korean bar-bque

Went out to dinner with my family tonight for my birthday. We went to this neat restaurant in Westborough. Its a Korean place. We started off the meal with sushi. IT was really good my favorite was the Hawaian Sushi. Which had tempora shrimp with salmon and toped with mango and nuts. We also had shrimp dumpling for an appertizer. It was all very yummy my nephew who is three really liked the soy beans and mizo soup that we had next.
For our main course we we had them grill boneless short ribs, scallops, and shrimp on the table grill which my nephew enjoyed watching. Then you wrap the meat in lettuce with white rice and a variety of vegetables. That its really unique and delicious as well. We had noodles with chicken which were very sweet and vegetable fried rice along with our main courses. They also brought out a steamed egg which was still bubbling in its black dish when it came out. I tried it but it was salty and tasted different I did not like that.
For dessert we had red bean ice cream and green tea ice cream and a banana egg roll. Which I would describe as a fried banana wrapped in a crispy flaky pastry shell it was very good. We also had chocolate cake since it was my birthday. My nephew picked it out for me and it was really rich and chocolaty. It was a delicious meal and a great time with the family I enjoy trying new food.

cooking

I cooked a new dish the other night. It was really easy in fact the most difficult part was getting the recipe as I cooked. My monitor had broke earlier in the week and so I was using my work laptop to check e-mail etc. I had found a recipe for sun-dried tomatoes with spinach and pasta and saved it to my e-mail. When I decided to cook it I pulled up the recipe on my laptop and put the laptop on the kitchen table since I could not print without my computer. The laptop keep going into save mode or was just across the room from where I was cooking presented a couple of challenges but it all worked out great.
I added Chicken and Mushrooms to the recipe as well. It only took about half hour to cook and most of that was cooking the pasta (the chicken was from leftovers so was already cooked). Dan came down to eat and said it looked picture perfect, he told me I had to take a picture cause it looked like something you see in a magazine.
The best part was that not only did it look good it tasted great as well.
Dan thought it was fancy but I thought it was great for after work since it was easy, quick and tasted great. We both enjoyed the leftovers for lunch the next day.
:)

Nature

Went out and sat by the stream behind my house yesterday afternoon. Feels and looks like spring out there. The snow is melting the stream is running. The moss is green and a few branches even have small buds on them. Its wonderful to take a moment and listen to nature all around. The stream flowing through the woods and over rocks and branches. The birds and animals running over the snow and leaves. Its just so peaceful and relaxing out in the woods. I wish I could join nature each day for a few moments to get away from my busy life and our busy world and just look at the simple pleasure that are all around us. I hope you enjoy the little piece I took back with me in my picture, the world is a great picture and I can treasure the quiet moments I have in nature.

Certification

When I first graduated from college I had an elementary education teaching certification (Grade 1-6) and a psychology degree. I was ready to teach. Well I quickly found that getting a job would not be that easy. The first couple of years I taught everything from a substitute preschool teacher, a special education Kindergarten teacher, a building substitute for grades fourth and fifth grade, I was a one on one tutor for a bipolar third grader, and a special education assistant for four third grade classes. These experiences taught me one thing that I did not want to teach up to sixth grade. In fact I preferred the younger students mostly kindergarten and preschool. But my certification was not in this area. So I went back to graduate school and started working in a childcare center. After two years, three classes and two more teacher exams I was now certified to teacher preschool through second graders with or without special needs and I still had my original elementary certification.
I then got a job in a public preschool and found I was teaching a wide range of students age three to five with many different disabilities. I liked my job but I wanted to learn more about my students disabilities and if I wanted to keep my teaching certifications I still needed to get my masters degree. So I decided to get a masters in moderate special needs. Now two and a half years later and six classes later I have just received my third teaching certification my license to teach moderate special needs students grades preschool to eighth grade. I am triple certified to teach my students. I can teach students in grade preschool through eighth with special needs, preschool through second with or without special needs, and regular education students in first through sixth grade. I have decided I do not want to teach above third grade but have to keep my options open. I am also completing that masters degree. I am enrolled in a master program in moderate special needs so all my classes in this field will carry over and I am quickly approaching the end. I love my job and my students and am excited that I am qualified to do my job well.

My hair cut

Today I went to the hair dressers. I went in with a full head of hair that came half way down my back when it was curly. Now for those that do not know me I have not cut my hair in about twenty years. At that time I was in the sixth grade and decided to cut it really short I could not do anything with it. It took a couple of years to grow out to the point where I could style it again. I hated it and swore I would never cut my hair that short again. I have years of horrible class pictures to reminded me of that terrible decision. To this day day I still have no idea what possessed me to want to cut it that short.

Anyways back to today. I have been planning this for a while I went to the hair dressers and chopped my hair off. I still did not go as short as I had twenty years ago. But I took off twelve inches and when it is straight it comes to my shoulders when it is curly it will be just above the shoulders. Why did I do this well this time I had a purpose. I wanted to donate my hair to locks of love. I know so many people that this organization has helped from family, to friends, co-workers and even students. I wanted to help these people as well. I left the hair dressers feeling good about what I had done. It is going to take a while to get use to the feeling I am still trying to brush out the long hair that is not there but I know I made a difference and its all for a great cause. My twelve inches of hair will benefit someone with cancer and help them feel better about themselves. So that they can keep up their positive attitudes and continue on with their life.

Snow Day

Today was productive but not as exciting as I hoped. First before I get to far into my snowy day I need to explain what happened with the cookies I had made up for Dan and why they were left behind. He was so excited about his cookies and did not want to forget them so as he was walking around the kitchen getting ready to leave he carried them around with him. He was making tea to bring in the car cause it was snowing and cold outside. He kept them in his hand the whole time but then he needed to put them down to pour the tea water into the travel cup. He was tired so even thou he only placed them on the counter for a minute that is where they stayed. He did not realize it until he was looking for them in the car when he got to work.

As for the rest of my day it was snowing all day so instead of going to Flexcon ( a contact paper supply store for teachers) I stayed home. I ironed my curtains and hung them up, Macguyver only attacked them once while I was ironing. I finished my laundry, it only took four loads. I ordered photos to hang up in the living room, and I made dinner. I was suppose to have graduate class tonight but due to the snow that was canceled as well. It was a productive day at home but I am not a person that can be inside without others for long periods of time, looking forward to running all my errands tomorrow.

Cookies continued

I made the cookies with many trials along the way. I got all the ingredients out and then Dan called and said he would be home in about 30 minutes. So I put everything aside and decided I needed to start dinner first. I was planning a salad and crab cakes for dinner, so with the salads made and the crab cakes cooking in the oven it was back to the cookies. Brown sugar was almost out but had just enough to make one patch of cookies. I was mixing up the batter when Dan walked in.
Batter in the freezer time to wait three hours, was not sure I would still be up to this at ten but was going to give it a try.
At nine o'clock I decided to check and see if the batter was hard. It was an hour early but it was solid so I decided it was ready and started to roll out the dough. I had cut out have the cookies when Dan came down and helped me so by 9:30 all the cookies were cooling on the rack.
Dan was so excited he decided to eat one right away and almost burnt his tongue. But they were awesome and we went to bed after bagging them up so the cats could not get them and making a small portion for Dan to bring to work with his lunch. When I got up this morning Dan was gone to work but the cookies for his lunch were still on the counter, he left them behind.

Cookies

I am going to make some yummy cookies. Its right after valentine's day, and I just got some new cookie cutters for Christmas so I want to use them and I have been wanting to make these sugar cookies that were Dan's (my husband) favorite when he was growing up so at 6 o'clock I have decided to start. He is not on his way home yet so it would be a nice surprise if I was making them when he got home.
I just pulled out the recipe and noticed it said they need to chill three hours before rolling them out and cutting them then cooking. I have all night and no work tomorrow so I will start them now and then they can chill while I make dinner and we eat then later I can cut and cook them. Dan will be able to take some to work with his lunch tom.

The First

This week I am on vacation. I am a teacher and it is school vacation week. I am going to try this out and see if I can post something new and interesting each day this week. If I do well I will try and keep it going after I go back to work. That will be the more difficult part since not only am I a teacher I am also taking graduate classes twice a week, I'm newly married, remodeling a house with my husband, and have many more hobbies.

On top of all this I have two cats Hobbes is a year and a half and yes he is an orange tiger. Macguyver is old half a year old and he is white with brown tips.

Macguyver is my interest today. Have you ever heard of a cat that loves water? My husband was taking a shower the other day and had left the door opened to the bathroom a crack. Next thing we know Macguyver was in the shower too and it did not phase him that he was getting wet until he was directly under the shower head then he jumped out.You would think this would be the end but know a couple of days later I turn on the shower but did not get in I left it running and went to grab something in another room when I got back Macguyver was swatting at the water and walking around the edge of the tub.


Time to make sure the door is always shut when in shower, claws in the shower does will not equal fun.