Freezer meal prep

I've loved the idea of freezer meal prep groups ever since I first heard of them.  I had several opportunities to join some groups in the past, but every time I decided I could make my meals cheaper and I didn't join. Last month, a friend attended a meal prep event at Hy-Vee and raved about it.  My mom asked if I wanted to sign up for the next one.  I thought about it, but still felt that I could make the meals cheaper. After discussing it with James, I decided to at least try it once.

Last night was the event I signed up for. It was way better than I thought it would be and I already can't wait to do it again! In just one hour and $77 spent, we had 7 meals to take home. I normally spend $65-$85 a week on groceries, so this really wasn't terribly expensive. Plus, my kids won't eat anything I brought home, so James and I will get more like 14 meals out of it, as each one serves at least 4.

I was very impressed with the set up. There were 7 tables (one for each meal). Each table had all of the ingredients needed to make 14 meals (there were 14 people there). 2 people worked together at a table to bag the 14 meals.  My mom and I had a pretty easy one.  We measured and poured 6 ingredients into a bag. Some people had to stir things together or patty up burgers, which took longer, but we were all still done in an hour.  All of the veggies (onions, peppers) were already diced for us when we got there.

After all of the meals had been made, the staff subtracted any ingredients we didn't open from our grocery total and divided the total by the number of people there.  We just paid for the groceries used (nearly all of them were hy-vee brand), plus $10 just for attending the event.  To have that many meals prepared in just an hour and not have to do any meal planning, grocery shopping or dicing veggies, was worth the $10 for sure!!!  One lady we talked to said she has been going to these every month and she and her husband eat the meals for several weeks, cutting her need to meal plan and grocery shop.  The time savings alone is very valuable to some of us!

I'm excited to try the meals now.  The dietician leads the event, so the meals are mostly healthy. She also gives suggestions of healthier sides to serve with the meals. There are some ingredients in the meals that I have never tried before, but so I'm eager to see what I think of them.

Glamping

I know camping isn't for everyone.  Maybe it's the bugs or the park bathrooms, I'm not sure. For me though, camping is a relaxing escape from the real world. I almost enjoy it as much as a beach vacation....almost. There isn't any housework to do, no projects to work on, no running around town from one place to the next. Just relaxing outdoors, enjoying the calmness that nature brings to my soul.

I love sitting by the fire, morning and evening both.  We tend to keep our fire going the whole weekend, as we prefer to make all of our meals over the fire. The cackle sound, the campfire smell...it's all so calming. Sure, my hair and clothes smell like it too, but that's a trade off I don't mind for just a couple of days.

I also enjoy the food we eat.  At home we eat a lot of leftovers or random meals, but when we camp, the meals are all planned out and are generally things we might not eat at home.  Plus, everything just tastes better over the fire.

One of my favorite things about camping, is all of the friendly neighbors, or should I say, happy campers in the campground. Most people keep to themselves, but everyone at least says "hello" as they walk past your campsite. If you'd like to strike up a conversation with someone, there is a good chance they won't mind.

I love being outdoors, but when I'm at home, I tend to spend a majority of my time inside the house. Camping forces me to stay outside. I'm not one to sit inside my camper (I really don't understand the campers who do this). Going to campgrounds with walking/hiking trails and other things to do is my preference. It makes us stay active and gets us away from the campsite, without leaving the park.

I've tent camped many times, but I knew I wanted to have a camper someday.  I did not want to have a "glamper" though...I mean, it's not camping if you have all of the amenities from home inside your camper, right?!?! Well, we just purchased our first camper, and although James disagrees, I think we are now "glamping".  We got a used travel trailer, but it does have a microwave, oven, tub/shower, and indoor/outdoor radio, among other things. We also brought our Keurig with us this past weekend. Totally glamping.

We rented a pop-up camper earlier this year, and while it met our few needs just fine, we didn't like that we could hear the noisy neighbors late at night, nor the time it took to set it up and take it down. After our first time out with the travel trailer this past weekend, we are very happy with our decision

I'm looking forward to spending many more weekends outside in nature with my family. The kids love all the outdoor time and we will make lots of fun memories. In fact, I don't think I ever heard, "I'm bored" either of the times we camped this year!

Playing at the Jester Park playscape area

Jester Park offered a lot to do while we were camping

What I learned from the classroom

Two days ago I received a call from the elementary school I work at, asking if I could sub for an associate this week.  I was hesitant to say "yes" as I was fearful of being with a badly behaved child. When I called back to inquire about the student, I was told it would be an easy kid to be with.  I decided I better give it a shot, so I said "sure" (although I only accepted one of the two days they were requesting me for). I was pretty nervous about today, but it actually went very well.  The kid I was with was pretty easy. He was a cutie, actually. I just had to remind him to stay on task a few times was all.

What I hadn't thought about ahead of time, was that I was going to be sitting in a classroom for most of the day...meaning, I would get to see what class is like these days.  I was pretty surprised.  Extremely surprised, really.

Teaching appears to be a glorified baby-sitting job right now.  I could not believe how much time the teacher spent just asking the kids to be quiet and waiting for them to pay attention.  WOW!!   I felt really bad for the teachers (I sat in 2 classrooms). They had their own ways of getting the class to pay attention and be quiet, but the kids just didn't ever seem to want to obey for longer than 3 minutes. These were 3rd and 4th graders. I did enjoy watching the kids try to get each other to be quiet so they could "surprise" their teacher when she came into the room....of course there was the one kid who thought he was hilarious by being loud...his classmates were not impressed.

Something our school does is combine grades. So, first and second graders are in a classroom together and then third and fourth graders are in a room together.  This is optional, as we also have traditional single grade classrooms.  The multi-age thing is fairly popular though.  We have heard a lot of good things about this program, so I was glad I got to check it out today. I just couldn't imagine what it would be like to have 2 grades together.  It was interesting.  Just by my observations today (and I could easily be way off from the way the program is actually ran), it appears that the students are taught more "real world" applications, rather than traditional reading/writing/math/science, etc.  I watched them share their feelings and then discuss how to help their friends that were feeling down.  I watched them discuss things they did well at yesterday and things they felt they could improve on today.  I watched them sit quietly and read independently (each at their own level of book), and then discuss how to be better readers (read the text and then think about what you read and predict what may happen). I also attended their math class.  Ummmm.............

So, I've been hearing about this "new math" for a few years now.  I finally got to experience it for myself.  W.T.F?!?!?!?  Seriously. The first problem was 44+57. It took 10 minutes to tell a ridiculous story about how to get the answer.  There's no stacking the numbers on top of each other and adding each column.  Now, we count in 10's and then add or subtract the appropriate number from there.  I was SO LOST!!  I wanted to ask, "could you please pause for a second while I got get my phone to record this???  Because no one is going to believe me when I tell this math story...."  But instead I sat quietly and tried to figure it out.  I mean, I took every single math class my school offered and did very well in them; I enjoyed math!  But this new math is just a foreign language.  I will admit that once I figured it out, it did make sense, but still.....I feel like it takes so much longer to do it this way.

Another thing I found interesting is that they do not have desks.  Instead they all sit at tables together. They also do not have their own supplies, as they all just grabbed pencils, scissors, etc from a container on their table.  I guess it really doesn't matter if you have your own things; it's just different from when I went to school. And the kids don't stay in their seats longer than 10 minutes.  The teachers have them moving from chair to carpet and back very frequently.

Additionally, schools are required now to use more technology.  I have heard that they struggle to find enough uses for technology and today I saw them really stretching their ideas to get technology in.  Like, using a blank page on their ipads to practice math problems, instead of paper and pencil. One teacher used the ipad to draw a name at random to come up and help her.

School just doesn't seem the same.  I kept worrying today that these kids are missing out on a lot of textbook items, but probably they are not.  I mean how many things did we learn that we've never needed to know?!?!

I had a very "blonde" moment today that I better share.  I wore flip flops to the school, but because I have to wear close-toed shoes for working in the lunchroom, I brought my tennis shoes to change into.  When it was time for my lunchroom job to start I went to put my socks and tennis shoes on, only to find out I brought my right shoe and Rylee's left shoe!!!  OMG!!!  I could not believe I did that!!!!  Luckily my bosses were cool with it and let me wear my flip flops this one time (sshhh, don't tell).

A few minutes later as I was serving lunch, James came up behind me with flowers :)  I was surprised to see him, as I was expecting him to come eat lunch with Rylee on Friday.  He decided to surprise us both!

All in all, it was a fun day!  I will likely sub again if they call me to.....until I get that one "bad" kid....

Working bus duty after school with my favorite kindergartner! :)

A year at home

As I opened this page up to start a new post, I saw that I have written 218 posts since I started blogging.  I can't believe I've written that many.  I really enjoy writing and sharing my life. Thanks for reading :)

We are coming up on a year since we moved into this house. A year since we've been residents of this town.  It was rocky for awhile last summer, not knowing where we were going to live and which school Rylee would attend that fall. It's hard to feel settled and make friends when you don't know how long you'll be in a place.  I couldn't be happier for the way things turned out for us.  We genuinely love our town, the school, the people we've made friends with, our "neighborhood".  From the first phone call I made to the school last summer, I felt like this town would be our home.  Home is definitely how it feels now.

We are getting to the point of seeing familiar faces around town and having friends invite us to do things with them. I've had a lot more opportunities than James to meet people in town, but everyone has been so friendly and welcoming and we have people we know we can call on.

We hosted a "neighborhood" BBQ this summer and invited all of the people that live within a square mile or so. It was nice to have everyone together and gave us all a chance to get to know each other better.

The kids both have friends here too. It's so adorable when we go somewhere and Wyatt sees one of his little friends.  It's heart melting to see him point out someone he knows by name, or play on the playground with a friend from school. Rylee, being older, gets invited to play at her friends' houses or go to the pool with them.  She even got to go to Adventureland with a friend this summer. James and I love that we have gotten to know her friends' parents well enough to be able to let her do fun things like that.

Being a "lunch lady" has made me feel famous in town amongst the young kiddos. Several times I've heard, "Hey, there's our lunch lady" when I'm somewhere other than the school :)

We also have found a high school baby-sitter we really love. The kids get excited to have her over, so that's a huge plus!  I've always been so nervous about having a high-schooler watch my kids, but we really lucked out with a great one!!  Her mom was Rylee's preschool teacher, so that helped ease my nerves a bit.

Even more than the town, I really love our house and our property. At least once a week I comment that our house is too big, but other than that, I really do love it. I loved the layout from the first time we looked at the house. Sure, there are many things I would have done differently if I designed it, but mostly, I love it.

It's funny. Before we moved in I kept demanding that we get rid of the blue carpet, green countertops and wall paper border immediately.  11 months later, guess what....

blue carpet

green counter tops and wall paper border

I still dislike them all, but there's something about it that makes it feel "homey"....like visiting a Grandma's house.  We did finally decide recently that it's time to start putting our own touches on the house. We started with painting the basement.  With that being where our television is, we wanted to make it feel a little more cozy down there for winter when we are stuck indoors.  The walls had all been white before, but are now my favorite shade of gray. Our next project will be the kitchen I think....remove the wall paper, new counter top and new hardware for the cupboards.

My long front porch and back screened porch are probably my two favorite places of this house. I spend a lot of time on them, usually reading. We eat many meals on the screened porch too. It's nice to feel the fresh air without being outside with the bugs....mosquitos love me!  And the front porch allows me to view our big beautiful yard I love so much!!  James and I have watched a lot of sunsets from the front of our house.

During move-in, I had a fall scented candle on the warmer. When I got that candle back out recently and the wax started to melt, sending the scent into the air, Rylee said, "It smells like when we first moved in here."  :)  I will say, without a doubt, we are finally settled and feeling at home.  We love this place and love our town.

Lunch lady

11 years ago I graduated from college with a business degree.  I never would have imagined that in my early 30's I'd be working in an elementary school lunch room scraping trays....but I am, and so far I LOVE IT!!

A couple years after becoming a stay-at-home mom, people started asking me if I would ever go back to work some day.  My answer was always, "Only if it's a school job, because I want to have the same days off as my kids."  Well, with my oldest starting all day kindergarten this year and our son going to daycare 4 days a week, it seemed like a good time to start thinking about getting into the work world at some level. The first place I started looking was the school website. I saw openings for substitute associates and substitute food service. The food service director happened to have a child on Rylee's soccer team, so we got to talking about the sub job and I decided to apply for it. I figured subbing would be a great job because I can choose when I want to work.  I got hired on for that one, and also for the associate sub job.  Between the two, I figured I'd work a couple days a week -- perfect.

Then a few weeks later, the food service director called and asked if I was interested in a regular part-time job at the elementary school.  The hours would be 10:45-1:15. Hmmm.... That's a nice short shift and I would know when I'm going to be working (vs not knowing if I would be needed as a sub the next day or not). I wasn't sure how I felt about it being right in the middle of the day though and I would have to send Wyatt to daycare a 5th day.  James and I discussed it, and I talked to a friend who works at the school -- she thought I would probably enjoy the food service job.  I decided to take it.  4 days in, I'm glad I made that choice!

Being a "lunch lady" could easily be a thankless job.  One of the reasons I decided to take this job was to get to see all of the elementary kiddos every day.  I wasn't exactly sure what it might be like to see them all every day, but I was hopeful that it would bring a smile to my face, just like seeing all of Rylee's preschool classmates did each day last year. Let me tell you, these kids have not disappointed me!!

In fact, I almost teared up on the first day as they started coming through the lunch line saying, "yes please" and "no thank you". These were 1st and 2nd graders, using better manners than most adults!  I kept thinking, "I sure hope Rylee isn't the one kid who forgets her manners when she comes through this line."

I was already emotional on the first day, between sending my first child on the bus to go to kindergarten and starting my first job in 3.5 years. But the kind things I heard from the kids' mouths forced me to hold back tears.

"Thank you for lunch!"
"It was good, thank you!"
"This was really good food!"
"Thank you for lunch!"
"Have a good day!"

These were many of the comments I received from the kids.  I was just shocked!!  Here I thought I was teaching Rylee good manners, but I know she would never say any of these things to the lunch lady wearing a hair net and scraping her tray.  Nearly all of the kids looked me in the eye and said something to me....even if it was just, "I didn't like the peas!"  :)

One girl said to me, "Before you tell me 'thank you', I want to thank YOU!"  :)

Several kids noticed I was new this year and they commented.

"Are you the new lunch lady?"
"You're new, aren't you?"

One little boy and girl came up to me and he asked if I was a new lunch lady.  When I said, "Yes. My name is Emily," the girl hit him in the arm and said, "I told you!!"  That made me chuckle.

The second day a couple of kids said to me, "You came back, huh?!"  They must have been making bets that I wouldn't.....

By far my favorite comment so far came from a 3rd or 4th grade girl on the second day.  She stood in front of me, looked me in the eye, smiled and said, "You're VERY pretty!"  :) :) :)  Okay sister, I'll bring you a cookie tomorrow ;)

Scraping trays and washing tables isn't the most glamorous job in the world, but being in an elementary school, surrounded by young kids who haven't been too tainted by the world yet, is very rewarding. I have a job to do while I'm there, but the lessons I leave with have nothing to do with the tasks I performed.

I've been putting my mindfulness training into practice while I'm there and I come to appreciate so many little things every day.  From watching kindergartners learn how to dump the food from their tray without dropping the tray into the garbage can, to listening to the words the teachers use to talk to the students, to watching the principal wear a hair net and happily spoon food onto the kids' trays....every day I feel more and more blessed to work in that environment.

Seeing Rylee every day in school mode is probably the best benefit of this job for me. So many parents don't get to witness their child in this way. I love that I get to watch her walk in a line, interact with classmates and school staff and follow rules that weren't made by me. Plus, I get to see what she is or isn't eating....she "loves" that ;)  "Seriously, just try the tator tots!!!"

Her friends all enjoy seeing me too. I hear "Hi Rylee's mom!!!" many times.  They're all just so adorable!!

Flourless Pancakes

Have you seen the two ingredient pancake recipe floating around Pinterest??  I bet I saw it at least a dozen times and I finally decided to try it out.  Two ingredient pancakes just can't be that good....right?!?!  When I had some very ripe bananas that needed used up, I tested that thought out for myself.  The result:  A-MA-ZING!! They weren't like a regular cakey pancake, but I liked them better than the original.

Here is the recipe I worked from.

http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-2-ingredient-banana-pancakes-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-218658

She gives several ways to add extras to the pancake batter.  I chose to add vanilla, honey and baking powder....making it more of a five ingredient pancake....however, I use very little of those three additional items. We have had these pancakes three times now and have loved them each time!!

We also found it nice to pair the pancakes with our "usual" side of mixed fruit.  Someone recently asked me what we are doing to eat more healthy, but in an inexpensive way.  Each week we buy fruit that is on sale (at least three different fruits) and cut it all up when we get home and throw it into a large container. This fruit salad becomes our side for every meal until it is gone (usually 4-5 days). We have even pureed some of the fruit salad to use as a topping for a meal (turkey burgers, pancakes, salad dressing, etc).

One time when our fruit salad was all berries, I put oats on top and had that for breakfast.  I don't like oatmeal, but mixing oats in with my fruit was a good way to get the benefits of the oats.

What's your story?

I recently finished reading "A Thousand Miles in a Million Years" by Donald Miller. This book was loaned to me by a friend after I made a comment about feeling discontent.  I really enjoyed reading this and found myself asking a lot of questions and being surprised by my answers.

The author compares his life to writing a story.  He states that we all want our lives to be a story that is enjoyable to read.  No one wants to "write" a boring story. But, he asks, what are we doing to ensure our story isn't boring??  Are we taking the risks necessary to accomplish the things we really want in life?? Additionally, are we writing our own story, or the story that we think others want us to write?  Good questions to ponder....

My husband and I were having a conversation similar to this several months ago.  As I have never been able to answer questions like "What do I want in life?" or "What are my goals?", I decided to ask a different question to help me find the same results. The question is, "what type of person do I admire?" No matter how well you know me, I think my answer will surprise you.....

The type of person I admire.....might sometimes be referred to as a "HIPPIE"  (you weren't going to guess that were you?!?!?!?)

This person
* Lives a very simple, yet enjoyable life.
* Doesn't care what anyone thinks of them
* Never judges others or themselves
* Is nearly always positive and smiling
* Doesn't care about money or status
* Is always kind to others
* Eats real food (vs 90% of the items found in a grocery store claiming to be food)
* Does most of their shopping at garage sales and second hand stores
* Rides their bicycle as their main mode of transportation
* Is carefree and loving life!  Free Spirit!!

I see this type of person regularly in Ames.  Sometimes at the natural foods grocery store, sometimes at the library, the second hand store, main street, yoga class, etc. I always feel drawn to these people and want to sit down and hear their stories.

Another place I went to recently where I felt very comfortable with the company I was in, was the local rodeo. There were lots of "rednecks" there, as well as many regular small town folks just out for the entertainment on a beautiful summer night. I loved that I didn't see anything that would suggest a status symbol or hear people talking about their corporate jobs, etc. It was just a good down home, small town feel.

I've never been one to admire others' education or careers.  I don't particularly care where a person went to school (or if they went at all), nor that they are climbing a corporate ladder. I'm much more enamored by a person's personality and attitude. The man or woman who displays selflessness and is always positive....that's the person I want to sit next to at dinner....that's the person who's life story I want to hear.

So, as I've started taking notes on the type of people I admire, I'm finding myself being more mindful every day of small things I can do to be more like those people. Unfortunately, I have some characteristics completely opposite of those people and will likely never be just like them (which is good as I am my own person)....but small steps are better than nothing.  Small steps help tell part of my story.

I'm still not sure what sort of story I'm telling, but I'm being mindful of the fact that I am indeed "writing" one and making choices daily to determine the next paragraph of the chapter I'm on. A couple nights ago, after putting the kids to bed, I was planning to read.  However, as I passed by the window and saw the sun setting, I told myself, "you can read anytime, but sunsets only happen briefly".....I decided to go outside to watch the sun go down. I didn't regret that decision at all.

What is your story?  Do you feel good about the path it is taking, or is a plot twist needed?