(sigh)

That moment when you are absolutely exhausted and want nothing more than to go to bed and wake up early to finish,

but know you have 150 kids, their parents, and two teachers depending on you to stay up and do it now instead, just in case you don't have time to finish in the morning.

There are no late assignments in this world, ladies and gents.

distrust

Really?

Sneaking over-sized chocolate-covered raisins into my chocolate-covered almonds?

That's just silly.

alarm clock

It is hard to exaggerate the excitement that comes over a person when

she wakes up early,

sees the clock,

and knows there are only 15 minutes left to sleep before it's time to get up,

and then realizes it's Saturday.  

here

a mind full of observations and Facebook statuses can make a good blog post.

Wednesdays at 6:00 I feel awesome.

I am absolutely enamored by the fact that it's 6:00 and not dark.

That's one of my most favorite parts of summer.

I want to watch a movie! 

Having all of these new cheap movies and no time to watch them is crazy!

And kind of sad.

Shout out to Lili - 

Thanks to you, I don't have to make dinner tonight! :)

Shout out to Brooke - 

Just so you know, I always feel really cool when I wear this scarf.

Can you get much better than 60's-70's era Stevie Wonder?

I contend that the answer to that question is no.

Yesterday was a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

I think it's probably weird that I'm excited

and not dreading

Parent Teacher Conferences.

My husband is hilarious.

Seriously. Check out "The Middle."

(I'm looking at you, The Dennys.

By the way, what was the show we were supposed to watch? :)

It is one of the most hilarious family-friendly shows I've ever watched.

My friend Sarah and I had an epiphany last week.

They say laughter's the best medicine, right?

I wonder how many lives would be saved if, 

when people called 911 about heart attacks,

they reported infarctions instead.

updates

For those of you who are interested, I updated the cooking blog this weekend with several new recipes people keep asking me for :)  You should check them out!  They're super tasty and use normal (read: in the house) ingredients!

Black Beans & Rice with Chicken and Apple Salsa
Black Bean Soup
Lime Chicken Burritos of Deliciousness and Love
Tortillas warmed on the stove fire
Cinnamon-Apple Pork Chops 
Pumpkin Waffles

All Rhodes lead to Rome.

We're going to a family's house for dinner tonight, and I'd been meaning to make rolls for a while anyway, plus one of our friends who moved recently left us with a whole bag of Rhodes rolls, so I thought I'd give them a shot.  

I'm not sure they worked.

They were supposed to double in size, but they're small enough I could enclose one in my hand.  I think so, anyway.  Right now they're burning lava hot so I haven't actually tried.  How is it that I can make homemade rolls excellently well but can't manage the frozen variety?  

Oh well.  Who said Greek chicken wasn't good with mini baby-sized dumpling rolls? :)

P.S. Yes, I know that Greece and Rome aren't the same place, but we're having Greek chicken for dinner, not Roman chicken, and have you ever heard anyone say that all roads lead to Greece?  Me, neither. 

some helpful reminders

This weekend has been hard for me, student teaching-wise.  I'll most likely be the only one in the classroom tomorrow.  Plus, we planned to try a new kind of lesson and aren't sure how it'll work.  Plus, I'm getting observed tomorrow.  During my hardest class.

So, needless to say, there's been some overwhelm-age and some nervousness in our house today.  But tonight I was reading a blog I really like and found some great reminders.  Here they are, just in case you need some, too.

1. You are what you are and you have what you have, right now.  [Including knowledge.]

2. It's healthy to shed your tears.  The sooner you do, the sooner you will be able to smile again.  And a smile doesn't always mean someone is happy.  Sometimes it simply means they are strong enough to face their problems [or hard things].  [I haven't been crying all over the place today, just so you know.  I just liked that quote:)]

3. Get out there and try!  Either you succeed or you learn a vital lesson.  Win-win.

4. You have the capacity to create your own happiness.  A smile is a choice, not a miracle.  [Although it is my opinion that sometimes it's both.]

5. Emotionally separate yourself from your problems.  You are far greater than your problems.  And that means you’re more powerful than them – you have the ability to change them, and to change the way you feel about them.

6. Don't let others make decisions for you.  Sometimes you just have to live not caring what they think of you and prove to YOURSELF that you’re better than they think you are.

7. You're not alone.  Everyone has problems.

8.  Mistakes are important to make. 

9.  What others think and say about you isn’t all that important.  What is important is how you feel about yourself. 

10.  You are ONLY competing against yourself.  When you catch yourself comparing yourself to a colleague, neighbor, friend, or someone famous, stop!  Realize that you are different, with different strengths – strengths these other people don’t possess.  Take a moment to reflect on all the awesome abilities you have and to be grateful for all the good things in your life.