New Year, New Everything!

Wow. I have been avoiding writing a post for almost a year. I didn't know how to say that I've changed careers and I love it, even though I mourn the loss of my identity as a teacher. I found it hard to say that I'm finally Home when I feel like that's betraying the homes I have loved and the friends I have made for 10 years away from good old Fort Bend County. But being home is good. I love seeing my parents for more than just a weekend at a time. I love that I was able to be by my grandmother's side for the last few months of her life.  I love having a job that I wait eagerly all weekend to get back to on Monday. And I love sinking back into the welcoming arms of the church I've grown up in. I also love my screen porch.







Since transitioning from "Teacher" to "Office Manager of a Law Firm", I have learned an entirely new set of skills but I feel like this is what I was always supposed to be doing. I work with my husband and two other wonderful people and we are helping people. Really, tangibly helping people when they need it. It's pretty damn cool.


Talkie talkie talkie. What I really want to do, instead of reflect on or summarize the past (yikes!) 10 months since I last posted, is jump right into the good stuff. Garden! Cooking! Adorable puppy! I'll try to keep back up with the blog and show you pictures of what I've been up to in the garden and kitchen departments, with some gratuitously cute dog pictures thrown in. Like this one.

Berwyn and new friend Mo hang out on the patio. 

Not a Teacher Anymore

*Written in May of 2012 posted February 2013. I wasn't sure if I should post this. It's not positive, exactly. Well, it is positive, but not about my job at the time. And I hate being down on the job I had because of the wonderful people I know who are still doing it. So I sat on this post for months. But here it is. 

I write this post with very mixed feelings.
This time last year, I had been laid off for budget reasons and was saying an early goodbye to the profession that I chose for myself in 1998. I wasn't ready to go, and was desperately hoping for one more year at PHE. I got my wish, and was brought back in to teach 4th grade.
At this point, after 6 years working daily in public schools (and a total of 14 years of teaching, counting everything), I'm not going to be a teacher anymore.
Back when I was supposed to be getting a transplant by now, Lawyer Man and I created an alternate plan. We would start a business together, with him as the lawyer and me as the office manager, and we would work around my doctor's appointments and ability level to run the practice together. This seemed more doable than teaching, where you can't be immunocompromised and you can't take off a lot and you can't sit down much or pee when you want to. It was clear that after my transplant, my teaching career would be over and a quiet office job would be the new plan.
As this plan took form, we added two more partners to the firm. I gladly resigned my position as equal partner with my husband in favor of getting to be the Mama Bear for all three lawyers. I love the people I'm going to work with and I love the idea of our business, and I am absolutely THRILLED to be moving back to the Houston area (also part of the post-transplant plan... gotta be close to my momma if I'm going to be sick all the time.)
Now that a transplant doesn't seem to be in my near future (may not even be in the 5-year plan), I could continue to teach. The big reason I was leaving teaching doesn't really apply anymore, so I am in a position where I really could keep going. Just put in applications and start working in my home district! Or I could continue with the family business plan, now that it is in motion. Being that I am an organized person, I have been mentally listing reasons to teach versus reasons to quit (regardless of new job). Related to quitting, I also have reasons to specifically be our office manager. Here's what I have.

Stay in Teaching
This is my "calling" and my degree and has been my plan since middle school.
Relatively secure job.
It's all I'm qualified for, from a resume point of view.
Never work on holidays
Summer break (after summer school is out)
I really do love teaching
My coworkers have rocked at every school I've taught at
There are still places like China Spring, where kids want to learn and parents care
Sometimes I get paid to go hiking, listen to mariachis, or visit the symphony
Sometimes I get paid to paint, read fun books, or play Apples to Apples
Fiber Arts Club rocked
Inner-City School Teacher has a way bigger "oh, Damn!" factor than Office Manager
People are surprised when I say I'm quitting teaching, and seem let down
I love kids
I doubt the partners will draw pictures for me
I can have a bulletin board on star paper with a glittery shooting star border in my classroom, but not in my office

Leave the Profession
I might not be an expert at classroom management (or at least, my last group of kiddos was better at foiling my plans than I was at creating them)
There is no correlation between hard work and pay out, despite what we try to tell the kids
Coming home drained with no energy for my family or home
Paperwork (to be completed in my spare time, not on the clock)
In 6 years, I have had three semesters TOTAL where I felt like I was good at my job and I enjoyed it (in three separate school years), I have had 4 semesters where I felt like I was doing a good job but I didn't love it, I have had 5 semesters where I felt like I sucked at my job and I didn't love it.
Teacher ass (or, why do I immediately lose 5-10 pounds every summer and regain it by Christmas?)
The system is broken and I feel so inadequate being unable to serve all my kids the way they need to be
No more lesson plans or grades
No more breaking up fights
If someone says "F YOU! I don't have to do this," then I don't have to work with him
If someone makes a paper airplane out of his test, I don't have to answer for why his grades are so low
If someone stabs someone with a pencil, it's not my fault
If someone cusses at me on the phone, I don't have to thank her for her input
If someone tells me he plans to keep me from doing my job, a specialist won't tell me to buy him stuff to make him like being here.
If someone threatens me, I can file charges, not ask him nicely to keep working.
Feeling totally spoiled to be at a school that allows 35 minutes for lunch

Office Manager at PMF
Flexible hours
Work starts at 9:00, not 7:45, and if I work until 5:00 I get paid until 5:00.
Work with my husband, rather than calling him to say I'm staying late again
Firm dinners with the partners and their families
I'm really good at customer service
I'm really good at organization
Kid/dog friendly office
(At least at first) Working from home
(Later) Decorating an office with things that are beautiful and won't be broken, stolen, or graffitied
Allowed to say Damn or Hell at work
Get to dress way sexier because I won't be standing all day, sitting on the floor, or dealing with paint or pre-adolescent boys
"Working Lunch" means lunch out with a client or bringing take-out back to the office, not eating a granola bar over the copier
On that, having a Lunch HOUR
I can go to the bathroom any time I want and I don't have to ask someone to watch two classrooms at once

Green and Gold Casserole

It'll cure what ails ya!

This week has been pretty horrendous. The STAAR (standardized test) started, so two days this week we tested fro most of the day. Then it rained, so no recess for the kids. Let's just say behavior has... suffered. I have been feeling like some down home comfort food so my thoughts turned to the Green and Gold Rice Casserole. It is my family's official funeral casserole (and as we know, Southern funeral food is love in its most tangible form.) In fact, when Gran passed on in 2005, Granby brought this casserole over to my aunt's house. The Green and Gold part, as I understand is also a reference to my mother's high school colors. Go Patriots. However, to truly understand the ties we have to this recipe, I need to explain its origin.


This recipe comes from Amity Presbyterian Church's 1976 Cookbook. This church, in Charlotte, was where my parents met and married and where I was baptized. This cookbook contains recipes from both of my grandmothers, my mom, and all of my aunts (my dad's two sisters and my mom's sister-in-law). I inherited this cookbook from my grandmother and it is full of her notes, check-marks and underlines. (She was very fond of underlining things.) It is the one material thing I have plans to grab if my house ever burns down.

*The person who submitted this recipe is not a relative, but I will forever remember this recipe thanks to her.

Substitutions/Notes: The Kraft Nippy Garlic Cheese Spread might not exist it any more (last time I was able to find it was in college) so I used 8 ounces of Velveeta and a tablespoon of minced garlic. The microwave-steamable broccoli is really convenient. I use the Original Recipe Uncle Ben's Wild Rice box for the hot cooked rice. To add some more protein to this, I added about three cups of chopped, cooked chicken that I had left over from making tortilla soup earlier this week. The chicken is Granby's idea.

This soup makes a 9X13 casserole and reheats well. For funeral food, I usually make it in a disposable foil casserole dish and don't cook it yet or put the onions on. (I send them on the side along with heating directions.)

Now, unrelated commentary: Each week, some organization pays for a "taste" of a fruit and a vegetable for each child at our school (I think the whole district.) They must be served raw and unadorned, which made for a lot of "eww" faces when they gave them leeks. Often, the fruit is well received but the veggie is thrown about the room and squashed into the carpet. You can't entirely blame them for being grossed out. What 10 year old wants to each fresh mushrooms? Or beets? Or red onions? This week the veggie was Red Bell Pepper. Each child got what amounted to about a third of a pepper. This must have cost someone a fortune! I only buy red bell peppers when they go on sale for under a dollar each. Predictably, though I explained the health benefits and deliciousness of these, most kids didn't want theirs. So I got to bring home this:

Anyone know a good recipe for peppers?

Spring!

Back yard picnic!

I am very, very thankful for the extremely mild winter we had. We didn't even have a hard freeze. I never had to wrap pipes! We didn't have a day so cold that water stopped running in the kitchen sink! Our first two winters in Waco were brutal, with $450 electrical bills and missed days of school (which had to be made up by extending the school year.)
Despite what the Groundhog told us last month, we never did get a terrible winter. I kept saying "it's not too bad now, but wait until February!" But the bitter cold never came. Hooray!
Now, what have we been doing to capitalize on this unseasonably pleasant winter? (Real spring doesn't start until March 20.)

Airsoft! 

I have actual strawberries growing that survived all winter.

Berwyn is enjoying playing soccer in the yard.

Super awesome fighter jet kite with tiger stripes and flames. 


Another thing: There's this Blog. Flylady.net. It has all these ideas for how to build routines that keep your house clean. (Like cleaning your sink every night.) It's a pretty intense schedule, and although they mention things like school and work, it's really made for SAHMs. I can't wait to be one and have a morning routine that consists of getting dressed, starting some laundry, and eating a balanced breakfast. Hmm. 

Cilantro Chicken and Gratitude

Hello everyone!

So I have been bad about the Monday recipe plan, but I have also been a bit nuts with school. I have also not made many new and exciting recipes that were worth sharing. This recipe is certainly worth sharing! Technically, since I found it on Pinterest, it's already been shared. But here goes. (Credit http://www.pipandebby.com)

Slow Cooker Cilantro Lime Chicken

24 oz jar medium salsa (Pace Chunky Medium)
Juice from one lime
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1.25 oz package taco seasoning ( low sodium)
2 jalapeno peppers, finely chopped
6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves

Mix together first 5 ingredients in crock pot. Add chicken and coat with mixture. Cook, covered, on low for 6 hours. Serve chicken with salsa mixture spooned over the top or shred and use as a taco filling.


***Changes***
I omitted the jalapenos and used chicken tenders instead of breast halves. I made some brown rice, and spooned the shredded chicken over the rice into flour tortillas. I shredded colby jack cheese on top.

Gratitude

I decided that for Lent, I would take on writing down something I'm grateful for every day. I'll try to blog them or Facebook them or something.
Today, I am grateful to my principal for letting me share what I learned at the Rice Ally training this weekend. It's a touchy subject but I hope I was able to help the way we teach tolerance for all kids, including GLBT youngin's (whether they know it yet or not).
I am also grateful for this weather, which has not been so terribly cold this winter. We have not had a hard freeze, and today I took a walk in the park and it was 86 degrees. I might be a little sunburned.

Since the above was written (Wednesday), I have the following things I've been grateful for:
Thursday-  The weather was gorgeous, so SexyLawyerMan and I went to the park again. I am slow but I am able to jog/walk two miles.
Friday- My transplant coordinator called to catch up on my case, and I was able to tell her that I'm still doing really well and that's why they have not heard from me in months.

Saturday-I have the luxury of staying in bed all day to read. I finished "The Hunger Games"in two sittings, one last night and one for about 7 hours today.

Lazy Dinners

Lazy Day!

So I'm in the "try not  to get burned-out" portion of the school year, between "refreshed from the break" and "testing season" and dinners have needed to be quick and easy. I made some quick recipes last week that turned out pretty good. And by recipes, I mean really basic ingredients that I could throw together quickly.

1. Bring home a rotisserie chicken and some asparagus. While you are shopping, call ahead and ask your husband to peel and chop some potatoes.
2. Boil the potatoes with salt, rosemary, and garlic. Drain and mash; mix with butter and a splash of milk.
3. Steam the asparagus and put out some balsamic vinegar and olive oil to drizzle on top.
4. Announce that dinner is ready and that people can carve off whatever part of the chicken they prefer.

That was Monday.

Random snack: Olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, dried oregano on top of fresh tomatoes

Tuesday, I went running at the park. On the way home, I called Sexy Lawyer Man (who is now officially a lawyer having graduated from law school this weekend) and asked him to start #1 for me.

1. Cut the meat off of yesterday's chicken, grate some colby jack cheese, and chop some tomatoes.
2. Melt butter in a skillet. (1 Tablespoon-ish) Meanwhile, throw some fresh corn cobs into salted water and boil.
3. Warm a flour tortilla in the butter on both sides. Set aside.
4. Warm a second tortilla in the butter, flip, and top with cheese and chicken (and tomatoes if you like).
5. Put the second tortilla on top and flip. Keep switching back and forth on medium heat until cheese is melty. Cut into 4ths.

Serve warm. Put more butter on the corn if you are into that.  I took a picture once I was mostly done eating. It was really good.

Old School Fancy Pants Christmas Party 2011 (in 2012)

Back in 2007, I had been married about a year and realized that I would never get a chance to use my wedding china since we always did Thanksgiving and Christmas at our parents' houses. And I had been reading all these homemaking magazines and I decided that instead of missing out on my chance to have a grown-up Christmas feast of my own, I would need to make up an occasion. So the Old School Fancy Pants Christmas Party was born. I collaborated with some close friends and planned a menu. People came in the day before and helped me bake all manner of things. Every year since then, I have gathered a group of friends and shared a feast, and used all the china, crystal, and few silver pieces that I have. Fancy attire is mandatory, with hats and tiaras optional but encouraged. This year, December just kept getting more and more crowded, so we decided to push it back to January and call it a Fancy Pants Birthday Party/Christmas Party. I decorated with my blue and white things (mixed up because I can't seem to find more than 4 of anything that's not stained) and I think it turned out nice.

We had a crowd of 17, despite some last-minute cancellations, and I am very thankful to our future law firm colleagues who showed up early (with appetizers and ice!) after I called in a panic announcing that I wasn't going to finish in time. If I could do things over, I would have made a larger green bean casserole and more sweet potatoes but all in all I think it was OK.

Now, the menu!
Appetizers: Assorted cheeses and veggie tray, chips and salsa, fruit tray.
Dinner: Communish Chicken, Granby's Green Bean Casserole, NSFW Sweet Potato Casserole, and Cranberry Jell-o Salad.
Dessert: Best Ever Banana Pudding.
Beverages: Tea, champagne punch

Now, I don't think I will put all the recipes up this week, but I will share the Banana Pudding. My favorite memory of this pudding is when my two grandmas came to Texas for my high school graduation. To celebrate, we had a party at our house and the two of them (with very conflicting kitchen management techniques) collaborated on this pudding. I also took it to work one year for our Soul Food luncheon and a teacher asked me if I made it with Jell-0. Bitch, please.

Best Ever Banana Pudding
 Combine 2/3 c. sugar, 1/4 c. flour, and a dash of salt in a heavy sauce pan. In a separate bowl, whisk together 14 oz can of sweetened, condensed milk, 2 1/2 c. milk, and 4 egg yolks (save whites for later.) Add to dry ingredients. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until smooth and thickened. Stir in 2 tsp. vanilla.
Arrange Nilla Wafers in the bottom and sides of a 9 X 13 baking dish. Layer 6 sliced bananas on top. Pour custard over bananas and wafers.
Whip egg whites and 1/3 c. sugar with electric beaters until stiff peaks form and sugar dissolves. Fold in 1/2 t. banana extract and spread over pudding, sealing to edge.
 Bake at 325 for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm or chill. Yield 8-10 servings. (Or more... it's rich.)