Stew & Dumplings and other nice things…

Phew – it’s that kind of a week when I’m getting to Monday to-do’s on Tuesday and it already feels like Friday. Oy.

.Stew & Dumplings.

Yup, it’s a crockpot night. I made stew with GF dumplings. Well, the stew is made and smells scrumptious, so we’ll see how the dumplings turn out!

.Mangos.

Yea, I know I’ve posted about these before, but they’re just that amazing. Yum!

.Late Night Snack.

If I’m going to be on a sugary snack kick, let me mention this ice cream. It’s amazing. The perfect salty/sweet creamy yumminess!

.30 Day Shred.

If I’m going to include the above two things I might as well mention I jumped on the Jillian Michaels’ band wagon. I found it at Costco for $7 and decided to give it a go. I’m gathering fun workout DVDs for the days I’m out at school because I’m sick of substitutes deciding to ignore my lesson plans! I did my second day today; my muscles are miserable but I already feel stronger. I love that it’s only 20 minutes, but I get super sweaty and my heart rate goes way up! I’m keeping track of pounds and inches to see exactly how my body changes.

.Grape Lady.

Oh man, I feel bad laughing at someone’s misfortune, but this is hysterical!

 .The Bachelor.

Okay, I think I’m out of the closet now. The Bachelor just happens to be on when I’ve been doing laundry on Sunday afternoons, so I’ve gotten sucked into the madness. I really hate the premise of the show and that Ben makes out with each girl and allows them to manipulate him with sex. Yuck. But I do love the psychology of it all – these girls are so catty is comical!! Keith even watched it last night and laughed out loud at many parts.

.Todd.

Yup, that’s right. The Toddster is here for the week. He’s got a conference in town so he decided to stay with us instead of joining the chaos of the strip. So glad to have this awesome dude under our roof!!

.Prayers.

So thankful for the prayers of my friends and family this week. A friend sent me this verse and it has been a huge comfort. There have been a lot of lows this week, but I am hanging on God’s promises.

“When you pray, I will listen. If you look for Me wholeheartedly, you will find me.” Jeremiah 29:12

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What’s That Stench In The Kitchen?!

For the last few days, I have not been able to figure out what the horrible smell in our kitchen was.

That was, until tonight when Keith was cleaning up from dinner and suddenly said, “Hmm…these onions are growing things…whoa, I need your help here!”

As I rounded the corner, I saw the source of the stench. A couple weeks ago, Keith returned from New England to find the air conditioning broken after several 118 degree days. Apparently, this resulted in rotting potatoes.

Not just rotting potatoes, but maggots in rotting potatoes.

Insert extremely sensitive gag reflex.

I have zero tolerance for smells and gross things. It will be a miracle if I survive caring for sick children.

Keith was the hero of the evening – I reminded him several times how grateful I am that he was doing the cleaning since I would have been sick several times. Without missing a beat, the good doctor responded:

“I don’t mind – bacterial vaginosis smells way worse.”

Nothing stays serious in our house for very long.

Halfway Through September Already

I realized today it was time for another post.

School has been going really well. I love being there and the kids crack me up. I’ve got a few kids that need some encouragement to behave more appropriately, but I really can’t complain. Many people have been asking about my clearance situation – my background check still has not cleared, so I am still not getting paid. While I was told it would take up to six weeks, my principal just informed me that it would take up to 12 weeks to be finalized. It’s been a frustrating fact to deal with, so I am only going into school on Tuesdays and Thursdays to work with the kids and keep up with what they are doing.

Thanks again to everyone who has contributed to my classroom financially – it’s been a huge help!

Teaching the 9th grade class has not been as off the wall as I have expected. They’re so cute, but very tentative to participate and get work done – I can’t wait to see who they become by the end of the year :) This is how I feel at the end of a period with them:

Keith is doing well. He’s working on the inpatient floor of the VA hospital (in the same building as the Air Force hospital) and it has been an interesting rotation since he has been working with patients who are dealing with serious illness and economic struggles. In October he moves to the Pediatric clinic.

Otherwise, we’re anticipating the weather cooling off pretty soon and hoping to go on some fun adventures since we haven’t been hiking in awhile!

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[Read more at Our Life In Four Bags]

Grey Gardens: Where skirts transform into capes at the blink of an eye!

Someone introduced my mom to the documentary Grey Gardens a few weeks ago.

For those of you who haven’t been enlightened, Jackie O’s cousin Little Edie and aunt Big Edie Beale lived in a gorgeous 14-bedroom home in East Hampton (Big Edie was a Bouvier). Trouble is, they let it become completely dilapidated over time and it became known as the “garbage-ridden” estate. When Ben Bradlee and wife bought the home, the found 51 dead cats and several raccoon skulls. Needless to say, these women were a little batty.

It’s the most bizarre thing I have ever seen, but I can’t tear myself away.

Just in case you’re still not sure you want to run out and rent this cult-classic, here are a few of my favorite moments:

http://img.youtube.com/vi/xG5baCxTtgw/0.jpg

Above is Little Edie’s “Revolutionary Costume” – cutoff jean shorts, underneath fishnet stockings, covered by a sweater tied around her waist and secured closed with safety pins (aka a sweater being worn as a skirt). The marvelous thing about this outfit, Edie exclaims, is that the skirt can quickly become a cape if she needs it to be.

But Edie didn’t always have horrific fashion sense.

http://www.704d.com/candyland/uploaded_images/little-edie-757677.jpg

At one point in her life, little Edie Beale was gorgeous. And so was her mother.

http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u315/BrandoBardot/greygardens3.jpg

Apparently, Beales do not age well.

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/rpNKFq3L900/0.jpg

As you might notice, Big Edie isn’t very good at covering up where it counts. In one seen, the camera sneeks up behind her and it seems as if she’s sunbathing in the nude. Luckily, she’s semi-covered, but my favorite line occurs in this scene when Little Edie accuses her mother of dressing poorly. Big Edie comes back with: “Well, don’t worry, I’m gonna get naked here in a minute.”

The nonsense just goes on and on.

After watching too much Grey Gardens, I am inclined to wonder what makes two women who were once in the social spotlight and had everything they might have wanted go batty? Did the house go into disrepair because they lost it or did they go crazy because the house was dying around them? And what can I do to never get to that mental black hole?

Some last thoughts on the topic:

Drew Barrymore starred in the TV for film version.

Ben Bradlee and wife (the current owners) completely renovated the house in the original style. They rent it out over Labor Day weekend for $30,000.

Jerry, the handyman from Brooklyn, was the Edies’ favorite person. Big Edie told him he was as beautiful as her mother and Little Edie said he was too stupid to understand Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Marble Fawn. Delightful.

http://www.fancast.com/blogs/files/2009/04/big-blog-template-marble-faun-grey-gardens.jpg

The house has changed a bit in the last 30 years:

BEFORE

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yqsQcxWk4iw/Se9O6LHTsNI/AAAAAAAAIRk/ejC9liLJaD0/s400/grey-gardens-exterior-1970s.jpg

2009-06-16-gettygreygardenshouseimage469x311.jpg

AFTER

041609-gg01.jpg

So if you’re ever bored, or have a hankering for some psychological frivolities, check out the Maysles brothers documentary. Personally, I’m excited to see Drew Barrymore’s characterization of the “revolutionary costume”.

Christmas Prank

I just saw this video on CNN about an improv group who gift wrapped an unsuspecting friends’ apartment (down to the toilet paper) and I laughed out loud.

So then I had to find the original YouTube video.

For your viewing pleasure:

Viva las chinchillas!

I watched the Funniest Commercial’s of 2009 and this one just cracked me up. Especially considering there is a chinchilla living in my parents’ bathroom.