Some people are type A, others are type B, I think I'm type LMNOP...

My Friday began innocently enough.  A great plan in store for my kiddos, after 3 days of testing, it was time for a well-deserved celebration.  The plan? Bead-making out of magazines for necklaces we are going to sell at our school cultural community event, a donut party and the wonderful finishing touch of a movie. Lovely plan, no?  So we begin with bead-making, but I quickly remember two things.  1.) I am a perfectionist. 2.) My second-graders are not manufactured bead making machines, but second graders.  Bead making created approximately 1,000 beads. Woohoo! Post bead making created approximately 6 hours of me, checking each bead for usability, re-rolling and re-gluing.  Joy. In the process, I came to this conclusion: I am type LMNOP.  A type LMNOP person not only is a perfectionist, much like a type A person, but tries to be a master in everything.  Extracurricular activity lists exceed 20, hours of sleep rarely exceed 6.  Type LMNOP people do not just dabble in a little of this and a little of that but try to be 6 people in one.  Currently I bake, cook, salsa dance, zumba, bike, hike, am a gym rat, read, plan weddings, paint canvases, paint pottery, teach, go to church, and bible study.  This is me.  Type LMNOP.  These are my beads. My wake up call. I need an intervention.

(If beads could talk, they would be yelping, "Help her! Help her!)

In related news, the beads do rock, however, they will be made into necklaces by my kiddos, AND they will be sold. This Thursday. At the escuela.  Rock!  Loooove when kids get to make a difference.  Its my favorite.

Just like this chip cookie:

The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle: Chips and Salsa Cookies {Tutorial}

Peace, Love, and Let-it-go!

This story has potential punch line of a kids knock knock joke but you get to hear it anyways

My kids yesterday said, "Ms. A, Ms. A we have a joke for you! Knock Knock."  To that I of course replied "who's there."  "Peanut butter." "Peanut butter who" "Stop eating me!"  Thats it.  I waited for more, for a clever kick at the end but...nada. Not that it mattered though. Regardless, each time a kid tells you knock knock you always say, "who's there" even though you know it will be another lame joke that only 8 year olds find humor in.  I'm okay with that, because every once in a while along comes that funny one; the one that results in a laughter that bubbles up from the inside and flows out at an embarrassingly loud volume.  The result is unpredictable but each laugh I have experienced is irreplaceable.  I am grateful for invitations to laugh as these.  I love the simple joys and blessings of a note of being the best teacher in the universe (even when there has never been a contest, rubric, or meeting of each teacher in the universe by the student handing me such an award), a smile when I greet them in the morning and my little jumping beans hopping up and down upon my sight or the sweet words of people I love.

From the heart of a girl who loves to carry the wait of the world on her shoulders (as if she has much to do with their resolutions anyways) I wanted to have a little cheeze-o moment and share a few of my favorite things. Even though its not raining and we cant all fit on one bed with our pillows...here it is.  A few of my favorite things (in no particular order):

Smiles

Piling my face with laundry right after it comes out of the dryer

Dancing when no one is watching
Apples, celery, carrots and all other things a rabbit might consume

My students

Mochas
Baby Mama
Delicioso with Ingrid Haufman

Looking down from the summit of a mountain you just hiked up

Zumba

Singing at the top of my lungs

Sharing food with friends and family
Spanish

Bad knock knock jokes
Salsa

Dark chocolate
Blasting songs with the windows rolled down, sun shining, 82.3 degrees
107 2nd graders singing your rap at the top of their lungs
Exercising while watching The Last Cake Standing (it makes me feel rebellious)
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

The Good Book
God
Uninhibited worship

Somedays just need a little reminder of those sweet things of life. This is one of those days. A day to relish in all things favorite.  A day to have a jammin song like Forget You on repeat and rock out.

Peace, love and jam, y'all.

Superfoods, Superdelicious, Supershouldbellegaltoeatsomethingthisgood

As of late, I am on a superfood kick.  I was already eating like a rabbit except in dessert land.  I thought I would give a healthy twist to my sweet tooth (although this recipe is so amazing I am doubting its actual health).  The good news is I never have to know because the recipe came in the metric system.  I choose to not count calories if they come in the metric system.  They are freebies (along with things consumed during vacations, batters before they are baked, and things that are burnt).  Those are my caloric rules.  I am not sure I will find a nutritionist to back me up on them but that's fine by me.

So, today's recipe is a dark chocolate blueberry cookie.  Antioxidants like you wouldn't believe and a decadent treat.  I rarely lick the batter any more, but I can't say that batter didn't pass these lips.  It. was. good.

So, here it is
the superdelish, superfood, supercookie:

Converted, mixed, baked and soon to be enjoyed.  

If you want the recipe, Ill pass it along but I will give it to you in the metric so you can say that you used your science conversion skills once in your life.  Application of that good education you received. 

I only requested that you listen to In the Heights soundtrack during the baking process.  It adds flavor, maybe not to the cookies but to your hips.

Peace, love and bake y'all!

When I Grow Up I Want to Be a Mermaid

So I got home from a crazy day at work.    Post crazy day at work, the first thing I did when I got home was take a deliciously hot shower.  It made me decide that I want to be a mermaid when I grow up.  I just love showers.  Showers make the world a better place.  Why am I thinking today of what I want to be when I grow up? Consequently it was also career day.  All the kids dressed up as what they wanted to be when they grow up.  I came dressed as a baker.  I am not going to lie, that would be a good option for me if I ever fail at this educating-the-future-of-America business.

Here is why:

Cupcakes do not talk back.

Today, I like the sound of that.

So then I tried to think of other reasons why this might be a better option, but I think small children win.  I mean, sure you can change cupcake flavors depending on your mood and even match the wrappers according to the festivity they are being baked for, or even start your own t.v. show all about your cupcake-age but small children ROCK!

Here is why:

They are spunky.
They joke about everything (currently my kids are all talking to each other like Animal from the Muppets).
They see the world in the most unique ways.
They add spice to each and every day.

O.K., so today kids win.  Cupcakes and small children can duke it out again on career day next year.  For now?  I think I'll stick to my day job.

Plus, they can rock songs like this and make their teachers ball their eyes out.  Cupcakes can't do that...

Keeping it real in the 303... Me!

Call me crazy...

I am recording this  moment for when I need a good laugh.  THIS is why I love my job.
After a long day of herding cattle (a.k.a. taking my 2nd graders to the museum) we were on the bus and this conversation occurred between me and two students (we'll call them G and B)

G:  Hey Ms. A, do you loooove apples?
Me: You know I do.
G: So why don't you marry them?
Me: Ok.  I will.  Saturday.  In fact when I come to school on Monday, you'll have to start calling me Mrs. Apple.
B:  Ms. A that would be weird.  You watch a movie together and ______ (B makes pretends to be an apple completely motionless with a goofy face) , at dinner ______ (makes the face again), when the baby is born ______ (makes face again).
We all are cracking up.  B proceeds to share countless ways an apple could be a boring husband.
B: Ms. A, I'm not sure an apple will make a good husband.
G:  So, Ms. A, do you looooove carrots?
Me: You know I do.
G: So why don't you marry them?
Me: I can't.
G: Why not?
Me:  Cause I'm marrying the apple.
G: Oh.

And this is why I love teaching.  In no other profession could this conversation ever take place.

Hospitality: I'm 24 and I still love to play house.

So... this weeks adventure starts with a coffee mug.  If you know me even a little bit then you might know that I am totally the "mi casa es su casa" kinda girl.  I love having people over.  I love baking.  I love sharing my home.  I learned this week however that that is not quite as easy to do when the person you are sharing with is not your biggest fan.  I was challenged to share my mug.  Apparently I am not so willing to share a delightful Christmas mug with you if you don't really like me.  It was difficult.  If we tested my heart, I would have failed at hospitality.   The rest of the week, however, I feel like I made up for my grinch-like heart as I have hosted two get-togethers in the past two nights.  

So, night one?  I had 8 guests for dinner.  Menu? Citrus chili chicken, pinneaple, chips and homemade chipotle salsa, black beans and these delectable orange finger cookies with dark chocolate (see pic below).  I had a legit pastry chef as a member of the party.  Yikes! Luckily she liked it, so yeah! In my next life, maybe I can be a chef after all...Yesssss.  If thats the case, I would like to have my chef hat bedazzled.  Please and thank you.

Night two? My girls came over for bible study. It was a win!  Menu?  Red pepper mango guacamole, spicy black bean dip, veggies, fruit, chips, and dark chocolate zucchini muffins (see pic below). 

We are not going to talk about the coffee I made for night two though... The fact is that I have only ever made coffee for me.  I may or may not have put double the amount of grind necessary to make a normal pot of coffee.  Details, people.  I just am trying to be super Bostonian or something.  Do not fret however, Saundie, coffee maker extraordinaire, has now properly informed me of how to correctly brew a pot of coffee for more than just me, myself and I.  She rocks.  She deserves this:

(and probably that amount for all of the playing house I have done this week...)

Peace, love and baking y'all!  And high-five my roommate next time you see her.  She's the bomb!

When God's people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality. Romans 12:13

Cheesecake and life weren't made to be reduced fat

This is a tale about a time when I made a reduced fat cheesecake.  It is not a happy tale but a tale that must be told none-the-less.  Yesterday I was preparing for the arrival of a dear friend and decided to make a cheesecake.  I love cheesecake.  If you do not? I do not understand you.  That stuff is delish.  So, being that I am now more than ever a health nut, I made a reduced fat cheesecake from my America's Test Kitchen Healthy Family. 

Step number one in making a reduced fat cheesecake?  The crust (with about half the amount of butter).  Result? In five minutes less than the recipe recommended, the crust was over-browned nearing burnt.  I was upset.  In hindsight, I should have just started singing, "do do do, another one bites the dust" and laughed it off, but the perfectionist side of me was mourning my over-browned crust as a chucked it into the trash.  Luckily I had pre-made crusts on hand, but it is soooo not the same.

The actual filling was fun to make but in the shallow pre-made crusts, it definitely didn't need the recommended amount of time in the oven.  The cheesecakes turned out edible but deeeefinitely not photograph-able.  Fact: cheesecake is delicious because of all the things that make it bad for you.  It was not meant to be reduced fat.

Another thing that was not made to be reduced fat? Life.  I praise the LORD for grace.  I am so glad we get to have grace and the fact that it is unending is incomprehensible.  Thinking about the massive amounts of failure that occur on any given day, it is overwhelming to think about the overflow of grace we are given.  I have been meditating today on this quote however, "grace can lead to a life of mediocrity".  The reality is that just as cheesecake was never made to be reduced fat, grace was never made so that we could live a lukewarm life.  Grace should spur us on to glorify God all the more.  Mediocre, lukewarm, reduced fat are not words to describe life in all that it was meant to be.

"The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it to the full." John 10:10

Something else I have stuck in my head?

This video...Enjoy!