George III

I am back from my extended and unannounced blog vacation. Honestly my life is just so dull I haven't had a darn thing to say. Except this- for my Art methods class we had to make an animal paper bag puppet. And not just any old typical glued on construction ears and eyes puppet. It had to be 3D, anatomically correct, and made out of creative materials. Let's just say I took those requirements to heart. Meet GeorgeIII-

Come on, are you surprised? You know how adorable I think turtles are. The puppets were due on Wednesday. Everyone showed their puppets (turtle, blow fish, rabbit, parrot, elephant, and butterfly) and we critiqued and graded them all. Then we ranked them from best to worst (in a nice way, of course). And guess who's everyone thought was the best? Mine. Duh! How could you not think GeorgeIII was the cutest turtle puppet you ever saw?


In case you forgot, here is GeorgeII.
(GeorgeI was my pet box turtle from long ago who ran away).


Here are the other turtles I have joyfully encountered since living here in Missouri.

Okay, so this one was at the zoo. But the rest were in the wild.

Have a good weekend. And don't worry, I'll be back soon.

Granola

As promised, another whole wheaty, whole grainy, whole deliciousy recipe. Seriously this granola is very tasty. It's not too sweet, easy and inexpensive to make, won't break your teeth, and absolutely delicious with some yogurt. Oh, and it's good for you too. Unless you snack on it all day long (guilty as charged).

Granola*
Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
Combine in large mixing bowl:
2 cups whole wheat flour
6 cups rolled oats (not quick cookin')
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup wheat germ
Blend together separately:
1/2 cup water
1 cup oil (I substituted some of the oil for water and it turned out fine)
1 cup honey or corn syrup (I recommend honey; it's better for you)
2 tsp. vanilla
1 Tb. salt
Add blended liquids to dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Spread out on 2 greased cookie sheets and bake 1 hour, or until dry and golden. Store in covered containers.
Makes 2 1/2 -3 quarts.
Feel free to add in anything that you think would taste good; I added craisins and almonds.
(*this recipe courtesy of the More-with-Less Cookbook )
To print this recipe, simply select the text, copy it, and paste it to a Word document.

Sorry about the lack of updates. I got a complaint that I am not satisfying the blog-addicts out there, so I apologize. To be honest, I haven't the heart to write lately. I'm still bummed about losing my job, and not having to work is making it worse because sitting around here with nothing to do is making me go a little bit crazy.


On a more positive note, I have been getting a little bit of much-needed experience working with school-age kids. First off, I started tutoring again. Sadly, my previous tutee, Ariel, moved to Chicago this Summer, therefore I did not get to say good-bye. I was a bit nervous about getting a new kid, but it turned out fine because I got Alex whom I have tutored before. She is a sweet girl and I look forward to working with her this year even though I will miss Ariel.
Here is Alex with me last April- (not the most flattering picture, I know)

Other sad news- I quit the two year-old Sunday School class to get the aforementioned experience and moved up to the 2nd-4th grade class. I will really miss the two-year-olds. You remember how much I loved them (if not, click here). This Sunday was my first day with the older kids, and it was a lot of fun. I am not the main teacher, so I get a break from teaching the Bible lessons, but I get to lead song time which means I had to break out the old guitar. I spent practically the whole day changing the strings and tuning the dang thing.

Also, I have visited my friends from church Mary's and Brenda's classrooms the last couple weeks. They are both third-grade teachers at the same private school. That has been good for me because, frankly, I have been freaking out about student teaching next year. I haven't had a whole lot of experience in the classroom or with school-age kids so I am really starting to get nervous. So basically I am doing everything I can to get more experience to ease my fears a little. I am going to start helping at our church's Sunday night kids' program, and I am looking to either tutor another day or volunteer at another church's after-school program.

While I am on the subject, for one of my classes we will be going to an elementary school for a couple days for the next few weeks. We are learning how to give reading tests/inventories and are going to test them out on students. My first day was Monday, and I was in a fourth grade classroom. It was a lot of fun. First of all, the school we went to was awesome. I immediately decided I want to teach there just by the looks of it (probably can't judge a school by its looks though). The building is super nice and airy with tons of pets. Yeah that's right, animals. Everywhere you go there are fish tanks, and in the hallways I saw a huge parrot, other little birds, a snake, and I only saw part of the school. Outside they have a nice courtyard with a pond, and I hear the kindergarten has a pool.

Then I got to work with a fourth-grade girl and she was too cute. Part of our class assignment was to interview our student, and I thought it would be awkward asking her questions like- when is your bedtime? what do your parents do? But it ended up being really enjoyable because she was very talkative and had a very inspiring personality. For instance I asked her if she liked school and she said "Oh, I love school! And I always pay attention in school, for two reasons. First, I want to get a good education, and second, I want to be a teacher when I grow up!" She is a lot of fun, and I will be working with her each time I go to the school.

Yikes! I've got class in ten minutes! Have a great day!

Addicted

Okay, I admit it. We are officially Office addicts. We don't normally buy this kind of thing but..... we have to catch up for when season 4 starts! Let's just say at two episodes a night with a total of 22 episodes... you know what will be doing for the next couple weeks :)

Brown Sugar Muffins

Make these muffins for breakfast. You'll be surprised at how delicous they are considering all the whole-grainy goodness packed inside. Plus they are simple to make.

Ingredients:
1 cup quick-cooking oats
1/2 cup milk
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 egg
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)
2 tsp. baking powder

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease 12 muffin cups.
Mix oats, milk and brown sugar in large bowl; let stand 5 minutes.
Add butter and egg; blend well.
Stir in remaining ingredients just until moistened.
Fill muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake 15 or 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Options: You can substitute honey for half the brown sugar, they still turn out great.
Also if you have toasted wheat germ put about 2 tb in with the flour for extra whole-grainy goodness.

To print this recipe, simply select this text, copy and paste it to Word.

Childhood Artifact

Pink and Blue
Pink is a color, a color that most little girls love. And of course their mothers adore their little girls in pink, so they dress their little dears in pink dresses, pink bows, and pink socks (and undies). They say Pink is for girls and Blue is for boys. But when the little girls grow up (around the ages 8-11) they sneer their noses to Pink.
And when the not-so-little-anymore girls' mothers buy them pink dresses, pink bows, and pink socks, (and undies) the not-so-little girls say "Yuck! Pink is ugly." And their mothers sigh. And the not-so-little-girls take interest in other colors, like blue, especially. So they get into blue and then about the age of 11 they think Pink is not so bad a color after all. But of course they still don't wear pink and they still say to their friends "Pink, YUCK! But actually they really do like Pink!!!
Sage Wilson
P.S. I am going through the process of pink and blue myself!

Hours and Hours of Freedom

Since I haven't been working I have a had a LOT of time on my hands. I know what you're thinking. What in the world have you been doing? I think I have kept fairly busy. Yes I have had a few days where I sat around and moped but that is to be expected, right? Here are some of the things I have been doing the past couple weeks-

• frequenting our fave coffee shop Northwest
• also frequenting Goodwill and the other thrifts (they are right next to Northwest so of course I've got to stop and see what's new)
• quilling homemade cards until my brain feels quilled (see bottom for evidence)
• almost caught up on season 2 of Lost
• went on a wholewheat flour kick- substituting wheat flour for part of that bleached, enriched, white flour crap in many recipes- pancakes, waffles, pizza dough, cookies... recipes to come soon
• made my own granola! (it's delicious) ... also a soon to come recipe
• finally finished reading Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
• rearranged our living room
• helped a family from church who moved, unpack boxes and organize/clean their house
• listed an item on e-bay (auction ends tomorrow *crossing fingers for big money*)
• trying to pray and read the Bible on a regular basis (I hear it's a good habit to get into)
• painted my nails and toenails (after removing the orange polish from the pedicure David gave me.)

See? I have gotten out of the house a little and done things besides watch soap operas and eat pretzels. Oh yeah, and there is this thing called school that I go to, so I have been going to classes and doing a little home-work.

Here are my beautiful cards. No I do not make anything but flowers. Unless you are Jonathan who got a chameleon once or my brother who got a scorpion. Do you like any you see? If so you can buy them for three-fifty a piece. Just kidding. If you like any tell me when your birthday is and which one fancy.

On another note... I took the first quiz for Jonathan's class. I got a 21.5/25 which is a B. Not bad I suppose for not attending the lectures and skimming through the reading. Although, you'd think the instructor's own wife could get an A.

No Explanation Needed

I have had a few people ask me about the video I posted awhile ago, Charlie: Candy Mountain, wondering if there is some deeper meaning to it. There is no deeper meaning. It's stupid and it's annoying, and I think it's hilarious.

A Humble Request

Okay I have put this off long enough. Part of coming to terms with this situation means being able to tell people, even if it is just in cyberspace. Monday I went to work to check my schedule. Once again I was not on it. Brandon asked to talk to me. I am sorry but I don't feel like going into details right now, but long story short I am no longer needed by the Pastry department, and therefore am without a job. Please pray for me right now. I am really sad and dissappointed. As you may know I was finally starting to really get the hang of that job and very much enjoy it. Now I am not sure what I want to do. Brandon talked to Louie (Nadoz manager) about having me be a shift leader at their new location, so that is one option, but I just don't know if I can handle doing that type of work again. Once again your prayers are appreciated.