saturday

saturdays always go soooo fast.  i wish i could make them slow down.

              

friday i did not have school due to a long week of late nights due to parent teacher conferences.  jake also had the day off.  we spent it sleeping in and relaxing and then heading off to meet up with some friends.  we went and saw looper.  aw, joesph gordon-levitt, i'm in love with you.  it was such a good movie, too!

today i made pancakes for jake, worked on an art project inspired by young house love and a beautiful mess, drank large amounts of coffee, and snuggled with dug.  i also managed to avoid the large stack of papers needing graded, but alas, i hear them calling my name so i better get that crossed off my list!

what did you do today?

good-bye summer

october is just around the corner.  the leaves are changing colors and the mornings are crisp.  nebraska still upper 80's weather, but i'm anxious for fall weather to be upon us.

farmers are now busily harvesting the rolling plains of corn.

this fall i'm hoping to make an apple pie, take lots of photos, complete some projects, and take time to appreciate the fall weather.  oh, and i had a salted carmel mocha at starbucks last night... it was amazing.  

what are you hoping to accomplish this fall?

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

do it.

saturday

the busiest week is rapidly approaching.  parent teacher conferences start up monday.  i have tons to prepare for conferences and around the house and went to bed last night with a running list of things i needed/wanted to accomplish today.  i haven't gotten very far.  jake and i woke up at the same time (which never, ever happens.  jake can sleep forever.  i usually force myself to wake up before 10 am on saturdays for the sake of accomplishing a huge list and still be able to relax).

jake had to go to work at 2:00 pm for the rest of the day, so instead of getting started on my list... i decided to spend the time with jake.  we made breakfast burritos together and watched t.v.  it was so nice to relax with him.  

unfortunately, as soon as he left my stomach began to become super upset which has left me avoiding a lot of work.  so now i'm left with a pile of clean laundry to fold and hang up, and a basket full of papers to grade and conference sheets to prepare for.  

 i did manage to finish and hang my yarn letters and window frame above our bed.  it was so unnecessary to complete today, but it seemed better than working on school work.

goal list

the school year is in full swing so that means i have a constant, running to-do list.  items get crossed off, but i never actually finish the list until the end of the school year.  that's what i hate and love about my career... i love that there's always work to be done and the work is constantly changing, yet sometimes i wish i had the type of job that ended at 5:00 pm and work stayed at work.

this year i decided i needed to set more personal goals during the school year.  i want to make more time for myself.  thus, i have made a goal list for the first quarter of school.

here it goes:

   

 1. read a book

over the summer i read.  a lot.  i forgot how much i loved reading.  currently, i'm trying to finish little bee.  it's a great read about two women. 

 

2. sew another skirt.  

i loved the process of making the above skirt.  i want to make another one, but this time try and get a more accurate fit for my body.

3. continue to work out and lose at least 4 pounds.

i know, i know.  it's a pretty small goal considering there's 9 weeks in a quarter, but i figured i should make it small enough to achieve so i won't get discouraged if i don't succeed!

4. blog and photograph life more consistently.

do any of you regularly set goals?  if so, what are some of your goals?  how long do you set your time frame?  i would love to hear your goals and ideas.

fluffy clipboard

i've been seeing all these adorable clipboards on pinterest lately.  each time i saw one i thought to myself, "too bad i don't use clipboards more often," when BAM! it dawned on me.  i knew someone who uses a clipboard!  jackie.  jackie is our ela teacher at school. since she moves from classroom to classroom a lot she tends to carry a clipboard.  and she's super good at her job.  i love her ideas and wish she could work in my classroom more often instead of just sending my ela kids to her for small group work.  i totally asked her about her favorite colors and got to work.

all i needed was purple and yellow paper, yellow tulle, an old clipboard, and some spray adhesive. 

i loved the yellow and purple polka dot sheets.  a few snips later, and ta-da!  i was done! 

here's the finished product.  i used my cricut to cut letters out to spell her name.

i was worried the tulle would make it too girly/fluffy, but it actually turned out to really pull the clipboard together.  jackie loved it and i love seeing her walking around the school with it!  it almost makes me want to make one and carry a clipboard around.  tell me about your latest craft adventures...

dug post

hi everyone.  my name is dug.  i'm a beagle.  life's been pretty good.  i went camping a few weeks ago.  i loved most of it.  my mom and dad took me exploring on the sandbars.  it smells amazing - lots of fishy smells and wet sand for me to run around on.  i liked chewing on all the drift wood, too!

i had a lot of fun sniffing around and exploring too!

my favorite part was the warm campfire.  i love to sun tan, but this was even better!  plus, mom and dad fed me a hotdog.  i was in heaven!

my least favorite part was sleeping in the tent.  i'm an indoor dog, but a tent dog.  hearing all the crickets and coyotes really scared me.  i stayed on watch for most of the night.  boy was i tired the next day.  welp, that's about all.  i'm gonna go sniff out some kibbles.  bye.

camping

jake took me camping about 2 weeks ago.  i had never been camping before.  my idea of camping is staying in a sketchy motel.  since it was my first time, we went to a little campsite about 1 mile from my mom's house.  remember this place?  seriously, (and secretly) i figured i would end up back at my mom's house, but i did it.  i stayed the entire night.  on a hard floor.  in a tent.

dug had the time of his life.  he sniffed, and ran, and sniffed, and ran some more.  we even decided to let him eat a hot dog since we were out camping.  he enjoyed every bite.

along the campsite runs a river.  it's been so dry this summer that river is really dry and has plenty of sand bars to walk along.  jake taught me how to skipped rocks.  i'm pretty bad at it.

we ended the night with a campfire and all the fixings - hot dogs, dill pickle chips, and s'mores.  it's so weird that something as simple as building a campfire and sitting around it is so relaxing.  i had a great time and actually would love to do it again, despite the fact that i barely slept due to a hard ground, and dug pacing the inside of the tent determined to protect his beloved mom and dad.

anyway, tell me about your camping experiences!  the good, the bad, and the ugly...ok, go.

back to school!

today's the first day of school!

zucchini brownies

my mom made zucchini brownies last week.  i was working on consuming the entire pan, but then she gave some away to a neighbor (without my consent)!  they were so good i had to make another pan.  don't worry, i already told myself i have to share these with someone.  my waist thanks me in advance.

the recipe is from a small town newspaper that my mom clipped this summer.  the newspaper actually has a column titled "recipe corner".  an  (probably cute) old lady submitted it.  you know it'll be good if that's the case.  women in small towns only share the best of the best of their recipes. 

here's the recipe. 
(with a few adaptations i made marked by *)

zucchini brownies

ingredients

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 cups white sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

2 cups all-purpose flour *i used whole wheat flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder *i used dark chocolate cocoa powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups shredded zucchini *i peeled mine first

1/2 cup chopped walnuts *i skipped on the walnuts and added some peanut butter chips because i had some leftover and i have a serious peanut butter addiction

frosting

6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder 

1/4 cup margarine

2 cups confectioners' sugar

1/4 cup milk

1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

directions

preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  grease and flour a 9x13 inch baking pan.  in a large bowl mix together the oil, sugar, and 2 teaspoons of vanilla until well blended.

combine the flour, 1/2 cup cocoa, baking soda, and salt; stir into the sugar mixture.  the mixture will be really dry as pictured below.

fold in the zucchini and walnuts *in my case, pb chips.  spread evenly into the prepared pan.

bake for 25-30 minutes until brownies spring back when gently touched.  *i used the trusty toothpick method.  

to make the frosting, melt together 6 tablespoons of cocoa and margarine; set aside to cool.  in a medium bowl, blend together the confectioners' sugar, milk, and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla.  stir in the cocoa mixture.  spread over cooled brownies before cutting into squares.

confession time: so... we ate these so fast, i forgot to snap any pictures.  furthermore, i didn't even bother to frost them.  i don't really love frosting so i just left them plain.  the frosting is good, but i enjoyed them just as much without it.

try them!