Multiple Trains of Thought!

I have multiple things, as I sit here at my laptop, that I would like to blog about. Who knows if you readers will find them interesting or not, but I felt the need to blog-and yes, inform. :)
First, my youngest daughter got an ant farm for her birthday. When I thought of ant farms, I assumed they had a queen, were an ant colony, etc. After some research, this is not so. When you receive an ant farm, it comes ant-less. You must send in an order form and order them. However, they won't send you a queen, because you are across state lines (unless you live in ID, I believe). They fear the queen might escape and "cross contaminate" the ant kingdom, creating havoc in the bug world, such as the ash borer went crazy here in the United States. Also, the queen produces thousands, if not tens of thousands, of eggs, so your tiny ant farm couldn't hold all of them. So, you can 1) order these live ants, receive a package of 25-30 live ants in the mail, and have them only live one to three months 2) go out in the spring and try/hope to catch a live "princess" (fertile female on her way to start her own colony as queen) and begin a colony, or 3) dig some up out of your yard or garden, keeping in mind that you will be destroying the colony which you took them from. So, we opted for number 1. We received the ants, which came with a paper that read, "DO NOT TOUCH THESE ANTS!" It went to so far as to say that if any escaped, not to try to save them but to kill them with a spoon or other utensil immediately! So, the ant farm didn't travel up to my daughter's room, it stayed in the kitchen so she didn't knock it off and scatter these "poisonous" ants everywhere. :) So, I learned quite a bit about ants. We are now about to the end of the three month period, seeing them die off a few each day. My family mocked my learning about ants, but I say you learn something new everyday and keep your brain active. This may even prove useful in the future classroom! :)
Next, we went to the chili cook off party last night. We didn't win any prizes, but we had an ok time. :) Our soup was the best with the additions we provided, but most judges (other cooks and guests) said they didn't want to put in the effort to include the ingredients. They just wanted to plop the soup into the bowl, taste, and be onto the next sample. Bummer, because with avocado, cilantro and lime juice (you wouldn't think this would be good in chili, but it is!) it tastes superb. :) Here's the recipe:
Taco Soup
makes 4 to 6 servings
olive oil cooking spray
1/2 pound ground beef round
1 cup chopped onion
1 can (14.5 ounces) Mexican Style diced tomatoes with liquid
1 can (15.5 ounces) light red kidney beans with liquid
1 can (11 ounces) corn kernels with liquid
1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
1 package (1.25 ounces) taco seasoning
1 avocado, peeled, sliced
1 cup sour cream
1 cup shredded cheddar or Mexican cheese blend
1/4 cup fresh cilanto sprigs
1 lime, cut into slices
tortilla chips

Spray saucepan with cooking spray. Place it over medium high heat. Crumble in bee and break it up, cooking for 30 seconds. Add the onion, and continue to cook, stirring until the beef browns all over and is cooked through and the onion softens, 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, beans, and corn with their liquids, tomato sauce and taco seasoning. Fill the tomato sauce can with water and add that liquid to the pan, then stir. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover the pan and simmer 15 minutes. Ladle soup into serving bowls and pass the avocado slices, sour cream, cheese, cilantro, lime wedges, and tortilla chips separately.
Note: We doubled the recipe last night, using one can of black beans instead of two kidney beans, and only one can of corn. Also, the rules state that you can't use prepackaged seasoning, so I looked on www.allrecipes.com for a taco seasoning.

The past few days we've been researching treadmills, which I have found very fun. I tried several and researched them. Today we ordered the sole f80. Free shipping and no sales tax! :)
I am very excited to be able to run at home. It's still dark here, the only morning time I can run and I don't feel comfortable on the dark bike path by myself. I also don't have a lot of time I can run, unless I go to bed at 8pm and get up at 5am, so this will be good, to run at home! :)

My husband found a site: http://www.librarything.com/ where you can catalog your books, so I'm going to do that. I'm excited to catalog my books for a classroom, and books I have here, too!

That's all for now. Have a good week!

Future

This week, I signed up for my first class to renew my teaching license, which expires in August. If I let it expire, I will have to take standardized tests again to get a new one, or I can just take a few classes (6 semester hour or 9 quarter hour credits) to renew before August. Teaching full time helps to renew, as well as teacher work days/conferences and workshops. The first class I'm taking is classroom computer integration. I'm looking forward to it.
Also, this week, I updated my resume, which hadn't truly been done in years. It was fun, and nerve-wracking all at once. Fun because of new possibilities I could imagine. Nerve-wracking because I haven't taught, aside from subbing in ten years. My husband told me I should post the resume on the blog, but I thought that would oppose my theory of trying to be "anonymous" without locators, and I don't need criticism from people I don't know! :) It makes me nervous enough for him to look at it! :) I will be a wreck when prospective employers look at it! :)
I just keep thinking over how much my girls need me, how much we still talk, how I will lose those things when I leave for work super early, and work into the afternoon or evening if I get a full time job. I worry that I won't be here for them as much I need to be. I know they're both in school all day and don't need me as often, but when they come home, that's when they need me, to tell me about their day, talk about what's bothering them, or concerning them. I don't want to miss out on those things and have them get into trouble or feel like we're not there for them. My husband says it will all work out, that we love our girls and will always work to be here for them. And I love teaching kids! It truly has been my life's goal and purpose, after being a good mother and wife. But, is it the right time, yet? I just keep praying that I'm guided by the One-who-loves-us into the right direction, and that I can hear Him in my decision.
On a different note, my oldest has, very unusually requested staying home and a doctor's appt. today. She says she can't swallow and has gone back to bed. Often, when I ask her if she feels bad enough to stay home and see a doctor, she says no and is fine by the time she has to walk to the bus. Today she was not. So, another trip to the doctor instead of having morning tea with a dear friend of mine, which saddens me, as I don't see her often enough. :) Hopefully, the doctor has appointments today and isn't totally booked! :)
Saturday, if everyone is healthy, the girls will be staying with my husband's parents and we'll be heading to the chili cook-off! Last year, we took venison chili-see previous posts, but this year we're taking "taco soup" and making it a chili. I will post the recipe soon.
That's all for today. I hope life is treating you well, dear reader.

Glitter, Pink Eye and Birthdays

Well, my oldest is twelve today. Wow, it doesn't seem like twelve years ago we gave birth to a beautiful, sweet girl. She was such a sweet, happy, loving baby, and has turned into a sweet, happy, loving preteen! :)
She had her friends over for a sleepover...and while making their craft, a little sprinkle of glitter on one friend turned into a glitter fight, thrown all about my house. What stuck to their clothes, later stuck to my furniture and carpet, and then the dogs...it was virtually everywhere. My birthday girl and her little sis cleaned and cleaned while others played. Mine did their best, but still, there is glitter in every crack and crevice of my kitchen-between each and every hard wood plank. After all their cleaning, they shook the tablecloth out...on my back porch steps and each time the dogs went out and came back in, they brought the glitter back... :) We also carried on our usual sleepover traditions, as mentioned in an earlier post: the ordering of pizza, trail mix during a Garfield movie, and the trip through the drive through in our pjs!
All in all, our oldest had a good time. Although, after the first friend arrived, our daughter took her up to see the three year old hamster (which is old for a hamster) and found it had passed away. Our daughter was quite sad. What a time to find him that way! The next guest promptly heard, "I just found out my hamster died!" when she walked through our door, but then, after I had cleaned everything up and my husband had buried him (elephant was his name) in our shade garden, she seemed better. Then yesterday when all had died down, she said to me "I don't think Elephant's death has sunk in yet." and cried. It was "just a hamster", but she's a very caring girl and she's sad. Poor dear, the death of pets always made me sad, also.
At 2am on the sleepover night, my youngest called me into the bathroom because she had a bloody nose. My focus was to stop it and then she said, "I feel like a have a piece of glitter in my eye." I hadn't noticed her eye, and she referred to big sister's throwing of glitter earlier. I checked her eye and found...pink eye. Here I inform, as I haven't much lately: pink eye is an infection in the eye that causes it to swell, itch, burn, redden, and have drainage. It is very contagious! Conjunctivitis is its less common name: http://www.kidshealth.org/parent/infections/eye/conjunctivitis.html
So, I took her to the dr. first thing the next morning and she came in, promptly looked in our daughter's ear! I was thinking...her eye? Then the doc. said, "does your ear hurt?" And my daughter said no...but the doctor said she had "quite an ear infection" in her ear!! She said that pink eye can show itself as a symptom after an upper respiratory infection or illness. Although, our daughter had no symptoms of ear problems, stuffy or runny nose, or anything like that, she did get an ear infection and then it presented itself as pink eye, too! So, for a child who rarely gets ear infections-I think her last was three years ago!-she got two antibiotics! And I've warned all the children we've come in contact with, as it can be spread easily. We are all thoroughly washing hands here, more than usual! And hoping my twelve year old doesn't come down with it on her birthday! :) The youngest is home for the day, which will be "fun" until about lunchtime, but can't go to school until she's been on antibiotics for 24hrs. I have a craft box all set up so she can "create" whatever she likes...so we'll see what she comes up with! :)
We got up a little early today so we could start our oldest's special day by having her open her gifts from us. Then tonight we will head out to a restaurant that serves breakfast, because that's her favorite. Then, this weekend, we will have her birthday party with family.

Sleepover Guests

Since Thursday, I have had two little children in my house. They are family friends. Their dad won a trip to Hawaii through his work, all expenses paid. So, the couple couldn't pass it up. We volunteered to keep the kids, ages two and four, until today. Our oldest turns twelve this week, so she's having a sleepover tonight, so we couldn't keep them the whole time their parents were away. They don't have school tomorrow, thus the Sunday sleepover. I had planned to do it Friday, but rearranged to keep the little ones. They were really very good. I didn't sleep well, for worry that they'd need something in the night, which was always the case when my girls were little. Speaking of my girls, they were a tremendous help. I would play with the little ones and entertain them, and then my girls would take over while I got dinner ready and help keep them happy at bedtime, as well. I had forgotten how exhausting little ones can be, :) and was ready for bed each night! Their parents don't get back until Wednesday, we passed them onto other friends this morning, and then they head home, but with their grandparents tomorrow, for the last two days.
Tonight, my oldest is having four friends over-a "sleepover"...how ironic, because not much sleep is had by the girls, nor the parents! :) We usually get the guests a "goody bag" to take home, but this year we got some letters (the first letter of each guests' name) and scrapbook paper, embellishments and stickers, to decoupage on the letters. So, that is what they will "create" after dinner (ordered pizza) and take home instead of goody bags.
We have traditions for sleepovers: order pizza for dinner, and have "trail mix" in the evening while they watch movies. For breakfast, we all troop to the local donut shop drive through in our pjs. :) And then naps in the afternoon after the guests have all gone home, or the girls here will be too cranky! :)
I haven't ran in a while, again. Which makes me feel so bad-I've been eating as though I will be hibernating soon!
I finished two books since I blogged last: the Treasures of the Weatherbys, which was fine. I also finished the scrapbooking mystery: Motif for Murder. That was good. Went by very fast, as do all her scrapbooking mysteries. This one was still in hardback, so I doubt she has any new ones coming out soon. I have begun to read my husband's last purchase: the Life of Pi and I think I will restart the tea shop mysteries, that my mom liked so well, by the author of the scrapbooking mysteries.
I have not yet begun to knit anything...I have the supplies...and know the basic knit stitch, but that is all although, on the crafty front, I have finished a project that I started a while back. I created scrapbooks for my daughters that have pictures of all the furniture, quilts, blankets, etc. that have been handmade by family. My dad made the girls each a bed and dresser from oak, my grandpa made each girl a baby cradle for their dolls, finishing the one for my youngest daughter the day he died, and we have other items from family members, as well. I wanted them to know my memories of the pieces, and why they were important to the family. I made one for my oldest that is 8 x 8 and I've finished the layouts, and journaling, but am still putting the finishing touches on one for my younger daughters 6 x 6 album. I hope the books, and more importantly, the pieces, become important to them as they grow.
It has finally begun to snow here and we will even get some accumulation!! Yeah!
Well, time for church.

Bugs and Glitches

I have had a few little bugs and glitches in the last few days.

• I lost my keys (turns out I set them on my purse and they fell into the rarely used back pouch...) I searched the other pockets and shook the purse, but they were a tight fit so they didn't jingle. I had checked coat pockets, and the pockets of the purse I normally put them. Luckily, I had a spare from when the hubby had lost them when we were visiting my parents... and then I thought I'd check the pouch, just in case. So, a day and a half later, I found them.
• My laptop, yes, the new one I bought Oct 1, is slower than slow. It's been giving me trouble, little by little, then more and slower, and then my husband spent a bit of time in front of it-remember he's a computer guy. He checked some things and saw error messages indicating my drive is corrupted and the only thing I can do about that is to send it back to it's originating company and have them replace the drive (losing all my data in the process) and send it back in TWO WEEKS!! UGh. So, today I am searching for any data I need so that I won't be sad when I can't recover it. A long, painful process, as slow as this thing is: I am struggling to type this without frustration. On the bright side, my husband has a computer upstairs that I can borrow, if he lets me, to check email and ebay sales, subbing assignments etc. :)
  
• Our phones, the landline, cordless, said "out of range" on the display all day yesterday. We didn't realize it was out until the husband went out and tried to call me. Apparently, someone tripped over the cord and unplugged it, or something. However, we didn't know this and I was thinking our phones went out again: we have bad luck with cordless phones. Positively, that is all fixed!
  
• The biggest, most expensive glitch this week, was my minivan with automatic side doors had issues. It was cold and the doors froze shut on Monday: it is normally in the garage, however, some Christmas decorations, that had been taken down but still wet, were put on my side of the garage, leaving my car out in the cold. Anyway, we tried opening the doors, but there was ice in it, causing the automatic door motor to run, but the door to not go anywhere. I tried a few times, thinking the ice would break free, but I think it burnt the motor on the door behind the driver. So, you have to put the auto doors on "off" drag that door open and then closed, which is super heavy, and if you want to use the other side, turn the auto control to "on" and it works normally. However, you can't leave it on "on" while it's in drive, it beeps. Continuously... because it thinks the door is open. Argh. It's annoying. Both girls have to wait until I open the door from the outside if they want to get out the driver's side as they can't open it! I'm sure it would cost a ton to get it fixed, and it's 6 years old, so the husband is in the mood for a new one. :) So, I am saying we just live with it for a while.
  
• Our garbage disposal has a crack in it, as well, so it drips little puddles of water down under the sink. It is letting water into the electrical wires under it, too. So, when/if we call the plumber to come fix that, I'm thinking the disposal will have to be totally replaced, costing me an arm or a leg.
  

Other than those things, the week has gone well. I subbed Tues and Thurs. Both classes were extremely good! The Thurs class was a kindergarten and some of them were a little wound up, but they weren't too bad. Subbing jobs are few and far between right now, with Mondays off for Martin Luther King, Jr, President's day, just getting back from winter break, etc. I am figuring it will pick up again in Feb and March (spring break isn't until April). We finally got the blast of cold air, and the wind continued, so, no I haven't ran. Three days in a row. woo hoo. I'm not feeling too positive about that. Last week I ate pretty well and kept track of all my calories, intake and output, via a gmail spreadsheet. However, I fell off on that, too.
I have a busy next few weeks ahead: Thursday we are receiving our friends' two children, who are 4 1/2 and 2, I think. A boy and a girl. The husband won a trip to Hawaii through work and neither of their parents could keep the kids. So, we have them Thursday through Sunday, when another of their friends takes them because we have our oldest daughter's sleepover for her twelfth. Then the next week we're having family over for her birthday, for her favorite meal: brunch. :)
I have picked up my knitting again. I ran out last night to the local craft store and grabbed a few pairs of new needles for something new to try. Now I just need to branch out from my normal knit stitch/scarf. I need to try something new. :) I haven't knitted in a while, though, so I think I will pick up the simple scarf I had previously started and work on that. My oldest daughter got a "speed knitting" book for Christmas, so I may pick that up and browse, as well. I bought a couple groups of inexpensive yarn on ebay, too.
I've been reading the Treasures of Weatherby and it's pretty good so far. Not a quick read, so wonderful that I devoured it in one sitting, but that could be time constraints, too. I have read over a quarter of it and find it a good read, for youth, as I previously mentioned. And, in the vein of reading, I also have kept up with my New Testament reading (a chapter a day on weekdays) with a group from our church's circle. Two weeks and counting. :)
I just recently finished my scrapbook of our trip this past summer, but I still have to journal in it-write the captions as to what's happening in the picture. I'm planning on working on that today. We are also headed to a children's theater today with some other friends and then out to dinner, this afternoon. So, hopefully no more bugs or glitches for a while? And they're all minimal things; we all still have our faith, health and positivity, so we're pretty darn lucky! :) Have a great weekend, reader!