Mornings

My usual morning, is well, unusual. I have no routine, except for being woken up by the dog at 6:30am who wants to eat. You think she would learn by now that I feed her between 7am and 8:30am. If I'm particularly annoyed I will wait a bit longer, or if she's calm I will push it out a bit. But she's the perfect alarm clock, not that I need or want one. Actually, she is the last dog Shawn and I will ever have. We love her, but are ready for some more freedom.

Back to my point - I have no morning routine, except for waking up and maybe eating breakfast, or possibly having tea, it's also a toss up whether or not I will exercise that morning or wait until evening. This morning I fed the dog, made some tea, cleaned the kitchen, started a fire and I'm now grading papers. I typical morning I suppose.

Spring 2010

My life is segmented into semester, which I quite enjoy! However, next semester is going to be particularly busy as I am teaching 20 units and have 2 new preps for next semester. One of the classes I'm teaching I have never taught before, and the other new prep, I've never taught online. Yikes! I'm looking forward to the new challenge but I'm a bit apprehensive. I'm also looking forward to expanding my repertoire of classes I can teach. So, here's what's on the schedule for next semester:

Communication, Self and Society - online
Small Group Communication - online
2 sections of Critical Decision Making - online
2 sections of Public Speaking - in person

My in person classes are cake because I have taught PS a million times before and don't need to do any prep. My online classes are a bit more difficult because I need to have everything prepped ahead of time, before the semester begins. When you teach f2f classes, you can prep as the semester goes on. No so in online classes. *sigh* It's gonna be an interesting Christmas break.

Confession #12

Shawn and I are still debating whether or not we want to raise kids. Did you notice that I said "raise kids", not "have kids"? If we decide on a family, we will adopt. However, we will not decide anything until our aging puppy is gone, and we've taken a year to travel. We want to do lots of weekend trips - LOTS of them, and go to a few other places for a bit longer. We also want to do a few more mission trips too.

Confession #11

Shallow Confession

I have always wanted to own a house where the bathrooms outnumber the bedrooms. I don't know why, all I need is one bathroom, but the idea has always been alluring.

Having the same number of bedrooms and bathrooms won't do - the bathrooms must outnumber the bedrooms.

Confession #10

My two greatest fears in life:

1). Pain

2). Loss

Confession #9

One of my biggest fears in my career is having a group of students rise up against me. Not in physical violence, though that is a big concern in this day and age, but in attitude.

When I was a Teaching Associate, one of my colleagues told me a little story about how she rallied the class against the instructor. Yep - this person was training to be an instructor herself, and she rallied the class against participating in the class, and rallied them together to give the instructor bad reviews at the end of the semester. Interestingly enough, the instructor she did this to ended up being a colleague of hers for a short time, and has been a colleague of mine for about 5 or 6 years now.

This terrifies me. I have serious anxiety about students banding together against me as an instructor.

Confession #8

I was in a movie when I was in high school. Turns out the movie writer/director is a colleague at SJSU. I dare not go visit for fear of dying of embarrassment. Thank goodness I have a different last name now.

Acting is still slightly attractive to me. I suspect that when I get a bit older I might get into acting, but now is not the time, and I in no way would ever want to be 'young' in Hollywood. Strange right? Lifetime Network here I come. Ahhhh, to dream.

I can never let go of that dream.

Confession #7

I read while I'm on the treadmill. In fact, most of my recreational reading is done on the treadmill. I walk 2-4 miles a day which takes between a half hour and an hour. If I didn't read on the treadmill I wouldn't exercise.

Here's something strange - I've trained myself to multitask so much that I find myself getting a bit bored when I only have 1 thing to do. This is why I normally do not exercise outside - it bores me even though I love the outdoors. When I go hiking I must hike with another person. I can't do it alone because I get far too bored with myself.

I can't wait until the beginning of October. I just ordered the first 8 Sookie Stackhouse books, and I'm so excited to start another vampire series.

Confession #6

Here's a BIG ONE because it's looked down upon in our society......

Shawn and I sleep in separate beds most of the time. We figured out early on in our marriage that we sleep better and interact better when we've both gotten a good nights sleep. About 6 months into our marriage we started to sleep in separate beds because Shawn snores a bit, and I'm a REALLY light sleeper. Plus, the two of us keep very different schedules. I'm an early riser, he's a very late night owl. It just works for us!

I guess I wonder why people don't talk about this stuff??? Or to go even further, why it's 'unacceptable' that we don't sleep in the same bed. Wasn't it only 40 years ago that married couples started to sleep in the same bed? Isn't that about the same time we started to sleep less, the divorce rate went up and people became more stressed??? Could there be a link?

Here's an article to back up what we've known for almost 5 years: CLICK HERE

Confession #5

Even though I know he's gone, I still hold out hope that my father staged his own suicide and will show up sometime later in my life.

Back in the hospital

Mr. Wigglesworth came home for a day, then sure enough, another ambulance came and picked him back up. I will need to check in with Mrs. Wigglesworth, perhaps tomorrow, to find out what's going on. Prayer and good thoughts please.

Why we're here

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. (James 1:27)

Whether you are religious or not, this verse in James is pretty heavy. In conjunction with the "love your neighbor as yourself" verse, my husband and I have take this verse pretty literally. We have talked and talked and talked about adopting a kid, two kids an army of kids in the future, but there's another part to the story. Looking after, not only orphans, but widows.

The neighbors on either side of our house are pretty up there in age. On one side, Sally, she's in her 70's. Her husband died around the same time we bought our house. Of course we did not find out this information until a year later when we actually moved into our house, so we weren't around when it happened. She is widowed. Her family is close, but she seems to have visitors only a few times a month from what we can tell. We see her on occasion when we're outside milling around in the yard. She's a very nice lady, and seems to be decently busy with projects fro her very grown kids and also grown grandchildren.

On the other side of us there are the Wigglesworth's. Mr. Wigglesworth is 94, going on 95. His wife is in her 70's. Mr. Wigglesworth has been in and out of the hospital quite a bit during the last year, and is in the hospital as I type this. Mrs. Wigglesworth goes and spends everyday with him, and from what she tells us, he really wants to come home.

I haven't understood why we were drawn to this house when we were first looking for houses. Well, other than the square footage that is. The house is far too big for just Shawn and I. To be honest, we only use about half of the square footage, if that. But there was something drawing us to this location, and I think it was our neighbors (not that we knew it at the time).

You see, every week Shawn and I put out and bring in our neighbors garbage cans. We also pick up their newspapers that are delivered everyday so they don't have to bend down and reach to pick them up. Small favors, but appreciated greatly. Everytime we see our neighbors they express their thanks and appreciation.

We had offered for quite a long time to help them in anyway we can, but they have always refused our help, probably out of principle or losing some amount of independence. We explained that we are home most of the time and all they need to do is pick up the phone and call us. This is our small way of serving those around us. Both neighbors have our cell phone numbers and we have explained that we are 'on call' if they need us.

Mrs. Wigglesworth just told me the other day that she might need help carrying in groceries. They have a two story house and need to go up and down stairs everytime they come in and out of thier house, which is getting quite difficult.

We are happy to help them out. I am a firm believer in 'you reap what you sow' or 'what comes around goes around' or 'karma'....whatever you want to call it. The universe has a way of giving back. When we are older we can only hope and pray that there are folks like this around us, not only for us, but perhaps for our parents and other family members.

So for now, everyday we will pick up the paper and every week we will put out and bring in the garbage cans....that is, until they let us help them further. We know they have family, but simple maintanence things like this can be done by someone who is in close proximity.

If you remember, please pray for the Wigglesworths (or Wiggy's as Shawn and I like to call them). Send some good thoughts, light a candle for them...whatever your beliefs are. Mr. Wiggy isn't doing too well, and Mrs. Wiggy is terrified she is going to lose her husband. She cried the other day when we were chatting. It breaks my heart, but I truly believe this is why we were brought here for this season in life.

Pumpkin Spice Latte

Ah yes, the Pumpkin Spice Latte! This is perhaps my most favorite drink from Starbucks. Of course I order it as a Venti, Half-Caf (or fully decaf), Non-fat, No Whip, Extra Foam, Pumpkin Spice Latte. Yes, that is 20 ounces of pure pumpkin-y goodness. It will take a couple of days to drink it, but oh yes, it's lovely.

I usually order a venti drink because it's 20 ounces and I can usually only drink about half. The other half goes into the fridge for tomorrow. I normally wouldn't spend $4.45 on a cup of coffee, but I only drink a few of these a season, and boy are they worth it every once and a while.

Thanks to my friend Alece for letting me know they were out already. Today is gonna be a good day!!!

Asian Chicken Salad

(If you enlarge the photo, you can see I went a bit crazy with the sesame seeds. I LOVE sesame seeds.)

Salad:
3-4 cups shredded romaine lettuce
3-4 cups shredded cabbage
1 can water chestnuts, julienne
1 cup carrots, julienne
6-8 green onions, finely chopped so they aren't intrusive
1 large can mandarin oranges, drained
2-3 chicken breasts marinated in teriyaki sauce or sweet Thai chili sauce, then bbq'd or stove cooked then cut into small pieces
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds and more for garnish
1/4 slivered almonds, toasted (optional)
1 package Ramen noodles crushed and toasted (optional)
1 cup crunchy chow mien noodles (optional)

Dressing:
4 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon orange juice
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons sesame seed oil
(You might want to double the dressing - we did and it was a bit much, but after sitting, it was perfect).

Directions:
Toss together all vegetables after prepared as stated. Whisk together all dressing ingredients and pour over salad. Toss.

Verdict:
I really liked this salad. The husband thought it was missing something in the dressing. I have tried many Asian Chicken Salad recipes, and this one is light and by far my favorite. I did not add the Ramen noodles or slivered almonds this time, but they would go great in the salad, especially if you are serving this to company. Both the husband and I added the crunchy chow mien noodles and thought that was enough. Of course, with my love for all things sesame, I added more sesame seeds on the top of the salad. Oh yum!!!!

Confession #4

There are a lot of days where I have a hard time mustering up the motivation to workout. On those days I get up, brush my teeth, change into some clean workout clothes, then crawl back into bed to try to fall back to sleep. Once I wake up again I stay in those workout clothes until I actually get off my butt to workout. Rarely do I skip a workout when I do this.

The Start of the Semester

Monday marks the first day of the semester at San Jose State University. I have just about finished uploading all of the assignments, forms, chapter outlines, powerpoint slides, examples, instruction sheets and countless other things. I have a few things left to do, but as it stands right now, the students will get everything they need to start the semester. Two things I have left to do:

1). Revise my syllabus and upload it again for the millionth time.

Commentary: Every time I get my syllabus completed, I get some additional information that I need to add, change or revise. Last night I received an email letting me know that my office assignment has switched again, for the second time in a few weeks. This is exciting because I am now in a different hallway - a hallway I have named "The Big Kids Hallway". I know the department probably did not intend for it to be like this (or maybe they did, I have no idea), but on one side of the building all the folks who have PhD's have offices, and on the opposite side of the building, those who are TA's and have MA degrees (but not PhD's) are on the other side. There is some crossover, but not too much. Well, my office assignment has been moved to the "Big Kids Hallway". I'm excited to have an office with a window instead of sharing a closet (no exaggeration there - I was told my old office used to be a storage room for the department) with two or three other people. Of course this is a bit anticlimactic because I am only on campus a couple times a month. My 'office hours' are held online because of the nature of my classes, and I have phone conversations with my students A LOT!!! I also meet individually with my students when I'm on campus, but in between meetings, I have phone conversations with them....did I mention that I have A LOT of phone conversations with them? Yeah, I'm gonna need to watch those cell phone minutes this semester since I use my personal cell phone. Last semester I had conversations that lasted an hour or longer on a few occasions.

2). Write a new project.

Commentary: I have added an entirely new project to one of my classes. This is fitting because it went from a 3 unit class to a 4 unit class. I am very excited about the project, and hopefully my students will enjoy it too, as it's a semester long project that they can work on anytime they want to. At the end of the semester they will give it to 3 other classmates to grade, then I will compile the grades, add my comments and give them a final grade. It should be a good time.

I'd better get started on some of this stuff, my students should be able to access the class on Thursday or Friday of this week. Exciting!!! I can't wait to 'meet' my students this semester.

Baby Shower

Yesterday I made my way down to the Bay Area for a baby shower. One of my good friends is having a baby in Oct/Nov. this year. We gathered to honor the new baby Lee. Here are just a few pictures I took at her shower yesterday. Of course these are all posed pics we took before the shower began.

I can't get past my love for black and white and sepia colored pictures, so that's what I've posted here. I cropped them and adjusted the brightness a bit.

Another glimps into Alaska

The day we were at Hubbard Glacier, it was the coldest cold I have ever felt.....and I've been caught in freezing sleet/snow, while wet, without a jacket. I bundled myself under small wool blankets that were available on the deck. The only catch was, while taking pictures of the glacier, you couldn't bundle up. I had on many layers of clothes as well, but it didn't help.

Here's me bundled up on deck:
And here's a pic of the glacier. It's a very small part of the glacier, but I love the lines you can see in the ice:

Bargain Shopping

Today I went to Office Max because I had a coupon. Well, this is what I came out with.....

All for $.42 cents. Gotta love bargain shopping!!!

I'll admit that I rarely use college ruled filler paper, but sometimes I do, and for $.10 cents, you can't go wrong. Plus, if I don't use it I can just give it away! The folders were $.01 each, and with a coupon, so were the sharpie markers.

I love finding good deals.

Plinko

Today I went to my favorite grocery store, Trader Joe's. After the clerk rang up my order and my total came up on the register, she rang the bell a number of times. Apparently when your total rings up to a dollar amount with no cents, you get to play Plinko for free reusable grocery bags. So I played Plinko. I won a grocery bag. Then, they bring you over to another area to shoot a hoop. If you get the mini basketball in the hoop you get a second bag.

The Plinko guy, as I have so affectionately named him, asked me if I would be able to make the shot. I looked at it and said, "I have no idea". Well, I threw the basketball, and swish! A perfect basket.

Side Note: I should probably put this into the "Confessions" folder, but I have an uncanny ability to catch and throw things with a decent amount of accuracy. I have perfect aim most of the time and can catch things without really even looking at them. I would have been a whiz at basketball in high school.

So my shopping trip ended up with some much needed Quinoa, some veggies, two new reusable bags for free, and a display of the only superpower I will ever know - the ability to throw and catch things with amazing accuracy.

Figuring it out

For the past few weeks I have been throwing around ideas for one of my classes. At one of the places I teach classes, the class I had been teaching as moved from a 3 unit class to a 4 unit class. This means that I have to assign an additional 3 or so hours of work per week for the students to make up for the additional unit.

In my attempt to make sure my classes fulfill and exceed the requirements of the University, I have had an interesting time trying to come up with additional work that would be useful to the students. You see, I do not have PhD, therefore feel that I have less wiggle room to work with - meaning, my creative license is partially revoked on a consistent basis. Of course this may be my perception of things, but I'd rather stay in the kiddie pool where it's safe rather than venture out for fear of sinking.

I like things safe, especially when it comes to my job. This means that I ask lots of questions, run things by tenured track professors, etc....

Back to my point - I think I have finally figured out what to do for the additional unit. It's going to take a bit of time, and the students will be greatly involved in each other, even to the point of grading each other's work. They will have to venture out of their safe zone and get out into society to have 'real world' experiences, all while applying the concepts they are learning about.

I am excited about the new project, or the 'additional unit' if you will. But I am always a little apprehensive when it comes to new projects. There are always bugs to workout, possibly giving the students the idea that I have no idea what I'm doing, even if I DID in fact try to think through these types of situations.

The coming semester should be fun - busy, but fun.

I'm still thankful that I have a job, which may not be the case as of Jan. 2010. (Both college's have mentioned more budget cuts). *sigh*

Confession #3

I did not go to my prom. I hated high school, H - A - T - E - D high school. Even now I think high school should contain your first two years of college, and is mostly a waste of time for those that 'get it'.

By the time my senior year had come around I was working two jobs, maybe three, I can't remember, and I was only in school 4 hours a day. I had mentally checked out from everything high school related.

I haven't looked back since. I would not repeat high school if someone paid me.....lots of money. No way! The last couple of years were truly a waste of time.

Because I hated high school so much, I chose not to attend my prom.

Enough said.

Juneau, Alaska

Here is a pic from the hike we did in Juneau. Until I can get the post finished, enjoy!

If you click on the pic, it will enlarge on your screen. I haven't photoshopped this pic yet, so everything you see is raw. It was pretty foggy that day, which is why the pic looks a bit muffled.

We're Back

We are finally back from our vacation in gorgeous Alaska. I am currently working on a blog that catalogs our days in time order. Not the most original way to post a vacation, but one that was easy to keep track of while we were gone. I simply kept a notebook by my side of the bed, and every night Shawn and I recounted what we did for the day, and at what times.

Preliminarily I can tell you that we had a wonderful time. When Shawn's company takes off, which we are fervently praying for, and hope that you would stand in prayer with us on that, we will move to the Pacific Northwest and visit Alaska often. Or, we will buy a small cabin/house in Juneau or Sitka so people can use it during the summer months if they'd like to. We are generous like that. ;)

My post should be up by the weekend. Consider yourself warned - it will be a long post.

Until then I will be working on the blog and my classes for next semester. (I have not yet received the 'your laid off' email yet from either college I teach classes for, and I'm standing in faith that I won't. But with this economy and the budget cuts that recently came down the pipes, one never knows). If you remember, pray for Shawn and I, or if you aren't the praying type, some good thoughts and energy would be appreciated.

Three Minute Thursday Part #2

Here is another installment of Three Minute Thursday.

Ready? Go!

*We are excited and ready for our vacation. I won't tell you when we're leaving for fear that you might rob my house, take my computer, and I will have to re-do the prep for my classes this coming semester. We are taking mostly everything valuable we have with us, except my desktop computer with all of my school stuff. People will be watching our house, but it's best not to publicize when one goes on vacation.

*Speaking of vacation, we will be going to Alaska on a cruise. It should be really fun and we are looking forward to relaxing, when the time comes.

*I am a little anxious (to say the least) about leaving my doggie with my mom since my doggie has been having dizzy spells. None for the last couple of months, but I have pretty sever anxiety issues anyway without something like this thrown into the mix. I will pray, send good thoughts (ahem, take some anti-anxiety meds), and hope for the best.

*My new camera is rockin' AWESOME!!!! I can't wait to use it in Alaska. I hope there is at least one or two good pics I can blow up to poster size and put in our house somewhere.

*I just planted another 10 tomato plants. A bit crazy, I know. But I have a deep rooted love for ALL THINGS tomato.

*Lately we have been avoiding the hot tub because it has been so hot out lately. We have turned off the heater, but yesterday the hot tub was 106 by 9:30pm anyway. We had to bail out about 50 gallons of water, and replace it with cool water from the hose. We might do the same tonight.

Done!

Three Minute Thursday

Three minute Thursday might replace Four Minute Friday for this week (a new thing I'm doing), but we'll see.

Ready? Go!

There are so many things on my mind at this point:

*The fact that I have an amazing husband who is quick to process things with me.

*We are going on vacation in a few weeks - a last minute vacation, but we are SO incredibly excited to 'check-out' for a week and not have to think about life.

*Getting back from vacation is so exhausting because life just hits all at once - not looking forward to that.

*Shawn's dad and step-mom are coming over on the 4th so we can discuss our vacation. It should be a good time. We are hoping that Shawn's brother and his wife will be able to come as well, but understand because there may be a funeral they have to go to. But we're hoping - we love those guys and don't get to spend as much time with them as we'd like to (they're quite often busy).

*I'm constantly worried about my mother, but need to remember that there's nothing I can do, and that prayer is effective.

*My semester starts in a number of weeks, and there is a looming threat that all of my classes might be canceled. This stresses me out quite a bit, and I don't want to think about it because I can't control it anyway.

My three minutes is up........Done!

Adopting

For the past couple of days I have been looking online at children who need an adoptive family. Let's get some things out in the open here - I have no desire to have kids of my own, biologically that is. I think questions like, "When are you and your husband going to have kids?" are quite presumptuous, incredibly intrusive, and to be frank, RUDE!

Since I spent time in orphanages in Russia, Kazakhstan and working with kids in Peru, I have had little desire to have my own children. The feeling does come and go from time to time, but I think that's more societal pressure than my own desire to have kids.

I have come across numerous 'kids' in my college classes that were fostered. Some were adopted, some simply aged out of the foster care system. Each story has touched my heart in a big way. Some women dream of being pregnant, having a baby, and raising that child to adulthood. This is not what pulls at my heart strings. What makes my heart break is this:

1). Kids who don't have a place to call home.
2). No place to go during Holidays once they are older.
3). No one to share a first love experience with.
4). No one to lean on for support.
5). Those without grandparents to spoil them.
6). Kids who don't have someone rooting for them during graduation.
7). Folks that have no one to teach them how to drive.
8). Those that have on one to encourage them to go to college.
9). No one to teach them how to cook.
10). No one to be there when they get married or walk them down the aisle.

Thinking about these things just break my heart. There are so many teens/preteens that do not have this kind of support. I'm not committing myself to adopt or foster teens at this point, but these are the things that break my heart.

I truly think that God brought these students into my life over the last few years for a reason.

Kitchenette Before and After Pics

Here are the before and after pictures of the room. Wow, what a difference.

This first pic is the view standing from the stairwell.

This is the view looking at the stairwell. Don't you just love the ugly cabinets that were installed somewhere in the 80's. The "cabin feel" is obviously what they were going for here.

What a breath of fresh air, don't you think? In case you can't see the detail of the picture, just click on it and it should get bigger. The handles on the cabinets are brushed nickel. Shawn picked out the faucet because it pulls out. In this picture you can also see where the stove is supposed to go. It will be located where the dryer currently is. We have run wire (really expensive wire) to the location behind the dryer. We will eventually get a stackable washer and dryer and put it where the washer currently is and install a stove where the dryer is. We may even build a custom cabinet from floor to ceiling to cover the W/D at some point.

I finally got a window covering for the window. Click on the pic to enlarge it to see the detail of the very dainty/girly curtains (thanks to my mother-in-law who had extras and gave me the curtain).

In case you can't see it, the floor is a natural color, and so is the counter. We are going for a beach themed room here, and will probably take a day trip to the beach this summer to take more photos to put up in the room.

We will also be installing upper cabinets eventually. That will probably take place at some point this summer. One can never have too much storage right?

The only thing we have left to do is install the crown molding, baseboards, toe kicks around the cabinets and trim around the door. Shawn also has to hook up two remaining outlets and get fight angled hoses for the washer so it sits against the wall. All of the remaining work should only take a week or two of on and off work (meaning, an hour or two here and there). We are so excited to have this room finished. It has been quite a project. Here is what we accomplished:

Already completed:
*Tore down a wall
*Removed wood paneling
*Framed out the wall around the window
*Added insulation in the exterior walls
*Ran new wire for the whole room
*Installed new plumbing in the room
*Installed drywall floor to ceiling
*Moved dryer vent
*Textured drywall floor to ceiling (hired out)
*Painted - 5 coats on walls and ceiling
*Installed recessed lighting
*Moved the exterior door 6 inches
*Installed tile floor
*Installed base cabinets
*Installed granite counters (hired out)

Yet to complete:
*Upper cabinets
*Baseboards
*Crown molding
*Trim around door
*Wire two outlets
*Toe kicks around cabinets
*Change out washer hoses to lay flat

Kitchenette/Laundry Room

I promised some folks that I would post a pic of the Kitchenette/Laundry Room in our house. This project has taken us about 4 months on and off. Without further ado, here is the room as it looks today. I will add another post later this weekend with the before and after pics. Enjoy!

Saffron Rice with Balsamic Sauce

This post is for my brother-in-law who just loves my saffron rice with balsamic sauce. I usually make this rice with skewers, both meat and veggie, marinated in a Greek style dressing. It's a summer favorite at our place.

Saffron Rice
3 cups Basmati Rice
4.5 cups of water (use the ratio on the rice package)
2 tablespoons of salt
3-4 tablespoons vegetable oil or clarified butter (I usually use a heart healthy oil)
1/2 teaspoon saffron dissolved in 4 tablespoons hot water

Directions: There is a very specific recipe and technique for making this type of rice, which incidentally is a Persian recipe. But I don't follow the recipe. Here's what I do: put the rice in a pot or rice cooker. Rinse 3-4 times in cold water until the rice runs clear. Add water, salt, oil and saffron mixture to the rice pot. Turn on, walk away and come back when it's done.

In another pot I cook 1-1.5 cups of plain rice according to instructions (be sure to rinse the rice). Once both pots of rice are done, mix them together so there is clear defining colors. The saffron rice will be yellow/orange, and the plain rice will be white. Since we eat with our eyes, this is a very beautiful presentation.


Balsamic Sauce
(This sauce is served spooned over Greek marinated skewers, and over the rice recipe above).

1, 2 or 3 shallots chopped/sliced
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1-2 cups of balsamic vinegar
1/2-1 cup of chicken stock/broth

Directions: Slice and/or chop the shallots into small pieces, but don't mince. You want decent sized pieces. Add them to the olive oil in a pan and saute until soft. Add the balsamic vinegar and chicken stock/broth and reduce by half. The sauce can be served over the rice, which is especially good. We also spoon it over meat skewers and veggie skewers that have been BBQ'd. A tip for skewers - in order to cook the veggies evenly, we make the meat and veggie skewers separately.

These recipes are simple to make, and are a crowd pleaser. Anytime I take the rice and balsamic sauce to a party, or serve it at our house for a get together, I'm asked for the recipe. It's wonderful!

Enjoy!

Confession #2

Here's another confession for ya! I have a really strong mind-body connection. I think most people do, but don't pay attention to it. When someone around me isn't feeling well, I tend to take on their illness. Not to an extreme extent, but mildly. Right now my doggie isn't feeling so well. Last night she woke up and was acting a bit strange. We fed her a bit, and she ate, but not as fast as she usually does. She then drank a decent amount of water. We called her up on the bed and spent some quality time with her, then she went to sleep after going out for a potty break. Now it's 6 or 7 hours later and her tummy is gurgling (which probably explains the uncomfortableness of last night). I'm afraid to see what's going to come next, hopefully just some gas, but now my tummy is upset. I don't like to see people, or animals for that matter, in any kind of discomfort. Needless to say, I tend to take on the ailments of those around me. I'm strange, I know!

Tile is 98% finished

So here's the final product. It took us about 2 weeks of working on the tile, on and off, but we finally got it done. We worked on it for 2-4 hours a day, but not consistently. All I have to say about tiling a floor, is that I'll never do it again. Of course Shawn and I started with the largest room in the house that needs to be tiled, the downstairs kitchenette and laundry area. This room is about 250 square feet of wonderfulness. I will post pics of before, during and after pics once we get the kitchen cabinets and granite counter top in. But for now, you will have to settle for these pics.

We tried to grout the floor in a dark color, per my sister's advice. She said that grout will change colors when it gets dirty. So, we started out with a dark color, but apparently once you get the grout in there, it is MUCH lighter than the color on the grout bag, and even the color chart. Now our grout is exactly the same color as the tile, which is slightly disappointing. We wanted darker grout, but such is life - you live and you learn I guess.

Our next step, sealing the grout, getting the washer and dryer back into the room, and installing the lower cabinets. I can't wait until the room is finished.

We eat with our eyes.....

This is what I made today.....

I also made some really good deviled eggs, but I didn't take a picture of those because, well, they are deviled eggs, and who hasn't seen those?

Despite reports.....

I keep hearing and reading reports about education being a 'safe' job in this economy. Every time I hear that I laugh. Being a teacher in primary education, and even an instructor in higher education DOES NOT mean that you are immune to layoffs. In fact, it means quite the opposite. Here's what I read today:

California Asks Feds For Nearly $5B For Education

Posted: 3:49 pm PDT April 9, 2009

SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is asking the federal government for nearly $5 billion in economic stimulus money for California schools.

The governor signed the state's application Thursday.

Schwarzenegger says he hopes the money will avoid further teacher layoffs and help schools that are struggling to absorb $8 billion in budget cuts.

About 26,000 California teachers were handed pink slips this spring after Schwarzenegger signed a state budget that made massive cuts to state programs and raised taxes to boost revenue.

The governor's office estimates schools could get about $3.1 billion after the application is approved, with another $1.8 billion to follow. Most of the money will go to K-12 schools, with about a fifth of the total dedicated for higher education.

Copycat Outback Steakhouse Ranch Dressing

I have been searching for a good homemade ranch dressing recipe but have been unable to find one. I decided to search for copycat recipes and have been making different versions all week. Here is one of the best ones I have found so far:

1 teaspoon Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressing mix (make sure it's the Buttermilk version)
1 cup mayonnaise (Hellman's or Best Food's only)
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

Throw everything in a blender and blend until everything is well combined.

A LIGHTER VERSION:
1 teaspoon Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressing mix (make sure it's the Buttermilk version)
1/2 cup mayonnaise (Hellman's or Best Food's only)
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

Mix everything together in the blender until well combined.

The only difference between the lighter version and the first recipe posted is the substitution of cottage cheese for some of the mayo. Both versions were good, but it's still not exactly the same as Outback. I have also seen some copycat recipes with 1 Tablespoon of the Ranch Dressing Mix instead of 1 teaspoon. I personally think the dressing needs a bit more flavor, but that's probably only because I'm a ranch snob. Enjoy!

Kitty Burglar

I just read a story on cnn.com about a cat who is stealing clothing and other items from neighbors. The kitty's name is "Jack", if that really is his name though I wouldn't blame the owner for using an alias in this situation. He goes out at night and collects items from his neighbors and brings them home for his owner. You can watch the video HERE.

So far he has collected:
towels
stuffed animals
gloves
a childs hoodie
sandals
and much more.......

Laying Tile

My wonderful husband and I are laying tile in our downstairs kitchen. Yes, our house has two kitchens. A full kitchen exists upstairs, and a kitchenette resides downstairs. Our full kitchen upstairs has everything a kitchen needs. The kitchen downstairs has everything a kitchen needs except for a dishwasher. I keep calling the downstairs kitchen a 'kitchenette' because that's how we are going to use it. We are currently leaving out the refrigerator and stove, though there is space and wiring. But let's get to the point......

We have been laying tile on the floor for the past couple of days. If there is one word of advice for the beginning tiler - DON'T FREAKING DO IT!!!!! Buy the materials and hire a professional to do it. Laying tile has to be the hardest jobs we have done in our house so far - and we've torn down walls, replaced front and back door with re-framing, built walls, remodeled bathrooms, refinished 1150 square feet of hardwood floors, painted the house inside, painted the outside of the house that had been beaten down by the sun for 50 years, laid pergo flooring, replaced windows, built a concrete wall including a slab for the hot tub, and countless other remodel projects around the house. Tiling a floor is by far one of the worst remodeling projects EVER!!!!!!!! (I use multiple exclamation points to emphasize the fact that tiling is horrendous. Don't do it, just don't.)

Here are some pics of the kitchenette and the tile project. I hope you can see the color of the kitchen. If not, it's a gray/blue color. The tile is a ceramic travertine tile, and the counter top is a natural granite color (that was free-$.99 thank you very much to the folks disposing of perfectly good granite slab). The cabinets will be white along with the ceiling, trim and door. The kitchenette theme is "Ocean" or "Beach". I will put up my ocean photography in the room, and make some matching curtains.

Without further ado, here are a couple of pics......

Notice the gray/blue color of the walls, light and breezy. Recessed lighting because our downstairs is not a full 8 feet, and the natural color travertine tiles. This pic is where the cabinets will eventually be. We have the cabinets, they are just waiting to be assembled and installed.

Notice the perfect grout lines. Yeah, 18x18 tiles are really hard to place. Never will we tile a room this big again. Never, nope, no way.

Blogging Workshop at SJSU

I'm a highly insecure person when it comes to teaching new things. This is interesting because of the profession I chose. This Thursday I am presenting a workshop at San Jose State about Blogging. I blog for my online classes, I require my students to blog, I read blogs everyday, I have a personal blog, but this does not make me an expert by an stretch of the imagination.

I have been putting together a workshop that should last at least an hour and a half to two hours, and I'm terrified that I will receive questions I cannot answer, look like an idiot while I am facilitating this workshop or God forbid, the technology in the classroom will fail. My entire workshop is on the computer. I need to breathe.....

Needless to say, I have been doing some reading about blogging for a while, but figure that most students who will be attending will have very little blogging knowledge. Or at least I ASSUME that the participants will have very little blogging knowledge. Here is a schedule of how things will probably go:

1). Lecture/Discussion on what a blog is.
2). Chat about the purpose for blogging. We will chat a bit about some popular blogs here.
3). Anatomy of a basic blog.
4). Blog hosting and what this means.
5). A short chat about the content of blogs.
6). Components of blogging success.
7). Blogsphere - what happens when you post.
8). Blogging and Ethics.
9). Privacy/Reputation/Alienation
10). Choosing a blogging niche. We will chat more about specific blogs during this section.
11). Creating a blog. (This is a hands-on component)
12). Creating an RSS feed to read blogs. (This is also a hands-on component)
13). Individual group discussions about recent articles in the news about blogging. I feel that students should always keep up with current events.

All of this should take about an hour and a half....I hope! I will be testing out this workshop, at least the discussion part, tomorrow on my class at Sierra College. I briefly mentioned that I was doing a workshop on blogging and they seemed highly interested.

Even though I am preparing, I'm still terrified!

Spring Break

This will be short...

Last week was Spring Break for San Jose State, next week is Spring Break for Sierra College. I'm not quite sure why Spring Break's are different for school's, college's, etc..., but I wish they would line up so I actually have time off. I'm not complaining though! As soon as I noticed that next week was Spring Break for Sierra College, I almost cried, I was so happy!

The Square Foot Garden

This year we decided we would do an organized Square Foot Garden. Neither Shawn nor I have done much reading about this type of gardening, but then again, neither of us knew much about soil or gardening when we started planting a number of years back (and still don't), and gardening has worked out pretty well for us so far. This time around I decided I wanted to organize a bit so I added a bit of decoration to my existing veggie boxes. Can you see the square foot sections?


In this box we have: 6 Broccoliflower, 6 Beets, 4 Celery and 6 Brussels Sprouts.










This one contains 2 Tomato Plants, 2 Bell Pepper, 2 Bell Pepper and tons of onions that we separated (hopefully the onions will make it).












Two lonely Zucchini Plants hang out in this box.










Here we have 6 Strawberry Plants, and will soon have at least 10-12.












This is our last Square Foot box. I haven't added the string yet to delineate the square foot sections yet. We will be going back to the nursery this weekend to pick up some more veggies to plant. I'm excited to see just how much we are able to fit into our new square foot garden.






The most exciting part about the planting project this year is my discovery of Blueberry Bushes. The nursery we went to today will be carrying more Blueberry Bushes around Father's Day. I will be back there the first weekend they have them in to purchase at least 6. You can plant 3 bushes in a half wine barrel. Blueberries are filled with anti-oxidants, not to mention the pure yumminess of them. I can't wait! We will also be planting our traditional tomato plants in the front of the house. Hopefully this year they will grow to 8 feet again. I will update once we have more plants in the ground!