ball when the stop command was given had to name 5.  For our group, we had the kiddos complete the following: Name 5 ways we can love the Lord in school, at home, at church, at the store, and at the ball field.  I was amazed at their responses.  I was also convicted to make sure that I followed their suggestions.  Be careful little eyes.
This reminded me of something that happened many years ago when I was a real teacher (aka before I became a dyslexia therapist).  I have never been one of those teachers who raised my voice to get attention, silence speaks louder than words don't you know.  It was during one of these moments that I heard one of my students say to the class, "Y'all be quiet, Mrs. Hendrik is praying for us again!"  Kids may not always know what is in their lesson, but they will always know what's in your heart.  I guess what I'm trying to say is build those relationships and walk the walk. From these simple gestures, great lessons will be taught.
As the final weeks of summer approach, I cannot wait to build new relationships. While technology is amazing and oh so important, nothing can match what the human heart can accomplish.

Love & Blessings,
Puddin'


BTW...
The Name 5 Game can easily be incorporated into many subjects and levels.  It makes an awesome way to close a lesson or review for a test!  I like it because they have to have five answers instead of one - promoting deeper understanding!

Homework:
How do you build relationships with your classes? Please share your thoughts in the comment section :)

Speaking of relationships, I could not do what I do without my team!  Your teammates are your support system. I tell these ladies that no one else speaks our language.  I love them so :) 

Super Summer

Happy Sunday All!

Hopefully you are having a Super _________ (day, week, snack, you choose!)
Super can describe so many things that the word may even lose some of its super powers - but I hope not.  The idea for this post was born while on a hot date with the hubs!

We had gone to see the movie Superman Man of Steel.  (sidebar #1- I highly recommend this movie for several reasons: very exciting to watch, wonderful story line, no profanity or visual obscenities, & good overcomes evil.  sidebar #2 You know you are aging when your teenage matinee heartthrob is now playing the father of Superman!)
The moral of the movie was driven home again and again. We are all put here for a reason - find yours.

One of my favorite sayings is "I teach. What's your superpower?" If you are involved in education in any form-classroom or behind the scenes-you are a superhero!  I began to ponder what exactly my super power would be.  I automatically thought that my love for children was a superpower - but that's a given.  Anyone in education needs to love children or they should find another career.  So I thought a while longer and decided that organization and planning were my super powers.

When it comes to organization, you just need to find what works for you and stick with it.  One of the best organizational tools that I have is the SUPER binder.  Years ago when I was a "real teacher" (aka second grade teacher), I found that if I took all of the important documents, notes, memos, plans, and the like and kept them in one central location, I was more apt to #1 know where they were and #2 put the information to use.  Thus, the SUPER Binder was born!

Over the years, my binder has gone through many incarnations, and summer is the time of year when I usually begin putting my new binder together.  I will take you through how I create mine and feel free to use these ideas and by all means tweak them to fit your needs.  You can also find many binder packages for sale online.  These are amazing and oh so cute, but I prefer to create my own.

I begin by purchasing what I have found to be essential in binder building:
     *a 2" binder (Just like Goldilocks, I have found that 1" are too small and bursting at the seams by December while the 3" are too cumbersome)
     *pretty stationary - these can be purchased to go along with your classroom theme
     * sheet protectors
     *post it filing tabs
     *optional: label maker, pencil pouch, stickers and other accouterments.

Next, decide on what you feel would be the most important things to keep in your binder and create areas for these.  The following are the tabs I will use to keep mine organized this year: lesson plans, calendar, student information, 504 data, IEP info., Team Meetings, Staff/Faculty Meetings, Parent Communication, Important E-Mails, Schedules & Rosters, and Master Copies.  I will make a header page using my stationary and then load it into a page protector.  Then, I will create a corresponding tab to place on the outside of the page protector so that the information can be located easily.  I have found that this works better than using regular dividers as the dividers tend to get lost in some the things I keep in page protectors.

Once your binder is created, file things as they come in.  Don't let things pile up or you will never find it and will be doomed before you start.

Keep your binders from year to year for reference.  I generally label the spine with the school year so that information is easily assessable.

I also keep a household super binder where I file bills, receipts, insurance and IRS information. 

Another "SOUPER" idea for the summer is Fruit Soup!

If you have found that the wonderful fruits of the season often begin to spoil before you and your family have eaten them all,  this is the perfect way to use that yummy produce.  Simply take whatever fruits that you have and blend them with a little fruit juice and voila - fruit soup!  This week I blended honey dew melon and fresh pineapple with a little lime juice.  The result was so cool and refreshing - perfect for breakfast, dessert, or just a little afternoon treat on a hot summer day.

Praying that you have a Super Week!
Love & Blessings,
Puddin'

Homework: What is your teaching super power? (please leave your answers in the comment section)

You Need to Add a Little Spice

I LOVE lists.  Some of my lists have lists.  I will even do a rough draft of my grocery list and then revise by the layout of the store. I LOVE lists!
As a teacher, lists are a big part of what makes me productive - the more that I can check off, the more productive I am!  In the summer my list making takes the month of June off (except for that grocery list), but with July upon us, the lists go into what my kids call BEASTMODE.
Side note... July is also the month that the school supplies begin appearing in the stores (July 5th to be exact).  This is one of those days that I live for.  You can keep your Black Friday shopping in November - I am happily at home for that- but give me school supplies in July!  I went the other day and take a look I what I found...

I now have colored plastic folders in six different colors for my six groups (plastic may be bad for the environment, but it's a godsend for elementary folders).  I also picked up a cute spiral for personal note taking (I still prefer to take notes the old fashioned way) and a purple 2" binder so I can begin building my 2013-14 Super Binder (more about the Super Binder in a future blog).
The spiral is where I take notes from inservices, workshops, faculty meetings, conferences, etc... I like to keep all of my notes in one place so that I will always know where to look.  Each school year begins with a new spiral!  The spiral begins its new life beside my bed.  Let me explain, beginning around the end of June I begin having the school terrors that will wake me up in a cold, sweaty panic.  They usually involve an idea or a list of something that I will need to do or want to try in the upcoming term.  With my trusty spiral beside my bed, I can jot these things down and go back to sleep.
After 19 years, I still do this.  Teaching must never become rote, so teachers must never become stagnate or believe that they don't  have time to improve.  I change something every year (often many things).  Even after 2 years of indoctrination to become a language therapist where they tried to kill the teacher living in my heart by drilling that therapy is best when it's super structured and never changes.  Don't tell the therapy gurus (love 'em), but my teacher's heart beats loud and true. I tweak my therapy classes a bit each year and in turn, each year is a little better than the last. It all starts in the spiral.
Don't be afraid to spice things up, make some changes, try something new.  What's the worst that could happen?  It might not be successful, but your kiddos get to see how well you respond to fooboos.  That is a LIFE LESSON!
Go on now - grab a spiral, make some changes, spice it up!

Speaking of spice...
I have a recipe to share.  These are the perfect little something when you are in need of a chocolate fix. Most of the ingredients are typical, but there are a few that I have marked with a * in case you want to spice it up.  If you do, the changes are subtle but spectacular!

Brownie Cookies
1 box brownie mix ( I use dark chocolate)
1 1/4 C AP flour
1/4 C brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 C butter (melted)
2T water
1 C chocolate chips (any type, I use semi-sweet)
1T espresso powder* (intensifies the chocolate flavor)
1t vanilla*
1t cinnamon*
1/8-1/4 t cayenne pepper* (trust me)
combine all and cover and chill for 2 hours
preheat oven to 350 and drop the dough by tablespoonfuls onto a parchment-lined sheet pan
flatten slightly
bake 10-12 minutes
yield 60 cookies

Before you leave, here's a homework assignment:
How do you plan to spice up your class this year? please leave a comment

Love & Blessings!
Puddin'

Who Is Puddin?

Well, Puddin' is what my family and friends generally call me (unless I'm in trouble). I also go by the names GayLyn, Mrs. H, Hon, and in some cases "mama" (I teach elementary kiddos so that last one pops up every now and then.  I know I'll hear granny one day. Prayers will be needed).
Other things you should know about me are:
1. I am an only child - Yep, I'm spoiled.
2. I am an only child that was raised on the family farm - I believe in  working hard for the pleasure of a job well done.
3. My grandparents & great-grandparents were my daycare- learned far more than my ABCs.
4. I am married to my high school sweetheart - I am blessed
5. I am a teacher/Dyslexia Therapist - I am living my dream
6. I work for the same district where I attended grades 1-12 - I ride for the brand!
7. I am OCD - My Mama calls it being persnickety
8. I love to cook, craft, and decorate - Probably because I never got to take Home Economics in school.
9. Church is more than just a Sunday activity- I try to walk the talk
10. I love to laugh and try to keep a smile at all times- If you are as blessed as I am, your face had better show it!


Well, that pretty much covers it!  I hope that you will drop in on this blog to see what I'm pondering on.  I'll also be posting recipes, quotes, and other neat stuff!