Butternut squash

I have a bunch of butternut squash that have been sitting on the counter for the last month. I finally got around to cooking some of them. My very successful recipe for butternut squash soup is: 1 butternut squash, peeled and cubed 2 cups vegetable broth 1 cup coconut milk 2 tablespoon butter black pepper Cook butternut squash and broth until it boils. Then simmer for 30 minutes. Puree soup with a hand blender. Add coconut milk and simmer until heated through. Add pepper to taste. MMMMMM, it is like autumn comfort in a bowl.

Weekend activities

So much for geocaching this weekend. I did some goecaching on Friday so I should be content. This is quite an interesting addiction. We went to Gurnee to buy some winter coats. I had to finally accept the fact that I need a new coat. I tend to get really attached to things and do not want to replace them. The lining on my old coat was shredded. sigh I was able to find a coat that is almost exactly like my old one. What can I say? I do not like change. Burlington coat factory has an insane amount of coats. Another thing that I was hoping to do this weekend was to drive on rustic roads and look at leaves. http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/travel/scenic/docs/rustic-se.pdf Here is a map of rustic roads in southeastern wisconsin. Maybe next week. Next weekend I am hoping to go on the trail of history in IL. http://www.mccdistrict.org/web/Trail-of-History.htm Hopefully the weather will cooperate. I love going to reenactment/history kinds of events. Again, I am a total nerd. I think it is fun to learn about how things were done in another time and place.

Busy weekend

This was a busy weekend. On Saturday we went on a guided hike at Starved Rock state park in Illinois. The park is a beautiful place to hike. The trails are easy to navigate and have lots of great photography opportunities. It was so busy on Saturday that it was a little overwhelming. The hike was supposed to go on a trail that went behind a waterfall. The winter, spring and summer have been so dry that there is no waterfall or stream. Maybe next time. On the way home we went geocaching and I dropped off a geocoin. On Sunday we went to Fiddlesticks for breakfast and then the East Troy railroad museum. It was a lot smaller than I thought but it was still interesting. Then we went to get caramel apples at Elegant farmer in Mukwanogo. I love caramel apples! I put lots of nuts on mine. There were lots of people at the farm, as usual, but it we were able to get a parking spot and get our apples in reasonable time. Then we went geocaching again. Since there are so few caches in East Troy I put out a new one. It has not been "approved" and published on the site yet but sometime this week. In one of the caches that we found, there was a "seed cache" so I took that and plan to hide that soon. Probably near East Troy again. After reading about the Starved Rock lodge and all the events that they have I learned about a woman's weekend. It is for learning about archery, hiking,horseback riding, fire starting, tree and flower identification, fishing, canoeing etc. I think it sounds like a great weekend. I may have to look more into that event.

Feels like fall

It is starting like fall. The air is cooler, the leaves are changing color and pumpkin spice coffee is back at Starbucks. I love anything with pumpkin. It makes the house smell and feel cozy. Having chili for lunch makes it even more cozy. I actually make real chili, not the kind made with macaroni. The other thing I love about fall is hiking. It is finally cool enough to go for a long hike. My favorite thing is to walk through crunchy fall leaves. I try to get out as much at possible before winter. Hopefully this weekend we can to hiking and geocaching (of course).

geocaching

For an early birthday gift my husband got me a geocaching GPS. I am addicted to geocaching. So far I have found 20 caches, 2 travel bugs and 1 geocoin. I have put out one geocache. It was put out yesterday so we will see how long it takes to be found. We have discovered some really pretty walking trails that I did not even know existed while geocaching. I looked on etsy to see if they had stuff there for GC. http://www.etsy.com/treasury/Nzc3NDY5M3wyNzIwNzQ0Mjcx/geocachers-spending-cash?index=0 Of course they do. Etsy never disappoints. There is a small town near us that has a county park. The park has about 10 caches in it. That will make a fun day of hiking. Can't wait to try it.

Geocaching!!!

I am addicted to geocaching. We went hiking today and found 2 caches. One was a cache that we had not even put the coordinates for. There were 2 others that we could not find. Using a smart phone is not super accurate. One of the caches had a geocoin in it. We took it and plan to put in another cache soon. Mt husband got a magellqan GPS for my birthday! Thanks honey!! My birthday is not until the end of the month so it is a little early. Tomorrow I hope to try it out. I hae already downloaded several nearby caches. Another happy surprise today, someone included one of my etsy items in their treasury. http://www.etsy.com/treasury/OTQwNjM5NnwyNzIzMjc2MzM4/bats-in-the-belfy

Nerd Alert

I am a total nerd! I love The Great Courses http://www.thegreatcourses.com/ I only buy them when they are on sale, and usually buy the audio download (no shipping cost) So far I have listened to Unexpected Economics, The Great Pharaohs, Hilters Berlin and the new testiment. I am interested in getting more economics courses. I thought that economics was just numbers. It is more like math and psychology together. It is crazy what sheep we all are in terms of what we buy and how we act. Marketing involves a lot of pshchology. I wish that they had a criminal psychology course. I only buy the courses when they are on sale. I do not know who buys then full price, they always have several courses on sale every month. The courses that I have listened to are far better than any I attended in college and much cheaper. What course would you buy?

chat

I really miss the etsy chat. I do not handle change well. Why must the things that I like disappear? This is a small chat of crafters. Hopefully more people will join and it will become more interesting. It is not super interesting chatting with just one other person. Much more fun with lots of people. sigh

Much better day

Today was much better than the first 2 days. The first week of school is always difficult. I forget about all the little things I need to reteach and all of the paperwork and meetings that are in the first week. I gat another new student. I am up to 19 kids. Good size class. My etsy shop has had several sales this week. It is hard to tell if the increase has been because of new items being added, summer being over of the fact that I posted an ad on a blog. Perhaps I should not introduce so many variables. Listing takes a long time so I wanted to get that finished before school started. Here is a recipe from vegeterian news that I really want to try. Thin-skinned delicata and butternut squash can be roasted without peeling. Serve this satisfying vegetable roast with brown rice, steamed bulgur, or polenta. Sprinkle leftovers with grated cheese, and broil until bubbly for a delicious next-day dinner. 2 Tbs. olive oil, plus more for greasing pan 1 Tbs. chopped fresh rosemary 1 Tbs. chopped fresh basil 1 Tbs. chopped fresh thyme 2 cloves garlic, minced (2 tsp.) 2 delicata or 1 large butternut squash, cut crosswise into ½-inch-thick rounds (2 ½ lb.) 1 acorn squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks (1 lb.) 2 medium carrots, cut on the diagonal into ½-inch thick slices (1 cup) 2 medium parsnips, cut on the diagonal into ½-inch thick slices (1 cup) 1 medium onion, cut into 1-inch-thick wedges Preheat oven to 400°F. Lightly oil rimmed baking sheet or roasting pan. Whisk together olive oil, rosemary, basil, thyme, and garlic in large bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Add delicata or butternut squash, acorn squash, carrots, parsnips, and onion; toss to coat. Spread in single layer on prepared baking sheet. Roast 45 minutes, or until vegetables are tender and beginning to brown, stirring every 15 minutes.

kindergarten blogs

Here is a page that lists kindergarten blogs http://www.teachingblogaddict.com/2011/04/kindergarten-blogs.html

First Day of School

Well, I made it through the first day of school. It went pretty well. It was so hot in the room that sweat was dripping off of my chin. Gross! I plan on bringing a fan in tomorrow. My class is pretty small. So far it is 18. Frequently parents enroll their kids during the first or second week of school. This drives me nuts! Who does not know that school starts in September! There are signs up everywhere. I was surprised at the number times that I gave a direction and had a kid say no. It is not like the project was the difficult. We were cutting and gluing a school bus. One kid kept yelling out "When it playtime?" He quickly shut up when I told him that I make the choice when playtime was and if he kept asking he would not have any playtime. Yikes, get some manners. Hopefully I made the point that I actually expect them to follow directions. (Without seeming like a total monster.) No one cried so that is a good sign. Tomorrow we will be working on name writing. I have several projects for this week that involve writing, tracing, building with letter blocks and painting their names. We will sort names by how many letters in the names, what letters they have that are the same and how many names we have that begin with the same letter. By the end of the week they will know everyones names pretty well.

I need more time in the day!

I have discovered the site site bizspeaking. Of course I had to create an account http://bizspeaking.com/u/mhaynes2009 Shopping online is much more fun than shopping in person. No lines, no screaming children, no one gets in my personal space, I can go to a bunch of stores in a few minutes and no screaming children! I cannot keep finding interesting sites like this. I do not have enough time in my day to check them all out.

Another Big Change

Another big change in my life happened last March. I had been having a lot of stomach problems. After going to the dr. several times and being told that nothing was wrong I decided to try fixing things myself. My dr. offered me some medicine to take away my stomach pain. I did not think that this was addressing the problem. I started about by taking wheat out of my diet. No change. Then I stopped eating dairy. (Shhhhh, I live in Wisconsin this is almost like treason!) My stomach problems got a little better. Then I stopped eating dairy and milk. Magic! My stomach problems stopped. Becoming a quasi-vegetarian has been an interesting challenge. Eating in restaurants is difficult. I eat a lot of boring salad when in restaurants. This is one of the many downsides to living in a small town. I have had more of a reason to try out new recipes. Some of my vegetarian recipes were great and some......well.....I ended up having a PB&J for that meal. The most surprising thing about becoming vegetarian is the reaction I get from other people. I do not bring it up but when I go out with others and just order a salad they are always questions. Many people look at me like I have gone crazy. One woman asked me "Do you do that for health reasons or do not not like to kill the poor little animals." The last part was said in a baby voice. Yikes, what a rude response. The best part about this big change is that I have lost 20 pounds without really trying. YEA!!

School starts again on Tuesday. I think that I am ready. I think..... I have a small kindergarten class this year. I am so excited that we have smart boards this year. My new favorite website is smart exchange http://exchange.smarttech.com/#tab=0 There are so many lessons already made up. They can also be modified to fit your needs. I love technology!! The older teachers in our building are freaking out about the new technology. We also have a new math program and a new phonics program this year. Lots of changes but this is good. I am hoping that our district will be making some positive changes in terms of grades and reputation. My other fave sites are http://www.theeducationcenter.com/tec/ http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/ What are some of your fave educational sites? What else is going on in my life? I had a busy summer! We went to St. Lucia to celebrate our 4th anniversary. I added new items to my etsy site. The 2 new coffee shops in town needed to be checked out. I read a lot of books (I think the last count was 23) I also started geocaching. For my birthday my husband is getting me a GPS or geocaching. This site explains geocaching http://www.geocaching.com/