the game of Set

talk about creative and making you think...

paula and kelly turned me on to this game. it is fabulous! you can adapt it to fit any age group.

we gave it for Christmas presents like it was our job this past year.

here is the online SET daily puzzle:

http://www.setgame.com/set/puzzle_frame.htm

trash to treasure

Every month at school we have "activity period." when we were in school it was called "club day." students sign up for the activity they want to participate in and then we meet 1-2 times per month.

For years, i did arts and crafts with janet, which was a blast...probably more for me than her because she seemed to always get stuck with figuring out what we were going to do!

I decided about a month or so ago that i wanted to turn my activity period "green."

our first activity period is next week and i'm really looking forward to it. we're going to tie dye and then decide on future projects.

there are some fantastic ideas out there. if you ever wonder what to do with old CD cases or bubble wrap or t-shirts that don't fit, there is a craft for it!

here is a list of some things i'd like to offer as projects:

-pen holder out of CD cases
-shopping bags out of t-shirts
-jewelry out of metal washers
-surreal collage pictures out of magazines and catalogs
-dog toys out of old t-shirts

and on and on.

i can't wait to send you pictures of what we come up with! until then i am going to keep searching for ideas!

mobile craftiness

so, shaun thinks i'm insane and would now prefer not to drive my car! here's why:





best part about this project...it's cheap!

i have to admit i was a little disappointed because they used to have pink and green polka dots, which i already used to decorate my metal cabinets at school, and i went to the Dollar Tree in search for more, but they were out. i found these fabulous flowers, though and got to work over the weekend.

Dollar Tree has "wall decor" in the housewares section. they have tons of options. while i was there i picked up some green and blue leaves and robots as well! in fact, the robot ones were the first i knew about because the drumheller crew gave landon some for his birthday last year. i figured now i have options!

okay, down to how i made them.

oriental trading has magnetic sheets, which i always have on handy. I simply took the wall stickers and placed them on the magnetic sheets and then cut each of the out. simple and fun!

i'm not sure how long they will actually last on the car, weather and dirt might become an issue, but for now, i think she looks pretty cute!

i might opt for the robots next round for some extra goofiness!

school creativity

most people know this has not been my rock-star year at school, but there are a few things that are appropriate for this blog.

i mentioned loving color earlier and this was my way of introducing it into my classroom. i bought tons of paper lanterns from Michaels (and yes, we rode the ding while we were there :-) ) before school started...they were $1 a piece i believe. when fishing through the Oriental Trading catalog i saw some decorate your own paper lanterns and thought this would be a great way for each of my kids to express him/herself and have it displayed in the classroom. they did a great job. these have been hanging since the 1st week of school and i just love seeing them when i walk into my room. they seem to distract me from the 800 piles of papers and mess that need to be cleaned up!

struggle

i don't know what it is with me, but i cannot ever seem to have it together when i work.

over break i felt human again...i was starting this blog, crafting, enjoying each day. now that school is back in session, i feel like someone has injected me with caffeine everyday. don't get me wrong, i appreciate the routine, but my goodness, i am a wreck.

i am always anxious about everything that needs to be done at work, nervous i'm not going to do enough or miss some way to reach a student.

i knew, i just knew that this week back was going to be difficult...i guess i should be more positive.

i made a goal this week to make dinner at least 3 nights to force myself to take a break from school stuff once i got home. i accomplished this goal and appreciate that i did, but i feel like i need to have more of an emotional separation from school and all that is not school.

dinner...3 days in a row?

with all said in my "struggle" post, here is a sampling of dinners this week.
monday--veggie lasagna and cheese bread


i found this delicious recipe from Parents Magazine, September 2009 issue. it was very easy to make, in fact, i think i will make it even easier the next time by assembling it ahead so that all i have to do when i get home from school is pop it in the oven.

ingredients:

1 zucchini, thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 c shredded carrot
3 c baby spinach
1 jar pasta sauce (be sure to get a tasty one...it makes a big difference)
6 regular lasagna noodles (uncooked)
1/2 carton (15 oz) part-skim ricotta cheese
1 c shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

1. Prep the veggies. Cut them all and then place them in a bowl with 2 Tbs water. cover and microwave on high for 2 minutes; drain. Stir in spinach.
2. heat pasta sauce, covered on high for 2 minutes.
3. Layer 1/2 c sauce, 4 noodles, half the veggies, half the ricotta, 1 cup sauce, and 1/3 cup mozzarella. Stack on 4 more noodles, remaining veggies and ricotta, 1/3 c mozzarella, 4 noodles, and rest of sauce.
4. Preheat oven to 350.
5. Sprinkle the remaining mozzarella and cover the dish tightly with foil. Bake for 1 hour. Let stand 15 minutes before slicing. Makes 8 pieces.

The best part: Each piece is stuffed with 3 kid-sized portions of veggies!

again, i cannot take credit for this dish..check out Parents Magazine, September 2009 issue if my directions aren't clear.

Tuesday--Breakfast for Dinner!

fried eggs for shaun
scrambled for me and landon
homemade waffles with fresh blueberries

i just love breakfast for dinner...we did this once a week at least growing up!

Wednesday--potato soup

with it being ridiculously cold outside, this hit the spot!

Thursday--Fabios!!!

after cooking for three days (yes, for all you die hard cooks out there 3 days is stretching it for me!), we were ready for a change.

Fabios hit the spot...if you're a local and haven't checked this out, you've got it...it is fantastic and delivered! nothing better than that on a work night!

maybe next week i can continue the goal of cooking 3 nights a week and add something else to my nightly schedule that would make me feel a little more normal.

considering i've been trying to post this exact post all week, it might be a nice goal to post a little something each day on this blog or Landon's Love.

i'll need a lot of cheering on!

Kung Pao _________

Today was a day of celebration!

To celebrate, i made Kung Pao (fill in the blank). i am the vegetarian in the group and shaun, not so much. i originally found the recipe as Kung Pao Tofu, but modified it to accommodate the meat eater in my family too!

Sorry i don't have any pictures...we were too hungry and had to dig in!

Kung Pao Tofu:

Ingredients
1 package cubed firm tofu
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons orange or pineapple juice
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons water
1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup diced carrot
1 cup sugar snap peas
4 garlic cloves, minced
6 scallions, white and light green parts only, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
enough roasted peanuts to please you (we like a lot in ours)

Cooking Instructions

Cut the tofu into bite-sized cubes. Heat 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil over medium-high heat and add the tofu. Fry the tofu, turning every couple of minutes, until golden on all sides. Drain on paper towels.

In a small bowl, mix together the soy sauce, rice vinegar, juice, sesame oil, sugar, crushed red pepper and cornstarch.

Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil in a large wok or skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and carrot and cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes. Add the snap peas, garlic and scallions and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes. Add the fried tofu, roasted peanuts and sauce and cook for another minute or until sauce is thickened. Serve with steamed rice.

Makes 4 servings

Kung Pao Chicken:

rather than using the tofu, cook some chicken nuggets or popcorn chicken according to the directions on the package and then follow the instructions above beginning at paragraph 2.

We prefer brown rice and tend to cook it in a rice cooker. We use 2 1/4 cups of water for every 1 cup of rice.

**note--we eliminated celery, pepper, and zucchini which are in some Kung Pao recipes, so feel free to add the veggies you like**

What to do with those Christmas Cards

one of my favorite things about the holidays is receiving Christmas cards in the mail. i don't know what it is about it...it just makes me happy. because it makes me so happy i don't ever want to get rid of them, but then again, i don't want them sitting in piles either...i've got plenty of piles going on already.

years ago, a friend suggested cutting out my favorite part of each of the cards i received and creating a scrapbook with them. i thought this was fantastic. here is ours from 2007.

here is a little bit closer on one of the pages...you can see i hand wrote 2007 at the bottom. i used simple paper in the background because there is so much going on in the body of the page. i typically alternate the background colors between red and green.

i'm obsessed with pictures, so i love getting the holiday cards with pictures. i decided i didn't want to cut up these cards and include them in the scrapbook page. rather, i punch a hole in each card at a corner with a single hole-punch and then feed them through a metal ring. i include these in the Holiday Cards scrapbook simply by dropping the ring down into an empty sleeve that corresponds with the correct year.

Easy Peezy Magnets

i love magnets and i love colorful things. i was shopping for things that I COULDN'T FIND THIS MORNING (see my grrrrrrrrr post) when i came across some really cute and funky buttons. i actually made these very magnets a few years ago, but i used hot glue and it didn't hold up very well. this time i used the same glue i use for the landon's love stuff and i'm thinking it will be much better.
here's the back and the glue i used:

grrrrrrrrrrr!

i feel like i have had such nice pockets of motivation this week and then i get frustrated because i cannot find what i need in the store.

WHY can't they have ONE store that has all that you need?

grrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!

if i ever find the things i need to finish up my holiday break projects, i will post pictures, but at this point it's not looking too promising.

on a brighter note, this is the 1 year anniversary of the idea of Landon's Love. I remember sitting downstairs on my laptop while the boys played video games and began the landon's love blog, brochure, etc. hard to believe!