SOCIAL MEDIA

the happiest brownie on earth

August 29, 2011

This weekend we took the youth group to our first outing with J as youth pastor, a Waverly concert. The band that opened was a local church band, and they were actually really good.
Then Waverly came out. Our guys actually started chanting drum solo at the end, ha, and the whole band came back out. It looks like we will be having fun with this group over the next few years. 
I also finally got around to redoing the Saint's wreath from last fall. It was looking super skanky from all the rain here and complete lack of an overhang to protect it. So here is the new one, it was of course inspired by Pinterest.
Now lets get to the good part. We had a dinner on the grounds at church Sunday so I made my pasta salad and yet another Pinterest inspired dish. Let's just call them happy brownies, because I have no clue what they called them. Plus I took such a huge short cut that I was surprised Sandra from Semi Homemade didn't crawl out of my cabinet. 
First take about 1 1/3 tubes of cookie dough and smush it into your pan. I told you I was taking the "Semi Homemade" take on this. 
Now put a pretty little layer of Oreo's. 
Pour over your brownie batter and bake for 50 minutes at 350. 
End product, exactly what I imagine heaven to be like.
Happy Brownies
1 1/3 tubes of premade chocolate chip cookie dough
oreos
brownie mix (follow directions)


Spray a 13x9 pan with cooking spray. Press in layer of cookie dough, not very thick (maybe 1/4-1/2 inch deep). Next layer Oreo's. Finally top with brownie dough. Bake at 350 for 45-55 minutes. 
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Fill in the Blank Friday

August 26, 2011


www.thelittlethingswedo.blogspot.com

1.   One of life's most simple pleasures is     peanut butter balls. Mine are so good that once when I was living in the dorms, (and had made a huge batch) I caught my boyfriend's friend running down the street (after he saw me) with the whole container of them. He had convinced my roommate to let him in and stolen them all. I nearly killed him haha  .

2.    Hearing people make up their own short version of words and use them constantly. It seriously      makes me want to punch someone.

3.  I like   my dogs    because,    they don't talk, you can put them outside, and they are really quirky .

4.    Batata (sweet potato in Spanish)   is a funny word.

5.  If I had to choose one beauty product to use for the rest of eternity it would be    (I am going t have to copy someone on this one) Moroccan oil, or argan oil if you are cheap like me and won't but the name brand .

6.  I'm happy that    today is Friday, which means silent test day yay:)   .


7.  I would never     touch a reptile or amphibian. I have a insane fear of them. I once sat on the deep freezer for an hour waiting to be rescued, I called my high school BF and made him leave football practice to rescue me. That terrified. However, Jeremy could attest to the fact that I nearly killed myself not long ago trying to escape one, when I ran I hit our rug-o-death (slides easy) and almost face planted. Only reason I didn't hit the floor is that my fear would have caused me to actually fly before staying in the room with a lizard another second    .

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Teacher Week: Monday & Tuesday

August 23, 2011

Since I am a day late I decided to combine these two posts together. Let's start with Monday, Meet the Teacher.
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Meet the Teacher


Tell us a little something about you...

Hi, I'm Emily and I teach 4th grade in South Louisiana. 
Hi, Emily.
I am not usually a teacher blogger. I think I am still learning about teaching, I just may still be saying this in 20 years. I have a husband, Jeremy, who appears to be a career college student. We just moved so he could work on his specialist degree. We have two dachshunds, Ellie & Maddie, they run the house. Ellie thinks she runs the world. I love to cook, and love love love to read cook books. I love me some Beth Moore bible studies and can't wait for her next simulcast in September. Oh and if I could eat one thing everyday it would be homemade ice cream. 

How long have you been teaching...
This is my 3rd year of teaching. And needless to say teaching has been the most inconsistant career ever! My first year I taught 5th grade ELA in North Louisiana, then they did a district wide move about. Which sent me to another school teaching 5th grade Science and Social Studies. Then I graduated with my Master's of Arts in Teaching. I then promptly left and moved to South Louisiana to be with my husband who is in school here for a Spec. in School Psychology. Now I am teaching 4th grad ELA. And home girl loves her some ELA...but all this change has me in a mental tangle. However, I shall survive. 

What you might not know...
Teaching wasn't my first career idea. I actually love psychology, and I have a bachelors degree in it. When J is done with school I want to go back to either do educational diagnostician, librarian. If education drives me crazy enough I will attempt psychology again. I initially became a teacher to afford to put J thought grad school. 

What are you most looking forward to this year? 

Being in a different school. Last year was sheer hell. No seriously, sheer hell. Plus my kids this year are super sweet and smart:) Love them!

What do you need to improve?

I feel a little rusty in the ELA front, but it is only the 3rd week of school and everything is done completely different here. 

What teaching supplies can you not live without?

Post it notes. Plain and simple. I cannot for the life of me remember a dern thing.

...................................

Teacher Talk Tuesday

1. Avoid the teacher's lounge. Nothing positive ever happens there. The only bright side is the ie machine.

2. Make positive parent contacts. They will believe you a lot more if they know you actually like their kid.

3. Befriend the partner teacher. She is your only hope at having a person to trust. 

4. Trust no one, but be friendly to everyone. You never know who the rats are. Yes I realize this sounds like I am working with a bunch of spies, but if you don't want everyone to know it...never let it cross your lips.

5. Teaching is the easy part, the paperwork and "work work" is the hard part. If all I had to do was teach I'd be fine, but let me tell you we are in week 3 and I am lost as a person can be. The whole new aspect of the new parish is going to eat me alive, I've never had so many things to turn in in my life.

6. Have someone you can vent to. My poor husbands hears a lot of it. I am lucky to have a Mom who is in education and needs someone who understands too. We talk a lot about what is bothering us. But never, and I mean never vent to someone at work. It will bite you in the butt. 

That is all I can think of as of right now. What are your teaching tips? 



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Fill in the Blank Friday

August 19, 2011


thelittlethingswedo.blogspot.com

1.   My idea of pure perfection would be      weighing my happy weight and eating my happy food  .

2.    A good sense of humor       makes the world go 'round.

3.  If it weren't for    for bills, my dogs, and adult responsibility here    I'd   drop everything and move to England. I might do it anyway, if the pups can come  .

4.  Bloggers are   lovely, encouraging, and funny. I have learned a lot from other bloggers and been encouraged when I am down as well. Love these ladies .

5.  If I had    unlimited wealth    I'd buy you    whatever you wanted and take you where ever you wanted to go...and we could quit working   .

6.  I'm glad it's Friday because     I could not have handled another work day. Kids are great, but the paperwork side of teaching is just so overwhelming. Especially the lack of time I have in the day to get things done. I could work a whole desk job day and still not get things done, and on top of that I teach 3 subjects to 2 classes   .


7.  Something I'm excited about is     going to Italy in December. I so wish I could just "miss" my flight and never come back. I swear if it weren't for my family and dogs I would have left a long time ago    .

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oh how pinteresting wednesday

August 17, 2011

This post is going to be totally random. So hang in there.

Since I am seriously needing a new watch, after mine fell off my wrist and just plain shattered.



So easy to make.

Source: jcrew.com via Emily on Pinterest

Made this last week and it was divine. Buffalo Chicken Dip


I am currently eating this for lunch, so yummy:)


Don't forget to join in at The Vintage Apple!


google
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What your husband doesn't tell you.

August 14, 2011

Secrets.

You may claim your relationship has none, but I promise you this, I learned quite differently this weekend.

While we were at the local waterpark sitting at a table, taking a break and sipping our water some ladies walked behind me and made an odd comment. "Is that a rat or a hamster?" They then proceeded to carry on about this so I turned to look, then looked at Jeremy and he of course gave me the reassuring look of "they are just crazy". So I continued to sit ans sip my water. Suddenly movement caught my eye and I looked down to see (I swear on my life) the largest rat/mouse I have ever encountered in person. It sat there   next to me like it was business as usual, in the midst of a super busy waterpark mind you. It sat so long I had a chance to examine its beady eyes, brown fur with highlights of several colors, and its disgustingly long tail. The little monster had to be close to a pound total. Unlike my usual scream, I gasped and picked up my legs.

At this point I knew something was up.

Jeremy did not even look around, he simply threw his bottle directly at the rat...which was behind him. Odd. How did he know where it was without looking? So I asked.

Turned out the black plague carrying monster had been sitting next to me for some time. He was the monster the ladies though was a large hamster. Jeremy, however, when questioned thought it was best not to alert me to the great dane of a rodent sitting next to me so as to keep me from creating a scene.

Aw thanks dear, so glad you were looking out for others at the park by trying to keep my crazy to a minimum.

This then led to questioning of course. I asked what else he had scene in the past 3 years that he hadn't told me about. Turns out...everything. Short from a moose in the living room, he has kept every critter in a mile radius a secret from me.

For example, this past week he saw a snake in the back yard (just now telling me this by the way). He was back there with the dogs. They didn't see it. And now that I know they are as worthless as a cat that doesn't chase mice I will be returning them to their place of origin in hope of acquiring a proper dachshund that actually chases away things. They were breed to be badger dogs originally, they should run off varmint.

But my husband didn't tell me. Nope, he just didn't see the need to alert me to things I am oblivious about. And according to him I don't pay attention to much.

Something tell me I need a cat. A large one that will run off all this mess and make up for the useless lap dogs and secret keeping man at this house.
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Cannoli Crepe Cake

August 12, 2011

I love to eat crepes and love to eat cannoli, so way back in June this idea started bouncing around my head. Then I was watching Master Chef one night and that punk 18 year old made one and it sucked. Gordon Ramsey said it sucked. Apparently the texture was funky. That totally had me second guessing myself. Then suddenly they started popping up on Pinterest, and with that said I got the ball rolling.

For my recipe I combined a really easy crepe recipe with my cannoli filling I previously posted, minus the chocolate. Oh and by the way it turned out really good. Ramsey had me scared senseless to make this one.

Ingredients


Filling:
15oz low fat ricotta
3/4c powdered sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
zest of 1/2 an orange


Combine in small bowl and chill in the refrigerator while you put together your crepes. 


Crepes:
2 eggs
1 c flour
2 c almond milk
2 tbsp melted butter
pinch of salt
2-3 tbsp coco powder (depending on how dark you want them)


Instructions
Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl and then add your wet ingredients. Remember you want this thin, not like a pancake.
Head a skillet oh high and grease with non stick spray. Make sure to repeat the spray in between crepes. When pan if hot add 1/4 c of mixture to pan (depending on size it may be more or less) and coat skillet evenly in mixture, swirling pan to coat. when crepe begins to look dry flip and cook until browned. 
To assemble, layer crepes with ricotta filling using about 3 tbsp in between each crepe. Chill for roughly an hour and serve. 
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What I failed to blog about

August 11, 2011

Despite the current state of my blog this summer we have been doing things. Since we did actually exist, and I don't actually know what I blogged about I will cover all events in one post. Let's face it, with my track record this summer if I don't post it all now it will never happen.

Part 1
Aquarium in New Orleans


We took the kid. Wandered around. And got attacked by birds. This is also an accurate depiction of Josh at our house...chaos.




 A little girl decided to show him a bird. He personally loved it, I can't say the same for his Mother and I.
 We flipped the crap out when a bird landed on her stick. Seriously, everything was quiet in that crowded room and we were hooping and hollering!
End of Part 1.

Intermission

Part 2
Meeting the new kid.
(anyone catch The Beatles Help movie reference? Didn't think so.)
We headed on over to Iberia Parish to see my new cousin while Mom and Laura were down. Joshua was not so fond of his Mommy holding another baby, but then again he gets the same jealousy feelings when she holds the dog. Laura was making the same face back at him by the way.

 Reid and his Mommy Brandi.
Event 3
The oh so despised event of the year.
Thank you guy who hit my car. You single handedly raised my car insurance and caused me to have two car notes at once. Full coverage was not in my 3 year plan. We also had to buy Jeremy a car since we found out the lemon on wheels actually had frame damage that was not reported to the state when it came on over from Texas. Nothing makes a graduate student and his wife more happy that having to buy two cars when your budget was planned out big time for the 3 year graduate school extravaganza.

Event 4
Wandering through the hills of Tennessee
We went to see my in-laws. Played with a baby. And went hiking somewhere that is much easier to hike in when it is frozen over and not burning up hot.


We did go to a wedding last weekend, but I was to lazy to put batteries in my camera so no pics. What did y'all do this summer?
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1st day of school

August 8, 2011

As a complete surprise to me today was wonderful. After last year I was ready to throw in the towel and become a Wal-Mart greeter. Yes, it was that bad.

The kids were not only sweet and compliant, they got along....and asked me if they could read in our semi down time! I have never had a kid ask me to let them read. My 1st year they would let me read to them, but last year they wouldn't even let me read the Social Studies book. It was horrid.

Funny enough my hands down best day teaching (going on 3 years) was my most energy consuming, and I didn't even know it until I came home and passed straight out. All in all though it was a great day, and I realized in the middle of Spelling that I was delighted to be back to teaching ELA(english language arts).

Hopefully I will get back in the blog swing soon.
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Happy Birthday Jeremy

August 4, 2011

Happy Birthday Dear. What do you know, I actually remembered your birthday. (I regularly think it is the 8th) You are old, 27 if I am counting right. For some reason you age is hard to remember. I realize I sound like a senile 80 year old, but its true. Just remember, you may only be 2 years older than me, but you will always be 2 years older than me. Therefore I win on the age bracket. So in honor of your increasing age I will list 27 things I have not yet felt the need to kill you for. I would say love, but you know how much I despise outward sappy PDA. I think all those years of detention in high school broke me, haha, jk. Let's face it, it has been a tough year and we have done really well in it. My poor car not so much, but we did good. Not about material things anyway right (says the woman who mourned the loss of a paid off car).

27 things I do not dislike about you:

1. When we have grass...you mow it.
2. You are positive, I tend to not be...I feel like we balance each other out. No one likes positive people all the time, I have to interject to keep it from getting to happy around here (haha)
3. You don't mind cleaning, and often do it without being asked. That few months without you around really made me appreciate you.
4. You are a really nice guy, and everyone thinks that...so much easier than having to convince people you are nice.
5. You're love my dog, enough to get me Maddie...although those first 2 years with her she seemed like a present gone wrong.
6. You're a real Christian man, not one who pretends to be:)
7. You share my same views on having kids.
8. You get along great with my family.
9. I love that you offer to help me with my classroom, tall people are great.
10. I really like your height, as you have noticed the past 2 generations in my family have failed to produce women over 5'4''(5'2'' depending on the doctor). Don't let me down by having short kids:)
11. You cook really well, best fried chicken ever. However...that mess ain't healthy.
12. I really love that you have let me decorate the way I wanted to, takes a real man to sleep in an all white antique bed for quite some time only to move to a white and shabby chic rose pattern:)
13. I an so running out of things on here...like I said I am not sappy.
14. The End. Just fill in the blank for the rest:) haha.

Now for a hate one:
15. I hate that I had to search for a job like crazy my first year and the other day you get a call out of the blue from Monroe about an interview. You haven't applied in a year! Geez Louise! So wrong on so many levels.

So anyway, your a really great guy and I really do appreciate you. This has been a very interesting year. Even though we could have turned all of these obstacles into one big fight we didn't. A lot of people would sink under these "graduate school" circumstances laced with "murphy's law", but so far we are going strong and making a joke out of it every step of the way.

Love you and Happy Birthday old man!

From you wife whose sense of humor people rarely get when it comes to this marriage,

Emily
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