Yay for cooking!

And recipe blogs, and food in general.  I finally tried one of those recipes I've been looking at, and it turned out pretty decent.  It was simple sesame noodles from Pioneer Woman, and they were simple, and fast too which worked for Wed night.  Mine turned out a bit too sweet and way too garlicky though, so next time I'll probably use elephant garlic (or pre-made) and cut down on the sugar.  It was easy enough to definitely make again, that's for sure. The big downside for me was sitting in mtg knowing that I reeked of garlic- in fact, I can still taste it :P I like garlic, but not that much.

Disgraceful Disarray

My room is a mess... again.  For those of you who know me, I'm sure it comes as no surprise that my room resembles the back-room of a second-hand store.  You know- the clothes "neatly" sorted into piles based on when they were worn, which are clean, and which need a little tlc, and piles of books and random artifacts in strategic locations. Perhaps I'm the only one who doesn't expect it, but I'm still holding onto hope of reform.  The problem is that I'd much rather peruse culinary chronicles, or my latest book, and cleaning up or even picking up my room just isn't as fun.  Sigh.  I know, I need to stop just doing the fun stuff and grow up a little.  In fact, I'll clean it up right now... well, maybe when I get home from work... after I try out one of those amazing recipes for dinner... or not ;)

"Lazy" Sunday

 What a wonderful, mixed up day.  Meeting this morning was so full of love and encouragement, and such wonderful thoughts.  It must have tired me out though, because after a lovely roast for lunch, I flopped on my bed and slept for four hours, tights and all! I woke up to the news that Grandpa had locked the keys in the car at Aunty Lori's, so we were to take the truck over and give him a spare set, but we had no keys to the truck.  Grandpa and Aunty Lori ended up driving the other truck over, picking up Grandma and the keys, and going back to get the car.  What a mess!

 I meanwhile designated myself coordinator at the farm, which means I stayed home and made myself dinner while everyone else drove around in the pouring rain :).  Wait, that sounds really selfish... um... does it help that I cleaned the kitchen and made biscuits from scratch? Grandpa and Grandma seemed to think so :). I also got to eat an amazing artichoke, and a really yummy avocado, mmmm.  I love being here, where all the fruits and vegetables are fresh and delish.

I probably should mention last week too :)
Wednesday and Thursday were so fun at work, line-tag and dodge-ball respectively.  Since I'm still shadow teaching there's no pressure on me right now so I'm just learning how things work,  and attempting to develop my "teacher voice."  The kids are really fun, and they already recognize me, and say hi when they see me outside of Foster.  On Friday, the Boys and Girls Club had a special "Day for Kids," so I went over there and helped out. The middle school's reptile club brought over its creepy crawlies, so I ended up doing crowd control for the exhibit.  There were about ten different types of snakes, a leopard gecko, a baby american alligator (abt 2 ft long), and my least favorite- a tarantula.  All of the reptiles were held by members of the club, and you could hold them if you wanted to. It was actually really cool, although I never did get up the nerve to hold any of them.  It was a bit weird though to see seventh and eight graders with snakes draped around their necks or arms, or even on their heads.

 Now I'm going to get my act together and clean my room- maybe :)

First Days

  Well, The first day was a little crazy, a little disorganized, and actually a little boring too :).  There was a lot of introductions (only of the teachers) and rules, and wondering what came next.  I did get to help with the food, which was fun, and the kids were friendly and numerous :)
  Today was my favorite so far, by far.  The kids are mostly divided by grade level for this session, because they're doing a writing focus and it's hard to do writing in a multi-grade level setting.  Normally, the groups will be 20-25 kid in a mix of 1st-6th, but for the next few weeks its 1st&2nd, 2nd&3rd, 4th&5th, 5th&6th.  Mrs. Webb and I were working with the groups one at a time in the gym, playing name games and letting them run around a little.  I have to admit, the 1st-3rd graders are my favorite, but I'm sure I'll have fun with the older ones as well.  The funny thing is I'm not nearly as tired today as I was yesterday, perhaps because it's tiring to be confused and out of my element :)
  I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful job, I know over half the kids by name now, and I can't wait for tomorrow! :)

Ready, set...

 Well, tomorrow is my first day working with the kids, and I am so excited, I'm not sure if I'll be able to sleep :).  I got my food handler's license today, and I'll be updating my first-aid and CPR as soon as the class is offered.  Yeeeeee!
 Speaking of food, I made biscuits and zucchini stir-fry for dinner tonight.  The biscuits were yummy, but the stir-fry needs work, sigh :)

Yum yum :D

Mmmm

Skittles, Cheerios, cookie-dough ice cream, a good book, and no work tomorrow. :D  I vote for sleeping in and acting like it really is a three-day weekend.

Two masters

A man cannot serve two masters, but I do have two bosses :)
Yesterday I went and was oriented at the Boys and Girls Club, met everyone and learned policies and procedures, and what will be expected of me.  Then, my boss and I went to Foster Elementary to meet my supervisor there, and learn everything about their program, policies, and what I will be doing.  Lots and lots of information for one poor head to deal with, and even homework in the form of things to take home and read.  I turns out my responsibilities will be slightly more challenging than I originally thought, but I'm really excited.  For the first two weeks, I will be working with the lady who runs the PE portion of the program, and then she will move to another section, and I will be running it.  That means I will be in charge of coming up with activities as well as carrying them out, and responsible for the kids, although I will have someone else with me.  I hope I will get a better idea of what activities work, because my guidelines so far are activities that develop upper body strength, fine motor skills, communication skills, and tie in with the theme of "space exploration." Yikes.  On the plus side, I have access to a ton of arts and craft supplies, and a fully equipped gym, plus anything else I think I need.  Once I actually start, I will be developing and turing in lesson plans to me supervisor, like a real teacher, just not a certified one.  I really like the school though, it has a good atmosphere and from what I've seen, amazing teachers.  I like both my bosses, and my only disappointment is that I will not be working on Fridays unless they need a sub at the Boys and Girls Club.
  I also got in on the lovely visit with Dellas and his brother Lloyd yesterday, I got back before they left.  It was nice to see Dellas in a different setting, as I've seen him many times this year, but only at convention :)

We're following the river, the river, the...

Today Grandpa and I took a truly lovely drive up along the Calapooia river, and saw the house he grew up in.  It has been moved, remodeled, and built onto, but the original house is still there.

Grandpa's family lived in the original house, which was only as wide as the gabled part, and not very long behind either.  They didn't have all seven kids while living here, but seven or eight people is plenty for this little house.

After seeing the house, we drove up to a beautiful spot, where we could get right down to the river without much difficulty.  It was incredibly beautiful, and there were some great fishing holes too :)

What you can't see, is that right next to me was a huge spider web between two rocks, and the enormous resident too.  I'm not arachnophobic,  but it was HUGE! I tried to get a picture, but the combo of bad lighting and my iphone didn't work out, so I'll have to go back with an actual camera one of these days :)

This was an enormous tree that grandpa said was probably carried down river when the water was high and fast.  To give you a sense of proportion, realize it was about 6 ft in diameter, and really really long.

When we got back to the farm, the sun was drifting towards the horizon, and the flowers looked so lovely I just had to share :)

  I vote two posts is plenty for one day, good night! :)

Back to stay

  I've had the privilege of two conventions since my last post, Saginaw 2, and Boring 2, and both were truly wonderful.  Boring was last week, and there was such sweet fellowship and richness there, I feel so full :).  An interesting thing about Boring 2 though, is that it's fairly small at the beginning, but since it's over Labour day weekend and it's the last one on the west coast, everyone seems to come for the weekend.  By Sunday, it was the biggest convention I had been to, and there were a ton of young people.  After the last meeting on Sunday, we went to a get-together at the Woodruff's , were we had pizza and a sing, and then Max Bowman and Dan Sherick spoke.  It was the biggest get-together I'd ever been to, but it was nice, and really neat to get to hear some of Max and Dan's stories, and their testimonies.  I've gotten so many wonderful conventions this year, it's hard to face returning to the real world, but pretty soon special meetings will be starting, and I am looking forward to our little meetings too :)
  I'm also very happy to report that I finally found a job, and it's better than I could have hoped.  I don't start until tomorrow, but I will be working at the Foster after school program as a representative from the Boys and Girls Club.  This way I will get to work with kids, and since my job doesn't start till the end of the school day, I can volunteer or work at the school too! I'm very excited, and I really can't wait to start.  My boss is really nice too :)
  We also have another wonderful privilege, tomorrow Dellas Lineman is coming for lunch!  I've never gotten to spend time with him, but Dellas has been at most of the conventions I have this year, and I've come to especially look forward to hearing him.  I only wish that my job didn't start tomorrow so that I would have more time with him, and with his brother who is also coming.
  Oh my, I didn't mean to write a novel, but there you go, and without a single picture to make it interesting ;)