Small Town Survival

Notice: In order to comment you have to be authenticated which means a quick sign in/up with typekey as far as I know. Sorry about that, but if you've seen the amount of spam I get.. well let's just see if this works. And it allows me to keep comments open.

I finally had a chance to look through the new "food & family" that Kraft sends out free. I really like a lot of their recipes. They tend to be easy and big hits when I have parties or other gatherings. I have a handful of these saved up back in Michigan because they have recipes in them that I need to cut out or save in some way. You know, those ones that you loved at the last get together. Especially that one I had last year, and the year before.. and, well, you get the idea.

This one has a few that I'm interested to try out as well. I did give the Parmesan fries a chance tonight. I think they need a little more flavor so I'll adjust the next time I try them. The leftovers should be good for something in the meantime. There are also some awesome looking desserts like oreo cheesecake and boston cream pie minis.

Hopefully there will be time with everything else going on to give some of these sweet treats a go. I'll let you know if I get to any of them and if there's a link to share the goodness.

In case you missed any earlier announcements, I am posting photos over at Scatter Joy. There should be a daily (or close to it) photo.

Now that I'm living on the west side of the country, I feel like there is more opportunity to do some traveling over here. (I suppoes that seems obvious.) There are places that I used to want to visit and then probably swore off and am now reinterested in visiting. Some higher priorities would be Colorado, Utah, California and perhaps Washington (although I did catch that part of the country not too far back). I did see a little bit of these places last summer through the National Parks, but I'd like to see a little different side of each place. The cities would be a good start, big and small a like. I hear so many lovely things about Utah and while I don't really do the whole Mormon thing, I can't imagine that being around them would be so bad. Plus if I moved out that way I bet their parents are a bit more involved in the education that their kids get. Perhaps the schools have more support. And it's not like I do anything in school here that I wouldn't be allowed to do there. I think as far as I'm concerned, teaching is relatively universal. Although we all know that's not exactly true, my behavior doesn't change much, regardless of where I am.

Not that I'm really thinking about moving, I'm happy where I'm at. But I do miss the green and I wouldn't mind at least a visit here and there. My summer looks so short already that I don't know how much I can fit in really, but if I could manage a 4 day weekend somewhere that would make me happy enough. It's a start at least. While I get time off as a teacher in the summer, there is still work to do. Besides, my traveling companion doesn't have the same luxury of time that I do. We manage to be home at the same point quite often, but I suppose I have more time off. I guess it makes up for the part where I come home and still have to work while someone else gets to come home and forget about work. I'm so absolutely taken care of though, it's hard to complain.

Saturday is my turn for standardized testing. I'll take my tests for certification in Arizona. I think I'll pass. Or, are you supposed to say "I know I'll pass. (!)" The only real complaint that I have is that unlike Michigan, they don't give both tests to me at the same time. So I will be there at 8 am for the first test, and regardless of when I finish I will be there at 1 pm for the second test. Talk about a long day of testing!

Either way, wish me luck and a good night's sleep on Friday. Whenever they send out the results I'll let you know that I'll be teaching here again next year.

I'm currently teaching Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Sometimes I think it's more fun for me than the kids, but they seem to be getting into it. We're using the SparkNotes version of the text which has the original text side by side with more modern text. They read both and are at least giving it a good effort. We've also looked at clips of Shakespeare in Love and the 1996 version of Romeo and Juliet.

As for me, it means that I get to watch both movies on my own. Shakespeare in Love is such a fun movie. I really enjoy the hints of Twelfth Night that are intermingled throughout as well as the inspiration of Romeo and Juliet. If you haven't seen either, I recommend both. Absolutely.

On other fronts, this week has been wonderful. Thank you all for your well wishes. Birthday week still survives and I think today will be another day of fun and relaxation. It's also marking the end of the school year. Or rather it marks the fact that we can see the end of the school year in the not so distant future.