Sunday, bloody Sunday!

Every Sunday I spend my day mourning the loss of the weekend. Anybody else? From the moment I wake up to the moment I fall asleep I have this thought lingering around my head: "Tomorrow is Monday... uggggh" Subsequently I tend to ruin my Sundays. I know it doesn't make a whole lot of sense: I spend half the weekend dreading the week! Self-Destructive?

So I am going to make a conscious effort to stop doing this... I'm not sure I will be able to really accomplish this until school is out!

Anyway I thought that on this dreaded of all Sundays, I would share with you some good things:

I went to Lowes today and bought a bunch of seeds and soil so that Hubs and I can start working on our garden! We got Yellow Squash, Tomatoes, Peas, Beans, Spinach, Cucumber, and Eggplant. I'm not sure about gardening a full blown garden, I have no idea what we're doing... it can't be that hard Soil+Water+Seed+Sun=Plant right?

I also purchased a Crock Pot (because my old pot got a crack in it, booo) and am currently making Ham and Potato soup! YUM!


Alright, so I guess that is fairly mundane.


Ohh yes, and I will also be making that Cheesecake I blogged about a few days ago... Sunday can't be all bad if there is Cheesecake involved, right?

Thoughts on Public School Teaching.

My colleagues and I at the MS Music trip to Hershey Park, PA

No one knows what it is like to be a first year teacher, you can't even try to imagine it. You are back in the public schools after about a 4 or 5 year term in college and that alone takes some time to get used to again. Then you are under constant scrutiny of your Administrators, 'constructively criticizing' your every move. If your lucky you will have nice students, who have an open mind, and give you a chance. If you are anywhere close to what I walked into last August, then the students view you like a wounded gazelle on the Serengeti, doing every little thing to make your life hard; as some sort of tribute to their former teacher. That first year of teaching was the first time in my life where I got so angry that the blood all rushed to my head, and I saw dots, and almost passed out (that would have really made me look like a wounded gazelle). I must say that students generally do not have as much of an attachment to core teachers, as they do music teachers or coaches, so it is probably hard being a replacement for those types of positions. Furthermore, not everyone is in the position where they are replacing someone who would have the class play kick ball instead of rehearse, or would spend their planning time smoking pot in the storage room instead of planning OR would show up to teach in pajamas and have a whimsical air about following rules. What good are silly things like rules and structure?

Now you know on daytime television how they have segments about memory loss, and how your brain will block out bad times of your life as a defense mechanism? Well I think my brain is doing that to me about my first year of teaching. It is silly, I know, and there were also many good things that happened last year; but it seems that the further away from 08-09 I get more things I don't remember... and I'm not that old! Right at a time when I was starting to wonder if all my hard work and perserverance was going to pay off some things happened to make me feel like: FINALLY SOMEONE RECOGNIZES HOW HARD I WORK AND THINGS ARE GETTING BETTER!!! You know, like shout it on the mountain top type of feel!

Now, today I had a formal observation review; and while last year my formal observation review was not glowing or even that great, today's was. For instance my administrator said that he has seen nothing to comment on about classroom management. This is huge, administrators always have something to say about classroom management. Score one for me! Then he said that it looks like my students trust me and are excited to learn. Score another for me! Then there was a nice discussion on the structure of my classroom and he basically couldn't stop saying WONDERFUL things about my teaching!

Please excuse me while I climb that mountain behind my house and shout to the heavens about my general awesomeness, and I'll add some Hallelujah's, and some praise Jesus too, and a very sincere THANK YOU!

Then there was a moment this week when I had my orchestra spread out in the gym for sectionals. Now if it was last year, I would be constantly worrying about their productiveness and respecting each other, but this isn't last year anymore. This time, I just took a moment and watched all my students help each other, and have a genuine concern about their ability to play the music, and I am sure this is how parents feel when they see their children interact in some sweet and precious way, but I almost got teary eyed! I was so happy to see positive attitudes and great leadership, I was just beside myself.

These are a few of my favorite things!

My family on Christmas Eve 2009

On this 24th of February, I thought I would share with you some of my favorite things:

My family! I love my family, and don't we all look so cute in that picture?

Sick days... I know it doesn't make a whole lot of sense (who wants to be sick?), but I love being lazy and not feeling guilty about it.

Soup, all kinds of soup. Chicken Noodle, Beef Stew, Vegetable, Potato, Broccoli, Onion, Minestrone, and the list goes on.

The Bachelor. I know... it's trashy, and made up, but I find it so funny. I'm not a huge fan of Jake the Bachelor, I thought I would love him... but I don't, and I think it happened with Vienna. I don't like her, and so now I don't like him. He had all these great women and.... !!! Well I'm not going there.

I love spending money, which I haven't been able to do in a while. Sad face :-(

I love warm fuzzies: Blankets, Sweaters, Slippers, you get the idea.

Wine is totally my favorite. I used to be really into the whites, but now I'm more into the reds. Lately Hubs and I haven't been enjoying wine like we have in the past, and instead we've been drinking Miller's "High Life" the Champagne of Beers.

Teaching the 'good' students. I know they are the easy ones, but they make teachers feel fulfilled, or that they can survive.

Doing things to make Hubs happy, that is my favorite.

I love fresh air, and nature, camping, and feeling like I am out in the middle of nowhere.

I love pretty little things, rings, necklaces, you know - sparkly things!

Antiques are my favorite, and Antiquing is half the fun.

I love that moment when after a long winter, you feel the warm sun on you, and it is so very warm and comforting.

One of my ultimate favorites though, must be hanging out with friends, and making new friends. For instance over all those snow days we had this year we started a 'snow day' tradition with our neighbors where we hang out all day, play in the snow, and have yummy yummy food, and good conversation.

Oh, and Hubs, he's my favorite.


Whats your favorite?

Craving!

It seems today I have a craving for everything that is bad for me. Mainly dessert. I just can't make up my mind about which type of sweet treat I would like to indulge in. I had ideas of dashing to the grocery store for supplies to make myself something great.

My first idea was Chocolate Cake:


Doesn't that look sooooo yummy?!

And then I thought, that might be a bit pricey, and I should go for something a bit cheaper like Rice Krispy Treats. Still delicious! Just as bad for you right? I'm not even sure if it is really cheaper or not!


So then I thought: Cheesecake, how I have missed you!! You are so creamy, and delicious, and sweet, and made of cheese which is so yummy! Cheese is good for you right? Calcium, anyone?

Right when I was contemplating the cheesecake, and how much calcium I would gain from eating it, and that I could top it with fruit to make it even healthier; Chloe curled up on my tummy. So that was it! I was trapped under my 5 lb. cat. I wouldn't dare disturb my little kitty in the name of cheesecake... but it is cheesecake, so I could disturb her this one time...

Then a thought came to me, while I was languishing on the sofa (sofa sounds not as lazy and 'couch') trapped under Chloe: there are dishes in the kitchen. Dirty dishes, and cooking would simply create more dishes. So that was the deal breaker. Cheesecake, you tease, perhaps tomorrow you will be mine!


Completely unrelated:

Who doesn't love an Olympic Gold Medalist, right? And Evan is so hunky! Tall, dark, and handsome. Rumor has it he is dating Nastia Liukin, they would be this super athletic, so beautiful that it is ridiculous, but you love them anyway type of couple. He sorta reminds me of that actor that played the new Spock: Zachary Quinto


Well? Am I right, or am I right?

2010 Winter Olympics

I LOVE the Olympics, and I love to reflect on where I was when the last Olympics happened. For instance, when the 2008 Summer Olympics were happening I was moving into my first place! My tiny little apartment that I loved and lived in all last year! I remember sitting in my living room with no furniture watching Shawn Johnson and waiting for days for my mom to return to me with the trailer full of my belongings!

Anyways one of my favorites is the opening ceremony. I mean, did you see the ceremony at Beijing?! It was incredible! I was so impressed by all of their routines, and really just the sheer mass of people all perfectly coordinated. It was quite impressive. I really think they ruined opening ceremonies forever though, I mean, how can anyone compete with that! The iconic imagery of chinese culture, and all the colors! It was just impressive.

Now, I can't say much about the Vancouver opening ceremony because, well, I missed most of it. I was so upset about it too. I was at work, at our final performance of the Musical "Once Upon a Mattress" I did happen to catch the tail end of it, but I missed my favorite part: when the Olympians enter, and then the torch is lit. Great stuff.

Now I have a few things to comment on what has happened so far.

First of all, the pairs figure skating. Oh my lord, I was on the edge of my seat! I stayed up till 12:00 on a school night when I had to get up at 6:00 AM the next day (aka big deal). I just had to see all of their performances, and who medaled.

Now I think my favorite pair was the Germans. They had this sort of style to their routines that (in my non-professional) opinion the other pairs were sort of lacking. And of course they skated their short program to "Send in the Clowns" which I love!! They were my favorite performers to watch, I felt like even though they were competing, they were also performing from the heart; which I really appreciated!



I also really enjoyed the USA pairs Amanda Evora & Mark Ladwig and Caydee Denney & Jeremy Barret. I'm not exactly sure, but I got the imression that Caydee and Jeremy have not been skating together for very long (I could be wrong) but they were awesome!! Caydee has this adorable little face with short blond hair, and she is a really powerful little grasshopper! I have a feeling that at the next Winter Olympics, they will be in prime position for a medal. Now the other USA pair: Amanda and Mark, they were quite on top of their routine, and skated very beautifully. Amanda is extremely graceful and is so wonderful to watch!




By the way Amanda and Jeremy are dating! I find it so funny how figure skaters date each other, and it is even better when they skate together. Although, I'm not sure I could spend all the time 24/7 with Hubs in a practice and then at home. I love Hubs, but that is a lot of togetherness!! What exactly is it about Pairs Skating that leads to romance?

And that leads me to the Chinese Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao, who are a married couple that came out of retirement to win a Gold Olympic medal, and boy did they succeed. Hongbo is nearly 40 years old, and for one: I'm surprised he is still competing and two: he doesn't look that old to me! This pair definitely deserved to win gold they were by far the best technical skaters, and they delivered a great performance. When they realized they won gold, and broke that incredible Russian record, they were basically like:

"What do we do with our life now?"

"I guess we can make a baby?!?!"

It was so cute. Yes, please, go have a life. Move out of those dorms and have an adult married life!


All of the pairs are incredibly talented, and beautiful. I could not keep my eyes off of them!! Hubs and I had a great time cuddling on the couch watching it all... but the anxiety was really getting to Hubs. Every time someone fell he muttered a very heart felt "Ahhh Gosh!" which is his basic way of saying... well there goes their chances!! And at one point he covered his eyes because he couldn't handle the tension! He cares so much!

I hope you all stayed up way past your bed time and enjoyed the pairs skating also, what did you think of it all??

Buttons!

Here are some buttons made for me by C&A as a Valentine gift, how sweet!
Take whichever one you want by copying the code beneath the button you choose and pasting it on your website.

 <a href="http://notesfromthepeartree.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Notes from the Pear Tree House" src="http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af5/nixiao/peartree2-1-2.png" border="0" /></a>







 <a href="http://notesfromthepeartree.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Notes from the Pear Tree House" src="http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af5/nixiao/peartree3-1-1.png" border="0" /></a>

 <a href="http://notesfromthepeartree.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Notes from the Pear Tree House" src="http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af5/nixiao/peartree1-1-1-1.png" border="0" /></a>

 <a href="http://notesfromthepeartree.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Notes from the Pear Tree House" src="http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af5/nixiao/peartree4-1-2.png" border="0" /></a>

Enjoy!
Thanks C&A!!

My Dearest Blogger, will you be my Valentine.

Blogger,

Don't tell Hubs, but I really like you. You have so much knowledge from so many different people, you are just the highlight of my morning. I love reading everyone's stories over my morning coffee, or evening tea. Because of you I have learned a lot about people and myself!

For instance, I learned about loving those around you, having a positive attitude, and perseverance through hard times. I have also learned a bit about cooking, fashion, hair dos, crafting, and parenting (more specifically the type of parent I want to be one day... off in the distant future).

I just find you amazing how you bring people together. It reminds me of the days when ladies would chat over a quilt, each making their own sections... a bit more removed though!

So what do you think? Would you be my Valentine?

With Love,
Mrs. Pear Tree

Ode to Hubster

In case you missed it, the East Coast is getting slammed with snow. It looks sorta like this:



And that is the Hubs, with a big smile on his face, because he LOVES snow. And that is our driveway. You can't see it from this angle, but the driveway is really long. It took Hubster two hours, TWO HOURS, to shovel the whole thing! I think he was still smiling when he finished too. (How cute!)

I think if we had known we were going to get about 50 inches of snow this year we would have bought a snow blower.

But we didn't

So Hubs has spent countless hours shoveling our long long long (is one more too much?) long driveway. Isn't that sweet?! He is providing for us.

He has also chopped a lot of wood for our wood stove to keep us warm. Seriously a lot of wood, it should last us for the week!

I think it makes him feel all manly and masculine, and you know what?! I like it :-)

He is also outside right now, as we speak, carving out a sledding path with all the feet of snow we have in our yard. He has this master plan that starts in the back yard and loops around to the front. I am not sure exactly how it is going to work, but he has a vision!

Don't you just love him!?!

Clam Chowder

I have always loved soup, and one of my favorite soups has always been Clam Chowder. And yesterday, I attempted my first batch of Clam Chowder, and let me tell you, it was awesome. So good in fact that is is gone now. To commemorate it's wonderful existence, I am sharing the recipe with all of you!

New England Clam Chowder

Ingredients

3 Pounds fresh clams
or 10 0z. can clams in water
or 12 oz. frozen clams
1 1/4 cup water
or bottled clam juice (if using canned clams)
Butter
1 Onion
1 Celery Stalk
1 Carrot
3 Garlic cloves
2 Tablespoon Flour
2/3 Cup dry white wine
3 Medium potatoes
1 Bay Leaf
3 Allspice Berries
1 1/2 Cups heavy cream
1 Cup corn kernels
Salt and Pepper to taste
Flat leaf parsley


Wash the fresh clams and place in a large soup pot with the water or clam juice and 1 teaspoon of the butter. Simmer until the clams have opened up, 8-10 minutes.

Strain the clams through a large strainer into a large bowl. Reserve the stock. Discard any unopened shells. Remove the meat from the rest. Chop the larger clams and leave the small ones whole.

If you are using canned clams, drain the juices and add them to the water or clam juice. If you are using frozen clams, defrost them first.

Melt the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter in the same soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, carrot, garlic, and salt and saute over medium heat until softened.

Mix in the flour and stir in the clam stock and the wine. Add the potatoes, bay leaf, and allspice. Simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes. Add the corn and cook for 5 minutes more.

Remove from heat and discard the bay leaf and allspice berries. Stir in the cream and clams. Cook for 3 minutes more, but do not boil.

Season with salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with the parsley and serve.

After making this once, I was wishing I made a double batch! So if you have the money for all of those clams... you will want to make a double!


Enjoy!