Yin and Yang

There is always some good to go along with some bad.

When something makes you happy there is always something to complain about.

Here are some good things and some things I would love to complain about...

Good: Four day work week!!!!!!

And rain...everyone likes rain, right? And we need rain in this desert!

But...rain is water. Water should not be inside...

Not so good: This is what I got to find in my classroom when I arrived this morning!

OKAY...I may be exaggerating just a little...

That's not really my classroom, but it proves my point that it sucks that the roof in my classroom leaks everytime it rains more than the usual five drops.

 I have these amazingly awesome long bookshelves that Josh made me and they sit in the front of my room under the white boards.

They hold all of my chapter books.

They get wet. Shweet. Grrr. They don't seem to be damaged this time.

Thank goodness.

Good: Josh and I made a pretty great deal quite a few months ago.

The deal means that I do all of this...

And Josh does all of this...

It's a pretty sweet deal.

Another good: It is hilarious and so cool when I find reasons that prove my best friends are really the yin to my yang.

Yesterday Becky and I were getting pizza for girl's night.

She walks up to the counter and orders a small ham pizza.

Not being able to hear her at all, I walk up to the counter and order a small pineapple pizza.

Whoa! It was great.

When we are little old ladies we will only order one pizza and I will pick off my ham and give it to her and she will pick off her pineapple and give it to me. And nothing will be wasted.

Again, just like I previously mentioned... it is insane how in sync we are.

Sometimes it's creepy.

Well, I guess there wasn't much for my to complain about this time, but don't worry...

There's always tomorrow!

And remember...everytime you complain about something, look for two things to find that are just awesome.

*Don't forget to do what you can to support the people of Haiti. Whether it is money, water bottles or really good thoughts, please do it.  (If you would like to donate water bottles, you can drop them off in the office of the school I work at.  Sixth grade is collecting them and a parent is going to make sure they get shipped. If you need to know what school it is just email me or message me on facebook. Thanks!)

What's Pink, Purple and Blue All Over?

A great question...

What is pink, purple and blue all over?

Simple answer.

.

.

.

My toe.

Yesterday morning I got to work like usual

(except that I was there early which is not usual but totally cool!)

I went to put my lunch in my fridge and had to move some stuff around to make it fit and there was a can of this fruit punch stuff a student had given me.

I go to take it out and BAM!...falls out of my hand and directly onto my toe. Right on the nail. (Which was painted so cute btw.)

So I went the entire day just bearing through the pain and even had to fill out an accident report form with the school nurse. Do you know how lame it is to have to fill out the question "Part of body injured" with the answer "toe." Lame.

Anyway, by the time I was ready to leave work my toe hurt so bad then I cried the entire second half of the way home.

(Don't forget that I live at least a good 40 mins from work.)

Sad.

I do not think I have a low threshold for pain. This really just hurt that bad. Again, lame.

Today it still hurts, it is still blue and swollen and I get to strut around with an awesome limp. Shweeet.

Good times, good times.

Folding Like Nobody's Business! (And recipe!)

One of the coolest things Josh and I each got for christmas are these calendars.

and

Each day we grab our calendars, sit down and fold-it-up! It's so much fun!

So far I have made a Nightingale and a dog's head.

We love it!

Recipe for Chicken Tortilla Soup*
Be aware that I rarely ever exactly follow a recipe. I pretty much use the recipe to get ideas of what ingredients should be added and then I mix it up and make my own changes.

Here's the jist...
You will need:
shredded chicken ( I like to buy one of the whole roasted chickens and then just use all the meat so I dont have to cook the chicken and then wait for it to cool before shredding it, to me, it's less work.)
reduced sodium chicken broth (one really big can and one or two small cans)
one large can diced tomatoes (but I only ended up using 3/4 of it)
two jalapenos (you can leave in or take out the seeds depending on how hot you want the soup)
one small onion
vegetable oil
garlic
some cilantro
one can of rinsed black beans
one can of kernal corn
cumin, salt, pepper
shredded cheese
avocado
tortilla strips, a squeeze of lime and sour cream to put on top

Sautee the onion in about 2 tbsp of oil. when they are soft add the jalapeno (diced up) and garlic.
Add the broth, beans, corn and tomatoes and let it come to a boil.
Throw in your shredded chicken and any other spices you want.
The longer you let it cook the better the flavors get.
Use the other things as garnish on top :)
Mmmm tasty! Enjoy!

*I took this recipe from Danial Boone on the food network, it is really his and I just sometimes mix up what I want in it and how I make it.

Awesomeness by Mistake

Tonight I decided to make chicken tortilla soup. I made it sometime last year and it turned out awesome. This is what it looked like...

The reason I was excited to make it right now is because I got one of these for Christmas...

This cast iron pot is amazing.
So anyhoo, I was making my baked tortilla strips to put on top of the soup and when I started cutting them, I had created the coolest tortilla strips ever! Behold!...

I would tell you how I did it, but that would make no sense. Maybe sometime. Don't you love it when something awesome happens by accident!

I Love Lucy

I have been waiting for this year's Lucille Ball calendar and yes indeed I received it for Christmas. (yay!) The calendar is amazing. Each month is a different bright color with pretty flowery frills and swirly designs and a gorgeous portrait of Lucille Ball. I highly recommend you go to the calendar store and peruse it.

She is stunning.

Here is a preview...

Each year, the Lucy calendar is themed around "I Love Lucy", which is fine, but this year's was so wonderfully different.

Many people (well, some of you do) don't know about my long-time love for Lucille Ball. I have loved her since before I can remember and I have collected I Love Lucy and Lucille Ball memorabilia for a long time. I even drew a portrait of her when I was in high school (with all the intricate shading, rubbing, and what-not) that turned out amazing. It is one of my most prized possessions.

(Yep, I did that!)

Lucille Ball loved making people laugh and she didn't have to try very hard to do it.

She was awesome and I love her. I think everyone has their person from "a little before their time" that they simply love.

Who do you love?

Sedona, Refrigerators and Christmas! Oh my!

Diana and I took our overnight trip to Sedona on Sunday just to get away and spend much needed time together. We had tons of fun. We ate amazing chicken salad sandwiches at the Brewery in Tlaquepaque (*most fun word to say!), saw a living Nativity and walked around looking at all the touristy stuff. I can't believe this gal and I have been best friends for so many years. Best 17 years of my life!

Tonight, my other BFF (Becky) and I are doing the Christmas lights date. It's gonna be awesome. Cant wait!

Onto stuff that is not so awesome (Grrr face >: ) Yesterday after I drove home from Sedona I spent some time with my mom and then went home to meet Josh there just as he was getting home from work. As I walk into the kitchen I am greeted by a puddle on the floor in front of the fridge. I say to myself "What the heck!?" and yell "Josh, we've got a problem!"

So I open the freezer door and things are all soft and not frozen. Great. We have only had the fridge for the five years we have had our house. It's still practically brand new. We moved into our house the week of Christmas in 2004, SO since it has been five years I immediatly said, "the warranty isn't good anymore. I'm sure we didn't get the 5 year warranty!"

I go to look in the file cabinet and there, right in the area labeled "Appliances" is a folder with "refrigerator" written on it. (Uncle Gene is awesome at making sure I have things when I need them, because it was written in his handwriting!)

Anyway...I open the folder and the first page I see is the warranty information... dun dun dunnnn! I look at the coverage start date :Dec.23, 2004. The end date: Dec. 23, 2009!

I screamed as Josh was talking to his dad on the phone and I'm pretty sure my father in law can't hear out of that ear anymore.

Anyway, after calling and dealing with a woman who was very hard to understand and only added to my frustration, I got an appointment for someone to come look at it, but the first available wasn't until Wednesday. We had to take EVERYTHING out of the fridge/freezer and throw most of what was in the freezer away.

The upside... Josh's parents always had a really old fridge in their garage that they would just use for drinks and extra storage. A few years ago when they bought a new kitchen fridge, their old one went into the garage and we go the really old one for our garage. It keeps things so cold and I was glad to have that to at least put in all the stuff that I could save.

We'll see what happens when the repair person comes to look at my poor ice box.

Oh, ya...the saddest part of all...we got everything all cleaned up and wiped out and then we sit down and say "let's have a nice cold drink"...then we realize...we now have no ice.

I kid you not, I took two glasses over to our neighbor's house and asked for ice. They filled our glasses and gave us a whole ziploc full (which we can still keep in the garage fridge's freezer :)

Christmas is in 3 days!!! Aggghhhh!!!!!! So excited!!!!!!!!!!!!

Two Posts in One!? Awesome!

The Holidays are here!

Well, first, let me say that science camp did happen and of course it went GREAT! I am so lucky to have a class I love so much. I actually have fun with my students (even when I have to "yell" at them for stuff. (I never really yell, it just seems that way to me. I can think I do it and then my kiddos say stuff like "what? you never yell at us!") That makes me smile :)

Another great part of school life is being able to work with my best friends. Ya, we're lucky. My teammates are the most awesome people I could have ever gotten to work with.

(*I am posting this picture despite how awful I believe I look in it.)

(Cameras really do add ten pounds. )

Now that camp is over and I can actually breathe and think if other things... it's time for Christmas!! Woo hoo!

Oh, and if you recall the whole lost reservation fiasco of camp '09
(I know you're saying, "Lauren, how could we forget!")

... this year I got printed confirmation of next year's reservation AND I saw the woman enter it into the computer with my own eyes. I'm not going through that again, sheesh!

Ok, back to Christmas... Josh and I got the tree put up this week and I know I say this every year, but, I really love our tree. It is so beautiful. I just want to stare at it for hours.
(Which I know I achieve by the time Christmas is over. )

The weather has gotten colder and it really is beginning to look (and feel) a lot like Christmas!

I still have to finish shopping for everyone, make some sort of delicious treat for neighbors and friends and wrap all the wonderful gifts I get to give to people I love.

One more week of school and then two weeks off!

What do I get to look forward to for the break?

1. My annual "date" with Becky where she takes me out to look at Christmas lights. I love that we do this. People say we are lovers*, I say they are jealous!
*P.S. We are just awesomely best friends and people really are probably jealous. Dont worry Kole, you're marriage is safe :)

2. My other BFF Diana and I are going to spend a night in Sedona! For no other reason than just to spend time together because I pretty much never see her and it sucks. It's going to be so fun and I get to buy this game they apparently only sell in Sedona called Yamslam.
Look it up. If you love Yahtzee, you will be like "I love Yamslam!"

3. Family time: a.) The big Christmas Eve shin-dig at my parent's house-it's pretty much one of the highlights of my year.
b.) The time Josh and I spend alone opening our presents to each other (which we have decided we may do on Christmas Eve morning because we are at my parent's house all night and then we wake up and go to his parent's house Christmas morning, and because we love making our own rules!)

c.) Celebrating the fact that Josh proposed to me six years ago on Christmas Adam (Dec. 23- get it? because Adam came before Eve, hee hee, love it!). Maybe i'll post about it after it happens.

C'mon Christmas break!!!!
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Surprise! Since I haven't posted in a long while, I will do another post within this post.

The Eight Crazy Nights!!!

Remember how awesome I was just saying my friends are? Well, we decided a few months ago that we were going to conduct our own series of Eight Crazy Nights. These nights consist of eight different Saturdays at different people's houses, each with a different drink (optional for the non-drinkers), and a different game.

We are half way done and so far we have had so much fun!
Here are the details of the first four Crazy Nights:

#1 - Vodka bar and Singstar (we had to miss this one, but it looked awesome)
#2 - Malibu Barbies (Malibu rum and pineapple juice) and Bunco
#3 - Dirty drinks (like Sex on the Beach) and the game Dirty Minds: For example..."I am pink and when you put me in your mouth I get soft." I don't know what you're thinking, but it's bubble gum! :)
#4 - Appletinis and Apples to Apples

These nights have been so fun and I cannot wait for the rest!
This may have to be a year-round thing. Good friends, good times! You should come!