Veggie Lasagna

I made this over mother's day weekend and it was a pretty big hit with the meat eaters in my family. Its so easy to throw together and easy to mix and match vegetables to put in it. Plus if you have meat eaters in the family its super easy to throw some shredded chicken in the middle.

What you need:

2 russet potato's

4-5 radishes

1/2 onion

4 carrots

1 C mushrooms

3-4 Brussels sprouts

10 cloves of garlic

1 can fire roasted Italian diced tomato's

2 C feta

5 C spinach

olive oil

1. Chop radishes, onion, carrots, mushrooms, Brussels sprouts, and garlic and place in bowl. Toss with a little olive oil and add can of tomato's (do not drain) and 1C feta.

2. Peel potatoes and slice. Put a little bit of olive oil in the bottom of the pan and added potato slices until the bottom is covered. Place a handful of spinach over the potato's, and veggie mixture on top of spinach. Keep adding creating layers once all the mixture is gone add remaining potatoes and top with the rest of the feta. Bake at 375 for 45 minutes or until potatoes are done.

4 things that I currently adore

1. Blow up furniture. A and I are moving for the summer and we are not taking any of our furniture.  We have a blow up mattress we are taking, and then I saw all this blow up furniture at wally world and now I want it so bad!

Seriously blow up furniture has come a long way since it first became cool

Ex: this chair is NOT cool (Do not be fooled by Lizzie Mcguire's smile)

But this couch that pulls out into a bed is!

2. Mucho Mucho Bueno Bueno blog. I danced with Kellie in college and she was always the sweetest person! Check out these adorable sisters, you will feel instantly inspired!

3. Piercing my nose. I had my nose pierced back in college and just found a picture and since I am off work for the summer I think I deserve it.

4. Overalls. I am currently on a mission to find a pair of overalls. Go ahead and make fun of me, they are awesome.  But unfortunately I can not find them anywhere.

Reasons I love A: Number 47

BE KIND.

- Richard G. Scott-

I am always telling my first graders "Stop, and just be kind!" Seriously I must say it at least 50 times a day. Since I started teaching I notice the most random things about people now. EX: How often you are polite, if you listen and do the first time, and rather you stick your fingers in your mouth....you would think only 6 years old do this, but take notice people, how world is falling apart. Adults do this!. But the one thing I notice, and that I have been striving harder to do, is just being kind. The world is hard enough why must we make it harder by being unkind to each other? That being said A is one of the kindest people I know. Not just polite, but actually KIND. He chats with the cashiers and asks how their days are going. He'll smile at strangers. He helps anyone who needs it. (Once we pulled up to my parents house and my mom was trying to move a HUGE boulder, A jumped out of the car and went and just moved it for my mother from the front yard to the back. Why my mother decided to have a boulder in her yard is still a mystery) He is just kind. I am always in awe by it. 

Kale stir fry

I love stir fry. It's super easy to throw in the crock pot and if you are like me and cooking for non-meat eaters, and meat eaters then this is super easy to add chicken to. Plus, you can pretty much add anything you want to it. If I am making for both A and I usually throw the chicken in the crock pot then the last hour throw in tons of veggies....I know I know I am still getting some of the meat protein from chicken the veggies with the chicken, but I am a busy person and will get a little bit to avoid cleaning more dishes...... then I just pick out the chicken.

Here is a picture of A's, with meat. Mine looked exactly the same without the chicken

What you need:

3 chicken thighs (optional)

6 cherry tomato's

1 red pepper

half a head of broccoli

3 cloves of garlic minced

1/2 C soy sauce

1/2C veggie broth

1/4C brown sugar

1/4C honey

2 TBSP sesame seeds

2 green onions

3 stems of kale

1/2C mushrooms

brown rice

Mix soy sauce, broth, brown sugar, sesame seeds, and honey together in a bowl. Adjust to liking. Place chicken, broccoli, and garlic in crock pot and cook on high for 4 hours or until chicken is done. One hour before you are ready to eat cook rice according to package. While rice cooks add onions, red peppers, kale, and mushroom to crock pot.  Place huge helping over rice when done and enjoy!
  

Reason I love A: Number 48

(Picture found on google)

A does yoga with me when I need the hours for my certification.

Middle Week BBQ

This has been the LONGEST week ever. I really thought it was never going to end. My precious first graders have been crazy, and out to lunch. I have way to many thoughts about how I am going to complete my 200HR yoga certification. Laundry is literally falling out over the top of the hamper. And to top it all off the weather has officially been diagnosed with bi-polar. Last night A came home and I was grumpy and did not want to cook so we went to the store and got food to grill out. The weather was fantastic around 6. Warm, no wind. It was perfect BBQ weather. Then we started cooking, and the wind picked up and the temp. dropped. I knew we were going to have a cold front but this was just ridiculous. I never saw snow but this morning at work a couple of other teachers said that there were snow flurries in the air. WTF its May? I am ready for the warmer weather so we can have more nights like last night.

So cold I had to drink wine with a blanket.

Can you guess which meal is mine and which is A's?

These guys were not happy. They had to stay in because......

These babies are living under our shed!!

World meet: Mary, Maria, John, and Jack.

I love them!!! I don't think A is going to let me keep one :/

Guilty Pleasures

I have a slight obsession with books. Like a huge problem. A had to build me a HUGE new book case because I was having problems finding a spot for all my lovely stories. I buy a ridiculous amounts of book. I'll buy them if I have extra money, Ill buy them if I don't have extra money but feel that lunch for the week is not important, Ill buy them just for the cover. I have books on my shelves that I have never read, and never plan on reading but I just liked the cover.

Last night A went to go play hockey so I was sitting on my living room floor admiring all my books and book shelf and was trying to come up with my top 10 favorite books. I could not do it. I have way to many books I love! I love so many genres from Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet to Sudhir Venkatesh's Gang Leader For A Day. Chick-lit, sci-fi, history, I love it all! But my favorite genre is Young Adult.....go ahead and judge, shit gets real in some YA.

Now that you have rolled your eyes at me, lets talk about the most controversial YA book there is among women.....

See I love it so much I got the special edition and the short story, I am a dedicated fan

....that's right Twilight! I have no shame in the fact that I love these books. Most girls/women I know are split on this book. Some hate it for the writing, (although I have not met a women who judged 50 Shades on that aspect, and we all know that it is  Twilight fan fiction......) and some hate it cause they think it makes abusive relationships seem ok. Now let me give you my thoughts on why I LOVE these books.

1.Yes, the writing is a little bit off. But can we all give Meyers credit for telling a good story. Do not even act like you were not some what in thralled with the fact that her vampires were rock hard, and glittered. Hello, that is just awesome. And makes sense.....vampires are dead. Although the glitter does not make since....who cares it is glitter.

2. Edward is crazy and controlling. But if I was a vampire and A was a mere fragile mortal and I knew of all the horrific, awful things that were happening in the world you better believe your ass I would be watching him while he sleeps. I would not want another vampire coming in to feed on my love! I think we as women should thank Edward for being kind and not letting Bella DIE!

3. The titles are about the link between the sun and moon.....why would you not like?

4. Bella falls apart when Edward leaves. This was a HUGE problem with the book. Women everywhere were angry about this, because we as girls should not be that depended on a man. Umm he is not a MAN he is a vampire. Plus, do not pretend that you have not been there. Every ones inner 15 year old felt for her, even if it is a little dramatic.

5. There are vampires and werewolves.

6. It is super cheesy and romantic. And I like some ridiculous eye gazing, hand holding, can't live without you romance. Plus, there are some fantastic love quotes in this series. Go google it, I bet you find at least one you like.

7. Edward can read minds. That is just cool.

8.Alice can see the future. Also cool.

9. The volturi is just a bunch of bad asses who have crazy cool powers. That took a lot of planning, and I appreciate that Meyers. Thank you!

I get why people got angry about it giving teenage girls unrealistic dreams about relationships. If you can not separate fantasy from reality you probably should not be reading fiction books. Although, I will admit that after I read this book I was very angry at A for a day or two because he was not an undead, mythical, creature but my 19 year old self recovered from my book hangover and realized that that was ridiculous. A can not help it if he is human.  So, friends go ahead and judge me on my love for these books but I do not care. In fact I am going to reread them this weekend, and I am pretty excited about it. (Sorry A for the emotional sadness you will have to deal with, because I will be dramatized for a few days at my mere mortality.)