Repurposing

I have been sucked into Pinterest this summer.  I've pinned recipes, craft ideas, health and beauty tips, and more.  One of the main kinds of pins I've enjoyed are the craft and DIY ideas that repurpose things.    It's inspired me to try to find some things to repurpose, and actually to repurpose something I've been meaning to do for a while.

I love Partylite candles.  A few years ago I bought a wall sconce for their Slim Hurricane jar candles.  I like jar candles because you can use them without special candle holders or you can put special decorations (shades, etc) on them.  This is what it looks like:

Anyway, I never considered that Partylite would discontinue the candle.  I knew they'd discontinue the sconce, because they do that kind of thing.  I was a Premier Designs jeweler for a while, and replacing things is just part of the business.  People want new things.

So last summer, I burned the last of my slim hurricane candles.  I don't burn candles a lot.  I think I had purchased a total of 2 of the candles.  I saved the glass jar because, well, it felt wasteful not to.  I was using the one as a coin jar.  But then I found out that my Partylite consultant used hers as drinking glasses, so when the 2nd burned away, I found a new coin receptacle and used the 2 slim hurricanes for  drinking glasses.  When I had my annual Partylite party, I thought I'd be able to order another slim hurricane, but NO!  I discovered they were discontinued.

I tried to fit a pillar candle in it, which it did, but I didn't like how it looked.  I didn't want to get rid of the sconce, so I sought the advice of my consultant.  She suggested that I could fill in the glass with something and then put a tea light or votive candle in it.

After pondering, I went to the dollar store.  Initially I thought I would use glass marbles or glass decorative pieces, but then I found some craft stones, river stones.  They were shades of brown, cream, and gray. The colors blended with what I have in my living room!  And they cost just $1.  I had a glass votive holder.  I filled the slim hurricane glass about halfway full with the stones, put in the votive holder, and then put stones around the votive holder.  Then I added the votive candle, and voila! My slim hurricane sconce is serviceable again!

Here's the final result!  I think it looks pretty attractive, and I was able to repurpose something economically!

Guilty Pleasures

Summertime has been, for me, a time that I indulge some of my guilty pleasures, and develop new ones.

My biggest guilty pleasure is sleeping.  I do my best to keep my wake-up time around 9:00 or 9:30 in the mornings during the summer.  Joining things like a Bible study that starts in the morning, going to water fitness class during the day helps.  But sometimes I just stay up late and sleep in late.  I've also tended to take naps in the afternoon.  If I've had a particularly energetic workout in water fitness, or if I've done some yard work, I'll take a nap in the afternoon.

My other indulgence is too much TV.  I take the chance to catch up on series I've missed, and also to experience new ones.  The latest guilty pleasure I've discovered is the new Dallas.  I remember the original Dallas--my parents watched it faithfully every week.  I was just as interested in "Who Shot JR?" as anyone.  I thought that Bobby Ewing's "death" being all a dream was just as ridiculous as everyone else did.

The latest incarnation of Dallas is just as good, or should I say bad, as the original.  It's campy, it's ludicrous, it's simply ridiculous!  Just like in the original series, everyone is going behind everyone else's back.  As a viewer, I am wondering why everyone trusts each other, or why they even have any kind of relationship at all.  Why any of these people interact with the outside world is beyond me.  Seriously...why would anyone really believe that JR Ewing is out to serve anyone but himself?  Yet for some reason, the very people he's screwed in the past give him chance after chance.  I suppose that's what makes for good TV.

I will keep my Wednesday nights open for Dallas.  This week, I forgot to catch the first showing of it at 9:00, so I had to wait until TNT replayed the episode at 11:00.  Which means I had to stay up later...and try not to sleep in too late!

Mmmmm...Pancakes!

Honestly I don't know what my food kick is lately.  I guess because during the summer I have a chance to think about what I cook more, and then I can actually cook more.

Summer mornings are my favorite.  I use the term "morning" loosely, because sometimes I wake up late.  But what I like about summer mornings is that there's not a deadline for leaving the house.  I can take my own time and go through my routine without worrying that I'm running late.

So often I make a fairly complicated breakfast.  On a normal school day, I will have cereal, oatmeal, a bagel, or a microwaveable breakfast sandwich.  Something that doesn't take a lot of time or thought.  However, I loooove pancakes.  Freshly made ones.  Frozen pancakes and waffles are OK, but they just aren't the same as those you make fresh.

So.  I was trolling through Pinterest and I found this recipe for fried apple pancake rings.  Now, I'm not one for complicated usually, so I read the recipe and decided to do it my own way.  I do that a lot.

The recipe calls for using regular pancake mix as the batter.  No biggie.  Whenever I make pancakes, I actually substitute some of the pancake mix with oatmeal.  The brand I use calls for 2 cups of the pancake mix, so I use 1 1/2 cups of the mix and 1/2 cup of oatmeal.  Oatmeal makes things healthier, right?  Oh, and the recipe calls for something like 1 tablespoon of white sugar, and I use brown sugar instead.

Since I just cook for myself, I used one apple for the batch I made today.  I decided just to make pancakes rather than the rings, so I simply sliced the apple.  Then I tossed it with a little cinnamon sugar and microwaved it for about 1 minute to get the cooking started.  Then, I made the pancakes: poured the batter in the pan, added some of the apple slices, and then cooked the cakes through, flipping when bubbles appear.   (I should also point out that I usually cook up about half the pancake mix one morning and then save the rest to cook on another day.  I'll add a small splash of milk to the leftover batter to loosen it up).   I get the "vanilla spice" or "cinnamon spice" pancake syrup variety from my local grocery store's brand.

Definitely a successful breakfast!  Frequently I will do a pancake breakfast on a Saturday morning and try to make leftover pancakes so I can eat them for breakfast later in the week.  I will certainly do the apple pancake recipe again!

Food Musings

When you're a frazzled teacher, sometimes the last thing you want to do after coming home from school is cook.  But eating at restaurants, fast food or otherwise is not only expensive but not that great for your diet.  I am trying my best to develop healthy eating habits and save money.  I also really like to cook, so it's also a nice stress reliever for me to cook.

I've found that I like to have a couple of "go-to" dishes to fix.  These are dishes that are not only tasty to me but also simple to make.  I try to keep the ingredients for these dishes on hand (I stock up when the grocery stores do their 10 for $10 sales) so that I don't have to stop by the store on the way home.

Here are the ingredients I always try to keep...

• Frozen vegetables, corn, green beans, broccoli, carrots, chopped onions.  You can add these to almost anything to not only up the nutrition but also it just adds more substance to the meal.  My local grocery stores generally do theirs on a 10 for $10 special at least once a month.
• Salsa.  You can add it to anything to add a serving of veggies.
• Chicken broth or bouillon cubes.  I prefer the broth but if I run out I use a bouillon cube.  Adds flavor to pasta if you cook the pasta with it.
• Flour tortillas 
• Tortilla chips
• Prepackaged pasta-and-sauce or rice-and-sauce.  You can add chicken and vegetables to them and have a fairly healthy meal.
• Frozen chicken breast tenderloins
• Canned chicken

So here are 2 of my favorite go-to dishes.  I'm not giving any measurements or amounts, just a general idea for cooking.

The first is a pasta dish.  I cook whatever pasta I have on hand with chicken broth.  I personally like the tri-colored rotini.  While the pasta is cooking, I sauté some mushrooms in olive oil or butter, cook up some frozen broccoli, and maybe some other vegetables.  Sometimes I will grill a couple of chicken tenderloins on my George Foreman grill.  Drain the pasta, add the vegetables and chicken.  Add parmesan cheese to taste and enjoy.

The second is an "all-purpose" nacho/taco/burrito/whatever filling.  I got the idea from this from a cooking show...the celebrity cook was making baked taquitos.  First, sauté some onions in oil with chili powder.  Add frozen corn after the onions start to get soft.  Then, add precooked chicken.  I have used leftover rotisserie chicken from the grocery store, canned chicken, and even pre-grilled some chicken tenderloins.  I honestly like using the canned chicken because it shreds up better, but you want to make sure you drain off the liquid if you use canned.  You want the chicken to have a shredded consistency.  Add salsa and cook until the liquid reduces.  I have also added rice to this.  Usually I either top it with shredded cheese and eat with tortilla chips or fill tortillas with it and cheese.  Add any other garnishes you like, sour cream, guacamole, fresh vegetables, etc.

I have become addicted to Pinterest and have seen a lot of great cooking ideas on there.  My "Foodliness" board is right here.

Summer, summer, summertime!

One thing is certain, I think I was meant to be a teacher.  Ever since I had any concept of "what I wanted to be when I grew up" I wanted to be a teacher.   I would go with my mom willingly during the summer when she would work at school.  The main purpose was so I could write on the chalkboard.  I'd get upset if there wasn't any chalk available!  (The irony is that now, as a teacher, I HATE using the chalkboard..I'd love to have a dry erase board in my room rather than a chalkboard.)

As I was thinking about my summer break, I realized that teaching is truly an ideal profession in many ways.  It's not without its frustrations and irritations, but it really is ideal.

The main reason, for me, is that I can't think of any other profession in which you can start completely over every year.  In the upcoming school year, I will be teaching courses I have taught before.  But the thing is, not only do I get an entirely new crop of students to work with, I also can revamp and redo what didn't work the last time I taught the course.  I have wracked my brain and I can't think of another profession that allows that "redo" option every single year.  I can go back to the unit plans I made for novels, plays, and writing projects and enhance them, basically getting a "second chance" on them.  I can even trash the entire plan and start from scratch!

This year I gave myself this opportunity without even knowing it.  I taught 4 sections of freshmen and sophomores in English.  I had a total of 112 students in these four sections.  English classes mean writing projects.  The major project of second semester was their biographical research paper.  The thought of grading 112 research papers was daunting to say the least.  It also would have been a nearly endless process.   I'll go out on a limb and do some math here.  A "good" paper (one with few errors) may take around 5 minutes to evaluate.  On average, I'd say it takes around 8 minutes to evaluate a research paper effectively.  So...8 minutes per paper multiplied by 112: 896 minutes.  That's 14.9 hours of grading...IF each paper ONLY takes 8 minutes.  Considering that I have to teach from 8-3:15 5 days a week, plan my lessons, do personal errands and tasks, and find personal time AND sleep, I probably would get through those papers in 4 weeks, if I'm super efficient and don't do anything else.

Have I mentioned that I hate grading papers and I procrastinate grading?  The reality is that I'd take longer than 4 weeks with 112 research papers, not because of how long it takes to grade, but because I would procrastinate.

Well, I decided that I would split those 4 sections and do the research paper with 2 of them and a literature unit with the other 2.  50-ish papers is a lot easier to get through, the pile is a lot less daunting, and I like the planning aspect of teaching better than the grading.  Then, the classes who did the research paper would do the lit unit, and the other would do the research paper.

Little did I know that not only would this be good on the grading end, but also on the planning end.  As I was teaching the research unit to the 2 classes, and then when I started grading their papers, I noticed things that I could have done better...and I had the chance to fix that RIGHT AWAY!   The papers I got from the second group of students were noticeably better than the first set.   (Likewise I was able to make similar changes to the literature unit..I noticed things that the students didn't understand as well and I was able to explain elements differently.)

I decided after this that the remaining writing units I would split in that way.  Not only did it decrease the paper load, but it also enabled me to immediately improve on what I had just taught.

Are there other professions that offer this kind of opportunity?  To start (from scratch if needed) over on a regular basis?