Just Another Day

So, technically yesterday was Blog Action day. I was supposed to write about the environment in my own way. Of course, I let time slip away from me, but here are a few thoughts – better late than never!

I suppose better late than never sums up part of my thoughts on doing our part to working towards a “healthier” environment. I’ve certainly not always been environmentally conscious, and I still create way too much trash and emit way too many carbon units. But I guess I’m at a stage of awareness… I try to bring my grocery bags in and ditch out on extra plastic bags when I remember. I frown at styrofoam. I’m moving towards more natural soaps and detergents in SOME areas of our household cleaning products. BUT, I am far from where I hope to get to. I don’t beat myself up over it, though. I think having a lot of people change a few things is easy and sustainable. If I bite off more than I can chew right now, it’ll just be a fad / phase in my life. I think, though, that I will continue to educate myself on the effects my decisions make and try my best to choose the better ones.

Well, it was one of my three weeks for morning and after school playground/bus duty. I think the extra exposure to fresh air has made me extra sleepy! Or perhaps it’s that the days are growing noticably shorter… Oooh, winter is around the corner.

After relaxing Monday evening, I was ready for a little excitement the rest of my week. The Svirs shared their amazing homemade pizza with me Tuesday night. It had been about two weeks since I’d seen them. It seems almost unreal since we live only about 5 miles apart! Axton gets bigger every time I see him, and this visit he seemed a lot stronger. I bet he’ll be crawling soon. How fun to get to be near by to witness it all.

Wednesday brought a BTSS inservice day for me. I got to learn all about the Danielson framework for observation and various ideas for conducting parent-teacher comments. The real highlight, though, was re-connecting with the other first-year-in-the-district teachers… there are a bunch of us. Anyway, that evening at “Diva’s” we celebrated Sara’s 26th birthday. (For the first time in some time – maybe ever – I’m the oldest in my “social group”!) We had yummy sweet and sour pork with a chocolate birthday cake for dessert. Mmmm!

Thursday was the day I was most looking forward to because I knew when I got back to our apartment, my hubby would be there waiting. I threw my good intentions of cooking right out the window, and we settled on Applebee’s. Then we caught “My Name is Earl” and “The Office” before heading to bed early… the poor guy had flown through the night.

Tonight I got home to find my cousins Peyton and Jake. They’re staying with us tonight and tomorrow while Matt and Deana take part in a friend’s wedding festivities. We settled on McDonald’s for dinner, a little time outside on the playground with a football, and one of their movies to wind down this evening. I imagine we’ll look for something exciting to do tomorrow!

In other news… My grandpa is still in the rehab unit at the Virginia Hospital. I haven’t heard for sure how long they plan to keep him. My grandma was moved to the Cook Nursing Home where I’m certain she is anxiously awaiting my grandpa’s arrival. I hope to get home again soon to see them, as I know these times of transition are not easy. I feel so lucky to know that my family is close by and doing their best to make sure Gram and Gramp get the best care available.

I hope to have some new pictures and stories from the weekend to post soon! Happy Friday, Everyone!

I received these beautiful candles from a dear friend tonight. They are delightful Fall colors and scents – pumpkin pie, apple cinnamon, oatmeal rasin, and vanilla mint! MMMM! The weekend seemed to go way too quickly, and the kids were CRAZY today, so I am enjoying the calming effects of this wonderful gift.

Tonight I made truffles to bring to my Grandpa who happens to have landed himself in the hospital this week. It’s frustrating to be so much closer this year, but still not close enough to feel a part of these important moments. I know, though, that I’ve got to be thankful for the weekends. So, yes, I will head to Virginia and spend some time catching up with Gram and then head over to see Gramp. I can’t wait.

The week has been quiet fast! Yesterday I arrived at the school and told myself, “Just pretend it’s a Monday.” I think it worked. 🙂 Suddenly, tomorrow is Friday.

Of course the apartment has been quiet with Bill still flying around Alaska. He has had an amazing journey this past week and a half – I think he’s averaging only about a day at each site. What a whirl wind! He’s got another week before he’ll be back in Brainerd – just in time to spend the weekend with Peyton and Jake – how fun! I’m trying to convince my dad to come stay, because the boys enjoy “Uncle Jimbo’s” antics as much as the rest of us. We’ll see…

“Diva’s” night was a nice distraction from my quiet evening routine. Sara grilled kabobs for us as a farewell to summer, and of course I got to envy her decorating ability. I’ve decided that if I truly want my place to look “homey”, I’ll have to hire a decorator. So, simplicity it is – though I have to admit I am loving the new duvet and curtains in our bedroom!

Work has been good. I’ve been struggling to get out of the building at a normal time seeing as there’s no one to rush home to. Today, though, I just made myself leave at 3:45. What a great feeling to have a whole evening to get non-work stuff done! I even got some more unpacking done… all the while thinking how completely ridiculous it is that we’re not completely unpacked. 😉 What’re you going to do?

Oh, enjoy your weekends, everybody! I wish you all good weather and plenty of relaxation!

I made it into the cities around noon on Saturday to meet up with April, Amy, and Trisha for a day of shopping and laughing! We spent the whole afternoon walking through the Mall of America. I ended up finding some good deals, and continued to justify my clothes purchases by claiming to not have got any new work clothes this year. 😉

We headed to the Olive Garden for dinner, and the food was good but the conversation better. “What if his name was Richard?”

It doesn’t surprise me that I slept really hard after such a full day. This morning, though, we were all raring to go! We headed to IKEA – my very first shopping experience at the store. I’d been warned by several people that I’d leave the store with a bunch of stuff I didn’t intend to buy; that’s precisely what happened. I got a beautiful new duvet (I basically stole it out of April’s hands… oops!), and a couple of pictures and frames to match for our bedroom. I also got a couple of storage / organizer type things that I’ll have to play with. I think our bank account would agree that it’s a good idea to not get to close to that place again any time soon!

We swung by Chipotle (mmmm!) before we all headed our separate directions. The time was short and full! I can’t wait to do it again!

Here’s the torte recipe – it is yummy!

Sacher Tort

5 semisweet chocolate baking squares cut up

1 Tbs hard margarine

1/2 c margarine softened

1/2 cup sugar

5 egg yolks

1tsp vanilla

2 tbsp cocoa

3/4 c flour

1/4 tsp salt

5 egg whites

1 c jam

Melt chocolate and first amount of margarine in medium saucepan on low, stirring constantly, until smooth. Cool to room temperature.

Cream second amount of margarine and sugar in medium bowl. Beat in egg yolks and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add chocolate to egg yolk mixture. Beat to blend.

Sift cocoa into flour and salt in small bowl. Stir into chocolate mixture.

Beat egg whites with clean beaters in large bowl until stiff. Fold into chocolate mixture in four additions. Turn into greased 9 in springform pan. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes. A wooden pick in center should come out clean. Cool.

Cut cake into 2 layers. Spread bottom layer with scant 1/2 raspberry jam. Add top layer. Spread remaining jam over top and sides. Let stand 1 hour or more to dry slightly. Pour glaze over top and down sides of cake. Cut into 12 wedges.

Chocolate glaze:

3/4 c whipping cream or evaporated milk

6 semisweet chocolate baking squares cut up

Heat whipping cream in small saucepan on low. Add chocolate, stirring constantly, until melted and smooth.

I felt so very productive Monday night. It’s amazing how much time I seemed to have. I guess when Bill’s around I don’t realize how much I just like “being”. So, I filled my hours with plenty of girly projects to appreciate the evening.

Tuesday I roped Amanda into hanging out. She and Jessica (a friend of the Svir’s) decided that going to a movie would be a good way for a couple of mom’s to have an evening out. Being that I love movies – and moms 😉 – it was a perfect fit.

Last night we had our second “Diva’s” night, and it was my turn to host. I decided to make Supreme Beef Casserole, croissants (not from scratch!), spinach salad, and of course the torte. I think everything turned out pretty well. Of course, these dinners are more about the conversation than the food anyway.

Bill’s busy flying around Northwestern Alaska. He sounds good every time we get a chance to talk on the phone. It sounds like he’ll be heading in the direction of Brevig Mission this weekend. I don’t think he’s been there since we moved. I’m anxious for him to see the new school – and to tell me about the part that’s been remodeled since I consulted out there. Plus it’ll be nice for him to see the Rudstroms.

Tonight the Office premiers – so I am laying low, looking forward to more Jim/Pam drama, and thinking of Friday morning coffee conversations from last year that often started with a recap of the show the night before. 🙂

Tomorrow it’ll be time to put the finishing touches on next week’s lesson plans… my first FULLY UNINTERUPTED week with my students! No crazy schedules – no early release days. I can’t wait!

Bill left for Alaska again this morning. He’ll be up working for the next 2 1/2 weeks, so with a little coaxing, we might actually get a couple of blog posts out of him. 😉

With the apartment to myself, I decided to go wild and do all of the fun things I could think of… starting with cleaning the toilet. Seriously, bathrooms are the worst! But, the process was fairly painless. I got the rest of the place straightened up as well, meanwhile I had several vanilla candles burning. Since the day we moved in, I’ve thought that this apartment smelled weird. I can’t even describe it, other than “heavy”. The candles have done an amazing job, though. Or it could be the baking that occured this evening…

I decided to get a head start on dessert for Wednesday night. I wanted to make a sacher torte – a recipe I got from AnnMarie when we lived in Brevig. I remembered it being a bit labor intensive, though, so I decided to make the cake tonight. I got to use our KitchenAid for the first time… it worked well. And the recipe took a few steps to put together, but I wouldn’t call it difficult. And I’m thinking about making one every night just to get this place to smell as heavenly as it does right now. Mmmmm!

  It was time to get our wine bottled up, so we drove over to Duluth last night after work. The drive over was beautiful – picture worthy.

The fall colors are one of the things I missed a lot when we lived in Alaska. The tundra turned a few different shades, but I’d nearly forgotten how vivid this season is displayed amongst the Maples and Oaks!

We headed to the Olive Garden for a tasty little dinner before heading downtown to our hotel. This morning came early after a restless, sore-throat ridden sleep. Luckily, the wine bottling process was fun – definitely made the trip worth it.

We got to try a sample of our wine, though it needs to age until about January. The place has a magnetic holder that lines up all the tanins in the wine… it simulates the aging process by about 2 months. We tasted the untouched wine and then the stuff that had been on the “cheater”. You could totally tell the difference – I think we’ve got a good batch!