Traveling Machines

As Darrell and I gear up for our trip to London, I'm reminded of many of the other fun trips we've taken, both just the two of us and with family/friends. And since I know that when we get back from London I'll probably have (at least) a week's worth of posts and pictures to share I thought it might be fun to build up to what is undoubtably the biggest trip we've ever taken with some flashbacks to some of our other favorite trips. Our journeys have (literally) taken us across the country--we've traveled as far west as Spokane, Washington, and as far east as the coast of Maine! And, for the sake of having something worthwhile into my posts instead of just mindless jabber about vacations I've been on, I promise to work travel tips and suggestions into my posts since I'm sure many people are gearing up for summer vacations and trips themselves. Oh, and I'll be sure to include plenty of pictures too, so for those of you who don't care about what we do on vacation or tips for traveling, there will still be something for you too (provided you don't mind looking at pictures of us and places we've traveled--but let's be real, if you're reading this blog you're undoubtably used to looking at pictures of us so it won't be anything new). Hope you enjoy this new series of posts!

You Might be a Redneck if....

I kid you not. This is the scene Darrell and I walked into last night at my parent's house. And I know it's hard to tell from the picture, but the chairs are pointed at their TV (which--sadly--is not an old box with rabbit ears, as much as that would fit in this scenario). Of course there is a totally legitimate reason for this set-up--my parent's are doing some remodeling and needed to move all the furniture to get the rooms re-carpeted (hence why we were there)--but the scene was still quite comical. As my brother commented, "You guys look like two deadbeat drug dealers who had to sell the furniture to buy dinner and your next round of drugs--and now you are enjoying that dinner in front of the TV before you have to sell that too". Definitely not the case--but funny nonetheless.

Oh, and for the record--that awesome faux-wood paneling? That's totally staying.

Give Thanks!

This week is National Teacher Appreciation Week, as well as National Nurses Week. Take some time out of your day to say thank you to these people in your lives--you may think that your single "thank you" will be insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but I can promise you it won't. In fact, having a student make a special trip into my room this afternoon to say thank you is far more meaningful than the platter of subs we are getting from the business office for lunch tomorrow (although I'm certainly not complaining about the free food!)

And just a plug--don't forget your mothers either--Mother's Day is coming up on Sunday! There's still time to get a card in the mail if you won't be able to celebrate with your mother in person!

All Growed Up

Three years ago, when Darrell and I got engaged, I didn't really feel all that grown up. Six months later, when we bought a house, I sort of felt a little more grown up (but I kind of also just felt like a kid playing house). Six months after that when we got married I still didn't feel all that grown up; I'd had friends that married way younger so it didn't seem like that big of a deal. When my sister bought a house at the beginning of 2011, I was mostly relieved that she was starting to catch up to me (now if she would just get engaged!). But when my slightly younger baby brother bought a house two weeks ago... Man, did that make me feel old. It's just weird to think that my little brother is (mostly) grown-up and responsible enough--with a pretty legitimate full-time job--to be a homeowner.

The house! Ignore the snow and trucks and poor quality; I had to steal this off of Google maps because it was too dark when I was there to get a good picture

Naturally, this event called for a gathering of the family under the guise of helping him move in. In reality it was much more of a test of the ability of his house to hold a comfortable house party since we ended up having a little Cinco de Mayo celebration (and didn't actually move a single box or piece of furniture).

It started innocently enough with a celebratory dinner at a nice restaurant downtown...

But then the tequila came out once we got to his house and my mom and I foolishly decided to take a shot.

And then, well, we just started getting a little goofy.

And some people got sleepy.

But hey, his house passed the test with flying colors! Plenty of seating, comfortable couches, and enough food and drinks to keep everyone happy! And yes--I totally realize that I don't actually have a picture of my brother (or his girlfriend, for that matter), despite the fact that we were celebrating his new house. I really need to get better at taking pictures. But to be fair, my brother does tend to shy away from photos, so it's not likely he would have posed for me in the front of the house or something anyway.

We rounded out our weekend with some soccer (for Darrell), a shopping event in downtown (for me), and plenty of lounging around watching How I Met Your Mother. Actual amount of productivity this weekend? Slim to none. Definitely going to have to make that up this week.

Happy Monday!

Chicken Fiesta Soup

Darrell and I have a little bit of a love-hate relationship with our crockpot. We love the convenience of it, but dislike how it tends to produce "bland" recipes. We've especially found the latter to be true because most days when we used our crockpot we'd both be out of the house for 10+ hours which meant our dish was cooking away for quite a long period of time. And then, one day, we had an "aha!" moment. Instead of cooking our dishes on low for eight to ten hours, we could increase the heat and cook them on high for three to four. Since I'm usually home for a brief period in the afternoon before heading to my second job, I could get the food started as long as we had completed the majority of the prep work the night before.

Which is why Thursday afternoon I pulled this out of my fridge:

And sat down to this a handful of hours later at dinner!

All excitement about revitalizing our crockpot aside, this soup recipe is pretty fantastic (because, really, that's what you're here for. Not random asides on our crockpot use). The flavor and ingredients are a little bit lighter than a typical winter stew/soup (like chili), which makes it perfect for the spring/fall, and it's still hearty enough to fill you up.

Chicken Fiesta Soup


2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
8 oz stewed tomatoes, drained (we always use diced because I don't like the big chunks)
4 oz chopped green chilies
14 oz can enchilada sauce
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 an onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili powder
3/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro
1 cup frozen corn
1 yellow squash, diced
1 zucchini, diced
1 can black beans (optional--we added this in the most recent time we made this and really liked it!)

Combine all the ingredients in a crockpot. Cover and cook and low for eight hour. Serve with crumbled tortilla chips and cheese if desired.

How Did These Kids Get to High School?!?!

For those of you who don't know, I work as a math/science "specialist" at a high school (I use quotation marks because that isn't actually the title on my job description, it's just a better explanation for what I on a daily basis). And on many occasions, I find myself having to teach things to students that seriously make me scratch my head and go "really??"

Exhibit A
Student: I think I made a mistake on this problem.
Me: How so?
Student: Well, I changed the scale of the viewing window on my calculator, so won't that change the values of my x- and y-intercepts?
Me: *face palm*

Exhibit B
Student: I don't understand what I'm supposed to do.
Me: Have you read the directions?
Student: Yeah. It says to "find the product".
Me: So what math operation does that mean you should do?
Student: I don't know, divide?

Exhibit C
Student: Where's the fraction button on this calculator?
Me: Most calculators don't have a fraction button.
Student: So how do I enter a fraction?
Me: Well, what operation is indicated by the fraction bar?
Student: Subtract?

Exhibit D
Student: I can't solve this problem.
Me: Well, what have you tried so far?
Student: Nothing.
Me: Then how do you know you can't solve it?
Student: It has fractions in it.
(Seriously. I get this all the time. And if they get a fraction for an answer? You better believe they are convinced they did the problem incorrectly.)

And I don't have any one good example about this next "really?" moment, but you won't believe the number of times I have to explain to high school students the difference between area and perimeter and how to calculate either for basic shapes (rectangles, triangles, circles). Pretty certain that is an elementary school skill.

Now, maybe I just have too high of standards for these kids, but there are so many times where I find myself teaching concepts that I know are covered (thoroughly) at the middle school level, if not elementary. And when the students are in advanced classes (as is the student in Exhibit A), I'm definitely going to hold them to a higher standard. Of course, if all the students understood these things I'd be out a job, but still. The comedy of it all just makes me laugh sometimes. We're wrapping up our school year for this spring, but I may have to continue this list in the fall--because I know these students will continue to surprise me.

Neapolitan Pancakes

I'm pretty sure I've said before that I'm not very creative in the kitchen. And that's the honest truth. There are so many things that I would never think to combine in a recipe, even though once I see them combined by someone else I think "oh yeah, of course that combination would taste good".

Case in point--these pancakes. Chocolate chip pancakes? Done that a million times. Fruit pancakes? Not quite as often, but I definitely entertain it as a possibility. But combining the two? So not a process that naturally happens in my brain. Thankfully, this blogger did have the brilliance to combine these two high quality ingredients into one delicious pancake.

Before...

After!!

These puppies were seriously delicious. And the great thing is that I don't even have to type out a recipe to go with them! Just make a batch of pancakes like you normally would (I made this batch using Bisquick mix) and then added some chopped strawberries and chocolate chips to the batter once you pour them on the griddle! I also added a little bit of vanilla extract into the batter to make it more authentically neapolitan, but I couldn't really taste it so I would probably just omit it next time. Perfect for a weekend brunch or even a fun breakfast-for-dinner!