Cold Weather...Warm Soup

Tonight I made a super-easy but tasty soup. (I'm glad my husband is easily satisfied.) To top it off, I made heart shaped biscuits. I got the recipe from a cookbook my grandma found which has proved to be quick useful in basic recipes like these biscuits.

Here's the soup recipe for good measure:
1 can Campbell's cheddar soup plus 1 can milk
1 can Campbell's potato soup plus 1 can milk
1 cup tater tots
3/4 cup diced ham

Blend soups and milk in saucepan over low heat until blended. Add tater tots and ham. (Tater tots will begin to separate). Stir frequently to prevent scalding on the bottom. When bubbly, serve!

For grandma M.

"Bean soup.... that's all I want grandma!"

I figured out how to make a similar replica of the tasty soup. Three or four cans of beans, small cubes of ham, splash of garlic, hint of onion, and salt and pepper. Not to bad, if  I do say so myself. And cheap! That's how I like it.

MMMMMmmmm good! Love me some comfort food.

        Don't forget the cheesy
        garlic-buttered biscuits!

Four months???

If a picture is worth a thousand words, this one sums up my life the last few months:

Notice the messy bulletin board, pictures, and notes.

But most of all, notice that the calendar says: JULY!!!!

I haven't even switched it for 4 months. That is just how ridiculous everything has been getting lately!






I do love getting my masters and feeling like I am moving forward and making myself more equipped to do what I want to do: impact students in the public schools.  I just hope I haven't lost too much in the process of being busy.

This weekend, Justin and I hit up the junior high dance at school, once again, in our Incredibles costumes. Goodness knows that we don't really dance,  but go to connect with the students and lend a watchful eye on those wayward dancers. :) Plus, I figure that we should get as much wear out of these costumes before they don't fit anymore!

Christmas Lights

Browsing through the junk mail, I was taken aback when I saw this:

So these days, people will even put up your Christmas lights for you. Of course you have to pay them though. (And in times like these, who has money to pay for that? Heck, who can afford a higher electric bill for the lights themselves?)

Anyway, I just think that it is crazy, and I thought someone else might find it laughable too.

Super Sweet Sidewalk

Isn't my husband great????



Long time no blog.

I finally sit down. Finally. The weeks are rushing by a hummingbird trying to get to the sweet syrup in the feeder. I think that's what I feel like too. Except sometimes I wonder if I am going to get to the sweet stuff.

My 16 credits worth of classes keep plugging away. Two at night, two online. They sure keep my busy. I told Justin that he had to plan a date for us this weekend so that I would get away and relax. Hopefully my mind will be able to shut down for a little bit! We are planning on going to Red Lobster and then a movie afterwards.

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps is our chosen one for tonight. It was either that or Social Network, but since I like Facebook, I guess I don't want to see a movie that defames it. I mean, I remember when Facebook first started, and Cedarville, my college, hadn't been added yet. Then it was, and 90% of the college had started and account in a day. And it's still how I keep in touch with my college friends. While you do need to be careful about the security issue, overall I am pleased with most of it. The stuff I don't like, I can just ignore. Anyways, the movie isn't on my list to see until it comes out at Redbox.

Besides that, I'm hoping to start my research paper on best practices for schools with English learner's. It's not due for over a month, but with everything else, I'm just trying to make sure I get things done.

Over and out...

Amazing Themed Cakes

Can you believe that this is actually a cake? Well, it is. Check out more here: Amazing Cakes

 

The Road

Last night Justin and I watched The Road. Quite frankly, it was pretty frightening. I would say it was a cross between The Happening and The Carriers, and definitely over the edge on the gory side. When I say that, I mean never show it to kids, because earth had just been through an apocalypse, and people were starving so much they would eat each other. Pretty gross, I know, and I'm not quite sure how a book like this could win awards and be considered so great.

When I see a movie like that, I just think about man's depravity and utter hopelessness without God.

True, a positive point was the father and son's relationship and hanging on to each other no matter what. And another family accepting the son when the father finally died. Beyond that, it's utter hopelessness.

One review said that this book was a testament to what could happen if we don't start to take care of the earth. However, in watching the movie, I saw no pointers to anything environmental- just a decaying, horrid place that the father and son were wandering through as they tried to make it to the coast and go south.

At the end of it all, I just had nightmares about cannibalism. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. (I hate it when I waste my time like that!)

Resolution...

So, them books are crazy. I mean, really. They leave you thinking for days. The Hunger Games is phenomenal. I know I was still sorting through things in the last post, but I really, really enjoyed them. So, so much deeper than many books I have read recently. I would recommend them to anyone. In the next few weekends, when I get more time, I am going to read them again.

School (teaching) and school (my master's) is super duper busy. I'm just running around crazy. I tell myself it's only for a year, and then things will be better. And I will have time for my husband, my family, and my friends.

I just have such a desire to be a positive difference, and this keeps pushing me on. I hope that I can do it one day. I hope I am doing it now, in some capacity, for my church, my students, my coworkers.

Tomorrow I offered my room at school for prayer in the morning. I hope a few people come. I think it could be a great thing.

That's all I got for now....

Mocking Jay

SPOILER WARNING

So, finished Mockingjay last night. Close the book and felt like sobbing for hours. At the fact that Collins, the author, did such a great job or portraying evil and showing that it effects are never over, no matter how distant the trauma. I curled up beside my husband in bed and just wanted him to hold me.

I'm not going to lie, I don't know if I liked it (the ending). I already predicted that it wasn't going to turn out happy. I mean, whenever you have a three-sided romance, someone gets the bad end of the deal. But like a reviewist said, Katniss was in it to survive. And like Gale said, she would chose the one who she needs to survive. But my question was, did she really choose Peeta? Because that is who she ended up with. I guess when they returned to live in 12 after the whole mess, she didn't have to marry and have kids. So that was a choice. But still, for Gale to just stay away.... was that noble of him? I'm not sure I can call him noble when it could have been his fault that Prim died. He could think like the killers. And isn't that a little scary? Even after Katniss had been through the Games, she still had compassion and restraint. Perhaps that is why Gale didn't- because he had never been through the Games. Either way, I'm left so conflicted. Like Gale didn't live up to what I wanted him to... that perfect friend. If he was the perfect friend, would he have confused Katniss with the kisses? And to take a job in another district- is this what a friend would do? I guess I wanted him to watch out for her. But then again, even in the days before Katniss went to the games, they were partners, not lovers. So why did she still felt guilty about him seeing her kiss Peeta in the Games?

Peeta was always protecting Katniss in a selfless manner. At the Games and after. He did really care about her when he first said so in the interviews before the first Games. But even back when he gave her the bread, Katniss didn't seem to love him. It was just gratitude for survival. I think I am seeing what Katniss needs. To survive. Is this it? She does truly care for him.

In Catching Fire, I had started to really think Peeta and her would be together. I knew something drastic would have to happen to break the tension for Katniss between Peeta and Gale. So when Peeta was tortured beyond recognizing the real Katniss, I started to separate and think that Katniss would be with Gale, even with her devotion and care about Peeta. With the ending, I guess it just shows that evil affects everyone in a multitude of ways- no one can escape it. Maybe Gale wishes he would have volunteered for Peeta in the beginning, and been with Katniss the whole time. Since he didn't, does he regret it and feel that staying away is the best thing for her? Is he a minor character that I'm blowing out of proportion? Yet isn't he important to Katniss? (Maybe my personal experiences are clouding over with things that are happening to the characters, and I'm taking all of this too seriously. But I still have nagging questions in my head!)

Gale makes an interesting point about Katniss being drawn to pain- and since Peeta has more, Gale feels that he never has a chance.

Now, I went back and read the ending. The justification for being with Peeta is that Gale has fire, and Katniss doesn't need any more. Peeta is the dandelion, the rebirth. I think I can settle with this.

I can barely stand the fact that Prim dies. It's the ultimate horror- the sister she volunteered for in the Games ends up being killed in the Capitol, the people who would have sacrificed her for entertainment in the first place. Of course this is what drives Katniss insane, plus the fact that it could have been Gale, which seems to him the breaking point of pursuing Katniss any more.

I was glad that she killed Coin. I never liked her, really.

The blood smell and roses was sickening to read, which is probably why Snow seems so evil.

I'm really sad that Cinna died, but I suppose he lives on in the mockingjay suit.

One great part was Finnick telling all of the Capitol secrets. But I wish he never would have been put through the things that he did to know them. And somehow, the fact that Annie has a child doesn't right the fact that Finnick is gone and will never see it.

But this is Collins point, I think. To make readers see evil, and turn away from it. No one ever really wins in the end. Someone always loses something.